Whaaaat?! Two updates with in just a few days of each other?!
I know I'm shocked too, I don't know how the hell I did it but here it is! And it's longer then the others as well!
Enjoy!
We made it into the city without a problem. There didn't seem to be anybody following us, which was a good sign. We made a few stops along the way, picking up bits and pieces of tech that Zexion would need to get set up.
"Do you have a place in mind?" I asked as we made our last stop.
"There's a building down town that's been bought by a large corporation. The CEO owes me, so we're taking over the basement of the new building." Variedy said as we exited the freeway. "The building is in the middle of being renovated so it'll be a bit noise but its a good cover."
"As long as it doesn't fall down around our heads." Demyx muttered from his place on the other side of Zexion.
"No comments from the peanut gallery." I shot at him. To which I'm almost positive he stuck his tongue out at me.
"Children please!" Phystie snapped from the front seat. Everyone fell quite after that. A few minutes later we were pulling into the parking garage of a high rise. We parked as close to the emergency stair case as we could.
"Alright, lets go down and scope it out." Variedy said. "Take what you can carry." Everyone grabbed a few bags and we headed downstairs. At the bottom we were greeted by a large metal door, Variedy pulled out a set of keys and unlocked it. We stepped into a well lite large space, there were several doors around the space as well as a set of elevator doors.
"We'll need a lot of stuff to make this work." Demyx said as they dropped their bags and spread out to examine what was behind the doors. The first door along the back wall, I opened was a large restroom complete with a locker room and several showers.
"I've got a restroom with showers." I called out.
"I've got a small break room like area, there's even a stove of sorts." Zexion called out from the door on the opposite wall from the door we'd come through.
"I've got a hallway over here." Phystie called from the door on the same wall as mine. I went over to his door to find a hallway with four doors.
"Must be offices." he said.
"Or bedrooms as far as our needs go." Variedy said. The first door on my left was just a closet the next one was a pretty good size room, perfect for an office, a bit small for a room but it'd work. I dropped my bag just inside the door and then went back out into the main space. Zexion was already setting up several computer monitors on the floor.
"We'll have to get cameras set up around the building so we have some kind of security." He said as I came over to watch his progress.
"Might be a good idea." I said as I sank to the floor beside him. He glanced over to me but said nothing as I continued to watch him tinker.
"Whatever you do." Demyx said coming out of the hallway that led to the rooms and closing the door behind him. "Don't go back there for a while." he said with a grimace. I smirked and turned my attention back to Zexion.
"Can't really blame them, its the first alone time they've had in who knows how long." I said as we watched the computers start up. Demyx came over and joined us, sitting on the other side of Zexion.
"Yeah well they could keep it down a bit." he muttered as Zexion started typing away at the keys.
"You two might as well go do a supply run, this is going to get boring. I'm going to have to set up a secure server." Zexion said. "And a bunch of other boring things. Take my wallet, its got cash in it."
"Well, we're clearly being dismissed." Demyx muttered as he and I stood from the floor. We went over to where the bags lay. Demyx dug around for a moment and tossed me a wallet and then a baseball cap. "Don't wanna be spotted." he said as he stood with one of his own and a pair of sunglasses. I pulled a gray hoody from one of the opened bags on the floor, not caring who's it was and pulled it on over my undershirt and Cerberus. It fell to mid thigh so it was probably Variedy's. I pulled on the hat and stuffed the wallet in the hoody pockets.
"Alright lets go." I said as Demyx grabbed the keys from the top of Variedy's bag. We left, locking the doors behind us with a final shout from Zexion to be sure to get shampoo and soap.
We made quick of our supply run, making sure to cover all the bases. With the cash we had between us we managed to get almost everything we needed.
"I think the only thing we didn't get was a trash can." Demyx said as we loaded up the SUV with the supplies.
"We got trash bags, that's good enough." I said to which he just shrugged. This was the longest time we'd gone without bickering since this started. We loaded up and then headed back to the building. It took us a while to get everything down stairs and then put up.
By the time I dropped down next to Zexion again Variedy and Phystie were emerging from the hallway looking rumpled but slightly less tense. I couldn't help but feeling bitter toward them...envious..
"We did a supply run." Demyx said as he came out of the break room with an opened bag of chips.
"Good." Variedy said as he went into the restroom followed by Phystie.
"Get everything up and running?" I asked Zexion.
"I've got a few accounts set up that our feeding money into an off shore account that we can accesses without raising any suspicions on our own credit, which can be traced. I help set up Axel's tracking system so I know how to out smart it." he said as he tapped away at the keyboard in his lap. "We'll be getting a few deliveries tomorrow."
"What would we be getting?" Variedy asked as he emerged from the restroom. Zexion glanced over to him before returning to his screen.
"A desk, three beds, and a table." he said. Variedy nodded.
"Good." he said and moved off to the kitchen.
"We'll be needing blankets and pillows as well." Demyx said as he dropped down next to us.
"It'll be in the delivery as well." he said and Demyx gave him a soft smile. I stood and headed for the hallway.
"Where you going?" Demyx called after me.
"I can't take all this lovey dovey crap." I snapped before I disappeared through the door. Maybe I was being a bit bitchy but honestly? I've just lost my lover and my ex lover was out for blood. The last thing I wanted to stare out was a bunch of happy couples. I pushed my door opened and grabbed my bag off the floor. I sank onto the floor and dumped my bag out in front of me.
I had been avoiding this since we left the house. Among all the cloths that were mine were a few things that were not. I grabbed the closest foreign fabric and held it up in front of me. It was a simple dark green t-shirt. I balled it up and pressed it to my face and took a deep breath. I hunched in on myself and let all the tears I had been holding back take over.
"Bastard!" I screamed into the shirt as I sunk lower and lower into my misery pulled down by the sent of him on the shirt. I stayed that way, hunched over the stupid shirt for I don't know how long. Eventually I let myself lay down amongst the cloths. I pulled a large sweater that had been Vincent's from the pile and covered myself with it best I could. I hugged the shirt to my chest and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
The next few weeks were hell.
It was one thing to talk about hunkering down and playing spy. It was a whole other thing to actually live it. It was like stake outs, they always seem fun in television shows but in real life were boring as hell.
I was going stir crazy. Demyx and I had almost killed each other twice, once by accident and once because he ate the chips that I wanted. Phystie and Variedy fought- constantly, to the point where if they were both in the same room it wouldn't take long for everyone else to find something to do any where else. Zexion spent 80% of his waking hours on the computers.
We had set up the security cameras around the building and had a wall of monitors all along the wall that had the door that we entered and exited through, each for a different camera. Situated around the monitors were several rickety couches that had questionable origins but worked for communal purposes. Zexion's work space was set in the middle of the room at a huge round desk. In the far corner was the dinning area, well if you can consider a long bland table with six chairs a 'dinning area'. The area in front of the elevator had been filled with work out equipment and several mats that could be laid out for fighting and gymnastic purposes. We had construction plastic hanging from the ceiling, blocking the elevators from view in case anyone wondered down here and a camera set up to view the doors.
"Finally!" Zexion shouted one day. Everyone froze. Variedy and Phystie had been having a whispered argument by the kitchen, Demyx had been sitting on the spare rolling chair next to Zexion, spinning in circles. I was on the bench press, I placed the bar back down and stood.
"What's up Zex?" I asked as I moved across the room to the round desk. Variedy and Phystie joined me and we all waited for the tech geek to speak up.
"I finally got it!" He hissed, running his fingers roughly through his hair. "I've found the blue prints for the manor and for the newly renovated basement and as far as I can tell it just looks like an apartment add on." He pulled up the blue prints onto the main, television sized monitor. We all moved to stand behind him. "The only thing suspicious about it is the lack of entrances in or out and the lack of windows." He said as he highlighted the one exit which was a door that lead out the back of the manor.
"I don't know." Variedy said as he examined the blue prints. "There's a rather extensive draining system in every room." Zexion clicked a few keys and the prints zoomed in to the sub-floors.
"You're right. That's the kind of draining system you'd put in if you expect to have to wash your floors of something everyday." Demyx said.
"Like blood." I added on and no one countered that thought. After a long pause I finally spoke up. "Alright, So we've got suspicious plumbing. What do we do now?" I asked.
"We start asking around." Variedy said. "We approach your cousin like we talked about doing a while back." he said to me. I nodded but Demyx spoke up .
"We shouldn't endanger Sora!" He said, his eyes meeting mine, looking for back up. He found none.
"We do what we have to do." I said.
"Roxas you can't do this!" He said. I spun around and jabbed my finger into his chest.
"You brought me here! You told me Vincent was alive! Don't you dare be surprised that I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get him back." I snarled in his face.
"We don't even know that he's alive!" Demyx said as he stood from the chair, glaring down at me. I laughed then, bitter and sharp.
"Now your arguing that? I thought I was the doubtful one here." I said with a cold smile.
"You said it yourself Roxas, all we've got is suspicious plumbing and a hit man who's famous for making people disappear. Is that really enough to risk someones life on?" He asked and he was almost pleading now.
"Yes, it is. Because either way, I need the information that Sora can give. He'll either get me more proof of Vincent being alive or get me names of who killed him." I said shoving Demyx back a few steps.
"Or get killed! This is your cousin were talking about here!" He said.
"Exactly! It's my cousin. What the hell do you have your panty's in a twist about?" I asked, my eyes glaring into his. He looked at me like I was crazy.
"A person should care when their going to put someone else in danger, no matter who it is." He said, his eyes searching mine. When he didn't find what he was looking for he looked away and I could tell that he was shaken to his core by what he didn't find in my eyes.
"I've already told you once Demyx. I don't care." I said. "I've been pushed one to many times, broken far to often."
"You'll have to contact him and set up a meeting. It'll have to be some where in public where the rest of us can blend in and keep an eye on things." Variedy said, quickly changing the subject.
"How do I contact him?" I asked, "I don't want to tip anyone off as to where we are."
"We'll have you make the call from a pay phone on the other side of town." Phystie said with a shrug.
"If they trace it, it'll just lead them farther away from us." Demyx said with a nod.
"Alright but what do I say to him? Chance are he's talked to Cloud so he knows I've established myself as an enemy to Axel." I said, crossing my arms.
"Well all we can do is hope that family means more to him then it does to you." Zexion said. I just gave him a raised eyebrow and he raised his hands in the 'I am unarmed' gesture. "Just saying."
"Here's to hoping then." I said.
"I'll get you a car, you'll have to do this on your own. I'll be close by but not to close." Variedy said as he grabbed his trench coat from the back of one of the couches. "Be ready when I get back." he shot over his shoulder before he disappeared out the door. I left the others and headed for my room. I quickly strapped on Cerberus over my v-neck shirt and pulled a leather jacket that Phystie had given me on over it. I made sure I could draw Cerberus without interference and then headed back into the common area.
"This is right!" Demyx was saying to Zexion as I entered the room but quickly shut up when he saw me. I simply ignored him and headed for the door.
"Wait Roxas!" Zexion called out. I turned around to see him lunge over the desk and jog over to me. "Here put this on your ear, it'll record the conversation and transmit it back here." he said handing me a small ear piece. I took it and inserted it into my right ear.
"Alright. I'll see you guys in a bit." I said, closing the door behind me. I headed up to the parking garage. I tucked myself into a dark corner behind a pillar and waited for Variedy to show up. It didn't take long before a small blue Mazda pulled up and Variedy got out, car still running. I extracted myself from the dark corner and went over to the car.
"I still don't know what I'll say to make him meet me." I said as I slid into the car and closed the door. Variedy leaned into the opened window.
"Whatever it takes, but I'll tell you one thing. Try to sound like the old you. This new you might just scare him off." he said and I could almost detect a hint of amusement in his voice. I glared at him for a moment. "I'll be near by, sign of any trouble get the hell out. The ear piece is recording so if your being followed just say it into the ear piece, Zexion will let me know. If you are being followed, do not come back here. Lead them out of the city." I nodded and he handed me a set of keys. "These are to an apartment on the outskirts of town, the directions are on the piece of paper next to you, if you're being followed go there. Go inside the apartment, wait five minutes and then sneak out the back porch. Go into the woods and wait for me there."
"Alright." I said and he backed away from the car. "I'll see you later then." He gave me a nod and I put the car into drive and shot out of the parking garage.
This little adventure would be the first time I was alone since Vincent had been shot (or not shot, still pending on that one.) I let myself drive a bit recklessly as I got onto the freeway, shooting between traffic like a blue bullet. I followed the free way until I figured I was far enough away from the base and took an exit that lead to a small shopping center. I parked the car and got out, I walked around for a while, looking in the shop windows before I went over to the payphone. I put in the quarters and pressed in Sora's number. He picked up after a few rings.
"Hello?"
"Hey Sor." I said, my voice soft. "How are you?"
"Roxas?!" he asked, sounding a bit panicked but his voice went to a whisper. "Where are you? What are you doing calling me? They could be tracing this call damn it!"
"If they do it'll lead them no where." I said, keeping my voice a little shaky and not to confident. "Look I need to talk to you but not over the phone, can we meet somewhere?" There was a long pause.
"I don't know Rox.."
"Look I know things are rough right now but I really just need to be able to talk to someone who will actually give a damn about what I have to say. Being around Variedy and Phystie isn't exactly a good support system and I can't say I've been allowed to grieve. I just need to talk about what happened." I managed to make my voice crack a bit.
"I'm sorry about what happened Roxas, I really am, but I'll be putting myself and Riku in a lot of danger if I meet with you."
"Sora we're family, I'm just asking for an hour of your time. We'll meet down town at the Citygarden, meet me by the waterfall fountain, I'll be under the trees across from it. I'm not asking for much here Sora, just someone to listen. I'll be there at noon tomorrow, its a Saturday, it'll be packed, it'll be easy to blend in."
"Rox.."
"I'll see you there Sora." I said and hung up the phone. I sighed and rubbed at my face. I turned to the parking lot and noticed a few cars that weren't there earlier but it was a shopping center, no need to get to paranoid. I made my way over to the car and slid in, I started the engine and examined my surroundings for anyone else sitting in their car, anything suspicious. I didn't notice anything out right so I started the car and backed out. I pulled up to the exit and noticed a white car pulling out at the exit down from me. I took a right and so did he.
"Don't get paranoid just yet Roxas." I told myself as I headed back toward the free way. I took a few extra turns, taking the long way back to the freeway. The car made all the same turns. "Damnit! I hope your getting this, I'm being followed. I'm following the directions." I glanced down at the paper and made sure I was headed in the right direction to get to this apartment.
I got onto the freeway and headed out of town. There were now two cars that were sticking close to me but not right behind me. It wasn't easy for them, I didn't drive at the normal speed, as soon as I'd hit the free way I was back to my normal reckless driving. I took the exit indicated on the directions and slowed to a normal pace as I merged into slower traffic. I took a right at the next light and followed the road for a while before I finally saw the apartment complex I was looking for. I turned in and went to the back, the number was 210C. I parked at the indicated parking spot and got out. I crumbled the paper up and stuffed it into my pockets.
I jogged up the stairs to the door and paused, glancing around. The white car was parked at the next building over along with the other car I'd spotted. I unlocked the door and went inside. It was a sparingly furniture apartment that looked as if someone had been living here recently. I moved quickly to the back door to find a balcony.
"He expects me to jump from the second story?!" I hissed as I glanced back at the front door. I waited for a few minutes. I heard foot steps coming up the stairs "Time to go." I muttered and slide the (surprising silent) back door opened. I slipped out side just a knock came to the front door. I closed the door and went to the railing.
I looked down to see a fence directly under the edge of the patio from the neighbors patio. If I hung from the railing I could drop onto it and then jump from there. I climbed over and let myself hang from the railing. I held my breath and let myself drop onto the fence. I managed to land on it but only for a moment before my momentum forced me to jump to the ground. I tucked and rolled across the soft grass and came to my feet. I took off for the woods that weren't that far away from where I'd landed.
I made it into the tree line and ducked behind a large tree. I peaked around the trunk to see a man on the patio that I'd just come from, he was looking around but went back inside soon after. I took a deep breath and headed deeper into the woods.
About 20 minutes in I found a small clearing that looked as if someone had been using it recently for camping. There was a fallen tree on one side that looked like a good hiding spot. I went over and set beside it, tucking myself into the crevice where the fallen tree connected with another tree that was still standing. I could still see in the direction I had come from but I was hidden from sight from anyone who might come this way. I sat in silence, keeping my ears opened for any sounds.
Variedy hadn't said how long it'd take him to get here so I had no idea how long I would have to wait. I pulled out Cerberus just to have him in my hands. I heard a snap of a branch close by followed by the sound of someone stomping around in the underbrush. A few moments later he came into the clearing, gun drawn as he looked around. I felt a smirk cross my face. I waited a few moments as he started looking around the clearing, he was a few feet from my hiding spot and no one else had joined him so he was alone.
I waited till he was standing over my hiding place. I stood so quickly he didn't have time to register it, I pressed Cerberus into his shoulder and fired, point blank. He fell back, screaming, clutching at his shoulder. I jumped over the fallen tree and kicked the gun out of his hand sending it flying across the clearing.
"Looking for someone?" I asked sweetly as I placed my foot on his injured shoulder and applied pressure. He screamed and grabbed my ankle with both hands and jerked me off balance enough that I stepped away from him.
"You bastard." He snarled as he shakily got to his feet.
"Yeah a little." I said as I raised Cerberus, making it clear I was aiming for his head this time. "Start talking. Who sent you?"
"Who do you think." he spat at me, clutching his shoulder. "I'm going to kill you for this."
"I doubt that." I said with a smirk. I saw his eyes flash over to his gun that was laying behind me. "Don't even think about it, not unless you want to die."
"What do you want?" He asked. I caught movement behind him in the woods. I glanced over to find Variedy just in the tree line, he put his finger to his lips and disappeared again.
"I want to know what Axel wants." I said, pretending that my lapse into silence was me thinking.
"He wants you dead." he snarled. "He wants to tie you up and beat you till your unrecognizable and then let you heal and then do it all over again. He's out for blood."
"Sounds kinky." I said with a raised eyebrow. "Was he listening in to my conversation with my cousin?"
"Yes you idiot, of course he was. He's had every phone of any one you even might contact tapped." He said with a smirk. "He'll cut you off from anyone you love and force you out into the open." I felt a very humorless smile cross my face.
"He's welcomed to try. Now one more question." I said as I lowered my gun. He seemed to be gaining his confidence back the more I talked. He thought he was going to walk away from this alive. "Where is he keeping Vincent?" I asked and I saw the truth in his face.
The shock was so crystal clear on his face, shock and then fear and doubt, then it closed down.
"He's body was went up with the house." He said but it was a lie. Such a pathetic lie, I felt my rage boil to the surface. I raised the gun and shot his other shoulder. He fell to his knees, hunched over, screaming. I crossed over to him and wrapped my hand in his short hair and jerked his head back. I pressed Cerberus into the underside of his chin.
"Where is he." I whispered as I leaned close to his face. His eyes were wide, shocked, scared, to much white showing as he glanced around.
"I don't know." he gasped. I jammed the gun into his flesh and he made a gurgling noise. "I honestly don't know!" he gasped. "I only even know that he's alive because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time!"
"Tell me!" I snarled, I felt my heart rate pick up. I felt hope flood my system.
"I was in the kitchen at the manor!" He said, his breathing coming in shallow. "A group of men came in from the garage, they were carrying someone between them but he had a bag over his head. They stopped for a moment when the man stumbled, and I heard one of them mutter 'Fucking Robot'. Robot was Vincent's nickname amongst the men."
"When was this?" I asked, trying desperately to keep my self in check.
"About a day after the house went up. I haven't seen him or heard anything about him since." he said his eyes locked with mine now. "Please, just let me go. I won't tell Axel that I told you, he'd kill me any way if he knew that I knew." I let go of him and he collapsed to the ground.
"I would suggest not going back to the manor. If I were you I'd run." I said to the bleeding man. He got shakily to his feet once more and turned to leave the clearing. Variedy came out of the woods once again right in front of the man and shot him between the eyes.
"No lose ends." He said to me as the body hit the ground. I couldn't bring myself to care as I set down on the fallen tree.
"Did you hear that?" I asked Variedy as he came over to me. He nodded but said nothing, just watched me carefully. "He's alive." I whispered, staring at the ground. I looked up at Variedy as confusion took over. "But how?" I asked.
"I don' know. We'll talk about it more once we get back to base." he said as he grabbed my arm. "Come on." I let him lead me out of the clearing before I pulled away and followed him through the woods. We came to a small dirt road after about ten minutes or so. The SUV was parked there and we made a quick retreat in case the guys buddy's came looking for him.
We took several detours on the way back to base to make sure that no one was following us. We arrived at the parking garage just as the sun was beginning to set.
"I don't know if the meeting with Sora tomorrow is even a good idea any more." Variedy said as we got out of the car and headed for the stairs.
"I need to know what he knows. We know that Vincent survived the house but that was weeks ago now." I said. I pulled the door opened and we headed down to the basement.
"It just seems kind of stupid now that we know Axel was listening to your conversation with Sora." he said. I shrugged as he unlocked the door and we came into the common area. The other three were all crowded around Zexion's work station. Phystie looked over at us and beamed at me.
"He's alive." He said and I couldn't help but return a little smile.
"It would seem so." I said as Variedy and I joined the others. I gave Zexion my ear piece back.
"Now the question becomes how." Variedy said as he crossed his arms. "Did you ever get that program up and running?" He asked Zexion.
"Yeah, I just need you three to help me set the scene." he said as he began typing away at the keyboard.
"What are you talking about?" I asked as I moved around the round desk to stand behind Zexion.
"I've got a program that can recreate the scene when Vincent was shot. It's a program that crime labs use to recreate crime scenes. It be a lot more accurate if I had exact measurements. I've the measurements for the house from the blue prints I found in Axel's computers." he said as he brought up a window that looked exactly like the living room from the house. There was a tall figure, Vincent's height and a smaller figure next to him (Phystie), another figure was in front of the Vincent figure, grabbing his arm (me).
"Alright now where did you find the bullet at exactly?" Zexion asked me.
"On the wall directly behind me about three feet from the ground." I said pointing to the wall. He hovered his mouse over the spot I'd said and made a small mark there. He did a few more keyboard clicks and a red line went from the hole in the wall up through the two figures that represented Vincent and me. The red line passed straight over Vincent's left shoulder.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Demyx said.
"What?" I asked.
"That red line is the path the bullet would have taken from the angle of where you pulled it out of the wall and the hole in the upper glass window. This could be a little off but I'd have to say that its a big enough area that a few inches wouldn't change anything, that bullet never hit Vincent." he said as he zoomed out and rotated the picture to show that the bullets path was clearly no where near Vincent.
"Well then explain the blood and the hole that appeared in his forehead and his falling to the ground." I said, my arms crossed as I examined the picture we had created from every angle. "Not to mention how they got him out of the house before the fire went up."
"Those question may take a bit longer but as far as the bullet goes it never made contact with Vincent." Zexion said.
"Poison could account for his 'dying'" Phystie said. "A slow acting poison that they could have given him the day before when he went to the manor. "
"That would have to be some amazing timing then." Demyx said. "To know exactly when the poison would drop him, exactly when to fire the bullet, exactly when to send the text to make sure Roxas was there." I shook my head, this was giving me a headache.
"That's Ansem's specialty." Variedy said.
"There could have been another bullet." Zexion said. "What if the blood came from a shot to the back? It wouldn't be fatal but it would account for the blood on the mat."
"We would have heard a second shot." Variedy said.
"Not if it was made at the exact same time with a lower caliber bullet." he said as he started to type at the keyboard. The image on the screen started to move now, the bullet came through the upper glass at the same moment another bullet came through the lower one and hit Vincent in the upper arm, causing him to fall forward into the figure that was me.
"We would have seen the wound then." Phystie said.
"No we wouldn't." I said. "In all the confusion that followed after that happened, you both were too busy trying to get me out of there to pay much attention to the man we assumed was dead." I made sure that I didn't sound accusing.
"True." Variedy said. "It still leaves a lot of questions."
"This is all speculations at best." Zexion said with a sigh as he closed the program down.
"At least we know he's alive now." Phystie said with a smirk. I gave a slight nod but tried not to think about it to much, I needed to be alone for that thought process.
"Yeah. Zexion could hack into the security cameras at the manor?" Variedy asked.
"I've been trying." He said as he opened another window and started to explain to Variedy how he was trying and how they were stopping him. I zoned it out though, too much tech babble for me. I made a quick exit to the hallway that led to the rooms.
When I got to my room I shred the jacket and pulled Cerberus's holster off and laid it on the bed before sitting next to it. I pulled the gun out and held it gently in my hands.
"He's alive Cerberus." I said to the gun. I didn't even realize I was crying until the tears fell onto the gun. "He's alive, not well, probably being tortured, but alive." I set the gun down as I doubled over and let the tears take over my body, it wasn't very long before the tears were turning to laughter. Anyone who might have been listening would probably think I had finally lost my mind.
But the reality was setting in, if he was alive that meant that I might actually be able to have some sort of a future. Since Vincent had been shot I had looked at my life as a short term thing, just till I got revenge, just till I got the truth and then I'd join him. Now I had to find him, save him. The laughter faded after a while a new worry settled over my heart, worry that he wouldn't survive the torture, worry that by the time I got to him he'd be lost to me and be Axel's lap dog once again.
A knock on the door had been wiping my face and standing up from the bed.
"Come in." I said and Variedy stepped through the door.
"Just wanted to make sure you hadn't lost it back here." he said as he eyed me up and down. I smirked and shook my head.
"Almost." I said as I picked up Cerberus and put the holster back on.
"We need to discuss the meeting with Sora tomorrow with the others." he said and I nodded we stood in silence for a moment. "I'm glad he's alive." Variedy said. "But I want you to have a realistic view on this, the chances of us.."
"I know." I said, holding up my hands. "Variedy I know, we may not get to him in time. But let's be honest here, Vincent is a stubborn ass, he may not even need us to save him." Variedy kept searching my face as I spoke, I wasn't sure what he was looking for but I knew he didn't find it and that seemed to disappoint him.
"I hope so Roxas." He said before he turned and held the door opened for me. I walked past him but paused for a moment.
"I have a realistic view of this but I've just been given some hope and hope will run away with you." I said. "I'll be fine." I looked up and met red and gold eyes. "Let's just get him back."
"It's alright to let the hope get to you, but don't let it blind you." he said and I just gave a slight nod.
"I've never been more clear headed." I muttered as we headed down the hall way but he didn't make any reply to that. We came into the main room to find everyone seated on the couches in front of the screens for the outside cameras. Variedy joined Phystie one of the couches and I took the recliner.
"So do you think Sora will show tomorrow?" Demyx asked me. "He sounded really reluctant."
"I don't think he would have but now that we know that Axel knows, he won't have a choice." I said as I leaned back into the chair. "He'll make sure Sora is there and he'll be wired, he'll have people in the crowd ready to grab me when ever the opportunity presents its self."
"That makes things a lot more complicated." Zexion said from his place next to Demyx.
"It makes the meet useless." Phystie said with a huff. "If he's wired you can't say anything to him about Vincent with out alerting Axel that we know and you can't ask anything of importance."
"You'll just have to play the wounded victim card." Variedy said. "Just talk to him about Vincent's 'death', cry a little, play it up, make him uncomfortable with betraying you. He's not part of the organization, he doesn't have the training, he'll be feeling jumpy any way."
"Then why go at all?" I ask. "If it'll be that useless and put me directly into Axel's hands then why go?"
"Because this gives us two options." Variedy said, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his eyes locked with mine. "We either take Sora or we let Axel take you." Silence lapsed after this statement.
"We don't have a snowball's chance in hell of taking Sora with all the people that Axel will have there." I said, feeling my heart drop a bit. "You want me to get captured?"
"Roxas we don't know where he's keeping Vincent, we don't know if he's even still alive." he said. "When they take you, we'll be waiting, we'll follow them. We'll plant a few different types of wires on you, some that they'll find and others that they won't. We'll know everything that's going on, we'll know exactly where you are and the second things get dicey we'll get you out of there. With any hope he'll take you to the same place their holding Vincent."
"There are so many things that could go wrong with that plan." Zexion said. "They could find all the wires, they could have a signal jammer at the location that would screw up the tracking device, and the wires that they don't find."
"We don't have much of a choice." Variedy said to him. "We have nothing Zexion. As much as you've tried to hack into the cameras we still have nothing and we're running out of time and options."
"Variedy this isn't a good idea." Phystie said, giving his lover a worried look. "What if he just kills Roxas?"
"He won't." I whispered and I met Variedy's eyes. "He'll try to reason with me, try to get me to come back to him and when that doesn't work he'll resort to violence."
"It's not a good plan." Demyx said with a frown. I kept my eyes locked with Variedy's.
"I'll do it." I said.
muhahahahahahah -coughs-
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