intermission to Carte Blanche
Title: saga of XI: Debt (intermission)
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
- Series: One-Eyed Angle/Carte Blanche Duology
- Characters: Rufus Shinra, Axel
Rating: PG
Notes: I fully accept Axel isn't Reno's Nobody; I don't honestly believe it. But, it's still a treat to integrate it plausibly, and tie up loose ends. For the record, this takes place roughly a year or two before the start of KH1 (placed in time post-Marluxia/pre-Larxene, Org-wise). Rufus? Stuck in his mid-teens. Oh, yes. It's Angle, like the angle of a quadrilateral. 8D Just making that clear.
His skin itched with a fearful anticipation, alight on the endorphins that feed terror. His hands shook; they always shook while he was in the open. Tseng said he had to focus. With fingers wrapped around the grip of the short-barreled shotgun, he watched the Heartless move in their pacts, breathing too noisily as his heart thumped, thumped, thumped.
Rufus Shinra feared them greatly.
Rude was dead. Suicide bombing, a Divine Wind attack. Elena was dead. Torn to shreds by an other worldly monster as she distracted it from them. It was the first time he'd seen Tseng cry. ...Tseng. Also dead. His last shield was gone, but not before imparting the very last survival techniques he'd been teaching to a boy for several years.
He was fifteen. Too old to be coddled with protection from bad things. Too young to be fighting wars. Thrust into a cruel game he couldn't play without someone else to rely on. His shoulder ached from the rounds he'd shot earlier that day, further bruised from over a year of near-constant use defensively or otherwise. It was exhausting. Life was exhausting. And he couldn't leave this world to escape the pain of living like this, not without the Gummy Gum.
His fingers clenched tighter around the wood as he stepped back into the shadows, away from the wild creatures of instinctual emotion. They would take anybody they found, no prisoners, no tears that would sway them. All the Heartless knew was existence, the need to rape hearts, and there was no such thing as death until one found it. They took Reno....
There wasn't a day that went by where Rufus didn't cry. His empty-handed arm leaped up and pressed a long sleeve to his eyes. He'd already cried for today. No use crying further over someone he barely remembered and still revered as his Hero and his personal devil, the first sacrifice. Rude liked talking about him, but it wasn't because Rude wanted to. Said right before pulling the pin and rushing forward was, "Reno always liked my explosives."
The fool. All of them. Leaving him alone, just to protect him. For what reason? Their kingdom was gone! There was no more Empire to be loyal to! Why must he be kept alive?! What did he promise Tseng for, if he couldn't go home?!
I hate you all, however, was his way of saying, "Thank you," next to so many other quiet gratitudes. Not that Rufus realized it.
He had to move from here; the infestation had spread. He needed somewhere safer to hide.
With a hiss and red eyes, Rufus looked around the corner again, vision blurred when it was imperative for clarity. He could hear Tseng scolding him alongside his own inner berating. He saw nothing where he'd last seen Shadows and Emerald Blues and took a cautious step out into the light and soon down the street. His erratic heartbeat began to settle slowly; danger wasn't in view, but it could come from any direction. "It's wise to always be vigilant. And never forget...
to look behind you."
With his next step, he spun on his toes and shouldered the rifle. It wasn't raised high enough he soon realized. The lone Shadow behind him had dropped from above. An ambush. Rufus froze, his mind having a chance for only one sharp, clear prediction: I'm going to die....
A blaze of red and white suddenly spliced the Shadow in half, dissolving it to nothing but black wisps, its stolen heart deteriorating a foot from his face. The rush of the new attack blew stray hairs in his face, and it didn't quite register to not follow the trajectory of the attack-- a weapon now imbedded in the brick wall-- instead of looking opposite, to search for the person who threw it.
Until they spoke. "Gotta be careful around these parts. They're really nasty here."
The double-barrels were facing the red-haired man before Rufus was, shaken and ashen in the face. The man held his hands up, to show his lack of armament. "Watch where you point that thing, champ," he said oily. "I'm prettier without misfired buckshots in my gut."
Rufus exhaled in a sudden burst; he'd been holding far too tightly. "Where'd you come from?"
The man smiled, like a shark asking an anchovy to dinner. "Neverland."
At Rufus' lack of a response, the man sighed and dropped his arms. "You're killing me, champ."
"Maybe if you were truthful, I wouldn't be close to making that reality." For all his brave words, the flash of the red wheel was fresh in his mind. That alone told Rufus not to let his guard down, weapon or no weapon.
"Oh," purred the man, "very nice. I could almost be convinced you mean it. Been practicing to be tough, have we?"
Rufus bristled, an unsuppressed reaction at last. He mentally cursed himself for it. "What do you want here?"
The man shrugged a shoulder and glided over. The word 'glide' came to mind only because the man hardly seemed to move, even as his feet hit the pavement. Rufus' finger trembled on its trigger, as did the rest of them. Tseng taught him about the monsters with no minds. Human or not, this one was more than a match for Rufus' intelligence. And to kill a Heartless with apparent ease? Don't be my assassin.
"A little of this, a little of that," he said as he walked. And then he stopped, a couple meters away, putting a finger to his cheek thoughtfully. "Though I suppose you're too old for pretty lies."
"Stop mocking me!" Something unsettled in his gut, now that the man was closer to him. Rufus wasn't blind; the red hair had been glaringly obvious from the previous distance. He hadn't applied it readily; red hair wasn't all that uncommon. But now...
The markings.
The memories were admittably hazy. He'd been only eight when Reno charged blindly into the open to lure the Heartless away. That was seven years for the terror to start wiping away his mind. He barely remembered what his parents looked like anymore; why should Reno be any different? But no one else he'd ever seen had tattoos beneath their eyes. Given, they weren't the same style. What he did still remember was Reno's tattoos being straight beneath his eyes, like a clown's tears. Rufus was left with the impression of sadness, to remember those markings by, despite Reno having been anything but sad. Crazy, insane, an all-out do-or-die freak. Reckless, unprofessional...and still the first to set aside his life for him. Animal.
This man was nothing like Reno. He was slime. A loose cannon. Dangerous. Not trust-worthy. Methodically whimsical.
Are you sure they aren't alike?
Traitor.
"So you aren't too old for lies?" The man was much too close now, and Rufus backed away, but the man kept walking, until he could wrench his spiked wheel from the brick. He did just that. "Could I tell you a story about pirates and gold, and witches with spells to turn you into a barnacle, and you'd believe me?"
A flicker of light danced in the man's eyes and Rufus bared his teeth. Revolting. Believe that crap? Even if it were true, he wouldn't believe a drop unless it appeared in front of his eyes. His legs wouldn't be pulled for a farce like that. "Go to hell."
The barrels were still trained on him, but the man wasn't acknowledging the threat on his life. It was as if Rufus was holding a balloon, or nothing at all. Was he unafraid to die, or was he banking on Rufus not being able to kill a person? Rufus assumed the latter, and it infuriated him further. But somehow....
"Be mindful of your surroundings and your opponent. If he is too dangerous, never be afraid to retreat, if an opening permits it. You know the adage."
The man's face pinched slightly at his clipped words, but Rufus didn't bother to find out anything more. He booked it, right down the path he'd planned to take since a few minutes ago. It led him away from the man in black, and that's what mattered.
Rufus ran. Blindly, without thinking the consequences through. Heartless still roamed. Running would catch their attention. He didn't think of this. He'd never had to worry about a person more than the Heartless, as any person he'd encountered was always a victim of their home's infestation, a cowering weakling who couldn't fight without giving his own life.
This one was nothing of the sort, and it still scared him.
The boy twisted himself into an alleyway and made a split second decision to latch onto the ladder snaking itself up one of the buildings.
"When facing down an enemy who may give chase, you want them where they cannot move to avoid. It's a risk, since to do that, you must also make yourself vulnerable to the same at some point before they can be."
All he had to do was make it to the roof. If the man chased him, he could get him. If the man didn't, Rufus still had a decent vantage point of how to make his next move. Reaching the top rung, Rufus hoisted himself over the building's parapet and unshouldered the rifle again, whipping it over the side and aiming down the ladder.
Nothing. No sign of the man at all. It should have relieved him. But Tseng had left him paranoid for a reason. Rufus looked around the sparse flat; no other escape loops on the other walls. This was the only way up. All he had to do was keep an eye below--
"Tag."
His heart convulsed, squeezed nearly lifeless at the fright, and far too soon was his pursuer hovering over him, the rifle already wrested out of his hands. Pulled frankly nose to nose, Rufus panted harshly as green eyes bore deep into his. The man didn't seem to be breathing at all. "I wouldn't do that again, kid. Being faster than me just means I can't help you if you're ambushed by another Heartless. Commit that to memory."
Rufus nodded in rapid agreement, shallow motions betraying his fear. His tongue felt fat and non-existent at the same time, choking on words suppressed by a ghostly barrier. Even when fingers released his coat did words not come straight back, as he watched the man casually dust himself off.
"Honestly. You'd think you'd choose your options a bit more carefully." The man's smile was hollow, Rufus now noticed, unable to take his eyes away without an even greater fear attacking him. "I haven't hurt you or given you any reason to distrust me."
"Haven't given me a reason to trust you either," Rufus breathed.
The man stared at him, extrinsically silent. But finally, he shrugged wiry shoulders and turned his back on Rufus. "Even if I did, you wouldn't trust it, let alone me. I could give you all the reason in the world to trust me, but all you'd do is not believe. I figure it's better to play the neutral ground. If you want a reason...."
He waved his arm in a dramatic, flourished gesture. From nothing sprang an oval vortex, leaking with freed darkness like an oily mist too heavy to hang in the air. Rufus froze, wide-eyed and terrified. But the man looked back at him, with nothing but a blank look in his face. "I'm giving you the chance to get off this rock."
It was hard to breathe, and the lithe man had to haul Rufus up onto his feet, also returning to him his rifle. With knees shaking at the rush of awful nostalgia from so long ago, Rufus wouldn't look away from the inky, swirling pool. If he stared deep enough, he could almost make out the red eyes of the devil--
A hand landed on his shoulder. "Hey!" Rufus was suddenly shook, jarred from his trance. "Listen to me. Unless you wanna wind up dead, you'll do as I say and walk through there."
Rufus exhaled sharply, feeling again like the child Tseng had spirited away from Midgar. Taken away from his home, invaded by black monsters he'd later learn to battle. Destroying them left him no better, because no matter how many it was, one thing always lingered regardless. "I don't like the dark."
The man filled his vision again, and this time, there was sorrow on his face. Maybe. "That's why I'm here, kid. I can take you someplace safe."
How does the dark mean safety? Tseng? He was tugged closer to it, unresisting, until he was barely two feet from the vortex's brim. Air was thick to swallow this close; Rufus shivered, but unable to back away.
"Just tell them Axel sent you."
And he was falling.
- t - i - m - e -
--no, he's got one. A soul too. He ain't a spy.
Hey...hey kid!
Lookit his shoulder. He uses the gun, that's for sure.
Can we stop messing around with him? He needs to be awake.
I'd rather let him sleep, but...should I get the water?
I'm sure he won't mind it much.
The sudden shock of an icy chill upon his person woke him up like a charm. Rufus gasped around the thin veil of cold water over his face, fuzzy eyesight darting from side to side in alarm.
"Whoa, easy there, kid. Easy."
He stared, frozen in place, muscled bunched up for an escape, and waiting on his vision to clear. Properly. What he finally got were the shapes of three people watching him back just as earnestly. One, a women with dark in pale blue. The other two were clearly men, one pale with dusty, blonde-grey hair, and the other a dark-skinned giant. Rufus coughed.
"Y'alright kid?"
They were adults. Nothing much else to think of them. Rufus nodded his head, even through the fit. The blond man frowned and pat him on the back; like that ever helped. It passed, and Rufus shook. Water shouldn't be used like that. "Where am I? And who are you?"
"You'd think we'd be the ones to ask questions," said the blond man and got to his feet, and the others followed, even Rufus himself with a haul from his arms. "So what're children doing falling out of nowhere?"
"From a Dark Portal, no less," grumbled the dark man.
Dark Portal. That thing the man Axel had pulled him through? He shivered. "Someone opened it. A man with red hair in a black coat."
That got their attention, and Rufus spent over half an hour explaining the last world he'd been on and his encounter with the man in black. Barret and Locke, the two men, did all the questioning. Only afterward did Rinoa, the woman, speak up, announcing their next move as writing a message to someone named Banon. Locke offered a meal, and for the third time that day, Rufus couldn't help but cry one more time.
Rufus never mentioned a name during the interrogation; he wanted to forget it. Forget "Axel" and convince himself of something outlandish, like Reno had come back, to save him one last time.
That was more comforting, right?
- e - y - e -
It wasn't a coincidence Rufus found himself on Spira. Axel was well aware of the Founders' origins; it lent to the remaining Spiran resistance a vague knowledge many other worlds couldn't perceive, a way to fight, a way to protect against the Heartless. The boy would be safe here, to be as he pleased. To fight, to hide, or to just help. The Midgar Empire had crumbled; he was only royalty in name now, and Rufus wasn't ignorant of the fact. He couldn't pretend.
He would have to be his own person now.
Rufus. Axel stared from a distance, hidden above all eyes; he wore a sharp, pensive frown. Oh my Prince. If I had a heart, I could say I'm sorry and mean it. I'll make it up to you, somehow. Next time, I won't let it go all wrong.
completed 10/2/07 EST
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
- Series: One-Eyed Angle/Carte Blanche Duology
- Characters: Rufus Shinra, Axel
Rating: PG
Notes: I fully accept Axel isn't Reno's Nobody; I don't honestly believe it. But, it's still a treat to integrate it plausibly, and tie up loose ends. For the record, this takes place roughly a year or two before the start of KH1 (placed in time post-Marluxia/pre-Larxene, Org-wise). Rufus? Stuck in his mid-teens. Oh, yes. It's Angle, like the angle of a quadrilateral. 8D Just making that clear.
His skin itched with a fearful anticipation, alight on the endorphins that feed terror. His hands shook; they always shook while he was in the open. Tseng said he had to focus. With fingers wrapped around the grip of the short-barreled shotgun, he watched the Heartless move in their pacts, breathing too noisily as his heart thumped, thumped, thumped.
Rufus Shinra feared them greatly.
Rude was dead. Suicide bombing, a Divine Wind attack. Elena was dead. Torn to shreds by an other worldly monster as she distracted it from them. It was the first time he'd seen Tseng cry. ...Tseng. Also dead. His last shield was gone, but not before imparting the very last survival techniques he'd been teaching to a boy for several years.
He was fifteen. Too old to be coddled with protection from bad things. Too young to be fighting wars. Thrust into a cruel game he couldn't play without someone else to rely on. His shoulder ached from the rounds he'd shot earlier that day, further bruised from over a year of near-constant use defensively or otherwise. It was exhausting. Life was exhausting. And he couldn't leave this world to escape the pain of living like this, not without the Gummy Gum.
His fingers clenched tighter around the wood as he stepped back into the shadows, away from the wild creatures of instinctual emotion. They would take anybody they found, no prisoners, no tears that would sway them. All the Heartless knew was existence, the need to rape hearts, and there was no such thing as death until one found it. They took Reno....
There wasn't a day that went by where Rufus didn't cry. His empty-handed arm leaped up and pressed a long sleeve to his eyes. He'd already cried for today. No use crying further over someone he barely remembered and still revered as his Hero and his personal devil, the first sacrifice. Rude liked talking about him, but it wasn't because Rude wanted to. Said right before pulling the pin and rushing forward was, "Reno always liked my explosives."
The fool. All of them. Leaving him alone, just to protect him. For what reason? Their kingdom was gone! There was no more Empire to be loyal to! Why must he be kept alive?! What did he promise Tseng for, if he couldn't go home?!
I hate you all, however, was his way of saying, "Thank you," next to so many other quiet gratitudes. Not that Rufus realized it.
He had to move from here; the infestation had spread. He needed somewhere safer to hide.
With a hiss and red eyes, Rufus looked around the corner again, vision blurred when it was imperative for clarity. He could hear Tseng scolding him alongside his own inner berating. He saw nothing where he'd last seen Shadows and Emerald Blues and took a cautious step out into the light and soon down the street. His erratic heartbeat began to settle slowly; danger wasn't in view, but it could come from any direction. "It's wise to always be vigilant. And never forget...
to look behind you."
With his next step, he spun on his toes and shouldered the rifle. It wasn't raised high enough he soon realized. The lone Shadow behind him had dropped from above. An ambush. Rufus froze, his mind having a chance for only one sharp, clear prediction: I'm going to die....
A blaze of red and white suddenly spliced the Shadow in half, dissolving it to nothing but black wisps, its stolen heart deteriorating a foot from his face. The rush of the new attack blew stray hairs in his face, and it didn't quite register to not follow the trajectory of the attack-- a weapon now imbedded in the brick wall-- instead of looking opposite, to search for the person who threw it.
Until they spoke. "Gotta be careful around these parts. They're really nasty here."
The double-barrels were facing the red-haired man before Rufus was, shaken and ashen in the face. The man held his hands up, to show his lack of armament. "Watch where you point that thing, champ," he said oily. "I'm prettier without misfired buckshots in my gut."
Rufus exhaled in a sudden burst; he'd been holding far too tightly. "Where'd you come from?"
The man smiled, like a shark asking an anchovy to dinner. "Neverland."
At Rufus' lack of a response, the man sighed and dropped his arms. "You're killing me, champ."
"Maybe if you were truthful, I wouldn't be close to making that reality." For all his brave words, the flash of the red wheel was fresh in his mind. That alone told Rufus not to let his guard down, weapon or no weapon.
"Oh," purred the man, "very nice. I could almost be convinced you mean it. Been practicing to be tough, have we?"
Rufus bristled, an unsuppressed reaction at last. He mentally cursed himself for it. "What do you want here?"
The man shrugged a shoulder and glided over. The word 'glide' came to mind only because the man hardly seemed to move, even as his feet hit the pavement. Rufus' finger trembled on its trigger, as did the rest of them. Tseng taught him about the monsters with no minds. Human or not, this one was more than a match for Rufus' intelligence. And to kill a Heartless with apparent ease? Don't be my assassin.
"A little of this, a little of that," he said as he walked. And then he stopped, a couple meters away, putting a finger to his cheek thoughtfully. "Though I suppose you're too old for pretty lies."
"Stop mocking me!" Something unsettled in his gut, now that the man was closer to him. Rufus wasn't blind; the red hair had been glaringly obvious from the previous distance. He hadn't applied it readily; red hair wasn't all that uncommon. But now...
The markings.
The memories were admittably hazy. He'd been only eight when Reno charged blindly into the open to lure the Heartless away. That was seven years for the terror to start wiping away his mind. He barely remembered what his parents looked like anymore; why should Reno be any different? But no one else he'd ever seen had tattoos beneath their eyes. Given, they weren't the same style. What he did still remember was Reno's tattoos being straight beneath his eyes, like a clown's tears. Rufus was left with the impression of sadness, to remember those markings by, despite Reno having been anything but sad. Crazy, insane, an all-out do-or-die freak. Reckless, unprofessional...and still the first to set aside his life for him. Animal.
This man was nothing like Reno. He was slime. A loose cannon. Dangerous. Not trust-worthy. Methodically whimsical.
Are you sure they aren't alike?
Traitor.
"So you aren't too old for lies?" The man was much too close now, and Rufus backed away, but the man kept walking, until he could wrench his spiked wheel from the brick. He did just that. "Could I tell you a story about pirates and gold, and witches with spells to turn you into a barnacle, and you'd believe me?"
A flicker of light danced in the man's eyes and Rufus bared his teeth. Revolting. Believe that crap? Even if it were true, he wouldn't believe a drop unless it appeared in front of his eyes. His legs wouldn't be pulled for a farce like that. "Go to hell."
The barrels were still trained on him, but the man wasn't acknowledging the threat on his life. It was as if Rufus was holding a balloon, or nothing at all. Was he unafraid to die, or was he banking on Rufus not being able to kill a person? Rufus assumed the latter, and it infuriated him further. But somehow....
"Be mindful of your surroundings and your opponent. If he is too dangerous, never be afraid to retreat, if an opening permits it. You know the adage."
The man's face pinched slightly at his clipped words, but Rufus didn't bother to find out anything more. He booked it, right down the path he'd planned to take since a few minutes ago. It led him away from the man in black, and that's what mattered.
Rufus ran. Blindly, without thinking the consequences through. Heartless still roamed. Running would catch their attention. He didn't think of this. He'd never had to worry about a person more than the Heartless, as any person he'd encountered was always a victim of their home's infestation, a cowering weakling who couldn't fight without giving his own life.
This one was nothing of the sort, and it still scared him.
The boy twisted himself into an alleyway and made a split second decision to latch onto the ladder snaking itself up one of the buildings.
"When facing down an enemy who may give chase, you want them where they cannot move to avoid. It's a risk, since to do that, you must also make yourself vulnerable to the same at some point before they can be."
All he had to do was make it to the roof. If the man chased him, he could get him. If the man didn't, Rufus still had a decent vantage point of how to make his next move. Reaching the top rung, Rufus hoisted himself over the building's parapet and unshouldered the rifle again, whipping it over the side and aiming down the ladder.
Nothing. No sign of the man at all. It should have relieved him. But Tseng had left him paranoid for a reason. Rufus looked around the sparse flat; no other escape loops on the other walls. This was the only way up. All he had to do was keep an eye below--
"Tag."
His heart convulsed, squeezed nearly lifeless at the fright, and far too soon was his pursuer hovering over him, the rifle already wrested out of his hands. Pulled frankly nose to nose, Rufus panted harshly as green eyes bore deep into his. The man didn't seem to be breathing at all. "I wouldn't do that again, kid. Being faster than me just means I can't help you if you're ambushed by another Heartless. Commit that to memory."
Rufus nodded in rapid agreement, shallow motions betraying his fear. His tongue felt fat and non-existent at the same time, choking on words suppressed by a ghostly barrier. Even when fingers released his coat did words not come straight back, as he watched the man casually dust himself off.
"Honestly. You'd think you'd choose your options a bit more carefully." The man's smile was hollow, Rufus now noticed, unable to take his eyes away without an even greater fear attacking him. "I haven't hurt you or given you any reason to distrust me."
"Haven't given me a reason to trust you either," Rufus breathed.
The man stared at him, extrinsically silent. But finally, he shrugged wiry shoulders and turned his back on Rufus. "Even if I did, you wouldn't trust it, let alone me. I could give you all the reason in the world to trust me, but all you'd do is not believe. I figure it's better to play the neutral ground. If you want a reason...."
He waved his arm in a dramatic, flourished gesture. From nothing sprang an oval vortex, leaking with freed darkness like an oily mist too heavy to hang in the air. Rufus froze, wide-eyed and terrified. But the man looked back at him, with nothing but a blank look in his face. "I'm giving you the chance to get off this rock."
It was hard to breathe, and the lithe man had to haul Rufus up onto his feet, also returning to him his rifle. With knees shaking at the rush of awful nostalgia from so long ago, Rufus wouldn't look away from the inky, swirling pool. If he stared deep enough, he could almost make out the red eyes of the devil--
A hand landed on his shoulder. "Hey!" Rufus was suddenly shook, jarred from his trance. "Listen to me. Unless you wanna wind up dead, you'll do as I say and walk through there."
Rufus exhaled sharply, feeling again like the child Tseng had spirited away from Midgar. Taken away from his home, invaded by black monsters he'd later learn to battle. Destroying them left him no better, because no matter how many it was, one thing always lingered regardless. "I don't like the dark."
The man filled his vision again, and this time, there was sorrow on his face. Maybe. "That's why I'm here, kid. I can take you someplace safe."
How does the dark mean safety? Tseng? He was tugged closer to it, unresisting, until he was barely two feet from the vortex's brim. Air was thick to swallow this close; Rufus shivered, but unable to back away.
"Just tell them Axel sent you."
And he was falling.
- t - i - m - e -
--no, he's got one. A soul too. He ain't a spy.
Hey...hey kid!
Lookit his shoulder. He uses the gun, that's for sure.
Can we stop messing around with him? He needs to be awake.
I'd rather let him sleep, but...should I get the water?
I'm sure he won't mind it much.
The sudden shock of an icy chill upon his person woke him up like a charm. Rufus gasped around the thin veil of cold water over his face, fuzzy eyesight darting from side to side in alarm.
"Whoa, easy there, kid. Easy."
He stared, frozen in place, muscled bunched up for an escape, and waiting on his vision to clear. Properly. What he finally got were the shapes of three people watching him back just as earnestly. One, a women with dark in pale blue. The other two were clearly men, one pale with dusty, blonde-grey hair, and the other a dark-skinned giant. Rufus coughed.
"Y'alright kid?"
They were adults. Nothing much else to think of them. Rufus nodded his head, even through the fit. The blond man frowned and pat him on the back; like that ever helped. It passed, and Rufus shook. Water shouldn't be used like that. "Where am I? And who are you?"
"You'd think we'd be the ones to ask questions," said the blond man and got to his feet, and the others followed, even Rufus himself with a haul from his arms. "So what're children doing falling out of nowhere?"
"From a Dark Portal, no less," grumbled the dark man.
Dark Portal. That thing the man Axel had pulled him through? He shivered. "Someone opened it. A man with red hair in a black coat."
That got their attention, and Rufus spent over half an hour explaining the last world he'd been on and his encounter with the man in black. Barret and Locke, the two men, did all the questioning. Only afterward did Rinoa, the woman, speak up, announcing their next move as writing a message to someone named Banon. Locke offered a meal, and for the third time that day, Rufus couldn't help but cry one more time.
Rufus never mentioned a name during the interrogation; he wanted to forget it. Forget "Axel" and convince himself of something outlandish, like Reno had come back, to save him one last time.
That was more comforting, right?
- e - y - e -
It wasn't a coincidence Rufus found himself on Spira. Axel was well aware of the Founders' origins; it lent to the remaining Spiran resistance a vague knowledge many other worlds couldn't perceive, a way to fight, a way to protect against the Heartless. The boy would be safe here, to be as he pleased. To fight, to hide, or to just help. The Midgar Empire had crumbled; he was only royalty in name now, and Rufus wasn't ignorant of the fact. He couldn't pretend.
He would have to be his own person now.
Rufus. Axel stared from a distance, hidden above all eyes; he wore a sharp, pensive frown. Oh my Prince. If I had a heart, I could say I'm sorry and mean it. I'll make it up to you, somehow. Next time, I won't let it go all wrong.
completed 10/2/07 EST