Chapter 38

Axel had fallen asleep sometime in the wee hours of the morning along with Sora and they were whisked off to bed together by Sephiroth and Marluxia. The two men returned to Sephiroth's office where an extremely upset Demyx was being comforted by Zexion. Cloud, still sitting in front of his computer, yawned into his sixth cup of coffee. The air was melancholic, tense, and dark. Sephiroth wasn't exactly pleased he was getting involved in something that had nothing to do with him but he decided to keep his protests to himself and help his boss out and possibly earn himself a nice raise or a bonus in his next paycheck. This was work, nothing personal. Demyx heaved another sob and pressed his face into Zexion's chest.

"Why does this keep happening?" the sandy blonde cried. His partner didn't have an answer for him and simply rubbed his back. Marluxia sat next to them and crossed his arms angrily.

"I'm tired of this. I blame Namine," he huffed. "She has to be involved somehow."

"I hear you on that and I agree," Cloud added through the monitors. Tifa's hand appeared from off screen with a coffee pot and refilled his mug. "According to the police, someone paid her bail last night. I'm betting it wasn't Roxas."

"Did they find anything at the smoothie place?" Zexion asked, the blonde shook his head.

"Just his Blackberry. It was empty otherwise," he responded. Zexion sighed. Demyx pushed away from him and sniffled loudly, rubbing at his eyes. Marluxia tapped his foot quietly, glaring into the floor.

"If Nami is free, d'you think she'll take whoever to the house?" Demyx asked. Cloud's hands stopped typing as he thought it over. Sephiroth slid his chair to his desk and pulled up another screen of incomprehensible drabble with a click of his mouse. His fingers started to work away at the keyboard.

"Address and security code," he demanded and Cloud started to typing again. There was a beep and a box popped up. "I assume the system is ours?" the silver haired man asked and the blonde nodded.

"Of course it is. He's family," he chided and Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

"Silly me," he said flatly. Cloud smirked. After a few more minutes of typing and a few clicks of the mouse, the image of Cloud shrunk to one screen and a series of views of the outside entrances of the manor appeared. "You don't have any cameras inside? That's not very smart," he said with the shake of his head and Cloud shrugged.

"You can pull up anyone's camera system right here at your desk?" Marluxia questioned with a raised brow.

"Anyone within our company's server, yes. I don't normally do this though but I have the capability to. I can do it in my office at the corporate building as well."

"That's unsettling."

"Most modern security centers have the ability to do it when you think about it. Maybe not this clearly but once you're hooked into their system they can tell who comes and goes by way of forced locks or keypads. Our monitoring center is a little more advanced than most others, as we expanded into cameras and visual media, but it's an optional feature," Sephiroth offered. "Apparently Roxas' home uses keypads, laser cut keys, and fingerprinting which should make things a little easier to identify specific people. Alright," he started. The image of the front entrance rewound itself to the night before. "Cloud, you getting this?"

"Yep," the blonde said, he crossed his arms and reclined in his seat watching his own monitor closely. The video played at a relatively quick pace and the view showed Roxas leading Rikku by the hand out the front entrance followed shortly by his parents and Xigbar. Less than an hour of inactivity passed and Reno and Paine could be seen being greeted by Zexion. Several more hours of nothingness passed and the staff could be seen leaving at regular intervals, locking up behind them. Reno and Paine left a few hours after that. Before the part where Axel and Sora decided to leave a figure dressed completely in white moved to the front and peered into the windows. Sephiroth froze the feed.

"I wonder how long he was there," Demyx said. "I don't remember seeing anyone when Zexxy and I left," he looked to Marluxia who shrugged. "He blends with the snow pretty well though." The various camera angles weren't enough to identify the figure as he was hooded and had the fabric pulled low over his eyes. Sephiroth inched the frames along slowly until the mysterious man decided to leave, which was all of maybe five minutes later. As he was leaving though, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and pulled out a small device and started talking into it. He disappeared from the camera view and not twenty minutes later, Axel and Sora left. Sephiroth let the feed run its course and sat back in his chair with furrowed brows, thinking.

"I'm going to send this to the police," Cloud said abruptly and started working away at his keyboard again. Sephiroth went to go make everyone some coffee and Demyx leaned against Zexion who was imitating Marluxia's sour expression and angry glaring at the floor. Tifa appeared behind Cloud again and watched over his shoulder. She muttered something inaudible and he nodded. He finished typing and got up and left. There was a beeping and he could be heard talking in the distance though no one understood what he was saying. The doorbell rang to Sephiroth's home and the man's boots clunked against the floor as he went to answer it. Shortly afterward, Reno and Paine came into the office.

"Hello everyone," Reno said. "What can we do to help?"

"Make sure Axel and Sora have some moral support," Zexion said. "Other than that, you'd have to ask Sephiroth." Tifa sat in Cloud's chair and put on the headset. She waved at the camera.

"Hi Reno," she said and smiled warmly. "Who's your friend there?" Paine stepped forward and tried to smile for the woman.

"I'm Paine," she said. Tifa nodded.

"Axel needs all the friends he can get right now, this really messed him up. I'm not sure what Sora's take on it all is, but I'm sure they need you both. They're sleeping somewhere if you want to join them, I believe Cloud and Sephiroth have it covered from this angle." Reno and Paine looked to each other and left the office quietly.

***

The cell was all too familiar to Roxas. The biggest difference between this one and the one he and Axel had been in before was the lighting and the lack of dead bodies. It was brightly lit with florescent bulbs flickering away in the ceiling with concrete walls and concrete floors. This one had a drain in the middle of the floor and was much smaller giving the blonde the impression that it had been a shower room or something at one point. The door was metal, and locked. The only form of ventilation was a tiny grate in one corner of the ceiling and they had a light switch. Both blondes were chained to the walls with large anchors keeping them in place and shackles with padlocks. Only Rikku had her ankles duct taped together and she grunted as she inched along the ground like a caterpillar.

"Did you want some help?" Roxas asked with a raised brow. He was still in his loafers, dress shirt and nice slacks he had gone to dinner in.

"No no, I'm cool," she said and scrunched herself up so her knees were pulled under her. Her biggest complication was her dress and she kept having slip around to keep her legs from tangling in it. She kicked her heels off and gained her footing and was able to hoist herself into a sitting position and she wiggled around in the fabric to settle it. Rikku smiled some, satisfied with her feat. "See? All good."

"Alright," the boy said and eyed the puddle of vomit in the far corner as it slowly congealed onto the floor. It was oozing towards the drain. They couldn't smell the odor from it anymore and for that he was thankful, it made it less embarrassing. "I'm sorry you had to get roped into this. It wasn't exactly my intention."

"How many times have you been kidnapped exactly?"

"This will make number two."

"Oh. Well at least you're a veteran," she said jokingly. Roxas smiled a little.

"You don't seem very upset."

"What are they going to do? Rape me? I can't get pregnant and I don't allow myself to be intimidated by sex. They could always kill me I suppose but even then once it's done, what do I care? I don't have much fear for stuff like that," she said simply. "I like pain too much to let that affect me as well."

"You can't get pregnant and you like pain?"

"Yeah. When I told Axel that I was 'safe' that's what that means. I had my tubes tied last fall and I can't have babies, so I can have all the sex I want. I can indulge myself in bondage too if I can find someone other than Sephiroth who's willing," she giggled. Roxas' eyes widened some. Rikku was apparently completely different in her private affairs and yet so happy and delightful when she was in public that it was unsettling. It didn't change who she was to Roxas but she was definitely categorized differently in his mind.

"But you said you like babies."

"I do, and I can adopt if I ever want to be a mom," she said. Roxas furrowed his brows together trying to comprehend her mentality. "Don't get me wrong, Roxas, I'm totally not happy to be here and I would rather be in my bed sleeping but I'm not going to get hysterical about it because that's probably what they want. I've watched enough crime dramas to understand that much."

"I just hope you're prepared enough to see some of the things I have in the recent past. It goes beyond rape and kidnapping, Rikku. I can't even fathom what they'll do to us this time."

"Well, I'll react when I see it. But right now, it's not freak out worthy for me."

"You're lucky."

"I like to think so." There was a loud banging on the door and the metal burst inward to show an overly happy Riku with a bucket in his hands. He grinned at the room before noticing the pair sitting together in the corner. His face went placid.

"Aw, and here I was thinking you guys would be asleep so I could wake you up. What am I going to do with this water?" he asked. He sniffed the air and crinkled his nose looking to the vomit in the corner. He walked the few steps to it and upended the bucket onto the floor, washing most of the mess towards the drain. He shrugged. "Don't say I didn't do you any favors, Roxxy."

"You haven't," Roxas said and gave him a glare.

"Oh ho! Feisty!" the silver haired boy grinned and looked down to Rikku. "How're you doing little cutie? I'm Riku."

"Oh really? Me too!" she squeaked happily and reciprocated his grin. His smile faded and he looked to Roxas with a suspicious face.

"Really Roxxy? You had to substitute me with a woman? Whatever happened to that other one? What was his name? Alex?"

"Axel," the boy said and Riku snapped his fingers.

"That's right, I forgot. I'm so absentminded sometimes. But seriously? She doesn't even have the right hair or eye color. You didn't pick a very good look alike," he said mirthfully, giving the girl a once over. In the back of her mind, Rikku came to the realization that this was the voice that was with Roxas when she first woke up. She wasn't panicking yet, but it was an important tidbit to remember.

"I can't help that I'm cuter than you," she jabbed. Riku raised a brow and laughed. Roxas cast the girl a wary gaze.

"I like you," he said. "I like you a lot. How's about you and me have some fun? I can guarantee I'm much better than Roxas." Rikku looked thoughtful.

"No thanks. Roxas is pretty great; I think I'll be fine with just him."

"Did you just tell me 'no?'" Riku's face darkened. Rikku's eyebrows slid up her forehead.

"I did. Is that like your hot button or something?"

"Be quiet, Rikku," Roxas blurted, giving her a worried look. Riku reared back and laughed. Suddenly the noise stopped and a split second later his shoe came up and connected with the girl's jaw. Rikku fell back against Roxas's shoulder. The blonde sneered at the older boy and swung his right leg over his left, kicking him in the side of his knee. Riku let out a surprised yelp as his leg buckled. He steadied himself quickly, backing away a step.

"Oh Roxxy…" Riku cooed. He rubbed his knee a bit before straightening. "Bad move."

***

Axel's eyes slid open to a view of brown hair mixed with red. He registered that the brown hair was Sora but it took him a moment to realize the red wasn't his own but Reno's. The shorter redhead's arm was around Sora and draped onto Axel's waist. A small feminine hand was on top of the arm as well and Axel felt Paine pressed up against him from behind. Everyone was sleeping soundly. He blinked a few times and lifted his head to look around for a clock. He couldn't find one in the immediate radius of his vision and sighed. He laid his face against the pillow again and tried not to let his mind wander. Paine's hand slid away and she smoothed it up and down Axel's back.

"Good afternoon," she said quietly. He raised a brow and she backed away, letting him turn over as peacefully as he could to face her. She gave him a small smile.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked in a whisper.

"Seph called us and brought us up to speed."

"Oh," Axel felt a tightness in his chest as he thought about the current circumstances. He wondered where Roxas was. "Any progress?" The dark eyed girl shrugged lightly.

"We were sent in here basically right when we got here," she dug in her pocket and pulled out her phone, checking the time. "Which was about four hours ago," she continued. "It's almost two."

"That late already?" Axel groaned and rubbed his face with his palms. His stomach let out an upset gurgle and he sighed. Paine watched him carefully. "I need to figure out what's going on," he said.

"Sora doesn't like girls, right?" she asked. Axel nodded. "Then I should probably go with you so I don't traumatize him." They shifted around and quietly eased themselves out of the open side of the bed and headed into the house. Everyone was still in Sephiroth's office. Cloud could be seen on the monitors still but was not where he was supposed to be. He was in his bed and looked to be sleeping. Tifa was at the computer though, typing away with the headset on. Sephiroth was spread out on his couch with his back to the pair when they entered. He was asleep as well. Demyx, Marluxia, and Zexion were sitting on the floor together playing cards. Coffee mugs and dishes littered the room, giving Axel the impression they had been working for a while. The alert trio turned to them. Marluxia and Demyx waved. Zexion stood and headed to the desk pulling close to the microphone.

"Axel's awake," he said quietly and Tifa raised a brow, smiling. The redhead waved hello to everyone and went to the slate-haired man's side.

"Hi Axel sweetie," she whispered. He tried to smile at her but the tightness in his chest made it difficult. "The police couldn't find anything at the smoothie place but got a fingerprint off of Roxas' Blackberry. We sent them some surveillance videos and they're trying to track down a man who was obviously watching the house for quite some time. Namine is out of holding and we can't find her and they won't say who paid her bail but we have a feeling that it was either Xemnas or Riku. Cloud was able to convince the investigators to put in a missing persons report earlier than they normally would but we haven't had any other clues as to where anyone is. You now know what we do. There's little progress and we can kind of form a timeline but it's difficult. Do you have any ideas?"

"Did you check with the place they ate at? Do they have some cameras or something?" he asked. Tifa shook her head.

"Unless you can give us the name of the place, we don't have much," she said. Axel shook his head.

"I don't know where it was. Xigbar was the only one up to speed."

"What about the picture?" Paine interrupted. Axel turned to her. "The one of Roxas' parents that Rikku sent to Reno? It may have something in the background they could use." The redhead blinked and turned to Tifa again.

"Or better yet, could you find where Rikku's cell phone signal came from like you did for Roxas'? It looked like they were getting ready to leave when she took it." Tifa nodded and took off the headset and went to go wake up Cloud. Axel turned to Paine and grabbed the girl, hugging her to his chest. "Thank you for being so damn smart," he said. She hugged him lightly.

"You're welcome," she said. On the monitors, they watched the dark haired woman smack the blonde on the leg and heard him grumble angrily at her. Apparently Cloud was a heavy sleeper because the woman had to sit on him and shake him to get him to be anywhere near coherent. He said a few more angry incomprehensible sentences before hooking his arm around her waist and pulling her down onto the bed and off screen with him. She laughed and kicked at him, slowly pushing him backwards until he tipped over the edge of the mattress and landed on the floor. Axel raised a brow at the scene. The blonde lay still for a few minutes before groggily pushing himself upright, rubbing his face. Tifa stepped over him calmly and walked past the computer, a door was heard closing. Zexion sighed and shook his head, heading back to the card game. A few moments later, Cloud was able to drag himself to plop back into his seat. He put the headset on.

"Sorry," he muttered. Axel shrugged. "What am I doing?" Axel explained again and gave him Rikku's phone number. Cloud nodded and started to type. The redhead sat in Sephiroth's chair and Paine sat on his knee. He had the urge to pull her back to lie against his chest like he normally did with Roxas, but he stopped himself. Paine wasn't Roxas. He rubbed his eyebrows between his thumb and index finger and took a deep breath. He tugged on a piece of his hair to drag his mind away with the images of all the things he knew Riku could be doing to the blonde. The longer he tried to distract himself, the harder it was for him to ignore his anger. Tifa reappeared and handed Cloud another mug of coffee. "It says that the last message she sent at around nine last night came from a parking garage attached to 'L'endroit De Nourriture' a French place a short ways away from one of Clear Meadows' hotels." He clicked a few more buttons. "I'll have to check but it may be one of the restaurants that's owned by Roxas' company, actually. If that's the case, things just got way easier," he said. Everyone in the room, save for the sleeping Sephiroth perked up immediately. "Okay wait, hang on…" the blonde drifted and squinted at his screen. "I haven't done this in a while, this is Sephiroth's thing," he said. He grumbled. "You know what? Just wake him up; I don't remember how to do this." Paine stepped off of Axel's knee and walked calmly to the sleeping man. She nudged him gently and stroked his hair. Eventually he stirred and blinked, squinting against the light.

"We need you," she said quietly and he took a deep breath through his nose before pushing himself up and rubbing his eyes. Axel got up from his seat and the man sat heavily.

"Do the surveillance thing again with… this place," Cloud said and clicked his mouse some before a box appeared on Sephiroth's side with the address and security code. The silvery man yawned and stared to lazily poke at his keyboard. After waking up a moment he settled back and started to type at his normal pace.

"Which ones? They have over twenty cameras in the restaurant and a dozen in the parking garage," he asked. Cloud sighed. "I'll start with the ones by the main entrance. When did they leave for dinner?"

"Like sevenish?" Axel said. Sephiroth brought up four different cameras all showing the main entrance in several different angles. They watched a series of people come through the door and the man stopped it quickly when Roxas showed up with Xigbar. They checked in, and left again, coming back with Rikku and Roxas' parents shortly thereafter. Paine watched Axel closely from the couch. The redhead stared at the monitors intently with narrowed and determined eyes. Sephiroth tapped away quickly at the keys trying to weed through unnecessary cameras and keep to the ones that followed the group through the dining hall and back into a private area. Xigbar sat outside and started to read a magazine while the dinner progressed. There wasn't a camera in the private seating area. Waiters came in and out calmly, showing there wasn't any sign of anything strange happening inside.

"Wow, that's a lot of wine," Cloud remarked. Sephiroth smirked. Axel's face remained serious. Demyx, Marluxia and Zexion joined Paine on the couch, watching the redhead more than the video. Sephiroth sped things up and the two hour dinner passed and they watched Roxas and Xigbar lug the blonde's parents out of the room and back into the parking garage. Cloud was rubbing his face and shaking his head at the sight.

"They really were plastered," Axel said. "The picture Rikku sent us had nothing on this."

"How awful would it be if I leaked this to the media?" Sephiroth asked with an amused smile.

"It's probably why Roxas chose there to eat to begin with, because the reporters would be kept at bay for serious if the boss man was showing up, yeah?" Demyx said. "That, and he likes French food." Zexion rolled his eyes. Demyx glared at him. "What? I get paid to know this crap," he huffed. Sephiroth chuckled and pulled up the string of cameras that led out to where the limousine was parked. After throwing the parents into the back, Roxas and Rikku followed in calmly.

Xigbar stood outside the driver's door and lit up a cigarette. He took out his Blackberry and fiddled with it. A small projectile stuck into his leg and he jumped, pulling the little thing out and looking it over in his hand. He scanned the lot quickly before dropping his Blackberry on the ground and falling forward limply, crashing into cement.

"Holy shit," Axel said.

"Was that a dart? Like a tranquilizer dart?" Cloud asked with furrowed brows. "Like someone would use on an elephant?" Sephiroth shrugged and watched. A nearby plain looking car jiggled as the trunk opened fully. The figure in white appeared again, pulling Xigbar away by his arm, behind a couple of cars. He reentered the vehicle, pulling the trunk door low and nearly twenty minutes passed without any activity. The door to the back of the limo opened again and Roxas stepped out. A lump formed in Axel's throat as he fought the urge to yell at the screen and tell the blonde to get back in.

Roxas looked around in front of him and to the sides, scanning the cars and no doubt looking for Xigbar. He pulled out his Blackberry and started to poke at it when Rikku poked her head out of the open door. The blonde turned and talked to her for a moment, keeping a steady hand on her shoulder but she brushed him off and stepped out anyway. Roxas shook his head and held the device up to his ear. Rikku spun around and walked around the back of the limo. Roxas watched her closely before he startled and lunged forward, yelling to her before she stopped abruptly and pulled a dart out of her leg. She fell to the ground quickly. Roxas didn't have any time to react as another dart flew into his shoulder and he looked at it before falling aside as well, Blackberry sliding away a few feet from his hand. Axel's eyes were wide.

The figure in white hopped out of the trunk of his car again and walked calmly to the blondes, looking them over. He pocketed Roxas' phone and did the same with Xigbar's. He walked around the limousine and stuck his face in the open door to the back and shook his head before closing it. He lifted Rikku easily off the concrete and dragged her to the car, tossing her in the trunk. He did the same with Roxas, dumping him on top of the girl and slammed the trunk shut. The car jiggled again as another, much larger figure in white got out of the front seat and the two men talked briefly before the smaller one opened the back door and brought out a case. The larger man went back where the smaller had dragged Xigbar off to and hefted his unconscious form back towards the limousine. He opened the back door again and shoved the man inside, closing it again.

The smaller man was clicking something together in the case while the larger took the driver's seat and started the car. He held a long tube in his hand and closed the case, replacing it in the back seat of their vehicle. He walked to the limousine calmly and opened the door again. While he was doing this, the car pulled out of the parking space and idled, waiting. The smaller man twisted the tube and tossed it inside the limo, slamming the door quickly and jogging back to the plain car. He leapt into the front seat and they sped away, leaving tire tracks.

"No…" Cloud said quietly as he watched with wide, horrified eyes as a few inactive seconds passed. The back door flung open again and a frantic Larxene stumbled halfway out before the car jostled violently and the windows blew outward in a small explosion. The cars around them shook with the vibration and many of their lights started to flash, showing their alarms going off. The cabin belched smoke out of the shattered windows and the open door. Larxene lay motionless with her lower half still inside the cabin.

Everything was silent as the entire group watched the smoke spill out of the vehicle. It took over ten minutes before people started to show, frantically screaming at one another and whipping out cell phones, jabbering into the receivers like they weren't the only ones talking to the fire department. Sephiroth stopped the feed. They all watched the frozen scene for another long moment before Demyx let out a wail and buried his face in his hands, his shoulders shaking as he sobbed. Axel's mouth was open in disbelief, as was Marluxia's and Paine's. Zexion was snapped out of his stunned state and pulled Demyx into his lap, laying his cheek against his back and looking away from the screen. Cloud slammed his fist onto his desk and threw his headset off, storming away from his monitors.

"I'll send it to the police," Sephiroth said quietly and started typing.

"No one is at the house to answer the phones," Axel said, his eyes fixed on the screen still. "They may have been trying to tell us for hours and no one's been there to answer. Oh god…" he said and rubbed his face.

***

Roxas grunted as his front was slammed into the wall. Rikku groaned uncomfortably from her position on the floor and tried to pick herself up again. Riku had the boy standing and pinned into the opposite corner by way of pressing his entire body against the blonde's back. Being the height that he was and having his hands kept behind his back already, Roxas could feel the beginnings of an erection slowly spread itself through the front of the older boy's pants underneath his fingers. His heart sped up as Riku leaned his face close behind his ear and let out a breathy laugh into his neck that made the blonde's skin crawl.

"Don't fight too much now, I might like it," he said as his throat let out a low chuckle. Riku's hands felt up the sides of the blonde's torso, smoothing down the wrinkles of his shirt and moving lower.

Roxas was used to feeling Riku's hands on him in ways he didn't want them to be and he was able to ignore them enough to let himself think. He closed his hands into fists and used his hips to push backwards against the taller boy. Riku grunted as he moved back and few inches and Roxas was able to move forward swiftly before jutting backwards again, effectively punching the other in the groin. Riku yelped and staggered backwards, holding himself. It wasn't as much force as Roxas would have liked but it was enough to deter the other boy long enough for him to slip away and move to the other side of the cell near the girl. Riku quickly recovered from his ball tap and stalked towards the blonde again. Rikku had managed to sit up again and ducked behind Roxas' legs.

"So you think you're tough shit now that you have a girl to protect, Roxxy?" Riku growled. He made a grab for the blonde again but Roxas stooped low under his arms. His calf screamed against the strain but he ducked his head thrust himself forward again, head butting Riku in the ribs. The other boy coughed loudly and fell backwards onto his butt holding his chest, trying to catch the breath that was knocked from him. The blonde struggled to stand again and staggered to him. Taking a note from his sister, he hoped his shoes were hard enough as he raised his left leg and brought it down on the other boy's groin, putting all his weight into the motion. Riku screamed and grabbed onto the limb with suddenly weak fingers. Roxas easily pulled his leg away and readjusted himself before bringing his foot down a second time. Riku's scream caught in his throat and he squeaked before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped to the side. Roxas fell to his knees, teeth grit against the pain in his calf.

"I'm going to hate myself in the morning," he panted. He inched his way to the other boy's side and felt his pockets. No keys. "Damn. That was a waste," he said quietly. Rikku gaped at him.

"That was awesome Roxas!" she squeaked and grinned. There was a cut on her chin she didn't seem to notice. The blonde shrugged and used his good leg to pull himself over to her.

"Too bad he's going to wake up and beat the hell out of me," he said calmly. "I have terrible legs, if you didn't already know. My left one is dead at this point. Now, if I had use of my arms it would be a different story, I would've just punched him until he stopped breathing."

"Yeah? I can't fight for shit."

"Neither can Riku. He's too spoiled. He hires people to do his dirty work, so he can't really take very good care of himself in tight situations. The only reason I haven't been able to beat him before is because he always managed to either subdue my arms or have someone else help him. But I've been working with my personal trainer since the last time and I was able to muster that much out of my leg, but I don't have much left for another round. Sorry."

"No problem! Don't worry about it. He's starting to bleed, so maybe he'll head off to the hospital when he wakes up and you can recover. You can borrow my heels and make it more of a stab rather than a stomp next time," she giggled. Roxas leaned over and looked at the front of Riku's pants. A blotch of red was starting to form, just like she had said. After a few moments of silence, the silver haired boy started to stir. Roxas tensed and Rikku leaned on him.

"Fuck…" Riku groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. He slowly remembered he was supposed to be angry at someone and his eyes narrowed on the blonde, brows coming together in a scowl. He made to clamber up quickly and hissed through his teeth, grabbing himself as pain shot through his whole being. That's when he noticed the blood. He yelped and frenzied eyes flicked to Roxas and back to his groin. "What did you do to me?!" he yelled.

"With any luck? I moved your testicles elsewhere," the blonde said simply. Riku gaped at him and tried to stand. He didn't get very far before he collapsed to the floor again and was reduced to crawling his way to the door. He let out a pained, high pitched yelp as he pulled the door open and made his way down a short hallway. He dragged himself through another door and around the corner.

"You know what I just realized?" Rikku asked.

"What's that?"

"The door doesn't lock from the inside."

"It doesn't matter; we're still chained to the walls."

"I know but I feel sort of stupid for not realizing it before. He left everything open, too. I can see a couch."

"Really?" Roxas squinted, leaning around the girl and peering down the hall. There was an arm of a lather sofa as well as a lamp through the furthest door. "Huh. Weird. Either they're not taking this seriously or there's something else we don't know. He seems too lax about this. Too confident."

"You think so? Or do you just think he's stupid?"

"Well yes I think he's stupid but not stupid enough to leave his victims with an escape route. There's something more out there that we can't see, I'm sure." There was a beeping noise of a phone dialing and a brief silence. It was in the distance and barely audible but the conversation made Roxas pale and swell with sudden fear.

"Dad?" Riku strained, "how close are you? I need your help."

"Oh shit," the blonde said and Rikku turned to look at him. She startled at the obvious dread in his expression.

"Dad is bad?" she asked.

"Dad is very bad," he answered.

"How bad?"

"You have no idea and I would like to keep it that way."

"Oh come on, if he's as stupid as that guy was, we'll be fine."

"You… you don't understand, Rikku. I can't even explain how awful this just turned. You'll just have to take my word for it and when he gets here, don't piss him off. He'll already be angry with me, but just sit in the corner and don't say anything. Please. I'm begging you," he pleaded with her as his speaking sped up and he became more nervous. Rikku's eyes widened.

"Okay Roxas, okay. Calm down. I promise," she said soothingly. The blonde nodded and leaned back against the wall trying to slow his heart. "Can you try to undo my ankles?" she asked and shifted so her feet were near him. He turned and searched the tape blindly for the end, it was in an odd place and it took him a moment but he was able to get a fingernail under the adhesive and start to pull. Rikku pulled her legs in the opposite direction and the tape unraveled slowly. "Thanks," she sighed when she was free. Roxas balled the tape up and set it aside. Rikku stretched her legs wide and smiled. "I feel so much better."

"Good. But you may want to keep those closed so you don't invite anyone unwanted in," he warned. She shrugged. He sighed and shook his head. Another short wait later and there was a loud bang as another door flew inward and into the wall.

"Riku!" Xemnas called. Roxas' face paled further and his eyes widened.

"Don't touch him sir," another voice said calmly. "I'll take him to the hospital; you stay here with our guests."

"What's wrong with him?" Namine said. Roxas gasped.

"Namine!" he called before he could stop himself.

"Roxxy?" she asked and her shadow moved across the far wall. She appeared in the doorway and tilted her head confusedly at him, coming forward. She looked around the cell and eyed the two sitting together. "What're you doing here?" she asked.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"Cupcake paid my bail."

"Hi! I'm Rikku!" the blonde girl chirped happily. Namine raised a brow at her.

"Where are we?" Roxas asked.

"Xemnas' house," his sister replied. "Where's your fag buddy? I thought he was like your lap dog or something, never left your side."

"Not here, thankfully. You have to help us."

"Like you helped me? Sure! I can leave you here to rot."

"Namine…"

"No Roxas, I'm done. I'm finished with your bullshit," she huffed, mocking him.

"Namine," Xemnas interjected. He slowly appeared behind her as he came forward. He snaked an arm around her bulbous waist and laid a kiss on her temple. She giggled.

"Yes, Cupcake?"

"Be an angel and leave me to deal with our guests," he purred into her ear with a smile. She grinned.

"Sure. I'll wait for you in bed," she turned on her heel and walked around him, down the hall, and closed the far door behind her.

"You're really tall," Rikku said and the man narrowed his eyes on her, face turning cold and stone-like. She didn't seem deterred.

"Xemnas," Roxas said, attracting his gaze away from the girl. "What do you want from me?"