Twenty-Eight: Axel
Family Reunion Part II
Axel felt like he was suffocating. If he could get the helmet off—if he could only gain control—
Axel jerked awake at the sound of a gunshot—no—not a gunshot. The slam of a car door. He clawed to get the helmet off. As his fingers rose to rip at his head, he found the swishy material of a sleeping bag instead of imperial gold.
Laughter died around him. Someone put a hand on his shoulder.
"You alright, mate?"
British? No one who worked for Santiago nor anyone in Luke's recruits had been British.
Calex. His brain crawled to catch up.
Axel rubbed his Mist Mask onto his face, thankful Pax had covered him up.
Ajax.
"Where's my brother?" Axel tore the sleeping bag away from his head. Joey and Euna sat on one bench beside him, Merry on the other. Calex knelt at his side. Everyone looked worried. He found Hunnie unceremoniously plopped in his lap and a colorful beach towel beside him.
Axel winced at the sight. He should have been more worried about Backbiter, but—after his nightmares—he couldn't care about anything until he knew Pax was safe.
"He just left to get us ice cream," Euna said.
"And maybe get you a chill pill," Merry added. She cocked her jaw to the side while examining him. "Are you okay?"
He wasn't. Axel searched the front seat, knowing Pax wouldn't be there but hoping he'd see him. Instead, he saw Kally. She was half out of her seat, Argonaut statue in hand and ready for a short toss at him if need be. Her green eyes were wide. That sun colored hair was a tangled mess in her sloppy ponytail.
Axel couldn't keep eye contact with her, not when he could so clearly remember the whisper of the Leonis Caput, Crack her chest open and eat her heart. She's a liability and only fools deal in such chance. That made the average conversation feel a little awkward.
"Wait—ice cream?" Axel asked. Hadn't they been in the woods?
Calex nodded and gestured through the front windshield. "He said something 'bout free vouchers and took off into the shop."
Axel twisted to look out the window. There was a dilapidated shed outside, with cracked wooden boards, peeling paint, and a door barely on its hinges. Beside the shop was the rusting corpse of a pickup truck. To the side of that was the pristine red logo of a Pax's Pharmaceutical van.
Light poured eerily out the crooked shutters and through the doorway as Pax opened the door. There was a silhouette of another person.
"That's no ice cream shop!" Axel snarled. [footnote 1] "Everyone gear up! Now!"
Calex went to argue, but his jaw dropped. Whatever Mist illusion had convinced them it was a place for frozen sweets evaporated at Axel's shout.
Kally jammed her door open, Argonaut statue already in hand. Calex tugged out his pencil case, piecing together his golden bow. Euna snagged two swords off the wall and tossed one to Joey. Merry grabbed her jacket.
Axel snatched the beach towel from the floor.
Do you want me to fight to save the snake or you? the Leonis Caput teased.
Axel wanted to scream that he could control the Leonis Caput. That he had to be fully present to help his brother. Although he didn't set Backbiter down, he clasped his steel machete off the floor with his other hand.
Calex and Euna burst through the back of the van, Joey and Merry close after.
As Axel's feet made contact with the gravel, Pax screamed in pain.
Pax stumbled out of the shed, clutching his face.
Someone walked out after him, aiming a handgun the size of Hercules's calf at Pax's head: a Taurus Judge revolver. Even with Pax's dominantly godly nature, that thing could blast a whole straight through his skull. The gun wielder was a young man. If Axel was eighteen, that must have made him twenty-one. He was full blood Native American, with caramel skin and piercing black eyes. His hair was long and kept back in a sloppy bun atop his head. The stray locks that fell from the bun were braided with beads, leather, and painted feathers.
He wore a burgundy button down shirt, pinched by black leather straps along each shoulder—a double gun holster with attached compartments for more ammo.
"Hi Kouta," Pax slurred through his hands.
Their oldest brother sneered.
Kouta's gaze slipped past Pax, to Axel. That sadistic smile widened as Kouta shouted something that terrified Axel. It showed that Kouta was far better planned than Axel's little rescue team.
"NOW!" Kouta said.
Axel had hoped Kally would have enough time to get a clean shot at Kouta or that Calex could fire his bow, but they had no time to react.
A few paces ahead of Axel, both Merry and Calex went rigid. Calex took a staggered step forward. Then they collapsed. Colorful darts stuck out of their backs.
Axel whirled. A teenage, Asian boy with flowing black hair, a burgundy button down, and suspenders covered in darts uncrouched from a cluster of bushes beside the parking lot. Hiro grinned at Axel and gave him a cheerful salute. Hello, in ASL. Hiro then pointed behind Axel.
As he did, the bushes that had been hiding Hiro grabbed him. Axel assumed that must have been courtesy of the Song sisters and made a mental note to hug them later.
Hiro shrieked and fumbled to withdraw his talismanic paper for a protection spell.
Before Axel could whirl to see what Hiro had pointed at, or before whichever Song sister could fully restrain Hiro, someone roared the word, "TAS!"
Axel didn't see the red Egyptian hieroglyph in the sky, but he didn't need to to know what was coming. Red streaks of cloth shot and past over their heads to envelope Joey. She shrieked as they spun around her legs like the wrappings of a mummy. She managed one attempted slice before they pinned her arms to her side. Her sword plopped uselessly to the ground.
Euna raced to her side and grabbed the cloth to rip it off. As her hands made contact, a secondary strip of cloth split from the first, snaking up Euna's arm. She frantically slashed at it with her sword. Vines shot up from the ground to wrestle the cloth off, but the material seared through the plants while it wrapped up the Song sisters.
On first scan, Axel couldn't see Lapis. But then her blue mohawk caught the moonlight. She stood atop the shed, one arm in a sling. Although she must have just cast the binding spell, she had already summoned her crossbow from the seeming nothingness of the Duat. With expert ease, she cocked the weapon by stepping on the bow's limbs and pulled the string back with her functional hand. Once done, she took aim.
Axel watched as the red dot of her crossbow's sight flicked onto Kally's forehead. Kally shifted her weight to wind up the Argonaut statue.
"Stop!" Axel cried, knowing Lapis could get the shot off before Kally could throw.
Kally hesitated and looked at Axel.
Axel shook his head.
She lowered the statue, her lower lip trembling.
They were, at least temporarily, in what Axel would have to consider a bad situation. The Song sisters squirmed in mummy wrappings. Calex and Merry were unconscious. Pax cowered away from Kouta.
Axel remembered when he and Pax had been holed up with Alabaster in his laboratory by a Roman platoon. They'd been scared there was no way out alive without capture… which really meant there was no way out alive. That's when Pax and Alabaster had gotten really creative.
But, here, with Kouta around, Axel knew Pax couldn't do anything but shut down. Pax might have become more powerful than Kouta by the time he was ten, and Axel might have become taller and broader than Kouta by the time he was sixteen, but Pax would always think of Kouta as the biggest and scariest of their siblings.
Hiro stood up and dusted himself off. Axel was shocked that the Song sisters let him go, until he saw how Lapis's bindings crept up along their mouths and noses, so they couldn't breathe.
He clutched the beach towel, knowing there was no way he could take all three of his siblings without casualties.
Kouta's grin was so conceited, Axel thought about punching him in the face anyway. "Go ahead," Kouta cooed. "Go for your sword. How many of your friends can I shoot before you get to me?" Without lowering the gun aimed at Pax and without looking, he withdrew the second, smaller revolver, a Taurus 9MM, from his shoulder harness. Keeping his eyes on Axel, he rapidly aimed the gun perfectly from Merry, to Calex, to Euna, to Kally. With each new position, he calmly mimicked the sound, "Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. At least four. Your choice." He shrugged, keeping the guns steady on Pax and Kally. "Plus, I've shot Pax in the leg once for fun. I'd love for an excuse to do it again."
"I vote you not shoot me in the leg again," Pax whined through his hands. "I don't look nearly as adorable while limping."
In the past, Axel might have been willing to take that risk. He would have thought his friends might survive and that keeping to his mission outweighed their lives. But he couldn't do it. The end didn't justify the means here, and he wasn't willing to sacrifice the others.
You've grown weak, the Leonis Caput whispered.
Axel dropped the towel and machete.
Kouta narrowed his gaze at Axel, well aware he had other weapons on him. There was a pause.
Axel withdrew three more knives and the daggers strapped onto his back and dropped them onto the ground. They landed with muffled thunks.
By the Titans, he hated Kouta.
"I know you've got more," Kouta stated. "As such, I've made something special for you. Hiro?"
Hiro made some rude gestures at Kouta.
Kouta sighed. "I don't want to hear it right now—yes—okay." Kouta rolled his eyes. "Okay, I'll announce it." Kouta cleared his throat and put on his circus announcer voice. "Get our estranged brother his Awesome Cloak of Awesome Restraint and Amazingness. There." He glared at Hiro. "Did I say it right?"
Hiro nodded his head cheerfully. He pulled something from behind the bush: a white, long sleeve garment with straps and bindings. Axel's breath caught in his throat. A straightjacket?
Kally balked, her eyes darting from the jacket to Axel. He could tell she was waiting for an attack signal. He felt terrible that he couldn't issue it any time soon.
"It's specially crafted for you," Kouta assured. As Kouta talked about the straightjacket, Hiro held it up against him, waving a hand at the fabric like the co-star on a game show. "Some mesh lining to keep those nasty claws of yours in check. If you misbehave, we have a muzzle for you too."
This wouldn't be the first time Axel had been put in a muzzle. After Santiago killed Nilley and Frasco and dragged everyone back to the house, Santiago wrestled one onto him until Axel "learned some manners." No one else would fight. Axel remembered hoping his older brother would do something, but Kouta groveled at Santiago's feet like a pathetic mess. That's what he'd been since then: Santiago's spineless lapdog.
The straightjacket was new. The thought made Axel cringe. His instincts told him to run for the woods when he examined the white canvas material. Every muscle in his body screamed at him to move; Axel had to concentrate to remain still.
Near his feet, he could see the red cocoons of Joey and Euna squirm frantically. Each time grass tried to grow in between the binding, the plant would burst into flames. The Song sisters looked a little blue in the face from the way the cloth smothered them.
"This is unnecessary," he lied.
"Like Xibalba it is," Kouta said.
"For Set's sake, Axel, you're like an untrained pitbull. Put the stupid thing on!" Lapis shouted from the roof. Her voice echoed into the night and Axel hoped some Romans would show up and yell at them for disturbing the peace. "Look Hiro even named the fracker something fancy to make Ajax happier."
Hiro folded his arms in his best I'm not talking to you gesture. He stared at Pax, making it clear he wasn't going to sign a word until Pax acknowledged his efforts.
Pax shrugged meekly. He let go of his face and Axel could see where Kouta must have pistol whipped him. His cheek, chin, and jaw were bruised. He glanced at Kally, then back to Hiro. Kally's expression, though terrified, also screamed an exacerbated, your whole family is like this?!
Shakily, Pax smiled. "It's a good name, but it would have been better if you'd stitched it into the jacket." Axel could tell, from the way his yellow and black eyes darted to each family member, that Pax was estimating the best way to talk out of this situation. Axel, meanwhile, was estimating the best way to break Kouta's neck without anyone else dying.
He was out of options. Kouta started to tap gently against the trigger with impatience.
Axel snatched the straightjacket from Hiro. He scowled at Kouta while slipping his arms through the sleeves. The way the material brushed against his chest made it feel like he was putting a coat on backwards. When he shuffled his fingers, he could feel his nails catch against a metallic mesh. There would be no clawing out of this. Axel clenched his jaw and hugged himself, the way he assumed his arms were supposed to be pinned. Panic set in as Hiro latched the straps. Even without applying resistance, he could feel his mobility decrease with each of Hiro's tugs.
Hiro whistled and hopped happily while he worked. Although Kouta looked delighted at Axel's discomfort, Axel had a sneaking suspicion Hiro had come up with the idea.
Once Axel was immobilized, he could see the red slips of cloth peel from Euna and Joey's mouths. Both gasped and coughed.
In the distance, Lapis tried to hop off the roof. As her feet made contact with the ground, roots sprang out and latched around her legs. Lapis yelped, "Stupid tree romping hippies—"
The cloth bindings around Joey and Euna snaked back around their mouths and squeezed.
"Joey! Euna! Stand down," Axel shouted.
They were lucky Kouta hadn't shot one of them, though Kouta seemed content to watch Axel command his troops. Axel knew now was not the time for an escape attempt.
The roots relaxed and Lapis stumbled towards them. Euna's eyes blazed with a hatred that he didn't expected in her. Although Joey should have been preserving her oxygen supplies, Axel could have sworn he heard her huff. Hesitantly, the bindings around their noses relaxed. There were red rub marks under their eyes from how tightly Lapis had squeezed them.
As Lapis came closer, she ignored the Song sister and their attempted grapple. Instead, she adjusted her shoulder sling and snarled at Hiro, "You sorry, grime-licking excuse for a nerf herder!" She pointed at the darts on his suspenders. He slipped his thumbs through the straps and pulled them out, like an agricultural advocate. "You couldn't just shoot the two vine girls and make my life easier?" Lapis demanded.
Hiro grinned and impishly glanced off to the side like I don't know what you're talking about. He released his suspenders and signed towards her.
"Family inclusion my butt!" Lapis cried. "You lazy—"
Kouta sighed in a way that felt WAY too familiar to Axel. "Guys, do you have to do this now?" He gestured vaguely with his gun, to where Kally was scared silent and the Song sisters were tied up on the ground.
Lapis glared at him. "Oh, it is just Axel and Ajax. You don't need to act all menacing. Holy Hun-Batz, I'm pretty sure Ajax would start crying if you stepped on his foot."
"I would not!" Pax shouted indignantly.
Hiro grinned wickedly and swiped the paper from Mama's Sweet out of Pax's pocket.
"My vouchers!" Pax cried. His eyes teared up and Axel sighed. This is why Lapis always picked on him. "Was… was the free ice cream a lie?" he whispered.
Axel would have to ask Pax later where he got those… but Axel had a pretty good guess of who knew to tempt Pax with ice cream fliers, assuming that's why Pax stopped here. The real question was why Pax was dumb enough to believe her.
"Oh, they're real. Dad promised an ice cream social. He said it would be a good way to meet your friends," Kouta said with a grin.
Pax's eyes widened. He forced a laugh. "I guess if you wanted to have a way more difficult time, you could bring all of us. That would mean driving two cars, dealing with how weird Calex smells—"
"Ajax, I'm not letting your friends go." Kouta shrugged. "They're too good a leverage and Dad will want them."
"Besides…" Lapis walked up to Calex and Merry. She knelt beside them and turned Calex's head to see his face, then picked up Merry's head by her hair. Neither so much as mumbled. "I'm sure we could sell either of these for a good sum on the Monster Market or Craig's list."
Rage boiled in Axel's stomach, combing nicely with his panic. He wanted to snarl at Lapis not to touch any of them, but he knew it would only encourage her. He clenched his jaw.
Pax and Kally had both gone pale. She turned the statue behind her back and Axel could tell she would throw it if Lapis hurt Merry. Subconsciously, Pax took a step closer to Kally. Axel hoped Kouta didn't notice or realize why.
Luckily, Kouta's focus was on the others. "How are we going to break them up?" he asked, nodding his chin towards the vans. As he did so, his braids, beads, and feathers fluttered against his leather gun holster.
Hiro giggled as he scampered to Lapis's side. He signed rapidly, and Axel only caught one motion: Hiro held one hand out horizontally and slashed the other vertically beside it. ASL for to slice.
"That's foul," Lapis chuckled. "I don't think Dad will want to need an instructional guide to put them back together Dartface." She released Merry back to the dirt.
Kouta pointed at Merry and Calex. "Mel and I can take those two—"
"You butt-kissing coward," Lapis snarled and stood up. She stormed up to Kouta to get directly in his face. He flinched back. Hiro hopped up and rushed beside her, his long hair weaving after him. The shorter boy mimicked the way Lapis jabbed a hand in Kouta's face until Lapis—without looking—paused to shove Hiro, by the forehead, away.
Kally subtly brought her Argonaut statue level with her hip. She was getting ready to throw. Axel rapidly shook his head at her. Kouta would be able to get at least one shot off before she threw her discus, and that was all he'd need.
"You're not going to get the unconscious ones," Lapis stated. "No! You get the little tree hugging sisters. Mel!"
Kouta didn't have time to argue before someone opened the back of the Pax Pharmaceutical van. Axel could dimly see the figure of a tall man with a staff therein. He knew Mel, one of Santiago's workers and the magician that had been training Lapis since her mother died. Although Axel would kill Mel in a heartbeat since he was one of Santiago's, Axel remembered him being a pretty good guy. He'd at least make sure nothing happened to Merry or Calex until they got back to Santiago's warehouse.
Axel's stomach must have learned how to teleport with how it dropped to the floor. The reality of the situation hit like a tackle from Mrs. O'Leary. This wasn't how Axel wanted to go back. He had Backbiter and the Golden Net to trap Santiago and kill him, but now he was trapped in a loony suit and his siblings would have their friends as hostages. Pax wasn't supposed to be here. Axel had promised himself to never let Santiago near Pax again.
The claustrophobia from the straightjacket threatened to strangle him. We need out, the Leonis Caput snarled. Axel tried to count slowly in his head and control his breathing. If you can't control yourself, you can't control a battlefield, he reminded himself.
While Axel struggled to strategize, Kouta scowled. "Fine," he hissed at Lapis. "Ajax, you help the ginger take these two—" Kouta unpointed the gun from Pax to vaguely gesture at Merry and Calex. "—into your van. Then we're off to see our father."
Hiro hummed out, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and jumped on Pax.
Pax barely had time to brace for impact. In seconds, Hiro had scaled Pax's back and sat on his shoulders, their acrobatic training the only thing that prevented them from toppling over. "Ay!" Pax called and clutched Hiro's shins so he wouldn't drop him. "Hiro, I think you might be like six years too old for this and four jaguars too heavy!" Despite himself, Pax smiled up at their little brother.
In the pharmaceutical van, Mel set his staff down and hopped out. He wore the same burgundy dress shirt as the others, though Axel knew that and his dress pants would be linen. Lapis said it was better for casting magic. She never let that stop her from wearing leather though.
Kouta went to pick up Joey and Mel; Euna. The Song sisters scowled menacingly at them.
Axel hated the idea of splitting up. Santiago would hold Joey and Euna indefinitely if he thought it would prevent any foul play. However, Joey and Euna were resourceful. They were probably more dangerous to Kouta than he was to them.
Hiro straightened his back and raised his chin as best he could, taking hold of Pax's fohawk like the reigns of a stead. His own dark locks fluttered in the wind as he stared seriously off into the sky.
Although Axel was in a straightjacket, out of ideas, and unarmed, a pang of nostalgia clenched his stomach. He and Kouta used to carry the little ones on their shoulders all the time, usually so they could mock battle each other to see who the strongest warrior was. Then the other one would fake a dramatic death and Frasco would run, pick up the winner, and race them around the circus trailers, announcing the victory.
It was stupid to reflect on. They'd never have that again. Though obviously Hiro and Pax would try.
Lapis walked up to them and raised an eyebrow. "Really?" she asked. "Hiro, this isn't helping to put the others in the van."
Hiro mock-spurred Pax by kicking him in the chest and flicking his hair in a giddy up! motion.
Pax whinnied at her, tossing his hair back. Hiro and he giggled until Lapis snagged Pax by the ear. "Ay! Ay! Ay! Axel! Get her off!" he whined.
Kally looked bewildered, like she wasn't sure if this was some warped internet social experiment. "Are we still being abducted?" she asked Axel quietly.
Axel could only sigh. This was exactly the kind of abduction he'd expect from his siblings.
"Yes!" Lapis snapped. At the anger in her voice, Hiro scampered off Pax's back, earning a few more, "Ay!"s.
As much fun as Hiro and Pax were having, Axel knew Kouta would get impatient once he had the Song sisters settled. He hated himself for giving the order, but he nodded his head towards the van. "Kally, it might be best to get Merry in as well as you can."
"Right—right!" Pax said and took a side shuffle away from Lapis and Hiro. "You're bad guys."
Hiro switched to JSL, something Axel struggled to read. But he knew what Hiro would say. He only used JSL to quote his mother, Ms. Iwakura. Axel was pretty sure Hiro didn't know any other JSL other than what Ms. Iwakura said. Even as Hiro signed it, Axel could imagine her milky cheeks contouring as she formed the words, "Rui wa tomo o yobu." [footnote2] The equivalent of the American, birds of a feather flock together.
She used to use it to insult Santiago and his followers.
Axel scowled. He and Pax were not like them.
Hiro's comment drained the playfulness out of Pax. He helped Hiro drag Calex to the van. Axel had to shout at them once so Pax didn't "accidentally" give Calex a concussion on the way in. With regretful hesitation, Pax also picked up the beach towel and tucked Backbiter under one arm.
Maybe, just maybe they'd be able to use this family reunion to their advantage.
Axel walked alongside Kally as she dragged Merry over. He was furious he couldn't help—not that Kally couldn't do it on her own but he felt… utterly useless. And trapped.
Kally looked close to sobbing. Her shoulders quivered and her breath was short. She spent the last hour being threatened by Axel, tricked by Pax, and was now being kidnapped by their psychotic family. Axel and Pax would really have to take Kally out to dinner or Tahiti if they lived through this.
After they put Calex in the back, Hiro scampered into the driver's seat and inspected Luke's controls. Axel was shocked Hiro hadn't tried climbing atop Luke to ride him, but he couldn't imagine what his siblings thought Luke was.
Kally wrapped Merry and Calex back up in sleeping bags and knelt beside Merry to touch her hair. Axel hoped they wouldn't have any adverse side effects from being unconscious so long. He also hoped they'd both managed to use the bathroom while they were still conscious. Not that it mattered now, but he'd gotten this van cleaned before they started this line of quests.
Lapis leaned over the driver's seat from the back to check the longitude and latitude displayed on Luke's control board. "What are you guys going to in the East coast? Is that where you've been hiding?"
"No!" Pax protested. He took a seat on the bench and motioned for Kally to join him. Hesitantly, she sat beside Pax.
The silver lining of being kidnapped: Kally would forget to be as mad at Pax.
Pax waved a hand at Lapis like she'd asked about an off-brand pencil sharpener. "It's just some camp ground with a climbing wall, horseback riding, sing-alongs, expressing your feelings, hugging puppies, and braiding each other's hair. You should go Lapis. You'd fit right in."
Lapis didn't buy it. Before she could stop the reflex—and last time Axel saw her, she had been trying to stop—she puffed up her cheeks and popped them. "You know… your mom never would tell Dad the coordinates to Camp Half-Blood. Can you imagine how happy he'd be to have an unending supply of demigod hearts? Sounds like it would be time for an old school xochiyaoyotl."
A Flower War, Axel translated. A pretty sounding excuse to massacre thousands to the god Huitzilopochtli. [footnote 3]
If Santiago did it properly—if he did it the way Axel had at Camp Othrys—then the victims would be given a fighting chance. Granted, an unfair one with improper weapons, but still a chance.
But Santiago never had liked sticking to traditions.
Axel thought about Jason Grace chained to their oak dining room table, drugged to paralysis but still conscious. The image made him nauseous and Axel was surprised to find he might have grown fond of the former praetor in his day at Camp Half-Blood. If nothing else, Jason Grace deserved the honorable death of a warrior.
Pax folded his arms calmly and pouted. "You're going to be sorely disappointed when you rage warfare against some puppy huggers."
To be fair, from what Axel heard, Percy did hug Mrs. O'Leary a lot. Axel would have to applaud Pax later for keeping his cool so well.
"Shut up Ajax," Lapis mumbled. "Now tell me how this control panel works."
"You just told me to shut—"
Lapis turned to swipe at Pax's ear. Pax yelped and went to hide behind Kally. When she went rigid and he realized that she couldn't tell their family's play from their family's threatening, he popped right back up beside her.
As Pax explained, in the most confusing manner possible, how to direct Luke on both auto-pilot—where the coordinates did all the work—or on manual mode—where you had to turn the wheel for look and shift donkey gears—Axel caught Kally's eye.
He wanted to assure her that he'd get them out of this or at least that he had a plan. A tiny whisper in the back of his head cooed that he should say, I'm sorry. That would only scare her. What he said to her earlier that night felt so much more correct: you should be scared.
Kally nodded to his straightjacket and mouthed, Are you alright?
Not even an hour ago he'd threatened to kill her. As much as that made Axel feel like an even worse friend, that also made him question Kally's priorities.
Axel grated his claws against the metallic mesh. Everything was so confined. If Aphrodite decided to show up, he wouldn't be able to do anything but insult her clothing choices. To prevent panic and accidentally enticing the goddess, Axel tried to focus on his breathing again. He nodded to Kally, wishing he could assure her in some way.
Kouta stepped into their van. Although Axel refused to flinch, Kally did.
When he couched to avoid clunking his head, the feathers, beads, and braids tumbled forward. The bigger revolver, The Judge, was back in its shoulder holster, the less powerful one was pointed aimlessly at the floor. He surveyed the scene and Axel could tell what he was taking note of: how Lapis and Hiro left Axel and Kally completely unattended.
Instead of scolding Lapis, like Axel expected, Kouta crouched closer to Axel. His dark eyes narrowed. Axel bet Kouta was conflicted. If Kouta brought Axel back, that meant Kouta would be rewarded, but Axel would swear on the River Styx that Kouta had been getting a lot more attention from Santiago since Axel ran away and that would disappear.
Kouta fished around in his pocket and withdrew a golden cigarette package with the initials B&H at the top. It was a British brand that Kouta and he used to sneak from one of the carnies. Kouta tapped out two rolls.
"How does it feel to fail two sets of troops Axel? First the army that was slaughtered at Mount Othrys, now this little ragtag team of kids?" Kouta slipped one cigarette into his mouth and placed the other between Axel's lips.
Destroy him, snarled the Leonis Caput.
For once, they were in agreement. Wait, he hissed to himself. He resisted the urge to tear off Kouta's fingers, instead pressing the cig's filter with his lips.
"Ah, look-" Pax said, "-the villain comes in to jeer at the heroes and—well—uh—antiheroes…" Pax fumbled while gesturing to himself and Axel. Hiro snickered from the front and clapped his hands. Lapis looked annoyed.
Pax crossed his fingers. "Maybe to grant them an attempted escape with his carelessness?" he added.
Kouta made a rude gesture towards Pax, one that Axel didn't need sign language to read. He then withdrew a lighter from his pocket. "You're not going to be Dad's favorite anymore, you know that right? You screwed up two too many times."
He flicked the lighter out, lit the tip of his cigarette, then held it under Axel's. Axel took a drag, feeling the fumes twist over his tongue and into his lungs. The taste was wonderful, especially to quell his anxiety. [footnote 4]
If he could get Kouta to lean a little closer…
Pax made a disgruntled sound in the background. Axel ignored it. He tried not to smoke around Pax, but this was an important opportunity.
Axel rolled the cigarette to the corner of his mouth and pinched it with his lips so he could speak with a slur. "I never wanted to be Dad's favorite," he growled. Being the favorite meant more beatings, more lashings, more expectations, more manipulation. It meant Santiago admired Axel's will and wanted to break it like the impulse to shatter Plexiglas. It meant that Santiago saw something in Axel that reminded Santiago of when he was younger. That fact disgusted Axel more than the smell of Aphrodite's perfume. And her perfume reeked.
Although sneering at Kouta wasn't hard, he made the expression as pompous as he could. "Maybe he always knew I was better than you, that I had something you lacked. Like a spine," Axel hissed.
Kouta froze. Those dark eyes blazed. As though trying to show his indifference, Kouta casually tapped his ashes onto Axel's face. Axel tried not to flinch. The flakes singe his cheeks. Without a word, Kouta leaned forward to blow his smoke directly into Axel's face.
Once Kouta was close enough, Axel lunged forward to tear out his throat.
Axel's fangs sank through cloth, but not Kouta's throat—Kouta must have twisted. Blood gushed into his mouth. Axel had bit through to skin.
Kouta tried to rip free. Axel didn't release him, instead jerking his jaw to the side to tear out some flesh.
The pop of a gun shrieked and reverberated through the small confinement.
The world went white.
Kally screamed in the distance.
Pax and Lapis shouted.
Everything was muted, like he was underwater. For an instant, Axel thought about when his chiich would take him and his siblings to the river on hot Belizean days. They were really little then—Hiro was just a toddler. They'd play and splash around in the green tinted water with the Caribbean sun beating on their backs. Kouta and he would watch over the little ones and make sure they were okay, teasing them—half serious—about coral snakes, crocodiles, warries, jaguars, and ocelots.
Kouta and he would push each other around and plan pranks for the little ones and for the poor Catholic missionary who ran their primary school. They'd scheme how to steal or mess the other's green school uniform so the teacher, and then later Chiich, would give the other a whipping. They'd discuss how to beat the snot out of other children for making fun of Hiro's eyes or how pale Pax was.
All fun and games.
In the present, Axel must have taken a step back. He didn't remember the motion, but he felt the bench press into the back of his knee.
The image of eleven-year-old Kouta's sly smile faded. Now, all he could see was a twenty-one-year-old slime bag clutching at the chunk missing from his shoulder. Kouta's jaw gaped with shock. He glanced down at Axel's torso, then back at Axel's face. Like a child coming up with excuses, he babbled, "You—you bit me—"
With the ringing from the gun, Kouta's voice still sounded far away.
Axel felt something wet and hot soaking into his shirt and straightjacket, both on his back and his front. He didn't look down; he didn't want to waste the energy.
He knew he needed to save it when the Leonis Caput roared, and we're not done with you yet.
Thanks for reading!:D
Footnotes:
1 I cry laughed every time I had to read over this line. I know the buildup is there, but no matter how dramatic anything is, I will never take Axel Pax screaming, "That's no ice cream shop!" seriously. All I can think is, "That's no moon!"
2 類は友を呼ぶ. Yea, I don't read or speak Japanese… but here's the Japanese! I hope!
3 Just noting that the Flower Wars are more an Aztec thing, but you'll see Santiago mixes elements of Aztec and Mayan
4 Don't smoke kids. There's a reason this stuff is addictive. Okay, I said my disclaimer. *glares* But don't do drugs. You'll make Pax sad, and then he'll get all blubbery and he won't be able to be a proper hero.
