Chapter 15: Truth

Axel leaned back dangerously in his chair. He carelessly balanced it on the hind legs, rocking back and forth. His long skinny arm draped behind the chair and he kicked up his leg, resting it on the table. He watched Xion across the table as she sat perfectly still.

"So you wanna know the truth, huh?" Axel asked, he balanced a lit cigarette between his lips.

"Yes," Xion answered slowly. "That's why I called you."

Axel snorted. "I thought you wanted to go out on a nice date with me."

Xion angrily frowned at him. "Cut the crap, Axel. I need to know."

Axel slid his leg off the table and leaned forward in his chair. It fell forward, the metal scraping against the tiled floor. Kairi shot Axel another dirty glance behind the counter. Axel rolled the cigarette around between his lips. The ash falling off and landing on a napkin he put below. "You ever heard of the gang around here?"

Xion nodded. "Yeah. Roxas said it was a group who terrorizes people, but what does that have to do with him?"

Axel took a long deep puff and exhaled. "Everything." Axel snuffed out his cigarette in the ash burnt napkin. "It started a few years ago, a while after his parents died…"

Roxas heavily panted. His grip tightened around the bloody baseball bat.

"Please, have mercy!" A kid with a heavier built coward underneath him. His face was bloody and bashed in. He had a broken leg and a few bruised ribs.

A deep anger and hate burned through Roxas. He threw the bat down and walked away without a word.

"Okay, kid. Follow me." A uniformed officer led Roxas through the police headquarters.

Roxas tugged at handcuffs that restrained his hands. He looked around to see a few people working at the desks, receiving calls from the distressed. A few strangers sat in the benches, waiting for whatever they were waiting for. His eyes fell on a red-haired teen. His hair spiked upward and he had a prominent widow's peak. His orange scarf stood out from his all black attire. He pulled at handcuff that restrained his paint covered hand to the arm of the bench. He looked up at Roxas and smirked.

"The name's Axel," he held out his hand. It was still covered in spray paint.

Roxas blankly stared at Axel's hand.

Axel lowered his hand. "Eh, not much of a talker are ya? Well, what were you in for?"

Roxas shrugged. "I bashed a kid's face in."

Axel slapped Roxas on the back. "You got balls. I got caught for graffiting on an overpass."

Roxas slowly blinked at Axel. "Why are you talking to me?"

"Because you're a juvenile like me. We gotta stick together." Axel stuck his hand out again. "So how about it?"

Roxas reluctantly took Axel's hand. "I'm Roxas."

"I can tell we're going to be the best of friends."

Roxas swung at Axel. His muscles rippled as his tight fist collided into Axel's concrete arm. Axel jumped back and hopped around. He in turn took a swing at Roxas. Roxas ducked down and grasped Axel's arm, throwing him over his broad shoulders. Axel tumbled to the ground. He stuck up his arm and waved an imaginary white flag.

"I'm out," he admitted defeat.

Roxas pumped his fist in the air in triumph. He looked at his superior.

He shut his amber eyes and smirked with delight. He nodded in approval, his silver hair falling to his sides. "This is a momentous day as we welcome a new member to walk in our ranks." He opened his amber eyes. "Roxas, welcome to our gang"

Axel handed Roxas a bar of sea salt ice cream. "Wow, I've never seen Xemnas looked at someone with so much pride like that before."

Roxas flexed his arm a little to show off. "Well, I did complete his rigorous course in a week," he bragged as he took a bite out of his ice cream. It tasted so sweet and salty on his tongue.

"Well, welcome to the club, Roxas." Axel bite into his sea salt ice cream.

"He went this way!" Axel shouted at Roxas as they ran down an alley way.

Roxas followed Axel as they chased down their target. Their target was a good 20 feet away from them, clutching at a briefcase in his greedy hands. Roxas pushed himself and threw his legs out further, pushing his limits and pulling every muscle in his legs. He rushed in front of Axel and honed in on their target. Axel pulled behind and slowed down as he watched in amazement as Roxas was on the guy's tail. Roxas was merely a fingertips length away from him.

Roxas launched himself and tackled the guy to the ground. The guy underneath Roxas struggled. "Stay down!" Roxas ordered. He grabbed the guy's head and slammed his chin into the ground.

Axel jogged up to Roxas. "Great job catching another one," Axel praised him.

"Pssh, it was nothing," he bragged.

Axel wrestled the suitcase from their target. "Xemnas will be pleased with this."

Roxas nodded in agreement. He clenched his hand and struck the guy in the across the temple, knocking his out in one blow.

Roxas was amazingly talented. He had brains. He was stealthy. And he was, most of all, powerful. He truly believed that our cause was for the greater good and demanded for the 5-star mission saved for our seniors. He was just a kid. He didn't need to see that yet.

"Are we almost there, yet?" Roxas whispered to Saïx, who remained crouched in front of the young blond teen.

Saïx ignored Roxas and continued to move forward, his claymore shined in the moonlight. They approached a ransack house at the end of an empty cul-de-sac. "Follow me and remain quiet," he growled at Roxas.

"Alright." Roxas continued to follow Saïx. His eyes were fixated on his claymore. I wonder why he carries this around.

Saïx did a crouching run and rounded the house to the front. He stood up and glared at Roxas. He kicked in the door, breaking it in half. A woman and two children screamed at the sight of Saïx. His golden eyes shined in the dim room. He walked in.

" Saïx, I think we're in the wrong house," Roxas spoke up.

Saïx ignored Roxas and continued walking toward the frightened family. "Where's our money?" he demanded.

"I told him to give us another month!" the woman shouted at him. She trembled at the mere sight of him.

"Superior hates waiting," Saïx said coldly. He grabbed the hilt of his claymore. "He always gets what he wants." He unsheathed it, holding it behind him. "And Superior either wants his money-" Saïx dragged his claymore into the rotten wood of the floor, scratching it deeply "-or he wants you dead."

The two children screamed and ran into their mother's arms. "Please no! You can't I have two children," she desperately begged.

Saïx sadistically smirked. His eyes thirst for blood. "I'll just kill all of you." He swung his claymore up and over the crying woman's head. The blade sliced cleanly down her head, splitting it right down the middle to her lower jaw. The children screamed and ran to the back of the room. Tears streamed down their frightened faces and snort dripped out of their noses.

Roxas watched in horror as Saïx pulled out his claymore. The woman fell over and her eyes popped out of her skull as blood spilled out. Her bloody split tongue hung out of her mouth with a few teeth hanging from her gums. He felt his stomach twist in knots as a wave a nausea overcame him from the smell of iron that filled them room.

Saïx turned his attention to the two sniveling children. He grabbed the girl by the hair and threw her down. The brother screamed at Saïx as he watched in horror. Saïx raised his bloodied claymore and hacked it into the girl's back. She screamed out in pain from the first blow. Saïx repeated, digging the claymore deeper and deeper into her back, hacking her torso to bits. He slicked through her spine and major organs, but he was careful not to hit her heart. He wanted her to die a slow yet painful death.

He pulled his claymore out of the girl's back and cocked his head slightly to the brother. He screamed at the top of his lungs and ran toward Roxas, who was paralyzed from the sight. Saïx easily thrust his claymore forward, impaling the boy through his heart. Blood squirted out from the piercing of the sword and landed on Roxas's pants.

Saïx then thrust the claymore downward, ripping through every major organ in the boy's torso. He slumped over the end in the sword with blood pouring out of his mouth and stomach. Saïx lifted his leg up and kicked the boy off his sword.

"The job's done," he said with a stoic face. Innocent blood dripped down Saïx's face and stained his clothes and hand. That same blood stained Roxas, too.

Roxas hunched over and threw up. His vomit dripped near the dead boy's head. "What the hell?" Roxas panted.

Saïx pulled out a clean white cloth and wiped the blood of his claymore. "This is the true meaning behind this gang," he explained. He held up the blood stained cloth. "You must be willing to get your hands dirty for the sake of our organization. We don't help people or stop corruption. We are corruption. We tear people apart and make them live in fear as we hold their small world in the dirty palms of our hands." Saïx crumpled the cloth and threw it down on the rotting boy. "This is your true destiny."

Roxas stood there wide-eyed. The smell. He then ran. He ran away from everything at that moment. He retreated into the comfort of mother nature. He hid in the forset, away from the twon and away from the city. He hid away from people. Most of all he hid away from the world.

"A week later, he resigned from the gang," Axel continued. "Xemnas had Saïx hunt Roxas down and try to kill him in cold blood, but somehow Roxas lived. However he carries a reminder of that life on his back." Axel closed his eyes in remorse. "I should have taken that as I sign to get out. A few months later, there was a failed coup d'état and Xemnas ordered me to go and assassinate all the traitors, including Larxene." Axel opened his eyes.

Tears silently rolled down Xion's cheeks. She was speechless. "Roxas," she quietly uttered his name. Her lonely heart ached for him still.

"Roxas told me that he couldn't let you get involved," Axel further explained. "He told me to tell you that he wanted you to move on and find someone else. Someone who's not as fuck up as him and who's not a coward. He misses you everyday."

Xion put her hands up to her face and cried out. The salt tears leaked out of her eyes. Axel got out of his chair and looked at Kairi before leaving. Kairi rushed over to Xion and embraced her. Her large chest pressed into Xion.

She stroked Xion's smooth raven hair. "Shush, shush, now. Xion, it'll be alright." Kairi cradled Xion in her arms. "Xion, please. No more tears."

Xion repressed her cries. She uncovered her face and looked at Kairi with her water blood-shot eyes. "Thank you, Kairi."

Kairi let go off Xion and ran behind the counter. She grabbed a carton of chocolate milk from the fridge behind and rushed back over to Xion. "Here." Kairi handed the carton to her.

Xion forced a smile and accepted the chocolate milk. She pulled open the tab and took a sip. It tasted weird from all the saliva that collected in her mouth, but it made her feel better.

Kairi pulled up a chair next to Xion and sat down. "You wanna talk?"

Xion shook her head. Kairi understood and allowed Xion to gather her thoughts. It was an hour before Xion said something.

"Kairi?"

"Hm?"

Xion fiddled with her thumbs. "Do you have any embarrassing stories about Sora?"

Kairi smiled. "Well there is one."

Xion gave Kairi her full attention as she told her tale of Sora losing his pants at a social gathering.

They spent the entire night laughing together and telling funny stories. Before they knew it, it was 1 in the morning.

Kairi stretched her back. Her chest stuck out even more. Xion glanced at them.

"Do you think I'll ever have boobs as big as yours?" Xion asked innocently.

Kairi gave Xion a little smack to the shoulder. "I would kill to have a C cup again. I'm tired of all these chest aches and back problems and guys staring at me."

"Maybe I wanna have guys stare at me," Xion said jokingly.

They laughed.

The bell on the door chimed as someone walked in. Without looking at them, Kairi shouted, "We're close."

"Oh, we didn't come for some coffee or muffins," said a hoarse voice.

The two girls turned their heads to see a tall man with an eye patch and a younger man with a round face and dirty blond hair styled in a mullet. "We came to see you two," said Xigbar, ripping some black duct tape.