Ok. I decided to switch the rating to M since it's getting really graphic. (And all those dirty swear words Axel says!)
For those of you looking for the romance, it's coming. It's a hard thing to add since Axel is constantly mad and moody. (Stupid hot-headed freak.)
Author's notes: I've noticed some people choose not to read this fanfic because they think it's another "I'm going to cut myself" angsty fanfic. Well to you people I have to say..."A Hand To Pull the Trigger: It's not your average cut-my-wrist suicide fanfic." That's it. Just a quick rant.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters, but I do own the city they live in.
WARNING: Again, this chapter contains swearing, (not a whole lot) and scary scenes. I recommend this story for teens the ages of 16 and up since that's how old I am and I know it's still a little mature for me.
Enjoy!
Chapter Four: The Drop
A charred figure could be made out by the dying flames. 'That could've been me,' I kept telling myself. Demyx had begun to move again. The whole time he watched his friend, or ex-lover, burn to death. I didn't know how he did it and I guess I would never understand since I have no one important to me. "Are you ok?" Demyx didn't turn around. He didn't even make any words, just a grunt. "I'm going to go get Axel." I walked out of the alley not turning my back to him, watching to make sure he wasn't going to do anything crazy.
"Roxas, let's go." I whipped my head around to see Axel leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette.
"Where?"
He exhaled. Those cigarettes had some magic over him, he didn't seem very angry anymore but he wasn't perfectly ok. Thank god. "You'll see, let's just get out of here." He turned to walk back to the station, leaving Demyx.
"What about-"
"He'll be fine. He'll go home when he's ready." He reached in his back pocket from which I could see a small, rectangular bludge. "7:32. Excellent timing. We'll -I mean- I'll be home at 9 the latest if everything goes smoothly." He put the item back in his pocket.
"Was that what I think it was?"
"Well, it depends what you thought it was." Great. He was being cocky with me. I could feel the anger building in my body.
"A cell phone?" I folded one arm over the other to keep myself from hitting him. Don't you dare say-
"Yep."
"I thought you said I broke your cell phone and Demyx's."
"You did." I gritted my teeth.
"Than what the hell was that?" It was a bad thing I was stalking behind him. Maybe if he could see me, he would see he shouldn't lie to me.
"A cell phone." I stayed silent, fuming behind him. "Why? Does this upset you?" He leaned his head back to flash me a grin. I nodded and suddenly wanted to be the one aiding him with his death. Doesn't he know I feel guilty enough for all the failures I caused? But then he lies to me to make it worse? I wish I could- "No need to get your panties in a knot. I got it today. Boss paid me early and I went to go get it after work. Too bad it costed me two other paychecks." My anger disappeared and the guilt returned. Why does he insist on making me feel this way?
I almost slammed into the back of the red-head. He was facing me now with his phone out of his pocket, "do you still need to make a call?" He was trying to be nice. But when I think about it, that's all he was trying to do. He wasn't trying to make me feel guilty about hurting him or screwing up, he was just trying to help out someone in need.
"I'll make it quick." I took the phone and dialed for home. After several rings, the answering machine played. Perfect. "Could you give me some private time?" He shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
"Hello, we're not home right now but if you leave a name and number, we'll get back to you as soon as possible. Beep."
"Hey, mom. It's me, Roxas. I know I should have called sooner but I've been," my eyes glanced at Axel, "preoccupied. I...I won't be coming home. Don't worry about me though. I know I've been a burden to you. Just live your life happily with your boyfriend." As much as I wanted to push her away, I couldn't. I still loved my mother. I just wish she could love me back. "Bye, m-mom," I stuttered, debating whether or not to say 'I love you' or not but before I got a chance the answering machine spoke.
"Beep. Message too long." I hate that thing. I hung up and ran up to Axel.
"You ready now?"
"Yeah." I handed him his phone.
He rolled his eyes, "finally. We better start running," he stuck his thumb out to point at the train that was already at the platform, "'cause that thing is going to leave soon if we don't hurry."
"But Axel," I examined our distance from the point we were standing to the stairs at the bottom of the platform. "We can't make it." He turned and started to run before I could finish.
"Unlike you Roxas, I don't give up so easily," he called back, slowly increasing his speed. Now, he was taunting me. Why can't he just let things go to rest? I increased my speed, I was about a second behind him. We had a good twenty meters to go before we hit the stairs. A woman's voice could be heard from our location.
"Please stand behind the yellow line. The doors will be closing momentarily."
"Shit." Axel reached behind himself to grab my wrist. "Hurry up, kid." He was skipping so many stairs at once he was basically dragging me up. At the top, Axel gave a fierce jerk and stopped.
"Excuse me, young man," a homeless man had caught Axel by the hood of his shirt.
"Not now, we have to go!" He tried to pull away but for an old, stinky man, he was strong.
"Please, I'm not asking for much just-"
"Here, take this!" Axel thrust a small, white package to the man. He let out and Axel made a bee-line to the doors. From my experience, I knew Axel had issues stopping, and we ended up slamming into the opposite door of the train. "Damn I'm good." He didn't move. He lied on the floor with me toppled on top of him, still gripping my wrist. Axel, despite his insanity, is awesome.
"What did you give him?"
"Crack," he said loudly since no one was there on the train with us.
I jumped up, but fell back to the floor as the train started to move. Axel's grip was still around my wrist. "Where?"
"I kept it in my pocket from yesterday. Remember?"
My awesome image of him didn't fade. "That was some sacrifice. Most druggies would give up anything than their-"
"What the fuck?" He stared at me with disgusted eyes, his grip tightening, making it uncomfortable. "I'm not a damn druggie."
When would these guys actually start to make sense? "But yesterday you-"
"It was a token of remembrance. Another item for my collection."
"Really," I asked him with a dumbfounded face. Talk about having a foot in your mouth.
"No," he laughed, "...well, I guess it could be. He just thought it was nice of me to still give him the money for the rope, even after that was the third time I gave him cash."
"Another 'client?'" He nodded and sat up. "You mind letting me go?"
"Nah, I think I'll hang onto you," he chuckled. It was so funny how fast his mood changed, it was unhealthy.
"Well sorry! That run tired me out! Can't blame a guy for falling asleep on a train. Wait...you fell asleep too!" Another argument. We dozed off on the train and missed our stop. "Looks like I'll be getting home at ten." I think I would be pretty mad, too, that we missed our stop but spending these last moments with Axel were kinda...fun.
"Honey, listen. I'm coming home now. Yes, I was- no, I'm not." A man behind us was loudly talking on a cell phone. He looked just like the prick who I ran into yesterday, except for the blue hair. "The train will be here soon just- honey? Damn her." He angrily shut his phone and stood there probably mentally kicking his wife. After a moment, a standard ring tone chimed through the silence. He picked up before the first ring ended, "hello? Kathleen? Yes, the files should be on my- no, I am not angry, I swear. You're my secretary not my physiatrist." Axel impatiently tapped his foot, probably annoyed by the man behind us. "Ok, fine you caught me. I am ma- no, I'm not mad at her. I just wish she could-"
"Hey buddy, do you think you could talk a little-" Axel turned around and stopped in mid-sentence. The man in the suit stopped talking on his phone, I could hear his secretary calling out for him.
"Kathleen? I'll call you back in a second." He pulled down his phone and shoved it into his pocket, never removing his golden eyes from Axel's teal ones.
"So, how's the corporate ladder," he grinned.
The man grinned back, "vice-president."
"Wow. It's been only two years, how'd that happen?"
"My dad owns the company."
"Cheater," Axel snickered.
He shrugged his shoulders, "hey, if life gives you lemons-"
"-throw 'em back at people." Axel and the man started laughing. They loosened up and gave each other a friendly hug. I'm pretty sure this is a reunion, too. "It's been a long time. How's life?"
The smile went away and a grim face appeared. The "X" shaped scar that was conveniently placed on his forehead made him look ominous. "Not well." Axel's smug smile disappeared, as well. He knew what was coming. "I was hoping I could find someone. Lexeaus told me where to find you. I was planning on visiting you tomorrow but maybe we could get this done sooner." The punk glanced over at the tracks. A slight rumble could be heard approaching. He looked back at his friend and had that same cynical grin while Marluxia burned.
"We can do it right now."
It disturbed me to on the same train that was used to bring that man to the afterlife. It disturbed me more Axel was, again, having a riot in his own world. "Damn! Isn't it amazing Roxas! You'd expect it to be a mess but instead it's so clean! The speed of the train just wipes it away!" He roared again and the other people seemed to inch away from him. I don't think anyone could see the discomfort I was in, they were too distracted with Axel's outburstI tried to keep silent the whole time, hiding in my shame and embarrassment, but curiosity plagued my mind.
"Who was he?"
Axel clutched his chest, trying to calm down, "old friend of mine from high school, Saix. He always wanted to be a photographer. His pictures weren't half bad. Sadly, his dad wanted to be the puppet master in his life."
"Lemme guess," it was all starting to make sense, "his dad got to choose his wife, also?"
Axel stood up, still smiling. "Exactly."
"Now approaching Haven Heights," The monotone woman announced. The train stopped and we exited the station. The view convinced that this is a haven. Fountains, clean streets, an almost-gone sun that set a beautiful pink glow over the roofs of houses. The houses? Pfft. More like mansions. I hope Axel feels as uncomfortable as me being here.
"Sexy." I jumped up at his seductive, low voice behind me. Axel's lips were formed into a smile full of awe. "It looks like you get another beautiful sight." He grabbed my wrist again and lead me up the path in a relaxed jog. I found it unnecessary.
"Why do you have to hold onto me?" My eyes glanced down at his hand. 'Tender' was the first word that came to my mind. I wish it wasn't.
"If we don't hurry then the sun's going to go down."
"And why does that matter?"
He turned his head back to me and winked, "because, I want to give you something to remember before you leave." I wouldn't be blushing if I never thought of the word: 'tender,' but because I did, he had to see my rosy cheeks. "Hey, you ok?" I forced my face to look at the ground and mumbled something that sounded like a yes.
"Lie down here. This won't take long," Axel ordered through gritted teeth. I don't understand why he was suddenly mad but I wasn't going to bother him about it. I did as he said and found a spot on the bricked walkway. I didn't mind laying down on it, it was relatively clean. Above me was a metal rail, where residents of the city probably went to, to do some sight-seeing. Axel's crimson head popped up, "you ready," he called out. He turned away and leaned over to pick up something before I could answer. He wasn't too high, just probably about fifty feet above me. Maybe even less. I didn't have anytime to say anything, or move, before I saw him come back, heaving a large stone that he dropped over my head.
Just let gravity do the work, I guess.
Argh...this chapter upsets me. I wish it were longerPlus, I kinda rushed -glances at time- It's only 11:30. I'll probably start chapter 5 tonight but I can't make any promises about it being finished.
Again, for those of you looking for the romance: it's coming. Just give me some time. I tried to add some in here, I hope it doesn't seemed too forced or anything.
Thank you, reviewers. When I need motivation for writing I turn to my e-mail and re-read the reviews! You're a lot of help to me! Please review again 'cause that makes me happy!
-Lady of the Cards-