Disclaimer: If Jane has 12 apples and Joey has 4, and the train left the station at 3:15 with no less than 47 passengers, how many franchises do I own? The answer is "none".

This is why I have a solid C in math.

A/N: Proof-reading what?

Useless Fact That Doesn't Get Posted Regularly At All: Elephants are the only mammals who can't jump. Poor elephants. :(

Bon à lire!

-Slay

A Day of Mercy

Chapter 13

Lay Low

-o-o-o-

"So is that like, your favorite jacket, or what?"

"Uh…what do you mean?"

Sora shrugged and lazily flipped a page in one of the comic books he had heaped on the floor of his bedroom. "It's just…you wear it all the time, so I figured you must really like it or something."

Riku tugged self-consciously at the front of his jacket, then set to playing with the drawstrings of his hood. "Oh, its…"

All I own?

"…just the way I dress," he said blandly.

After polishing off his current comic, Sora propped his chin in his palm and started rolling his gaze over Riku's dark, conservative clothes with scrutiny. "Don't you get hot at all?"

He wasn't sure how, but Riku actually felt a little flushed at the way Sora was eying him. Er, his clothes. The way Sora was eying his clothes. …Right. No reason to get flustered over that.

Riku shook a hand through his hair in an attempt to distract himself. "Not…really."

Sora gave him some sort of slanted look before flipping onto his back and folding his hands under his head. "You'll get plenty hot this afternoon," he told the ceiling.

"Wh-What?"

After the scaly fiasco at the concert, the day had pretty much deteriorated; Demyx and Zexion—as Riku had finally learned to call them—had gone their own way without a word, the paramedics had declared that Sora was battered but unharmed, Axel was carted off smirking by two panicking EMTs, and, despite his obvious, nagging desire to look after Axel, Roxas had taken the keys to Betsy and driven them home. Sora had fallen asleep in the car again (more like passed out, and understandably), and after hauling him up to his bed and fielding a really unsettling look from Roxas, Riku had wandered back to the mansion in the woods, where he decided to lay low for the rest of the day.

An uneventful night and a not-so early morning later, Riku found himself sitting on the polished wood flooring of Sora's bedroom with the brunette, who, aside from an occasional groan over something sore in his back, showed no signs of having been pummeled by a giant dragon the day before. Riku had been under the impression that Sora would be way too exhausted to do anything today, and was therefore completely confused.

"There's gonna be a parade down Market Street later," Sora explained. "Along with games and vendors in the Common. There'll be stuff going on all over town, all day." He pointed vaguely in Riku's direction. "And you're gonna roast like a pig if you wear that. It's s'posed to get up in the nineties, maybe the hundreds."

A parade?

"Are you sure you're up for it? I mean, your back…"

"My back's fine!" Sora huffed and flopped back onto his stomach, pushing up and leaning toward Riku indignantly. He was about to say something, but a sudden pained wince cut him off; he flattened out on the floor, whimpering, arching his back slightly so his hand could knead at the sore spot.

Riku pursed his lips at the sight, moving to Sora's side and hovering over him. When the boy was done writhing, Riku shook his head. "Yeah, I'm not taking you to any parades," he said.

Sora pouted. "Rikuuuu…"

"In fact," Riku gathered Sora up and moved him over to his bed, which was mildly tousled from the night. "If you're going anywhere, it's the hospital, because I'm starting to think there's actually something wrong with you." He made to set Sora down, but the boy squirmed and clung stubbornly to him like the bed was sharp with rusty nails.

"No-no-no-no-no! Riku! There's nothing wrong with my back! It's just a little sore, that's all!"

"Having sudden bursts of crippling pain doesn't count as sore, stupid." Riku tried once more to manhandle his friend into bed where he belonged, but Sora clamped his arms around Riku's neck and leaned up until their noses were almost touching, his blue eyes darkened by an unusually grave stare.

"I said I'm fine," he hissed.

He didn't have to sound so waspish—Riku was already paralyzed by how close they were, being in a position which he was slowly starting to realize was a bit on the compromising side. The harsh irritation in Sora's voice startled him, and all he could do was nod dumbly.

"Now put me down."

Another muted nod. He set Sora down on his feet and took a step back, driving his hands into his pockets.

"That's better." Sora crossed his arms triumphantly, but after a moment he flinched again, his hands flying to his back. When Riku looked at him expectantly, he shook his head and wandered to the other side of the room. "I'll just take some painkillers or something."

"Sora…"

"It's fine, Ri."

With his mouth set in a worried line, Riku followed Sora through the hallway and downstairs to the kitchen, where the brunette threw back a couple of pills with a short glass of water. He moved to stretch out his back and hissed.

"Is your back still bothering you?"

They both looked into the den from over the open kitchen counter. Roxas was curled around his cell phone in an armchair off to the side, but he wasn't the one who had spoken. Their attention swiveled to an older man settled in the couch across from the entertainment center, his arm drawn over the back and his head craned around to face them. From under an upward shock of flaxen hair a single, bright blue eye regarded Sora doubtfully.

"It's just a little sore from yesterday, Cloud," Sora defended, strolling casually into the den and lingering behind the couch. As far as Riku knew, Roxas was still the only member of the family who knew how Sora had really hurt his back. The story the rest of them got was that he had been knocked back on the bleachers in the chaos. "Nothing some meds won't solve."

"Mhm."

"What?"

"What're you doing today?"

Sora plunged into an elaborate itinerary—he was really hell-bent on that stinking parade—but Riku didn't hear much of it because Cloud pinned that radioactive stare on him like he had just trained a gun on Sora. He floundered a little at first, then steeled his expression in the hopes that Cloud would look away. Soon. Because damn. How the hell could a man that intimidating be related to Sora?

"…and this year, I am going to win that stupid skateboard—"

"I think you should stay home today."

The brunette snapped out of his yammering, his face drooping into freshly disappointed pout. "How come?"

Cloud finally flashed his eyes away from Riku, who let out a soundless sigh of relief. "Strange things have been going on, Sora," he said plainly, standing up and wending his way into the kitchen. He pulled open the fridge and slipped Riku an ominously unreadable look. "Very strange things."

Riku didn't even try to hide how much that comment startled him. He had to make a conscious effort to remind himself that there was no way, in heaven or in hell, that Cloud could possibly know about him. Sora definitely didn't know, and he was almost positive Roxas didn't know either; but the harder he tried to believe that his secret was safe, the more it felt like he was just grabbing fistfuls of sand, sitting and watching it trickle through his knuckles no matter how tightly he held it.

He wasn't sure where the sudden boldness came from, but Riku dared a rather impudent grimace at Cloud, who took it in his stride and swept out of the kitchen with a drink in hand. "Leon and the others have noticed some suspicious activity down around Hollow Bastion lately, and they think it might be connected to the terrorist attack on the venue."

Yes, apparently Giant Dragon Destroys Music Concert was too outrageous a headline, so the media was passing yesterday off as an internal terrorist attack perpetrated by an anonymous group.

"What does that have to do with the parade?" Sora perched himself on the back of the couch.

Cloud's response was cut off by a tuneful ringing sound. Across the room, Roxas jolted and fumbled to answer his cell phone. "Hello? …Y-yes, is he…? …What? He—He did what?" Roxas slammed his phone shut and flung himself out of the chair, cursing and storming toward the front door.

"Who was that, Rox…as…?"

Sora watched in distress as his twin flew past him, stomped into a pair of shoes and tore out the door, slamming it behind him without even the slightest hint at an explanation. After Roxas was gone, Sora slouched a little, his brow newly worried as he glanced between Cloud and Riku. "Do you think something happened to Axel? He's still in the hospital, right?"

"Maybe there was a complication with his injury."

Sora gasped at Cloud's theory. "I hope he's okay!"

"I'm sure Axel's fine, Sora." Riku left the relative safety of the kitchen and came to stand by the brunette behind the couch. He did his best to lean casually, sliding his hands into his pockets and angling a fortified leer at Cloud. "And I'm sure we'll be fine if we stop by that parade later."

Something very unpleasant fell over Cloud's face, but Riku chose to focus on the bubbly way Sora leapt off the couch and tugged excitedly on his arm instead. "Yes! I knew you'd come around, Riku! We're gonna have soooo much fun! I'm so glad you changed your mind!"

Riku couldn't help the smug curve of his lips when Cloud scowled and sauntered off with a simple, "Be careful." He broke into a full-fledged smile as Sora continued to rave about the parade.

"—and it's gonna be the best day ever! I know the other day was kinda like the best day ever, but this best day ever is gonna be even better! Oh, but before the parade, we gotta get you some new threads."

"…Huh?"

Sora smiled and gave one of Riku's hood strings an insistent tug before striding over to the foyer and picking out a pair of sandals. He nodded for Riku to join him, which the silverette did with a wary cock of his head.

"Remember what I said about roasting like a pig?"

-o-o-o-

"Axel, tell me you didn't…"

First, he had driven to the hospital on the north side of the city—a solid half-hour drive in Betsy, the honest-to-God crappiest car he had ever seen—then, after learning that his idiot-ass friend had discharged himself from the hospital after less than twenty-four hours in intensive care, Roxas had spent another forty-five minutes tracking the moron to their favorite rock club. On the south side.

When Roxas found him, Axel was strung out over a booth in the corner, tipping back a bottle of beer and nodding agreeably to the slow guitar riffs trailing through the smoky shadows. He spotted Roxas and rattled the bottle at him. "I know, I know…I said I'd lay off the booze, but it's a special occasion. I survived a fatal injury. We should be celebrating!" He motioned for Roxas to join him in the booth, but the blonde just slammed his hands on the table and leaned over it with a black look.

"Axel this is serious!" He hissed. He looked around the room distrustfully and slithered furtively into the booth, keeping his voice low and angry. "You had a hole ripped through your stomach yesterday—everyone saw it! And the very next morning you waltzed right out like nothing happened! In front of everybody! Could you be any more obvious?!"

"It was one hell of a miracle, huh?" Axel sipped at his beer and threw an arm over Roxas' shoulders. "Full recovery. …I'd offer you a cold one," he drawled apologetically. "But you're underage. Want a soda? Or something virgin? I won't even make any sex jokes this time—"

"You used your curse-magic, didn't you?!" Roxas snatched the beer bottle out of Axel's hand and thumped it on the table. "Dammit, Axel, you promised me you wouldn't do this anymore!"

Axel sat up and propped his arm on the table, lowering his face to Roxas' and speaking under his breath. "Did you want me to bleed to death?"

"N-No…Of course not." His rage depleted, Roxas dropped his eyes and saw the jagged, dark-edged tears in Axel's shirt, which revealed strips of his flawlessly healed stomach. He shook his head. "But…couldn't you have…parceled it out? I mean, this isn't normal, Axel. People are going to catch on—"

"Aw, Rox…" Axel squeezed Roxas' shoulders and pressed his lips to the blonde's temple. "Remember that promise I made," he murmured. "Back when I first came here?"

Roxas nodded mutely, his nose bumping against the redhead's chin. "You said…that you'd always be there for me."

"And how am I s'posed to do that if I'm lying in a hospital bed for weeks on end?"

"How are you supposed to do that if you're in a government holding cell?" Roxas countered unhappily. "People are going to notice things like this, Axel." He moved in close and prodded Axel in the chest, keeping his voice cautiously quiet. "The Lunumbra are going to notice."

"C'mon…" The redhead rested back against the booth with a distressed sigh.

"They're already after you," Roxas persisted. "And stunts like this are only going to make their job easier."

"How? It's not like they don't know where I live."

"No, but suppose the public caught wind of you? Suppose the police caught wind of you? Kadaj would happily help them lock you away where you could never bother him again."

"Roxas, please…" Axel rolled his eyes and reached for his beer, but Roxas shoved it out of his way. "I'm not the target here—"

"Then why did Kadaj go out of his way to try and kill you yesterday?"

"Roxas." When Axel made another lunge for his beer, the blonde grabbed it and dumped it on the tray of a passing waiter, leaving Axel to grimace as his booze traveled clear across the room.

"Maybe you're not their target," Roxas allowed. "But as long as you stand between them and Riku, you may as well be."

The expression his friend now wore was neither new nor intimidating to Roxas; the angles of his face were hardened and the shadows were sharpened, his mouth firmed and unsmiling and his toxic eyes cutting through the low light. His posture was fairly reposed, but every inch of him was rigid and poised—a sudden, predatory throwback to the way he'd been when they met. But Roxas didn't back away. He didn't even flinch. He stared Axel down stubbornly until the redhead finally averted his leer—he had much more success boring holes in the table, his fingertip drumming out a nervy rhythm on the wood. Roxas gripped him by the chin and swung his head around until their eyes clashed together again.

"Lay. Low." He asserted. "Please."

Axel tried to tug his face away, but Roxas held fast to his chin, giving him a slight shake to reclaim his attention. "When you showed up on my doorstep four years ago, you told me that all you wantedwas a normal life—with a normal home, and a normal job and normal friends…"

Green eyes softened; just a bit, just around the edges.

Roxas pressed on, "You told me you were tired. You told me you were ready to start over, to do things right. You said—and I quote—"Blondie, I'm turnin' over a new leaf. Starting fresh. Beginning anew. The past is behind me and the future's full of endless possibilities. I'm a different man now. New and improved. And I'm never going back to the way I was. Got it memorized?" He tapped his temple and gave a small, convivial grin.

The bitterness in Axel's features melted instantly, and an easy smile cracked his face. He ruffled Roxas' hair. "Okay, okay, you got me. Point made."

Roxas shook his head. "One more thing," he said. "To drive it home." He slid his arms around Axel's chest and hugged him close. "I've met you as Lea, and I've met you as Axel," he whispered, giving his friend a punctuating squeeze. "And I like Axel a lot better."

There was a beat of hesitation before Axel held him in return. When he spoke into the blonde barbs of Roxas' hair, a certain sadness crept into his tone. "Axel and Lea are the same person, Roxas."

"No," Roxas nuzzled determinedly into Axel's shirt, holding on tight. "They really aren't."

A/N: I…am…soooooo….sooooorrrrrry. SO incredibly sorry, that this took a month to update where previous chapters took mere days. Sosososososo sorrrry. :C This was going to be another inappropriately massive chapter, but I decided that breaking it in half and posting SOMETHING A-FREAKING-SAP was the better way to go. I also decided to save my ranting for after the chapter, so as not to waste your precious time. …Y'know, more.

HAPPY CHAPTER ROXAS! :D

X-blade025: Yes, Kira is an OC of mine. He wasn't supposed to be a terrible father. …Or dead. But this is a funny, made-up world we live in, and weird stuff happens. Aw well.

And to everyone who didn't realize they were dragons until the author's note in chapter 12: THEY'RE FREAKING DRAGONS. Stop PMing me with how surprised you were. Allow me to cite chapters 6 and 11, where the word "dragon" was used in context specifically, as well as the words "claw", "reptilian" and "overgrown lizard". Pay. Attention. *taps ruler on desk* Now, back to business!

The last few chapters have been heavy and not-so-funderful, so we're just gonna screw around for a little bit (just a bit) in chapter 14 to lighten the mood. Then we're gonna keep on chugging with this old plot train. Sound good? Good. Stick around. Chapter 14 is on its way! And to keep you interested, I'm gonna do something OOC and give you a tiny, harmless spoiler: Sora and Riku may or may not be playing dress-up in chapter 14. Just sayin'.

It's gonna be fun.

Review for a chakram cookie~

Flame for a chakram to the face!

Iloveyouallpleasedon'tgiveuponmekthnxbai

-Slay