A/N: ALL CAUGHT UP!
CHAPTER THIRTY
Axel set an alarm for two and a half hours, and he and Roxas spent a while passed out in bed. Each was recovering from his own personal exhaustion atop the underlying tiredness they were already experiencing in the wake of their first deep dive into the darkness. While the others prepared, they conserved strength.
When the alarm went off, it was like Axel had just closed his eyes. Maybe he had. For all his weariness, the most he'd managed was a shallow, fitful doze. His eyes felt grainy, dry, a soft, "Goddamn it," sighing from his lips. Roxas grunted his agreement, sitting up with his hair spiking all over the place, a pained expression on his face as the ache of his muscles persisted following the triggering of the seal over his memories. Axel rubbed his back comfortingly, Aerith's proposal that the seal was permanent ringing in his head. What were they going to do? They needed Roxas. He had to not only get them in, but back out again. What would happen if they came face to face with Ansem and the whole thing just – shattered?
The backrub became a caress, Roxas turning his head slightly, Axel sitting up and cupping the back of his head, pulling him in for a long, slow kiss. Roxas's mouth had become well-mapped territory for Axel by now; he knew every ridge, every tooth, every push of his tongue. He knew those breaths, how they tasted, how they sounded. He knew every inch of Roxas, and yet it didn't feel like enough. They needed time. They needed so much time together, so much more than they were being allowed.
As Axel's kiss took on a desperate element, Roxas broke away, panting, asking, "What? What's wrong?" Unable, maybe unwilling, to put it into words, Axel stroked the side of his face, feeling only how precious it was, the way this face filled him with unutterable affection to the point of overflowing – and overflow it absolutely did, spreading from his hand through Roxas's body like a balm, the boy relaxing against his touch. "That feels so nice…" Roxas whispered, before Axel caught his lips again, the heat passing directly between their connected mouths, Roxas melting in his grasp. Losing strength, he sank back against the pillows, while Axel climbed atop him and began peppering loving kisses down his throat. "We don't… have time…" Roxas huskily reminded him.
"I know," Axel groaned, feeling – pissed off, horny, adoring, and anxious all at the same time. Roxas, feeling the agitation through his touch, gently pressed him away, looking up into his face in the evening's gloom.
"Wow," he commented. "Your aura's a mess."
"Why, why, why can you see what I'm thinking?" Axel sighed, lifting his hand and kissing the inside. "How does that factor into your powers, man?"
"Maybe it's a Sora thing?" Roxas suggested, before shrugging slightly and slipping his hand away, wriggling out from under him. "Since I did basically steal his powers in the womb, apparently," he sarcastically added, swinging his feet to the floor and abandoning Axel on the bed.
"…You're sure we haven't got time?" Axel softly asked, propping himself up, Roxas looking momentarily tempted as he waved out a long match, the bedside lamp casting its warm glow across the pair of them.
"Come on, don't do that to me," he quietly complained, his gaze snagging on the sight of Axel's dishevelled clothes, his exposed stomach, the flushed hunger in his expression. "…Naminé. She needs us."
With a hefty breath, Axel dropped back down. The instant Roxas spoke Naminé's name, the mood was killed. Because yeah, she did need them. And no, they didn't have time. "Fucking… fuck," Axel huffed, glaring with frustration at the ceiling, allowing himself just one moment's indulgent self-pity. Then, mouth twisting, he dragged himself to the bed's edge and sat for a minute, trying to mentally prepare himself ready for whatever passed for an assault on a castle in the Land of Fuck-All to rescue a girl who was actually a god pretending to be a messenger. "You know," he sighed, scratching his head agitatedly, "if I didn't know that we are what passes for gods, this might have all been enough to make me into a praying man."
"Look at me," Roxas commanded. Axel lifted his head, surprised to see him uncapping a fresh eyeliner pencil at the dresser, coming over and instructing, "Chin up." Axel complied, curiously, realising with a slight clutch of alarm what was happening as Roxas aimed for his eyes with the pencil. "Relax," was the next order, as Axel visibly tensed. "I used to do Kairi's eyes during junior high," he explained, skilfully giving Axel his preferred wings in long, careful motions, before licking the pencil tip and adding two marks to his upper cheeks. "That's more like it," he quietly approved, leaning back to observe his work with a final nod.
"…You got eyeliner for me," Axel said, with a spreading smile, as Roxas busied himself returning it to the dresser drawer.
"And? It's not exactly a ring." Still, when he turned back to Axel, he rolled his eyes at the broad, goofy grin he was wearing. "I prefer you looking a little punk," Roxas exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air. "Shoot me. Whatever!"
"Why are you getting bashful now?" Axel laughed, standing and coming up behind him as Roxas dug out a fresh shirt and hoodie and changed into them, not allowing those long-fingered, roaming hands to distract him from his purpose.
"The only reason you get out of bed is to grope me," Roxas muttered, buckling his narrow twin swords around his hips, Axel chuckling warmly into the crook of his neck.
"I honestly can't think of a better reason than that," he breathed into his ear, Roxas seeming to bite down on a shudder before letting out an impatient noise, turning, gripping him by the hair, and yanking him down for a hard kiss.
"Hurry up and finish getting ready," Roxas sternly said. "Everything else… can come after."
"Isn't that how it always is?" Axel morosely answered, but obediently relented. He went to where his belongings were set up, which had previously basically just consisted of the spot on the floor where he kept his army surplus boots when he wasn't wearing them, and his chakram. But now, his violin had joined in, creating a small collection over which Axel hesitated. He still wasn't all that accustomed to the chakram. They were bulky, and required a lot of space, and time, to get used to, let alone become passingly adept with. Axel had practiced with them, but he was clumsy. Still, in a fight, it wasn't like his violin was going to be much use. What could he do, make them dance a jig until he broke it over their heads? Even if he only used them in hand-to-hand combat, Axel had to admit that spiked wheels were the better instrument.
"Axel?" Roxas stood by the door, watching him inquisitively.
Axel chose the chakram, turning his gaze restlessly from the violin case, feeling somehow that he was snubbing the mysterious Xion by leaving it behind.
When he straightened, holding the chakram tightly, Roxas looked faintly disappointed. Leaving Axel to change, he simply said, "Meet you in the kitchen."
Dressing in all-black to match the darkness they were about to be consumed by, Axel quickly pulled his boots on and laced them tightly before grabbing the chakram from the bed and jogging to catch up. Entering the kitchen, he scanned the room, busy with sombre chatter and the clicking and clanking of weapons being checked. Vincent was sat at the kitchen island, silently counting out bullets beside an extremely customised, if somewhat antique-looking firearm. Across from him, doing the same, was – "Leon?" Axel stopped short with surprise. Leon glanced up, then continued to count his gunblade ammo, choosing to not respond.
He went to where Roxas stood beside Sora who, at the edge of the room, was the only other one besides Cloud not heading out. "Leon's coming?" he asked, Roxas half shrugging, half nodding, looking grim.
"Seems that way."
With a short sigh. Leon paused his count, head rising. "This is an offensive into unknown territory. Of course I'm coming."
On Sora's other side, Kairi was the only person not handling a weapon of some kind. She looked uneasy at the sight of them all. Even Aerith had her staff, but Kairi just clutched her own elbows, uncomfortable with both the situation and her role. She was a healer, not a warrior.
A short distance from where they stood, Cid was smoking a cigarette with ferocious speed, rather than attacking his usual toothpick. He held out a long, metal staff, then experimentally tapped a button and made the ends crackle with electricity.
"Holy shit." Axel jumped instinctively back and hit the wall.
"Relax, I don't do friendly fire," Cid assured him, taking a deep drag from his cigarette before blowing a cloud of reeking smoke into the air.
"Cid, really," Aerith scowled. "I know this is your pre-battle tradition, but –"
"Do not," Cid interrupted, tapping the ash onto a plate, "tamper with tradition, woman. This shit's important." He jammed the butt between his teeth, and continued to puff away as he checked his equipment.
Shaking her head, Aerith approached Axel and Roxas, handing them each a small pouch. "This is a basic set of cures and remedies. Use them in emergencies. Remember: light blue is cure; red is revive; green is remedy."
"Light blue," Axel mumbled, "red, and green." He mentally weighed the light bundle, then tucked it into the small pocket of his unbuttoned outer shirt. Then, struck by a memory, his head bounced back up. "What about the other ones? For putting people to sleep? The dark blues?"
"Those're mine," Yuffie said, showing one off to him before tucking it away from sight in the next instant, like a magician. "Not for amateurs."
"Amateur," Axel scoffed. "I've been in, like…" He paused to count, then falteringly continued, "Like, maybe two… two and a half… whole fights."
"Just keep the 'old bones' in order this time, hear?" Cid grumbled, Axel frowning and hunching, Roxas patting his arm, flipping Cid off on his behalf. The old man grunted, and went back to his preparations.
"You'll be fine," Roxas told him.
Eyeing his twin scabbards dubiously, Axel said, "You seem… weirdly experienced at this."
"I've fought Nobodies before," Roxas confirmed, carefully not looking at him.
"…The other ones like Demyx." Axel's jaw tightened, his head dipping low. The same ones they might be fighting tonight. Soon. With his hands woven through his chakram, how was he any different from anyone else here?
"We only ever fought ones that were posing a direct threat to our safety," Roxas was replying, unable to keep a splinter of defensiveness from his voice. "It's not like we hunted them down. They would just… be where we were, all of a sudden… for some reason…" As his voice flagged, Axel suddenly realised they were veering into unwanted territory.
"So, hey, Vincent!" he called out, causing Roxas to jerk, blinking, and follow Axel's gaze over to the hawkish man at the far side of the counter. "How come your gun looks like it could be used as a sex toy?"
Honestly, it was literally the first thing that came into his head. The whole room went still, all eyes, round as could possibly be, swivelling first to Axel, then to Vincent's gun – its unnaturally long barrel – then, finally, to Vincent. Roxas was completely swept up in it, gawping along with everyone else. A successful dodge, albeit with Vincent thrown under the bus.
"…Do I really need to attest to you people that I have never used my gun for sexual gratification?" Vincent flatly asked the room,
"So, just, overcompensating then?" Axel continued, voice high, unable to veer from the path on which he'd set himself.
Vincent sent him a long, dour look, then, without dignifying him with an answer, returned to the task of packing up his bullets. Slowly, with stunned looks, the others followed suit, leaving Axel standing there with only Roxas staring at him now. "Sometimes," Roxas remarked, utterly perplexed, "you say the weirdest fucking things, and I have no idea why."
With a thin smile, Axel tightly replied, "That makes two of us."
Looking almost awed by his stupidity, Roxas faintly shook his head, and turned away, waiting for everyone to be ready. Becoming gradually aware of a set of eyes on him, Axel focused past Roxas to Sora on his other side. Sora caught his gaze, a small frown in place, and nodded. Axel hesitated, then, feeling a little gratified, nodded shortly back, glancing away and scratching behind his ear when Roxas looked at him. "You're an idiot," Roxas told him, plainly. "In case you were wondering."
"And yet, you like me," Axel countered. "What does that say about you?"
"No one ever said it wasn't to my detriment," Roxas drawled sarcastically back, all thoughts of Ansem's actions banished for the moment. It had been a desperate gambit, no doubt, and Axel had also definitely lost a fair bit of respect from the general group. But, hey, at least Sora had noticed, and considering how poor his first impression of Axel had been, he could probably use all the bonus points he could get.
"So, are we ready? Everyone's prepared?" Leon took charge naturally, before catching himself and deferring to Kairi. "When you give the word."
Kairi smiled awkwardly back, looking around at them all, before settling on Roxas. "Well? What do you think? Can you shift us all to – that place?"
"Yeah," Roxas answered, bouncing on his toes with a quick nod, appearing more confident than Axel knew he actually was. "I've been there once now. I can get us back there, no problem."
"In that case… is there anything anyone has to add?" Kairi asked, opening the floor for any last-minute discussion or questioning. But it was all about as straightforward as it was going to get – they had to get there, and they had to get in and find Naminé. Come what may, that was the mission.
"Naminé," Roxas murmured to himself, closing his eyes and concentrating. Spreading his arms, he instructed, "Everyone who's coming, make contact with me." There was a brief shuffling around the blond, Axel jostled from his comfy position squarely at Roxas's side. "Don't lose your grip," Roxas warned, Axel holding both chakram with one hand, while making sure their fingers remained tangled tightly with the other. "Get ready," he instructed, having learned from Axel to give ample notice. "And…" He opened his eyes to look at Sora with a crooked smile. "…we'll be back before you know it."
Sora, standing on his own at the edge of the room as everyone else crowded Roxas, looked smaller than usual. "You'd better," he said softly.
And Roxas unzipped the world. Sora was gone, the kitchen was gone, all of light and creation was gone. Axel did what he could, pulling on Roxas in case he instinctively went to pass right through, but between his prior experience, and his focusing on Naminé, they remained in the darkness. They barely even entered into free-fall; Roxas's muttered, "Naminé!" caused the ground to spread beneath their feet like it had been there all along.
Axel anticipated the jolt, but apart from Roxas, he was the only who did. The others all dropped to the ground in various states of shock or alarm, yanking Roxas with them with a yell. Axel let go at the last second, the last man standing, and picked his way through their shifting bodies so that if someone appeared, they wouldn't be caught grovelling in the fucking dirt. As the others caught up with the situation – their location, the pressure, the deep dread, the sight of the castle in the near distance – Axel loosened his shoulders, getting used to the weight and swing of the chakram in the dense environment. He also summoned the memory of Lea into his veins, letting the heat ebb and flow like an ocean over which he could either rule, or be consumed by. He chose the former, and when he blinked, his irises held a coal's glow. He kept the circle of his influence tight, the air above him shimmering lightly, occasional, fireless sparks drifting up and away into the darkness.
"Good control," Leon commended, voice rough from the effort of being in this dimension, "but hold it until we get to an actual fight." Axel felt a flash of irritation, but eased off, and felt the ire fade with it. He had to watch that. Dance too close to the fire of Lea, and he was absolutely going to get burned.
With everyone now on their feet and dusted off, they each turned their attention to the great, white structure looming at the end of the path. "It's a fuckin' castle," Cid observed with disbelief.
"Yes, like I told you," Roxas said, with the type of patience that didn't actually sound particularly patient. Kind of like he wanted to follow it with a cutting insult, and if it had been Axel who'd said it, he absolutely would have. But he was being polite to his elders, and Cid's scowling expression said everything.
As the old man muttered something inaudible and returned to studying the castle, Axel shook his head in amusement. "You are such a bitch."
"What? I was perfectly nice." Roxas was all wide eyes and innocence, Axel kissing him on the head.
"Okay, everyone be ready," Leon instructed, moving to the head of the group, visibly attempting to defy the effects of negative space. "From here, no one speaks without good reason. No chatter. No whispering. If we even have the element of surprise, we don't want to waste it on shit-talking, all right?" Axel felt somewhat targeted by this, but also saw ones like Yuffie, Cid, and Roxas looking disgruntled, and felt a little better. "We move in two groups, due to our numbers. Those with me are Cid, Riku, Yuffie. Those with Tifa are Vincent, Kairi, Axel, Roxas. Even if we are moving as one, those are your teammates. Stay with your teammates at all times, and watch out for them." He paused for a moment, allowing them to reorient themselves. "We do not know what we are facing inside that castle. It could be crawling with Nobodies. Again, I repeat, remain with your teammates. Roxas, if things go to shit, you leave with your group, and there will be no discussion on the matter." He held up a hand, blocking Roxas's argument. "These are the risks we take. We don't pick and choose who gets help – we save everyone we can. That includes a little girl kept prisoner all her life, used to lead Xehanort to slumbering gods. That's why we're here. That's what we're going to achieve tonight."
He looked around with a hard expression, met with a series of nods in return, including, sullenly, Roxas. So, that was it, then. Everyone was in past the point of no return, and they sure as hell weren't here for the scenery.
Tifa went to stand beside him, saying, "My team, with me." Leon simply spun two fingers in the air and pointed, the pair setting off down the blackened pathway, their groups following closely behind. Axel was relieved to be side-by-side with Roxas. He didn't think for a moment that it was due to Leon's kind heart; if Leon had thought he'd be better on his team, he'd have put him there, no doubt about it. Roxas, shooting him a small smile, was clearly thinking the same thing. They'd got lucky.
The luck, unnervingly, continued. They were able to approach the castle, its filigree gates standing eerily open, the dirt turning to paved stone under their soles. They were able to walk all the way up to the goddamn doors, those at the rear especially on guard, waiting for some hidden enemy to lunge out. But, just like with the violin when Axel and Roxas had first visited, there was – no forthcoming attack. The anticlimactic nature of this entire operation was starting to grate at Axel. His nerves were screaming. This place was bad enough to have to endure without adding the insane juxtaposition of being able to just waltz right the fuck up to the door without a care in the world. Hell, they might as well knock and ask nicely if Naminé could come out and play. The way this was going, they'd say 'yeah, sure' and just release her without a second thought.
The inability to bitch out loud was killing him. He wanted to howl what they were all thinking: this is way too easy! There was no such fucking thing as a free lunch in the world of the gods, man.
Just as the thought had crossed Axel's mind, one of the heavy doors was suddenly pushed open from the inside, a conversation coming into clarity as a man with black robes, dark dreadlocks and heavy sideburns stepped out, debating with someone behind him, "-ying is that it doesn't add up. I don't have suspicions, I only…" He noticed them and stumbled to a halt, taken completely aback by their presence.
"And I'm saying that this shit is above your paygr-!" A scrawny, eyepatch-wearing man with a grey-streaked ponytail, also wearing black robes, walked straight into the back of him. "Xaldin, what the fuck?" The thin man shook himself, rubbing his nose, which had slammed right into the larger man's back. Then, as the guy called Xaldin materialised a spear out of thin air, the other one finally saw them and cursed, leaping back into the castle and out of sight.
"No you fucking don't," Leon muttered, knocking Xaldin's spear aside with his gunblade and driving his elbow into the man's jaw hard enough to send him sprawling. Vincent immediately hopped over his fallen body, followed closely by Yuffie and Aerith, before Xaldin started to shift and push himself back up. He didn't get far – Tifa raised a powerful leg, and without even letting the guy look up to see what was coming, she smashed the back of his head with her heel. Between that blow and the secondary hit that came as his head bounced off the pavestones, Xaldin was out, and probably better off for it. The rest of them jumped across his unconscious form and, once past the door, felt the pressure of the darkness immediately drop away. It didn't dissipate entirely, but the lessening was enough to make the effect – almost tolerable.
Inside, the world had turned from nothing but black to nothing but white – every wall, every pillar, every staircase, every inch of floor, every stitch in every curtain, every goddamn thing, was white. It was a different kind of suffocating to the outside. But – here and there, dots and dashes in a sea of white, was the drip of blood, a new one falling each time the black-robed man tried to reach the staircase. So far, the entire exchange had occurred in near-total silence, with Yuffie tossing a shuriken to just barely slice his throat each time the man went to open his mouth to call out. So instead, he was reduced to grunts of effort, trying to outmatch Yuffie in speed, which Axel was beginning to see wasn't going to be possible. Everywhere that the he went, she was in front of him an instant later, tossing a square of Aerith's powders, forcing him to retreat before she could incapacitate him. Eventually, they had him cornered, panting, his single, golden eye glared at them balefully.
Then he said, "Aw, fuck it," and materialised a set of guns, lifting them to start shooting before a single shot from Vincent took him out. It clipped his shoulder and knocked him down hard, his guns scattering. Yuffie was next to him in a flash, tossing a sleeper into his almost-screaming face. However, his last stand had had the effect that he'd desired – Vincent's shot had been an alarm all of its own.
Leon snapped, "Remember your teams. Go."
Tifa sprang apart from him, the pair of them taking separate stairways upward, where doors were starting to echo as they slammed open further in. Their groups followed, Axel loping up the steps two at a time to act as lookout from the top. Roxas, startled, hissed, "Axel, wait!"
He turned reflexively back towards Roxas, just as a flash of light blinded him, and suddenly he was falling, slamming to the ground below, Kairi letting out a small cry and turning around to run back down to him. There was a second flash, a sharp, metallic-scented crackling, and Tifa started backing up fast, calling, "Leon, this one's for you!"
"Trade!" he barked back, sprinting along the landing with his team, Riku holding up the rear as a stoic-looking young man holding a thick book summoned a twisting, shadowy creature to attack, just as Riku was cutting down the first one that had been set upon them. Its arms ended in long blades, Riku's face already sliced dangerously close to his eye, the blood running fast down his throat to stain out through his white collar.
On the unforgiving white marble floor, Axel gasped and choked back to consciousness, as Kairi's healing song revived him with the aid of one of Aerith's red powders. Kneeling to check on him, Roxas helped lift his spluttering form up, encouraging him to take deep, slow breaths while glancing over at where Tifa and Vincent were currently working together to shut down the summoner. "Electricity!" Axel gulped, shuddering, gesturing to himself. "Felt it. Felt my h-heart stop." He was massaging the site roughly, wondering why these people kept attacking his heart.
"It's passed now," Kairi soothed him, but Axel shook his head frantically.
"Trying to kill us," he muttered, desperate to convey his warning. "They're trying to kill us."
Kairi glanced at Roxas, who just looked… pained. "That's what they do. That's what a Nobody does. Because it's what Xehanort wants them to do." He smiled uncertainly, not really believing what he was about to say. "But hey, maybe Demyx isn't here."
Still panting, the pain gone but the memory of it remaining, Axel half-heartedly nodded. He wanted to pretend, too.
Yeah. Maybe.
Maybe.