Hello everybody! For those of you wondering and have read my author's notes, you're probably wondering why I'm writing this when I have a bunch of work to do. Truth be told, I've honestly already spent over four hours just to complete one and a half chapters of my homework. I'm done for today after that stupid marathon, and I was still on a writing high, so I figured I would write this.
Anyway, that's enough of my little rant. I'll let you all go on and read this new chapter. It's right now one thirty in the morning here where I am, and I'm damn tired from my four hour homework marathon. Just please don't forget to leave a review after you're done reading that tells you how I did. And just as a little warning, there is a little bit of actual action towards the end of the chapter, although it's only a small bit.
Until the next update to this chapter or any of my stories everybody!
Chapter 7: In Search of a Frying Pan
"Are you sure you know where you're going, buddy?" Sora asked as he was currently riding in the back of a taxi cab. Like he promised Rox earlier that evening, he was going to his apartment in order to retrieve a frying pan that contained the name and numbers of four of his contacts here on Destiny Island. "You said that you'd get me there in fifteen minutes. Your meter's registering half an hour already!"
"Hey, it completely my fault that the city decided to have a road construction project right in the middle of your path tonight," a black haired man behind the wheel countered without taking his eyes off of the road. "And I didn't take into account that masked gunman would've come up to us during a stop light and try to rob us. Don't worry, though; I'll only make you pay half the fare because of that."
"Gee, is that supposed to be in compensation for making me feel so unsafe at that moment where you were screaming and flooring it to the limit?" the spiky haired teen questioned sarcastically before letting out a heavy sigh. He had not even made it to his destination yet, and he was already facing danger that had nothing to do with it! What a night this was turning out to be… "Thanks for that."
The rest of the drive was relatively quiet save for the minor grumblings from the driver. Clearly, the other did not want to remember something that was no doubt embarrassing and witnessed by a paying customer. At least he did try to make up for it by cutting the overall cab fare by half.
After a few minutes more of driving around, the sight of the harbor was in view. And in the foreground were a few tall buildings, one of them most likely the apartment complex that Rox called home.
"Alrighty, welcome to the place that you so wanted to come to," the driver announced with a wave of his hand. "I hope you appreciated all the trouble I went through to get you here, and I do hope to get you as a customer again."
"Under normal circumstances, I don't think I'd really want that," Sora responded in tone high with skepticism before moving to open up the door. "However, do you think you could wait for me down here? I'll only be here for a few minutes, and I don't want to get stranded or anything."
"If you really want me to, then just remember that I'm still going to keep the meter running," the man answered with a shrug of his shoulders before pointing to the meter. "I'm not going to wait for you for free, you know?"
"And don't forget that you promised me that you'd only charge me half after that attempted robbery fiasco," the teen countered with a cheeky smile, causing the other to growl in frustration at the potential money flying away at that ill spoken promise. "I'll be keeping you to that promise."
Without waiting for any response, although he did receive a few choice words, he made his way towards a fire hydrant that was in front of the apartment complex. Just as he was instructed, he unscrewed the water cap, which happened to have been surprisingly easy to do, while trying to look inconspicuous. Once off, he kept the knob in his hand while his other felt inside it for a key-like object. Sure enough, his hand brushed against something before pulling it out and revealing it to be said key.
Guess that means that Rox is telling the truth about everything, he thought with amused eyebrows as he began screwing the hydrant cap back on. I never would've thought that anybody could've hide a key in there. Guess that's how the mind of a spy works, always thinking of ways to keep everything about them safe.
Without wasting any time, he walked up the small set of stairs to the simple wooden door with the key in hand. He quickly inserted it and gave it a jostle before it unlocked and swung open. Pocketing the key until he needed it again, he entered the complex and shut the door behind him.
Wow, it practically looks like my apartment, he absentmindedly wondered as he walked through the rather familiar territory towards a set of stairs. I thought a spy like him would be living somewhere more expensive-looking than this. Then again, I guess he doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself, he continued on with a shrug as he walked all the way up to the top where the spy said he lived.
A few seconds later, he reached the top floor and began making his way down towards the end of the hall. Once he reached the end, a single and simply white painted door was standing in front of him. Feeling confident that this was Rox's apartment, Sora took the key out of his jacket pocket and opened the door with ease before opening it and thus entering the spy's humble abode.
…Wow, this isn't what I imagined it to be, the teen thought as he allowed his eyes to gaze upon the apartment that had more of a penthouse feel. Everything was so neat and well-spaced; it certainly was not like his untidy and rather cramped apartment. Even the kitchen that was merged with the living room area was strategically separated by a marble top counter. This guy really does live in the best way that he can.
While he was busy basking in his moment of awe and absorbing the rich feel of the apartment, the phone suddenly decided to ring. Startled by the sound, he jumped about a good foot or so before whipping his head towards the source of the sound on a table that was on a table in the living room area.
Damn, does he have to set the ringing volume that loud? he mentally cursed while trying to get his racing heartbeat down. That thing might end up getting me caught here.
After a couple more rings, it stopped and the sound of an answering machine starting up came to the teen's ears.
"Hey, Roxas Tasogare here," a voice that sounded like it came from a teenager was heard breaking the silent emptiness of the room. "If you're hearing this, then that obviously means I'm out right now. Just get back to me, and I'll leave you a message. W-wait a minute; I got that mixed up!" the recorded voice was heard quickly correcting himself. This enticed a laugh of amusement from Sora at hearing the spy on the machine sound flustered from that simple mistake as he walked over to the black machine. "I meant to leave me a message, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Sorry about that. Anyway…, I'll catch you when I have the time!" the last part was rushed before the sound of a beep was heard and signifying that the recorded message portion had begun. He could just imagine the guy blushing like crazy while making that recording.
Yeesh, I can't believe this spy guy I'm helping sounds like a teenager, the teen thought with raised eyebrows once he had reached the table where the machine was. And he sounds like he doesn't like it when he makes a mistake. His thoughts were cut off, however, upon hearing a woman's voice on the machine.
"Hi Roxas, this is Ollete!" the woman who sounded like a high school senior introduced herself in a tone that also sounded like a teenager. "You're still not back from visiting your grandparents? I know you said your cell phone is in the shop, but don't you think you should buy a backup? This is the fifth time I've tried calling you already. Anyway, please call me back as soon as you can so that me and the others know you're okay."
And with a concerned sigh, the woman who called herself Ollete, hung up the phone and stopped the machine's recording process. The little black box then flashed a red light that most likely indicated that there were missed calls on it.
So, the guy's real name's Roxas Tasogare, Sora thought with an amused smile as he looked down at the machine with curiosity. I wonder if he'll mind if I rummaged through his messages a bit.
Without giving it more thought, the teen pressed the button underneath the flashing light and was greeted with a mechanical voice asking to press the button again to play all messages from the beginning. He simply pressed it again and allowed all the accumulated messages to start playing.
"Hey, it's Pence," another teenaged voice, this one obviously belonging to a guy, was heard greeting cheerfully. The teen decided to let his eyes wander around while the messages played. "Ollete's planning on having a surprise party for Hayner's nineteenth birthday tomorrow. Just giving you a heads up before she comes knocking at your door and demands you go shopping with her for party supplies. That and I have a feeling she's going to try and persuade you to use your place for the party. Anyway, talk to you later!"
As the message ended and shifted onto the next, Sora began looking at the pictures that were placed on top of drawers along the walls. One in particular caught his attention because of something written in black ink on the photo. Curious, he walked over to it so he could get a better look at it.
"Hi Roxas!" the other person, who he immediately recognized to have been Ollete's, greeted excitedly just as the spiky haired teen reached the photo and picked it up into his hands. Feeling that it was most likely going to be a repeat of what he just heard, he tuned the message out of his mind and concentrated to the picture.
As he carefully examined it, he saw the words on the photo that read, "To Roxas, from the gang. Happy eighteenth birthday! Summer of 2011," on it. In the background were four teenagers, two guys and one girl surrounding a light brown spiky haired guy who was holding birthday balloons in his hands and smiling like an idiot, in swimsuits and apparently on the beach. The blond haired male teen in camo shorts had one of his semi muscular arms over the birthday boy in black and white shorts while the other slightly chubby male teen in red and black shorts simply looked on with a huge grin as if he had been laughing only moments before. The girl in a sun yellow one piece was standing on the other side and waving enthusiastically to the camera. The one thing that was an apparent constant was that each teen had what looked to be a sea blue Popsicle stick in their hands and having nothing but complete and innocent fun in front of a blazing orange horizon.
Wow, looks like they're pretty close, Sora thought with a longing sigh as a twinge of jealousy struck through his heart momentarily. I wish I had friends like that growing up. Riku's a good guy and all, but I wanted to hang out with other people. Too bad I'm just not good talking to other people.
Before he could continue on with his train of thought that was slowly driving him to depression, he heard the message finish and progress onto another one. Apparently, Roxas was out for a while to have more than three on it.
"How you doing, Roxas?" the person, this time a different male, was heard greeting happily with seemingly boundless energy. "It's your brother from another mother here. Come on; I know you're home right now. Don't think about not answering, or I'll beat you to a pulp the next time I see you."
"No need for you stupid threats, Hayner," the sound of Roxas' voice suddenly cut in, causing Sora to put the picture down and turn towards the answering machine in reflex. Upon seeing nobody there, he figured that it was just the other having picked up the phone during the recording session. "I just got out of the shower, you know?"
"Ooohhh, did you finally get yourself hooked up with a boyfriend and went crazy?" the other person known to be Hayner was heard asking in a suggestive tone. Even for a recording, it was not hard to imagine him wigging his eyebrows as he said that.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, and stop bugging me about my lack of a love life!" the light brown spiky haired teen responded with an annoyed sigh, although Sora thought he heard a hint of amusement in it, as well. "If anything, I should be driving you crazy at you always manage to pick girls who date you just so they can get their real boyfriends jealous. Anyway, just hold tight for a minute while I turn off this stupid answering machine."
As the message ended, another one quickly came on. This one was from Pence again talking about something that was relatively unimportant. Sora simply zoned him out and picked up another picture that held a single person on it. He knew that this was Roxas from the other party picture, and he was dressed in simple gray pants with black along the top sides held with a checkered belt and a white short-sleeve jacket over a black shirt that showed off his somewhat skinny arms. His bright blue eyes shined with happiness as his wide smile reflected that same emotion while his light brown spiky hair was being ruffled by a hand who's owner was not in the picture.
The teen was soon quickly snapped out of his musing when he heard a strange creaking noise coming from the doorway. Startled, he glanced over to the door and saw that it was slowly closing by itself. Apparently, he had left it open by mistake, but then why would it choose now to close by itself?
…I gotta get out of here! the teen thought as he quickly put the picture back on the drawer and sped walked into the kitchen. He then continued to think as he quietly rummaged through the drawers, I can't get caught in here by somebody and then be thrown to jail. Now where is that cast iron frying pan he said I needed?
After a couple more seconds of searching, he finally found the pan hiding inside the oven for some odd reason. Thinking that it would not look good if someone caught him exiting the apartment with the pan in hand, he tucked it away in his jacket and hugged himself as if he were trying to warm himself up.
With his deed now down, he quickly made his way towards the door and back to his awaiting cab. However, something that was on the door caught his eye before he opened it. Quickly studying it, he noticed that it was a picture of him with one of Roxas's pictures in his hands.
What the…? Sora thought, now officially getting freaked out by this before quickly exiting the hallway at a very fast speed-walk pace. He kept a watchful eye for anybody who might be in the hallway and might have a camera with them. Who the hell took a picture of me while I was in there? Is that what why the door closed so suddenly. Whatever; I'll just go home and call the guys on this pan.
In less time than it took him to get to the top floor, the teen made it to the ground floor and was out the door to the outside. He still had Roxas' key in his pocket, but he was not going to stop to put it back into the fire hydrant when there was somebody stalking him and probably still nearby. Thankfully, his taxi cab was still waiting there for him, so he simply jumped into the back seat and sat back in relaxation.
"Sorry it took so long!" he apologized as he patted at the back of the driver's seat with his free hand. "I got a bit preoccupied and lost the time. You can go ahead and take me back to my apartment now."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this cab already has a predetermined destination in mind," the cab driver who did not sound anything like the teen had remembered responded. It was deeper and less carefree. "Don't worry, though; the people at this stop have been wanting to meet you for a while now."
Suddenly, the mysterious person turned around and pointed something black and metallic object at him. Sora quickly recognized the item to be a gun, and it was currently pointed at him by a blond haired man with a slightly wrinkled face. All he could do at that point beside stare back in shock was scream!
"I suggest that you shut up if you want to live," the man calmly responded. When the teen did not stop his screaming, the man cocked the hammer of his gun in warning. This immediately caused Sora to shut up and simply stare back wide eyed and shocked at what was happening. "Our boss has had his eyes on you ever since you got yourself involved in something that doesn't concern you. Don't worry; we're not going to kill you since you know something that we don't."
Without saying anything else, the man turned back around and started the taxi cab. He then added in a sort of gloating tone, "And by the way, the meter's not running anymore. You don't have to worry about paying."
As if that's the last thing on my mind right now! Sora thought as he felt his heartbeat race and his breath pick up when the cab started to move. He was practically being kidnapped right now by some guy with a gun who said his boss wanted to see him. I just wanna go home and talk to the people on this pan. I don't want to get kidnapped and have god knows what done to me! How the hell am I going to…?
Suddenly, an idea popped into his mind. He remembered that he still had the frying pan hidden within his jacket, and his kidnapper should not have been able to see it since he had not taken it out yet. Figuring that it was the only weapon he had right now and that the gun was now not pointed at him, he had a clear shot to get out of this mess. He also really had nothing to lose right now save his life, which happened to already be in danger.
God, please help me get out of this alive! he inwardly prayed as he slowly brought his right hand into his jacket. Once he felt the handle, he quickly took the pan out and swung it right at the man's exposed right temple.
"What the...!" the man exclaimed with a shout of pain from being suddenly hit. The cab then started to speed up and waver a bit. He had apparently lost consciousness from the initial impact since he did not try to regain control.
"Sorry, but I got better things to do than to be kidnapped by you!" Sora shouted as he opened the cab door and made a daring jump out of it before things got any more treacherous. Amazingly, he managed to land on his feet with nothing more than a bit of a stumble before the taxi started to speed up and become more hazardous in its turns. Yep, the kidnapper was definitely out of it right now.
Once he regained his footing, he looked over to the taxi and just caught it as it finally grew too out of control and rolled over onto its side. With a wince at every time the sound of metal hit the concrete, the teen quickly turned around and ran down the opposite direction. He did not care where he was going right now; all he wanted to do now was get as far away as he could from his kidnapper.
Thankfully, he vaguely remembered Roxas saying that there was a bus stop ten blocks away from his place, and he began running around in search for it. A few minutes later, he saw a bus stopped on the side dropping off people and managed to catch it just before it was about to leave. The driver gave him a weird look when he saw the pan in his hand, but he just left him alone.
Damn, I can't believe I just got out of that! he thought as he sat down and caught his breath. If this is what Roxas has to deal with when he goes on a mission, then I certainly don't want to consider becoming a spy anytime soon. I'm way too young to be put in death defying moments like that!
And he continued to rest and let his mind race between how he almost got kidnapped and how he got out of it until he finally made it safely back home.
Well, I hope that this chapter was okay for you guys. Sorry to those who felt that the answering machine portion was a bit long, but that was the only way where I could get some major background information into Rox, now known in this story as Roxas, for you all to read. I decided to go with my last minute plan from the last chapter and work on the relationship between Sora and Roxas.
So I hope that you liked the background information that I put for Roxas. And here's a new bio for him now that we know who he really is.
Roxas Tasogare: 18 (A spy who just recently celebrated his eighteenth birthday and seemingly keeps his identity secret from his friends)
Hope that you all enjoyed this chapter, since I'm right now dead tired, I'll explain what each of the last names mean if you're all curious. Until then, don't forget to leave a review telling me how you like it and what I could possibly do to make it better. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!