It was fully dark now as Axel exited the alley, glancing around quickly for any sign of a struggle. Before him was an intersection that offered four new paths, with a signpost on the sidewalk indicating what was in each direction. As he stepped under the small, faint street light to read the sign, another scream caught his ears, and the redhead immediately turned to the eastern route, labeled 'market street.'
Just as he was about to start running again, a gruff, soft voice called him back.
"I wouldn't be goin there if I was you, son..."
Axel turned to see one of the windows on the long, dusty brick building beside him had opened, and a tired old man was leaning out of it cautiously, giving him an irritable look.
"You must be new ta this place. It's best not to meddle in things what don't concern ya..."
The boy glared a little back at him, his temper flaring. "Didn't you hear that? Someone out there needs help! How can you just sit here and do nothing?"
The old man grumbled and shook his head, but Axel caught the light of something in his tired old eyes. Was it fear?
"I told ya, kid. Them guards are ruthless and violent; it's best not te give em a reason ta meddle with ya. No one's safe these days..."
"But I can't just do nothing!" Axel bit back, furious now. What was really going on here, if the people were too scared to even leave their homes at night? And no one would help a person crying in distress?
The man motioned for him to keep his voice down, grumbling as he pulled the shutters closed.
"Suit yourself, kid. I dun want any trouble now. Dun come cryin ta me if ya land your sorry ass in jail..."
Axel gaped indignantly at the now closed window, his mind cursing in frustration. But he shook his head and turned away. Cowardly scum like him weren't worth his time...
With that, the redhead made for the path to market street, ignorant of the eyes that followed him through the window cracks as he disappeared down the street.
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It wasn't long before Axel made it down into the market square, following the cries that continued to sound, ignored in the night. The square was similar to the market in his own village, but even his wasn't this shabby and rundown-looking.
The path was stone and dirt, leading down into an open space lined with stalls and barrels. The stalls themselves were made of grubby wood, like the kind you might find holding together a rickety old ship, and covered overtop with light tarps of various dusty, dull colors.
There were other paths leading into the marketplace it seemed, but they were all blocked by crates and piles of rubbish jammed up in front of them, the contents of which also giving the square a strange, unpleasant smell. The redheaded boy wrinkled his nose in disgust before glancing around more. Each stall had signs depicting their products and goods, some of them written in dialects Axel wasn't familiar with, and they each backed up to a large, old brick building that looked like it housed several families in one. Axel guessed that the owners lived there with their friends and families, bringing their stores in at night and locking up so nothing could be stolen.
Or at least the smart ones would, anyway. Thieving probably wasn't out of the question in a place this destitute...
The disturbance was coming from one of the smaller stalls along the street, near the bottom-left corner. As he squinted, Axel spotted three or four guards gathered by the stall, some laughing while the others moved around.
Quietly, the redhead crept closer, not ready to be discovered just yet. Hiding behind a nearby stall, he listened in on bits of the argument.
"Please, don't hurt him! I-It was my fault, sir, I'm the one who was stealing food from the cart!"
The voice was small and terrified, obviously belonging to a young girl. He couldn't see her behind the mass of dark figures in front, but Axel heard a dark voice chuckle loudly, mocking her sobs.
"Aw, ain't that cute! Well, missy, truth is the two of you were caught breaking the curfew, a serious crime by itself! Now that you've confessed to stealing, I guess it'll be a couple nights in the stocks for you!"
"No!"
As he approached, Axel saw one of the men step back as a young boy charged forward, swinging what looked like an old broom wildly in desperation. The man laughed, side-stepping a few blows as the boy growled.
"Looky here, boys! This one's a fighter!"
But immediately, as he was distracted, the boy made contact with the guard's head, causing him to stumble and groan in pain. The other guards laughed hysterically, not at all worried, as the one holding the blond girl chuckled.
"What was that, Alastor? It seems you can't handle one little brat with a broomstick! Desdae will be laughing her head off, if she doesn't know already!"
"Shut up!" the man snarled, reaching forward swiftly and grabbing the broom with both hands. Axel saw him wrestle with the boy for a moment before the old wood splintered and the boy was thrown back on the ground, yelping as he hit.
Alastor loomed over him now, growling as he kicked and punched the boy huddled on the ground. Two of the other men laughed and joined in, while the blond girl struggled to get free.
"NO! PLEASE STOP! LEAVE HIM ALONE!"
"What the hell's going on here?"
The men stopped and turned as Axel stepped under the small street light, glaring fiercely. He took a small step forward, pushing his goggles up a little on his head. "Where do you assholes get off beating up a bunch of kids at night?"
The guard holding the girl took a step forward as well, letting her go as he stared down the unwanted onlooker. She raced to the blond boy's side, kneeling protectively over him and shaking his shoulders gently.
Alastor turned and sneered as well. "Who's this punk? I haven't seen him around here before!"
"I'm no one important," Axel shrugged, answering honestly. "Just passing by when I heard the commotion. But seriously, you don't have anything better to do than steal lunch money?"
"We don't steal anything!" Alastor growled back. He reached down and grabbed the blond girl's wrist, dragging her to her feet beside him. "We make sure little whelps like these two don't go breaking the rules!"
"What, like walking around after dark? That sounds pretty dumb to me...It seems like these rules could use a little breaking!"
Axel didn't seem to care that he had nothing to fight with. He charged at the guards, slamming one right in the nose with the lower part of his palm. The man stumbled back and yelled in pain, holding his profusely bleeding nose with both hands. The other man seemed to delay, startled by Axel's swift attack, so the redhead took his opening and slammed the other palm right up into his nose.
Having distracted those two, the redhead turned to the man named Alastor, who shoved the squirming girl aside and withdrew a long, sharp blade from his belt. Just as he was about to move, Axel grunted as something hard collided with his back and sent him face-first into the stone.
"I figured you were new and weren't familiar with our curfew laws, but not even the dumbest foreigner would dare attack a dragon knight, let alone anyone of his guards..."
Axel brought his head up and spat the dirt and blood out of his mouth, glaring at the man he had prepared to attack.
"You're a dragon knight?"
Alastor smirked back, flicking some of his long brown hair over his shoulder as he strode forward.
"Correct. And now you're going to get it, boy...just like these brats..."
But both men looked down at him, surprised, as Axel began to snicker. The redhead smirked up at the knight, his green eyes daring.
"And you couldn't even dodge one measly hit from a broom? That must make you the lowest ranked knight on the whole force..."
Alastor's face turned bright red, and his fists clenched as he leaned down and grabbed a handful of Axel's hair.
"You insolent brat! I'll teach you to mock me!"
His metal fist collided with Axel's face several times, and he smirked evilly at the boy's pain. Axel twisted this way and that in his grip, biting his lip hard so that he wouldn't groan or whine, but the man sitting on him wouldn't budge at all to let him escape. He stayed there, unflinching, as the hard blows rattled his brain and battered his face. He wasn't afraid of them!
Suddenly, there were no more fists punching him, and Axel creaked one eye open to see Alastor sprawled on the ground in front of him, and no weight on his back. Getting up slowly, he turned to see Leon holding the other soldier in a headlock, squeezing tightly as the man clawed for his face.
"Am I glad to see you!"
Leon grimaced a little, turning to look at him with stern eyes as he applied more pressure.
"Good to see you payed attention when I said, 'No getting into trouble,'" he grunted, letting the now limp man slide to the ground in front of him. He clapped a bit of the dirt off his hands and looked down at the man in disgust. "What a mess you've made now..."
Axel bent down and poked the guard's face. "Is he dead?"
"No, that would be a huge scandal, and half the queen's forces would be here trying to find out who had the audacity to kill a soldier..."
"But won't they come anyway, since they'll find out someone had the audacity to attack a dragon knight?"
Leon shot him a look, and Axel laughed nervously, getting to his feet. Something was telling him he'd be in trouble for this later, assuming they could still get out of it...
The redhead looked down at the dragon knight in disgust, giving him a good kick in the face and smiling at the satisfying crack he heard in reply. Then remembering why he'd attacked the soldiers in the first place, Axel turned to the two children still huddled on the floor.
The boy was lying out cold on the ground, looking pretty beat up from his encounter with the guards. The girl beside him had light blond hair that reached to her shoulders, pulled back into a loose ponytail behind her. She wore a dusty short tunic that looked to have once been white, and leggings that reached just above her ankles. Neither she or the boy were wearing shoes, and as he came closer, Axel noticed that their feet were covered in little scrapes and bruises.
Slowly, the redhead knelt down in front of the girl, smiling warmly. "Don't be afraid; I'm not going to hurt you..."
The worry slowly faded from the girl's face, and she smiled as she reached out and shook his hand. Axel was nearly blown away, as he looked into eyes so bright and shining blue.
"My name is Namine. Thank you so much for helping us...sorry about what he did to your face..."
Axel took her small, delicate hand in his and chuckled lightly. "The name's Axel, kid. And don't worry about it! My head's made of stronger stuff than that! These things will heal in no time!" He poked one of the purple bruises, wincing slightly as he laughed.
Namine smiled shyly before turning back to the boy beside her, grasping his shoulders again and shaking them a little.
"Roxas...Roxas...Please wake up..."
The boy stirred a little, mumbling a soft response before he sank back into sleep. Namine looked at him sadly, placing a hand on his cheek and rubbing a dark bruise lightly with her thumb.
"They sure did a number on him, didn't they?" Axel sighed, settling down beside her and taking a look at the damage. Out of curiosity, he asked, "Were they really that worked up about a little food and a broken curfew?"
The blond girl sighed, nodding meekly.
"A lot of the food in this town goes to the soldiers, and there isn't much to go around once they've had their pick. We only get so much food rationed to us per week, and I-I guess I just wasn't thinking clearly...I-I wanted to go find something to eat, and Roxas told me not to, but h-he...h-he wouldn't let me go alone. I-I feel awful about this..." Namine reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes, her shoulders lightly shaking as she sobbed. "I-I'ts all my fault he got hurt..."
Axel put an arm around her and waited for her to calm down. He looked up as Leon came over, having made sure the guards were out and wouldn't be waking up too soon.
"Now...What was so important that you had to go and play hero?"
The redhead shot him a small glare, as he helped the blond girl to her feet.
"This place's more fucked up than we thought...I'm guessing you found that out already?"
The brunet nodded, sighing in slight frustration. "It was a mistake to come here. Supplies or not, it's almost impossible to leave once you're here, and now we have this fiasco to make it even harder!"
"Hey! I couldn't just let them go around beating up kids!" Axel shot back, quickly losing his temper. He didn't want to argue with his master about this now. Leon was a good man with a strong sense of morals, but the fact that he could have ignored this and just kept walking really burned the boy up inside...
He turned back to Namine, patting her softly on the shoulder as she stopped crying.
"I'll walk you back home, if you want. Just show me where you live..."
The girl looked worried at first, but with a reassuring grunt from Leon, she looked back at Axel and smiled politely.
"It's this way. I just need some help getting Roxas home too..."
Axel walked over to the unconscious boy and pulled him gently into his arms, finally taking a closer look at him. The boy had very soft, light blond hair like Namine's, but his did not fall back onto his shoulders, straight and long as hers did. Instead, tufts of it spiked and spiraled upward, in an almost unreal mass of tangled locks that sat high on his head. His clothes were simple and ratty, just like Namine's, but he was noticeably thinner and lighter, weighing almost nothing in Axel's skinny arms. It was almost inhuman how thin he was!
The boy's face, though littered with bruises and marks, was cherubic and slightly feminine, making him look younger than he probably was. Axel would have placed him at twelve or thirteen, but in reality he was probably closer to sixteen.
"Mr. Axel?"
The redhead blinked up to see Namine waiting for him, looking at him curiously as she fiddled with the hem of her tunic nervously. Axel realized that he'd been staring and quickly looked away, a slight blush staining his cheeks. How long had he been standing there?
"If you're ready, Axel, I think it's about time we made ourselves scarce. Those guards won't be sleeping forever..."
Axel looked back at the unconscious soldiers disdainfully before he nodded, and quickly followed Namine out of the market square.
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Leon said nothing as they walked back through the alleyways towards the main road. Namine insisted that they take this way, as fewer guards would be patrolling there, and it would give them a chance to hide if necessary. The blond girl talked quite a bit, as she nervously glanced around, but Axel was more than willing to indulge her. He wasn't a big fan of long, awkward silences.
"So where are you two from? You don't look like you've been here very long..."
"Oh, we were just passing through when we happened to get stuck here," Axel replied casually, hoisting his sleeping cargo slightly to put less pressure on his arms. "We wander from place to place a lot these days..."
"That sounds cool," Namine said, smiling at him softly. "We don't see too many new people these days. Everyone knows better and stays away from Zhari..."
"Yeah..." Axel chuckled nervously, shooting Leon a brief look while Namine was occupied, looking out for more guards. The brunette made a quick obscene gesture in response, and Axel snorted to himself, earning a quizzical look from the blond girl.
Shuffling a little, the redhead asked, "So, where do you two live?"
"We both live at Madam Gainsborough's orphanage, over on Destiny Lane. I came to live there just a year or so ago, when my mother was killed in a carriage accident."
"Huh..." Axel looked thoughtfully down at the boy in his arms. "How'd you and Roxas end up together?"
The girl blushed and shook her head, looking slightly flustered.
"W-We're not together! I met Roxas when I came here, and he was one of the few children there who would talk to me, besides maybe Olette. H-He said he liked my drawings..." Her voice faded off, as she looked down and away from the chuckling boy beside her.
"Aw, that's cute! Nothing to be embarrassed about! I'm guessing he likes you a lot, from the way he stood up for you like that..."
Namine smiled shyly. "H-He's like a big brother to me...Always looking out for me like m-my...my real brother used to..."
Axel raised an eyebrow curiously.
"What happened to him?"
"H-He...H-He was forced to join the dragon knights...back when I was ten..."
"Ohhhhh..." From the way she'd clammed up and was looking away sadly, Axel guessed that it was a touchy subject for Namine. He couldn't blame her, after seeing Alastor in action...
Just then, a soft moan caught their attention, and everyone in the group froze and looked at the boy in Axel's arms. Roxas blinked up and around, taking in his surroundings with bleary, distant eyes. Axel immediately locked onto those eyes, which were the most brilliant, vibrant shade of blue he had ever seen.
"Roxas!" Namine cried, tearing up a little as she raced over to him. The girl smiled and reached out to stroke his cheek, careful not to aggravate the dark bruise there. "How are you feeling?"
The boy blinked at her, then up at Axel, before his eyes widened in fear. Before anyone could say anything else, the little blond began squirming violently in the redhead's hold, his eyes tightly clamped shut in panic.
"Woah! Calm down, kid! It's okay!"
"Roxas, please! He's not going to hurt you!"
But Axel loosened his grip all the same, and Roxas stumbled before colliding with the cold, filthy ground. He back away into a wall and sat there, shivering, as the three other people approached.
"Roxas, what's wrong?" Namine begged, looking beyond worried. She knelt by his side, holding him tightly to try and calm him down, while her other hand shot to his forehead, checking for any sign of a fever. But nothing appeared to be wrong with him.
Axel tried to come closer too, but Roxas cried out and grabbed his head, looking like he had a bad headache.
"What's the matter with him?"
Namine shook her head, looking at a loss for what to do. "I-I don't know! I-I've seen him get this way sometimes before...but never this bad!"
"You're one of them!"
They turned their attention back to Roxas, who's eyes now glimmered with anger and confusion.
"You're one of them!" he spat, still shivering as he glared directly at Axel. "Monsters! Scum! You only bring destruction and death!"