It's been awhile! Sorry about the delay, this chapter was ridiculously hard to write, so thanks a bunch for all of you who stuck around. The next chapter shouldn't take as long now that I know what I'm doing with this thing...

WARNING: This chapter has a lot more swearing than usual in it, and quite a bit of violence as well.

Chapter Thirteen: Don't Cry

Before Riku could so much as blink, Larxene's French tips were fisted in the collar of the ratty t-shirt he'd worn to bed and he was being yanked forward, into the room with the gun pressed just underneath his chin. Axel moved forward as if to stop her, but paused as she stepped back a pace, dragging Riku with her.

"Come on in, Red," she said sweetly, and Riku watched Axel's eyes dart between her and Riku, his jaw tightening. "And close the door behind you."

Axel kicked the door closed behind him and took a step inside, his eyes darting just beyond Larxene. Larxene took another step back, taking Riku with her. Riku glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and saw the way his jaw was clenched, his gaze cool and even on Larxene, with his hands in his pajama pants pockets like he was looking for his lighter. It was like a neon sign. Axel was pissed, and Riku knew the only thing that could make him that mad was…

He looked, just past Larxene's shoulder, and yeah, there was Roxas, sitting on the bed with his hands tied behind his back, a bruise rapidly darkening on the side of his forehead. Beside him was Sora's form, slumped boneless on the blankets. It looked like Larxene hadn't even bothered to tie Sora up, but from the looks of things, she probably wouldn't need to.

"So this is how we're playing the game, huh?" Axel said. "Execution-style, all lined up in a neat little fucking row."

"Orders are orders," Larxene said. "Have a seat." She stepped to the side and Riku went with her, the gun pressed to his chin not really giving him any kind of say in the matter. Axel moved past them and sat by Roxas, one hand sliding behind the blond's back as though to comfort. Larxene yanked Riku against her, arm tight around his neck, tight enough that he was actually having trouble taking a breath. "Hands where I can see 'em, Red. Nice try."

Axel's hands moved back to cross across his chest, plans foiled. Of course it couldn't be that easy, Riku thought. Nothing was ever that easy. Larxene's grip on his neck loosened, just a little.

"So," the redhead said, shoulder pressed to Roxas'. The blond's eyes were intent on Riku, and if Riku didn't know any better, he would have said that Roxas were starting to panic a little. "What's a bitch like you doin' in a nice place like this?"

Larxene smiled – Riku could tell by the way Axel's eyes narrowed even further. "Cute. Real cute, Red. Aren't you just the brave little hero, all arrogance and scathing wit?" Her tone was mocking, but Axel kept his gaze unwavering on her. Larxene's lips curved into a smirk; Riku could feel it on his neck, sending chills down his spine as dread began pooling in the pit of his stomach. "It's too bad you were just a sidekick, Axel," she said. "You would have made a fantastic leading man."

She raised the gun and fired in the instant it took for Riku to realize what was going to happen and Axel to open his mouth to deliver a retort, a startled cry escaping him instead. Roxas jolted with a yell, sliding off the edge of the bed and onto the floor, Axel following him down. Riku twisted out of Larxene's grasp, her nails digging across his shoulder until he broke free and crossed the seven steps between himself and the bed with his heart in his throat.

"Fuck!" Roxas ground out passionately, tossing his head back onto the bed. "Shitfuckdamnmotherfucker!"

Axel pressed his hand to the blood leaking through Roxas' shirt, and Riku breathed a short-lived sigh of relief when he saw that it was only a shoulder wound, and barely one at that. In all honesty, it looked as though the bullet had simply grazed him, but he was sure it still stung like a bitch. He stood, leaving Axel on the floor next to Roxas, and turned to look at Larxene, placing himself carefully between his friends and the gun in her hand.

"But this is no movie," the blonde went on, like she was discussing the weather, like she hadn't just shot Roxas in cold blood.

"Stop fucking around and get to the point, Larxene," Riku growled.

Her gaze shifted from Axel and Roxas on the ground to Riku standing protectively in front of them… directly in the sights of the gun. "You're looking a little bit annoyed there, detective," she said lightly. "I'm sorry I missed." She slowly, deliberately moved to put the gun back on Roxas – or, rather, on Axel, who quickly moved to shield the blond. "I'd love to see your reaction to one right between his eyes."

Riku knew it was a test, just a gamble to see how far Riku would go, how much power she currently had over him, and he failed it, putting himself back between the gun and his friends. "I said," he replied quietly, "to stop fucking around."

"Oh, sweetie," Larxene practically purred, and he could see the delight in her eyes, just how much she was enjoying this. "You'd be great in a paperback novel. All false bravado and sacrifice… but you don't get it." She jerked the gun suddenly to Sora, motionless on the bed, and he followed. She flat-out grinned in glee. "You still think that Demyx is going to bust in and save your ass? That Little Red's gonna come rushing in, guns blazing, and save the day?"

The cold, sick feeling that had been building in Riku's belly was beginning to solidify and become one heavy, leaden weight. Yes, Riku had been thinking that, had been counting on it, and he was pretty sure that Kairi should have been frantic by now. She was smart. She would have known something had gone wrong.

"See," Larxene went on, like he actually wanted to hear it. "The thing about Demyx is that we can't touch him. We can't lay a single finger on him, can't even breathe in his direction. Without him, we'd never have gotten as far as we have. As we're going to get. So, when we figured him out… and that was hard, you know, he's a fucking genius, covered his tracks beautifully… we gave him a choice." Her mouth rolled over the word "choice," like it was something to be revered, to be cherished. "We gave him a chance. This?" She waved an arm around the hotel room, gesturing to Roxas bleeding on the floor, Sora unconscious on the bed, and Riku standing between them and a gun. "This was his decision. This time next week, he'll be living the good life in France with his pretty little slut. And you'll be dead."

"He sold us out," Axel breathed.

Riku… couldn't breathe. Everything was suddenly clear, suddenly so very bad, and he could hear Demyx's words echoing in his mind over and over like a broken record. "You fuck this up for me, and I'll put you six feet under myself."

"In a heartbeat," Larxene confirmed brightly. She shifted, sliding a hand inside her jacket, and, for a moment, Riku wondered how he was going to shield his friends when she had two guns. Then the CD came into view, glinting in the crappy lighting of the room.

"Motherfucker," he heard someone whisper behind him, and yeah, that was about how he felt.

"And as you can see," Larxene continued, "you're kind of useless now." She slid the CD back into whatever pocket it had come from and leveled the gun. Riku knew she wasn't going to miss this time. "Anything left to say, detective?"

A million and a half possible last words drifted through his mind in the span of a few long seconds. He could, of course, go the Lifetime way and turn around to profess his everlasting True Love™ for Sora, but Sora was unconscious still, and why waste the words when they would just fall on deaf ears? And he sure as hell wasn't about to beg for mercy or anything, like she probably wanted to, which left only one logical option, really.

He smirked, straightened with a confidence he didn't feel, and flipped her the bird. "Fuck. You."

Larxene grinned, aimed, and fired. Something slammed into Riku's side and he stumbled as pain ripped through his arm. Another shot and he hit the floor hard, something warm and soft rolling on top of him. There was a crash and a bang that didn't belong to a gun. One more shot rang out, and he heard, through the haze of confusion and pain, someone let out a strangled scream.

Seven steps away, Larxene hit the ground.

The something rolled off of Riku and attempted to pull him up. He blinked at it for a minute before realizing, hey, Sora, warm and alive and looking at him with panic and fear. Riku looked down at his arm, and there was his wonderful luck rearing its head again, because he'd only been grazed. Again. At least something was going… well, not right, but pretty okay, even if he'd rather not have been shot at in the first place.

He pulled himself up off the ground with the help of Sora's hand wrapped around his, and took in Sora's wide blue eyes and the bruises blossoming up the left side of the brunet's face. He ran one hand down Sora's cheek, gingerly feeling where Larxene, he assumed, had pistol-whipped him.

"I'm alright," Sora told him. "And you-"

"Just a scratch," Riku replied. "Looks like we'll live."

Sora nodded, and he didn't let go of Riku's hand.

"Christ," Axel said, and Riku turned to look at his friend helping Roxas to his feet, pressing one of the towels from the bathroom to the blond's shoulder. "Cutting it a little close there, don't you think?" He looked at the door with a glare that was completely ruined by the relief written all over his face.

Riku followed his gaze and couldn't help the relieved grin that spread across his face when he saw Demyx standing there, sliding the gun back into his jacket. "You're on the third floor, dude. I was in the parking lot by the time I realized something was up. If it makes you feel any better, I freaking sprinted up here, and now my side hurts."

Axel shrugged. "Yeah. It kind of does make me feel better. A little."

"You're welcome," Demyx replied dryly. "I can totally die happy now that my pain gives you joy. Everybody stable enough to get to my van?"

Riku nodded. "We're alive."

"It's not that bad, Axel, I can fuckin' walk," Roxas insisted from the other end of the bed, and Riku watched with interest as Axel attempted to convince Roxas to let the redhead carry him. Finally, Axel gave up and settled for keeping one hand tight on Roxas' shoulder, and it didn't look like Roxas was about to shake him off anytime soon. Axel, Riku knew, needed to be close, needed to be absolutely sure that Roxas was alive, for the exact same reasons that Sora was still holding his hand in a death grip.

"Where's Kairi?" Riku asked when he realized that she wasn't standing behind Demyx.

The blond jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "Parking lot, messing with my radio, I'll bet." He shifted, turning so that he was mostly facing the exit. "We better hurry… she probably didn't come alone." He looked down briefly, at Larxene's body in a pool of blood on the floor, before looking back up at them evenly.

"Don't suppose you took up smoking recently?" Axel asked. "'Cause I think I'd ki- do just about anything for a cigarette."

Demyx shook his head and quirked an eyebrow at him. "Thought you quit, dude." Nonetheless, he pulled Axel's lighter out of one pocket. "Kairi grabbed it off the nightstand when she grabbed her purse."

"But she didn't grab my smokes, did she?" Axel sighed. "We'll stop at a gas station on the way to… wherever the hell we're going."

"Far away from here," Demyx said. "Very far away."

"How far away?" Sora asked.

"I've got number 424 lined up, ready and waiting for us." Demyx looked down at Larxene one more time, then opened the door fully behind him. "I've also got someone on the way to clean this up… Figured something might go down, but I wasn't sure what."

"You're such a good little boy scout," Axel replied. "Let's get the hell out of here."

They had to step over Larxene's body to get to the door, but it seemed that Sora was absolutely refusing to let go of Riku's hand – not that Riku particularly minded, of course. Demyx closed the door behind them, the electronic light flashing red briefly, and they set off for the parking lot. The hallway was silent, which… actually threw Riku off a little bit. Wouldn't there have been other guests on the floor? He knew that hotel rooms weren't exactly soundproofed. It struck him as odd.

Sora stumbled, distracting him. "You alright?" Riku asked. Sora nodded, just as Riku thought of something else. "When did you come around? You were-"

"No, I wasn't," Sora replied, shrugging. "I was awake the whole time. Element of surprise and all that. It's amazing how many people fall for that trick." He gave Riku a strained grin, and Riku suddenly very much wanted to see Sora's real smile, the one that he'd first seen while sitting on a curb, being patched up with Strawberry Shortcake bandages.

"Cheer up," Riku said, bumping a shoulder with Sora's. "We're alive."

"We're not safe, though," Sora replied. "Not yet."

The detective shrug. "I'll take what I can get."

"You can get moving a little bit faster," Demyx said over his shoulder. "I've got a bad feeling. You two can make out in the car."

"Hey, Rox, can we make out in the car?" Axel asked, grinning at the blond, who simply rolled his eyes.

"I swear to God," Demyx said, shaking his head as he pushed open the glass door to the lobby. "You people are the weirdest group of-"

Sora stopped him. "Demyx," he said, looking around and slowing to a halt, still holding Riku's hand. "Was there a night clerk on when you came in?"

Demyx paused as well, looking over at the empty counter. "…Yeah, there was," he replied.

Riku looked around the lobby, finding it completely empty and silent. It was only half past one, there should have been at least a few night owls out and about, and he was sure he'd seen a sign that advertised the bar didn't close until three. There was no bartender, no bellhops, nothing at all.

Oh, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Run for it," Roxas hissed, and they took off in near-unison, and Riku was sure he could hear harsh laughter trailing after them.

The first shot shattered the glass windows of the front door, and Sora's hand tightened on his as they ran. The second took out another window close, but not dangerously so, to the group sprinting for the exit, and Riku knew then that they were shooting to scare, not to kill.

"Third row!" Demyx shouted.

Riku didn't even bother pushing the door open, just jumped through the hole left by the broken glass after Sora, the brunet's hand slipping from his grasp. They hit the parking lot at a dead run, feet slapping against the asphalt in a strange, fear-driven rhythm. Riku could see the Prius only a few spaces away, waiting, and Sora was just a few feet ahead, the others just a few feet behind, and he knew they were going to make it, going to pull a miracle just one more ti-

Sora turned suddenly and tackled him to the ground. Riku hit the pavement hard and the world around him erupted into a violent, chaotic mess of noise and fire, surrounding him. Only moments later, the world quieted, leaving only the ringing in his ears and the weight of Sora holding him to the ground in desperation. Sora sat up, off of Riku, and the detective stood shakily, unable to tear their eyes away from the flames engulfing what was left of Demyx's Prius. He couldn't breathe, and he could feel the heat of the fire which meant he was too close, and it suddenly hit him, really hit him. He was running before he knew it, before he could process it, because she was still in there and he had to get her out, had to-

Sora caught him around the waist and they both went down again, Riku fighting him all the way. He twisted, tried to get out of Sora's hold, but the brunet clung desperately and Riku's arm was still stinging and burning, and he'd never been good at fighting anyway. Sora grabbed his face in his hands, turning his eyes away from the fire and back to too-bright blue, wet with unshed tears and irritated by the smoke. He knew it then, that there was no chance, and the knowledge sank straight down to his core and filled him completely, leaving him with nothing but an impossible tightness in his chest and denial playing on loop in his mind – "No, God, please, she can't be, no, no, no."

She was gone.

Sora pulled him close as the footsteps sounded nearby, stuttering to a slow, disbelieving halt. Riku buried his face in Sora's neck and breathed in a shuddering breath, trying desperately to somehow block out Demyx yelling her name over and over again, like it was some kind of prayer. He let his head drop back to the pavement, not caring that it hurt, and watched the smoke curl up into the night sky.

Another set of footsteps sounded, slow and deliberate this time. Sora shifted off of Riku and stood, with Riku following suit though he felt despair begin to settle in. Demyx was standing only a few feet away, and it didn't look as though he'd be standing for much longer, the expression on his face a mirror of everything Riku was feeling inside, magnified by thousands. Roxas still had his arms wrapped around Axel's waist like he was terrified that the redhead would go jumping into the inferno, and Riku briefly supposed that he probably would if given half the chance, just by the look of devastation on his face.

"It's a shame," the detective heard as he turned to face the footsteps, away from the burning car. Marluxia was watching him with a smirk that gave his despair an edge of razor-sharp anger, and he clenched his fists at his side. Marluxia just went on. "If you had only listened, detective, this tragedy could have been avoided." He waved one hand at the car.

"I'll kill you," Riku snarled, and he meant it, every last word.

"I didn't do a thing." The bastard was still smirking. "Looks like Larxene got her revenge in the end, though."

Riku could see the silver and black slipping out of the shadows to surround them. He clenched his jaw, and it was all he could do not to lunge forward to wipe that smirk right off of Marluxia's face, but the lackeys were closing in fast. He stepped closer to Sora, putting himself between the Organization member and the brunet.

"Roxas!" he heard Axel shout, and looked back to see that they already had Axel and Roxas held with guns to their heads, being pulled away from each other.

Seconds later, Sora was yanked from him with a shout and rough hands were wrenching his arms behind him. He heard the rip and tear of duct tape, and he knew, right then, that it was over. A gun forced his head up, reminiscent of the way Larxene had held him only, what, fifteen minutes before. Marluxia stepped closer and ran one gloved hand along Riku's cheek, pausing with his thumb over the detective's mouth in a manner that Riku remembered from long, dark nights from the year before.

Marluxia took a step back. "Pity," he said, and looked toward the burning Prius again. "She had a lovely mouth too."

Riku lunged before he really thought about, not caring about the gun, the hands holding him, or the fact that his hands were tied behind his back. Marluxia just laughed when they hauled him back painfully, earning himself a few new bruises for the trouble.

"Put them in the same van," Marluxia said, and turned away. "Keep an eye on them all at the same time."

Riku watched him walk away as they hauled him backwards, towards one of the vans that he hadn't even noticed before. They shoved him in unceremoniously, and he landed on top of someone who let out a loud rush of air, and just before they closed the door, he caught one last look at the flames and felt his heart sink somewhere deep into the recesses of the darkness.

He knew, right then, that it was over.