Chapter 8: Hearing
Seifer groaned inwardly as he stood outside the door of his supervisor, blood running cold and fast through his veins. With any luck he would sustain a heart attack and maybe, just maybe get away from his supervisor's wrath, provided of course, that he was feeling merciful today.
Rai was standing next to him, jabbering like a child, biting his nails, and looking back and forth between the door and the end of the long hallway from which they had come. Seifer had invested far too much energy into pinning the blame on Rai, so he fixed a glare on his accomplice just in case he decided to make a dash for the exit.
To make matters even worse, Axel was somewhere inside their supervisor's chamber, probably making small talk, revealing more information about what had happened at the harbor, or the most likely occurrence, making outlandish suggestions and complaints in order to satisfactorily agitate him before Seifer's own hearing.
Axel was crafty and snide, and it bothered him to no end that no matter how much he wished it, Axel's position was as sturdy as their supervisor's, if only because he was too much of a loose cannon to be left to wander free.
Unlike Seifer.
The fate of his own position was about to be revealed in a few steadily decreasing minutes.
Seifer grunted and balled a fist, wondering how in his two years of working for The Organization he had managed to make such a mistake. He was strong, confident, capable and a hard worker. He could command ranks better than most, and had the resolve of steel. Sure, he may have had a bit of a temper problem, and maybe he wasn't the easiest to get along with, but no one in The Organization was particularly kind hearted or pleasant. It was what made them all work so well together.
But here he was, sniveling behind the door of their supervisor like a child ready to be scolded.
Rai looked at him mid nail-bite, and offered him a pitiful whimper that made Seifer want to kick him.
"Seifer," he said quietly, folding his hands and trying his hardest to face him. "What kind of trouble do you think we're going to be in?"
"More than what we want, I'd imagine."
"But I don't want to be in any trouble, y'know?" Seifer muttered, turning back to the door, hanging his head in shame.
"Then I'm not wrong, now am I? Now quit whining. It's driving me crazy."
"I can't help it," Rai sniffed. "I'm just really worried."
"Well, you should be. This is your fault after all."
"Are you really going to tell him that?" Rai said quietly. "We've been through so much together, you and me. I haven't left your side, no matter what it is you do, right from when we decided to join together. Remember that time that you borrowed one of Larxene's kunai without asking, and I begged her not to cut your hands off? I stood by you, y'know? Would you really do this to me?"
Seifer considered this for a moment, and regarded Rai with an upturned eyebrow. It was true. He had gotten into a fair number of incidents with the other members of The Organization, usually for the benefit of adding ease to the tasks that their supervisor had assigned to them and worth the anger and hurt feelings in the long run. Rai had usually been the sacrifice, but when he did anger one of the more violent members of The Organization, Rai did stick by his side when they threatened to dismember, or kill him.
Rai had also helped him hide the body that he was about to be held accountable for, too.
Even though he decided that despite all of the help Rai had offered him throughout the years was still not enough to keep him from beneath the bus he was going to throw him under, Seifer resigned to at least feel badly about it, and maybe would think about being kinder to him in the future.
"Think about it this way," Seifer offered, outstretching a hand to emphasize the point he was about to make. "When people do bad things and then lie about it, they feel guilty, right?"
"Right."
"And guilt leads to sleeplessness, ulcers, and headaches."
"Okay…?"
Seifer nodded. "So don't think of this as me tattling on you. Think of this as me saving you from sleeplessness, ulcers, and headaches."
"But Seifer," Rai protested, the color draining out of his face. "I don't feel guilty!"
"And you have me to thank for that, now don't you?"
Rai opened his mouth to protest, but before he could get a word out, the door to their supervisor's chambers opened, and out strolled Axel, who grinned like a cat with his cream. "Evening, boys."
"It's actually morning. Are you that stupid?" Seifer spat, folding his arms.
"Is it?"Axel asked, tipping his head to the side with a finger on his chin. "I hadn't noticed. It's been such a long night and all. My, how time flies when you're murdering people."
"I didn't—" Seifer realized he was yelling, and quickly quieted himself. "I didn't murder anyone. I was involved in the accidental and untimely termination of a nameless nobody that everyone could easily forget about if you wouldn't keep reminding them."
"Well, I'm glad you think so," Axel said laughing in a way that made Seifer want to punch him right in the stomach. "Maybe you can convince him," he jabbed a thumb at the door, "that your nameless nobody is such a petty matter."
Rai gulped and looked up at Axel with drooping eyes. "Is he angry?"
Axel leaned down and met his gaze, lips curling over his teeth in a grin. "He's furious."
Seifer snorted, refusing to be rattled by Axel's obvious scare tactics. He didn't do anything wrong. Axel and Lexaus, and Luxord and Xaldin, as well as a fair number of the other members of The Organization had disposed of dozens of people, all of which deserved it. They ran a tight business dealing, and if anyone stepped in their way or complicated a business transaction, they were well within their rights to dispose of them. And this was coming from direct orders of their supervisor. Not everyone could deal with The Organization and live. That was what made them so successful.
Sure, he may have accidentally killed that guy out of rage, spite and other emotions that were pretty silly in hindsight, but the fact of the matter was that the kid angered one of the henchmen of one of the most dangerous people the world had ever known, and Seifer was going to stick to that—as well as Rai's instigation of the whole matter—to save himself.
He turned his nose up at Axel and shoved past him, taking great pleasure in the grunt of pain that resulted in him knocking Axel's bony elbow into Rai, and pushed open the door to their supervisor's chambers.
Rai's jaw dropped, and his eyes bulged out of his head as he watched the door swing open, revealing the long stretch of mauve carpeting ending abruptly at a tall, sturdy desk. Their supervisor was seated in a chair a few meters away, his face obscured by the shadows cast over him in the dark room. Rai reached for the cuff of Seifer's shirt as if to cling onto it for safety, but Seifer was already several steps ahead.
"Have fun," Axel said pleasantly. He then closed the door behind him, leaving Rai and Seifer at the mercy of the man at the forefront of The Organization.
As soon as Axel was out of view, Seifer fully felt the gravity of the situation before him.
He was uncomfortable about how he was standing, and he fidgeted on the carpeting, wondering how many people had wept tears on it before him. The office wasn't meant to give its visitors a welcome feeling.
It was scarcely decorated except for a few small black bookshelves and tables, adorned with equally dark potted plants. The windows were obscured by heavy wool drapes in a similar color to the carpet, tied together with ivory ropes that seemed oddly bright given the shadows that lined the walls. There was a clock ticking somewhere in the room, a grin reminder that his time with The Organization might be short lived. Seifer looked onward though, and his eyes rose to the tall black desk, and the nameplate that rested at the edge of it.
Xemnas.
Seifer swallowed hard and tried to stand up straight, but it was difficult to do so when he couldn't see Xemnas's face to gage his reaction to his entrance. He decided that he would try his best anyway, and folded his hands politely as he cleared his throat.
"Ah, hello sir." He muttered. "I'm sorry to disturb you this morning."
Xemnas remained silent, hands folded beneath his chin, eyes piercing the shadows that obscured his face. They were blank and emotionless.
It was Rai's turn to offer a greeting, and he stammered through one quickly.
Xemnas's position remained the same.
Seifer cleared his throat and tried again. "Xemnas sir, I'm not sure how you're feeling, but I can't imagine that Axel told you anything with any degree of accuracy. We all know how he likes to exaggerate."
"Right," Rai seconded, nodding his head enthusiastically. "He does tend to exaggerate, y'know?"
"Anyway," Seifer continued, "I'm sure you have an idea of the current state of things, but I think that I can shed some light on what really happened, and furthermore who is actually responsible."
Rai made a shrill whining sound as he sent a panicked glance at Seifer. "And maybe you can see why this individual felt it was necessary to go to such extreme measures, and lighten his punishment."
"Or you could—"
Xemnas finally moved, this time to lace his fingers together in front of him. Seifer immediately closed his mouth, and Rai continued to keen.
"Seifer," he said quietly, evenly. It was enough to make the hairs at the base of his neck stand on end, and make his blood run cold in his body. He wished that 'Seifer' wasn't his name any more. "That sounds like a grand idea. Why don't you explain to me exactly what happened?"
Seifer took a steadying breath and forbade himself from shaking in front of his supervisor, not when he had to prove his innocence and make it out of the office with his job and his limbs intact. "Yes sir. I would be glad to."
Xemnas shifted his hands again, and Seifer felt his nerves leave him. "Good. Because I should hope that there are significant differences between your story, and the one Axel has told me."
Seifer swallowed, and felt his heart steadily plunge towards his stomach. Rai was already visibly shaken; he was too far gone to request assistance from at this point. He was as good as being alone in the office. He threw together a string of words in his mind that sound at least somewhat eloquent and hopefully void of self-incrimination, and began. "Well sir, I think I should start at the beginning."
"Please do."
"Right." He nodded and forced his lips to remain steady. "It all started the other day when Rai and I were finishing up a delivery you asked us to make at the harbor on Destiny Islands. We were talking and wrapping up matters when Rai spotted someone he thought looked familiar."
Xemnas listened silently, and Seifer took a moment to spare a glance at Rai. He had been so petrified of Xemnas that he looked as though he wouldn't be able to process a word he said. Seifer could have made up something about Rai turning into a werewolf and feasting on the guy down at the harbor and he wouldn't have noticed. He kept that thought in mind.
"Anyway," Seifer continued. "I was ready to leave, since I remember how you always tell us to make the deliveries as brief and clean as possible, but Rai was absolutely positive that the guy was the one who—"
"Riku."
Seifer balked at the sudden interruption. "I'm sorry sir?"
"Riku," Xemnas repeated, eyes motionless. "The person you're referring to is named Riku."
A sudden terror filled Seifer's mind as he wondered how on earth Xemnas had managed to obtain a name that he himself didn't even know, but he tucked the thought away for fear of not being able to continue. "Right, sir. Riku."
"Please continue."
"Absolutely. Well, as I was saying, Rai here recognized Riku and recalled a scuffle the two of them had gotten into a while ago. The guy—er, Riku, was apparently able to score a few solid punches to Rai's face, and Rai was determined to seek vengeance."
He spared another glance at the petrified Rai, and noticed with some relief that he was still rendered motionless. Had he not been standing, Seifer could have made a pretty solid argument that he had gone comatose.
"I told him it was a bad idea, but Rai had already started forth with the onslaught, and I had no choice but to follow, as a comrade should." Seifer went on to explain how Riku had scoffed at the might of The Organization, and how even though Seifer himself thought that the jibes were pretty inconsequential, Rai was determined to seek vengeance on Xemnas's glorious name. Thus, the ranks were called and the onslaught commenced, silencing Riku into eternity, an outcome that none of them had wanted, but was none the less unavoidable.
"And that's how it happened," Seifer finished. "On the bright side, the materials for the Setzer collaboration have been delivered a week early." He may have embellished things a bit, but he was certain that Axel had done a fair amount of warping of the truth, too. If Axel could lie, then so could he, especially if it meant the difference between him living to see another day or not.
Xemnas watched him quietly, folded hands still, golden eyes unblinking. Time stood still for Seifer, and he wondered if he had heard a word of his tale, or if he just forced him into discussion for formality's sake. For all he knew, his punishment had already been decided, and Xemnas was just letting him blather on for amusement purposes. Panic welled up inside him, but before he could launch into an outburst of why his life should be spared, Xemnas spoke in his quiet yet powerful voice.
"Please offer clarification if you deem it necessary from my conclusion, but what I'm gathering from your story is that the death of this gentleman is Rai's fault."
Seifer stole another glance at the stone faced Rai, then shrugged as innocently as he could. "Sir, I would never point the finger entirely in one man's direction, after all Lexaus was the one who held him up, Axel punched him, Xaldin kicked him, and Luxord was involved in multiple acts of violence, but if I were absolutely forced to assign blame to one individual for this whole deeply unfortunate circumstance, I think it might be wise to consider Rai as a potential candidate."
Xemnas was quiet again, and Seifer felt his coat stick to his back from the cold sweat that had been dripping there. Maybe he didn't need to be punished at all for killing Riku; this meeting was adding more than enough stress to his weary mind. He would be lucky if he would ever be able to forget the piercing look in Xemnas's eyes, or the way he managed to stay hidden beneath the shadows and still convey such a horrifying presence.
"Who then," Xemnas said evenly, "laid the killing hand?"
"That's really difficult to say, sir." Seifer said quickly. "There were so many punches being thrown, kicks landing…it could have been anyone."
"Please offer your most educated guess."
"Well…eh…." He scratched the back of his head and pulled at the neck of his coat. "It wasn't a punch or anything, but rather, a misunderstanding. You see, when I saw him there…Riku, that is…cursing your name like the filth that he is, I was overcome with such blind rage that I might have overlooked the placement of my hand."
"Referring to the strangulation?"
"Really more of an accidental denial of air via my fist, but I don't think things such as technicalities are important, especially considering that Rai was the one who threw the first punch."
"So you say you were in a blind rage and couldn't help but strangle him?"
"Yes, sir. You see, I couldn't bear listening to him speaking of you so callously, so I completely forgot where I was and what was happening. When I came to, poor Riku had passed out. I'm still not certain at this very moment how my hand wound up around his throat."
Xemnas shifted again, this time to lean forward, revealing his crown of silvery hair and bronze skin. The line of his lips was thin, the arch in his eyebrows neutral. Seifer wished that he had stayed buried beneath the shadows, because now that he could see his face, and the potential expressions that would cross it, he wasn't sure how successful he would be at lying.
"Your story deeply interests me, Seifer," he said with an edge to his voice that made Seifer unbearably uncomfortable. "In particular, I'm in awe at your ability to remember the incident with such clarity and detail, despite your self-admitted lapse in consciousness when you strangled this boy in an obscure warehouse at a harbor in the middle of the night. You were so clear in your storytelling that it might, if one weren't paying close enough attention, appear as though it were largely fabricated."
Xemnas leaned forward farther, the gold of his eyes starting to burn slightly around the edges. "But I know that none of my sentries would ever attempt to fabricate a story of such importance in front of me; not you, not Axel, not anyone, and for this reason, I should commend you for your ability to retain such an accurate memory despite such a critical atmosphere, correct?"
"Sir?" Seifer's voice came out in little more than a sorrowful whimper, and he hated himself for it. If Riku were still alive, he would have gone back and killed him for making him endure such trauma.
Xemnas leaned back into his chair and closed his eyes, once again obscured by the shadows. "I am going to go ahead and take your silence as an affirmation, knowing full well that I do not take kindly to false statements, Seifer."
"Well, there may be a few things that I might have forgotten. As you mentioned, things were rather intense."
"You and Axel both seem to have the uncanny ability to forget certain crucial elements of very important events. This is through no fault of your own, I'm sure."
"Sir."
Xemnas sighed and opened his eyes, this time rolling them to the ceiling as though he were trying to summon patience from the sky. "To be perfectly honest with you, Seifer, I have seen far more grievous errors from henchmen past, and while the death of this boy is incredibly inconvenient, I would be a dishonest man indeed if I didn't admit that others have suffered similar fates for far lesser crimes at the hand of our organization."
Hope lit up in Seifer's heart, and he felt his hands trembling in anticipation. Perhaps his small white lies had worked, and perhaps Xemnas was going to be forgiving, at the very least sparing him from cleanup duty with Demyx.
"However," Xemnas continued, divesting Seifer's hope from his body. "I cannot ignore the time, manpower, and funds you—or rather Rai—wasted on this misguided, futile venture, nor can I rest well knowing that an innocent person has been murdered without proof of the crimes you say he's committed."
"But sir, I told you, he was—"
"Now is not the time to highlight some of the ambiguous 'facts' of your story, Seifer. Now is the time to listen."
"Yes sir."
Xemnas sighed and rubbed his hand over his forehead and sighed deeply. "How long has he been dead?"
"It happened last night. Less than a day."
"And his body?"
"Uh, time was not on our side last night, Sir. Axel threatened to strand Rai and me, so—"
"Where is his body, Seifer?"
Seifer gulped. "We put it behind some crates in the warehouse."
Xemnas took a deep breath then let it out slowly. "There are a few…liberties that are allotted to these kinds of mistakes, especially if haste is utilized."
Seifer shifted his weight onto his other foot. "I'm not sure what you mean, sir."
"I mean that there is a chance that we can correct your wrongdoing, provided of course all of the necessary tools are available."
"Sir?"
"You're lucky," Xemnas said standing up from the table. "Saïx, if you remember, has caused quite a number of untimely deaths with is self control…eh…difficulties. If not for the tricks I've learned from his mistakes, you'd have much more to fear than demotion."
Seifer nodded and watched in awe as Xemnas's true height was revealed. He strolled from behind the table and past him to the door, and opened it with one hand.
Axel stumbled into the door frame and grinned before dashing off down the hallway, presumably to his room.
Xemnas ignored him and turned to look at Seifer over his shoulder. "Collect Rai and meet me at the port in thirty minutes."
"Yes Sir!" Seifer grinned, glee bursting through his voice. He had managed to escape severe punishment, and it looked as though Xemnas had a method to rectify this problem in the first place. It was as if his slate was wiped clean, and as far as he was concerned, by the end of the day he could possibly pretend that none of this had ever happened.
"Oh and Seifer," Xemnas said before disappearing completely through the threshold. "There is someone else you should enlist before our meeting."
"Who, sir?"
"Axel. Somehow I think that the both of you seeking a resolution to this unfortunate incident would be most fitting."
The door closed behind him, and Seifer was left worried and confused with no one but a petrified Rai to see him fall to the floor in emotional defeat.
Thank you for reading. Please offer feedback if you have a moment.
