CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

A knock on their bedroom door woke Axel sluggishly during the night, as from the hallway, Tifa said, just loud enough to be heard, "Axel, you're up for Sephiroth duty."

He reached around Roxas, curled against him at the edge of the bed, and went to turn up the gas lamp on the nightstand, only to realise they'd never lit it. The pair had been… otherwise engaged when darkness fell before falling asleep in each other's arms, Axel planting a tender kiss on Roxas's bare shoulder at the memory. The boy stirred, already partially-woken by the knock. He turned his face up towards Axel, sleepily expectant, and he did not leave Roxas waiting. Axel kissed him adoringly, pulling away only with the greatest reluctance.

"Wha's happen," Roxas managed to semi-intelligibly croak.

"Cloud watch," Axel explained quietly, and looked at the gas lamp. He had been practicing with his powers these past couple of days while Sora had been asleep, not to mention the chakram that Cid had given him. While the chakram were… a work in process… the fire thing was another matter. He lifted a hand, pinched his thumb and forefinger almost together, squinted one eye, focused through the gap on the lamp – and, with Roxas gasping lightly in appreciation, the wick spontaneously lit. It flared bright, then went dim, Axel quickly reaching out and adjusting it before it guttered out.

"That's kinda sexy," Roxas muttered, a finger tracing down his forearm in the new light. Grinning, Axel gave him a final, lingering kiss, before rolling over him, Roxas grunting at the sudden weight, and onto his feet. He dressed himself, while Roxas turned onto his side and watched through heavy eyelids. His ability to unzip had long recharged, which meant they had all been able to stock up on fresh clothes, so it was at one of Axel's flannel shirts that he tugged as he sat back down to pull on his shoes. Letting out a small laugh, Axel let himself be pulled backwards into Roxas's arms, nuzzling against him.

"What?" he asked, as Roxas wrapped his arms around his neck, gently hugging him.

"…Take your chakram with you," Roxas said. "It's final hours now. I don't like having you around Sephiroth when he's so interested in you."

"Oh, you're jealous?" Axel playfully teased, but Roxas just buried his face into Axel's hair.

"Don't let him get you," he said, his voice small, and Axel touched his arms gently, summoning a small glow of warmth to spread through his body. Releasing a low sigh, Roxas nodded, kissed the side of his head, and let him go.

Sitting back up slowly, Axel returned to his task, pulling on his boots and tying the laces tightly. He hesitated, looking over his shoulder at Roxas. "You don't have to worry. I'll be careful."

Roxas held a hand out, Axel twisting their fingers together and softly squeezing. Then he stood, made a point of picking up his chakram, wiggling them at Roxas as he headed to the door, who thrust a thumb into the air. "Go get 'em, Tiger. Except, don't. Like, specifically do not take on Sephiroth. Do not go get 'em, Tiger," Roxas amended firmly.

"Instructions unclear, gonna go get a tiger," Axel replied, and closed the door. He made his way through the manor, its pathways familiar now, this track in particular; the carpeting to Cloud's room was well-worn by now. He met his watch-mate at the door – Riku.

"It's about damn time," Riku scowled, as he picked up the pace and loped along the last stretch of hallway. "I'm starting to think Sora might not be exaggerating about the two of you."

"Well, I was going to apologise for being late, but now I don't think I will," Axel sniffed.

Rolling his eyes, Riku said, "Roxas's attitude is rubbing off on you, and no, that is not a good thing."

"Excuse you," Axel answered indignantly, as he started unlocking the door, "but I had an attitude all of my own long before Roxas showed up, thank you very much."

The door swung open with a long-suffering sigh from Riku. He passed the key to Aerith, who pocketed it safely and left him to take her chair, while Axel silently high-fived Yuffie, their fingers barely tapping together, and took the seat on the opposite side of the room. Cid had rigged panic buttons to each chair, which could be activated manually or self-activated if your ass was off the seat too long. That way, if Sephiroth was using your carcass to beat the other guard to death, the rest of the group would get the alert. So wins all around, basically.

Setting down his chakram, Axel settled himself in for the interminable wait, wondering again just how much longer this was going to last. Cloud was bound to a bed that Cid had constructed from scratch, and was basically a big fuck-off metal torture-chamber looking fucking thing, with a web of cables suspended from hooks around its base, which twined together and bound the blond to the point of near immobility. It was unpleasant to look at, but you weren't supposed to look away, so you just had to stare at it, hour after hour. Axel wasn't sure he would ever get accustomed to this sight, and kind of… never wanted to be in a position to again.

Cloud's blindfold was firmly back on, ostensibly to keep Sephiroth from seeing who was around him, but... it was starting to matter less and less. Sephiroth was growing distracted. Cloud flickered almost constantly with his presence, like the other god was being forcibly pulled from his flesh. This process was… painful for Cloud, who either roared uselessly as Sephiroth, or groaned ceaselessly as himself. That was why Axel didn't place too much stock in Roxas's fears about him at this point. Sometimes, Cloud begged for them to just… end it for him. That was when a sleeper got blown into his face, one of the first things that Aerith was able to properly manufacture in the new headquarters. It was the kindest possible thing for him, but not a long-term solution. All it did was return control to Sephiroth, who then howled until his voice went hoarse. It was painful for him, too. He didn't just need the Mako to retain control of Cloud, he was also suffering the physical effects that Cloud experienced as the evil stuff made its way out of his system. Sometimes, it was hard to even know who was at the wheel – Cloud would start babbling, raving, and Axel would think it was Sephiroth until he started pleading for Leon. It was destabilising his entire mental state, and Ansem had done this.

Not Xehanort. Not even a so-called Nobody. Ansem.

Axel experienced just a flash of the bitterness that Leon and Tifa must have been feeling, but it was here, in this room, that the weight of it all really hit home for Axel. Hearing Sora tell them at the time, he hadn't felt much in the way of personal betrayal, because he never liked or trusted the guy in the first place. But all this time spent staring at Cloud, seeing him in this state, to the point where Axel could barely even remember the guy before he'd been like this… it made him seethe. A rush of heat swept through the room, Riku glancing at him with a questioning frown.

Cloud, who had gone quiet for one of his brief respites due to sheer exhaustion, cocked his head slightly, and the two guarding him went tense. Riku's gaze met Axel's as he slowly reached towards the button beneath his seat. He wasn't pressing it yet – just preparing to.

Cloud's face contorted into something like a grin. "…Axel's here. The fun one."

Riku held a finger up to his lips, urging silence. Axel nodded. He wasn't about to fucking out himself to Sephiroth. Cid's restraints had done a great job so far, but they had also taken a beating. Sephiroth was relentless when trying to free himself.

"Oh, don't worry," Cloud whispered, still wearing that eerie expression, "you don't have to say anything. I know you're there. You're doing so well, Xehanort wanted to compliment you on your progress at infiltrating the group. Demyx sends his affections."

Axel's eyes widened, Riku pointing at him sharply, not to accuse but to keep him silent. He had already grabbed his chakram, one in either hand, and started rising without even thinking. The clatter confirmed what Sephiroth suspected, however, and suddenly all hell broke loose. With a surge of power that made the hairs on Axel's arms stand on end, Sephiroth summoned his strength and started fighting his bindings so hard that the bed rattled. He couldn't move much, but that much was their Achilles fucking heel, because Sephiroth only needed the tiniest bit of leeway. Cloud's flesh started to shred as the pylons holding the cables let out an unearthly cry and began bending inward. Riku had hit the panic button on his chair, he was hammering that fucking button, and Axel was doing the same, hitting it rapidly like maybe doing it in Morse code would make them come faster.

With an almighty bellow, tendons and veins bulging with effort, black blood staining the bed, blooming rapidly out to form a wing, Sephiroth tore the entire construction apart. The cables snapped, whipping around the room like wild tentacles, slicing apart anything in their wake. Both Riku and Axel had already thrown themselves to the ground at the crash, but covering his head only meant that Axel's arms were flayed to the bone, so rapidly that even though he yelled at the impact, and heard Riku do the same, he didn't actually realise which part of him had been injured until he went to push himself up and promptly tumbled over, bones split to pieces.

Cloud stood in the centre of the wreckage, Sephiroth glowing so vividly Axel could barely make the blond out. He looked strange, horror-like, Cloud out cold, body included, an unholy marionette steered by pure malice. Sephiroth looked at Axel, looked right at him, and, like a terrifying ghoul, forced Cloud's body to stagger towards him. Axel couldn't even lift his arms, let alone think to summon fire.

The door slammed open and the rest of the household finally poured in, each bringing their weapons, forcing Sephiroth to turn away from Axel to face the threat. Cloud's body slick now with jet-black blood, Leon warned, "This is it! Sephiroth is losing his grip!" As if to prove just how false that statement was, Sephiroth flickered out of sight, and with a great breath, Cloud's eyes were forced open, glowing brightly, his body returning to life.

"My grip," he snarled, "is eternal." He lunged towards Leon, but he was slow now, Cloud's body having so little left to give. Leon dodged him with ease, slamming the back of his head with his gunblade's handle, sending Cloud's body stumbling to the ground. With the chance she had, Aerith darted first to Riku, then to Axel, tossing entire handfuls of cure powder on them from a small sack of it she had clearly prepared ahead for Sephiroth-level events. On his knees now, unable to will his puppet to rise any further, Sephiroth glared at each of them, before settling on Axel. He lifted an arm, streaks of red appearing in the black that rained from his savaged flesh, and pointed. "You and I," he vowed, "will meet again."

"…Not through Cloud, though," Axel rasped back, sitting up painfully with a smirk, not about to let Sephiroth have the dramatic last word. Maybe the cure didn't really cure you, and his arms were still lacerated, just shallower now; and maybe Cloud would take years to recover from being in Sephiroth's possession… but at the end of the fucking day, "This time, you lose."

Sephiroth's futile rage burned for just an instant before he flickered one final time, and vanished for good. Axel hoped it hurt the son of a bitch.

Cloud collapsed, Leon sliding quickly to his side and urgently calling, "Aerith!"

More fistfuls of cure, but it wasn't… really doing much. Cloud just kept bleeding, fast and free, the black soaked into the carpet so now it was just all red, all Cloud. Sephiroth really had used every last bit of him, right to the end. If he couldn't have Cloud, no one would.

Leon kept saying, "More," each time Aerith tossed another puff of the powder over his body, then, "More!" when she started hesitating.

"Leon, he's lost so much blood."

"Keep going!" Leon snapped, making her flinch, and Aerith continued. The rest of them simply stared, as she went around trying to rub the cure powder directly into his endlessly bleeding wounds, Leon, each time she slowed, sharply barking, "Again!"

Cloud was looking waxen, his slack face growing increasingly hollow and shadowy. Vincent had stepped forward, observing him closely. "His time is close," he rumbled.

Leon shouted, "Continue!" as Aerith again paused, but she was out of powder. She shook the remainder over Cloud, quietly weeping, knowing, as well as Leon did, that no amount of the stuff could be enough for Cloud's injuries.

A hush fell over the room, Axel sitting numbly against the wall, watching Cloud die, which was when Roxas came crashing through reality, unzipping directly into the room with Kairi and Sora like he'd flung the three of them through space at a run. In the stunned stillness, Kairi looked around, eyes widening at all the blood, before zeroing in on Cloud.

"He's got moments," Vincent told her, the only one there who was apparently completely unflappable.

Nodding, Kairi crawled to Cloud and held her hands over him, beginning to sing. Watching her was… uncomfortable. That déjà vu feeling again, like a nasty prickle along the length of his spine. Then Roxas was in front of him, drawing his glassy, distracted gaze. Looking at the ground around him, at his blood-soaked clothes, and the cuts criss-crossing his arms, Roxas appeared… horrified. On the other side of the room, Sora was making the same discovery with Riku.

"A-Aerith, what do we do?" Roxas asked.

It took her a moment to drag her attention from Cloud, but once she did, Aerith remembered the two loose ends that were Sephiroth's unfortunate guards. "Yes," she said, distantly at first, then with purpose: "Yes! Please, bring them at once to the dining room." No one had to ask which dining room; it went without saying.

Axel was hauled to his feet, going light-headed and buckling until someone caught him. Roxas, under his arm. Then, under his other arm, Cid abruptly appeared, the pair of them managing to walk Axel, just barely, to what was quickly becoming the house's infirmary.

"Okay, who knows blood types?" Aerith demanded as they lay him on the table.

"O positive," Sora immediately replied, while Roxas started pulling at his hair.

"How am I supposed to know that?!" he demanded.

"A for Axel," Axel mumbled. "Get it… memorised…"

"A?" Aerith asked, leaning over him and attempting to make eye contact with his wandering gaze. "Axel, your blood type is A? Positive? Or negative?"

"I am positive," he said, "that A is for Axel."

"…It'll have to do," Roxas muttered, and unzipped from the room. When he returned, he was holding two chilled bags of blood, which Aerith hooked up and, with some of the medical equipment that Cid had brought with him from Ansem's tower, performed the most sterile transfer she could in an old house with gas lamps in the fucking walls. She then stitched both Axel and Riku up, opened a couple of reserve cures over their arms to help the process along for good measure, and bandaged their arms. Even with its limits, at least the cure was good at something.

…Cloud.

Looking at Roxas, Axel faintly asked, "Do you think Kairi can save him?"

"If anyone could," Roxas tiredly replied, kissing his forehead, before pressing their noses gently together. "I thought I told you to be careful."

"All I heard was 'get a tiger'," Axel answered, Roxas smiling even though he clearly didn't want to.

"Idiot," he said, affectionately.

"Okay, you two," Aerith finally declared, sounding exhausted. "Return to bed, and rest. Do nothing that could compromise the healing process. Sora, Roxas, they're your responsibility now."

Looking determined, the twins took their respective partners and returned them to their rooms. Axel wasn't about to argue. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow, to have… disturbing dreams. Odd, disjointed moments of time and space that were both real and unreal at the same time, all of light and existence twisting around him, and – a darkness, a chasm, into which it all fell like sand. When he looked down, he realised he was on a thin, black, crumbling plateau in the centre of the chasm. Every so often, a piece of dark rock went tumbling into the emptiness below.

From somewhere above, he heard Roxas's voice echo, like they were on a bad connection: "You're not useless. You saved everyone. I'm sorry. I love you."

Axel was so busy looking up, he didn't notice another piece of the plateau break off and vanish.

He didn't notice that, whatever it was he was standing on… it was getting smaller.

He just whispered, "I love you, too," and woke up.