Title: Last Train
Author: nikki_ntm
Beta reader: Shattered Apocalypse
Chapters: 15/20
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)
x
Chapter 15: When the Visions Come To Nothing
The dark library was cold and the burnt lamps had yet to be replaced. There was a flickering light in the far back of the room and a soft breeze blew in through the small vent that kept the air fresh. The room was filled with well used bookshelves and in the middle there was a mahogany table surrounded by comfortable chairs and an old television set, complete with a VCR to see the old tapes that had been stored and hidden away in this secret room.
Marluxia leaned back into his chair while he reached for another snack-sized pickle and put it in his mouth. A small smile played on his lips and he tried to pout at Master Ansem's sorrowful speech to one of the hidden cameras he had put into the laboratory, but he ended up chuckling instead.
"What a fool of a man," he mumbled and took another pickle.
Nearly two weeks had gone by since he had caught Saïx and lost him to Axel. It had taken him a week to explain to Xigbar why he had been in Kyoto at the same time as Saïx and in the exact same vicinity without contacting the family. Xigbar probably knew why, he only asked to be nice, because that's the kind of big brother Xigbar was, the vanishing bruise on the side of Marluxia's mouth was proof of that.
Never strike a man to the face, was usually Xigbar's frame of reference, but Marluxia just pissed him off too much not to take a swing at his "pretty-boy" face.
It hadn't been enough to intimidate him. It had only made him certain of the treasure that was hidden here in this secluded house in the old prostitute's lair. He had been searching for this since ever – all men had a weak spot, as ruthless as they might be, and Marluxia was sure he had found enough material here to make it to the top of the food chain. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to look long to find the safe that had been left open in this underground lab, and what glorious things he had found.
"Demyx!"
His protégé hurried into the room and stopped by the television, his back straight and his eyes looking out into nothing. It had been hard training him, but it had been worth his while and from how he saw it they both benefited from it. Demyx didn't like difficult tasks and Marluxia liked someone who could easily blend in the background and seem harmless to everyone.
"Be a doll and put the next video in. That man is going to bore me to death with his endless yap."
Demyx took the video out and put the next one in, waiting for the screen to settle before he stood back, "Anything else?"
"Yes, bring me something for acid refluxes. I've had too many pickles. And take these away." He gave Demyx the small bowl of pickles and waved him off.
The video started with the date of the filming and Marluxia sat back again: "17th July, 2002 15:36:07" Roughly ten years ago.
The doors into the laboratory were pushed open by the force of a stretcher coming through. Marluxia knew the two men on screen, but on the stretcher lay a woman, tied down and convulsing. As Ansem kept her head still, Xemnas injected her with a sedative that made her body limb.
"How long will you keep doing this, Xemnas?"
"Until she gets better."
Marluxia sighed, "Haven't I seen this movie?"
Xemnas rolled up the sleeves on his white shirt. He walked over to a small trolley and started with what Marluxia could only assume to be a magic potion to save whoever the damsel in distress was.
"You must realize that this experiment was a failure! There is no fixing her anymore, Xemnas! There is nothing left to fix, you destroyed her for your own personal gain and now you have to assume the consequences."
"Is that so, Master? Is that true even if Arlene is on the line?"
"What do you mean?"
"If Aqua dies, so will Arlene. They share one life, if Aqua's brain stops functioning, Arlene's will stop too and she will become a living dead, trapped in her mind. It's like you say, Master. There are things worse than death, and that is not something you wish your own daughter, is it?"
Ansem stuttered and glared at Xemnas' back, "You are lying. You couldn't possibly have managed that. I aborted the experiments six months in, that's not enough time."
"You think that she obeyed you? It wasn't difficult to make her believe that I was undoing what you had done. We did have something very fundamental in common – we both despised you."
"Touché." As much as Xemnas annoyed him, he did have to recognize that he knew how to plan ahead and to never trust anyone completely, not even his own master.
"You are despicable, Xemnas. Despicable! You had no right! I helped you with your project. I asked no questions and even though it was an obvious failure you kept patching her up, knowing that there is nothing you can do anymore. She won't recognize you because you never let her know you! You implanted a false memory of someone else in her mind and subconsciously she must have known, Xemnas. She must have known that Terra wasn't real, that is why her mind killed him... and you couldn't bare it. You were outsmarted by the one thing you are trying to control, the human mind. Man wasn't meant to meddle in God's work."
Marluxia leaned forward, suddenly very interested by how this unfolding tragedy was playing out. Would Xemnas go for the classic open-hand slap to his opponent's face, would he scream back in rage or would he harm the old man?
"You are the only one here who knows what failure is. This is why you've never become anything, Master. You teach, but you always have to see your students surpass yourself because you have no confidence in science. I had the courage and you tagged along like a scared child, waiting to see the results. You wanted this as much as I did. Isn't that why you let me experiment on your daughter? You speak of God, but you weren't happy with what child God had given you, you wanted to have her improved and when that didn't work you ran away with the tail between your legs. Well, you are in this now and you can't turn your back on it. I will do whatever is necessary to keep the person I cherish, and you will help me... doctor Ansem."
Ansem stormed out of the room and Xemnas looked after him briefly while approaching the stretcher. He reached out his arm and slowly brushed away a stray hair that had fallen over Aqua's face. The video fast-forwarded until a month later where the screen flickered and changed to Ansem sitting by a desk, filming himself with a handheld camera.
He looked completely beat, his beard had grown and his eyes were sunken. He cleared his throat and reached for his notes and decided to look down instead of looking at the camera.
"The subject has responded well to treatment. Her capability of retaining and creating new memories has increased during her stay at this facility. She has also regained much of her old memories that were lost due to miscalculation in earlier experiments. Some of the not so old memories are still scrambled, however, and there are no guarantees that she will regain them. Stimulating the Hippocampus has been of outmost importance, since that is the part of the brain where long-term memory is controlled, to later make the memories more permanent by spreading them further around the brain. The doctors involved in these experiments are, however, in disagreement whether this improvement will be permanent or if it's merely an attempt to fill a bottomless bucket with water.
Dr. Ansem, August 21st, 2002."
The video was abruptly cut into the next segment. Before there was any visual, there was a loud scream that was suddenly cut short and turned into strange whimpers. The lid was taken off the lens, and revealed that they were filming the young lady by the name of Aqua in the middle of an experiment. Marluxia quickly took a look at the bottom of the screen to get a date - November 2nd, 2002.
Aqua was tied to a chair, biting onto something that looked like white cardboard. Xemnas walked up to her to take it away. She was shaking violently; electrodes in different colors attached to a white plastic cap that she had on her head.
"P-please, stop. I don't have anything of value to you. I've never done any business with you...why are you doing this to me?"
She shied away when Xemnas tried to brush her cheek with the tip of his fingers and he frowned, "We're going to make you better. You'll soon remember everything again."
"Let me go, you monster! Let me go!"
She pulled and pulled on her restraints as hard as she could, but they didn't budge. The leather was starting to cut into her skin, but clearly her desire to be freed was much greater than the pain those small cuts caused her.
"Aqua, stop it! You're hurting yourself. Ansem, sedate her!"
Xemnas held her down by her shoulders while she continued screaming at him. Marluxia couldn't see his reaction, but as soon as Ansem had sedated her, he walked off and the only proof Marluxia had of him walking out of the room was the door shutting close. The silence left was eerie, but it was broken when Ansem sighed and walked back to the camera to turn it off, and ashe did, a new sequence started; he was back by the desk again, looking down at his notes, but this report hadn't been made after the experiment they had just filmed. This was nearly two weeks later.
"The subject was fine until recently, all things considered. The that had been inserted in her brain had almost disappeared, except for those that were entwined with memories of her childhood. The subject thinks that she knows of a Terra, but that she hasn't seen him for years. Dr. Xemnas takes this as an accomplishment and insists on prolonging the treatment, despite the many risks that goes with it. In the treatment we use electroshock therapy to make the brain more accessible to newer memories, out of body experiences are important as well as it gives the subject a sense of being in a dream state, therefore the trauma of this treatment is minimized. Indoctrination is important as well. That is done while the subject is half-asleep.
Dr. Xemnas believes that this treatment is her best option, but I argue that she is – was – fine. The intensity of the treatment is starting to show on the subject, and I fear that things are turning out for the worse. In today's CT scans I can see that her Hippocampus has started to take damage.
Dr. Xemnas thinks he has a solution, but I'm afraid that there is nothing that can be done to salvage her at all.
Dr. Ansem, November 16th, 2002."
It cut almost before Ansem had the time to say the year and suddenly it was someone jogging down a hallway, holding the camera as still as possible. The person, who had to be Ansem, was breathing hard and mumbling things to himself, looking around to make sure that no one was following him. He stopped when the hallway came to an end and turned the camera to film himself.
"Dr. Ansem, July 31st, 2003. The experiments ceased at the end of January this year when Aqua – thesubject, regained and accepted her falsememories as true. Her Hippocampus had at that time recovered healthy tissue, which to me was quite a surprise, but Dr. Xemnas insisted that he had done it with the help of stem cells. I was only glad that the experiments were over and that my daughter was safe. I ignored the feeling telling me that something was wrong. I regret it deeply now. Deeply."
His voice was shaky and he was talking in whispers. Marluxia leaned forward to hear whatever it was that was frightening Ansem so much. It lasted for only a brief second, but he had heard it. There were muffled screams coming from behind the doors he was standing in front of.
"Xemnas has lost control. He has gone mad and beyond - to even think that something like this could be passed as anything but atrocious. I can't even make out what exactly he has done, but I have to document it. The world needs to know what this man is capable of, what he is willing to do to get what he wants."
He turned on the camera to film the doors he was about to unlock and open. Marluxia could already see that something was sparkling behind the door, almost like a bare wire had fallen into a puddle of water. The muffled screams became louder. Ansem moved the camera to reveal the source of the crackling sparkles and even Marluxia felt a tug of horror at seeing what it was Ansem had discovered.
"This man, he is between 25-30 years old. I estimate his length to be 178 cm, weight 70-75 kg. He has burns on his skin, some of third degree others of first degree. He is not attached to a chair that conducts electricity; he isdoing this to himself. I can't help him out of it, if I get too close I'll get shocked." Ansem paused and tried to compose himself and be as scientific about this as possible, "My guess is that the chemistry in his brain has been tampered with to such a high degree that the electro-chemical's reaction is to stabilize it, sending burning signals down the nerves, causing pain, which in turn turns to chaos. I don't know how long he has survived like this, or how it's possible for him to be alive. I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to live through this."
Ansem put the camera down on a low table. All Marluxia could see was that he reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a revolver. It seemed to put the man at ease, seeing the barrel of the gun. Ansem fired two shots that echoed loudly in the small room. A few more electrical crackles were heard before the man's body went limb.
"The days go by and every vision comes to nothing. God, stop the monster that I've created."
Marluxia thought that it was the end of the video, but it was quickly cut to next sequence where Ansem was back by the desk, looking much more calmer than he had done while in the hallway.
"Dr. Ansem, September 28th, 2003. I am through working with this project. I have taken care of the things that I could take care of, and I have gathered enough evidence to hold it against Xemnas, would he ever decide to come after me. I've released my daughter from the grip of that evil man, though it was a difficult task and might have hurt some people. Meddling with the yakuza has been the biggest mistake in my life and I might never get out of it, but I have come to terms with it. To obtain the information that I needed to release Arlene I had to turn to one of my students, Ienzo, who did me this favor in exchange of the highly sought after scholarship for Tokyo University. It was a small price to pay and now I can finally leave. I know you'll be watching this someday, Xemnas. I don't hold high hopes for you and I'm not stupid enough to think that you'll cease with your experiments when I'm gone. Your beloved one is damaged and it is all your fault, I hope you know that. I'll be fighting against you in whatever way that I can, starting with this."
He held up a small black box and opened it to reveal seven USB-sticks, "My parting gift. May we both pay a high price for the deeds we have committed."
The screen turned black and the VCR came to a halt before it started to automatically rewind the tape. Marluxia sighed and looked to his left, where Demyx had sat down on an armchair. He had put a glass of water and a tablet for acid refluxes next to Marluxia, and sighed as the video came to an end.
"What a sad movie."
"Indeed it was." Marluxia agreed, taking the glass in his hand,swallowing the tablet with a sip of water, "The video, although informative, is of very little use to us. We don't know if Aqua is alive or where she is. We can't use her as leverage if we can't prove that she's alive, can we, Demyx?"
"I guess not." He reached to the side of his armchair and gave Marluxia a folder, "I was browsing through the files earlier and thought that it might interest you. It might be about our boss Saïx."
"How do you figure?" Marluxia took the folder and flipped it open.
"I got promoted to Zexion's group a day or so before he was murdered. Back then the boss was known as Isa, and that's the name of whoever is being experimented on in that folder. Can't be many of interest with that name, right?"
"Oh, how I like your ability to still surprise me after all these years."
Xemnas was quite meticulous with his paperwork and this was a perfect example of it. Saïx had been admitted to a mental facility, where Xemnas worked at, three months after the murder of Zexion. Marluxia chuckled as he read on. Dr. Even had recommended Saïx to Xemnas for "treatment" after four sessions of therapy – and who was the wonderful man that had recommended Dr. Even? None other than Doctor Ansem Kenzui.
"This world is far too small, don't you think so, Demyx? There are just too many big fish in this pond."
"I just want to go home to my sitar. We've been on the road for a long time now. And we've all been scolded over and over again for not finding him. He's really selfish."
Marluxia nodded absentmindedly, feeling his heart beat faster as he read on. This information was too good to be true; itwas almost like tripping over the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
"Listen to this, our dearest brother was diagnosed with clinical depression and started seeing Xemnas for electroconvulsive therapy. Xemnas must have been desperate for a new test subject, or Saïx was easy to persuade - two weeks after admission the experiments started. Xemnas was going to cure him of his depression and at the same time create the new host for his beloved one." Marluxia smiled and shook his head in disbelief, "Saïx is keeping Aqua alive."
"There's a woman living inside the boss?" Demyx looked disgusted.
"In a matter of speaking. There are some things that are hard to understand, but I understand this much; Aqua is using Saïx's brain to function, like a parasite."
"This just keeps getting grosser and grosser."
"In order for Saïx to keep his own sense of self, he developed a multiple identity disorder during the experiments – there's only one listed aside from himself, so I guess that he had one identity outside his own. That identity was later terminated when he was mentally prepared to accept Aqua as a part of his brain. The memories that caused the clinical depression were put with the other identity. A mental barrier was put up to avoid a relapse. The subject has to be under constant surveillance for any proof of rejection that will manifest as nausea, dizziness, vomiting, migraine, spontaneous bleeding and convulsions. The subject is not to be taken on long-periods of trips to faraway places without the explicit permission of the highest boss of the Organization...Demyx, go and get Xaldin. Hurry."
Demyx got up and hurried outside to get Xaldin who was standing guard in the tatami room above them. Marluxia chuckled as he leaned back against the armchair and stretched his arms. He wanted to see the videos that had been taped of Xemnas experimenting on Saïx - nothing would entertain him more than the suffering of the man that had caused his life to take a less desirable direction.
There was one thing, however, that he would enjoy more.
"Axel, Axel, Axel... how I would love to see your face when you realize that you are murdering the one you wished to save."
Marluxia put the folder onto the table and looked over the page he had been reading. The latest addition had been made two months earlier, a whole month before Axel had decided to kidnap Saïx and run for the hills.
May 24th, 2011.
Ansem's death started his revenge action against us, against me. His hologram is threatening to ruin everything I've worked for and I cannot let it happen. The hologram has entwined Axel's memories with that of Saïx's other identity in hope to crush the wall that keeps him sane and Aqua safe. Axel is to be kept away from Saïx at all times to avoid triggers that could weaken the wall.
The emergency program has been initiated. The sirens are in use and the code has been set. Ansem's tracking device will be used against him.
~ooo~
A soft breeze blew through the small village and broke the thick heat that otherwise had a tendency to gather up around the mountains. Cloud had pulled the doors aside in the back to let some of the fresh air into the house. He was currently setting the table that Zack had carried out to the backyard. Saïx had been released from the hospital last night and they were going to celebrate with a nice meal. Zack had been reluctant to let him go even though the tests showed that there was essentially nothing wrong with him, but he could see that Saïx was well beyond sick of needles and hospital food, so he figured it would be better for him to be here, at home with them.
"Cloud! Did you get the basil?" Zack yelled from the kitchen and stood still to hear if Cloud answered.
"It's in the pantry!"
"Okay, thanks!"
Axel walked out of the living room, pushing the wheelchair where Saïx was sitting although he didn't need it. Axel backed all the way up against the door and looked ahead with a mischievous smile.
"Hang on tight, don't let anything stick out and watch out for the wheels. Are you ready?"
"Ready."
"Alright, rocket ready for launch in three...two...one..."
Axel gripped the handles tight and ran straight ahead towards the garden as fast as he could. They swooshed past the kitchen and straight out onto the porch where Axel stopped soon enough for the wheelchair not to tumble down onto the lawn. Saïx laughed as he nearly fell forward, but was stopped when Axel pushed the wheelchair back and balanced it on its wheels.
"Cloud, isn't there a steep hill around here somewhere?"
"I'll throw you off a steep hill if you keep pulling crazy stunts with Saïx. He just got out of the hospital."
"That would be an interesting fight." Saïx sighed and tried to look at Cloud but found it too comfortable to just lay down. "Cloud, how far up does the roof go?"
"That's very funny." Cloud mumbled and shook his head.
"You wanna find out?" Axel asked, amused.
"Yeah. Let's go." Saïx stood up and stretched his arms wide.
"Why don't you go in the kitchen and get the napkins instead? I forgot to bring them."
They walked back inside the house and saw Zack standing by the pantry, taking things out while he searched for the basil that Cloud had left there. Saïx grabbed the napkins from the table and took the opportunity to take a small bite off the food pie that Zack had already cut up. He had gotten his appetite back, but he was still afraid to eat properly. He didn't want the same thing that had happened at the Hokuriku Diner to happen again.
He gave Axel a thumb up as Zack nearly disappeared into the pantry. Axel took a piece too, eating it quickly, before Zack saw that they were eating ahead. He had been making a Salmon Florentino and he had seemed really excited about it too, when he realized that he could finallyuse some of the cookbooks he had bought during his time in Europe.
"Can you tell Cloud that I can't find the basil?" Zack crept out the pantry and brushed off some flour. Axel pointed at the counter behind the kitchen island and tried not to chew while Zack was looking at him.
"Isn't that the basil?" Saïx asked in his stead.
"There it is! You can take those plates outside, I'll cut this up and be with you in a sec. I bet you're starving."
They both took another piece as soon as they were out of Zack's sight. Starving was an understatement, it had been at least five hours since breakfast and they had been running around like idiots since.
Something had happened at the hospital, Axel couldn't quite explain it. Their past felt distant for the very first time in forever, it wasn't looming behind them, casting a shadow over every conversation they had. He was glad that Saïx hadn't seen him in doubt once more. He knew what he had seen in that nightmare, but he was incapable of believing it when Saïx smiled at him in the same way Isa had smiled at him before. This was their time.
They were finally on the same page, and he'd be damned if he let this go for a woman he didn't know.
The world is an ugly place, Axel reminded himself, and it wasn't his place to save it. Even so, it bothered him to think that he was going to leave Aqua to her fate. Aqua had a right to live a normal life too, and with everything that had happened up until now, Axel knew that his conscience might not leave him alone.
"Wonder what's for dessert."
"Triple chocolate brownie with lots of cream."
"You are not serious."
"Let's hope. It sounds really good, don't you think? Or maybe they have that other cake, what's it called again? – Cheesecake! With strawberries. Or maybe blueberry cupcakes. I haven't had those in a while."
"Are you mocking me?" Axel had never been fond of sweets or pastries, but he knew full well that Saïx had somewhat of a weak spot for anything sweet. He laughed and nudged him softly.
"Honest, it would be nice with something sweet. If there's no dessert, let's go down to the village and see what they have to offer. A place like this should have a killer bakery, what do you say? It'll be like a date." Axel teased with a wink.
"Yeah, whatever." He smiled, and it wasn't one of those routine polite smiles that Axel had grown accustomed to see, he was genuinely amused. It was mesmerizing to see this change, it made the decision of forgetting about Aqua a lot easier.
"Finally, food." Cloud sighed when Axel and Saïx put the big plates on the table. "Where's Zack?"
"He's coming."
Zack hurried out, holding a bowl where he had put the chopped basil. He put it on the table before he took a seat next to Saïx and across from Cloud with a huge grin on his face. He reached for a bottle of cider from the freeze box and poured up for everyone.
"Alright, this looks really good. Let's hope that the insects don't think the same." He said and reached for his glass to make a toast, "For Saïx's recovery and for a damn nice day."
"Cheers!"
Axel savored the slightly sour taste of the cider and took another sip to decide whether he liked it or not.
"It tastes like apple-juice with bubbles. Does it have any alcohol?"
"Only a little. It hasn't been added, it comes from the apples. We have a neighbor up the street, he has a load of apple trees on his land and in autumn the macaque monkeys come out of the forests to eat the apples. The thing is that they can be quite lazy so they take the apples that have fallen to the ground. The apples have fermented in the warmth so when the monkeys are into their fourth or fifth apple they're all loaded."
"They get drunk?" Saïx asked as he reached for a piece of the Salmon Florentino pie.
"Yeah. They look like small humans, wobbling about through the village. It can get dangerous because some of them are angry drunks and we get tourists from Echizen up here, and there's always someone pushing their luck and getting too close to the drunken monkeys."
"That's why we have a squad from Animal Protection every autumn," Cloud added, "There weren't any angry drunks last year though, they all fell asleep around the trees and didn't bother anyone."
"Sounds like you'd fit right in, Axel."
"It takes more than four fermented apples to bring me down. Although it would be cool to have a drinking game with monkeys – real monkeys. Guys, expect our company this autumn. We'll be coming back to eat fermented apples with the monkeys."
"You're always welcome here." Zack smiled, "Let's eat! The smell is attracting the flies." He waved off a small fly that was buzzing in his ear.
Two and a half weeks had gone by since the day they had all met. It was the longest they had stayed anywhere since Kobe, the mood had gone up and down, they've had their fair share of drama, but in the mist of it all they had gotten to know two wonderful people who had taken them in with a hunch that they could be of help.
Cloud had just served the apple pie when they heard someone yell and bang on the front door. Cloud hurried to the door and Zack followed when they realized that a girl was screaming for help; someone had been hit by a car.
"Stay here," Zack yelled from the hallway out to the back.
"It's like the freakin' E.R." Axel mumbled and took a mouthful of the pie on his plate, "Talk about catching a break though, what are the odds that you'll find two capable doctors when you randomly go knocking on doors?"
"She's probably from around here. She sounded young." Saïx sighed, "How is it possible to get into a car crash here? There are no trees by the roads and there's almost no traffic."
"Maybe," Axel began and reached for the pitcher with custard, "Maybe the driver had one too many fermented apples and angered a monkey that messed with his brakes."
"You're awful."
"And yet I'm not the one laughing." Axel grinned and decided to pour some more custard over Saïx's plate as well. He looked up at the road when he heard a car and saw that they had taken Cloud's car to the scene of the accident. He almost dropped the pitcher when he saw a familiar someone suddenly appear on the road when the car passed by.
Naminé smiled at him and shook her head in disagreement with what she was seeing. She flickered and pointed in the direction where Cloud and Zack had driven off to, her expression darkened as she turned her attention to Saïx. Saïx's voice became a soft echo that was drenched out by the hammering beat in Axel's chest when Naminé flickered again.
"Axel," she said, and he could hear her just as well as if she had been standing next to him, "Time is running out."