Words: 2717
See Chapter 1 for standard Warnings/Disclaimer.
Additional Warning: This fic is Unbeta'd I edit it myself, though I do have a couple friends who have read it as I worked on it.
A/N: Had a hard time deciding where to cut this chapter, but I suppose this'll do. I wanna say this real quick though, as I've had several questions... This fic is going to open a lot more questions than will be answered by the time it's through.. There's a good reason for this. From the beginning this fanfic has been planned as two parts. This fic is the first part, and the second part will be it's sequel. So while things may get confusing, and leave you wonder... It'll get answered eventually. I'm currently in the stages of finalizing the plot points of the sequel, and will hopefully be start on writing it before I get done posting TDH... We'll see how things work out. Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
The soft clatter of boots on cement behind him made Axel tense up, though to his credit he never took his eyes off the silver haired man before him.
"Hello, Axel." A dark voice murmured behind him.
Axel wanted to melt into a puddle of gibbering fear right there. He could hear the sounds of the uninvolved people around him: Confusion, fear, it filled the air so heavily he could almost taste it on his tongue.
"Vincent Valentine as well?" He joked with false bravado. "I'm surprised they think me so important."
"Perhaps if you show yourself repentant and turn yourself over to us now, we will be forgiving." Vincent said softly.
Axel laughed abrasively, "No can do, buddy, there's just some things a man has to do, y'know?"
"Hmph." Sephiroth flicked back a hank of silver hair before him. "I find it hard to be forgiving, though I do feel a small amount of remorse for this. You were as a friend to many people, but not I."
"Shit, what's with you crazy bastards and your need to talk? Ah, who am I kidding, it's not like I'm sane either." Axel joked, and then he was darting out of the way of a lengthy swipe from that insanely long blade.
He wasn't even going to attempt making a stand against these guys, he knew when he was outclassed by a mile, and made a run for it down the street. The quick staccato thud of heavily soled boots behind him was his only warning before Sephiroth caught up with him and lashed out, whip fast, with his sword.
Axel was forced to throw himself out into the street to avoid being cut in half, and then to roll out of the way again as the blade swished down into the space he was just occupying. It screeched against the pavement, giving off sparks and came flying toward his face again. He shoved his hands against the ground and propelled himself into another roll, hearing the thin blade whistle passed his ear by centimeters, and seeing a few red strands of hair falling to the pavement from the corner of his eye.
Regaining his feet quickly Axel took off running again only for Vincent to drop in front of him again, "Holy shit!" He yelped, boots skidding against the pavement as he back pedaled, and lunged to the side to avoid getting knee capped. "You guys are inhuman!"
He couldn't really understand it, they were much too fast to be human, and yet... He'd known them all his life! Given he rarely saw either of them, but still! As he ducked under another swipe of the blade and looked frantically for an escape route he noticed that the streets had cleared: Everyone with a sane mind had made a run from the obviously bad situation. The sound of sirens wailing in the distance could be heard, and in his moment of distraction Axel failed to completely dodge a lash of Sephiroth's long blade. He didn't know whether to call himself lucky or not that it simply scored a clean slice across his upper arm.
Stumbling to the side he reached up and clutched the wound. Axel shook his head to clear away the fog of pain that attempted to gather as he looked frantically from side to side. Catching sight of an alleyway not far off Axel made a stumbling run for it and, driven by the rush of terror and desperation, and was within the closer confines in moments.
Sephiroth watched him go with a cold stare, "I tire of playing with this little toy."
Vincent reloaded Cerberus with an absent air as he eyed his companion warily, "You know the rules set before us, Sephiroth."
The silver-haired man shook his hair back, and raised his free hand in a grandiose gesture, "But these rules, do they really qualify for one such as him? And, really, who would dare defy me?"
Silent for several seconds Vincent rolled his shoulders in a bland shrug, "Perhaps no one."
"Do not worry, Valentine, for now I will play nicely. Perhaps if I slice him open often enough he will even retaliate rather than run like a scared mouse."
Vincent didn't bother to reply to that, and instead took off at a fast clip before bounding nimbly upward onto an overhanging fire escape with inhuman ease.
Axel tripped over a slate of rotting wood that protruded from a pile of garbage, and fell against a nearby wall smearing a swath of blood across the dingy brick work. The only sound was the far off wail of sirens, his own harsh breathing, and the thud of his boots on the trash littered ground. He glanced behind him, expecting to see them bearing down on him like cats on a mouse in a maze. Axel wasn't sure whether he should be relieved or not when he didn't see any sign of Vincent, or Sephiroth.
Looking forward again he saw the alley he was running down open back onto another street. As he emerged into straight sunlight again he barely missed a step, and dashed straight out into the middle of the road. People screamed, and Axel paused stumbled to a halt in confusion. A car horn blared, and the sound of sirens whined overloud. The police car barreling down the street toward him screeched it's breaks, and swerved to avoid hitting him.
Axel, at this point, was unsure whether he should find another near death experience funny or not. Laughter bubbled in his throat, and he was only jolted out of his rather ridiculous moment of thought by someone yelling.
"Jesus! Are you a nut case?!"
"Sir, are you all right?"
"Hey! Get the hell outta the road!"
Ignoring them all Axel turned and ran down the road, he didn't really think it was a good idea to linger in one place for very long. Behind him he heard someone scream, and then the sounds of shots being fired. Axel took a chance to glance back and nearly tripped over his own feet at the sight of Vincent jumping down from a nearby roof, to land atop the police care that had nearly run him over.
The gunshots had been fired by that very police man, at Sephiroth who had run the poor man through with his sword and was watching him slowly slide off the blade with the same expression an insect collector eyed his latest find. Vincent lifted his gun and fired after him once again. Axel threw himself behind a nearby car just in time to avoid the shots. Crouched there he panted heavily for a few seconds, and released his tight hold on his arm wound. His hand was caked with his own blood.
The heavy tread of boots warned him that it was time to get moving again, and he lunged out into the open street again, only to stumble back as Vincent appeared before him once more, and swiped for him with the claw like weapon he wore on one arm. Vincent lashed out at him again while he was off balance, the claw tips slicing trough fabric and cutting across his chest.
Axel fell painfully from the further deterioration of his balance caused by the pain flaring from the new wound. He lay there breathing heavily and staring upwards at the sky as blood, hot and slick, soaked into his shirt and slide down the curve of his ribs. Oddly enough the only thing he could really think of in that moment was that he'd probably missed the drop-off time completely, trap or not.
"How disappointing..." A voice spoke above him, and Axel caught the stark darkness of Sephiroth's cloths in his peripheral vision.
He hoped those rat bastards didn't do anything to Roxas because of this. Anger, desperation, it all swirled in his chest like a plume of flame in the hearth. He shifted his arm, feeling the sharp twinge of pain that lanced through it from the wound there, and the play of muscles in his shoulders as they pulled at the lacerations across his chest.
Vincent came a few steps closer, and Axel gave it another few seconds, "He appears smarter than you figured for. It's a good choice, Axel, I'd hate to have to tell..."
Axel kicked out with both legs toward Vincent, forcing the man to quickly shift out of the way. Axel rolled with the motion and propelled himself nimbly back to his feet, lashing out at Vincent with the fist of his unwounded arm to further force the man back. He made another break for it, dashing across the street and ducking into another alleyway.
"Hm." Vincent hummed. "Reno taught him well, it seems."
It was a shame he had no audience for his words. Sephiroth had already resumed the chase.
Axel panted heavily as he continued to maneuver through the small warren of alleyways he'd entered, looking for an exit. He had a feeling he was getting closer to the main city area again. He turned a corner, and came up short.
"What the fu-" Axel's words were cut off by a scream of agony as he was driven back into the wall behind him by Sephiroth, the thin line of the man's sword slicing open another wound in his side before embedding in the wall between his torso and his arm.
Axel stared up into glowing turquoise eyes as Sephiroth braced one hand against the wall beside his head, "Nowhere to run now."
Axel fathomed he could see his death played out before him in every gory little detail. For one hysterical moment when his mind went completely AWOL on him he wondered about the fact that he was supposed to be seeing his life flash before his eyes, not this. Then his spinning thoughts settled on one fact, and one fact alone: Roxas.
Who was going to save Roxas if he died here, pinned to this wall like a bit of trash? Or maybe dragged back, and tossed in front of President Shinra to be humiliated and brought to his knees before the merciful end? Desperation was a heat that clawed at his throat, and climbed up his spine to explode at the base of his skull: tight and painful. Unknown to him it was also a flicker of flames that caused the bits of waste paper to char, and curl.
Sephiroth's brows lifted slightly in surprise, and then the sound of a bullet tore through the air causing him to jerk back away from Axel. The sword blade slid from the wall with a metallic grinding noise.
"Drop the weapon and put you're hands up where I can see them!" A cold voice barked.
Axel never expected he'd be so happy to see that ice cold bastard. Agent Leonhart and Agent Kisaragi stood down at the next corner of the alley, guns trained unwaveringly on Sephiroth. He supposed the guy was the most obvious threat.
Axel could see the man tensing, getting ready to lunge, and without giving it any real thought he threw himself forward and shoved his shoulder into the silver-haired man's side, sending him careening into the wall purely out of surprise. Wasting no time Axel ran down the alley toward Kisaragi and Leonhart, and darted between them before they could get their act together and stop him.
"Hey! Get back here!" Kisaragi hollered.
Axel paid her no mind, and kept running.
"Forget it, Sephiroth." Vincent murmured from above the man. "We'll get him later." By the time Leonhart and Kisaragi turned back around to their 'subdued' suspect both Sephiroth and Vincent were gone without a trace.
Leonhart cursed quietly, "I thought for sure we had him."
"That was definitely that Axel guy, I wasn't sure what to think when I heard those police reports over the radio... Geeze, I guess your instincts paid off on this one. That guys obviously in something messy, but what?" Kisaragi said as she shielded her eyes with one hand, stood up on her tip toes, and proceeded to peer about as if expecting it would help her catch sight of someone.
"Those other two... Wasn't that one Sephiroth? From the Shinra company?" Squall mused while he holstered his gun, and started down the alleyway in the direction they had all come from.
"I dunno they're all kinda shadowy aren't they?"
"I think we should probably go have another word with the elder Flynn brother, don't you?" Squall growled sharply, picking up his pace he jogged down the alleyway, he could hear the sound of a crowd of voices all babbling at once. Though heavy shuffle of footsteps had him pulling up short as he did so he reached out and grabbed Kisaragi's arm to tug her after him into a nearby doorway niche.
"Shit, I hate that monster." Reno griped as he shuffled along and tapped his electro-mag rod on his shoulder. Rude was a silent shadow at his side, simply listening to Reno or perhaps ignoring him all together. "How many fuckin' times do we have to tell that shit head to tone it down? Nooo, every time the boss gets it in his head to send silver-n-fruity out to do the dirty work we end up havin' to clean up after him. S'like havin' a god-damned kid."
Reno stopped and threw his arms into the air. Rude had to weave out of the way to avoid getting a face full of his partner's weapon, "Then we gotta feed a load of crap to the idiots, pussy foot around and make shit disappear. I swear, that freak has no thought for anything but himself. I mean lookit this!" Reno gestured pointedly at a spatter of blood on the dirty ground, and scuffed at it with the toe of his boot.
Rude didn't even bother looking, "I'm sure Axel is fine. If they had killed him we'd know."
"He better be. If they don't kill him, I certainly will. That kid's gonna give me a heart attack." Reno huffed and grabbed theatrically at his chest. "Anyway, we better get movin' the Pres. wants all these sheep believin' nothin' out of the ordinary ever happened. That includes you, and sweet cheeks there, Princess."
Squall didn't let the surprise show on his face as Reno suddenly looked over his shoulder at the two of them, though he heard Kisaragi squeak in surprise. He hadn't thought they'd been noticed, but apparently he was wrong.
"You just keep your mouth shut, forget what you saw. Hell forget all about my little bro. Stop nosin' around, it's for your own good."
Squall finally found his voice, and stepped out niche, "Are you threatening federal agents, Flynn?"
Reno turned and began to walk off, and gave a barking laugh, "Who? Me? Nah, I ain't threatenin' anyone. He is though." With that Reno pointed upward and disappeared, out of sight, along with his partner.
Squall tipped his head back, and found his stormy gaze met by the cool crimson stare of one Vincent Valentine who was perched neatly on the edge of a fire escape railing. Vincent gave him a slight nod and in a rush of fabric he followed after the other two men.
"Man..." Kisaragi breathed at his side. "This just gets weirder, and weirder...What are we gonna do Squall?"
"Somehow," Squall said with a tight, pinched expression just shy of a full on frown. "I doubt we have any real choice in the matter."
They had already been stonewalled in their investigation when it came to checking out that number that had called the Strife's, and now this...