Kingdom Hearts One Shots Series
09 – Lost
Pairing: Axel x Reader
"I'm home!" I called out at the entrance while taking off my shoes. The scorching summer was making tiny beads of sweat to slide down my forehead. "Welcome home," replied a boy who emerged at the door, holding a broom. And then a black cat ran over and cried happily at me. "Hey Xion," I cooed, picking up the energetic black cat. It quickly climbed onto my left shoulder and simply hid in a lock of my short hair, snuggling up. Roxas, who greeted me, said, "I had bought some ingredients for dinner tonight, and we need your help." I adjusted by grasp on my schoolbag and said, "Well, let's get it done, shall we?"
To stop being so confusing, I was a university student studying overseas, and I was currently staying with a detective and his sidekicks. Being able to study abroad was always my dream, and I would not rest until I could finally realise it. I could still recall our first encounter…
After long hours of flight, I finally reached Twilight Town, where I would spend the next four years dealing with my favourite subject of study. Full of hope, I clutched onto my baggage and belongings, walking aimlessly in the airport. I was waiting for the pickup bus to Twilight University, but as time went by, anxiety settled in and I could only glance around in hopes to spot anyone associated to the university. No such luck, perhaps? I felt like I was lost in the sea of people and drowned by noises. At times I adjusted my cap and tugged at my jacket; a typical behaviour when I was anxious.
And as I was pacing up and down, I spotted someone spying on me. At first I merely shrugged it off as tricks played by my mind, but soon I discovered exactly three males stealing glances at me. OK, I decided that it was already creepy enough and picked up all my belongings and started walking away. I heard footsteps coming at me, and to my horror they were growing louder. "Crap," I thought, and quickly made a run for it. "Hey! Stop!" I heard their shouts behind me, but I was not stupid enough to obey them anyway, not when I was alone and lost in the middle of nowhere! Thanks to my baggage, my speed grew slower, inversely proportional to my adrenaline level. And as if to end my misery, I fell over and hit the ground face first. And one of the males tripped over and landed on me, squashing me further.
"Ouch!" Both of us cried, and yet another male could not seem to brake and yelled, "Roxas, get out of the way!" … And he landed on us as well. I was quite surprised I did not turn into a pancake. When I finally managed to lift up my face, I saw a pair of feet in front of me, and the person crouched down, looking down at me. The man also wore a cap, and there were two upside-down triangular birthmarks under his eyes and his hair was spiky and brilliantly red to the point of being annoying. He said, "Now, be a good kid and hold still." And he took off my cap, revealing my now-messy hair. But he looked astonished instead. "… A girl?"
"What?" The boys on my back exclaimed, and the one named Roxas said, "But Demyx said he finally spotted the thief!" "But she looked just like him with the cap and the jacket!" Another male replied. I snapped, "What in Chocobo's name is going on?!" I swore everyone in the airport all stared at us, stuck in a heap.
After five minutes, I finally got the truth out of them; they were supposed to track down a male thief, who was a from a pickpocket organisation whose victims are the people in the airport. And I sadly so happened to dress up so convincingly like their target, and thus the awkward misunderstanding. Apparently, they were from a detective agency, with the redhead, Axel, as the detective and owner, and Roxas and Demyx were sidekicks working for him. Nevertheless, I accepted their apology and I safely reached the university via the late-coming bus…
Maybe you were wondering why I was with Roxas. It was because the dorms on campus were too expensive, and I had a tight budget, so I opted for home-stay instead. And I just happened to choose their agency (which was actually their residence as well) by chance, and…. well, here I was. At first, it was really awkward, with the thief incident and all, but over time, we got along quite well, I might say. Just like a dysfunctional family. I normally helped them in terms of cooking, cleaning and sorting data. Demyx and Roxas must be really grateful to have me around, since I reduced their workload. To be honest, they were really nice and funny people. Axel was the oldest of us all and as cocky as he might seem to be, he was actually cool and laidback. Demyx, the bubbly one, was the one to handle food and entertainment; he could play a sitar! Roxas was the "door-boy" who helped to answer phone calls from clients and served guests. They even kept a black cat as a pet. They named her Xion and it was even more fun having her around. We made a great team, even though I was the only girl in the agency.
One day, one of my classes was cancelled and I had nothing left to do in the university. So I returned to the agency at about one in the afternoon. After I unlocked the door and went inside, no one was at home. Normally I would expect to see Roxas, or Demyx if he had not gone grocery shopping. Maybe they all went out regarding some cases? I remembered seeing Inspector Leon visiting the agency a few days ago. As much as my curiosity wanted me to, I normally did not interfere with their detective work too much, so I did not know what they were discussing. But I could tell it was an important case they were facing, with Axel being so serious lately.
When I put down my textbooks, I remembered that I had to feed Xion around this time. So I went to the kitchen to get some cat feed and looked around for the cat. She liked to play hide-and-seek with us, so I paid attention in some of the most easily ignored hiding spots in the house. I decided to try the storeroom this time. I opened the door, and to my surprise Xion sprung out and tackled me down. Thankfully I left the cat feed on the floor earlier so I did not have to clean up any mess. "Whoa, what's up, Xion?" I asked, sitting up. She jumped off from me, but she was not displaying her playful side. She looked anxious. She bit onto my sleeve and tugged around, as if trying to tell me something. I got up, and Xion proceeded to dash off to the exterior of the agency, meowing loudly to call me over. I followed her and she dragged a shoe to me. I immediately recognised it as one side of Roxas' sneakers. He always wore them whenever he went out for errands, but now only one side was left. What was weird was that it was quite dirty. Maybe Xion did it?
She somehow could tell I did not get what she was trying to tell me, so she tugged at the end of my pants again, telling me to go inside the house right into the living room. This time, I finally noticed Demyx's sitar on the couch, which I did not when I first came in. Another strange phenomenon to add to the list: Demyx never left his sitar unguarded like that on the couch, be it leaving for a drink or toilet or anything, unless it was really an emergency. Now this had set me thinking; was Xion trying to tell me that something had happened before I came back?
After making some plans, I picked up the keys and hurried off to the grocery shop nearby. The lady in the store told me she did not see either Roxas or Demyx since yesterday's visit. Since I had not got many clues to follow, I headed back to the agency. I wanted to check if any of them had left me a message or something. Maybe they really left to finish their assigned tasks? I hoped so. This was getting unnerving, and I did not like it at all.
I started looking around on Axel's working table. Amidst loads of papers and files, I found a scrap piece of paper with the password to the surveillance cameras in the agency scribbled on it. Usually I would stay away from it, but right now I seemed to have no choice left but to search for clues. After rewinding through some recorded videos, I stopped to play a video where a man in black was at the door. He rang the doorbell, and Demyx was the one to open it. He showed Demyx the shoe Xion showed me earlier. To my astonishment, he and Demyx got into a brief fight and Demyx was hit unconscious and dragged out. I had to muffle my mouth from gasping out loud, it was a kidnap! Before I could get more details of the man's appearance, he shot the camera lenses and there went the last clue I had. Only a black screen was shown from then on. Only voices could be heard, and I heard a car's engine roaring and diminished.
My mind was running around in panicked circles; if this was a kidnap, why? What was the point? Money? Or… something else? Then I thought of the conversation Inspector Leon shared with Axel some nights ago. Subconsciously, I rummaged through the papers once again, and finally found what I was looking for: a newly bought file. Inside was a profile of a murderer, with reports regarding direct evidences of his convictions. "Could it be that the man in black wanted to erase the evidences by kidnapping and threatening, or to take us out one by one so no one would pursue him anymore?" I mumbled to myself. That was totally crazy, who knew something from the movies could happen in real life, and worse still, on me?
Thankfully, Axel was not a very organised guy, or else the man in black could just barge in and destroy all of these. Or Lady Luck was with me, so I still have the evidences. Not taking any chances, I locked the evidences up in a small cupboard under the table. I tried calling Axel, but only a long beep was heard; his phone was not turned on for some reason. A problem arose before me; Axel would not be back until six, and it was only half past three in the afternoon. This meant I had to search for the two sidekicks myself right now. It was better than sitting around doing nothing. Again, I left the agency with Xion, since she might recognise the kidnapper if we happened to cross paths hopefully. I went around asking everyone I knew whether they had seen anything unusual or some strangers in the neighbourhood. After an hour or so, all my efforts were marked as futile when all results were negative. With Xion on my shoulder, I crossed the road without paying much attention to my surroundings, and when I hear a loud blaring from my left, I had to jump backwards and fall on my butt; a car almost hit me by accident!
Xion jumped off and came over to me seconds later. I was about to give the driver a piece of my mind (although it was actually my fault), the driver lowered the car's window. To my surprise, it was Inspector Leon. "It's you?" He was shocked to see me as well. "I need your help; something happened," I got my point cross quickly, and he told me to get in the car. While he was driving, I told him everything that had happened so far.
After a five minute drive, we reached outside the police station. Leon said, "I have to gather some supplies, so wait here." I nodded, watching him jog into the building. I let out a sigh and decided to rest for a short moment, but my cell phone rang. An unknown number was displayed on the screen, still I answered the call. I heard some struggling grunts and someone calling for help. My brows furrowed in confusion, but then another voice came in, "Do you recognise your friends' voices?" My instincts yelled at me that the person on the line was the culprit. I was about to speak, but the voice stopped me, "If you value their lives, I suggest you remain silent and do as I say, no questions asked." My fists clenched tightly and I answered, trying not to sound too mad, "Fine."
"Good girl. Now, head to the town square near the police station alone. Divulging any information to the cops is a big violation to the rules," the voice said with a smug. Damn! I was so close too… "OK… If anything happens, I'll just have to run for the police station, right? It's not too far…" I convinced myself in my mind, preparing myself mentally. With that in mind, I opened the door and stepped out of the car. I left Xion behind though; I did not want her to get hurt. She clawed slightly at the window, begging me to take her along, but I ignored her. Now it was a fight for me and me alone.
I picked up speed and dashed off to the town square. The place was crowded as usual, no matter what the time was. I picked up my phone as another call came in; I assumed it was the culprit again. He must have been spying on me, to be able to find the right time to call. "What do you want?" I hissed before the person can say anything. The voice merely replied, "I thought we had made an agreement that there would be no questions asked."
"Cut the crap, now what?"
"… Head to the bank in the department store and get me ten million munny."
"Do you think I have that much money?"
Was this kidnapper out of his mind? If he knew that much, including the fact that I was a student living in the agency and related to them, he could not possibly think I was rich, right? "Of course not, girl… but you better shut up if you don't wish to hear your friends scream."
"Why should I listen to you? I don't take orders from you! You could be a scammer for all I know." There had been scams like these lately, and I was not planning to fall for it. "Oh really? Bring him over," the voice said, and I heard another person being dragged in or something. "Axel, is that you?" I heard Roxas blurting out. Wait, what? I listened closely and the voice indeed resembled Axel's. Now my adrenaline level spurted so high I thought my head was going to burst anytime soon.
Calm down… I had to! "Fine…"
The person then further provided me an account number, I faintly recognised it as the agency's, since the number had many eights in it. He told me to withdraw that ridiculously huge sum of cash and bring it to him, without telling anyone. Although I did not know why he wanted the agency's money, I guessed he needed me to get it for him because he would need someone who was related to Axel, or else he could have get it himself, already knowing the number and all. Maybe Roxas and Demyx did not wish to cooperate. And I did not have much of a choice either.
In the bank, I was very distressed, even the cool air emitted from the air-conditioner could not soothe me. Two of my friends, Tifa and Aerith, who worked at the counters, seemed to be quite worried. But I could not tell them anything, not when my friends were at risk, not when he was at risk too. When I got out, I held a big black bag close to me. The kidnapper ordered me to wait for a signal, which was a black car with a weird white insignia. It did not take me too long to spot it amidst the crowd. I made my way to an alley, which the car was headed to. I took a turn to find the car facing me. Before I could start to think, I was caught and muffled by a piece of cloth with chloroform. Despite my best abilities to breathe in as little as possible, consciousness seemed to slip away fast. The last thing I remembered was the floor…
"Where did she go?" Leon was baffled by the disappearance of the girl from his car and only her cat was left. "Not good…" he muttered, pulling out his phone…
Axel opened the door, calling out, "Hey! I'm back!" He then proceeded to take off his shoes and dropped his bag at his table and plopped down on the couch. He plugged in his phone to charge it; the battery died on him hours ago. He stretched and asked, "Say, is dinner ready? I'm starving." No reply came. Axel looked over, he then realised he was home alone. "Strange… hey, anybody home?" he asked, getting up and walked around. He looked in the kitchen, knocked on the bedroom doors and all, still there was no sign of anyone else besides him. Axel noticed his table and said to himself, "My table is messy, but never this messy…" He reached the table and scanned the surface. Papers were all over the table surface; clearly somebody had rummaged through them. Axel muttered to himself, "Hmm? The password?" He picked up that scrap piece of paper and he quickly whizzed through the video. Axel tightened his fists, muttering, "By the way, where is that file?" It did not take him too long; a key was found in the keyhole of the cupboard under the table. He never left any keys hanging like that.
When he got the file, his cell phone rang. Axel grabbed it and spoke through it, "Yeah?" "Axel, we got a problem." It was Inspector Leon.
"What?"
"Roxas and Demyx were kidnapped, and she went missing."
"You don't mean, her?"
"I'll fill you in later, get in my car now."
Axel could hear the sound of car engine idling outside. He picked up the keys and some important things and darted out the door. After he got in, the car sped off.
Gosh, my head hurt like hell… I woke up to Roxas and Demyx calling me. I was in a small warehouse. I tried to move, but then realised that I was tied back-to-back with them. Oh great. "Are you guys OK? Where's Axel?" I blurted out the first thing I had in mind. Demyx shifted a bit and replied, "What, he's not here at all!" Roxas explained, "They tricked us into believing one of them was Axel, so I had mistaken." I struggled a bit and asked, "How the heck did you all end up in here?" Roxas said he was attacked while on the way to the grocery shop, and Demyx said he received a weird phone call while he was waiting for Roxas at the agency. When he got out, the man in black showed him one of Roxas' shoes. And then he failed to win the fight.
I told them my situation, and they all slumped down in defeat. "Now no one's going to save us," whined Demyx. I ignored him, wriggling around like a worm in an attempt to free myself from the ropes. Roxas said, "It's no use, we've tried that for hours and we're still here." I sat up straight and replied, "We can't just give up! Not now!" "By the way, you said you handed them ten million munny from the agency's account?" Roxas asked. "Yeah, what's wrong?" I asked, looking around for something - anything to get us out. Demyx said, "Do you think he's going to finish us off after getting the money?" I was about to retort, but a deafening explosion noise blasted in through the walls.
"BOOM!"
"What was that?!" Roxas exclaimed. And then some angry footsteps were heard coming towards the door. Roxas and I glared at Demyx for being such a bad fortune teller. I steeled myself up and quickly said to the boys, "Guys, be prepared. Do as I say and don't give a damn about what's going to happen." "What, why?" they asked, astonished. I fixed my glare at the door and snapped, "Don't ask, and just follow my command. Stand up." We all stood up, staggering a little. We could hear a voice booming outside, "What the hell is wrong with the money?!" The moment the door flung open, I yelled, "Charge!" All three of us did our very best to build momentum while charging at whoever opened the warehouse door. We knocked down some people and fell onto them. Some people fired gunshots and I warned again, "Watch out!" This time all of us tried to run to different directions, as if trying to tear ourselves apart. Somehow, a miracle happened and the ropes tying us up were broken, although our hands were still tied to our respective backs. "RUN!" We screamed, and scrambled off to random directions.
I got separated with them and I had to find a safe hiding spot. Now that I noticed, the sky was already quite dark. I was not familiar with the surroundings; it seemed like a different town. Anyways, I had to get to the main town area where lots of people would be to find help. I ran and ran, but I was not as fast as before. I may have sprained my ankle when I tried to struggle my way out when I was dragged to the black car. Geez, just what I needed. Even the streetlights were not many in this place. I was lost in the middle of nowhere. At times I came into contact with very large metal boxes; maybe I was at a dock where containers were kept. Finally, I managed to squeeze into some space among the containers and hid there. While I was catching my breath, I could only think of Axel. "Help… Come quickly…"
Meanwhile, in Leon's car, Leon was explaining, "The police dogs tracked down her scent and they lost it in an alley. My colleague told me they saw a black car with white insignia leaving said alley via town surveillance camera." Axel merely stared at the road ahead and nodded. Leon continued, "The car was found to have exited Twilight Town. From the direction they are headed, there is only one town there. It has a dock. The police are heading there now." "Port Royal, huh…" Axel mused. Xion was sitting in his lap, wriggling anxiously every now and then.
After much contemplation, Axel concluded, "My deduction is that the culprit could be who I currently held evidence against." After making a turn at a sharp corner, Axel added, "The serial killer, Xigbar." Leon nodded as well and added, "There's a high possibility, but then it would be very dangerous. By any chance she could have also been kidnapped by him." A frown slowly creased on Axel's forehead. He recalled what was in the reports of evidences; this serial killer had murdered several teenage girls in the past few months, mercilessly. He even… sexually assaulted most of them. Axel banged his fist on the dashboard furiously, gritting his teeth. Leon could only frown at the sight of this. "Let's hope they're alright…" said Leon after some silence.
I was still hiding in the same spot. It was getting really late and I had been hiding for at least half an hour. I decided to make a run for the town area. I did not know where Roxas and Demyx were right now, but I could not just stay here forever. Somebody had to do something, right? I slowly crawled out of the narrow hiding spot after peeking around. When I was turned around, I came across someone I really did not want to see right now; the serial killer I read from that file, Xigbar! "Aw hell no…" I cursed, without saying anything, he ran towards me, and of course I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I took a few sharp twists and turns in the maze of containers and I had to stop; a dead end and nothing else was beyond. By now, my ankle was pretty sore and I could not run anymore. I turned around but the serial killer was blocking the way. I tried to get a grip, and he closed in slowly. He cracked a wicked smile and said, "You sure are playing hard to get, eh?" And he took off his top. My mind screamed for me to escape, but I could only scream out of fear. Since my hands were still tied up, and my legs were wasted, I was cornered to the wall of a container very soon. That man was only about one metre away from me, and I kicked around blindly to get away. Sadly, all of that was futile. I thought, "Is this the end?"
"BAM!" All I could see was a rapid whiz of shadow colliding to Xigbar's head and he flew away and fell down aside. All my life flashed before my eyes and I could only recognise the shadow just now as a big barrel, rolling slowly on the floor right now. Xigbar was now unconscious on the ground. I slumped down the wall, and I heard Axel calling out my name, and I thought I heard Xion too. My eyes searched frantically for his form and finally I saw him running towards me from a distance. I tried to stand up, but my knees went weak instead and I fell down. I could feel my eyelids growing heavier by the minute. And blackout ensued, followed by his voice…
The smell disinfectant was really annoying at some point, and that woke me up. I found myself lying on a hospital bed. When I woke up, everyone was beside me. Roxas and Demyx suffered a few bruises, but they were fine. Leon assured me that the serial killer and his lackeys were all arrested successfully, and I indirectly helped them. Turned out, the money was just an extra loot; their main goal was just to wipe out anyone and anything against them. Axel had an unreadable expression on his face, but I could tell that he was relieved. Xion was kept out of the room, since hospitals did not welcome animals. Too bad, I wanted to see her; she must have been worried sick. They said I passed out due to low blood glucose level and I was really worn out. Although not injured seriously, I needed a few days' rest.
Demyx had one more question, "The money…" I laughed out loud and everyone was staring at me like I was crazy. I wiped away some tears and explained, "The money is a fake, Tifa and Aerith helped to load in some tomato and smoke bombs in stacks of papers, but they only hinted to me though." I still did not get how they knew I was in a dilemma, maybe I should interview them after I got out. "You could've gotten yourself killed!" Axel said, but I smiled apologetically and said, "Thankfully I wasn't, I guess." Why did I feel a tiny bit of emotion in his words?
Leon left after making sure everything was alright, and Axel ordered Roxas and Demyx to go home and rest. But they did not want to, so he shoved them out of my room. Then there was only me and him alone in the ward. It was kind of awkward, so I initiated the conversation, "Thank you for saving me…" "Huh? Oh… don't mention it," he scratched his head and replied. "I added, "No, I mean it." He looked at me, and I tried not to look at him in the eyes. I explained, "When I saw you running towards me… to be honest, I was… happy, and relieved even. I thought… it's the end for me." My voice grew softer by the end of my sentence, and some tears fell off. I wanted to speak, but only a strangled voice came out. I started to sob uncontrollably. Axel started to panic a little, he coaxed, "H-hey, it's okay now. No one's going to harm you anymore."
"I… I can't…" I choked, and I rubbed my eyes to stop the tears from falling. Axel said, "Stop rubbing your face so hard, you're going to hurt yourself." He then grabbed both my wrists gently but firmly. I could not care that much anymore and I gave him a bone crushing hug, crying into his shirt. He tensed up at first, but slowly he patted my back gently and rested his chin on my head. "It's alright, it's alright…" I said in between sobs, "I was lost… and I thought I was going to die… I don't care, I want a week's day off…" "Yeah, sure, have it your way."
After what felt like a long time, both of us broke away. I wiped my face, but then a small sting on my face made me wince, and he noticed that. Apparently a plaster which covered a small cut on my cheek fell off due to the rubbing earlier. Axel made me sit still while he used some iodine and a new plaster to patch it up. Surprisingly, he gently dabbed the cotton bud with iodine on the cut, so I would not feel much of a sting. I studied his face since his face was up close. He did not notice it because he was scanning intently on the cut. A surge of emotions overcame me and when he finished with his work, I gave him a brief kiss on his left cheek. Our faces turned into tomatoes and I stammered, "Eh… ah… I'm tired, so… Goodnight." And I quickly lay down and pulled the blanket over me, pretending to be asleep.
"Oh… OK…" his delayed reply finally came, and he switched off the lights. I expected to hear the ward's door opening, but all I felt is a kiss on my cheek and a "goodnight" from Axel. I sighed softly in content and I fell asleep sooner than I thought…
On the other hand, Axel was looking at the occupied bed on his chair. He adjusted himself on a chair and he stared at the ceiling. A genuine smile formed on his face as he whispered, "Case solved, murderer arrested, feelings requited." And then he fell asleep as well, his mind vaguely planning what to do after his love interest got out of the hospital.
The End
P.S. did anyone find any Final Fantasy IV reference here?