a/n: whoa sorry about the wait
but the reviews you guys leave me make me so happy omg keep it up c:
a-far-off-memory
"I'll try not to hurt you," Roxas murmured as he picked opened another alcohol swab.
Zexion nodded, wincing when the blond started dabbing at the cut. "So what exactly is the situation? I don't really understand," he questioned, sighing.
Roxas raked a hand through his spikes, blowing his breath out slowly. "Well...for some reason, Riku, Nami and I are immune to the dangers of this house. If we can find everyone and make it back here before sunrise, we can leave. But everyone else is in danger until we can find them, so it's basically up to us to save everyone..."
Zexion rubbed at his cheek. "Is there a reason why?"
Roxas shrugged, discarding the swab. "Xehanort said it was because he and his brothers have been bored and they needed something to amuse them. It's fucking sick."
The slate-haired teen nodded in agreement. "Do you know if anyone is...um...gone yet?" he stuttered, looking down as Roxas began bandaging his forehead.
The blond shook his head. "Not for sure. Demyx said he heard Sora yell Kairi's name while he was looking for us, though, so Naminé is worried out of her mind right now, even though she's trying to hide it...and then there's the possibility of, well...Axel..." He swallowed the lump that was rising in his throat, telling himself he wasn't going to cry. Axel was okay. He had to be...
"I wish I'd seen what happened...then I could tell you the possibility..." Zexion murmured, meeting light blue eyes with his darker ones. He swallowed hard. "If he's...gone...I'll be holding myself accountable. It was my fault we left the room in the first place."
Roxas finished bandaging, shaking his head. "Don't. It's not your fault, Zex...he chose to go, after all."
"I know that, but I'll still feel guilty..."
"Roxas! Zexion! We need the couch, now!"
Two sets of blue eyes widened at the sound of Riku's voice. Roxas helped Zexion to stand and pulled him out of the way just in time to find Demyx, Riku and Naminé carrying an unconscious Axel into the room. Roxas nearly wept with joy at the sight of his boyfriend, but was restrained when he saw the state he was in.
"What happened?" he asked, breath catching in his throat.
"We don't know," Naminé breathed, panting from exertion as they laid him on his stomach. "We found him on the floor by one of the walls...it was cracked, so he must have been thrown into it." She pulled up his shirt, gasping at the dark purple bruises she found.
"Can you tell if anything is broken?" Riku questioned, breathing hard.
Gently, Naminé reached out and felt along his ribcage, biting her lip after a moment. "A few ribs at least...he must have hit that wall pretty hard."
"Oh god," Roxas choked out, rushing over to the redhead's side and brushing his long spikes back. "Oh, Ax..." he whispered, tears springing to his eyes.
"He'll be okay though, right?" Demyx inquired, moving to stand beside Zexion and wrap an arm around the slight teen.
"He should be...but he's gonna be in a lot of pain," the blonde girl responded with a sigh. "Do we have any painkillers?"
Riku nodded. "Sora packed some."
"Alright, I need someone to grab those. Riku, Demyx, can you hold him up while I wrap his ribs?" she questioned, looking back and forth between the two.
Both teens immediately nodded, and Zexion volunteered to get the pills from Sora's bag. Naminé pulled a roll of bandages from the first-aid kit and began wrapping it around Axel's midsection, while Riku and Demyx held him steady and Roxas clutched his hand and stroked his hair back.
The blonde finished wrapping him up and tied the bandages, and Zexion placed the bottle of pills in her hand. "We need to wake him up...and does anyone have any water?"
Demyx let go of Axel and headed over to the cooler, pulling out a bottle of water. Meanwhile, Roxas began gently trying to rouse the redhead.
"Ax," he said softly, giving his lover's cheeks a few taps. "Ax, wake up. Come on, Axel..."
It took a few moments, but acid green eyes finally fluttered open. A low grunt of pain escaped Axel's throat, but he immediately smiled upon seeing Roxas.
"Hey, Rox," he mumbled, voice scratchy.
A sob left Roxas as he, as gently as possible, wrapped his arms around Axel's neck and pressed their lips together. Tears spilled down his cheeks as the redhead returned the kiss for a moment before pulling away with a gasp of pain.
"You need to take these," Naminé said gently, holding out two pills along with the bottle of water.
"I'll take them gladly," he replied, trying to grin but ending up grimacing instead as he took the offered items. He threw the pills into his mouth and took a swig of the water, sighing when he handed it back to her.
"Are you okay?" Riku asked, taking a seat on his other side. "We were worried when we found Demyx and Zexion and you weren't with them."
"I've been better," he admitted with a dry chuckle. "But I'll just have to suck it up. I can't afford to be injured, not in this place."
"He threw you into the wall, didn't he?" Demyx questioned, pulling Zexion close once more. He was reluctant to let the smaller teen out of his sight again...
Axel nodded. "Well he had me by the throat, and I couldn't breathe...so I kicked his shin. He dropped me, and I tried to crawl away, but he was just too damn fast. He grabbed me by the hair and slammed me into the wall."
"Well, you gotta take it easy," Naminé told him, blue eyes serious. "You have a few broken ribs already, you don't need to injure yourself further."
"Naminé, I never take things easy. I can't tonight—not in this place, at least," he muttered, crossing his arms. The action caused him to wince and bite his lip as he accidentally put pressure on his ribs, a soft curse escaping his lips.
"Axel, don't be stupid," Roxas murmured, laying a hand on his cheek. "I can't lose you to this place—I can't live without you...so please, for me, just don't strain yourself."
"Rox..." Axel sighed. "I can't just do nothing. Four of our friends are still in danger, somewhere in this house. One of which is your brother. And I plan on doing everything in my power to save all four of them," he said softly, laying a hand over Roxas'. "We're a family, after all."
Tears in his eyes, Roxas buried his face in Axel's shoulder, careful not to jostle anything. "I hate this..." he whispered, a sob tearing its way from his chest. "I just wish we could leave...no, I wish we'd never come!"
Axel gently pulled him away to look into his eyes, placing a hand on his cheek. "I'm so sorry for all of this, Roxy..." He looked around, meeting four other pairs of eyes. "I'm sorry to all of you. I should have never suggested that we come here."
"Technically, we all agreed," Zexion pointed out, leaning on Demyx to keep his weight off his foot.
"Yeah, remember? We were over this," Demyx added, helping Zexion to sit instead on a nearby chair.
"And you know I only blamed you earlier because I was frustrated, Ax," Riku said quietly, sighing. "I shouldn't have done that."
"We're all here by choice," Naminé murmured. "If you hadn't suggested this place, Vanitas or someone else would have. Don't blame yourself for this."
It wa silent for a moment before Axel chuckled, a wry smile on his face. "You guys aren't gonna let me feel sorry for myself, are you?"
"Not a chance," Demyx replied with a small grin. "No time to mope right now, save it for when we're outta here." He turned his attention to Roxas, who was sniffling. "That goes for you too, you know."
The blue-eyed blond wiped the tears from his face. "I know. You're right."
"We all need to be strong and help each other, all right? We stick together now," Riku told everyone, meeting each of their eyes. "We need to focus on finding Sora, Kairi, Ven and Vanitas. They're our priority right now—everything else comes later."
Everyone nodded to that. "Then let's get going. This is a pretty big house, who knows where they are..." Zexion sighed, running a hand through his long bangs.
"I see that the six of you have been reunited," came the smooth voice of Xehanort. All heads whipped to the doorway, where the young man leaned against the doorframe. "Isn't that just sweet, big brothers?"
"How touching," commented Xemnas in a bored tone as he appeared next to his younger brother.
"Such a shame that the others are still trying to find their way here...oh, how they wept when I had my fun!" Ansem laughed, stepping into the doorway next to Xemnas.
Axel's eyes narrowed. "What did you do to them?" he questioned, voice low.
Ansem simply smirked, while Xemnas chuckled darkly and Xehanort smiled smugly. "He simply made this group a little...smaller, I suppose you could say," the youngest brother replied, golden eyes sparking with malicious glee.
Everyone froze at that. Did that mean that...
"You're lying," Riku growled, clenching his fists. "You're just saying that to mess with us."
"Believe what you want, children," Xemnas said disinterestedly. "You'll come across the body soon enough."
"It was pitiful really, I almost felt sad to do it," Ansem told them, flicking his long hair back. "But I'd grown bored, and they were all quite bothersome. I felt the need to make a point."
"You...you're sick!" Naminé exclaimed, tears springing to her eyes. All she could think about was the high possibility that it was Kairi...after all, Demyx had heard Sora scream her name...
"You're all insane!" Demyx added, disgust in his voice.
"You hear that, brothers?" Xehanort questioned, still grinning. "They think we're insane! Perhaps I should prove it?"
Slowly, both Xemnas and Ansem's lips quirked into malicious smiles. "Please do, brother."
The youngest brother disappeared then. The teens were all frozen in fear, wondering what was going to happen.
A moment later, Xehanort reappeared, looking satisfied. There was a small splatter of blood on his face, which he immediately swiped away with a gloved hand. "I'm only making your job easier, you know," he told the teens, grinning. "After all, now you only need to look for two people! Maybe even one, I did get a little carried away..."
The room was stunned into silence, everyone's minds racing. Who would they find alive? Which families had lost their child? No matter what, they'd all lost people they cared about. Two of their friends were...gone. Would they have to tell Zack and Aerith that their sons were gone? Had Naminé and Roxas lost their twins? Their minds were plagued with these thoughts.
"Nothing to say?" Ansem questioned, brow quirked. "I'd have thought you'd all be charging by now, or at least in tears...how disappointing."
Slowly, Roxas looked up. There were tears in his eyes as he whispered, "You monsters."
Xemnas slowly started laughing. "Thank you." He looked between his brothers. "Shall we go? I've had enough of these pitiful beings."
Xehanort nodded, still grinning. "Goodbye for now, friends. Do take care to watch your backs...wouldn't want anyone else getting hurt, would we? I'd stay put in here if I were you."
With that, the three of them disappeared. As soon as they were gone, Naminé fell to her knees, head hanging as her shoulders began to shake. "She...she's gone. I know it..." she said so quietly it was barely audible.
"Nami..." Riku sighed, rising from the couch and dropping beside her. He pulled her to his chest, stroking her hair. "You can't think like that, not right now. I'm worried too—it could be Sora just as much as it could be Kairi. But we can't let these thoughts get to us...not when there's a chance..."
A sob left her. "Riku, I know she's gone. I've had the feeling since Demyx said he heard Sora scream her name. Why else would he do that?" She took a deep breath. "I'm not going to fool myself when I know the truth."
Riku ran a hand through his long hair, blowing his breath out slow. "If that's what you think, then...I guess that's that. But you can't let that slow you down, Naminé. Two of our friends are still down there—they need us."
"Riku's right," Axel commented, rising with a wince. "We need to get moving—there's no more time to waste."
Roxas stood as well, laying his hands on Axel's shoulders. "Axel...I think it's best if you, Demyx and Zexion stay here. It's safe in here—it isn't out there. You three don't have immunity like Riku, Nams and I. I don't think it'd be smart if you guys came..."
Axel shot him an incredulous look. "Roxas, you can't be serious. Do you actually expect me to just sit here and let you go without me? Rox...your brother is out there. And I want to be with you, just in case he's..." He let the sentence trail off, sighing. "I don't want you to have to face that without me."
Roxas took a deep breath, blinking back the tears that had sprung to his eyes at the thought of his brother. "I'll have Riku and Naminé. Axel...if he is gone, then I can't lose you too. So please, just stay here."
"Axel, just stay," Demyx murmured, shaking his head. "Roxas is right—it's not safe for us out there."
"Just listen for once," Zexion muttered, rolling his eyes.
"Rox..." Green eyes met resolved blue ones.
"Axel, please. For me," Roxas said softly. "I'll be safe—I need to know that you will be, too."
Axel's gaze shifted to Riku and Naminé, who shook their heads. Finally, he sighed in defeat. "I'm not happy about this..." He pulled Roxas in for a hug. "But I'll stay, I guess."
Roxas pulled away slightly to stand on his tiptoes and press their lips together. "Thank you. I love you."
Green eyes softened. "I love you too."
The blond let go, moving to stand beside Riku and Naminé. "We'll be back soon..." Riku told them, standing and helping the blonde girl to do the same.
"Hopefully with two others," Roxas sighed, scratching the back of his neck.
"We'll be waiting...and we'll make sure that Axel stays put," Zexion promised.
The three nodded before turning and walking out of the room.
"Where should we look?" Naminé questioned tiredly as she wiped tears from her face. She looked exhausted—physically and emotionally.
"Well...what's the one floor we haven't been on?" Roxas asked, looking between them.
"The basement..." Riku answered slowly, realization hitting him. "They're down in the basement!"
"Then let's find the basement door," Roxas said, running a hand tgrough his spikes. "How much of this floor did you and Sora explore earlier, Riku?" he inquired.
"Most of it," the taller boy replied. "We didn't come across a basement door."
"Then we should search wherever you didn't look earlier," Naminé said resolutely.
Nodding, Riku began leading them past everything the he'd explored with Sora into unexplored hallways.
Together, they worked on checking all the doors. All they found were bedrooms, studies...no basements. And soon, they ran out of doors to check.
"This doesn't make sense," Riku muttered. "Sora and I never found a basement earlier, yet we're not finding one now!"
"Wait," Naminé murmured, looking deep in thought. "What about that door we went through? The one with that portal behind it. Maybe it's the basement door," she suggested.
"It's the only door we haven't checked...I think it's worth a look," Roxas said with a shrug.
"Then let's go," Riku sighed, turning down the hallway that led to the door. It took a few minutes for them to reach it, and when they did, it looked no different than before.
Roxas reached out and grasped the handle, taking a deep breath before turning it and pulling the door open.
"I can't believe it..." Riku breathed, glancing down into the darkness. "We should have looked here first!" He stepped down onto the first stair, jerking his head to the side. "Let's go!" he exclaimed.
The three began descending the stairs, the path being lit by the lantern in Riku's hand. He was walking in front, so it shocked the other two when he suddenly stopped, turning back toward them.
"Naminé...don't look," he said quietly, shining the light away from the bottom of the stairs.
Tears sprang to Naminé's eyes, a lump forming in her throat. "It's Kairi...isn't it?" she questioned, forcing herself to breathe normally.
Riku's head lowered. "I'm so sorry..."
Taking deep breaths, Naminé closed her eyes. "Just...just go. I don't want to see her like that...
Blue eyes sad, Roxas took Naminé by the arm and helped her down the stairs, following Riku. He spared a glance down, a soft sound escaping him at the sight of Kairi. Her head was bent at an unnatural angle, her eyes wide and unseeing.
They moved past her as fast as they could, not wanting to see it anymore. Their nerves were all shot, wondering what other friend they'd lost.
a/n: yay, axel's alive! but someone else is dead...
i'll have you all know that i cried like a baby when i wrote the next chapter, i didn't wanna do what i did but i had to :( the next few chapters are pretty damn sad, i'll warn you all now...
i'll update again tomorrow!
afom out~