Title: Last Train
Author: nikki_ntm
Beta reader: Shattered Apocalypse
Chapters: 5/20
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, current Leon/Arlene, and implied one-sided Isa/Lea.
Setting: Modern Japan (yakuza-themed)

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

x

Chapter 5: Old Habits Die Hard

Axel sat up with a gasp, his eyes open wide as he woke up when Saïx shook him softly. He felt damp with sweat and heavy with sleep. His heart was beating hard in his chest and his mouth felt dry. There was a low buzz in his ears and he was seeing color spots that slowly disappeared. He looked down on his arm when he felt that Saïx held something out to him, he took the water bottle that was offered and drank half of it before he put it down.

"Nightmare?" Saïx asked in a sleepy murmur as he accommodated himself underneath one of the quilts they had found in the trunk. He actually made it look comfortable to sleep in the front seat, with his knees folded underneath him and his upper body twisted slightly to avoid falling asleep on one arm.

"Yeah."

They had parked at a rest stop by the Sanyo Expressway. According to the signs they were at a place called Maya, not that it mattered. They weren't there for the sights. A big truck had parked nearby and the driver seemed to be sound asleep. Axel laid back down and tried to stretch his legs in the small space. The car was a white, 1981-model Nissan Maxima that was in a surprisingly good condition for its age, but it wasn't the best place to get a good night's sleep.

Axel put his hands into the pouch of the sweater to make sure that the small book Arlene had given him was still there. She had said some really weird stuff back there, and Axel wasn't sure if he believed her or not. It did sound like something out of a TV-show, but at the same time he was fully aware of all the underground medical research that was going on. The yakuza was leading in the black market for organs and they kept close contact with iffy doctors and researchers who couldn't fund themselves. Had Arlene's father been one of those iffy doctors?

"Saïx?"

"Mm?"

"I have a huge favor to ask of you."

"A bigger favor than having me sleeping in an ancient car, in a parking lot in the middle of nowhere, covered in a quilt that smells like basement?"

"... Yeah."

"Ask."

"I need you to trust me on something."

"I thought what I just mentioned covered that."

"... Trust me for real, I mean. You're here because I gave you no choice."

"How insightful of you. Did that come with the rest of your personality change or is that new?"

Axel chuckled and rubbed his eyes. They hadn't bickered like this as much as they used to do for quite some time, it felt nice to be doing it again. There was a comforting feeling that came with it; maybe they hadn't changed as much as Axel feared.

He scratched his new tattoo without even noticing. This new obstacle couldn't be that difficult to overcome, he had to take back whatever it was that hologram had taken from him and that would be the end of it. He sat up and sighed as he scratched the back of his neck, these seats were making him all itchy. He took out the small book and shook Saïx's seat to make sure that he was awake. As weird as the story would sound, he had to tell Saïx and get him on board on this. Axel told him everything that Arlene had said to him and ended it with a sigh.

"There should be a clue in this book, so it shouldn't be so difficult to track it down."

Saïx stared at the book before he took it and flipped through it quickly. There were a lot of diagrams and numbers amongst blocks of text. Some of it was written in Japanese, but there were entries in what he thought to be English and German as well. Saïx gave the book back to Axel.

"I know someone in Tokyo who should know where to start looking."

"Saïx, this guy wasn't one to talk about his research to anyone. Arlene is probably the closest we can get to him."

"He was Ansem's lab assistant."

Axel was going to say something but he ended up gaping. For some reason he had hoped that Saïx hadn't gotten involved with this part of the yakuza schemes, that Saïx wouldn't cave under all the pressure from the family members while he had been locked up.

"How do you know him?" Axel knew that Saïx had registered the accusing undertones in his question. He didn't look away in shame or anything; he simply looked back at Axel defiantly. He had only been doing what was best for the family; he didn't need to say it. Axel knew that look far too well, yet his stomach twisted with remorse at the thought of all the things he probably didn't know about Saïx.

"I met up with Ansem a couple of times when you were in prison. Xemnas needed the reports on how the project was proceeding, but he couldn't go himself, so I went there instead."

"What project?"

"I don't know. I didn't ask."

Axel took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. This was a bad time to get into an argument. Once they were out of the family's reach they could settle all the things they needed to settle.

"Where is he now?"

"Tokyo."

The conversation halted at the sound of a deafening scream from outside the parking lot. Axel reached for his gun and took a look at how many bullets were left. Five. Xigbar hadn't brought his best gear to deal with him. That goes to show what the old man really thought of him.

The windows were covered in a light mist from the warm air inside and the chilly wind outside that came from the man-made lake further away. Axel wiped the window with his hand and made a small circle in the middle of it, just enough to see the parking lot and the big truck that was parked there. The door to the driver's seat stood ajar and the light in the small cabin was lit.

"Fuck. You think he has someone with him?"

Saïx looked intently at the truck from where he sat, "I don't know. That scream didn't sound human." He saw a shadow flicker and disappear behind the truck. It was like a dark mist, with no shape.

"Did you see that?" Axel asked in a low whisper, assuming that Saïx had nodded.

The driver walked out from behind the truck, swaying back and forth. The man was short and was wearing a cap; there wasn't much else they could see in the dark.

"Is he drunk?"

"Maybe. I think he's coming this way."

"What the...!"

The man suddenly disappeared. The light in the cabin of the truck began to flicker until it stopped working, the temperature dropped and the mist was back on the glass again. Axel hurried to wipe it away, he couldn't believe his eyes. The truck driver had just disappeared in front of them. He had just gotten the mist away and was getting his face near to the window when the truck driver showed up. He looked at Axel through the window with a look of horror on his face. His eyes had rolled back into his head and his mouth was distorted into a silent scream, and he clutched the window with stiff fingers, smearing what only could be blood on the window.

"Fuck!"

Axel flew back at the sight of the disfigured man. Saïx hurried into the driver's seat and turned on the engine. He floored the gas pedal and drove back to the highway, showing no signs of wanting to slowdown. Axel kept looking at the rear window just to make sure that whatever that was, wasn't following them.

"Did you fucking see that?" Axel finally turned to Saïx and broke the silence. "Someone had ripped his heart out!" The smears of blood were still on the window. It had felt so surreal. It wasn't possible for a person to move around without a heart, was it? Whatever had happened back there was messed up. Axel had just assumed that the truck driver was alone, but there must have been someone there with him.

Axel looked over at Saïx when he realized that he hadn't said anything, "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. I just, I think I've...seen that before..."

~ooo~

"Hi."

Leon gave Arlene a quick peck on the cheek while he reached for the glass of orange juice Arlene had poured for him. She turned around and saw that he was all dusty with wood chip and it was getting on the floor. She didn't even have to roll her eyes before Leon held up a hand while he drank up the juice in one go to get to speak first.

"I'm going to clean that up. Promise," he said once he put down the glass onto the counter. He removed the lid from the pot on the stove and took in the scent of the curry Arlene was making and smiled, "This smells wonderful. Is it done soon?"

"In ten minutes. You can go and wash up in the meantime or there's going to be wood chip all over the house."

Leon hurried out to the hallway and jumped out of his marine-blue, one piece suit and put it in a corner. Underneath he was wearing a green T-shirt and blue sweatpants. He walked back into the kitchen, washed his hands and began to set the table. He was expecting Arlene to say something about him not going to wash up, but she didn't seem to be paying attention.

"How was work?"

Arlene stirred the curry slowly, "Nothing out of the ordinary."

She worked at the help desk in Aioi Station. Most of the people who passed through there were people who lived close, so there weren't many who needed help, unless there were delays, but that rarely happened.

"No rude costumers or anything?"

"Nope."

"Have I done something wrong?"

Arlene snapped out of her thoughts and turned around to face Leon. Where did that come from? She must have looked as confused as she felt because Leon decided to quickly explain the reason for his question.

"You've been acting weird lately, ever since you said that we should go to the school concert. We really don't have to go if you don't want to; we can go somewhere else, where there won't be crowds." He walked up to her and embraced her tightly, "I'm not good with relationships. You might be the first one to put up with me this long. If I do something wrong I need you to tell me..."

It had been two days since Axel and Saïx had been here. Arlene had been out of it since, she couldn't stop thinking about the family or Ansem or her past. She thought that she had done a good job hiding it, but she had been proven wrong. She threw her arms around Leon and snuggled up close. It was nice to feel so safe in his arms, it didn't matter what her rational and usually cynical side said about her feelings - the sensation was stronger than any bitterness she had left from her past life.

"It's not you," she said, "I've been thinking too much and I've bummed myself out. I didn't mean to worry you."

She tried to hold back a smile when she felt Leon's fingers under her chin; he gently tilted her head upward so that she looked at him. He looked at her with a serious expression that almost turned into a frown; it always amazed her the way he liked to look into her eyes. She had many times heard the phrase "I get lost in your eyes" in cheesy love songs, but by the way Leon looked at her, it really seemed like he lost himself in her eyes while searching for something; the meaning of life, the answers to questions that were never asked, anything. Arlene got onto her toes and kissed him softly. She smiled at the surprised sound that escaped him as she ran her arms around his neck.

There was a hiss from the stove when the curry started to run over the brim of the pot. Arlene broke the kiss and put the lid away for the curry to settle. She removed the pot from the stove and turned to get the plates from the table.

"I wasn't done," Leon said with a small pout. Arlene smiled as she put rice and curry on the plates.

"There's no dessert until after dinner," she said and went back to the table to sit down and eat.

Leon sat down on his seat and reached for his fork with a small smile playing on his lips. They settled into a comfortable silence as they ate their dinner. It was kind of funny how life worked sometimes, Arlene mused. She never thought that she would find someone like Leon. A guy like that wasn't for her. Leon was someone she would only be able to read about in a fairytale, and yet here she was, eating dinner with her Prince Charming, God forbid it would ever slip her lips. Leon would probably think that she had gone mad, or worse, he could end up liking that name and have her call him that in public.

"Zell was saying that his sister was coming back after a year studying abroad. He asked me if we could babysit her on Friday."

"What do you mean babysit? How old is she?"

"Well, she's a year older than Zell so, 26."

"Is she like Zell?"

Leon snickered. Zell was loud, obnoxious and wanted to make friends with everyone. Arlene didn't really like him and Leon could understand why, although he had come to like him after working with him for a while. Aside from doing Zell a favor, Leon thought it would be good for Arlene to spend time with someone else, a woman, so that they could talk about girl-stuff that Leon couldn't wrap his head around.

"From what I've heard, she's easier to deal with than Zell. That's all I know. I thought it would be nice to have someone over, and Zell would owe us a favor. He has a date on Friday and he doesn't want to leave his sister alone."

Arlene thought about it for a bit. It would be nice to have someone over. That's what normal people did; they made friends and invited them to dinner, talked and played games. It was time to expand the horizons, besides, the girl would only be with them for a day.

"Okay, let's have her over. What's her name?"

"Rinoa."

~ooo~

The neon signs, the noise, the smell of cigarette smoke and the sight of the yakuza members of lowest rank felt oddly comforting. They were back in their turf although in another city. Axel hadn't been in Kabuki-cho in years but it still looked pretty much the same. The resistance against yakuza was still going strong judging by all the fliers going around about stores not being involved with criminal gangs. It was easy to sit high upon a horse when times were good, Axel knew that the second things turned ugly all these people would go to the yakuza for help. This part of town would always belong to the yakuza and the families would fight for it too. This was their main playground in Tokyo, and it was important for them to keep it that way.

Saïx walked down the street, knowing exactly where they had to go to find this lab assistant. None of them were worried that someone would recognize them. Most of the yakuza here had never met the real bosses and those who had were probably not aware that the Ingô-family's right hand man had gone rogue. That was usually not something the boss wanted to slip.

They walked into a club that looked like any other on this street, except that this club had no flier stating how it hadn't anything to do with the yakuza. Saïx navigated through the club towards a table further into the room. There were girls dancing in cages that were sporadically placed in the room. Saïx sat down by a table, across from a middle-aged man with blond, long hair, sunken eyes and high cheekbones. The man turned his gaze from one of the girls in the cages and looked at Axel and Saïx with an amused expression.

"How the mighty have fallen," he said and leaned back into his chair with a smug smile. He glanced at the clothes they were wearing and seemed to shudder at the state of them both. "What happened to you?"

"Where did Ansem hide his experiments?" Saïx glared firmly at the lab assistant, but he didn't seem too keen on helping as he laughed at the question.

"Where no one can find them. Your family made a great mistake by killing him. He might have been an idealist fool, but he had experiments that could have been of good use to you." The music coming from the speakers in every corner masked the sound of Saïx unsecuringthe gun underneath the table.

"I'll shoot off the reason you're here if you don't skip the bull and just tell me where he hid his experiments, Dr. Even."

As the doctor paled, Axel sat up straight and held his legs close together. It wasn't right for someone to sound so polite when making a threat like that.

"It- it's complicated," he began and gulped, he didn't dare to move. "He had many locations to keep his research safe. W-why are you interested in him now? I thought Xemnas had gotten what he was searching f-for."

"You'll write down those locations and passwords for me, doctor."

Axel took out a notepad and a pencil and put it in front of Dr. Even. He took the pencil in his trembling hand and fidgeted in his seat briefly. He knew that Saïx never came with an empty threat, he had been unfortunate enough to get a glimpse of the cruelty of this man in front of him and yet he hesitated to comply with what he was requesting.

"I-I don't know all of them..."

"Write down the ones you do know about, if there is anything I want to ask about later I'll hunt you down and ask. Remember, doctor, you're here to bring solutions not problems."

Axel wasn't sure if it was the second threat or the polite smile that got Dr. Even writing down what he needed to write down to not become a limb lighter. It was strange to see Saïx like this. Axel knew that Saïx was capable of smiling for real, enjoy things, and feel like a normal person would, but it was sickening to see that smile with eyes empty of emotion. For some reason it looked almost like he was enjoying the situation.

Once the doctor was done with the list, Axel took it and looked through it. Dr. Even smiled nervously, he wanted to speak but he was waiting for Axel to come with a verdict that would either give Saïx a reason to shoot him or to put down the gun.

"I have written them down in location order, from nearest to farthest..." he said finally when Axel put the list away. It was then he noticed the X on Axel's neck. He sneered but gulped when he looked back at Saïx, "He's been marked. I thought you had killed Ansem."

"Ansem is dead," Saïx said. Dr. Even seemed confused and he glanced at Axel's neck again. Axel did not like that look one bit. There was nothing as worrying as a supposed doctor that looked puzzled by something he deemed to be impossibility when said impossibility clearly had occurred.

"If that's the hologram's doing, you have seven months to undo it."

"What do you know about this?"

"V-very little." Dr. Even seemed to just have realized that he had said too much and that the more he said less likely it would be that these two would let him off the hook. "It's all I know without accessing the data."

"If we brought you the data, would you be able to take a look?"

Dr. Even hesitated, looking around as if there would be anyone there who would come to his rescue. It were times like these he wondered who had said that one should do everything for science.

"I hear that you're enjoying your new position as a professor in Tokyo University's department for chemistry. What's their policy on employees with deep involvement with the yakuza, doctor?"

"I c-could take a quick look..."

Once Saïx put the gun away, the doctor exhaled in relief and relaxed in his chair. Axel caught Dr. Even glancing at Saïx with curiosity and for a second he thought that the doctor might have something to say, but he leaned back in his chair as his unwanted company got up to leave.

Once outside the club, Saïx turned to Axel, "Where's the nearest location?"

"Roppongi." Axel grabbed Saïx by his wrist when he was about to walk off. "Give me the gun."

"Trust is a two-way street, Axel," He said defiantly, but he reached for it and gave it to Axel discreetly. There was no point in arguing in the middle of the street over a loaded weapon. The police had strengthened their presence in Kabuki-cho and there was a police officer passing by every other fifteen minutes. "You sure it's in Roppongi?"

"Nearby. Toranomon Hospital."

Axel followed Saïx back to the car. The drive to Roppongi wasn't long. The traffic at this time of day was light; no one in their right mind took the car into the city core on party nights. The neon signs were more illuminating than the street-lights, there were people out on the streets either going to a club or coming from one, and cabs were lined up down the main street of Roppongi that they drove by to get to Toranomon Hospital.

There were a few cars in the parking lot and a few people out by the hospital's entrance. Axel parked the car and he had barely put in the handbrake before Saïx had gone out of the car, with a quick glimpse on the list. Axel hurried after Saïx, cursing under his breath. Had Saïx been here before to meet up with Ansem in his secret lab?

They walked around the hospital to get to where the hospital's inventory was and entrance to the basement levels. Boxes stood in piles here, and they were marked with different labels. Two men were unloading a truck further away, there was no risk that they would see Axel and Saïx sneak around, and the top of their heads were barely visible behind the boxes. A small ramp led down to a big metal door with a narrow and long window on it.

They were walking down the ramp when the door opened and a man in scrubs walked out, lightening a cigarette. He turned his head and didn't even have the time to register the two trespassers. He was pushed up the wall by Saïx; Axel didn't even see the utility knife in Saïx's hand until it was too late. The limb body had barely touched ground before Saïx turned to the door and opened it while putting away the utility knife into his pocket.

Saïx didn't care that he was leaving fingerprints everywhere, he wasn't registered anywhere. He didn't exist in this system. Axel hadn't existed either until he had gone to prison where they took his fingerprints, name and everything else that could be important to know. Their parents had never made an effort to get them registered into the system. They didn't believe in the system, they thought that they could keep their children in their small world and they had hoped that it would be enough to give them a safe upbringing.

They went three floors underground where they had to push in a code into the elevator to get access. The lab they walked into looked like any other part of a hospital, the walls were a clinical white, the floor was a light gray, there were medical things lying around everywhere. Saïx walked up to a small trolley and pulled a pair of latex gloves and handed them over to Axel.

"Let's search this place quickly. I don't want to be here longer than necessary."

Saïx walked up to the sink where he washed his hands clean from the blood. He used enough detergent to make his hands white with all the foam. Axel searched for anything that could be remotely interesting, although he wasn't paying as much attention as he should.

"How many did you kill while I was gone?"

"What's it to you?" Saïx snapped, "Don't ask stupid questions and keep looking for the data."

He looked questioningly at Saïx. His coldness scared him at times, especially when it showed during situations he wasn't prepared for. Saïx was completely unfazed by the deed he had just committed, it hadn't even been necessary to kill the man. It slowly dawned on Axel that Saïx had done it because he was angry. He wasn't sure why though, but he wished that he could just read Saïx's mind to see what it was he was hiding.

Saïx seemed to sense Axel's doubts, and he said with a strangely soft voice, "He took something from me too, and I need to know what it was."