Take the Fight out of the Kid
Chapter 2
'Competition brings out the best in products and the worst in people.'- David Sarnoff
With a flourished movement of his cape the Reaper floated down from the slight dais and into the crowd of kids scarcely taller then me. I could see them flock around him like pigeons in the park and rolled my eyes before scanning the room for a place to sit down and just watch. Since Mr. Woods- the owner of the Logging company had sent in a letter requesting me I had a sheer shot at getting what I wanted because of that. Mr. Woods wanted me to be a river rider because he didn't have anyone volunteering for it, and it was one of those jobs that had to be done.
I couldn't see a single spot but the chair on the dais that the Reaper had walked off of. All the kids were looking at it like it was the holly grail so I took a deep breath and swelled my chest a bit before weaving my way through the crowd.
Someone bumped me so I bumped back, not willing to be pushed around in this group of kids who'd probably gone to school and knew what the hell was going on, but in Ireland there was no need for school, and when I got here there was no chance that my aunt would have paid for that. To be honest that was one of the reasons I wanted a job: so I could learn something.
As soon as I plopped down on the seat I raised a leg and put it on the seat in front of me and I examined the room, leaning to my right with my elbow on the armrest and my chin placed on my knuckles as I looked around the room, seeing all the pretty looking kids, as comfortable in the annoying white and gold clothes as they've ever been. All eyes turned to me and they all looked shocked and almost appalled by me just sitting down.
Black caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and I knew it was the Reaper, but I kept my face impassive as I looked out over the crowd of at least a hundred kids who'd been here for various numbers of days. All the boys were wearing the same thing as me and all the girls were wearing white dresses and gold sashes around their waists and their hair done up with gold ribbons; little golden shoes hugging their feet uncomfortably.
"Can I help you… Axel?"
"Yes, I'd like my papers now. I don't really have a week to sit around and cater to your every need."
"And why is that?" he sounded tart, but I ignored that and just answered the question truthfully.
"Because I want to get working, so I can get some education… so I can get out of this shit-hole of a city." the room stopped again and I refused to look up at the Reaper, hoping that if I pissed him off enough he'd just give me my papers and let me go.
"Your that boy from the letter… the one about the river riding, aren't you?" I nodded my head once, and removed my hand from under my chin to examine my newly polished fingernails, seeing that there wasn't a speck of dirt to pick out with my teeth. I let out a sigh and put my hand back under my chin with a slight roll of my shoulders.
I felt like I'd been prepped to go into a Boggle but I refuse to, if it means running away I promised myself long before that I'd never go into one.
"Are you going to look at me or are you going to examine your perfect nails?"
"I'd rather not… I got enough of a look at you. And you obviously seem to know me, and my nails aren't perfect. Perfection is not possible in this world- even for someone as well known and respected as you."
I was ripped out of the seat and held up so my face was level with that of the Reapers and I set my glare again, trying to find purchase for me feet. I gave up trying to find any kind of purchase for my feet and I know that he's going to at least chew me out before setting me down again.
"And what makes you think I wont set that pretty little face of yours into a Boggle and leave it there to rot? What makes you think, that I'm a nice guy you can befriend and then just forget about?" I get the full brunt of his piercing blue eyes and fear rushed through my body though I didn't show it.
"No, I think your going to give me what I want, because I wont kiss your ass like all the other stupid kids." I can see my reflection in his eyes and I want to kick him so I can run, but if I don't get my papers Mr. Woods will refuse to let me work for him.
"Huh… do me a favor, Jeremy, and take him to my office, I want to have a talk with this young Irish boy." I was set down and I made to sit back down but my shoulder was caught for the umpteenth time that day and lead into a room with a large wooden desk, large chair and a single uncomfortable looking chair.
I walked around the desk and sat in the Reapers chair since the other looked just too uncomfortable, a studded pattern on the seat that seemed completely uncomfortable.
I was about to set my feet on top so I could recline, figuring he was going to take a while to at least greet all the other kids, but my first ankle was caught by a pale hand with long fingers that made my skin crawl.
"I'd like my seat, Axel."
"Well then you really should have a more comfortable looking chair for your guests. Because studs digging into my butt doesn't seem appealing to me."
"Get. Off. My. Chair." I held my hands up in weak defense and got off the chair and I took my time walking around to the other chair. The Reaper waited for me to get to the seat before sitting himself, though I only stayed seated for a moment before hopping up. Setting my feet on the seat of the chair and planting my butt on the top of the back of the chair, I rested my elbows on my knees before sitting up straight and unbuttoning the sleeves of the white shirt so I could roll them up.
"I know all about you Axel, in Ireland you got into many, many fights, your parents were killed and you went ballistic. You were missing for close to a month and just when people had decided to carve your name into the stone with your parents, a large family house was found burning…" he paused here and I knew what was coming next; the story was about me after all, so how could I not? "You were standing out of the front lawn, laughing like a maniac as you watched the family in the top floor master bedroom burn." I could see the anger in his eyes and I gave him a bit of a smile as I reset my elbows on my knees.
"You know, Mr. Reaper… it's a real shame murder isn't a crime anymore, because now the score is settled by whoever takes out the whole family first- though it was never proven that I set the blaze. I was simply wandering by when I noticed, then I remembered something that was really… funny." it's true, I hadn't set the fire, I just fueled it- but don't get me wrong, I was positive that it was the man who had killed my family.
There is one fact that no one knows though, a fact that has remained secret until I've written them here: I had a sister. She was a beautiful little baby that didn't deserve to die, she wasn't even a month old yet and my parents had yet to take her out of the house so not even our family (like my aunt) knew about her. She had been crushed when my fathers body fell on her, he suffocated her, laying dead on top.
My parents had made such a big deal about not letting people see her, they said she was our princess and ours alone, they even let me name her: Lilly. I'd taken her away before anyone could get to our house that night, I took her and a basket and ran.
By the time I stopped my lungs hurt and I was in my meadow, the single place where I could always hide from all the dangers of the world and whenever I got into a fight it was the place I went to lick my wounds and it was the one place in the world I knew I could stay forever. I buried her under one of the large trees in the middle, there was a nook where I dug the grave.
She was so cold, and turning blue, it doesn't take long for a baby to loose it's color when they die. I'd taken my pocket knife from my back pocket and carved her name into the tree, it was the one tree I always climbed and hung out in when I went to the meadow.
"Really? How convenient for you. Either way, as soon as you got to Halifax on the ship you got into a fight, again in Toronto, then there was nothing until Edmonton, and finally you landed: Vancouver, British Columbia. You've been in a countless number of fights and to be frank I'm getting sick of it. I've seen your name so many times that it make me wanna puke." the Reaper leaned forward on his desk and I sneered at him as he fisted his hands.
"I wasn't aware I was so popular. Good to know I'm being thought of I suppose." I shrugged and looked down at my hands, waiting for him to say something else, though he said nothing.
"I just really don't know, if giving you this job you want, is really the right thing for you. don't you think another job would be just as good?"
"No. being a river rider pays much more then anywhere else. That fact that my life is on the line is nothing big for me, I've got priorities, and they all involve a high paying job." the Reaper just smiled at me and I took a deep breath. "After all, we've all gotta look out for our own, don't we?"
"Yes, yes we do I suppose. Now, get back into the room and stop acting like the spoiled killer you are."
"Oi, I'm not a killer. But I'll gladly go into the room and play nice if that's what you want… as long as I get those papers." the Reaper just smiled and motioned for me to go back into the room again, so I stood up and stuffed my hands into the white slacks pockets and went back into the room.
No one paid me much attention as I walked back into the room and sat down on the stairs this time. "Candice Galion, your next!" I flinched at the sound of the name being yelled, but went back to counting the crystals in the chandelier once the door was closed again.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
"So, what's your name? It's been two days, and you're the only one who hasn't even tried to hang out at all." I looked up from the small bobble I'd occupied my time with and stared at the girl, I could already see that her chest was already coming in and I could guess what 'career' they were pushing her towards: runner in mines. Girls usually gave up early and went into what used to be considered prostitution, but it's more commonly called being a Kicker.
"Axel." I didn't want to answer in more then one word since I knew that no one I met here would even want to look at me once we left this place. Granted I was one of the most well rested kids since I actually slept at night, I didn't bother trying to talk to the Reaper into the late hours of the night.
"Oh… do you mind if I sit with you?" I shrugged and moved over a little so give her space between us on the stair so she wouldn't be sitting on me. She sat down and I noticed the blush on her face, a slight blush crept onto my own face just for the simple fact that an attractive girl had never asked to sit beside me before. "I thought what you did on the first day was a really cool thing… not many people would do something like that."
I shrugged my shoulders and looked down at the floor, wondering what she wanted me to say. I turned my eyes back down to the bobble that I didn't own and just occupied my time. "A lot of us were wondering if you got in trouble, and I guess you could say I'm the only one brave enough to actually ask." I waited for her to ask, but she didn't so I remained quiet for a minute.
"I got in trouble, he yelled at me a lot then he gave up and sent me out." I turned to look at her and saw that her eyes were wide.
"And-and you didn't cry?"
I raised an eyebrow at that and angled my body so I was facing her. "What do you mean? Why would I cry is someone just yells at me?" her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open like it was something of great importance. "What are you, some kind of princess? Who the hell cant take an adult yelling at them? Their just bigger."
"Y-yeah but, when adults get mad… doesn't it scare you?" I shook my head and looked back down at the bobble, noticing that I'd broken it into two pieces.
"No, adults don't scare me, I don't know what would make you scared of them." I set both pieces of the bobble down and looked back to the girl. "I have a question for you, are you going to tell me your name, or should I start calling you 'girl' like the insensitive jerk that I one day want to be?" I raised en eyebrow and realized that she was blushing; not he effect I wanted. I'd wanted to get her pissed at me so she'd leave.
"The name is Jenn. But I have a question for you: why is your name Axel?" I smirked luckily after my parents had been killed I basically remade myself, and I'd always found Axel… it had a certain ring to it that I just loved.
"It's a popular name in Ireland." that was the opposite of the truth, but I'd come so far on lies as it was, so why not go just a little further? "Why did your parents name you Jenn?"
"Because, they actually named me Jennifer after my aunt, but I like Jenn better. My parents still insist on calling me Jennifer, but you see, I don't really like what Jennifer means because…" her voice just started to trail off, I'd completed my goal by at least making her talk non-stop and have me look like I actually care.
When I'd been speaking with the Reaper he made it sound that I had to be popular to get what I wanted, and I still had four days for that to happen. And believe me when I tell you, I can freaking act. Several of Jenn's friends came over after I put a smile on my face and looked at her dreamily, don't get me wrong, she was pretty- best damn looking girl that was there, but she wasn't what I thought the picture of love in my head was.
"So, Axel… where are you from? I know that accent isn't Canadian."
"Ireland, I moved here a few years ago."
"And you still have your accent?" I saw the girls nose turn up and smiled as sweetly as I could, lessening the harshness to my accent and making it that soft drawl Canadians had learned from bad movies and shitty actors accents.
"Yeah, 'tis one o' those comin' an' goin' kind o' tings." I put a smirk on my face and watched as the girls all swooned and the boy in the group glared slightly. I just gave them a smile as they started talking about their travels and where they go for vacations and I realized that with this one girl, who just might have been the one from the elevator with me, was the popular group and I was becoming 'part of the in crowd' something that made me want to vomit.
"So Axel, why did you come to Canada? And what was it like going up against the Reaper?"
"It was scary, I'm not going to lie. But uh, I don't really want to talk about why I came to Canada… not something I like to think of." I gave a smile to let them 'know I wasn't sad' it was laughable how many times kids got facial expressions wrong and took what you gave them for the truth- I did the same though, so I'm not calling superiority over them in that instance.
"Wow… do you uh… have a girlfriend?" my eyes went wide as I looked at Jenn, her face was bright red and I knew that my own pale skin turned at least pinkish.
"Um… no?" I don't think she could hear the question in it, but I just didn't know what to answer to something like that. Three days of actual human contact without conning to get something or flat out stealing it and I had a girl asking me if I had a girlfriend? Didn't these kids know that life sucks if you live by Hastings and Main? Well apparently not because her next question floored me.
"Well, do you want to have one… maybe me?" I turned over and saw the boys of the group all glaring and I looked away from them and Jenn to find the Reaper, figuring he'd give some kind of help.
Tall, dressed in his black cloak and his black hair slicked back into a ponytail, a few grey streaks traveling it's whole length. He looked like a vampire ready to pick any of us off, and his piercing amber eyes were trained right on me. I'm not sure if he'd put Jenn up to this to see what I'd do, but she did just get out of his office with him before coming over to me.
"Uh… sure, I guess you'd be a really nice girlfriend." I saw the Reaper close his eyes just in time before Jenn threw her arms around my neck and pressed a fairly wet kiss to the side of my face- like she'd just licked her lips. I turned to her with my eyes wide before giving her a smile, I'd never thought of having a girlfriend- certainly not a girl I'd really only met five minutes before hand.
"Ah! I'm so happy! I cant believe it, my first boyfriend is an Irish guy!" she did a sitting dance and clapped her hands, her face completely happy, and I was of course ecstatic that my pedigree could make her so happy.
"Of course… I'm happy my first girlfriend is such a nice girl like you." I knew nothing of her, but I guess that's what the relationship was supposed to be for, right? Her lips curled up into a smile and she grabbed my hand before starting to talk all about the rest of her family, apparently she was an only child- didn't surprise me. She loved the color pink- again, didn't surprise. Her favorite animal was horse- do I need to say it? If she had a choice she'd rather eat Sushi then a burger- go figure. And her uncle was the biggest Grimm in British Columbia, who didn't see that- wait a fucking second! A Grimm! Her uncle owned the biggest- or largest collection -of Boggles in the province?
My eyes went wide despite trying to keep my head cool and I just shivered, her uncle was the man who'd had Leaches and hell knows what else come after me to the point where there were some times I rarely got away?
I didn't feel safe about this, most kids my age would love to have a tie to the family, but I had no such thing because what happened if I ever pissed her off? Would they come and steal me in the night, would he send Wolves to do away with me and hide me so far away that I couldn't breathe?
"So, Axel… what did you ask the Reaper to be?" I gave Jenn a smile and started telling her what I wanted when I grew up, wondering if she was listening to me as much as I was to her, or if she was actually paying attention.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Darkness, it's all I could see when I opened my eyes, I had been sleeping fairly well at night, not opening my eyes or waking up. But being around Jenn for hours on end after finding out who her uncle was, it made me shiver. I sat up in my bed and looked around the room, it was so much like a orphanage with the males in one room the girls in the other all lined up perfectly.
I climbed out of bed and rushed across the cold floor and slipped out the small crack that was left in the door for those who were scared of the dark- allowed to sleep closest to the door while I was pushed to the furthest back corner because I preferred darkness.
"What are you doing out here?" I froze in my tracks, I'd been heading towards the elevator since I didn't know another way out of the building. I spun around and looked into the cold eyes of the Reaper, wondering if he'd even slept since he got the job.
"Looking for a way out of the building."
"What… you don't want to be here anymore?"
"I didn't want to be here the minute I got here and was stripped in the elevator." I knew I was glaring, but I couldn't really help it since I just wanted to go back and sleep in Roxas' bed with him so I could sleep soundly without any nightmares. And in my defense, I said I'd never woken up- not that I didn't have nightmares.
"Well… your out of luck for another four days, unless you'd rather take a bottom-feeder job and I assure you that I can do that if you want Axel."
"No, I don't want that… but what is the point of having us locked up here for a week? I don't like doing stuff I don't understand."
"That is for adults to know, and for children to find out when they become adults." he raised his right hand and pointed back to the room and I looked intently at the bony joints in his finger before looking back at him and widening my eyes in the classic 'puppy dog' expression.
"I'd like a glass of water though."
"There are pitchers throughout the room and a glass on every night stand."
"But all the ice melted, and my throat hurts… I need it to be cold." the Reaper rolled his eyes and lowered his hand before motioning for me to follow him.
"So… it was hard to miss the events of your day today. How does it feel having a girlfriend?" I could see the smirk on his face as he looked over his shoulder at me and only shrugged.
"I don't know… it's nothing too special really." I could tell by the fact that he made eye contact that he'd wanted me to do it and I just had to figure out why.
"Tell me something… any of the other kids you would have sent back without cold water. So why am I so special? You've kicked ten kids out of your chair, yet I can sit in it for hours on end and you don't seem to care."
"Because, popularity is something that makes people in this world. And I need to see how you deal with it."
"But. Why. Me?"
"Because… I know your name isn't Axel, common, it's my job to know everything about everyone. Your parents told someone, and that someone told someone, and I've followed that grape vine all the way back to you, so if you think I'm going to let you get away with whatever shit you want just because you think I don't know your name, think again," I was waiting for him to say it, if he'd just said my name I would have tried to rip his throat out, so it wasn't all that fair that he didn't say the name and my nerves were left on end, but that's what he wanted.
The Reaper had brought me to the kitchen, given me a tall glass of water filled with ice and a brownie before shooing me off to bed, and by shooing I mean he pushed me into the room and walked me to the bed.
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-
The next four days were horrible, the Reaper kept making an example of me; Axel, don't you think? Or Axel, what's the rule? He gave me popularity then ripped it away by asking me all the questions… until he 'busted' me for stealing a brownie- the same one he gave me.
As soon as I was labeled as 'the bad boy' again Jenn had come back, my 'friends' had come back and my life went back to being hell; stuck on a single floor of an office building with close to a hundred other ten year old kids.
"So Axel… I've decided that you're not going to get the logging job. I'm putting you into an office building, it pays better, the hours are a little longer, but it's not nearly as dangerous." my head jerked up from the center of the group I was in, he was supposed to give our jobs in private, the privacy of his office and then the kid just went home. They weren't supposed to be allowed to talk to anyone- so he'd decided to be nice to me again.
"Since I stole from you and all… why are you giving me a less dangerous job? You should want me dead, shouldn't you?"
"Of course not… but you see, you're going to work across town at least until you get a better job then a river rider. There is a very powerful business man who's actually asked for you personally, and being the Reaper I am, I couldn't say no. here is his buildings address, his name and contact information. Go see him now and he'll tell you what to do from there."
"I don't want to work on an office, I want to be a river rider! There is no getting out of an office job! No opportunity for school."
"You wont need it though Axel… don't you see? This is easier, by far it's easier, I promise you you'll be happy. This has happened before when a kid has said they want one job, I give them another but they don't accept." he looked so hoity and I couldn't take it.
I pushed Jenn off my lap where she'd decided was her perch since we'd become 'a couple' and I lunged at the Reaper. "You bastard! Give me the river job!" I didn't want to be stuck in an office, I didn't want to be inside this stupid concrete jungle any longer. I wanted to be back with water and trees, green grass that would be soft to lay down on during a break. I didn't want safety, I wanted swimming for my life and riding longs down the river! "Give it to me! Give me the job!"
I clawed at him with my short nails and punched him as hard as I could until I was pulled off of him and it just allowed me to get a good kick in.
"How dare you attack the Reaper!" I saw one of the Collectors raise his fist and just as he was about to punch my face his elbow was caught and my eyes went to the Reaper, the few scratches that had drawn blood looked ghastly and his eye was already turning black.
"It's alright Marluxia, Axel was just taking his papers and going." another Collector thrust the papers into my face and on my ID card I saw right there on it: class A job license. I'd wanted B, this wasn't fair. Class A license holders could only get a class A job- for those of high salary and 'high quality'. But class B licenses could get a class A job if they could pull it off, or a class C job if they couldn't, class B could be anything, while classes A and C were restricted.
"I hate you! I'll kill you!" what was I supposed to scream at the man who ruined my life? It was either a high job now or going into the forest and never coming out again. But running into the forest couldn't help keep Roxas alive, I had no choice but to do that job if I wanted to help him once his mom kicked him out at ten- or if he ran away sooner. "I swear to every devil in hell I'll be the one to kill you! Your head will be on a silver platter one day!"
Four Controllers grabbed me and pulled me out of the room, they had to hold up my papers and carry them as I thrashed and screamed. My throat was getting raw from screaming so loudly as we rode the elevator down, they were still holding me and I could tell when we were getting close to the bottom floor since one of the men let my left leg go and started covering a handkerchief in some sort of liquid.
"Alright kid. We're warning you once, stop it now or you'll be put out." I didn't stop, I couldn't bring myself to stop. I jerked my elbow into one of their stomachs and kicked with my free leg before a cloth covered hand was pressed against my nose and mouth. I cant describe the smell, but I didn't get much time since it was much stronger then chloroform- an invention by government chemists before the revolution.
When my eyes opened all I could see was concrete, my papers were stuffed into the left breast pocket of a white blazer that matched the rest of the white clothes that still looked as white as it was when I'd taken it off the hanger the day I'd flipped out.
I got up and looked around the alley, wondering how the hell I'd stayed clean in such a place, but as I looked down where my body had been I realized that a blanket had been set out as a block from my suit to the ground. Reaching my hand back into my left pocket I pulled the papers all out again and flipped through them: I set my ID into the wallet I'd found in the right lower pocket and looked through the ten or so pages to see what I had. My eyes narrowed when I saw the envelope with my name on it, the name I hadn't used since my parents died and it looked like the Reapers neat scrawl-like writing.
I opened the envelope and noticed right away that there was something still in there once I took out the paper, but I left it alone and opened the note. 'Dear Axel, I suppose your wondering why I wrote your real name on the envelope for starters, but I promise it was just to get you to read this. I've taken interest in you, and that in turn means that I'll be watching your future closely. It's allowed that a Reaper take one child under their wing a year and prepare them for becoming a Reaper if we think they'll fit the bill. I've chosen you.
'Your job might change very drastically very quickly, but I'll do everything in my power to make sure some conditions you want met are met. Now please, go to the address I've given you and speak with Mr. Skellington. He's a business associate of mine and will take care of you.' I reread the letter twice before letting out a sigh and crumpling it.
I pulled the thing out of the envelope, not even bothering to look at it or pay it any attention, and stuffed it into the left front pocket of the blazer.
I searched in my pockets, looking for my lighter and smiled when I found it. I pulled it out and held up the note and envelope before turning the flint wheel and watching as the letter and envelope caught fire and I held on until the fire got too close to my fingers.
The letter and envelope hit the ground and kept burning, I should have left but I didn't to make sure they vanished into ashes. The look of paper turning black and curling into itself was something I've always had a hard time averting my eyes from, and that alley was no exception.
"Hey! Who're you?" I looked up from the small burning pile and noticed a tall Asian man holding a fairly large axe in his hands. My eyes went wide and my heart instantly started beating rapidly, like it was trying to burst out of my chest. "Answer me!"
"Axel!" he was still at the mouth of the alley and I was in the back, but he was blocking the cleanest way out, and I doubt this Mr. Skellington would care about an excuse on why I'm dirty, just that I am.
"I-I don't know you!" his eyes widened and I knew that was the look of a man about to kill. There were still a few people left, a few crazy people that others hadn't killed because they hadn't wanted to get close enough to them. "W-why are you here?" he was yelling oddly, his words were fragmented and the sound of rotting flesh hit my nose and I assumed right away that it was him- I was right.
"I'm here… because I woke up here." I didn't have a better answer, what ten year old would? I ground my teeth together as he took a step forward and shivered when he switched the hands he was holding the axe in, and it looked like he'd set it in his stronger arm.
"I don't know you… what are you doing here?" the second half of the sentence was yelled, but as I opened my mouth to answer he just roared and rushed at me.
I let out a scream, a completely girly scream that was in no way manly or the scream of a child who'd seen his family murdered and watched a family burned. It was the scream of a child who was going to die.
I turned around and spotted the crack between the buildings, so being the kid that I was I rushed over and started wiggling my way between the buildings, trying to not hear what the man was saying. I looked back and saw the axe swing down, missing me by just a few inches. I shrieked again, hoping that someone might hear my raw throaty screams.
Murder was allowed, but some citizens would still at least help a woman or child if they were being attacked. I looked back and saw that the man had taken a step back, he was still yelling and screaming at me but I saw as he raised the axe to throw it and redoubled my efforts to wiggle to the other side.
"No, no, no, no, no! No! D-don't kill me!" I turned my head towards him, wanting to see if he was actually going to throw it.
My heart was pounding in my chest and I could feel my knees start to shake as I saw the wind up. Tears were streaming down my face and again, I'm not sure when they started. My body shivered and I kept wiggling, I'd decided a long time before that moment that if I was ever to go down it'd be kicking and fighting with all my might.
My eyes locked with the crazy man's and just as he was about to let the axe loose, he was tackled from the side by someone- or something -really small in comparison. Frozen legs and arms, my face must have looked utterly shocked; but I knew that figure, and when I heard the scream I knew I was right.
"Roxas!" my voice hurt like hell as I shouted for him, forcing my vocal cords to work passed the want to do nothing but scream. "Roxas!" my legs started pushing me back in the direction of the alley and I fought to go back as far as I'd gotten so I could help who might possibly be my only family.
"Axel! Axel help me!" I didn't want to hear that, why did he have to make me hear that? Death was always easier to deal with when you couldn't hear the people dying; something I learned back in Ireland. I fought the last five feet until I was back in the alley, the crazy man was swinging the axe at the dumpster and I could see the small sliver of blonde hair coming from behind it where Roxas was hiding.
"Hey! Big-Fat-and-Ugly!" I grabbed up a molded burger and threw it at the back of the mans head.
The minute he stopped mid-swing and turned his head in my direction I could feel my heart in my throat more prominent then any atoms-apple I'd seen in any man. He turned towards me and I pointed to the crevice that I'd just crawled out of, making sure it was Roxas' attention I had.
"Get going! Go home Roxas!"
"B-but you didn't come home! I had to find you!"
"I'll never go home if you don't get going!" I knew he was small enough to slide through the crevice much easier then I had and I watched with fear coursing through my body as he vanished into the slit.
The axe man turned towards the crevice and he raised the axe to do the same as he'd tried with me; to throw the axe and kill the runner. But I wasn't about to let that happen just like Roxas hadn't allowed it to happen to me.
"I said 'Hey'!" my legs moved on their own and I rushed at the man, grabbing onto the head of the axe and I tried to pull it out of his grasp, but he was too strong and it didn't work. I took a moment to look down the crack and I saw that Roxas was gone and let a sigh escape my lungs.
The sigh was a bad mistake and the single moment of relaxation made my hands weaken enough to let go and I was thrust onto the ground.
I cant remember how it happened, but I was suddenly standing in the alley splattered in blood and the man was laying down in front of me on the ground, he'd been hit at least three times, the final hit penetrating his skull and the axe remained there.
I'd shaken my head, knowing I should go find Roxas and tell him I was alive- since fine would not describe me, but I fixed my blood covered jacket and rolled my shoulders a little as I fixed my hair by shaking my head out and ruffling the flaming red locks.
As soon as I left the alley I saw three people and they all jumped back from me, my face was set and my eyes as hard as the emeralds they so resembled. I'd had one of the women ask me if I was alright and I just shrugged and jabbed my thumb back into the alley. "He's the dead one, so what do you think?" I'd rolled my eyes at her and started walking towards Stanley Park, or the sky train station that lead that way.
People looked at me funny, because nine times out of ten people covered in blood, walking down a street with a vacant expression is the kind of person about to snap and kill again. But I was just taking the information in: I'd just killed a person, willingly, and without pre-meditation, I still didn't count the family in the house that burned- simply because I had chickened out before lighting the fire.
"Hey! You think your some kind of tough-shit kid?" I stopped as a hand was set on my shoulder and I turned so I was looking up at the man; he had black hair- dyed -and it looked like he was wearing red contacts in his eyes, and his skin had been bleached from pale to ghost while.
"No." I shrugged my shoulder and his hand slid off of me so I could keep walking, and I did.
It felt like an our of body experience as I made my way to Robson and Davi on the sky train, people would walk into the car then walk back out once they saw me. I was standing against one of the posts, hands in my pockets and the same blank expression on my face since I didn't know what to do about that horrid feeling settling in the pit of my stomach because of what I'd done.
"Excuse me… you cannot come into this building like that." a security guard walked up to me and I held up my hands for him to stop before he could touch me, also showing that I didn't have a weapon.
"I got into a scuffle on my way from the Reapers… I'm here to see Mr. Carlton for a job. Is that possible?" the security guard walked me over to the security office, not making a scene and not treating me like a criminal. I emptied my pockets out onto a table- forgetting my right front pocket -and sat down as the security guards checked with the front office about my appointment and asked me what happened.
They tried to make me explain how I went from being on the ground with the axe above my head to having the axe buried in his head but I just couldn't remember and they relaxed a bit once they assured themselves I wasn't a threat. The security guards didn't care about the law, they just wanted to make sure that the head of the building was safe; Mr. Skellington- just my luck.
I was released and allowed to go to my meeting. The elevator made me want to get sick and by the time the elevator stopped my head was spinning and I stumbled out of it.
My head swiveled from one side to the other and as soon as I saw the trash can the nerves in my stomach let loose. The secretary looked more scared then I felt and rushed out around her desk, leaving a call going on the desk as she asked me if I was alright.
"Mary, leave us. He's fine… get him some Ginger-ale if you want to make yourself useful." I looked up and saw a very tall bald man standing in the large glass doorway, his hands tucked behind his back and his black and white pinstripe suit folded and creased in all the right places.
"Y-yes Mr. Skellington." Mary got up and vanished into a room and Mr. Skellington walked over. He extended his slender, thin hand and I flinched away since the general reaction to most Vancouver adults now is to slap them first and ask questions when your drunk- though I didn't know if he had kids or not to know this fact.
"Hey, just relax, I'm going to bring you into my office so you can sit comfortably… do you want to keep that trash or would the one in my office be alright?" I let go of the pale I'd had a death grip on and allowed him to support most of my weight as I got up and all of it as he picked me up. I struggled for a few moments to get out of his grasp but failed and just went slack since I had no strength left.
I was set down on a black leather couch and a new trash pale was placed in my lap, it scarcely had a piece of paper in it and actually smelled quite fragrant, too bad the fragrant smell made me get sick again.
I flinched again when Mr. Skellington set his hand on my back and rubbed circles, no one had been around when I was sick since my parents, and they'd do the same thing. "You'll be alright… it's just nerves. My men called up and told me about what happened, I'm sure you don't want to be here as it is, so just relax." the feeling was uncomfortable for me as he leaned back into the couch and continued rubbing my back as I tried to regulate my breathing and stop my eyes from watering.
"I have a question… why are you wearing eyeliner?"
"R-R-Reaper. H-his people…pu-pu-put it there." I clenched my jaw and squeezed my eyes shut tight trying to stop the stuttering.
"Oh, alright. If you want, I'll have a car take you back to your place and you can just come tomorrow. I'm sure killing someone is a harsh thing for a kid like-"
"Me? Please… don't pretend like you know me sir. Familiarity isn't something I want with my boss… I'll come, I'll do my job and then I'll leave at the end of the day."
"Well, not knowing me is going to be hard to do since you're going to be my personal assistant."
"Then I'll get inside your head and nothing else." my stomach was still ready to spill all it's contents, but since there were none left to spill I clenched my jaw and stood up so I could get back to Roxas' house- or find him roaming around the city.
"You know… you don't have to hate everything. The world isn't as bad as you make it out to be." I froze at that comment because what the fuck did he know about how cruel the world was? He lived in a penthouse somewhere, he ate caviar and escargot drank the finest wines in the world and traveled whenever he wanted to wherever he wanted.
"I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." I set the trash pale down on the ground and got up, stuffing my hands into my pockets in the process. The door seemed larger as I walked out since when he'd carried me into the room. Mary handed my a can of Ginger-ale and I took it with a fairly tart thanks, she just smiled and asked me to stop for a moment.
"Here, this if for you Axel. It contains everything you'll need for your job here with us, the phone bill is paid out of your wages since you need one, but the rest of it is a gift from Mr. Skellington to you. Your duties start at six in the morning at the front door when Mr. Skellington walks in." Mary handed me a fairly small briefcase over her counter but as I took it off I could tell that it was packed full because of how heavy it was.
"What, I don't have to wake him up myself?"
"No Axel. Mr. Skellington is actually a very easy man to cater to. Your job will simply be making sure that his papers are distributed to the correct places on time either in the building or around the city. I'll help you with everything until you don't need me anymore. And as for waking him up, he's got a very persuasive wife for that." she gave me a wink and pat my head a few times with a very soft smile before shooing me out the door so I could 'go home and tell my parents' I figured that'd be a better bomb to drop later since the next day I had to go out and get my own apartment- or slum in a dumpster until my first paycheck.
AN:
Me: hello, thank you for reading! #^_^# makes me smile a lot~!
Axel: yes, the plot will be starting to pick up a little, and Elizabeth says that if you'd like a vocabulary sheet she'll edit the first chapter and add a vocabulary section to it.
Roxas: where am I? and why was Axel stuck in a room for a week, and why did that person try to kill us?
Me: the guy was just crazy, and as for Axel being stuck in a room for the week that was more a 'spur of the moment' kinda thing. I don't really have a defined plot for this story.
Axel: I know who both the Reaper and Mr. Skellington are… why are they who they are?
Me: Because, I wanted to put Jack Skellington into it. And Xigbar's the Reaper because he makes a good pervert (Who else would want to be trapped on a single office building floor with at least a hundred kids?)
Sora: please review! We'd all love to hear what you have to say! =^-^=