I'm updating one chapter today, hopefully one before Akuroku day, and one on Akuroku day. But don't hold me to that, it's just my plan. And I also wrote a not so good oneshot for Akuroku day. That'll be in the editing room for a while. Here's chapter 6, in my opinion it's more exciting than chapter 5. Enjoy.
One more thing, I found out while editing that listening to the beginning of 'Beyond the Wasteland' (Final Fantasy VII song) while Rude, Reno, and Roxas are in the basement, creates an interesting atmosphere.
Here, at the Other Side – Chapter 6
The summer house was gorgeous. It had a stone driveway that led to a three car garage and a flat stone walk way that connected the driveway to a large white colonial mansion, with immaculate gardens surrounding it. As Roxas stepped out of the car he wondered how such a beautiful place could hold such horrid secrets.
Ellen and Nora were the first to arrive at the door, closely followed by Roxas, Reno, and Rude. "Should we knock?" Ellen asked, staring at the door. Roxas glared at his mother before shoving pass her and Nora to open the surprisingly unlocked door. He glanced back at his companions and quietly entered the house. It was very similar to the living room in Destiny Islands. Almost everything was white and black and looked to be the best and most expensive items money could buy.
"Boys, you search the left side of the house, we'll search the right." Nora decided.
"Got it, yo." Reno acknowledged, before following Roxas down the first hall.
"Rob said he was in the basement, which is behind a picture so start moving them…" Roxas was cut off by the cracking of a glass frame hitting the floor. "Reno, an eleven inch picture is not going to hide a door!"
"I know. But damn does it feel good? It's not like we're trying to do Morgan any favors, yo." Reno smirked at Roxas, sending another picture frame to the floor. Roxas shrugged before knocking the picture next to him on the ground. Glass shattered around his feet. Reno was right; it did feel good to be an inconvenience to Morgan.
After knocking down and breaking as many frames as they could find, they came across a hallway with several painting that extended from the floor to nearly touching the ceiling. "This'll be it." Rude commented. Reno and Roxas nodded as the trio looked down the hallway forebodingly.
Roxas was the first to move forward. These paintings look priceless, Roxas thought before lifting up on the frame of the first painting, sending it crashing to the floor. Rude and Reno soon followed Roxas' example, sending the priceless paintings to the floor. It wasn't until the fifth picture that Roxas met resistance. Changing his tactics he pulled on the frame like it was a door and was rewarded with an entry way. "Rude, Reno!" Roxas grabbed their attention before walking through the hidden doorway, and into another hallway.
It didn't take them long to reach the end of the hallway, climb down some stairs and find another door. Roxas looked up at Rude and Reno before slowly turning the frigid, black, knob and pulling the door open. He let out an audible gasp as the smell and sight hit him. It smelled like mold and dirty water and the only light in the room was a single bulb hanging in the middle of it. There was a steady drip of water coming down form a ceiling tile and the temperature of the room was freezing. Roxas knew the room was empty but he walked into it anyway. On the farthest wall form the doorway, there was a set of chains. As Roxas' feet brought him closer he saw blood stains coating the floor and wall around them.
"This is awful." Reno said from behind Roxas. Roxas nodded and grabbed one of the chains in his shaking hand. The edge of the cuff was covered in blood, like Axel had tried to pull his hand through it. He wouldn't put it past Axel to cut his wrists and break his bones to escape. Roxas remembered that's how Axel had broken his arm at the hospital. "Do you think Morgan has him, or do you think she k…that we're too late?" Reno asked hugging Rude close to him. Rude quickly wrapped his arms comfortingly around Reno.
"I don't know." Roxas said miserably as he dropped the chain and walked out of the disturbing room.
oOo
"They're breaking things!" Ellen exclaimed as another resounding crash was heard throughout the house.
"I say let's let them have at it." Nora said as she threw a picture of Morgan and Rob's wedding day to the floor and thoroughly stomped the hell out of it. "It's therapeutic."
"It also wastes time." Ellen said before continuing her search. Ellen and Nora had searched the entire bottom half of the right side of the house when the crashing finally stopped.
"Do you think they found something or just ran out of ammo?" Nora asked.
"I don't know, let's go see." Ellen began walking towards where they came from with Nora at her side. "I'm sorry for insisting Axel was dead. I remember when I lost my parents I got unhealthily depressed, not that any depression is healthy, but it was bad. I wanted Roxas to skip that, and I thought if I could convince him to move on he wouldn't have to feel that miserable. And I myself, moved on because I didn't want to fall back into that depression, it almost killed me last time."
"It's okay Ellen. I forgive you and I understand your purpose." Nora wrapped an arm around the much smaller frame of Ellen.
"We're still friends?" Ellen asked.
"Absolutely." Nora confirmed. They remained silent after the exchange and easily heard the front door opening as they walked in front of it intending to find the boys. Nora and Ellen stared wide eyed at Morgan as she stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips.
"Hmm…your car's in the middle of my driveway. You didn't think you were being sneaky did you?" Morgan glared at each of her intruders. "How did you did you find this place anyway?"
"Give me my son back!" Nora yelled with her fists balled up at her sides.
"Your son? Where were you when he was growing up?"
Faster that light, Nora's fist connected with Morgan's face. She'd never hit anyone before and wasn't expecting it to hurt so much. But she shook off the pain and landed as many punches as she could on that child knapping bitch, before Ellen pulled her away from Morgan. "We're already breaking and entering; you don't want to be arrested for assault too." She told Nora.
"Ahh…you fucking bitch." Morgan squealed in a nasally voice pinching her bloody nose, "I think you broke my nose."
"Oh quit whining you fucking sissy bitch! You deserved that and so much more!" Nora shot back, struggling against Ellen's restraints.
"Mom!" Reno said astonished at his mother's harsh tone and crude language, when he, Roxas, and Rude walked in. Ellen and Nora both turned expectantly towards the newcomers. Realizing that the wanted to know where Axel was Reno said, "Down that hallway," he pointed behind himself, "There is…uh…was a hallway full of large door length paintings. As we were told, one of them was a door leading to the basement…"
"You won't get him out; I'm the only one with a key!" Morgan spoke harshly, taking a step forward. That was a mistake. Using her martial arts training, Nora kicked Morgan directly in her million dollar face. "Bitch!" Morgan hissed.
"You're right we won't get him out, he's already gone." Roxas said.
"What?!" Morgan ran pass her intruders to the disastrous hallway. "What the hell did you do to my house?!" She yelled before running down the hallway. The whole room could hear her getting farther away as the crunching sound of her feet on the glass shards became more distant.
"He's really gone?" Nora asked dejectedly.
"Yeah. We thought Morgan may have had him but she seemed utterly shocked at the news, so that's doubtful." Rude answered.
"Do you think he escaped?" Ellen asked.
"I hope so." Roxas murmured. When the five heard Morgan's bloodcurdling scream reverberate thought the house they ran to the car and left in a hurry. On their way home they made sure to look for a mess of red hair and every grey Mustang they passed was given a thorough inspection. But they always came up empty.
oOo
Axel was on the verge of passing out as he floored his Saleen through the traffic. He had a Mountain Dew in one hand and the other on the steering wheel. Never before had his car been filled with this many fast food wrappers. It was a horrible sight but he didn't have time to stop and throw them away. He still felt like shit but he couldn't stop. He needed to see Roxas.
Several cars angrily honked their horns at him as he cut them off in his hurry. He saluted them with one finger out the window and continued his speedy getaway. Nightwish's, "I Wish I Had An Angel" was blasting form his speakers as he blew through a stoplight, possibly causing a crash, though he was going so fast he was already too far away to see the damage.
The speed and thrill brought him back to the days of his Ferrari, before it was impounded. This of course reminded him of when he'd told Roxas all his dirty little secrets, and Roxas had accepted him. Roxas, his angel. He had wrapped his wings around Axel, healing so many mistrusts, wounds, horrible habbits, and cleaning the filth, in an attempt to protect and save him. He needed his angel, he wished he was here.
Axel down shifted as he got closer to Destiny Islands. He remained on the on the outskirts of town looking for a good place to hide his car in order to keep Morgan from finding him. He finally found a very secluded area and locked his car up, leaving most of his money and clothes. Then he began his trek towards his mom's house, since he wasn't allowed at Roxy's.
The images in his head of walking into the apartment, hugging his brother, kissing his mother, and calling Roxas to tell him to get his cute ass over there and welcome him home, kept his legs moving. But your will can only keep you going for so long. Eventually your body reaches its limit, and after two hour of walking Axel's body met his, and he collapsed on the side of the road. He mouthed "Roxas" but no sound left him.
oOo
"So, Zexy," Zexion glowered at Sora for the use of that idiotic nickname, "Why are you always at Demyx's house. I know you're boyfriends, but do you ever go home?" Sora finished.
"That is my home." He answered nonchalantly, and Demyx, who was sitting next to him on the couch, cuddled into his chest.
"Why, what happened to your house?" Sora said, and Riku shook his head to silence the boy in his lap to no avail.
"I'm eighteen. They're not getting paid any more, so they don't want me." When Sora gave him a confused look Zexion continued, "They were foster parents, I never met my real parents."
"And no one adopted you?" Sora asked in disbelief.
"I guess people would rather be paid for keeping me than have to pay to have me as their own." Zexion shrugged.
"You're not even a little sad about that?"
"What's the point of being upset, it gets you nothing, except the occasional beating."
"Zexy! You never told me you were abused!" Demyx cried.
"It never came up."
"Zexion, even I didn't know about that and I've always known you." Riku commented.
"It was my first foster family. My foster dad was a drunk; I was good at hiding the bruises. No one needed to know."
"Zexy!" Demyx cuddled closer to him, nuzzling his head into Zexoin's neck.
"You knew the minute you saw Axel that he was abused, didn't you?" Riku asked.
"Maybe not the minute, but very soon, yes."
"When he disappeared that first time, why didn't you tell us?"
"Demyx knew what was happening. And Riku, if you remember, I was 'sick' quite often as a child. I didn't want anyone to see me and I assumed Axel felt the same way. I assure you when I saw just how bad it was for Axel, I regretted my decision to keep his secret."
"Sooooo, Axel, Demyx, and Zexion have all been abused. Riku, are you and Seph hiding anything?" Sora asked.
"Thankfully I can say our only secret is that Kadaj locked me in a closet once and it took Seph three hours to realize it and find me."
"Three hours!" Sora exclaimed.
"Well for one hour Sephiroth wasn't even home. Once he got home it only took him fifteen minutes to realize he hadn't seen me. He spent another twenty minutes calling my friends. Then he yelled at Kadaj while he searched the house for me. When Kadaj wouldn't tell him where I was he grounded him from everything for six months. Eventually he found me tied up with my mouth taped in a closet."
"I remember him calling me. That was only a few months after the car accident. We were seven, right?" Zexion commented.
"Yeah, Kadaj was still upset about our parents and the fact that I lived and they died. He was testing Sephiroth to see how much he could get away with."
"I think Seph won." Zexion showed a hint of a smile.
"Oh yeah." Riku laughed. Sephiroth had put all of them in their places. When it came to Riku, no one messed with him unless they were prepared to face the wrath of Sephiroth, which was a scary thing. He had come so close to losing Riku with his parents that he became extremely protective over his youngest brother. He felt it was a miracle to still have him. "What time is it?" Riku asked.
"One AM. Do you want to play video games until they get back? Roxas and I got an Xbox for our birthday so all four of us can play." Sora suggested. After getting agreements from everyone, they set up the game and all sat down on the couch. Ten minutes later they were out cold with the controls falling from their limp hands.
AN: Zexion's story actually existed in "The Other Side isn't so Green" I just never had an opportunity to write about it. We heard a little about Demyx, and a little about Riku, but Zexion has remained a mystery. Now you know what I've known the entire time; he has foster parents, or had, now he's got Darla. There will be some Zemyx fluff in the next chapter. (An attempt to add humor to this drama).
Hopefully that was more exciting than last chapter. I liked how the search of the summer house turned out, Morgan finally got a bit of a beating, thanks to Nora.
Thanks for all reviews, favs, and alerts; I will do my best to get a chapter up before AkuRoku Day.