Disclaimer: For the seventeenth time, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy or anything even remotely similar to the two. *sniff*

A/N: FFFFFFFFFF PLOTHOLES. It's like the roof of my story is leaking profusely and all I have is a dinky little bucket. Now sit back and watch in amusement as I try to patch this bitch up with duct tape. …Wait, wait, no. No, NO! THIS IS ELECTRICAL TAPE! THIS DOESN'T STICK TO ANYTHING. NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~

Bon à lire!

-Slay

A Day of Mercy

Chapter 17

Shady Business

-o-o-o-

Leon was currently leering down his nose at the sandy-haired teenager who had rushed up to him with 'important news'—which came spilling out in a breathless, incoherent jumble as the boy tried to catch his wind. Leon might have been more concerned if this particular boy hadn't been a complete spaz to begin with. "I couldn't understand any of that, Tidus," he sighed, crossing his arms expectantly.

After gulping down a few more breaths, Tidus huffed, "I said I was down by the gorge at the edge of town, and—"

Leon's brows flinched dangerously. "You were out past the postern?"

Tidus froze, flushed that he had just ratted himself out. He gave the man a weak and helpless smile. "Uh…But, er, don't ya wanna know what I saw, Mr. Leonheart? I thought I should tell you 'cause it seemed pretty sketchy…"

"Sure," Leon nodded sagely. "That will give me time to think up a fitting punishment for you." When Tidus gave him a slack-jawed glare, Leon rolled his eyes. "That area is roped off for a reason, Tidus. Those barrens are very dangerous."

"I wasn't the only one out there," Tidus said bitterly, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "That's what I was gonna tell you. I saw these three guys in black—they looked like they were heading for that old castle on the other side of the gorge."

"Guys in black?" That was important news. There had been scattered reports of mysterious persons skulking all over the island for weeks, and Leon wasn't the only one who thought they might be connected to the disaster at the Fantasy Dome the day before. Even if they were, though, what could they possibly want with that abandoned castle?

"Alright," Leon nodded. "Thanks for telling me."

Tidus stood and shuffled his feet, his eyes straying off to one side and latching onto something that seemed to interest him greatly. "So…uh…Am I still in hot water, or…?"

Leon turned and saw without even a shred of surprise that the boy was eyeing a nearby food cart like a starving prisoner of war. He shook his head and motioned the kid away. "Oh, just go. I have bigger things to worry about."

Without hesitation, Tidus shot off for the food cart, leaving Leon to contemplate his next move. He definitely had to check out that castle. He might finally figure out all of the strange activity that had been hanging over the islands like a low and misty cloud—people were disappearing, the gruesome remains of slain wildlife were being found in broken patterns through surrounding forests, and anonymous calls were spilling in from people who claimed to have seen something extraordinary and terrifying, had heard bone-chilling noises in the night, seen strange lights in the darkness, and were convinced they were going insane; but Leon knew they weren't. He had a horrible, sinking feeling that he knew exactly what was out there—a suspicion he shared with Cloud, who had collected his fair share of strange happenings on the northern peak of the island.

He wondered if he shouldn't call Cloud in on this. He would certainly want to know, if not be directly involved.

Then again, Leon couldn't be sure how long this window would be open, and the situation was too serious to waste any time. Cloud would understand that.

In the end, he decided to let Cloud know what was going on before scouting the castle out alone.

"Cloud, it's Squall," he told his friend's voicemail, knowing that he'd get the relay soon enough. "I've got a lead. Some strange men dressed in black were seen heading for the Hollow Bastion castle. I'm going to take a look. I'll let you know what I find."

Click.

-o-o-o-

"So, my brothers, how are we going to do this?"

Kadaj led the way across the spidery, decaying bridge hoisted over a deep chasm surrounding the castle ruins, his usual charisma restored now that their uncle was out of the picture once more. "The solstice is in four days, and we must deliver Riku to Whirlwind in less than three."

"And he doesn't seem too keen on coming with us," Yazoo added with a sneer. "We may need to do this the old-fashioned way. Riku may be a Shadowcaster, but he is young, and obviously inexperienced."

"Yes." Kadaj raised a palm and glowered into it as a gleaming orb of translucent green energy swelled in his grasp, humming softly where he held it. "Even with our lackluster elements, we should be able to overpower him. We'll capture him and carry him off to Whirlwind…Then Uncle will finally be pleased with us. He might even let us stay."

"That is, if Loz can keep himself under control long enough for us to succeed," Yazoo spat, glaring sharply at the third member of the group, who was treading lethargically behind them and boring into the back of his right hand. "What's wrong with your hand?"

"It won't heal," Loz grumbled, running his fingers back and forth over the razed skin behind his knuckles. "That punk sliced it open yesterday and it won't heal."

"Don't cry, Loz."

"I'm not—"

"Wait." Kadaj had stepped between them and was now staring down at Loz's injured hand uneasily. "It hasn't healed at all?"

"It closed up, but that's it…Just a scar now."

Lunumbra didn't scar. Not from miniscule wounds like that. Their bodies were much too durable, much too efficient at healing nearly any kind of damage. Except... Kadaj gripped the hilt of the sword hinged at his side, his fingers fanning over the handle nervously. The fact that the brat from the venue had done such permanent damage to a Lunumbra, and with his sword, no less…That could only mean…

Yazoo drawled, "I know what you're thinking. We have a Warrior on our hands, don't we, brother?"

It would certainly explain why Loz's attack hadn't killed him instantly. No normal human could have taken a hit like that and limped away from it.

"I knew that boy was trouble," Yazoo continued. "It's no wonder Riku wants nothing to do with us—he's been fraternizing with the enemy this entire time."

The three of them stepped off of the bridge and passed under the first arcing protrusions of the castle. This place had proved to be an excellent hideout when the Forgotten Capital was too far away to conduct business on the island, as the lifeless blue barrens surrounding it kept nosy islanders at bay. Not that a few stragglers were really any threat to them; after all, Lunumbra had to eat too.

"If we're going to get to Riku, we'll have to take care of that boy first," Yazoo was saying maliciously. "He's a major distraction and a threat."

"That shouldn't be too difficult." Kadaj was suddenly remembering that sudden turn of events back in the venue, when the brat in question had warded off one of his attacks with mere…janitorial equipment. Of all the ridiculous things…Then again… "I suspect that our little Warrior friend isn't very experienced, himself. Otherwise, he would have used his own weapon."

"Then our job just got easier."

Kadaj grimaced. "Not exactly. That traitor is still breathing. He'll happily louse up whatever plans we have."

"Lea has been incapacitated," Yazoo encouraged. "Even he isn't stupid enough to force healing with so many humans around."

"Perhaps." That was a rather comforting thought. With an injury so aesthetically severe, Lea wouldn't be able to escape the hospital for at least a few more days—not without risking a lot of unwanted attention. That settled it then. "We'll have to move quickly. There's a festival going on in Twilight Town today. I expect Little Brother and his friend will be there. Once we find them, Yazoo and I will persuade Riku to join us, and Loz," he said heavily, angling a sharp look at Loz. "You will be responsible for disposing of that boy. Discreetly. You can handle that, can't you?"

"'Course I can!" Loz grunted, offended that his abilities had been dragged into question. "That little punk got lucky yesterday. That's not gonna happen again."

"Good." There was a dark and dubious note to the way Kadaj had spoken. Loz had been incredibly hard to control as of late. He'd been letting his emotions boil over, constantly shifting forms at the worst possible times, throwing their operations off balance. Hopefully he would be able to manage this single task—he didn't even necessarily have to kill the boy (though it was preferred); he simply had to keep him out of the way long enough for them to detain Riku.

Simple as that.

-o-o-o-

Oh, no.

It wasn't that Leon had been expecting particularly good news, but what he overheard in the ruins of the castle was worse than he would have thought. He shrank back behind the pillar he'd been using as cover and listened to the retreating footsteps on the other side.

The fact that those three were after Riku didn't really surprise him—Cloud had orchestrated a very thorough theory as to why Lunumbra were showing their faces this far south, and Riku was an integral part of it.

But this Warrior they kept referencing…one whom Riku had befriended…there was only one person it could possibly be.

Sora.

He had to warn Cloud.

"Oh, my...Looks like someone's gotten lost, Kadaj."

Leon jumped and turned to find one of the Lunumbra leaning around the pillar, feral green eyes smiling criminally through a sheet of fine, argent hair. Leon's hand shot instinctively for the holster harboring his gunblade, but there was already a broad shooter barrel trained right in his face. On the other end, the man's smile tightened wickedly. "Hm."

The man fired, and Leon barely managed to dodge it—he felt the heat of the bullet scream past his ear as he hit the ground and rolled right back onto his feet, gunblade drawn.

One shot cleared the shooter from the Lunumbra's hand; upon losing his first weapon, the man swiftly produced a second and sent two rounds shredding into Leon's wielding arm. He staggered and clutched at the bullet holes, cursing himself. Now was not the time to fall victim. He grit his teeth against the pain and swung his gunblade around, batting the second shooter out of the Lunumbra's grip. Leon opened fire, but the man was fast—he vanished and another took his place, wheeling around the pillar with a snarl and an ethereal ball of light in his hand, "Why do I get the feeling we don't want you alive?"

It was then that Leon felt it—a terrible, serrated heat carving into his chest, burning through flesh and bone and flaring in an unbearable crescendo. He fell back with a cry, and was alarmed to find his first attacker looming overhead, now with both shooters aimed directly down at him. "Hm."

Leon saw the man's fingers haul back on the triggers, felt one of the bullets drive into his chest, dangerously close to his heart—but the report never came; all sounds of gunfire and cruel laughter were drowned out by a great rumbling, like the roar of an engine…

Some black, massive thing flashed over him, tearing the Lunumbra out of sight. Leon heaved himself up, but the white-hot pain in his chest stopped him short. He rolled over, but his fading vision could only make out smeared shapes of black and white and glancing silver—the roaring continued, punctuated by fighting yells and injured cries. It swiveled around, trailing far and near before choking off completely. By the time the air was quiet again, Leon could barely see past the blinding sear in his chest. He saw a shock of yellow, a glimpse of radioactive blue, a hand on his shoulder…

And then there was nothing but darkness, seeping in and overrunning his mind.

-o-o-o-

Roxas was throwing a capital fit.

It was actually pretty impressive; Axel couldn't recall a single moment in living memory when he had seen the blonde so angry—and he'd seen Roxas angry a lot, especially in the past few days. All he could do was stand there and let Roxas rip him a new one, stunned and proud of the remarkable fluency with which his friend was swearing up a storm.

After hoisting the boy over his shoulder, Axel had managed to make it about two blocks before Roxas drove a vicious kick into his stomach and got free, hauling him (by his hair—ow) into the music store where Demyx worked. Patron-wise, the store was bone dry, thanks to the parade up the road, and thus was as good a place as any to administer a brutal tongue-lashing. When they first came in, Demyx spotted them and made to come say 'hi', but scampered off as soon as he saw the purified rage pouring off of Roxas.

Roxas laid into him first about the "pregnant" thing he'd pulled as a distraction, fuming about the sheer inappropriateness and blinding mortification of it with his face glowing so red that he could have been used to mark tall buildings for aircraft.

After getting that out of his system, Roxas segwayed into a much more thorough rant about blowing off such a major discussion that needed to be had with Riku and Sora. This went on for several minutes and finally tapered off, not because Roxas was losing steam, but because his fury had become gridlocked and he couldn't decide what to bitch about next.

"I don't get it," he huffed, taking a brief pause to settle on his next words. "I mean, you're the one who said we're running out of time, weren't you? And now it's like you don't even care. What gives? You were totally flipping your shit this morning."

Axel shrugged. "That's because I didn't know we were so close this morning."

"Close to what?"

"To his curse breaking.

It looked like the thought unsettled Roxas a bit. "What makes you say that?"

"You saw him out there," Axel pressed. "Running around in broad daylight like it was nothing. And the new clothes, the improved attitude—I'm telling you, it's just around the corner. If Riku can break free before Xemnas gets a hold of him, we'll be in the clear!"

As Axel spoke, Roxas failed to join in on his enthusiasm. He crossed his arms and tucked his hands under, looking up at Axel warily. "You're putting an awful lot of faith in something you can't control," he muttered. "I mean, maybe he has made good progress, but…what if it takes too long?"

Instead of getting frustrated that Roxas wasn't seeing his way, Axel smiled genially. "It didn't take me too long." He brought a hand up to rustle through the blonde's hair. "My curse broke the very same day I met you. After that night, I never changed again."

Roxas was going red again, but the anger had seeped out of him. His cheeks continued to burn and he looked away. "So it's different for everyone."

"Yes; because it's all in our heads. …Everyone has something they're afraid of, right? Something that scares them and fills them up with hate or sadness." Axel braced his hands on Roxas' shoulders. "All of the terrible feelings we're capable of are what make up the darkness that binds us to the curse. And if we can just learn to see through that…well, bam. Chain's broken and we get to move on with our lives."

Roxas' eyes slid back up to Axel's face. "What do you think he's afraid of?"

Axel shrugged, moving his hands into his pockets. "Can't really say—but I can say that whatever Riku's been running from all this time, Sora seems to be doing a pretty good job of helping him get over it."

There was a long and languid pause between them. Roxas shifted where he stood, averting his eyes again. When he spoke, his voice was very soft, practically hiding in his breath. "…What were you afraid of?"

Not even a decade ago, Axel might have made a juvenile quip about his immunity to fear (and all other shows of weakness, naturally), back before he first felt the incisive, no-bullshit clarity of those stark blue eyes and realized how much he liked it; but now he didn't even hesitate before snatching Roxas' chin and smiling down into those brilliant eyes with a fondness reserved especially for them. He leaned in close so the gentle murmur of his voice could be heard.

"I was afraid of being forgotten."

A young voice sounded through the trees; he saw the boy on the edge of the wood, calling with a hand cupped around his mouth and the other waving goodbye. "Thanks for everything, Lea!" he shouted. "I won't forget you!"

I won't forget you!

"…Somehow, I knew you meant it," Axel said suddenly, as if the memory had been played out for them both. "So I burned a few bridges and went looking for you, and…well, here we—are!" The sentence ended shakily as Roxas slammed into him, latching his arms securely around Axel's chest and burying the extreme warmth in his cheeks.

Once he regained his balance, Axel chortled quietly and snaked his arms around the boy's shoulders, nuzzling into the top of his head. Roxas grumbled something muffled into his shirt. He chuckled again and pushed the blonde back a little. "What?"

"How could anybody forget an oaf like you?"Roxas repeated himself with a bit of bitterness, but Axel knew him well enough to hear the stifled honesty in his words. "Well," he simpered, catching Roxas' eye when he peaked up from his little hiding place against the redhead's chest, "I am pretty awesome."

Roxas gave him a shove, but it was a playful one, and a small smile was creeping up through the blonde's features despite his efforts to stay mad. "What you are is full of yourself."

"Nah, you like it."

"I do not."

One tickle fight and a sincere apology to Demyx later, Axel and Roxas were back out in the summer heat, swerving through the festival crowds as Axel worked to shrug off his friend's sense of urgency.

"It's only fair to warn them, Axel," the blonde beseeched, crossing his arms stubbornly.

"They only have to make it three more days." Axel gave a lazy motion to dismiss Roxas' concerns. "And as long as we have their backs, everything will be fine." He glanced around once before adding in a low voice, "Besides, Hama's here now. And she's a lot tougher than she looks."

"Speaking of Hama, I've been wondering…" Roxas kept his voice equally quiet, just in case. "If she's been tracking Riku all this time…Why didn't she ever…I dunno, step in? I mean, if she really is his mom, why'd she leave him on his own?"

That was when a sort of shadow fell over Axel's face, one that told Roxas he'd just touched a topic they would not be diving into very deeply. "Let's just say Riku's not the only one in that family who's complicated."

And they left it at that.

A/N: So, in sum: shit is going down all over the place! HOORAY!

Stay tuned for chapter…what're we on? 18? Holy hell this story is getting long. XD

Review for a chakram cookie~ Flame for a chakram to the face!

Toodles~

-Slay