Guns Fic
Title: Freedom Part The Second.
Author: Screamer06
Pairing: Axl/Slash
Warning/Summery: The requested second part of Freedom.
Disclaimer: I no own, pleeze no sue
Notes: Thank you sleeper3 and Soliddragon123 me la you guys x
The blue lights came screaming along the road and officers streamed in and around the house. Duff still stood with the gun in his hands and didn’t resist when one of the police officers took it from him. He stood there numbly watching as the world moved in slow motion around him. Axl was taken from Slash and treated in the ambulance for shock but declined to go to hospital. Slash hovered uselessly, an officer was talking to him but he didn’t register what he was told. Duff was cuffed and taken by police for questioning. He was later charged with caring a fire arm due to a paper work error. What he was caring was an air pistol which he had a licence for.
Axl was taken to the air port to fly home accompanied by a stewardess and sedated. The officials failed to find a small bag of cocaine in his wallet which was still there, nobody thought to search him. Safely back home Axl curled on the sofa and applied salve to the raw patches on his wrists and ignored the ringing phone.
X X X
Slash walked in with a steaming mug of hot coca which he handed to Duff. The room was lit with dimmed lights and candles, the walls and furniture dark browns and warm, burnt orange giving a cosy, safe feeling. Both of Slash’s children were sleeping soundly in their rooms blissfully ignorant to the events of the night.
“You can stay here tonight if you want dude.” Slash said as he sat down next to Duff. Duff merely nodded;
“Every time I close my eyes all I can see...” he trailed off and sighed like he was trying to blow the memory out his body.
“I know dude, I know.”
Both men were silent for a moment when Duff said;
“I wander how Axl’s doing?”
“I for one still don't care.” Slash said but knew he didn’t mean it. He did feel very much for Axl. At one point they were close, so very close and part of him was still missing that.
They shared a room for years, opted to because they liked each other’s company. Axl felt safe and Slash felt wanted, it suited them both wonderfully. Duff drained his cup and went out to make another.
Axl sat up and rubbed his nose where the powder stung the delicate lining, just a little coke to scare away the demons, that and...He opened his phone and sent a text to a regular friend....she would be here in half an hour and he hopped into the shower.
Duff cradled his cup in both hands letting the warm porcelain comfort him as he lay back on the sofa. Slash dozed beside him as he watched the telly flicker. Half way through the second drink he felt his eyes drift downwards. He roused Slash and they both went to bed falling in to a deep exhausted sleep.
Axl answered the tentative knock at the door. There stood a beautiful vivacious black woman whose eyes sparkled when she smiled. She smelt of soap and perfume, and sex. She was bubbly and fun working the bars of the strip unfortunately she was also selling her body. She had high class clients, not “johns” who picked up random women. She was often seen at A-list parties discreetly working the room. She was clean and reliable and always carried a pen. This made her popular. She moved into the hall, “Well, Axl it’s a surprise to hear from you.” She said in a honey dripping husk.
“Bedroom.” Axl commanded this was business; he was not going to be duped by her curvy charms.
She raised her eyebrows and sashayed her way to his bedroom. Once there he pulled her to him and crushed his lips to her ear biting it almost savagely. He knew her tricks, what she liked and what she didn’t; her soft moans became breathy panting as he began to delicately explore her with moist fingers. She rocked her hips grinding into his hand as she pulled on his braids. He looked at her with lust in his eyes and red mouth.
“Taking liberties.” She snarled before slapping him hard across the face. He shoved her back so she hit the dressing table which she perched on.
“What do you expect when you come here with no panties on?” he replied tartly, breathless with excitement and panting.
Axls body told him she was ready. Her eyes were half lidded but the sparkle still showed through. One shoulder was exposed where her pretty dress had been pulled aside. He indulged in her velvet skin a moment while he moved his fingers causing her to hiss. Was she just working? He didn’t care. The heat that came from her was surpassed by the moister that coated both of them. His entrance was swift, his movements erratic and hasty as he listened with delight at her soft grunts. The dressing table rocked spilling most of its contents onto the floor with soft thumps, the mirror back thumped loudly against the wall. Axl finished with a grunt and a soft curse and withdrew leaving her legs dripping. She retired to the bathroom where Axl had laid a small fluffy hand towel out for her. She cleaned herself before patting dry and returning to the front room where her money lay.
Axl was wearing a mocha kimono of the softest silk, lounging on an overstuffed chair. She took the money, said goodbye and left.
X X X
Slash lay awake in bed, the children had been taken to school by the nanny and Duff was still sleeping...or awake like he was. His mind raced. For all of Axl’s bravado bullshit he was still the same Axl. Scared and alone, keeping himself away from people and public. He always asked Axl why he was nervous in interviews, Axl always just shrugged and changed the subject. He didn’t know why he was like he was, who knows why they are like they are anyway. We will always end up blaming our parents who blame their parents and so on.
That being true it still didn’t calm Slash enough to go back to sleep. Maybe Fate had played a part in himself and Axl seeing each other again? Stupid Fate, there was a reason he didn’t want to see Axl again and he wished with all his being that he could remember it. He gave up and got out of bed. He passed Duffs room which was empty. He couldn’t say he was surprised. Duff was probably out for a run, Duff never missed his run. He said it calmed his mind, gave him space to breathe. Slash didn’t see it himself but for Duff it was almost spiritual. He lit a cigarette and clicked the kettle on; he gazed out the window and wondered what he would do today.
X X X
Axl, oh Axl what have you come to? Paying for sex, for shame. Axl rolled over, it was past midday and his brain was fuzzy from the cocaine and his body ached. Too much again Axl, when will you learn? He decided to have a light lunch, grilled fish and steamed vegetables then it was time to do some serious reflection. Ask his guides. He found them after a particularly difficult withdrawal after a messy breakup. His guide was an old Irish women with eyes as green as his. It wasn’t until years later during intensive therapy that he tried regression, and there she was again, scolding him for not asking for help sooner. He had a yoga/meditation room now. He lay down, relaxed and began to control his breathing. He felt his body sink into the floor as his mind began to expand. He visualised a wood and he walked down the path. He was so adept at this he could feel the sun on his face and smell the grass. From nowhere she was standing in front of him.
“Cara.” He greeted her.
“Son, what brings you here?”
“I need your wisdom.”
A soft breeze moved her shift dress and long gray hair. The rustling leaves dancing shadows on her youthful face.
“Then you may have it.” She directed him to a door resting on its own; he opened and walked through it. He was enveloped in darkness and a thumping was felt though his bare feet. A beat, a four/four beat. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see strip lights on the floor. Familiar to him, he followed them knowing that this was all a vision. He walked up the stairs and stood at the side of a massive stage.
It was their first big show. He saw himself at 20, how he had changed. He looked out at the crowd. He could see them waving and cheering but couldn’t hear them. They couldn’t see him, weren’t even there, it was merely a memory. Axl watched himself talk to Duff, laugh with him. He watched himself walk over to Slash. That was it, he remembered now. Slash had been sick with some sort of fever. Axl was talking to him quietly now. Even though he was too far away in reality terms to hear them, he heard clearly.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah just real hot, you know.”
“Do you want some pills?”
“Yeah.”
Why was he being shown this? He couldn’t imagine why. He turned and walked back through the door but didn’t find himself back in the wood. Now this was odd. He was in the hell house 2, the second place they all rented. Duff and Axl were fighting on the sofa. Axls elbow hit Slash in the face. Slash put his head in his hands then checked for blood.
“Oh no!” Axl was red from laughing so hard, Duff always made him laugh like that. “Oh Slash, are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, I’m sorry.”
Odd. He walked back though the door. They were in the studio. Axl remembered this clearly, with a pain in his side. A physical reaction to the metal hurt. Slash and Axl faced each other off.
“So that's it huh, your off just like that?” Axl demanded with his arms folded, a typical defence posture.
“Yeah Ax, that's it, I’m sorry.” Slash turned to leave, shutting the door with a gentle click.
“Yeah me too.” Axl murmured before turning his back on the door, to hide the tears.
Axl opened his eyes slowly adjusting. “Cara, don’t make me do this” he groaned. He hated swallowing his pride.
X X X
Duff and Slash played the last cords before throwing picks into the crowed. They had put the nasty events behind them and threw themselves into the tour. Neither had heard from Axl but weren’t really expecting to. What else was there left now? The crowds chanting turned into gasps and stilted applause. Slash realised they had seen something he hadn’t he looked behind him, then to Duff who merely pointed his mouth agape. Axl Rose was standing stage left, meekly, quietly. He took a step forward. And made eye contact with Slash. Something past between them, some unspoken energy snaked along the stage for everybody to feel. He walked slowly, unhindered to the mic. As if in a spell Scott moved to allow him access saying nothing. Axl tapped the mic.
What the hell was he doing?
“Ah, I wasn’t supposed to be here tonight.” He announced to the hushed crowed. “But I felt I needed to clear a few things up. There was a time that these men where my friends.” Axl moved away from the mic as his voiced cracked with emotion. Feedback rang through the arena as Slash put his guitar down. “First and foremost, Scott, I’m sorry I stole your mic.” The crowed tittered with laughter. “Second, Duff do you remember that argument about the pizza?” Duff took his mic, “There were lots of arguments over pizza.”
“Well it was always me, I always at the last slice and for that I’m sorry.” Axl smiled as Duff butt in.
“And Rocket Queen?”
“Yeah I’m still not sorry about that whole mess.” The crowd cheered and clapped. Axls voice rang out again as he faced Slash.
“And Slash.” He took a deep breath and felt the tears well up, he let them flow, in front of a sell out crowd, in front of the cameras, in front of Slash. “I’m sorry for a lot of things; I never wanted it to end up like this, ever. You were always there for me.” Slash embraced Axl and said in his ear so the crowd couldn’t hear. “We need to talk.” They left the stage together for this first time in over ten years.