Disclaimer: If I had a nickel for everything I owned, I'd still be a broke college student with an unhealthy obsession. T_T
A/N: I realize the ending of chapter 9 might have been a tad…rough. Heh. SO after some very inspirational (and threatening) reviews, I worked to crank out this chapter ASAP (and failed ;_;). Now put down your pitchforks and read! READ LIKE THE WIND!
*Rated T for more potty mouthing. :D
Bon à lire!
-Slay
A Day of Mercy
Chapter 10
Little Brother
-o-o-o-
"Ow! Hey! What the hell is going on? How does Axel know that guy?"
Roxas gave another shove, pushing them farther through the roiling Pit. "It's none of your business, Riku," he grunted, having a considerable amount of trouble forcing the taller boy forward as Sora trotted warily behind.
Our family.
Riku batted his hands away and grimaced. "Actually, I'm starting to think it's all my business." That guy was the one who sent him the letter. That guy knew something about him, and Riku was determined to find out what. "I'm going back."
"No you're not," Roxas hissed, pushing him toward one of the entrances with a sudden burst of strength. He manhandled Riku out into the sloping ramp circling the venue, where the banging of the concert music fell to a heavy and distant thumping.
"Don't tell me what to do." Riku tried to slip past him again, but Roxas practically punched him in the chest to stop him, slamming him against the white wall of the ramp.
"Axel used to run with a bad crowd, okay?" Roxas confessed bitterly. "He's gotten into some trouble and I don't need you making it worse for him!"
Riku froze at the way the boy's eyes glossed over, like he was on the very brink of tears.
"Roxas!" Sora gripped his brother's shoulders. "Why didn't you say anything? We can help!" Roxas ignored him, fixing a severe, watery glare on Riku. "Don't mess with them," he presaged grimly. "They'll tear you apart. Just like they did Axel."
Riku was completely floored by that. "What…What happened?"
Roxas shook his head helplessly, like it wasn't his story to tell. He shrugged out of Sora's hold and kneaded the tears out of his eyes. It looked like something was balanced on the tip of his tongue, but it ran away when the lights cut out. There was a winded second of pure, impenetrable darkness before emergency track lights surged to life overhead, filling the corridor with a low and dismal glow. The thumping of the concert stopped, and was soon replaced by sweeping cries of alarm that swelled and rose, causing the hairs on the back of Riku's neck to stand up. Something told him this was more than a simple power outage.
He grabbed the twins by their arms and started pulling them up the ramp. "We have to get out of here."
Through the Pit's entrance they heard an amplifier screech over the din of the audience, followed by a loud, groaning crash and a wave of escalated screams from the people inside.
Something small and panicked escaped Roxas' lips, and he wrenched out of Riku's grip, diving back into the frenzied throngs of the Pit.
"Roxas!" Sora tore off after his brother, and after a flustered string of curses, Riku followed.
Backup lighting in the venue had either been cut, or was complete crap, because as soon as they pierced the wall of the crowd it was almost completely dark again. He managed to lunge forward and grab Sora again, who hauled him through the crowd with impressive command. The two of them were batted back and forth by the hysterical Pit-goers as they started churning toward the nearest exit. It was like swimming against the current of a powerful river…of rocks.
Just when Riku was sure they would be impounded, Sora stopped. "I lost Roxas," he announced sadly.
Riku started pulling the two of them along with the rest of the crowd. "He'll be fine. Let's just get out of—ACK!" He tripped gracelessly over a rather large lump of something sprawled across the concrete floor, bringing a yelping Sora with him.
"Augh! Do you mind?" The lump protested, squirming away from their feet.
Wait.
He knew that voice.
"…Axel?"
Pushing against the people that drove past, Riku and Sora clamored around to see the fleeting shapes of their lanky, redheaded friend lying on his side.
"What'cha doin' on the ground, Axel?"
Axel stirred, but didn't move to get up. "Having a fucking tea party. What's it look like?"
It was too dark to see, but Riku could clearly picture Sora's subsequent pouting in his mind's eye. "That was uncalled for," he reprimanded. "Are you hurt or something?"
"I've seen better days."
"Well, let's go before you get trampled," Riku proposed, nudging Sora to help him and drawing one of Axel's arms over his shoulders.
"Ah—careful, careful…"
"Sorry."
"Sorry."
Axel's size and build made him very awkward baggage, but between the two of them, Sora and Riku managed to lurch him along with the thickened flow of the crowd. After a while they drifted into the corridor, where Axel instructed them to turn into the dim confines of a restroom so he could rest from the sluggish stampede.
"You're gonna have to last longer than that if you want to make it out here," Sora chastised softly as they let the redhead slide down the tiled wall.
"I'm not gonna make it out of here."
"Axel!"
The redhead made a face. "I mean on my own. They'll find me after things calm down. I can wait it out 'til then."
As Axel was speaking, Riku took in the terribly imbrued wound in his stomach. The blood ran black in the low light, blooming over the entire lower half of his torso and gleaming villainously with every staggered breath. He then saw, with a new spark of horror, the spattered trail of blood that had followed them into the restroom. Sora noticed it too and gasped, eyeing Axel with pitying terror.
Riku shook his head, astonished. "Axel, look at yourself. This could take hours to clear up—you can't wait that long."
"Maybe we can go get someone," Sora suggested quickly.
That was wishful thinking. The Fantasy Dome was huge, and now it was poorly-lit and packed with panicking masses of people, and Riku himself didn't know left from right in this place to begin with. If either of them left, they'd be hopelessly lost and Axel would be dead before they could even find help, much less bring it all the way back. Axel seemed to realize this too, and gave Sora an encouraging pat on the shoulder.
"Hey, gimme some credit here," he grinned, though the usual satire was dented by pain. "I'll hang in there. I've had way worse than some puny hole in my gut."
Riku grimaced. "Have you, now?"
"Look," Axel shifted up against the wall uncomfortably. "I need you guys to do me a huge favor and get out of here before something really bad happens—"
On cue, another round of crashes boomed through the corridor, goading the shrieking masses into a near standstill.
"Do you even know what's going on?"
"It doesn't matter," Sora resolved. "We aren't leaving you, Axel."
The redhead grunted. "You're gonna have to. I'll drag you guys down. Literally."
Well, that was a fact that couldn't be argued—Axel wasn't the easiest person to carry along. Still, he was one of the closest things Riku had to a friend other than Sora, and he didn't deserve to be left alone like that. Besides, Riku was pretty sure Roxas would tear them each a new one for doing that. "Then we'll stay here with you," he decided. "We're not in any more danger than you are by waiting."
Axel shook his head. "Uh-uh. Not gonna fly. You two are gonna leave, and I'm gonna stay here, and everything's gonna be hunky-dory. 'kay?"
"Stop talking crazy," Sora huffed. "We're not abandoning our friend."
"And I'm not endangering mine!" The sudden edge to the redhead's tone startled the other two into silence. Axel tilted away from the wall, clenching a hand over his stomach and biting back the pain. "This isn't some TV drama," he said harshly. "You guys aren't proving anything by risking yourselves over me."
"We aren't trying to prove anything—"
"There's nothing more you can do for me anyway," he bowled over Sora's comment, resituating himself and closing his eyes, smirking lazily to himself. "I'll be okay. I meant it when I said I've had worse."
"Ax—"
"Now get out of here before they find you."
Sora and Riku traded uncertain looks. "…Who?"
"Who indeed?"
A new, though not unfamiliar voice drifted into the restroom, spiraling eerily off of the linoleum. Looking up, they took in the sight of a young man clad in black, the emergency lights tracing his argent hair in a soft and haunting glow. Riku recognized him as the person he'd spoken to earlier, the one Axel had tackled to the ground—the one Roxas wouldn't let him talk to.
Axel cursed, and the newcomer snickered at him for it.
"I'm impressed, Lea. You made it pretty far for a dying man."
"Who says I'm dying? It'll take more than your lousy swordsmanship to kill me, Kadaj."
"Ooh, look at this, Yazoo. We've got a fighter!"
Another man who bore a startling resemblance to Kadaj appeared in the entryway, smiling thinly. "I'd expect nothing less from The Flurry," he mused.
"Ah, but this man isn't The Flurry," Kadaj countered, producing a dual-bladed sword and hoisting it to Axel's neck, forcing him to cock his head back. "Not anymore. The Flurry we know would never fall to his hands and knees for a bunch of sniveling humans."
"Axel, what are they talking about?"
Sora's question went unanswered as an earsplitting howl tore through the venue, heightened by a string of monstrous crashes and explosive aftershocks. Even Kadaj and Yazoo wobbled where they stood and whipped toward the commotion.
"Oh dear," Yazoo sighed. "It sounds like Loz has lost control again."
"So go and get him! We can't say here." Kadaj's albeit dark sense of humor had been snuffed out. He waved Yazoo off angrily and wheeled back around to the others, angling his sword—only this time, it wasn't at Axel.
"Riku," he baited, the name sounding foreign on his tongue, "Come with us."
Riku flinched at Kadaj's estranged tone, and scooted back, eying the man suspiciously. "Why should I?"
Kadaj started to sound impatient, almost desperate—something about the "Loz" situation seemed to have him thoroughly unnerved. "I'm sorry about the circumstances," he clipped, lowering his sword in an attempt to quell his hostility. "I haven't given you any reason to trust me. But if you come with us, I can promise you answers to all the questions you could never ask."
"Questions I could never…?"
"Don't listen to him, Riku!" Axel grunted at a new slice of pain that opened up from his outburst. "It's all bad news!"
"Silence!" Kadaj brought his sword back up to Axel's face, throwing him back against the wall to avoid the blades. "It's not like you're going to tell him!"
"Tell me what?"
"No, as a matter of fact, I'm not. 'Cause there's no reason for him to get involved in all of your supremist bullshit," Axel seethed, boldly knocking the sword away from his face.
"Supremist wha—?"
"Who gave you the authority to say that?" Kadaj spat, gesturing furiously with his sword. "You're not even part of his family!"
"No, and thank God, 'cause with a family like that, who needs enemies?"
A deadly shadow entered Kadaj's eyes as he glowered down at the redhead slumped on the floor. "I've had just about enough of you." He drew back his sword and scowled. "So we're going to try this again. And this time, you will die. I'll wait until I see it in your eyes!" The dual-blades came piercing down, bound straight for Axel's throat, a flash of reflected light slicing through the darkness, lusting for a solid kill, when—CLNK. Sharp ringing peeled around a new scene, paralyzed by mutual shock.
The perfectly-timed jab of a mop handle had slipped between the blades and caught them at the hilt, stopping the sword just short of Axel's skin. At the other end, Sora crouched with his arms trembling, matching Kadaj's blow with amazing resolve. "So you're the one who's causing all the trouble," he grumbled. "You already hurt him once—I'm not letting you hurt him twice."
Kadaj's malice had drained into surprise, but came rushing back at having been foiled. "Meddling little pest," he hissed, whirling his sword around and levering the mop out of Sora's grip, flinging it haphazardly out into the emptied corridor before switching targets with a sneer. "I always found humans unbearably annoying." He made to swing at Sora, but Riku moved faster, diving for Kadaj's waist and driving him into the ground of the corridor. He took his chance to swipe the weapon from Kadaj's hand and pinned the blades at the base of this throat.
"Sora! Go!" To his relief, Sora actually listened to him for once, bolting past them with a single, worried glance.
Riku pressed the tips of the blades threateningly into Kadaj's skin, and to his immeasurable disbelief, Kadaj started laughing.
"Go ahead," he chortled, unconcerned about the twin blades that were slowly slicing into his throat, "Kill me, little brother."
"…What?"
"MY TURN!" Something snatched Riku up by his jacket and hurled him to the side, sending him and the dual-bladed sword tumbling several feet. He looked over to see Axel hovering over Kadaj and shooing him away. "Go with Sora—I'll handle this!"
Nothing good seemed to come from ignoring Axel's orders, so Riku nodded and snatched up the sword before tearing off down the corridor, hoping against hope that the day was out of surprises.
A/N: THERE. My Christmas present to you is Axel's life. HAPPYHOLIDAYSPLEASEDONTKILLM EKAY? :D And ho snap there's action now! Who woulda thunk?
Again, this chapter could have gone on for several more pages, but it's called pacing yourself. Besides, if I give you everything you want at once, you won't stick around. And I think I dropped a couple of really good teasers in this one, too.
Chapter 11 is on the way! With any luck it'll be up before Christmas!
But don't hold me to it.
I have commitment issues.
Proofreading is for squares! Like pants!
Au revoir!
-Slay