Chapter 18

"Take those off, that's enough for now!" Ms Y orders Diva. The short-haired siren cautiously approaches an exhausted looking Max as she gently removes the headphones around his ears. He stares down at the ground with the drugs pumping through his blood as well as the non stop ringing inside his ears.

"Max, are you ok?" Diva asks concerned.

"I'm good," he gives her a stern reply as he sits up in his chair and flexes his muscles.

"That was a great fight you pulled off tonight. You must be tired now" Ms Y says to him.

"I'm fine. Those opponents you keep bringing for me are nothing but pussies and can't fight for shit! Is that really the best quality you and your brother could find?" Max stares annoyed at his new boss who is sitting opposite him behind her desk.

"Remember you have five more fights over the next two weeks. After that we will venture abroad. It's truly remarkable and you've already proven yourself to be Wood Oak's greatest fighter" she answers. "There is something though that my brother and I need from you".

Max cocks his head to one side "who do you want me to kill this time?"

Ms Y smirks with amusement while Diva carefully listens.

"I wanna know more about Axel Stone and why he has decided to move back to this city. I understand his prison sentence is finished. Diva tells me you two boys had some sort of falling out" she dives in straight to the point.

Instead of directly answering her whilst still under her control, Max laughs to himself. "Now there's a worthy opponent".

"He's got a point Ms Y, if you arranged a fight for Axel and Max the whole city would go crazy. Two of Wood Oak's best fighters right here at Y Tower!" Diva explains.

Max interrupts, shaking his head. "My old friend hasn't been in the ring for a very long time, but this fight has been a long time coming."

"I agree with you Max! This would be an incredible fight and in turn it would attract quite a few foreign investors to this city." Ms Y replies.

"It won't be that easy though to get Axel to fight, what about Hunter?" Diva suggests.

"It's even more difficult to get a SIF agent to fight plus the crowds would favour a street fighter and an ex-convict more. I understand Axel has a young son right? Have his powers developed yet?" She queries.

"I don't know, but Leon's your best bet if you wanna force Axel to fight me" Max folds his arms then he sits back in his chair comfortably.

"So why did you two fall out then?" Ms Y probes.

"Blaze Fielding" Max answers whilst glaring at her with his reddened eyes.

Ms Y laughs with surprise "that bitch died almost a decade ago!"

"That's what you think. She's living in this city right under the syndicate's nose with no memory of her past. Ask Bronze if you don't believe me" Max raises his eyebrows.

"If it's true and she has lost her memory, maybe we could persuade Blaze to work for us. She's a good fighter and we need a female talented enough for the ring. She'd make us a lot of money". Diva recommends.

"Her gangster family killed my mother then tried to kill my brother and I when we were kids. I'll persuade Blaze to fight for us and I'll make sure she suffers for it before I kill her myself" Ms Y clenches her fists with hate. "I take it the boy is her son also?" Ms Y quizzes.

"Si," Max directly answers.

"Good. In fact why don't we get ourselves the whole gang - Axel, Blaze, Adam and Shiva! I'm sure Stone Junior will be the solution to all our problems." Ms Y contemplates.

"So what's the plan then boss?" Diva queries.

"Don't worry you're pretty face, we'll get what we want in time. Our plan is right here in front of us…." she grins, staring intensely at Max. "I'll brief Mr Y in the morning" Ms Y says whilst pursing her lips.

The sunrise outside flickers through the window when Blaze tries to open her eyes, still half asleep after going to bed only 2 hours ago. Her head comfortably rests against Axel's chest. She then looks up, noticing him fast asleep laying on his back with one arm around her body.

Some of Blaze's first thoughts of the day include 'this guy is so amazing but I only met him properly two days ago... Did we sleep together too quickly?... Were we really just friends in the past? Why have I never been attracted to anybody else like this if that was the case?" The questions and anxiety dart around in her head over and over again.

Blaze slowly begins to fall asleep again, taking in his familiar scent next to her. Suddenly, this triggers her mind to flash back to a time she hadn't previously remembered. For a second, she wonders if she is really dreaming or not as more of her memory starts to activate.

"Stay awake, keep talking to me…" Axel's voice echoes in her head as she suddenly remembers going into and out of consciousness whilst he carried her down the ladder and away from the fire.

"I'm so sorry, I can't…" Blaze remembers trying to say these words to him whilst feeling his arms tightly around her. Her last memory before becoming unconscious was the very same scent next to her in bed right now.

She immediately freaks out and bolts up, accidentally waking Axel up next to her.

"I'm sorry…" Blaze apologises whilst catching her breath.

"Are you ok?" He asks, gently touching her face.

"I have to go…this was a mistake" she pulls away then hastily grabs her clothes off the floor, turning away from him whilst trying to cover up any scars left exposed on her body.

"Wait! What's wrong? Talk to me…" he says, reaching for her hand but she struggles to answer him with her words stumbled.

"It…. it wasn't an accident was it?... You… you were there, you know what really happened to me…" her voice shakes whilst heavily breathing.

Axel pauses for a second to think about how to explain the truth to her in the least stressful way possible but instead, Blaze panics then hurriedly gets ready to leave.

"Wait, please don't go. I can explain…" Axel is next to jump out of bed before he speedily puts his clothes back on.

"Just stay back!... I need to get my dog then leave this place, please just let me go!" She replies whilst distancing herself from him.

"You think I did this to you, don't you?" He suddenly realises why she is freaking out.

"You were there at the fire! I remember now..!"

"I saved you! I didn't cause that fire I swear... Blaze listen to me" he pleads with her whilst standing by the front of the bedroom door.

"Please, just get out of my way and let me get Charlie…." she panics, still heavily breathing.

"Ok, Ok. He's safe with Leon. I don't wanna wake the boy up so I'll bring Charlie downstairs to you, ok?" Axel cautiously replies.

"Ok" Blaze nods.

"Just try to calm down, please. I'll tell you everything."

"Why did you lie to me then, Axel? You let me believe I was in an accident. If you didn't do this to me, then who did?"

"The truth is your ex Jake was the one who hit you over the back of your head then he locked you in that room and set fire to the whole place. He was a violent piece of shit who wanted me in prison and you dead" he explains.

"But you said that Jake died?" Blaze asks, feeling puzzled.

"Yeah, I was the one who killed him right after I found out what he did to you!" Axel raises his voice, feeling exasperated. He takes a moment to calm himself back down. "Adam and I had been looking for you the whole day. When I broke into that apartment the place was an inferno. I busted open that bedroom door and you were there, barely breathing. You were hiding under the bed which had already begun to catch fire, that's how you got those burns on your arm. That fire was so out of control, not even the services could enter the front of the building so eventually they sent up a ladder from outside."

Blaze places her hand over her mouth and steps back, feeling the knots in her stomach as she hangs onto his every word.

"I carried you all the way down that ladder and out of that building. I remember I kept talking to you to try and keep you awake. Your head was resting right here against my chest on the way down but there was so much blood." His voice begins to crack and he looks at her with sadness as Axel continues to explain the past. "That son of a bitch had hit you over the back of your head with a glass lamp. There was no accident Blaze."

"Did Jake know I was pregnant?" She asks, feeling disturbed.

"Yes, but he still wouldn't stop the fire. You two had broken up many years earlier but he wanted revenge on you".

"So what the hell was I doing there then at his apartment? None of this makes any sense!" Blaze questions him, feeling confused.

"You were there at that apartment because you were trying to stop me from being sent down for life in prison. I was guilty but Jake had a witness that rigged evidence against me. You decided to go after him so that we could find them".

"Is that why you spent most of the last 10 years in the wilderness?"

"Yes" Axel replies with regret on his face.

"Why would I risk my life like that to help you if you were really guilty? And why would you risk yours to try and save me from that fire when you could have walked away free from all of this?" She questions.

"Because you meant everything to me and you still do Blaze!" Axel shouts, feeling hurt whilst finding it more and more difficult to contain his emotions.

"You and I had just got engaged before I was arrested. You had told me you were 2 months pregnant two days before you went into that coma. I had already pleaded guilty but with that witness out of the picture, they would have allowed us to stay together whilst I served my time outside the city. When you got to the hospital after the fire, we had no idea if you or the baby we're gonna survive. I don't think I'd ever been so scared in my life" he sighs, digging his head into his palms whilst anxiously pacing up and down the room.

"How could you keep that from me? I told you what happened yesterday when I got out, the baby never made it! You never came back to search for us" she turns her gaze away from him.

"I tried, I really did! They had taken me 5000 miles away to the middle of nowhere! Adam came looking for you when he'd heard what was going down at the hospital. After the explosion, they told me you were dead but he and Estel managed to save the baby".

"Oh my God!" Blaze gasps, feeling traumatized and in disbelief.

"I'm sorry I lied to you yesterday, I just couldn't bring myself to tell you…" he tries to put his hands around her shoulders but she instantly pulls away and steps back with her hand over mouth.

"No, no, no, no, none of this makes any sense! My baby died in that explosion years ago. You don't know what you're talking about right now, stop messing with my head like this!" Blaze shakes her head in denial.

"Why don't you ask Leon then when his birthday is? The date he was born was the day of the explosion. He's gonna be 9 next month on December the 15th. Or better yet, take a look inside this here. Adam will back me up on everything I'm telling you right now" Axel replies as he reaches for a box that is hidden at the top of the closet. As he passes it to Blaze, she takes the box with her hands shaking and heart pounding.

"Are you saying that Leon is my son?" Her voice trembles and tears run down her cheeks.

"Dad?! Blaze?! I think Charlie needs to go to the bathroom now, he keeps circling around!" Unexpectedly, Leon suddenly runs into the room with the dog following behind him.

"Just wait downstairs, I'll be there in a minute" Axel answers him, trying his best to keep the situation under control whilst he and Blaze maintain eye contact, staring at one another intensively.

"Are you ok Blaze? You look really pale." Leon worriedly asks her before she switches her attention and gaze towards him. No matter how much she tries to give him an answer, the words just won't come out of her mouth during that moment. Instead, Blaze stands frozen and stares at the boy with heartbreaking shock on her face, realising for the first time that this is her son standing in front of her.

"I'm ok, you don't have to worry about me…" she exhales, forcing a warm smile whilst trying to hide the fact that this news has just hit her hard and right now she is unable to process any of it.

Suddenly Charlie starts to bark repeatedly then he manically runs around Blaze over and over again. Within seconds, she immediately loses all awareness of her surroundings then falls to the ground, blacking out into another seizure.