Flashback!
Send “Flashback” to have your muse see one of my muse’s bad memories | not accepting
Axel steps out of the corridor with shoulders hunched, eyes darting furtively around as he examines every inch of blank white space around him as if he expects an army of Lessers to swarm him at any moment.
Deciding for the moment he’s safe, he relaxes a fraction and takes off. Several corners later, he’s found what he seeks -- Kairi.
She’s sitting with her legs tucked under her in that far-too-large cell, looking torn between irritated and nervous, but she sees him and leaps to her feet. “Axel!”
“Hey,” he says breathlessly -- though Nobodies don’t necessarily breathe, do they, empty shells that they are -- “No time for talking, Kairi, I know I’m not the person you wanna see right now, but I promise I’m gonna get you to Sora. He’s on his way here, I think -- I’ll get you to him, okay? I’ll get you out.”
Kairi stares at him a moment, uncertain, before reaching through the bars to hit him as hard as she can. “Isn’t it a bit late for that?!” She demands. “You’re the reason I’m here! If you think I’m just going to sit back and let you use me for whatever you’ve got planned for Sora--”
Axel blinks at her, and then laughs. “Yeah, I-- figure you’e not gonna trust me, that’s fine,” he says, rubbing his arm. “But listen. I’m asking nicely here, okay? Please just...have a little faith in me, just once. I’m gonna--”
“It really is you.”
Axel freezes and so does Kairi, eyes wide as she looks over his shoulder. He spins, chakrams whirling into his hands, as he stares Saix down. The blue-haired man is impassive, eyes narrowed. “I knew you would come crawling back. I’ve been waiting.”
Before Axel can even make a witty retort, Saix’s claymore is in his hands and he’s bearing down on the redhead. It’s all he can do to block the first hit, and even though he does it sends him skidding backwards several feet and he winces at the force of the blow. Saix doesn’t let him recover, raining blows down on him until he’s thrown halfway across the room by a strike that gets through his weak guard.
Axel scrambles to his feet and lights a chakram up, throwing it at Saix, but it’s deflected easily.
Shit, shit -- even though he’s a Nobody, Axel’s...scared? He can’t believe this is happening. But it’s no surprise, isn’t it? This is where it all led to. Whoever it was that changed, here they are now, best friends...and one of them is trying to kill the other. Axel’s not sure he can return the favor, but he knows he might have to. There’s no way he’s getting out of this any other way.
Isa, I’m sorry. The thought comes unbidden and he shakes it away -- Isa’s dead, and so is Lea. And if he doesn’t get his shit together, Axel will be too.
Saix lets out a roar and his eyes flash gold, and Axel swears loudly, throwing his chakram up-- but no dice. Berserk, it’s impossible to keep the other man’s blows from getting through, and by the time Axel manages to knock him away with a chakram, he’s more the worse for wear.
He staggers slightly, staring down at Saix’s still form -- he’s not fading, he’s not dead. “You have the same-- the same blind spot,” Axel gasps out with a weak smile. “Same as always.” He’d never been a berserker before, but...always the same front-loaded attack. Always the same failure to guard his face. He’d remember that, how many times they’d sparred. Some things never changed.
He dismisses his chakram and stumbles slightly, but makes his way over to Kairi, who’s standing there looking worried and slightly relieved. “You’re okay,” she says, and he has a feeling she might be willing to -- not trust, but at least have some faith he doesn’t mean any harm.
“Yeah, barely,” he jokes. “You okay, Kairi?”
“Yeah,” she says with a laugh. “I’m fine, don’t worry.”
Axel grins at her. “Well, that’s good. Wouldn’t want Sora to--”
He chokes on his words as pain explodes throughout his entire being. He slumps forward against the bars and he sees Kairi step back, her hands covering her mouth in horror, face white. He doesn’t register the cause at first, hands scrabbling for purchase as he slides down to his knees, but then he looks down.
He looks down and he sees a familiar blue-and-yellow weapon sticking out of his chest. It’s deep enough in horizontally that it’s almost cutting him in half, and vertically he can see half it’s entire length in front of him.
“Oh,” he wheezes. “S-Saix--”
The beserker lets out an almost animal snarl, his face a sneer behind him. “Would you look at that, Axel,” he says viciously. “Things have changed, after all.”
“Axel!” Kairi shrieks, trying to reach through the bars. Saix rips the weapon out and Axel feels like if he could, he’d throw up. It hurts so bad, and his hand pressed to his wound can’t keep the black smoke from leaking out he’s dying, and Saix is sneering triumphantly he’s dying and shit, shit shit--
He can barely open a corridor and it’s weak and smaller than it should be (he’s dying) and Saix roars after him.
“You think you can run?!” His best friend shouts behind him.
Axel manages to summon flames enough to keep Saix away, and he looks at Kairi (he’s dying). “I-- I’ll get Sora,” he rasps. “I promise. Hang-- hang in there, Kairi. I’ll-- I’ll get you out.”
It’s a dying man’s promise, one he doesn’t even know if he can keep, but he falls through the corridor as Saix roars behind him.
He couldn’t even get all the way wherever he meant to go, he reflects weakly, knees hitting the ethereal ground of the Realm Between. This is it. He’s dying. He won’t even see Roxas again, he’ll fade away here, and...and...
No. No, he won’t, not yet. He drags himself to his feet, watching his very existence bleed darkly through his fingers. “Hang on,” he whispers. “I’m-- gonna do something right. I’m gonna...hang on, Sora.”
If his old best friend is going to kill him, then...then he’ll do what he can in his last few minutes to help his new one. Even if it’s not really him, not anymore, this is the least he can do. It’s the least he can do.
