"What did you do this time?" he asked, quickly flying to the one place on Earth where Axel might be safe.
Destiny Islands.
Demyx carefully held the bleeding angel, silently mouring the loss of his friends wings. Contrary to popular opinion, Demyx was fairly intelligent and not flakey when he wanted to be- he hid it very well.
In the blonde's opinion, it took far too long to reach Destiny Islands. Axel was paler than usual when Demyx landed, having lost who knew how much blood from the wounds on his back. Demyx winced at the feel of caked blood on his robe as he landed, looking around for any sight of people. He cursed the fact that it was night outside- no one would be out here this late...
He nearly cheered when he saw two people sitting on a small pier not too far from him. Not caring about the laws- and realizing that he had been breaking quite a few of them recently, considering when he stayed up late doing...
Demyx flew towards the figures, making out a head of silver hair and one of brown. He vaguely recognized that shade of silver, but he ignored it and yelled for them.
They turned, Demyx recognizing the silver-haired one instantly upon seeing his face. Out of breath, he hovered not a foot from the pier.
"You're Riku, right?" Demyx demanded, Riku nodded, eyes wide at the sight of Axel.
"What happ-"
"Help him, okay? His wings have been torn out, s' far as I can tell. Saix picked the wrong person to drop him off." Demyx said, handing the redhead to Riku who automatically took the unconscious man.
"I gotta go- I'm in big trouble if I dally too long." Demyx flew off with one last glance at his friend.
'I would have been saying goodbye soon anyway- I'm sure I can find that man with just a little more searching... they have to have his location hidden in one of their files...' Demyx thought, crossing through space and time to arrive back in Castle Oblivion. He checked the time.
'Midnight- I don't think anyone's using the computers now.' Quietly, Demyx snuck into the castle, heading straight for the computer room. After weeks of searching, it had become second nature to head there late at night.
'As soon as I find him, Xemnas is through.' Demyx told himself, sitting down in an old computer chair. Quietly, he booted up the system, fingers flying as he hacked through firewall after firewall to find the area he had left off on the other night.
'Just a matter of time...'
Destiny Islands
Sora ran ahead of Riku to his house- it was ten minutes closer to the pier they had just been talking on that Riku's apartment, and ten minutes could make the difference between Axel being alive or dead.
They had to take the risk of either Roxas or Sora's mom finding them.
Sora sighed with relief as he saw his house. He opened the door, propping it open with a brick his mother kept for warm days. He quickly turned on every light leading to his room for Riku. He propped open his bedroom door as well, clearing a path for Riku to walk. By the time he was done, Riku had arrived, carrying the very, very pale redhead.
"Sora, I need bandages, clean water in a large bowl, a clean rag, some antibiotic liquid, and a towel." Not needing to be told twice, and reading the urgency in his friends voice, Sora nodded and left his room, hunting around for the requested materials.
'Riku's so worried about him... so was that other guy- I mean, angel. I wonder what happened to Axel?' Within minutes that felt far too long to the worried brunette, all the needed materials were grabbed. He headed back to his room.
"Thanks." Riku said, taking the bowl from Sora's hands and quickly mixing the antibiotics with the water. He went to wiping the wounds on Axel's back. While Sora had been running around, Riku had removed the redhead's robe and left him in only a pair of black sweatpants. Axel was lying on his front.
"...Sora?" A sleepy voice asked from his door. Sora turned to see Roxas, yawning and then freezing as his eyes focused on Axel.
"What are you-"
"Shhh- don't wake up Mom!" Sora said hurriedly. "I'll explain later but-"
"Sora- we need more bandages- do you have any old clothes you can rip up?" Riku asked, butting into the conversation.
"I do." Roxas said, quickly turning back to his room and reappearing with various clothes folded neatly. He dumped them on the floor, sitting down and getting ready to rip an old shirt apart. "I'll help- how big of strips?"
Surprised, Sora didn't move until Riku's voice reminded him of the situation at hand.
"Inch and a half. Sora, you know Curaga, right?" Sora nodded, then kicked himself when he remembered that Riku wasn't looking at him as he held Axel's back, the pressure barely enough to keep the bandages one and the wounds from taking more blood from the near bloodless body.
"Yeah- why?"
"Get over here and start casting." Sora quickly moved by the bed, recalling the magic he had learned what seemed like decades ago.
"Curaga!" Sora said, placing his hands over the wounds on the redhead's back. He was nearly reeling from the powerful spell, in need of rest before he could cast another. Blinking and shaking his head to clear it, Sora looked at Axel's back.
"It didn't work."
"There's probably internal damage, or... shit!" Riku swore. "The spell tried to grow back his wings! It won't work!" Sora's eyes went wide at what Riku had just said. He turned to look at Roxas, worried that his brother might have overheard.
Roxas, fortunately, was oblivious. Sora silently thanked whatever God was listening that Roxas was so focused on his task and so sleepy he hadn't heard Riku's unthinking comment.
"Looks like we have to trust modern medicine." Riku said, taking the first batch of bandages Roxas made and quickly using those to help the bandages already there keep the wounds closed. "Sora, can you help your brother? We need more of these, and fast."
"Sure." Sora sat down, quickly grabbing an old pair of shorts and ripping them up.
They worked late into the night, and for a good deal of the morning before they were finally sure that they had done all they could. They had fallen asleep in a heap on Sora's floor.
Next Morning
Axel groaned. He couldn't move, and his limbs felt like lead. Sluggishly, his eyes opened so he could stare at the ceiling- it seemed like it was miles away.
"You awake?" A quiet voice asked him cautiously. Axel turned his head towards where he thought the voice was, blinking once or twice to clear his vision.
A blonde teen sitting in a chair next to the bed was looking at him. Vaguely, Axel recognized him, but he wasn't sure from where.
"Where... am I?" he asked, it seemingly a huge effort.
"Destiny Islands. You've been asleep for a few days." the teen said. "I'm Roxas. Sora and Riku are downstairs, getting breakfast. You hungry?" Axel wasn't sure if he could eat, not sure if he could even sit up.
Wait a minute...
"Riku's here? Wait, how'd I get here?" Strength slowly returning, Axel managed to talk in a full sentence instead of disjointed words.
"Riku and Sora ran in here six days ago and brought you in. You were in pretty bad shape, but they didn't tell me anything about it." Roxas replied, with something halfway between a glare and a pout at the memory. Axel smirked.
'He's almost cute when he looks like that...' Axel couldn't help but take a liking to Roxas, something in the blonde's personality calling him.
'How'd I end up here? What happened?' Axel wondered, but was quickly torn out of his thoughts by the sound of the door opening.
"So you are awake." Riku said, stepping into the room, Sora close behind. "As I'm sure Roxas told you, you've been asleep for a week. Need something to drink? Eat?"
"Water." Axel requested, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Riku. "Why exactly are you helping me? We're even, aren't we?"
"You needed help, and the blonde guy who dropped you off seemed kinda concerned. Besides, friends don't let friends die." Riku said seriously. Axel laughed.
"And we're 'friends'?" he asked sarcastically, smirking.
"You saved my life. I'd say that definately qualifies." Riku replied. Axel blinked.
"If I remember right, I tried to kill you and beat you to a bloody pulp, but because I told everyone you were dead I'm a friend?"
"Something like that- and you need a friend, don't you?" Sora returned with the water as Riku watched Axel closely.
"Roxas, Sora- could you two leave the room for a minute? I have to talk to Axel in private." Roxas looked like he was about to protest, but Sora nodded, Riku missing the pained expression in the brunette's eyes as he pulled his brother from the room.
Once the door shut, Riku spoke.
"Do you remember what happened?" he asked. Axel shook his head.
"All I remember is..." Suddenly, a scene flashed in his mind, Saix, telling him to report to Xemnas' study. "... is..." Them arriving at the small library. Pain. Xemnas' accusations, and then...
Reflexively, Axel tried to reach behind him to feel his wings as he called to them. Nothing happened.
"They... took them, didn't they?" Axel asked rhetorically. Riku nodded anyways. Axel felt a hollow pang in his chest. His wings had been a part of him, and now...
They were gone. There were no words to describe the sudden sense of loss.
"I'm sorry- this is my fault." Riku apologized. It took a lot for him to say, and even though the words could never make up for the loss Riku knew that they had to be said.
"No- it was me and my big mouth." Axel recounted the tale to Riku, laughing sarcastically and hollowly when he was done.
"If this doesn't take the cake for the stupidest thing ever done, then I hate to see what some other schmuck did to top this!"
"We're both banished- they'll send someone to take care of us soon. We have to be more careful now- it'd be best if you stayed here."
"Two better than one and all that?" Axel asked. Riku nodded. Axel shrugged.
"Guess it couldn't hurt."
Roxas and Sora
In Roxas' room, Sora was sitting on his brother's bed on looking down at his hands, fidgeting. Roxas sat beside him, a sympathetic look on his face.
"You okay?" he asked Sora. Sora nodded.
"It's kinda dumb to feel jealous of an injured person you hardly know, right?" he asked. Roxas shrugged.
"Depends on your point of view, I guess."
"It's just... Riku's so worried about him, and I just..." Sora trailed off, Roxas easily able to read into what Sora hadn't said.
For almost as long as Sora had known, Roxas had been aware of his brother's crush on Riku. Over time, he had seen how that childhood crush grew into real love for their silver-haired friend. Sora and Roxas were very close, talking about anything- they kept no secrets from each other. Roxas had never applied any labels to his brother- Sora was just Sora. Sora did the same for him.
"It'll be fine. Riku's just worried about a friend- I mean, didn't they say something about that guy- Axel- saving Riku's life?" Roxas said realistically. Sora looked at him hopefully.
"You sure?"
"Of course!" Roxas was surprised at the hope in his own voice- the thought of Riku being close to the red-haired man not sitting well with him for some reason.
Riku
Riku walked down the hall to Roxas' room, his talk with Axel finished. He didn't bother knocking, just opened the door.
"Sora, Roxas? Our guest feels well enough to move now, and he's taken up Sora's room for quite a while now."
"Oh, yeah. Where are we going to move him to?" Sora asked out loud. Riku shrugged.
"I have a couch he could sleep on." Jealousy surged in Sora's heart, as well as pain. Rarely did Riku invite Sora to his house, only once or twice letting him sleep over even when Sora's mother allowed it. Now he was going to let someone who not long ago had tried to kill him sleep there?
Roxas frowned, not liking the idea, but...
He sighed.
"Does he have anything he needs to bring with him?" he asked. Riku shook his head.
"We need to be careful when moving him though- one wrong move could re-open the wounds on his back." Riku knew that the wounds were most likely close to fully healed by now, but it wasn't natural human healing speed.
The three went back to Sora's room without another word, quickly grabbing Axel and out of the house, sneakily heading for Riku's apartment.
AN: Okay, I know it's not as good as the other chapters, but it had to be written. There are only a few more chapters left! (Sorry for not updating in a while, though!)