Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Chapter 15:
Roxas was nervous as he sat at the table with the fedora pulled over his eyes to hide his identity from the one he was meeting with to give an air of mystery to the moment and to hide the nervousness in his eyes.
"Be cool kid, we don't need this deal going sour," Xaldin lightly squeezed Roxas' shoulder.
"I'm cool, don't worry," Roxas winced at Xaldin's grip on his shoulder.
The Boss was sitting in a leather armchair placed in front of a small fireplace at his home; the fire danced with his amber red eyes as the pale yellow, as yellow as the moonlight walked up alongside the chair.
"Do you think it was the right thing to do; sending the boy in your place to prove his worth to the Family?" Saix kept his eyes fixed upon the fiery flames that danced in the hearth.
"Are you doubting my abilities?" Xemnas asked in a straightforward tone; his eyes only slightly drifting towards Saix's general direction.
"No," Saix sternly remarked as he noticed that Xemnas' eyes were staring at him with piercing precision.
"Good and I believe that the boy will excel; I expect no problems," Xemnas lifted a glass of brandy to his lips; he took only a small swig before throwing the glass into the hearth, "We can't afford to have problems when we are this close.
Squall fidgeted in the place he sat watching the meeting progress; he wanted to be like a fly on the wall, watching and listening to the conversation in hopes of finding an escape route for Roxas if it came to the problem of that.
"Cloud, wherever you are, get here soon," Squall mouthed to himself as the small peeking of a curtain blinds open and closing as it had been doing off and on, "Get here soon unless you want to see your brother behind bars or even on the hangman's noose."
Twilight Chapel was silent expect for the soft prayers of the faithful, nightly incenses being burnt about incense burners that swung back and forth on a chain as a small band of men swung them. The head of the Church was leading the men behind him in a Latin prayer of Protection for all, no matter where they were so that the Lord may always be with them. All visitors to the Church had long gone home, expect for a young brunette woman who stood at the back of the Church with a look of worry on her young face.
"My dear, I'm afraid I must tell you th---"Father Yen Sid began to speak as he became silent as his eyes fell upon the woman's drawn down and worried face, "My child, why do you wear such a face?"
"Father Yen Sid, I fear that something is going to happen this evening," the young woman said; trying not to alarm him.
"What do you mean, Aerith?" Father Yen Sid sat beside her on the pew.
"Where do I start?" Aerith began to tell him about her worries and the fears that were plaguing her mind as of lately.
The pieces of the puzzle were coming together and the pawns of this chess game were starting to fall into place; it would be only a matter of time before this game came to a close and those involved were to fall.
"So, what do you have to offer us this evening? Because before we start, I would like to know our conditions," Roxas pulled the fedora down over his eyes to hide the fear in his eyes.
"Does ten thousand dollars and the lean to Twilight Jazz Club sound like a fair deal?" the dealer slid a manila folder that held the lease and then slid the briefcase of money across the table.
Roxas took the folder and didn't even open it , that Club had once been the one place he could escape to, to escape the outside World and the life he lived just to be different from the tragedy of all he lived through. His eyes began to become misty as he wiped as his eyes and got back to business.
"That, that sounds like a reasonable offer," Roxas handed the folder to Xaldin and proceeded to move his hands to the briefcase.
"Why don't you open the briefcase and make sure that all the money is there?" the dealer's body language began to change.
Roxas looked to Xaldin and Xigbar for a suggestion and while he did; he never noticed that Axel had changed places as the sound of someone crashing about in the back room seemed to change the mood of the moment.
"Come on, seal the deal," Captain Setzer watched the scene unfold through binoculars.
Far away from the others, Cloud parked his car without thought as he gathered his thoughts and prepared to break into the club, "God, if you're there, please watch over me as I go in to this place to hopefully find my brother and bring him home," Cloud whispered the prayer as he made his way through the back of the kitchen of the Club, with some slight problems now and again.