Author's note: Sorry for the late update .;; I have the entire plot thought out but real life butted in… I'll try to update every two weeks from now on. Anyway, Axel and Roxas take on level 8 in this chapter. And it seems our favourite redhead doesn't like hospitals…
As always, the parts in italics are Roxas' direct thoughts.
Abyss
Chapter 6 – Diseased Mind
Roxas felt that the rest room was filled with a tense atmosphere. After the revelations of last night, Marluxia and Zexion were acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if they hadn't withheld important information from the rest. Throughout breakfast, the blonde had noticed that Demyx and -surprisingly- Larxene were looking down. Having not been told anything even though they were each close with one of the two men, must have hurt them. Without the usual cheerful chatter of the musician and battle of wits between Axel and Larxene, the room was filled with a uncomfortable silence.
Whilst the two other blondes looked down, Axel looked furious. Roxas could tell that the redhead was biting his tongue; his face was set emotionless, but Axel couldn't cover the anger behind those green eyes.
After what seemed forever, everyone was done with their breakfast. Ready for the next level.
"Welcome, subjects VI, VIII, IX, XI, XII and XIII. You will advance towards Level 8. There are three possibilities. Please decide with whom you will take on the level. Four persons per possibility is the maximum," the computer repeated like every day.
Axel was the first to speak, "Me and Roxie are going on our own today." The angry tone in which he had spoken, made obvious that the redhead had no desire for sharing a level with either Zexion or Marluxia.
Roxas looked from one face to another. He could've sworn he'd seen Zexion flinch at the angry remark, but now his face was as impassive as always. Then the group split in three; Axel and Roxas, Zexion and Demyx and lastly Marluxia and Larxene.
The level they entered was totally white. White walls, doors and floors. Even the air felt 'white', void of any kind of scent. It took Roxas a moment to realize that they were standing a hospital. A very sanitary one; not a single speck of dust could be seen.
When he looked to his side, the blonde could see that the redhead had gone slightly pale. "Are you alright, Axel?" he asked.
"Sure, Roxy. Why wouldn't I be?" Axel answered. The redhead tried to smile, but it looked more like a grimace. When Roxas just kept looking at him doubtfully, he sighed. "I just don't like hospitals, okay? Drop it."
With one final look, Roxas started walking through the hospital's corridor with Axel on his trail. The duo passed several rooms, which were all filled with patients. Even the hospital gowns which the patients wore, were perfect white. They didn't look sick either. Not a single cough could be heard, and all the patients were staring ahead of them in a daze. Occasionally one of them would smile briefly at nothing and then turn passive again. Well, at least they have normal eyes. Unlike those dolls from two days ago…
To his side, Roxas could feel Axel tensing up more and more. But every time he gave a worried glance to the redhead, the man would just smile at him as if everything was okay.
"May I help you?"
Both of them jumped at the sudden voice. Behind them a young women had appeared, she seemed to be a nurse. Her hair was tucked neatly in a bun and her outfit was -of course- perfect white. She was quite pretty, a comforting smile gracing her features as she repeated her question. "May I help you?"
When it looked like Axel was just not going to say anything, Roxas answered, "That's fine, thank you. We're just..uhm looking around."
The nurse looked at him in confusion. "You aren't patients?" she asked. When they shook their heads, she gave another charming smile. "We'll fix that. Please follow me." With a motion of her hand she beckoned them to follow her.
She led the duo into room which had no other patients. Then she grabbed two hospital gowns from the closet and laid them out on the bed. "Please wear these," she said. "Then you'll be patients." The nurse made it sound like if being a patient was a good thing. After her message, she left the room.
"Well, that was weird," Roxas laughed. When Axel made no move, he sighed. Seriously, what's wrong with him today? "Are you still mad about the Zexion-Marluxia thing?" he asked. But it didn't seem like if the redhead had heard him. The other man seemed too busy shooting death glares at the two gowns.
"Yo, Axel! Anyone in there?" the blonde poked Axel in the side. He had wanted to wave his hands before the other's eyes, but found out he was too short to do so. Much to his chagrin.
Axel blinked at him in confusion. When Roxas started poking him some more, he finally replied. "Yeah, yeah let's just go and find that key." He was stopped by Roxas' voice.
"Maybe we should wear them," the blonde said. "This way we'll fit into the scenery." It seemed logical; this way they could search throughout the hospital without sticking out like a sore thumb in this place void of colours.
But the redhead looked at Roxas as if he had just grown two heads. "Wear them?" He gave a shaky laugh. "But we're not sick. We're not patients."
"I know that, Axel." Roxas replied. "We'll just act like if we are. To fit in." The blonde held out one of the gowns to Axel, but the redhead stepped back in some kind of frightened reflex.
Axel shook his head and put more distance between himself and the gown. "We're not patients. I am not a patient."
Roxas blinked at the way Axel had said 'patient'. Whereas the nurse had made the word sound positive, the redhead's voice was filled with loathing. With pure hatred. "…Axel, are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine," Axel snapped. "Just get going." With large steps the redhead walked out of the room. His entire body was tense like a bow and a deep frown had made its way to his face.
Roxas was quietly following Axel as they walked through the halls of the hospital. They hadn't seen another nurse, but the patients were all over the place. If you could even call them patients. They looked perfectly fine; the only indicator of illness was the same plain gowns each of them wore. But Roxas was hardly paying attention to them. His thoughts were focussed at the redhead who was walking ahead of him. Axel hadn't spoken another word since they'd left the room, which was starting to worry him. It was usually impossible to shut the other man up for even a second.
He was about to ask Axel if he was alright, yet again, when suddenly a patient stumbled and crashed into a cart filled with medical instruments. It caused the items to be scattered across the floor. Roxas was about to help the patient up, when he saw the look on Axel's face. Pure panic had washed over it, as green eyes scanned over the shiny metal instruments. "Axel, what the hell is wrong with–".
"Oh dear, what a mess." A new nurse had appeared behind them and cut Roxas off. She looked similar to the nurse they had seen earlier. Hair in a perfect bun and not a single crease could be seen in her uniform. As she turned towards Roxas and Axel, a displeased look crossed her eyes. "Why aren't you wearing your gowns?"
Considering Axel was still staring at the fallen instruments in a disturbed way, it was up to Roxas to talk them out of this mess. "Ehm, we.. we couldn't find them." Brilliant input, Roxas. Lying had never been his strongest suit. But it seemed to do the trick. The unsatisfied look left the nurse's eyes and a smile graced her lips.
"Please just look into the closet of your patient room. Your gowns should be there," she happily told them with a smile on her face.
Roxas returned the smile with a strained one of his own. "We'll go and do that." Hopefully she would leave them alone now.
"Where are your rooms?" Alas, no such luck.
The blonde gave the most innocent smile he could muster, before replying, "Just a little further. We can find them ourselves, right Axel?" He grabbed the redhead wrist, but the man wasn't budging. Axel just kept staring at the instruments as if his life depended on it. It caused the nurse to stare at them.
"Your friend looks ill," she said. The tone of her voice suggested that she seemed rather thrilled by that aspect. The nurse bended over to grab one of the instruments scattered on the floor. "I'll fix him up."
That statement shook Axel out of whatever trance he'd been in. He quickly turned his heels and walked off in the opposite direction. Dragging Roxas along, who had still been holding on to his wrist. His pace sped up to such a level, that the blonde had to jog to keep up with him.
But they couldn't escape that easily.
The nurse they had left behind, glared ferociously at their retreating backs.
"Patients should behave."
Her tone could have frozen over hell. And with that seemingly simple message, she walked off.
Roxas was running as fast as he could, his hand still clasping onto Axel's. At first he had thought that they could just run out of sight. But seconds after their retreat, all of the patients had begun chanting the word 'behave' over and over again. With their empty gazes fixed on the running duo, every patient they passed, pointed its fingers in the direction they were running. Simulating as a brood trail for the chasing nurses.
"Behave."
"Behave."
"Behave."
The chanting just kept going and Roxas was frantically trying to think of a way to save themselves. Come on, think of something! Think! But he couldn't think of anything; all he saw was patients and white. Everywhere.
They should've just worn the gowns! If Roxas was going to make it out of this alive, he would tell Axel 'I told you so' a million times. …Or not. The redhead's face was still twisted in so much panic, that Roxas was afraid the other man was going to have a heart attack.
Wait a minute…the gowns! Maybe we can still put them on! The main reason the nurses were mad at them, was because they didn't act as proper patients. Maybe if they put on the gowns they could still redeem themselves.
"Axel! We need to put on the gowns!" Roxas yelled over the sound of the chanting. The redhead didn't say anything in the reply, but did give him a disbelieving look. "I know it's a long shot, but maybe they'll back off if we act properly."
But Axel just repeated the sentence he had used before, "I am not a patient."
"I know that!" Roxas replied. He was getting too tired. They had been running for a while now. "I know you're not, Axel, but we need to blend in."
When Axel still refused to budge, the blonde yanked him into one of the patient rooms. Quickly he opened the closet and tore out two gowns. "Put it on!" He yelled towards Axel and put one over his own head.
"I. Am. Not. A. Patient," Axel slowly spelled out like you would towards a misunderstanding child. But there was no energy left in his voice. It sounded hollow.
But as the sound of approaching footsteps increased, Roxas' patient ran out. He grabbed the other gown and tugged it over the man's head. The blonde had just closed the last button of Axel's gown when suddenly the chanting stopped. The patients which had been in the same room, stopped their pointing and the sound of rapid footsteps also ceased.
It had worked.
But Roxas didn't get much time to gloat about his success, since the patient's chanting seemed to have been replaced by Axel's 'I'm not a patient'-chant.
"Hey, Axel. Look at me," the blonde tried. But Axel just kept staring at the ground, mumbling and playing with the buttons of the gown. "Axel, tell me what's wrong," Roxas tried again in the softest voice he could muster.
Still no reaction.
Softly Roxas cupped Axel's head with his hands, making the redhead look at him. "Calm down, okay? It's alright now," he shushed.
Finally the redhead seemed to hear him as the man blinked slowly. Roxas moved his hands to the man's shoulders as Axel turned his head to look at his surroundings. "Axel?" he tried again. Thankfully, green eyes cleared up this time and looked at him.
Axel sighed, "Ah, sorry Roxie. I freaked out, didn't I?" The blonde just nodded. Big blue eyes looked expectantly at him. "And you wanna know why, right?" Much to his surprise Roxas didn't nod.
"You don't have to tell me, Axel. Just don't pretend to be fine, when you're not." Then Roxas quickly added, "But if you want to tell me, you can."
A slight grin appeared on Axel's face at that last reply. "You wish." He sighed again. "I just had a bad experience with hospitals." His green eyes lifted towards the ceiling. "Really bad."
"Ehm," Roxas started, "Should I look for the key myself?" When Axel raised a eyebrow, he quickly continued, "So you won't have to see all that again."
"Nah, I won't let that happen again. It just caught me off-guard the first time," Axel replied.
"You're sure?" the blonde asked. The redhead had been a mess just moments ago, he didn't want it to happen again.
Axel gave the smaller boy a small grin and ruffled his hair, before replying, "Yeah, I'm sure." Then he leered at Roxas, "But you're going to have to share the bed with me again tonight, to scare off my nightmares, Roxie-bear."
Reassured by the return of Axel's usual pestering, Roxas felt himself smile at the redhead in return. After that his smile turned into a smirk which could rival Axel's. "And Axel?"
"Yeah, Roxie?" the redhead asked.
"I told you so."
"Oh shut up," Axel replied as he lightly punched the grinning boy in the shoulder.
Now that the two of them were wearing hospital gowns, they could move freely through the hospital in search of the level's key. Axel still seemed slightly on edge because of their surroundings, but distracted himself with pestering Roxas.
"No, I'm serious. Larxene got hit by lightning when she was a child. That's why her hair looks like it does," Axel explained gravely. The huge grin on his face spoke otherwise though.
"Then what's your excuse, Axel?" Roxas replied cheekily. "For your hair."
The redhead brushed a hand through his hair. Then he put a finger to his mouth, and as if he was telling a secret, whispered, "An angel blessed it."
"Don't you mean curse?" Roxas replied. He had to duck to avoid the punch which Axel aimed for his head.
"Jealousy is such an ugly emotion, blondie," Axel exaggerated a sigh. "Alas, hotness as mine is rare so I can understand your envy."
Roxas was about to reply with a snide comment, when he suddenly saw the golden key. Just hanging in the lock of a door. A notice was hanging on the door with 'for staff only' written on it. He looked around to see if there were any nurses around. Since not a single nurse could be seen, he and Axel moved towards the key.
The blonde turned the key slowly and removed it as he unlocked the door. Curious to see what was in the room, he opened the door and entered the room with Axel close behind him.
At first it looked like an ordinary storage room. There were medical instruments, blankets and sheets everywhere. The lights were off, but the open door enabled the hallway's light to brighten the room.
They wished it hadn't.
In sharp contrast with the other neurotically clean rooms of the hospital, a dark red was splattered throughout the room. Dried up blood was scattered all over the place. Not only on the instruments and blankets, but also on the floor and walls. Roxas could feel his breakfast threatening to come out at the sight.
The blonde turned towards Axel in worry, but luckily the redhead didn't seem to be as freaked out as he had been before. The man had turned pale, but the hollow glaze which had covered his green eyes previously, wasn't present.
Axel caught his glance and put his hand on the blonde's shoulder to give it an encouraging squeeze. The both of them were about to leave the room, when…
"Behave."
The duo quickly turned towards the owner of the voice, seeing a very ticked off nurse.
"This room is off-limits for patients," the nurse said in a bone-chilling tone. But neither of them paid any attention to it; they were looking at woman's right hand. Because it was holding rather large scalpel. Fresh blood was dripping from it, forming a puddle on the floor.
"We're terribly sorry, ma'am. Please excuse us," Axel replied quickly. Then he grabbed Roxas' wrist and sprinted out of the room, dragging the blonde along with him.
As they sprinted through the hallways, it was a déjà-vu all over again. Once more the patient were chanting 'behave' and pointing their fingers in their direction, giving away their position. But it seemed the hospital had learned from the last time. Because instead of just chasing the duo, the nurses started circulating them. In a couple of the minutes they were completely surrounded.
About thirty nurses were standing in a perfect circle around Axel and Roxas. And even if they could've breached that barrier, it seemed all of the patients of the hospital had come to watch. There were people everywhere making it impossible to keep running.
And standing proudly in the front row was the nurse which was still holding the, in blood covered, scalpel. "Patients should behave," she sneered as she swung the scalpel from one hand to the other. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what she wanted to do with it.
Roxas turned his head to the side when he suddenly heard the noise of something being torn apart. It was Axel. He had removed his gown in a not very subtle way. For a second Roxas was afraid the redhead was going to start his 'I'm not a patient'-chant again, but the other man just dropped the torn garment to the floor.
"We'd like to check out," Axel said in a calm voice. A nasty sneer was covering his lips as he stared straight at the armed nurse, who raised her scalpel in response.
The redhead looked ready to take the nurse on and though Roxas had no doubt that the redhead could easily take the woman out, it wouldn't solve their problem. There would still be hundreds of people ready to pounce them. The entire level was out to get them. …The entire level, eh? Maybe I could–
But before he could finish his train of thought, the nurse dashed forward to take a swipe at Axel. The redhead avoided the first blow, but considering they were trapped within the circle, the man had little space to manoeuvre. The nurse was also proving to be quite a good fighter. Every swing she took, was carefully positioned; coming dangerously close to the defending redhead.
Roxas was about to come and help Axel out, when the other man told him to escape.
"You and I both know that even if we can take this wench out, that there are still too many out here," Axel told him. "Just try to make a run for it." He had to duck to narrowly escape a swipe to the head.
Roxas, however, didn't plan on leaving the redhead on his own, "A. I'm not leaving you and B. there's nowhere to go. We're surrounded, you moron!" he half-shouted.
"Then what do you suggest we do, genius?" Axel replied testily. But the conversation was distracting him, and the nurse moved in to take a clean shot at the redhead.
For a short moment time seemed to slow down. Slowly Axel's green eyes widened and the nurse's leer deepened as the scalpel closed in, but it didn't connect with its intended victim.
"Roxas!" Axel yelled as the scalpel sliced the skin of the blonde's arm.
A long cut from wrist to elbow was created as Roxas had moved in front of the redhead, shielding himself with his arm. But when the nurse raised her hand to strike again, the blonde let a sneer slide up his face, "You should learn to behave."
Like the bolt had frozen the other day, the nurse's hand froze mid-air as a deep voice boomed through the room.
"C."
"O."
"S."
"I."
"I."
"R."
"T."
"A."
Unlike the chaos which had followed in the last level, this time everything stopped moved entirely. The patients and nurses had turned into living statues. The hospital would've been completely silent if the computer hadn't kept repeating the message 'SYSTEM ERROR' over and over again. That and a certain redhead who felt the need to yell at the bleeding Roxas.
"Damnit, you planned this, didn't you!" Axel yelled at the blonde. But he wasn't looking at Roxas, since he was to busy moving towards the first bandages he could find. "Put this on," he said as he wrapped the bandages around the blonde's arm to stop the bleeding.
"Well, did you? Plan it?" the redhead asked again in a agitated voice when Roxas made no move to speak.
Roxas only answered with one word, "Yes."
When Axel just glared at him, the blonde explained, "The virus wants me to stay alive, remember?" He flinched slightly as Axel wound the bandage around his arm. "At least know we now for sure that it doesn't save me in advance."
"And that is a good explanation for getting hurt, how?" Axel asked testily.
The blonde sighed. "The only way we were going to escape this level was if it crashed." Another flinch. "And it did."
Axel just glared at that reply, but it more out of worry than anger. "We'll finish this conversation after we've got you cleaned up in the rest room."
Day 1466.
Subjects VI, VIII, IX, XI, XII and XIII have passed Level 8.
Subject X has failed at Level 15. X has been relocated to Level 10.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Level 8 has crashed. A bug has infiltrated the system. REPAIRS NEEDED.
Current Level of subjects:
I – 19
II – 18
III – 12
IV – 12
V – 17
VI – 8
VII – 19
VIII – 8
IX – 8
X – 10
XI – 8
XII – 8
XIII - 8
Author's note: So why is Axel afraid of hospitals and why would it matter to my plot..? Y'all have to see later ;D
Please review.
And happy new year!