50

By: Aviantei

Act I: 50 Minutes/Abandonment

Scene X: "Just asking to make sure: you can drive, right?"

Axel had thought so when he did his initial scout of Temperies, but it really was a ghost town. Besides the few students and staff at the school itself, there didn't seem to be a single other person amongst the scattered townscape, as if there was no point to the empty homes and shops. It wasn't the most desolate world that Axel had seen, but it still unsettled him in a way he hadn't felt in a while.

It gives me the creeps…

Still, that abandoned state had its advantages. The most important one being that Roxas could train with actual weaponry without attracting any unwanted attention. After exiting campus, they'd just needed to find the biggest open area they could, no hassle in setting up wards or the like. The precious few residents that Temperies did have to offer didn't seem to find going out of their comfort zones as necessary.

The park looked just as one would expect: a lot of open grass, still fresh green and broken up by the occasional pathways, scattered trees, and the occasional bench. No real playground, but that didn't seem like much of an issue when Roxas was the youngest resident Axel had seen. Roxas was in his mid-teens, despite that baby face of his, and holding a sword could only do so much to make him look intimidating.

"Are you just gonna space out the whole time?" Roxas asked. He was still using the bokuto until he got a good enough handle to not be in danger of slicing himself open on a naked blade. He stood in a ready stance, frowning at Axel from across their sparring grounds. "How am I supposed to practice if my teacher's not even paying attention?"

Axel flicked his gaze away from the ever-cloudy sky. "Wrong question," he said, tapping his own practice sword against the ground. He was rusty in the techniques, but with Roxas's baseline of zero from a week ago, rusty did just fine. "In fact, you shouldn't say anything at all. If your opponent's foolish enough to not pay attention, then you take advantage of it."

Roxas grimaced. "That doesn't seem very fair."

Biting back a sigh, Axel considered whether to say his thoughts. Then again, it would be better to get the message across before Roxas learned the hard way. "Look, some people just don't fight fair. If you're too concerned with giving them a fighting chance, there are opponents that will take advantage of you in a heartbeat. Got it memorized?" Axel had been on both the receiving and giving end of that equation.

Roxas's expression twisted a bit in conflict, between understanding the logic, but still not liking it. Well, he can like it or not, but if he doesn't want to go through with it, that's his loss. "Look," Axel continued, "I don't think we're gonna run into anything that'll make us have to fight like that, but I just want you to understand there's a chance. Now—" Axel lifted his sword, and Roxas snapped to a defensive stance. "Good, you're getting the hang of it. I'm not gonna give you an opening like that again, so you're gonna have to face me. Come at me, Roxas."

There were several beats of silence as they faced off. There weren't even any background sounds of chirping birds or the like, just a hollow emptiness. Roxas's eyes flicked over Axel's form, searching for an opening. He was pretty much telegraphing the hell out of where he was going to strike, but there would be time to correct that later. After Roxas realized that there were several possible points he could attack, Axel could see the gears turning in the boy's head over which one to go for.

So he shifted his stance, making an obvious target, and Roxas lunged forward the second he noticed.

Their swords cracked into each other, though there wasn't as much force in the blow as one would expect. Roxas didn't hesitate, making the next move before Axel could start a counter. The rhythm of their exchange began, with Roxas attacking first, while Axel blocked and parried his strikes. Roxas's form was still sloppy, but he had an undeniable lightness on his feet that kept him moving. Axel was going easy, but he had to admit there were some strikes he had to put proper effort into keeping from hitting their targets.

The cacophony of their sparring sent hundreds of rapid cracks up towards the sky for several minutes. Every so often, Axel would increase his reaction speed, making Roxas do the same in turn. In the past week, Roxas had been able to improve how long he could stay in combat for before Axel would disarm him. Getting close to the shift, Axel dodged out of the way of one of Roxas's blows, then started returning attacks himself.

There was a distinguishable shift in the battle dynamic. Where Roxas had been taking on the offensive position before, he was forced to swap to a full defensive mode to keep away from Axel's blows. His blocking speed had improved, too (though it had taken several days of bruises), but he hadn't gotten the hang of making attacks at the same time. And while being able to smack things into oblivion through speed and keeping away damaging hits were valuable skills, it wasn't quite enough for being brought into a potential combat situation.

"Come on, Roxas," Axel said, flashing a taunting grin. "You usually drop out about this time. Just go ahead and give it up already."

"No…way." While not winded, Roxas had trouble stringing together words while making a presentable show with his swordsmanship. Axel struck out with a heavier blow than the others, and Roxas winced as the force shook through to his arms. "This is the part where I show how much better I can get!"

"Well, if you think you can, be my guest!"

Cycling through a the few attack patterns he could pull off with a sword, Axel realized that, indeed, Roxas was managing to hold on longer than usual. Stringing together the next strategy, Axel stepped back a bit, adjusting his stance in the usual signal that the training was about to intensify. He shifted his weight, preparing a heavier blow with a wider swing, and let it fly.

The unfamiliar impact of hard wood smacked into his knuckles.

If Axel had been using his chakrams, keeping a grip on the weapon would have been second nature, and he could have parried with the second weapon while recovering from his fumble. As it was, the slick surface of the bokuto fell away even from the purchase of his gloves, rolling across the grass. Axel cursed and tried to shake the sharp sting out of his hand. Roxas stared, frozen in mid sword swing, eyes wide with awe. "I did it," he said, with more breath than words. Then the moment caught up to him, and he threw his arms up in triumph. "I did it!"

Roxas ran around, shouting in celebration, and Axel watched on with a wry smile. "Yeah, well, in a real fight you wouldn't stop just because you disarmed your opponent." Plenty of people had hidden weapons up their sleeves, not to mention the unpredictability of magic users. Roxas stopped several feet away and raised an eyebrow, almost challenging Axel to only give him criticism. "Sheesh, don't give me that. I was gonna say you've done good work, kid. Be a little patient, would you?"

That was enough to set loose Roxas's grin again. "I totally did it!"

"Good work."

"So what's next?"

Those blue eyes were so lit up with anticipation, it was hard to try and say anything cautionary. There were hundreds, almost thousands, of warnings flashing around in Axel's head, but he set them aside. Even with as much distance between him and the castle there had been, he still would've sensed it if something horrendous resided there. Since they weren't facing doomsday upon entering, there wouldn't be much harm in moving things forward.

"Next," Axel said, dipping into his magic storage and pulling out the sword they'd selected for Roxas, "we're gonna go ahead and properly explore that other world."

"So I've been thinking," Roxas said when they later reconvened outside the school to get ready to head back through one the dark blue portals. He wasn't sporting any major armor so it didn't interfere with his speed, but he was equipped with proper sword and peppered with what protective enchantments Axel could muster. Being the one that could see where in the world they were going, Roxas took point as they meandered through the streets.

"What about?" Axel asked, eyes flicking over their surroundings. Though he'd had plenty of time to confirm that Temperies was, in fact, empty, that couldn't erase years of checking his surroundings. All the refined instinct earned his was the same old abandoned streets and somehow still prime-condition buildings, not a tarnish among them. "You're not getting second thoughts about going through with this, are you?"

"No of course not!" Roxas looked affronted by the idea, but he kept walking away from the dorms, taking a different path from the regular escapades to the park. "It's just, remember how I mentioned that the portals there always end up in different places?"

Axel nodded, tapping his temple. "Memorized."

Roxas looked like he couldn't decide between rolling his eyes or laughing. "Yeah, well, I figured it out 'cause I looked around for them after I started seeing the things all over the place. And some of them are pretty far out there. Farther than the park, even."

Axel quirked a brow; the park was well within walking distance, but it wasn't a short ways away, either. Based on his estimations, the distance between there and the school was about a third of Temperies's total width. "You went and walked all that way just looking for portals?" Roxas flushed a little but still nodded. "I guess you don't have much of a struct curfew here, but that seems a bit much."

"It's not like there's anything else to do here."

"I concede your point. What were you thinking about it, then?"

Roxas's pace slowed down a bit as they rounded the edge of the building. The few other Temperies students didn't bother wandering out of the school, given that there wasn't, as Roxas had said, anything to do, giving a clear path to the mostly empty parking lot. "Well, it's hard to find a portal when it could be anywhere in town, and you can't really just cover the whole place on foot in an afternoon…"

Axel could confirm that, given that it'd taken even him the better part of a day to scout the place out on his own. Even though Roxas was fast, it wouldn't do them any good to burn out his energy. Still, Axel had an uneasy coil of instinct ready to spring open in his chest. "Why don't I like the way you're avoiding answering my question?"

"Heheh, sorry." The sheepish grin was enough for Roxas to earn near immediate forgiveness, but Axel maintained his stance of skepticism. "Well, I just thought it'd be better if we had a faster way to get around, so—tada."

Their advance came to a stop at the edge of the parking lot, and Axel had the belated realization that Roxas was gesturing at the old beater of a car in front of them. There weren't too many cars in Temperies, but the one before them was in poor condition compared to the rest of them. With a blocky build and a layer of grime that didn't come all the way off when Axel ran a finger through it, the rest of Temperies seemed lively in comparison.

"Okay, setting aside whether or not this thing will even start," Axel said, clapping the dirt off his gloves, "how do you even expect to get into it? Breaking and entering isn't cool, man." Putting aside the fact that Axel had done far worse, letting Roxas wander into territory didn't sit well with him. Not even having to force his grimace into place, Axel flicked a finger at the worn-down monster. "I appreciate the sentiment, but walking's gonna be the way."

"I actually looked into this, you know. We don't even have to break in!" Ignoring Axel's opening mouth, Roxas whipped a car key from his pocket. A fresh remark about how stealing the key still counted as unlawful entry sidled up on Axel's tongue. "Look, there's all sorts of weird rumors at school. Half of them are fake since everyone just wants something interesting to happen, but some of them are legit. Like that there's an unattended car on campus that no one owns anymore, and it doesn't matter who uses it."

With just how beat up the car was, that wasn't much of a surprise to hear. "And you got hold of a key because…?"

"Because I asked around after training and got lucky."

Axel had to hand it to the kid: determination was one of his strongest attributes, besides the uncanny amount of warmth he put off. "Well, if you're sure it won't get us arrested or anything." A snicker slipped away from Roxas, and Axel knocked his knuckles against the hood, stepping around the side of the car. "Too bad I don't do water magic. Ah, well, we should be able to make do. Let's get moving."

Roxas's eyes tracked Axel as he tromped to the passenger's door, then they flew wide open in shock. "Wait, wait, you're actually gonna let me drive?"

"Well, this was your idea. I assume you know how to drive if you suggested it." Axel pulled the handle but was met with the resistance of the lock. He looked over the car at Roxas's frozen in surprise form. "Come on, man, you gonna let me in?"

"Ah, right!" Roxas broke out of his stupor. After fumbling with the key in the door for a good minute (the old monster didn't even have a key fob), he managed to open the driver's side, then unlock the rest of the car. A draft of stale air hit Axel in the face, and the layer of grime on the windows cast a dim shadow over the seat. He tossed their gear in the back and started cranking down the window while Roxas familiarized himself with the car's functions. It took several turns of key in ignition for the engine to turn over, but it sounded steady enough when it started up. There was enough windshield wiper fluid to make seeing the actual road possible.

Axel watched amused as Roxas tried to pep talk himself into shifting the car into reverse. If nothing else, the car was at least automatic, so it wasn't a total nightmare to operate.

"Just asking to make sure: you can drive, right?" A much needed breeze rolled through the open windows, and Axel propped his elbow on the frame. "Look, I was just teasing when I was saying you had to drive. If you really don't know, we can switch seats."

"No, no, I know. We have driver's ed here, so I can do that much." It was an odd choice in curriculum, but it wasn't like anything else in Temperies made sense. Roxas drummed his fingers against the steering wheel, looking pensive. "I'm just excited. And nervous. I don't know what to expect." He broke his gaze away from the windshield, looking to Axel. "What do you think that other world is like?"

First making sure he wasn't about to knock into the gear in the backseat, Axel slid his seat back to stretch out his legs. It wasn't quite enough room for him, but it was less cramped by a longshot. "Well, you saw the same amount I did, so I don't know what else to tell you." It had looked just as empty as Temperies, but there hadn't been much landscape to confirm it. Maybe from the castle he could get a better lay of the land hidden behind the hills. "But that castle up there isn't normal, I can tell that much. Of course, whatever we find, you're gonna be prepared." He reached over and poked Roxas's forehead. "Got it memorized?"

Roxas batted his bangs back into place, but shared Axel's smile. "Right. I worked hard. We've got this." With a nod, he at last put his hand on the gear shift, and the car eased back out of his parking spot, jerking every couple of feet. Seeing Roxas's concentrated expression, Axel decided to hold back his chuckle. After a few moments of puttering around the parking lot, the car at last entered the road, taking too much caution for the absolute lack of traffic. Axel assumed that Roxas was more intent on combing the area for a portal.

Knowing he couldn't contribute much to that endeavor, Axel propped himself on the window. Though Roxas wasn't driving over the speed limit or anything (if there was one), the breeze still blew in the open windows, tossing their hair about and trying its best to push the musty smell out of the car. Their gear rattled in the back whenever Roxas made a turn too jerkily, but it was otherwise peaceful.

Just the lines of empty buildings, the roll of the tires on the road, and the breath of the breeze. For the first time since he'd come to Temperies, Axel felt himself relax, even dulling his always on alert senses. It'd been too long, and the tension drained out of his shoulders. The world was calm, and Axel almost claimed a nap right there in the car seat.

Then Roxas swerved the car with all the vengeance of an angered wildebeest, setting the tires squealing against the road and Axel slamming against the door so hard he might've flown out the window if it weren't for his seatbelt almost choking him.

Spluttering through a few coughs, Axel shouted, "What the hell are you doing?"

"There's a portal," Roxas said, eyes anchored forward. "Hold on, I dunno how well it's gonna take the car."

"Take the car?" Axel fumbled for the support bar hanging from the ceiling, and the cheap plastic creaking in his grip did nothing for his sense of stability. "What's wrong with just parking the damn thing and walking through?"

"If we do that, we won't be able to use the car to cover ground!" Axel considered grabbing at the wheel, but Roxas had that same set expression he'd worn during training; getting him to stop would be impossible. "Look, the portals seem way smaller, but they can fit a person through if they pass through right, so it should be able to take the car." Axel turned to see where they were even heading and found an abandoned coffee shop looming before them. Roxas showed no signs of slowing down or turning the wheel. "Alright, here we go!"

"Here we go, my ass!"

But Roxas had already slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and the car roared forward.

[Author's Notes]

Is this the part where I say "Don't try this at home, kids"?

Thanks to actress4him for the follow on this story since the last update! I super appreciate your support, and would love to hear your thoughts!

Funnily enough, we've had two weeks in a row where I've managed to update stories to the chapter ten point, so hooray for milestones! I'm also slowly building up my queue of other chapters so that we can keep this train moving along! That means we'll have another chapter coming your way later in the year. This chapter may have been primarily in the past, but we'll have some more scenes in the present coming up in Scene 11! Please look forward to it!

-Avi

[03.18.2019]