A.N. Hi guys! Well, the competition is closed and now all I can do is wait. I hope you enjoy this next chapter of Fire in the Blood.
Warning: This chapter contains implied vampire sex.
Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili) and Marluxia and Namine.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.
Water chuckled over pebbles in the courtyard of Axel's mansion, fish swimming around in the fountain and flowers waving in the breeze. The burbling stopped, and then swelled to a crescendo, and the wave that rose out of the pool fell apart, spilling water over the sandstone bricks.
Brushing a hand through wet hair, a tall figure tossed his head, throwing brown-blond locks out of blue-green eyes. Demyx gave a gentle smile, humming a haunting tune and wandering into the house as the water lying on the floor rose up and rejoined the contents of the fountain.
Stepping through the door in a wave of droplets, Demyx started as he heard the familiar lazy drawl of a certain redhead.
"So, Demyx," Axel said, a faint curl of smoke billowing through his lips and from the tip of the cigarette in his hand, "What reason do you have for choosing to grace my humble abode with your noble company today?"
He raised a thin red eyebrow. Demyx gave a lazy grin, retorting,
"I was hoping to get some news actually."
"Fascinating," Axel muttered, gesturing with the still smoldering cigarette. "And speaking of news, how is dear Zexion today?"
Demyx snickered.
"He's feeling a little…worn out."
Axel chuckled and ruffled Demyx's hair.
"Atta boy Dem," he said proudly, before frowning and letting out a worried sigh.
"Ax?"
Ignoring his fellow vampire Axel began to wander around the corridor muttering to himself under his breath. Demyx caught a few words along the lines of 'stupid ego' and 'stupid plan' and generally calling things stupid.
Demyx blinked.
"Ax are you okay?"
Suddenly, still not noticing Demyx's tentative enquiries Axel stopped pacing and looked at him.
"Dem," he said seriously, "I need you to do me a favour."
Demyx shrugged.
"Anytime," he said cheerfully, "But would you mind giving me a bit more information?"
Axel took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Alright," he begun, "You see, there's this blond called Roxas..."
Riku lay in bed, looking up at the navy ceiling above him. Snuggling deeper into the black blankets, the silver-haired teen tried to hide from the bright green light shed by his clock.
"RIKU!"
Trying to block out his older brothers voice, Riku closed his eyes and curled up into a ball, trying to will himself back to sleep. Suddenly a long blade sliced through the blankets just above the silver-haired teens head. Giving a start, Riku sat up, looking up at Sephiroth, his older brothers hair blowing around his face in the breeze from the window. Sephiroth gave a cold smile.
"Its time to get up Riku."
Roxas and Sora sat together just outside the school grounds, waiting for Riku to turn up. As the blond sat there patiently waiting, Sora got bored and started poking him in the chest. Roxas hissed and winced in pain as his half-brother poked the wound on his side. Sora raised an eyebrow.
"Rox, what was that for." He said, pouting. "I didn't poke you that hard."
His brother gave him a pained smile.
"It was dad." Roxas said, "I was walking home from work on Sunday evening and I got sidetracked. This creep comes out of an alley and tries to kill me, and then this freak appears out of nowhere and breaks his hand and then..."
"Yeah, Rox?"
"I know this sounds crazy, but he drank his blood." Somewhat frightened of what Sora would think, Roxas met his half-brothers eyes warily. "So, I don't he was human."
Sora looked puzzled for a moment, and then gave Roxas an energetic hug. Roxas raised one eyebrow.
"What the hell?"
"You seemed kinda down and I thought it would cheer you up."
Giving his brother a warm smile, Roxas relaxed, lying back and simply enjoying the day.
As Roxas left the school that afternoon, he revelled in the knowledge that, as his father wouldn't be home until 7, he had the afternoon to himself. Heading off to the centre of town, he stopped off in the town square, spending a while browsing and spending the money that his mother, who currently lived with her husband, Sora's father had given him.
As he looked through the various shops, a flash of red caught his eye and he turned around, only to realize that it wasn't in fact the vampire, but was in fact his friend Hayner, wearing a bright red sweater, and right behind him were Pence and Olette.
"Hi guys." Roxas called, tensing for the anticipated slap on the back from Hayner. After the greetings were over, the four friends stopped of at the nearest cafe and began to discuss their plans for the Struggle tournament over salt-sea icecream.
Several hours later, they headed out, wandering around the city before stopping off for a brief Struggle battle between Roxas and Hayner. As night began to fall, the friends split up and began to make their ways back to their respective homes.
Leaving the square, Roxas headed off towards the nicer part of town, taking a quick detour and cutting half an hour of the trip home by heading through an abandoned street called Tramps Alley.
As the sky darkened, the ever-shadowed alley grew even more oppressive, the shadows lining the walls spilling out from their normal positions and filling the alley. Pools of murky water began to well up from between the cobblestones and dirty-gray clouds began to form in the sky.
The rain began to pour down and Roxas started shivering, his teeth clacking together as his clothing became soaked with the freezing water. The puddles of water forming on the alley floor expanded until the water was a few inches high all through the narrow, sunken alleyway.
The alley darkened and Roxas's vision began to blur as water ran down his face into his eyes. A soft splashing noise began to sound and soft song began to drift out of the shadows around him.
"Well, well, well," A mellow voice came, "What have we here? A sodden little alley-rat?"
A movement next to him and Roxas spun around to see a large amount of water fall down with a large splash.
Another few figures began to emerge nearby, remaining within the shadows so it was difficult to see them clearly, and the voice started sounding simultaneously from different directions as the music swelled into a haunting chorus, the water around Roxas starting to swirl and jump in time with the rise and fall of the eerie tune.
Driven beyond endurance, Roxas let out a short scream and ran through the figures, which fell down as showers of water as he passed. Running through the alley, Roxas was unaware he was heading towards the lone building that stood in the alley, a broken down shack near the centre.
As the water clones started to close in, Roxas continued running straight through the alley, and out the end, heading straight towards his home, which despite the pain and bad memories it held was still preferable to the alley.
As the small blond disappeared into the distance the water rose up, swirling together and coalescing into the shape of a man with blond-brown hair styled into a mollet. Staring apprehensively at the front door of the shack, where firelight shone despite the deluge that no fire could have escaped, breathing in the smell of cigarette smoke, Demyx gulped.
"Oh shit." He said quietly, then dissolved into the water and disappeared, the sky clearing up behind him.
What do you think? Finally, Demyx has revealed his true awesomeness. For those wondering, yes, Sephiroth will become very important later in the story.
Term 4 has just started, so updates may be sporadic, but I live in hope.
Next Chapter: Demyx and Axel put Plan B into action.
P.S. Over 1000 hits and only 23 reviews? Guys it would make my month if those numbers could increase, especially the latter. Please?