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.

9. Once Upon A Time

Title: Last Train
Author: nikki_ntm
Beta reader: Shattered Apocalypse
Chapters: 9/20
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)

Warnings for this chapter: Character death (not major, off-screen), pottymouth!Axel

x

Chapter 9: Once Upon a Time

~ooo~

May, 2001

~ooo~

The front door creaked when Isa pushed it open. It was a heavy metal door that his mother had installed after a burglar tried to break in, despite it making the small apartment more of a jail cell than it already was. He had been thinking of replacing it with a normal door once he could afford it, preferably before his mother came back from the hospital.

"Finally." Lea sighed and got out of his shoes and loosened his tie. He put the bag of groceries on the counter by the small kitchen right by the entrance and hurried up to Isa's bed, where he threw himself with a loud thump. "I never knew Fujin's mother would be as talkative as she was. Fujin must've been adopted or something."

Isa walked up to the mirror in his mother's room that was separated from the rest of the house with a thin paper-door. He was dressed in his best clothes. It was a suit that he had grown out of since he last wore it. The sleeves were too short on the blazer and so were the pants, but he was sure no one had noticed at the funeral.

He still couldn't assimilate that they had gone to Fujin's funeral. What was worse was that he couldn't believe that she had a family like any other of them. Her mother had been devastated and it wasn't until she showed her face that Isa recognized her as one of the women at the fishery. Fujin's father had been there as well. He hadn't said anything, but he had seemed heartbroken. After the cleansing ceremony, he had gone to sit by her while the mother had attended the reception.

"She must've loved her a lot. You think that she knew what Fujin was dealing with?"

Lea snorted, "Are you serious? Of course she must've known. Fujin spent all her time with Seifer, even if Fujin hadn't told her, someone else must have. They did a good job hiding the bullet wounds, though. I thought it would be a closed casket, or that her face would be all distorted or something."

"Do they know who shot her?" Isa pulled off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt to put a T-shirt on. Fujin had been shot on an open street on her way to one of Seifer's meetings, Isa knew that much. He figured it had to be a concurring gang that had seen their chance to start something with Seifer's gang and that's why Fujin had been shot. It was a tragic way to go, but it was a risk they took being involved with criminal organizations.

Lea was silent for a while. He sat up in bed to look at Isa through the mirror. Isa had already changed into his sweatpants as well and he turned around when he saw Lea's worried face.

"You'll have to stay away from Seifer for a while."

"Why?" Typical of Lea to change the subject when he didn't want to say things his beloved gang was involved in. Isa walked to the kitchen and started to unpack the groceries Lea had bought on their way back.

"Promise me that you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

"Sure."

"No, Isa. Seriously, you cannot tell a living soul what I'm about to tell you. If anyone gets to know that I'm spilling my guts to someone outside of the family I'm gonna be screwed, and you will too. Promise me, cross your heart, that you won't tell anyone anything."

"Yes, I promise. Jeez. Who could I tell?" Isa sighed and started to prepare for the curry he had promised Lea earlier.

"He holds you responsible for Fujin's death." Lea was looking at him like he expected Isa to faint or something, but Isa simply scratched the back of his neck and seemed more annoyed than anything.

"I fail to see his logic. How could anyone think that I would have anything to do with Fujin's death? I don't have a gang, no weapons, no car, no money to buy gas for the car – and I can't find the cutting board."

"This isn't a laughing matter, Isa. He's seriously pissed at you."

"He didn't seem that pissed at the funeral."

"Out of respect for Fujin's family."

"Oh? So he does know about respect? Who knew?"

"Isa," Lea sighed. He seemed genuinely worried and angry that Isa wasn't taking him seriously when he was obviously trying to look out for him. Isa knew that he meant well, but it did annoy him when Lea thought that his gang was all powerful and could make people disappear by just wishing it, and he was annoyed that Seifer always found an excuse to bring Isa into whatever it was he was doing or was responsible for.

"Yeah, okay. I'll be careful and stay out of Seifer's way. I still don't understand how he can make that connection though."

"You know how he's been nagging you to join? Well, at first it was all him, he wanted to get on the boss' good side and all that, but now it seems like the boss is on him to get you on board."

"What? Why?" Isa put down the knife he had taken out and turned around to see that Lea had walked up to him and taken off his blazer, rolling up his sleeves.

"I don't know. Seifer was given an ultimatum. Get you to sign up or someone close to him was going to get it."

Isa gulped, "Are you sure?"

"That's what I've been hearing. It's nothing official, but I would stay away from Seifer if I were you. Just to be on the safe side. He's no fun pissed."

"You're not getting in trouble for being here with me, are you?" Isa knew that Lea liked going against authority even if he himself had chosen it, and it worried him sometimes that Lea didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"Hell if I knew. I didn't get the memo to avoid you, so they can't be holding me responsible for it, right? Besides, no memo in the world could keep me away when you're making curry."

"You know, for someone who just came from a friend's funeral, you're awfully happy."

"Okay, first of all, I barely knew her. Second of all, I am grieving, but it's a deep and complicated process that takes place deep down, which means that it won't be visible for all to see. Third of all, I'm getting a home cooked meal, I cannot be sad when warm food is coming my way, which reminds me, did you put the mochi in the freezer?"

Isa smiled and started to chop the onions, "I did."

"Good. I'll start chopping the carrots."

"Don't chop them in huge chunks."

"I never chop them in huge chunks." Lea took out four carrots and washed them.

"You cut them in half and put them into the pot last time, Lea!" Isa laughed and gave him a shove. "Mom thought you were one of those slow kids and forbid me to let you near the kitchen again."

"Your mom always thinks so highly of me, doesn't she?" Lea grinned, "How is she, by the way? Isn't it time for her to come home soon?"

Isa's mother had been at the hospital for two weeks. The doctor said that it was just a measure of precaution and that he wanted to keep her under observation to make sure that she didn't have any more of her coughing fits, or that it at least didn't get to the point to where she passed out coughing. She had been getting worse during the past year and sometimes Isa feared the worst, but she had seemed better when he went to visit her.

"I don't know. The doctor says that it's best for her to stay at the hospital until the cough goes away. She might have caught a bad cold and that may be why she's coughing like that. I prefer that she stays there, to be honest. I didn't get much sleep the nights before she got to the hospital and I know that she'll be taken care of properly there."

"Won't it be expensive?" Lea frowned a bit. The hospital Isa's mother was at was advertised as a free-clinic, although that was just the first consult. Anything that wasn't a question was charged for and it was quite expensive for people around here who didn't have proper health insurance.

"We'll manage. I've gotten our boss Wada to give me extra hours on weekends and with the scholarship I'll be able to get by."

Lea gave a slow nod. The national entrance exam for all appliers to university was a month away and Isa had been studying like crazy, but Lea still doubted that he could catch up on everything he had missed since ending elementary school. He didn't have the heart to say that to him, the hope of getting that scholarship was what was keeping Isa afloat in midst of all this misery and hope suited Isa, Lea had decided.

"If you ever need help with the hospital bill or anything around here…"

"Lea, I know." Isa cut in, "We'll manage. Honest."

"Alright," Lea smiled at him and held up the cutting board with properly chopped carrots, "How proud are you of me right now, on a scale from one to ten?"

"For that, a solid ten."

"Yeah? Can I be trusted with the eggplant as well?"

"Absolutely." Isa handed him the eggplant. He put the onions into the pot and stirred around for a bit as the oil sizzled when it made contact with the onion.

"I have a date tomorrow night."

"Does your right hand know about it yet?"

"Ouf." Lea laughed, "That's the crudest thing you've said this month! Merciless. Your mother would've found a way to blame me for that."

"Who's the lucky girl?"

"The same from my last date. The girl from the beach."

"What was her name?"

"Larxene."

"Oh, right. The foreigner. How come you two met again? Is she part of the gang?"

"Well, yes and no. She ran away from home and Seifer gave her a job at the hostess club down at the harbor. She doesn't like the job but she says that it pays her bills. The place is packed with obnoxious costumers who completely ignore the rules that are set up right on the front door. It's disgusting." Lea shuddered, "Anyway, she's free tomorrow night, so we're going on a date."

"From the ashes into the fire," Isa mumbled and put in the rest of the vegetables into the pot.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I can't imagine anyone more obnoxious than you."

Lea smiled, "At least I'm not a costumer."

"I'm not sure that's to your advantage."

"Oh, it's on." Lea put the knife down and tickled Isa. He followed him when Isa tried to get away by running around the small table by the kitchen, but without luck. He fell onto the floor and tried to kick Lea away, but the kicks didn't come as forceful as he was hoping since he was laughing so hard.

"Lea! Stop it! The curry is going to burn if I don't keep stirring!"

"Alright, for the sake of the curry, I'll let you go." Lea grinned and sat back. Isa sat up slowly, holding Lea's hands back as he stood up. He let them go and hurried to the stove, mumbling under his breath.

"Aren't you going to help out with the rest of the vegetables?"

Lea got up on his feet and stretched his arms, "Of course I will. I just have to borrow some of your clothes; mom said she'd throw me out to the sea if I ruined this suit." He reached into his pockets and put his cell phone, keys and wallet on the dining table before he walked into Isa's room and started to look for something to wear.

"Isn't your birthday coming up soon?" Lea said from Isa's mother's room. Isa shook his head and smiled, to think that Lea could be so vain even when it came to wearing clothes no one but Isa was going to see him wear.

"Yeah."

Lea had recently celebrated his 17th birthday. Seifer had thrown him a surprise party at one of the clubs his boss owned. Isa had only heard of it, he wasn't one to end up on Seifer's guest list. At least Lea had been happy with it, why wouldn't he have been? His "family" had been there and given him a birthday party many could only dream of.

"I don't mean to spoil the surprise or anything, but don't plan anything for that day, okay?"

"I won't."

Lea's cell phone suddenly vibrated on the table. Isa hurried to it to see if someone was calling, maybe Lea's mother, wondering where Lea was at this hour of the day. Lea rarely told her where he went or when he was coming home. It wasn't her business, he said. But Isa didn't want her to worry, not when he could help it at least.

He flipped the cell phone open and saw that Lea had at least fourteen missed calls and two text messages. All of them were from Seifer. Isa stood perfectly still for a moment to hear if Lea was coming back into the kitchen and as he waited, he pushed the button to read the last message.

Where the hell are you at, Lea? Are you with that faggot boyfriend of yours? Whatever the fuck you're doing, leave it and come on over here. The gang's gathering.

"In one more year you'll be able to drink legally." Lea sighed as he walked back in. Isa had put the cell phone back the way it was and he turned around just as Lea stopped by the doorway to stretch again, "Man, I feel all sore from all that sitting down at the funeral."

Isa smiled at him quickly. Lea was keeping things from him, it was a part of their relationship now and Isa didn't blame him. He understood why Lea would want to keep him away the family stuff, it wasn't his business and what happened within the family stayed within the family.

Despite the fact that what Lea was doing, ignoring Seifer's orders for one, was dangerous, Isa felt strangely happy and victorious that Lea had chosen to spend time with him instead of going to that meeting.

The hours passed by quickly and in doing the curry, eating it and watching old movies on VHS it was almost three in the morning when Lea decided that it might be time to get going or his mother would be seriously pissed. He sat up on Isa's bed and rubbed his eyes while yawning.

"I gotta go. I have a big day today, can't ruin it by looking like a demon."

Isa got up as well and followed Lea to the door nervously. If they had taken Fujin out as easily as they did, there was nothing to stop them from doing the same to Lea. He grabbed Lea's arm when he reached for the doorknob.

"Stay." How did he follow up on this without sounding like a complete idiot? "It's late and... you've practically already slept over now so you might as well stay for breakfast. Get some sleep. And stuff."

Lea grinned and threw his arm around Isa's shoulder to squeeze him in close, "Are you scared of the ghost from the movie?"

"It wasn't a ghost." Isa sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Of course it was! She was transparent and walked through walls and no one but the main character could see her."

"Because the so called ghost was the main character."

Lea laughed at the defeated look on Isa's face and walked back into the small apartment, dragging Isa along with him. Lea might have literally dodged a bullet by staying here, and Isa was glad that he could keep him safe, even if he couldn't keep him locked up here forever, he could at least be at hand whenever Lea needed him.

~ooo~

The fishery stunk during night. The insides of the fish they had cleansed during the day were stored in big barrels and stood there for an entire day before they were taken away by men from a special garbage disposal company. It worried Isa that Lea would want to meet up here this late at night. That girl might have grown tired of him already, or maybe Lea had gotten so drunk that he couldn't get himself home.

"Lea?"

Isa walked inside and squinted to get a proper look. He held his hand over his nose to not have to smell this rotten stench. It burned in his eyes already.

"Lea? Are you okay?"

He felt something pop underneath his shoe and he stepped away to see what it was. It had been a fish-eye. It lay splattered over the floor and Isa dragged his shoe on the floor to get rid of any goo he had left under his shoe.

Lea better be in trouble now that he had called Isa all the way out here. He was half-way inside the room when he heard the door slam shut. Isa turned around quickly and gulped. The street-lamps outside the small fishery lit up parts of the room and Isa hoped that Lea would jump out any minute now. There was a click from the door followed by the muffled sound of two voices.

Isa hurried up to the door and tried to pull it open, "Hello? Lea, is that you?" He banged on the door and glared at the barrel right by it with a disgruntled look.

"Man, c'mon, I think you're taking this too far, y'know."

"Shut up! I'm doing this for you! For Fujin!"

That wasn't Lea's voice, "Seifer? Seifer, open the door."

"Sorry, Isa. No can do. Our boss has his eyes set on you, and what he wants, he gets. You've practically joined, haven't you? Why not make it official?"

"No!"

Seifer kicked the door hard, "Then you'll have to fucking stay in there until you change your mind, you selfish bastard! You think you can become someone? You think that you're better than us? Fuck you!"

"...Seifer." Isa could hear Raijin's voice. He tried the door again although it was obviously futile.

"Damn it, Seifer! It wasn't my fault! You can't do this."

Fujin's death had been hard on all of them. Isa hadn't known her well, but he did know that she didn't deserve to be shot on an open street by some random gangster. Lea's warning the other night rung in his ears and he tried to come up with a solution that didn't involve him pledging an oath to some gangster.

He fumbled for his cell phone and moved away from the door to not have to stand so close to the leaking barrel. Lea was the only one who could help him now.

"Pick up..." The signals went by until it reached voice mail. Isa hung up and tried again and again.

"Changed your mind yet?" Seifer laughed and sighed loudly, "Or are you trying to get Lea to save you again? You worthless piece of shit. How long are you gonna have him do the dirty work for ya, huh? Why not grow a pair and stand up for yourself, take some goddamn responsibility."

"Pick up, Lea..."

His breath got caught in his throat when he suddenly heard Lea's familiar ringtone come through the door. He hung up and the cell phone outside stopped ringing. This was a set-up. Isa's thoughts were racing as he tried to remember the number to Lea's other cell phone, the old one, but the insisting stench made it difficult to concentrate.

"You're not that important to him. Not anymore. He has a family now. You could become part of it if you only stopped being delusional. You seriously think you're gonna get that scholarship?"

Isa froze. He could only imagine the smug look on Seifer's face right now. How long had he known?

"How do I know that?" He asked around a laugh, "Well, Lea likes to share." He walked away from the door and paced around the room behind the locked door, "We know what you're up to, Isa. There are powerful people who're not okay with your decisions. You're going to that old man's classes at the library, aren't you?"

There was a sudden sound coming from the air conditioning system and with it came warm air into the room.

"He happens to be my boss' tutor as well, and you're getting in his way." He chuckled, "I know that you think that you're smarter than us, Isa. You piss me off."

"Seifer, let me out!" Isa tried to push the door open again as the warm air made the rotting process go faster. The barrels started to leak more and the liquids ran down a small drain that was out of function during the night to save power.

"Join us."

Isa shook his head and kept on pulling on door, holding his breath. He didn't want to, he knew that he could do better. He believed that he had found a way out of the pitiful life his origins had forced him into.

"Seifer! Open the door!" It didn't help holding his breath, it didn't help holding for his nose. The stench was thick and overpowering; there was no escaping it when it got warmer in the room. His eyes stung and he held his hand over his mouth when smell threatened to make him vomit. "Please... Seifer. Open the door."

"You could've saved her. If you just had joined us when I asked you to, she would still be alive." Seifer reached for the doorknob and turned it slowly, "If it was up to me, I'd let you rot in there, Isa."

Isa couldn't hold down the urge to vomit anymore. The stench became too much and he turned away from the door when the bile pushed up from his gut.

"I wouldn't mind having the boss mad at me for getting rid of you. I don't really think you'd mind either, but what about your mother, Isa? Who will take care of her if I end your life here? You can help her if you join us. Money won't be a problem anymore."

Isa leaned against one of the conveyor belts, his body shaky and his eyes were filled with tears at the lingering feeling of being suffocated by his own vomit. He looked around frantically. There were windows at the upper half of the wall facing the harbor outside, if he could get up there, he could crawl on the roof and jump down on the other side.

He walked up to the barrel by the door, shuddering when he put his hands on it to help himself up on it. This was the only way up onto the wide windowsill. It was difficult to see in the dark, but Isa had to take his time to see where it was safe to climb up. A fall from here wasn't lethal but it would hurt and could injure him.

His weight pushed down the lid and squished out more of the smelly liquid. Isa reached out for anything to climb up onto the windowsill and tried not to take too deep a breath. He managed to grab a hinge, but it wasn't well attached to the wall and it fell off immediately when Isa hung from it. He fell with a loud thump, tilting one of the barrels that stood by the wall.

"You're not trying to escape, are you, Isa?"

Isa tried to hold back a sob when he stood back up, his entire side soaked in the liquids from the tilted barrel. He felt the back of his head pound, almost like it was about to split into two. The room was spinning, but he hurried back to the barrel by the door to climb on it. He managed to grab a hold of another, more firm, hinge on the wall and he pushed himself high enough to reach the windowsill. Seifer must have turned up the heat even more, it was getting warmer and that in combination with the stench of rotting fish was starting to numb Isa's brain.

He ran his fingers down the sides of the first window he got to and tried to find something that would make it open. It was getting harder to breathe – maybe it was the stench, maybe it was the frustration and fear. Isa clawed against the window that wouldn't open. The windowsill wasn't wide enough for him to sit back and break with his feet, and it didn't seem to be safe at all to break the window open with his bare hands.

"Seifer, you can't keep him in there any longer. If it smells like this here – we have to open the door."

"He knows what he's gotta do."

Isa was starting to feel heavy. He stood up and held himself against the window to not trip and fall back onto the rests of fish down below. He crashed against the window until it broke under his weight. He tumbled out on the tilting roof outside; the force with which he had gotten out made him unable to stop while there was still roof underneath his feet. Isa wasn't sure how long the fall was down onto the concrete floor from the window; he sort of lost all notion of time while he was airborne.

~ooo~

Present

~ooo~

The grass out on the small garden was as green as it could ever get. A gentle breeze blew in from the sea and the big oak outside the fence cast well needed shadow over the porch where Arlene had set the table for tea. Old music from the thirties was playing in the background and her guest tapped his foot in rhythm with the music as he reached for his cup of tea.

The neighbors had been slightly surprised by the man's appearance; one woman even came by to ask Arlene if she needed any help and told her to give her a call if there was anything she need. Arlene had closed the door after the woman, unsure how to deal with the warmth spreading in her chest, knowing that her neighbors were keeping an eye out for her.

"You sure have a good thing going here, princess."

Xigbar looked at her with his one good eye and reached for a cookie from the plate Arlene put on the table before taking a seat next to him.

"It won't be going that good if the family insists on popping in unannounced."

Xigbar had gotten older over the years. His gray hairs were increasing and she was sure that there were a lot more wrinkles on his face than before.

"So it's okay for me to pop by if I call first?" Xigbar took a bite of the cookie in his hand, "Mmm, this is really good. Where'd you buy it? I should take a few with me as souvenirs."

"I baked them." Arlene reached for her cup and sipped on her tea. There was no point in rushing Xigbar; he would stay as long as he felt it was necessary. He might not even have any agenda other than to bother her.

"As if!" Xigbar chuckled, "You can't even boil water, princess. C'mon, how am I supposed to trust you if you can't even be honest with me about the frickin' cookies?"

"Always with the compliments," Arlene sighed. She leaned against the back of her comfy garden chair and closed her eyes briefly. The music, the breeze, the warmth and the shiny day out in her garden was liberating. Leon was on his way home and the dinner was in the oven. Not even the family could ruin her good mood today.

"I'm not going to take much of your time. I'm here on an unofficial visit so to speak."

"How'd you find me?"

"Princess, c'mon. It's me. Of course I'd find you." Xigbar smiled proudly and reached his arms out, "The day you outsmart me is the day I put my gun on the shelf and call it a day."

"That's a great point of reference, grandpa." Arlene smiled and tried to hold in a laugh at Xigbar's ridiculously smug look.

"I'm sayin'," Xigbar sighed, his smile suddenly stern and not as carefree anymore. This was probably where the serious business began. "I need to know if Axel came by here, princess."

"Xigbar, no – I don't want to do this..." Arlene got up from her chair, a weight suddenly settling on her chest, but Xigbar grabbed her by her wrist and kept her from going. His grip wasn't tight or painful, it was gentle and enough to keep Arlene there. He led her back and she sat down with a thump, looking away from Xigbar.

"I know that this is a touchy subject, which is why I decided to come here and talk to you about it. You know that Xemnas is losing it. You know that, don't ya?"

"Yes."

"Right. We don't need a Xemnas who's out of his rocker. You know that, I know that, hell, even Xemnas knows that. I also know that you don't have any obligations with us anymore, and I want you to know that I respect that. I really do, princess. But I can't say the same for the rest of the family and Marluxia is out there. He is dead-set on finding you, on finding Axel and off Saïx if he gets the chance. That's why I'm gonna ask again, did Axel come by here?"

Arlene looked down onto her lap where she had clasped her hands together, "Yes, he did. He was here."

"Was Saïx with him?"

Arlene nodded slowly, "Axel was marked."

"Yeah, I saw that right before he knocked me out. He's got a mean right hook." Xigbar stopped to clear his throat when Arlene kept gazing down on the floor. "How did Saïx look? Was he doing well?"

"Well enough to want to kill me."

"As if. You would've given him a run for his money, right, princess?" He paused again, "We have to get him to the facility before anything really bad happens. Promise me you'll keep an eye out for me?"

Arlene nodded slowly.

"Man, oh, man. If Saïx goes any longer period of time without proper supervision, it'll all be lost." Xigbar sighed as he looked out at the garden with a slight frown on his face.

"I thought that he was finally escaping. That maybe he hadn't lied to me about getting away from the family, but Saïx is there like always, pulling him back in. If only he had escaped with me that night..."

"You know that we would've killed him. You were bargaining power, princess. All in all, things turned out for the best."

The silence between them stretched as the music continued to play in the background as a reminder of a past long gone. It was a past that could easily be glorified when thought back on in times like these. Xigbar hadn't been that different back then, not with Arlene at least. He had been younger of course, his hair had been all black, there had been no notable scars on his face and that patch over his eye had not even been thought of plausible.

He had been quite a ladies' man with a security job at Ansem's mansion and life had been good. Whenever Ansem was out of the house and Arlene stayed at home with the help, Xigbar would have this music playing in the background as he showed his latest conquest around in the exquisite house.

"We have to get on with it. This is the legacy of your father."

"Don't remind me of him. It just pisses me off," Arlene mumbled from behind her hands.

"See, that I can deal with. C'mon, cheer up, princess!" Xigbar nudged Arlene gently and tried to make her look at him. "Let bygones be bygones. Axel wasn't for you. I mean, look at you now! You're doing fine without Axel, without the family – this is where you oughta be. Where would you be today if things hadn't gone the way they had? I'll tell ya where, princess. In the gutter. And that's nowhere to be for a lady like yourself."

"I'm home!" Leon's voice came from the hallway and they could hear the door shut as Leon stepped out of his shoes and put his plastic bag on the floor.

"Enter Prince Charming number two."

Arlene looked up again and smiled softly, "Don't call him that. He'll get jealous and an inflated ego at the same time." She got up and walked across the living room and out to the hallway to greet Leon.

"Why is the neighbor next door standing guard outside with a shovel?" Leon asked, perplexed, while putting his arms around Arlene, swaying gently together with her to the rhythm of the music.

"I don't know."

"No matter where you go there's always a nutter, isn't there?" Leon sighed and rested his head against Arlene's absentmindedly, "I invited Rinoa and Zell for dinner..."

"You did?" Arlene tried not to sound bothered by it and hoped that Leon hadn't noticed.

"Yeah, they were just gonna freshen up a bit."

Rinoa had found a job as a secretary over at the boating company that owned the workshop in which Leon worked at. Arlene didn't like to think of herself as the jealous girlfriend, and she had tried to get along with Rinoa when Leon had introduced her, but it had felt forced from the get-go. They were too different to have anything to talk about outside of Leon's company and Arlene didn't like it all that Rinoa had the opportunity to spend so much time with him when Arlene wasn't around.

"Great." Arlene smiled, "Actually, I have a guest too. My uncle decided to pop in for a quick visit but I convinced him to stay for dinner. He's out in the backyard right now."

She was just about to turn around to see if she could see Xigbar from where she stood when Xigbar showed up behind her with a real charmer smile on his face. Leon clearly tried to hide his shock at seeing this scarred old man, dressed in a tailored-suit, the kind he had only seen on commercials and TV-dramas.

"Ah, you must be Leon." Xigbar reached out his hand to shake Leon's in a firm grip. Leon nodded, unsure whether to bow and shake his hand or just shake his hand. "My niece cannot shut up about you. I seriously thought you were made up for a while, and yet here you are."

"Leon, this is my uncle Braig." Arlene elbowed Xigbar discreetly in order for him to let go of Leon's hand.

"There will be other guests for dinner, I hear. It'll be nice to meet some of Arlene's friends."

Xigbar walked back out to the porch where he sat down gently, crossing his legs as he turned to face the garden. Arlene tried to hold back a loud sigh, she said that she didn't want to have the family in her life and yet she was inviting Xigbar into it just because she was having a fit. It seemed to have worked though. Leon looked slightly paler. Arlene figured that it couldn't hurt their relationship if Leon knew that there was an uncle out there who could beat him up if it ever crossed his mind to cheat.

Yeah. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Not by a long shot.

~ooo~

Axel was shaking his leg impatiently, watching Saïx walk back and forth in the room. This room was white, like the other rooms they had been in, but this was clearly a room where experiments had been done. There were test tubes, chemicals, syringes, weird looking machines with way too many buttons. Axel wasn't sure what it was Saïx was doing – was he searching for something or was he making something new altogether?

"Hey, let's get outta here. This place is giving me the creeps."

Saïx stopped, his back to Axel while he looked at his own reflection in the impeccable wall. He was humming something. Axel had first thought that maybe he was actually saying something, but he didn't dare to ask him to repeat himself, so he had just played along, until he started to make out what it was he was singing.

It didn't make any sense. 'First thing in the afternoon, while taking a walk, I saw an armadillo, did it die in miserable circumstances, I wonder?' It was that over and over again, and then he stopped once he found what he was searching for. A safe.

"Saïx, c'mon, let's get going. You're acting weird and I think there might be something in the air – the monster can come down here and we have absolutely nothing to defend us with. Saïx!"

"Gogo ichi ni sanpo shinagara, kyuuyo wo mita, kyuushi wo shita no ka?"

"Seriously, Saïx, if you don't come with me now I'll punch you out." Axel got out of his seat and walked up to Saïx as he repeated the song again and started to push the buttons on the safe. The safe bleeped and the screen on it lit up with a green light.

Axel wasn't sure how big the safe was, it was built into one of the walls of the room and all there was to it was a button pad with no indication as to how big the door was even.

"Release the demons."

"What?" Axel grabbed Saïx by his arm and stopped him from opening the safe. "What's in there?" He demanded, his grip growing tighter as he stared Saïx right in the eye.

"...but don't scratch the wall."

A cold sensation crept over Axel and it quickly turned into goose bumps on his skin. The room turned red and there was suddenly a deafening sound that came from above. It ripped through the walls of this underground hospital and surely echoed all throughout Kyoto mercilessly.

"A siren," Axel breathed, "Why – Saïx, why did that siren go off?"

"I – I don't know."

Axel pushed him up against the wall and shook him, "You don't know? Fuck, Saïx! Tell me what the fuck is going on right now or I'll fucking make sure you won't be able to know anything! I'm fucking sick and tired of being led behind the light! You've been walking around here like you're in your fucking backyard and there are fucking monsters – monsters, for fuck's sake! - roaming around this place and you don't even batter an eye! I just saw a man with his fucking heart ripped out attacking Xaldin! With my own two eyes! I am scared shitless, Saïx! And then you go all fucking apeshit crazy on me, humming the weirdest shit I've ever heard and then all of a fucking sudden the sirens go off?"

"Get off me!" Saïx pushed Axel away as hard as he could and moved away from the wall, "It could be a warning for an earthquake, have you thought of that? Why did you even bother to bring me here, away from the family, if you have absolutely no faith in me?"

"I don't even fucking know anymore. I must've been out of my fucking mind." Axel walked after Saïx even though he tried to get away until he finally managed to grab him again, "But I do know that you're stuck with me, whether you like it or not, got it?"

They both stopped for a moment, when other sounds became apparent over the diminishing sound of the foreboding sirens. Screams. There were screams coming from outside, but they couldn't distinguish what kind of screams they were before the sirens went off again and drenched out all the other sounds that could possibly be heard from down here.

"That better not be people screaming."

"What else would it be?" Saïx snapped and pulled away, "The sirens for an earthquake just went off in the middle of the night."

"How come we don't feel the ground move, huh? I'm sure that something in here set those off and I'm going to find out why."

He walked past Saïx with a push and hurried through the rooms until he got to the corridor. The red lights intensified and flickered slightly when he stopped by the doorway.

"Don't go out there, Axel."

Saïx's voice trembled and Axel gulped as he remained still. There was no way that he had just heard Saïx voice tremble.

"Why?"

"The demons are out. We're safer in here than in any other place."

"What does that mean, Saïx? What demons are out?"

"We had to let them out. They were scratching the wall and there's no telling what might have happened if they had gotten through. It was either them or us."

Axel turned around slowly, his hands clenched into fists, "What demons?"

It felt worse than a nightmare being here; it wasn't even surreal, just painstakingly real. Saïx looked back at him with the exact same expression as before; calm and collected. He didn't look like he was as scared as he had led Axel to believe.

"You can't go out there."

"Did you release more of those freaks out there? Saïx... did you?"

"They were scratching the wall, Axel!"

"What fucking wall?" Axel ran his fingers through his hair and let out an exasperated groan. "What went on in this place? Is this where Ansem got to experiment on people? Are those freaks out there experiments gone wrong? We still got time so that shouldn't be the punishment for not figuring him out. This is something else."

"I created them." Saïx said finally, "I created those demons."