It's Either Live or Die
He knew something was wrong as soon as he opened his eyes.
First of all, when he went to sleep, he was pretty sure it was in a bed, with a duvet covered in embarrassing dinosaurs, but mostly triceratops because those were the best ones.
Second, he’s in a meadow. A god forsaken meadow straight out of Bambi or some shit like that.
When he sits up straight he’s at the perfect height for the grass to tickle his face, gently grazing him and waking him more.
When he looked up to see where the sun was at in the sky, what he saw was orange. Huh.
So far, things were not looking up for Roxas.
He stood up on shaky legs, and tried to take note of his surroundings.
From what he could see, the meadow was large, grass bright blue, which made him give his settings a side eye. At the far edges there’s a dense forest filled with maple trees. Or what he assumed to be maple trees because, if he’s not mistaken, and if he squinted, the leaves were blue.
So, that’s also a thing.
The only thing he has left to do is walk, really, so that’s what he does. Roxas picks a direction, and starts walking.
When he hits the edge of the meadow, a simple step from grassy knolls to dense brush, he realized something.
He can’t hear anything.
Spinning around he felt the absence of birds, a soft breeze, things that made a forest a forest.
He licked his lips, opened his mouth, “Bah.”
Okay, so, it wasn’t just him, he wasn’t deaf. It was literally dead silent.
There was an odd tingle down his back, and he stepped past the blue leafed maple.
+
Along with the Technicolor forest there were plants that he has never before seen in his life, or on the Discovery channel.
Standing in front of the slightly phallic shaped flower was starting to wear on his nerves, because as soon as he laid eyes on it he started walking towards it, and he hadn’t stopped looking at it in what feels like forever.
He took step closer, mere inches from touching the fuchsia flora when it spewed some purple dust, coating his face in a thin layer.
He whipped back, shaking his head, trying to wipe at his face, but when he tried to lift his hand, his right arm flinched backwards.
He froze and tries to turn his head towards his misbehaving limb, and was rewarding by looking to the left instead.
Well then.
It goes on like that for several minutes, Roxas trying helplessly to control his body, and being punished by it doing the exact opposite.
When he finally managed to take a few tentative steps in the right direction, he’s actively thinking about each movement in its reverse in his head.
He hasn’t had this much trouble since Metal Gear Solid, where the game told him to put the controls in slot two and all his movements on the controller were reversed. Somehow, that seemed easier.
At the pace he was working at, it was going to take quite some time before he actually found some form of civilization, not to mention there was no way he was going to be able to defend himself if something attacked him.
And god wasn’t that a scary thought? With an orange sky, blue maples, and flowers that messed with your body functions, he wondered what kind of creatures he would encounter. He readily hoped none.
+
His body was not kind too him for a total of two hours, and in that time more symptoms seemed to sprout. His eyes itched like crazy, and he felt oddly twitchier then ADHD would seem capable of. He was also courting around an impressive case of cotton mouth.
After two hours though, his body seemed to just be normal again. No pretenses, no slowly coming back into himself minute by minute; one second he was thinking about stepping backwards with his left, and his right foot was coming down in front of him, and another second his body was pitching forward, limbs back in use and his brain telling him to check itself before it wrecked itself.
By that time, the orange sky was dipping into red, and he had come to the conclusion to stay the hell away from any and all plant life, including the trees.
Which, speaking of-
Roxas looked around him; motor functions back online, and narrowed his blue eyes with skepticism.
The blue maples were far and in between now, instead, cedars, spruces, pines, cherry trees with blood red flowers, sycamores, and willows were making up most of the forest.
Which made no sense, but by this point he was really only rolling his eyes.
Roxas, with all sense of self, knew he was probably going to need to find some shelter, but the idea of being in the titular Wonderland was somewhat nerve wracking because if anything, as soon as he settled down for sleep, that would be the moment he was going to be attacked by a beast of untold proportions, because his life, seriously.
The sun was rapidly descending and Roxas set off for a spot to camp out, to find a relative safe spot within forest to give himself a good advantage over monsters.
+
Roxas was in a tree.
Now, maybe it seemed like a stupid idea, but that Katniss chick did it in the book so she wouldn’t get stabbed through the head by all the other tributes, so why not him?
What Roxas failed to realize was that while taking an idea from a heroine from a science fiction novel was all good and well in theory, in practice, it was not.
Mostly, he fell from the tree twice while nodding off, because unlike Katniss, he did not have a rope to tie his legs to the tree to.
Body bruised and sore, and with what only seemed to be two and a half hours of sleep on him, Roxas set off once again. It was still dark, and the sky was stained a dark purple, which made it seem almost normal; it was like he was going through a jolly jaunt in the woods, instead of marching for his life through Mordor or some freaky shit like that.
His chucks were swiping along the forest floor, purple and blue leaves sticking to them, and a slight frost growing around the edges of the red shoes.
This was getting ridiculous. He stopped to try to check his phone, which, wow, he kind of forgot about till that moment? Whatever, he was only human.
The light from the phone blinded him momentarily, and when his eyes adjusted he was upset to notice the lack of bars on his IPhone.
Instead, he used the flashlight app, because he could at least use his phone for something. When he turned it in front of him to see where he was going he shined it into a bush.
Green eyes stared back at him.
He stilled, and felt the cloying stench of fear roll off him, and sweat roll down his back, making his black tee stick to him from under his red sweater.
His throat felt tight, like he had swallowed burning coals, and there was a distinct twitching in his neck that usually meant he was about due for a panic attack.
Lovely.
The green eyes narrowed, a distinct cat like quality to them, and when he thought to take a step back, when he was about to move his leg, the appendage twitching with the movement, the pupils slit further, forcing him still.
Just because he was failing biology, didn’t mean he didn't know when a predator was stalking its prey.
The bush rustled more, and Roxas was five seconds away from actually defiling his pants, when the beast leapt from the shrubs; Roxas fell backwards and scrambled away from it with his eyes closed, ready for pain and chaos.
When nothing was forth coming he chanced a moment to open his eyes.
There was a man in front of him, his eyes green and his naked torso littered in deep scars and lacerations. If he looked hard enough they made it look like he had red stripes like a cat.
The man bent down to Roxas’ level and stared at him some more. When Roxas looked down he saw that he wasn’t wearing shoes, which would make sense because his toe nails needed a cut badly; his nails were long and yellow, digging into the ground and looked sharper then knives.
At least the dude was wearing uncomfortable looking red fur pants, if it was any consolation.
“Um-“
“Why are you here?”
Whoa, okay so, forest dude seems to know how to talk, great.
“Do you know how to get out of here? I woke up in the meadow and got doused by this flower which fucked my motor functions, then fell out of a tree twice, so I’m kind of sore, hungry, and ready to tear my hair out.”
“The meadow?” The man looked contemplative, digging his long nails into the grassy earth beneath him while he looked off to the left, seemingly very fixated on something, while idly clutching at a pouch on his leather belt.
Roxas took a deep breath and pulled his knees further in, feeling the cold of the early morning setting in his bones, “Where are we?” he asked quietly, not wanting to break the silence around them.
Beast Boy in front of him stood tall, and took a step back, and Roxas scrambled to follow. Roxas could feel his hands shaking, anxious and still frightened, so he pushed them into his red hoodie, and curled his toes to try to get some feeling back into them, though it seemed to be a worthless fight.
A slight breeze came through the trees then, rustling the leaves of the many different trees, and the cat man in front of him went ridged, turning back towards Roxas. They both took turns turning around, because, yeah, hours of no wind and suddenly a slight breeze seemed far too suspicious and there was something in the air; an acrid, foul stench that seemed to settle around them.
The man grabbed his arm and settled him with an intense look, the cat-like eyes back, and “Run.”
Roxas wasn’t going to argue.
+
“My name is Axel, by the way.”
“I would say it’s nice to meet you, but under the circumstances I really don’t think I will.”
Currently, they were hiding in a fox-hole, or what Roxas believed to be a fox-hole, because he was pretty sure that fox-holes weren’t supposed to be that big.
From above them, and through the discreetly placed pieces of wood and leaves, Roxas could hear screeches and hisses, and legs upon legs bounding in a different direction. Axel was sticking close to the dirt wall, eyes narrowed but let it be said that Roxas was far too curious for his own good.
There was a small hole through one of the pieces of wood, and he was pretty sure that there were a few more beasts running by, so he would be able to chance a peek.
He lifted himself on his tip toes, and closed his right eyes, focusing on the outside.
Outside there were long furry legs, everywhere, and beady black eyes and fangs dripping blood and chunks of viscera, the hisses and clicks they directed at each other were sometimes drowned out by a large beast becoming too hungry, too starved in its madness, and from what Roxas could see, one spider creature sank it’s gargantuan fangs into its ally, into the large back end of the body.
Out of the body spewed green blood, and the stench from before choked him and he covered his mouth, fearful of inhaling. If he also covered his mouth to choke down a rise of bile along with a scream, nobody but himself really had to know.
A meek squeak escaped him instead, and from above a single, smaller spider beast stopped and looked around.
Axel grabbed the back of his hood, and pushed him down, covering his mouth and slowing his breathing.
The bounding sounds started up again, and from the small hole dripped a single drop of putrid green from the eaten ally, steaming on its way down.
They waited there for a few minutes, taking a good fifteen of their lives to make sure that the monsters were gone. On Roxas’ face there were claw marks from where Axel griped too hard, trying to keep him quiet, and they hurt, stung and were probably going to get infected because of all the dirt underneath his fingernails.
Axel stood and went about trying to lift the top, but was having difficulty, something heavy weighing on top of it.
Roxas stood and helped raise the wooden top. It lifted easier with help, the creature that died on it rolled to the side, and when they finally crept out of the hole in the ground, the area around them was filled with green blood and large spider bodies, all hairy, and smelling. The ground was corroded, the area where the green blood had splashed destroying the dirt.
Axel crouched down in front of one of the bodies, and proceeded to cut off still bleeding piece of long, gangly spider leg. When the leg was finally severed he opened up the bag and pushed it in; the huge leg into the small pouch.
“How are you doing that? The huge spider leg into the small little leather sack thing? Are you Hermione Granger?”
Despite knowing the pop culture reference was lost on Axel he really couldn’t help himself but say it.
“It’s bigger on the inside?” Again, another lost reference, but one that had to be made.
Axel took a moment to raise an eyebrow at Roxas, a small smirk on his face. He stood and started to walk away, but not before looking over his shoulder and gesturing for Roxas to follow. He took off after the cat man, wanting to stay close to at least one person who didn’t want to kill him.
+
It was a lamppost, no matter from which angle he looked at it; it was a lamppost in the middle of the snow covered forest.
Did that make him Lucy? He always thought of himself as Edmund, because there was basically nothing he wouldn’t do for candy, or any kind of food for that matter.
At the idea of food, his stomach let out a loud rumble, which caused Axel to turn to him with his eyebrows raised in shock. The red head let out a small huff of air and Roxas refused to blush. It wouldn’t help that he was both hungry and freezing.
Roxas straightened and told himself not to feel as embarrassed as he should have, instead shrugged, cheeks warm with a slight flush, “I haven’t eaten in a day and as a young, growing boy, I feel the need to point out that food is a source of energy. So, got anything in the magical pouch?”
Without taking his eyes off of Roxas, and with a gleam in his eye, he plunged his hand into the pouch, going all the way up to the elbow, before pulling it out with another large sack of… bread? Oh man, carbs that was great.
“Thanks Axel.”
Roxas snatched the bag from Axel and gnawed on the bread. He thought about when he was younger, and whenever a major holiday rolled around, and he was always caught hording the buns and ruining his dinner.
It made him pause briefly, wonder if he was ever going to see his family again, only to notice that Axel had started to walk away, his tail swishing back and forth. He caught up to him and offered the man a bun. He took it and crammed it in his mouth before nodding at Roxas and swallowing, the smirk still in place.
They walked a while longer, the snow having soaked right through Roxas’ shoes, which made him realize that Axel wasn’t even wearing any shoes, bare feet and long toe nails digging into the ground.
The feet in question looked fine, didn’t appear wrinkled or blue from the cold, and Roxas felt jealous because Axel was shirtless, and wasn’t even showing any hint of discomfort over the cold. Roxas, however, was shivering, the cold sinking deep into his skin, his veins, into his bones.
One violent shiver wracked through him, causing Axel to look at the blond, worry on his brows.
“Are you cold?”
“It’s fine.”
Not noticing the exasperated look on Axel face, the red head went diving into his bottomless pouch once more, moving his arm around before his face morphed into a Cheshire grin, happy with whatever he had grabbed onto.
With a flourish he presented Roxas with a large fur coat, the reds and browns blended together seamlessly and Roxas let out a sigh of relief at the idea of finally being warm. With a nod of thanks he reached for the coat but Axel pulled it back.
“Aren’t you going to let me wear it?”
“I’ll put it on for you, the clasps are tricky.”
“Okay…” Axel went to stand behind him, the coat opened against his frame and Roxas stepped back into the warmth of the fur, life slowly coming back to him with the feeling of heat.
Behind him Axel leaned over, his shoulders crowding Roxas into the radiating warmth of Axel. Slowly the man behind him lowered his hands, looking through the fur before hooking onto shiny brass clasps, and closing the coat properly. He started from the bottom and each second that Axel took on a clasp, Roxas felt his face heating.
The last one, close to his neck, meant Axel had to lean over more, to see what he was doing, and for a moment Roxas thought he was going to faint because he couldn’t feel his legs, which was probably from the cold but he was pretty sure was contributed to the fact that Axel was touching his neck unnecessarily. Roxas didn’t exactly want it to stop, wanting to lean into the touch more.
Without his knowledge he had closed his eyes, his right arm coming up to rest against Axel’s cheek.
Breathing becoming harsher, his legs becoming weak, Axel finished his work with the coat, but stayed put, his hand cradling Roxas’ neck and rubbing the cold skin there. Feeling bold, Roxas let his hand wander to Axel’s unruly hair, making his face make contact with Roxas’ neck.
Taking the initiative, Axel took the moment to lick the beating pulse, before biting it softly. Roxas made a small hiccup, surprised at the sensation.
From a few feet away they heard the steady sound of feet crunching through snow, and they both stilled.
Behind him, Axel lifted his head and growled out a small, “fuck,” before grabbing hold of the blonds hand and pulling him into the bushes.
Roxas was still having a hard time calming his breathing; he could practically hear his heart beating a staccato rhythm against the confines of his ribs. Through the leaves they saw a creature, just as white as the snow, tall, taller than Roxas had ever seen, and eyes large and black. The mouth was an ‘O’ shape, teeth reminding him of a sandworm from ‘Dune.’
The creature hobbled along, its body, although tall, was thin, like the monster hadn’t eaten in a long time.
Beside him, Axel held his breath, eyes wide and the hand he still hadn’t let go off tightening at the sight of the stumbling beast. Roxas, though wary of the situation, wondered intensely what he was so afraid of. The monster looked drunk, hardly able to hold itself up properly, what harm could it really do.
Once it was out of sight Axel let out a sigh and stood. He helped Roxas to his feet, hands warm and refusing to let go even as they started to make a hasty retreat, the opposite direction from which the tall, white creature was going.
“What was that?”
Axel’s shoulder’s tensed, and he took a cursory glance back, looking over Roxas’ head to make sure the creature was well and truly gone.
“A wendigo; something you never want to run into. That one was slow because it hadn’t eaten in a long time.”
“What does it eat?”
A long, high pitched scream sounded from somewhere far behind them and Roxas felt Axel’s sharp claws dig into his hand. He felt his legs move ever faster, matching Axel’s quickened stride.
“It eats people who are stupid enough to run into it. Let’s get out of here.”
The screaming continued, long and bloody and Roxas had the disturbed notion that maybe he wasn’t the only one stuck here. There could be other people stuck in his place just like him. How many before him had died because of their own stupidity?
He shook his head, and let Axel drag him to the opening of the snowy forest.
+
They were in a village made up of tiny people, grassy blue hills that were clean cut, calm, and safe. Apparently the little people who lived in said grassy knoll called themselves hobbits, so.
That was a thing.
Even better- when Roxas asked if they’ve seen anything peculiar, or maybe a way out of where ever it is they were, they pointed to a road leading out of their village where they’ve seen a flash of light.
It was a yellow brick road.
Seriously, Roxas’ life.
After they had departed the snowy forest Axel had started looking morebored as time wore on, but didn’t say anything about abandoning Roxas, which, odd, seeing as it isn’t like he had to stick around, but Roxas didn’t mind the company, and Axel was the one in the first place to take them to the hobbit village.
However, the down side of the hobbit village? They didn’t live in a hole in the ground.
They did, however, eat a lot of blue looking potatoes, so all wasn’t really lost.
+
Axel and he stayed for a night, harvesting a lot of cool looking weapons. Well, Roxas did, but when a cute little hobbit girl offered a bow to Axel; he just looked at her and pointed at his claws. He then demonstrated their abject power by slicing the bow in half, the corner of his mouth upturned into a wicked grin.
The little hobbit girl cried on Roxas for the better part of an hour and Roxas glared at Axel, who had the decency to look sheepish, rubbing the back of his bedraggled hair, and apologized.
The hobbits also partied, which was cool because their hobbit wine was potent¸ and whatever it is they put in it, Roxas was tripping balls.
He sat down beside Axel, who was chowing down on a skewer of meat and veggies. When he turned to him his ears poked out from the tuffs of his red hair.
“So, you’re a cat right?”
Axel looked at Roxas incredulously, before nodding, meat still in the process of being chewed in his mouth. When he swallowed he narrowed his eyes, suspicious of where the conversation was going, “Yeah?”
“Well, as a cat, I was wondering if you were domesticated or not? I mean, I found you in the woods, but you seem to be pretty self-sufficient, and despite the fact you don’t talk a lot, you do know how to talk eloquently.”
Bam, Roxas used a big word, thus he wasn’t all that drunk. It made sense.
Axel lowered the skewer from his mouth and looked at the fire in the middle thoughtfully, the shadows of the hobbits dancing around the flames flashing across his ally, and the breath Roxas was in the middle of taking hitched at the image. “I was looking for you.”
“What?” They hadn’t had the chance to talk about the ‘what’ and the ‘why,’ but now that they were sitting down Roxas was slightly terrified to find out what it meant. Axel was out in the creepy acre woods looking for him?
“Why were you looking for me?”
“There was a flash of light in that direction. The meadow; I’m pretty sure it was you.”
His head was starting to clear, because the cogs in his head were turning far too hard to try and keep his buzz going. Instead, all he could think of was the orange sky, the spiders, the pale monster, the hobbits, and Axel
He spoke softly at Axel, who was fiddling with the fur of his pants.
“Where are we Axel?”
Axel was silent for a moment, his eyes trained on Roxas, and looking afraid.
“You’re in R’lyeh.”
+
That morning, with the sun peeking through the wooden blinds of the small hut they shared, Roxas feared for his life.
Though it may have been a delayed reaction he was always one to have difficulty dealing with situations. When his dog died, he broke down three months later.
Now, however, he felt it all catching up to him.
Even with Axel curled beside him, his body radiating heat and keeping Roxas warm through the cold night and through to the frosty morning, he shivered.
+
Axel stood beside him, toes curling and uncurling on the warm yellow stone of the road. Roxas was hugging the few last of the hobbits, thanking them for their hospitality.
The eldest, a man with a white beard that pooled at his feet gestured for Roxas to lean down. When he became too impatient he used his hooked staff to pull down the front of Roxas’ red hood. When they were face to face he spoke softly, leaning into his ear.
“The river holds many answers, but is deadly. Be wary of it Roxas.”
Odd words from an odd man, but Roxas nodded anyway, and thanked the elder, and set off with Axel.
+
They walked for hours, and the sun was hot and heavy on their backs. The small pack that Roxas was given was much like Axel’s, bottomless and useful, but where Axel’s was filled with food and potions and spider legs, Roxas’ had rope and weapons of different caliber.
The twin peaks, when they reach it, was guarded, and not by anything, but by twin Sphinx’s.
They’re eyes were glowing blue, and through the haze of the heat Roxas could hear two voices, loud and clear and booming.
“What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?”
Axel was standing stock still, claws extended but refusing to move an inch. Roxas was fully aware that the riddle was probably something super obvious, but due to the fact that he was somewhat an aloof person, and was never the brightest crayon in the box, was riddling his own brain for answers that mostly involved wine, pop culture references, and hobbits.
He was about to open his mouth, to ask for some kind of hint, but Axel dug his claws into his arm, making small holes in his favorite red hoodie.
When Roxas was about to yell at him for not only hurting him, but for ruining his jacket, Axel had a look on his face that told him to shut the fuck up
So, he did, closing his mouth with an audible ‘snap’ of his teeth, and looked at the Sphinx’s again, trying to think of the answer.
“What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?”
They repeat themselves, their eyes glowing from blue to green, edging onto a deadly red. Roxas felt that the eyes were a sign that he had a time limit, and it made him sweat, the trails sliding down his face and along his back. If he wasn’t careful he was going to be sweating a river and they really needed to conserve their water, and Roxas freaking out over a riddle was not going to help.
Wait.
Whoa.
Hold up a goddamn minute.
He thinks back to what the elder said and flung his arms up in the air, gasps, exasperated at what the world of R’lyeh had thrown at him.
“A river!”
The eyes, which were turning into a florescent red, receded back to blue, till the glow was gone.
“Let’s go Roxas.” Axel huffed; hand on the small of Roxas’ back, guiding him briskly, and his nails scratching along the yellow brick road.
+
The elder wasn’t kidding about the river, which was flowing alongside the road.
The water was brown, and when Roxas focused his senses, he swore he could smell chocolate.
It was a fucking chocolate river.
Fucking seriously?
Axel was leading the way; giving the river a wide berth, because, one, it was water and he was still, like, a cat. Two, from what the elder hobbit said, it was probably evil, and probably did something way worse than the flower, like made your eyes bleed out of your skull. He liked his eyes in his skull, not bleeding.
The forest on the other side of the river was also, decidedly darker and scarier than the one they travelled through.
That forest was going to be called the Creepy Acre Woods; the forest they went through was going to be called Something Completely Different, or SCD, for short.
Blisters were starting to form on the heels of his feet, he could feel it with every shift of his foot, but was trying to work through it because it wasn’t like they popped. But he steps on a rock, and the blister most definitely does break open, coating his sock in the contents.
“Shit.”
“What?” Axel turned from where he was, and cringed.
“Did you hurt yourself? I can’t smell anything through the river.”
Roxas shook his head, waving his hand while holding his foot in the other, “No worries. Let’s just stop for a sec while I look through my bag for something for my popped blister here.”
Axel looked way too skeptical for Roxas’ liking, but eventually hunkered down on a rock even further from the river, but still a good foot from where Roxas’ taken a seat on the road.
Roxas was looking through his bag, finding zilch for medical supplies through the throng of weapons, when he heard a rustling.
Rustling hadn’t really been his best friend so far, so he gripped a sword in his hand within the lukewarm in-between of the bottomless bag, and looked towards Axel, who was now standing and was crouched ready to strike.
Bursting through the bushes, fish like creatures appear, bodies translucent with a blue hue to them. Their faces, when one comes hurdling at Roxas, reminded him of an angler fish, the little bulb hanging from its single antennae glowing white, and when he sticks the broad sword through the things neck, blue blood spurting from the wound, the bulb dimmed slowly before dropping from the antennae.
More were running towards them, but most simply dodged them, hurtling themselves into the river, where their bodies disappeared in the rush of the currents.
Some continued to fight, and while Roxas wasn’t exactly known for his grace, these things seemed to be bumbling fools out of the water, their webbed feet bleeding blue and only fighting to try and get to the water.
Axel was fighting three, slicing ones throat and swiping ones stomach with the claws on his feet. The one with the neck wound held onto it, though through its webbed fingers blue bubbled out of him, and it fell to his knees.
The one with the stomach wound was trying to keep hold of its innards, the green tubes of its intestines slipped through its fingers and fell to the ground, where they withered and die.
The third one was rethinking its opponent and instead headed for Roxas, running at him with its jaw open, ready to take a bite at him.
Roxas swiped his sword and took off the top of the fish monsters head, right at the jaw, blood spurting from the fatal wound and splashing onto Roxas’ face. It stood still, the bottom jaw still trying to work without the top half, before falling to its knees, twitching, and then dying.
When he took a moment to catch his breath he noticed that the area around them was carnage.
The road was soaked in blood, making the brick turn a disgusting shade of purple. The stench was even worse than the spider monsters.
Breathing in and out, Roxas leaned forward, his stance no longer tense, though still far from relaxed, a thrum of exhilaration rushed through his veins. Off to the side Axel made a high keened sound, like he was freaking out over something, though the threat was no longer a problem, evident by the amount of monster blood surrounding them.
The red head stalked over to Roxas. Every step Axel took, his feet squished against the blue blood, bubbling between his toes and dying his feet and coating him in primary colours full of slaughter.
When he finally stood in front of Roxas, the blond couldn’t help but grip the sword in his right hand tighter, the sight of a disheveled Axel, covered in monster’s blood and sweating making his heart stop. He then put his hands on Roxas face and started looking him over with a critical eye, making something in the pit of his stomach jolt.
“Are you hurt? Did any of them get you?”
Letting out a small huff of a laugh, Roxas shook his head, smiled at his companion, “Why so worried Axel?”
Scowling, Axel leaned forward and bumped Roxas’ forward with his, rubbing his thumbs against the shorter boys blushing cheeks, smearing the blood further, making Roxas think that the drying bloodshed could be his war paint. “Because this world is dangerous and you’re important.”
Roxas fidgeted from side to side, his face going from red to positively flaming, but he still bit his lip and managed to choke out- “Important to whom, Axel?”
In the thick silence, Roxas ignored the blue blood, the chocolate river and the threatening forest because when he looked into Axel’s green eyes, the iris’ blown wide and telling, he couldn’t help but lean forward and quiver at the ghost of a breath that lingered over his mouth.
One hand slid from his cheek to his neck, caressing and warm, the other went to the back of his head, threading through his dirty blond hair, scratching lightly at the scalp and making Roxas shudder, and when he bothered to focus on Axel again, the cat-like man’s face was set in stone, determination lining every bone in his body, every slight shift in the skin of his brow.
“Me. You’re important to me.”
Axel moved the slightest bit, covering the teen’s mouth with his own, and when he did Roxas could taste the coppery tang of blood, could feel the wetness from the creature’s gore in Axel’s hair when he moved his hands to knot there. He hadn’t even bothered to drop the bloodied sword until that point, letting it fall with a resounding clang against the yellow brick road behind Axel.
When he pulled back it was barely an inch, his face still close and eyes still half lidded. Axel mirrored his expression, face a pleasant pink and Roxas couldn’t help but kiss one cheek.
“Well, that was exciting. Don’t you think so, Axel? Think we’re going to run into any more monsters out here?”
The red head looked at Roxas like he was crazy, a small pout to his kiss stained lips.
Roxas, with all his being, wanted to say: We’re all mad here.
+
They were climbing the side of a mountain, a few meters from the top when Axel spoke.
“I thought you might be the chosen one.”
“What?”
“This place used to be beautiful. I used to be a lion tamer.” Something in Axel’s eyes told Roxas that he was good at it too.
“Well then.” He huffed as he readjusted his grip on a protruding rock, and lifted himself further, blowing out air so he could better pace himself, “That’s news.”
Beside him Axel was climbing effortlessly, agile like the part cat he was, “This world use to be normal, nothing out of the ordinary. The wise man in the black coat changed everything when he showed up. If I know anything, it’s that he’ll probably have something to say about you leaving.”
Roxas said it before he knew what he was doing, “I’ll fix it.” He wasn’t going to let some old guy stop him from getting home. He wasn’t going to let some old guy ruin a world that wasn’t his own.
Axel was silent, and Roxas couldn’t see his face because he was crowded next to the rock wall, and needed to focus on the climb, but he was pretty sure Axel’s shoulders were shaking.
He repeated himself, more to remember then to reaffirm anything.
“I’ll fix everything” The conviction in which he said it didn’t frighten him as much as he thought it would. Instead, he took a moment to stare at Axel, the way his torso strained with his stretching limbs, and the way the muscles moved against each other, and the look of pure concentration on Axel’s face.
The grip he had on the rock tightened even more, and instead of looking at the wall, his face basically pressed to the cool mountain side, he looked up, the orange sky bright and seeming close enough to touch.
+
In front of him was a single door, but off to the side was a man in a black coat.
Axel hissed. His sharp teeth barred at the bald man with yellow eyes. Roxas, following his lead, plunged his hand into the magic pouch at his side and drew a blade.
The man was nothing spectacular, but Roxas was going to hazard a guess that if he wanted to go home, it was through the blue door, and with the old man standing in front of it, Roxas was going to need to go through him.
“What a pleasure it is to meet you, Roxas.”
Axel spoke first, voice laced with rage, “Go fuck yourself old man, we’re leaving and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
The wind around them picked up, swirling dust and leaves and Roxas felt the muscles of his back tremble at the idea of a confrontation. Within all his years he had never gotten into a fight, preferring to simply walk away. It seemed the world of R’lyeh was turning him into something he didn’t know he was.
He sighed, bothered with the whole experience. “Turn R’lyeh back and I won’t have to scalp you.”
Axel turned to him with wide eyes. “Holy shit Roxas.”
The man in front of them glared, but kept the smile on his face. He put his hands behind his back, shoulders relaxed and posture terrible but the scene made Roxas irrationally angry, seeing a man, outnumbered for that fact, and he was acting high and mighty, not prepared for a fight at all.
“I’m impressed. You’ve made it further then all the others before you.”
Something in Roxas broke, like glass shattering, “I was right.” There were others. The wendigo from before had encountered someone lost in R’lyeh just like him.
“I did what was necessary, which is why I am here now. I can’t allow you to leave.” Unexpectedly, the man uncrossed his arm, and within his left hand a slow black glow formed, before a flash of light formed a long broadsword.
Fuck.
Quick like lightning the man rushed at them, and Roxas had a split second to raise his sword to parry the attack. Locked swords, Roxas glared at his opponent, memorizing the skin and the unnatural yellow eyes sunken deep into his skull. Sparks flew from the metal between them, and the wind was whipping faster and faster.
Axel dashed in, swiping at the man leg.
Before Roxas could congratulate Axel on his quick thinking the man raised his leg, the uninjured one, and hit him in the stomach.
Doubling over, Roxas rolled away, aware that any longer wallowing in pain he would have been skewered. Axel was now circling with the man, a slow, deliberate crawl that had Roxas cycling through his thoughts faster than he thought even capable.
There was no way Axel could take the old man on, with his simple claws. The old man had reach, and while Axel was fast, there was no telling what king of wound he would sustain from getting too close, probably something fatal.
So Roxas was going to have to engage him, and hope that his luck wouldn’t run out.
Staggering to his feet, Roxas rummaged around the sack for some kind of useful item. His hand gripped something very solid and when he pulled it out it saw it was a crossbow. Perfect.
Pulling out a case of arrows, Roxas went about setting the weapon up, hoping that Axel was aware enough to get the old man’s attention while he tried to aim for the guy’s head. If he missed he hoped Axel was fast enough to dodge.
The two men were engaged in some type of violent dance, occasionally Axel would come in, slashing and cutting the man’s coat, trails of blood following his nails, and then the man would try for a swipe of his sword, but Axel would duck away, crouched and looking for another available opening.
Roxas aimed, trying to slow his breathing long enough to focus on his target. He pushed the trigger.
The arrow whizzed by its target, notifying the man of Roxas once more. Fuck.
The old man looked angry, and maybe Roxas was terrified for a second but he stood strong, picking up the sword he had left on the ground and positioning himself into a fighting stance. The man rushed him once more, coming in high. Roxas dodged left, and was barely able to block the next blow, which would have taken out his left arm if he hadn’t been fast enough.
This was going nowhere. The man was obviously better trained then them, knew how to hold himself in battle, unlike Roxas who had really only picked up a sword simply sixteen hours ago. The man kept at it, thrusting his sword and shredding pieces of Roxas clothes bit by bit.
Axel swiped at the man once more, instead cutting deeper into his thigh and sending a spray of blood into the air. He turned, teeth clenched and eyes burning with anger and tried for Axel once more.
Taking a chance Roxas ran towards the man, his back towards him. He was distracted by Axel, who was hissing and calling him out, lewd gestures and names that had him cutting at the cat-like man.
With every ounce of strength Roxas possessed he slammed the broad sword into the side of the man’s neck. From the wound came a rainfall of blood, coating both Roxas and Axel in it.
The old man dropped to his knees, blood now squirting out in long streams and getting great distance. The scene should have disturbed Roxas more, but instead he felt giddy with relief.
Letting out a sigh, Roxas jimmied the sword within the man’s neck, more blood shooting from the arteries that were hacked at. Axel came up towards him and helped him, his hands around Roxas’ own.
They pulled and the sword once again became free.
“Are you okay?” Axel’s hands were coated in blood, and his face matched his hair, droplets smattering his body. Roxas didn’t look any better.
“I’m fine. I just… I want to leave.” He expressed his emphasis on the ‘leave’ by swaying into Axel’s chest, uncaring of the blood that was smearing across the both of them. At least this blood was red, and didn’t smell.
Axel lifted his hands and put them on Roxas’ head, threading his fingers through the mattered locks with ease. Roxas lifted his head and without warning kissed Axel, his mouth warm and compliant.
They stayed like that, kissing, becoming heated with adrenaline, hands roaming and needing to be closer until the sounds of a chocking wheeze cut them off.
The wise old man got up, staggering, his head tilted to the side from where the sword had carved into him.
Together, Axel and Roxas swore. “Fuck.”
“You cannot leave.”
Axel pulled Roxas behind him, arm outstretched and ready to fight. The blond let out a huff of air, annoyed. He could fight; he had struck the finishing blow, hadn’t he?
Even with the wound the man was quick, running towards them at top speed, his head bouncing off his shoulder and making a gruesome sloshing sound with every movement. He summoned his sword once again, and before coming down on the both of them, they dodged their separate ways.
One last hit, Roxas thought. He was hardly a menace now, he could get them.
Something in the man’s eyes was different, crazy and haunted. Axel leaped at him, but was smacked out of the air like a fly.
Stunned Roxas could feel dread wash through him. He turned towards Roxas and faster than ever was upon him. They fell to the ground, Roxas without a weapon. The man held his arms above his head, and was heaving in his face, blood dripping from his mouth and teeth red with it. The wise man’s smile was possessed, gasping too loud and face too taunt from age to be anything other than frightful.
Struggling proved to be useless, and Axel was out of commission and Roxas was going to die. He had made it this far and he was going to die.
“I’ve stopped countless children from changing this world back, and I will stop countless more.” Each word was harsh, like the man was talking with phlegm but Roxas knew he wasn’t speaking through a cold, instead he was drowning in his own blood, spitting it into his face with each syllable.
“You think walking through that door will change anything? The only way to save this world is to kill me and there is no way you will. You are weak Roxas.”
“You’re a goddamn monster and I’m going to run my sword through you and laugh when you try to keep your guts in.” He was way too bold for a trapped mouse.
“Big words from a little man; I’m tired and finished with you. Goodbye Roxas.”
The sword he had was raised was pointed at Roxas’ chest, and he closed his eyes to ready himself to the comfort of darkness, to oblivion, when the sound of a strangled gasps alerted him.
The man above him looked shocked and when his yellow eyes trailed down Roxas followed his gaze. Spouting out of his chest was Axel’s hand; claws dirty with blood and pieces of gore and lung and everything that the man was made of.
The look in Axel’s eyes was anger, dark and deadly. “You stay away from him.” Then he ripped his hand, more blood and viscera following.
From the man’s mouth bubbled the last of his life, red and oozing down onto Roxas. He fell forward, crushing the blond and he scrambled to get away, clinging to Axel for support. Axel gripped back just as hard.
Silently, they stepped back, trying to keep their distance until Axel spoke, weariness in his voice, “You think he’s really dead this time? I mean, I literally put my hand in his chest, it would be pretty hard to come back from that.”
“There’s only one way to be sure.” Roxas went toward the sword he had dropped on the ground before pausing. Instead he went and picked up the man’s sword, black and gleaming silver in the low light of day.
Roxas stood over the man, eyes sharp and glaring at the corpse under him. Poetic justice, he thought.
He rammed the sword into the man’s back, then again, then again and again and again. He then kicked him over, piercing the head and crushing the skull with each jab. For good measure he bent down and brought the sword down on the man’s throat, effectively cutting his head off.
He was hardly aware of Axel making noise beside him, his hands taking hold of Roxas’ arms, trying to still him.
“That’s enough Roxas! Look! Look up!”
Coming back to himself Roxas looked at Axel, panting and sweaty and exhausted. The body under him was now just a mess of meat and tubes, a puddle of red under it seeping into the ground.
The red head helped him to his feet, before bringing him into a rough kiss, his tongue swiping across his bottom lip asking for entrance which Roxas allowed. The sword in his hand dropped to the ground, and Roxas put his arms around the taller man’s neck and tried to become as close as possible.
“We did it we did it everything is normal everything is back to normal.” Between each harsh kiss Roxas could hear Axel mumbling words he wasn’t too keen on remembering, instead focussed on the tongue Axel was exploring with, the hands he was gripping his waist with.
They took a minute to breath and when they did Roxas noticed the air around them, the low light no longer a florescent orange, but instead a soft yellow. He took a step back, and stared out at their surroundings.
Something like black smoke was filling into the air, dissipating with each passing second.
“The monster’s he brought with him are gone.”
“So…” Looking at the ground, Roxas reached for Axel’s hand, scared that everything he did would mean nothing in the end. He didn’t want to leave.
“So this is it? I go home. You become a lion tamer again and everything goes back to normal?”
Axel looked shocked, unaware of the situation until that point. Of course Roxas would be leaving, of course Axel would be staying. Of course this thing between them meant nothing.
“I-”
Roxas left the warmth of Axel’s body and went towards the blue door, shoulders downcast and feeling raw.
He reached for the door knob, and he gripped it, felt the cool metal underneath his skin and wishing it would calm him down. Axel had kept him safe, had made the entire journey really worth travelling in the first place. The first day was unbearable, and without him Roxas was pretty sure he would have died a horrible, painful death at the hands of some monster. It was thanks to Axel that Roxas was even still alive at this point.
He let go and turned to Axel.
“Come with me.”
Axel was, without a better word, baffled. His green eyes softened and his body released a tense-ness that the teen wasn’t even aware he was carrying around. Maybe he didn’t want to leave Roxas as much as Roxas didn’t want to leave him.
“You want me to?”
Roxas couldn’t help but smile, aware of the warm feeling his chest was holding.
“Believe it or not, I’m not exactly rich with friends. I could use one back home.”
They stood in silence, sizing each other up before Axel’s face broke with a soft smile, cat eyes glowing in the sunset.
“Okay.” He walked up to Roxas and took his hand, leaning down to give him a slow, passionate kiss. When he pulled back his green eyes shined in the even light and his smirk was contagious.
“Let’s go.”
Roxas nodded, and gripped the doorknob, and Axel’s hand squeezed his, before opening the door.
+
His room was a mess, and his alarm was going off.
It was six in the morning and he just walked through his closet door.
Roxas was really confused.
The pack was still with him, and the blisters were still on his feet, but Axel wasn’t holding his hand.
“Axel?” He yelled, the name rebounding off the walls and making the house seem empty.
From behind him his gigantic pile of laundry moved and from its contents sprouted Axel, hair a deep shade of red, eyes a normal looking green, and iris’ a normal shape. He was wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. He looked like a normal man and Roxas felt his heart beating wildly in his chest at the sight.
They stared at each other, and then smiled, bright and wide.