Fic: Social Suicide
Title: Social Suicide
Rating: PG-ish or T-ish K-ish, if you prefer.
Warnings/Pairings: Primarily Axel/Sora with implications of Axel/Roxas and Riku/Kairi. Spoilers for events in KH, CoM and the ending of KH2. Yaoi.
Disclaimer: Square and Disney's, not mine.
Summary: Narrowly escaping a dreadful eternity by making a deal with Hades, Lord of the Dead; Axel gets a second chance at existence...if he doesn't screw it up first.
Axel hadn't expected the battle to be easy in the first place, but even he found himself surprised at the intensity with which Leon fought. He was evidently determined to owe nothing to his opponent, and given the experiences that the residents of Radiant Garden had evidently had with Nobodies, he couldn't exactly blame him.
There was no time to think about that though, as Axel barely managed to dodge the gunblade when the soldier came barreling through his wall of fire and racing across the molten floor with little noticeable regard for either of Axel's most potent offenses. He had to end this, and quickly.
At the next strike, Axel twisted his chakram sideways, grinding the blade between two spokes. Leon's eyes went wide as he found himself suddenly unable to dislodge his weapon from his opponent's. In spite of thinking fast enough to free one hand in order to take a swing at the Nobody, Axel's boot caught him close-to in the middle of his stomach, and he went flying backwards as the air was forcibly expelled from his windpipe. Stepping forward, Axel rattled the blade free, and took a swipe at the disarmed Leon as he staggered to his feet.
He fell down dizzily, and didn't make another attempt to get up. The battle was over.
In spite of being quite badly hurt, it came as no surprise to Axel that the soldier had no apparent desire to accept any medical aid. He staggered to his feet on his own, shaking his head to clear the worst of the dizziness away and dragged himself off the battlefield. Dodging some congratulatory patrons of the events, Axel caught up with him casting a healing spell on himself in the hallways.
"What do you want?" Leon grumbled, rolling his shoulder experimentally.
Axel paused. He'd been so intent on earning the favour that he had failed to make specific plans. Mentioning Sora outright was a mistake and he doubted highly that Leon would willingly offer him passage with him to the Radiant Garden, promise or not. The soldier was a good person, but he wasn’t so naive or stupid that he would bring someone dangerous into his home without a lot of reason and tight security. Admitting his current weaknesses and disabilities or trying to explain his situation would like as not, be a big mistake as well. The best thing that Axel had going for him right now was the fact that he didn’t in fact have to give Leon information as he had promised. Leon had probably long decided he’d been lying when he’d said he wasn’t dead and Axel was suddenly quite certain he didn’t want to correct him.
No, information was probably the most marketable commodity right now. “I’m interested in knowing what happened at the end. With the Keyblader and the Superior and all that.”
“No one’s told you down here?” Leon asked. The hostility in his voice had lessened somewhat, and Axel knew his assumptions had been correct.
“Nope.”
It didn’t take Leon too long to relate what Sora himself had probably told him. If there had been any mention of his personal role in the proceedings, the fighter didn’t mention it. Axel listened patiently to the rundown that came to a close with Sora returning home. As predicted however, Leon continued the tale, unwittingly giving him those little spare tidbits of information that he deemed unimportant, but Axel lapped up. “So now, the three of them mostly want to continue fighting the Heartless, then try and train some new Keybladers up. Is that enough?”
That made things a little harder for Axel. If he didn’t know where Sora would most definitely be, it would be harder to track him down.
He smirked at Leon. “I think that clears things up. Well then. Thanks for holding up your end of our deal.”
Looking mildly offended at Axel’s unspoken insinuation about his talents, Leon gave a noncommittal grunt, and headed off. He waited until he’d left the arena proper before following him.
It was not hard to silently tail the soldier as he headed out of the Underworld. Leon was a strong man, confident in his own skills and such people were usually easy to creep up on, as they didn’t bother to sneak around themselves. Axel knew that Hades was watching his actions and would certainly be able to find loopholes in their contract as easily as he, so he had to watch the moral value of his choices. Taking a free ride on Leon’s Gummi ship was probably a pretty minor offense, so long as he didn’t kill the other man during the journey or steal anything.
Spotting his chance when Leon went around to the back of the ship to look at the engines and the gun mounts, Axel slipped inside, giving the interior a hurried once-over. Leon’s personal ship was a touch larger and more impressive than the average one-person craft considering he was close personal friends with Cid, but it was lucky for Axel too. Even so, there were few spots for him to hide that he could be sure wouldn’t be looked into during the course of the journey. Axel found himself wishing for Xigbar’s gravity manipulation so he could spend the journey on the ceiling. There was some living space in the back of the craft however, and Axel finally took the most extreme opposite, rolling under the low bed just as the soles of Leon’s boots came into his line of vision. Even though Axel wasn’t a terribly big man, the space was extremely cramped, but at least it meant that Leon wasn’t likely to be paranoid someone was under there.
He listened to some rustling, drawers opening and closing and held his breath for an agonizing moment when Leon tried to pack his gunblade trunk under the bed, then instead moved it elsewhere.
All in all, the journey had been uneventful for the most part, save for the landing, which was a touch unpleasant. Axel decided Leon must not fly often, which though he was not to know it, was true.
He listened to the sounds of Leon leaving, then counted out several minutes to be sure the other man wasn’t coming back before coming out of his hiding spot. He shed his coat quickly, leaving himself in the black shirt and pants every Organization member had worn under their uniform. With the boots, he thought he looked a bit military, but it was better than the coat: it marked him as dangerous and was just too recognizable.
He stashed the coat behind a dumpster in the ship bay, musing to himself that he’d have to find himself a place to stay, then set to the task of finding out where Sora was. He figured that so long as he stayed off of the radar of Leon’s group, no one else would raise objection to his presence.
***
The incident with Axel in the Coliseum was currently far from Leon’s mind, but he was still in fact thinking about Nobodies. He’d been on business to the Destiny Islands and had dropped by the tournaments on the way home, due to the current situation in Radiant Garden: a sudden outbreak of Nobodies. Normally, the once-restoration committee, who was comprised of a team of excellent fighters and an extremely powerful magician had little trouble keeping what Heartless there were under their control and normally only saw Sora, Riku or Kairi when they were passing through for pleasure.
This time however was different, and he could hardly blame the residents of the world for their panic. Privately, Leon thought that they still could handle it without the help of the Keyblade master, but Aerith had suggested that they ask Sora anyway, not as an insult to Leon, Cloud and Yuffie’s skills, but because she felt that with Riku and Kairi away on their honeymoon, their friend might be feeling lonely.
It had seemed she’d been right, as Sora jumped on the chance to help. He could have done without the teasing that he was losing his skills, but then again, maybe it was just from listening to Aerith, the jibe had seemed forced. Leon had endured worse than friendly teasing, so he left it slide gracefully.
Spotting several of the offending Nobodies gliding along in the lower part of the town, Leon took a detour and dispatched them before returning to Merlin’s house. Sora was already there, sitting at the table drinking a glass of lemonade. Since it was half-gone, Aerith must have made it correctly this time and he helped himself.
“Welcome home.” The Keyblader offered, and Leon nodded his thanks.
“There were Dusks out there just now.”
“I’m afraid we’ve now got even bigger problems.” Aeris replied, and Sora nodded over the rim of his glass. “Cid and Merlin ran into a more powerful Nobody over by the Gummi hangar earlier today, while you were out. They were able to take it out together, and haven’t seen one since, but most of the crew are out right now issuing a warning. Cid’s in the back putting the defense systems back online.”
“Do they know what kind of Nobody it was?” Sora spoke up.
Aerith shook her head. “Not a clue. But it’s strange. Mostly, we just see Heartless and Dusks around.”
“I’ll go have a look tomorrow.” Sora promised. If you run into another one, try and remember whatever you can about it, so I can try and figure out what we’re dealing with.”
Leon nodded, but Yuffie and Cloud chose that moment to come back with Donald and Goofy in tow, so further discussion was put off while the reunion occurred.
“Didn’t think we’d be seeing you so soon after Riku and Kairi’s wedding!” Goofy smiled. “But, I guess they need our help here, huh?”
Donald elbowed the King’s knight in the side as he caught a look at Sora’s face. “Don’t you have any tact?” he gabbled in outrage. “Sora doesn’t want to talk about that right now obviously, He’s…”
“Fine!” Sora cut in, smiling. “No, really, I miss them both, but they’ll be home soon! It’s just a Honeymoon, not like they moved to a different world!”
The conversation continued after that, and although he participated, he wondered how ‘fine’ he really was. He’d always really liked Kairi, but had never done anything about it, finding himself tongue-tied and nervous when it came down to the idea of asking about a relationship. Then of course, they’d had their adventures and it got put off again in the importance of getting caught up with the school they’d missed and thinking about their futures. He didn’t blame either her or Riku for their relationship, he hadn’t given Kairi any reason to think he might want one and he’d always denied it when Riku asked about his feelings for her. Furthermore, these were two of his best friends. He loved them and if they made each other happy, that was what was most important.
Or so he had kept telling himself. It had all started when he and Riku had decided to continue fighting the Heartless. Kairi had insisted on joining them, now that she had a Keyblade too. It was impossible to refuse Kairi anything when she’d set her mind on something, and they’d agreed, though Sora had insisted she accompany one of the two of them at least the first few times and that she train with Riku. It just seemed logical, as he habitually fought with two Keyblades now, and Riku’s style would be easier for Kairi to learn. Then, the two of them had come back from their first job together laughing and unable to keep their hands off each other. The wedding had been announced later that same year. As stupid as it was, no matter what remonstrations Sora had given himself for even thinking along those lines, it was just that unfair. He was the hero so why didn’t he get the girl?
“…is that alright?”
“Earth to Sora!”
“Gawrsh, I think he’s zoned right out!”
“Huh?” Sora suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.
“Are you alright? You looked really deep in thought.” Aerith asked.
“He couldn’t be!” giggled Yuffie. “This is Sora we’re talking about!”
Swatting playfully at her, Sora frowned indignantly. “Hey!”
“I was saying,” Cloud repeated patiently, “that we’ll take turns tomorrow patrolling for Dusks. Your shift will be with Donald and myself. I’ll be going to the Bastion, Donald to the maw and you’ll stay in the town proper.”
This time Sora nodded. “Fine by me.”
The evening ended there abruptly with Aerith taking Sora’s earlier pondering as a sign of exhaustion, and suggested they all go to bed.
***
The Hollow Bastion crew hadn’t been kidding about their Nobody problem. There were Heartless too of course, but their number appeared oddly diminished compared to the Dusks that were floating around. The town itself was as a result deader than usual, with only a few people braving the infestation to go about their daily business.
As he set to work fighting, again Sora felt himself beginning to get a little tired. Dusks were notably more difficult to take down than their Heartless counterparts, but the complaint fled his mind as the prickly-looking Assassin Nobody burst from the ground. This must have been what Cid and Merlin had mentioned last night.
He still dispatched it with little trouble, sustaining a tiny cut on his shoulder that a mild cure spell took care of instantly.
That was when he heard the voice. “Why hello there, Sora.”
The Keyblader spun on the spot to gape at the person who’d somehow come up behind him. His mouth worked furiously but no sound managed to come out for a few moments. “You…it can’t be. It can’t be.”
“Oh yes yes, Sora. It’s me.”
Previous Chapter Here
Rating: PG-ish or T-ish K-ish, if you prefer.
Warnings/Pairings: Primarily Axel/Sora with implications of Axel/Roxas and Riku/Kairi. Spoilers for events in KH, CoM and the ending of KH2. Yaoi.
Disclaimer: Square and Disney's, not mine.
Summary: Narrowly escaping a dreadful eternity by making a deal with Hades, Lord of the Dead; Axel gets a second chance at existence...if he doesn't screw it up first.
Axel hadn't expected the battle to be easy in the first place, but even he found himself surprised at the intensity with which Leon fought. He was evidently determined to owe nothing to his opponent, and given the experiences that the residents of Radiant Garden had evidently had with Nobodies, he couldn't exactly blame him.
There was no time to think about that though, as Axel barely managed to dodge the gunblade when the soldier came barreling through his wall of fire and racing across the molten floor with little noticeable regard for either of Axel's most potent offenses. He had to end this, and quickly.
At the next strike, Axel twisted his chakram sideways, grinding the blade between two spokes. Leon's eyes went wide as he found himself suddenly unable to dislodge his weapon from his opponent's. In spite of thinking fast enough to free one hand in order to take a swing at the Nobody, Axel's boot caught him close-to in the middle of his stomach, and he went flying backwards as the air was forcibly expelled from his windpipe. Stepping forward, Axel rattled the blade free, and took a swipe at the disarmed Leon as he staggered to his feet.
He fell down dizzily, and didn't make another attempt to get up. The battle was over.
In spite of being quite badly hurt, it came as no surprise to Axel that the soldier had no apparent desire to accept any medical aid. He staggered to his feet on his own, shaking his head to clear the worst of the dizziness away and dragged himself off the battlefield. Dodging some congratulatory patrons of the events, Axel caught up with him casting a healing spell on himself in the hallways.
"What do you want?" Leon grumbled, rolling his shoulder experimentally.
Axel paused. He'd been so intent on earning the favour that he had failed to make specific plans. Mentioning Sora outright was a mistake and he doubted highly that Leon would willingly offer him passage with him to the Radiant Garden, promise or not. The soldier was a good person, but he wasn’t so naive or stupid that he would bring someone dangerous into his home without a lot of reason and tight security. Admitting his current weaknesses and disabilities or trying to explain his situation would like as not, be a big mistake as well. The best thing that Axel had going for him right now was the fact that he didn’t in fact have to give Leon information as he had promised. Leon had probably long decided he’d been lying when he’d said he wasn’t dead and Axel was suddenly quite certain he didn’t want to correct him.
No, information was probably the most marketable commodity right now. “I’m interested in knowing what happened at the end. With the Keyblader and the Superior and all that.”
“No one’s told you down here?” Leon asked. The hostility in his voice had lessened somewhat, and Axel knew his assumptions had been correct.
“Nope.”
It didn’t take Leon too long to relate what Sora himself had probably told him. If there had been any mention of his personal role in the proceedings, the fighter didn’t mention it. Axel listened patiently to the rundown that came to a close with Sora returning home. As predicted however, Leon continued the tale, unwittingly giving him those little spare tidbits of information that he deemed unimportant, but Axel lapped up. “So now, the three of them mostly want to continue fighting the Heartless, then try and train some new Keybladers up. Is that enough?”
That made things a little harder for Axel. If he didn’t know where Sora would most definitely be, it would be harder to track him down.
He smirked at Leon. “I think that clears things up. Well then. Thanks for holding up your end of our deal.”
Looking mildly offended at Axel’s unspoken insinuation about his talents, Leon gave a noncommittal grunt, and headed off. He waited until he’d left the arena proper before following him.
It was not hard to silently tail the soldier as he headed out of the Underworld. Leon was a strong man, confident in his own skills and such people were usually easy to creep up on, as they didn’t bother to sneak around themselves. Axel knew that Hades was watching his actions and would certainly be able to find loopholes in their contract as easily as he, so he had to watch the moral value of his choices. Taking a free ride on Leon’s Gummi ship was probably a pretty minor offense, so long as he didn’t kill the other man during the journey or steal anything.
Spotting his chance when Leon went around to the back of the ship to look at the engines and the gun mounts, Axel slipped inside, giving the interior a hurried once-over. Leon’s personal ship was a touch larger and more impressive than the average one-person craft considering he was close personal friends with Cid, but it was lucky for Axel too. Even so, there were few spots for him to hide that he could be sure wouldn’t be looked into during the course of the journey. Axel found himself wishing for Xigbar’s gravity manipulation so he could spend the journey on the ceiling. There was some living space in the back of the craft however, and Axel finally took the most extreme opposite, rolling under the low bed just as the soles of Leon’s boots came into his line of vision. Even though Axel wasn’t a terribly big man, the space was extremely cramped, but at least it meant that Leon wasn’t likely to be paranoid someone was under there.
He listened to some rustling, drawers opening and closing and held his breath for an agonizing moment when Leon tried to pack his gunblade trunk under the bed, then instead moved it elsewhere.
All in all, the journey had been uneventful for the most part, save for the landing, which was a touch unpleasant. Axel decided Leon must not fly often, which though he was not to know it, was true.
He listened to the sounds of Leon leaving, then counted out several minutes to be sure the other man wasn’t coming back before coming out of his hiding spot. He shed his coat quickly, leaving himself in the black shirt and pants every Organization member had worn under their uniform. With the boots, he thought he looked a bit military, but it was better than the coat: it marked him as dangerous and was just too recognizable.
He stashed the coat behind a dumpster in the ship bay, musing to himself that he’d have to find himself a place to stay, then set to the task of finding out where Sora was. He figured that so long as he stayed off of the radar of Leon’s group, no one else would raise objection to his presence.
***
The incident with Axel in the Coliseum was currently far from Leon’s mind, but he was still in fact thinking about Nobodies. He’d been on business to the Destiny Islands and had dropped by the tournaments on the way home, due to the current situation in Radiant Garden: a sudden outbreak of Nobodies. Normally, the once-restoration committee, who was comprised of a team of excellent fighters and an extremely powerful magician had little trouble keeping what Heartless there were under their control and normally only saw Sora, Riku or Kairi when they were passing through for pleasure.
This time however was different, and he could hardly blame the residents of the world for their panic. Privately, Leon thought that they still could handle it without the help of the Keyblade master, but Aerith had suggested that they ask Sora anyway, not as an insult to Leon, Cloud and Yuffie’s skills, but because she felt that with Riku and Kairi away on their honeymoon, their friend might be feeling lonely.
It had seemed she’d been right, as Sora jumped on the chance to help. He could have done without the teasing that he was losing his skills, but then again, maybe it was just from listening to Aerith, the jibe had seemed forced. Leon had endured worse than friendly teasing, so he left it slide gracefully.
Spotting several of the offending Nobodies gliding along in the lower part of the town, Leon took a detour and dispatched them before returning to Merlin’s house. Sora was already there, sitting at the table drinking a glass of lemonade. Since it was half-gone, Aerith must have made it correctly this time and he helped himself.
“Welcome home.” The Keyblader offered, and Leon nodded his thanks.
“There were Dusks out there just now.”
“I’m afraid we’ve now got even bigger problems.” Aeris replied, and Sora nodded over the rim of his glass. “Cid and Merlin ran into a more powerful Nobody over by the Gummi hangar earlier today, while you were out. They were able to take it out together, and haven’t seen one since, but most of the crew are out right now issuing a warning. Cid’s in the back putting the defense systems back online.”
“Do they know what kind of Nobody it was?” Sora spoke up.
Aerith shook her head. “Not a clue. But it’s strange. Mostly, we just see Heartless and Dusks around.”
“I’ll go have a look tomorrow.” Sora promised. If you run into another one, try and remember whatever you can about it, so I can try and figure out what we’re dealing with.”
Leon nodded, but Yuffie and Cloud chose that moment to come back with Donald and Goofy in tow, so further discussion was put off while the reunion occurred.
“Didn’t think we’d be seeing you so soon after Riku and Kairi’s wedding!” Goofy smiled. “But, I guess they need our help here, huh?”
Donald elbowed the King’s knight in the side as he caught a look at Sora’s face. “Don’t you have any tact?” he gabbled in outrage. “Sora doesn’t want to talk about that right now obviously, He’s…”
“Fine!” Sora cut in, smiling. “No, really, I miss them both, but they’ll be home soon! It’s just a Honeymoon, not like they moved to a different world!”
The conversation continued after that, and although he participated, he wondered how ‘fine’ he really was. He’d always really liked Kairi, but had never done anything about it, finding himself tongue-tied and nervous when it came down to the idea of asking about a relationship. Then of course, they’d had their adventures and it got put off again in the importance of getting caught up with the school they’d missed and thinking about their futures. He didn’t blame either her or Riku for their relationship, he hadn’t given Kairi any reason to think he might want one and he’d always denied it when Riku asked about his feelings for her. Furthermore, these were two of his best friends. He loved them and if they made each other happy, that was what was most important.
Or so he had kept telling himself. It had all started when he and Riku had decided to continue fighting the Heartless. Kairi had insisted on joining them, now that she had a Keyblade too. It was impossible to refuse Kairi anything when she’d set her mind on something, and they’d agreed, though Sora had insisted she accompany one of the two of them at least the first few times and that she train with Riku. It just seemed logical, as he habitually fought with two Keyblades now, and Riku’s style would be easier for Kairi to learn. Then, the two of them had come back from their first job together laughing and unable to keep their hands off each other. The wedding had been announced later that same year. As stupid as it was, no matter what remonstrations Sora had given himself for even thinking along those lines, it was just that unfair. He was the hero so why didn’t he get the girl?
“…is that alright?”
“Earth to Sora!”
“Gawrsh, I think he’s zoned right out!”
“Huh?” Sora suddenly snapped out of his thoughts.
“Are you alright? You looked really deep in thought.” Aerith asked.
“He couldn’t be!” giggled Yuffie. “This is Sora we’re talking about!”
Swatting playfully at her, Sora frowned indignantly. “Hey!”
“I was saying,” Cloud repeated patiently, “that we’ll take turns tomorrow patrolling for Dusks. Your shift will be with Donald and myself. I’ll be going to the Bastion, Donald to the maw and you’ll stay in the town proper.”
This time Sora nodded. “Fine by me.”
The evening ended there abruptly with Aerith taking Sora’s earlier pondering as a sign of exhaustion, and suggested they all go to bed.
***
The Hollow Bastion crew hadn’t been kidding about their Nobody problem. There were Heartless too of course, but their number appeared oddly diminished compared to the Dusks that were floating around. The town itself was as a result deader than usual, with only a few people braving the infestation to go about their daily business.
As he set to work fighting, again Sora felt himself beginning to get a little tired. Dusks were notably more difficult to take down than their Heartless counterparts, but the complaint fled his mind as the prickly-looking Assassin Nobody burst from the ground. This must have been what Cid and Merlin had mentioned last night.
He still dispatched it with little trouble, sustaining a tiny cut on his shoulder that a mild cure spell took care of instantly.
That was when he heard the voice. “Why hello there, Sora.”
The Keyblader spun on the spot to gape at the person who’d somehow come up behind him. His mouth worked furiously but no sound managed to come out for a few moments. “You…it can’t be. It can’t be.”
“Oh yes yes, Sora. It’s me.”
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