Last Train

by frogsteak

AU. In an attempt to start over, Axel kidnaps his best friend and flees the ghettos of Kobe. His brothers are sent after them under the Superior's orders, but for reasons Axel could never have imagined.

4. Aid The Enemy

Title: Last Train
Author: nikki_ntm
Beta reader: Shattered Apocalypse
Chapters: 4/20
Genre: Drama/Adventure/Suspense
Rating: M for language, violence and disturbing themes such as bullying, crime and disease.
Characters: Axel, Saïx, Larxene and Marluxia amongst others (Lea, Isa, Seifer and Org. 13).
Pairings: Implied past/present/future pairings, mainly past Axel/Larxene, and implied one-sided Isa/Lea.
Setting: Modern Japan (yakuza-themed)

A/N: Comments and reviews are much appreciated. Enjoy!

x

Chapter 4: Aid the Enemy

Arlene had decided that it would be better if they met somewhere public; she didn't want her neighbors to suspect anything. She sure had turned her life around these past three months; she had found someone she cared about enough to not want him to know of her past, she lived in a "residence", and she had gotten out of China Town. They were going to meet at the Himeji Station tomorrow morning during rush hour. Her trust issues were ever present, despite the fact that Axel had ever done anything that directly affected her. She had never gotten along with her biological father, so Axel killing him couldn't really count, not if he had any say in it, anyway.

In the morning they hurried to the road station to catch the bus. The trip there was over fast, and they got to the Himeji Station about an hour earlier than they had to. The place was swamped with people; the Japanese summer didn't seem to frighten the tourists away, for they all seemed eager to find the Himeji Castle or take pictures of each other in front of every novelty they came across, holding their fingers up in a victory pose.

"Where were you going to meet?"

They walked slowly towards the station. That was probably the first thing Saïx had said since yesterday after he went to buy a frappuccino. Axel thought that Saïx was giving him the silent treatment for beating up a family member, or that he might be scheming something behind his back.

"Outside the entrance."

"Let's go inside and stand by the information desk."

"Why?"

It was a stupid question. Axel knew why, but he didn't like to think about it. Arlene had been one of the few people he had been able to trust the past few years, always for the exchange of something else of course, but that was probably the best he was going to get in the world he was living in.

"Because she might screw you over."

They walked inside the station and stopped by the information desk. They both reached for tourist pamphlets and flipped through them slowly. As they stood, Axel's stomach growled - the last thing he ate had been the lunch Yuna cooked for them. He had only stayed there for three days but he had really grown to like that little village. It seemed to be protected from all the corruption in the real world, but then he had ruined it by just being there. He hoped that Jecht was fine; Yuna seemed capable enough to get the bullet out and she knew her way around herbs with healing powers.

Saïx nudged him and looked over at the entrance. Axel was hoping that Arlene would show up alone. He just needed a break, a small push to get on the right track and this was it. With Arlene's help they could get to Shimonoseki unnoticed and hopefully cross the border to get to South Korea.

Ten past ten they showed up, not Arlene, but them. Three familiar men with lotus tattoos barely visible on their necks. Axel gulped; they were Marluxia's goons.

The goons were searching for them. The crowd was sparse enough for them to find Axel and Saïx easily, especially since Axel was the only one with fire red hair. Saïx was pulling him away when one of the men noticed them.

"Shit."

The man told the others and they quickly turned around to see if the man had seen correctly. There was a shout. That was all they needed to get moving. This was like a never ending exercise; if they didn't have to walk over mountains and through forests, they had to run away from homicidal goons. Had it been yesterday Saïx would have been running in their direction and not away from them. He didn't have much of a choice now. Xigbar would convince Xemnas that Saïx had turned his back on the family. Saïx's days as the second in command of one of the most powerful criminal syndicates in Japan were over. Marluxia was surely thrilled.

They ran past crowds of people and over benches. The only way to top this would be if the police got involved right about now. The upside of this was that not even Marluxia's goons would be stupid enough to pull out their weapons here, not unless they wanted to be a finger or two lighter. They ran outside the station and were met by humid and feverish heat. The goons were surprisingly fast. Axel could outrun most, but that was usually when he was in better condition and had gotten more than four hours of sleep at night.

They got off the main road and into smaller streets with less people. They ran through a maze of small roads by the buildings until they found a larger container for trash. There was no time to even frown at the smell that came from within it before they jumped in and closed the large lid over themselves. They were both struggling with catching their breaths; the smell was atrocious and made their eyes burn. Axel wasn't sure if he wanted to throw up because of the morning run or because of the bag of leftover food beside him that was at least a week old.

It felt like they were in there for an eternity before they dared to jump out.

They had lost their tail.

The three men were nowhere to be seen. Axel brushed off the trash that had stuck to his clothes; he was going to turn to see how Saïx was doing, but was suddenly shoved away when Saïx hurried over to the closest bush and vomited.

Saïx stood up straight and moved away from the bush, looking feverish, although that could be because of the weather, he was paler than usual. He glared at Axel and clenched his fists tightly, "Tell me what's going on. I will only ask this once." His voice was low and threatening.

"It...this will sound weird." Axel sighed and scratched the back of his neck. That was the understatement of the year. He knew that if there ever was a time to tell Saïx, this was it. He cleared his throat and looked down onto the ground.

"You know the mission at Kenzui's place?" He looked at Saïx to see his reaction, he appeared impatient. "I never gave you the full report on what went on that night. He had set up a security hologram that looked like a teenage girl and she kind of chased me out of the house and said some really weird stuff. Every night since, I've had nightmares where she shows up and kills you on Xemnas' orders."

There was more to say but Axel paused when he saw the incredulous look on Saïx face. It was going to be difficult to convince him that he was being serious. Axel was fully aware that it sounded like the ramblings of a mad man; he had spent days thinking that he should just put a bullet through his head before he completely lost it.

"You are a real piece of work, you know that?" Saïx was shaking with anger, pacing around, trying to calm himself down before he exploded. "I'm here because you had a couple of nightmares?"

"Not a couple of, hundreds of nightmares. Every night, every time I close my eyes to sleep I have to see you die. It's gotta be a bad omen or something. Maybe I picked up some information or maybe I eavesdropped on a conversation without meaning to and heard that Xemnas was going to off you – I had to do something."

They fell into silence. The birds chirped in the background and the traffic from the main road could be heard from where they stood. Axel couldn't really tell what Saïx was thinking, the only time when Saïx showed emotion was when he was well pissed off. To be able to read Saïx he had to take a moment to look after subtle clues, how he moved his hands, sat, tension in his shoulders and other things that his brain was too tired to pick up on now.

"Let's go." Saïx walked past him, back the way they had come from. Axel hurried after him, perplexed that Saïx was suddenly giving orders instead of beating his face in.

"Where are we going?"

"Do you have cash?"

"Yeah, why? What are you going to do? I don't think those guys will stop chasing us for a couple of thousand yen."

"We're going to pay Larxene a visit. I know where she lives."

~ooo~

A soft breeze blew through the small town square and made the flowers at a stand sway with it. It was well past ten and Arlene couldn't remember the last time she had felt this relieved. She was done. The family had no more use for her now that Axel had been taken care of. She thought that she would feel sad and guilty for what she had done, and she was sure she would in due time, but right now everything felt so light. She had even prepared lunch and taken it to her boyfriend who was in a workshop by the harbor, preparing for next year's dragon boat race.

She had been really tense these past couple of days, she realized. Now she could breathe easy, she felt like she wanted to do things. She had bought a bouquet of lent lilies from the lady that always stood by the flower stand that she had passed by so many times without ever seeing it. Her cell phone began to play a classical tune and she reached for it in her purse. She smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hello."

"Hi!" There was a lot of noise in the background. Arlene recognized some of the voices; they were probably working on the boat. They wanted it to be perfect for the race. "I just finished lunch. It was absolutely delicious. We should make this a tradition."

"Yeah? I think that could be arranged." She strolled down the road towards the bridge to go back home. She didn't work on Fridays so she figured she could start preparing a nice dinner. Arlene wasn't the greatest cook but she was keen on learning.

"What are you doing? Are you home?"

"Not yet. I stopped by for some things for dinner. You know that concert you were talking about?"

"The one at Aioi High school?"

"Yeah. I was thinking that we should go."

"Are you sure? You didn't seem to be up for it when I asked."

"I changed my mind. We should go out more."

Leon chuckled. It was nice to hear him being happy. He wasn't the most expressive man Arlene had ever met, he was withdrawn and he was very picky with what people he socialized with. They had met when Arlene first started to work at Eraqus' restaurant in China Town. Leon was a regular. He always stopped by at lunchtime, 12:00 sharp. He worked as a salaryman at the Japanese headquarters for Nestlé in Sannomiya. Arlene hadn't thought much of him back then; she was in too much trouble to be looking for company. Leon had minded his own business as well until he, one day, decided to comment on her soba-noodles. Apparently they didn't taste like Eraqus' soba-noodles, which was good. It had been a change in his everyday life. Leon had struck her as a strange man at first. Little had Arlene known that she would end up moving away with him.

"I'm gonna be late today. Not too late for dinner though. I'll be home around six. Just wanted to let you know."

"Okay. Be careful, your buddies don't sound like they're focused on what they're doing," Arlene commented when she heard someone sing loudly.

"I will. See you later."

"Yeah." Arlene held her breath for a moment and she knew Leon was doing the same. She knew that she loved him, she just couldn't quite bring herself to say it. They weren't the kind of people who said it like it was nothing, but for some reason it still felt like she should. She hung up and flipped the cell phone close with a sigh.

"Stupid, stupid..." She hit the cell phone against her forehead softly, making all the ornaments hanging from it tingle. This was the first normal relationship she had ever had; no one could blame her for being scared of ruining it. She didn't want to come off as pushy or desperate and end up scaring him away. All in due time, she reminded herself. There was no need to beat herself up for something she wasn't ready to do. She had made quite a trip from the dump she had been living in to here. If anything, she should give herself a pat on the back for what she had accomplished so far.

She pulled out her keys from her purse and walked up slowly to her house. The house was painted white with a black roof. It was two stories high but it wasn't all that wide. It had two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. Downstairs there was a kitchen, a living room, and another bathroom. The house came with a small garden that Arlene wanted to attend to as soon as she had the time. They had been living here for roughly a month. It would probably take them ages to pay it off, but she liked the idea that one day it would be theirs and that they could make it into their home in the meantime.

Arlene had just slipped into her slippers and stepped inside the house when she wrinkled her nose at the sudden stench. She put the bag of groceries down onto the table in the kitchen and left the bouquet of flowers next to it to go back and lock the door when she suddenly walked into someone who was all too familiar. She looked up and found herself staring straight into Axel's emerald green eyes. She held back a shriek as she stepped back; trembling at the sight she thought she would never have to see again.

"Hello, Arlene. Missed me?"

Saïx locked the door and pulled the curtains over the window in the hallway. Arlene shook her head in disbelief. This wasn't supposed to happen. Marluxia said that he would take care of everything, and yet here they were, in her hallway, invading the life she had fought so hard to protect. Axel grabbed her arm and pulled her close.

"If I didn't know better I'd say you want me dead, Arlene. Is that true? No lies now, or I'll have to do something we'll both regret."

"You wouldn't kill me." But Arlene wasn't sure anymore.

"I wouldn't. Saïx however would love to put a bullet or two in your pretty head, and I'm not sure I would want to stop him. Did you help Marluxia find us?"

Arlene nodded and tried to move away from Axel and the unbearable stench coming from him. He pushed her away and sighed loudly. This was not going well, not by a long-shot. Arlene glanced at Saïx; it was unnerving to see how calm he looked in situations like this. She looked at the watch hanging on the wall in the hallway. She had approximately four hours to get rid of them in whatever way that meant. She couldn't have them here when Leon returned.

"I'll give you whatever you want as long as you leave."

"Whatever I want, huh?" Axel turned around and faced her again. The look in his eyes frightened Arlene more than Saïx did and she gulped, searching the room for anything that she could use as a weapon, although that would be stupid since they were probably armed. "I just wanted to get away from here, Arlene. That's all I wanted, but now thanks to you that's going to be more of a hassle than I had ever imagined it to be. Do you know how long it has taken us to get here? Four days! Four days from Kobe!"

"I'll give you money. And a car." Arlene's heart was beating fast. She hadn't felt this trapped in a long time and she didn't want to have to experience this again.

"We'll stay here until we're finished," Axel said, "Maybe I'll finally get to meet that boyfriend of yours, and don't you dare to call the police or cause a scene 'cuz I'll gladly shoot anyone who walks through that door. Is that understood?"

Arlene could only nod and hope that she would find a way to keep Leon away while Axel and Saïx were in their house.

~ooo~

Two hours had gone by and they were still there. Axel had recently gotten out of the shower upstairs while Saïx was in the bath downstairs. Arlene had been tied up while they were both cleaning themselves. She had put out clean clothes for them before they did so.

It was strange to see Axel in Leon's clothes. It somehow didn't suit Axel to look normal.

Axel sat in the kitchen by the table while he watched Arlene make him a sandwich. She had barely put the plate down in front of him before Axel took it and ate away. Arlene hadn't planned to say anything; there was nothing she could say until she saw a small marking on Axel's neck that she had seen somewhere else before.

"Is that a new tattoo?" She asked, hoping that he would say that it was. Axel looked questioningly at her, touching his neck where she had pointed. He shook his head no. Arlene felt her heart sink.

"Have you been having nightmares?" She asked carefully, looking down on the table as she played with the napkin she had brought for Axel. The look on his face told her that he had. She took a deep breath and propped her elbows onto the table to rest her head against her hands.

"How would you know?"

"I'll tell you if you promise to leave before five. And you will want to know, Axel. The nightmares won't stop until you do something about it."

Axel nodded eagerly, even putting away the small piece of bread he had left. Arlene could only imagine that Axel had been suffering for this since that night when he killed her biological father. How long had that been? Three months? No wonder Axel was so keen on knowing how to get rid of them.

"My... um, Ansem was a researcher. He did a lot of research on memories and the impact it had on people. He tried to make a device that could store people's memories, kind of like files on a computer, but he didn't have the money to do it and no one thought of his work as ethical. What's the point of storing people's memories, right? He ended up receiving money for his research from the yakuza, from Xemnas."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"I'm getting there." Arlene got up from her chair and went back to the counter, starting with another sandwich to keep her hands busy, "Memories define who you are. The events that created those memories define who you are. Ansem wanted to map all that out to see if he could erase the bad and give a person another chance at life. His test subjects were marked with the kind of X you have on your neck."

"I wasn't a test subject! The only time I saw that old man was that night..."

"You killed him. His computer was probably programmed to avenge him in the only way he knew how, by changing you and altering your memories."

"How do you know all of this? You said that he abandoned you when you were fifteen. That's thirteen years ago."

Arlene held back her shoulder long, blond hair to reveal a small X on the back of her neck. "I was the prototype. He didn't manage to change me the way he wanted so he replaced me with that computer. She would never disobey him the way that I did."

She disliked the sudden look of pity in Axel's eyes. Arlene was glad that she had been strong enough to not let her father change her. Had she known the extent of the project her father was working on back then, she would have destroyed his works, but she had been too busy feeling sorry for herself.

"So the nightmares are supposed to make you do stuff you wouldn't normally do?"

"I'm not sure. My nightmares were always about my past, they were supposed to break me. He used to say that it made my DNA more accessible. When you went to his place, what did you take? Did you take any files; did you break into his lab?"

"I was ordered to gather the data. It was seven USB-sticks in different colors in a metal box in his safe."

There were more people involved then. Arlene went back to the table and sat down across from Axel with a serious expression on her face. "The computer took something important from you, whether it was memories or not, I don't know, but you have to get it back. He usually had time limits for his tests and the computer is probably the same. If you don't take back what she took from you, she'll be able to delete you."

"I don't know what that means! What does 'delete you' mean? Will a hologram show up one day and shoot me? Will she poison my food? What? What is it I'm up against here?"

"I don't know. Ansem always said that there are worse things than dying. I'm not sure what he is up to if he's avenging his death. Axel, this is really serious. You need to sort this out before you go anywhere." She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "I will give you the only lead that I have. Once we're done here you will forget me, Axel. I don't want to have anything to do with you or the family ever again." Arlene got up and hurried to the living room where she searched for a small, pocket-sized book that looked old and worn. She went back to the kitchen and reached it to Axel. "This is the only thing I have left of him."

Axel took it and put into the pouch of the sweatshirt Arlene had given him. She wasn't sure if there was anything else Axel wanted to say, she would probably never know either. The silence was broken when Saïx walked out of the bathroom in Leon's clothes and the other one's in a plastic bag.

"We're going."

Axel looked over at Saïx and got up while Arlene finished up the sandwiches she had been making. She packed them up and walked into the hallway where Axel and Saïx had helped themselves to the sneakers she had laid out for them. Leon had been thinking of giving them to charity anyway, so he wouldn't miss them. When Axel turned to face her, she gave him the bag with the sandwiches. She walked up to a small table that stood against the staircase and underneath a mirror, and searched its only drawer for the car keys.

"Walk two blocks down and go left. There's a car park there. This goes to the white car that's parked up in the far left corner. There's money under the backseat." She gave the car keys to Axel and looked him in the eye determinately. "Never again," she said quietly. Axel nodded briefly.

Once she closed the door behind them, she leaned against it and sincerely hoped that this was the last time she would ever have to see them again. She looked at the clock; she still had time to make dinner. Arlene took a deep breath and tried to shake off the lingering memory of the look in Axel's eyes when she finally cut him off.