Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Smoke Screen ❯ Vindication ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Note to Disclaimers: I do not and nev er will own Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 or CoM soâ€¦please do
NOT sue me. This is way beyond standard at this& nbsp;point, doncha think?
A/N: Chapter ;10 is here after a whole yearâ€&b rvbar;or something like that! The rules have& nbsp;not
changed. The boy/boy love shall ;continue (sorry allâ€”it's STILL not& nbsp;the main pairing) as
will the Matur e themes (I.E. that means Rape, Sexual A ssault, Domestic Violence, Gangs,
cussing, bl ood, horrible things that SHOULD NOT happen&n bsp;to people, etcâ€¦) and that
means this story is not for young o nes! I can't stress that enough and I&nb sp;sure don't want a
lawsuit. The conten t hasn't changed either. It may seem ove rly harsh and if it is, well, why the hell are you still reading? I ap ologize for it taking so long. School wa s killer this year.
Word coding:&n bsp;'Thoughts' , "Speaking", Random flashback s or other stuff, Everything else
:THERE IS SUPPOSED TO BE A LINE BREAK&n bsp;HERE:
VINDICATION
It had be en a long day at school for him, lo nger than most, as he trudged his way&nb sp;home with a
heavy certainty that he&n bsp;was not going to complete his English&nbs p;essay that night. To his left his
little brother continued to playing with his pencil pouch as thought the thing held& nbsp;wonders that
would never cease. Annoyed, Marluxia rolled his eyes and continued to look ahead for both of
them so&n bsp;that neither of them would fall over ;trip. It had begun to get coolerâ&euro ;”not that it was ever
very hot&nb sp;in Hollow Bastionâ€”and the styles& nbsp;had changed to longer coats, skirts, pan ts and
scarves. Occasionally he'd see a& nbsp;girl or two still sporting shorts or&nbs p;little camisoles but even then
they we re pretty layered. Truth be told girls w ould wear anything, no matter how cold o r hot, to
draw attention to themselves.& nbsp;He had his fair share of those girl s too, being a popular junior and
a ll. He wasn't a jock and he wasn't a nerd. Normal social standards didn't seem&n bsp;to apply at
Hollow Bastion High. How ever, he was popular enough that he got& nbsp;all the ladiesâ€”and guysâ€ ”
that he might have wanted. More t han enough, now that he stopped to think about it. His
thoughts were broken ;at a tug at his sleeve. He blinked ;before turning to look at his brother.&n bsp;
"Yeah, what is it you little brat ?"
His brother scowled. "You're such&n bsp;a jerk, Marluxia."
Marluxia let ou t a small chuckle as he ruffled the ;younger boy's hair until it became wild.&nbs p;"Yeah,
yeah, so you've told me numerou s times. What is it?"
"Are you&nb sp;coming to my play?"
The long h aired boy rolled his eyes as a smile&nbs p;placed his lips. "Like I'd miss it you little dork."
The younger one le t out a relieved sigh. "Thanks."

"No problem. Now, how about some ice&nbs p;cream to celebrate your big brother's promo tion in
fencing class?"
"Hey, wha t about MY promotion to star role in&nbs p;the play?"
Marluxia pretended to be& nbsp;thoughtful but at his little brother's u nbelievable gaping wide face, he
started ;to laugh. "Of course! To you and me&nbs p;then!"
:Line Break:
Later tha t night found Marluxia pouring; aimlessly it& nbsp;seemed, over his English paper as he&nbs p;tried
to figure out what to write ;about. His topic was lame to say the&nb sp;least and he hated the book even
moreâ€”Grapes of Wrath tended to ;make most people sleep. He was jotting down notes when he
heard his door o pen, and heard more than saw his brother come in. Rolling over, he made room&nbs p;
on the bed for the little boy to& nbsp;climb on. Once there, Marluxia resumed h is note taking. "Hey
Jacob, what's going on?" Said little brother buried his fac e into Marluxia's pillow, shaking his
he ad profusely. Worried, Marluxia sat up and&nb sp;lifted his little brother to face him.&nbs p;"Hey, Jacob, is
something wrong?" Only ;when Jacob looked up did he notice the& nbsp;bruise forming on his eye.
Aghast, the older boy hugged him as Jacob starte d to cry. "Who did this to you?"&nbs p;
One word came out in the softest&nb sp;whisper. "Daddyâ€¦"
Enraged,&nbs p;Marluxia gently placed his brother down bef ore giving him a weak smile. "Jacob, I&n bsp;
want you to stay here for a min ute. Big brother is going to go have&nbs p;a talk with mommy and
daddy." His ;blood was boiling as he began to walk&n bsp;away only to have Jacob clutch his s leeve.
"Jacob?"
"No Mar, please d on't go. Daddy will hurt you, like he's& nbsp;hurting mommy. Iâ€¦I tried to&nb sp;stop him, I
did but heâ€¦ ;"
Marluxia had heard enough. He quickly shushed the frightened, crying boy as he handed him
some notebook paper and a pen. "Just draw Mar a pretty picture, ok? I'll be right back."
It was a moment before he'd reached his parents door and heard his mom being&nb sp;slapped around.
He threw the door ope n just in time for his dad to snatc h him by the arm, pull him in and&n bsp;lay a
hard knuckled punch to his&nbs p;abdomen. Marluxia tried to catch his breath before he was yanked up
and felt&n bsp;a fist smash in his chest. He stumbl ed back, hearing the terrified cries of his mother as
his father beat him i nstead of her. He could hear her screami ng and saw her pulling at his dad,
shouting the entire time. By the time&nb sp;he was finally able to gain his footi ng he could feel the
bruises forming&nbs p;and feel blood dripping from his left temple. He wiped at it, trying to focus& nbsp;his
vision as his mother's cries di ed down to sobbing and he saw his d ad removing his belt, his face
laughing& nbsp;and sweaty as he folded the leather ;in half, raising into the air.
" Dadâ€¦"

"Shut up, you&nbs p;little faggot. This is what you deserve&nbs p;for butting in when you're not supposed&nbs p;to,"
his dad spat as he brought t he belt down hard onto Marluxia's bare s houlder.
Delaney screamed. "Lionel, stop&nb sp;it, please! Leave him alone!"
"Woma n, shut the fuck up!" Lionel deftly back handed his wife onto the mattress where she fell,
clutching her jaw in pai n. It seemed to silence her enough for&n bsp;him to return his attention to
Marlu xia's crouched form on the floor. "Can't ;have this stupid, dim-witted wench taking al l my
attention away from you now, c an I, boy?"
"Fuck you, you son&nb sp;of a bitch," Marluxia replied, blood leaki ng from his lips from being punched
in the jaw as well. "I don't care what the hell you think. I'm not a fag and you're a bastard."
"What did you say, you ungrateful little prick?"
"I saidâ€”" He didn't g et more than that out before his dad&nbs p;slapped his face with the belt.
Marlux ia felt the sting across his cheek as&nb sp;more blood fell from his mouth. He fe lt tears prick his
eyelids but did not allow them to fall just as he h eard another voice enter the room. "Jacob&aci rc;€¦"
"Daddy, stop it please!" The little boy cried as he tugged hard at his dad's pant leg. "Leave
mommy alone, leave Mar alone! Please daddy!"
"Shut up you brat," Lionel shoute d as he threw Jacob away where he h it the edge of the lamp
desk. Delan ey's book fell on top of the boy's head and knocked him out cold.
Ma rluxia let out a low growl though he&nbs p;could feel his ribcage aching; he knew ;his dad had
broken at least one of them from all the kicking. Nevertheless,&nbs p;he couldn'tâ€”wouldn'tâ€”let his dad
hurt his little brother anymore. He didn't even know how his dad fo und them, let alone made it to
thei r general vicinity. He had a restraining ;order but Marluxia knew his mother better&nb sp;than that.
She wouldn't report it. Sh e never did. It was always him who made her do such things, made her
r eport, made her get the order in the&nbs p;first place. But somehow the bastard always found them,
one way or another, an d she didn't make him leave. Marluxia kn ew that if he reported his father
t o the police they'd go to foster care.&n bsp;In their current situationâ€”mom w as jobless, Marluxia only
worked 15 hour s a weekâ€”the family and federal courts would get rid of them, place&nbs p;them in
foster care or have them adopted. If he had known of any close&nb sp;relatives he would have gladly
called ;the police on his abusive father. He ca me back to reality when he saw his father headed
towards his brother's limp ;form. Gathering enough strength to stand, th e chestnut haired youth
called out to&nb sp;his father just as the grown man was& nbsp;about to grab the boy by his hair.& nbsp;Delaney's
cries died immediately as Lion el turned around to face Marluxia.
" Hey, stay the hell away from Jacob, y ou abusive bastard," he spat.
Lionel&n bsp;smirked, eerily. "What did you say, you&n bsp;little fag?"
Delaney spoke up, her voice soft and hitched from crying. "Ma rluxia, pleaseâ€¦don'tâ€”" ;

He silenced her. "Shut up mom. I'm sick of this, sick of him and a ll this shit that he's done to usâ €”
especially to you and Jacob. I'm not going to leave for college or anything like that until he's
gone from& nbsp;here, and I know you two are safe.& nbsp;So don't tell me to back down. I&nb sp;won't. He doesn't
deserve your pity o r mercy, not one bit." Glaring at his&nb sp;father, he spit at him, the color tin ged red
from blood. "Get out of thi s house. You don't control us. We aren't your property. You can't hit
mom a nymore. And you better keep your grimy, disgusting hands away from my little brother. Or
I'll make you sorry."
Li onel laughed at the display, incredulous. "Fu cking kidâ€¦" He started advancing&nb sp;towards
Marluxia at a slow, hostile p ace. Taunting, even. "You think you can tell me what to do?"
Marluxia did n't back down. Instead he reached behind ;him and grabbed the bat his mom
co nveniently kept by her nightstand for protect ion in cases such as this one. Raising&n bsp;it in front of
him, he slowly c ircled the room until he was right next& nbsp;to Jacob and his father was facing
opposite of him. Delaney was still, only the occasional whimper leaving her mouth.&nb sp;"One more
step, one more hit and ;I swear I'll fucking bash your no good, useless, piece of a shit brain right&nb sp;
in." The young man smirked nastily. " And believe meâ€¦no one in this& nbsp;world is going to miss your
abusive , sorry ass."
Lionel let out a&nb sp;silent chuckle, not believing a word his&n bsp;kid said. At this Marluxia nodded her&nbs p;
head towards Jacob. Immediately Delaney scr ambled to the floor, reaching for Jacob and
pulling him close as she began to back up from where Marluxia was facin g her husband. Had
she known Lionel ;would be such an abusive man she would& nbsp;never had married him. However,
when&nbs p;they first started going out he'd been ;so gentle, so loving towards her and Ma rluxia. But a
little over seven years&nb sp;into their relationship things went sour. Marluxia was 11 and Jacob was a
new born when the beatings first started. Althoug h she kept it hidden from Marluxia for&n bsp;a couple
years it eventually leaked out and Lionel had ended up hitting her& nbsp;son. Once Marluxia had
turned 14 he had managed to help them get away from Lionel. By then he'd been pretty da maged
from the violence but he did his best to use it as fuel to be&nb sp;stronger for his mother and little
br other; she could see it in his eyes.&nbs p;He'd managed, at 14, to take both she& nbsp;and Jacob away from
the man she&nbs p;once trustedâ€”from their father. Th ey'd constantly had to keep uprooting as ;Lionel
always managed to find themâ&eu ro;”although she'd never admit it, she'd&nbs p;been leaking information to
him despite&nbs p;Marluxia's attempts to keep them safe.
'Godâ€¦I don't know whyâ&eur o;¦he only hurts us every time. You'd& nbsp;think I'd have learned this by nowâ ;€¦'
She never understood why she did it but she would never tell Ma rluxia for fear that he'd be
angry; ;and she knew he would be. At the a ge of 17 Â½ now, Marluxia was&nb sp;like their caretaker
where she deemed ;herself to weak to do so. She'd heard&n bsp;all about it her whole life, how wom en in
domestic Violence relationships ended&n bsp;up putting themselves in harms way on&nbs p;purpose. 'Of
course I didâ€¦bu t I never thought it'd be me doing it to myself and my children.' She was&n bsp;
ashamed but not of Marluxia or Jacob â€”they were strong and they held that part of Lionel that
she was&n bsp;also afraid of; but they were not vi olent unnecessarily.

She broke from&nb sp;her reverie when she saw Marluxia pinned&n bsp;to a wall, Lionel now holding the ba t.
Out of fear, she jumped from the bed right as Lionel brought the bat&nbs p;down towards Marluxia's
skull. "LIONEL, NO! "
:Line Break:
Marluxia awakened&n bsp;with a surprised start to find that it was still dark outside. He felt sweat
beaded at his forehead and his ski n was clammy as though he'd been sweatin g much more.
However, he realized, not&n bsp;too many minutes later, that he'd had&nbs p;a nightmare. Tremors laced
through his ;body with the remembrance of everything he&n bsp;tried to forget. 'Jacobâ€¦'&nbs p;The name was
a haunting whisper that&n bsp;never seemed to leave him no matter how hard he willed for it. His
brow n hair, sweaty and damp, was matted to&n bsp;his head and his chest was slick wit h perspiration.
His head was swimming wi th thoughts that he'd been trying to for get, trying to make go away so
he&n bsp;wouldn't have to see them or hear th em anymore. 'Seems like I've failed at&nbs p;it,' he mused as he
threw the ;covers off oh himâ€”or tried rat her. They clung to his wet skin and ;he became
thoroughly aggravated as he s at there, not sure whether he should get some water or go out for a
mi dnight stroll. While these strolls were dange rous in a place like Traverse Town he'd& nbsp;been on
enough of them by himself,& nbsp;which he now figured was reason to say he would be fine if he took
another. He knew the cafÃ© was still open since he had worked the grave yard shift a couple of
times since his hire but somehow he doubted he'd wan t to see Xigbar after such a nightmare,& nbsp;
even if it was for a shot of&n bsp;liquor. Growling quietly in frustration he&nbs p;finally decided to take the
walk, mayb e even venture into someplace he didn't know.
With his decision made Marluxia pe eled his covers off, threw on his thick& nbsp;black coat and walked
straight past ;the front desk area without a word. Min utes later he was outside in the open&nb sp;air
breathing in the not-so-fresh atmosphe re of Traverse town. The riff-raff was a ll over, prostitutes
on corners with cra ck dealers, pimps strutting up and down the block and all the while he could&nbs p;
see the bright neon sign of Xigbar's&n bsp;cafÃ© shop blinking as though it&n bsp;would soon burn out. Rolling
his eye s he took a left turn at a corner&n bsp;where a hooker was waiting. She tried&nbs p;to get him to go
with her but&nbs p;he adamantly refused, to which she called&n bsp;him a "fag." He ignored her ignorant ;
comment as he continued on his way ;until the noise faded out. Soon the sil ence enveloped him
and he was sure that was not a good thing. Silence in&nb sp;Traverse Town practically screamed of
awfu l things, death and murder. Clenching his&nbs p;fists together he continued on his way ;until he was
in the Third District,&nbs p;a place which was usually off limits t o townsfolk after 9:00 curfew.
Apparently&nbs p;it was that bad but nevertheless he ke pt on, not the least bit afraid. It ;seemed that was
a direct result of ;his past. Chuckling bitterly to himself, he& nbsp;realized he was almost out of the t hird
district when a man with long, ;black braided hair stepped in front of him. The man wore a finely
pressed suit in the deepest shade of black imagi nable. To his side was another man, thou gh
Marluxia thought he looked more like& nbsp;a boy, in a suit as well, his blonde hair slicked back and a
scar ;between his eyes. Next to him was a&nbs p;girl with an appearance that threw him ;off like no
other. She had red eye s, silver hair pulled back into a bun,&n bsp;and she wore a short, Chinese styled ;
dress. Her facial expression was cold, impassive even.
He gave them a brief&nbs p;but pointed stare before trying to move&nbs p;past them. When they did not budge
Marluxia began to glare. "What's the deal?& nbsp;You're blocking my way."

"No one&nb sp;is allowed into this district without perm ission," the blonde supplied, his voice laced
with attitude.
"Oh?" Marluxia rolled&nb sp;his eyes. "Where do I get that?"
"Boss," said the girl.
When she said&nb sp;nothing more Marluxia sighed. "Andâ€&brvb ar;who is this boss?"
"We can't tell&nbs p;you that, ya know?" The one wearing a& nbsp;deep blue suit replied.
Marluxia had&nbs p;been feeling rather annoyed as of the late, full of pent up emotions he didn't
usually express, which is why he w as so testy. He felt as though if t he blonde said another word,
he be meeting a very special friendâ€”Marlux ia's fist. Calming himself as much as po ssible, he
managed to get out the n ext few sentences with some ease. "Listen,&nb sp;I don't care about you or
your b oss. But I want to go through this district. So either you take me to him,& nbsp;or," he glared
harder at the blonde . "You get the fuck out of my way,& nbsp;you pansies."
The man with the long black hair stepped in front of the ;shorter young man, his eyes hard and angry. "Young man, what is it that yo u hope to accomplish by angering us?" The brown haired youth sighed impatiently. ;"I'm not trying accomplish shit with you&nbs p;losers," he
spat as he crossed his&nbs p;arms. "I'm trying to take a damn walk, and you four are just being
extrem ely inconsiderate."
"Danger," the girl replie d.
Marluxia noted she seemed to be full of one word response. She had yet&n bsp;to say a full sentence.
However, he& nbsp;had little time to contemplate this when the tall man in the all black suit darted
forward with a fist aimed s traight for the youth's face. Luckily, Marlux ia was no pushover and
managed to b lock it before it hit his face. His ;eyes narrowed as he felt the hard knuck led punch
connect with his arm, a s light twinge coursing through him at the ;contact. He would have a
bruise at ;the most, he knew. Inhaling slowly, his ;eyes met that of the older man burning& nbsp;fire as he
glared. "What. The. Fuck . Is. Your. Problem?"
The taller man&nbs p;smirked. "You are not allowed here, young&n bsp;one."
The brown haired youth's glare ;hardened. "I'm not that young so spare me your shit, you cock
sucking asshole."
"Quite a mouth on you," the man&nb sp;replied. He took a step back though t he challenging spark in his
eyes had&nbs p;yet to fade as he beckoned for the&nbs p;other three young ones to come forward.&nbs p;"Seifer,
Fuu, Rai, come here. I think& nbsp;it's time we left. The boss will be waiting." They all nodded before
turnin g and walking away, except for the tall& nbsp;one. He turned to Marluxia one more ;time, his eyes
dancing with malice as&n bsp;he shot Marluxia a smile. "You'd do well to watch where you go in this

town, boy." Marluxia was about to r etort nastily but hardly had time when h e felt a fist connect
with his stom ach. He gasped for breath as he register ed the man's next words. "The name is&nb sp;
Xaldin, and you'd do best, you little shit, to watch yourself here. And wash& nbsp;that mouth out. We
can't have you&n bsp;corrupting the fine youth of our town,&nb sp;now, can we?"
He vaguely heard chuckl es and laughs before he fell to the ;floor, gasping for breath again and
aga in. He heard them slowly walking away, a nd he tried to stand but only succeeded& nbsp;in
collapsing a bit when he realize d that either the fucker had broken a&nb sp;rib or had bruised his bones
very&nbs p;badly. Hissing, he used all his strength&nb sp;to stand and watch the assholes walking&nb sp;away, his
eyes narrowed and eyebrow c reased in anger. 'I've had enough fucking& nbsp;beatings in my life.'
Knowing it&nbs p;would be unwise to charge in, he watch ed, his look stony as the blonde boy&nbs p;turned to
spare him one last glance.&n bsp;Their eyes met and Marluxia smirked, poin ting his finger at him
before mouthing&n bsp;the words, "Yeah, you little fuck head.&n bsp;You're next. I'm going to kill every ;last
one of you, just you wait." T he blonde seemed to understand this but only flipped him off, which
made Marluxi a's smirk widen as they finally disappeared.& nbsp;Back in the silence of the third di strict
Marluxia let out a painful chuckl e. "That was your biggest mistake."
Afte r a few minutes he managed to make his way, albeit painfully, back towards the&n bsp;hostel. But
when he saw the building come into view he took a quick det our through the path and into the
b ack of Xigbar's coffee shop where he fou nd his boss chatting with someone at the counter.
Hayner was present, out of&nbs p;nowhere it seemed, and was filling the ;coffee orders as a young girl
took ;the orders at the register. Her name, w hen she'd turned to him briefly, read Ol ette. 'Hmâ€¦she
must be new&n bsp;then,' he mused as he walked past&nbs p;her until he'd reached Xigbar. He yanked&nb sp;at the
man's ear before stepping back so as to avoid the man's retaliating&nb sp;punch as reflex. Annoyed,
Marluxia slapped Xigbar on the back of the head bef ore glancing around the shelves. Xigbar
looked perplexed.
"What are you doing he re girly boy? You don't have a shift&nbs p;till tomorrow."
Irritated, Marluxia sighed. ;"I need to talk to you about something& nbsp;important. I need toâ€¦talk to&n bsp;
you about Demyx."
Xigbar smirked. "A hâ€¦I seeâ€¦ok flower gi rl. Let's go to my office. And it b etter be good cause
Luxord was coming&nb sp;by for lunch."
"Oh, well, pardon me&n bsp;for intruding on your lunch with your&nbs p;boyfriend." Marluxia smirked at
Xigbar's ag hast facial expression before heading to the& nbsp;back. "Yes, you didn't seriously think I
didn't know you were flaming, did you?"
:Line Break:
Larxene held h er head in anguish as she rifled through her belongings in search of a cigarette .
She knew if she didn't leave soon that Axel would corner her and try ;his hardest to make her
admit what ;she was up to in the first place. And she didn't quite feel like doing tha t. Across the
floor lay her phone, scattered, in pieces from their earlier encou nter; she appeared to not care as
< hr> she found her cigarettes. She quickly lit one and shoved it into her mouth, inhaling the nicotine
as if it were ;her lifesaver. She could feel the trembling& nbsp;all over her body and she did not&n bsp;venture
to think that it was going&n bsp;to stop anytime soon. She figured, at&nbs p;the least, that her reaction was
abnor malâ€”Larxene wasn't afraid. She didn' t become afraid either. She hadn't been for years.
'Who the fuck am I ki dding?' Letting the couple of tears, the& nbsp;few waiting to leak out, burn the corners of her eyelids she continued to&n bsp;smoke as though she'd never get enough&nb sp;of it. Downstairs
she could hear Axel and Roxas and Namine, though they tried to be quiet and all she could thin k
of doing was silencing them. She thought about gagging Namine, maybe cutting o ff some of
Axel's hair and sticking ;it in his mouth, and probably locking R oxas in a room with an apple in
his mouth. 'Or a dildo,' she thought as she lit up another cigarette. Her&nb sp;mind was going rather
slowly and she& nbsp;couldn't quite figure out was happening. ;She felt extremely mellow, maybe even
r elaxedâ€”or drugged.
'Oh the a fter effects of those damned, fucking ruffies .' She could no longer attest to not hating the
drugs but she still fel t angry that she'd been slipped one and& nbsp;couldn't fight off the effects. She
was so angry she thought she might just stab herself as punishment but decided against it as she
inhaled more of t he deadly nicotine into her lungs. She k new she looked completely ridiculous in
her long black coat, a knapsack at her&n bsp;side, inhaling a cigarette while her long strands of hair
flitted with minds ;of their own. For all everyone else kne w she could be dead but for some reason, she preferred it that way. She&nbs p;didn't want to be bothered by Axel's o bnoxious ass, or
Roxas' knowing looks th at could see right through her. She didn 't want to be bothered by
Namine's pitiful help and pitying eyes, especially fro m a little sister. She felt sudden rage& nbsp;begin
to course through her bloodstream. Now Larxene wanted nothing more than to hurt herself for
being so weak, so vulnerable. She cursed as she remembered&nbs p;the brightly flashing words of the
sin ister text message before she'd broken her&nb sp;phone. The pieces, scattered across the fl oor,
caught her eye and she cursed again. 'Fuckâ€¦guess that means I& nbsp;need another cell phone. Shitâ€¦ '
Annoyed again, she tossed the ciga rette to the floor before stamping it wi th vengeance. Finally
ready, or what she thought was ready, she grabbed her bag& nbsp;and began to march down the stairs, ;
fire in her eyes, if possible.
"Wh ere are you going?"
Larxene paused, not& nbsp;really sure if she wanted to disclose&nb sp;this information to the red-head. She
continued to stand there until he made another inquiry. Finally she decided that she 'd answer
him, more to shut him up& nbsp;than to really let him know. "None of your business, gay boy. What's it
to you?"
He pulled out his lighter,&nb sp;flicking the flame in warning. "What are&n bsp;you afraid of telling me?"
"What par t of 'none of your business' do you ;not understand?" Larxene's eyes narrowed. "I'm&nb sp;not
explaining myself to you. You're not my parents, so just go fuck off."&nb sp;
Axel narrowed his eyes in response. " Look, I'm not an idiot. Where are you&nb sp;running to? Going
after your step fat her by yourself is stupid, and you know& nbsp;it."

Her back to him, she roll ed her eyes. "And you're going to help&n bsp;me?"
"What are friends for?"
She&nbs p;smirked as she heard Roxas' soft voice ;interject. The kid was always a sap. La rxene knew
that Roxas, at least, kept&nb sp;his word. She knew that Axel did too, and that alone made her hesitant.
'Noâ€¦this is my battle.' She& nbsp;refused to involve them. But an image&nb sp;of Namine stopped her
midstep as she& nbsp;made to leave. The young girl was a bit of a soft spot for Larxene, an d the older
woman found herself even&nbs p;more hesitant than before. All the hesitati on was beginning to make
her angry. ;She hated hesitation more than anything else . Her contemplation was cut short when Axel tapped her shoulder. She whirled aro und, her eyes fiery and annoyed.
"Roxas& nbsp;is right. Don't be afraid to let us help," Axel reminded as he grabbed Roxa s' hand to pull
him away. "Come on, time to go."
Larxene said nothing as they disappeared into the darkness of ;the staircase. Namine seemed to
have di sappeared into nowhere as well as Larxene&nbs p;looked around. The silence enveloped her, seemingly deafening as she stood in the&n bsp;middle of the room not sure of what& nbsp;to do; it was
becoming harder to&nb sp;make it through the door. She knew sh e had to. 'I have to. Go Larxene,&nbs p;
goddammit Larxene, move your pathetic ass.' After five minutes of meaningless contem plation
she'd made it out the door and was walking quietly down the darkened&nbs p;street towards Traverse
Town. The bridge&nb sp;was in sight and though there were pe ople giving her strange looks because of ;
her heavy, long black coat she could&nb sp;care less. She knew she was going to& nbsp;get the stares, she did
all the&nbs p;time and it was nothing new to her.&nb sp;She could feel her fingers just itching&nb sp;to bury their
razor sharp nails into& nbsp;her stepfather's neck. Any thought of hi m made her so angry, so full of rag e
she could easily see herself murdering him or anyone else who interfered, for& nbsp;that matter. She
was already on the bridge when the familiar sight of a&nbs p;long brown haired young man caught her ;
eye. Suddenly extremely aggravated by his&nb sp;appearance, Larxene debated whether she should& nbsp;just
act like she hadn't noticed hi m or be nosy, or bitchyâ€”whichev er seemed a more fun game to
play.& nbsp;However, her mind didn't have time to&nb sp;process either choice when she noticed him staring
at her, along with that fo ol of a man, Xigbar. 'Fuckâ€¦ '
The pirate looking man waved cheer fully, letting out a loud bellowed laugh.&nbs p;"Hi there Larxy!"
Marluxia looked away,&nbs p;his eyebrows knitted in annoyance as he&nbs p;felt his ribs begin to ache again.
'If she wants to fight me tonight, fuck, I'm going to beat her ass into&nbs p;the ground.' He gritted his
teeth as Xigbar grabbed him and headed over to wards the young blonde haired woman. Marluxia
felt like he wanted to disappear, or melt into a puddle. Not because he&nb sp;was scared of the lunatic
woman but&n bsp;because he was in no mood for games& nbsp;and sarcasm, not after what happened abo ut an
hour prior to her sudden arri val. 'What the fuck is she doing here anyway? She's fucking crazy.'
He co ntinued to say nothing as Xigbar began t o rattle on to her about nonsense and&nb sp;such, as
though Xigbar's life was ent ertaining. He chanced a glance at her on ly to find her staring at her
nails , eyebrows raised and looking ready to k ill. Not that he was concerned about the older man
but Marluxia thought it was a good idea to go. Shrugging off&nbs p;Xigbar's loose grip Marluxia spun
around&nb sp;and began walking away as though he w as never there in the first place.

Larxene saw him retreat and just to ;be a bitch and pain in the ass, wh ich she loved to do with
him, she&n bsp;called out. "Oh, pervert, where are you&n bsp;going? It's rude not to say hello to people."
Marluxia felt his blood boil&n bsp;as a smirk made it's way onto his&nb sp;face as he turned around to face
her. "Yes, how very rude of me Larxene. " He mock bowed to her, his eyes na rrowed and fake.
"Hello. How are you&nbs p;this evening, MISS Larxene?"
She felt a faint blush spread across her face as& nbsp;she realized he was mocking her. Not&nbs p;willing to be
the one at a loss&n bsp;she curtsied, her eyes also narrowed and& nbsp;showing fire. "I'm am quite fine, thank& nbsp;
you, sir."
Xigbar suddenly felt ali enated as he watched their interaction before suddenly bursting into
amused laughter. ;They both gave him bewildered looks though&n bsp;in their own way. "Are you guys
married or something?"
"You're such a f ag." Marluxia said as he shook his head.
Larxene wasn't so nonchalant in her&nbs p;response. "What are you? A sorry excuse&nbs p;for a pirate
wannabe?"
"As if," X igbar yawned as he waved away both of&nb sp;their comments. "Anyway, it was great to&n bsp;see
you, Larxy. And so soon." With&n bsp;that he turned and walked away, ignoring& nbsp;the death stares and
glares he was& nbsp;getting from Larxene and Marluxia.
Once& nbsp;he'd vanished Larxene resumed her loathing&nb sp;stare at Marluxia as he sighed, his f ace
unreadable. She decided to chance it anyway. Any kind of unusual reaction fr om him was
something she welcomed with&n bsp;rabid fervor, a sick type of fervor, ;now that she really thought
about it.&n bsp;"Hey, girly man, what are you doing here in Traverse Town?"
"None of your&nb sp;business crazy woman," he replied coolly. "And youâ€¦Larxy?"
Ignoring the pet name she smirked as she sauntered pa st him, one brow raised as she gave ;him an
uncharacteristic sultry look from&nbs p;over her shoulder. "Wellâ€¦wouldn't ;you like to know?" She
continued walkin g before saying, very nonchalantly, "Follow m eâ€¦and you might find out."
Marluxia was puzzled by this though it ;did not show. 'Do I want to know?'&n bsp;He didn't want her to
see how&nb sp;she got to him, how she got under&nbs p;his skin with a mere look and phrase.& nbsp;Her knives were
one thing but her&n bsp;strange nature was another. Not sure why& nbsp;he decided on his course of action he
began to step towards her direction.& nbsp;He hated followingâ€”he was a&nbs p;leaderâ€”but there was
something&nbs p;different about following her, almost as if she commanded it, just like he did.&nbs p;He
hadn't heard from Demyx though he&n bsp;was sure the musician had received his&nb sp;phone by now.
Perhaps Larxene knew? H e dared not to ask. He didn't feel like getting into any more arguments
or& nbsp;blood battles, which, with Larxene, seemed&nb sp;the normal course of action. 'Or someth ing like
sick rules of engagement,' he mused as he watched the sway of her hips through the black coat.

La rxene, though not normally one to feel s elf-conscious, was suddenly irked by the fact that she
knew he was following her and that he had to be staring at&n bsp;her. At least once in a while. She&n bsp;
didn't put it past him to stare ;in that way eitherâ€”he was a&nb sp;guy, after all even if she suspected him
of being completely flaming. Sighing ;inwardly she watched the street signs as&nbs p;she waited as
patiently as possible fo r directions to the Third District to po p up, even if she didn't need them. ;
She knew the streets all too well but she couldn't let Marluxia know that, ;not this soon. 'Why
would you let&nb sp;him know anyway, you dumbass?' She ber ated herself for a moment as she realize d
the Third District was in sight. And by the looks of the four people ;standing in her way she
figured it ;was going to be an annoying interlude. However, as both the young people drew c loser
to the group she recognized them&n bsp;immediately. Her guard was up within seco nds as the young
man with blonde ha ir stepped forward. She paused for a mom ent, glaring at him. "Outta my way
dipshit."
"You've got a smart mouth for& nbsp;someone who hasn't showed her face here& nbsp;in ages."
She smirked again, waving ;away his tone as she pushed him back&nb sp;with the palm of her hand.
"Seifer,&n bsp;fuck off, you little punk." She walked&nb sp;past him as he stumbled a little. Alm ost right away
the young woman was there, her ruby eyes piercing Larxene as ;Seifer stood straight again.
Larxene ignored her. "Tsk-tsk Fuujin. You know better t han to mess with me." She kept walking&n bsp;
until she was standing in front of&n bsp;the man Marluxia wanted to kill, the ;one who'd damaged his
ribs. It appeared as though she knew all of them and Marluxia stayed silent for the show. "O h,
nice to see you too." The man&nb sp;with the long black hair, whose name was Xaldin, nodded. "Take
me to him,&nbs p;you prickâ€¦or get the fuck ou tta my way."
"You have yet to wash& nbsp;out that corrupted, foul little mouth of yours Miss Larxene," Xaldin
replied as& nbsp;his two understudies cowered away from t he blonde haired woman.
"Yeah, ask me&nb sp;if I ever gave a fuck you asshole.&nb sp;I know he's expecting me so let's get this shit
over with. I have better things to do." Xaldin stepped aside to& nbsp;allow her entrance. She began
walking&nb sp;through when she realized Marluxia hadn't followed. "Hey, are you coming or not gi rly
man?" Marluxia gave her a stony ;look, which she returned. "Just hurry up.&nb sp;I don't have all day."
"You are such a fine example of lady like qualiti es," Marluxia exclaimed venomously as he
walked past her, appearing uninterested in h er baiting him.
Larxene's eyebrows twitched&n bsp;as she watched him follow Xaldin. Annoyed , she flicked Fuujin on
the forehead&nbs p;as she passed the young woman, not sur e why his statement had bothered her so& nbsp;
much. Instead of showing it to anyo ne else she continued on as if nothing&n bsp;had happened. The
night air was must y and thick as Larxene followed Xaldin t owards where she assumed her father
was& nbsp;staying. However, she knew better than t o think it was his permanent residence; he wasn't
the head of an industry b ecause he was an idiot. Behind her Marlu xia was already bored as he
followed&nbs p;unaware of where they were going. He d idn't care too much with the exception o f
wanting to kill Xaldin and blonde ;whose name, he found out, was Seifer. T o say he was
surprised was an under statementâ€”he was shockedâ€”bu t he had yet to show it. Instead he sighed
as though the entire interlude&n bsp;had been utterly boring and trivial. But& nbsp;somehow Larxene knew

that was a&nbs p;lie, and a big one at that, as sh e watched Fuujin throw her passively angered& nbsp;looks for
laying her hands on Fuu's precious Seifer. Larxene rolled her eyes.&nb sp;'Her precious Seiferâ€¦Fuujin,
grow up. He's never going to see how&nbs p;much you love himâ€¦pathetic girl.' Part of her laughed at
Fuujin while the other part of her just felt&nb sp;sad about it; it wasn't nice to laugh at someone else's
misfortune, or so&nbs p;she'd heard. 'Oh yeahâ€¦Cora was a sorry excuse for advice.'Pushing the&n bsp;
memory of Cora out of her mind enabled Larxene to continue on though it ;wouldn't have
bothered her otherwise.
H er mind was going one hundred miles a&nb sp;minute as she walked; she hadn't seen ;her step-father in
years. She knew he&n bsp;was still around, just over the bridge&nb sp;to be exact, but she hadn't had to&nb sp;face
him since she'd run awayâ€ ”since her parents had died. Curling he r fingernails into her fist until
she&nb sp;felt blood, Larxene felt as though she&nbs p;was trapped. 'But like fucking hell if&n bsp;I let him get the
best of me,&n bsp;the bastard.' She was deep in thought but looked up when she heard Marluxia&n bsp;cough
as though trying unintentionally to get her attention. She looked up and&nb sp;realized they were near
his "base of& nbsp;operations" but they had stopped. Xaldin ;was giving her a curious look while Sei fer
and Fuu looked around, guns raised&n bsp;as though they were expecting company. La rxene tensed as
she shot a quick gl ance to Marluxia; his fists were balled up, eyebrows narrowed and lips in a
snarl. 'What theâ€¦? I've been&ac irc;€¦fooled?'
"You will regret th is," Marluxia snapped as Xaldin advanced on&n bsp;them. Larxene had yet to really
brea k from her stupor and he wanted nothing& nbsp;more than to hit her over the head, preferably with
something very hard. 'What the fuck is wrong with her?' She seemed slightly paralyzed even as
he r fists curled and her kunai were drawn, all as if by instinct, which he su pposed was the most
plausible explanation&nbs p;for her actions. The look on her face& nbsp;was ridiculousâ€”stupor and disbelief& nbsp;
and pleasure all wrapped into one. It made him feel funny and tingly, terri ble and exhilarated all
at once. Shruggi ng the somewhat foreign feeling off he r e-centered his focus on to where
Larxene still appeared to be hesitating.
'Wh y am I hesitating? Why didn't I realize& nbsp;this sooner? Idiot!' She wanted nothing&n bsp;more than to
hit her head on th e pavement for the blatant stupidity of her actions. She knew she should've
play ed it safer, knew she shouldn't have bee n so cocky but it was too late--this&nbs p;was her stepfather
she was dealing wit h, and she'd been dumb about it. Xaldin& nbsp;had removed his coat and was
handin g it to Seifer while Fuujin removed her& nbsp;chopsticks from her hair, which Larxene only now
noticed, were extremely sharp. 'Damn protective covers are so damn deceiv ing!' She mused as
the plastic cover ings fell from the razor-blade chopsticks and Fuujin pointed them at Larxene. To
her side Marluxia still seemed pretty tense, his eyebrows still knitted together and ;fists still
clenched tightly before him.&nbs p;But he didn't seem afraid, which made Larxene do an inner double
take. She&nbs p;figured he had no idea who her father& nbsp;really was; either that or Marluxia was& nbsp;tougher
than he looked. Instead of dwelling on it she threw Xaldin a loathi ng look as she brought her
kunai to eye level.
"You're going to take m e to him or I will make you sorry," she said, her voice deadly quiet.
Fuujin's eye twitched with slight nervousness ;before her mask of indifference was back&nbs p;on her
pretty face. Seifer looked more nervous than before even though his tra demark smirk was on his

lips. Xaldi n looked calm but the slight arch of&nbs p;his eyebrow told Larxene he was debating.&n bsp;While
they both, he and Larxene, kne w she could not defeat him, Xaldin knew& nbsp;from experience how
hard it was to& nbsp;fight her. And with Marluxia now in ;the mix it appeared as though the "The& nbsp;
Dragon" was weighing his options. He&nbs p;could either seriously injure herâ€” which she knew would
cause him great&nbs p;troubleâ€”or take her to her di sgusting step-father. However, the decision was&nb sp;
made for her when Xaldin took a step to the side, gesturing towards the door as though for her to
enter. No dding in annoyance, Larxene marched past him& nbsp;with Marluxia in tow. She was already&nb sp;
in the doors without a care in t he world when Xaldin leaned towards his two cohorts.
"Keep and eye on him y ou two. I'll watch out for the lighting& nbsp;bug. However, do not harm her. I repeat, do NOT harm her under ANY cir cumstances." He began following the two young adults
into the building. Before steppi ng completely in, he threw them a warnin g look that made Fuu's
skin crawl. "For if you do it's your heads."
Se ifer gulped, though he hoped it was not& nbsp;visible as Fuujin followed wordlessly behind& nbsp;Xaldin.
He could see Larxene walking&nbs p;ahead in confidence though he was unsure&nb sp;if she was faking it or
not. Lar xene didn't usually fake such things and ;she rarely ever had since he'd known ab out her
from their boss. Xaldin was ;more of their supervisor than actual boss&nb sp;since Larxene's father held
all the a ctual power. Nevertheless, he didn't want to& nbsp;compromise his job or position because falling from it meant he would be ea ten alive by the scum of Traverse Town.& nbsp;One's position in
the corporation was&nb sp;not to be taken lightly if one wanted to surviveâ€”or so he had l earned. As it
was he already had a& nbsp;lot to worry about with having to k eep and eye on Fuu though she appeared&n bsp;
to never need it. He has promised&nb sp;Fuu's mother, on her deathbed, that no&nbs p;harm would ever come
to the young ;woman. That had been some years ago and he was not necessarily regretting his promise but more of rethinking it. Fuu&nb sp;didn't need the help; she was braver than him, and he
hated that. 'If ;anyone ever knewâ€¦' he'd never& nbsp;admit it but he was all talk half&n bsp;the time, and rarely
ever any bite.& nbsp;But no one in Traverse Town knew th at so it had never been a problemâ €”until
Larxene had come into the& nbsp;picture.
She, as the step-daughter of&nb sp;his boss, was a force to be reckoned& nbsp;with, not to mention that she
revil ed her step-father and anyone associated with him. Seifer never understood it and sti ll didn't,
but found it didn't bother&nb sp;him as much since he could pick on&nb sp;Namine, Larxene's younger sister
who still lived with them. At the present moment& nbsp;he was surprised Larxene had shown her&n bsp;face
along with the man they'd met&n bsp;earlier, the strange Marluxia. He gave it no more thought as he
realized the y were standing before his boss' chambers,&nb sp;Larxene slowly entering with Marluxia in tow. He watched as the door slammed behind them, Xaldin and Fuu re-positioning th emselves
outside as watchmen while Seifer&nbs p;stood in the middle. He was about to&n bsp;ask Xaldin what they
were doing outs ide when the older man turned to look&nb sp;at him dead in the eye.
"Now is& nbsp;your chance to prove yourself to him&nbs p;Seifer. Do not disappoint him. Come Fuujin, we
have other matters to attend to at the moment." Xaldin beckoned the you ng woman and before
either she or S eifer could ask questions, Xaldin had disappe ared around the corridor.
Seifer blinked.&nbs p;"What theâ€¦?"

"Must go." ;Fuujin broke him from her stupor. "Butâ ;€¦"
"Then go. Why are you s till here?"
She hesitated. "Seifer, not in trouble?"
He waved her away, slinging his gun over his other shoulder. "Get&n bsp;going Fuu. Now." She threw
him anoth er hesitative look before finally going. "Cra pâ€¦" He muttered under his brea th. Now all
he could do was wait.&n bsp;
Inside the room Larxene was boiling with rage as she noticed the speaker box sitting on the
pristine desk. Marluxia& nbsp;looked bored, still, and she fought the& nbsp;urge to punch him. She was livid. 'The bastard couldn't even show his fa ceâ€¦mother fuckerâ€¦' Sh e was angry beyond all reason as
sh e watched Marluxia yawn in boredom for t he third time. However, she listened intently to the
voice blaring through the s peaker with interest.
"Ahâ€¦I se e you came after all. What a pleasant&nb sp;surprise young Larxene." The voice was smo oth
and rich with hidden sarcasm. "And&n bsp;I owe the pleasure toâ€¦?" "You son of a bitch!" Larxene spat a t the speaker. "You knew I was coming&nb sp;and you couldn't
even show your disgu sting face! I bet it's because you knew& nbsp;I'd planned on marring it you sick
bastard!"
There was a soft chuckle as the voice continued on. "Whyâ€&brvba r;Larxene, my dearestâ€¦it seems you& nbsp;
are upset. Shall I come out after&n bsp;all?" She opened her mouth to respond&nbs p;but the speaker blared
again as though he knew what she way about to say. "I do not like to disappoint you m y dear,
however, I am an important man with many important business appointments.&nbs p;Surely you could
understand why I coul d not come to see you. Of course yo u understand? Perhaps we will have
to&ac irc;€¦schedule another appointment. Until t hen, I suggest you bring Namine back to& nbsp;me or else
your life will be r atherâ€¦unpleasant. That is all. Seif er, if you please."
And with that L arxene no longer heard the voice but the distinctive click of a gun's safety bei ng
turned off. She whirled around to&nbs p;see Seifer pointing a machine gun at t hem sans Fuujin and
Xaldin. Marluxia rol led his eyes in boredomâ€”againâ €”as he looked at anything but Sei fer as
though he wasn't there. Larxene&n bsp;was giving him the evil eye as she&n bsp;retrieved her kunai at
lightening speed,& nbsp;throwing four of them before Seifer coul d react. The first set clogged the gun&n bsp;
hole and ripped the sleeves from Sei fer's coat. He blanched as she smirked; a small, sadistic
chuckle making it's wa y from her throat. Seifer swallowed hard.&nbs p;
"Do you seriously think you can do&nbs p;anything without Xaldin and Fuu here to&nbs p;help you?" Seifer
said nothing and Lar xene let out a long, loud laugh as she narrowed her eyes at him. "You are&n bsp;
pathetic Seifer, fucking pathetic! You ar e no match for me, and you never ha ve been you sorry
excuse for a body guard! My stepfather was an idiot to eve n try and use you for something other&nb sp;
than food for the trash of this town!"

That seemed to shock Seifer into action enough that he dropped the p lugged gun and whipped
out a Beretta.&nb sp;Larxene seemed unfazed until he fired a&nb sp;shot, which skimmed Marluxia's hair. The brown haired youth's eyes narrowed to sli ts as he raised a hand to his hair. Seifer gulped slowly
as Larxene lowered her knives, her eyes laughing even thou gh she didn't know exactly what he
would do; but she had an idea. Marluxia& nbsp;smirked. "That was a mistake, my friend. "
There was no more than a few ;seconds between Seifer's blinking and Marluxia's& nbsp;run. Before he
knew it Seifer found himself with his back against the floor , Marluxia's forearm against his
adam's apple, which was beginning to throb painfully . "Look, you little bleached blonde shit,&nbs p;no
one touches my fucking hair. And&nb sp;didn't I say I would fucking kill you ? It was a promise and it
seems&nbs p;like its time," came Marluxia's voice from& nbsp;beside Seifer's ear. The blonde trembled ;as he
realized he couldn't see, that&nb sp;his eye was swollen. He hadn't registered& nbsp;Marluxia's punch let alone
seen the ;man come for him. Feeling even more deg raded than beforeâ€”and Larxene's chuc kles
were not helpingâ€”Seifer se ttled for listening to the man pinning h im to the ground. "I've decided
that&nbs p;maybe I'll just beat you into submission&nb sp;or maybe just wipe the pavement with your ugly
fucking face."
"Lay off i t pretty boy. It's time to go." Marluxia gave her a death look, which she w aved away
before turning to leave. "Whil e it'd be nice to see you beat him& nbsp;within an inch of his life, I reall y
do have other matters to attend t o, so if you don't mind. Either get ;up and follow or I'm fucking
leaving&nb sp;you here. And believe me," she grinned&nbs p;manically. "You don't want to be left here."
Seifer almost thanked the gods th at Larxene had spoken when she didâ&eur o;”he was about to pass out
from&n bsp;lack of breath. Marluxia on the other&nbs p;hand was furious as he pushed off the& nbsp;blonde who
stifled his coughs and m ade no move to get up. "Other matters&nb sp;to attend to? Like what? Have I
mentioned what a heinous bitch you are? First you drag me into your shit hole&nb sp;of affairs and then
you don't even&nb sp;let me beat up this pathetic shit for what he did. I am going to murder& nbsp;you. It is
very rude of you, i f I may say."
"Whatever," Larxene replie d. "Bite me you fag."
Seifer listened&nb sp;quietly until he heard their footsteps and arguing voices fade away into the
distance before he attempted to get up. He glanced around relieved to find that neither Fuu nor
Xaldin had returned; but he knew better than to think his b oss was not watching. He'd failed and he knew it. 'Godâ€¦what is ;going to happen to me?' Picking up his jammed machine gun and
useless Beret ta, he started to make his way towards&n bsp;the ominous white door of the room a head,
his face mien displaying total dej ection.
:Line Break:
Larxene let out an aggravated sigh as she sipped her jack and coke. To her left side Ma rluxia was
arguing with Xigbar about his work hours, which she deemed completely ;stupid. She was tired
and annoyed and&n bsp;she wanted nothing more than to crawl&nbs p;into her bed for some sleep before she
devised a "fool-proof" plan to kill&nbs p;her stepfather. However, Marluxia was putting&nb sp;a rather large
dent into her plans&nb sp;when he dragged her to the cafÃ&cop y; for some much needed money from his&n bsp;boss.

He had agreed to return t o Twilight Town under the conditions that&nbs p;she tell him about what was
really&nbs p;going on with her situation. Of course ;she refused and had stabbed him to whic h he simply
gave her a bruised righ t arm. From there they'd ended up back&n bsp;at the cafÃ© and she was down ing
alcohol without ruffies, thankfully. She& nbsp;was staring at the picture of Xigbar,&nb sp;Demyx and Luxord
when she heard foots teps coming her way. She gave both men&n bsp;a lazy glance as she watched
Marluxi a go to the cash register before ducking beneath it for a few moments. When ;he
resurfaced he held a small box, ;which Xigbar took and disappeared with to&nb sp;the back of the cafÃ©.
While&n bsp;they waited Marluxia gazed out into the&n bsp;darkened streets as Larxene continued sipping& nbsp;her
jack and coke in silence. She&n bsp;was not very interested in what Marluxia& nbsp;was thinking or what he
had to ;say but she did want to leave. After&nb sp;about five minutes she glanced over to&nbs p;him with her
eyebrows raised. "Umâ&eu ro;¦what the hell are we waiting for?"
"We are waiting for something that ;I requireâ€¦what more explanation do you need?" His air of
arrogance ha d returned and Larxene quirked a brow at him in feigned wonder before taking
another large sip of her double shot o f jack and coke. Rolling his eyes Marlux ia reached for the
bottle of Crown Royal sitting by Xigbar's picture. He quickly opened it and took a large swig before setting it down, his expression bla nk as though he had drank juice. Larxene wanted to gag
at his actions; she& nbsp;hated the liquor. And while she could&nb sp;down shots of Absinthe and Everclear,
she refused to drink Johnny Walker or C rown Royal or any gross, low quality Teq uila that Axel
and Roxas tended to bring home. While she pondered his taste ;in liquor she disregarded the fact
that she thought he was a gay, prissy b oy who talked to flowers. Marluxia wanted&nbs p;to hit himself
over the head for the fact that he chose the wrong liquor& nbsp;to down so fast. He didn't particularly& nbsp;
favor Crown Royal but then again he didn't particularly favor alcohol. Demyx had said he
seemed like the type but&n bsp;most people were pleasantly surprised to find he didn't like liquor. 'That
stu ff just makes you fucking stupid, and ir rational like that crazy witch over there.' He looked
menacingly at Larxene was&n bsp;still slowly sipping her drink without a& nbsp;care in the worldâ€”or so it
seemed. Then again, he should know ;better. Xigbar was still rummaging around in the back,
tinkering with the box, when Larxene looked up from her cup and& nbsp;threw Marluxia a dirty look.
"Come on, gay boyâ€¦what the hell is&n bsp;the hold up?"
Marluxia scowled at he r. "Shut up, will you? You are so d amn annoying. You're a crazy ass too, and I haven't really been as "courteous"&n bsp;as I usually can be so shut your&nbs p;trap."
Larxene rolled her eyes as she& nbsp;returned to drinking in hopes that by&nb sp;the time she finished her
Jack and&nb sp;Coke they would be ready to leave. Ma rluxia ran a hand through his chestnut h air as
Xigbar resurfaced, his pirate pat ch no longer covering his eyes and the&n bsp;box now open. "Hey, here
it is. ;But be careful ok flower? This belongs to someone else and I don't wanna take&n bsp;the blame if
you fuck everything up. "
Curiosity got the best of her and she stood to peak over the edge. I nside there was a single key to
whi ch she made a distasteful face. "What th e hell is that for?"
Marluxia pushed&nbs p;her out of the way and plucked the&nbs p;key from the box. "None of your damn&n bsp;
business but I guess I can tell ;you since it involves you now, you craz y witch."

"Oh, how very fucking con siderate of you, goddamn faggot." Larxene pla ced her now empty cup
on the counte r and waited for their departure. On the way across the bridge Marluxia pretended&nbs p;
to ignore Larxene and everything around&nbs p;her for that matter. He didn't seem at all fazed when she
promptly pelted ;him with a napkin she'd stolen from Xig bar's cafÃ©. They were almost over&nbs p;the
bridge when she stopped to look&nb sp;up at the moon for but a moment. ;When he realized she had
stopped follow ing him he turned back to her, wary ;but face completely nonchalant. She threw him a loathing look. "What?"
"Me? Jus t what are you doing, if I may be&n bsp;so bold to ask?"
She knew he wa s teasing her with all the proper langua ge and polite talk, which made her want& nbsp;
to dig her kunai into him even ;more. In fact, a moment later she had&n bsp;a kunai pointing at his neck
though& nbsp;she was a fair distance away. "Listen&nb sp;gay boy, what I think, what I do,&nbs p;who I decided to
kill is really n one of your damn business. So quit askin g me so many questions or I will se riously
scalp you and feed you to t he wild dogs of Traverse Town, got it?"& nbsp;
Marluxia sighed. "You knowâ€¦thi s is really getting old. If you were&nbs p;so damn antsy to scalp me
or do&n bsp;half the things you say you want to, you would have done them already." With out so much
as even a look her ;way he resumed his steady pace over the bridge towards Demyx's house since
Larx ene's place seemed like an utterly bad i dea.
Larxene seethed as she to resumed&n bsp;following him, her mind not dwelling too& nbsp;much on his current
statement. Instead&n bsp;it wandered to the very idea of wrap ping her hands around her stepfather's
n eck and wringing it until his eyeballs p opped out of his head, oozing blood. She was so
absorbed that she hadn't bo thered to think about where they were go ing or where they had
arrived until ;she found herself on Demyx's porch, the ;musician looking completely stunned to
see&n bsp;her. 'Probably because I'm with flower ;boy right now.' Shrugging she plopped do wn on the
chair nearest to the edge of the dilapidated porch and polished h er kunai; she was glad she didn't
h ave to feign disinterest. Marluxia had all&nb sp;but pushed Demyx inside and closed the&nbs p;door as much
as possible but Larxene&n bsp;could still hear their voices drifting ou t through the crack. She ignored
them&nb sp;as she leaned back and continued to w atch the moon, her plan suddenly taking a
magnificent formation in her mind. She smiled.
:Line Break:
There was&n bsp;complete silence on their floor unless on e counted the consistent beeps of machines&nb sp;
monitoring people's lives. Yuffie sighed a s she took another sip of coffee, her&nb sp;eyes burning as
she looked through fi le after file of Tifa's patients. As for Tifa, she was off doing investigation necessities with Cloud and Sephiroth. Aerith&n bsp;had opted to fix things up at the&nb sp;office and Chief
Payne was more than& nbsp;ready to grill Cloud's incompetent ass i nto the ground. She let out another
sigh when she saw one of her patients&n bsp;ambling out of his room. Annoyed because& nbsp;of exhaustion
she buzzed the nearest&nbs p;nurse and told her to get to work.&nbs p;Of course Yuffie was nicer than this a nd
smiled when the nurse came running&nb sp;around the corner. It's not that she didn't like her job but
Yuffie was sure that being the nighttime shift superviso r was much better than being a daytime&n bsp;
one.

Not that it was her c hoice either as Tifa had requested her, specifically. But with all the recent
is sues arising from the Isuki case she fig ured it'd be a cold day in hell bef ore she got a decent
night's sleep. ;She had been to the dojo in ages, and her instructor hadn't bothered to call.&n bsp;'I
wonder if Squall even cares th at I haven't been comingâ€¦' ;According to Yuna, her other partner
wh o went there, he hadn't been there for&n bsp;about a month now. Apparently he'd been&n bsp;busy working
at his actual job. Some scandal that he said was in dire n eed of a remedy. Yuffie couldn't believe ;
how long it had been since she'd p racticed. Tifa and Cloud had been buried ;under paperwork and
technicalities with Seph iroth about how to get Namine to talk,&n bsp;or even how to get to Namine in ;
the first place for that matter. This&n bsp;sister, the older one, seemed to have&nbs p;a fortress built around the
young girl . Axel and Roxas hadn't kept in touch&nb sp;and Cloud had taken forever on locating&nb sp;the
girl's address.
On top of al l that pulling the records from the Trav erse Town hospital had been a feat and&n bsp;Yuffie
hadn't come up with anything yet. It was like pulling teeth. Traverse ;Town County Hospital had
been adamant a bout her coming in and taking records wi thout good reason. She had kindly
inform ed them that if they didn't hand them&nb sp;over willingly then she'd be glad to get them all
subpoenaed, which they hadn 't liked very muchâ€”but it's wha t ended up happening. So of course
they took their sweet ass time doing it& nbsp;and Tifa AND Sephiroth had chewed out&nb sp;Yuffie for not
finding any evidence y et. As for Sumitse, she was sure he ;was working hard to cover his ass, or&n bsp;
just sitting on it quite comfortably ;as she found rich men tended to do.&nbs p;Snorting she took another
large sip of her coffee, which reminded her more of& nbsp;sludge than the rich coffee beans of&nbs p;
Columbia, and began pouring over more of the records of Traverse Town County. She was down
to the last pile of&nb sp;patientsâ€”about 3 leftâ€”wh en she spotted a file that she knew ;would help.
It read, in bolded but ;faded black letters, ISUKI, LARXENE. Snatching&nb sp;it from the pile she flung
it op en and began reading. Apparently Larxene, the older sister of Namine, had been taken& nbsp;in
regularly for various issues. She'd&n bsp;been in the counseling wing, the birth&nb sp;control center, the
urgent care unit and many others. 'Weirdâ€¦' Th e Larxene she'd spoken to on the phone&n bsp;seemed
slightly bitchy but relatively san e. Curious, Yuffie flipped the pages until&nb sp;she found pictures for
the reason of& nbsp;this bizarre hospital visits. It hadn't seemed too out of the ordinary until she saw the
bruises and the stitches a nd the knives. It was almost like lookin g at a police report except it was
in medical form and ten times as gr oss as accident evidence. As she looked on she noticed there
had been a rap e kit done several times but the kits&nb sp;were incomplete and had phony signatures o n
them, or what appeared to be the& nbsp;like. It's not that Yuffie worked closel y with the doctors or staff
at Trav erse Town County but they did attend all the medical seminars together and the l ike. It
seemed strange and not plausible that she would not recognize the signat ures. Then again, she
and Larxene were&n bsp;about the same age, maybe Larxene being&n bsp;a few years older. However, if she took them to Tifa and Tifa didn't re cognize them then she'd definitely have reaso n to question it
all. 'Interestingâ& euro;¦I guess I will just have to ;talk to her about this in a few ho urs.' Her mind was on
autopilot when he pager buzzed. 'Tifaâ€¦shit.'
Grabbing her things she waited till&n bsp;the nurse came and took over. She ha d to rush to get to the
police ;station before Tifa murdered Cloud six diffe rent ways. Freaked, Yuffie flew through the&n bsp;
door and almost ran straight into Ti fa. 'Wait a minuteâ€¦what the&acir c;€¦?'She did a double take as&nbs p;she
whirled around to see Tifa and&nbs p;Cloud walking into the hospital as if they hadn't seen her. Furious

she s tarted back to give them a piece of ;her mind when Tifa turned around and sm iled. Yuffie
blanched. "Uhâ€¦" "Hey, did you get my message?"
Yuffi e nodded. "Yeah, but what are you doing& nbsp;here?"
"Come on, Cloud and I have&n bsp;to fill you in."
:Line Break: ;
Sora sat dejectedly on the couch and&nb sp;flipped through the channels in boredom. L eon wasn't home
yet. Sora had pondered&n bsp;whether he should invite Kairi and Riku&n bsp;over for some company, even a
movie& nbsp;or two. But in the end he stayed&nb sp;by himself on the couch wondering when&nbs p;Leon would
arrive to scold him about&n bsp;nonsense. His homework was done and it&nb sp;was a Friday night, a night
when ;people should be partying with their friends and all that good stuff. However, Sora& nbsp;had a
long day at work and all he wanted to do was sleep his Frid ay night away. He doubted anyone
wanted& nbsp;to hang out at a house that rarely& nbsp;had food, no real heater and a piec e of crap cable box.
As it was ;Sora was cuddled under a heavy down bla nket and staring at the fuzzy picture bl aring
on the old television screen. Sure , Sora wasn't completely bitter because unlik e some people he
had a place to&nbs p;live, some food to eat and a place&nbs p;to sleep. It wasn't the best but he&nb sp;felt like he
couldn't complain. He an d Leon had to make ends meet and he thanked the school financial
office tha t they had deemed his grades good enough for scholarships and such. Otherwise he ;
might not even graduate high school. Of course as a result college would be&nbs p;a complete bust and
Leon would murder& nbsp;him. 'Not that I see much of the bastard anywayâ€¦'
Sighing, ;Sora finally flipped the television off and& nbsp;gave the door a curious look when h e heard a
knock. Stunned, he made h is way over to the door and peeked through the hole in genuine shock.
"What are you doing here?"
"I need to&nb sp;stay here for a day or two, ok?" ;
The brunette haired boy could only nod& nbsp;in shock as Marluxia walked past him,&nb sp;Larxene in tow.
She gave Sora a small punch on the head in greeting befo re closing the door and following
Marlux ia to the kitchen. To say that he w as shocked was an understatement as Sora ;watched
Marluxia take a seat at the&nbs p;dining table with a strange, rusted looking key in his hand. Larxene
was leani ng against the counter when Sora finally ;came to his senses.
"Hey, seriouslyâ&e uro;¦what are you doing here? If my&nb sp;brother gets here and you're hereâ€& brvbar;he's
probably going toâ€”shit." At a loss for words Sora plopped o n the chair across from him. "What's
your deal? You totally freaked the last&nbs p;time we met."
Annoyed, Marluxia wanted ;to ignore him but when he looked up&nbs p;and looked at Sora he felt his
ey es prickle. "Listen, Kidâ€¦"

"The name is Sora. I remember yoursâ& euro;¦Marluxia. Just what the hell are ;you doing in my house,
of all fuck ing places? I don't need more drama in&n bsp;my life so start explaining or I'll kick you out."
Sora's eyes hardened.
Larxene chuckled. "Awwâ€¦why Sora, you're all grown up now, aren't you?" Ge nerally cheerful,
Sora shrugged, her biting&n bsp;words sliding off him like water on grease. "He's got a point flower
boy,&nb sp;so start spilling."
Sora gazed at the man before him. "Yeah, otherwiseâ€&brv bar;"
Marluxia opened his mouth to speak when the front door slammed again. Sora jumped, Larxene
swore and Marluxia blin ked. Heavy footsteps could be heard walking&n bsp;towards them and Sora's
eyes widened ;in panic. "SORA, I'M HOME!"
"Shitâ&eur o;¦"
:Again, imagine said line brea k inserted here:
(YAY! AT LASTTTT! S o there was a little more about Larxene& nbsp;and her past, and this chapter
did& nbsp;focus on Mar/Larx more than the others!& nbsp;I'm sorry of Mar is outta chara, bu t he IS kinda hard
to write since&n bsp;not THAT much of his personality is fleshed out in the manga and Chain of&nb sp;
Memories. I'm working with limited stuff&n bsp;here, but hey, I'm doing my research!&nbs p;A VERY special
thanks to all who R & R'd and who are still reading&ac irc;€¦you guys rock my world and I love you!
Bye for now, all!)
Sadistickunais