I know it has been a why since I last updated a chapter on this story, I am sorry it got delayed, but I actually got distracted and forgot to reread what Ayme had edited for me because I was not only busy with work, but also the king of all writer's blocks with one of my other stories. I am happy to say that for now, its gone, so I updated. I hope you guys like the new chapter, since I am started to become concerned that maybe people don't like this story as much as I do, so please review.
Disclaimer: characters belong to Square Enix, Disney, Etc.
'Level XIII-Chapter VI' by KitsuneFun
'I'm so stupid…' Roxas thought as he quickly found the pink convertible in the dark, once found, he collapsed to his knees next to the door and started banging his fists against the metal side as he leaned his forehead against the cool metal, he could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks, "So stupid…"
He didn't hear the falling of feet behind him stop, all he could feel was pain, so it surprised him when he was suddenly enfolded into a warm pair of arms from behind, he stopped hitting the sides of the car to stare wide-eyed over his shoulder… it was Axel. The man was leaning close and despite his size had managed to curl his large frame around Roxas's form and was leaning his head against the back of the blond's neck, "Axel…" he didn't notice the word left his mouth till the man lifted his head and his intense green eyes stared back into his own.
Axel gave a small smile before slowly lifting his hand and using his thumb to softly wipe away Roxas's tears, "It will be ok… I promise I will never let him hurt you again," from the tone of his voice, Roxas wanted to believe him, but the redhead knew nothing about his past so he couldn't possibly know what he was in for by saying he would protect Roxas.
The blond leaned his forehead against the side of the car and took a deep sigh, "If he comes after me seriously… I will only be a burden to you…" he didn't want to look at Axel, he could feel his heart begin to thunder in his ear and wondered how he could feel anything for the redhead since he believe whole-heatedly that he had nothing left to give to anyone.
It didn't take much for Axel to turn the boy around so that he was now facing him, he seemed almost like a shell of a actual person and it scared him to see it, it almost sounded like he was ready to give up and end his life. Now that the boy was facing him, he held him as close as possible letting Roxas's head rest in the crook of his neck. He was surprised when the action made the smaller boy begin to shake, leaning back he slowly lifted the boy's head to his face, finding the blond's eyes closed he found himself leaning close and kissing at the still wet cheeks softly, "Believe in me… please…"
Roxas's eyes slowly opened and they stared back, searching his own eyes for the truth, "Why… you don't even know me?"
Axel heard the hurt laying in the tone of his voice and it broke his heart, he didn't care at that moment if it had only been a few hours since he met the blond, you couldn't deny finding love or this kind of chemisty when it bit you in the ass… literally, he grinned warmly at the boy, "Well, your one hell of a dancer… so…"
The boy laughed at the unexpected joke and visible relaxed a bit before he asked again, "Seriously Axel… I'm a boy running away from his ex fiancé, we met only a few hours ago… so you know nothing about me or for that matter Seifer, in fact if he saw us right now he would kill you slowly while I watched and then force me to have sex next to your dying corpse… are you ready to face that?"
The redhead's brows furrowed in anger over the image, it was a little too detailed to just be an example, "He's done it before."
It wasn't a question, he noticed Roxas bite his lips and duck his head in misery, his shoulders began to shake, "Yeah… it was the day Sora left…" he licked his dry lips slowly, wondering why it was so easy to explain all of this to redhead, it was crazy how comfortable he felt with a practical stranger, "I felt lonely and while I was walking through the compound I met this guy named Cid, he was really nice and we sat talking… just talking for hours," Axel watched the blond's eyes soften at the memories before they hardened a little at what happened next, "I didn't think the other man would kiss me… and it really wasn't anything special, but Seifer was there and he threw the man off me before having Vexen grab him and drag him to his torture chamber while he pulled me along…" he watched as the boy's shaking increased.
He could tell the memories were terrible by the way the blond reacted to them and Axel lifted his hand to gently caress Roxas's cheek before letting it slide up through the blond's surprisingly soft hair resting there, "If you don't want to continue…"
Roxas lifted his head again and looked at Axel, he could feel his mouth dry as he stared in wonder into those green eyes, 'How can he care?' he didn't know how it was possible, but this man did, Roxas could tell just by staring into his eyes and he had to wonder… 'was this what real love was?'
Before he thought about the consequences, Roxas found himself leaning close and hesitantly kissing the redhead's lips, they still tasted faintly of alcohol, but at the moment the blond didn't care, '…this was Axel,' the thought came to mind that he didn't care anymore if he was killed when Seifer found him with Axel, he had a feeling being with the redhead that everything would be ok, and for now he wanted this man.
The kiss became heated quickly as mouths slowly opened and tongues slowly dueled against one another's, it was surprisingly Axel who pulled away this time from the flustered blonde, "You don't have to stop…" the blond muttered leaning closer in order to continue only to watch Axel back up a bit in frustration.
The redhead shook his head slowly, "You have no idea how tempting that offer is Roxas," he gave a nervous laugh while running a hand through his long spiky red hair, "but even I know you're not ready for this…"
"But…" Roxas felt a finger press against his lips silencing him.
"No more buts…" the redhead grinned, "Even though yours is the cutest one I have seen in a long time…" he waggled his brows comically and watched in satisfaction as the blond's cheeks flushed a bright red, "How about we take our time with whatever this is first?"
The blond gave a big smile; it was beautiful to Axel's eyes, "Ok."
"Yeah…" the redhead quickly pecked the blonde on the cheek before pulling himself along with Roxas to their feet, "Now lets go get Kairi and Mr In-Denial-Haynor and head back to the hotel… huh?"
Roxas's heart felt light for the first time… in a long time and he couldn't help the smile that remained on his face as he walked silently next to the redhead, 'Maybe this could work,' he thought staring up at the redhead's profile, 'I want to believe it will… I want to believe it with my whole heart,' he watched the redhead turn his head to look down at him and smile, 'It couldn't hurt to fall for this man.'
Axel seemed to be thinking the same as he stared down at Roxas, this was going against any plans he had made before to enter 'The Organization', get Seifer and get his bounty. He realized that he couldn't just walk away from the blonde, it seemed that the boy had Axel wrapped quickly around his finger without even trying… it was crazy, but the redhead believed that considering his background, it wasn't too odd to fall in love like this.
It just meant that Axel's plans were going to change; hopefully Luxord would be willing to help him with the change. He watched as Roxas entered the bar and walked over towards the counter and started to laugh as he saw Kairi dancing on the top… Coyote Ugly style.
Haynor for his part was too busy resting his head against some random man's lap and had started to snore, it was amusing to see the boy acting like this and he took note to mention this later since he had a feeling it would be amusing to bring it up just to see how the boy would react.
"Ah.. Come on… Rossas!" Kairi mumbled as she stood up on the counter, "Ish fun… come shake… your tail-feather," she started to laugh and wobble more on her feet.
It was amusing, but Axel knew from experience, having traveled with Demyx that it was definitely time for the little redheaded girl to get down. He moved over to the counter, just in time, to catch the girl as she suddenly fell off the counter, catching her with in his arms, "I guess it time we went princess."
The girl lifter her head at the sudden nickname and smiled up at him, "Are you done with whoopee time with Roxas?"
He looked over at the blond's whose face started to heat again and chuckled before giving Kairi a slow wink, "Let's just say… It's to be continued…"
"Do you think its ok to start over?"
Xigbar turned his head to look over at Demyx as they lay side by side on top of the blond's van roof, how they had gotten their was perhaps the oddest of occurrences. It had all started with the their tow truck driver coming to pick them up… except he wasn't their truck driver and had run off with his car leaving them stranded 2 miles away from their hotel and they had ended up having to walk the rest of the way back to the hotel because their was no cabs to pick them up at that hour.
It had been almost cute they way Demyx had pouted the entire way, considering he felt it was his fault that driver had taken Xigbar's car and he ended up offering to drive him in their van to meet up with Axel.
When they had arrived back at the Hotel, Demyx was surprised that his partner was no where in site considering it was now 12:15 am at night, and unfortunately Axel also had the key to the room and since the Hotel manager was now asleep their was no way for the blond to get back in his room so he decided to lay on top of the roof and look at the stars while he waited for Axel to get back from where ever the hell he'd gone.
Xigbar was in no rush at that point to go back to the room so he lay next to the younger man on top of the roof and they both stared up at the beautiful night sky, the night sky resembled a velvet blanket with diamonds spread out as if someone had thrown them strategically against the blackness for such an effect… it was beautiful.
"I don't really see a need to… it wasn't your fault," Xigbar stated with a shrug of his shoulder, "Besides its nice laying with you…" his face turned back to the sky so he missed the blush that suffused the younger man's face at the comment.
"Oh really…" the younger boy quickly leaned up on his side and stared down at Xigbar thoughtfully, "I can think of better places we could be…" he waggled his brows making Xigbar laugh and push him back.
"I think it's a little too early for that… besides we are officially working together now, so we shouldn't be mixing business with pleasure." Even though Xigbar would have loved nothing better than to show Demyx just how much he liked the idea of going somewhere else.
The blonde didn't seem amused by the answer and he quickly straddled Xigbar's waist, leaning his arms on either side of the man's wide shoulders as he moved his face close to Xigbar's own till the tip of their noses touched, "And what if I like mixing business with pleasure?" he leaned his mouth close till he could feel the other's breath releasing against his own, "Are you going to stop me if I say… do this?" he closed the gap and kissed Xigbar slowly, just letting his lips massage against the older man's unresponsive ones.
"God… I can tell your going to be the death of me," Xigbar muttered, giving in and using his right hand to pull the blond's face closer by the back of his head while using his left hand to massage the younger man's buttocks.
The action made Demyx laugh, "You have to stop calling me other names though… my name's Demyx… D.. E…" he was cut off by Xigbar who used his tongue to effectively silence the younger man.
"AHEM!" a very distinct and loud cough effectively interrupted them, Demyx was the first to move, by getting off of Xigbar and turning to look down over the side of van at an amused Axel standing below them.
"As much fun as it looks to stargaze we really should get to bed Demyx… besides," a large grin suffused the redhead's face as he stared up at his flushed partner, "I have a ride with someone else to Las Vegas so I need my girls Betty and Veronica," The names of course referred to the redhead's specially designed and built pair of Colt 45 automatic pistols with red enameled barrels with handles colored with yellow and orange flames over them. they had been made by a underground company named Chakram that worked exclusively for not only bounty hunters, but millionaires and celebrities… they were a very expensive set of weapons, but Axel referred to them as his daughters.
Demyx looked at him oddly a moment, "I can get them for you, but why are you riding with someone else… all our equipment is in the van?"
"Because…" Axel gave a smirk, "Roxas isn't riding in the van…"
Blue eyes widened in surprise, "You found the kid?" he turned to look at Xigbar in excitement, he wasn't concerned when the older man took to eyeing the two of them quietly, "Isn't that great… it shouldn't take any time at all to return him to 'the Organization'?"
Axel looked at the older man that was hidden till then behind Demyx and frowned, it didn't bode well that 'The Organization' top assassin was here, he had to subdue what information he was going to tell his partner for now since he didn't want Xigbar to head back to his superior with the news that Axel was defecting from the original deal he had made with Luxord. He needed to speak with the head of security first, maybe he would see the redhead's point and go with the new plan he had in mind to use a decoy of Roxas to get them inside and then get Seifer.
"Don't get excited yet Demy I haven't had a chance to get him alone yet… that's why I am traveling with the group in their car, hopefully in Vegas… their will be plenty of opportunities to kidnap him there," his partner nodded, accepting the lie he was given and jumped off the roof to get to the guns leaving Axel alone with Xigbar.
"Let's hope for both our sakes you get the boy soon… Seifer isn't someone who likes waiting," Xigbar managed to say when Demyx was out of distance of their conversation.
Axel's green eyes narrowed at the threat, but he knew better than to tell the assassin what he really thought of him since he didn't want anything to happen with Roxas, "Don't worry I always deliver on my promises…" He just wasn't forthcoming with what he had exactly promised and he knew that it could possibly mean his life if he messed with 'The Organization' not that the redhead cared he had dealt with worse people and had managed to survive, what worried him was what could happen to Roxas. The blond was Axel's priority now.