Author's notes: Well I've contracted some terrible disease, nothing life threatening mind you (though I beg to differ from my dear mommy's opinion) and am now confined to my room will all sorts of horrible little ailments. The thing about being sick is you get pampered, some good, some bad. The good part would be you get to lie in bed resting, the downside is some of the stuff you have to eat. While some things are rather nice, like chicken noodle soup and orange juice, other things like oatmeal(which I hate with a passion), horrible Chinese health soups (it's got liver in it, it smells horrendous!!), and water (having to drink so much the bathroom becomes your best friend) that the process of getting better is just about as bad as being sick! But enough ranting, I figured I should do good things with my time, so on with the story…
Summary: Flibbitygibbit. O.o
(I laugh every time I open the window and see this…)
Warnings: Swears, violence, gore, lime (possible, it's in debate), graphic scenes, yaoi (boyxboy love), CRACK, stupid humor, emo!angst
Pairings: RenoxRude(MAIN), AxelxRoxas(MAIN), SoraxRiku, Axelx?, Demyxx?, SeiferxLeon, as well as multiple random and short CRACK pairings. Subject to change.
Disclaimer: …
Riu: Saaaaay it.
Me: …
Riu: SAAAAYY IT.
Me: …
Riu: FOR THE LOVE OF FUZZY JUST SAY IT!
Me: -snoooooore-
Chapter 4
There was decidedly nothing overly threatening about a man in a towel.
Or that's what Leon used to think. It had been common sense, seeing someone run around in nothing more then a strip of white cotton around his waist gave a distinct feeling of 'harmless'. So why was this not consistent with Seifer? At the moment they were in Leon's home, his foster father was out at the moment at work in the garage below, fortunately the brunette had been able to sneak Seifer, Axel and Yuffie into the house without notice. Axel had tended to his hands almost immediately by washing the dried blood from his cracked nails and aching fingertips, now his hands were horribly reminding Leon of a mummy's fingertips. Yuffie had long since cleaned her wound and bandaged it with such practiced ease that Axel and Seifer couldn't help but wonder if such a thing was a norm for the cheerful and easily excited girl.
As for Seifer? Well since the male was in danger of pneumonia, even though all his clothes had been nearly char broiled by Axel's flames, had been forced to undress, shower, and now emerged walking around smelling of Leon's mint body-wash with nothing more then a towel around his waist, and one around his neck. Something that left Leon feeling unfortunately, distinctly aroused. And for what reason he couldn't possibly fathom why. At the current moment the brunette was gazing at a spot he deemed overly important to analyze on the wall, anything to ignore the sleek image of male ferocity that was standing his room, his skin still gleaming with water droplets. If someone had told him at that moment Seifer was harmless, he would have given a rare laugh, there was nothing harmless about Seifer. He nearly felt like prey to the predator, or maybe the virgin stared at by bedroom eyes.
… HALT THE FLIPPIN' TRAIN. Where had that thought come from?!
"Leon, why are you blushing?" Yuffie asked dully as she bent down to peer at the male who avoided direct eye contact. Axel didn't take quite that long to put two and two together as he chuckled.
"Because Seifer's a sexy man beast." He commented idly as he flopped onto Leon's bed and lay on it breathing deeply, relaxing his tense shoulders. Seifer smirked as he stood there, ignoring the cool breeze across his bare, well sculpted, washboard tight, slightly tanned, drool worthy-
"FUCK." Leon snarled getting to his feet and storming out of the room, slamming it behind him.
"Leon?" Yuffie whined after him, confused as Axel burst out laughing. Seifer shook his head, though an amused (and possibly coy) smile curled his lips into a flawless smirk.
"Don't worry about him." He soothed the female as he patted her head in a patronizing manner. One which Yuffie recognized as she swatted the arm away growling.
"Stop that." She muttered as she straightened her hair by patting it repeatedly. Axel smiled at them from his position on the bed.
"So, Yuffie, what's the deal? Why are you and Leon the secret fighters of justice and why am I suddenly a much handsomer version of the human torch?" He asked sitting up, the smile falling from his face as he stared at the girl, his suddenly expression dead serious. Seifer snorted, but didn't question Axel's choice of words. Sighing and holding a hand to her suddenly throbbing temples, Yuffie plopped onto a bean sack chair in the corner and glanced at the redhead boredly.
"Okay, how much do you know?" She asked dully. Seifer rolled his eyes, never ask a smart aleck that.
"Well I know Earth is round, that the sky is blue, the grass is green, Seifer's a prick, I'm sex on a stick, the first hundred digits of pie are 3.1519-" He dodged a clock to the face laughing as Yuffie fumed, her face twisted with mock anger.
"You damn bastard, you know what I mean!" She snapped as she plopped back down on the bean sack. Axel as he shifted the clock so he could scooch back on the bed to lean against the wall shrugged.
"Only that the psychotic murderers who murdered my parents are part of what I guess is a bigger Organization that loves wearing black cloaks." He commented idly as he leaned tiredly against the white plaster, suddenly feeling the day's toll on his shoulders. Seifer took this time to lean against the wall next to the door as he crossed his arms in speculation.
"And that they have what appear to be really bad knockoff powers of the X-Men." He added in shaking his head. Yuffie groaned.
"Then sit back, this is going to take a long time to explain." She said flatly, her throat already feeling dry. "To summarize it quickly, seeing as we all have school tomorrow and some of us don't really want to sleep through homeroom tomorrow," she added in eyeing Seifer who smirked. "here's how it goes. A couple of years ago, about 20 maybe, a man named Ansem, often called Ansem the Wise, headed a branch of human research under the request of the government. That branch was, publicly, working on ways to grow stem cells for various medical uses."
"And in actuality…?" Axel asked quietly, his eyes focused on Yuffie as she sighed.
"Details are fuzzy, but we found out they were actually working on methods of cellular enhancement in the human body. You know, faster regeneration, increased adrenaline surges for longer stamina, self induced stress-period chemicals to raise strength, speed and awareness, that sort of thing." She said with a shrug.
"Ultimate soldier shit you mean." Seifer clarified as his eyes narrowed.
"Basically. Only when they were in the final stages of developing the nearly finished product, Ansem broke away declaring that what they were doing was unethical, and fled when the government tried to hunt him down." Axel blinked at that.
"Unethical?"
"Yeah." Yuffie whispered. "Because the finished product eliminates all chances of a normal life. The person diagnosed with the serum they developed begins to grow… certain traits, traits that will distinguish you from the rest of humanity. Traits that eventually might even lead you to become insane." She declared softly. Axel winced.
"So then what?" Seifer continued, storing that little tidbit away as he glanced at Axel, his mind starting to click the pieces together.
"Ansem the Wise vanished from the public eye, but his apprentices in the research branch… they continued on the work, and rumor is they've finally succeeded in producing the perfect set of soldiers. About 17 years ago, they apparently found the perfect serum." Yuffie informed them.
"… and?" Yuffie blinked as Axel stared at her, his green eyes narrowed.
"And what?"
"Why aren't we being swarmed with perfect little soldiers who have superior speed, strength and can whoop ass with super powers?" Yuffie smiled at that.
"Well… Ansem's apprentice, Xemnas had a little… mishap happen to his two perfect soldiers."
"Two?" Seifer repeated and Yuffie sighed.
"The serum has one serious flaw, for effective growth into the powers, it has to be injected when you are still an infant, no older then 4, max. And that's the least of your problems, the serum causes insanity by overworking the cells in the brain because that is after all when your body is the most frail as well, the only way to prevent insanity, is to connect the mind of the baby whose been injected with the serum to another, preferably someone of the same age and equal mentality so that it works to in effect, anchor the minds together. However to do that, that requires an electric pulse conducting wire to be inserted into the cerebrum of both babies and of course some serum would transfer over to the other baby, only that baby would be considerably weaker in power." She explained.
Seifer felt a vein twitch, why must there always be thinking involved…?
Axel nodded. "I get it, so the perfected serum was injected in one baby, traveled to the other via the wire, but… what's the difference between the old and the perfected serum?" The redhead asked curiously, really getting into this now. Yuffie's eyes narrowed.
"Their powers are equal, and not to mention, incredibly powerful compared to the previous results. They are, in effect, the perfect and final stage of the experiment."
"I see." Axel muttered and Seifer scowled.
"Well I don't, want to enlighten the dumbass over here?" He snarled, feeling more then a little frustrated at being left out. Axel smirked.
"In other words, there are two sides, Ansem and this Xemnas's. Both are responsible for creating a serum, an injection that creates two mutant babies, one with end of the world elemental powers, the other with… I'm guessing those weapon summoning skills. Am I right?" He asked looking at Yuffie who nodded grinning.
"And I'm also going to guess that since Xemnas finally managed to create the perfect serum, he lost it somehow and can only regain it by taking back the two perfect soldier babies." He declared quietly, his gaze hard. Yuffie nodded again.
"Right."
"So I should also assume that means me and Reno, since they've been chasing us." Axel finally whispered. Yuffie sighed.
"Unfortunately yes." Seifer rolled his eyes.
"So that would mean your side wants them too." Yuffie shrugged.
"Heck if I know, DiZ never tells anyone anything, 'cept his favorite pal soldier." She said idly shrugging.
"DiZ?" Axel repeated, confused. "I thought Ansem was the Xemnas of your Operation." The redhead declared staring. Yuffie grinned.
"You don't stay out of circulation that long by going by the same name silly!" She declared laughing.
"Okay, let me see if I've got this straight." Seifer muttered as he broke in, a migraine building in the recesses of his head. "There are two sides. Ansem or DiZ, whatever, runs the 'good' side with the guys who can only summon weapons, like you and Squall." A nod.
"The other side, ruled by this Xemnas, is the 'bad' side who has the guys who can summon the elements, like mister icicle up the ass back there." He continued.
Another nod.
"And all these people who are fighting, have been infected with this serum that makes them really jazzed up super heroes."
Another nod and a frown.
"I don't like that word infected." Yuffie muttered darkly, Seifer ignored her.
"And now there's this perfect version of the soldiers running around, and we figure them to be Axel and Reno." The blonde finally finished, his gaze deeply intent.
When he received another nod to this, he sighed, slipping his eyes shut.
"Glad you understand." Yuffie replied grinning. Seifer snorted.
"Fuck you think I understand? This is way to geeky for me, pardon me while you guys continue with your save the world discussions, I'm going to find a beer and drown myself in alcohol so that maybe when I wake up tomorrow this will all be a dream." The blonde muttered absently as he scratched the back of his head, and still dressed in only a towel, opened the door and walked out, shutting it quietly behind him. For a moment Axel said nothing, then turned to look at Yuffie with dark eyes.
"So I can assume they will need my brother as well?" At this Yuffie shifted uncomfortably and Axel's eyes narrowed dangerously. "What is it?"
"Well… to be honest, even if you're both equal in power, the one who has the serum Axel… is you." She mumbled. Axel frowned.
"And what does that mean?" He demanded.
"It means," a cold voice broke in as a male flipped through the open window and landed on the ground with ease. Turning his sea green eyes on a shocked Axel, Cloud brushed some dust off his sleeve and shook his head. "that you're the only one they need, and to prevent us from even getting a glimpse of what could lead to the serum, they'll kill him after kidnapping you."
The crack of flesh striking flesh echoed in the room, almost overwhelming the silent hum of monitors and the soft beeps of motors whirring.
Standing there, head at an awkward angle as his cheek began to grow red from the backhanded strike, Demyx bit his lower lip but made no other outward sign of pain.
"Why is it… that no matter what I do, you always fail me number 9?" A deep, rich and sinister voice demanded softly, the speaker's golden orbs that served as eyes nearly glowing with livid rage.
"I apologize for my failure." Demyx said softly, eyes lowered as he ignored the pain that stung his cheek. "Forgive me Superior."
"I'm warning you, if you slip up once more, pray to whatever spirits you believe in, because I will kill you." The speaker hissed and Demyx shivered as he nodded, moving away as he left the room, head still bowed. As soon as the door was shut behind him, Demyx leaned against it with a relieved sigh.
"Still alive? Amazing." Came a snide voice, and Demyx winced, turning on the speaker, he accusingly jabbed a finger into the man's chest, his face furious.
"Why did you interfere? If you hadn't stopped me I wouldn't be walking such a tight line right now, Xigbar!" Demyx snarled angrily at the man who gazed stonily back at him.
"You were losing kid, you honestly thought you could win? Mister-failed-test?" The man asked sneering as he spoke around a cigarette clenched between his fangs.
"Damn you!" Demyx snarled slapping him full across the face, though one could almost see the tears building in those bright green eyes. "I am not weak! I am not a failed experiment! It is not my fault the serum didn't make me as strong as the rest of you!" He screamed as he aimed a right hook at Xigbar's face, only to have it caught in a crushing grip by the gunner's own hand. All anger evaporated as the man twisted the hand downwards painfully, forcing the musician to fall to his knees with a whimper of pain.
"You're pathetic number 9, know your limits. What I do and why I do it is my business alone. Got it?" He snarled as he released Demyx's hand with ease. Fighting against the tears, and at least managing to hold them back, to his credit, Demyx hissed out in a hoarse voice;
"Why do you hate me?" He demanded.
Xigbar was silent as he stared at the blonde, then shrugged.
"Dunno." He muttered as he began to walk off.
"Wait!" Demyx cried and Xigbar paused in surprise as he turned, only to find the blonde standing as he plucked Xigbar's cigarette from his lips. Before the gunner could even speak, his precious cancer stick was crushed beneath Demyx's boot and the blonde was walking off calmly.
"Stop smoking, you're going to die of cancer." The musician snapped haughtily back. Stunned, Xigbar watched his retreating back, before blinking, then chuckling softly.
That kid is too cute for his own good sometimes…
Hitting the wall with a sickening crunch and the sound of something sure to be broken, Reno slid to the base of the building side feeling full of more holes then one of his archery club targets. And Axel said he had a hard head, yeah right.
"I thought you were going to give me a fight, boy." Larxene said as she walked up to him, amused beyond all belief. Reno gave her a crooked grin tinged with the pain he felt as he grabbed his bleeding shoulder, hoping to staunch the flow.
"W-what, are you kidding? I'm just gettin' started yo…" He gasped out, and coughed up a bit of blood. Evidentially when she had stabbed her kunai through his chest, she had nicked a lung.
How the hell was he still alive?
"Is that so?" Larxene asked, her eyes narrowing as a sneer curled her lips. "Well then, allow me to spare you the trouble of 'gettin' started' and end it now." Raising her left arm into the air, her hand flipped at a 90 degree angle, fingertips facing the sky as lightning began to circle the sky and kunai began to form in the air above him from nothing. Reno glanced up, eyes widening with horror. Staring at the blades above him, his body went numb as the terror faded into raw agony.
"Axel…" He whispered as Larxene swung her arm down with a flourish, bringing the blades with it.
"So where have you been?" Yuffie asked Cloud enthusiastically. Axel stared at the blonde as he slid in through the window and brushed off his black turtleneck with ease, then crossed his arms and leaned against the window sill in a very Leon-ish pose.
"Securing perimeter, where's Leon?" He asked very quietly, in a voice so soft that Axel had to actually lean forward to hear what he said.
"Downstairs I think, why don't we go check?" Yuffie asked jerking her thumb at the bedroom door. Cloud nodded.
"C'mon Axel, let's go bug the grumpmeister!" The young girl squealed as she grabbed the redhead's arm and began dragging him towards the door.
"H-hang on! You never told me Cloud was a part of your weird group!" He got out in a strangled voice as he stumbled towards the door after Yuffie, Cloud followed behind the two of them.
"Oh I didn't? Whoopsie! Musta' slipped my mind!" She cried out giggling. "Let's go already!"
"Who else are you leaving out you psycho?!"
"No one, no one!"
"Why don't I believe you…?"
Down below in the kitchen, Leon was at the sink getting his hands wet as he washed dishes and stacked them into a neat pile. He was currently cleaning a rather stained plate when Seifer found him and couldn't (or chose not to) resist the temptation of curling his arm around the swordsman's waist. Leon, to his amazement did not yelp, squirm or spin around fists at the ready, instead the brunette sighed and closed his eyes as his hands stopped moving.
"Seifer, I'm not in the mood." He growled out in a surly voice. Seifer smiled as he leaned in and gave the brunette a little nip to the ear before pulling back much to Leon's surprise.
That was before Seifer grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, slamming his chest first against the hardwood table in the middle of the kitchen and pinning him there with a hand pressed firmly against his neck.
"SEIFER!" Leon growled his hand scrabbling against the hard surface as he fought in vain to glance over his shoulder at the blonde who calmly grabbed the collar of Leon's white shirt, and ripped the cloth down the middle exposing his backside. "What the fuck are you-?!" The swordsman hissed a flush staining his cheeks when Seifer gave a little noise of disapproval.
"Of course you're not in the mood shit head. Not when you've got this on your back." The blonde stated in a very 'duh' manner as he ran the tips of his fingers very gently over the large and spreading purple bruise on the other's back. Leon gave a hiss as those cold fingers brushed his sore back as his eyes fell to half mast at the pain. "You got this when that guy threw you against the building didn't you?" Seifer asked quietly as he continued to run his fingers over the bruise, wincing at the ugly purple it was turning.
Leon said nothing.
"Y'know, to be honest before today I always kind of pegged you as a secret gang lord or something." He suddenly commented in a much more amused voice. Leon's eyes flew open with indignation as he tried to glare at Seifer over his shoulder, and found it slightly uncomfortable with his cheek pressed against the wooden surface.
"Oh don't give me that glare, c'mon, I see you show up at school with bruises and bandages all over your fuckin' hot body after a section of town has been roughed up due to some sort of fight, what do you expect me to think? Tell me you didn't expect me to believe that bullshit about it coming from your kendo club." The blonde declared sneering as Leon continued to glare at him.
"And then you hang out with Yuffie who dressed like some gothic chick out of a bondage shop and she's just as badly beaten as you some days. A man's got a right to wonder."
"No, a man doesn't." Leon growled from his position as he pressed his hands against the wooden table, unable to fathom as to why he couldn't push himself up or break from the hold. Seifer's eyes narrowed as a sneer took his lips.
"He does when the guy in question is the one he loves."
Silence.
Seifer's eyes widened in shock, matching Leon's as the brunette ceased to struggle and just gaped at him, an expression of stunned surprise matching the blonde's.
When had lust… turned to love?
"Oh Leeeeeoooooon!" A voice cajoled down the stairs as Yuffie came racing down the steps breaking all thoughts of love and lust when the small and energetic girl saw the two.
There was Leon, pressed against the table with Seifer leaning over him holding him there clutching the brunette's ruined shirt between his clenched fist. It didn't help much that in pinning Leon to the table, Seifer's towel had ridden up some to expose thigh. Axel, dragged to a stop by Yuffie only raised an eyebrow, completely unfazed.
"Well." The redhead commented blinking as Cloud gaped openly. "Not the way I would have chosen to do it, I mean, the kitchen table? How dirty." He remarked blandly.
A small fire of rage enveloped Yuffie as she reached up and grabbed her necklace, transforming it into a shuriken as she glared at Seifer who quickly removed his grip from Leon's neck and started backing up.
"H-hang on, this is not what it looks like-!!" He began.
"BEGONE FOUL BEAST!!!"
"EYAUGH!"
It was well past midnight when Reno finally stumbled back into his and Axel's shared room, and what he found there was enough to put him off any sort of possible drug he may have considered trying in the past or future. Not only was there a random kid sitting on the floor of his bathroom talking to... the toilet, there were three individuals sitting there, all with elegant silver hair and dressed in leather so tightly bound against their skin, it squeaked.
Leaving the room and slamming the door shut behind him, he pressed his back against it and glared at Rude who glanced back at him dazedly.
"What's wrong?" He asked mildly concerned as he pressed a handkerchief to his bleeding temple, their two saviors behind him looked equally perplexed. For a moment Reno looked at them stunned, his mouth fluttering open like a fish for a moment, not quite sure how to bring into words what he had seen. After a moment he swallowed.
"... there are three leather dominatrixes in my room."
"Oh for pete's sake..." One particularly long haired individual grumbled as he wrenched open the door and grabbed the collar of Reno who fell backwards with a yelp. Throwing the redhead on the bed, the male proceeded to kneel next to him and pulled out a small metal container he hadn't seen before and upon opening it, revealed it was a medicine kit. "Now hold still you idiot."
"Uh... do you know these people?" Reno asked nervously and Rude had to chuckle a bit.
"Yes, Reno. These three are the only children who have ever been injected with the serum and had it successfully give power to all three. Until they existed, we thought it could only affect two at most per injection. What's strange though is none of them stand above each other, their power levels are all equal so we can't tell who was originally injected."
"Tch, keep talking baldy and I'll shove Souba down your throat so far it'll come out your ass." The shortest one growled as he stood by the window, arms crossed. Rubbing the said head tiredly, Rude held his hand out and gestured to him with a sigh.
"Their names are in order from youngest to oldest: Kadaj, Loz and Yazoo. To be brief, Kadaj is the most volatile despite being the shortest-"
"Who's short!?" Came an outraged snarl and Reno winced but froze when Yazoo gave him a dark glare for moving. Rude rolled his eyes, but continued.
"-Loz is the strongest, but also the most easily provoked into crying. He is also the most immature."
"That's not true!" Loz wailed appearing on the edge of bursting into tears and Reno cringed and promptly received a blow to the back of the head for moving again from Loz. Rude wisely ignored the reaction and pointed to the last one, who tended to Reno with a blank expression.
"The eldest is Yazoo. He's the most level headed and flexible of the two body wise. ... please don't comment on his looks." He added very cautiously after a moment and Yazoo tilted his head slightly to look at Rude darkly. That single glare filled with so much dark hatred kept the redhead's mouth shut.
"And the kid in the bathroom?" He asked after a precious moment of silence.
The silence extended into a pregnant pause, before Rude cleared his throat smiling gingerly.
"Not sure."
"M'name's Sora!" The spiky haired lad said and poked his head out of the door and for a moment Reno had to stare because his sunny personality was blinding. "Nice to meet you dorm-mate!" He added happily and Reno stared some more.
"... dorm-mate?" He repeated feeling a touch faint as Sora nodded enthusiastically.
"Room 23, that's the room after 22 if you didn't know-"
"I CAN COUNT." Reno snapped and Yazoo whacked him across the head again causing an abrupt stop in his yell as he cringed. Sora smiled undaunted at the reaction and continued.
"And since room 23 is right after room 22, my room is right next door! I live with my dorm-mate-!"
"SORA."
"No, no that's me, I live with my dorm-mate whose name is Riku!" He said thoughtfully, then glanced at the door. "Wait-" He mumbled, then gulped when he saw a familiar darkly dressed individual at the door who looked tired and sweaty as if he had just run around the block four times searching for him.
... which he had.
"What. Did I say. About leaving the room!?" Riku snarled as he pushed Reno's room door all the way open and stormed into the bathroom and grabbed Sora by the arm looking exhausted. Sora laughed and shrugged it off as he licked a bar of Sea-Salt Ice Cream.
"Sorry, but I was lonely so I tried to talk to the new guys who moved in but they weren't here so I couldn't talk to them. Moby was here though." He added after a moment of though and Riku paused halfway to the door.
"... Moby?"
"Yeah, Moby the turtle!"
"Not the turtle again." Reno moaned and everyone looked at him. There was another pregnant pause.
"Not asking." Riku muttered and dragged Sora out the door as he waved goodbye to everyone merrily. It was another good five seconds before Riku poked his head back in and glared at them all with a twitch visibly pounding in his forehead.
"Rude, Loz, Yazoo, Kadaj, Tifa, Zax, what the hell are you all doing in my dorm building?" He demanded. The two brunnettes, Tifa and Zax who had saved Reno and Rude from Larxene waved at him laughing.
"Mission follow-up."
"Bodyguarding." Kadaj answered for his group looking surly and Riku massaged an aching temple.
"Right. Night guys." And he moved back into his room.
"... 'kay. So is now a bad time to say I am absolutely fucking lost?" Reno added after a moment and they all glanced at him, before looking at each other wondering how to explain.
"Kickass, nice going Reno you got an orgy going! But uh, why are there two chicks? I thought you were hard core gay." Came the dreaded familiar voice of Seifer as he and Axel stopped at the door looking perplexed at finding all these people in his dorm room. Tifa blinked.
"Two?" She glanced around and stopped on Yazoo who narrowed his eyes dangerously. "Oh. ... uh oh." The violence that followed was devastating.
"Okay, let's get some things straight first." Seifer began looking around the room, amazed they'd managed to cramp so many people in a single small space. "First off, who the fuck are all you people?"
"Bodyguards." Kadaj said dully still at his spot by the window as Yazoo and Loz nodded confirmation. Seifer nodded.
"And those two?" He pointed at Tifa and Zax who exchanged glances.
As lightning and daggers streaked towards them, it really looked like this was it.
Then, from his side vision, Reno suddenly thought he saw a blur of silver, before suddenly a sword taller than him and the width of his waist hit the air in front of them and spun rapidly in one spot as it blocked lightning and kunai. Rude smirked.
"About time."
"WHAT?!" Larxene shrieked in fury as a dark blur raced towards her. Striking Larxene's face with a fist and sending her flying, the girl turned on Rude and Reno as the sword came to a stop and hit the ground revealing the girl to have long black hair and kind amber brown eyes.
"Are you two okay?" She called smiling kindly. Reno wordlessly nodded with a stupefied expression.
"Well that's good." Another voice commented as a male in black combat boots tromped up to them and picked up his blade, and holding it as if it weighed as much as a feather, he grinned at them flipping a single lock of ebony black hair to the side. "I'm glad we got here in time." He said in a friendly manner as his eyes slid down to Reno and Rude's locked hands, and simply smiled.
"Who… who the heck are you?" Reno got out past numb lips.
"Your heroes!" The male said grinning cheerfully as he turned towards Larxene who staggered to her feet and brushed her bruised cheek with the back of her knuckles, fury in her eyes. The girl chuckled.
"My name is Tifa, his is Zax." She answered with a smirk and turned back to Larxene, her body falling into a fighter's stance.
Hefting his blade so that the tip pointed at Larxene, Zax smirked and shifted his feet for a better position.
"Just relax, this one is in the bag." The brunette commented grinning. Hissing like a soaked cat, Larxene felt sweat slide down her temple as she took a step back.
"Rejects!" She hissed. "Worms unworthy of this power!" She sneered, Tifa and Zax appeared unconcerned by her insults.
"These 'worms' are going to kick your butt kid." Zax called cheerfully. And with that Tifa flew forward at a speed Reno struggled to keep up with.
Less then a meter away from Larxene she leapt into the air, twisting her hips as she almost floated through the air, and brought her heel down on Larxene in a drop kick with a force of steel. Throwing up her arms with a grunt to block the blow, Larxene was unprepared that when her forearms blocked Tifa's kick, the brunette twirled in the air, swinging her other heel straight across Larxene's face sending the blonde off her feet with a cry of pain.
Hitting the ground Tifa launched off the balls of her feet as she dashed forward, and plucking Larxene out of the air by grabbing her wrist, pivoting on the back of her foot, she spun Larxene once in a circle, before whipping her straight up and into the air.
Appearing in the air above Larxene, Zax smiled at her stunned expression as his sword's edge began to glow a brilliant gold. Hefting the blade he cleaved the air before him sending a wave of gold tinged energy flying at Larxene.
"Impossible." Larxene managed out with wide eyes before the attack struck.
"... and that's pretty much it." Zax finished from his spot on the bottom bunk where he sat with his arms crossed. Seifer stared at him with a raised eyebrow, before he ignored the rest.
"Okay, so you saved dumbass and dumbass's friend." He simplified and moved on. "What happened to the lightning witch then?" Zax thought deeply for a moment then looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"Well...
"This one's better off dead Tifa." Zax commented dully shaking his head as he hit the ground gently, barely raising a whiff of dust. Walking over to the crater where Larxene lay, he held his sword out one handed, then twirled it so that the tip was pointed at her throat.
"Sorry, that's just how this war is." Zax murmured and lifted his arm to drop the sword.
That was before a blur of red dive bombed Zax hitting him in the chest and sending the swordsman flying back before flipping off of him in a swirl of red and cloth. Tifa jumped back, her eyes wide as he hands flew into the upright position. As the red cloth settled over Larxene in a swirling mass, gunfire could be heard as bullets shot out of the cape forcing Tifa to break her stance to backflip out of the fire. Getting to his feet, Zax hissed as he raised his blade and jumped in front of Reno and Rude, not forgetting that the objective was to protect those two. And as the red cape began to flow upwards like a mound of cloth, at last it swirled in a circle one last time, settling on a man's shoulders as he gazed at the two of them calmly, Larxene cradled in his arms.
"What are you?" Zax whispered wide eyed as Tifa spared a quick glance behind her at another individual who landed on the ground.
"That is not your concern." The man replied calmly as Larxene in his arms smiled mockingly at them.
"Maybe another day handsome, looks like I get to escape." She teased him openly as she raised one arm, wincing at the pain and a portal opened behind them, which the red-caped man stepped into.
... and that's how she escaped." He finished and Seifer was now staring at him openly with a disgusted expression on his face. "... what?"
"Can you answer anything without going into a step by step explanation of how it happened?" He demanded ready to tear his hair out as Zax smiled cheerfully in such a remake of Sora's grin that Reno felt a touch disturbed at it.
"Haha, sorry it's just the soldier in me." He admitted and Seifer groaned.
"Okay, so mystery red caped man saves blonde haired lightning woman, I got it. And you three, what are you bodyguarding?"
"Those two." Kadaj answered with a jerk of his thumb at Reno and Axel who blinked, surprisingly though it was Rude who spoke up first.
"Wasn't that my job?" Kadaj snorted at that and turned back to look outside the window.
"Would've been if you hadn't fucked up." He answered moodily as he gazed at the moon, expression sullen and irritated.
"He means," Yazoo interrupted quietly and quickly before Rude could get angry at Kadaj's evasive answers, "that you're too involved with the client to be trusted."
"Bullshit." Rude growled and it was echoed by Reno... and surprisingly Seifer. Everyone looked at the blonde who shrugged in a nonchalant manner.
"Okay, so we know who these three psychoes are, who the big-breasted and porcupine head duo are and-" Seifer paused abruptly and everyone looked at him, well everyone but Tifa and Zax who were trying to figure out who the hell Seifer was talking about when he referred to "big-breasted and porcupine head duo". The blonde was however staring intently at the floor wide eyed with his hands frozen in a very comical state when he had been animatedly talking.
"Er... Seifer?" Reno asked timidly, not sure what had happened. Did he just shut down?
"... Axel, there's a fucking turtle walking on two legs that just came out of your bathroom." Seifer commented after a moment.
"HAH. YES, I'M NOT PSYCHOTIC!" Axel yelled punching the air in triumph. Everyone looked at the two of them like something was severely wrong in their heads, and there was don't get me wrong, but just not the thing they were thinking of.
"I could argue that." Kadaj added in a faint voice as he seemed shocked for the first time that evening.
"Is this insanity hereditary or infectious?" Yazoo asked Reno curiously as he groaned.
"What is this turtle you people keep talking about?" Tifa asked lightly looking perplexed as she followed Seifer's line of sight and saw nothing.
"... it's talking to me, am I supposed to respond?" Seifer asked and Axel shook his head.
"It's already got you in its clutches man, you'd better just give up and surrender."
"... I'm way to tired for this crap." Kadaj moaned as he moved to the door with angry and purposeful strides. "I'll see you tomorrow morning in class-"
"WAIT-!" Axel and Seifer yelled as one and broke off as Kadaj stopped and looked at his foot shocked. It felt like he had kicked something...
A sharp whack followed by a sudden indent in the wall as a small thud sounded and a pile of dust wafted up from the ground directly below it caused a great deal of stares.
"... did I just...?" Kadaj was afraid to ask and Seifer nodded slowly as Axel stared at the spot where the dust had come up.
"... okay, I kicked... an invisible turtle..." Kadaj finished, having issues wrapping his mind around this.
"A ghost of a turtle, actually." Axel corrected for him.
Silence.
"... GOING TO SLEEP." Kadaj finally snapped as he continued moving towards the door, it was Reno who remembered to breathe and speak to Yazoo as they got up to leave as well.
"What did your brother mean he was going to see us in class tomorrow?" The effeminate youth stopped and blinked at him.
"We enrolled at Oblivion Institution yesterday, we'll be your classmates so we can effectively guard you better. You can also seek us out in our new dorm room down the hall, room 29."
"... all three of you?" Reno asked confused and when Yazoo nodded he glanced at the door. "But isn't Kadaj too young?"
"... what do you mean?" Yazoo asked pleasantly confused and Reno sweatdropped.
"Well... he looks like he's sixteen-"
"I'M NINETEEN THANK YOU VERY MUCH." Came an angry bellow from down the hall and Reno winced.
"... nevermind, won't ask." Yazoo nodded sharply at him and proceeded to exit without further pause, Loz following behind him yawning and complaning that he needed sleep. After they had exited, Zax and Tifa got to their feet as well and exchanged light pleasantries with Rude before saying they had to leave as well and proceed to their next mission. After Reno thanked them once more for saving their lives, they left, but not before Tifa gave Reno a kiss on the cheek and a wink, then told him to be gentle with Rude's heart which left Reno blinking stupidly in confusion.
Once they had left, Seifer and Axel took their vacated spots and looked at Rude and Reno curiously.
"... you look beat up." Was the first thing out of the redheads' mouths.
"Was attacked by a lightning wielding crazy psycho bitch in a trenchcoat remember?"
"Ah. I got hit by some ice creeper who spoke like a four year old girl on helium."
"... who saved you?" Reno asked after a moment and Axel smirked.
"Did you know Leon and Yuffie are apparently some secret freedom fighters with magical weapons?"
"... well assuming from the look of utter "what the fuck" on my face, I'll have to say no."
"Huh, well guess what else they said?"
"What?"
"Rude's one of 'em." Axel threw out and everyone glanced at the bald man who suddenly shifted and straightened his collar nervously.
"... so... care to explain?" Reno asked pleasantly, but couldn't keep the annoyance in him completely out of his voice or eyes as he looked at his best friend whom he had thought he'd known everything about.
"... you asked for help." Rude said carefully after a moment and when Reno looked confused, he sighed. "This afternoon in the restaurant, you wanted me to help you find out who killed your parents, so I contacted some old friends from my former "gang" days." He explained and ignored the look Axel shot Reno when he mentioned their conversation in the cafe.
"So the rumours about your gang wars being between magical superheroes was actually true?" Seifer asked interestedly and Rude rolled his eyes.
"Where there's smoke, there's fire as they say." He recited and Seifer snorted in disbelief but let the stupid proverb slide.
"The minute you mentioned your parents' killers referred to themselves as Two, I hazarded a guess and passed the information on to Leon's people."
"DiZ's side, right?" Axel asked and they had to pause for a moment to catch Reno up on everything. Once that was accomplished, Rude nodded.
"Leon spoke with DiZ and got approval to protect you two. After all, if you've got the serum we mustn't let Xemnas get his hands on it at any cost, it would be a war then with super humans."
"Pleasant." Axel sighed and Seifer rolled his eyes.
"I feel live I've been thrown into a Marvel comicbook." He grumbled and Reno echoed his statement tiredly.
"So why was Two such an important clue?" He asked after a moment and Rude sighed.
"In Xemnas's organization, there are a series of elite soldiers who possess the original strain of the serum in their blood, not the discard in DiZ's side. We call them Organization 13, because that is how many elites there are."
"Only thirteen?" Axel mumbled. "But... okay, if they have 13 super soldiers and the rest are lackeys, why haven't you guys won yet? I mean, so far you've got..." He held up his hands and began counting. "Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, you, Riku, Kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Tifa, Zax and Leon told me that's not even half of your people!" Rude rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.
"Remember we're not as powerful as the originals so we're at a disadvantage to begin with."
"... so why haven't you been wiped out?" Seifer asked dully and Rude smirked here.
"Since DiZ stole the original work, the successful rate of soldiers who don't fall into insanity has been lowered incredibly. They're too afraid to send out the elite soldiers in case one of them dies in a battle. That they sent out not only Organization members, but high ranking ones too after you is confirmation of how badly they want you, and believe you have the serum."
"High ranking?" Axel asked as his dread began to grow.
"Yes, the lower the rank number the more powerful they are. The lightning wielder that attacked us can only be rank 12: Larxene. She's the only female of the Organization elites, and an ice user with a high pitched voice is rank 4: Vexen. The gunner who was referred to as Two was obviously rank 2: Xigbar." He declared and Seifer stored those names away in his memory for later use, he was also curious why Reno had gotten the second weakest member, while Axel had gotten someone below rank five. If Rude was to be believed, that was a major gap in power. Axel leaned forward.
"Can you list them off?"
"Certainly. Number one is the leader himself Xemnas, in order after that is Xigbar the Freeshooter, Xaldin the Whirlwind Lancer, Vexen the Chilly Academic-"
"Is there a reason their names all have an "x" and their titles are the fucking cheesiest thing I've heard since the Power Rangers?" Seifer interrupted and Rude chose not to reply as Axel kicked his foot snickering.
"Five is Lexaeus the Silent Hero and Zexion the Cloaked Schemer is six." When Rude stopped, Axel frowned.
"The rest?"
"The six mentioned are the set members and the most powerful, however recently there has been a shift in the lineup and new faces are showing up. We believe this is because they were once all ranked in accordance to the order in which they were injected with the serum. According to our spies, recent changes have now been made to coordinate with power. Larxene is well known as she is the only female and according to a report submitted this afternoon by DiZ's second in command Riku, number nine is a water wielder by the name of Demyx."
"How about any red-caped gun wielders?" Reno asked calmly and Rude shook his head.
"Xigbar is the gunner, if someone else wanted to enter that position he would have taken Xigbar's place as the Organization tries to bolster their strength by having one type of every fighter in their elite list. A gunner would have had to have beaten Xigbar and killed him to become a ranked member." He explained and turned critical eyes on Reno curiously. "Why?"
"Oh, right you were knocked out when he came. Larxene was saved by someone like that and... he was fast. He saved her and got out before either Tifa or Zax could react, it was kind of amazing." He murmured and Rude blinked.
"... I'll inquire about him." He said after a moment and Reno grinned.
"Nice to know you trust my word."
"Of course." Meanwhile Seifer was deep in thought, something was nagging at him. Something about what he'd just been told and a feeling he could make an important connection. Of course thinking had never been his forte, he was a survival instinct user, thinking was always second to action and now that he'd had so much new information thrown at him it was hard to keep up. But he knew this was important, knew it was vital.
"... Seifer?" Axel asked glancing at his friend who looked like he was about to have a meltdown. Leaning in he blinked. "Are you okay?"
Seifer growled and whipped his face at Axel about to speak and complain he knew something important but couldn't figure it out when... as he turned his face, Axel's lips brushed his nose. Axel made a sound of disgust as he pulled back and rubbed at his lips with an expression of distaste while Seifer... Seifer froze. A kiss on the nose...
"... Seifer?" Reno tried haphazardly as the teen looked like the inspiration fairy had just whacked him over the head with a large mallet, then had flown of leaving him for dead.
"... Demyx. Demyx Gou." Seifer whispered and Rude leaned in, curiously.
"What was that?"
"Axel, those two guys! Those two suckers we met earlier today!!" He cried and Axel stared at him confused.
"What?" He demanded and Seifer leapt to his feet and began pacing.
"In the park remember shithead? When we were skipping, you were checking out that cute blonde and I started hitting on his friend." He turned to Axel who suddenly remembered and horror dawned in his eyes.
"They said they just moved to town..." He whispered and Seifer nodded.
"... hello? Lost again over here." Reno commented looking like he wanted to tear some of his hair out.
"We met two guys in the park. One was Demyx Gou and the other was Roxas Tsupsam."
"Tsupsam?" Rude repeated blinking and Axel nodded.
"Honest to God that's what they called him."
"Gou and Tsupsam... that sounds vaguely familiar."
"And then your bloody ex showed up and... and said "he wants to see you" or something right? What if the "he" in that sentence refers to Xemnas?" Seifer asked excitedly, he was on a roll now and Axel suppressed a chuckle. If the blonde had an obsession, it was murder mystery novels (and secretly Scooby-Doo but Axel wasn't supposed to talk about that.) He loved picking out who had done it before he was halfway through the book and always smiled triumphantly in the end when he was right. If he was wrong he re-read the novel religiously to find out what clues he had missed.
... that or threw the book out the window with a curse. Either or.
"Saix?" Reno demanded. "Saix showed his face around here again? Oh I will kick his- Seifer?" Reno stopped when the blonde looked intensely at him.
"How do you spell that name?"
"... what?"
"Saix! How do you spell it?"
"Er... S-A-I-X?"
"... shit. Demyx, Roxas and Saix all have "x"s in them." Rude however had suddenly struck gold and he looked at them wide eyed.
"... what is Saix's last name?" He directed at Axel who blinked.
"His last name? Uh... Saix... Saix Chok. I remember laughing at him forever about it because it sounded like cock." He remarked and Rude groaned.
"... what?" Reno demanded and Rude looked up at them tiredly.
"Demyx Gou, Roxas Tsupsam and Saix Chok, it's not a coincidence."
"... alrighty, wanna explain why their last names are so damn important?" Seifer growled and Rude nodded.
"It's Chinese, Mandarin if you want to be specific. Pronounced in Chinese, it's near impossible to write the sound in English characters but..." here he pulled out a pen and a pad of paper and began to write, "if we attempted, the numbers of one to thirteen are: yut, yi, sam, say, mm, lok, chok, bok, gou, tsup, tsup-yut, tsup-yi and tsup-sam." He wrote all these out and turned it so that the others could see.
Axel stared, confused, Reno had a vague guess and Seifer slid to the floor staring.
"Well I'll be damned." He whispered and Rude nodded.
"Demyx Gou, Gou for nine. Roxas Tsupsam, Tsupsam for thirteen and Saix Chok... Chok for seven." He explained. "You ran into three of the Organization members on top of the four that attacked you, and if Riku's report is to be believed, the only reason it wasn't five was because he distracted Demyx on a rooftop when Vexen left to attack you."
"That's where the water came from." Axel guessed and Seifer had to nod. Silence poured in and suffocated them all as they realized they had just uncovered over half of the Organization already.
"... Saix said he was attending Oblivion Institution." Axel whispered after a moment. "He starts tomorrow."
"So do Demyx and Roxas." Seifer added.
"I'll have to inform DiZ about this." Rude murmured softly and Reno nodded faintly. Danger was suddenly much closer then it had been half an hour ago.
"Wait!" Reno said abruptly after a moment and looked at Rude faintly. "If... if we can fight back, counter their powers with the ones we're supposed to have-!"
"No." Rude broke in calmly. "Your powers have not been tested, they believe you have the perfected serum and we're beginning to think that as well, but it doesn't change the fact you could go insane. Use of your powers increases that chance and I won't take that risk. You have people to protect you Reno, so let us-"
"And how long do we have to be protected?" Axel asked voicing his brother's thoughts but beating him to the punch. "Until you beat these guys? How long has this war been going on? Give me an honest answer Rude because Yuffie said over twenty years. I don't feel like walking around having to watch my back in all that time." He hissed and Rude stood there, not quite sure how to bring across his point convincingly with all three of them on the same side against him. In truth he should probably let them fight if they proved to have adequate control and could do so without going insane. But... he looked at Reno and didn't want to take any risks.
None at all.
"... I've been playing with fire since I was 5." Axel informed him after a moment. "Lighters, candles, fireplaces, any ember I could get my hands on I've been manipulating and the only side effect so far has been the lack of urge to screw every walking thing like a normal teen, and I see dead turtles." This was said with a dark glare at the corner of the room where all Rude and Reno could see were dustmites. Reno stared at his brother wide eyed. He'd known Axel was a pyro, but not that he'd had pyrokinesis. When everyone looked at Reno, he shuddered for a moment, then broke down.
"Lightning." He whispered and everyone was surprised to see him struggle not to cry.
Not two weeks before his parents' death, he had been goofing around in the park waiting for Axel to finish his make-up essay that he was typing up in the computer lab and in his boredom he had discovered a power box, wanting to get back at Axel who had woken him up with a bucket to the head that morning, he had placed his hand on the box with a smirk. Lightning had crossed from his hand to the outer surface and flying through it scorching the wires inside.
He had had such a hard time holding in his laughter as Axel screamed about three lost pages of his essay to the power outage, having forgotten to save frequently as Reno had known he would.
What helped keep his amusement in, was that as soon as the power box was fried, he recalled glancing up to check if anyone had seen and discovered a blonde haired individual fleeing the scene. Reno hadn't had the chance to catch up to him, seeing as by the time he had made it to the corner, the youth was long gone.
He didn't even know if they were male or female. As he told this to the others, Axel's initial rage at his brother for having caused that power outage faded.
"Hey, c'mon... we don't know if that kid was the reason this all happened." He tried to comfort his brother but neither Seifer nor Rude spoke. Axel had bad habits of playing with balls of fire in his hand when he thought no one was looking and less than two weeks before their parents' murder, someone had seen Reno fire off lightning.
They were the right age, they were brothers and both had exhibited a power based serum injection as opposed to a power and weapon base. A perfect match to the two children who had had the perfected serum injected in them and added to that they were unregistered power users. What was the Organization supposed to think? Rude knew what DiZ would've thought.
The exact same damn thing.
"... we'll begin training tomorrow." He informed them softly and left the room as Seifer followed. Now was not the time for outsiders, it was a time for those two to come to terms with it. For Axel to forgive his brother even though he knew it wasn't really his fault and for Reno to forgive himself because he thought it was.
Life was becoming difficult and it didn't help when Seifer left the room, was about to close the door and screamed like a banshee as Moby zoomed out and scuttled up his leg with a speed fit for a cheetah. Flailing like a mad man and whacking Rude in the face didn't help much either.
But it was damned funny for Sora who was buying a pop from the vending machine down the hall.
End Chapter 4.
Memo to me: Tell mommy salt added to Peach flavored oatmeal is NOT tasty… Also, if the format of this story seems to change halfway through, it's because I experienced terrible writer's block when writing this initially.
It might partially also be because this is the explanation chapter where everything is brought into light. Or most of it. So sorry if the "flow" isn't smooth. ... that's a bad word, I'd be shot by my English instructor right about now. XD Also, you will bow to and worhip "Prince of Tennis" and "Artemis Fowl." These are the things that made me sit my ass down and plow through this chapter even if I still think it sucks.