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chokethewindLast night was really weird and very awkward. I think I'll be sticking to the house for awhile.
It's Akuroku Day! Idek, my flist hasn't exploded too badly. I love Axel/Roxas. There are no words. They complete me. I actually could probably come up with a few hundred ways why I love them so much, but I won't waste time (and space).
I have comments to reply to and fics to read and lately I feel like I have no time for them. Though clearly I have time for awkward.
In any case, as I have nothing new to share for this special day (haha), I'm posting the original version of Everything and Nothing at Once. A couple of people asked for it, so I figured I'd stick it up.
Other than that... I have nothing new. I am boring.
So..this is the first version I wrote of zombie fic I posted a week ago. I haven't taken the time to really edit it at all, I haven't italicized what's supposed to be (except for the parts where it's very necessary), and it's all jumbled and probably makes no sense.
I was new to KH at the time, and just trying my hand at what I could do. This is basically... me attempting to fit KH into Dawn of the Dead universe, with some exceptions. I'll leave some more notes at the end about what I was trying to accomplish, but for now, enjoy, I suppose.
I do want to stress I was new to fandom. So...take it with a grain of salt.
___
Everything and Nothing at Once
___
It wasn’t like the crib in the nursery was just your regular shade of blue or soft, pretty pink; it was yellow, and he didn’t like yellow. He guessed that maybe this had been a part on the store to try and create a unisex, not very offensive display but he didn’t like yellow. Lately, in fact, he loathed it.
He quickly snuck a glance around the store; it was deserted and dark and there were one of those little contraptions that swung from the ceiling. It was cute—it had stars and moons with happy faces and was currently swaying in the air. What breeze? How could there be a breeze? He looked around nervously again, but it was quiet down the hallway and it quiet in the store. Freaking himself out was the most accurate way to describe this whole scenario—but at least there was a good reason. And he didn’t know why he was fucking hesitating, there was nothing stopping him.
Easing open the sliding glass door, he slipped inside, shutting it and latching the lock. This could potentially prove to be dangerous, but he’d rather have one entrance point secure than turn around and suddenly find something behind him. It seemed unlikely with the glass windows, but still. A quick glance said that yes, the hallway was still deserted. It probably would be for awhile—there weren’t many people who ventured down this way and a lot of them had been asleep. Luxord had seen him walk off, but the older man had said nothing. Luxord had the most perfect ability to put the plight of everyone else slightly below his own—or he had the most perfect ability to mind his own fucking business.
A quick cursory walk of the store revealed that there was nothing lurking behind the racks of fluffy animal-eared towels or the shelves with the diapers. Nothing behind the Baby Einstein toys or near the formula. He still felt every shift of the air though, and the piece of metal pressing into his side weighed like four stones. He’d had the girl paint—Namine, it was—paint little red streaks across it so it looked like bursts of flame. He hadn’t used it yet and he hoped he wouldn’t have to right now. He had something malicious to do but it didn’t involve the gun.
He went over to the crib with the offending yellow sheets, and in one fluid movement he had grabbed them and yanked them out while violently pushing the crib over. It clattered to the ground and the thud echoed around the whole store. He stood silently, eyes darting around the darkened store and in the hallway but there was nothing there. Nothing came down the hallway and nothing flew out of the cabinet with the pink elephants dressed on it. Now why couldn’t this blanket be pink? It wouldn’t have to be destroyed if it had been pink. It wasn’t like he was on, you know, a mission to destroy everything yellow in the world. But something so innocent should not be yellow.
The soft material held in a firm grasp between his fingertips, he gazed around the store. There were a few yellow ducks sitting there innocently and he grabbed those, wrapping them up in the blanket. Next there were pillows, and a couple of one piece things for kids who were two months old, and then a few more fluffy yellow blankets. He wrapped them up into the blanket until he had a makeshift bag and then he slung that over his shoulder, exiting the store quickly.
Seeing there was still nothing in the hallway, he went swiftly back the way he’d come, though he took a left to avoid the main area and reach the stairs that led up to the roof. He yanked the red streaked gun out of his pants, opening the door slowly and pointing the muzzle up and down the stairs until he was sure there was nothing hiding in the darkness. Nothing sprang out at him, and he jogged the few flights up the stairs until he reached the roof, opening the door as cautiously as he’d come up the stairs.
The sky was red streaked, and when he burned the stuff he’d carried up, the smoke looked ghostly against the painted sky.
__
“Where the fuck were you?”
“Shut up Riku,” Axel said when he returned, satisfied by the job he’d done. When he had finished burning the blankets and everything else he’d tossed the smoldering remains over the edge. It had been more than satisfying to hear the agonized groans as the fireball had torn into the mess below. He could have stayed to watch, but the sun was just starting to come up and he knew there was bound to be people wondering where he’d gone. Ever since Demyx had been a little bitch and tried to go after his stupid dog, everyone had agreed to a mandatory roll call in the morning. Just in case.
“I’m not kidding asshole, where were you?”
Axel didn’t even look as he sat down, accepting the chipped ceramic mug from Namine, the one that read Pennsylvania Welcomes You! Yea the fuck right. He hated Pennsylvania. He hated this place. He didn’t hate Namine, though, so he smiled his thanks. She had been skinny when he’d met her in this godforsaken place, but now she was just skin and bones. While the rest of them had seemingly gorged themselves during the copious amounts of free time they had, Namine didn’t eat. She was one of those who didn’t eat when stress and this, understandably, was a stressful time. He was worried about her, but she brushed off any concern he’d had with a smile.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and he yanked away easily, standing up from where he’d only sat a moment before to go around the table by Namine. The blonde girl was watching Riku fume with an expression on her face that was a mix of both exasperation and acknowledgement. Riku was their Head of Security—Head of Security meaning that he liked to capitalize the letters and walked around with Sora trailing after him like a puppy dog looking scared.
As far as Axel was concerned, Riku could jump off the roof along with the things he’d thrown off earlier. Sure, he had been Head of Security when the mall was functioning—for the past month, though, it hadn’t. It wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t demanding explanations of people whenever they went anywhere. It could pass off as simply trying to keep the group safe, but they weren’t idiots. At least he wasn’t and he was stuck here and as far as he knew, Riku was some high school fucking drop out who felt important because once upon a time he’d carried a big gun and strutted around the mall in coveralls with the stamp SECURITY on the back.
“Axel, could you please just…”
This particularly pleading came from Sora, who was standing behind Riku with his hair all plastered sweaty to his face. Apparently he didn’t sleep very well. According to Riku of course. They were, quite obviously, fuckbuddies. Luxord had pointed out hickies on Sora’s neck and it had been Larexene who had noticed Sora walking funny and it had all gone downhill from there. The incident had ended when Riku had waved the gun around threateningly until Kairi socked him in the stomach and took it away. They still snickered about it. It had been the most interesting thing to happen in months—that was, until now, because now might as well turn out just as bloody because when Axel looked over at Riku, Riku was glaring at him with the intensity of someone who had just been trapped in the mall with idiots he didn’t know and hated it.
Which was exactly the situation he was in, but somehow his eyes held an even more dangerous gleam than usual.
Rolling his eyes, Axel focused on Sora and spoke to him, saying, “I was on the roof. Sacrificing ducks and other assorted things to God hoping he’d kill me.”
“I could kill you,” Riku said darkly, finally looking away from Axel and over to where Kairi was starting another pot of coffee. “You could at least answer. You know wandering off alone isn’t safe.”
“Thanks Mom.” Axel sat down next to Namine and finally started drinking from the cup she’d handed him when he had first appeared. From across the hallway to the sleeping area, he could see Lorene and Demyx getting up, drawn by the noise apparently. The automatic floodlights were starting to light up, illuminating the glass walled stores and their own little camp next to the large coffee kiosk. Kairi usually was in charge with making food in the morning—or not in charge, for some reason she enjoyed it. He didn’t understand it, but she was busy over there now, slapping shit into the microwaves and making a few specialized drinks for those she knew would ask.
He thought that maybe the mindlessness of the whole situation distracted her. He’d kill for something mindless. No, wait. That was not a shiny thought to be thinking.
Riku had finally given up and wandered away, Sora looking at Axel apologetically as he followed the taller man. He actually kind of liked Rica’s shorter, brown-haired partner. Sora definitely wasn’t the brightest and sure as hell probably would have been dead for now if not for Riku, but he was always trying to be optimistic and would never hurt anyone intentionally in his life without cause. Apparently in his other life he’d been working as a nurse, or at least trying to be—you know, some goody thing that helped people out. That had been the other life though—even though Axel wondered if Riku had ever made Sora dress up in his nurse uniform in the bedroom at times. The general consensus—meaning himself and Namine—had reckoned yes.
“Where’s Six?”
The question wasn’t from Riku—it was from Namine by his side. He looked over at her questioningly—she was gazing across at the sleeping area now, where everyone by now was waking up. Larxene and Demyx had since made their way over, but Zexion, Lexaeus, and Xigbar were still there. But missing, most accurately, was indeed Saix.
Axel shrugged. “Not here. Problem?”
There was concern etched on her face as she glanced over at Riku. They’d met her on the way here, hiding in an abandoned SUV, in one long dress that ran over her knees, a sketchbook underneath her arm. She never talked about why she’d been hiding in the SUV or where her family or friends were, but when they’d asked if she wanted to come with them, she had agreed and followed. It was like they’d known each other their entire lives—which was weird for Axel, because he’d only felt that way with one other person before but Namine had fit nicely into a niche that had seemed created for her. He liked her and the way she would always think before she spoke, and how she had this most odd, sad, satisfying smile. And she was always drawing.
“No, I just… I saw him leave when I went to sleep and I thought he was going to the bathroom but he’s obviously not here…. That was hours ago, I guess he could have come back and left again, but nobody’s said anything about it.”
Axel shrugged, inclined to not care. He, after all, was not Head of Security. They’d be doing their mandatory roll call in a couple of minutes anyway and then Riku would realize that Saix was missing, just like Namine had. He was probably somewhere on the roof trying to catch birds to eat them with his bare teeth. Saix had always seemed psychotic to him, and since they had lost Xenias last week, he seemed even a little bit more psychotic. They’d all been watching him carefully, saying nothing when he put on Xansa’s black and white hideously striped coat and wore it all the time, or when he would vacantly wander off and stare at the mannequins in the department store window down the main hallway. Most of the others were concerned for him, it seemed, and Axel did too, at some primitive level.
It had been really hard to care for anything over the past month except for one thing, really.
“If you keep snoring, I’m going to cut out your larynx.”
“You don’t mean that Larx,” Demyx said brightly, jumping up on the stool next to the bar.
“No. I really do. Where the hell is—“
“Your white chocolate mocha with skim milk and no whip?”
Kairi shoved the mug at Larxene and did a little twirl back to the other side of the counter, her hands doing three things at once. She’d been a coffee slinger in the other life apparently. Or she’d just learned while trying to be mindless. She was the only one who put up with Larxene’s excessive coffee demands, at all hours of the day. Apparently she and Sora had been something big before Sora realized that fantasizing about Riku meant that he was, in fact, gay. She was still great friends with them it seemed—which meant she was probably gay too.
In fact, to just put it out there, Axel thought they were all gay. He’d made the mistake of mentioning that little tidbit to Demyx one night while getting toasted and smashing the collectibles in the shop upstairs and when he’d woken up with the hangover from hell there were little rainbows painted on his face. The only thing that saved Demyx from burning at the stake was that Demyx was, in fact, a faerie himself but more importantly, he was Xigbar’s faerie and as Xigbar had sold illegal firearms to cop-killers in his previous life, Axel had only glared and moved on with his life. In any case, Axel suspected and had pretty much confirmed that most of them were fucking like rabbits in the various stores they had access to. It wasn’t like he minded. It was just a big wonder to him how this mall had become a haven for not only survivors and those still human, but those survivors and still humans who apparently all liked purple.
“Where’s mine Kairi?” Demyx asked, his face now falling. It really wasn’t hard to see that he’d been the one to nearly kill—maybe—them all trying to chase after his stupid dog.
“Iced white mocha, extra whip, caramel topping.”
Demyx gave a delighted squeal and Axel turned away in exasperation to see Riku starting to count them all, his cup of coffee in hand. Apparently here were things worse than being counted like cattle but sometimes it really irked Axel. He saw Riku frown deeply, and then recount twice more.
“Saix is gone,” Axel called to him, boredly watching the other few sleepers from the couches finally reach the coffee island.
“No shit,” Riku retorted, starting to get in his Head of Security frenzy mode. HSF for short, and surprisingly it had been Sora who had come up with that acronym. “Has anyone seen Saix?”
“Nope.” Luxord already had his cards out of the table, looking for the first challenger. Lux had been a gambler in another life, and upon realizing that their chances for survival were slim to none, had ceremoniously burned his Gamblers Anonymous card. “Didn’t see him. He blends in so well with that coat of his.”
A couple of the others snickered morbidly and Axel shook his head. It really wasn’t very funny.
“So nobody’s seen him?” Riku asked, ignoring Luxord completely. “When was the last time anyone saw him?”
“Last night,” Namine said immediately. “I went to sleep and he was still here but when I woke up he was gone. I thought someone knew where he was. Sorry Riku.”
Riku ran a hand through his long, silver hair. It had grown from the little buzzcut he’d worn when they’d all first arrived and it was really the only deviation from his Head of Security uniform. “That’s okay. He probably just fell asleep somewhere. We need to find him though. It’s not safe.”
“Well when we’re all safe you just let us know, dude,” Xigbar commented and there was a muttering of agreement to that. Axel sighed, knowing where this was going and standing up. He didn’t like tagging after Riku around the mall, but it was in his best interest to stomach it.
Riku saw Axel get up and glared at him a second. “Any other volunteers?”
Demyx raised his hand enthusiastically since he always volunteered for everything but both Axel and Riku shook their heads violently at that suggestion as Xigbar grabbed his hand forcefully and pulled it down. “Bad idea little dude,” he said with a smile, ruffling Demyx’s hair and ignoring his hurt eyes. “Besides we should do something else…productive.” There was a very failed attempt at trying to look coy in his eyes when he said the last word.
“I’m going to be sick,” Axel commented, and then looked over at where Zexion, Vexen, and Lex were quietly drinking coffee and pretty much ignoring the talk going on around them. “Are you guys going to do some science today or what?”
Vexen looked up and rolled his eyes. “Maybe. Why do you care?”
“Let’s go,” Riku interrupted, face terse. “We’re taking too long.”
Axel glared at Riku, and then at Vexen for good measure before sliding the gun out of the waistband of his pants. He looked over at Namine with a quick smile as Riku and Sora shared some very significant and meaningful looks. They did that often, with Sora looking like he was going to cry and Riku looking very strong and brave and manly. It was really very touching. The look on Namine’s face was troubling though. She looked genuinely worried, but then again, she looked genuinely worried about everything.
“Let’s go,” Axel said, interrupting Riku and Sora’s exchange and starting to saunter down the hallway that would lead to the stairs. Riku came hurrying after him. He hadn’t even kissed Sora goodbye. How sad.
“Where are you going?” Riku asked in annoyance, trailing after Axel.
“The roof.”
“Why the roof? He could be anywhere.”
“He probably fell asleep up there. It’s a lot less dreary than any other place here.”
“He could be anywhere,” Riku reiterated as they turned the corner so that the main place they stayed was now out of sight. “And cute move you pulled back there.”
“What’s that?”
“You know I’m only trying to keep everyone safe. I’d appreciate it if you would not be such a smartass about it.” Riku had his gun out now, in whatever defensive stance they’d taught him when he attended whatever academy there was for high school dropouts. He was walking cautiously, slowly, eyes darting back and forth.
Axel, however, continued to stroll at a brisk pace. “I’d appreciate it if you weren’t such an asshole but we can’t always get what we want, can we? Hurry up.”
“What did you call me?” Riku hissed, eyes focusing on Axel for a second.
“Can we just please get this fucking done with and find him? I don’t like your company any more than you like mines.”
“Listen, asshole, just because you lost your boyfriend and think you don’t have anything else to fucking live for I—“
“What the fuck did you just say, you—what?”
They had reached the door that led to the stairwell and it was ajar. Not locked.
Riku looked at it for a second, and his body visibly tensed. “Didn’t you say you just came down from the roof? Did you leave it open?”
“Of course not.” Axel moved into the same stupid defensive position that Riku was still in. “I shut it and locked it.”
Riku seemed to process that for a second, and his eyes darted around the area. The area didn’t seem disturbed—everything was still shiny and chrome and still. “Okay. Be careful.” He took a deep breath that seemed to go throughout his entire body and then he nudged open the door with his foot, arms swinging up to point the muzzle of the gun around. A second later he was through the door, his head craning to peer up into the stairwell and then inclining sharply to look down into the darkness that led to the basement. He motioned for Axel to follow as he started to climb.
Casting one last glance at the scenery that hadn’t changed, Axel followed, shutting the door with a quiet click. He backed up on the steps, like he’d seen people do in movies, trusting Riku to watch up top, keeping his gaze on the bottom of the stairs, every hair on his body up. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears and he really didn’t like that one bit. Nothing was moving in the still darkness below, but he could only imagine. He could really only imagine very well what could be hiding down below in the darkness, could only really imagine too well what was waiting for him to look away and waiting for—
His back connected with something and he spun around, breath hitching in his throat, elbows going everywhere as he heard Riku grunt.
“Stop it! It’s me you idiot.”
“Next time tell me when you stop!” Axel said angrily, heart still hammering in his chest. “I’m not looking at you!”
“I’d hope not,” Riku muttered, and then he bent down to examine something on the concrete ground. Axel tried to slow his breathing, and then looked down to see what had nearly caused him to have a heart attack. At first all he saw was the dark stain against the ground, but when Riku pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and gently swiped it against the spot, it came back red. Not bright red, or rusty red, but crimson, and it didn’t come back dry, it came back wet.
Axel swallowed and looked up, forgetting that his gaze was supposed to be toward the ground. He didn’t see anything, but on the next landing, he saw another spot on the concrete.
“Be quiet,” Riku said, unnecessarily, and then rose and started to climb again. Axel felt his heart getting fluttery in his chest again, and he closed his eyes briefly. He wished he’d had the guts to tell Namine what he’d been thinking about for the past month. She would have known what to do.
They went up slowly, and Axel didn’t say anything this time. Nothing stirred from above or below for the rest of the flights, until they reached the door that would lead to the roof. There was a puddle here, instead of a spot, and wordlessly Riku positioned himself by the shut door. Axel held the gun up, trying to clear his head, as Riku opened the door in one fluid motion, muzzle pointed at nothing and everything at once.
The sun was bright in the sky now, the air warm, and at first there was nothing. Just the roof, the humming white air conditioning unit, a couple of antennas bent toward the sky. Riku went forward, gun swinging around, but there was nothing behind the outcropping of the door. That left on the other side of the air conditioning unit. Riku met Axel’s eyes and then tilted his head one way and then the other. Axel got it, even if he wasn’t happy about what was about to happen. He didn’t trust Riku’s aim—then again, he didn’t trust his own either. Without a word, Riku went to the left and Axel trailed to the right, gun held straight in front of him. His breath was hitching again, his heart making a weird thwacking noise.
He crept alongside the air conditioning vent, and when he reckoned that Riku had reached the other side, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second, and jumped out, pointing his killing device at nothing and at everything at once.
And there was Saix, and in his hands was the body that had caused the blood in the stairwell. It was dead, of course, but it also wasn’t moving, which was important to notice. He was cradling it, the blood smearing all over the zebra striped coat he was wearing, was always wearing now. His hair had blood on it, and so did his cheeks and nose and forehead. He was sitting, back against the air conditioning unit, and there was blood on that too.
“Saix,” Riku said after a second, quietly, gun pointed directly at the man’s head. “Saix?”
His head lifted from its bowed position and he looked first over at Axel. There was nothing wrong with the gaze and Axel felt himself relax, if only a few hairs. Saix looked like Saix, albeit covered in blood and wearing a hideous jacket. He looked the same psychotic he’d looked for the past week—on the edge and teetering and barely there.
“Saix, what the hell are you doing?” Axel asked, dropping the edge of his gun a little. “Why the hell do you have that thing?”
“I can do whatever I want,” Saix said, and when he had finished speaking Axel had the gun trained back on him.
His voice was passionless. Dead.
“Fine, but you left the door downstairs open,” Riku said, obviously trying to go easy and looking completely uneasy at the entire situation. “And you were late for the roll call this morning so we were worried.”
“I’m not a goddamn sheep,” Saix said, and his voice still was calm, ever so calm.
“I know that. But it’s for safety okay? And please tell me where you got that thing from?”
“None of your goddamn business.”
Riku met Axel’s eyes, and then looked back down at the man huddled on the ground. “Okay, fine. Then can you tell me if you secured wherever you got it from?”
“NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS!”
Saix was up in one second; the next he had tossed the body toward Riku and Riku sidestepped; Saix gave a guttural roar, and it was full of pain, and misery, and more emotion than Axel had ever heard from anything; he had launched himself at Riku and Riku, sidestepping the body, couldn’t stop him and the gun went flying from his hand as Saix pushed him down and slammed him to the concrete; there was a deafening roar and then there was blood all over Riku.
“Get him off me!” Riku shouted, struggling to move. “Axel, get him off me!”
Axel was shaking. He hadn’t even used the gun before now. He hadn’t even been aiming for Saix’s head at all.
Riku managed to shove away from Saix’s body and immediately went to his own gun, grabbing it and shooting Saix in the head, again. And then he shot the other body, in the head as well, and then he yanked the shirt from his head, turning it inside out and wiped his face with it, spitting out blood and looking afraid.
“We need to shove them over,” he said, not looking at Axel. “We need to get them out of here and then find where Saix got that one from.”
He hadn’t ever fired a gun before. And Saix’s head hadn’t been the target.
They pushed the other body off first, because it was smaller than Saix was. It crushed a couple of the things on the ground level, but Saix’s body crushed a lot more before it was torn apart.
He hadn’t ever fired a gun and he hadn’t meant to kill Saix.
“Let’s go,” Riku said, not even looking over at Axel.
This was not supposed to happen.
None of it was, really.
__
Apparently Saix had been sane when he’d captured the thing he’d been cradling on the roof. They found more blood at the small door on the outside of the fast food chicken place, the one they only used when going out for this purpose, the one that was pretty deserted outside. It was re-locked with the boards all over it again and they didn’t bother opening it. If there was something else around, then it would have made it presence known by now.
Riku was still on ends about that, but Axel wasn’t as worried about that as he was worried about the fact that Saix had gone utterly insane in the span of merely a few days.
__
“You never talk about him.”
Namine hadn’t said much about the Saix incident—Sora had freaked out about the blood on Riku and Zexion and Vexen had insisted on examining them for any signs of infection but they were both clean. There really wasn’t much to say about the whole ordeal— they had come to the general consensus that he had gone insane. There really wasn’t much to talk about and not much to postulate about and since Axel had killed him, a secondary interview was not an option. Primary sources were only good when alive.
Axel shrugged at her query, eyes still focused on the screen. “He’s dead. I didn’t want to kill him. But there’s nothing else I can do about that.”
“I’m not talking about Saix.”
“I know.”
Namine said nothing to that for a second, and then looked over at the screen, frowning. “What the hell are we watching?”
“Killer Clowns from Outer Space.”
“Um.”
“Cheesy horror flick from the 80’s. Everything from the 80’s was kind of cheesy in some way. You’ve never seen it?”
“It’s not ringing any bells.”
“You should watch it. It’s a classic. Right up there with Spaceballs and The Goonies.”
“I’ve never seen those either.”
He stared at her, and then looked around the completely stocked shelves. He pointed toward the comedy section that was just beyond the fuzzy plushy anime dolls and then at the horror section that was right past the smiling yellow sponge. “Well, Namine, I think you’re woefully behind in your social education. I think we’ll find both of those readily available and once we find them, your skinny ass is watching them. I mean, you’re never going to be adept in any real social situation if you’re lacking in culture. I know these things.” He nodded knowingly.
She only smiled at him, looked briefly back at the screen where a pink haired clown was grinning maliciously, and then set down her book with an air of finality. Axel immediately grabbed the remote and turned the volume up to drown out everything she was going to say in the next eight seconds.
“This part is great,” he said, emphasizing the last word and trying to sink away and disappear into the bean bag chair he was on. It was red too, just like his hair, maybe she wouldn’t see him, no matter how perceptive she was. “Clowns are awesome. They really convey all these emotions that normal human beings don’t convey. It’s sad they get such a bad rep.”
“Clowns are very sad,” she said agreeably, her blue eyes focused uncomfortably on his face. He shifted again, pushing back into the soft plush, hearing the fluff squishing around on the inside. He could probably run out the door screaming and she wouldn’t do anything. But then again, about four people would be running down the hall in thirteen seconds waving guns around and aiming to kill. Maybe he could just say he had to use the bathroom. Would she follow him? They were beyond social norms now. She probably would, damnit.
He tried to focus on the bright picture in front of him. They’d dragged the plasma television that had been behind the counter to the middle of the store after shoving the racks and racks of DVD’s and other assorted movie stuffs to the sides. Namine and Kairi had gone through the kids’ furniture store and returned with a rainbow carpet and the bean bag chairs. A couple of lamps had come from across the way—they were antique lamps and Demyx had broken one already and Riku had thrown a fucking fit—and it created a nice ambiance, if not a weird, eerie one. He’d already trashed the big life sized cutout of Johnny Depp—much to Demyx’s chagrin. It had been way too fucking weird though.
Her eyes were still glued to his face, he could tell. And she knew it too and she still just kept looking at him. If she wasn’t his only— sort of—friend in here he’d have turned to glare at her by now. Namine never hurt anything though, and she was full of only the best suggestions and sugary words and comforting gazes. Like hell if he was going to be stuck for the rest of his probably very short life with fucking Demyx for fuck’s sake. Sighing very audibly and with much fanfare, he shifted in his chair so that his body was facing hers, and then propped up his arm, resting his chin in his palm, a slight smirk on his lips. In front of them something pink exploded in an eruption of panicked screams and crazed laughter.
Just throw in a couple of flesh eating corpses, a little more red, a little less pink, some more white makeup and crazed eyes and it would sum up their situation more or less perfectly. He loved it when the world made such perfect sense like it was now. Really.
“Yes, Namine, is there something I can help you with?”
“You never answered my question.”
“I didn’t think there was a question.”
She frowned, quite patiently as it were, but still a frown. “Why don’t you ever talk about Roxas?”
“Why don’t you ever talk about your own family?” he fired back, eyeing her critically.
Her face was still fixed in a frown and she glanced away from his intense gaze. He waited, content to say nothing. He’d rather been enjoying watching the movie—now he was missing the entire lot of it. Grabbing the remote, he paused while still listening to her say nothing.
“There’s really not much to say.” Oh great. She was going to spill and then he would have to spill. They should have rules about this, full non-disclosure or something else as pretty as that. “I lived with my dad, because I hadn’t seen my mom in years. I was at work when everything started happening and I haven’t seen him since. Obviously.” She looked over at him, expression nigh unreadable. “There’s not much to say.”
To this Axel shrugged, really wishing that she’d left this conversation alone, for more reasons than she knew about. “There’s not much to say about Roxas. What happened happened. It’s not like I can undo that, just like I can’t undo what I did to Saix. Do you think I have some emotional issues we need to discuss? That when I’m not with you I’m in the bathroom choking because it hurts so much?”
“No,” she answered, though she avoided his gaze slightly when she spoke. “But I’d like to hear about him. I didn’t know really know him, but…” Train of thought appearing lost, she made a frustrated little noise and slumped a little bit further back in her chair, looking both put out and determined.
Axel made a face at her, hoping it would be funny, and then reached out and lightly punched her on the arm. “Oh fine, I can’t resist when you pout like that,” he said, hint of a smile on his lips. “You’re taking my patrol next time though. Just kidding,” he added hastily, seeing the expression on her face. Namine was brave and Namine was strong, but Namine was also very afraid of the dark, especially when patrolling that dark with such incompetent people as Demyx. Leave them together in the dark and they’d probably all be dead in the morning—either from their screaming in terror or their lax jobs.
“Let’s see,” he said, with the air of someone starting a very important story and expecting the listener to pay very close attention. “I met Roxas when I was a young lad in the wild thrushes of Scotland, foraging around for natured nuts and blossoming berries, attacked by the evil famine that had once robbed that land of its mystical and long sought-after potatoes, a famine that came with all the hounds of hell and the depths of despair with it, a famine that has robbed a very hardworking, live of the land, I will not ask anything of ye I wouldn’t give of myself people of their livelihood and I will tell you, those poor people were of a great joy and of a great mysticism and romance when I talked to them, oh they were helpful oh yes they were, and when I met Roxas he a hard working young Scottish lad helping to overcome this awful famine, with the sunlight in his hair and the blue of the ocean in his eyes, oh I tell you lass, he was a looker and probably sold those little pouty lips somewhere out there, I do not want, nor do not tell you, or want you to think badly, but you never know, dear lass, and when I met him he was bent over picking potatoes and blossoming berries and nurtured nuts and there was a fire in the sky and probably in the ground too and somewhere in the air there was this really little light song that—“
She was blinking rapidly at him and then her small fist connected squarely with his shoulder.
“Hey!”
“Be serious!
“I am,” he said, imploringly. When she glared at him, he sighed. “Okay, fine. I met Roxas in a life or death situation that involved a tree, a big red fire truck, and some checkered shoes, which, through no fault of my own, ended up ruined in this life or death situation that—“
“Axel!”
“I am being serious,” he said, grinning, kind of blissfully at that, because he remembered the look on Roxas’s face when his shoes had gone to soggy bits, and Axel hadn’t even known him back then, really, but that look on his face had been priceless nonetheless.
__
“Do you have a cell phone?”
The blonde kid looked like he wanted to ignore him, to just keep walking along and minding his own business, but Axel shoved one hand in his face, waving it frantically. “Do you have a cell phone I could borrow? Please?” he added, as an afterthought. He was panicking, and being polite was not on his list of top ten things to worry about at the moment.
The blonde looked over at him, annoyed it appeared, and then asked suspiciously, “Why?”
“My cat is in that tree!” He pointed up at trunk that seemed to go on forever. It was a giant, giant oak and it was currently in a raging contest with some elk over in some other country over the title of Largest Coniferous Plant in the World. The lowest branch was fifteen feet high, and Pepper was currently glaring down death threats from one that was twenty three feet high. Axel tried not to shiver in fear—Pepper was descended directly from mountain lions as far as he was concerned.
The short kid looked up incredulously and then back at Axel. “You’re serious.”
Axel jabbed a finger up at the tree. “Are you going to let a poor animal suffer a horrible fate because you think I’m joking?” He didn’t think Pepper was poor in any sense—in fact he was pretty sure that the cat had planned this all out, but he wasn’t taking any undue risks. He had a few more things yet he wanted to accomplish in life before it ended. He looked expectantly at the blonde kid, barely restraining himself from stretching out a hand to receive the phone.
The kid sighed, still looking suspicious, and pulled out one of those slider phones. He had pretty blue eyes, Axel noted as they swung up to scrutinize him. They’d be prettier if they weren’t so questioning. “Who do you want to call?”
Axel shifted his head a little. “I don’t know, I was thinking the fire department, but any suggestions that you have would be helpful as well.” He tried to sound as un-sarcastic as possible; it still came out a little haughty though, but Pepper was stuck in a fifty foot tree for god’s sakes, a tree and Axel feared for his life sometimes with this cat. Every second they spent dawdling was another second that Pepper was plotting his untimely demise.
His only hope rolled his eyes, and then tapped a few numbers on his phone. “Yes, can I be connected with the fire department? No, it’s not a real emergency…” Axel restrained from glaring at him, lest he hang up and waltz away and Axel find himself hung up by his ankles tomorrow night after Pepper managed to get down “…. Yes, it’s stuck in a tree. A big tree. No, I’m not joking. Can you please just connect me with the fire department? What? I am being serious! Hello? HELLO?”
Axel winced as the kid looked at his phone in shock. “She hung up on me. She said she’d heard this one too many times. And I needed to get a better imagination.”
“Try the operator?” Axel suggested innocently, sparing a nervous glance up the huge trunk.
“I get charged for dialing the operator,” the kid said, matter-of-factly, but started dialing anyway. Axel went fumbling in his pockets, bringing up a lighter, a crushed box of cigarettes, an old concert ticket, a Transformers wallet, an old gum wrapper, an old piece of gum, a stained penny (close, so close), a couple of wispy strands of red hair (wonder where that came from…) and finally emerged with the crumpled dollar he’d shoved into his hip pocket as an afterthought.
The kid looked over at him in mild surprise, blinking down at the dollar and then up at Axel before rolling his eyes again, but this time a little less severely. He shook his head in an amused fashion, and then said into the phone, “Sort of. I have a cat stuck in a tree. I’m being serious. Completely serious. It’s uh… we’re at…”
“Twenty Two Elm and Highland,” Axel supplied helpfully. “It’s the tree trying to be the Largest Coniferous Plant in the World.”
“It’s the tree that’s trying to be the Largest—what?” He made a face at Axel, as if he didn’t believe him, and then said, “Yea. That’s the one. Apparently. Um. My name’s Roxas. Yale. Uh, I don’t live here…. Twenty minutes? Okay, that’s fine.”
Twenty minutes? He could be slashed to death in eight hundred and thirteen different ways before those twenty minutes were up.
The boy who was apparently named Roxas hung up the phone, then looked over at Axel and said, “They’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“I heard,” Axel said, and then added, very gratefully, “Thanks. I really appreciate it. I’m… usually more responsible than this but I was taking her for a walk and—“
“Taking her for a walk.”
“Yea,” Axel gushed on, “taking her for a walk and—“
“So… the people here walk their cats.”
“Well, I guess, I mean, I do, she likes taking walks… fresh air, you know? I let her off right here though because there was nothing around and she went racing up that tree like some sort of stupid—“ and he felt the glare coming from fifty feet above “—some sort of you know, awesome cat and she got stuck up there. Through no fault of her own,” he added with flair for extra security.
Roxas was still staring at him.
“What?” Axel said defensively.
“Nothing. I’ve just… never really heard of anyone walking a cat before.”
“I guess it’s uncommon,” Axel acknowledged, “but Pepper’s got a mind of her own, really.” Brownie points, hopefully. “I heard your name was Roxas,” he banged on, “I’m Axel. Got it memorized?”
Roxas stared.
“So where are you from since I guess you’re not from around here?” he said, hastily. Offending your savior was a bit… offensive. Axel really didn’t care, but some part lurked underneath that said he should, really, be nice. Roxas’s phone was red. Axel’s hair was red. This was enough ground to be nice, if the whole phone episode wasn’t enough.
“I’m from Pennsylvania,” Roxas answered, gazing up the tree. “Is this tree really the largest—“
“Motherfucking Coniferous Tree in the World?” Axel jumped in. “It’s trying to be. Right now it’s a few inches shorter than some elm over in Canada so it’s not officially the largest one but everyone’s giving it a couple more years—and by couple I mean a couple hundred—to grow up. It’s still very immature.” He said this with the knowing of someone who knew what immature meant, so it was said very knowingly.
“I see.” There was a silence, and then Roxas said, “So. I guess I’ll be going along then?”
Axel ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. “If you want. I won’t make you stay, you did enough already but um. Thanks? What are you doing here anyway, if you’re from Pennsylvania?”
“Visiting my dad. He lives not too far from here, but I… kind of got lost.” Roxas said this with the utter horror of someone who does not get lost very often. In fact his cheeks were going red from the mere sentence he’d spoken. Axel couldn’t help but grin. It was… cute.
“Well I could probably help you out there,” he said brightly. “I’ve lived here long enough to know the lay of the land and shit. Where are you trying to get to?”
There wasn’t time for an answer though, because suddenly a red fire truck jumped the curb, siren flashing, coming straight for them and Axel suddenly remembered what had happened the last time Pepper had gone and put herself straight into a tree. There wasn’t much excitement in this part of town—fires were put out by wives muttering and throwing sand, and people who fell down in the street complaining of heart problems were shushed and told to stop making fools of themselves. And so the great fire department itself had volunteered to apparently make excitement, and it did so whenever some idiot was stupid enough to have their cat climb the biggest Motherfucking Coniferous Tree in the World.
“You might want to come—“ he said sharply, moving swiftly behind the tree, but Roxas was merely looking over at the fire truck, as if pondering when it would slow down and not bash right into them. Shit. Not. Good. Axel hissed a curse, and then darted out from behind the tree, grabbed Roxas rudely by the shoulder and tried to yank him out of the way.
It was too late.
--
Namine was staring at Axel in a type of stunned silence that said she really didn’t know how to respond, or she was still trying to digest the awfulness of what had transpired that day.
He sighed heavily, nodding in a very grave sentiment. “I know. It was awful. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” That thought had been very prevalent lately, it seemed. “It was really an accident and I mean, I made it up to him later but I guess he was really fond of them… he likes checkers.”
“What kind of psycho town did you live in that the fire department came around and hosed down your shoes?”
Axel grinned. “The best kind, baby. The best kind.”
Namine shook her head. “You know, I think—“
“You’re fucking late.”
They both jumped about four feet in the air and out of their chairs at the cold, precise sound of the voice that came from the entrance. Axel had his gun pulled from the waistband of his pants and Namine was pulling back before they both realized it was Riku standing there, his silver hair all shiny in the cold metallic light of the mall. He looked calmly angry, but then again, when didn’t he?
“You’re late Axel. You were supposed to be on patrol thirteen minutes ago.”
Axel blinked at the irony, and then smiled a wry little smile. “Sorry Chief. Lost track of time.”
“Should I remind you that—
“We’re in a life or death predicament and everything that goes wrong, in even the slightest form, could mean the deaths of us all? No, I know. Sorry. I’m going. Right now.”
Riku merely narrowed his eyes in what was supposed to be a threatening manner, and then pulled out of the entrance, standing a few feet away as though he were going to escort Axel to his post. Axel made a little kissy face after him, and then grabbed the remote and shut the TV off.
“I imagine you don’t want to watch anything else?”
Namine shook her head—of course she didn’t want to be alone. “I’ll go wait with everyone else downstairs. You can make me cultured some other time I guess.”
Surprised that she had remembered, he nodded. “Alright, I’ll hold you to that one. Let’s go before the Head of Security gets all pissy.”
“Axel!”
“Too late.”
Part Two
It's Akuroku Day! Idek, my flist hasn't exploded too badly. I love Axel/Roxas. There are no words. They complete me. I actually could probably come up with a few hundred ways why I love them so much, but I won't waste time (and space).
I have comments to reply to and fics to read and lately I feel like I have no time for them. Though clearly I have time for awkward.
In any case, as I have nothing new to share for this special day (haha), I'm posting the original version of Everything and Nothing at Once. A couple of people asked for it, so I figured I'd stick it up.
Other than that... I have nothing new. I am boring.
So..this is the first version I wrote of zombie fic I posted a week ago. I haven't taken the time to really edit it at all, I haven't italicized what's supposed to be (except for the parts where it's very necessary), and it's all jumbled and probably makes no sense.
I was new to KH at the time, and just trying my hand at what I could do. This is basically... me attempting to fit KH into Dawn of the Dead universe, with some exceptions. I'll leave some more notes at the end about what I was trying to accomplish, but for now, enjoy, I suppose.
I do want to stress I was new to fandom. So...take it with a grain of salt.
___
Everything and Nothing at Once
___
It wasn’t like the crib in the nursery was just your regular shade of blue or soft, pretty pink; it was yellow, and he didn’t like yellow. He guessed that maybe this had been a part on the store to try and create a unisex, not very offensive display but he didn’t like yellow. Lately, in fact, he loathed it.
He quickly snuck a glance around the store; it was deserted and dark and there were one of those little contraptions that swung from the ceiling. It was cute—it had stars and moons with happy faces and was currently swaying in the air. What breeze? How could there be a breeze? He looked around nervously again, but it was quiet down the hallway and it quiet in the store. Freaking himself out was the most accurate way to describe this whole scenario—but at least there was a good reason. And he didn’t know why he was fucking hesitating, there was nothing stopping him.
Easing open the sliding glass door, he slipped inside, shutting it and latching the lock. This could potentially prove to be dangerous, but he’d rather have one entrance point secure than turn around and suddenly find something behind him. It seemed unlikely with the glass windows, but still. A quick glance said that yes, the hallway was still deserted. It probably would be for awhile—there weren’t many people who ventured down this way and a lot of them had been asleep. Luxord had seen him walk off, but the older man had said nothing. Luxord had the most perfect ability to put the plight of everyone else slightly below his own—or he had the most perfect ability to mind his own fucking business.
A quick cursory walk of the store revealed that there was nothing lurking behind the racks of fluffy animal-eared towels or the shelves with the diapers. Nothing behind the Baby Einstein toys or near the formula. He still felt every shift of the air though, and the piece of metal pressing into his side weighed like four stones. He’d had the girl paint—Namine, it was—paint little red streaks across it so it looked like bursts of flame. He hadn’t used it yet and he hoped he wouldn’t have to right now. He had something malicious to do but it didn’t involve the gun.
He went over to the crib with the offending yellow sheets, and in one fluid movement he had grabbed them and yanked them out while violently pushing the crib over. It clattered to the ground and the thud echoed around the whole store. He stood silently, eyes darting around the darkened store and in the hallway but there was nothing there. Nothing came down the hallway and nothing flew out of the cabinet with the pink elephants dressed on it. Now why couldn’t this blanket be pink? It wouldn’t have to be destroyed if it had been pink. It wasn’t like he was on, you know, a mission to destroy everything yellow in the world. But something so innocent should not be yellow.
The soft material held in a firm grasp between his fingertips, he gazed around the store. There were a few yellow ducks sitting there innocently and he grabbed those, wrapping them up in the blanket. Next there were pillows, and a couple of one piece things for kids who were two months old, and then a few more fluffy yellow blankets. He wrapped them up into the blanket until he had a makeshift bag and then he slung that over his shoulder, exiting the store quickly.
Seeing there was still nothing in the hallway, he went swiftly back the way he’d come, though he took a left to avoid the main area and reach the stairs that led up to the roof. He yanked the red streaked gun out of his pants, opening the door slowly and pointing the muzzle up and down the stairs until he was sure there was nothing hiding in the darkness. Nothing sprang out at him, and he jogged the few flights up the stairs until he reached the roof, opening the door as cautiously as he’d come up the stairs.
The sky was red streaked, and when he burned the stuff he’d carried up, the smoke looked ghostly against the painted sky.
__
“Where the fuck were you?”
“Shut up Riku,” Axel said when he returned, satisfied by the job he’d done. When he had finished burning the blankets and everything else he’d tossed the smoldering remains over the edge. It had been more than satisfying to hear the agonized groans as the fireball had torn into the mess below. He could have stayed to watch, but the sun was just starting to come up and he knew there was bound to be people wondering where he’d gone. Ever since Demyx had been a little bitch and tried to go after his stupid dog, everyone had agreed to a mandatory roll call in the morning. Just in case.
“I’m not kidding asshole, where were you?”
Axel didn’t even look as he sat down, accepting the chipped ceramic mug from Namine, the one that read Pennsylvania Welcomes You! Yea the fuck right. He hated Pennsylvania. He hated this place. He didn’t hate Namine, though, so he smiled his thanks. She had been skinny when he’d met her in this godforsaken place, but now she was just skin and bones. While the rest of them had seemingly gorged themselves during the copious amounts of free time they had, Namine didn’t eat. She was one of those who didn’t eat when stress and this, understandably, was a stressful time. He was worried about her, but she brushed off any concern he’d had with a smile.
A hand grabbed his shoulder and he yanked away easily, standing up from where he’d only sat a moment before to go around the table by Namine. The blonde girl was watching Riku fume with an expression on her face that was a mix of both exasperation and acknowledgement. Riku was their Head of Security—Head of Security meaning that he liked to capitalize the letters and walked around with Sora trailing after him like a puppy dog looking scared.
As far as Axel was concerned, Riku could jump off the roof along with the things he’d thrown off earlier. Sure, he had been Head of Security when the mall was functioning—for the past month, though, it hadn’t. It wouldn’t be so bad if he wasn’t demanding explanations of people whenever they went anywhere. It could pass off as simply trying to keep the group safe, but they weren’t idiots. At least he wasn’t and he was stuck here and as far as he knew, Riku was some high school fucking drop out who felt important because once upon a time he’d carried a big gun and strutted around the mall in coveralls with the stamp SECURITY on the back.
“Axel, could you please just…”
This particularly pleading came from Sora, who was standing behind Riku with his hair all plastered sweaty to his face. Apparently he didn’t sleep very well. According to Riku of course. They were, quite obviously, fuckbuddies. Luxord had pointed out hickies on Sora’s neck and it had been Larexene who had noticed Sora walking funny and it had all gone downhill from there. The incident had ended when Riku had waved the gun around threateningly until Kairi socked him in the stomach and took it away. They still snickered about it. It had been the most interesting thing to happen in months—that was, until now, because now might as well turn out just as bloody because when Axel looked over at Riku, Riku was glaring at him with the intensity of someone who had just been trapped in the mall with idiots he didn’t know and hated it.
Which was exactly the situation he was in, but somehow his eyes held an even more dangerous gleam than usual.
Rolling his eyes, Axel focused on Sora and spoke to him, saying, “I was on the roof. Sacrificing ducks and other assorted things to God hoping he’d kill me.”
“I could kill you,” Riku said darkly, finally looking away from Axel and over to where Kairi was starting another pot of coffee. “You could at least answer. You know wandering off alone isn’t safe.”
“Thanks Mom.” Axel sat down next to Namine and finally started drinking from the cup she’d handed him when he had first appeared. From across the hallway to the sleeping area, he could see Lorene and Demyx getting up, drawn by the noise apparently. The automatic floodlights were starting to light up, illuminating the glass walled stores and their own little camp next to the large coffee kiosk. Kairi usually was in charge with making food in the morning—or not in charge, for some reason she enjoyed it. He didn’t understand it, but she was busy over there now, slapping shit into the microwaves and making a few specialized drinks for those she knew would ask.
He thought that maybe the mindlessness of the whole situation distracted her. He’d kill for something mindless. No, wait. That was not a shiny thought to be thinking.
Riku had finally given up and wandered away, Sora looking at Axel apologetically as he followed the taller man. He actually kind of liked Rica’s shorter, brown-haired partner. Sora definitely wasn’t the brightest and sure as hell probably would have been dead for now if not for Riku, but he was always trying to be optimistic and would never hurt anyone intentionally in his life without cause. Apparently in his other life he’d been working as a nurse, or at least trying to be—you know, some goody thing that helped people out. That had been the other life though—even though Axel wondered if Riku had ever made Sora dress up in his nurse uniform in the bedroom at times. The general consensus—meaning himself and Namine—had reckoned yes.
“Where’s Six?”
The question wasn’t from Riku—it was from Namine by his side. He looked over at her questioningly—she was gazing across at the sleeping area now, where everyone by now was waking up. Larxene and Demyx had since made their way over, but Zexion, Lexaeus, and Xigbar were still there. But missing, most accurately, was indeed Saix.
Axel shrugged. “Not here. Problem?”
There was concern etched on her face as she glanced over at Riku. They’d met her on the way here, hiding in an abandoned SUV, in one long dress that ran over her knees, a sketchbook underneath her arm. She never talked about why she’d been hiding in the SUV or where her family or friends were, but when they’d asked if she wanted to come with them, she had agreed and followed. It was like they’d known each other their entire lives—which was weird for Axel, because he’d only felt that way with one other person before but Namine had fit nicely into a niche that had seemed created for her. He liked her and the way she would always think before she spoke, and how she had this most odd, sad, satisfying smile. And she was always drawing.
“No, I just… I saw him leave when I went to sleep and I thought he was going to the bathroom but he’s obviously not here…. That was hours ago, I guess he could have come back and left again, but nobody’s said anything about it.”
Axel shrugged, inclined to not care. He, after all, was not Head of Security. They’d be doing their mandatory roll call in a couple of minutes anyway and then Riku would realize that Saix was missing, just like Namine had. He was probably somewhere on the roof trying to catch birds to eat them with his bare teeth. Saix had always seemed psychotic to him, and since they had lost Xenias last week, he seemed even a little bit more psychotic. They’d all been watching him carefully, saying nothing when he put on Xansa’s black and white hideously striped coat and wore it all the time, or when he would vacantly wander off and stare at the mannequins in the department store window down the main hallway. Most of the others were concerned for him, it seemed, and Axel did too, at some primitive level.
It had been really hard to care for anything over the past month except for one thing, really.
“If you keep snoring, I’m going to cut out your larynx.”
“You don’t mean that Larx,” Demyx said brightly, jumping up on the stool next to the bar.
“No. I really do. Where the hell is—“
“Your white chocolate mocha with skim milk and no whip?”
Kairi shoved the mug at Larxene and did a little twirl back to the other side of the counter, her hands doing three things at once. She’d been a coffee slinger in the other life apparently. Or she’d just learned while trying to be mindless. She was the only one who put up with Larxene’s excessive coffee demands, at all hours of the day. Apparently she and Sora had been something big before Sora realized that fantasizing about Riku meant that he was, in fact, gay. She was still great friends with them it seemed—which meant she was probably gay too.
In fact, to just put it out there, Axel thought they were all gay. He’d made the mistake of mentioning that little tidbit to Demyx one night while getting toasted and smashing the collectibles in the shop upstairs and when he’d woken up with the hangover from hell there were little rainbows painted on his face. The only thing that saved Demyx from burning at the stake was that Demyx was, in fact, a faerie himself but more importantly, he was Xigbar’s faerie and as Xigbar had sold illegal firearms to cop-killers in his previous life, Axel had only glared and moved on with his life. In any case, Axel suspected and had pretty much confirmed that most of them were fucking like rabbits in the various stores they had access to. It wasn’t like he minded. It was just a big wonder to him how this mall had become a haven for not only survivors and those still human, but those survivors and still humans who apparently all liked purple.
“Where’s mine Kairi?” Demyx asked, his face now falling. It really wasn’t hard to see that he’d been the one to nearly kill—maybe—them all trying to chase after his stupid dog.
“Iced white mocha, extra whip, caramel topping.”
Demyx gave a delighted squeal and Axel turned away in exasperation to see Riku starting to count them all, his cup of coffee in hand. Apparently here were things worse than being counted like cattle but sometimes it really irked Axel. He saw Riku frown deeply, and then recount twice more.
“Saix is gone,” Axel called to him, boredly watching the other few sleepers from the couches finally reach the coffee island.
“No shit,” Riku retorted, starting to get in his Head of Security frenzy mode. HSF for short, and surprisingly it had been Sora who had come up with that acronym. “Has anyone seen Saix?”
“Nope.” Luxord already had his cards out of the table, looking for the first challenger. Lux had been a gambler in another life, and upon realizing that their chances for survival were slim to none, had ceremoniously burned his Gamblers Anonymous card. “Didn’t see him. He blends in so well with that coat of his.”
A couple of the others snickered morbidly and Axel shook his head. It really wasn’t very funny.
“So nobody’s seen him?” Riku asked, ignoring Luxord completely. “When was the last time anyone saw him?”
“Last night,” Namine said immediately. “I went to sleep and he was still here but when I woke up he was gone. I thought someone knew where he was. Sorry Riku.”
Riku ran a hand through his long, silver hair. It had grown from the little buzzcut he’d worn when they’d all first arrived and it was really the only deviation from his Head of Security uniform. “That’s okay. He probably just fell asleep somewhere. We need to find him though. It’s not safe.”
“Well when we’re all safe you just let us know, dude,” Xigbar commented and there was a muttering of agreement to that. Axel sighed, knowing where this was going and standing up. He didn’t like tagging after Riku around the mall, but it was in his best interest to stomach it.
Riku saw Axel get up and glared at him a second. “Any other volunteers?”
Demyx raised his hand enthusiastically since he always volunteered for everything but both Axel and Riku shook their heads violently at that suggestion as Xigbar grabbed his hand forcefully and pulled it down. “Bad idea little dude,” he said with a smile, ruffling Demyx’s hair and ignoring his hurt eyes. “Besides we should do something else…productive.” There was a very failed attempt at trying to look coy in his eyes when he said the last word.
“I’m going to be sick,” Axel commented, and then looked over at where Zexion, Vexen, and Lex were quietly drinking coffee and pretty much ignoring the talk going on around them. “Are you guys going to do some science today or what?”
Vexen looked up and rolled his eyes. “Maybe. Why do you care?”
“Let’s go,” Riku interrupted, face terse. “We’re taking too long.”
Axel glared at Riku, and then at Vexen for good measure before sliding the gun out of the waistband of his pants. He looked over at Namine with a quick smile as Riku and Sora shared some very significant and meaningful looks. They did that often, with Sora looking like he was going to cry and Riku looking very strong and brave and manly. It was really very touching. The look on Namine’s face was troubling though. She looked genuinely worried, but then again, she looked genuinely worried about everything.
“Let’s go,” Axel said, interrupting Riku and Sora’s exchange and starting to saunter down the hallway that would lead to the stairs. Riku came hurrying after him. He hadn’t even kissed Sora goodbye. How sad.
“Where are you going?” Riku asked in annoyance, trailing after Axel.
“The roof.”
“Why the roof? He could be anywhere.”
“He probably fell asleep up there. It’s a lot less dreary than any other place here.”
“He could be anywhere,” Riku reiterated as they turned the corner so that the main place they stayed was now out of sight. “And cute move you pulled back there.”
“What’s that?”
“You know I’m only trying to keep everyone safe. I’d appreciate it if you would not be such a smartass about it.” Riku had his gun out now, in whatever defensive stance they’d taught him when he attended whatever academy there was for high school dropouts. He was walking cautiously, slowly, eyes darting back and forth.
Axel, however, continued to stroll at a brisk pace. “I’d appreciate it if you weren’t such an asshole but we can’t always get what we want, can we? Hurry up.”
“What did you call me?” Riku hissed, eyes focusing on Axel for a second.
“Can we just please get this fucking done with and find him? I don’t like your company any more than you like mines.”
“Listen, asshole, just because you lost your boyfriend and think you don’t have anything else to fucking live for I—“
“What the fuck did you just say, you—what?”
They had reached the door that led to the stairwell and it was ajar. Not locked.
Riku looked at it for a second, and his body visibly tensed. “Didn’t you say you just came down from the roof? Did you leave it open?”
“Of course not.” Axel moved into the same stupid defensive position that Riku was still in. “I shut it and locked it.”
Riku seemed to process that for a second, and his eyes darted around the area. The area didn’t seem disturbed—everything was still shiny and chrome and still. “Okay. Be careful.” He took a deep breath that seemed to go throughout his entire body and then he nudged open the door with his foot, arms swinging up to point the muzzle of the gun around. A second later he was through the door, his head craning to peer up into the stairwell and then inclining sharply to look down into the darkness that led to the basement. He motioned for Axel to follow as he started to climb.
Casting one last glance at the scenery that hadn’t changed, Axel followed, shutting the door with a quiet click. He backed up on the steps, like he’d seen people do in movies, trusting Riku to watch up top, keeping his gaze on the bottom of the stairs, every hair on his body up. He could hear his own heartbeat in his ears and he really didn’t like that one bit. Nothing was moving in the still darkness below, but he could only imagine. He could really only imagine very well what could be hiding down below in the darkness, could only really imagine too well what was waiting for him to look away and waiting for—
His back connected with something and he spun around, breath hitching in his throat, elbows going everywhere as he heard Riku grunt.
“Stop it! It’s me you idiot.”
“Next time tell me when you stop!” Axel said angrily, heart still hammering in his chest. “I’m not looking at you!”
“I’d hope not,” Riku muttered, and then he bent down to examine something on the concrete ground. Axel tried to slow his breathing, and then looked down to see what had nearly caused him to have a heart attack. At first all he saw was the dark stain against the ground, but when Riku pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and gently swiped it against the spot, it came back red. Not bright red, or rusty red, but crimson, and it didn’t come back dry, it came back wet.
Axel swallowed and looked up, forgetting that his gaze was supposed to be toward the ground. He didn’t see anything, but on the next landing, he saw another spot on the concrete.
“Be quiet,” Riku said, unnecessarily, and then rose and started to climb again. Axel felt his heart getting fluttery in his chest again, and he closed his eyes briefly. He wished he’d had the guts to tell Namine what he’d been thinking about for the past month. She would have known what to do.
They went up slowly, and Axel didn’t say anything this time. Nothing stirred from above or below for the rest of the flights, until they reached the door that would lead to the roof. There was a puddle here, instead of a spot, and wordlessly Riku positioned himself by the shut door. Axel held the gun up, trying to clear his head, as Riku opened the door in one fluid motion, muzzle pointed at nothing and everything at once.
The sun was bright in the sky now, the air warm, and at first there was nothing. Just the roof, the humming white air conditioning unit, a couple of antennas bent toward the sky. Riku went forward, gun swinging around, but there was nothing behind the outcropping of the door. That left on the other side of the air conditioning unit. Riku met Axel’s eyes and then tilted his head one way and then the other. Axel got it, even if he wasn’t happy about what was about to happen. He didn’t trust Riku’s aim—then again, he didn’t trust his own either. Without a word, Riku went to the left and Axel trailed to the right, gun held straight in front of him. His breath was hitching again, his heart making a weird thwacking noise.
He crept alongside the air conditioning vent, and when he reckoned that Riku had reached the other side, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a second, and jumped out, pointing his killing device at nothing and at everything at once.
And there was Saix, and in his hands was the body that had caused the blood in the stairwell. It was dead, of course, but it also wasn’t moving, which was important to notice. He was cradling it, the blood smearing all over the zebra striped coat he was wearing, was always wearing now. His hair had blood on it, and so did his cheeks and nose and forehead. He was sitting, back against the air conditioning unit, and there was blood on that too.
“Saix,” Riku said after a second, quietly, gun pointed directly at the man’s head. “Saix?”
His head lifted from its bowed position and he looked first over at Axel. There was nothing wrong with the gaze and Axel felt himself relax, if only a few hairs. Saix looked like Saix, albeit covered in blood and wearing a hideous jacket. He looked the same psychotic he’d looked for the past week—on the edge and teetering and barely there.
“Saix, what the hell are you doing?” Axel asked, dropping the edge of his gun a little. “Why the hell do you have that thing?”
“I can do whatever I want,” Saix said, and when he had finished speaking Axel had the gun trained back on him.
His voice was passionless. Dead.
“Fine, but you left the door downstairs open,” Riku said, obviously trying to go easy and looking completely uneasy at the entire situation. “And you were late for the roll call this morning so we were worried.”
“I’m not a goddamn sheep,” Saix said, and his voice still was calm, ever so calm.
“I know that. But it’s for safety okay? And please tell me where you got that thing from?”
“None of your goddamn business.”
Riku met Axel’s eyes, and then looked back down at the man huddled on the ground. “Okay, fine. Then can you tell me if you secured wherever you got it from?”
“NONE OF YOUR GODDAMN BUSINESS!”
Saix was up in one second; the next he had tossed the body toward Riku and Riku sidestepped; Saix gave a guttural roar, and it was full of pain, and misery, and more emotion than Axel had ever heard from anything; he had launched himself at Riku and Riku, sidestepping the body, couldn’t stop him and the gun went flying from his hand as Saix pushed him down and slammed him to the concrete; there was a deafening roar and then there was blood all over Riku.
“Get him off me!” Riku shouted, struggling to move. “Axel, get him off me!”
Axel was shaking. He hadn’t even used the gun before now. He hadn’t even been aiming for Saix’s head at all.
Riku managed to shove away from Saix’s body and immediately went to his own gun, grabbing it and shooting Saix in the head, again. And then he shot the other body, in the head as well, and then he yanked the shirt from his head, turning it inside out and wiped his face with it, spitting out blood and looking afraid.
“We need to shove them over,” he said, not looking at Axel. “We need to get them out of here and then find where Saix got that one from.”
He hadn’t ever fired a gun before. And Saix’s head hadn’t been the target.
They pushed the other body off first, because it was smaller than Saix was. It crushed a couple of the things on the ground level, but Saix’s body crushed a lot more before it was torn apart.
He hadn’t ever fired a gun and he hadn’t meant to kill Saix.
“Let’s go,” Riku said, not even looking over at Axel.
This was not supposed to happen.
None of it was, really.
__
Apparently Saix had been sane when he’d captured the thing he’d been cradling on the roof. They found more blood at the small door on the outside of the fast food chicken place, the one they only used when going out for this purpose, the one that was pretty deserted outside. It was re-locked with the boards all over it again and they didn’t bother opening it. If there was something else around, then it would have made it presence known by now.
Riku was still on ends about that, but Axel wasn’t as worried about that as he was worried about the fact that Saix had gone utterly insane in the span of merely a few days.
__
“You never talk about him.”
Namine hadn’t said much about the Saix incident—Sora had freaked out about the blood on Riku and Zexion and Vexen had insisted on examining them for any signs of infection but they were both clean. There really wasn’t much to say about the whole ordeal— they had come to the general consensus that he had gone insane. There really wasn’t much to talk about and not much to postulate about and since Axel had killed him, a secondary interview was not an option. Primary sources were only good when alive.
Axel shrugged at her query, eyes still focused on the screen. “He’s dead. I didn’t want to kill him. But there’s nothing else I can do about that.”
“I’m not talking about Saix.”
“I know.”
Namine said nothing to that for a second, and then looked over at the screen, frowning. “What the hell are we watching?”
“Killer Clowns from Outer Space.”
“Um.”
“Cheesy horror flick from the 80’s. Everything from the 80’s was kind of cheesy in some way. You’ve never seen it?”
“It’s not ringing any bells.”
“You should watch it. It’s a classic. Right up there with Spaceballs and The Goonies.”
“I’ve never seen those either.”
He stared at her, and then looked around the completely stocked shelves. He pointed toward the comedy section that was just beyond the fuzzy plushy anime dolls and then at the horror section that was right past the smiling yellow sponge. “Well, Namine, I think you’re woefully behind in your social education. I think we’ll find both of those readily available and once we find them, your skinny ass is watching them. I mean, you’re never going to be adept in any real social situation if you’re lacking in culture. I know these things.” He nodded knowingly.
She only smiled at him, looked briefly back at the screen where a pink haired clown was grinning maliciously, and then set down her book with an air of finality. Axel immediately grabbed the remote and turned the volume up to drown out everything she was going to say in the next eight seconds.
“This part is great,” he said, emphasizing the last word and trying to sink away and disappear into the bean bag chair he was on. It was red too, just like his hair, maybe she wouldn’t see him, no matter how perceptive she was. “Clowns are awesome. They really convey all these emotions that normal human beings don’t convey. It’s sad they get such a bad rep.”
“Clowns are very sad,” she said agreeably, her blue eyes focused uncomfortably on his face. He shifted again, pushing back into the soft plush, hearing the fluff squishing around on the inside. He could probably run out the door screaming and she wouldn’t do anything. But then again, about four people would be running down the hall in thirteen seconds waving guns around and aiming to kill. Maybe he could just say he had to use the bathroom. Would she follow him? They were beyond social norms now. She probably would, damnit.
He tried to focus on the bright picture in front of him. They’d dragged the plasma television that had been behind the counter to the middle of the store after shoving the racks and racks of DVD’s and other assorted movie stuffs to the sides. Namine and Kairi had gone through the kids’ furniture store and returned with a rainbow carpet and the bean bag chairs. A couple of lamps had come from across the way—they were antique lamps and Demyx had broken one already and Riku had thrown a fucking fit—and it created a nice ambiance, if not a weird, eerie one. He’d already trashed the big life sized cutout of Johnny Depp—much to Demyx’s chagrin. It had been way too fucking weird though.
Her eyes were still glued to his face, he could tell. And she knew it too and she still just kept looking at him. If she wasn’t his only— sort of—friend in here he’d have turned to glare at her by now. Namine never hurt anything though, and she was full of only the best suggestions and sugary words and comforting gazes. Like hell if he was going to be stuck for the rest of his probably very short life with fucking Demyx for fuck’s sake. Sighing very audibly and with much fanfare, he shifted in his chair so that his body was facing hers, and then propped up his arm, resting his chin in his palm, a slight smirk on his lips. In front of them something pink exploded in an eruption of panicked screams and crazed laughter.
Just throw in a couple of flesh eating corpses, a little more red, a little less pink, some more white makeup and crazed eyes and it would sum up their situation more or less perfectly. He loved it when the world made such perfect sense like it was now. Really.
“Yes, Namine, is there something I can help you with?”
“You never answered my question.”
“I didn’t think there was a question.”
She frowned, quite patiently as it were, but still a frown. “Why don’t you ever talk about Roxas?”
“Why don’t you ever talk about your own family?” he fired back, eyeing her critically.
Her face was still fixed in a frown and she glanced away from his intense gaze. He waited, content to say nothing. He’d rather been enjoying watching the movie—now he was missing the entire lot of it. Grabbing the remote, he paused while still listening to her say nothing.
“There’s really not much to say.” Oh great. She was going to spill and then he would have to spill. They should have rules about this, full non-disclosure or something else as pretty as that. “I lived with my dad, because I hadn’t seen my mom in years. I was at work when everything started happening and I haven’t seen him since. Obviously.” She looked over at him, expression nigh unreadable. “There’s not much to say.”
To this Axel shrugged, really wishing that she’d left this conversation alone, for more reasons than she knew about. “There’s not much to say about Roxas. What happened happened. It’s not like I can undo that, just like I can’t undo what I did to Saix. Do you think I have some emotional issues we need to discuss? That when I’m not with you I’m in the bathroom choking because it hurts so much?”
“No,” she answered, though she avoided his gaze slightly when she spoke. “But I’d like to hear about him. I didn’t know really know him, but…” Train of thought appearing lost, she made a frustrated little noise and slumped a little bit further back in her chair, looking both put out and determined.
Axel made a face at her, hoping it would be funny, and then reached out and lightly punched her on the arm. “Oh fine, I can’t resist when you pout like that,” he said, hint of a smile on his lips. “You’re taking my patrol next time though. Just kidding,” he added hastily, seeing the expression on her face. Namine was brave and Namine was strong, but Namine was also very afraid of the dark, especially when patrolling that dark with such incompetent people as Demyx. Leave them together in the dark and they’d probably all be dead in the morning—either from their screaming in terror or their lax jobs.
“Let’s see,” he said, with the air of someone starting a very important story and expecting the listener to pay very close attention. “I met Roxas when I was a young lad in the wild thrushes of Scotland, foraging around for natured nuts and blossoming berries, attacked by the evil famine that had once robbed that land of its mystical and long sought-after potatoes, a famine that came with all the hounds of hell and the depths of despair with it, a famine that has robbed a very hardworking, live of the land, I will not ask anything of ye I wouldn’t give of myself people of their livelihood and I will tell you, those poor people were of a great joy and of a great mysticism and romance when I talked to them, oh they were helpful oh yes they were, and when I met Roxas he a hard working young Scottish lad helping to overcome this awful famine, with the sunlight in his hair and the blue of the ocean in his eyes, oh I tell you lass, he was a looker and probably sold those little pouty lips somewhere out there, I do not want, nor do not tell you, or want you to think badly, but you never know, dear lass, and when I met him he was bent over picking potatoes and blossoming berries and nurtured nuts and there was a fire in the sky and probably in the ground too and somewhere in the air there was this really little light song that—“
She was blinking rapidly at him and then her small fist connected squarely with his shoulder.
“Hey!”
“Be serious!
“I am,” he said, imploringly. When she glared at him, he sighed. “Okay, fine. I met Roxas in a life or death situation that involved a tree, a big red fire truck, and some checkered shoes, which, through no fault of my own, ended up ruined in this life or death situation that—“
“Axel!”
“I am being serious,” he said, grinning, kind of blissfully at that, because he remembered the look on Roxas’s face when his shoes had gone to soggy bits, and Axel hadn’t even known him back then, really, but that look on his face had been priceless nonetheless.
__
“Do you have a cell phone?”
The blonde kid looked like he wanted to ignore him, to just keep walking along and minding his own business, but Axel shoved one hand in his face, waving it frantically. “Do you have a cell phone I could borrow? Please?” he added, as an afterthought. He was panicking, and being polite was not on his list of top ten things to worry about at the moment.
The blonde looked over at him, annoyed it appeared, and then asked suspiciously, “Why?”
“My cat is in that tree!” He pointed up at trunk that seemed to go on forever. It was a giant, giant oak and it was currently in a raging contest with some elk over in some other country over the title of Largest Coniferous Plant in the World. The lowest branch was fifteen feet high, and Pepper was currently glaring down death threats from one that was twenty three feet high. Axel tried not to shiver in fear—Pepper was descended directly from mountain lions as far as he was concerned.
The short kid looked up incredulously and then back at Axel. “You’re serious.”
Axel jabbed a finger up at the tree. “Are you going to let a poor animal suffer a horrible fate because you think I’m joking?” He didn’t think Pepper was poor in any sense—in fact he was pretty sure that the cat had planned this all out, but he wasn’t taking any undue risks. He had a few more things yet he wanted to accomplish in life before it ended. He looked expectantly at the blonde kid, barely restraining himself from stretching out a hand to receive the phone.
The kid sighed, still looking suspicious, and pulled out one of those slider phones. He had pretty blue eyes, Axel noted as they swung up to scrutinize him. They’d be prettier if they weren’t so questioning. “Who do you want to call?”
Axel shifted his head a little. “I don’t know, I was thinking the fire department, but any suggestions that you have would be helpful as well.” He tried to sound as un-sarcastic as possible; it still came out a little haughty though, but Pepper was stuck in a fifty foot tree for god’s sakes, a tree and Axel feared for his life sometimes with this cat. Every second they spent dawdling was another second that Pepper was plotting his untimely demise.
His only hope rolled his eyes, and then tapped a few numbers on his phone. “Yes, can I be connected with the fire department? No, it’s not a real emergency…” Axel restrained from glaring at him, lest he hang up and waltz away and Axel find himself hung up by his ankles tomorrow night after Pepper managed to get down “…. Yes, it’s stuck in a tree. A big tree. No, I’m not joking. Can you please just connect me with the fire department? What? I am being serious! Hello? HELLO?”
Axel winced as the kid looked at his phone in shock. “She hung up on me. She said she’d heard this one too many times. And I needed to get a better imagination.”
“Try the operator?” Axel suggested innocently, sparing a nervous glance up the huge trunk.
“I get charged for dialing the operator,” the kid said, matter-of-factly, but started dialing anyway. Axel went fumbling in his pockets, bringing up a lighter, a crushed box of cigarettes, an old concert ticket, a Transformers wallet, an old gum wrapper, an old piece of gum, a stained penny (close, so close), a couple of wispy strands of red hair (wonder where that came from…) and finally emerged with the crumpled dollar he’d shoved into his hip pocket as an afterthought.
The kid looked over at him in mild surprise, blinking down at the dollar and then up at Axel before rolling his eyes again, but this time a little less severely. He shook his head in an amused fashion, and then said into the phone, “Sort of. I have a cat stuck in a tree. I’m being serious. Completely serious. It’s uh… we’re at…”
“Twenty Two Elm and Highland,” Axel supplied helpfully. “It’s the tree trying to be the Largest Coniferous Plant in the World.”
“It’s the tree that’s trying to be the Largest—what?” He made a face at Axel, as if he didn’t believe him, and then said, “Yea. That’s the one. Apparently. Um. My name’s Roxas. Yale. Uh, I don’t live here…. Twenty minutes? Okay, that’s fine.”
Twenty minutes? He could be slashed to death in eight hundred and thirteen different ways before those twenty minutes were up.
The boy who was apparently named Roxas hung up the phone, then looked over at Axel and said, “They’ll be here in twenty minutes.”
“I heard,” Axel said, and then added, very gratefully, “Thanks. I really appreciate it. I’m… usually more responsible than this but I was taking her for a walk and—“
“Taking her for a walk.”
“Yea,” Axel gushed on, “taking her for a walk and—“
“So… the people here walk their cats.”
“Well, I guess, I mean, I do, she likes taking walks… fresh air, you know? I let her off right here though because there was nothing around and she went racing up that tree like some sort of stupid—“ and he felt the glare coming from fifty feet above “—some sort of you know, awesome cat and she got stuck up there. Through no fault of her own,” he added with flair for extra security.
Roxas was still staring at him.
“What?” Axel said defensively.
“Nothing. I’ve just… never really heard of anyone walking a cat before.”
“I guess it’s uncommon,” Axel acknowledged, “but Pepper’s got a mind of her own, really.” Brownie points, hopefully. “I heard your name was Roxas,” he banged on, “I’m Axel. Got it memorized?”
Roxas stared.
“So where are you from since I guess you’re not from around here?” he said, hastily. Offending your savior was a bit… offensive. Axel really didn’t care, but some part lurked underneath that said he should, really, be nice. Roxas’s phone was red. Axel’s hair was red. This was enough ground to be nice, if the whole phone episode wasn’t enough.
“I’m from Pennsylvania,” Roxas answered, gazing up the tree. “Is this tree really the largest—“
“Motherfucking Coniferous Tree in the World?” Axel jumped in. “It’s trying to be. Right now it’s a few inches shorter than some elm over in Canada so it’s not officially the largest one but everyone’s giving it a couple more years—and by couple I mean a couple hundred—to grow up. It’s still very immature.” He said this with the knowing of someone who knew what immature meant, so it was said very knowingly.
“I see.” There was a silence, and then Roxas said, “So. I guess I’ll be going along then?”
Axel ran a hand through his hair awkwardly. “If you want. I won’t make you stay, you did enough already but um. Thanks? What are you doing here anyway, if you’re from Pennsylvania?”
“Visiting my dad. He lives not too far from here, but I… kind of got lost.” Roxas said this with the utter horror of someone who does not get lost very often. In fact his cheeks were going red from the mere sentence he’d spoken. Axel couldn’t help but grin. It was… cute.
“Well I could probably help you out there,” he said brightly. “I’ve lived here long enough to know the lay of the land and shit. Where are you trying to get to?”
There wasn’t time for an answer though, because suddenly a red fire truck jumped the curb, siren flashing, coming straight for them and Axel suddenly remembered what had happened the last time Pepper had gone and put herself straight into a tree. There wasn’t much excitement in this part of town—fires were put out by wives muttering and throwing sand, and people who fell down in the street complaining of heart problems were shushed and told to stop making fools of themselves. And so the great fire department itself had volunteered to apparently make excitement, and it did so whenever some idiot was stupid enough to have their cat climb the biggest Motherfucking Coniferous Tree in the World.
“You might want to come—“ he said sharply, moving swiftly behind the tree, but Roxas was merely looking over at the fire truck, as if pondering when it would slow down and not bash right into them. Shit. Not. Good. Axel hissed a curse, and then darted out from behind the tree, grabbed Roxas rudely by the shoulder and tried to yank him out of the way.
It was too late.
--
Namine was staring at Axel in a type of stunned silence that said she really didn’t know how to respond, or she was still trying to digest the awfulness of what had transpired that day.
He sighed heavily, nodding in a very grave sentiment. “I know. It was awful. I didn’t mean for that to happen.” That thought had been very prevalent lately, it seemed. “It was really an accident and I mean, I made it up to him later but I guess he was really fond of them… he likes checkers.”
“What kind of psycho town did you live in that the fire department came around and hosed down your shoes?”
Axel grinned. “The best kind, baby. The best kind.”
Namine shook her head. “You know, I think—“
“You’re fucking late.”
They both jumped about four feet in the air and out of their chairs at the cold, precise sound of the voice that came from the entrance. Axel had his gun pulled from the waistband of his pants and Namine was pulling back before they both realized it was Riku standing there, his silver hair all shiny in the cold metallic light of the mall. He looked calmly angry, but then again, when didn’t he?
“You’re late Axel. You were supposed to be on patrol thirteen minutes ago.”
Axel blinked at the irony, and then smiled a wry little smile. “Sorry Chief. Lost track of time.”
“Should I remind you that—
“We’re in a life or death predicament and everything that goes wrong, in even the slightest form, could mean the deaths of us all? No, I know. Sorry. I’m going. Right now.”
Riku merely narrowed his eyes in what was supposed to be a threatening manner, and then pulled out of the entrance, standing a few feet away as though he were going to escort Axel to his post. Axel made a little kissy face after him, and then grabbed the remote and shut the TV off.
“I imagine you don’t want to watch anything else?”
Namine shook her head—of course she didn’t want to be alone. “I’ll go wait with everyone else downstairs. You can make me cultured some other time I guess.”
Surprised that she had remembered, he nodded. “Alright, I’ll hold you to that one. Let’s go before the Head of Security gets all pissy.”
“Axel!”
“Too late.”
Part Two
