A/N: Okay guys! Sorry for the wait! I think this is going to be the last chapter. Maybe an epilogue but maybe not. It depends on if I'm, and you all, are happy with this ending or not. Thanks for sticking with me in this busy time! Love ya'll! Mwah!
Chapter 5:
Lioness awoke and rolled over and smiled.
Axel was there, his arms wrapped securely around her waist and her head was buried into his broad and masculine chest.
She couldn't help but snuggle closer and breathe him in.
He stirred as she did and looked down and smiled at her.
"Want to get some-?" He glanced at the watch "Lunch?"
Lioness laughed and nodded.
After a shower together that was steamy in more ways than one, the couple went and sat in the living room, where the boys were already gathered.
They made their usual comments and even cat called and whistled as Lioness approached, but Axel quickly shut them down with a glare.
"Oooohhhh someone has it bad!" Hawk exclaimed obnoxiously.
Axel scowled as everyone around him erupted into laughter.
"Very funny guys." Axel steamed.
Lioness giggled and punched him in the shoulder.
"Hey!" He said, holding his arm like she had really hurt him. She rolled her eyes and he bumped his shoulder into hers, a smile lighting up his chiseled face. She bumped him back, and Hawk made a groaning noise.
"It's so cheesy and gross!" He complained.
"Ddddduuuudddeee it's love!" Shark said, throwing his arm around Hawk's neck in a friendly matter. However, Shark quickly shook him off and glared at him.
"You messed up my hair!" He whined and King sighed.
"Lioness is more of a man than you are." He said, exasperated. Everyone laughed and murmured in agreement.
"HEY!" Hawk cried out.
But the group of young people continued to laugh.
Late that night, after the group had gone to lunch, to a musical on board, to dinner, and then dancing, the whole group sat in the living room talking and laughing.
"Oh I need to get back to my room." Lioness yawned, and Axel frowned.
"Just stay here with me." He said simply and the guys instantly started to poke fun.
Axel's face reddened and he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"I mean if you want to." He stammered and Lioness laughed.
"I'll just go and get some things and then I'll be right back." She said and Axel nodded.
As Lioness walked out of the door, a smirk lit up her face as she heard the boys still making fun of Axel.
Lioness quickly descended the stairs and gathered her things as quickly as she could. She wanted to get back to Axel. If someone asked her, she would deny it, but she was addicted to him. She was already in love with him. He was her knight in shining armor but it wasn't just that. It was the fact that he intrigued her, she wanted to know all that she could about him. He made her feel alive, like she really had a chance… that she could save her brothers' lives and right the wrongs that her family had committed. And she wanted him with her every step of the way. She was different now… She had a chance.
With a smile on her face, Lioness began to walk up the stair when suddenly the ship changed direction. She stumbled but gripped the rail. Why was the ship turning left so sharply? She decided to forget about it. They said this ship was unsinkable.
With a smile still on her face, Lioness began walking the deck to where the first class suites were when suddenly the ship hit something. The high pitched whine of metal colliding with another object made her ears hurt. Lioness was thrown forward and she landed painfully on her side and she screamed out in pain. She was still bruised from when she was attacked but with the way she fell, she had to have broken some ribs.
With tears gathering in her eyes, Lioness stood, holding her side, and limped to the rail to see what had happened. There in front of the ship stood a massive iceberg.
Suddenly there were sirens going off and people started screaming. What was happening? She had to get to Axel!
Just at that second, people started emerging on the deck, the stampede had started and she tried desperately to not be crushed by the crowd.
She looked for Axel but did not see him. At that moment she didn't care about the screaming people, the fact that she was hurt, or the fact that they were loading people onto lifeboats. All she cared about was Axel.
He was too good of a person to die here, and especially not like this. He was troubled but he had made so much progress and he had life ahead of him. No debts, no twins to worry about, only his wonderful friends.
If it took her life to save his, then so be it. He was going to make it out alive no matter what.
Axel knew by the sound that they had hit something and he knew that Lioness was out there… alone.
"Everyone gear up and get on the lifeboats! I'm going to go get Lioness!" Axel instructed.
"Axel wait! You can't! We need to all get on the few lifeboats that the ship has and-." King started to say, however, Axel's death glare froze him in his tracks. He nodded solemnly, took two steps forward, and wrapped Axel in his arms.
Axel returned the fierce hug. King had helped him through everything. Although he was muscular, hard, and strong, inside he was as kind as any person could be. Teddy bear is what they all used to call him.
Axel wouldn't be able to live if he found out something had happened to King and it was his fault.
Shark and Hawk hugged Axel after King let him go. They were both uncharacteristically quiet and it finally hit Axel that they could all die here. And Lioness was out there in the middle of it.
"Be safe, Axel." King commanded, his big brown eyes dark with emotion.
"Everything will be alright." Shark said, his tone chill, but his eyes laced with concern.
"Bring her back safe." Hawk said, that obnoxious smile lighting up his face. Always the optimist.
Axel nodded, his throat too choked to speak, and without wasting any more time he dashed out of the door and instantly ran into someone's back.
He murmured an "excuse me" and continued shoving his way past people.
The ship lurched again and people began screaming even louder.
Axel struggled to regain his footing as the ship lurched again. He looked around, as he stood taller than a good deal of the passengers, his eyes searching for the one girl he knew had saved his life.
Finally he spotted her, a small child and puppy in his arms.
He noticed that she looked like she was in pain and he noticed blood on the side of her shirt. Without a second thought he ran to her, not even bothering to say excuse me.
When she saw him, he saw tears start to stream down her face.
"What's going on?" He asked her, eyeing the toddler and tiny dog in her arms.
"The ship hit an iceberg! I found this little girl crying in the corner and I just… I couldn't leave her. She said her parents had been trying to get into a lifeboat with her and the dog, but a fight started and the parents ended up falling overboard. I think she got scared because she hasn't said anything since then." Lioness hurriedly explained and Axel nodded.
He took the child and Lioness held the dog in her lean arms. He saw the tenderness in her eyes as she petted the shaking dog and smiled reassuringly at the child.
He vowed right then to not let anything happen to her. People like her, they didn't really exist anymore, and she was a rare. A diamond in the rough, and he would protect her.
He eyed her wound and she noticed. "I fell the second time the ship lurched and I landed wrong. We can't worry about that now." She said bluntly. Axel nodded and kissed her lips softly.
"MOVE!" Axel commanded the people in front of him. He heard music suddenly, and as he ran towards the lifeboat, he looked over and saw that the musicians that played the night that he and Lioness danced were playing now. Trying to prevent mass hysteria, and they were going to go down with the ship.
The thought was painful so Axel jerked his head forward until he reached a lifeboat.
"This little girl needs to get on here!" He said quickly, talking to the man in charge of the lifeboats.
"And her dog too!" Lioness chimed in from behind Axel's muscular frame
"We can't fit any one else on!" The man said but Lioness shook her head.
"You've got at least two seats on there!" She exclaimed angrily and the man took an aggressive step towards her, but Axel moved so that he was in front of her.
"Come towards her like that again and you will be the one overboard. This is a child and her dog, find room!" Axel snarled.
"Who's going to take after the child and her little dog?" The man questioned.
He was met with tense silence.
Suddenly a girl in the lifeboat cautiously stood up. It was the same girl that Axel remembered meeting on the first day that he got on the ship. She had come up to him and flirted and he was distracted by her before realizing that Lioness had slipped away.
"Give her to me, and the dog too. I'll take care of them." She said honestly and the man sighed and moved over. Axel gently placed the child into the woman's arms and he took the puppy from Lioness and she cradled it against her hip and sat down again.
Lioness nodded her head at her in thanks and she nodded back, smiling shakily.
"Get in, Lioness." Axel said to her, holding his hand out to help her in but she shook her head.
"I'm not getting on there. If anyone should, you should." She whispered, taking a step back from him.
"Why Lioness?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.
Suddenly the boat lurched.
"I HAVE TO LOWER IT!" The man yelled over the noise.
"Wait!" Axel cried but it was too late, and the lifeboat was lowered into the water and sent on its way safely across the waves.
Axel turned and advanced on Lioness.
"Why did you do that?! Now what are we going to do!? I can't STAND the thought of you not living through this, you deserve to! WHY DIDN"T YOU SAVE YOURSELF?!" He yelled at her.
"I don't deserve to, but Axel, you do. You have so much to live for. Your whole life is head of you. Me? I'm not anything."
Suddenly the ship began to rise on its rear and the tip began to ascend into the air.
"Grab onto something!" Axel commanded and he reached a long and muscular arm out and grasped the railing nearest to him.
Lioness reached for the rail herself but her arms were too short and she missed and she began to fall.
"LIONESS!" Axel screamed and with the hand that was not holding onto the rail for dear life, he grasped her petite hand in his.
She cried out in pain from the recoil of being caught so fast. Her side felt like it was splitting open.
As she dangled from his hand, she heard his grunt of pain. If he continued to focus all his strength in holding her up, his hand would eventually slip from the railing and he would fall and she along with him. She would not bring him down, she would not let him risk his life for her.
"Catalina." She said.
He starred at her in confusion. "What?"
"That's my real name… Catalina. Catalina Leone." She said, tears streaming down her face.
He nodded. "Catalina, you're going to have to either try to climb up here or hold on, the ship is going to tip over!" Axel yelled to her but she simply shook her head and he felt her release her hold on his hand.
"Don't forget me." She whispered, just loudly enough for him over the screams and roar of the water.
"NO!" He said, desperately trying to pull her petite body up to the rail but she with the ship being vertical, with the effect of gravity and her unwillingness to help him he could not pull her up.
Her hand began to slip further and further through his and despite his grip tightening and his cries of protest she would not clutch his hand.
"I love you." She said, a smile lighting up her face as her hand finally slipped from his and she fell and he watched helplessly as her body hit the water.
"Your name?"
Axel snapped his head up to look at the man in front of him. The man was from the naval base that the survivors got sent to. He was taking names and cross checking them with the names of people who boarded the ship to determine who was missing and dead and who had survived.
"Axel Manning." He said robotically.
The man's face suddenly erupted into a smile. "You have some people looking for you. If you go downstairs and to the right you'll see them."
Axel leaped to his feet and practically ran down the stairs, throwing the blanket that had been draped over his shoulders on the ground.
Once he turned to the right he saw them and there was suddenly talking all at once and for the first time ever in his life, he let his three best friends trap him in a group hug.
As they talked and cried and laughed, they made their way up to the top deck where Axel had just come from. They paused and look out over the sea. The murderous sea.
Axel felt tears brimming in his eyes for what felt like the millionth time and he turned and leaned the back of his arms on the railing and look over the dock at the rest of the passengers.
Suddenly he heard a raspy laugh. He recognized it instantly and he knew. He looked everywhere until he saw light brown hair and gold eyes and he felt his heart beat rapidly in his chest.
He stood tall, abandoning his reclining position against the rail and he began to run.
And for the first time in a while, he smiled