A.N. Hey guys, long time no see. Musical is finally well and truly over, my new job is going well and homework is under control so I hope to be updating more often. Hope you lot enjoy this next installment of Fire in the Blood.
Warning: This chapter contains violence, threats, Larxene PMSing, Roxas torturing, and unpleasant suprises.
Pairings: Ultimately Akuroku, Soriku, Zemyx (thanks to Dualism), Cleon and Marxene (Marluxia and Larxene courtesy of ShadowAili).
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 2 or anything associated. They all belong to Square Enix. As does Final Fantasy.
Sephiroth ran, coat flapping behind him in the wind
As he reached the fence around the Botanic Gardens he gathered his focus and jumped, rising through the air with hardly a pause to land on the other side of the barrier. Hitting the ground running, he sped up, moving swiftly and silently through the abandoned park.
A muted conversation caught his attention, causing him to turn swiftly, leaping into the trees and beginning to move through the canopy. As he arrived at a small clearing, he heard the last of a conversation, and watched painfully as the vampire collapsed in grief. He knew just how the poor bastard felt.
Gaze fixed on the vampiress, he watched and waited, trying to find an opening to take her down. A loud rustle sounded in the silence as Sora burst out of the bushes, breaking free of Riku's hold and charging towards her. The female vampire turned, then opened her hands, little sparks of static accompanying the creation of…Sephiroth swore softly, before moving into action.
Sora charged forward, knowing that it was too dangerous to take on the vampiress alone but not caring. He hadn't known Namine well, but she'd helped him in geography a few times, and he liked to think that they had been friends. And then this...creature had just come along and killed her. He may have been easygoing, but even Sora wasn't going to take that lying down.
Breaking free of Riku's desperate grasp on his shoulder he ran forward and swung the short-sword Sephiroth had given him at the blond vampiress, only for her to spin lithely out of the way, hooking his ankle as she went and tripping him over. As she stopped momentarily to survey him, he could see that the only harm his attack had done was a tiny nick in her dress.
She smiled predatorily at him, then beckoned him forward. Maintaining a guard stance the entire time, Sora stood up slowly as he noticed Riku moving forwards out of the corner of his eye. With an imperceptible nod, Riku signalled the attack, but they had just begun to move when the vampiress exploded into a blur of peremptory action.
Static shocks caused their hands to reflexively jerk open, letting blades drop to the ground as a sudden storm of blows left them covered with small bruises. Suddenly stopping, she waved their weapons at them reprovingly.
"That simply won't do," the vampiress said, voice fluid like molten plasma, "If you're going to play then you'll simply have to try harder. One more chance, and then I'll have to start trying."
Casually tossing their weapons back to them, she bent her knees and seemed to be poised to strike as a silver thunderbolt came hurtling down from one of the trees.
Sephiroth hurtled out of the tree, moving so fast he could barely see what was around him. As his blade slammed into something solid, he realized that his target had moved just fast enough to bend his legs and absorb the shock of his impact. Straightening up, he looked at the vampiress, singularly unimpressed by what he had seen so far. Flicking his wrists surreptitiously he smirked at the blond before hurling the pair of knives he kept up his sleeves for emergencies at her jugular with deadly accuracy. Snapping his fingers, he called a bolt of lightning together in the wake of the blades before they had even left his fingertips.
Slender hands moved with lightning speed and batted the long silver blades out of the air, only to be struck by an electrical charge, that travelled along both arms and reached the heart with a strength that would drop even a vampire for a few seconds. Sephiroth gave a grim smile of satisfaction,
"You vampire scum never learn. With all the fuss, I thought you'd be slightly better than that."
The bolt of energy hovering in the air around her, hair crackling with static, and robes floating as if suspended in a storm, Larxene gave a smile as sweet as poison.
"As you wish."
The aura arced out and slammed into Sephiroth, the tingling aftermath of summoning lightning replaced with pain brought on by his own power.
Larxene smiled at the silver-haired man lying on the ground before her, his small involuntary twitches filling her daily requirement for sadistic amusement.
"You underestimate us greatly Sephiroth," she said with mock sadness, "Just because you were able to beat a pathetic fool with barely a century of growth you think you could take on an elder."
Her smile widened.
"Let's see if you've got what it takes to bring me down."
As Sephiroth got slowly to his feet and retrieved Manasume from where it was buried in the ground, she dropped into the same stance as before, filling Sora and Riku with the conviction that this was simply the calm before the storm. They were right.
Charging forward, Sephiroth swung Manasume at an incredible speed, encasing the vampiress in what looked like a cage of steel as strokes darted from every single possible direction in one of his finest combos, one that had come very close indeed to actually killing Leonheart, even with vampiric healing.
As each and every blow was batted effortlessly out of the air, or caught, he began to think he might just be out of his depth. Just maybe.
Stopping suddenly, he clenched his hand and reopened it directed at her, the blast of fire it created distracting her just long enough for him to lift the weapons lying behind her with strings of magnetic energy and hurl them at her back. A wave of fatigue hit him just about the same time the blades cut through her robes as she spun past them. A second later, he was lying on the ground smoking, with lightning still crackling around him.
"Sephiroth dear," Larxene cackled delightedly, "They call it electromagnetism for a reason."
The last thing he saw before he lost consciousness was a bolt of lightning headed towards him.
Roxas stood awkwardly on the porch, watching as the sun slowly sank below the horizon. His dad was off somewhere getting drunk, and so he had the house all to himself. As the shadows on the ground began to thicken, he shuddered and went back inside, deadlocking the door behind him. Sitting on the couch, he prepared to wait out the night, hoping that Axel would be somehow unable to find him.
After his confusing dismissal by the red-head that morning he had found his thoughts drifting more and more often towards the possibility that this would be the shape of his life from now on, waiting in dread all day before writhing in ecstasy at night.
A sudden noise caused him to flinch violently, half expecting that his thoughts had summoned up the vampire. Moving slowly and cautiously towards the door, he cringed as he heard the drunken tones of his father. From experience, he guessed this was going to be painful.
Larxene looked down at the unconscious form of Sephiroth contemptuously before turning to stare at Riku and Sora.
"Two little mice, " she cackled, "Coming out to play with the big, bad cat."
Licking the edge of an electrified kunai absentmindedly, a cruel smile spread across her face.
"What to do with the poor little mice," she said thoughtfully, stepping closer. "Roast them? Boil them alive? Skin them?"
As her hand closed around Riku's throat and she smilingly raised the crackling blade, a sudden wave of water blasted her to one side.
"How about not?" came a mellow voice as the water joined together to form a familiar form.
"Demyx," Larxene hissed, "How dare you interfere."
"Larxene I am all too aware that you do not fear me or the Schemer, foolish though that bravery is," the musician said calmly, "But I doubt that challenging the Flurry is high on your to do list." He took a threatening step forward as the water on the ground swirled and hissed. "This is his territory, and all of us who dwell here do so only on his tolerance."
A roll of thunder sounded as a literal wall of water slammed down upon the clearing, forcing Riku and Sora to the ground and bending Larxene almost double under its weight. Sea green eyes deep and cold, Demyx loomed over her, the water seeming to fall into and through him as he seemed to tower above her.
"I will not have you risking that tolerance."
Sitar suddenly in tanned hands where it wasn't a second ago, a rippling chord heralded the swirl and hiss of the water as it rolled like the tide into a sphere surrounding Larxene. The hiss of the mighty sphere seemed to meld with his words as he spoke one word, booming like the waves crashing against the shore.
"UNDERSTAND?"
A pulse of lightning flared through the water, causing Demyx to hiss in pain as Larxene raised her head, sodden blonde hair hanging lank in front of deadly pale blue eyes.
"I don't take orders from the likes of you."
A hand wrapped around her throat with crushing strength as the Melodious Nocturne crossed the space between them at a speed rivalling her own, the water lifting into the air as he did so.
"Don't you ever," he snarled, "Speak to me like that again."
With a swirling crash the mass of water slammed down to earth, and when the torrent finally subsided, he was gone.
Off to one side, Sephiroth slowly blinked and pulled himself to his feet, leaning on Manasume. Raising their weapons, Riku, Sora and he exchanged solemn nods, then charged.
As his father finally finished fumbling around with the key and pulled the door open, he looked down at Roxas disgustedly.
"You filthy little brat," he shouted, "How dare you try and lock me out."
Stepping forward, he punched Roxas in the face, then began kicking him spitefully in the ribs as he collapsed on the ground.
He took a few steps into the house and kicked his son once more into the ribs for good measure before shutting the door.
Grabbing Roxas by the front of his shirt, he began to slap him, knocking him around until eventually the blond woke up. Smacking him in the face twice more, his father looked at him angrily before pulling out a knife. This time, the little shit had gone too far. Driving the blade into his sons shoulder, Cloud smiled coldly before turning around at the creak of a floorboard.
Burning emerald eyes narrowed, as the air around their owner shimmered with heat, and the floor began to blacken and char, filling the air with the smell of smoke.
"Strife," Axel growled, cigarette bursting into flames, "I suggest you drop the boy right now."
So, worth the wait?
Can't wait to hear what you have to say, so please review and tell me.
Many thanks to my fabulous beta Mika the Rainbow Vampire (formerly Malik's Bunny Mika), who didn't give up on me as I struggled to get this chapter does.
Hoping you're all well.
Azrael