Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Behind the Smoke Screen ❯ Terror ( Chapter 15 )
[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: sadistic_kunais 
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.30.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 17.3K | Visits: 129 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama / Angst | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 08.30.2012 | Pages: 7 | Words: 17.3K | Visits: 129 | Status: Completed
Note to Disclaimers: I do not and nev er will own Kingdom Hearts 1, 2 or Chain of Memories
so…please& nbsp;do NOT sue me. I have absolutely no thing to give you, should you decide to.
A/N: Um…I have nothing to say really. No excuses, no reason&nb sp;cause they'd sound like
excuses. Na da, Zip, Nill. Apologies…if you're& nbsp;still reading, hope you enjoy it somewha t.
Thanks.
Word coding:
'Thoughts' & "Speaking"
R andom flashbacks or other stuff & Eve rything else
Terror
Marluxia& nbsp;breathed in a heavy, shocked breath when the bat crashed down next to his h ead and
he saw his father had been& nbsp;sent flying sideways into the glass clos et doors by the blurred figure
of h is mother. Delaney had pushed the batterer&nb sp;away in time or else her son's head&n bsp;would've
been bashed in and he'd be& nbsp;dead. Sobbing, she backed away as Lionel tried to recollect himself
with his&nbs p;surroundings, the shattered glass glimmering in& nbsp;the dim lighting. Jacob had finally come
back to consciousness and was hiding&nb sp;in the corner, tears trailing down his&nbs p;cheeks as his mother
went to shield&nb sp;him with her body. Having realized his&nbs p;dad was still disoriented, the young man&nb sp;
jumped into action again, grabbing the&nbs p;bat and bringing it down hard on his&n bsp;dad's shoulder.
Lionel fell back howling& nbsp;in pain as the solid wood connected ;with his bones. He raised his hands
to shield himself as Marluxia brought the&n bsp;bat down again, this time successfully br eaking his
dad's wrist. Delaney and Jaco b watched in horror as Lionel cowered ag ain, backing away as
quickly and painles sly as possible from his older son as&nb sp;the young man advanced on him,
menaci ngly. He wanted to kill his father but&n bsp;didn't know that he was capable of s uch actions no
matter how much he w anted to do it. He could hear his b rother crying loudly now and Delaney
ple ading that he stop. He felt irritation w ell up inside him, most directed at his& nbsp;mother but he
knew, deep down, he&n bsp;couldn't truly blame her.
"Mom, sh ut up, and stop telling me to spare ;his sorry ass," Marluxia said firmly. "Marluxia…please…that's not why…" she replied brokenly.&nbs p;He was tense but she kept speaking. "I don't…please…don't be like your father. Let him go." The young brunette stared into the sapp hire eyes of his abusive father, eyes th at were very much
the same as his&n bsp;own, eyes that he'd been given by th is man who was tearing their family apar t.
Disgusted, he raised the bat again,&n bsp;this time addressing his father. "Get out . If you ever show
your face here&n bsp;again I will kill you." Without another&n bsp;word Lionel stood and ran out the do or,
the slam the only sign he'd lef t. Defeated, Marluxia's shoulders sagged as t he tension left his
battered figure and& nbsp;all the aches and pain flowed into him. Breathing harshly from his broken
rib, bloodied lip and bruised face,&nbs p;he fell on the bed, exhausted. Delaney ;ran up to him
immediately, Jacob behind her. Sighing, he allowed his mom to&nbs p;cradle his aching head while
Jacob ran to get a washcloth to clean his br other's face. He felt unconsciousness gripping&nbs p;him
but struggled to stay awake long&n bsp;enough to look into his mom's green eyes—she was the only one
who had green eyes. "Mom." She tried to& nbsp;make him quiet down but he continued.&nb sp;"Mom…I don't
want to be&nbs p;like dad…never. I'm sorry for&nbs p;letting him hurt us so much." He didn' t understand why
she began to cry s o hard at this statement but didn't have time to ponder it much when the fatigue and overwhelming pain overtook him.
Once he'd gone unconscious Delaney a llowed Jacob to wipe the caked blood fro m his older
brother's lip. The little&nb sp;boy was quite efficient and prepared for&n bsp;anything, which Delaney
attributed to the years of abuse they'd all suffered at&n bsp;the hands of her husband. He was app lying
a muscle relaxant to his brother's ribs when Delaney stopped him, suddenly.&nbs p;She brought her
hands to his face ;as Marluxia slept on, head still in her lap. She quickly kissed Jacob's forehead,&nb sp;
smiling weakly. "Jacob…how are&n bsp;you feeling?"
The little boy smile d. "I feel okay, mommy. I'm just really& acirc;€¦tired, and my head hurts a&nbs p;lot. If I go
to the doctor'sâ&eu ro;¦are they going to give me more&nbs p;blood tests?"
Delaney nodded. "Yes, they have to in order to make sure you're healthy, my love."
Jacob looked down. "But they always take so much&nbs p;blood…and I always feel so t ired afterwards,
even with the candy the y give me. Mommy…how come I'm& nbsp;not getting better?"
She looked a t her son, forlorn. "Hush now, Jacob. Yo u'll get better. Here, let mommy ice you r
head then you can go off to sleep, alright?"
Smiling again, Jacob hugged his mother. "Alright, mommy. I love&nb sp;you! You're the best."
Her eyes&nbs p;glazed over. "I love you, too."
Fo r the second time Marluxia awoke drenched&nbs p;in sweat with his sheets sticking to h im like a
second skin. His breathing&nbs p;was heavily labored and his head hurt like he had a migraine though
he kn ew he didn't. Inhaling deeply he looked around the youth hostel but saw no one&n bsp;in sight; or
at least no one ha d awakened. Thankful for this at least, he fell back on his mattress with his&nb sp;
hand on his forehead as he stared&nbs p;at the bunk above him. No one ever&nbs p;slept up there but he hated
it no netheless; because he hated being underneath or enclosed in anything. He wasn't
claus trophobic by any means but he didn't wan t to be trapped anywhere. He knew, at&nb sp;this point,
that he couldn't very wel l go back to sleep but then again, now that he was awake he didn't know&nbs p;
what to do. Going to Xigbar's caf&Atil de;© was not the most appealing option&n bsp;even if it was really the
only one he had. But he worked in the af ternoon and didn't feel like being there ;so early.
Scowling to himself he forced his body out of bed and into a&nbs p;t-shirt, his jeans, and shoes with
hai r tousled but for once not caring at&nbs p;all, despite his usual reputation of being& nbsp;meticulous, which
he was. However, at&nb sp;the present time, Marluxia's mind was so&n bsp;far from how he looked. All he
knew was that he needed to take a w alk somewhere to cool off and clear his& nbsp;aching head of the
images plaguing& nbsp;him. He had walked no more than a&n bsp;few feet out of the hostel when he&n bsp;came
face to face with the last ;two people he'd expected to see.
"What' re you doing here?"
Axel didn't smile&nb sp;or flinch. He just stared hard at Mar luxia while Roxas approached the brunette. "What are YOU doing here? Demyx has b een worried sick about you. Does he know you're
here?"
"Not that it's any&n bsp;of your business but yes, he does. W hat do you two want?"
Axel put his& nbsp;finger to his temple, smirking. "You're going to help us bring down Sumitse, got it
memorized?"
Marluxia looked annoyed& nbsp;more than surprised, which was a relief& nbsp;for the other two young men.
"So&ac irc;€¦she told you?"
"Well, getting&nb sp;it out of her was like pulling teeth& nbsp;and Axel has a lot of battle scars& nbsp;but yeah, she
spilled—enough,&n bsp;anyway. She told me Sora was here wi th you tonight." Roxas stated, eyes still&nbs p;
staring hard at the other man, hands&n bsp;in his pockets. "What are you willing&nbs p;to do?"
Nonchalant, Marluxia answered Roxas matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I'd like to sli t Sumitse's
throat myself but I've been& nbsp;informed that it's not my place but&acir c;€¦I would like to demolish the men
responsible…for what's happened ."
"The men responsible for injecting th ose experimental drugs into…Jacob?" ;The dirty blonde
supplied, his eyes gen uinely saddened. "Marluxia…we're willing to work together to stop him,
all& nbsp;of us. There's a lot we need to&nbs p;fill you in on, if you don't mind ;coming to the mansion."
"I've seen quit e enough of that crazy, savage nymph to& nbsp;last me a lifetime."
"We're not ask ing," Axel replied, stone faced. "You're comi ng with us, conscious or not, got it?"&n bsp;
"Axel, shut up," Roxas snapped. "Look&aci rc;€¦it's not only for Larxene. This&n bsp;is for everyone that's
been affected.&nbs p;Demyx told us what happened to Jacob, and we know, somewhat now, what's
happen ed to Namine. Please…I'M asking&nbs p;you as her friend…please. For&nbs p;whatever reason,
Namine likes you a lo t. She is the one that asked us to& nbsp;come here."
Marluxia looked puzzled and& nbsp;incredulous; he didn't know the girl pas t a few interludes and her
assault. ;How could she think asking him would ma ke him acquiesce to such a request? Shak ing
his head, he turned away to thi nk. He could go and get revenge on all of them for what had
happened t o him, his mother, his brother. Or he&nb sp;could walk away from these people who ;were
willing to collaborate and bring d own a filthy excuse for a human being&nb sp;and his company. 'What
options,' he mused bitterly. He knew he didn't have& nbsp;much to lose at this point. 'Except&n bsp;my life but
even that doesn't seem&n bsp;so bad.' Sighing, he brought his gaze back to the two males standing
behind him. "Fine, I'll humor her request&n bsp;but I reserve the right to walk away from this mess
whenever I choose, understand?"
The redhead snorted nastily as&n bsp;he nodded. "Sure, whatever. Not like you' d be missed."
"Axel, I said to ."&n bsp;Roxas snapped vehemently, to which Axel w hined like a wounded puppy. He
looked&nb sp;at the brunette. "Okay, thank you. Come&nb sp;on, we should get back." As they walk ed
towards the bridge the dirty blonde&n bsp;glanced over to Marluxia again, noting hi s ghastly pallor and
distracted mien. "H ey uh…you feelin alright, man?"&nbs p;The older man nodded but Roxas didn't
believe him for a second. However, inste ad of pressing the issue he kept walking in the blanketed
silence as Axel p layed with his lighter frantically, a signal& nbsp;that usually meant he was anxious
a bout something. 'Probably anxious that I y elled at him, the dope,' Roxas thought.&n bsp;He knew his
boyfriend was on edge&nb sp;lately but he was being downright rude&nbs p;to everyone, except Larxene. He'd
already&n bsp;caused problems for them with Dr. Lockhar t, who seemed to be a rather pleasant&nb sp;but firm
woman. Luckily, Yuffie was v ery cheerful and unfazed by much. But Ro xas had the feeling that
Axel had p ut a damper on their impression with Att orney Kosaka even if the older man hadn' t
voiced or expressed such sentiments. N ow, all he wanted was to soothe his ;boyfriend and let him
know that it ;was okay but Axel looked not only anxio us but peeved and hurt by his previous&n bsp;
words. Roxas already knew he'd deal with it later, he'd make it up to h im in the evening but for
now he'd& nbsp;have to settle with busywork.
All t houghts were put on hold when they arriv ed at the quiet mansion only to find&nbs p;Namine
outside on the porch, crying. R oxas immediately ran up to her, concern evident on his features as
he dropped&nb sp;to his knees before the teary eyed gi rl, hand reaching up to wipe at the ;drops before
they could slide further d own her cheeks. Axel held Marluxia at ba y as the dirty blonde spoke to
the& nbsp;girl. "Namine…what happened?"
She sniffled. "Larxene came home…bu t she looked awful. I think something ha ppened to her.
After you and Roxas left to go get Marluxia she darted out&n bsp;of here so fast that I don't think&n bsp;she
heard me. Riku's inside trying t o patch her up but she almost stabbed&nb sp;him twice. Roxas….she
looks ;terrible. I think…I don't know&aci rc;€¦she looks horrible!" Namine broke ;into hysterical sobs as
Roxas whirled a round and shot a sharp look at his boyfriend. Axel merely nodded before
entering the house to see what had happened.&nbs p;Marluxia stood there, his face indifferent but
wonder swirling behind his sapphire eyes as the young girl continued to sob. He wanted to ask
her questions, to interrogate her about what had just occ urred. But knowing Roxas, the younger
ma n would probably try to cut his head&nbs p;off or something, should the young woman&nb sp;be pressed to
further discomfort. Sighing, Marluxia walked behind the pair as the& nbsp;young man managed to get
Namine ins ide the house and to the loveseat where& nbsp;she fell down, destitute. He wasn't sure what
compelled him to do so but&nb sp;he moved over, placed a hand over the crown of her golden hair and
rubbe d, gently. If she was alarmed she hid&nb sp;it well, instead shuddering and leaning fu rther in to
the comforting warmth of&nbs p;his palm.
"Marluxia…I'm sorry&nbs p;that…you are always here when&nbs p;things go…bad," she replied quiet ly
though he had asked no question. ;He gave her a blank stare and Namine&nb sp;blanched. "I know you
didn't ask ;for an explanation or for apologiesâ€& brvbar;it's just that…anyone involved&nb sp;with us…ends up
hurt."
"What do you mean?" His curiosity was p eaked with this statement and now, he wa nted a real
answer.
She frowned whe n she realized her mistake. "It's just t hat…I mean…maybe you ;should ask
Roxas…or Axel. The y can explain it better since they're no t…us."
"I suppose…I& nbsp;could ask them. But I would rather ask you, young Namine," he replied, calmly&nb sp;
and quietly.
Namine felt her heart&nb sp;hammer when she discovered that the past&n bsp;was something she hadn't quite
dealt ;with yet herself. While Larxene's was plague d with horrendous memories—most of&n bsp;which
she could barely rememberâ€&r dquo;she knew that hers was not so wonde rful either, especially her most
recent past. Her mind did a complete 180 when&n bsp;she brought her gaze up to Marluxia's&nbs p;
questioning cobalt one, his eyes searching& nbsp;hers though they were not as aggressive& nbsp;as her sister's.
The older blonde h ad a way of demanding even with a m ere glance and it irked the young girl&n bsp;to
no end that such a power rad iated from someone so close to her. Sigh ing, the young blonde
crossed her arms&n bsp;over her knees, letting them rest there&n bsp;as comfortably as they would allow. Not&n bsp;
known for eloquence, and certainly not&nb sp;courage or straightforwardness, she knew she&nb sp;couldn't
tell the man next to her&nbs p;anything that wouldn't be misconstrued, especial ly since she barely
remembered a lot&nbs p;of it. She had the feeling that now,&n bsp;since as a young child she was na&At ilde;¯ve, as an
adult she could now look back and be sure she was prob ably on some drug during the whole of&nb sp;
her teen years to silence her from&nb sp;telling anyone about the horrors inflicted ;upon her older sister.
She didn't put&n bsp;it past her disgusting-excuse-for-a-human-being ste pfather to do such an illegal
and m orally corrupt thing to his own stepdaughter. 'Yeah…he's a sorry excuse for a person,' she
mused as she ;felt fresh tears well up to her burning eyelids. Namine was not one to hold&nbs p;back
such things but she felt like&nbs p;hiding what had happened to her.
Despi te the fact that drugs may have prevente d her from helping Larxene more, she cou ldn't help
the guilt welling up inside&n bsp;the pit of her stomach. She had alwa ys felt like she could have done
mo re to protect her older sister. 'What ;a joke, Namine…she was busy p rotecting you.' Then again,
with recent&n bsp;evidence unearthed by her own sister, Nam ine began to feel like no matter what&nb sp;she
had done that Sumitse wanted Larx ene and Larxene alone. He didn't display ;any interest in
actually penetrating her&nbs p;with his own penis, which didn't make it any less horrific to her.
However,&nb sp;that he had not actually touched her was disturbing. He seemed to be picturing&nbs p;
someone else when he had assaulted her . None of this seemed to make sense ;to her, and she
continued to ponder&nbs p;about what had occurred. That Larxene had&n bsp;run out of the house quicker
than&nb sp;Namine could scream for her to stay m eant that she was onto something. 'Or ;out to get
someone,' the blonde tho ught as she glanced back at the black,&n bsp;wrought-iron gate. It couldn't
have been& nbsp;a very long time that she'd been go ne but it felt like an eternity to the younger girl. She
was deeply trouble d by her older sister's disappearance at ;first, then her reappearance looking
like&nb sp;a mangled rat, bloody and dying. More ;tears came as she felt the hand on ;her head begin to
move again. Marluxia& nbsp;seemed to have a disconnected yet soothi ng air about him, which
heightened Namine's curiosity but also made her somewhat fearful. Her step-father also had the < br> same air about him though it heavily ;lacked the "soothing" aspect in all areas.&n bsp;Her step-father
mainly possessed the disc onnected part.
Cringing, Namine held her ;breath when she heard loud cursing and what sounded like crash,
which more than likely meant that Axel was wrestling wi th Larxene about her injuries. That
Roxa s and Axel were even able to get an ywhere near Larxene was a wonder unto it self.
'Yes…but it could als o be because they're gay and have no&nbs p;interest in her.' What some would
consider a cynical thought, Namine thought wa s actually quite true and common, at lea st where
she and Larxene were concerned. People could call it whatever the hell& nbsp;they wanted. The truth of
the matte r—for them—was that Ax el and Roxas had no attraction towards t hem, which leant to
them feeling safest& nbsp;with the gay couple. She wasn't sure&nbs p;if this was viewed as a good thing&nbs p;or bad
thing but she was sure tha t, at this point, it was of little consequence. She winced again as she
hea rd Larxene shout and Axel curse, which m ore than likely meant that they had succ eeded in
doing some cleaning of wounds.& nbsp;Sighing, Namine leaned into Marluxia's touch, content with the
comforting air it ;offered despite it only being his hand. ;And suddenly, she had the intense urge to
ask about Jacob. Craning her neck&nbs p;to face him, she blinked as his sapphi re eyes focused on her
own sky blue pair.
"Yes, young Namine?"
"Marluxia&ac irc;€¦I…I wanted to ask ;you about…Jacob." His face contort ed into a mask of uncertainty
and p ain, to which Namine could only shudder, ;remembering her own terrifying experiences as&nbs p;a
child. She quickly regretted the inq uiry. "I'm sorry…it's okay. Never&n bsp;mind. I suppose it
was…ins ensitive of me to ask you that."
Th e young man in question said nothing, hi s eyes unreadable and facial expression blank . His
thoughts were, instead, focused on the fact that he couldn't remember much about what happened
to Jacob. He d id remember all that happened prior to J acob's death. But his memory around the
actual occurrence was somewhat blurred, like& nbsp;there were pieces of information missing.&nbs p;Maybe
pieces he'd purposely been meant ;to forget thanks to whatever chemical had&nb sp;been given to him
by Sumitse's cronie s. He was pretty sure it was a mixt ure of anti-depressants, psychosomatic
controlling drugs, and sleeping pills; he didn't se e a better combination to make someone f orget,
and to not feel much about s uch a traumatic event. He couldn't quite ;remember all the events as
everything w as a cloudy haze due to the drugs i ngested at the time. But more sinister a nd
puzzling was how they were allowed&nb sp;to give him such things. He blanched for a moment,
pausing in his thought&nbs p;process as he remembered all Jacob's hospit al visits, most of which were
headed&nbs p;by his mother. She'd always seemed so down at these appointments despite the fact&n bsp;that
Jacob's condition remained, more or& nbsp;less the same. He didn't get worse, ;though he didn't
improve. And Marluxia suddenly began to get a queasy feeling i n his stomach. Instead of
dwelling on&nb sp;it, he chose to try and ponder more&n bsp;on it later. Sighing, he glanced back&nbs p;to Namine,
eyes still giving no explan ation. When she made to speak again he&n bsp;held up his hand.
"No…it's …alright, young Namine. I was simply…lost in thought."
"Has& nbsp;anyone ever told you that…you& nbsp;talk so old world?" She asked, eyes ;weary but alight with a
smile.
He& nbsp;nodded. "Why yes…just this eve ning. Your good friend Sora, was it? He& nbsp;did mention the
same thing."
Namine couldn't conceal a small giggle. "It's true. Marluxia, it's like you're from another world
than the rest of us."
" That's not entirely untrue, you know."
B oth Namine and Marluxia turned to see De myx standing there with Zexion, both looking& nbsp;
slightly frazzled. Upon meeting eyes wit h his best friend, Marluxia made an ugly face and spun
away from him, optin g to look at the wall as if it ;was the most interesting thing in the r oom.
Immediately Namine figured she'd missed& nbsp;something but she decided to welcome the m in as
quietly and hospitably as p ossible given that Larxene was shrieking like a banshee in the
adjacent room. De myx and Zexion each took a seat on the couch next to her, tired and restles s,
while Marluxia continued to pretend h e hadn't even realized they were there. The interlude was
cut short when Larxene exited the door, arms crossed against h er chest as Axel practically
dragged her to be seated on the couch. Roxas t railed behind him with a first aid kid&n bsp;while Riku
walked past them looking aggravated; in his arms were bloodied bandage s, gauze, alcohol pads
and a filthy ;gag. Marluxia shot it a disturbed look right before Riku dumped it all into the kitchen
trash before returning to where Namine was seated. Almost instantly she ;was leaning over his
seated form, her&n bsp;fingers inspecting for wounds where there ;were bloodied spots on his clothing.
He quickly quieted her down, explaining that&nb sp;all the blood was Larxene's and she h adn't
managed to stab him at all. A t this the brunette haired man tore his& nbsp;gaze away from the younger
teens, l etting it travel until it rested on the& nbsp;savage nymph sitting quietly on the couc h, fuming.
She looked an utter mess,&nbs p;hair askew and darkened with blood that&nbs p;had barely been washed
away. Since she 'd been stripped of her trademark coat M arluxia could now see all the scars, the
bruises, the cuts and gashes littering& nbsp;her pale skin. Her arms were covered&nbs p;in scratches that
seemed minimal in pa in and blood but had been damaging enoug h to leave thin red lines. Her
legs were donned with what appeared to be&nb sp;a pair of pajama pants—probably&n bsp;Axel's—that clung
to her hi ps and nowhere else. He didn't even want to imagine what was underneath there. H er
chest, however, had a gash on it , barely concealed with thick patches of ;gauze that was still
slightly bloody. H er face was mostly untouched save for a& nbsp;few scratches too, and a bruise that&nbs p;
colored the left side of her face.&nbs p;All in all, he'd say she looked a ;bloody riot, but he was surprised
she&n bsp;was still alive granted the ferocity of&n bsp;her personality; not to mention of where& nbsp;she'd probably
ran off to prior to& nbsp;his arrival. He felt like he should ;stop looking at her before she realized ;he was
but couldn't tear his eyes away because despite all the bruises and ;such, she still looked beautiful
in her marred appearance. The tank top she spo rted left little to the imagination, especial ly as he
had been so close to kissing her underneath Moogle Bridge in that& nbsp;exact same piece of clothing.
Her s kin was wet with residual water droplets,&nbs p;no doubt from whatever water had been used to
try and clean the blood off the rest of her body and hair. If& nbsp;Marluxia didn't know her even a
fra ction of amount he did now, he'd say&nbs p;she was a beautifully crafted disaster fit& nbsp;for anyone to
save. Yet this i mage was unnecessary as he knew her well enough now, at least to know she'd ;slit
his throat if he ever so much as mentioned his thoughts on her appear ance looking anything but
awful. Apparently,& nbsp;for this woman, insults were the best&nb sp;compliments. Sighing again, this time
inte rnally, he forced his attention away from&nbs p;her, back to Riku and Namine who had&n bsp;finally
settled down even though Larxene& nbsp;was glaring at them like she wanted ;to burn holes through
their heads.
Demyx, who'd been mostly silent since Marlux ia's obvious cold shoulder, finally spoke up.
"Larxene…you went back, didn' t you?"
"You're damn right I did, p ansy!" She snapped forcefully. "I was going&n bsp;to kill that bastard, too!
But he&nb sp;had his damn cronies about…fucki n coward."
"Who did this to you?" A xel's question was anything but loving.
She snarled at him. "Seifer and Fuujin. Xaldin may not have laid his hands on&nb sp;me to beat the
living daylights out&n bsp;of me, but he definitely crossed me enough…to…" she seemed&nb sp;to be having
trouble getting the word s out. Namine shot her a pitying, knowin g look; Larxene didn't like being
bested . "He knocked me out, okay? The bastard& nbsp;fought dirty!"
Rolling his eyes, Roxas&n bsp;pressed an alcohol pad to his boyfriend's bleeding shoulder. Larxene had
nailed t he dancing flame in the same spot, same& nbsp;shoulder, twice in a week. The wound&nbs p;reopened,
Axel hissed when his lover t ended to it. Little unbeknownst to the r est of them, Roxas was
beginning to ;tire of the constant fighting and such. ;He liked having Axel no matter what, bu t
cleaning up after their spats was ;becoming a chore, a chore he didn't fav or. It was taking its toll.
As it&n bsp;was, Roxas always felt responsible for cl eaning up Larxene's messes—Axel, Nam ine,
alcohol, drugs; name it and Larxene had a habit of it in some way ;or another. Resigning himself
to discuss&nbs p;it at some other time, Roxas continued ;dressing the wounds on his boyfriend's upper
body in hopes that they would heal sooner than later. As a result, it ;took him a few moments to
realize that Namine was addressing him, her large&nbs p;blue, doe eyes pensive as she looked a t him.
To her side Riku looked thou ghtful, aquamarine spheres seemingly clouded over.
"I'm sorry Nami…what was ;the question?"
She gave him another of& nbsp;her, lately, weak smiles. "I was asking& nbsp;if you were willing to be a part&nb sp;
of the….plan, to take Sumit se down. You know…one of the&n bsp;physical people."
"Are we…doing things that are physical?" Axel snorted ;and Roxas shot him a warning glance. "Did I miss something?"
"We're going to have to infiltrate the facility," Demyx&nb sp;stated matter-of-factly. "That's going to
require a lot of finesse, force andâ&eu ro;¦intelligence."
"Intel?" Roxas asked. "H ow do we even get that?"
"That's&nb sp;where we come in." Marluxia rolled his&nbs p;eyes at Xigbar's dramatic entrance. By his& nbsp;side
was Luxord looking calm but co cky at the same time. Larxene's eyes nar rowed dangerously. She
was about to snap at them when Xigbar chuckled. "How did& nbsp;we get here, by chance?" Everyone
b linked. "As if. Luxord did work for your parents, Larxy. Not to mention we were& nbsp;all monitoring
your family. Hell, we've& nbsp;known about you all for years! You didn't seriously think that Sumitse
wasn't&nb sp;going to have this place wired before ;he started sleeping with your mother, did&nb sp;you?"
Demyx cringed. "Way to blow the big fish out the water, Xiggie."
N amine's eyes widened to the size of sauc ers. "Monsieur Luxord? What're you… ?" She trailed
off, her glance shooting& nbsp;to Larxene like a deer caught in th e headlights, her lower lip trembling
as Luxord looked away in shame. "Sleeping with mom? Sumitse…wait, I don't&nbs p;understand."
When no one said anything ;Namine stood, her cheeks red and hot, h er hands curling into fists as
she felt anger rising in her throat. "What t he hell is going on here? Someone tell&n bsp;me. I may be
naïve but I'm not stupid, Larxene! What is he doin g here, after all these years, after he& nbsp;left us?"
Her sister suddenly looked&nbs p;ill and the young blonde felt her ange r turn into terror and
uncertainty. "Lar xene?"
"He…" Larxene felt bile rise in her own throat, willing to ;expel itself as she tried to keep it&nb sp;
together. "I…"
When he ;couldn't seem to find the words to expl ain anything, Namine felt tears threaten her& nbsp;
already tired, swollen eyes. "How could& nbsp;you hide this from me? I hate you!"
With that she turned and ran out&n bsp;the back door, the loud slam making Larxene flinch against her
will. No one& nbsp;said a word, silence enveloping all of&n bsp;them until Riku stood and glared. He ;shot
Larxene a withering look before fo llowing the young blonde. They could hear&nbs p;him shouting her
name outside as he&nb sp;searched for her. Larxene felt tears burn& nbsp;her own eyelids but refused to let
them fall, not in front of everyone.&nbs p;Axel and Roxas had seen her broken alr eady. She'd be
damned if she let an yone else see it. Gritting her teeth, sh e fought back the tears until she felt&n bsp;
them stop threatening to fall. Once this was accomplished, she brought her gaze&n bsp;back to face all
of them, malice&nbs p;lacing her eyes and voice when she beg an to speak.
"How soon do we do&nbs p;this?"
"I need to contact Dr. Lockhart and Attorney Kosaka. He said he wanted& nbsp;some paperwork done.
Nurse Yuffie and&nb sp;Office Strife are supposed to be here ;to speak to us very shortly," Axel repl ied,
hissing when Roxas reapplied a band age to the wound Larxene had inflicted. She ignored his
pain as she glared this time, taking Riku's cue. "What the hell is that look for?"
"What? Axel&acir c;€¦what the fuck do you mean WHA T!" She raged. "Am I supposed to just&nb sp;feel
dandy about all these fucking pe ople invading my damn house?"
"I suggest you get over it, if you want to&nb sp;see this whole catastrophe solved." Marluxia's& nbsp;sapphire
eyes locked with hers, his ;hard and unyielding as hers blazed fire ;and animosity. She was about
to sh out something back at him when he shook& nbsp;his head and turned his back to her . "I don't want
to hear anything yo u might be thinking, Miss Larxene. I've had about my fill of your petty
dis putes and what not. I want this to end just as badly as everyone else. I,&n bsp;for one, am not going
to stand for this power and control issue you're fighting about." His shoulders suddenly felt
heavy as he whispered to himself more&nb sp;than anyone else. "I just…I ;would like some peace…if
not& nbsp;for me…then for Jacob."
" Marluxia?" the young man in question bristled involuntarily at Demyx's voice, but otherwis e he
said nothing. "I think we shou ld meet with all these people. If Xigbar and Luxord know the
Facility as we ll as they say, then it's worth a s hot to try and go in, see what we&n bsp;can find." The
musician glanced over ;to Larxene who had all but calmed; she& nbsp;was, however, quiet. "I think we
sh ould discuss…logistics."
Marluxia s norted. "I suppose going in without a pl an would be most unadvisable."
Zexion no dded. "If you would tell me all the ;factual and tactical information, I can easi ly
develop the most logically sound and& nbsp;appropriate way to do all this."
Lu xord and Xigbar exchanged glances before the& nbsp;pirate wannabe laughed out loud. "I like this
guy, Lux. He just has that&ac irc;€¦scheming air about him."
"In&nbs p;high school he was called the Cloaked Schemer…if you can imagine that,"&n bsp;Axel supplied
sarcastically. "Ouch! Roxie,&nbs p;that hurt!" His boyfriend shook his head&nb sp;as Axel began shrugging
his coat back over all the wounds and bruises. For&nb sp;his part, he seemed unaffected by what&nbs p;had
happened to him. "So, who is going to be the brains of the operation, and who is going to be the
br awns?"
Roxas rolled his eyes this time.& nbsp;"Clearly you're going to be the brawns.& nbsp;They way you play with
that lighter , well, it will come in handy when torching Sumitse's goons." Demyx nodded his h ead
enthusiastically while Larxene huffed in& nbsp;impatience. "Okay, that aside, it's time ;to call Attorney
Kosaka and Dr. Lockhar t. If they can get here with Nurse Yuffie and Office Strife, I say we can&n bsp;
make this operation a go."
"We're&nb sp;here! The gate and door were open so& nbsp;we let ourselves in. Good evening!"
All eyes turned to see Yuffie in the&nb sp;doorway with who they presumed to be Officer Strife.
Behind him were 4 other& nbsp;people no one seemed to really recognize except Axel and Roxas.
Introductions, h owever, were never able to happen when R iku walked in and pushed his way
th rough them to the front until he was&nbs p;standing there, Namine beside him. Everyone ;was stunned
into silence for moments be fore Riku spoke. "Sephiroth…what're ;you doing here? How did you
even g et here? Wait…am I MISSING som ething?"
Sephiroth sighed deeply, rubbing his head for a minute as he prepared f or his brother's temper to
flare. "Yes&a circ;€¦good evening brother. I am here on business."
"Business?" Riku's eyes&n bsp;were beginning to narrow into slits. But& nbsp;before he could say anything
further&nbs p;Officer Strife stepped in, creating havoc.
"Your brothers, Dr. Lockhart, Nurse Kisaragi, Ms. Gainsborough and I, are all here&nb sp;working on a
Sexual Assault case invo lving a minor; and it says she lives&nbs p;here."
The silence that followed left a sour taste in Larxene's mouth as she&n bsp;realized that a lot of people
had&nb sp;been left out of the loop—pu rposely or not—and the miscommunicat ion was about to blow
up in their&n bsp;faces. When she chanced a quick check&nbs p;up on Namine she could see the younger girl
quivering and looking ready to&nbs p;vomit all over the place. Without thinking, she yanked Namine
away from Riku's ;grasp and stormed upstairs. She heard the&nb sp;gasps, the surprise everywhere, Axel
and&n bsp;Roxas' footsteps darting after them shortly&nb sp;thereafter. But she did not stop, despite& nbsp;Namine's
protests and Roxas' shouts. She didn't stop until she'd practically thrown&n bsp;Namine into the master
bedroom, effective ly slamming the door in Axel's face just as he was about to run inside. She
ignored the loud knocks and banging&nbs p;on her door as Namine hugged herself a gainst the furthest
wall, her eyes showi ng fright.
"I did it…I di d it because…I thought I could take care of it," Larxene replied, voic e so low her
sister had to strain&n bsp;to hear it. "I didn't want… ;I couldn't let you…know the d etails."
"And this is better, Larxene?" Namine whispered back, her voice tired. "How& nbsp;is this better?
Everyone is confused&nbs p;and I'm hurt…I didn't even k now…this whole time…why&n bsp;couldn't you just
tell me? I'm going to be 18 in a month…this is my life, Larxene. I had the rig ht to know someone
was pursuing my case, that someone took it seriously even&nbs p;when our stepfather could've easily
paid&nb sp;them to keep quiet…I deserved&nb sp;to know."
"I was just trying to be…your big sister, for once. I thought I was doing the right thing&nb sp;
by…letting you continue life&nbs p;without…thinking about logistics," she said, her eyes watering but
tears did not fall. "Can't you understand? This&nbs p;is who I am. I hate who I am ;and so does everyone
else."
"You're&nbs p;my sister…I don't hate you, Larxene. I just wish…I wish yo u'd let me in more. It's
beenâ&eur o;¦years since we've even…talked. " Namine was still shaking but now her&n bsp;eyes shone of
sadness. Larxene searched&n bsp;for pity in those blue depths so muc h like their father's but found
none;&nb sp;all she found was deep sadness. "All you do is push me away because of s ome backwards
need to protect me from&nb sp;the world. But you can't do it anymor e. You're falling apart….and
e veryone can see it."
"You don't understa nd!" Larxene snapped harshly at the girl,&nbs p;whirling away from her as she
began&nb sp;pacing. "You don't know what happenedâ&eu ro;¦you can't even begin to imagine an d there is no
way in hell I'm telling. It's better this way!"
In the&n bsp;midst of her rant Namine heard the b anging at her sister's door finally stop.&nbs p;She imagined
it had everything to do&n bsp;with Axel's giving up on getting in but realized that the entire house was < br>
silent. Curious, she managed to grab ;a hold of Larxene's arm, successfully ending her pacing.
"Ssh. Larxene…do& nbsp;you hear…anything?"
Larxene wa s immediately on the defensive when she noticed that there was no noise below th em,
and that the loud attempts of A xel to enter her room had indeed stopped . Glancing at Namine
with a cautious&nbs p;look, she approached her door and leaned&nb sp;her ear against it. Suddenly there were&nb sp;
faint noises that drifted through the ;wood of her door, unintelligible but there&n bsp;all the same.
Straining to her, Larx ene pressed her ear harder against the s urface, hoping to catch even a hint
of what was transpiring downstairs. She was& nbsp;about to storm out when the noise l evel increased so
much that Namine label ed it a commotion. Both females threw th e door open and ran down the
stairc ase to see what had occurred. What they& nbsp;saw made Namine cower in slight fear,&nb sp;and
Larxene almost vomit. Standing in ;the doorway was Mr. Sumitse, and his cr onies. The older
Isuki fought the urge&n bsp;to vomit and kill him altogether while&nb sp;Namine hid behind the stair rails,
ho ping she wouldn't be seen.
Everyone else was blocking his entrance further into the living room; Marluxia was in the far
back, while Axel stood in the far& nbsp;front. She could see that Sephiroth had& nbsp;disappeared into the
shadows but the&nbs p;3 females she'd seen earlier were standing& nbsp;their ground with Office Strife.
Roxas,& nbsp;Demyx, Zexion and Riku had blocked the&n bsp;entryway to the kitchen and further reach es of
the house while the two young women watched from the shadows, silent. ;At first it didn't seem
like anyone&nbs p;was going to say a word until Sumitse& nbsp;cleared his throat.
"Well…good evening. I did not know we would e ncounter such…hospitable company." Still , no
one reacted. "Hmm…indeed& nbsp;hospitable. I am here to request an ;audience with the lady of the
house,&nb sp;if you please."
"We don't, so take&nb sp;your ass off the premise," Axel spat, ;lighter in his pocket at the ready. Rox as
was quiet beside him but calculating& nbsp;the man's bodyguards. Both men could see who they
assumed to be Xaldin, Sei fer and Fuujin behind him, waiting with guns in their hands. Axel
didn't budge.& nbsp;"We don't please scum like you. Got ;it memorized?"
Sumitse coughed. "I'm afraid& nbsp;I don't have time for this. If I&nb sp;do not see the Lady of the house ;
soon, I will…lose my temper.& nbsp;You understand, yes?"
"As if. No on e is gonna be scared off by those a ntics, man." Xigbar fought hard to ignore&nbs p;the
surprised look on Xaldin's face as he and Luxord emerged from the back&nbs p;of the line, like a final
showdown&nbs p;was going to take place. Seifer and Fu u seemed a bit alarmed as well but held their
ground. "Hey there former bos s man!" Luxord elbowed him. "Ow, that hu rt!"
Sumitse's smile was dangerous. "Ahâ ;€¦I see my leftover lackeys have ;found their way here. How
do these ;good people know you're not just spying ;for me?" Luxord rolled his eyes. "Regardless
of your sudden presence, these people&n bsp;should know that you're not exactly trust worthy
yourselves. Do these people now k now of your betrayal, Luxord? Of how you knew the night
Cora and Phillip di ed, that it was all planned, and you&nbs p;did nothing to stop it?"
Namine g asped, her hands flying to cover her mou th as Larxene's grip on the stairs raili ng
tightened, her cheeks flaming and tea rs burning her eyelids so badly that the tears were a minute
away from fall ing. He continued on, not knowing they w ere there. "Do they know how you quit&nb sp;
without mentioning this to them? About&nbs p;how you and Xigbar planted the cameras ;here before
their parents death, all ac cording to plan? How much of the decepti ve lies you played at, how
many of& nbsp;the dirty deeds you performed are they&n bsp;actually privy to?"
Larxene could hear&nb sp;her sister sniffling, not able to hold&nbs p;back the tears at the horror Sumitse's ;
words held but he still kept going,&nbs p;to their horror. "And the boyâ€&brvba r;why, Demyx, I didn't know
that you&nbs p;were here as well. Does your friend kn ow the part you played?" The musician he ld back
a grimace, wanting nothing more& nbsp;than to disappear into a black hole ;at the refreshed memory of
Marluxia's p ain. "Does the boy know how you sold&nbs p;his family to your father, who in turn sold
them to me? All for a ni ce sum of money…tell me, Demyx …how does that feel?"
"Enough& nbsp;of your bullshit. Get out or I will have you removed." Officer Strife took out his
Beretta, ignoring the fact that& nbsp;Xaldin had a much bigger and powerful&nb sp;weapon. "Unlike the
police in Traverse&nbs p;and Twilight Town, the FBI does not ta ke bribes, Mr. Sumitse. I suggest you vacate the premises…NOW."
For&nb sp;the first time in the last couple mon ths, Tifa Lockhart was proud of her frie nd as Sumitse
threw them a dirty lo ok before signaling the others to back d own. "Fine. You may have won this
r ound but next time…hand over t he girl or you won't be so lucky."
And just like that they were gone. However, the silence remained intactâ€&rdquo ;thick and stifling—
until movement&n bsp;from upstairs caught everyone's attention. On& nbsp;the stairs sat Namine, tears
streaming&n bsp;down her pale cheeks, eyes bloodshot and& nbsp;mumbles completely incoherent. Next to
h er stood Larxene, the older woman looking&nbs p;truly tired as her body sagged against ;the wall, light
trails of tears sliding down her cheeks too, her left hand ;holding her right arms so tight that sh e
could have broken it. At a loss&n bsp;for words, everyone else cleared the way& nbsp;as Axel and Roxas
slowly, and quiet ly, made their way towards the pair. No& nbsp;one said a word as Roxas gathered < br> Namine in his arms and further ascended&n bsp;the stairs towards his bedroom—R iku followed shortly
behind without anyone's& nbsp;protest. Axel stood before Larxene, silent&nb sp;and patient. She said nothing,
didn't ;even acknowledge him as everyone slowly clea red out at Zexion's announcement that he'd&nb sp;
make them all coffee. Once everyone h ad moved back into the living room area& nbsp;Axel reached out
to Larxene, his fi ngers almost touching her hand when she snapped.
"Don't touch me…"
"Lightning bug…" Axel trailed, hi s favored nickname for her showing that he was not feeling
even slightly antagon istic.
"Stop it…it's done. Wha t more do you all want?" She seemed ;to be lost, her eyes glassy and lips&nb sp;
trembling. "I have nothing elseâ€&br vbar;.it's over. Go away."
Despite the s tubbornness that she exhibited, Axel was not& nbsp;willing to give up. "Don't start that."& nbsp;
She sighed heavily. "Axel… ;I don't feel like talking…or fighting, for once. Please…I'm aski ng
you…leave me a lone."
He was stunned. Larxene not wanting to&n bsp;fight? Larxene asking and being polite? I t was unheard
of these days; and Ax el didn't like it. "You're…giving&n bsp;up? Just like that?"
"I don't care&n bsp;anymore. Just…go take care of&n bsp;Namine. She needs you two…I'll& nbsp;be fine." She
glanced at him for&nb sp;the first time since the situation ended.& nbsp;He felt his heart break at her
expression. Larxene's eyes were empty. There ;was no fire in them, no determination, not even
hate—just nothing. In& nbsp;all his years of knowing her he'd n ever seen her looked even remotely
defea ted and it didn't sit well with him ;at all. Axel may have been stubborn, an d he may have
fought with her const antly but Larxene was, ultimately, his friend . He could only stare when she
nodd ed. "I'm always fine…remember?"
He was about to protest most emphatically&n bsp;when someone cleared his throat from behi nd them.
Axel didn't have to turn a round to know who it was but did so anyway. "What?"
Marluxia glanced up at& nbsp;them. "I'd like a word with Miss La rxene, if I may."
"You mostly certainly& nbsp;may not," she replied blankly.
Axel ;wanted to chuckle, and would have had t he situation not been what it was. Inste ad, he
nodded and moved past her up the stairs, stopping momentarily to whisper& nbsp;in her ear. "Hey…"
she&nb sp;blinked to signal she was listening. "Be&n bsp;nice to him…I think he mig ht just like you."
Normally she would've swatted him or stabbed him but all ;she did was shrug as though she could&n bsp;
care less. With a sigh, he proceeded the rest of the way upstairs, only ;stopping quickly to shoot
the Graceful Assassin a warning look before vanishing behi nd his bedroom door.
Now alone in t he hall, Larxene stared at him. "What is it?"
Marluxia made no move to appr oach her, opting to stay rooted to his&n bsp;spot a good few feet away
from her. "Perhaps we could venture outside and&nb sp;have a civil conversation, one that doesn' t
involve you trying o stab me, sha ll we say?" He gestured to the back ;of the house, outside where
the yard&nb sp;spanned for thousands of feet. "Iâ€& brvbar;there is something I would like to&nbs p;discuss with you."
She brought her gaz e from the floor to meet his, cerulean&n bsp;eyes connecting with his navy blue
p air. She hesitated at first but when he& nbsp;made no move to leave, she took a&n bsp;few steps towards him
to indicate th at she would go. When they reached the&n bsp;door she paused, unsure of what it w as she
was getting herself into with&nbs p;him, especially since, as of the late, ;she felt like she could lose
herself&nb sp;in those blue depths of his. She was& nbsp;going against her better judgment but he seemed to
just have that hold on&n bsp;her. Ignoring all the other people inside her house who were speaking in
hus hed whispers, Larxene turned to face him.&nbs p;Since Marluxia was some inches taller than& nbsp;her,
she had to look up just a s he looked down at her, curious as ;to why she paused. All she could
m anage was a simple question.
"Why?" ;
He let a smile grace his lips, one Larxene found made him incredibly more handsome and
attractive than before. Whether& nbsp;this was because it had a gentle ti nge to it as opposed to an
arrogant smirk, she didn't know. All she did&nbs p;know, though, was that it made her tin gle inside, and
she found herself wantin g to smile back, though she didn't. His& nbsp;response was simple.
"Because."
And ;strangely, this, for once, seemed to suffice for her as she nodded and they bot h disappeared
into the dark night, the&n bsp;stars still twinkling in the lazy haze&nb sp;that always seemed to encompass
Twilight&n bsp;Town.
TBC...
(Wow…an d that's all? Who wants to throw tomatoe s at me? I'll welcome them. All I c an say is
thank you to those who&nb sp;are still reading and haven't given up&nbs p;on this story. Thank you for
reading,& nbsp;for reviewing, for being awesome and hav ing faith. Love you all. Peace out, unti l next
time, which hopefully won't be&nb sp;nearly as long.)
Sadistickunais
&nb sp;
so…please& nbsp;do NOT sue me. I have absolutely no thing to give you, should you decide to.
A/N: Um…I have nothing to say really. No excuses, no reason&nb sp;cause they'd sound like
excuses. Na da, Zip, Nill. Apologies…if you're& nbsp;still reading, hope you enjoy it somewha t.
Thanks.
Word coding:
'Thoughts' & "Speaking"
R andom flashbacks or other stuff & Eve rything else
Terror
Marluxia& nbsp;breathed in a heavy, shocked breath when the bat crashed down next to his h ead and
he saw his father had been& nbsp;sent flying sideways into the glass clos et doors by the blurred figure
of h is mother. Delaney had pushed the batterer&nb sp;away in time or else her son's head&n bsp;would've
been bashed in and he'd be& nbsp;dead. Sobbing, she backed away as Lionel tried to recollect himself
with his&nbs p;surroundings, the shattered glass glimmering in& nbsp;the dim lighting. Jacob had finally come
back to consciousness and was hiding&nb sp;in the corner, tears trailing down his&nbs p;cheeks as his mother
went to shield&nb sp;him with her body. Having realized his&nbs p;dad was still disoriented, the young man&nb sp;
jumped into action again, grabbing the&nbs p;bat and bringing it down hard on his&n bsp;dad's shoulder.
Lionel fell back howling& nbsp;in pain as the solid wood connected ;with his bones. He raised his hands
to shield himself as Marluxia brought the&n bsp;bat down again, this time successfully br eaking his
dad's wrist. Delaney and Jaco b watched in horror as Lionel cowered ag ain, backing away as
quickly and painles sly as possible from his older son as&nb sp;the young man advanced on him,
menaci ngly. He wanted to kill his father but&n bsp;didn't know that he was capable of s uch actions no
matter how much he w anted to do it. He could hear his b rother crying loudly now and Delaney
ple ading that he stop. He felt irritation w ell up inside him, most directed at his& nbsp;mother but he
knew, deep down, he&n bsp;couldn't truly blame her.
"Mom, sh ut up, and stop telling me to spare ;his sorry ass," Marluxia said firmly. "Marluxia…please…that's not why…" she replied brokenly.&nbs p;He was tense but she kept speaking. "I don't…please…don't be like your father. Let him go." The young brunette stared into the sapp hire eyes of his abusive father, eyes th at were very much
the same as his&n bsp;own, eyes that he'd been given by th is man who was tearing their family apar t.
Disgusted, he raised the bat again,&n bsp;this time addressing his father. "Get out . If you ever show
your face here&n bsp;again I will kill you." Without another&n bsp;word Lionel stood and ran out the do or,
the slam the only sign he'd lef t. Defeated, Marluxia's shoulders sagged as t he tension left his
battered figure and& nbsp;all the aches and pain flowed into him. Breathing harshly from his broken
rib, bloodied lip and bruised face,&nbs p;he fell on the bed, exhausted. Delaney ;ran up to him
immediately, Jacob behind her. Sighing, he allowed his mom to&nbs p;cradle his aching head while
Jacob ran to get a washcloth to clean his br other's face. He felt unconsciousness gripping&nbs p;him
but struggled to stay awake long&n bsp;enough to look into his mom's green eyes—she was the only one
who had green eyes. "Mom." She tried to& nbsp;make him quiet down but he continued.&nb sp;"Mom…I don't
want to be&nbs p;like dad…never. I'm sorry for&nbs p;letting him hurt us so much." He didn' t understand why
she began to cry s o hard at this statement but didn't have time to ponder it much when the fatigue and overwhelming pain overtook him.
Once he'd gone unconscious Delaney a llowed Jacob to wipe the caked blood fro m his older
brother's lip. The little&nb sp;boy was quite efficient and prepared for&n bsp;anything, which Delaney
attributed to the years of abuse they'd all suffered at&n bsp;the hands of her husband. He was app lying
a muscle relaxant to his brother's ribs when Delaney stopped him, suddenly.&nbs p;She brought her
hands to his face ;as Marluxia slept on, head still in her lap. She quickly kissed Jacob's forehead,&nb sp;
smiling weakly. "Jacob…how are&n bsp;you feeling?"
The little boy smile d. "I feel okay, mommy. I'm just really& acirc;€¦tired, and my head hurts a&nbs p;lot. If I go
to the doctor'sâ&eu ro;¦are they going to give me more&nbs p;blood tests?"
Delaney nodded. "Yes, they have to in order to make sure you're healthy, my love."
Jacob looked down. "But they always take so much&nbs p;blood…and I always feel so t ired afterwards,
even with the candy the y give me. Mommy…how come I'm& nbsp;not getting better?"
She looked a t her son, forlorn. "Hush now, Jacob. Yo u'll get better. Here, let mommy ice you r
head then you can go off to sleep, alright?"
Smiling again, Jacob hugged his mother. "Alright, mommy. I love&nb sp;you! You're the best."
Her eyes&nbs p;glazed over. "I love you, too."
Fo r the second time Marluxia awoke drenched&nbs p;in sweat with his sheets sticking to h im like a
second skin. His breathing&nbs p;was heavily labored and his head hurt like he had a migraine though
he kn ew he didn't. Inhaling deeply he looked around the youth hostel but saw no one&n bsp;in sight; or
at least no one ha d awakened. Thankful for this at least, he fell back on his mattress with his&nb sp;
hand on his forehead as he stared&nbs p;at the bunk above him. No one ever&nbs p;slept up there but he hated
it no netheless; because he hated being underneath or enclosed in anything. He wasn't
claus trophobic by any means but he didn't wan t to be trapped anywhere. He knew, at&nb sp;this point,
that he couldn't very wel l go back to sleep but then again, now that he was awake he didn't know&nbs p;
what to do. Going to Xigbar's caf&Atil de;© was not the most appealing option&n bsp;even if it was really the
only one he had. But he worked in the af ternoon and didn't feel like being there ;so early.
Scowling to himself he forced his body out of bed and into a&nbs p;t-shirt, his jeans, and shoes with
hai r tousled but for once not caring at&nbs p;all, despite his usual reputation of being& nbsp;meticulous, which
he was. However, at&nb sp;the present time, Marluxia's mind was so&n bsp;far from how he looked. All he
knew was that he needed to take a w alk somewhere to cool off and clear his& nbsp;aching head of the
images plaguing& nbsp;him. He had walked no more than a&n bsp;few feet out of the hostel when he&n bsp;came
face to face with the last ;two people he'd expected to see.
"What' re you doing here?"
Axel didn't smile&nb sp;or flinch. He just stared hard at Mar luxia while Roxas approached the brunette. "What are YOU doing here? Demyx has b een worried sick about you. Does he know you're
here?"
"Not that it's any&n bsp;of your business but yes, he does. W hat do you two want?"
Axel put his& nbsp;finger to his temple, smirking. "You're going to help us bring down Sumitse, got it
memorized?"
Marluxia looked annoyed& nbsp;more than surprised, which was a relief& nbsp;for the other two young men.
"So&ac irc;€¦she told you?"
"Well, getting&nb sp;it out of her was like pulling teeth& nbsp;and Axel has a lot of battle scars& nbsp;but yeah, she
spilled—enough,&n bsp;anyway. She told me Sora was here wi th you tonight." Roxas stated, eyes still&nbs p;
staring hard at the other man, hands&n bsp;in his pockets. "What are you willing&nbs p;to do?"
Nonchalant, Marluxia answered Roxas matter-of-factly. "Honestly, I'd like to sli t Sumitse's
throat myself but I've been& nbsp;informed that it's not my place but&acir c;€¦I would like to demolish the men
responsible…for what's happened ."
"The men responsible for injecting th ose experimental drugs into…Jacob?" ;The dirty blonde
supplied, his eyes gen uinely saddened. "Marluxia…we're willing to work together to stop him,
all& nbsp;of us. There's a lot we need to&nbs p;fill you in on, if you don't mind ;coming to the mansion."
"I've seen quit e enough of that crazy, savage nymph to& nbsp;last me a lifetime."
"We're not ask ing," Axel replied, stone faced. "You're comi ng with us, conscious or not, got it?"&n bsp;
"Axel, shut up," Roxas snapped. "Look&aci rc;€¦it's not only for Larxene. This&n bsp;is for everyone that's
been affected.&nbs p;Demyx told us what happened to Jacob, and we know, somewhat now, what's
happen ed to Namine. Please…I'M asking&nbs p;you as her friend…please. For&nbs p;whatever reason,
Namine likes you a lo t. She is the one that asked us to& nbsp;come here."
Marluxia looked puzzled and& nbsp;incredulous; he didn't know the girl pas t a few interludes and her
assault. ;How could she think asking him would ma ke him acquiesce to such a request? Shak ing
his head, he turned away to thi nk. He could go and get revenge on all of them for what had
happened t o him, his mother, his brother. Or he&nb sp;could walk away from these people who ;were
willing to collaborate and bring d own a filthy excuse for a human being&nb sp;and his company. 'What
options,' he mused bitterly. He knew he didn't have& nbsp;much to lose at this point. 'Except&n bsp;my life but
even that doesn't seem&n bsp;so bad.' Sighing, he brought his gaze back to the two males standing
behind him. "Fine, I'll humor her request&n bsp;but I reserve the right to walk away from this mess
whenever I choose, understand?"
The redhead snorted nastily as&n bsp;he nodded. "Sure, whatever. Not like you' d be missed."
"Axel, I said to ."&n bsp;Roxas snapped vehemently, to which Axel w hined like a wounded puppy. He
looked&nb sp;at the brunette. "Okay, thank you. Come&nb sp;on, we should get back." As they walk ed
towards the bridge the dirty blonde&n bsp;glanced over to Marluxia again, noting hi s ghastly pallor and
distracted mien. "H ey uh…you feelin alright, man?"&nbs p;The older man nodded but Roxas didn't
believe him for a second. However, inste ad of pressing the issue he kept walking in the blanketed
silence as Axel p layed with his lighter frantically, a signal& nbsp;that usually meant he was anxious
a bout something. 'Probably anxious that I y elled at him, the dope,' Roxas thought.&n bsp;He knew his
boyfriend was on edge&nb sp;lately but he was being downright rude&nbs p;to everyone, except Larxene. He'd
already&n bsp;caused problems for them with Dr. Lockhar t, who seemed to be a rather pleasant&nb sp;but firm
woman. Luckily, Yuffie was v ery cheerful and unfazed by much. But Ro xas had the feeling that
Axel had p ut a damper on their impression with Att orney Kosaka even if the older man hadn' t
voiced or expressed such sentiments. N ow, all he wanted was to soothe his ;boyfriend and let him
know that it ;was okay but Axel looked not only anxio us but peeved and hurt by his previous&n bsp;
words. Roxas already knew he'd deal with it later, he'd make it up to h im in the evening but for
now he'd& nbsp;have to settle with busywork.
All t houghts were put on hold when they arriv ed at the quiet mansion only to find&nbs p;Namine
outside on the porch, crying. R oxas immediately ran up to her, concern evident on his features as
he dropped&nb sp;to his knees before the teary eyed gi rl, hand reaching up to wipe at the ;drops before
they could slide further d own her cheeks. Axel held Marluxia at ba y as the dirty blonde spoke to
the& nbsp;girl. "Namine…what happened?"
She sniffled. "Larxene came home…bu t she looked awful. I think something ha ppened to her.
After you and Roxas left to go get Marluxia she darted out&n bsp;of here so fast that I don't think&n bsp;she
heard me. Riku's inside trying t o patch her up but she almost stabbed&nb sp;him twice. Roxas….she
looks ;terrible. I think…I don't know&aci rc;€¦she looks horrible!" Namine broke ;into hysterical sobs as
Roxas whirled a round and shot a sharp look at his boyfriend. Axel merely nodded before
entering the house to see what had happened.&nbs p;Marluxia stood there, his face indifferent but
wonder swirling behind his sapphire eyes as the young girl continued to sob. He wanted to ask
her questions, to interrogate her about what had just occ urred. But knowing Roxas, the younger
ma n would probably try to cut his head&nbs p;off or something, should the young woman&nb sp;be pressed to
further discomfort. Sighing, Marluxia walked behind the pair as the& nbsp;young man managed to get
Namine ins ide the house and to the loveseat where& nbsp;she fell down, destitute. He wasn't sure what
compelled him to do so but&nb sp;he moved over, placed a hand over the crown of her golden hair and
rubbe d, gently. If she was alarmed she hid&nb sp;it well, instead shuddering and leaning fu rther in to
the comforting warmth of&nbs p;his palm.
"Marluxia…I'm sorry&nbs p;that…you are always here when&nbs p;things go…bad," she replied quiet ly
though he had asked no question. ;He gave her a blank stare and Namine&nb sp;blanched. "I know you
didn't ask ;for an explanation or for apologiesâ€& brvbar;it's just that…anyone involved&nb sp;with us…ends up
hurt."
"What do you mean?" His curiosity was p eaked with this statement and now, he wa nted a real
answer.
She frowned whe n she realized her mistake. "It's just t hat…I mean…maybe you ;should ask
Roxas…or Axel. The y can explain it better since they're no t…us."
"I suppose…I& nbsp;could ask them. But I would rather ask you, young Namine," he replied, calmly&nb sp;
and quietly.
Namine felt her heart&nb sp;hammer when she discovered that the past&n bsp;was something she hadn't quite
dealt ;with yet herself. While Larxene's was plague d with horrendous memories—most of&n bsp;which
she could barely rememberâ€&r dquo;she knew that hers was not so wonde rful either, especially her most
recent past. Her mind did a complete 180 when&n bsp;she brought her gaze up to Marluxia's&nbs p;
questioning cobalt one, his eyes searching& nbsp;hers though they were not as aggressive& nbsp;as her sister's.
The older blonde h ad a way of demanding even with a m ere glance and it irked the young girl&n bsp;to
no end that such a power rad iated from someone so close to her. Sigh ing, the young blonde
crossed her arms&n bsp;over her knees, letting them rest there&n bsp;as comfortably as they would allow. Not&n bsp;
known for eloquence, and certainly not&nb sp;courage or straightforwardness, she knew she&nb sp;couldn't
tell the man next to her&nbs p;anything that wouldn't be misconstrued, especial ly since she barely
remembered a lot&nbs p;of it. She had the feeling that now,&n bsp;since as a young child she was na&At ilde;¯ve, as an
adult she could now look back and be sure she was prob ably on some drug during the whole of&nb sp;
her teen years to silence her from&nb sp;telling anyone about the horrors inflicted ;upon her older sister.
She didn't put&n bsp;it past her disgusting-excuse-for-a-human-being ste pfather to do such an illegal
and m orally corrupt thing to his own stepdaughter. 'Yeah…he's a sorry excuse for a person,' she
mused as she ;felt fresh tears well up to her burning eyelids. Namine was not one to hold&nbs p;back
such things but she felt like&nbs p;hiding what had happened to her.
Despi te the fact that drugs may have prevente d her from helping Larxene more, she cou ldn't help
the guilt welling up inside&n bsp;the pit of her stomach. She had alwa ys felt like she could have done
mo re to protect her older sister. 'What ;a joke, Namine…she was busy p rotecting you.' Then again,
with recent&n bsp;evidence unearthed by her own sister, Nam ine began to feel like no matter what&nb sp;she
had done that Sumitse wanted Larx ene and Larxene alone. He didn't display ;any interest in
actually penetrating her&nbs p;with his own penis, which didn't make it any less horrific to her.
However,&nb sp;that he had not actually touched her was disturbing. He seemed to be picturing&nbs p;
someone else when he had assaulted her . None of this seemed to make sense ;to her, and she
continued to ponder&nbs p;about what had occurred. That Larxene had&n bsp;run out of the house quicker
than&nb sp;Namine could scream for her to stay m eant that she was onto something. 'Or ;out to get
someone,' the blonde tho ught as she glanced back at the black,&n bsp;wrought-iron gate. It couldn't
have been& nbsp;a very long time that she'd been go ne but it felt like an eternity to the younger girl. She
was deeply trouble d by her older sister's disappearance at ;first, then her reappearance looking
like&nb sp;a mangled rat, bloody and dying. More ;tears came as she felt the hand on ;her head begin to
move again. Marluxia& nbsp;seemed to have a disconnected yet soothi ng air about him, which
heightened Namine's curiosity but also made her somewhat fearful. Her step-father also had the < br> same air about him though it heavily ;lacked the "soothing" aspect in all areas.&n bsp;Her step-father
mainly possessed the disc onnected part.
Cringing, Namine held her ;breath when she heard loud cursing and what sounded like crash,
which more than likely meant that Axel was wrestling wi th Larxene about her injuries. That
Roxa s and Axel were even able to get an ywhere near Larxene was a wonder unto it self.
'Yes…but it could als o be because they're gay and have no&nbs p;interest in her.' What some would
consider a cynical thought, Namine thought wa s actually quite true and common, at lea st where
she and Larxene were concerned. People could call it whatever the hell& nbsp;they wanted. The truth of
the matte r—for them—was that Ax el and Roxas had no attraction towards t hem, which leant to
them feeling safest& nbsp;with the gay couple. She wasn't sure&nbs p;if this was viewed as a good thing&nbs p;or bad
thing but she was sure tha t, at this point, it was of little consequence. She winced again as she
hea rd Larxene shout and Axel curse, which m ore than likely meant that they had succ eeded in
doing some cleaning of wounds.& nbsp;Sighing, Namine leaned into Marluxia's touch, content with the
comforting air it ;offered despite it only being his hand. ;And suddenly, she had the intense urge to
ask about Jacob. Craning her neck&nbs p;to face him, she blinked as his sapphi re eyes focused on her
own sky blue pair.
"Yes, young Namine?"
"Marluxia&ac irc;€¦I…I wanted to ask ;you about…Jacob." His face contort ed into a mask of uncertainty
and p ain, to which Namine could only shudder, ;remembering her own terrifying experiences as&nbs p;a
child. She quickly regretted the inq uiry. "I'm sorry…it's okay. Never&n bsp;mind. I suppose it
was…ins ensitive of me to ask you that."
Th e young man in question said nothing, hi s eyes unreadable and facial expression blank . His
thoughts were, instead, focused on the fact that he couldn't remember much about what happened
to Jacob. He d id remember all that happened prior to J acob's death. But his memory around the
actual occurrence was somewhat blurred, like& nbsp;there were pieces of information missing.&nbs p;Maybe
pieces he'd purposely been meant ;to forget thanks to whatever chemical had&nb sp;been given to him
by Sumitse's cronie s. He was pretty sure it was a mixt ure of anti-depressants, psychosomatic
controlling drugs, and sleeping pills; he didn't se e a better combination to make someone f orget,
and to not feel much about s uch a traumatic event. He couldn't quite ;remember all the events as
everything w as a cloudy haze due to the drugs i ngested at the time. But more sinister a nd
puzzling was how they were allowed&nb sp;to give him such things. He blanched for a moment,
pausing in his thought&nbs p;process as he remembered all Jacob's hospit al visits, most of which were
headed&nbs p;by his mother. She'd always seemed so down at these appointments despite the fact&n bsp;that
Jacob's condition remained, more or& nbsp;less the same. He didn't get worse, ;though he didn't
improve. And Marluxia suddenly began to get a queasy feeling i n his stomach. Instead of
dwelling on&nb sp;it, he chose to try and ponder more&n bsp;on it later. Sighing, he glanced back&nbs p;to Namine,
eyes still giving no explan ation. When she made to speak again he&n bsp;held up his hand.
"No…it's …alright, young Namine. I was simply…lost in thought."
"Has& nbsp;anyone ever told you that…you& nbsp;talk so old world?" She asked, eyes ;weary but alight with a
smile.
He& nbsp;nodded. "Why yes…just this eve ning. Your good friend Sora, was it? He& nbsp;did mention the
same thing."
Namine couldn't conceal a small giggle. "It's true. Marluxia, it's like you're from another world
than the rest of us."
" That's not entirely untrue, you know."
B oth Namine and Marluxia turned to see De myx standing there with Zexion, both looking& nbsp;
slightly frazzled. Upon meeting eyes wit h his best friend, Marluxia made an ugly face and spun
away from him, optin g to look at the wall as if it ;was the most interesting thing in the r oom.
Immediately Namine figured she'd missed& nbsp;something but she decided to welcome the m in as
quietly and hospitably as p ossible given that Larxene was shrieking like a banshee in the
adjacent room. De myx and Zexion each took a seat on the couch next to her, tired and restles s,
while Marluxia continued to pretend h e hadn't even realized they were there. The interlude was
cut short when Larxene exited the door, arms crossed against h er chest as Axel practically
dragged her to be seated on the couch. Roxas t railed behind him with a first aid kid&n bsp;while Riku
walked past them looking aggravated; in his arms were bloodied bandage s, gauze, alcohol pads
and a filthy ;gag. Marluxia shot it a disturbed look right before Riku dumped it all into the kitchen
trash before returning to where Namine was seated. Almost instantly she ;was leaning over his
seated form, her&n bsp;fingers inspecting for wounds where there ;were bloodied spots on his clothing.
He quickly quieted her down, explaining that&nb sp;all the blood was Larxene's and she h adn't
managed to stab him at all. A t this the brunette haired man tore his& nbsp;gaze away from the younger
teens, l etting it travel until it rested on the& nbsp;savage nymph sitting quietly on the couc h, fuming.
She looked an utter mess,&nbs p;hair askew and darkened with blood that&nbs p;had barely been washed
away. Since she 'd been stripped of her trademark coat M arluxia could now see all the scars, the
bruises, the cuts and gashes littering& nbsp;her pale skin. Her arms were covered&nbs p;in scratches that
seemed minimal in pa in and blood but had been damaging enoug h to leave thin red lines. Her
legs were donned with what appeared to be&nb sp;a pair of pajama pants—probably&n bsp;Axel's—that clung
to her hi ps and nowhere else. He didn't even want to imagine what was underneath there. H er
chest, however, had a gash on it , barely concealed with thick patches of ;gauze that was still
slightly bloody. H er face was mostly untouched save for a& nbsp;few scratches too, and a bruise that&nbs p;
colored the left side of her face.&nbs p;All in all, he'd say she looked a ;bloody riot, but he was surprised
she&n bsp;was still alive granted the ferocity of&n bsp;her personality; not to mention of where& nbsp;she'd probably
ran off to prior to& nbsp;his arrival. He felt like he should ;stop looking at her before she realized ;he was
but couldn't tear his eyes away because despite all the bruises and ;such, she still looked beautiful
in her marred appearance. The tank top she spo rted left little to the imagination, especial ly as he
had been so close to kissing her underneath Moogle Bridge in that& nbsp;exact same piece of clothing.
Her s kin was wet with residual water droplets,&nbs p;no doubt from whatever water had been used to
try and clean the blood off the rest of her body and hair. If& nbsp;Marluxia didn't know her even a
fra ction of amount he did now, he'd say&nbs p;she was a beautifully crafted disaster fit& nbsp;for anyone to
save. Yet this i mage was unnecessary as he knew her well enough now, at least to know she'd ;slit
his throat if he ever so much as mentioned his thoughts on her appear ance looking anything but
awful. Apparently,& nbsp;for this woman, insults were the best&nb sp;compliments. Sighing again, this time
inte rnally, he forced his attention away from&nbs p;her, back to Riku and Namine who had&n bsp;finally
settled down even though Larxene& nbsp;was glaring at them like she wanted ;to burn holes through
their heads.
Demyx, who'd been mostly silent since Marlux ia's obvious cold shoulder, finally spoke up.
"Larxene…you went back, didn' t you?"
"You're damn right I did, p ansy!" She snapped forcefully. "I was going&n bsp;to kill that bastard, too!
But he&nb sp;had his damn cronies about…fucki n coward."
"Who did this to you?" A xel's question was anything but loving.
She snarled at him. "Seifer and Fuujin. Xaldin may not have laid his hands on&nb sp;me to beat the
living daylights out&n bsp;of me, but he definitely crossed me enough…to…" she seemed&nb sp;to be having
trouble getting the word s out. Namine shot her a pitying, knowin g look; Larxene didn't like being
bested . "He knocked me out, okay? The bastard& nbsp;fought dirty!"
Rolling his eyes, Roxas&n bsp;pressed an alcohol pad to his boyfriend's bleeding shoulder. Larxene had
nailed t he dancing flame in the same spot, same& nbsp;shoulder, twice in a week. The wound&nbs p;reopened,
Axel hissed when his lover t ended to it. Little unbeknownst to the r est of them, Roxas was
beginning to ;tire of the constant fighting and such. ;He liked having Axel no matter what, bu t
cleaning up after their spats was ;becoming a chore, a chore he didn't fav or. It was taking its toll.
As it&n bsp;was, Roxas always felt responsible for cl eaning up Larxene's messes—Axel, Nam ine,
alcohol, drugs; name it and Larxene had a habit of it in some way ;or another. Resigning himself
to discuss&nbs p;it at some other time, Roxas continued ;dressing the wounds on his boyfriend's upper
body in hopes that they would heal sooner than later. As a result, it ;took him a few moments to
realize that Namine was addressing him, her large&nbs p;blue, doe eyes pensive as she looked a t him.
To her side Riku looked thou ghtful, aquamarine spheres seemingly clouded over.
"I'm sorry Nami…what was ;the question?"
She gave him another of& nbsp;her, lately, weak smiles. "I was asking& nbsp;if you were willing to be a part&nb sp;
of the….plan, to take Sumit se down. You know…one of the&n bsp;physical people."
"Are we…doing things that are physical?" Axel snorted ;and Roxas shot him a warning glance. "Did I miss something?"
"We're going to have to infiltrate the facility," Demyx&nb sp;stated matter-of-factly. "That's going to
require a lot of finesse, force andâ&eu ro;¦intelligence."
"Intel?" Roxas asked. "H ow do we even get that?"
"That's&nb sp;where we come in." Marluxia rolled his&nbs p;eyes at Xigbar's dramatic entrance. By his& nbsp;side
was Luxord looking calm but co cky at the same time. Larxene's eyes nar rowed dangerously. She
was about to snap at them when Xigbar chuckled. "How did& nbsp;we get here, by chance?" Everyone
b linked. "As if. Luxord did work for your parents, Larxy. Not to mention we were& nbsp;all monitoring
your family. Hell, we've& nbsp;known about you all for years! You didn't seriously think that Sumitse
wasn't&nb sp;going to have this place wired before ;he started sleeping with your mother, did&nb sp;you?"
Demyx cringed. "Way to blow the big fish out the water, Xiggie."
N amine's eyes widened to the size of sauc ers. "Monsieur Luxord? What're you… ?" She trailed
off, her glance shooting& nbsp;to Larxene like a deer caught in th e headlights, her lower lip trembling
as Luxord looked away in shame. "Sleeping with mom? Sumitse…wait, I don't&nbs p;understand."
When no one said anything ;Namine stood, her cheeks red and hot, h er hands curling into fists as
she felt anger rising in her throat. "What t he hell is going on here? Someone tell&n bsp;me. I may be
naïve but I'm not stupid, Larxene! What is he doin g here, after all these years, after he& nbsp;left us?"
Her sister suddenly looked&nbs p;ill and the young blonde felt her ange r turn into terror and
uncertainty. "Lar xene?"
"He…" Larxene felt bile rise in her own throat, willing to ;expel itself as she tried to keep it&nb sp;
together. "I…"
When he ;couldn't seem to find the words to expl ain anything, Namine felt tears threaten her& nbsp;
already tired, swollen eyes. "How could& nbsp;you hide this from me? I hate you!"
With that she turned and ran out&n bsp;the back door, the loud slam making Larxene flinch against her
will. No one& nbsp;said a word, silence enveloping all of&n bsp;them until Riku stood and glared. He ;shot
Larxene a withering look before fo llowing the young blonde. They could hear&nbs p;him shouting her
name outside as he&nb sp;searched for her. Larxene felt tears burn& nbsp;her own eyelids but refused to let
them fall, not in front of everyone.&nbs p;Axel and Roxas had seen her broken alr eady. She'd be
damned if she let an yone else see it. Gritting her teeth, sh e fought back the tears until she felt&n bsp;
them stop threatening to fall. Once this was accomplished, she brought her gaze&n bsp;back to face all
of them, malice&nbs p;lacing her eyes and voice when she beg an to speak.
"How soon do we do&nbs p;this?"
"I need to contact Dr. Lockhart and Attorney Kosaka. He said he wanted& nbsp;some paperwork done.
Nurse Yuffie and&nb sp;Office Strife are supposed to be here ;to speak to us very shortly," Axel repl ied,
hissing when Roxas reapplied a band age to the wound Larxene had inflicted. She ignored his
pain as she glared this time, taking Riku's cue. "What the hell is that look for?"
"What? Axel&acir c;€¦what the fuck do you mean WHA T!" She raged. "Am I supposed to just&nb sp;feel
dandy about all these fucking pe ople invading my damn house?"
"I suggest you get over it, if you want to&nb sp;see this whole catastrophe solved." Marluxia's& nbsp;sapphire
eyes locked with hers, his ;hard and unyielding as hers blazed fire ;and animosity. She was about
to sh out something back at him when he shook& nbsp;his head and turned his back to her . "I don't want
to hear anything yo u might be thinking, Miss Larxene. I've had about my fill of your petty
dis putes and what not. I want this to end just as badly as everyone else. I,&n bsp;for one, am not going
to stand for this power and control issue you're fighting about." His shoulders suddenly felt
heavy as he whispered to himself more&nb sp;than anyone else. "I just…I ;would like some peace…if
not& nbsp;for me…then for Jacob."
" Marluxia?" the young man in question bristled involuntarily at Demyx's voice, but otherwis e he
said nothing. "I think we shou ld meet with all these people. If Xigbar and Luxord know the
Facility as we ll as they say, then it's worth a s hot to try and go in, see what we&n bsp;can find." The
musician glanced over ;to Larxene who had all but calmed; she& nbsp;was, however, quiet. "I think we
sh ould discuss…logistics."
Marluxia s norted. "I suppose going in without a pl an would be most unadvisable."
Zexion no dded. "If you would tell me all the ;factual and tactical information, I can easi ly
develop the most logically sound and& nbsp;appropriate way to do all this."
Lu xord and Xigbar exchanged glances before the& nbsp;pirate wannabe laughed out loud. "I like this
guy, Lux. He just has that&ac irc;€¦scheming air about him."
"In&nbs p;high school he was called the Cloaked Schemer…if you can imagine that,"&n bsp;Axel supplied
sarcastically. "Ouch! Roxie,&nbs p;that hurt!" His boyfriend shook his head&nb sp;as Axel began shrugging
his coat back over all the wounds and bruises. For&nb sp;his part, he seemed unaffected by what&nbs p;had
happened to him. "So, who is going to be the brains of the operation, and who is going to be the
br awns?"
Roxas rolled his eyes this time.& nbsp;"Clearly you're going to be the brawns.& nbsp;They way you play with
that lighter , well, it will come in handy when torching Sumitse's goons." Demyx nodded his h ead
enthusiastically while Larxene huffed in& nbsp;impatience. "Okay, that aside, it's time ;to call Attorney
Kosaka and Dr. Lockhar t. If they can get here with Nurse Yuffie and Office Strife, I say we can&n bsp;
make this operation a go."
"We're&nb sp;here! The gate and door were open so& nbsp;we let ourselves in. Good evening!"
All eyes turned to see Yuffie in the&nb sp;doorway with who they presumed to be Officer Strife.
Behind him were 4 other& nbsp;people no one seemed to really recognize except Axel and Roxas.
Introductions, h owever, were never able to happen when R iku walked in and pushed his way
th rough them to the front until he was&nbs p;standing there, Namine beside him. Everyone ;was stunned
into silence for moments be fore Riku spoke. "Sephiroth…what're ;you doing here? How did you
even g et here? Wait…am I MISSING som ething?"
Sephiroth sighed deeply, rubbing his head for a minute as he prepared f or his brother's temper to
flare. "Yes&a circ;€¦good evening brother. I am here on business."
"Business?" Riku's eyes&n bsp;were beginning to narrow into slits. But& nbsp;before he could say anything
further&nbs p;Officer Strife stepped in, creating havoc.
"Your brothers, Dr. Lockhart, Nurse Kisaragi, Ms. Gainsborough and I, are all here&nb sp;working on a
Sexual Assault case invo lving a minor; and it says she lives&nbs p;here."
The silence that followed left a sour taste in Larxene's mouth as she&n bsp;realized that a lot of people
had&nb sp;been left out of the loop—pu rposely or not—and the miscommunicat ion was about to blow
up in their&n bsp;faces. When she chanced a quick check&nbs p;up on Namine she could see the younger girl
quivering and looking ready to&nbs p;vomit all over the place. Without thinking, she yanked Namine
away from Riku's ;grasp and stormed upstairs. She heard the&nb sp;gasps, the surprise everywhere, Axel
and&n bsp;Roxas' footsteps darting after them shortly&nb sp;thereafter. But she did not stop, despite& nbsp;Namine's
protests and Roxas' shouts. She didn't stop until she'd practically thrown&n bsp;Namine into the master
bedroom, effective ly slamming the door in Axel's face just as he was about to run inside. She
ignored the loud knocks and banging&nbs p;on her door as Namine hugged herself a gainst the furthest
wall, her eyes showi ng fright.
"I did it…I di d it because…I thought I could take care of it," Larxene replied, voic e so low her
sister had to strain&n bsp;to hear it. "I didn't want… ;I couldn't let you…know the d etails."
"And this is better, Larxene?" Namine whispered back, her voice tired. "How& nbsp;is this better?
Everyone is confused&nbs p;and I'm hurt…I didn't even k now…this whole time…why&n bsp;couldn't you just
tell me? I'm going to be 18 in a month…this is my life, Larxene. I had the rig ht to know someone
was pursuing my case, that someone took it seriously even&nbs p;when our stepfather could've easily
paid&nb sp;them to keep quiet…I deserved&nb sp;to know."
"I was just trying to be…your big sister, for once. I thought I was doing the right thing&nb sp;
by…letting you continue life&nbs p;without…thinking about logistics," she said, her eyes watering but
tears did not fall. "Can't you understand? This&nbs p;is who I am. I hate who I am ;and so does everyone
else."
"You're&nbs p;my sister…I don't hate you, Larxene. I just wish…I wish yo u'd let me in more. It's
beenâ&eur o;¦years since we've even…talked. " Namine was still shaking but now her&n bsp;eyes shone of
sadness. Larxene searched&n bsp;for pity in those blue depths so muc h like their father's but found
none;&nb sp;all she found was deep sadness. "All you do is push me away because of s ome backwards
need to protect me from&nb sp;the world. But you can't do it anymor e. You're falling apart….and
e veryone can see it."
"You don't understa nd!" Larxene snapped harshly at the girl,&nbs p;whirling away from her as she
began&nb sp;pacing. "You don't know what happenedâ&eu ro;¦you can't even begin to imagine an d there is no
way in hell I'm telling. It's better this way!"
In the&n bsp;midst of her rant Namine heard the b anging at her sister's door finally stop.&nbs p;She imagined
it had everything to do&n bsp;with Axel's giving up on getting in but realized that the entire house was < br>
silent. Curious, she managed to grab ;a hold of Larxene's arm, successfully ending her pacing.
"Ssh. Larxene…do& nbsp;you hear…anything?"
Larxene wa s immediately on the defensive when she noticed that there was no noise below th em,
and that the loud attempts of A xel to enter her room had indeed stopped . Glancing at Namine
with a cautious&nbs p;look, she approached her door and leaned&nb sp;her ear against it. Suddenly there were&nb sp;
faint noises that drifted through the ;wood of her door, unintelligible but there&n bsp;all the same.
Straining to her, Larx ene pressed her ear harder against the s urface, hoping to catch even a hint
of what was transpiring downstairs. She was& nbsp;about to storm out when the noise l evel increased so
much that Namine label ed it a commotion. Both females threw th e door open and ran down the
stairc ase to see what had occurred. What they& nbsp;saw made Namine cower in slight fear,&nb sp;and
Larxene almost vomit. Standing in ;the doorway was Mr. Sumitse, and his cr onies. The older
Isuki fought the urge&n bsp;to vomit and kill him altogether while&nb sp;Namine hid behind the stair rails,
ho ping she wouldn't be seen.
Everyone else was blocking his entrance further into the living room; Marluxia was in the far
back, while Axel stood in the far& nbsp;front. She could see that Sephiroth had& nbsp;disappeared into the
shadows but the&nbs p;3 females she'd seen earlier were standing& nbsp;their ground with Office Strife.
Roxas,& nbsp;Demyx, Zexion and Riku had blocked the&n bsp;entryway to the kitchen and further reach es of
the house while the two young women watched from the shadows, silent. ;At first it didn't seem
like anyone&nbs p;was going to say a word until Sumitse& nbsp;cleared his throat.
"Well…good evening. I did not know we would e ncounter such…hospitable company." Still , no
one reacted. "Hmm…indeed& nbsp;hospitable. I am here to request an ;audience with the lady of the
house,&nb sp;if you please."
"We don't, so take&nb sp;your ass off the premise," Axel spat, ;lighter in his pocket at the ready. Rox as
was quiet beside him but calculating& nbsp;the man's bodyguards. Both men could see who they
assumed to be Xaldin, Sei fer and Fuujin behind him, waiting with guns in their hands. Axel
didn't budge.& nbsp;"We don't please scum like you. Got ;it memorized?"
Sumitse coughed. "I'm afraid& nbsp;I don't have time for this. If I&nb sp;do not see the Lady of the house ;
soon, I will…lose my temper.& nbsp;You understand, yes?"
"As if. No on e is gonna be scared off by those a ntics, man." Xigbar fought hard to ignore&nbs p;the
surprised look on Xaldin's face as he and Luxord emerged from the back&nbs p;of the line, like a final
showdown&nbs p;was going to take place. Seifer and Fu u seemed a bit alarmed as well but held their
ground. "Hey there former bos s man!" Luxord elbowed him. "Ow, that hu rt!"
Sumitse's smile was dangerous. "Ahâ ;€¦I see my leftover lackeys have ;found their way here. How
do these ;good people know you're not just spying ;for me?" Luxord rolled his eyes. "Regardless
of your sudden presence, these people&n bsp;should know that you're not exactly trust worthy
yourselves. Do these people now k now of your betrayal, Luxord? Of how you knew the night
Cora and Phillip di ed, that it was all planned, and you&nbs p;did nothing to stop it?"
Namine g asped, her hands flying to cover her mou th as Larxene's grip on the stairs raili ng
tightened, her cheeks flaming and tea rs burning her eyelids so badly that the tears were a minute
away from fall ing. He continued on, not knowing they w ere there. "Do they know how you quit&nb sp;
without mentioning this to them? About&nbs p;how you and Xigbar planted the cameras ;here before
their parents death, all ac cording to plan? How much of the decepti ve lies you played at, how
many of& nbsp;the dirty deeds you performed are they&n bsp;actually privy to?"
Larxene could hear&nb sp;her sister sniffling, not able to hold&nbs p;back the tears at the horror Sumitse's ;
words held but he still kept going,&nbs p;to their horror. "And the boyâ€&brvba r;why, Demyx, I didn't know
that you&nbs p;were here as well. Does your friend kn ow the part you played?" The musician he ld back
a grimace, wanting nothing more& nbsp;than to disappear into a black hole ;at the refreshed memory of
Marluxia's p ain. "Does the boy know how you sold&nbs p;his family to your father, who in turn sold
them to me? All for a ni ce sum of money…tell me, Demyx …how does that feel?"
"Enough& nbsp;of your bullshit. Get out or I will have you removed." Officer Strife took out his
Beretta, ignoring the fact that& nbsp;Xaldin had a much bigger and powerful&nb sp;weapon. "Unlike the
police in Traverse&nbs p;and Twilight Town, the FBI does not ta ke bribes, Mr. Sumitse. I suggest you vacate the premises…NOW."
For&nb sp;the first time in the last couple mon ths, Tifa Lockhart was proud of her frie nd as Sumitse
threw them a dirty lo ok before signaling the others to back d own. "Fine. You may have won this
r ound but next time…hand over t he girl or you won't be so lucky."
And just like that they were gone. However, the silence remained intactâ€&rdquo ;thick and stifling—
until movement&n bsp;from upstairs caught everyone's attention. On& nbsp;the stairs sat Namine, tears
streaming&n bsp;down her pale cheeks, eyes bloodshot and& nbsp;mumbles completely incoherent. Next to
h er stood Larxene, the older woman looking&nbs p;truly tired as her body sagged against ;the wall, light
trails of tears sliding down her cheeks too, her left hand ;holding her right arms so tight that sh e
could have broken it. At a loss&n bsp;for words, everyone else cleared the way& nbsp;as Axel and Roxas
slowly, and quiet ly, made their way towards the pair. No& nbsp;one said a word as Roxas gathered < br> Namine in his arms and further ascended&n bsp;the stairs towards his bedroom—R iku followed shortly
behind without anyone's& nbsp;protest. Axel stood before Larxene, silent&nb sp;and patient. She said nothing,
didn't ;even acknowledge him as everyone slowly clea red out at Zexion's announcement that he'd&nb sp;
make them all coffee. Once everyone h ad moved back into the living room area& nbsp;Axel reached out
to Larxene, his fi ngers almost touching her hand when she snapped.
"Don't touch me…"
"Lightning bug…" Axel trailed, hi s favored nickname for her showing that he was not feeling
even slightly antagon istic.
"Stop it…it's done. Wha t more do you all want?" She seemed ;to be lost, her eyes glassy and lips&nb sp;
trembling. "I have nothing elseâ€&br vbar;.it's over. Go away."
Despite the s tubbornness that she exhibited, Axel was not& nbsp;willing to give up. "Don't start that."& nbsp;
She sighed heavily. "Axel… ;I don't feel like talking…or fighting, for once. Please…I'm aski ng
you…leave me a lone."
He was stunned. Larxene not wanting to&n bsp;fight? Larxene asking and being polite? I t was unheard
of these days; and Ax el didn't like it. "You're…giving&n bsp;up? Just like that?"
"I don't care&n bsp;anymore. Just…go take care of&n bsp;Namine. She needs you two…I'll& nbsp;be fine." She
glanced at him for&nb sp;the first time since the situation ended.& nbsp;He felt his heart break at her
expression. Larxene's eyes were empty. There ;was no fire in them, no determination, not even
hate—just nothing. In& nbsp;all his years of knowing her he'd n ever seen her looked even remotely
defea ted and it didn't sit well with him ;at all. Axel may have been stubborn, an d he may have
fought with her const antly but Larxene was, ultimately, his friend . He could only stare when she
nodd ed. "I'm always fine…remember?"
He was about to protest most emphatically&n bsp;when someone cleared his throat from behi nd them.
Axel didn't have to turn a round to know who it was but did so anyway. "What?"
Marluxia glanced up at& nbsp;them. "I'd like a word with Miss La rxene, if I may."
"You mostly certainly& nbsp;may not," she replied blankly.
Axel ;wanted to chuckle, and would have had t he situation not been what it was. Inste ad, he
nodded and moved past her up the stairs, stopping momentarily to whisper& nbsp;in her ear. "Hey…"
she&nb sp;blinked to signal she was listening. "Be&n bsp;nice to him…I think he mig ht just like you."
Normally she would've swatted him or stabbed him but all ;she did was shrug as though she could&n bsp;
care less. With a sigh, he proceeded the rest of the way upstairs, only ;stopping quickly to shoot
the Graceful Assassin a warning look before vanishing behi nd his bedroom door.
Now alone in t he hall, Larxene stared at him. "What is it?"
Marluxia made no move to appr oach her, opting to stay rooted to his&n bsp;spot a good few feet away
from her. "Perhaps we could venture outside and&nb sp;have a civil conversation, one that doesn' t
involve you trying o stab me, sha ll we say?" He gestured to the back ;of the house, outside where
the yard&nb sp;spanned for thousands of feet. "Iâ€& brvbar;there is something I would like to&nbs p;discuss with you."
She brought her gaz e from the floor to meet his, cerulean&n bsp;eyes connecting with his navy blue
p air. She hesitated at first but when he& nbsp;made no move to leave, she took a&n bsp;few steps towards him
to indicate th at she would go. When they reached the&n bsp;door she paused, unsure of what it w as she
was getting herself into with&nbs p;him, especially since, as of the late, ;she felt like she could lose
herself&nb sp;in those blue depths of his. She was& nbsp;going against her better judgment but he seemed to
just have that hold on&n bsp;her. Ignoring all the other people inside her house who were speaking in
hus hed whispers, Larxene turned to face him.&nbs p;Since Marluxia was some inches taller than& nbsp;her,
she had to look up just a s he looked down at her, curious as ;to why she paused. All she could
m anage was a simple question.
"Why?" ;
He let a smile grace his lips, one Larxene found made him incredibly more handsome and
attractive than before. Whether& nbsp;this was because it had a gentle ti nge to it as opposed to an
arrogant smirk, she didn't know. All she did&nbs p;know, though, was that it made her tin gle inside, and
she found herself wantin g to smile back, though she didn't. His& nbsp;response was simple.
"Because."
And ;strangely, this, for once, seemed to suffice for her as she nodded and they bot h disappeared
into the dark night, the&n bsp;stars still twinkling in the lazy haze&nb sp;that always seemed to encompass
Twilight&n bsp;Town.
TBC...
(Wow…an d that's all? Who wants to throw tomatoe s at me? I'll welcome them. All I c an say is
thank you to those who&nb sp;are still reading and haven't given up&nbs p;on this story. Thank you for
reading,& nbsp;for reviewing, for being awesome and hav ing faith. Love you all. Peace out, unti l next
time, which hopefully won't be&nb sp;nearly as long.)
Sadistickunais
&nb sp;