Chapter Fourteen:

Last Call for Love

I probably should have gone to my own room. But I felt…mortal.

Vulnerable.

I wanted to see her. Because it might be the last time.

She was laying on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest and staring blankly at the ceiling. I could make out trails on her cheeks, the paths left by tears that had long since dried. I could only come to one conclusion.

"You've heard the news, then?"

"About Demyx?" Her voice was almost dead, toneless. "Yeah."

"He was a good guy," Was about all I could come up with. Honestly? I felt horrible. But I think I was also still angry with him. Jealous, perhaps. She was obviously hung up over his death.

"I liked him," There you have it. I didn't comment about it, though. He was gone. What more was there to say? I figured I should at least try to be kind to his memory. I wished that I'd been kinder to him, made up. I felt regret. Another emotion. One that I could do without.

"I had a question for you," She had sat up, dropping the pillow. Her gaze was steady. Whatever the question was, it was serious.

"I heard you were full of questions, today."

"From Naminé?"

"Yeah. Anyway, shoot."

"Naminé said you were very close to Roxas. Xigbar's interpretation was that you were gay together. Does that make you a pedophile? He's Sora's age, right? Fifteen?"

At first, I didn't know how to respond. That was hardly one of the questions I'd been expecting.

"Where were you all day?" I could have answered easily.

"When have you met Sora before?" I had several answers to that one.

But she wanted to know if I was a gay pedophile? That was…absurd!

"I am NOT gay!" I grimaced. Xigbar would pay. Spreading rumors like that! How third grade! "Roxas wasn't gay, either. I'm also not a pedophile! Roxas…he was like…like my kid brother. We were friends." What Demyx should have been. I pushed the thought away. Demyx was nothing to Axel but a friend. If even that.

Dyme had been Alex's brother.

But I wasn't Alex, and Demyx had not been Dyme.

Raxet laughed, sounding relieved, and lay back down. "Well, that's comforting. It'd be strange to think I made love with a pedophile."

"Gee, I'm so glad we cleared that up," I replied, dryly. I took a seat on the very edge of the bed, wincing slightly when the movement caused pain.

"Are you alright?" Oops. I'd been doing so well with hiding it. "I was looking for you all day," She sounded a big haggard, like she'd been searching frantically. She must have had a long day. I knew what it was like to chase something forever and never find it.

Her fingers found a wound on my arm as they attempted to stroke my skin in a teasing manner. I jerked away, partly because it hurt, and partly because I didn't want her to know how bad it really was.

"You're bleeding!" She exclaimed, staring at the red dampness on her fingertips.

"Spent most of today getting beat up," I muttered. She reached for my zippers again. I thought about resisting, but I was so tired. I slouched, exhausted, as she examined my abused body.

She reached for one of the pillows, taking a firm grip on two of the tassels, preparing to pull.

"You don't—" I protested. It was too late, she'd already shredded the pillow into long, thin, bandages.

"Xemnas gave them to me," Oh. Well. I'd always been a big fan of irony. She began to bind my wounds, using the cotton from the stuffing to sop up the extra blood. "So…who did this to you?"

Another question I was relatively unprepared for. I shrugged, hissing when she jerked a bandage tighter than necessary. "Don't give me that shit," She scolded. "It straight up won't fly. Was it Xemnas? Xaldin? Saїx? All of the above?"

"You didn't name Sora," I noticed. Well, then again, he'd been busy killing Demyx, hadn't he?

"I thought you liked him?" Was her reason. Mine was better, I thought.

"I do," I shrugged gingerly, "Doesn't stop him from occasionally bashing my face in."

"So Sora beat you up then?"

"No," I shook my head.

"Who, then?" She finished the last bandage—the wound on my arm—and I felt her cool lips brush against the fevered skin above it. It almost tickled.

"Saїx," I admitted, sighing and laying my head on top of hers. I was so tired.

"Don't worry," She told me, "I won't ask why. I don't think you'd tell me anyway."

"I wouldn't," I whispered. "Thank you."

And suddenly she had snaked her arms around me, being gentle with me, considerate of my wounds. "Axel…I'm scared."

"What of?"

"I don't know what to do," She was shaking, and her voice was unnaturally timid. "I don't want to Fade, but…"

"Shh…" I told her, pressing my finger to her lips to silence her. "Don't talk." I rolled my head, leaning further into her, my head resting on her shoulder. "You're freezing me, you cruel witch,"

"I can't help it. You're melting me."

"Shh…" I repeated, this time quieting her with my lips. "Let's…just be quiet for a while, alright?"