A/N: Sorry for such a long wait for the update! I did drabbles all of November, and then I skipped out of writing for most of this month. Anyway, I'd really like to hear what you think of this chapter, since I'm trying a lot of new things with this fic! Cheers!
Chapter Two: Cautious Steps
Within the space of a week, Thirteen had already improved from the state he'd arrived in. At least, superficially.
It turned out he had arrived with lice, but the haircut and lotion had cleared that up, along with the residual grime in his hair, revealing a head of blond hair. It was dull and lank, but time would fix that. The brand on his flank had begun to heal cleanly; he was malnourished, and had a few broken bones that hadn't mended quite straight, but he was otherwise healthy. And clean; Axel, or more accurately, Xion, made sure if that.
Thirteen still only wore plain clothing, but around his neck lay a bright red band of metal, indicating his status as a slave, and, more importantly, his owner. Axel had stayed up late the night it arrived to burn his rank and crest into the band, and had even added some stylistic embellishments to set it apart, before closing it over the pale white throat. Thirteen only shivered when the cold metal touched his skin, before shuffling back to his and Xion's room.
He seemed more alert, at least, but Axel's simple orders and Xion's gentle guidance still earned little to no reaction. So Thirteen remained in the house under Xion's watchful eye.
Xion hadn't had trouble maintaining Axel's house alone, and hadn't even minded being there by herself during the day, but she quickly found that she enjoyed Thirteen's presence as she went about her tasks, even with the continued silence. Sometimes he would follow her from room to room, and always he watched her. His eyes still looked flat and empty, but they tracked her progress as she prepared Axel's dinner, or mended his clothes.
Throughout it all, she spoke to him softly. About their master, and the things she was required to do around the house. About the occasional outing with him, and how she was allowed to run errands for him, delivering letters or picking up certain purchases. Things that might make the master angry.
If the words made any sense to him, he didn't show it.
It wasn't until the start of the second week that Axel's workload was light enough to really give his new acquisition the attention he'd planned. He really wasn't sure how to go about it, bringing brightness into Thirteen's eyes, but it had to be possible. Right? Rehabilitating broken slaves wasn't exactly common practice, but that wasn't going to stop him, even if it did make his project a little more difficult, without anyone to turn to for help.
Ah, but Xion was a slave. It occurred to him that she could give him a little insight on the matter. It was a faux-pas to consult a slave for advice, of course, but Axel thought it wasn't advice, so much as a report, a state of affairs, as it were.
"Xion."
The black-haired girl looked up from her current task. "Master?"
"You're a slave. Tell me, slaves like Thirteen, how do masters usually get them back to, you know," Axel waved his hand vaguely from his seat behind the desk, "being more normal?"
Xion's eyes widened, and she turned them to the floor before she could be caught staring. It wasn't that she didn't expect Axel to try to use Thirteen as a slave, but… "If my master would allow me to speak freely," she murmured to her feet.
Axel sat up straighter. "Of course."
Still, Xion hesitated. "I did see others like Thirteen. Some only respond to punishment. Some do as they're told, like dumb animals. Some don't respond at all, and those are," she bit her lip. "Those ones are considered garbage and thrown away, because they are useless." She lifted her eyes cautiously. "Thirteen is like those. But," she hurried on, "I think if maybe our master would be kind and teach him from the very beginning, he might not be so useless." Despite her words, Xion didn't think it would be possible to 'fix' Thirteen. She'd never heard of a slave that recovered from such a state, and however Axel treated her, the same might not hold true for a lost cause like Thirteen. As long as Axel thought it was a possibility, Thirteen could stay safe.
Axel seemed to consider her words for a moment, and then he nodded. "I see. I suppose I could do that, then."
Xion bobbed her head. "Yes, Sir." Her lips spread into a small smile; Thirteen would be okay, at least for now.
o - o - o
All that said, Axel still had little to go by. But, he thought, at the very least, it might be better for Thirteen to get used to his new owner's presence, like one might acclimate a newly-weaned puppy to its master. Arms crossed over his chest, he studied the blond boy who sat near Xion, silently watching her mend a shirt.
He realized that the boy had at least responded to one thing since he'd bought him, and that was to follow Axel at the end of a chain. It was a start, at least, and he wondered if the lead would be necessary, or if Thirteen would do so on his own.
Axel uncrossed his arms and stood. "Thirteen." He kept his voice clear, but low, to make sure he was understood and show that he had no ill intentions. "Come here."
Xion looked from Axel to Thirteen, and then back again. The boy's eyes followed her line of sight to land on their master. He blinked, and then lowered his eyes, but didn't move. Xion nudged him. "He means you," she murmured. When he didn't move, she nudged him again, gently urging him to comply.
"No, don't. I want to see if he will at least do it on his own." Xion nodded and turned her attention back to the shirt. Axel cocked his head to one side and tugged at his hair. "Hey kid, look. 'Come here.'" Axel pointed at the empty space next to him. "You understand, right?" When no response was forthcoming, Axel sighed. "You followed easily enough to get here. Does it really take a leash to get you to move? I'd really rather not, you know?"
Two sets of eyes widened at the boy's sharp intake of air, and the sudden rigidity of his posture. A stiff nod, and Thirteen climbed to his feet, eyes on the ground as he approached Axel. He stopped a few feet away, just out of reach.
Axel scratched his head. "Huh. Okay then. So, you definitely understand. Well then. Can you follow me?" No response, but as Axel moved away from his desk, Thirteen followed with cautious steps, until Axel turned his feet to the workroom. The boy stopped at the doorway, as if encountering an invisible barrier, and Axel paused to look back at him. His lips twitched, and Axel thought he heard a whisper, so he asked, "What is it?"
"Not allowed." The words were hoarse and low, but Axel couldn't help but grin.
"That's right!" Axel strode back to his charge and ruffled his hair. "You're not allowed, unless I say so!" His hand still in Thirteen's hair, he gently tilted the boy's head back so he could see the blue eyes that so often stared at the ground. They did look a little different, he decided. A little frightened, but there was someone home, even if it was just a flicker of life. "But today you're just going to sit over here," Axel steered him to a little stool in the corner, "while I work. Keep me company for a while, you know?" An obvious tension ran through him, but he yielded to Axel's direction.
Thirteen sat, once again mute, as if he had never spoken, eyes trained on the ground.
Unperturbed, Axel began a one-sided conversation as he set to work. "I'll warn you, it gets hot in here. Xion doesn't like it. She won't say so, of course, but I can tell, so I don't make her come in here unless I need her." He glanced at Thirteen and paused. "I don't know what kind of owners you had before coming here, but I can tell you this much: I will be fair to you. I'm not the kind of person to just be cruel for no reason."
Blue eyes turned up to look at Axel for a moment, and there was that flicker behind them again, gone in an instant, but Axel was certain he'd seen it, this time.
"You know, if you don't mind it in here, I could use you in here. I mean, once you're," he flicked a long hand, "settled. Maybe I could even take you to the Organization. Xemnas is always telling me to get someone to keep things in better order there, since I won't take any of the Dusks the company keeps. To be honest, those things creep me out. They look like people, but you can just tell they aren't. They're so weird…" Axel's voice tapered off as he focused on manipulating a small fire, for priming a piece of metal for his latest project.
His attention was on his work, so he didn't notice the way the flicker in Thirteen's eyes became a low-burning spark as he watched the metal turn red-hot. It was mostly fear, but behind that, the ghost of a memory, flashes of white-hot after-images from another kind of light. Thirteen's hands twitched, aching to do something he'd had purged out of him with whips and brands. He held his breath, just as he held the traitorous memories back.
He let his breath out in a low sigh, let the memories fade back beyond his reach.
But the spark was still there in his eyes, a low ember that reflected the glow from Axel's project. Axel noticed and wondered, but didn't acknowledge it out loud. He at least knew about coaxing a reluctant flame. Even if this was a different kind of fire, it would take time and patience.
It became routine, for Thirteen to sit on the stool in the work room, watching Axel manipulate fire and metal, listening to Axel's constant stream of words. Axel kept a sharp gaze on him, looking for signs of improvement. There was little that either of them missed, as they took each other's measure each day. Thirteen's silence and Axel's lack thereof was, in a way, an entirely different conversation.
Thirteen's hair soon took on a golden luster and a stubborn cowlick, and his skin lost its sallow cast. The wound on his flank turned turned shiny pink-bright and delicate and clean.
He broke his silence with Xion first. She had taken to bringing him pebbles and other detritus from the occasional errand that took her outside of the house. It was a bright, oblong seashell that she placed in his hand, a rare find on the city streets.
Thirteen stared at it, grappling with a hazy thought that slipped away before he could catch it. He closed his hand around the shell and turned to Xion. "T-thanks."
Xion turned, surprised to hear his voice, however hoarse it was. Two sets of blue eyes regarded each other, until Xion's lips turned up into a smile. "You're welcome!"
"Xion?"
"Hm?"
He cleared his throat, and when he spoke again, some of the hoarseness was gone. "I can help. So you don't have to do it all by yourself."
Xion beamed. "Thank you!" After thinking a moment, she led Thirteen to a bucket that stood to one side of the study. "I think you can do this. Master Axel likes them to be sorted by type, which you can tell by the color." She pulled a lump of metal from the bucket, its surface black with soot. "You have to clean them a little first. Here," she pulled a cloth from her pocket, "just scrub it a little and—see? This one's reddish, so it goes in here." She deposited into a smaller container that stood on a shelf, then pointed to each of the other small containers. "They each have one. Got it?"
Thirteen nodded and accepted the cloth. Xion watched him sort through the first few pieces, before leaving to take care of something else.
A crash and clatter several minutes later brought her running back. Wide-eyed, Thirteen stood rigid, the sorted metals mixed all together again in a pile at his feet, their respective containers overturned.
"Sorry," he whispered, flinching. "I-I-"
"It's okay," Xion reassured him. "It's nothing to worry about. We can clean it up, right?" Smiling, she bent and picked up the nearest container. Even if Axel might be annoyed by the mishap, he would have to be pleased when he realized that Thirteen had started following directions. She set the container on the shelf, and, taking her cue, Thirteen began picking up the other buckets.
Xion watched him from the corner of her eye as they picked up and sorted through the mess. He was clumsy, as if he was still learning how to use his fine motor skills, which explained how he'd knocked everything over, and sometimes he would stare at a lump of metal for minutes at a time, before depositing it into the appropriate container.
"You know," Xion murmured, once they'd settled into a rhythm together, "I've never seen someone like you." Thirteen shot her a perplexed look, and she turned her attention to the task at hand. "I never saw someone come back from a state like that. I didn't think you could."
There was a long silence as Thirteen stared at her. "But you said-"
"I said it so Master Axel would take care of you," she whispered, twisting the cloth in her hands. "Please don't tell him I lied." Thirteen nodded, but Xion left shortly after, to finish her other tasks, she said.
Thirteen was nearly finished sorting when a disgruntled Axel stormed through the front door. He made a beeline to his workroom, grumbling and shedding his long black coat on the study floor along his way, before kicking the workroom door open. There was a low roar of flames bursting into life, followed by a crash and a curse. Axel reappeared in the study, green eyes flicking over to where Thirteen sat frozen in the corner, hands full of scrap metal and a now-dirty rag.
The redhead crossed his arms with a short laugh, tension leaking out of him. "Well, look at you!" Thirteen eyed the ground warily as Axel strode close, and flinched when his blond hair was ruffled. It was something his master was fond of doing, but he still wasn't used to it, especially when Axel used the contact to turn his face upwards. It was hard to avoid the piercing green eyes then, but more often then not, they were dancing with mirth. "Hey, you did good, Thirteen. Xion tell you to do this?" He nodded, and Axel's mouth stretched into a slash of a grin. "Alright, this just made my day! I think you both deserve a reward!" Thirteen's lips moved to question 'reward,' but he was cut off by Axel's yelling, "Xion!"
Thirteen stared in confusion at the blue-green popsicle that their master had shared with him and Xion, until Axel urged him to try it. He took a cautious bite, and was rewarded with a cold, refreshing flavor that was salty and sweet.
"It's good, right?" Thirteen nodded, and Axel smiled, pleased. "I've got a mission for you in there," he gestured towards his workroom, "once we finish. We'll start out small there, too, yeah?" The blond nodded again.
There was a new routine, after that. Thirteen rarely found himself idle during the days, and he quickly became accustomed to the work, if not to his owner.
Axel watched the blond, and wasn't satisfied. Thirteen still lacked…something. He was slow to process commands, and he still wasn't always in the moment, often drifting off for minutes at a time. The blue eyes were no longer empty, but they didn't shine, and the boy never smiled, and rarely spoke. But, he supposed, it was progress.
And while Axel thought of Thirteen's improvement, Xion wondered at his past. Had he simply had cruel masters, or had he done something to warrant those scars and absent moments?