Summ.
Axel didn't care that his older brother was dating a guy. Until he fell in love with the boyfriend's son. They're engaged to be married, but will the young lovers stand up for their relationship? I mean it's not REALLY incest!
It is written in first person, chapters switching viewpoints from Axel to Roxas. Axel for odd numbered chapters, Roxas for even numbered chapters.
This chapter switches to Reno's POV for a flashback to make explaining things simpler.
Now, you all really want to know what happened to Cloud, so read, sillies!
I bolted into the house through the back door and into the kitchen, where Reno was trying to pry something out of Cloud's hands.
"Cloud, don't do this! Stop!" Reno shouted.
Cloud sobbed, shaking his head. "No! Roxas… I've lost both of them! I couldn't stop him either! I'm useless!"
"Let go of the knife and talk to me!"
"I won't!" Cloud tore his hands from Reno's.
"Cloud, no!"
I grunted, pulling the knife out of my now-bleeding leg and throwing it onto the floor several feet away. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins (and, in turn, pouring all over the kitchen floor to mingle with the other puddle of blood pooling there from Cloud's arm).
Everything had moved so fast. 'Shit… where am I?' I thought, looking around but not really seeing anything. I was whiting out, and there were voices echoing in my head. 'What happened again?'
I put my palm to my forehead, seeing red mixed in with the white as I faded in and out of coherent thought.
Axel. Cloud.
They kept saying those two words over and over. The voices around me continued to speak, but those were the only two words I heard. Axel and Cloud.
I didn't understand what those words were supposed to mean. What other words were they saying? I was confused.
Axel. Cloud. Axel.
Cloud. Dad. Reno. Roxas. Axel. Axel. Axel.
Roxas. Zexion. Axel. Cloud. Ienzo. Cloud. Axel…
Sorry. I'm sorry. Axel. Dad. Cloud. Sorry.
Didn't mean… Didn't mean it. Sorry sorry sorry…
Roxas. Fine. Cloud. Roxas. Axel. Brother.
I love you. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
"Didn't mean what? Why are you sorry? I don't understand…" my vision slowly cleared and I saw Roxas look at me.
"Axel!"
"Axel. Axel…" I repeated. 'Oh, right. That's me.'
"Are you okay?" he turned around. "Reno! Axel's awake!"
"Reno…" I mumbled. The panicky-looking redhead rushed into the room, instantly looking relieved. 'Ah, my brother.'
"Dear God, Ax!" he strode over. "One second we don't have any idea where you are and the next you're right in front of us with a knife in your leg… jeez, bro…"
"What exactly… happened… again?"
He looked at me, disbelief flooding his features. "You don't remember?"
"Only vaguely…"
"I'll tell you, then."
(Flashback: Reno's POV)
"Cloud, what are you doing?" I walked up to him; he was standing over the phone and sobbing again, even though he had calmed down about an hour before.
He flinched as I put my hands on his arms, and he whirled around so fast that if I hadn't leaned back he would have collided with my nose. "Roxas."
"What about Roxas?"
"They said they gave up the search. They've been looking for almost twelve hours and they said… they said to wait a week to see if he comes home on his own."
"Well, Roxas can't stay mad at you for that long, doll. He'll come home soon, I promise. Axel went to find him, remember? He's not going to give up, even if the police did. Okay?"
"But that's just it! Roxas was really upset… he's never even threatened to run away before! He doesn't want to come back because he hates me!"
I wiped his tears. "That's not true, and you know it. Cloud, Roxas couldn't hate you. Kids do stupid things sometimes. I always came back when I ran away, and I wasn't exactly in a happy home of rainbows and love. Roxas knows you love him. He'll come back."
Cloud sobbed into my shirt for probably the eighth time that day, and the color had started to fade where his eye level was on my chest. "His… his mother… died because I couldn't stop her…"
"What? Couldn't stop her? Stop her from what?"
"She left because she was angry with me… and she was hit by a car. I was able to keep Roxas with me when she tried to take him with her… but I couldn't stop her from leaving… Even…" he clutched my shirt and started shaking, "Even if I had just been able to stall her… for just one more minute… she wouldn't have… she wouldn't have died…"
"Cloud, that's not your fault at all! And you saved Roxas, didn't you?"
"But I couldn't stop him from leaving me either! He left me because he was mad at me just like she did! What if Roxas is dead somewhere, too? My baby…"
"Cloud… Cloud, Roxas is safe, I know he is. And Axel's going to find him, and he's going to come home and tell you that he didn't mean any of what he said, and… and someday we'll get married. Everything will work out…" I kissed his forehead. "I love you."
"That reminds me… Roxas doesn't want us to get married… that's actually how this argument started."
"Axel reacted the same way, but I don't think we should give up on the idea just yet. They're really close, and the idea of becoming an uncle-nephew thing is just really strange for them. They'll come around."
"Reno… do you… hate him?"
"Hate who?"
"My son."
"Why would I hate your son? I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I didn't like Roxas. I understand that he's important to you, and that makes him important to me, too. Cloud, I love you, and I love Roxas. I want Roxas to be my son too. When you told me you had a son, I didn't break up with you. I knew that he was part of the deal, and I stayed with you. When I met him, I was really upset that he didn't like me. Cloud, I want to be with you and Roxas. I care about Roxas, and I care about you. Please. Don't think that I hate him. That's not true at all."
I don't know what went wrong, but he seemed to relax for a moment before clutching his head like he was in pain.
"Cloud! Cloud, what's wrong? Are you okay?"
"Get away!" he shoved me away and ran into the kitchen, fumbling around in the drawers before pulling out a butcher knife that he used to cut vegetables when he cooked. He put the knife on the counter and started crying again.
"Cloud, what's going on?" I grabbed his shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Without Roxas… I don't have a purpose…"
"What?" I grew more concerned as he took the knife and got on his knees. "Cloud. Cloud, what are you doing?"
"I don't have a reason to live…"
"Cloud?"
"I'm sorry, Roxas. I should have been a better father…"
"Cloud. Cloud!" I shouted. Why couldn't he hear me?
Tears ran down his face as he held the blade over the veins in his wrist. "I'm sorry. Forgive me, Roxas."
"Cloud, stop!"
He brought the knife down, and I lunged for it. I moved his hand so he missed his wrist but still cut his arm, then tried to grab the knife from him. Everything happened so fast… he yanked the knife back and went to stab himself, and suddenly you were there, and your leg was in front of his chest, and you'd blocked him from suicide. He broke into his senses… and Roxas ran in...
"DAD!"
Roxas hugged him and Cloud seemed too shocked to comprehend what was going on.
"Dad… I'm sorry… I'm sorry I said those things about Mom… and that it was your fault Xemnas did those things, and I'm sorry I said you didn't love me… Dad, I don't hate you… I'm sorry!"
"Roxas…?" Cloud paused a moment before returning the embrace. "Roxas! Don't cry, son, don't be sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you… I didn't mean to hit you… Forgive me…"
"I do… I forgive you, dad…"
(Back to Axel's POV)
"By that time I was next to you, trying to get you to respond. All you did was pull the knife out of your leg and passed out. Roxas started freaking out because he thought you were dead. I'm not sure why you did what you did… but I'm glad you did it, yo."
I smiled up at my brother, and I remembered my adrenaline rush that had saved Cloud's life. I felt accomplished. "'Cuz you're my big brother, and I love you, yo."
Reno stood and ruffled my hair. "You did a good job, baby bro. I don't think I would have been able to hold out much longer when I was trying to stop him… He was completely honest when he said Roxas was his everything. He kept saying it was his fault that Roxas ran away and that Roxas was the only thing that kept him alive after Roxas' mom died…" Reno ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I can't hold a candle to the kid in Cloud's heart. Hm…" he chuckled. "I guess I'm kinda jealous, y'know? But… Roxas is a good kid. And Cloud really does love him. I can't help but like him too, even if he hates me in return."
"I actually think Roxas is the jealous one," I laughed.
"Jealous of me? I'm flattered," Reno smirked his signature 'thank you for stroking my ego, have a nice day' smirk.
"You should be, Reno, you should be."
"Yeah?"
"In all honesty, Reno… I'm jealous of you for making Roxas jealous. No one's ever jealous about me!"
"I'm jealous of you, dude."
"Why?"
"You had an awesome brother to protect you all your years. I had to wait until I was thirty-six for you to step up to the plate, Ax. I'm a little jealous of you for having me!"
I rolled my eyes. "You would be jealous of yourself, Reno."
"I can't help it if I'm gorgeous."
"By default, that means I'm better-looking than you."
He glared at me. "How do you figure?"
I simply smirked. "'Cuz you're old and worn out, and I'm young and amazing. I'm in my prime, bro. You missed yours," I grinned, laughing as he grabbed me in a headlock and messed up my hair.
"Reno?" a small voice said from the doorway. "Dad wants to talk to you. Can… can I speak with Axel alone for a minute?"
"Sure thing, Roxas…" Reno patted his head as he passed Roxas. Roxas closed the door and walked over to me.
"Hey, cutie," I purred.
"Axel…" he embraced me tightly, sitting on the bed to half-lie on me. "Thank you… for saving my dad… It means a lot that you did that…"
"Shh…" I ran my fingers through his hair to comfort him. "Don't cry, Rox. Hey, how's my leg?"
"You'll be fine after a few days. You might need stitches, but you should be alright."
"And your dad?"
"He might have some sort of post-traumatic stress thing. But other than that, he's fine. They say that he should be okay after awhile of having me back. It was because of all those horrible things I said to him about Xemnas being right and him being responsible for Mom's death and that I hated him…"
"You'd better make sure he knows you don't hate him."
"Yeah."
I pulled him into a kiss. "Love you, baby."
Roxas returned the kiss, pressing against me and whimpering softly. He opened his mouth more, giving off a quiet whine as he invited my tongue into his moist mouth, and invitation I simply could not refuse. I slid the muscle in, and Roxas moaned, making me continue my hot ravishes upon his succulent lips with even more excitement.
After a few minutes of our passionate kisses, he pulled away, breathing heavily as he smiled at me, laying his head on my chest and entwining our fingers.
"I love you…" he mumbled.
"Love you too," I pet his head softly with my free hand and he closed his eyes contentedly. "Roxas…"
Reno walked back into the room and raised an eyebrow at the now-sleeping Roxas lying on my chest. "He fell asleep?"
"It's been a long day."
"Yeah. Oh, some kids named Zexion and Ienzo were here earlier, and they said they'd come back tomorrow to check up on you."
"Thanks, bro."
"Are you ever going to tell me what happened to your neck?"
"You happened to my neck, dude."
Not questioning my accusation (this IS Reno we're talking about), he shrugged. "Fair enough. Sweet dreams, baby brother."
I laughed to myself. "Goodnight, Reno," I replied, pulling Roxas up onto the bed to lay with me as I drifted off to join him in sleep.
The end of Axel's side of the fight arc. There will be one or two more arcs and then a finale, maybe an epilogue. I know you're all so relieved that Cloud is alive.