CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

When Axel next woke, it was late in the morning, and Roxas was gone. He spent a moment lying in place, feeling oddly… paralysed. Like this was some kind of extremely unpleasant déjà vu. He sat up slowly, a frown in place, rubbing his head slowly. It didn't hurt anymore, thankfully, and there was no lump or cut from where he'd been hit at Ansem's tower. Between that and Aerith having sprinkled the cure on his shoulder, he should count himself lucky, because his latest pain from having been half-crushed by Cloud during the night was an absolute bitch. His whole upper torso… ached, in a band all the way around. Now that he was awake, he was noticing that each inhalation held a slight sharpness at the edges, while sitting up was an exploration of how many curse words his vocabulary contained.

After pausing to gather his strength, he rose heavily, padding on bare feet to the door and easing it open, listening out... cautiously. Then he heard it – the distant babble of voices, and everything in him relaxed. He followed the noise once more to the kitchen, where everyone was gathered around the end of the kitchen island, their backs to the door. Not everyone was here, but Tifa was, and although bruised, looked generally okay, so he could only assume the same was true of the two who were missing – Riku, and Leon. His eyes found Roxas immediately, his blond hair bobbing beside his twin's darker head, all that was visible of them in the crush around whatever was so interesting on the counter.

As Axel approached, the chatter started to clear: "No, let me – let me just –"

"God damn it, Yuffie, you've been fiddling for close to twenty minutes, you're not getting anywhere."

"Now, children, let's all share nicely."

"I still think you should just let me hit it. Just once." That last one was Tifa. Axel could see her literally balling her leather-gloved hands into fists, and decided now was a good time to speak up.

"What's going on?" God, he even sounded hoarse. Cloud had practically squeezed his lungs like a bellows.

As they turned to face him, he caught sight of an old-looking radio, the apparent focus of their discussion. "Yuffie can't operate radios for shit, is what's going on," Sora answered, with a sidelong look at the girl, who pouted in return. Roxas came up and embraced him, a brief, soft warmth, before drawing Axel by his hand over to the counter.

"Let Axel try," was his suggestion to the group, before turning back to Axel. "We found a shortwave radio, but we can't find Vincent's frequency. We thought we knew it, but now we're not sure."

"Only Cid knew it," Yuffie complained, "and he's the one guy who isn't here."

"So, what, you're just… guessing?" Axel asked, disbelievingly.

"No," Aerith patiently replied. "Tifa and I did think we knew the frequency well enough to find it, but we can't hear anything but static, no matter what we do."

"Is it broken?" Axel wondered, picking it up and turning it over, causing everyone but Tifa to lurch towards him with cries of alarm. "Shit, okay, sorry!" He placed it back down with exaggerated care, beside a worn notebook into which frequencies had been written and crossed out methodically.

Wrapping his arms around the radio protectively, Sora scolded him, "It's really old! We're lucky it works at all."

"If it does." Tifa rested her hands on cocked hips. "Maybe Axel's right and it's broken, after all."

"But we got other frequencies to work, sort of," Yuffie argued. "They were fuzzy, but you could still make out other people talking."

"In languages none of us speak," Sora pointed out. "Like, seriously, who is using radios in this day and age." He held up his phone and wiggled it. "No one likes calls, but like, at least learn to text, dude."

"Seconded," Axel immediately agreed. "I froze my ass off going to see that guy. Can we buy Vincent just one of those old, cheap phones?"

"You make it sound like he's ancient," Aerith giggled.

"He is, a little," Tifa mused.

Looking around, Axel had to ask, uneasily, "So, uh… where's Cloud while we're having this discussion?"

The cheer of the room dimmed so fast he almost felt guilty. "Sephiroth is still in control, for the most part," Aerith softly told him. "His strength has waned after last night's incident, but he could become desperate enough to try again at some point."

"He has a permanent two-person guard," Tifa added. "You're up for the afternoon shift."

"While the rest of us return to cleaning," Aerith firmly said. "We can try the radio again later." As the group reluctantly broke apart, she caught his elbow and smiled. "Not you, Axel. Your breakfast is in the fridge, and you just sit anywhere you like. I know that you were injured last night, and until I get my mycelium garden grown and can start processing more cures, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with grocery-store painkillers." She pulled a foil packet from her pocket and popped out two tablets, pressing them into his hand. "Sorry it isn't more."

He blinked, first at her, then down at the pills in his hand, before giving her a small, grateful hug, which she returned wholeheartedly. Aerith was such a kind, soothing person. Axel was feeling a little starved for that, right now. As she departed to take on her share of the cleaning effort, Axel found his bacon and scrambled eggs and ate at the kitchen island, idly gazing at the radio. Around the house, the rooms were being attacked one by one, curtains thrown wide, dust swatted down and swept, windows forced open, the general air quality already vastly lighter and clearer than it had been during the night.

Cleaning up after himself and using the opportunity to grab a mouthful of tap water, he took Aerith's… paracetamol. Well, even gods had limits. Wiping his mouth, he turned and rested against the sink, considering his next move. He apparently had the afternoon shift of Cloud Watch, which was not going to be nearly as fun as one might initially assume from the name, but he also couldn't just do nothing while everyone else was cleaning, so he sat himself in front of the shortwave radio, and decided to see what he could do. The radio itself was just a box with some dials and knobs and little numbers and shit, so he figured he'd start there, pulling the notebook close and starting over from their first failed attempt. Squinting, he fiddled with the dials until he had it figured more or less out, then swung the needle to the number that Tifa and Aerith initially thought might be the right one.

Listening closely, he clicked the receiver on and said, "Hello?" After a hiss of static silence, he tried again, "Vincent?" No reply. A whole lot of nothing. He let a few minutes elapse, then tried again, in case Vincent had been in the bathroom, or hadn't heard properly the first time. When again he went unanswered, Axel put a small cross beside the already struck-out frequency, and shifted the dials to the next one on the list. "Um. Paging Vincent… Vincent, I guess, fuck, I don't know your last name. Pick up if you're there, man. Shit's gone sideways." He again waited, then repeated the request, his words meeting only the void. With a sigh, Axel marked off the second entry, and swung the frequency from one attempt to the next. "Yo, Vince. Baby. Pick up if you've got hands. This is Axel, from like. Two days ago? I don't know anymore, man. Everything is so fucked up." He dug an elbow into the counter and rested his head on his knuckles. "We don't know where Cid is. We don't know where Ansem is. Cloud's some sort of… Sephiroth chew-toy, who somehow also turns other people into chew-toys. Our house is really dusty, if anyone here was asthmatic, we'd be fucked."

He released the button on the receiver, glumly waiting to see if anyone would respond, which was when, sounding hollow and distant, Cid loudly crackled, "Don't fuckin' touch that dial!"

Axel froze. He hadn't expected to get this far. He clicked the receiver on again, and carefully asked, "Cid?"

"Who were you expecting, Santa Claus?"

Quickly, he stood up and bellowed throughout the house, "I've got Cid! I've got Cid!" Then, sitting back down, as footsteps thundered towards him, he wondered, "Why have I got Cid?"

The others poured into the room and around him, as Cid asked, "You still there? Shit. Don't tell me that stupid newbie red-haired fucker has –"

Roxas snatched the receiver from his hand and cut him off. "Cid! This is Roxas, we're still here. Why are you at Vincent's, though? We had no idea what happened to you!"

"Well, I blasted the front of the workshop, didn't I?" he grumbled, through the static. "So Vincent was the only one I could contact, through all that high-tech ShinRa scrambling shit, and he came and broke me out."

Yuffie pumped both her arms into the air. "Called it!" Then she grabbed the mouthpiece from Roxas, and shouted, "Where's Vincent, old man?"

There was a string of expletives, followed by Cid complaining, "Damn it, that was loud! Don't do that!"

There was then a crackle, and a hiss, then the next voice was longer, deeper. "This is Vincent. Please proceed. Over."

A small cheer went up. Looking at him with glowing admiration, Tifa asked Axel, "How the hell did you manage to find them?"

"Oh, well, you know," Axel started to modestly say, before Vincent added, "Please, also, do not let Yuffie near the radio. She found us three times before this, but changed frequencies again so quickly that we were unable to respond. Over."

Sora then pumped his hands in the air, and with the utmost mischief in his heart, declared, "Called it!"

There was a collective sigh, and Axel lost a little bit of his shine. Still, it was with relief that Tifa took the mouthpiece from Yuffie and said, "Vincent, Cid, this is Tifa. Happy to hear you're both safe. Can you tell us what happened? Uh, over?"

"Cid witnessed everything that occurred two nights ago at Ansem's tower," Vincent told them. "He says he –"

"Blew it for the safety of the workshop!" they said in unison, Vincent as flat as ever, while Cid was sounding agitated. "I saw those black-coated fucks break in," he said over the radio. "And because I suddenly realised all our goddamned black cards operate all the same goddamned, motherfucking, son-of-a-bitch, whore-" The sound cut off, Vincent apparently releasing the button on his end to spare them the worst of Cid's spittle-ridden ranting, eventually returning with, "Fine, fine, I'll stay 'calm'." He sounded positively disgusted at the prospect.

Tifa asked, "So you saw them enter? It was definitely by one of our cards?"

"It was probably the same fucking one Ansem swore he personally voided," Cid said bitterly, and suddenly everyone went still. This was… big. And Cid apparently agreed, saying, "That's why I blew the workshop, because that's where the all the tracking equipment is, and all of you idiots have trackers in your phones and I bet you've still got 'em on you." There was an alarmed exchanging of glances.

"Wait, wait, Cid," Tifa said, trying to make sense of it all. "What exactly are you saying? You think that – Ansem? No…" She said it, but she didn't sound… entirely convinced.

"Fuckin'. Ansem," Cid haggardly confirmed. "The second those Nobodies entered the building, I knew. I don't know why, but when Leon went to void that card, Ansem wouldn't let him. Said he'd do it himself. 'To be absolutely certain', whatever the fuck that was supposed to mean."

"But Leon never mentioned anything about this," Tifa argued with him.

"Yeah, because Leon actually trusts that motherfucker!" Cid yelled back, making everyone wince at not only the volume, but the harshness over the old speakers. There was a brief silence, during which Vincent was evidently wrestling the receiver back.

"This is Vincent." He sounded slightly breathless, but otherwise unchanged. "I understand your misgivings. I myself find the conclusion… unsound, but the question does remain as to how the card was still active. Over."

Axel looked around and saw nothing but a collection of confused frowns. The prospect that Ansem had purposely allowed the enemy to breach their sanctum… no one wanted to consider it. What reason could he possibly have?

Eventually, uncertainly, Tifa said, "I guess I'll – have to ask Leon about it. See what he says. Over."

"See what Sephiroth says!" Cid shouted in the background, as Vincent went to speak. The radio clicked off for a moment, then resumed with Vincent calmly asking, "Where are you currently stationed? Over."

"We're at an abandoned mansion in Twilight Town," Tifa told him. "But Roxas is still recovering from an injury, so you'll need to make your own way here, over."

"I see. That can be arranged. We will locate you and should be there by tomorrow morning. Over."

"Sounds good to me, Vincent," Tifa warmly replied. "We'll keep an eye out for you. Stay safe, both of you. We'll talk properly when you get here. Over."

"See you soon. Over and out." Vincent cut off his side of the connection, and Tifa switched off the radio. They all looked at one another, scarcely knowing where to begin.

"Leon," Tifa finally said. "We need to speak with him." She then hesitated, and added, "And… Sephiroth, too, I guess."

It was agreed upon by the group, but as they left the kitchen, Axel held Roxas back a little, softly asking once they were a short distance from the others, "How's your head?" Hearing that Roxas was still out of commission had brought all his guilt swirling back. He hated that he couldn't even claim responsibility for the actions of Lea; he was just… beholden to them, apparently. When fucked up enough, at least. But all he knew was that Roxas was hurt, and it was his hands' doing, and no amount of the 'god shit' mantra was going to rid him of that… terrible sense at the back of his being that he'd harmed the person he loved.

"It's getting better," Roxas told him, neither seeking to reassure nor accuse. Just stating facts. "It still hurts, though, so all my cleaning duties are light."

Axel studied him, saw the depth of the exhaustion tugging at the edges of his eyes, and asked, "What? What is it you're not telling me?" There was… something. Something sitting between them, like a secret, but Axel couldn't begin to wonder what it was. Only that before the tower siege it hadn't been there, and now… it was. When Roxas said nothing, Axel sighed, frustrated. "Well, hopefully it won't take too much longer to heal. I got hit by… Cloud-slash-Sephiroth, and my head recovered pretty quickly."

"Yeah, it did," Roxas murmured, then stepped ahead of Axel and tugged the back of Sora's shirt. "Hey, where do you think you're going? This is god shit, remember?"

"And I'm in it deep, remember?" Sora retorted, to which Roxas didn't really have an answer ready. "Besides, I want to make sure that Sephiroth hasn't murdered my boyfriend."

"Sephiroth's no joke, Sora," Axel said grimly, surprising both the twins. "I don't think Riku would want you near him."

"And I don't think that what Riku wants dictates my actions," Sora responded, haughtily.

"That's not what he meant and you know it," Roxas scowled. "Axel's right, Sora. Sephiroth is dangerous."

"Then all the more reason to check on Riku," Sora sharply said, and neither of them could argue any further. Sora's mind was made up. Nothing they could think to say would sway him. Instead, they flanked him without speaking, barely even having to glance at one another to come to the agreement: keep Sora safe. They walked three-abreast all the way to Cloud's room, along the ruined corridor, Tifa unlocking the door and opening it to allow them entry, each of them passing the wall that Leon's body had crunched with scarcely a look. Only Sora and Axel slowed to stare, before entering the room last.

Upon seeing Sora, Riku's eyes widened, then narrowed, first at Roxas, then at Axel. To the group, Leon warily asked, "What's everyone doing here?"

He was leaning tiredly against one wall with crossed arms, while Riku sat slouched forward in a chair in the opposite corner, both of them with weapons close at hand. In the centre of the room was Cloud, bound to a chair that had been reinforced with what looked like some of the stuff from inside the walls. His bindings had been augmented, too, with an under-layer of zip ties in addition to the specialised rope, bound several-thick at a time in and attempt to try and and add resistance to Sephiroth's wild strength. There was a blindfold on Cloud's face, but his mouth was left free, so he could be fed, drink through a straw, and speak if he so chose. So far, Axel could see the results of trying to feed or hydrate him staining the front of his shirt. Sephiroth wouldn't allowing it. He wasn't going to let them take care of Cloud. He really was a bastard.

"We got in touch with Vincent," Tifa said, keeping her tone even. "Cid was with him."

"Cid?" Riku blurted, then silenced himself, glancing at Cloud. They all did, but Cloud wasn't moving. He hadn't moved, in fact, since they entered the room, though he continued to flicker with glimpses of Sephiroth beneath. Other than that, physically, he was like a statue. It was… eerie. Whispering, Riku asked, "What was Cid doing with Vincent?"

Leon listened closely as Tifa related the situation, then closed his eyes, expression unreadable. "…So Cid's theory is that Ansem is our enemy, based on the fact that the card was improperly voided."

"Does he have a point?" Aerith asked, the question on all their minds.

Drawing a breath, Leon considered, then shook his head, just as Cloud cracked his mouth and let out and ugly laugh. Silenced, they all stared at him, the smile on his face unhinged. "Let me guess, Leon," he said, and… he sounded like Cloud. "Your answer is 'no way'."

Darting to him, Leon snatched off the blindfold, regular blue eyes staring up at him, half-wild, half-piteous. "Cloud?"

"For now," he said, brokenly. "I think he's resting."

"Cloud." Tifa lowered onto one knee to look into Cloud's face, urgency stamped on her face. She held a hand out to hover near, but not directly touch, his cheek. "Tell us what you know."

"Ansem's been playing you for fools," Cloud said, giggling slightly. "All of you, all along." He stopped laughing so abruptly it was like it was a mask that had dropped from his face and smashed. "All of us," he repeated, a whisper this time. "All along." He then dragged his gaze to pin Roxas in place, the blond looking… spooked. "You especially need to be careful, Roxas. You were never supposed to survive. The messenger never… never survives…" He trailed off, starting to space out.

Thoughtlessly, Leon laid a hand on his shoulder, speaking his name with pain. "Cloud." In an instant, the light in the room dimmed, what sunlight pierced the room through the boarded-up window shrinking while the gas lamps guttered on the wall, as if a great shadow had entered the room. Axel had experienced something similar once before, with Vincent.

Death was present.

He lunged for Leon, but too slow, as Cloud twisted his head and bit down with every ounce of strength his jaw contained. Leon grabbed hold of his ear and twisted so hard Axel would had sworn it was close to starting to rip, but it forced Cloud to release him, teeth bloodied, eyes catlike and unnatural with Sephiroth's influence. Yanking his bleeding hand back, Leon gasped, glaring but begrudging. "That was my own fault. I shouldn't have trusted you."

"Oh, that hurts Cloud's little heart," Sephiroth said, his voice back to being right at the base of Cloud's register. "He can hear you, you monstrous man." He grinned with red teeth, as Leon looked suddenly uncertain.

"Don't you let him shake you," Aerith firmly said, stepping forward. "Sephiroth, your time is limited. Know that."

"Know this, then," Sephiroth responded, each word a rumble, like distant thunder, or the clatter of hooves. Looking into those strange eyes, you could almost… smell the smoke from the towns he'd decimated in his long past. "Ansem indeed betrays you. You're all blind, and have been so willing to be blind. It's almost adorable," he sneered.

"Why would he?" Aerith asked. "Why betray us? Does Xehanort have him?"

Another ugly laugh. "Xehanort never needed to puppeteer that one." His face was twisted so hatefully, it was disturbing all on its own.

"You'll never take Cloud again," Tifa vowed, glowering at him, having stood and put some space between them the moment he revealed himself. "This time, you're going to stay out."

"I suppose we'll see," he responded, and after that, closed his eyes, and returned to… unnervingly conserving his energy. Everything this guy did was unnerving. Massaging the centre of his chest, Axel turned away from him, collecting Roxas under his arm as they filed out, until Tifa touched his shoulder.

"Ah," she said, apologetically. "It's actually pretty much…"

"…My shift," Axel realised. He unlooped from Roxas, instead kissing his forehead gently and telling him, "Rest up. Heal that head."

Tifa remained with him as the others left, including Riku, to whom Sora glued himself, and Leon, who looked… pale, and drawn. Watching Riku and Sora with some envy, Axel sent a last, longing look after Roxas, who smiled in return, then was gone. The door was locked from the outside by Aerith, who possessed the key now that Tifa was on guard duty with Axel.

Smiling at him awkwardly, Tifa wordlessly went to where Leon had been leaning, and set herself up for a long afternoon, letting Axel take the chair. Silence, he supposed, was best around Cloud. Anything to avoid aggravating him. Although Axel really didn't love that he was getting all this time to… recover. He wasn't sure what the solution was, but it just put him on edge was all. He spent the entire afternoon waiting for Sephiroth to split through the zip ties and launch into psycho mode; but, in fact, Axel's greatest enemy was his own mind as he waited, and stared at the re-blindfolded Cloud, and thought.

Ansem. Really? First Cid had said it, then Sephiroth confirmed it; but Sephiroth could easily be trying to sow discord and drive them away from their main protector. He wasn't exactly a reliable source. But… Vincent had said that Sephiroth agreed with the cycling down of the gods. That was clearly at odds with Xehanort's desires, despite Xehanort, or Xemnas, having been the one to wake him. Sephiroth was… being used as a wrench in the designs of the good guys, basically, but it seemed like he enjoyed the role; maybe too much, to the point of leaking information in his pursuit to provoke or distress them.

That, and the longer that Ansem continued to be missing, and the more questions they had which went unanswered, the more damning it was. Axel could see the damage taking place. He could see it in the trouble creased of Tifa's brow as she gazed at Cloud, yet wasn't really… looking at him. She was elsewhere inside her own head, just like Axel.

It seemed that for now, however, all they could do was continue to stare, and wonder.