Title: Last Train
Author: nikki_ntm
Beta reader: Shattered Apocalypse
Chapters: 16/20
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)

Chapter 15: Where the Hidden Truth Lies

~ooo~

2008

~ooo~

Arlene watched the black car drive away from the mansion, and though she knew that Seifer could easily catch her if she tried to escape, she kept on pulling back until Seifer's hold slipped, and for a split second she thought she could get away, but Seifer grabbed her by her arm again and dragged her into the foyer, his fingers digging deep enough into her arm to leave bruises.

"Seifer, please, let me go. There's nothing I can do, I'm not of use anymore. Seifer!"

Her pleas echoed in the grand foyer. Nothing had changed here during the year she had managed to stay underground. The sweet smell of the blooming flowers outside in the backyard spread through the beautiful foyer, and she noticed the hawthorne flowers in the bouquets that seemed to have taken over the ground floor of the mansion. She still got sick of seeing the paintings that once had decorated her childhood home, and this time Lea wasn't around to make it all bearable.

"Where are you taking me?" She was still struggling to pull out of his grip. Seifer's silence was worrying her. There had been no taunts, no threats of violence, not even a vague explanation.

"Why are you working on this alone, Seifer? Where's Raijin?"

He suddenly stopped in his tracks; he loosened his grip on her arm, and turned around slowly. His eyes were red and swollen as if he had gone days without any sleep, and his shaky sigh as he looked at her scared her more than anything else.

"Seifer…"

"When you go in there, you do whatever he tells you to do, alright?" He walked in closer and lowered his voice, "Whatever he asks you to do, Arlene. Don't fight back, you can't afford it. There is no one willing to help you out of this mess. Don't lie, don't talk back, just do what you have to do."

"No, Seifer, please, I don't want to see him —"

He didn't turn around to face her until he pushed her into a room with nothing but a simple table and two chairs.

"That's all I can do to help you, Arlene. Just do what he says."

The thick door slammed shut, and Arlene stood there looking at it for a few seconds, waiting for it to open, but once again she was met with nothing but that heavy silence.

There was no telling how long she sat in there, she couldn't look out because there were no windows, and there were no clocks in the small room, but when the door opened again, her heart skipped a beat.

She stood up, a nervous smile dressed her face. She could charm her way out of this, or she could at least try.

"Liam…"

"Sit down, Larxene. Marluxia won't be joining us today."

"Isa…?"

"Saïx," he corrected and stepped inside.

Seifer walked behind him, his head down and his hands clasped together at his front. The Seifer she knew would never bow down to Isa; she had witnessed firsthand the agony Isa had put Seifer through, everyone in the family knew how much Seifer despised Isa, and yet he stayed by the door like a perfectly trained dog with no will of his own.

"What's going on?"

"Sit."

She sat down. Her legs were trembling at the sight she was beholding, and yet she had a feeling things were going to get worse.

"Seifer, the gun."

"But, you haven't even—"

"The gun, Seifer."

Isa didn't raise his voice, he didn't even have to look at Seifer to silence him and make him follow through with the simple order.

"Why do you need a gun, Isa?"

"It's Saïx to you, Larxene," he corrected again as he sat down across from her.

"Did Axel send you?"

"To do what? Save you?" He smiled at her softly, "That does sound like something he would tell me to do, but my responsibilities lay within the family, and you're not family. Not for much longer."

"You're scaring me."

"Don't worry. I won't hurt you as long as you do as you're told."

"How will you explain this to Axel when he finds out that you've had me at gun point, huh? You think he'll let you get away with it?"

"I don't think he'll be able to do much from where he is now, to be honest with you. See, the tables have turned. He needs my help much more than he needs your 'company'. That is why I have arranged our little meeting in all secrecy to give you the opportunity to leave the family, just like you've always wanted."

He slid a file across the table and flipped it open to put a glossy black pen right by a blank space underneath a block of text.

"What's this?"

"You're going to file a divorce. All you have to do is sign these documents to be free from us."

She skimmed through the document, but only fragments of it stuck with her. It said date of marriage, place, duration, and her heart was beating so hard in her chest at the dark look in Isa's eyes. He wasn't supposed to know about this. This had been something spontaneous that they had done, it had felt right, things had finally been going their way, and Lea had thought that he could protect her better if they were married.

It had been her request to keep this from Isa. She never told Lea the reason why, she had simply asked him to trust her, and he had. Isa wasn't as inconspicuous with his emotions as he thought he was, some things showed more than others, and Arlene wasn't blind.

"Cat got your tongue?" He tilted his head slightly to catch a glimpse of her face, "Did you really think that I wouldn't find out? You've been living on my dime, Larxene. Of course I'd keep an eye on my investments."

"You can't do this."

"But I can, Larxene. Who's going to stop me? Axel? You? Or maybe Seifer has something to say about it?" He turned to Seifer, but he was shaking his head long before Isa had his eyes on him, "Not even your own boss is willing to stick his neck out for you."

"Screw you, you lunatic. I'm not signing these papers, so kindly shove them up your ass."

The sudden feel of the cold metal of the barrel's tip against her temple made her almost choke on a scream as Isa pulled the trigger. The pathetic click from the empty slot was a loud gunshot in her head, and for a moment she thought that she was dead.

"Sorry, my fingers slipped," he said softly even though he was still pressing the gun against her temple. "Sign the papers, Larxene. I've already won, haven't I? You're on the run, living the life of a pitiful dog, alone. Axel chose to stay with the family."

"You mean with you."

"I was trying to be polite, but yes, with me."

"Go to hell."

The second click got her to tense up in her seat and hold her breath. Seifer stood in his corner, witnessing this cruelty, and he stared at Arlene with a pleading look.

"There's one bullet in this gun, and I will keep pulling the trigger until you either sign the papers or die."

"Where's everyone?" She said instead to gain time to do something, anything. Her voice was shaky, and there was a lump forming in her throat at the realization that she might have no other choice but to do what Isa was asking of her.

"In Tokyo. The university was holding a memorial for Zexion as a token of their gratitude for the generous donation made in his name two weeks ago, and because he was loved and admired by his peers, of course. It's sad that it only takes one person to hate you for your life to come crashing down. Or end abruptly."

There's a monster hiding underneath that façade of kindness, she used to tell Lea whenever the conversation became about Isa. It wasn't something she said to be mean, it was something she saw reflect in his eyes whenever he held something in, like that evening at the Kobe Port Tower. Lea would always stand up for him, even when he was in doubt, and there had been a time she had admired that quality about him, but when she stared straight into Isa's eyes that radiated nothing but murderous intent, she knew that she had been right all along.

She grabbed the glossy pen and signed her name on both of the documents.

"You can gloat all you want, Saïx, but remember this; you had to lock him up behind bars to keep him close. He was leaving with me by choice, and I'm pretty sure that makes you the loser."

Arlene had taken a beating before, but she had never been hit so hard that she had lost consciousness, and she had never thought of Isa as one to hit a woman. In normal circumstances, maybe he wouldn't have, but he knew that she was telling the truth, and even the truth could hurt a monster like him.

~ooo~

Present

~ooo~

Axel tossed around in his futon and glanced at the clock above the door when he heard Cloud and Zack open the front entrance downstairs. It was past three in the morning and he had been up for at least four hours now. He couldn't close his eyes without seeing the never ending nightmares, and he couldn't deal with them anymore.

"Axel?" He mumbled.

"Yeah?"

"Can't you sleep?"

"I'm getting there, I just have a lot on my mind right now. I have to unwind before I can get to sleep."

Saïx inched closer to the side of his bed and he looked at Axel through his eyelashes. It was hard to see if he was still asleep, awake or a mix of both.

"Does it really bother you that much that I die in your dreams?"

"I thought you were allergic to stupid questions," Axel chuckled.

"Does it?" Saïx asked again.

"Of course it does. Jeez. That's why I'm up half of the night just to make sure you're still breathing."

Saïx didn't say anything to that. He pulled his covers higher up and sighed. Axel didn't expect him to understand, it was difficult to explain to someone how the same nightmare for nearly four months could make you paranoid. He knew that it was weird for him to worry so much for Saïx when he was fully capable of looking out for himself, but again, seeing that nightmare over and over again had changed him and he couldn't just turn his back on it.

"I've never blamed you, Axel," Saïx said in a low whisper, "I did this to myself – and I guess that I'm glad that you haven't given up on me yet. Despite everything."

Axel sat up and moved in closer to see if Saïx was asleep. He was acting strange again and last time that had happened, things had not ended well. Axel shook him slightly when he saw that his eyes were closed, but Saïx simply turned around and cuddled up against his other pillow with a soft mumble.

Axel flopped back onto his futon and was just about to try to go back to sleep when he heard that Cloud and Zack were walking up the stairs.

"You're not gonna tell him?"

Axel held his breath when he heard Cloud and Zack whisper to each other out in the hallway. They stopped halfway up the staircase and he could hear Zack sigh.

"You gotta admit that it's weird. All of this. I can't wrap my head around it and I don't think they'd tell us if we asked them."

"You don't know that." Cloud sounded tired, like this had been the topic of the day and it was starting to wear him out. "All you should know is that you're going to tell him. We don't know who she is or what relationship she has to him, either way it is your duty to contact the next of kin of the patient you're taking care of and according to her, Axel is her next of kin."

"Yeah, but, look at it like this; Saïx just got out of a delicate situation, they're both on edge and they clearly need a break. This can be their break. You said yourself that Saïx might be suffering from PTSD. God knows what they've been going through, what they've seen or what they're running away from. That girl didn't give me good vibes, Cloud. We can get them out of whatever mess they got in, we can't risk pushing them back in with the piranhas."

Axel walked closer to the door and waited for Cloud to reply.

"Zack, I know you want to help, but this isn't a decision we can make for them."

It was silent for a second while Zack tried to think of an argument that could win Cloud over, but he ended up sighing in defeat.

"I'll tell him. Tomorrow morning. In a couple of hours. What was the patient's name again?"

"Arlene Kenzui."

Axel pulled the door open before he realized that he was doing it and he gulped as he stepped out and closed the door behind him. Cloud and Zack looked back at him, waiting for him to say something.

"What happened to Arlene?" He knew that there were at least another hundred questions he should be asking, like did they know why was she here, and why would she want to see him?

"Let's go downstairs. Cloud, you can go to bed, I got this."

Axel followed Zack downstairs. They sat down by the dining table in the kitchen and Zack sighed again, leaning back in his seat with a frown.

"C'mon, say something. What happened to her?" He was shaking his leg impatiently.

"She was in the car accident earlier today. A young blond girl I thought was her sister came to get us, but then she disappeared. We asked Arlene about her, but she didn't remember being with anyone else. We asked her if there was anyone we could call and she said Axel, and then she described you. She's Ansem's daughter, isn't she?"

"Yeah, she is."

"You don't have to go and see her. She's fine, she just needs rest. There were no broken bones, no ugly wounds, just a very mild concussion. You have to get yourself straightened out before you can help anyone else."

"You should be worried about her, not me. She left the family long before I did, she tried to save me but I turned my back on her. Something must've happened, something bad if she wants to talk to me." He wasn't going to worry Zack by telling him that the girl he mentioned was probably Ansem's hologram of revenge that haunted him every night.

"She was in a car accident, isn't that bad enough?"

"No. Can I go and see her now?"

"It's almost four in the morning, Axel. I think it can wait 'til later."

"I have to go now."

He got up and walked into the hallway, Zack followed him and stopped him just as he was about to go upstairs.

"Where are you going?"

"Upstairs."

"I can see that, but why? The hospital is that way."

"I have to tell Saïx."

"You can't."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't want him to know." Zack rubbed his forehead, "It's just, you and your friends are going to drive me nuts with all your little secrets. I don't know how it's possible to live like that. She told me to tell you, but to keep Saïx away from her."

"Yeah, that sounds like something she would say."

"If Saïx wants to reach you, he can call me on my cell phone. I'm sure Cloud will tell him that. Let's just go and get this over with. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you."

"You obviously don't know her at all."

Axel smiled and scratched the back of his neck. He followed Zack out and jumped into the passenger seat with a sigh. The ride to the hospital would be far too short to gather his thoughts. Arlene had to be involved in this somehow if Naminé had led her here. She had been marked too, but she had gotten out of it. That's what she had told him, and he would hate it if he had been the one to pull her back in again.

Five minutes. Axel sighed when he stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. Five minutes to the hospital was nothing and his hands were tingling at the thought of having to walk in there and face Arlene. He wasn't here on a mission, he wasn't here because he wanted something from her, he was here because she had asked him to and that hadn't happened since before the night Zexion was murdered.

Zack greeted the nurses and led Axel into the long hallway behind the big white doors. To think that he had been here just a couple of days ago caring for Saïx, the man that had come between him and Arlene, the man that had been ready to sacrifice her in order to give Xemnas more power.

"She's through here." Zack pointed at a door in the far left, "A nurse woke her up a moment ago, she's ready to see you. I'll be around, oh, and here's my cell phone." He gave Axel the cell phone, "My page number is on speed dial, number seven. Give me a call when you're done."

He gave him a pat on the back as he walked back out to the waiting room and left Axel to it. Axel put the cell phone in his pocket and walked down the hallway and all the way up to the door that led into Arlene's room. Zack had said that the car accident hadn't been anything serious, just a slight concussion, and yet he felt guilty. Not guilty for the accident maybe, but guilty for how they had last met. He had forced himself back into her life with the intention of destroying the normality she had built up for herself by exposing the truth about her to whatever new boyfriend she had. How typical of him to feel guilty long after he had done the deed.

Axel walked into the room and closed the door quietly behind him. The only light in the room came from a small lamp above the bed where Arlene sat in her hospital gown.

"Nice of you to show up," she said and looked up at Axel who still stood by the door.

"I got here as fast as I could."

"That's hard to believe, especially since you're supposedly five, maybe ten, minutes away from this hospital." She sounded bitter and she glared at him. This had to be bad news.

"How do you know where I've been?"

"That hologram told me. She started to show up around the house soon after Xigbar found me."

At least Xigbar had a soft spot for her, but Axel could see why she was bringing it up and why she would think a visit from Xigbar would be bad enough, she thought it was his fault that the family was after her again.

"I didn't tell him anything. I wouldn't have found you if Saïx hadn't known where you lived."

"And you don't think it's weird that Saïx would just leave after finding out that I had sent Marluxia after you?"

"Saïx hasn't been in contact with the family. What about Marluxia? Maybe he spilled the beans? He's not the most reliable guy around and Xigbar has a way of making Marluxia talk."

Arlene sighed. She rolled a hair tie off her wrist and put her hair into a pony tail to keep it from falling over her face. She had let it grow longer, Axel noticed, it looked wavier now that she hadn't had the time to fix it.

"Why did you want me to come here?" Axel asked, finally, when the silence stretched for too long.

"Leon is gone. He would never leave without saying anything and that goddamn hologram has been saying cryptic stuff about his disappearance and I think that Marluxia kidnapped him to piss me off. He's... I didn't want him to get involved in this life, but..." She shook her head softly, "I have to find him. And the hologram said that you knew the way."

"What? How would I know? I'm up to my neck in my own problems, I don't have time to be looking for your lost boyfriend. Why would Marluxia even bother kidnapping someone, huh? You know Marluxia, probably better than I do, and he wouldn't kidnap someone that's completely useless to him."

"But he did and you're going to help me find him. That's the least you can do for me after all of these years, Axel."

"You must have hit your head harder than the doctors think. I'm not getting guilt-tripped into doing this. What if he ran off with some other girl? I'm sure there had to be someone on the side, pulling his strings far better than you did."

That had come out on its own accord. It wasn't something Axel had planned on saying, he hadn't come here to be mean or rub it in her face that she wasn't cut out for a normal life, but he still couldn't find it in him to apologize for what he had said, even when it became obvious that Arlene had already thought of it and knew exactly who that other could have been.

"He's not you, Axel. He's not the kind to come with empty promises just to leave me hanging, but you wouldn't know anything about that, would you? You think that all relationships are about deception, to use or to be used. It's the only thing you know because that's what you've learned being next to Saïx for all of these years. You're the only one who doesn't see the way he manipulates you into doing everything he wants. You're the only one who can't see that he knows how you see him, as a fragile and scared person who needs to be saved, and he plays you so well too."

She glared at him intently. This wasn't the first time she had said this, nor was it the second. It had taken a long time for her to make Axel realize this the first time, but her influence over him wasn't as strong as Saïx's, and in the end she had lost. Axel had to know that this was true somewhere in his mind, but he didn't want to see it. He had the same problem now that he had back then.

"Axel, you know that it's true. He's been doing it all this time and you have to see it now, because if you don't, you'll help him ruin the life of many others. He had planned to murder Zexion –"

"Arlene..." Axel cut in sighing loudly as he ran his fingers through his hair and started to pace.

"You know that he did, Axel! You can't keep turning away from that. He planned it. He was climbing ranks from the second he joined the family, he nestled in with Zexion and waited for the exact right moment to stab him in the back. Oh, and to top it off, he got his stupid revenge on Zexion. God forbid that anyone took anything away from him. You told me this yourself, Axel. Everyone in the family knew that Zexion was up for second in command, but Saïx had to take that away, just to show him that he was better – to show him how well he could do without that scholarship."

"Seriously, stop it, Arlene. That doesn't matter anymore."

"It does matter! He used you to become more powerful. He killed Zexion knowing that you would take the blame for him. Axel, please. He's in on this too. The hologram must have shown you, he was there during the experiments. He knows everything about Aqua and I know that he will use her to take over the family."

"You know what? It was a waste of time coming here. You're not even making any goddamn sense anymore. Aqua is just an experiment, there's no way that Xemnas or anyone of the high-ups would even batter an eye at that." He turned around, reaching for the door knob to leave.

"Aqua is Xemnas' wife, Axel." Arlene sounded surprised that Axel didn't know, "You knew that, didn't you?"

Axel rested his head against the door, closing his eyes tightly. He really couldn't deny it. Naminé had shown him Saïx stand there, observing Xemnas while he and another lab assistant experimented on Aqua. He clenched his fists tightly as his thoughts raced. It didn't make sense.

"You're lying," he said, keeping his back to Arlene.

"No, Aqua is Xemnas' wife."

"Why would he experiment on her then? No one does that to someone they love. That wench showed me how they drenched Aqua in a tank of water – I know that each and every one of us in this godforsaken family is screwed up. Royally screwed, okay? But to experiment on their spouse?"

"It's not like that, Axel. Aqua suffered an accident that made her lose her memories. It was like a mental breakdown and she kept forgetting things and Xemnas tried to fix her with the help of Ansem."

"How do you know that? Who told you?"

"The hologram did, she showed it to me in the same dream that she showed me Aqua being experimented on. It was after the tank, she was on a stretcher and I could hear Xemnas talk to the lab assistant when he sees that she is waking up. Aqua called him Terra. Xemnas almost seemed human in that dream."

"Fuck..."

He hated how this was starting to make sense. Ansem regretted doing the experiments so as a last act of repentance he made a hologram that would rescue Aqua from being exploited. That hologram was telling Axel to find Aqua and protect her from Saïx, that's why Xemnas ordered Saïx's death in his nightmares every night because Saïx wanted to use Aqua as leverage to become the leader of the family.

Saïx must have known of Ansem's plans, that's why he had sent Axel there in hope that he would kill Ansem and attract the hologram that would lead them both to Aqua. This was the only reason Saïx was going along with him, he was using Axel to get what he wanted. Just like he always did.

"How long do you have to stay here?" Axel turned to face Arlene.

"I can leave whenever I want to."

"Get your things ready, we're leaving."

"Do you have a car?"

Axel dug into his pocket and pulled out Zack's car keys, "I'm borrowing a friend's car."

Arlene got out of her bed and pulled aside the door to a closet and reached for her clothes and the bag that she had taken with her. She was just about to pull the curtains close when the cell phone in Axel's pocket went off. He reached for it and looked at it to see if it was Zack calling from within the hospital.

"I'll wait outside. Hurry up." Axel walked out of the room and closed the door after himself before he answered. The caller-ID said 'home' which meant that it was probably Cloud calling to check up on them and make sure that they were okay.

"Hello?" He held the phone away from his ear when it sounded like the person on the other side of the line was scraping the phone against rocky pavement.

"Hello? Cloud?"

He gulped when he suddenly heard a sob and he hoped dearly that it wasn't Cloud, maybe he had left his phone at the Psychiatric Ward and maybe this was a patient of his calling.

"...Lea...help me..."

Axel's legs nearly folded underneath him when he heard Isa's voice through the phone and he had to remind himself of what he just had concluded to not give into whatever it was Saïx was trying to do.

"What are you doing?"

"I can't take this anymore. I'm about to do something very stupid if you don't stop me. Lea, please, help me. I don't want to be here."

"Why don't you talk to Cloud, he'll give you something to calm you down."

"Call me back when you hear this. I won't bother you after this."

A click and the conversation was over. It had sounded like a prerecorded message, but it had come from Zack's and Cloud's house which meant that it had to be Saïx calling. Axel had to fight the urge to run back to the house and make sure that Saïx was okay. He didn't act this way. Saïx wouldn't stoop this low.

Arlene walked out of the room and looked up at him, "What happened?"

Maybe that was his answer.

"Nothing. C'mon, let's go. I just have to leave a friend a message."

"What friend?"

Axel ignored her and hurried out to the reception desk where Zack stood, talking to some of the night shift nurses who were on a break. He frowned when he saw that his patient had come with Axel and he was clearly about to say something about it when Axel interrupted him by first giving him his car keys.

"You have to go back now," he said, "Saïx just called me and he was really weird. I think he might injure Cloud if you don't go there and stop it. Go armed with a baseball bat or something. He's dangerous, Zack. A cold-blooded murderer."

Zack stood frozen for a split second while trying to comprehend what Axel was saying, but that split second was all it took. He didn't stick around to ask him what he was talking about, was he lying, why was he bringing the patient with him – nothing. He took off, caring for nothing else but Clouds safety.

"How are we supposed to get out of here now?"

Axel walked out on the parking lot and stopped by the car that had taken him this far, "I still have the car you gave me. I didn't want to use it since Saïx might have bothered to memorize the license plates, but this is as good as it gets so get in."

He didn't look back as he drove to the main road in Echizen. He had been beating himself up for months now, wondering why he couldn't do anything right, wondering why he couldn't go through a single day without having to compromise what few principles he had left. Those questions had been answered now, they had been answered a long time ago, but he was too blinded to see what was obvious from the very beginning. All he could hope for now was that it wasn't too late to make things right.

~ooo~

"Cloud!"

Zack ran into his home, clutching a baseball bat that had been resting against the fence, near the entrance, as he took in the sight of the crashed frames on the walls, the glass on the floor and the obvious signs of struggle in the living room.

"Cloud!"

He ran upstairs and looked through every room, hoping to find him alive. There were no traces of blood anywhere and there was no smell of it either. Zack ran back to the hallway when he didn't find Cloud upstairs. His heart was beating fast and he almost felt dizzy with panic. This was his fault, he shouldn't have let two complete strangers into their home, and he knew he shouldn't have.

"Zack, in the kitchen."

Zack dropped the baseball bat and hurried into the kitchen, quickly scanning the room. He saw Cloud's hand behind the kitchen island and he hurried up to him.

"What happened? Cloud, who did this to you? Saïx?" Zack sank to the floor in front of Cloud and saw the blooming bruises on his face. Cloud had taken out a small bag of frozen peas from the freezer and put it against his left eye.

"No, it was some guys I've never seen before. I think they were from the yakuza. They took Saïx."

"He must've put up quite a fight."

Cloud snorted, "You'd think that he did. The punches I got weren't because we fought back. This one guy thought I was Saïx so he hit me while I was asleep. The other two that were with him pulled him away and found Saïx while I ran after them. Saïx must've pulled rank on them or something because two of them turned against the third guy - I think his name was Marluxia? Anyway, he was gagged, tied up and dragged away. He's the one who turned this place upside down."

"Saïx went with them willingly?"

"I wouldn't say willingly, he knew that he didn't have a choice. He said that he had to go after Axel. Isn't he at the hospital?"

"No." Zack sighed, "He escaped with the patient he went to see."