Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4968493.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Kingdom_Hearts
  Relationship:
      Axel/Roxas, Akuroku
  Character:
      Axel_(Kingdom_Hearts), Roxas_(Kingdom_Hearts), Cloud_(Kingdom_Hearts),
      Sora_(Kingdom_Hearts), Kairi_(Kingdom_Hearts), Namine, Yuna_(Final
      Fantasy_X_&_X-2), Tidus_(Kingdom_Hearts), Organization_XIII
  Additional Tags:
      Mpreg, Yaoi, Werewolves, Mates, Abandoned_Work_-_Unfinished_and
      Discontinued
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-10-10 Chapters: 19/19 Words: 52987
****** Bruises and Bitemarks ******
by Leven_the_Valkyrie
Summary
     Every fairytale says to stay away from the Big Bad Wolf. To bad Roxas
     never read fairytales. AkuRoku. Mpreg. DISCONTINUED/BEING REWRITTEN
***** The Wolf *****
Once upon a time on a cold fall day Roxas was laying in a pile of leaves he
just raked up. He was tired and wanted to do nothing but watch clouds move
across the blue sky. It was the quiet, peaceful moments like this that Roxas
loved.
But living where he did moments like this didn't last long, "Oh Roxasss!" said
a blond sat up so he could properly glare at his younger sister. Naminé didn't
even flinch since she always got the same look from the oldest Jecht kid,
"Mommy told me to come get you for dinner."
Once Naminé was done relaying the message she turned on her heels and walked
back into the house. Roxas got up with a huff and slowly followed her. Roxas
was the only one out of his three siblings that liked the outdoors the most.
But all too soon he reached the door and reluctantly went inside.
It wasn't that Roxas didn't like his home, in fact he loved it, but he just his
family was to big for their small house. He lived in a 2 story house with three
bedrooms and one bathroom. His family consist of his parents, Cloud his older
brother, Sora his twin, Naminé his little sister, and Uncle Auron.
Once he entered the home he was greeted by the smell of tomato sauce and the
yelling of Cloud and Sora fighting, probably over why so-and-so got more food
then the other. Roxas rolled his eyes and took an empty seat between Auron and
Cloud and reached over for the bowl of pasta.
"So kids," Yuna Jecht spoke up, "How was school?" Yuna was young. Her and her
husband, Tidus, ad been high school sweethearts and had Cloud when they were 17
years old. Nether finished school so Yuna could stay home and take care of
Cloud while Tidus went into the working world so he could get enough money to
give Yuna a proper wedding and so he could take care of his family. If it
wasn't for Auron's help they probably would be out in the streets now. So long
story short the Ject's were strict when it came to school and dating.
Sora stopped his bickering with Cloud and gave his mother a big grin, "It was
AWSOME! We had a sub in chem so we didn't have to take Mr. Vexen's test from
Hell. OH and-"
"I bet you didn't even study." Auron's gruff voice cut through Sora's more
chipper one. Sora closed his mouth and sunk in his seat.
Yuna was about to lecture her son but was stopped by Tidus, "Aw, come on Yuna,
he can only be a kid once so let him live a little." This wasn't the best move
to make. Yuna's attention was moved from Sora to her husband.
And thus the fighting begins.
Roxas picked up his food and went to his room which he shared with his
brothers; it also happened to be the basement. Once he was down there he
grabbed his homework and started it. He wasn't an A student but he did well
enough so he wouldn't have to get lectured by Yuna.
A hour later heavy footsteps came down the stairs. Thinking it was one of his
brothers Roxas ignored it and continued with his math homework, "You're using
the wrong formula." Roxas jumped a little. H turned his head and saw his uncle
looking over his shoulder. The blond doubled checked the problem and saw that
indeed it was wrong.
"Did you just come down here to tutor me?"
Auron just chuckled and walked in front of Roxas so he could lean agents the
wall and was beside the desk, "No. I just wanted to tell you that your life is
your story. Don't let anyone else other then you write it." With that said
Auron left the basement leaving a very confused Roxas
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas was walking around town after school with his best friends. Hayner was
walking beside him and talking about how unfair the math teacher was or
something like that, Roxas wasn't really paying attention. Pence and Olette
were walking a few paces behind them and were whispering to each other.
"Lets go get some ice cream!" Hayner exclaimed and pumped his fist in the air,
"Last one there's has to pay!" Then he started to run in the direction of the
ice cream shop. Everyone followed with Pence in last. Roxas was in the lead
till something caught is attention.
It was more like a person then a thing. He was someone Roxas had never seen
before in the small town. He was really tall with bright red hair that looked
like a hedgehog. The stranger seemed to noticed that he was being watched and
turned and stared back at the blond.
Roxas felt his jaw drop. The man's eyes were a beautiful shade of green and
underlined with unusual upside down purple triangles. He grinned showing off
white teeth; his canine were long and looked like fangs.
The stranger started walking towards him and to not make himself look more like
a fool Roxas turned and ran to where his friends disappeared to. He caught up
to them right as Pence walked into the store.
"Roxas what happened? I thought you were in front of me."
"I...ummm...I saw something."
"Sure something huh?" Hayner walked out of the store and nudged Roxas in the
ribs, "Wanna go ask her out after you by my ice cream?"
Olette's hands flew to her mouth to suppress her giggling, "Aww that's so cute!
What dos she look like?"
Roxas payed for the sea-salt ice cream and walked out of the store ignoring his
friends.
~X~x~X~x~
"Roxas can you do me a favor?" Yuna approached her son with a big smile. When
Roxas nodded she continued, "When you finish your homework can you go to your
grandfather's house? He needs someone to mow his back yard and I know how much
you love working out doors."
Roxas sighed and got up, "I can go now. I only have some reading to do." H made
to grab his jacket but was stopped by his mom grabbing it.
"I really wish you wouldn't wear so much black. How about you wear that red
hoodie Naminé got you for Christmas last year?" She didn't wait for her son's
reply and walked back upstairs with the black jacket in hand.
Roxas walked over to his dresser and dug through the draws and started to fling
cloths out and scattered them all over the floor not caring about the mess he
was making. He just couldn't remember where he put that hoodie at, "Sora!"
Roxas yelled, "Have you seen my red hoodie?"
After a few seconds of silence Roxas heard Sora's muffled response from the
upper floor. He walked to the other side of the room to his bed, "Why would it
be here?" the blond asked himself but got on his knees and started to sort
through the junk under his bed.
The hoodie was found, to Roxas' surprise, right where Sora said it was. He put
it on and left the house wanted to get the work done before it was dark and ran
across town. He was almost there when it started to rain.
"Shit!" Roxas pulled the hood up and kept running. It started raining harder
and it would be pointless to work now but the teen was closer to his
grandfather's house then his own. With any luck he would be able to stay the
night and get away from his brothers' snoring.
Roxas was passing the forest that surrounded the small town when he saw a flash
of red. Stopping in his tracks the now drenched blond saw the same redhead he
saw earlier that day.
"Well well what do we have here?" The redhead walked out of the shadows the
frost provided and and approached Roxas, "My name's Axel. Better memorize it
'cuz I'm only telling you once." Roxas couldn't help but notice the crooked
smile Axel wore, it was like he didn't even notice the rain.
"My name's Roxas. I really need to get going. Nice meeting you Alex."
Axel's smile turned into a sneer, "Thought I told you kid," He grabbed Roxas'
wrist and pulled him closer, "Name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Now Roxas, care to tell me
where you're going?"
Roxas looked around to see if anyone was around to help him get away from the
crazy man but due to the heavy rain the streets were deserted, "I'm on my way
to Braska's house."
Axel wrapped his free arm around Roxas' waist bring their drenched bodies
closer, "That's pretty far from here would you like me to escort you?"
"No, it's fine." Roxas tried to push himself away but Axel was stronger then
him and wouldn't let Roxas go, "Let me go asshole!"
Axel leaned down so his mouth was by Roxas ear, "As you wish," Before Axel
released the blond tho he bit Roxas' neck drawing blood. He let go of the small
boy and started to head into the forest, "Remember Little Red stay on the
path."
Roxas watched Axel disappear and rubbed the now bruise on his neck. What the
fuck is his deal? Ignoring the storm, he started to walk in the direction that
the taller man was going in. Why would he go here? There was a bright streak
that went across the sky followed by a loud rumble of thunder, "God dammit! I
should go back."
When he turned around to go back the way he came and only found the path
blocked by a tangled thicket of rose bushes, "W-what?" The rain caused a thick
mist to wash over the area. After a quick scan of the area Roxas saw a trail of
blue roses and realized that he could only walk foreword.
Swallowing his fear Roxas pulled his hood off seeing how he was already
drenched and the hood wasn't protecting him from the rain anymore. He followed
the trail of roses and took note that nothing in the forest looked dead. In
fact it didn't even look like the autumn season had effected the plants,
everything was still green and there wasn't any leaves on the ground.
Roxas was walking for what felt like miles when the rain started to get
heavier. Roxas was soaked to the bone and was completely numb. The only thing
he could feel was the bite mark on his neck which was starting to burn.
A while latter the rain was still falling and Roxas knew that he should look
for shelter. Mentally preparing himself for danger ahead Roxas veered off the
path and headed into the mist. The moment he left the path there was a loud
crack behind him. Spinning on his foot Roxas saw the path he was just on
disappear.
"What the hell is going on?" Roxas screamed.
Not knowing where to go Roxas picked a random direction and continued on his
trek.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas awoke to a soft giggle. The first thing that h saw was a girl who was
around the same age as Naminé. She had short red-brown hair and blue sparkling
eyes.
"Where am I? Who are you?" Roxas said while sitting up and looking around. It
appeared that he was in a cave. He was stripped to his boxers and his clothes
were hanging by a fire close to the mouth of the cave.
The young girl giggled again, "I found you sleeping out by the lake. You didn't
look comfortable so I brought you to mine and my brother's place" Roxas eyed
the girl. She lived in a cave in the middle of nowhere? "Oh you asked my name
didn't you? I'm Kairi! I'm 7 years old and my favorite color is pink-"
"Look what the cat dragged in." A cool voice said over Kairi's monolog. Roxas
looked to where the voice came from and his eyes doubbled in size. Axel was
standing at the cave entrance, "I thought I told you to stay on the path Roxy."
Axel flashed Roxas a Cheshire cat like grin that Roxas returned with a scowl.
Kairi looked at Axel and then to Roxas and back to Axel with a confused look on
her face, "Big brother, you know him?" She walked over to him and pulled on the
hem on his shirt.
The older boy knelt down so his face was leveled with his sister's and
whispered something in her ear so Roxas couldn't hear. Kairi's hands flew up to
her mouth in shock and her eyes widened, "You're not lying right big brother?"
Axel shook his head no. Kairi ran over to Roxas. When she reached him she ran a
tiny hand over the bite mark. Roxas pulled away from her and hissed in pain.
The mark still burned, "Oh it's true!" The little girl cried. She bounced in
place with excitement, "So is he going to live with us?"
"What the hell is going on?" Roxas yelled. He stood up and walked towards the
fire to get his clothes. He ignored Axel's wolf whistle as he passed him and
started to get dressed.
"You're big brother's mate." Kairi said bluntly with a huge smile.
Roxas almost fell when he heard that but caught himself, "H-his what!"
Kairi giggled and continued talking as if Roxas never spoke, "Can we go visit
the Outerlands? Oh it's going to be so nice to have a family again." The blond
was starting to get amused by the little girls short attention span.
Roxas blocked out Kairi's on going questions and finished getting dressed. He
was pulling his shirt on when he suddenly felt light headed. Groaning he leaned
against the wall and closed his eyes.
Axel looked over towards Roxas and saw him starting to slide down the wall,
"Shit." He ran over and grabbed Roxas before he fell, "Shit! Kairi run down to
the lake and bring back water." Kairi gave Axel a blank stair and watched him
carefully pick Roxas up and place him on the heap of blankets that the blond
slept in earlier.
The redhead looked up at his sister and growled at her making snap out of
whatever was going on in her head and bolted out of the cave.
Axel sat net to the unconscious boy and brushed Roxas' blond bangs out of his
eyes. His hand found it's way into Roxas' hair and he ran it through the soft
spiky hair a couple of times before resting it on the dark bruise on the boy's
neck.
The two boys stayed that way till Kairi returned. He placed the bucket of water
by him and scurried away to let Axel tend to Roxas in piece. Axel ripped one of
the many blankets to shreds and soaked them in the water. He gently rubbed the
wet cloth over Roxas' face before laying it across his forehead.
When the sun started to set Kairi came back and sat next to Axel, "What's wrong
wit him?"
"He caught the flu and I doubt the bite's making it any better." Axel's emerald
eyes never left Roxas' face. Kairi reached out a tiny hand a placed it over one
of Roxas', "I think he has to go back to the Outterlands for a while."
The young girl looked up at her brother and smilled, "But he's going to get
better and come back right?"
"Right Kairi. Now go to bed." Kairi stood up kissed Axel on the cheek and
walked farther back in the cave.
When Axel knew Kairi was a sleep he stood up picked Roxas up and carried him
outside. He looked around to make sure no one was around before he started his
journey to the Outterlands.
It was close to midnight when Axel reached his destination. He carefully layed
Roxas on the porch and whispered, "I'll come back for you." Before banging on
the front door of the big house and ran.
The front lights turned on and the door opened reviling a man who had graying
hair, "Yes? Who is..Roxas?" Braska knelt down to his grandson and look around.
He could swear he saw something red run into the forest.
***** Black Shit *****
Roxas awoke with a pounding headache. When it started to subside he tried to
sit up but was stopped by a hand pushing him back down.
"Don't move. You're very sick." A kind voice said above Roxas. He obeyed and
snuggled more into the blankets feeling his eyes tart to close.
When the blond's eyes opened again he heard voices on the other side of the
closed door that lead into the hall.
"I think he's been in Canta Forest. He has a Lycathrop mark on him."
"That's not possible; humans can't leave that forest once they enter and
Lycathrops don't let their pry just get away."
"Well if he's here then one of those discussing creatures are bound to find
there way here and get him Braska you should go. If anything were to happen to
you then this village would suffer."
"I can't leave my grandson to suffer. I'll risk my own life to make sure
nothing happens to my family."
Roxas was confused. What was a Lycathrop and why was he in danger? Before he
could get up the door opened and Braska walked in with Auron right behind him.
Both had a curious look on their faces. Everyone in the room was lost in their
own thoughts for a few moments till Braska spoke.
"Roxas you have been sleeping for two days. How do you feel?
"F-fine Grandfather." Not being able to keep his curiosity to himself anymore
the young boy asked, "What's a Lycathrope?" Roxas sat up and rested his back
against the head bored.
Braska opened his mouth but before he could speak Auron interrupted him, "There
something to be feared. They have the looks of a normal human but the instincts
of a wolf. With that they can shift from man to beast at will." He took a step
closer to Roxas and looked at him in the eye, "IF you are ever bitten by one
there's a chance that you'll go through a horrible transformation and become
one of those beast."
Roxas viably shivered at that. But never broke eye contact with his uncle. But
that didn't last long because he suddenly got lightheaded and felt something
start to crawl up his throat. Needless to say he barfed. The stench was
horrible and it was black as tar. The pain was so unbearable that Roxas started
to scream.
"Dear God it's true." Braska's face paled, "Roxas did you get bitten?" The
blond just nodded. His throat was sore and it felt like it was on fire. The bed
sank behind him and a hand started to rub his back, "I'm sorry Roxas, but you
can't go home now."
Roxas turned and looked at his grandfather with big blue eyes. He looked
scared, "What?" His voice was barley above a whisper but both men could hear
him.
"Lycathropes are meant to stay in Canta Forest. They are to dangerous to be let
lose." Braska studied his grandson's face and saw worry in his eyes.
"I won't be able to see my family or friends again?"
"No."
There was a sharp pain in Roxas' gut and he doubled over and grunted in pain.
White spots danced behind his eyes. The pain in his stomach started to spread
throughout his entire body. Roxas' body started to convulse. Auron cursed and
pushed Roxas flat on his back. Braska stood to the side of the bed and started
to chant an ancient prayer.
There was a loud crash down the hall followed by heavy thumps that were coming
closer to the door. The door flew open and a familiar redhead sashayed into the
room wearing his signature smirk.
Roxas looked into those green eyes and blacked out.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel never ventured far after he left his blond. He knew it would only be a
matter of time before Roxas would go through his first change and Axel didn't
want him to go through it with a ignorant human, he might get hurt.
He spent the majority of the time stalking around the property and exploring
the nearby forest. He found some good places to hunt but never killed anything.
The redhead wanted to save the helpless animals for Roxas' first hunt.
It was close to the end of the third day and Axel was napping under the shade
of an oak tree when he heard screaming coming from the house. Axel knew it was
Roxas.
Axel ran towards the house at full speed. He tried the front door but it was
locked. By now the screaming stopped and the silence made the redhead think
that something happened to his mate. Trying not to panic Axel sprinted to the
yard and found the biggest rock he could, went back to the house and chucked
the rock at one of the windows closest to where he heard the screaming came
from.
Once in the house Axel tried to control himself and walked calmly into the
room. The first thing Axel saw was the terrified blond. He was being forced on
his back by a buff middle-aged man.
When Axel saw Roxas lose contentiousness he sprung into action. He pushed the
man off of his mate and growled at him till the man backed off. He flipped
Roxas on his stomach and rubbed his back.
"Who are you?" A quiet voice said on the other side bed. Axel lifted his head
to regard the other man in the room. He was old and had long graying hair.
Before Axel could answer Roxas woke up screaming in agony. He arched up so he
was on his hands and knees. A small bulge was starting to form where the
blond's spine should have ended and his ears started to get more pointed. Axel
carefully removed Roxas' clothes but left his boxers on.
When Roxas' screams died down Axel answered Braska's question, "I'm his mate."
Just as the words left his mouth Axel was pulled from Roxas and shoved against
a wall. He was pinned between the wall and the middle-aged man, "So you're the
one who did this." He stated more then questioned and gestured to Roxas with
his free hand.
Roxas was still on his hands and knees but they were now formed into something
that looked like paws. He had a bushy tail coming out of one of the legs of his
boxers and large fuzzy ears.
Braska was at Auron's side and tried to pry him off the redhead, "This is not
the time Auron. We need to get Roxas out of here and he's the only person who
can help."
Auron released Axel but before Axel could move he was punched in the gut and
doubled over in pain, "I never want to see your face again." Auron growled in
Axel's ear before grabbing Braska by the arm and guiding him out of the room.
Once they were gone Axel went around the room and gathered Roxas' scattered
clothes then went back to the bed and petted the now sleeping wolf in the bed.
Roxas woke up when he felt the warm hand on his head. He tried to stand but
failed. Axel laughed a little before picking the blond creature up and started
to walk outside, "It'll take yea a while to get your hunting legs." Roxas just
whimpered in reply.
When Axel made it to a small clearing in the woods he gently placed Roxas in
the dirt. The young wolf didn't move for the longest time. He kept his head on
the ground in between his front paws. Axel's heart melted at the sight.
"Roxas," Said blond didn't move or gave any sign that he hard Axel speak but he
continued anyway, "I'm sorry if your upset but I'm not sorry for what I did."
The wolf at Axel's feet started to growl at him, "Look, I know this is all new
to you but it was the only thing I could do to make you stay with me."
Roxas didn't like that. He stood up on wobbly legs and growled at Axel, "That's
it! I can't stand you! What makes you think you can just ruin my life like
this?" The fur on his back was standing up and his teeth were bared, "Because
of you I can't go home. I can't see my family ever again!" Roxas turned away
from Axel and ran away as fast as he could. He stumbled a few times but after a
few minuets Roxas was running faster then he has ever gone before. But Roxas
didn't get far before his path was blocked by a red wolf.
"Move Axel!"
"And where will you go? If you come with me you can stay with me and Kari." The
red wolf started to move closer to the blond one.
"Fuck you!" Roxas walked past Axel but before he got far Axel jumped on him and
pinned his back to the ground with his teeth by the blonds jugular, "I know you
don't believe me but you were meant to be mine. Come with me." Axel lifted his
muzzle from the others throat. Now that he calmed down Roxas couldn't help but
notice a faint sweet smell coming off of the red wolf.
Blue met green, "Can I ask you a question first? Why me? We don't even know
each other."
Axel got off Roxas and started to slowly walk back to where the clearing where
he left their clothes. When he was sure Roxas was following he started talking,
"When you first saw me you can't tell me that you didn't notice it?"
Roxas just scuffed, "What? Who wouldn't notice someone with your hair or
tattoos."
"Please I saw that look on your face. And you didn't have to follow me into the
forest. In fact I told you not to!" Axel sent Roxas a cold glare.
They walked in silence till they got back to the clearing. Roxas didn't notice
how far he'd ran. The blond was the first to kill the silence, "So...How do I
change back?"
"It's easy, you just have to remember what it felt like being human. Remember
what walking on two legs was like, having hands, you know things like that." To
prove his pint Axel started to turn from his wolf form back into his human one.
His hind legs changed first and his tail looked like it went up into his back.
His muzzle sunk back in his face. Axel's red fur traveled up to the top of his
head and formed into his long fiery hair.
Roxas blushed and looked away, when Axel was back to being human he was
completely naked. Axel didn't look like he minded tho. He took to staring at
Roxas with a goofy looking grin on his face, "Come on, give it a try."
Roxas looked down and pawed at the ground. He didn't want Axel to see him
naked, "Can you give me some privacy first?"
Axel grin got bigger, "Aww what's wrong Roxy? Are you embarrassed to be in the
buff?" Axel's response was a low growl, "We're both guys so it's nothing I
haven't seen before. And what's the worst that can happen?"
The only thing Axel could here coming from the blond was a mumble of "Something
bad always happens when someone says that." But he closed his eyes and imagined
what Axel told him to and in a few seconds he could feel his body do exactly
what happened to Axel's did. It felt weird but it didn't hurt as much as it did
from when he turned into a wolf.
When the transformation was over Roxas hared a long whistle, "Nice view Roxy!"
"Shut the hell up!" Roxas' face felt as red as Axel's hair. He walked over to
the pile of clothes and started to tug his boxers on with much protest from
Axel, who was still naked. The blond threw Axel's clothes at said redhead, "Put
something on. You making me sick." Roxas then tuned his back to Axel and
continued putting his clothes on.
Axel's green eyes lit up with amusement as he walked up behind the other boy
and dropped his arms around Roxas and pulled him into a lose hug. Roxas
couldn't help but get a whiff of that sweet smell again, "How can you say that?
Look your getting all hot and bothered right here." Axel's left hand traveled
down Roxas' body and rested on the young boy's crotch. Roxas spun around and
slapped Axel across the face. The smack was so loud that it echoed around them.
"Don't ever fucking do that again!" Roxas paused for a second, "You know what?
On second thought, just stay away from me." With that said Roxas stormed out of
the clearing never looking back.
When the blond was out of sight Axel started to tug on his clothes and said
with a grin, "Looks like I got myself a feisty one." When he was done getting
dressed the redhead slowly made his way in the same direction as Roxas.
~X~x~X~x~
It was night time when Roxas got to the only place he wanted to be. He wanted
to go home and be nowhere near that stupid perverted redhead. Roxas walked up
the path leading to the front door but before he could tough the doorknob there
was a sharp tug on his shoulder pulling him back and turning him. Roxas was
face to face with a pissed off looking Auron.
"I thought I told you not to come here." Auron said lowly.
Before Roxas could say anything the front door opened. The porch flooded with
light. A pissed off Yuna stood in the doorway, "Roxas Micheal Jecht, where have
you been? It's a school night!" Her eyes went to Auron, "And you! I sent you to
get him from father's house days ago! Why haven't you contacted us?
Roxas saw his mother's anger shift from him to his uncle so he carefully snuck
past Yuna and went up to his sister's room. The only source of light was a
small nightlight that was across from the sleeping girl's bed. Roxas closed the
door and walked over to Naminé. He sat next to her and stroked her golden hair.
Out of all of his siblings Roxas always felt closer to his little sister. The
girl stirred and turned so she was now facing him. Her bright blue eyes were
open and she wore a wide smile.
"Your finally back." She whispered.
"Yes Nami."
Naminé sat up and gave Roxas a bone crushing hug, "Are you going to leave me
again?"
Roxas smiled a little and rubbed her back, "I'm sorry."
***** Heartless *****
When Axel saw the last light go off in the house he made his move. He crept up
to the house and picked the front door lock with a pocket knife he bought
earlier that day after Roxas ran away from him. When he heard a click singling
the door was now unlocked he quietly entered the house.
Roxas' scent overflowed Axel's senses.
Green eyes brightened as they adjusted to the darkness of the house. Axel
walked around the house looking for his blond. H noticed his scent getting
stronger as he neared a door. When he opened it there was a flight of stairs
going down and the lighting got darker the farther down they went. Axel started
is descent down them, his green eyes glowing.
When he reached the bottom he saw two figures, one on a small twin bed and the
other on a queen. Axel ignored the twin bed since Roxas' scent wasn't as strong
there.
The boy in the bed looked a lot like Roxas but his hair was a different color
and his scent wasn't as sweet. The redhead frowned and growled in the back of
his throat.
The brunet's eyes opened and zoned in on the green orbs in front of him. He
wanted to scream but Axel quickly covered his mouth, "Shh...I'm not here for
you." Sora's seemed to calm a little, "Can you tell me where Roxas is?" Sora
shook his head. He hasn't seen his twin in days. Axel sighed and let go of the
boy and made a quick escape back up the stairs.
Back on the main floor Axel closed the basement door and pulled a nearby coffee
table up to it for good measure. Once he was sure he was in the clear Axel
continued his search.
Doing a quick once over of the first floor showed the redhead that Roxas wasn't
there so he headed up to the second floor. He started to walk down the hall
when he caught his mate's scent again. It was coming from a white door that was
covered in butterfly and flower stickers. Roxas is in there. Axel opened the
door as carefully as possible.
The room was small, Axel could easily get to the other side with only a few
steps. The floor was clean with the exception of are supplies. On the bed there
were two figures in deep sleep.
The male was on his back with his arms wrapped protectively around a small
blond girl. Axel growled in frustration. To get to Roxas he'd have to remove
the girl. But how? He couldn't hurt her; but the looks of it she was someone
important. If he woke her up she'd probably scream.
Then Axel got an idea.
He would hide in the closet and grab Roxas when he or the girl got up. Roxas
wouldn't be able to fight back if he wasn't expecting the redhead to already be
there.
Axel was in deep thought and didn't notice a pair of blue eyes open. He turned
and started to walk to the closet when he felt a tug on the back of his shirt,
"Please," Said a quiet voice, "Help him."
Axel was turned to the small blond girl. Her big blue eyes were filled with
tears. Axel couldn't help but to feel a little sympathy for her. She looked
like Kairi. A quick glance to Roxas showed him that the blond boy was still in
a deep sleep.
"He seems to be fi-"
"HE'S NOT!"
Axel was taken aback by the small girl's outburst. The room grew into an
awkward silence before the girl started to cry. Now Axel couldn't stand to see
his little sister upset so how could he let her look alike cry? He gently
stroked her hair till her crys turned into soft whimpers.
"Don't worry, I'll take good care of him." Axel reached past the girl and
brushed Rroxas' bangs out of his hair. What would it take to make him see that
they were meant for each other?
"Axel?" The redhead took his eyes off of Roxas and gave the girl a confused
look. Her face heated up and she looked away, "Roxas told me everything." She
brought her eyes back up to Axel and the sadness that was there was replaced by
something like determination, "Hurt him and I'll hunt you down and kill you
myself."
Axel's eyes widened and he had to cover his math to suppress a laugh. Was she
serious? "So what's the name of the world's best huntress?"
"Naminé?" Axel and Naminé broke their eye contact and looked at a drowsy Roxas.
He had his arms stretched above his head and his back was arched. Axel couldn't
help but look at the blond's slim waist and a light trail of hair that
disappeared in his pants. Roxas opened his eyes and frowned when he saw green
eyes starring back at him, "Axel! Leave me the hell alone!"
Roxas shot out of the bed and pushed Naminé behind him. With his teeth bared at
the intruder. Axel just stood there unaffected by Roxas. Naminé stood behind
her brother with wide eyes and her hands were clenched in the back of Roxas'
shirt. She didn't want him to start a fight.
"Roxas would you look at what your ding?' Axel gave a lazy wave towards the
frightened girl, "You don't belong here anymore." Roxas backed off and turned
to look at his sister. She was terrified.
With a sigh Roxas looked back at Axel, "Do I have to stay with you?" He could
never forgive Axel for what he did to him.
Axel's eyes narrowed, "That's not funny Roxas. You know nothing about our
world." Axel advanced towards the other male and pushed him down on the bed.
Naminé's presents completely forgotten. Axel bend down so his mouth was by the
now fading bruise he left, "Who knows what kind of creature will eat you up."
The taller man stood up and was by the door in a blink of an eye, "You can come
with me or die."
"Roxas," The small voice brought Naminé's presents back to the two guys,
"Please go with him." Roxas felt a tug at his heart from the sight of his
younger sister.
He looked away from her and back at Axel, "Can I at least say goodbye to my
family?" Axel gave him a small nod and walked out of the room. Roxas faced his
sister, "Nami, I'm so sorry."
Naminé pulled her brother towards her and buried her face in his shirt, "P-
promise me that you'll come visit." She pulled away, tears were running down
her pail face but she had a smile on her face.
Roxas bend down and kissed her forehead, "I promise I'll always come back when
you need me." with that Roxas left the room and walked down the hall towards
his parents room. Axel followed close behind him. Roxas opened the door it was
dark and the only noise was the sound of his father's snoring.
The young boy approached his parents bed and knelt beside his mother. Yuna was
on her side and her hair was falling in her face. Roxas brushed it behind her
car and saw her sleeping face.
All of Yuna's stress from the day vanished on her sleeping face. Roxas felt a
twinge of guilt at the thought of how much his mother would worry over his
disappearance. After a few moments Roxas stood up and kissed his mother on the
cheek and left the room.
"So ready to leave yet?" Axel appeared on Roxas' left side. He put hi arm
around the short boy's shoulder only to have it shrugged off.
"No. I want to see my brothers and get some things." Roxas walked down the
stairs and towards the door that lead to the basement. His eye twitched at the
sight of the table in front of it and glared at Axel who just shrugged and him.
Roxas huffed and moved the table out of his way, "Stay up here and don't wake
anyone up." He started walked down the stairs.
Axel scoffed, "Just hurry up I want to get back to the den before Kairi wakes
up." Roxas mumbled a "whatever" and opened the door.
He was surprised to see the lights on. He could hear Sora's voice, "Cloud I'm
serious! Wake up!" Roxas quickly made his way down the stairs and saw his twin
shaking his half awake older brother and screaming in his ear.
"Sora what are you doing to Cloud?"
Sora stopped what he was doing and starred blankly at his twin, "Roxas! What
happened? Where's that creep?" The brunet ran over to the blond and almost
knocked him over with a bone crushing hug.
Roxas some how managed to push Sora off of him, "First of all Sora, quit
screaming. Secondly, that so called 'creep' came to pick me up because-"
"You actually know him? Who is he- OUCH!"
Sora was shut up by a hit to the back of his head, supplied by Cloud of course,
"Will you shut the hell up!" Cloud turned his attention to Roxas, "So is this
guy your boyfriend or something?"
Roxas felt his face heat up. His brothers were the only people who knew about
his sexuality. His parent's wouldn't approve of it, "Shut up Cloud! You don't
know what's going on."
A grin went across Cloud's face and he placed his hands on his hips and leaned
foreword so his face was leveled with Roxas', "Well then Roxas enlighten me."
Sora stood to the side of his brothers and was at a loss of words for once.
"H-he's..." Roxas didn't know what to tell them. He damn well wasn't going to
tell them that he was now a Lycathrop or that Axel was the one responsible for
it.
Cloud stood back up, "Oh I get it now. Your running away together! So is he the
prince of some faraway kingdom and you can't be together or something?" Roxas
punched his brother in the arm and made his way over to the closet to grab a
duffel bag and started throwing random clothes in it. Cloud and Sora's jaws
dropped, "You can't mean that I was right?"
Roxas zipped up the bag and glared at them, "Yes Cloud you were right." He
pushed pasted his brothers but before he could make it to the stairs his wrist
was grabbed and he was spun around to face Sora.
He looked upset, "Roxas you know you don't have to do this!"
Roxas adverted his eyes, "Yes I do."
"Bullshit! You can't even look me in the eye." Sora put his hands on both of
Roxas' shoulders and started to shake him, "Roxas don't go! You'll regret it!"
Roxas shook his had and pushed his brother off of him and made his way back up
to Axel.
~X~x~X~x~
The duo got to the edge of the forest when the moon started to lower. It would
be morning in a few hours. Nether Axel or Roxas have spoken since they left the
Jecht house.
Before they could walk into the forest Roxas hesitated and took a few steps
back. Axel gave him a questioning look. When he saw the sad look in blue eyes
Axel got a sudden feeling of helplessness. He could deal with a crying little
girl but a teenaged boy?
When they made it into the forest Axel stopped Roxas, "We can't go any farther
tonight."
Roxas glanced over at the redhead and shrugged, "Whatever. But didn't you want
to get back to Kairi?"
"Unless you want to change into a wolf and run like hell to avoid the
Heartless. Damn those things are horrible. And to tell you the truth I'm tired
so looks like we're camping for the night." Roxas looked around and tried to
find one of these 'Heartless' but threes and wild flowers were the only things
around them. It surprised the blond how well he could see with the full moon as
the only source of light, "Enjoying the night vision?" Roxas only nodded his
head. He felt like he was seeing in HD. Axel chuckled and snuck up behind the
unsuspecting blond. When he was practically on top of him Axel pounced on him.
The two of them tumbled to the ground and Roxas landed on top of his attacker
with his face buried in the redhead's chest. The sweet smell filled his noise
and he couldn't help but feel his body catch on fire from it. He jumped when he
felt a large hand on the small of his back. Axel's other hand found it's way
under Roxas' chin and lifted it up so their faces were inches apart. Blue eyes
slowly started to close. He didn't know what came over him, as much as he hated
the taller male he felt the need to be closer to him. It had to be that smell.
Right before their lips could meet a sound came from the bushes that were next
to them. Roxas pulled away from the man underneath him and crawled away from
the intruder. A frustrated Axel stood up and walked towards the bush and giving
it a hard kick. A squeak came from the bush and a black puddle crawled out from
under it. The puddle started to form itself into something that resembled an
overgrown ant. Axel growled while he started to strip, "Damn Heartless." When
Roxas saw what Axel was doing he blushed and buried his face in his knees so he
wouldn't see the other man naked.
When Axel was fully changed he charged at the Shadow Heartless and dug his
teeth in its throat. When he tasted the bitter taste of it's blood he let go of
it and started to claw at its torso with his front claws. When he felt the body
go limp he steped back and watched as the creater slowly started to disinagrate
and leave a heart behind that slowly raised in the night sky.
The wolf made his way over to the boy and nudged him with his muzzle till Roxas
looked up at him. Roxas gasp at the sight of Axel. His fur was clumped together
in places and he was covered in black blood. The blond didn't know what came
over him but he was worried about Axel, "Did you get hurt?" He extended his
left hand and ran it through the red wolf's fur checking for cuts.
Axel shook his head and licked Roxas' cheeks -to which Roxas grimaced to- "I'm
fine. Now go to sleep. If anymore Heartless come around I'll be here to protect
you." The red wolf walked in circles and laid down and motioned with his head
for Roxas to come closer. The blond numbly did what ther other wanted. When he
was close enough Axel moved his head till it was by Roxas' shirt sleave and
pulled him down till he was practically laying on top of Axel again.
Axel seemed happy with it and closed his eyes to sleep. Roxas tried to sleep
but his mind was overflowing with questions.
***** Birthday Girl *****
Roxas woke when he realized his furry pillow was gone. He sat up on the cold
ground. It was early morning and the sun was barely up, "Stupid jerk." The
blond mumbled while rubbing sleep from his eyes. He looked around his
surroundings and found Axel's clothes were still scattered around. Roxas huffed
before he got up and started to collect the clothes so he could throw them in
his duffel bag. When he got to the jeans he noticed something heavy in one of
the pockets. Digging around in the pants Roxas found a pocket knife, grinning
at his new found weapon Roxas placed it in on of his back pockets. He also
found a pack of clip-on hair bows. He put the bows back in the pants threw them
in his bag.
Roxas looked around the area and tried to find a way out of the forest. If Axel
was just going to leave without a word then why should the blond wait for him?
He decided to travail in the direction the sun was rising in. Grabbing his bag
Roxas was just about to leave when he heard something coming towards him.
Freezing in place Roxas felt his heartbeat speed up. He didn't know anything
about this forest let alone what dwelled in it. Large blue eyes stared in the
general direction where the noise came from. A sigh of relief escaped his lips
as the lesser of two evils walked through the brush.
Axel had gotten the dried blood out of his fur and in his mouth was a dead
rabbit. He walked up to Roxas and dropped the dead animal by his feet, "When
was the last time you ate something?" Roxas didn't answer and gave the rabbit a
disgusted glare. Axel sighed, "Well if you don't eat it then I just wasted
precious travailing time by hunting for you."
Now Roxas felt guilty. He didn't like the wolf one bit but the thought of Kairi
being alone in the forest didn't sit right with him. If it was Naminé he
wouldn't have even slept through the night, "We should go." But the blond's
stomach didn't agree with that statement and chose that time to rumble. Roxas'
face flushed and he managed to stutter, "I-it's raw. How do you expect me to
eat it?"
"What, you wanna cook it or something?" Roxas nodded his head. The thought of
eating raw meat made him feel sick. Axel sighed again.
This made Roxas laugh, "Sighing so much this early in the morning is bad for
your health."
"Didn't know you cared." Roxas shrugged and looked away, "Anyway, there's
nothing we can do about cooking it unless you can breath fire or something."
Roxas pulled the knife out of his pocket and sat down and started to cut the
rabbit up, "And you were going though my thing's why?"
Roxas blushed. He forgot he went through the redhead's pants, "If you weren't
such a slob and I didn't have to pick up after you then I wouldn't have to go
through your things." Roxas replied and ate a slice of meat. He grimaced out of
reflex but found he actually liked the taste. He pushed that thought aside and
blamed it on not eating for half a week.
When he was almost done with his food Roxas realized that Axel hadn't eaten any
thing. He cut off a piece and handed it to the wolf. Axel carefully grabbed it
and dropped it on the ground so he could lick the juices off of the blond's
hand. Roxas pulled his hand away as soon as the wolf's tongue liked him a
couple of times. He wiped his appendage on his pants while Axel attacked the
forgotten meat on the ground. Soon the two were done with their meal and
started on their way deeper in the forest.
~X~x~X~x~
For the majority of their walk Roxas tried convincing Axel to change back into
a human because he felt like a moron talking to a wolf. If anyone were to see
them they would see a big red dog growling and barking at a boy who would
reply. After the wolf convinced Roxas that there was no one in the forest the
blond dropped the subject.
"Soo...Why the hair accessories?" Roxas asked after a hour of silence. Axel
refused to change into his human form and was by the blond's side.
"They're for Kairi. I originally went to the Outterlands looking for a birthday
present for her. You were the last thing I thought I'd find." Axel said and
nudged Roxas' leg affectionately.
Roxas ignored the last comment, "When's her birthday?"
"Today."
"Oh." Roxas looked up at the sky. The sun was fully up now but it was still
morning. When Axel saw the frown on his mate's face he reassured him that they
would be at the den soon so she wouldn't be alone. But that wasn't what was
bothering Roxas. He couldn't help but think that in a month Naminé would be
turning eight as well.
"While we're on the subject of birthday's I think I should tell you that your
going to be sixteen for a long time."
Roxas stopped walking and just stared at Axel like he was crazy, "Excuse me?
When were you going to tell me this? And how long is a long time?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice." Axel said with a nervous laugh, "And a long
time is...well...forever I guess. A human turned into a Lycathrop stops aging
once their bit. Lycathrops stop aging once their bodies are mature. I stopped
aging at twenty-six and I recently stopped aging. We die if someone kills us or
if we get really sick."
"So your pretty much a pedophile." Roxas was trying not to let what Axel just
told him bother him. Axel looked away and after a moment of awkward silence
Roxas asked, "So is there any other weird things I should know?"
Axel started walking again and didn't start to talk again till he knew the
blond was following him, "Well you can now...umm...how do I put this...?"
"Will you just spit it out!" Roxas was starting to get frustrated with Axel's
stuttering.
"Don't rush me! I'm trying to think of a way to tell you you can get knocked up
without you freaking out on me!" The wolf blurted without thinking.
Roxas blushed. He tried not to freak out but that was just imposable! "Your
kidding right?" The wolf just shook his head, "But it's not possible!"
"Our kind is rare and a female of our kind is even more rare. We evolved over
the centuries so the submissive can conceive."
"Well we don't have to worry about me getting knocked up." When the wolf gave
the boy a questioning look Roxas continued, "For starters we're never having
sex. And why can't you be the submissive?" The wolf's face dropped and he
quietly walked a few yards not looking at Roxas. The boy knew Axel was trying
to guilt him but it wouldn't work. Roxas despised him and was only going with
him because he had nowhere else to go.
The rest of their walk was silent with the exception of Roxas asking a few
questions here and there about the surroundings that Axel usually gave one word
answers to.
When the sun was at it's highest point Axel perked up a bit and started walking
a bit faster. His bushy red tail started wagging. He gave out a long howl in a
happy greeting. The reply came from about a mile ahead of them and it was
deeper then what Roxas guessed what Kairi would sound like.
Axel pranced around to Roxas and bit on his pant leg, "Hurry up!" And pulled
the blond a few steps before he let go and ran off into the distance with Roxas
sprinting close behind him. In moments the two were standing in front of Kairi
and a tall silver haired man, "Riku! What are you doing here?"
"Hey Axel. I just dropped by to wish Kairi a happy birthday and noticed you
weren't here. What kind of brother are you?" Riku said in a joking manner. Both
boys laughed at the lame attempt of a joke. The tall man regarded Roxas with a
small smile, "So you must be Axel's mate. I'm Riku. I practically take care of
these two." Riku stuck his hand out.
Roxas took the extended hand and they shook, "Roxas. And I'm not his mate, I
just have no where to go." The blond added dryly.
Riku's friendly smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. He glanced
over at the siblings who wondered off so they could spend some time together.
Kairi was sitting on Axel's back and scratching behind his ears. Roxas noticed
that Kairi was wearing his red hoodie that he left there. The young girl was
practically swimming in hit.
"Did you know they were banished from their pack." Riku's said in a cold voice.
Roxas looked away from the siblings and gave Riku his full attention, waiting
for an explanation, "Their father was the pack leader. Our current leader,
Xemnas, killed him and his mate so he could rule. The pack wouldn't take nice
to killing kids so he kicked them out and threatened to kill anyone who makes
contact with them."
Roxas' breath caught in his throat, "You said 'Our' does that mean you're a
Lycathrop and part of that pack?" Riku nodded, "So why are you here?"
Riku's blue-green eyes left Roxas' and he looked over at the siblings, Axel now
had Kairi on her back and was liking her face trying to clean it of dirt, "I
don't give a fuck about Xemnas. Reno's the only leader I'll ever listen to. And
besides me and Axel grew up together, we're practically brothers."
"Was that Axel's father?"
"Yes. He's where Axel get's his looks from. He has his mother's eyes tho."
Roxas looked away from Riku and examined Axel a bit. Kairi noticed the two boys
looking at them and started to wave at them so they would come join her and her
brother. Riku rushed over and picked the young girl out of Axel's reach and
placed her on his shoulders. Kairi squealed out in joy. A huge smile plastered
on her face as she tried to get back to her brother while Riku did everything
he could to keep her on him.
Roxas stood on the sidelines. He felt like he was intruding on something
privite that no one was supposed to see. The blond suddenly wanted nothing more
then to go back home and see his family. He missed how his brothers used to
fight, how overprotective his mother was, having tea parties with Naminé, he
even missed is uncle's weird way of giving advise. His eyes started to cloud
over with tears.
Axel turned to the blond to make him join in the fun but when his eyes landed
on Roxas he felt guilty. He knew what Roxas was crying over. He quickly
separated from his family, with some protest from his little sister, and
disappeared into the den for a few minutes. When he reemerged he was back in
his human from with a fresh outfit on. The redhead knelt in front of the crying
boy and trapped one of his hands in his two. The blond's eyes were covered by
his bangs. Roxas jolted when he felt the contact and tried to pull his hand
away but Axel had a firm grasp around his wrist.
"Look at me." When Roxas didn't look at him Axel tugged on his hand a bit so he
stumbled closer to the redhead. Axel pulled Roxas into a hug and his face was
buried in the younger boy's stomach. Without thinking Roxas wrapped his arms
around the redhead's shoulders so he could absorb some comfort. Riku had a
small smile on his face as he pulled Kairi into the den so the two boys could
have some time alone, "Roxas you have to cheer up. You can't change what
happened." Axel mumbled into the blond's shirt.
"How do you expect me to get over it so fucking fast?"
Axel stood up and grabbed Roxas' chin with one hand and rubbed some dried tears
off of his face. The redhead decided that Roxas looked cute when he cried but
at the same time it was something he never wanted to see again, "Well it's not
like you'll never see them again. We can easily sneak in the Outterlands. It's
not like anyone will know what we are; with the exception of your uncle and
grandfather." The taller man leaned down and placed a soft kiss on the top of
Roxas' hair before he pulled away, grabbed Roxas' forgotten duffel bag and
walked into the den.
Roxas was frozen in place for a few minuets willing his emotions to calm down.
He was starting to get mixed feelings for Axel. He hated him for what he did.
He was starting to like him because of the way the redhead treated him. And
that god damn smell made him feel hot when he was close to him. When he came to
the conclusion that his hatred for the redhead was the strongest he wiped his
face and retreaded to the den with everyone else.
"I love them big brother!" Kairi screamed and clung onto Axel's midsection with
a pack of bows were in her hand. Axel smiled and patted her on the head. Kairi
peered over her brother's side and saw Roxas enter. She let go of the redhead
and ran towards the blond, "Roxy did you see the present big brother got me?"
She stuck the gift in Roxas' face and he could feel his eyes cross.
"They're lovely Kairi." He pushed her hand down and rubbed the ache from his
eyes.
Riku picked the birthday girl up and spun her around a few times before
planting a kiss on her cheek and putting her back down, "It's getting late I
should get going before the Heartless come out." He gave a final wave before he
disappeared.
Kairi pulled on Roxas' hand till she got his attention, "Can you put these in
my hair for me?" Her eyes got really big and she gave him the best pleading
face she could muster. Roxas sighed and nodded his head and grabbed the bows
out of her hand. The girl grabbed his free hand and dragged him closer to the
mouth of the cave so Roxas could use the remaining sunlight to see properly.
Roxas grabbed sections of Kairi's hair and started to braid it. Axel couldn't
help but smile at the cute scene playing out in front of him. He hoped to
whatever forces out there that the young blond would get out of his depression
and learn to love him and one day start a family.
~X~x~X~x~
"No fucking way." Roxas was standing beside a large bed with his arms crossed
across his chest. Axel had taken Roxas to the den and showed him a trap door
hidden behind a couple of boulders. The trap door led to a passage that had
three doors. The door at the end of the hall was pointed out to be the bathroom
and the two other doors on ether side of the hall were the bedrooms. Axel
pulled Roxas towards the door on the right side of the passage. The redhead
calmed it as 'their room'.
Axel huffed and sat on the edge of the bed. He stripped his shirt off and Roxas
was trying his best to ignore the smell that surrounded him and not look at
Axel's naked torso, "We're just going to sleep, nothing else. You didn't
complain last night." Axel said with a grin as he started to take his pants
off. The blond flushed even more and turned so his back was now facing the
redhead, "Relax Roxas. I'm used to sleeping naked but if I'm going to leave my
boxers on just for you."
That didn't help the blond at all and his poster stiffened. He didn't want to
sleep in the same bed as Axel. Last night was an exception for the fact that he
had to sleep out in the open with monsters walking around, "Why can't I sleep
in Kairi's room?"
Axel blinked at the tense back in front of him, "Because her bed's to small for
the two of you. And besides your my mate so you sleep with me." When Roxas
didn't move from his spot Axel reached over and grabbed the small blond who
yelped as he was pulled backwards and into the others chest. Roxas' nose was
assaulted with Axel's smell and the blond could do nothing but try to squirm
out of the redhead's grasp, "What's wrong?" Axel asked next to Roxas ear. Roxas
blush darkened.
"N-notihng. Do y-you wear cologne by...by any chance?" The small boy managed to
stutter.
The grin on Axel's face widened and he started to rub one of his hands up and
down Roxas' stomach and chest making the blond shudder, "No I don't. Why Roxy,
do I smell good to you?" He purred in the others ear. Roxas shook his head and
clenched his eyes closed. Axel released the smaller boy and scooted to the
other side of the bed and crawled under the blankets, "It's just pheromones
telling you that your body want's me."
Roxas tried to get off of the bed as soon as Axel said that. There was no way
in hell he wanted that bastard. But before he could fully stand the redhead
grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down till he was laying awkwardly on the
bed, "Just calm down and go to sleep. It's been a long day." Axel settled
himself in a comfortable position before he pulled Roxas closer to him and
pulled the blankets over him before falling asleep with his arm wrapped around
the blond's waist. Roxas tried but couldn't get out of Axel's hold. He finally
gave up and curled into himself and fell asleep.
***** Where are you? *****
It had been a week since Roxas came to live with the wolf siblings. He still
slept in Axel's bed but he made himself a barrier out of extra pillows and
blankets to separate them. Somehow when he woke up in the morning, he would
find himself on Axel's side of the bed in his arms. The blond would yell at him
for grabbing him in his sleep but Axel would calmly tell him that he was crying
out and the only way to get him to stop was to hold him.
On the morning of the eighth day, Roxas woke up by himself on his side of the
bed. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes before he got up. The cold floor that
met his bare feet woke him up in an instant. Roxas looked around the room
quickly to make sure Axel wasn't being a creeper and hiding in a corner or
something. When Axel's presence wasn't detected in the room, Roxas started to
strip. Once he was naked and digging through the large dresser for clothes to
wear for the day, the door burst open and Kairi skipped in.
"Roxasss," She sang in a voice that reminded the blond of how his sister used
to call him, "Axel told me to- Oops sorry!" The girl quickly covered her eyes
and turned her back. Both her and Roxas' faces were beat red. "A-axel told me
to wake you up." Kairi left the room and closed the door behind her.
Roxas was petrified. He stared at the door for a good five minutes before he
shook his head and continued to dig for clothes.
Fully dressed, Roxas emerged from the room and made his way up to the main
floor of the den. He saw Kairi standing right outside the mouth of the cave.
She was looking away from him and her eyes seemed to be fixed at something in
front of her. The blond made his way up to her and was trying to see what she
was looking at. Over the course of the week, the two of them had gotten close.
Kairi saw Roxas as a new brother while Roxas saw the little girl as another
Naminé.
"What are you looking at?"
Roxas' voice startled Kairi and she jumped a little, "Oh, good morning." She
said with a big smile that the blond returned. Kairi's smile faded and she
frowned a bit. "Big brother went hunting about an hour ago and hasn't returned
yet. He never goes far so he should be back soon." Her eyes left Roxas' and
went back to the scenery.
Axel never did come back.
~X~x~X~x~
Kairi was getting restless. She kept pacing around the mouth of the cave and
sometimes wondered out to walk the parameter of the field that surrounded the
den. Every horrible scenario she could think of was flashing in her mind.
As much as he didn't want to be, Roxas was worried. If something happened to
Axel, he knew, he wouldn't be able to take care of Kairi. Roxas also felt
somewhat responsible for the redhead's disappearance. For days now, Axel's been
asking Roxas to go on a hunt with him. The blond would flat out reject the
offer because he didn't want to be alone with the older man. There was also the
fact that Roxas never wanted to change into his wolf form; it made him feel
less human. In fact, he hasn't changed forms since his first change.
Roxas wished Axel had woken him up today like he did every morning; maybe if he
did then Roxas would have gone with him and he would know what the hell was
going on.
The sun started going down and dusk was setting in. Kairi had climbed up a tree
and was keeping watch for her brother while Roxas went back to his and Axel's
room. He walked the length of the room a few times, trying to figure out what
he was going to do. It was almost dark out so the Heartless would be out soon.
He knew Axel would be able to handle them but what if he was seriously injured?
The blond buried his face in a pillow and let out a scream of frustration. It
wasn't till Roxas took a deep breath that he realized he had Axel's pillow in
his grasp. He sat up and threw it across the room. He couldn't deal with the
missing man's scent at the moment. Roxas stormed out of the room to get away
from the smell.
When he got back to the main part of the den, he saw Kairi sitting at the
entrance. The sun had gone down so the Heartless should be out soon, if not
now. Roxas was at a loss of what to do. He wanted to go and find out what
happened to Axel but he didn't want to leave Kairi by herself. Plus, he didn't
know his way around the forest. Axel was the only family the girl had. Over the
course of the week, Roxas noticed Kairi was always at her happiest when her
brother was in his wolf form and playing with her.
Swallowing his fear, Roxas stripped and transformed. It didn't hurt him like
the last time. He slowly padded his way towards Kairi and nudged her cheek with
his muzzle. The girl gave a weak laugh and wrapped her small arms around the
wolf's neck. Roxas laid down with Kairi still hanging on him and the two fell
asleep.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas awoke a few hours later to a scratching sound. Kairi didn't seem to hear
the noise as she slept peacefully with her face buried in the wolf's side.
Without disturbing her, Roxas scanned his surroundings. At first he didn't see
anything but then something ran across the field outside the cave.
It was tall and black and at the top of its head was a purple cap. It was a
Heartless. The blond stayed as still as he could. He didn't know what to do. He
had no idea what it could do.
To Roxas' dismay, Kairi started to whimper in her sleep. The Heartless heard
her and turned to them, its yellow beady eyes zeroing in on them. The wolf felt
a chill go down his spine. Kairi's cries started to get louder and her fingers
twisted in the wolf's soft fur, making Roxas wince.
The Heartless was practically on top of them now. Roxas knew he had to get
Kairi out of there. Roxas nudged her face a couple of times but it didn't seem
to affect her. The Heartless was advancing on them when it suddenly stopped and
jumped, making hazes of purple fog come out from under it. As the fog crept up
on the two, Roxas quickly angled himself in an awkward position so Kairi's face
was in his side and his tail wrapped around the back of the girl's head to
protect her from the fog.
Roxas tried to hold his breath but some of it crept up his nose and he started
choke on the poison. Kairi started to wake up and struggled against Roxas'
hold. "K-kairi, don't move." Roxas chocked out. The girl seemed to sense the
worry in the boy's voice and calmed down a bit. Roxas could feel his eyes roll
in the back of his head and everything went dark.
Kairi felt the wolf's body go limp. She lifted her head when she knew the
poison was gone and started to shake the unconscious boy but he didn't respond.
His breathing was shallow and it looked like it hurt every time he inhaled.
Tears started to fall down the girl's face. She heard a growl followed by a
squeak. She turned to the commotion and her heart jumped to her throat. Her
brother was finally back!
Axel had the Heartless pinned to the ground. There was a flash and the black-
purple creature turned silver. The red wolf backed off a bit and waited for the
Heartless' shield to go down. It got back onto its feet and wondered around
Axel a bit, trying to taunt him.
"Kairi, get Roxas out of here!" Axel growled at her. Kairi nodded and quickly
got to her feet. She picked up the top half of the wolf and dragged him farther
into the cave. When the red wolf decided that his mate and sister were far
enough away, he turned his attention back to the creature. He circled it a few
times till there was another flash and its shield went down. He attacked.
Every time he bit or scratched the Black Fungus, it would let out an annoying
squeaking noise. When it jumped to release its deadly gas, Axel knocked it out
of the air and made it land on its back. The wolf straddled the helpless
creature and tore its throat out. Axel was pissed at the Heartless for what it
did to Roxas. He wanted to torture it for hurting his mate but the time didn't
call for it. He had to finish this fast.
When he saw the lifeless body disappear and its heart fly up in the sky, Axel
went into the den to check on his sister. She was hunched over Roxas' still
body, sobbing. The red wolf stood on the other side of his blond counterpart.
He leaned down and started to lick at the others face and neck, trying to wake
him up but it didn't work. Axel knew they would have to take Roxas to the
forest healer.
The redhead knew he could get Roxas there but he didn't want to leave Kairi
alone. "Kairi, do you want to go to see Fran with me?" The small girl didn't
say anything and nodded her head, "Okay then, be a good girl and change forms.
Be ready to run."
Kairi stood up and helped push Roxas on Axel's back, making sure he wouldn't
fall off during the run. Then she went behind her brother so she could shift
into her wolf form. The two left the safety of the den and sprinted into the
forest. They didn't stop for anything. They passed a handful of Heartless who
attempted to follow the Lycathrops but gave up when they couldn't catch them.
After running for miles, Kairi started to slow down. Her lungs burned and her
joints ached but she knew she had to keep running. When the sun started to
rise, the siblings stopped by a river to catch their breath and drink. Axel
lowered Roxas on the edge of the river and noticed he had a fever.
Axel was starting to worry and wanted to get moving again but one look at his
sister told him that he had to wait a bit longer. The poor girl could barely
stand and she was panting so hard that Axel thought she would hyperventilate.
"Do you want to stay here while I go see Fran?" The redhead asked.
"No, I wanna see if Roxas is okay!" It was the first time she spoke all day.
Her voice was raspy from crying. Her blue eyes looked over the motionless wolf.
It was obvious he was having trouble breathing. "Where were you?"
"A hunter was lost. He saw me and started to follow. I think he wanted me to
bring him to a pack so he'd have something to hunt. I just couldn't lead him
back to you guys." He cast his gaze down so he was looking at his paws.
"Oh..." Kairi was at a loss for words. She was glad her brother was alright but
upset that this happened to Roxas. And the fact that there was a hunter in
forbidden woods didn't make her feel any better.
They sat in silence for a few moments till Axel suggested they leave. Once
Roxas was secured on Axel, they started to run again. It wasn't until the sun
was at its highest point that Axel and Kairi made it to a clearing. The small
area had a ring of different colored aster flowers along the parameter.
"Who goes there?" A tall female with white rabbit ears stood in the middle of
the clearing. Axel tried to say something but, since he was still in his wolf
form, all that came out was a growl. The woman turned to see who was there. Her
dark eyes scanned the trio. Her voice was sharp and straight to the point.
"Axel. Kairi. You haven't been here in a while. Who's your friend?" The
siblings were no strangers to the Viera. They practically lived with her when
they first left their pack.
Fran rushed over to the wolves and plucked the blond off of Axel. The redhead's
posture relaxed a bit when he no longer had to balance Roxas. Fran waved her
hand in a general direction behind her. "Go change. Your clothes are still in
your old room." Axel and Kairi left Roxas in the care of the older woman and
walked towards their old home. Once they were gone, Fran gently placed the wolf
on the ground and walked towards a large oak tree. There was a rope tied on a
low branch. She untied it and lowered a bag from the top of the tree. In the
bag was an arrangement of potions. She placed the bag beside the blond and
started to stroke the top of his head.
Axel was the first to come back. His hair was a mess and his shirt was inside
out. He rushed over to his mate's side.
"Do you know what happened to him?" Fran asked.
"Poisoned by a Black Fungus."
Fran nodded and rummaged through her bag of potions. She pulled out two green
bottles and a blue one and mixed them together in a big flask. "Tilt his head
up and open his mouth." The redhead did and the Viera poured the cocktail down
the wolf's throat. When it was gone, Axel placed Roxas' head in his lap. He
could feel the blond's temperature slowly go down and he sighed in relief.
Kairi came back soon after and took a seat next to her brother. "He's going to
be okay now right?" The siblings looked at the older woman who nodded back. A
ghost of a smile made its way to Kairi's face and she leaned against her
brother with her head on his shoulder. It had been a long twenty-four hours for
her and exhaustion finally took a hold of her. She fell asleep leaning on Axel.
"You're staying for the night." The Viera pointed at Roxas. "He needs to rest."
Fran said as she picked up the sleeping girl and walked away giving the two
boys some privacy.
When the girls were gone, Axel fell on his back. He ached all over. Axel rubbed
his left hand up and down Roxas' back while the other became a makeshift pillow
for his head. "God damn, Roxas. What the hell were you doing?"
"...Axel...where the hell are you..." The redhead sat up so he was leaning on
his elbows. Was Roxas dreaming about him? "Come back...can't care...Kairi." The
redhead didn't know what to think. Should he be happy Roxas was thinking about
him or upset that the boy only wanted him around so he didn't have to take care
of Kairi? "Smell good." Now Axel was just confused. What kind of dream was
Roxas having? And he never talked this much in his sleep. Axel was starting to
think the blond was screwing with him.
***** The Tree Nymph *****
Sora shot out of bed, screaming. His wide blue eyes darted around the room but
saw nothing. Cloud was by his side in a second.
"Sora, what's wrong?" He placed his hand on Sora's shoulder. The young brunet
just shook his head, trying to clear the tears from his vision. "Sora!" Cloud
started to shake his younger brother, trying to snap him out of whatever
nightmare he was still stuck in.
"I-it's Roxas!" Sora finally chocked out. "H-he's in danger." The small brunet
dropped his head and started to sob. He leaned into the tall blond's body and
clung to him like a little child.
What Sora saw scared the living shit out of him. Roxas was worried. What about?
Sora couldn't tell. Then he couldn't breathe; it burned too much. He could feel
his twin's lungs start to close up. Then he was swallowed up by darkness.
Cloud pulled his brother off of him so he could look at his face, "It's alright
Sora. Nothing happened to Roxas." He said in a calm voice. He rubbed Sora's
back, trying to calm him down.
~X~x~X~x~
"You believe me, don't you?" Sora was sitting crossed-leg on his little
sister's bedroom floor, picking some lose strands of carpet.
Naminé sat across from him with a rare frown on her face. If Sora was right
about Roxas being in danger then that meant Axel didn't keep his promise. She
looked up at her older brother from the picture she was drawing. "I believe
you."
"God, I wish he would have told us where he was going. Maybe we could help him
then." Sora huffed.
Naminé looked back at her picture and said in a small voice, "I know where he
is."
Sora's eyes grew big and he reached over to grab his sister's shoulders. "You
knew? Why didn't you tell us?" The young girl winched from his volume. There
was a yell from their father downstairs, telling them to quiet down.
"I trusted Axel."
"Who the fuck is Axel?" Sora yelled. This time, instead of Tidus yelling up at
them, the door flew opened and revealed their uncle. He looked pissed.
Auron pointed at Sora. "You, shut up and don't swear around your sister." Sora
gave his uncle a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. The older man
gave the young boy one last glare before he left, closing the door behind him.
When they heard their uncle go down the stairs, Naminé started talking, "He's
the guy who took Roxas away."
"So he's the prince?" Naminé looked at her brother like he was insane. "Roxas
told me and Cloud he was running away with some prince." Sora said like it was
old news. The girl shook her head and asked Sora to bring Cloud to her room so
she could tell them the story about what happened to Roxas.
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud stormed down to his room with Naminé and Sora close behind him. The
oldest Jecht kid was fuming. He was pissed that his brother lied to him and was
so irresponsible.
When the siblings were down in the basement, Cloud stomped over to his dresser
and started to dig for something. He was victorious and pulled a key of his
underwear drawer. The key went into the locked trunk at the foot of Clouds bed,
which opened to reveal an arrangement of swords, daggers, and a pistol.
"Naminé, what did you say this bastard looked like?" The blond boy said while
stuffing a bag with weapons.
"I-I have a picture of him in my room." The small girl stuttered. Cloud told
her to go get it and she ran back up the stairs.
Sora shifted, uncomfortably from one foot to the other, his eyes on the floor,
"Do you really believe her?"
"Of course I do!" Cloud's attention went from his trunk to his brother.
"Granddad told us the legends about that forest and he's one of the most
trustworthy people I know. And he told us that Lycanthropes are the worst."
When Sora showed no signs of believing Cloud, he continued. "What about what
happened last night? You know something's up with him and this is all we have
to go on."
"I don't wanna lose another brother though..."
Before Cloud could counter his brother's statement, Naminé skipped back down
the stairs with two pieces of paper clutched in her hands. She slowly
approached Cloud and handed the papers off to him. Sora looked over his
brother's shoulder so he could see the drawings as well. The first one was a
tall man with piercing green eyes with tattoos under them and spiky red hair,
Sora remembered him from the night Roxas left. The second one was of a big red
wolf with the same green eyes.
"The last one's a guess." Naminé looked at her brothers. Sora looked worried
while Cloud looked determined.
Cloud grabbed his bag and started walking up the stairs. He turned around and
looked at his younger siblings. "Don't worry, I'll bring Roxas back. Tell mom
and dad the truth if you want." With that said the older Jecht kid left the
house and ventured into Canta Forest.
He had been walking for about two hours and had made a few turns. He tried to
make mental notes about where he was going, but, when he turned around, he
didn't recognize anything.
Frowning, Cloud just shrugged it off and came to the conclusion that this
forest was indeed magical. Getting back home was out of his power now. He
shifted his bag so the weight would be distributed more evenly on his back and
continued walking.
Soon after, Cloud heard a snap. He looked around, trying to find the source of
the noise. And there he was. A big red wolf. As quietly as he could, Cloud
slipped his bag off of his shoulders and started to rummage for a throwing
knife.
Right before he was about to throw the knife at the beast, he had an idea. If I
follow him he'll take me to Roxas. Cloud put the knife back and lowered
himself, trying to make himself invisible.
A few hours later, Cloud was getting pissed. The wolf kept walking in circles!
It was getting dark and, soon after the sun set, the blond lost track of the
red wolf. He had to give up for the day. Not wanting to run into any
unnecessary danger, Cloud pulled himself into a tree to sleep for the night.
~X~x~X~x~
"HEY GET UP!" A loud voice over Cloud yelled. Still half asleep, Cloud just
grumbled and turned away from the noise. Too bad he forgot he was sleeping in a
tree and rolled right off the branch he was on. "Serves you right." The voice
wasn't as harsh this time and seemed to be amused.
Cloud rolled around in pain for a few moments till he was able to open his
eyes. The first thing he saw was a tall brunet male with gray eyes, but there
was something weird about his coloring. He had a faint green glow to him. "Who
are you?" The blond managed to grunt.
"Well that's rude of you. I find you sleeping in my home and you demand answers
from me?" The strange man placed his hands on his hips and bent over Cloud. "So
Goldilocks, why were you in my tree?"
Cloud sat up and pushed the brunet out of his face. "I'm looking for Axel. He's
a Lycanthrope." Cloud tried to hide his embarrassment; his statement would have
made him look like a lunatic if he said it to anyone in town. He ran his hand
through his messy hair to shake any debris from his fall.
"Axel...Axel..." The green man tapped his chin, thinking about where he had
heard that name before. "Oh! He's Reno's son. Great pack leader, he was. Made a
deal with me to protect my tree." He patted the tree trunk and gave a content
sigh. His gray eyes then looked into confused blue. "So, why do you need Reno's
son?"
Cloud stood up and brushed some stray dirt off. "That bastard stole my
brother." He clenched his hands, blood welling under his short fingernails.
"I'm here to kill him."
The brunet tasked at that. "Revenge is such an ugly thing. That's why Axel got
banished, you know?" No, Cloud didn't know. After a moment of awkward silence,
the stranger said, "Squall."
"What?" Cloud was convinced this man was crazy.
"My name. Don't you think it's only proper to introduce ourselves? I'm Squall.
And you are...?"
"Cloud." The blond replied. He could care less about this freak. He needed to
get going and find his brother. "Look, I really need to go." Cloud started to
walk away but something caught his ankle. He fell. He tried to pull his leg to
his chest but it wouldn't budge. The blond twisted to see behind him. His jaw
dropped. A root grew out of the ground and twisted itself around his leg.
Squall just smiled. "You're going to get nowhere fast unless you have a Mystic
with you. This forest doesn't like humans and fucks with their brains. It
teleports humans to different parts of the forest at random so you'll always
stay lost. Maybe, by chance, you'll find what you're looking for. If you want
to go anywhere, you'll need my help. I need to see Axel, too. I'll be generous
and take you with me."
Cloud started to claw at the root. He did not want to be here. By his logic, if
this nutcase wasn't stalling him, he could have killed Axel by now and been at
home with Roxas. "Let go! I don't need your help!"
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud hated his life so much. He found himself walking through the woods with
Squall, who was some sort of tree nymph. The nymph was walking slightly ahead
and, to the human's relief, wasn't talking.
Cloud, though, believed Squall about the forest being able to teleport people
because, whenever he looked behind him, he could clearly see where they just
were. "So are there any other weird things about this place that I should know
about?" The blond asked.
After few moments, the nymph spoke, "Once the sun goes down, creatures called
Heartless come out. They lack hearts and prey on living things that do. They'll
steal your heart but no one knows what they do with it. You're lucky you were
in my tree last night or they would have gotten you."
Cloud had begun to trust Squall but he had to say something stupid.
Cloud sighed and put his hands in his pockets to restrain himself from hitting
the brunet.
"We're here!" Squall yelled over his shoulder so the blond would hear him. The
two stood in a clearing with a cave that was hidden behind some bushes and low
hanging branches. Squall walked up to the cave while Cloud lingered behind him,
digging through his bag of weapons. When the nymph reached the cave, he walked
in and yelled if anyone was home. No response came back. He went back to the
blond's side. "No one's here." He scratched the side of his head. "Kairi's not
even here. Something must have happened. We can stay here till they get back."
Now Cloud was worried. If something happened then that means Sora's dream was
right. The blond closed his eyes and tried to remember what his brother had
told him. Having a hard time breathing, a fast heartbeat, burning, and then
darkness. The human opened his eyes and looked at the other male. "Is there any
way to find out what happened?"
Squall nodded, walked towards the tree next to the cave and placed his hand on
it. A light green glow formed between the bark and his hand while the green
light around Squall intensified. A minute later, the brunet removed his hand
and looked into Cloud's eyes. "A Black Fungus Heartless attacked here. It seems
a young wolf was poisoned." Cloud's eyes widened. What if it was Roxas who got
hurt? Was he dead? Squall saw the scared look. "They probably went to see Fran.
She's the forest healer. If they got there fast enough then he should be fine."
The nymph said to calm the human down.
He wasn't sure if the wolf was fine or not but he couldn't deal with a grieving
human; he had other issues to deal with. His biggest problem was the pack
Xemnas controlled. They were rampant under the poor leadership. Squall felt
like it was time for the bastard to be taken down. But first he needed to
convince Axel to help him.
***** Instincts *****
There was fire everywhere. Roxas couldn't escape it. His whole body felt like
he was caught in the flames. There was no way out of this hell and Roxas knew
it. Just as he was about to give up hope, a cool relief came to him.
Roxas opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was black fabric that was on
an unfamiliar bed. When the blond went to stand up, he noticed was that he was
still in his wolf form. The next thing was that his limbs were too weak to
support his weight.
The poor wolf fell to the floor with a loud bang. He whimpered at the sudden
pain that shot up his side. When the pain subsided, Roxas quickly changed back
into his human form and searched the room for some clothes. When he located a
dresser, he quickly opened it and looked for something to wear. But then the
door burst open, revealing Kairi.
Déjà fucking vu. He thought
Instead of turning away this time, though, a large smile grew on the young
girl's face. She ran towards Roxas and jumped on him. The two fell to the
ground. Kairi laughed, giving Roxas a tight hug. She mumbled into his bare
chest how happy she was that he was alright and how worried she was, and didn't
let go till the poor blond didn't have any more air in him. The girl got off of
Roxas and ran out of the room, leaving the blond to finish dressing.
Now fully dressed, Roxas took a look at his surroundings. There were no
windows; that meant the room he was in was underground but was lit by weird
orbs floating near the ceiling. The room's coloring was dark. The blankets were
black and the wood furniture was a dark oak. Even the clothing he found was
dark. His shirt was a blood red while his pants were blue skinny jeans, though
they were baggy on the small boy. Roxas noted the room faintly smelled like
Axel.
For a second time that day, the door burst open but, instead of Kairi, Roxas
was tackled to the ground by his redheaded mate. Axel buried his face in the
blond's hair and inhaled the smaller boy's scent. "God, you had me so worried."
Axel pulled away from Roxas and went in to kiss him but Roxas pushed Axel's
face away.
"Where the hell were you?" Roxas pulled his hand away from the redhead's face
only to bring it back and punch him in the jaw, making Axel get off him. "You
were gone all fucking day! You had me worried that something happened to you-"
"You were worried about me?" Axel looked at Roxas with a look in his eye that
sent a shiver down the blond's spine.
Ignoring the blush on his face, Roxas tried to bring the subject back his
question, "Where were you, Axel?" Roxas stood up so he to look down at his mate
with his arms crossed across his chest.
Axel couldn't help but laugh at the blond's stance. When said blond raised an
eyebrow in question, Axel tried to stop his laughing. "You look like an angry
wife who just caught her husband cheating." Roxas wasn't amused. "Your
brother's here. He saw me and tried to follow me back to our den."
Roxas was at a loss for words. His brother was here! More importantly, his
brother was here to bring him home! "Which one was it?" The blond finally
managed to say. He was afraid that if it was his twin, something bad would
happen to him. Roxas knew Sora hated the outdoors and had very little
experience with fighting. Roxas would feel a little better if it was Cloud. At
least the older blond could fight.
"The one with the funky Chocobo hair." Roxas relaxed a bit. Axel stood up to
his full height and pulled him into a bone crushing hug. "I won't let him take
you away. Not after what just happened. God, Roxas, do you have any idea what
you do to me?" Axel pushed Roxas on the bed and started to nip at the boy's
neck while one of his hands held the blond's wrist above his head. His other
hand found its way up the boy's shirt, feeling Roxas' warm skin.
Roxas squirmed under the redhead's touch. His body heated up wherever the older
touched and it was driving him mad. "A-axel!" The blond managed to free his
hand, placed them on the other man's shoulders and gave him a weak shove. "G-
get o-off!"
The taller man gave the boy's neck another bite, causing a weak moan to escape
Roxas, before he pulled away. His green eyes were tinged darker than usual but
Roxas blamed the lighting. Axel freed the blond's wrist and snarled. "Why are
you denying your instincts?"
"Instincts?" Roxas asked as he sat up and leaned agents the bed's headboard.
Axel rolled his eyes. "We've been over this, Roxas. You said you like my
smell." The redhead paused. The blond nodded with a blush spread across his
cheeks. He remembered the conversation they had over a week ago about how
Roxas's attraction to Axel's smell was pheromones, but every living thing sent
those out. It had nothing to do with instincts, right? Roxas asked Axel, who
replied, "Well true, everything has pheromones. But don't forget what you are
now. You're a submissive Lycanthrope." Axel leaned over and brushed Roxas'
bangs away from his face to look into his blue eyes. "Your senses are
heightened when you go into heat and you start to notice small things, like the
smell and taste of your mate are more addicting."
Roxas's eyes widened. Heat? That meant he could get pregnant, right? The blond
covered his ears and started to rock back and forth. He couldn't deal with
this. The Heartless, the changing, and the fact that he was a submissive,
everything! He just wanted to go home. Then Roxas remembered; Cloud was in the
forest looking for him! But there was his grandfather and uncle. They would
never let him go back.
"Roxas?" The blond froze. He looked up at Axel and the look he saw broke his
heart. The redhead's green eyes looked tearful and his whole face was twisted
in an upset look. That's when Roxas realized, as much as he hated it, Axel was
the only stable thing he had left in his life. "Roxas, are you alright?" The
redhead leaned over and rubbed the other's arms in a comforting way. When he
felt Roxas relax a bit, he pulled away and started to get off the bed. A small
hand on his shirt stopped him.
"Don't leave." Roxas whispered. Axel didn't say anything, just got back on the
bed. He laid down and pulled the blond on top of him. Roxas buried his face in
the redhead's chest and inhaled his scent. "How long will the heat last?"
Axel hummed in thought. "I'm not really sure. Every submissive I know usually
yields to their instincts within a few days. To tell you the truth, you're the
only submissive I know that's lasted this long."
"Oh." Roxas shifted on Axel's body, trying to find a more comfortable position.
The blond's knee made contact with something hard, making the redhead grunt in
pain. "I-I'm sorry!" Roxas went to move off of the man but Axel wrapped his
arms around the small boy and pulled him close. Roxas whined and tried to get
away. Axel's hold just tightened.
"You didn't want me to go so I don't want you to move." The redhead buried his
face in blond spikes.
"But...but you're...ummm..."
"Hard?"
Roxas' face turned the same color as Axel's hair. "Umm...yeah..."
Axel chuckled and rubbed the blond's back. "It's fine. If you ignore it, it'll
go away." The redhead gave a content sigh and tried to relax. The fact that his
mate was so close to him and not fighting back was a major turn on.
They stayed that way for what seemed like an eternity till Roxas spoke. "Sea-
salt." The blond pulled his face away from the other man's chest and looked
down at his confused face. "Your smell. I couldn't figure out what it reminded
me of but I just figured it out. You smell like Sea-salt ice cream." Roxas said
in a proud voice.
Without even thinking, Roxas slowly lowered his face till he was only a few
centimeters apart. The blond closed his eyes, succumbed to his instincts, and
kissed the redhead. Surprised, the older man stayed as still as possible,
hoping the boy wouldn't get spooked and pull away. Then he felt the boy's
tongue trace the seam in between his lips and slowly pried them open. Axel
eagerly opened his mouth and let Roxas dominate the kiss. To the blond's
delight, the older man tasted just like he smelled. The redhead lowered one of
his hands and gave Roxas' ass a squeeze, causing the blond moan in his mouth.
When Roxas pulled away, both men were breathless and their faces flushed. Axel
leaned up to capture the blond's lips again but, before they could connect, a
loud rumble came from Roxas' stomach. Axel's head fell back to the pillow and
he started to laugh while Roxas quickly climbed off of him.
"Let's go get some dinner." Axel said as he got off the bed and left the room
with Roxas following close behind. As they walked down the hall, Roxas looked
around. The hall was much longer than the one at the den and had more doors
then he cared to count. In between the doors, there were end tables with vases
of different colored aster flowers. The orbs of light were floating on the
ceiling, allowing some light for their footsteps.
Roxas almost jumped out of his skin when he felt Axel's hand grab onto his. He
tried to relax when the redhead gave his hand a soft squeeze. The two fell into
steep with each other. "Why are there so many flowers?" the blond asked.
The redhead stopped walking and picked a purple flower out of a vase. "No one
knows why but the Heartless seem to despise these flowers." Axel twirled the
stem in his fingers before he placed the flower behind Roxas' ear. "If you
gather enough of them, the Heartless will stay far away from you." The
redhead's hand slowly started to trace Roxas' ear. He suddenly stopped and
said, "We should get going before Kairi and Fran think we died or something."
He intertwined their fingers again and continued down the endless hallway in
silence.
When they finally got out, Roxas was blinded by the sun. Instead of ending up
in a cave, like he was used to, they were standing in the middle of a tiny
clearing blanketed in aster flowers. In the distance, he saw Kairi talking to a
tall woman with rabbit ears, who Roxas assumed was Fran. As the two men moved
closer, the rabbit-woman turned around, her dark eyes staring at Roxas.
"So, you're up." She wasn't mad but, by how sharp her voice was, the woman
sounded annoyed. Roxas nodded as he slowly started to sink into his mate's
side, afraid of the intimidating woman. "That's good. Axel's been worried
sick." Roxas looked up at said redhead but Axel shifted so the blond couldn't
see his face. When Roxas' eyes shifted back to Fran, he noticed her expression
softened. "There's something I want to talk to you about in privet." The last
word was sharp again and she looked at Axel and Kairi.
Axel gave Roxas a hug that the blond awkwardly returned before Kairi climbed up
his back and disappearing into the surrounding woods. When Fran couldn't see
Axel's bright red hair anymore, she turned back to the small blond with a small
smile. "You're very lucky to have him."
Roxas looked down at the ground, embarrassed. He sure didn't feel lucky but he
hoped the Viera's words held some truth to them. "What makes you say that?" The
blond kicked a rock and refused to look up at the tall woman.
"He cares for you deeply-"
"No, he doesn't! He's a selfish jerk!" Roxas screamed at her. "If he cared, he
wouldn't have done this to me!" The blond subconsciously placed a hand on the
place where Axel had bit him.
Fran grabbed the blond's hand off of his neck and rubbed it with her thumb.
"Lycanthropes are known for acting before they think. You have to forgive him
for little things like that every once and a while."
"Little? You think taking me away from my whole life is little!" He pulled his
hand away and stuffed them in his pockets. Roxas knew he'd be a hypocrite if he
denied he ever acted before thinking, seeing as he made out with Axel only
moments ago; it made him shudder just thinking that he was becoming more and
more like a Lycanthrope as the days went by. But why would she think it was
alright to take a child from their life?
The Viera sighed and knelt to look at Roxas. "I don't have time for this
bullshit; work out your problems with Axel later." After a brief pause, she
spoke again. "Axel told me that you were going through heat." Roxas opened his
mouth to ask her how he knew but Fran waved him off. "He can smell you just as
well as you can smell him. Anyway, it won't go away till you two do something
about it. And even though you're young, you can still carry a litter. If this
ever happens, I want you to come straight here. You will be vulnerable and this
is the safest place in the whole forest." She could see tears start to rise in
the small boy's eyes. She stood up and pulled him into a light hug. Fran could
feel her shirt dampen and stick to her skin but she didn't pull away.
"Why do I have to be the submissive?" Roxas' muffled voice said. He pulled away
from the tall woman and took a few steps back. The poor blond was terrified of
childbirth. His mother would go on and on about how much pain she was in for
her twins' birth and Fran did say litter, which meant more than one, right? And
it almost scared Roxas how much that bothered him more so than the fact that
the Axel would be the father.
"Axel claimed you as his. That is the right of the dominate."
Roxas had more questions he wanted to ask but, before he could say anything,
Kairi came running towards him. "Roxas! Roxas! Wanna hear a joke Big Brother
told me?" She didn't wait for his answer. "There was a bear and a rabbit taking
a dump in the middle of the woods. The bear asked the rabbit if he had a
problem with poo sticking to his fur. When the rabbit said 'no', the bear wiped
his butt with the rabbit." Fran gave the little girl an appalled look as Kairi
doubled over in laughter. Roxas smiled and tried to hold back his laughter in
fear of what the Viera would do.
When Kairi settled down, she stood up on her tippy-toes and plucked the flower
out from behind Roxas's ear. "You won't need this, seeing as Big Brother will
always protect you." She placed the flower in the pocket on her shirt before
she skipped away to look for Axel.
"Come, let's start a fire." Fran said and beckoned Roxas to the middle of the
clearing where she had prepared a bundle of sticks. The Viera stood in front of
it with one of her hands placed over the sticks. The blond couldn't believe his
eyes. A red circle appeared around the woman's feet; it started to climb up her
legs till it reached her outstretched hand and a stream of fire leaked from her
fingertips onto the bundle.
When the sticks lit, the circle under Fran disappeared and she placed her hand
by her side. Roxas had to dig his knuckles in his eyes and gave them a firm rub
to make sure he wasn't seeing things but when he pulled his hands down the fire
was still there. "How'd you do that?"
"Age old talent passed down from Viera to Viera." Fran said. "There are some
other Mystics here that can control the elements too but there's very few of
us. If you want to know, Lycanthropes cannot."
Roxas sat down in front of the fire, wrapped his arms around his legs and
rested his head on his knees as they waited for the siblings to return with
diner. After few moments of silence, a loud thump was heard behind the blond.
His head perked up from its resting place and he turned towards the noise. He
could feel himself shaking in fear.
The blond let out a breath of relief when he saw a familiar head of bright red
hair poke out from the brush. Axel walked into the clearing dragging a dead
deer behind him with Kairi close behind in her wolf form. The brown-red fur
around her muzzle was clumped together with blood. Axel placed the dead animal
beside the fire with a proud smile on his now human face.
"Look at Kairi's first kill! Didn't she do an amazing job?" Axel had a big
smile as he praised his little sister. Kairi wagged her tail happily as she
walked towards the underground home to get cleaned up. When she was gone, Axel
sat next to his mate and pulled him in a side hug. "I can't wait till you get
out there for your first hunt!"
Roxas pulled away. He didn't want to hunt but he didn't know how to tell this
to Axel. The man was too happy just imagining it. Roxas turned his face away.
"It's getting dark out, shouldn't we head inside?"
Axel just shook his head. "You really need to work on your memory, Roxas. I
told you earlier Heartless hate aster flowers. Got it memorized?" He poked the
blond's temple before placing a kiss there.
When Kairi came back in her human form, Axel took out his pocket knife and cut
up the deer for the three Lycanthropes to share while Fran walked towards
blueberry bushes and picked some for her to eat. The group ate in silence till
Kairi let out a loud yawn. She curled up beside Fran and fell asleep. The Viera
gave the little girl a soft smile and petted her hair. "I'll take the little
one to bed. I want you two to work your problems out before you go to bed." Her
voice was quiet but strict voice before she picked Kairi up in her arms and
carried her into her home.
Roxas sighed and threw a bone in the fire. "Axel, what you did to me is
unforgivable and I don't think I ever will forgive you." The blond never took
his eyes off the fire but, in the corner of his eye, he could see Axel slump
forward. "But Fran did explain to me how implosive you can be. It's not a good
excuse but it makes me feel a little better knowing you couldn't help it
instead of doing it for some sadistic pleasure of fucking people's lives up."
The older man perked up a bit. Roxas was mad at him but he didn't totally hate
him. That was a start. "You're right. I wasn't thinking. But it's rare that I
go to the Outerlands and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find you again."
"I wasn't going anywhere. If you just waited till I was older, maybe I wouldn't
be so mad."
"Well we can't change that now, can we?" Axel countered. Roxas' face turned red
in embarrassment and anger. He quickly changed to subject. "Fran said the only
way to get rid of Heat is to have sex..." Roxas' voice got quieter as he spoke
but Axel heard him. "I don't want to. I'm afraid..."
Axel leaned over and gave the blond a quick peck on the cheek, "Don't worry. I
won't do anything you're uncomfortable with." He stood up and offered his hand
to Roxas. "Come on, let's go to bed." The blond accepted the offered hand and
the two quietly made their way back towards the room Roxas had woken up in.
Both men felt a little better about their slow progressing relationship.
***** 20 Questions *****
"So this is your room?" Roxas asked as he sat on the bed he woke up in earlier
that day. He had to admit; when he wasn't falling out of it, it was pretty
comfortable. Axel was at the other side of the room, stripping for bed with his
back to the blond. The sight of the redhead's bare back brought Roxas' mind to
what had happened between them in this very room and his face heated up. "I
think it would be better if we slept in different rooms tonight."
Axel turned around and gave his mate a betrayed look. Just when he thought they
were making some progress, Roxas had to go and take a step back. But he
couldn't trust his voice to protest so he just replaced his clothing before
leaving the room with a grunt that he was going to sleep with Kairi.
The blond found himself alone in the bedroom that smelled strongly of his mate,
making him regret kicking Axel out. The room seemed colder without the redhead.
He flopped onto his back and curled up in the fetal position.
Roxas started to think about things. He thought about how unfair he was being
towards Axel. The older male was trying so hard to make it work and never gave
up even though he fought Axel the whole time. Guilt knotted in Roxas' gut.
He thought about his family. He missed them. It would be Naminé's birthday soon
and he really wanted to go see her. Sora was probably failing half his classes
without Roxas' notes. Then there was Cloud. He was somewhere in the forest,
looking for his little brother and probably lost. Suddenly, Roxas remembered
something. Heartless. What if Cloud ran into one? What if he was seriously
injured somewhere or dead?
I have to go find him!
Without thinking, Roxas jumped up from the bed, ran out of the room, and down
the hall. When he was outside and the cool night air hit his face, he finally
calmed down. He looked up at the sky and noticed it was a full moon.
"Sleepless night?" Roxas turned towards the voice and saw Fran standing outside
the burrow. With a nod, he went back to star-gazing. There was a rustle beside
the blond as the Viera came to his side. "Care to tell me what's wrong?"
The blond sighed. "It's just...I don't know how to feel towards Axel." He
didn't hate the redhead like he thought but he didn't know if it was because of
the Heat or if he was really falling for him. The only way to figure it out was
to sleep together. He did not want to do that. He sat down and pulled his knees
to his chest.
Fran sat next to him. "How much do you know about him?"
"Almost nothing." Roxas said with a shrug. It bothered him that he was mated to
someone he didn't know and it was sad that they've been living together for a
week and only now had a serious conversation.
"Would you like me to tell you then?" Fran's voice sounded robotic. It sent a
shiver go the boy's spine.
"N-no, it's fine. I'd rather hear it from him." Roxas said and flashed the
Viera a weak smile. The tall woman frightened him a bit. He wasn't sure why. It
might have something to do with the fact that she could control elements or
that she was taller than Axel. Perhaps it was the rabbit ears.
Fran seemed to sense his anxiety and stood. "Stay here." She disappeared into
her home, leaving Roxas alone.
Sighing, he laid down with his hands behind his head and let his thoughts
drift. Then he remembered why he originally went outside. He had to find Cloud.
Roxas shot up and was about to move towards the clearing when he heard a faint
rustling sound. Blue eyes intensified in the dark and scanned the surrounding
forest.
It was a Heartless; the emblem on its chest shined from the moonlight. It
didn't have legs and just kind of floated there. One of its eyes was dangling
from the socket by a chain. Its long, gloved hands were reaching out towards
the young boy to grab him. The blond whimpered and was able to take a few steps
back before his back hit something solid and warm.
"It's okay; it can't get you here." Axel's low voice said. His hot breath
tickled the hairs on the back of Roxas' neck. He was right; the Heartless
seemed to be pacing around the flowers trying to find an empty patch. The
redhead turned his mate around so his face was crushed against his chest,
blocking out the sight of the terrifying creature.
Roxas struggled to get out of Axel's grasp but the older man was much stronger
than him. When he realized he wasn't going anywhere, he slumped against the
hard chest. "I need to find Cloud. What if something happened to him? He knows
as much about this place as I do...did..." Roxas corrected himself. True, he
didn't know much more than he did just a week ago but his knowledge was far
greater than his older brother's.
Axel wrapped his arms around the small blond and gave him a tight squeeze.
"When he was tracking me, I could tell he was a fighter and that nothing would
stop him from finding you. I don't think any old Heartless will get to him."
Axel could feel Roxas relax in his hold a bit. "We can leave Kairi here and
I'll help you look for your brother tomorrow." Once Roxas calmed down, Axel let
him go and sat down, patting the ground next to him. "Fran said you wanted to
know more about my life. Come sit and we can play a little game of 20
questions."
Roxas looked at the Heartless. It had given up its meal. He sat, with some
distance between them, next to Axel. "So, I go first?" When the redhead nodded,
Roxas said. "What were your parents like?"
Axel gave his mate a thoughtful look before he turned his face towards the sky.
"Well you know my father's name is Reno and he was a pack leader?" Roxas
mumbled 'yes'. "He made a lot of alliances with the neighboring Mystics and was
well liked. He even managed to befriend some humans when he'd take trips to the
Outerlands. I'm told I look just like him. My mother's name was Aerith. She was
so kind. Whenever someone in the pack was fighting, she would always find a way
to make them stop and forgive each other." Axel plucked a pink aster flower out
of the bed in front of them and twirled it in between his fingers. "She helped
Fran plant this garden before she got pregnant with Kairi. Kairi looks more
like her then I do but still looks a lot like dad. If there weren't witnesses
to our births, I wouldn't believe she had been out mother." Axel said with a
chuckle. After a few moments of silence, Axel turned to Roxas with a big grin
on his face. "Why did you follow me into the forest?"
The blond's face went red and he refused to make eye contact with Axel.
"Well...what would you have done if some strange guy, who was probably new to
town, stalked you, molested you, and fucking bit you? For all I knew, you had
rabies!" Roxas rubbed the bite mark again. "I guess you did have something like
it though..." A few tense seconds went by before Roxas could think of a
question. "You left right after, if you knew I was going to change, why didn't
you stick around?"
Axel rubbed the back of his head with a shy smile on his face. "Well I knew
it'd take a few days for the bite to take effect and I needed to stop by the
den and talk to Kairi about it to make sure she would be set with food till we
got back. I knew you'd be at Braska's so I didn't have to waste time tracking
you. What I didn't expect, though, was you to follow me." He placed his arm
around Roxas and pulled him closer. "You're lucky Kairi was the one who found
you. If it was another Lycanthrope and they smelled me on you, hell would've
broken lose."
"Why?" Roxas asked while snuggling closer to Axel's warmth, glad he had
something that supplied heat next to him now that it was getting colder.
Axel pulled back from the blond enough so he could gently tap Roxas' nose, "You
already asked a question. It's my turn now." He lowered his hand. "Are you
happy with me?" He asked in a serious tone.
"I'm not sure." The younger said truthfully. "Everything about you is just
so...alluring I guess would be the right word. But I don't know if it's from
the Heat or if I really feel that way." Roxas couldn't take being so close to
the redhead. The conversation just turned awkward for him.
Axel maneuvered them so Roxas was resting in between the redhead's legs with
his back against the older man's chest. The redhead's hands rested on the
blond's stomach, rubbing light circles. "Roxas, I have an idea to calm your
Heat down, but you have to trust me." When Roxas didn't say anything nor make a
move to stop Axel, the redhead continued.
He moved one hand down to the blond's pants and played with the button and
zipper to tease the younger boy. "You know, you look so adorable in my old
clothes." Axel breathed in Roxas' ear. The button opened and pulled the zipper
down. In Roxas' hast to get dressed earlier, he didn't find any sort of
underwear, not that Axel was complaining.
"Their your—Ahh!" Roxas' sentence was cut short when long, hot fingers wrapped
around him. A new feeling coiled in the pit of his stomach. Sharing a room with
your brothers and living in a large family made taking long showers close to
impossible; Roxas never touched himself the way Axel was.
"Mmhmm," Axel hummed into his mate's neck and placed gentle kisses on it. His
hand sped up, eliciting a loud moan from the boy withering in his arms. Axel
couldn't believe that he caught such a sexy little thing on one of his rare
outings. He was truly a lucky wolf.
One of Roxas' hands snaked around and found its way into the red spiky hair and
pushed Axel's face closer to his. Roxas' mouth was already open as he panted so
it wasn't hard. Axel's tongue entered and dominated him. Roxas tasted like
cherries and vanilla. He found the blond's unique flavor addicting.
When they broke apart, a thin line of saliva was left between them but neither
noticed it. "A-axel! Faster!" He moaned. Axel grunted and complied, causing a
whimper from the blond. The coiling in Roxas' lower stomach got tighter. "So
close! Ahhh! Axel!" Roxas came all over Axel's hand.
When he came down from his high, Roxas leaned heavily on the man behind him,
out of breath. Axel stroked the younger's hair. "Feel any better?"
Roxas did notice that Axel's smell wasn't as intense as it was before. He
tilted his head up and licked Axel's neck; the taste of sea-salt ice-cream was
still there. Roxas gave it another lick and another, causing Axel to groan.
"Roxas, you have to stop." The redhead knew if Roxas kept this up he wouldn't
be able to stop himself from jumping the blond. But Roxas' tongue moved from
the redhead's neck to the shell of his ear.
Axel had to push Roxas off of him to stand up. He helped his mate get up and
fixed his clothes. Roxas looked down and saw the redhead's obvious problem.
"What about you?" He felt bad that Axel had helped him but he was selfish and
did nothing for the redhead.
"It's fine. Go down to bed and I'll be there soon." Axel leaned down and kissed
Roxas' forehead. Roxas tried to protest when the redhead pushed him towards the
home's opening. "Just be a good boy and go to sleep. Don't worry about me." To
his dismay, Roxas wiggled out of his grasp and dropped to his knees in front of
Axel. The blond started to mess with the belt that was keeping Axel's baggy
pants on his hips. "Roxas, get up." Axel said while pushing at the short boy's
shoulders.
Roxas swatted away the annoying hands and continued his work. "It's not fair to
either of us." The blond mumbled, catching Axel off guard.
"How is this not fair to you?" Axel asked just as Roxas managed to undo his
belt, making his voice go up an octave. He wanted this. He really did, but what
if Roxas regretted it later? They were just starting to make some progress in
their relationship.
Roxas' nimble fingers started to work at the button and zipper. "You taste
good." He pulled the redhead's pants and boxers down with a swift tug, exposing
Axel. Roxas stuck his tongue out and slowly licked the other man from base to
tip a couple of times before he engulfed it and started to bob his head.
Axel forgot that he had been trying to stop the small boy and placed his hands
in soft, spiky blond hair. His grip tightened when the tongue swirled around a
bit, making a quiet moan come from Axel. In the back of his mind, the redhead
wondered how the other got so good at this but he couldn't form any words.
Roxas started to deep throat him and Axel bucked into the boy's mouth. To
Axel's surprise, Roxas didn't gag.
"R-roxas!" Axel tried to pull said boy away but he just sucked harder and
started to hum again. Axel's cum went down Roxas' awaiting throat.
Roxas pulled away and wiped his mouth. When he put his hand down, he gave his
mate a shy smile. "Told you, you tasted good." He pulled Axel's pants back up
and buckled them before he stood up and gave the redhead a quick peck on the
lips.
"You know you didn't have to do that." Axel chided.
Roxas huffed, grabbed the redhead's hand and dragged him back to the
underground home. "I know but it's only fair since you did it for me."
~X~x~X~x~
"Where the fuck are they!" Cloud screamed and kicked a nearby tree making his
companion flinch. The two were at the abandoned den and the blond was getting
impatient. Seriously, how long was he going to be stuck here?
"It's only been a day, Goldilocks. They might be at Fran's for a few days,
depending on how much poison your brother inhaled." The Nymph called down from
the tree he was perched in.
Cloud huffed and stormed into the cave to get away from the annoying fairy and
to see what was in there. There wasn't much, just a bunch of loose rocks and
when his human eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out giant boulders.
He trekked towards the boulders when his foot got caught on something and he
fell. Twisting to see behind himself, expecting to see a tree root, he saw was
his little brother's red hoodie.
Picking up the dirty red fabric, Cloud hugged it to himself. He needed to find
Roxas and fast.
He folded the hoodie and placed it by the mouth of the cave. He looked up at
Squall. "Do you have a light or something? I can't see anything in here."
Squall climbed down the tree. "It's disrespectful to go through their things."
But he walked into the cave anyway. Cloud's eyes widened; the faint green light
that surrounded Squall seemed to get brighter the farther he walked into the
den. The Nymph noticed the human's stare. "What?"
"You're glowing." Cloud knew his statement made him sound like a 5 year old.
Squall nodded and crossed his arms. "Well you asked for a light and I don't
think you know this or not but tree's don't get along with fire so I wouldn't
have a lighter on me. This is the next best thing." The Nymph started to walk
deeper into the cave, leaving the blond behind.
Cloud quickly followed him. "What happened to 'it's disrespectful to go through
their things.'?" Squall just shrugged, moved behind the boulders and found a
trap door.
~X~x~X~x
The two Lycanthropes made it back to the redhead's old room and stripped for
bed. Axel was the first to climb into the queen size bed. Roxas followed and
cuddled on his mate's chest, surprising Axel. Roxas never wanted to cuddled
before.
Not wanting to waste the rare moments when Roxas was loveable, Axel leaned up a
bit so their lips touched. "Good night." He laid back down, wrapped his arms
around the small blond, and closed his eyes. All in all, he had to say, today
was a good day.
Roxas stayed up a bit longer and just stared at the sleeping man under him. Now
that the Heat wasn't bothering him as much, he was finally able to clear his
mind and realized his feelings for Axel. He knew he was falling for him. It was
too early to say if it was love or not but there was a spark.
And the fact that he tastes like sea-salt ice-cream is fucking amazing!
Roxas blushed and buried his face Axel's neck, trying to run away from his
perverted thoughts.
***** Reunion *****
Just as Axel had promised, the two left when the sun rose. Kairi threw a huge
tantrum. She didn't want to be left behind while the boys went on an adventure.
She tried to follow them till Fran picked her up. The young girl wrapped her
legs around the Viera's waist and her arms around her neck.
"I'll see you later, okay?" Axel said and rubbed Kairi's back. The girl tensed
under his touch and she buried her face in Fran's white hair. Axel was hurt but
he knew she would forgive him. She was never good at holding grudges. "Thanks
for this, Fran."
The tall woman adjusted Kairi. "You owe me for this." She said with a rare
smile on her face. It had become an inside joke between them. Fran would say
Axel owes her but they both knew she was too proud to ask him for any kind of
help.
Roxas walked up to the trio to see what was taking his mate so long and saw a
sad Kairi. "Hey Kai, what's wrong?" His voice was quiet and soothing.
Kairi lifted her head off of Fran and looked at Roxas with teary blue eyes. "I
wanna go with you and Big Brother." She wiped her eyes as tears started to fall
from them.
Blue eyes looked at green as Roxas tried to beg Axel; he hated to see the
little girl cry. But Axel just shook his head. He didn't know what they'd run
into while looking for Cloud. He didn't even want Roxas to go but he knew the
blond would throw a bigger fit then Kairi. Before Roxas could ask, the redhead
grabbed Roxas's hand and dragged him into the forest.
Kairi and Fran watched the retreating figures till they couldn't see them
anymore. Kairi regretted not saying good-bye to her brother. She remembered the
last time Axel had gone somewhere without her.
~X~x~X~x~
"So where was the last place you saw him?" Roxas was walking beside Axel, who
was in his wolf form. The two had been walking all day with no signs of the
older blond.
Axel looked around their surroundings. They were far from both Fran's burrow
and their den. "I think he started following me a few miles west and lost track
of me south of there." Roxas groaned. He didn't want to walk anymore. He hadn't
slept well the night before and hadn't eaten. Axel noticed Roxas's distress and
bumped his leg. "You can ride me if you want."
Roxas's face went as red as Axel's fur. Since last night, the blond's mind had
been filled with thoughts of Axel. It was awkward to be around him. The wolf
didn't seem to notice the boy's situation and kept making comments stirred up
perverted images in his head. "Umm...No, it's fine."
"You sure? You look like you're about to faint."
"I'm sure." Axel laid down. "What are you doing?" He cautiously walked up to
the wolf. He didn't like it when Axel was in wolf form and manhandled him. When
he was close, he knelt beside Axel and touched his soft fur.
When he went to scratch behind his red ears, Axel turned his head and caught
the sleeve of his old shirt that Roxas was borrowing, pulling the blond next to
him. "You need to rest."
"No, I don't! We need to find Cloud!" Roxas tried to get up but Axel placed a
big paw on his back and pushed him back down.
"It'll cause more problems if you pass out before we can find him. Trust me;
it's going to do him better if you rest."
Roxas processed this. What the redhead said was true. He laid down beside the
wolf, using his side as a pillow. Roxas gently scratched behind Axel's ears
till he felt the tension in his body leave and he knew the wolf had fallen
asleep. The boy nuzzled into the red fur and felt his eyes slowly close.
Not even ten minutes passed before Roxas was woken by growling. The vibrations
rumbled through his body.
"Well, well, if it isn't Roxas." A cold voice said. The blond turned his head
towards the voice and saw a pale blond wolf with cold green eyes. The voice and
eyes were familiar to Roxas but he couldn't think of whom this Lycanthrope was.
"Oh come now boy, you must remember me. You know, your parents are pretty upset
that you just up and left. And I can see why you did. Nice to see you again,
Axel."
"Vexen." Axel growled.
Roxas knew him! That was his chemistry teacher! "Mr. Vexen? Why are you here?"
Roxas thought that Mystics couldn't go into town and even when then they had to
be sneaky. How had Vexen fooled everyone at the school for so many years?
"Such riff-raff you got yourself involved with." Vexen started to walk closer
to the two on the ground, making Axel's growl louder. "Is he holding you
against your will? I can help you get back home, yes?"
For once, when someone brought up the word home, he thought of the den. The
blond shook his head and buried his face in Axel's red fur. "I'm already home."
Axel's jaw almost dropped from that. He assumed Roxas still wanted to go back
to his family.
"Boy, do you know nothing?" Vexen asked, "Your parents are looking for you.
They think someone kidnapped you." The platinum blond eyed Axel. "I guess they
weren't far off...but, I digress. Humans do not belong here. I will personally
escort you back home if you wish." He extended his front paw towards Roxas.
Axel snapped at the outstretched paw. "Leave us the hell alone! He said he
doesn't want to go! And wouldn't Xemnas be wondering where you are by now?"
Axel never liked the creepy man and he always believed he had something to do
with his parent's death.
Vexen took a deep breath, making Roxas cringe. "I see..." He gave them the best
smile a wolf could make then walked away.
"Axel," Worry laced his voice. "I don't want to be here anymore."
"Roxas...?" Axel felt a little hurt; not even five minutes ago the blond said
he didn't want to go back home and now he wanted to?
The blond seemed to sense his mate's distress and wrapped his arms around the
wolf's neck. "Dummy, I meant what I said. This is my home now. But Mr. Vexen
scares me and I don't want to be here." He emphasized the last word to get his
point across. Axel's ears perked up and wagged his tail. "Can we get out of
here now?" Roxas stood up and started to walk in the opposite direction of
Vexen with Axel close behind.
"It's getting late. I think we're close to the den if you want to head over
there before the Heartless come out." Roxas nodded and the two started walking
home.
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud let out a maniacal laugh as he chased Squall with a lighter he found in
one of the rooms under the trapdoor. "Die, you fucking flower! Die!" The blond
didn't really want to kill the Nymph but after two days of being stuck with him
and no sign of his brother, Cloud needed some entertainment.
"Dammit Cloud!" Squall yelled as he climbed to the top of a tall tree. "Can't
you go back to the fucking cave and be a pervert with your brother's clothes
and leave me the hell alone?" Cloud found a dresser full of Roxas's clothes and
tears had formed in his eyes, not that he would actually cry or anything he was
just happy that he was in the right place. Then Squall made a comment about
incest. Next thing they both knew, Cloud was chasing Squall up a tree armed
with fire.
Footsteps sounded over the ruckus. "Cloud?" Said boy turned and saw blue eyes
and blond hair, so similar yet different from his own.
"Roxas!" Cloud dropped the lighter, running up to his brother and the red wolf
that was in Naminé's picture. "Where the hell were you? Do you know how long
I've been waiting?"
"About a day and a half." Squall said as he slid off the tree and walked over
to the trio. "Axel, I need to talk to you in private." The taller man nodded
and led the Nymph into the cave.
Axel escorted Squall to the cave where he left him so he could go change. When
he came back, the Nymph started to talk. "You need to take over the Lycanthrope
pack." The brunet was blunt, catching Axel by surprise.
A loud laugh left the redhead's lips. "Are you fucking nuts? I have Kairi and
now Roxas to take care of!"
"I think we have time to wait till Kairi's old enough to take care of herself.
As for Roxas, Cloud's here to take him home so you won't have to worry about
him." Squall crossed his arms and leaned against the cave's wall.
Axel looked over at his mate. It looked like he was explaining something to his
older brother and, by the look on his face, he wasn't getting it. "Roxas and I
are mates; Cloud can't take him." Axel growled.
Squall smirked; he had Axel right where he wanted him. "More of a reason to
stop Xemnas. He's letting the pack run wild and causing a lot of destruction.
You wouldn't want your future pups to get mixed up with that, would you?" He
paused and looked at the Lycanthrope's face. Axel looked torn. "And don't
forget Xemnas already wants you dead. Wouldn't it benefit everyone if you just
took care of this now?"
"But what if I fail? What if something happens to Roxas or Kairi? What if I'm
not as good as my father? What if-"
"And what if the sky catches on fire and your nose falls off?" Squall cut off
Axel's pity party. The redhead looked terrified. "You can hold yourself back
with all the 'what ifs' as you'd like but you won't know what will happen until
you do something. And it's not like you're going to be doing this alone. You
have Riku, and you always have me and the rest of the Mystics who supported
Reno." The tree fairy gave the redhead a light smile and gave the taller man a
pat on the shoulder before walking out of the cave and into the surrounding
forest.
Axel stood in thought. If he fought Xemnas, there was a chance the current pack
leader would kill him. If he didn't fight, there was a chance of Xemnas killing
him and his family. Either way he and his family were in danger.
"Roxas! What the hell?"
~Meanwhile~
The brothers watched the two Mystics disappear into the den and, when they were
out of sight, Cloud pounced on his younger brother. "What the hell is going on?
Do you know what Sora told me? Do you know what our parents are going through
right now?"
Roxas could feel his head spinning. Cloud was talking unusually fast. What
registered was his twin's name. "What happened to Sora?" The younger blond was
terrified that Cloud brought bad news about their brother.
"He had a dream you were in danger, and do you know what I found out when I got
here?" Cloud sounded mad.
Roxas cursed twin telepathy. "But I'm fine. See!" The small blond twirled in
place to show Cloud that he wasn't hurt. But Cloud saw dark marks on Roxas's
neck.
"Roxas! What the hell?" Cloud grabbed his brother's arm and tugged his shirt
collar down. A deep red blush dusted Roxas's cheeks; he hadn't realized his
mate had left any marks.
Roxas wiggled out of his brother's grasp. He covered his neck with one hand.
The other was held out in front of him as if to ward off his brother's wrath.
"I-it's not what you think! Axel had to-"
"Axel?" Cloud turned towards the redhead, who was still standing at the mouth
of the cave, and stormed up to the older man. On his way to the cave, he picked
up his backpack filled with weapons and pulled out a bowie knife. Axel bared
his teeth and growled at the threat. Cloud didn't back down.
"Cloud, stop it!" Roxas yelled. He knew the two would end up fighting, and he
didn't want either of them hurt. When his brother showed no signs of hearing
him, Roxas ran after him. He threw himself in between the two men. "Will you
just listen to me?" Cloud halted, his eyes set in a glare and focused on the
redhead. "I let him do it, okay? The whole thing was consensual. Axel would
never do anything I wasn't comfortable with."
Cloud's eyes flickered from the tall man to his brother then back. He launched
the knife at Axel's face.
"Axel!" Roxas screamed as he watched the sharp object go flying at his mate.
~X~x~X~x~
A platinum wolf sprinted through the forest. He needed to tell his leader
important news. Axel had a weakness. The superior would be pleased.
He ran to a tall structure made out of boulders molded together from years of
erosion. It formed a large circular perimeter with small dens scattered inside.
Vexen made his way to the largest den.
"Lord Xemnas?" He called. A low growl came from inside the cave, and gold eyes
glinted in the darkness. "My deepest apologies sir, but I just found something
out that will make you most pleased."
"This better be important, you buffoon." Xemnas growled. He was not in a good
mood. Vexen always seemed to overreact over the dumbest things. The pack leader
was getting tired of it.
Vexen swallowed the lump in his throat. "It's about Reno's kids, Axel and
Kairi."
"I know who his kids are, you moron. What about them? You know they're
untouchable till the girl matures." Xemnas cut the other off. His patience was
wearing thin and he was about to snap.
"I'm aware of that, sir. I came to tell you that Axel has found himself a mate,
who happens to be in heat. He and his brother are students of mine back in the
Outerlands." A smile crept onto the wolf's face. "We could use the two against
Axel."
Xemnas was quiet for a few minutes. "This better work, Vexen. It's your last
chance to prove yourself useful." The pack leader growled. Vexen's light blond
ears pressed flat against his head as he walked away. Nether of the two wolves
noticed a certain silver wolf listing in on their conversation.
Riku snuck away, cursing Vexen and Xemnas.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas ran past Cloud. He pushed the redhead out of the way. He waited for the
piercing pain. But it never came.
The blond slowly turned around and his heart jumped to his throat. The knife
was suspended by a thin vine centimeters from Roxas's face. He was vaguely
aware of Axel's worried voice yelling at him. "Roxas, why would you do that?"
The redhead grabbed Roxas by his shoulders and shook him out of his stupor.
When Roxas snapped out of it, he looked at Axel's face and was shocked to see
tears in the corner of his green eyes. The smaller male stretched on his toes
and kissed his mate's tattooed cheeks. Before he could pull away, though, Axel
placed his hand behind Roxas's head and pulled him in for a deep kiss. As the
blond opened his mouth to let Axel's tongue in, he was pulled away and forced
to face his older brother.
"Will you please tell me what the hell is going on?" Cloud said as he pulled
Roxas out of the den and towards Squall, who had reappeared at the edge of the
clearing. The taller blond crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for his
brother to explain.
Roxas rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish look. "Well...umm...you
see..."
"They're mates, dumb-ass." Squall bluntly said.
Cloud's eyes doubled in size. "Wait. What? Mates? No, you can't do that! We
need you back home!"
Axel wrapped his arms protectively around Roxas's waist. "It means he's mine."
The redhead stuck his tongue out at the older blond.
Cloud really hated that man. Before Cloud could say anything back, Axel turned
him and Roxas around and led him into their den. "It's getting dark. You guys
can sleep in Kairi's room if you want." He called over his shoulder at the
other two men before disappearing into the darkness of his home.
***** Long Ass Talk *****
After shoving Squall and Cloud into Kairi's room, Axel and Roxas changed then
climbed into bed. Axel laid on his back while Roxas curled around the taller
man with his head on Axel's chest. Just when the blond was being lulled to
sleep by his mate's heartbeat, a long, loud howl was heard outside.
Axel shot up, knocking poor Roxas out of the bed. The redhead gave the blond an
apologetic smile before offering his hand to help the younger boy up. Once
Roxas was back on his feet, whoever was outside howled again. "Who's here?"
Roxas asked in a whisper. He was scared Vexen had followed them home.
"Stay here and I'll go check it out." Axel leaned down and kissed Roxas on the
forehead and, before the blond could object to it, Axel slipped on the pair of
pants he was wearing earlier that day and left the room. Standing in the hall,
he saw his two guests. Cloud opened his mouth to say something but Axel
interrupted. "He's staying in the room." Cloud nodded, walked past the redhead
and went into his brother's room.
Once the two Mystics knew the Jecht brothers were safe, they made their way out
of the hidden home and into the main part of the den. A silver wolf stood
there.
"Axel, I need to talk to Roxas." Riku said as the other two got closer to him.
The wolf was panting from sprinting to the den to avoid the Heartless. He made
sure he covered his tracks so none of the creatures would follow him.
"He's inside with his brother." Axel replied.
The wolf gave the Nymph a pointed look; he assumed the Nymph had spirited
Roxas's brother. Why else would he be there? Squall raised his hands in a
defensive manner. "He just fell asleep in my home so I showed him where he
could find Roxas." Riku gave him an 'I don't believe you' look. "There's
nothing going on between us! He's a whiny bitch and I can't stand him."
Axel felt the need to cut in. "It's true. When Roxas and I got back here, Cloud
had him up a tree and was threatening to set him on fire." Axel couldn't keep a
straight face and laughed at the brunet's expense. Riku laughed along with the
redhead.
After a few minutes, Axel stopped. "Well, you wanted to talk to Roxas, right?
Come on." He started to walk back into the den with the other two behind him
but stopped when he saw Roxas' red hoodie at the mouth of the cave. Axel picked
it up and slipped it over his bare chest before he followed Riku and Squall
back into the den.
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud was shocked when he walked into the room and saw his baby brother in just
boxers but then he saw the scared look on Roxas's face; he went into big
brother mode and wrapped his arms around Roxas. The smaller blond pushed his
brother away. He was still mad over the fact that Cloud tried to kill Axel.
"Roxas..." Cloud tried to get closer to his brother again. When Roxas's posture
tensed, the older blond backed away from the foot of the bed and sat on the
other end. "Look, you can't keep this up. I didn't know you felt so strongly
towards Axel. I'm sorry." Cloud's blue eyes drifted away from his brother. He
wasn't the best when it came to apologizing. "But I don't care what's going on,
I need to bring you home." Roxas stared at his brother. "When you ran in front
of the knife, I just...Roxas, why did you do that?"
A sharp pain went through Roxas's chest. He didn't know why he did it; he just
felt like he had to protect Axel. Was it instinct to protect your mate? "I'm
not really sure. But it was something I felt I had to do. Has that ever
happened to you, Cloud?" The older blond shook his head. He was the most level
headed out of the Jecht kids; Sora acted more out of impulse then all of them.
Roxas gave his brother a small smile. "Lycanthropes are known for acting
without thinking." Roxas quoted Fran. "Cloud, I'm turning more and more like a
Lycanthrope. I can never go home."
"I can't accept that!" Cloud stood up from the bed and was looking down at his
little brother. "Sora and Naminé are worried sick about you! If I go home empty
handed, I'll never hear the end of their nagging. Or maybe they'll come here
themselves and try to find you. Would you like to see little Nami lost out
here?"
"No, I wouldn't like her coming here. But you don't understand. I can't go
back. Granddad and Uncle Auron know what I am now." Roxas's voice became
nothing more than a whisper as he remembered his Uncle.
Before Cloud could say anything else, a silver wolf walked in. Cloud turned and
grabbed the closet object, a thick book that was sitting on a desk beside the
bed, and drew back his arm. Axel's eye's doubled in size as he walked in. He
rushed up to the tall blond and snatched the book from his hand.
"Don't touch that." The redhead growled. He placed it back in its spot on the
desk before he turned to his mate and gestured towards the silver wolf. "Riku
needs to talk to you about something." After he thought about it, Axel added.
"I think Cloud should hear about it too." He turned away from the blonds and
started to dig through his dresser. He threw clothes at Riku, who caught them
and placed them on his back. He walked out of the room to change.
Once Riku left the room, Roxas reached for the book to see it was a photo
album. Curious, Roxas opened the book and the first picture made his jaw drop.
"Axel, is this Reno?" He asked as he pulled on Axel's sleeve to get his
attention.
The redhead looked over Roxas's shoulder to look at the picture and smiled at
it. The picture had a redheaded man leaning against a tree. He was lighting a
cigarette and the flame coming from the lighter illuminated his sharp facial
features, making his blue eyes glow.
"Yeah, that's him."
Roxas looked up at Axel and back down at the picture. "If it wasn't for your
eyes, you would look just like him. Kairi got his eyes and some of his hair
color, didn't she?"
Cloud walked away from the couple and made his way over to the Tree Nymph, who
was standing in a corner on the other side of the room. "So...what's going on?"
The blond was confused. First, a wolf just waltzed in the room but Roxas didn't
seem to care and was now happily looking at pictures. The older blond was
starting to feel left out.
Squall leaned against a wall and crossed his arms across his chest. "The wolf
that just left name's Riku. He runs with the local Lycanthrope pack. He has to
tell us something that I don't think you'll like." The Nymph said. A grin made
its way on his face when said Lycanthrope walked back into the room in his
human from. Everything was working out for Squall.
Axel's clothes were a little to long for Riku and he kept tripping on the pant
legs. Riku had to stop walking once he got to the doorway. "Roxas, I overheard
something that I think you should know. Vexen told Xemnas about you. He plans
on using you against Axel. He'll even drag your twin into this if he has to."
"Vexen? The teacher?" Cloud asked from his and Squall's corner. "He can't do
that!" His hands were balled up in fist. One of his siblings were already mixed
up in this mess, he didn't need another one.
"Cloud." Roxas called to his older brother. When Cloud looked over, he saw that
Axel had pulled Roxas onto his lap and had his arms wrapped protectively around
the small blond's waist. "All this time, Vexen's been tricking us. He was never
human. You need to tell Granddad; he can banish him from town."
The older blond just shook his head. "You're coming with me to tell him." Axel
started to growl and his grip on the blond boy in his lap got tighter. Cloud
saw the distressed look in his brother's blue eyes and walked over to the two.
He snatched his brother out of the redhead's grasp and dragged him over to the
corner he was standing in. "He doesn't belong here. You took him from us. He
needs to be with his family, not some fucking freak who just wanted an easy
lay." Cloud spat at Axel.
Riku cut off any remark from Axel. "Can we please stick with the topic? Look,
we need to do something to protect Roxas and his family from the pack. The
sooner we can figure this out, the sooner Axel can become the leader-"
"Wait, what if I don't want to become the leader?" Axel cut in.
"Leader?" Roxas asked. He looked from Axel to Riku and waited for an answer.
The blond knew that Axel was the son of the previous pack leader but wolves
didn't have monarchy; their ruler was picked by being strongest. "So you're
going to kill Xemnas?" The blond broke free from his brother's grasp and knelt
in front of his mate. "You can't do this! What if something happens to you? I
don't know what I'd do." Roxas buried his face in Axel's legs while the redhead
combed his fingers through soft, blond spikes.
Riku coughed to bring the couple back to their conversation. "He has to. I
think Xemnas is up to something big. Why else would he have Vexen in the
Outerlands?" Roxas lifted his head off of Axel's lap and looked over at the
silver haired Lycanthrope. "I think we'll need eyes over there, just to make
sure he's really up to something so we can stop him. Cloud, would you mind
doing that for us?" He looked over at the tall blond.
Cloud looked over at his brother, whose big blue eyes were silently pleading to
him, then turned back to Riku. "I already graduated from high school. It'll be
impossible for me to keep an eye on Vexen. And I refuse to have Sora get
dragged into this."
"Is that your way of getting me to go back with you?" Roxas asked. He was still
sitting on the ground with his back against the bed and his head leaning on
Axel's lap. He showed no signs of moving.
Cloud was about to answer, but the brunet spoke up first. "I'll do it." All
eyes in the room looked over at him with skeptical looks. "What? I know I won't
be able to pass as a student but I can try to get a job at the school and keep
an eye on both Vexen and Sora." The Nymph didn't really want to be bothered
with it but, if it meant his tree would be protected in the long run, he didn't
care about this minor inconvenience.
Cloud just shook his head; he wanted Roxas, not Squall! "That won't work. Vexen
knows you. It would be easier if I just take Roxas back home and put all of
this behind us."
"But if Roxas goes back with you, it'll just make it easier for Xemnas to nab
him. And once he has Roxas, he'll use him to kill Axel."
"I don't care what happens to that bastard." Cloud growled with a finger
pointed at Axel.
"Xemnas doesn't care about what you feel or if you want to forget about all of
this. He'll still come after Roxas."
Roxas whimpered. He just figured out how he felt for his mate. There was no way
he wanted Axel to be taken away from him nor did he want to be used to get him
killed. Axel's hand left his hair and made its way to Roxas's chin and lifted
his head so Roxas was looking up at the red head. "Hey, we'll figure something
out, okay? Nothing bad is going to happen." Axel pecked Roxas on the lips.
The hair on the back of Cloud's neck stood up. He didn't like his brother being
so affectionate with a complete stranger. Squall put his hand on the blond's
shoulder to calm him down. Cloud just shrugged it off, causing the brunet's
frown to deepen.
"It's getting late. Why don't we go to bed and talk about things in the
morning?" Riku suggested. Even though they couldn't see the moon, Riku just
wanted everyone to calm down and the only way that would happen would be once
everyone was rested. Squall nodded. The two Mystics walked out of the room and
into Kairi's.
Cloud didn't move from his spot and just watched his brother and his mate. Axel
was still sitting on the bed with his hand stretched out to help Roxas stand
up. Both of them had wide grins on their faces. Cloud couldn't bring himself to
smile at the happy couple. Instead, he cleared his throat. Roxas turned to his
brother and had a heavy blush on his face. Axel just looked annoyed. "You're
sleeping with the other freaks." Cloud said with a finger pointed at the
redhead.
Axel glared at the older blond. "And why would I do that? This is my home. If I
wanted to, I could make you sleep outside with all the Heartless." He grunted
in pain when Roxas elbowed him in the ribs.
"Go sleep in Kairi's room and talk strategy. I'll talk to Cloud and change his
mind about taking me home." The small blond whispered at his mate. Axel nodded
in agreement and gave Roxas a quick kiss before leaving. Roxas looked over at
his brother and patted the edge of the bed. "Come on, let's sleep." He crawled
into the sheets on the far side of the bed. When he felt the bed dip as Cloud
joined him, Roxas spoke. "You know, not too long ago, Uncle Auron told me that
our life is our own story and that we shouldn't let anyone write it for us."
The room filled with silence for a few moments. "What are you trying to tell
me?"
"No matter how much you want me to come home, I won't. It's my life and I can
make my own choices." A new found confidence was in Roxas's voice.
***** Home is Where Your Bucket Is *****
The morning came without any incidents occurring at the small den. But, when
Cloud woke up, he panicked when he noticed that Roxas was no longer in bed. The
tall blond shot out of bed and sprinted out of the hidden home, skidding to a
stop when he almost plowed into his little brother's back.
Roxas was sitting on the floor of the cave. In his lap, there was a tiny girl
who resembled Naminé. The girl was curled up and sleeping while Roxas gently
rubbed her back. Roxas's blue eyes left the girl's sleeping form and looked up
at his brother. "Glad to see you're finally up," Roxas smiled when Cloud sat
next to him.
"Who's that and where did she come from?" Cloud didn't bother to hide his
disgust.
Roxas frowned. "Her name's Kairi. Axel picked her up from Fran's this morning."
"He just can't stop kidnapping kids, can't he?"
The next thing Cloud knew he was on his back and his check stung. Did Roxas
just hit him?
"Look, you jackass, Kairi is Axel's sister. We left her with a friend so we
could look for you! I was worried that something bad was going to happen to you
if you were by yourself in the woods." Roxas tried to keep his scathing voice
quiet so Kairi wouldn't wake. The shorter blond managed to stand up with Kairi
in his arms. He walked towards the back of the den and disappeared through the
trap door.
Cloud huffed and stood up, rubbing the bruise on his cheek. He didn't like the
influence Axel was having on his baby brother. Once the blond was outside he
looked around. The sun was high in the sky; it was probably around noon. At the
far end of the clearing, Cloud saw something that made his skin crawl. The two
Lycanthropes were devouring a half-eaten carcass. Cloud couldn't even tell what
it was.
Axel looked up at the blond and grinned at him; with all the blood covering his
face and teeth, he looked more threatening. Cloud backed away into the cave
when his back hit something solid. He turned around and saw Squall standing
behind him.
The Nymph took in the human's pale face. "What's got the revengeful hunter all
scared?" He smirked when color returned to Cloud's face.
"How can you not be disgusted by them?" Cloud nearly screamed.
Squall looked from Cloud to the wolves and chuckled. "If you think that's
gross, you should have seen your brother out here earlier." The blond's face
scrunched up, making Squall laugh some more.
"Roxas has better table manners than those beasts." Cloud scuffed.
"You bet I do," Roxas said as he climbed out of the trapdoor. "I, at least, use
a knife to cut it apart." The blond turned towards the brunet. "Did you tell
Cloud about the plan yet?" When the Nymph shook his head, Roxas turned towards
his brother. "We're all going back." Cloud went to say something but Roxas held
up his hand to stop any words. "But I'm not staying. I'm going to talk to Sora
and Nami about what's going on. I'm coming back once that's done."
~X~x~X~x~
Yuna moaned and put her head on the cold table top. Things had not been going
so well at the Jecht house. First, her youngest son goes missing then her
oldest goes out looking for him. Yuna had asked Auron for help but he told her
that her kids were lost forever.
Jackass
All Yuna needed was a few moments of silence to clear her head a bit. But fate
didn't seem to want to grant her the pleasure as the phone rang. The young
mother stood up and walked to the other side of the kitchen.
"Hello, Jeckt residents...Oh hello-...What? Oh my, yes, of course...Okay I'll
tell him. Thank you." After she hung up the phone, Yuna rubbed her temples to
relieve the oncoming headache. "Sora! Get your butt down here!" She yelled up
to the second floor where her son was. A loud thump was heard upstairs and the
noise continued till the hyper brunet was in the kitchen.
"Yeah, mom?" Sora panted while clutching his side like he just ran a marathon.
His spiky brown hair was messier than usual and green paint was splattered on
his cheek. Yuna dropped her hands from her head and started to scratch the
paint off of her son's face. Sora winced at the sharp pain from Yuna's nail and
he could tell she was mad at him. "Is something wrong?"
Yuna didn't talk until she was satisfied cleaning. "Your teacher called. He
said you're failing his class, but he offered to tutor you." Her busy hands
moved from the boy's face to his hair as she tried to straighten it. "Starting
Monday, you have to stay after school and do extra work for his class."
Sora couldn't argue with his mother. After all, when Roxas left, Sora couldn't
copy his notes anymore and was totally lost in all of his classes. Sora nodded
then escaped upstairs again.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas, Cloud, and Riku made their way out of the large forest and towards the
small town on the outskirts. Axel had to stay back at the cave or risk Kairi
throwing another tantrum. Squall went back to his tree to check up on things
before he went to the Outerlands.
Roxas sighed for the millionth time in an hour and looked behind him. This was
the farthest he had ever been away from his mate since he came to live in the
forest. Riku lead the group, marking a path for Roxas to follow home. He heard
the young Lycanthrope and turned so he could face the boy. "You know it's
funny," He paused and waited for Roxas to stop looking behind him. "Only a few
days ago you wanted nothing to do with Axel and look at you, now you can't even
go a few hours without him. You know if I didn't know any better, I'd say you
loved him."
The poor blond's face turned bright red and he bowed his head so his hair
blocked his blushing face. Cloud couldn't understand all the barks and growls
sounding from the silver wolf.
Cloud nudged his brother's side. "What's wrong?" Since leaving the den, the
older blond had let his guard down and was less irritable. Maybe without that
damn redhead he could finally talk some sense into Roxas.
"I just...it's nothing." Roxas looked away from his brother and called towards
Riku. "Are we there yet?"
Riku rolled his eyes. "Don't start acting like a little pup, now. And we should
be there in about two or so hours."
"But I can never age." That caught Cloud's attention. "So I can act like a pup
as much as I want right?" Roxas noticed his brother's sudden interest in the
conversation but didn't call him out on it.
"You can't age once you hit maturity. You can't age; therefore you're not a
pup," Riku said as he scratched a tree.
"I'm mature?"
"Well that's why you're in heat. By the way, you and Axel should take care of
that soon. Other Lycathropes will pick up on it and do something about it
themselves."
A shiver went up Roxas's spine. Cloud saw the movement and, assuming his
brother was cold, he pulled the smaller blond in his side to warm him up.
~X~x~X~x~
As the small house that Roxas once called home came into view, the small blond
couldn't help but smile. He missed it; he had lived there his whole life.
"This is as far as I can go," Riku said from the outskirts of the forest. "I
need to get back to the pack before they suspect anything. Just follow the path
I marked or if Kairi cries enough, Axel will come and get you. And Squall
should turn up before the end of the day."
Roxas nodded at the silver wolf. "Thank you, Riku."
Riku was about to leave but stopped and said. "I was serious about what I said
earlier." With that the wolf left the two brothers.
"What did he say?" Cloud's deep voice said after a while. Roxas jumped at the
sudden noise and looked up at his brother with a confused look. "Your face is
red again. What did he say?"
"Oh...ummm...nothing." Cloud didn't look convinced. "He said Squall should be
here before tonight. Once he gets here, I'm leaving."
Cloud grunted and started to walk up towards the house with Roxas following
close behind. As the two got closer, Roxas's ears pricked up at the sound of
Naminé's laughter. If the small blond had been in his wolf form, he was sure
his tail would have been wagging. Roxas didn't waste any time in running over
to his baby sister. Naminé screamed in surprise as she was tackled to the
ground. She kicked and hit the person above her with her eyes closed.
"Ow! Nami, stop it! It's me!"
The little girl stopped struggling and cracked her eyes open. Familiar blond
hair and blue eyes greeted her. "Roxas!" She screamed and pulled her brother
down for a hug. "You're alright! I thought stupid-head Axel did something to
you!"
Roxas pulled away from the little girl and gave her a serious look. "Axel would
never do anything bad to me, Nami. Why would you ever think that?" Roxas was
starting to get irritated at his siblings accusing Axel of things, but he knew
they were just worried about him.
Naminé lowered her head and she felt tears form in her eyes, she didn't like it
when people where mad at her. "S-Sora said tha-that you were in trouble. Axel
promised me that nothing would happen to you." Tears started to pour down her
cheeks.
Roxas felt guilty. He hated when his sister cried. "You have it wrong; Axel
saved me. I got attacked by a monster while Axel was gone. He came back just in
time and brought me to the forest healer before anything bad could happen." The
blond couldn't help but smile at how much he had put Axel through. The man
never complained and did whatever he could to make Roxas happy. "By the way,
where's Sora?" Roxas asked as an afterthought.
It was Sunday so the young brunet wasn't at school. It was a school night so
Roxas doubted his mother would let Sora stay out late with friends.
"He went fishing with Uncle." Naminé said, "I couldn't go because mommy said
it's not lady-like." The blond girl pouted at the unfairness.
Cloud walked up to his younger siblings and patted the girl on the head. "If
you want, I can take you some time."
Naminé smiled at her oldest brother. She was glad to have both of them back.
She pulled Cloud into a hug and buried her face in his chest. Cloud wrapped his
arms around his sister and pulled her closer to him. Roxas looked at his
siblings and for a moment didn't want to go back to the forest. He wanted to
stay here with his family. But it didn't last long; he was starting to miss
Axel.
Looking up at the sky, Roxas decided he didn't have to leave anytime soon but
he hoped Sora would come back soon.
~X~x~X~x~
"When's Roxas getting back?" Kairi whined from her spot next to Axel. The two
were at the lake half a mile from their cave.
Axel was scooping water into a big bucket to refill their water supply back at
the den. "Hopefully before tonight. Tomorrow at the latest." The redhead
frowned a bit. He didn't like Roxas being so far away from him. He could leave
Kairi for a bit to get his mate, but he knew Roxas needed some alone time with
his family. He sighed as he stood up and balanced the full bucket on his hip.
"Ready to go?"
The little girl nodded and grabbed her smaller bucket. The two walked in
silence till the cave came into view. Kairi's small voice came through the air.
"Am I going to be an aunt soon?"
Axel almost tripped from the sudden question. "Wh-why would you ask that? Of
course, you'll be an aunt soon." The redhead didn't know if he was lying to his
sister or not but he knew he wanted to start a family; he could wait till Roxas
was ready, though.
A large smile spread across Kairi's face and she started to jump out of
excitement. "I can't wait! Your pups will be so cute, Big Brother! And, if you
have a girl, I can dress her up! Oh, Big Brother, please have a girl!"
Axel laughed at his sister's antics and pulled her in for a one armed hug,
still balancing the large bucket. The girl grinned and snuggled into her
brother's side. This had to be the happiest she had been since her parent's
died.
***** Flowers Aren't Gay *****
Roxas sighed as he stretched out on his old bed that he shared with Sora. The
brunet was still out and Roxas was starting to get anxious; he needed to leave
soon if he wanted to get back to the den before nightfall. Naminé was curled up
at her brother's side, asking never ending questions. And Cloud, well, Roxas
didn't know where he disappeared to.
"Were there any other wolves?" The small girl asked.
"Mmhmm," Roxas hummed while rubbing Naminé's side. "There's a whole pack,
though I've only met Riku. He's really nice and helps out Axel whenever he can.
And Axel has a little sister that's a month older then you. But other than
them, I haven't met any." Roxas chose not to tell his sister about her future
high school teacher also being a Lycanthrope.
Naminé's blue eyes widened. "Sister? What's she like?" The girl bounced on the
bed. "Will I ever meet her? Can I meet her on my birthday?"
"We'll see."
The door that led to the basement opened and slammed. "Why is the light on?" A
confused voice said at the top of the stairs. "Cloud's back!" A series of
thumps were heard coming down. About half way a scream sounded and Sora tumbled
down the stairs.
"Sora!" Roxas leapt off the bed towards his twin. Sora lay on his back,
clutching the back of his head. A sharp pain went through the blond's skull and
he fell to his knees in pain. Stupid twin telepathy.
Sora recovered from the fall first. "Cloud, did you find Roxas?" His hand was
covering his eyes.
Roxas groaned and rubbed the back of his head. His brother could be such an
idiot. When he was about to correct Sora, he felt tiny hands clamp round his
mouth; Naminé brought one finger up to her mouth. "Sorry, Sora. Cloud couldn't
find him. He said we should give up." The smile on the girl's face grew larger.
"What the fuck, Cl-" Sora sat up to yell at his older brother but shut up when
he saw the wrong blond. "Roxas? Holy shit!" The brunet leapt at his twin,
knocking Roxas over. "Where the hell have you been?"
Roxas flinched at the added weight on him and the loudness of his brother's
voice. "Don't swear so much when Naminé's around, dumbass. Now can you get off
of me?"
"No can do, bro," Sora said and hugged his twin so tight that the poor blond
couldn't breathe. "You have to tell me everything!" The brunet gushed like a
teenaged girl.
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud and Squall made a rendezvous spot outside of Braska's house. Since the
old man pretty much ran the town, Cloud thought it would be best if they told
him what was going on.
The blond knocked on the door to his grandfather's house. When the door opened,
Braska looked surprised. "Cloud? What brings you here?"
Cloud looked nervous and wouldn't look the old man in the eye. "I'm meeting
someone here and we need to talk to you about...umm...things," He lamely
finished.
"Is that so?" Braska opened the door wider to let his grandson inside. When
Cloud walked past him, Braska closed the door and didn't lock it for whoever
was coming over. "You look tired. I'll go make us some coffee. How does that
sound?"
Cloud was looking at Braska's bookshelf and nodded. "That sounds nice. Thank
you." He turned away from the books to face his grandfather. "By the way, do
you have any books on mythological creatures? Like the kind they believe are in
Canta Forest."
Braska called out from his spot in the kitchen. "Canta Forest? Why would you
want to know what's in there?" The older man started to grind up the coffee
beans and the machine drowned out whatever his grandson was going to say.
Cloud sighed and scanned the large bookshelf. It was filled with books of
various colors and thickness. Most of them were about the history of the town
and a few were on legends and myths. Then his eyes landed on one single book.
It was a thick book, probably holding hundreds of pages inside its binding.
Leather made the exterior but it was old and dyed an ugly deep orange color.
Gold writing embedded the cowhide with the name The Early Myths of Bevelle.
Cloud grabbed it off the shelf and flipped through it.
The book had everything Cloud was looking for. About Lycanthropes and Nymphs
and what they are. It even had a short chapter on Heartless.
The blond sat on the couch and scanned through the book while he waited for
Braska.
Lycanthropes are one of the most deadly monsters that lurk in Canta Forest.
They can change from wolf to human at will and will sneak into villages to
abduct innocent girls. It is not known what happens to the victims but it's
believed that the Lycanthrope will rape her and make her bear his unholy
spawns.
Cloud didn't read much after that before a mug was held in front of his face.
He took the hot drink from his grandfather with a small smile as a thank you.
Braska took a seat in the chair across from him.
Braska eyed the book Cloud was reading. "Is there any reason you wanted to read
about Lycanthropes?"
Cloud noticed the worry in his grandfather's voice. "No reason. I just flipped
to a random page and it happened to be this one." Braska hummed and took a sip
of the dark drink. The blond copied him and the two sat in silence for a while,
just drinking, till Cloud decided to ask Braska a question. "Why is Canta
Forest forbidden? What's exactly in there?" The blond knew his grandfather was
hiding something and he was going to get him to admit what it was.
Braska pretended like he didn't hear the blond and took another sip from his
mug. Cloud was going to repeat himself when the front door opened and Squall
walked into the room. His normal camouflage clothes were replaced by leather
and belts. Lots of leather and belts.
The old man changed the subject. "Ah, you must be Cloud friend. Please sit down
and I'll get you some coffee." Braska didn't feel the need to introduce himself
since he ran the town.
"It's okay; I don't need anything to drink," Squall said as he sat down in the
open spot next to Cloud. He didn't know what coffee was but, by looking at the
dark brown sludge in the blond's mug, he guessed it would taste disgusting.
"So, I'm guessing Cloud told you I was stopping by?"
Braska smiled at the boys across from him and gave them a slight nod. He knew
where this was going. "And I must say I'm happy you two came to me with this."
Braska didn't like to brag but he was amazing at reading people.
The Nymph looked over at the blond next to him. "Did you tell him what's going
on?"
Cloud shook his head. "No, I didn't. Granddad, what are you talking about?" He
asked and took a sip of his drink.
"You two are dating. And you're coming out of the closet," The older man stated
with a smile.
Coffee sprayed from Cloud's mouth and he coughed. "You thing I'm...him...what?
Why would you think that?"
"Don't get all shy now. I've always known you were gay and hoped you would come
out to me." Braska's smile got bigger. Squall thought he was way too happy
about it. "It's all about the way you carry yourself. And by the way he
dresses," Braska pointed at Squall. "Well, the way he dresses just screams it."
Cloud gave his grandfather a horrified look. "I'm not gay! I can't say the same
for Squall, but I'm not."
"What do you mean by that?" Squall glared at the blond.
Cloud glared right back. "What I mean is you're a flower. That's pretty gay to
me."
Braska didn't miss the comment. "What do you mean he's a flower?"
The blond looked away from the Nymph. "This is why we came here. He's a Tree
Nymph I met while in the forest." Braska opened his mouth to yell at his
grandson for going into the forest but Cloud kept talking. "Roxas told Naminé
everything and she told me. I'll admit, I overreacted and ran into the forest
to look for him." Cloud retold his grandfather everything that happened.
"Squall's here to keep an eye on Vexen. He's a high school teacher and a
Lycanthrope. We think he's going to do something to Sora."
Braska had his elbows on his knees with his fingers crossed and his chin
resting on them. He listened to the whole story without interrupting. He
wouldn't have believed a word of it but now that he was looking closely he
could now see a faint green glow coming from the man who claimed to be a Tree
Nymph. "That's quite a story. But why are you telling me this?"
Squall spoke up. "We think it would be best if you stayed in the loop with what
was happening. You know, in case something goes wrong."
"I see. And where will you be staying?"
Squall looked down at his hands which were folded in his lap. "I haven't
figured it out yet."
"You can stay here if you like then." Squall looked up at the old man. "It'll
be easier for me to keep an eye on you. I can keep tabs on Vexen while I'm at
it. And you'll need an easy way into the school, correct?" The brunet nodded
his head. "Well, I'll just put a word in for you. With any luck, you'll be in
by next week."
Both boys just stared at the older man. Braska chuckled. "You thought I
wouldn't help? This is my town and it's my duty to make sure Mystics stay out.
If what you say is right, then one made has its way in. And my grandchildren
are involved so it's also on a personal level."
Cloud got over the shock first. "Thank you," He said in a sincere voice. He
looked out the window. The sun was setting. "I think I should go and see Roxas
off."
Braska stood up and gave his grandson a goodbye hug. "Can you tell Roxas I'm
sorry? I feel awful for banishing him like that but I was just doing what was
best for town. Tell him that if he promises to behave, he and Axel can visit,"
He said then pulled away. Cloud nodded and left.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas stared at the box in his hand with shock. He told Sora everything. He
confirmed what Naminé told him and he told him what happened in the last two
weeks. Hell, Roxas even confided in his twin about his feelings.
Before Roxas could tell Sora about Vexen, the brunet grabbed his twin's hand
and dragged him to the closest drug store, handing the blond a box of condoms.
"Sor, I don't understand what you're getting at here."
"And you're supposed to be the smart one," Sora grumbled. "If your Heat's
making your head be all funky," The brunet chuckled. He still couldn't get over
the fact that his brother could go through such a thing. "I think having sex
with Axel will help you clear your head. Maybe once you do and you can think
straight, you'll realize you can't stand the man anymore and have to come back
here."
"Ah-huh. I get the first part. But, you know even if I don't love him, I can't
come back. Uncle Auron and Granddad won't let me. And why do I need condoms?"
Roxas waved the box in his twin's face.
"Details, details. We'll figure that out if it turns out you don't like him. As
for the condoms, we took health class together; you figure it out." Sora winked
at his twin and disappeared down the aisle singing Hakuna Matata.
Roxas threw the box into his basket and grabbed some things for the bathroom
back at the den before following his brother. He found Sora waiting for him at
the register with a goofy grin. Roxas placed his items on the conveyer belt
with a blush. When the cashier scanned the condoms, she looked up at Roxas and
smiled at him. The bond's red face grew hotter. He just wanted to get out of
there already! The blond threw his money on the counter and ran out of the
store.
He made it a block before he noticed Sora was behind him laughing. "You should
have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!" Sora collapsed on his
twin's chest because he couldn't hold himself upright.
"Shut up!" Roxas was trying to be serious but found himself following his
twin's example; the two couldn't stop their laughter for the rest of the walk.
~X~x~X~x~
Kairi huffed as she watched Axel wash laundry. Her brother had decided to catch
up on some chores while Roxas was gone. Axel had said Roxas would be back
before night fell but the sun going down and the blond wasn't back yet. Kairi
was getting impatient.
"Why isn't Roxas back yet?"
"He's seeing his family. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't come back till
late tomorrow." Axel said with a slight frown. He wanted his mate back just as
much as Kairi did but if he let his sister know that then she would whine. The
redhead knew if he went to get his young mate then Roxas would get mad at him
and they were just starting to get along.
Kairi lowered her head and pulled the grass out of the ground. "Can't you go
get him? I really miss him."
"I miss him too. But you know I can't. He needs to be with his family-"
"But we are his family!" Kairi yelled. Tears rolled down her face. She was
getting frustrated that Roxas would rather be with other people than them. Axel
and she were his family, not those other people!
Axel looked over at his sister when he heard her crying. He sighed and hung a
shirt to the clothes line. The redhead picked up the crying girl and carried
her towards the den; she was probably throwing the fit because she was getting
tired.
When they got to the den, Axel brought Kairi into his room and placed her on
the bed. "Go to sleep. When you wake up, Roxas should be home." He went to
leave but he heard his sister cry again. Sighing, Axel kicked off his shoes and
slid under the covers with the girl.
Kairi grabbed on to her brother, curled around him, and buried her face in his
chest as she tried to fall asleep. Axel wrapped his arms around his little
sister and rubbed her back to calm her down. The young redhead fell into a
fitful sleep.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas picked Naminé up, hugged her close and wished her a happy early birthday
before he put her down. He turned towards his twin. Sora jumped on Roxas and
wrapped his legs around the blond's waist.
"No, Roxas! Don't leave me!" The brunet fake cried. He screamed in surprise
when he felt a hand grab the back of his shirt to haul him off Roxas.
"Thanks Cloud." Roxas smiled over at his older brother. Night would fall soon
so Roxas thought it would be best to leave. All of the Jecht kids were standing
outside the forest. Signs of winter were showing; there were barely any leaves
left on the trees.
Roxas was about to leave before Cloud spoke. "Remember what I told you."
The smaller blond nodded his head. "I'll come back with Axel and Kairi soon. I
bet she would love to meet you, Naminé." Said girl smiled. She couldn't wait to
meet her new sister. Roxas gave one last wave before he disappeared into the
forest.
Roxas couldn't help but smile at how the forest changed around him as he
walked. There were more leaves on the trees. They were green and showed no
signs of the true season. Roxas followed the trail Riku had marked for him but
he took a few detours to explore. He found a small burrow where there was a
family of rabbits, a mother doe teaching her fawn how to walk, and there was a
small flower patch of different colored flowers that called for Roxas to pick.
When the blond finally made it back to the den, the sun had already set. Roxas
got a little worried when he didn't see or hear Axel and Kairi. Roxas shook it
off and hurried down the trap door into his home. It was dark. The blond
thought it was way too early for them to be sleeping.
Roxas tossed his bag of toiletries into the bathroom before he turned towards
the door that led to his room. What he saw made a huge smile spread across the
blond's face. On the bed, Axel and Kairi were sound asleep. Axel lay on his
back with his arms wrapped around the little girl who was clinging to his
shirt.
Being as quiet as he could, Roxas grabbed a change of pajamas, a towel,
lighter, and some candles so he could grab a quick shower.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel woke up when he heard the shower turn on. Roxas's back! The redhead would
have sprinted into the bathroom to tackle his blond but the weight on his chest
was hindering him. Careful not to wake her, Axel moved Kairi off of him and
placed a pillow in her arms to substitute for him.
The redhead poked his head in the door to the bathroom and saw the room was
light up with candles. There was a faint smell of strawberries from the new
shampoo and conditioner the blond had picked up.
Axel smirked when he saw Roxas's silhouette behind the shower curtain. "You're
back early."
The figure behind the curtain jumped from the sudden voice and Roxas poked his
head out. "Sorry, did I wake you up?" There was a faint blush on his cheeks but
Axel couldn't tell if it was from the heat of the water or if the blond was
embarrassed.
"No, you didn't. I guess I got used to sleeping in the same bed as you and I
just couldn't fall asleep without you there." The redhead scratched the back of
his head. He couldn't believe he just said that.
Roxas smiled at his mate. "Go back to bed. I'll be out soon." Axel nodded and
went back to his room.
Kairi didn't wake up as Axel crawled back into the bed but, as soon as he was
under the covers, she latched onto him. He stared up at the dark ceiling and
waited for Roxas to come in. It wasn't long until he heard the bedroom door
open and felt the bed dip.
Roxas crawled next to the redhead and Axel pulled him down for a quick kiss.
"Welcome home," The taller man said
"It's good to be home." Roxas kissed his mate again before he lay down next to
Axel and the two quickly fell asleep.
***** Beat the Heat *****
Axel was the first to wake up. He had to get up but Kairi's small arms were
wrapped around his midsection while Roxas was lying on top of him. The redhead
lifted one hand and combed his mate's blond spikes while his other rubbed his
sister's back; he needed to wake them to get up.
When neither of them woke, Axel carefully lifted Roxas off of him. At the same
time, he shimmied out of Kairi's hold. Free from the two sleeping forms, Axel
walked into the bathroom to relieve himself.
As Axel washed his hands, he saw a plastic bag on the vanity. Axel could make
out a bright orange box inside the bag. The redhead reached for the box.
"Roxas!" A high pitched voice squealed followed by a loud thump.
Axel brought his hand back from the bag and sighed. He should go save his mate
before Kairi could suffocate him to death. He walked back in his room to see
Roxas with his back on the ground, legs still on the bed, and Kairi sitting on
blond, squeezing all the air out of him.
Roxas was trying to comprehend what just happened but the dull ache in the back
of his head and the body on top of him were distracting him. He heard a chuckle
and lifted his upper body with his forearms so he could tilt his head back. An
upside-down Axel stood in the doorway.
The blond opened his mouth to say 'Good morning', but his stomach chose that
moment to let out a loud growl. Roxas' face flushed at the noise but it made
Axel laugh again. He walked towards the two and picked Kairi off of his mate.
Roxas took in a deep breath once the weight gone. He swung his feet over and
sat up.
"Good morning," He said, rubbing the back of his head. It was still pounding
from the fall.
Axel put his sister down, knelt in front of his mate and gave him small kiss.
"Morning."
Kairi pouted from her spot. She didn't like that she was being ignored. When
the two men didn't see her pout, Kairi jumped on her brother's back. "Big
Brother, I'm hungry."
"Okay, I can take a hint," Axel said as he stood up with Kairi clinging on his
back. "Would you like to come hunting with me, Kai?" He asked over his
shoulder.
"Yes!"
"Roxas?" The redhead looked down.
Roxas looked away from the blue and green eyes that were pleading for him to
come. "Umm...I think I'm going to stay and catch up on sleep." He felt bad when
the siblings looked disappointed. Roxas wanted to go; he wanted to spend time
with his new family but he didn't think he could watch an animal get killed. He
had no problem eating meat but he didn't want to be the one to kill it.
"If that's what you want, Roxas," Axel said in a monotone voice that broke
Roxas' heart. He didn't mean to upset his mate. "We'll try to come back as soon
as we can." They left the room, leaving Roxas alone on the floor.
The blond sighed and rested his head on the mattress behind him. He didn't know
what to do. Should he do what Sora said and have sex with Axel? Then he
remembered he left the condoms in the bathroom. He wouldn't want Axel or Kairi
finding those.
Roxas got up to retrieve his box of 'goodies'. When he got back to the room, he
tossed the bag in the farthest corner of his drawer in the dresser. He slammed
the drawer and the pages of the photo album that sat on top of the dresser
moved, catching Roxas' eye.
Before the blond could reach for it, a sharp pain went through his spine. Roxas
hissed and rubbed the sore muscle. Must have slept on it wrong. He'd have to
ask Axel for a massage later. When the ache in his back dulled, Roxas grabbed
the book and went outside; the dim lights from the candles were starting to
hurt his eyes.
When Roxas was outside, he found a shady spot to sit and flipped through the
album. He had already seen most of it with Axel the other night and he loved
looking at Axel and Kairi from when they were little pups.
After flipping through most of the book, Roxas saw a picture of a red wolf on
its back with Axel, who looked about Kairi's age, rubbing his belly. The blond
guessed the wolf was Reno; Roxas couldn't get over how much the two redheads
looked alike.
The next picture looked like a family portrait. A brunet woman, who Axel had
earlier pointed out to be Aerith, was holding a baby Kairi. Reno had his arm
wrapped around an older Axel's shoulders; huge smiles were on their faces. They
all looked so happy.
Roxas couldn't take his eyes off the picture. It pained him to know that he
would never get to meet Aerith or Reno; they looked like such sweet people. He
couldn't even imagine what his mate and his sister had to go through when they
died. Roxas could at least go visit his family but Axel only had Kairi left.
Well, him and Kairi but the blond really didn't know if he was right for the
other male.
He didn't know he had started crying until tears dripped on the pages. There
were so many emotions going through him and the ache in his back was getting
worse. Roxas pulled his knees to his chest, forgetting about the book in his
lap. He rested his head on top of his knees and let out a sob, hoping Axel and
Kairi were too far away to hear him.
A soft, wet touch to Roxas' cheek startled the boy. His head shot up and with
his blurry eyes he could make out a fuzzy form of a red wolf. Roxas was
confused; he hadn't heard Axel come back. Then he noticed this wolf didn't
smell like his mate.
Roxas pulled away from the wolf but something told him that it was fine; the
stranger meant no harm. "Cheer up, yo! You have to be strong for Axel." Roxas
shook his head. "Look, I know you're having doubts but you know Axel loves you
and it'll break his little heart if he sees you cry."
"What if I don't love him like he loves me?" Roxas asked in a whisper. He was
closing in on himself again.
The red wolf licked his cheek. "You sound just like my mate when we first got
together. Be good to him." And with that said, the wolf vanished into thin air.
Roxas blinked at the empty spot. What the hell just happened? The blond
questioned.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel stretched under the tree with his head on his mate's lap. Kairi was
sitting a few yards away, making something out of flowers that she picked from
the forest. They had just finished eating their breakfast and were killing time
while enjoying the sunny, beautiful day.
Roxas ran his fingers through soft, red spikes. He was having an internal
battle with himself over whether he should tell Axel about what happened
earlier. Was it just his mind playing tricks on him from the stress of trying
to figure out his feelings? Or maybe it was his Heat trying to trick him into
having feelings for his redheaded mate? But why the wolf?
"You're thinking too hard." A finger was pressed against the blond's nose. "If
you keep making that face, you'll have lots of wrinkles by the time you're 50."
Axel laughed at his little joke as he removed his hand from Roxas' face. "Why
don't you tell me what's going on and spare your pretty face?"
Nothing out of the usual. Just want to have sex to see if I'm falling in love
with you or not. Oh, and I think I'm being haunted by a wolf that looks just
like your father. Roxas wished he could say that without sounding like a crazy
person. "It's nothing."
Axel frowned. He wanted to know what was bugging Roxas. He flipped them over so
the blond was under him. A blush spread across Roxas' face as Axel's got
closer. "You say it's nothing but I can read you like a book," Axel whispered
in the blond's ear. "And if you won't tell me then I guess I'll have to force
it out of you." The redhead's lips moved so they were centimeters away from the
boy under him.
Instincts were telling Roxas kiss him but, before he could act, hands were
digging into his sides making him twist to get away from the man tickling him.
Kairi looked behind her when she heard Roxas laugh. A sly smile crept on her
face as she snuck up on them. When she had gotten behind her brother unnoticed,
the girl jumped on him and tickled him.
The redheaded male's back arched away from the offending fingers. His fingers
stopped their own assault. Roxas cracked his blue eyes opened and saw Axel
hovering above him. Lips slightly parted as he tried to hold in his laughs with
hair falling in his face and hips bumping into Roxas' as he tried to get away
from his sister's hands.
Roxas had to get out of there. He couldn't control the blood rushing to his
face and further south.
A moan escaped the blond's mouth from one of Axel's downward thrusts. Axel
stilled when he heard it and sat up, making Kairi slide off his back. He took
one look at his mate's flushed face and knew what was happening. He brushed his
hand against Roxas' cheek trying to get the blue eyes to look up at him but the
blond was dead set on staring at a tree in the distance.
"Roxas, look at me."
Kairi walked to her brother's side. "Is something wrong with him?" She sounded
worried and her eyes were big with tears. She knew she was getting too
emotional over it but, when it came to her family, she didn't like it when they
were hurting.
"I'm fine." Roxas said as he wiggled his way out from underneath the redhead.
He brought his knees up to his chest to cover his little problem. Innocent,
little Kairi didn't notice anything wrong with the way he was sitting but Axel
caught on.
The taller male scooped up the blond and carried him into the den. "I think
Roxas needs a nap. Kairi, stay up here and don't wonder off." The girl nodded
and skipped back to her forgotten flower project.
Axel brought Roxas down to their room and set him on their bed. Before the
blond could ask, Axel's lips were on his. The redhead climbed onto the bed and
straddled the boy without breaking their kiss.
When a tongue licked at the blond's lips, Roxas pushed Axel away. "W-what-" He
was cut off when a warm hand slid up his shirt and rubbed circles on his
stomach.
"It's okay. I'll only go as far as you want." The redhead kissed his mate's
cheek.
Wherever Axel touched sent jolts of pleasure throughout Roxas. He wanted
nothing more than to get closer to Axel but he was terrified about the after
effects. What if he felt nothing for his mate?
Axel sensed the blond's hesitance and pulled away. Roxas wouldn't meet his eyes
again and stared blankly at the redhead's shoulder. Axel lifted Roxas' chin so
blue eyes would have to meet green. "Roxas, trust me. I'll only go as far as
you want. Are you still scared?" Roxas nodded his head. "What's wrong? Talk to
me."
"I don't want to stop," Roxas mumbled before he covered his face with a pillow.
He knew his face was bright red.
Axel looked down at his mate with a shocked expression. Roxas wanted sex? The
redhead couldn't believe it. He pried the pillow from Roxas' grip and kissed
the boy. "Then let's not stop."
"But what about Kairi? What if she comes down?"
Neither of them wanted to stop but Axel pulled away. He knew Kairi liked having
attention on her, a personality trait she inherited from her father. The
redhead helped his mate to his feet and gave him a small peck to the top of his
head. "Want to continue tonight?" Axel asked in a hopeful voice. He was happy
that Roxas wanted to go this far but, at the same time, didn't want to push
him.
Roxas nodded his head with his eyes drifting off towards the dresser. The
action was missed by Axel, who was too excited by the prospects of later. He
kissed the boy one more time before he grabbed his hand and the two left the
room together.
~X~x~X~x~
Sora laid his head on his desk. The bell had rung signaling the end of the
school day but he couldn't leave. He had his extra tutoring. A chair was pulled
up to the side of his desk and Sora looked up at the green eyed girl beside
him.
"Hey. Are you coming? We're all going to get some ice cream." Olette and the
rest of Roxas' old group of friends had adopted Sora into their circle when the
blond twin went missing. They said he had always been their friend but Sora
knew he was just being a substitute for his brother.
"Sorry, I have to go see Mr. Vexen for tutoring."
Olette stood up and rubbed his back in what was supposed to be a comforting
way. "Oh. That guy's a creep. Maybe next time, then?" When Sora nodded his
head, she squealed and hugged the boy from behind. "I'm holding you to that,"
She said as she started to leave the room. When she was almost out of the door,
she turned back to Sora. "If you hear anything about Roxas you'll tell me,
right?"
The brunet boy bit his lip. He knew so much but couldn't say anything. "Yeah,
if anything comes up." Satisfied with his answer, the girl left the room.
Sora sighed again. He really didn't want to do this. There was something about
Vexen that scared the brunet. When he thought he had spent enough time in the
deserted room, he packed up his things and went to the science room.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel huffed as his back met the rough bark of the tree. His green eyes followed
his mate's every move as the blond played tag, or whatever it was called when
it was only 2 people playing. Since the two had come up from the den, Roxas had
refused to make eye contact or even acknowledge the other.
He's just nervous about tonight. That's what Axel was hoping. He knew he had to
take care of Roxas' Heat soon or risk other Lycathrops coming into his
territory and steal his mate. But he also didn't want to force the boy into
anything he didn't want, even though in the end he might have no other choice.
Not just because of another Lycanthrope but because Axel didn't know how much
longer he could hold back.
Axel was faced with a double-edged sword.
"Ow!" Axel was brought out of his thoughts when he heard his sister cry out.
The girl was on the ground and rubbing her leg with tears streaming down her
face. Roxas was trying to calm her down by talking in a quiet voice and was
rubbing one of her arms in a comforting way. By the looks of it, Kairi slipped
in some mud and, on her way down, hit her knee on a rock that was buried in the
earth.
When Roxas' method didn't work, the blond leaned down and gave the scrap a
small kiss. "There. Does it feel better?" The little girl sniffled and nodded
her head. Roxas smiled and kissed the girl's forehead. "Good." The blond stood
up, picked up Kairi, and walked over towards his mate.
The redhead couldn't help but smile; Roxas would make the perfect mother.
When the two were close enough, Kairi wrapped her arms around her brother's
neck and swung over so Axel was holding her. Once secured in her big brother's
arms, Kairi buried her face in his neck.
"Thank you," Axel said to Roxas. The blond said nothing and looked away with a
faint blush on his cheeks. A lump formed in Axel's throat at the sight. If he
wasn't holding his sister and if he didn't have such good control, the redhead
was sure he would've jumped the blond right then.
A quick look up at the sky informed Axel that the Heartless would be out soon.
Once Kairi was asleep in bed, Axel could finally have his blond.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel pushed Roxas into their room as soon as Kairi fell asleep. The moment the
door closed behind them, the redhead was pulling the other's shirt over his
head. Axel nipped at the exposed clavicle and let his hands roam around.
Roxas didn't know what to do. He wanted to copy what the redhead was doing and
pull him close but he was terrified at the same time. What if he really didn't
have any feelings for this man? As these thoughts went through his head, all
Roxas could do was hang onto the black button down shirt Axel was wearing.
Wondering hands made their way to the blond's back, bringing the forgotten pain
back to life. A yelp left Roxas' lips and he arched his back to get away from
the hands. Axel pulled his hands away from his mate's back to frame his face.
Tears were threatening to spill from blue eyes.
"What's wrong?" Axel was starting to panic. If Roxas wanted to stop, he didn't
know if he could.
"It...It's just my back," Roxas said through clenched teeth. "I think I slept
on it wrong and it's been hurting me all day." Roxas barely got those words out
of his mouth before the redhead was guiding him from the wall to the bed.
Once the blond was in the middle of the bed, Axel undid his shirt and threw it
to the floor. Roxas could feel his pants get tighter as Axel's smooth skin was
revealed. The redhead turned towards the dresser and rummaged through it
looking for something. The blond bit his lower lip at the sight of the man's
muscular back.
When Axel turned back to the blond, he had a grin on his face and a bottle of
lotion in his hand. "Flip on your back," He almost purred. Roxas paled a bit.
Axel wanted sex now? And he wanted him on his hands and knees? That was not how
the boy pictured his first time. He always thought it would be with someone he
truly loved and they would at least start out facing each other. Axel noticed
the blond's hesitation so he leaned down and kissed him. Roxas tried to pull
away from the taller man but Axel held the boy's head still and pried his mouth
open so he could snake his tongue in.
Tongues clashed, one trying to get in and one trying to push the other out.
Axel had to pull away when Roxas bit him hard enough to draw blood. He growled.
"What the hell's your problem?"
The blond whimpered and tried to scoot away from Axel. His back hit the wall
and the pain flared up his spine. Roxas had to bite his lip to stop from crying
out. Axel was on the bed in a flash and pulled the other in his arms. Roxas
fought. This man didn't love him. He was just using him!
"Let me go!" The yell came from the blond as tears streamed from his eyes.
Axel's arms tightened around the boy. "Roxas, you need to calm down. I'm not
going to hurt you."
Roxas shivered from the skin on skin contact and the feel of his mate's breath
on the back of his neck, but he refused to give in. "You're only using me for
sex. You don't care about me at all!"
"That's not true! What would give you that idea?"
"Y-you just started striping and then demanded me to get on my hands and k-
knees, even though I'm in pain and this is my first...first time." Roxas
fumbled over his words.
Axel frowned. "You have the wrong idea. I was going to give you a massage to
help with your back pain and help you to relax. I didn't want to get any lotion
on my shirt so I took it off. But I won't lie to you; I am hoping we could..."
Axel paused to think of the right thing to say so the boy wouldn't freak out
again. "Make love...?" He felt the blond flinch. Okay, not the best way to put
it. "Look Roxas, I know you probably don't want to do this, but your scent is
driving me crazy. I don't know how much longer I can hold out. And I know
someone else will pick up on it too and they'll be more forceful than me."
"I know," Roxas said in a small voice. "Riku already warned me. But I'm afraid
of what will happen afterward." He stopped his fighting and instead snuggled
into the redhead, hoping the man's smell would help calm him.
"Nothing bad will happen after so don't worry about it." Axel let go of Roxas
and gave the boy some room. "Now lay on your stomach and I'll make your back
feel better. We don't need to have sex tonight if you don't want to." Those
last words disappointed the redhead even as he said them.
Roxas slowly stretched out on the bed and grabbed Axel's pillow to rest his
head on. He stiffened when he felt Axel straddle his upper thigh and poured the
thick, slimy liquid on his back. Axel started up at the boy's shoulders and
slowly worked the lotion into his skin with skilled hands. Roxas felt like he
was melting from the redhead working out all the kinks and stress out of his
back. He almost moaned.
When Axel hit the middle of his back, Roxas yelped and clutched onto the pillow
so hard his knuckles turned white. The redhead noticed and moved his hands so
the muscles around the spot would relax again. Axel left light kisses at the
base of Roxas' neck and slowly worked his way down the blond's spine until he
was bent in an awkward way and, mimicking what Roxas did earlier with Kairi,
kissed the spot that was giving his mate trouble.
His hands climbed back up the boy's back, still working at the blond's muscles,
and whispered. "Does it still hurt?"
Roxas shuttered. He was completely surrounded by Axel. His scent was on the
pillow and radiating off of the man. He could feel Axel's warmth coming off of
his half naked body as he hovered over him. The feel of skin on skin contact.
The final straw was Axel's voice whispering in his ear.
He couldn't take it anymore. Roxas flipped over and pulled Axel down for a kiss
in one movement. It caught the redhead by surprise and, for a moment, Roxas
dominated their kiss. Once he registered what was going on, though, the redhead
took control.
Only when air was desperately needed did the two break apart. Roxas went
straight for the other's neck and started to bite and lick at it. Axel moaned
as he played with the boy's pants.
"Are you sure this is what you want?"
Roxas didn't answer but bit harder on the junction between Axel's neck and
shoulder. Axel took it as a yes and pulled down the blond's pants and boxers.
He was happy to find the boy was already half hard. Roxas' mouth left Axel's
neck when he let out a gasp from the redhead grabbing him and start to slowly
pump him. The blond rocked his hips to quicken the pace.
"Nnn...Need more," Roxas moaned out. He spread his legs apart to make more room
for Axel to settle in. The redhead gladly took up the new space but his hand
left the boys member. He reached for the forgotten lotion.
Once he had his fingers covered in the liquid, Axel brought them down to the
boy's entrance. Before he pushed one through, he looked at his mate with a
serious expression. "This is going to hurt so I need to relax. Don't tense up."
Roxas nodded his head and moved his hips so the fingers were pushing against
him. His mind was going crazy from all the Heat and lust.
Without wasting another moment, Axel leaned down to capture the blond's lips
and pushed a finger in at the same time. Roxas barely noticed the intruding
finger and rocked his hips back on it. When Axel thought Roxas was used to it,
he added another. This stung as it stretched out the blond and he pulled away
from Axel, hissing in pain.
Axel's unoccupied mouth went to one of Roxas' nipples and he started to lick
and bite it until it was a hard nub. This took the blond's mind off of the
fingers. He gasped and pulled at Axel's hair as encouragement.
When it came time to add the third finger, Axel was happy that his mate didn't
tense at all. Doing the massage must have helped a lot.
Roxas whined when the feeling of the fingers weren't enough anymore. Axel left
the boy's chest and chuckled. "Do you want more?" His voice was low and husky.
"Y-yes! More. Ple-please!" The boy was a pile of ecstasy from all the pleasure
the redhead was giving him. Axel pulled away from Roxas, making his fingers
slip out of the blond as well; Roxas whined at the empty feeling. The redhead
lifted himself so he was balancing on his knees and tugged off his pants as
fast as he could.
With Axel's scent no longer surrounding Roxas, his mind cleared up a bit. He
turned his head and watched his mate finish stripping. Before the redhead could
climb back onto the bed, though, Roxas stopped him. "Get the condoms out of the
dresser."
Axel gave him a confused look. What the hell are condoms? But he did as his
mate asked and riffled through the drawers until he found the strange orange
box that was in the bathroom earlier. Guessing that was it, he jumped back on
the bed and handed it to Roxas.
The blond sat up, tore the box open and grabbed a small tin square out of it.
Axel raised an eyebrow as Roxas opened the square with his teeth and pulled out
a round thing. "Here, put this on." Roxas handed the thing over to the older
male. Axel just gave him a confused look. "You put it on your...ummm...thing...
and it helps prevent pregnancy." When Axel still didn't do anything, Roxas
huffed and grabbed the condom from the Lycanthrope. "I'll do it for you."
A moan got caught in the redhead's throat when he felt Roxas' hand on his
penis. The moan died when he felt something being rolled onto it. He looked
down and saw the strange object was on him.
Roxas smiled, laid back down and dragged his mate back down with him. He didn't
waste any time in kissing Axel and ran his hands over the strong body. Axel
soon forgot about the condom and kissed the other back.
Carefully, Axel pushed into the boy. Roxas moaned at the feeling of being
stretched. His nails dug into the muscular back. The redhead hissed but the
pain was soon forgotten at the feeling of being inside the blond.
The two didn't waste any time, setting a fast pace. Roxas' back was arched so
all he felt was Axel. After one hard thrust, all Roxas saw was white and he
screamed out in pleasure when his prostate was hit.
Axel liked that noise coming from the boy and kept hitting that spot over and
over. Axel sped up his assault on the boy's prostate.
Roxas' orgasm exploded all over his and Axel's stomachs. It only took a few
more thrusts from Axel until he finally came. He waited until he could see
straight again before he pulled out. Roxas reached over, pulled the condom off
of him and tied it before he threw it in the trash beside the bed.
Sleep overcame the two and they stayed cuddled together under their blankets
for the rest of the night.
***** Next Morning *****
Axel let out a content sigh as he nuzzled into his mate's blond hair. Last
night had been the best night of his life. Though he could have gone without
the, what were they called? Condumbs? Yeah, that sounds right. The redhead
thought. He didn't like how they prevented him from getting as close to Roxas
as he would have liked. But if it makes Roxas happy...
Speaking of the blond, he was still sleeping and Axel was at war with himself.
He needed to wake the boy up so they could take a shower and change the bed
sheets before Kairi woke up, but Roxas just looked so cute when he was
sleeping.
Not wanting his sister to come in and ask questions she was too young to know
the answer for, Axel stroked the blond's arm. When he got no response, he shook
the arm a bit. Roxas mumbled something unintelligent and rolled over so he
could bury his face in Axel's side. The squirming had caused the blanket to
lower. Green eyes couldn't help but wonder down the slim body that came into
view. To Axel's demise, the blanket was resting on the boy's hips and mid-
thigh.
A devilish thought crept into Axel's head. If he moved just a bit, the rest of
the blanket would come off of the sleeping blond.
"Don't even think about it," Roxas said into Axel's side. When the redhead
wasn't paying attention to his face, the blond had opened his eyes and was
watching his mate. He would have to be an idiot to not know where his mind
roamed. Roxas grabbed two fistfuls of the blanket and pulled it until only his
blue eyes and hair peeked out from underneath.
It really had been a shock to the poor boy to wake up naked and next to a hot
redhead who was just as naked as him. Roxas didn't need to be in Heat to know
how attractive Axel was. From his long flaming red hair that styled itself
naturally to his green eyes that got an eerie glow when he was in darkness for
too long. From his unique tattoos to his lithe build.
A blush made its way to Roxas's face as he checked out his mate. The taller man
just laid there in all his glory. Axel exuded self-confidence, a fact that made
Roxas jealous. Roxas knew his whole body was covered in a deep red blush.
"How can you do that?" Roxas mumbled around the blanket. Axel raised an eyebrow
in confusion. "How are you not embarrassed by being naked?" As he talked, Roxas
sank deeper and deeper into his fabric barrier.
Axel chuckled and rolled over so he was hovering over the blond with his elbows
supporting his weight on either side of the boy's head so he wouldn't crush
him. Roxas gave a small gasp. "Well, Roxy, you have seen me naked before." Axel
whispered into the blond's ear and gave the lobe a quick nip.
Roxas bit back a moan from his mate's actions while the blush on his body grew
deeper in color. The memories of what he and Axel did at Fran's burrow a few
nights ago came flooding back. He blamed doing that on the Heat and the impulse
that Lycathropes were known for.
Before he knew what was happening, cold air hit Roxas's overly heated skin.
Axel had managed to pull Roxas out of his fabric haven. Long finger traced
lines down his body, making sure to touch every dip and curve with special
attention on the angle of his sharp hips. The redhead was overjoyed that he
could call the angelic boy under him his.
Roxas, on the other hand, didn't know what to think. He thought his feelings
for Axel would sort themselves out when they had sex. But with Axel so close to
him and touching him in such a way, the blond was having a hard time figuring
things out. The redhead's smell wasn't as intense anymore. His touch not as
hot.
And just like that Roxas knew what it meant.
With a hard push, Roxas managed to get the redhead off of him. Once free, Roxas
dashed off to the safety of the bathroom and slammed the door behind him, he
was happy that Kairi was still fast asleep.
He slid down so he was leaning against the tub with his head leaned back on the
edge. The sound of Axel banging on the door came.
"Roxas! What's wrong? Please talk to me!" Axel pleaded from the hall. He was
worried he might have gone a little too far with Roxas. With one last knock
Axel put his hand down, he knew Roxas wasn't going to let him in, "I'm going
out for a few hours. I'll be back before noon." The redhead said before walking
back in the bedroom.
When he was back in the room with the door closed, Axel proceeded to strip the
bed of its soiled sheets and wiped the mess from the previous night off of him.
He grabbed clothes out of his dresser drawer and threw the sheets into a
basket. He would take them down to the lake and have them cleaned up.
Axel closed the door softly so the echo wouldn't wake up his sister. He was
happy to hear the shower was on but felt his heart drop when his ears picked up
the soft sounds of his mate crying.
~X~x~X~x~
"Zexion!" A silver wolf yelled from the top of his 'throne', which was really
just rubble from the original throne that used to hold the great leaders of the
once proud pack.
A small boy with one visible blue eye, who had yet to reach maturity,
approached the rubble of rocks. "Yes?" He hissed.
Xemnas glared down at the boy, his gold eyes burning holes into his skull.
"Yes, what?"
"Yes...Superior." The words fell from his lips sounded robotic and rehearsed.
"I want you to sniff out a Lycanthrope in Heat. Vexen spotted him a few miles
away going east. I need you to find him and bring him back before tonight."
Zexion opened his mouth to object; he did have the best sense of smell in the
pack but that didn't mean he could find someone in mere hours. Xemnas cut him
off. "I want him here before tonight or don't bother coming back."
Zexion gulped. It was an empty threat for an immature pup that was no problem
but, once he hit maturity, he would be free game and Xemnas would probably have
him hunted down and killed.
Without another word, the steel-blue haired teen set off on his mission. The
sliver wolf smirked. Things were going exactly to plan.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas sighed as he rested his head on top of his knees. He didn't know what to
do; he couldn't go home, even though Braska said he could visit. The offer only
meant he could stay a few days. And he didn't feel like he could stay at the
den anymore. How could he face Axel after what he did?
He lifted his head so he could look at the sun as it started to rise up from
the horizon. Kairi would be up in about an hour.
The blond let out another sigh as he wondered when Axel would be back.
"You know, sighing so much this early in the morning is bad for your health."
Roxas's turned his head to the side, his eyes wide with surprise. Leaning
against a tree was a man with long red hair tied in a ponytail. His sharp blue
eyes were glued on Roxas. "I think that's something you said once, yo."
Blue eyes glared at blue. "You're just a figment of my imagination. Go away! I
don't want to hear it right now!" Roxas stood up with some difficulty, since
his rear end still hurt from the night before, and clenched his hands into fist
at his sides all the while staring down the redhead in front of him.
Reno grinned at Roxas. "I'm not imaginary. Have you ever heard of a ghost?"
"Ghosts aren't real," The blond said with his eyes narrowed. This man wasn't
real. Reno was dead and ghosts were just in stories told to little kids to
scare them.
The redhead pushed off of the tree and walked over to the blond with his hands
on his hips. "Do you believe everything you're told, yo? Was it the same person
who told you that Mystics weren't real?" Reno stopped walking when he was a few
centimeters away from the boy. He cocked his head to the side as he waited for
an answer.
Roxas growled low in his throat. This wasn't possible. Even if he was a ghost,
why is he only letting Roxas see him? His son was God knows where probably
having a crisis. And his daughter was just a few feet away sleeping. Why is he
bothering a boy that he's never met before?
"Go away," Roxas muttered to himself. "Go away. You're not real." The blond
closed his eyes and covered his ears as he sank down to the ground.
"Roxas?" A quiet feminine voice sounded above him. Blue eyes opened and looked
up at a worried Kairi. She was still in her pajamas and her hair was a mess; it
looked like she just woke up. Her big blue eyes looked down at Roxas with tears
in them. "I heard you and Big Brother fighting earlier," She said while sliding
down next to the blond. "You're going to leave us, aren't you?"
Roxas's eyes widened in shock. How can she think that? "Kairi, I would never
leave you." The blond tried to pull the little girl into a hug but she just
shrugged him off of her.
"Yes you are!" More tears poured down her small face. "Everyone always leaves.
Mommy and daddy left. The pack left. Big Brother's not here. You're going to
leave next." She covered her face with her hands, trying to stop the tears.
"You think just because I'm young I don't know what's going on. But I know you
hate us."
"That's not true!" Roxas yelled a little too loudly.
Kairi stood up at the blond's loud voice. Tears were flowing down her face. She
opened her mouth to say something but only a choking noise came out. Without
hesitation, Kairi closed her mouth and bolted into the forest faster than Roxas
could blink.
Roxas cursed as he got to his feet. He tried to take off after her but stumbled
a bit on the first couple of steps. The pain in his back side was too much. If
he wanted a chance of chasing the girl, he would have to shift into a wolf;
then he would have his front paws to lean on and not have all of his weight on
his back.
The blond did a quick scan of his surroundings to make sure no one was around
before he threw his clothes off, transformed into his small wolf form and took
off after Kairi.
~X~x~X~x~
Cloud burst into his grandfather's house. "Squall!" He yelled as he stormed
into the house and slammed the front door behind him. There was no one in the
dark room. The blond huffed. Where the hell are they? He walked farther into
the house until he saw a light leaking out from under the door that lead to the
kitchen.
"Ow! Not so rough!" A voice said on the other side of the door; it was Squall.
"If you hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much." Another voice, Braska, said.
There were a few grunts before a new voice spoke. "Okay, now Tree Nymph." The
voice was harsh and Cloud guessed it belonged to his uncle. "Where's Sora?"
Blue eyes narrowed. His hyper, younger brother never came home for school
yesterday and that's why he was here. Without a second thought, Cloud burst
through the kitchen door. The first thing he noticed was a shirtless Squall
sitting on a chair with a large strip of gauze taped from the top of his right
eye and going across his nose. There was also gauze wrapped around his entire
left arm. Braska was fretting over him and was looking over the Nymph's exposed
torso for any more wounds. Leaning against the sink was Auron. Cloud could feel
his uncle's eyes burning into his.
"What are you doing here?" The middle aged man asked in his usual growl.
Cloud glared right back at the man. "I could ask you the same question," He
growled back. The blond believed this was a matter between him, Squall, and
Braska; Auron had no reason to be there.
"Calm down, you two. Cloud, Auron knows everything. I thought it would be best
if we had some more brawns, you know, just if something happens. And Cloud's
just here to see his boyfriend." Braska said, trying to be the peace keeper.
The accused couple sent death glares at the poor man. His savior came when
Auron cleared his throat. "As much as I'd like to hear about these two, I'm
more curious about Sora's whereabouts." His sunglass covered eyes burning holes
into Squall's stormed colored ones.
"I saw Sora in Vexen's lab. So I waited outside and listened to their
conversation. For a good half hour, it seemed like Vexen was trying to help
Sora with his science work. I was about to leave when he started to ask Sora
about Roxas and why he hasn't been in school. Sora tried to avoid it by saying
he was sick but Vexen wouldn't have any of that. He kept pushing the matter.
Sora was holding his own for a while, but after a while there was a crash. I
rushed in and saw Sora collapsed on the ground. Vexen seemed shocked to see me
but it didn't last long. He grabbed a test tube, I'm not sure what was in it,
and threw it at me." Squall looked down at his damaged arm. "Once it hit me, I
caught on fire. While I was distracted Vexen ran up to me and clawed at my
face." A hand touched the injury on his face like in his mind he was reliving
it. "There was so much blood. It blinded me. I don't remember what happened
after that."
"I found him passed out in the lab when Braska asked me to go find him." Auron
said.
Squall looked down at his hands in shame. He should have been able to protect
the boy, but he failed. He jumped a bit when he felt a warm hand on his
shoulder. The Nymph looked up expecting Braska but instead saw Cloud.
The boy looked down at the Nymph with sad, sympathetic eyes. Squall had tried
his best and Cloud knew that he wasn't expecting the creepy Lycanthrope to act
as fast as he did.
"I want to go back into Canta Forest." Cloud said looking at his grandfather,
his hand still on Squall's shoulder.
"You can't. Humans can't go in there without a Mystic." Auron's cold voice made
Cloud's eyes focus on him.
"Then I'll go. It's my fault this happened in the first place." Squall pushed
the blond's hand off of his shoulder and stood up and made a grab for his shirt
that was on the table.
Cloud pulled the brunet back by grabbing his forearm, causing the Nymph to hiss
in pain. "You're hurt. Stay here and rest. I'll just wonder around until I find
Roxas and tell him what's going on. Once I find him, I'll be able to move
around freely."
"That will only work if you find Roxas before something else finds you." Stormy
eyes glared at ocean blue. "You stay here and keep an eye on Vexen if he comes
back and I'll find Roxas and Axel. I can get Axel to kill Xemnas and he can
take over the pack. Then Sora will be safe."
Braska spoke. "Xemnas? Is he Reno's successor?" Every pair of eyes in the room
stared at the old man. "What? He was well known and often stopped by to inform
me on what was happening in the forest. He was a very nice man. Is Axel his
son? That would explain why he looked so familiar when I first met him." Braska
kept rambling as he tried to explain.
"He is," Squall said. "And he one of the worst pack leaders. He lets the pack
run wild and they cause destruction everywhere they go. Reno was teaching Axel
how to lead them since he was a pup so I want him to kill Xemnas. I live in the
forest so I'll go and find Axel and help bring Sora back."
"Oh, will you shut the fuck up?" Cloud screamed in Squall's face. He was
getting sick and tired of how stubborn the Nymph was being. "What if something
attacks you? You're hurt, how will you defend yourself?"
Auron huffed at them. This lover's spat was getting old. "Both of you are
going," He said in a commanding voice. "You," He pointed at Squall, "will help
guide Cloud. While you," He pointed at his nephew, "defend the Mystic." He then
pointed at Braska. "And you, stay out of their love life." He then walked out
of the kitchen leaving three embarrassed men behind.
***** Finding Kairi *****
Tree Nymphs are gentle creatures that inhabit Canta Forest until something
threatens their home, and then they can turn into your worst nightmare. It is
said that the Nymphs had an earthly look to them accompanied with an eerie
green aura. This hasn't be proven as very few humans have seen one.
Unlike most Mystics, Tree Nymphs are not immortal. Any damage done to their
tree will inflict damage on the Nymph and vice versa.
On rare occasions, they will take on a human partner. The chosen human is
referred to as a "Flower Child". The Flower Child's purpose is to help the
Nymph take care of its tree and, as a reward, gets to share the same life span
as the Nymph. Their health will also help keep the tree alive longer.
If the Nymph's tree is going to die soon, the Nymph will take a human for the
soul purpose of using them to help restore the tree.
Cloud shut the copy of The Early Myths of Bevelle. His blue eyes traveled up
the tree that his companion called 'home'. One of the branches was burnt and
hanging by a splinter. After assessing the damage, his blue eyes turned to
Squall, who stared with his mouth open. Cloud reached over and tapped the
Nymph's jaw close.
"Hey, it's okay. Everything will be fine." His hand moved from Squall's jaw
down to his shoulder and he gave it a reassuring squeeze.
Squall swiped the hand away and glared at the blond man. "Shut the fuck up! You
don't know anything!" The Nymph growled. He stomped in the direction of Axel's
den.
Cloud watched the Nymph leave. His heart dropped at the sight. Blue eyes
widened as Cloud shook his head. No way. Not going to happen.
~X~x~X~x~
"Kairi!" Roxas yelled. He had been running for a couple hours and all he had
come across so far was a pile of Kairi's pajamas, meaning she was either
running around butt naked, or in wolf form. Roxas half hoped it was the former.
The little girl was already faster than him in her human form; he wouldn't
stand a chance if she shifted.
Quietly scolding himself for not running in his wolf form more often, Roxas
took off in the direction that Kairi's scent was coming from.
He ran for what felt like miles when Kairi's scent vanished. Roxas looked for
any clues or smell. Nothing. Roxas thought to go back but he didn't leave a
trail or anything to the den.
Maybe I'm not far from the den, Roxas thought. The blond wolf threw his head
back and howled, hoping that Axel was back home and would hear him. Find me.
Please.
Roxas strained his ears so he wouldn't miss a sound. Just when the blond
thought no one heard him, a howl replied.
Axel! Axel found me! Roxas's tail started to wag. He howled back and ran
through the dense forest, not paying attention to where he was going. He didn't
need to; Axel was here!
But something in his gut told Roxas something wasn't right. But Roxas, being as
naive as he was, didn't pay any thought to it and kept running. He didn't slow
down until his legs were couldn't run. Then the scent of the other wolf hit his
nose. It wasn't Axel. It was something or someone he had never met before. Then
he saw him.
He was a small steel colored wolf with his nose to the ground. He was looking
for something. The only other Lycathrops that Roxas knew lived in the forest
were Axel, Kairi, and the pack that killed their parents.
Roxas crouched down and crept backwards so he could watch unnoticed. As he
backed away, a stray stick found its way under the blond's back paw with a loud
snap.
The steel wolf's head shot up and his deep blue eyes landed on the frightened
blond. A growl came from the back of his throat as he glared down at the other.
"I've never seen you before." The stranger walked closer to Roxas and sniffed
the air around him. "And you don't seem to be in Heat." He walked a circle
around and continued to sniff. "But you do smell of Axel."
"What's it to you?" Roxas growled back. The fur on his back stood straight up.
This Lycanthrope knew Axel, which meant he was from the pack.
"I have orders to bring you to the Superior. And it would be bad for me if you
didn't come."
Roxas crouched lower and barred his teeth. "Like hell I'll go with you."
The other wolf copied Roxas's pose and the two stared the other down, daring
the other to make the first move. Roxas didn't know how strong this other wolf
was. He was hesitant to attack. They just stood there for what felt like hours.
Roxas was getting tired of the tension building up but, before he could jump,
the other wolf spoke.
"You know, before I left to find you, I saw Vexen bring a human boy to our den.
He smelt of you." Roxas stopped growling and gaped at the other. The steel wolf
smirked. "I wonder what would happen to him if you didn't come with me."
Roxas looked down at the ground in defeat. They have Sora? No, they can't.
Squall said he'd protect him! The blond looked back up at the other wolf to
counter but the look in the other's eyes told him that he wasn't lying.
What other choice did Roxas have? The pack had his twin brother! So the blond
lowered his head in submission to the other. "Please don't hurt him."
The steel wolf's smirk widened. "Come with me." He turned and walked back to
his den with Roxas following close behind.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel was down at the lake, scrubbing the evidence of last night off of his bed
sheets. He was thinking about what he was going to do with Roxas. He loved the
boy and nothing in the world would change that.
With a sigh, the redhead pulled down the clothes he had draped a couple of days
earlier and replaced them with wet ones. As he worked his way down the line,
Axel found Roxas's red hoodie in his hands. He couldn't help the smile that
worked its way onto his face as he remembered the first time he saw the blond.
Roxas was wearing the hoodie. He looked just so damn adorable in it.
The redhead brought it up to his nose and was disappointed that Roxas' smell
had vanished from the fabric. Axel didn't want to admit it but, in the short
two hours he'd been gone, he missed his blond mate.
Axel hurried up and finished the laundry so he could get back to his den.
~X~x~X~x~
After running a few miles away from the den, Kairi's clothes were starting to
stick to her from sweat. So she shifted.
Once she was in her wolf form, the sound of Roxas chasing her was getting
closer. The young she-wolf hurried and ran off, leaving her discarded clothes
behind. She paid special attention to kicking dirt everywhere so her scent
would be of no help.
Kairi ran for miles before she heard a long howl. It was Roxas. Kairi had to
bite her tongue in order not to answer. It was quiet for a few moments and
Kairi was losing her resolve. As upset as she was with her brother's mate, she
was confused as to why he was following her. Didn't he hate her and her
brother? Didn't he want to leave, just like everyone else?
Why was he following her?
Maybe he cares about you. Maybe he won't leave like the others. A small voice
said in the back of her mind.
That small thought broke whatever resistance Kairi had. The small red-brunet
wolf opened her mouth to howl back but, before any noise could come, a reply
howl came a few miles away on her right.
Her blue eyes widened. That wasn't Axel or Riku. That only meant it was either
a rouge or someone from the pack. Ever since her parents died Axel always told
her to beware of anyone, aside from Riku, from the pack.
Kairi wanted to go run towards Roxas and warn him but he was closer than her.
And what if there was more than one Lycathrop? She wouldn't be able to handle
fighting them. Her best bet would be to go back to the den and tell Axel.
She turned and ran back the way she came while keeping an eye open in case she
saw Roxas.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel stared at the mouth of the cave that led to his home. Inside was Roxas.
Correction. Inside was an upset Roxas who didn't want to see Axel at the
moment, or ever.
The redhead looked down at the basket in front of him and tapped it with his
foot as he debated with himself. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear
someone enter the small clearing till they ran straight into his back. Axel
turned and growled at the person with his teeth bared.
Fierce green eyes calmed down once Axel took in the form of a crying Kairi. The
girl was clinging to her brother's leg with her face pressed against his hip.
It wasn't till Axel was able to pry the girl off of him and kneel down to her
level that he noticed the girl was naked.
Axel pulled out one of his shirts and slipped it over the girl's head.
"Shhh...It's okay Kairi. Everything is fine." Axel cooed into his sister's ear
as he pulled her in a tight hug. He didn't know what was wrong but he would say
or do anything to make Kairi stop crying.
The small girl squirmed till she could look him in the eye. "I-it's Roxas."
Kairi saw her brother tense.
"Kairi," Axel said in a quiet voice. "Where did Roxas go?" Thoughts of Roxas
running away were going through the redhead's mind. And Axel didn't want to go
chase after his mate; he knew if he did then Roxas would get upset at Axel for
stopping him. The last thing Axel wanted was to make the small blond angrier at
him.
"The pack got him! It's my fault! He was just looking for me and..." A loud
wail and tears stopped the girl from finishing her sentence as she clung to her
brother and whimpered apologies into his neck.
The arms wrapped around Kairi's body tightened. Green eyes glared at the
forest. Axel's mate was lost somewhere out there and possibly in danger. He had
to do something.
"I'm going to go find him." Axel's voice was quiet but a fierce anger boiled
behind it. "I want you to go inside and don't come out. I'll try to send Fran
down to watch over you." The older of the two redheads pulled away and looked
down at his baby sister. "Do as she tells you. I'll be back soon, I promise."
Axel kissed Kairi's forehead before he ran into the forest as fast as he could.
He needed to find Roxas before anything could happen to the blond.
Kairi stood outside the den and watched her brother's back as he ran. The small
girl looked up at the sky. The sun was at its highest; the Heartless wouldn't
be out for a few more hours. She then hauled the basket of clothes into the
den.
***** Finding Sora *****
Sora groaned as he rolled onto his side and clutched his head. He tried to open
his eyes but the harsh sun light that assaulted him made him clench them shut.
Someone poked at his cheek. The brunet turned his head and mumbled. "Five more
minutes, Mom."
"Wake up!" A hand made contact with his face, pain radiating through his cheek.
Blood pounded in his head. He held his head in an effort to stop the world from
spinning.. When the pain ebbed, Sora lifted his head to see who was with him.
It was a boy with long, straight, silver hair and beautiful aqua eyes.
"Who..who are you?" The brunet choked out after a few tense seconds.
"You're Sora."
Said boy just blinked at that answer. "I know who I am. Who. Are. You." Sora
said it slowly to make sure the strange boy understood him.
"No, I mean you're Sora!" The slivered-hair man said again and pointed at Sora.
"Roxas's brother."
"Oh good, you know Roxas!" Sora jumped up and looked around at his
surroundings. He was outside in what looked like in the middle of a . There
were numerous caves in the holes but they were all too deep to see inside of.
"I'll ask you again, who are you and where am I?"
Before the other boy could answer a low growl came from behind him. "Riku."
Both boys turned towards the new voice.
"Xigbar." Riku said back. Xigbar was at least a head taller than Riku and much
more intimidating. He wore an eye patch and on the other side of his face there
was a long jagged scar. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be off with
your mate teaching your pups how to hunt?"
"As if. Demyx wanted to take them down to the lake and teach them how to swim.
And I got orders to keep an eye on you, since you know the Superior doesn't
trust you, and make sure you don't help the prisoner escape." The older man
turned towards Sora, "How do you like it here kiddo?"
"Who the fuck are you people and how the hell do you know Roxas!" Sora's anger
built up in his veins.. Why wouldn't anyone answer him?
"This kid got spirit. I like it." Xigbar grinned down at the brunet.
"Personally, I don't know him and I don't know why we need you here." He turned
towards Riku. "I bet you know Roxas though. We all know that you sneak out to
see Axel so you must have had a run in with his 'mate' once or twice." He spat
out the word as if it burned his mouth. The.
"No, I'm pretty sure their mated." Sora said absentmindedly while he studied
the area around him. From what he could gather he was in Canta Forest. But he
couldn't remember for the life of him how he got there. The only reason he
wasn't freaking out was because from what Xigbar said about him being a
prisoner and that they knew Roxas and Axel meant that they were using him as
bait.
If Sora just kept calm and didn't do anything that would put the three of them
in danger then he knew that his twin would come for him. He wanted to hear it
from his captures but seeing as how they wouldn't talk it was best to just drop
it. "Roxas was dead set on it last I saw him." The brunet had to bite the
inside of his cheek to stop a laugh from escaping. It was just too funny to
him. "By the way, are you guys those wolf creature things? I asked Roxas to
change for me but he refused. Can you change for me?" Sora gave the two
Lycanthropes his best puppy eyes and pouted his lips.
Xigbar and Riku just looked at one another as if they were having a silent
conversation. They held each other's gaze for the longest time before Riku
through his arms in the air and yelled, "Fine! You win! I'll do it!" The sliver
Lycanthrope grabbed the bottom of his shirt and stripped it off. Once that was
gone he started to work on his pants.
By this point Sora's face was red. "What are you doing? Stop that!" His hands
flew to his eyes as the other boy started to take off his underwear.
"I can't change for you with my clothes on."
Sora seemed to hesitate. He really wanted to see the change.
"Come on kiddo, it's not like he's working with equipment different
than yours." Xigbar jabbed Sora with his elbow. "Now are you gonna keep being
so shy?" He pulled Sora's hands away from his face and made him face the other
Lycanthrope. "Come one Riku finish your strip tease!"
~X~x~X~x~
Axel doubled over painting. He just made it to the outskirts of Fran's burrow
and the sun was starting it's decent down; he only had a few hours to find
Roxas and bring him back home.
"Fran!" There was no response. Axel cupped his hands around his mouth and
yelled for the Viera again. This time however Fran appeared on the other side
of the clearing carrying a bag full of, what Axel could guess, berries.
"Axel?" Fran looked at the young Lycanthrope. His messy red hair was even
messier then normal and he was doubled over, panting. "Is everything alright?"
She carefully put her bag down and approached her former charge.
Once the redhead caught his breath, he looked up at Fran. "I need you to go to
my den and watch Kairi for me."
"You know I can't do that." Fran shook her head as she said that. "I need to
stay here in case someone needs my help. You know thi-"
"It's for Roxas!" Axel yelled. Fran looked startled by his outburst. The look
in her dark eyes made the redhead feel bad. "Look," he said quietly. "The pack
took him. I need to go after him. If anything were to happen...Gods he already
hates me. I just-"
"I get it." The Vera put a comforting hand on Axel's shoulder. "I'll be there.
Just hurry."
Axel stood to his full height and pulled Fran into a back-breaking hug. "Thank
you." He pushed her away and took off into the forest.
~X~x~X~x~
Roxas's back hurt. He had been walking with Zexion for miles without a break.
But he didn't notice any of this; all of his thoughts were focused on his
missing twin.
Was Sora alright? What was the pack doing with him? Was he back at home and
this whole thing a trap?
Then his thoughts went.
Where was Kairi? Was she alright? How was he going to apologize to Axel for
losing his only sister and for what he did earlier that day? Would his mate
forgive him?
"We're here." Zexion broke the silence that fell upon them since Roxas willing
left with him.
Roxas looked up at the rocky mountain and gulped. It's for Sora. That's what
was running though the blond's head as he slowly made his way up the mountain.
At one point Roxas considered giving up. The only thing that kept him going was
Zexion's voice, that seemed to be coming from miles ahead of him, reminding him
that his brother was just on the other side.
It took longer than Zexion would have liked, but eventually the blond wolf made
his way across the mountain. Once his front paws hit the grass on the other
side he turned towards Roxas and helped him with his last few steps.
"Roxas? Is that you?"
The two Lycanthropes turned towards the voice. "Sora?" Roxas looked at his
brother as he rode on a silver wolf's back. "Riku?"
Sora's big blue eyes went a fraction bigger as he climbed off of the silver
wolf and ran towards the blond one. "Roxas! It is you!" The brunet threw his
arms around his brother and pulled him into a tight bear hug.
Roxas couldn't breathe with his brother's arms digging into his windpipes. When
his eyes started to water from the lack of oxygen, Sora was finally dragged off
Thankfully Riku had yanked the boy off by the back of his shirt and pulled him
off.
"Come with me. I'll lend you some clothes." Riku growled through a mouthful of
Sora's dirty shirt. He then turned and drag the flailing brunet with him. Roxas
looked around him. Zexion had disappeared and the other man was walking,
towards a sandy blond wolf, a golden pup, and two black pups that were running
towards him and yipping happily.
Roxas's heart gave a little jump as he watched the scene unfold in front of
him. All of the pups gathered around the man and tried to climb up his long
legs. One of them got to about his kneecap before his claws gave out. The man
just laughed as he bent down to scoop the little one up and scratch it behind
the ears.
The sandy blond walked towards his mate and pups and gave the dark haired man a
quick lick to his check before he picked up one of the pups by its scruff and
started to walk into one of the many dens.
Roxas couldn't help but feel jealous. He felt like he wanted...no, needed
something like that. But with his and Axel's relationship still so rocky, were
they ready?
He shook his head of such thoughts and walked towards the den he saw Riku and
Sora disappear in, unaware golden eyes followed his every move.
~X~x~X~x~
It was well past noon when Cloud and Squall arrived at the den..
"I don't think their home," Cloud said as he peeked inside the dark cave. He
looked back at his companion. "What's the plan now? I think you should wait
here-"
"I go where you go." The brunet crossed his arms across his chest. "You'll just
get lost and attacked by Heartless when it gets dark." His storm blue eyes
narrowed at the blond. "Don't even try to argue over this again. We'll both
wait here till they get back." The Nymph leaned against a tree and glared at
Cloud.
Cloud glared back at Squall but made no attempt to argue. Instead, he huffed,
turned away from the Nymph and gave the book he stole from Braska his full
attention.
There is one way for a Tree Nymph to become immortal. If a Tree Nymph can find
another Tree Nymph, they can partner up and their life lines will combine. Then
they and their tree's will become immortal.
that Tree Nymphs are very hard to find. You're lucky if there's one in every
forest or even a small wooded area. That is why Tree Nymphs will usually
partner with a human.
Cloud reread the two paragraphs over and over then his eyes travailed from the
book over towards the broken Nymph. Squall felt the human's eyes on him because
he turned his head to look back. Cloud's mouth go dry as words flooded out of
his mouth before he could stop them.
"I can help you fix your tree."
Cloud was expecting the other to be surprised but instead his face was blank.
"Did you read that in your silly little book?" He lifted his injured arm up to
his face and took to examining the bandages then to look at the blond. "It'll
heal on its own. Don't drag yourself deeper into our world then you already
have. Once this is over, I don't want you to ever come into this forest again."
His eyes were too focused on his wrapped up arm so he didn't see the hurt that
flashed through sky blue eyes.
"But don't yo-"
"Squall?" Cloud's tiny voice was cut off by a tall woman with long white bunny
ears. "What are you doing here? And why's a human...Your face!" Cloud noticed
that Squall had straightened at the sound of her voice, his shoulders tensing
up. But nothing prepared the blond for the mini heart attack he had. The white
haired woman rushed up to the Tree Nymph, grabbed his face in both of her hands
and pulled him closer. "What happened here?" One of her hands left his check to
trace the gauze that went across the brunet's nose. She had to shift the bag on
her back to avoid losing her balance as she leaned closer to the Nymph than he
was comfortable with.
"A Lycanthrope attacked me."
The Viera pulled away. "I can treat that for you. I guess you're here to see
Axel. He's not here and I'm stuck on babysitting duties till he gets back with
Roxas." Fran turned away from the two men and started to walk into the den.
Squall slowly followed. When he passed Cloud, he grabbed the human by his arm
and pulled on it till the blond followed as well.
Once the two were down the trap door, Cloud clung to the Nymph's arm as Squall
used his natural glow to light their way down the long, dark hallway. When they
got to Kairi's room, they saw a dim light coming out so Cloud released the
Nymph and walked towards the light.
Inside the room, the Viera was kneeling beside a twin sized bed and was running
her fingers through Kairi's shoulder length hair. The light was coming from a
small orb that was in Fran's other hand.
"Where's Roxas?" Cloud starred down the Viera.
Fran continued to give Kairi all of her attention the girl started to cry.
After a good minute or two, she finally got the young brunet to stop crying and
turned towards Cloud. "I don't know. Axel came to me and asked me to watch
Kairi so he could find Roxas."
"It's my fault," A quiet forgotten voice said from behind Fran. Kairi stood
from the bed and grabbed onto the Viera's long legs like it was a shield
between her and the angry blond. "I tried to run away earlier and Roxas went
looking for me."
"So, he's lost in the forest?" Squall asked. He looked over at Cloud. "I bet
you want to go look for him as well?"
"Hell yeah I do! Now I have two brother's missing!"
"We should get going before it gets dark then." Squall turned to leave the
small room but was stopped by long, polished fingernails digging into his
shoulder.
"Let me take a look at your injuries first." Fran spun the Nymph around and sat
him on Kairi's bed. With a careful hand, Fran tore off the bandage that was on
Squall's face. She studied it for a while before she turned to Cloud. "You're
the Flower Child right? Come here and give him some energy." She motioned for
the blond to come closer with her index finger but Cloud never moved from his
spot.
Before Fran could ask what was wrong, Squall spoke up. "He's not a Flower
Child. I'm just helping him find his brothers."
The Viera nodded in understanding. "I have medicine I can use to prevent
infection but without help from another I'm afraid it will scar." She swung the
bag off of her shoulder and rummaged through it till she found a bottle of
purple liquid and a clean piece of cloth. "Now hold still. This is going to
sting a lot." Fran poured some of the purple stuff onto the cloth and pressed
it to Squall's face.
Kairi quietly made her way over to Cloud as the boy watched the Nymph attempt
to pull away from the stinging medicine but held in place by the Viera's other
hand holding the back of his head.
"Uncle," The girl pulled on the blond's shirt till he tore his eyes from the
Nymph and was looking at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen."
Cloud wanted to yell at her. He really did. But one look at the Lycanthrope's
eyes made him bite the inside of his cheek. How could he yell at someone who
resembled his little sister so much? Instead he kneeled to her level and pulled
her into a hug. "It's fine. Axel probably found him already and they're on
their way back already."
Kairi shook her head and Cloud could feel her crying on his neck. "Bad guys
have him."
Cloud tensed, pulled away from the girl and looked over at the other two in the
room. Squall's injuries were wrapped in new bandages and him and Fran were
looking over at the human and Lycanthrope with small smiles on their faces till
they saw the desperate look on the blond's face.
"We have to go."
***** Finding Axel *****
Cloud groaned in frustration as the young girl clung to his midsection. "We
have to leave. Let go!" He attempted to push Kairi off but the girl latched on
tighter.
"No!" Kairi yelled back and buried her face in Cloud's shirt.
A gentle hand went to the little girl's shoulder. "Kairi, you have to let him
go. He's going to help Axel bring Roxas back," Fran said in a calm voice. Kairi
tried to shake off the hand but Fran kept her grip which made the younger girl
tighten her hold on the blond.
"No! If anything happens to Uncle then Roxas would get mad at me and leave!"
Everyone in the room froze with the exception of Kairi who was busy trying to
hide her blushing face. Cloud's eye's softened at the sight. The similarities
between Kairi and Naminé were uncanny; Cloud couldn't be mean to his sister.
Whatever relationship Axel and Roxas had made the small red tinted brunette his
sister in-law but the blond did find it adorable that Kairi took to calling him
Uncle. But it irked him a bit that the girl didn't have any faith in him.
The blond chuckled, combing his fingers through Kairi's hair. "How weak do you
think I am?"
"Very," Squall mumbled.
Cloud glared at the Nymph. He noticed Kairi's grip on him had loosened. He
managed to free himself, marched up to the brunet and poked him right in
between the eyes. The Nymph flinched away from the pain. "I'm not weak, flower
boy," Cloud said, earning a faint giggle come from Kairi.
The blond turned back to the girl. "Are you alright now?" The girl looked at
the older blond and nodded though he could tell that she didn't want him to
leave. That's all Cloud needed. He turned back to the Nymph. "Let's go."
~X~x~X~x~
"Tell me everything!" Sora squealed like a gossiping teenage girl as he plopped
himself onto Riku's bed. Roxas and Riku had changed back and were in the middle
of getting dressed, ignoring the brunet at the moment.
Roxas was currently shirtless and rolling up the long legs of Riku's pants. "Do
you have a belt?" The blond looked up just in time to grab the strap of leather
that was flying towards him. "Thanks." He quickly fastened the belt before
turning to Sora. "I'll tell you what's going on after we get you out of here."
Sora was dissatisfied with that answer and pouted at his twin. Before he could
rebuttal with anything, Riku said. "I'm guessing you want to get out of here
before Axel can show up?" The blond nodded and pulled a shirt on. "I wish I
could tell you what Xemnas is planning but he hasn't told anyone. Maybe Saïx
knows, but I doubt he'll tell us." The sliveret was dressed and leaning against
the door with his arms crossed against his chest.
"Who are Xemnas and Saïx?" Sora tilted his head to the side in confusion. He
had no idea what was going on and he was starting to get frustrated with it.
The fact that Roxas wasn't answering any of his questions didn't help.
"Xemnas is our pack leader. He only got the position from killing Axel's
father, Reno. No one really likes him since Reno did better job than him, but
there's nothing much we can do about it," Riku said with a shrug. "Saïx is
pretty much his right hand man and strongest supporter. Some think he helped
kill both of Axel's parents. He and Axel were friends at one point but their
personalities clash so it didn't last long."
Roxas was surprised with the last fact. He knew Riku wasn't Axel's only friend
but he didn't suspect Xemnas's supporters would be one of them.
"What about Xigbar?" Sora asked.
"Xigbar doesn't like Xemnas but he doesn't want to put his family in danger so
he won't do anything to stop him. It's a pretty cowardly move but I don't hold
it against him. If I had a family, I wouldn't risk it either."
Roxas remembered a few nights ago when everyone was at the den talking about
what was going on. Riku made a statement suggesting that Axel was going to have
to go after Xemnas and become the next leader but the redhead refused. Was it
because of his blond mate?
Before he could stop it, Roxas said. "But you want Axel to risk it." Blue eyes
narrowed at the sliver haired Lycanthrope.
Riku shook his head. "It's not that I want this to happen but Xemnas thinks
Axel's going to try to avenge his parents so he's going to keep coming after
you no matter what. And Reno's been grooming Axel since the day he was born to
be leader. He's our best bet on saving this pack."
"He's right you know." A new voice said. Roxas's head whipped from Riku towards
the new comer. Beside a bored looking Sora sat Reno. He smiled and waved at the
blond. "Yo! Didn't expect to see me so soon, did 'cha?" The blond slowly shook
his head, getting a confused look from Sora. "Well I won't stay long so you
won't make yourself look stupid." Reno made a jester towards the boy next to
him who was still giving his twin a confused look. "I just felt like I should
warn you that Axel is close to here and your older brother and his Nymph friend
are on their way as well. And I would also like to add that I am hurt that you
don't believe in Axel more. He's your mate, for God's sake!" And with that the
redhead disappeared.
"Are you okay Roxas?" asked Sora. "You were spacing out. Do you feel alright?"
A few moments later Sora's expression changed from confused to excitement. "Are
you...?" The brunet jumped off the bed and ran towards the blond. "Did you do
the nasty and forget about the condoms?" Sora asked with a sly grin as he
started to rub the blond's stomach.
Before he could do anything, Riku interrupted. "He has a point Roxas. You don't
smell like you're in Heat anymore. But I just saw you so it would have been too
recent to be sure." He turned towards Sora. "What are condoms?"
"Well you see when a mommy and daddy love each other very much and don't want
any brats around to ruin their love time they just slip on a cond-" Sora was
cut off by Roxas's hand.
"It doesn't matter. But we need to get out of here, like now." The other two
nodded in agreement and quickly left the den. The sun was slowly making its
decent down. But they still had about three more hours till nightfall.
They didn't get far. As they pasted the dens someone emerged from one of them.
"Riku, what do you think you're doing with Axel's bitch and the hostage?" The
man was tall, but not as tall as Axel, he had glowing gold eyes, had tan skin,
and sliver-white hair.
Riku stuck one of his arms out, preventing the twins from walking any farther.
"Xemnas."
~X~x~X~x~
Axel was running as fast as his human legs could take him. He knew he'd have to
stop soon for water or he wouldn't make it to the pack's den. The redhead
followed the familiar path to the closest lake from the den to rest.
The longer he waited, the longer Axel had to rest the temptation to pace. The
whole point was to gain back energy so, if he had to, he would be able to fight
Xemnas or one of his cronies, though he hoped it wouldn't get to that. His plan
was to get Roxas and get out as fast as they could.
He needed to get to his mate soon. Not knowing what the pack leader was
thinking scared Axel. What if he didn't make it in time?
A sudden noise came from the bushes behind Axel. The redhead turned and growled
at the approaching intruder.
"Calm the fuck down. God damn." Axel stopped growling as soon as he heard his
mate's brother's voice. Cloud and Squall made it through the brush and were
standing in the clearing. "The fuck is your problem?"
"Go home. Both of you," Axel glared at the human then the Nymph. "I can get
Roxas by myself."
Cloud glared back at the Lycanthrope. "Fine, you can get Roxas, but we're
getting Sora." The blond placed his hands on his hips as he took in the
redhead's confused look. "What? Didn't you know you bastards kidnapped both of
my brothers? Sounds like we know a hell of lot more than you." Cloud started to
walk away from the two Mystics. He didn't get far though before he turned
around. "Well are you going to show me where they're at or not?"
"No, I'm not," Axel said as he placed his arms across his chest. "You'll do
nothing but hinder me." Green eyes shot stormy gray a sympathetic look as they
took in the Nymph's injuries. "No offense to you. But he's human. They cause
nothing but trouble," Axel pointed a finger in Cloud's direction.
"Now wait a minute! My brother, your so called mate, is human too!" The blond
snapped back.
"You're right he is my mate, so he's not human." Axel grinned down on the
human. Squall just stood on the sidelines and wondered when the two would stop
fighting. After a few more minutes of their arguing, the Nymph couldn't take it
anymore.
"Hey!" He yelled to get their attention. "We're wasting sunlight here! Quit
your arguing and let's go already. Aren't you worried about Roxas and Sora?"
Axel and Cloud spared each other a quick glance before saying, "Let's go!" in
unison which made a small smile to appear on Squall's face. No matter how much
they hated the other, their personalities were identical. Both were loyal,
would do anything for the ones they love and stubborn as a mule.
Without another word, the trio left the small lake and made their way towards
the large mountain of rocks that made the local Lycanthrope den.
***** Found Roxas *****
"Hurry up!" Axel yelled behind him as he climbed up the steep rocks that lead
to the dens. Squall was a few feet behind him while Cloud was trailing behind.
The redhead grumbled under his breath about useless humans. The sun was
starting its decent from the sky and the trio would be lucky if they found the
brothers before nightfall.
Cloud was panting as he struggled to keep up with the two Mystics but he
refused to stop. He wanted to prove Axel wrong. Humans were not weak and
useless. But as he was climbing up the steep rocks, he lost his footing. A
scream caught in his throat as he started to fall. His blue eyes closed as he
waited for the painful impact but it never came.
The blond cracked open his eyes and saw that Squall holding his arm, keeping
Cloud from falling.
The Nymph pulled up Cloud to his feet. "You alright?"
The blond pulled his arm out of Squall's grasp. "Peachy."
"Hurry up!"
~X~x~X~x~
Xemnas walked up to the trio with his golden eyes focused on Roxas. "You must
be Axel's mate." A grin made its way to his face. "Well aren't you cute? I can
see why he picked you. But I guess he doesn't love you, seeing how he hasn't
come for you or anything."
Roxas gave a quiet whimper and leaned into his twin. Xemnas had a point. He
needed to get help from Riku and Axel had yet to be seen.
"He probably doesn't know where to find you," Sora whispered into his brother's
ear so no one else could hear him. "I bet you he's running around the forest
like a chicken with its head cut off." Roxas pressed his face into Sora's
shoulder to suppress his laughter. Why couldn't the brunet ever be serious?
"And Riku, you're lucky you're not mature yet or I would have killed you by
now." Xemnas sneered at his fellow wolf. It was true. Riku was still a pup in
the eyes of Lycanthropes, but that would change in less than a year. Xemnas
took a step forward. "Roxas, come with me and I will take better care of you
than that mutt you call a 'mate'."
"Don't." Riku looked over his shoulder and at the twins. "He's playing with
your head, Roxas. Axel's looking for you and you know it."
Roxas nodded his head, which was still buried in Sora's shoulder.
~X~x~X~x~
Axel, Cloud, and Squall were looking over the top of the rock formation and
down at the dens.
"Shit," Axel mumbled. "They're with Xemnas." He was getting ready to launch
himself down at the pack leader but someone grabbed the back of his shirt.
"Don't be so rash," Squall scolded him. With a hard tug, the Nymph managed to
pull the redhead back down. "There's a whole pack of Lycanthropes down there.
If we just run down there and attack, we're going to lose. We need a plan."
"I should just go and snatch them," Cloud said with his blue eyes glued on his
brothers. He didn't care if he was fast or strong enough to beat the creatures;
his brothers were down there.
"No way in hell!" Axel yelled at the human. "Roxas is my mate so I should get
him. You stay up here and don't get in the way."
"They're both my brothers. You should just fuck off!"
Squall's left eye twitched. The two hadn't stopped bickering since they met and
it was starting to get on the Nymph's nerves. With all the noise, they would
draw attention to them. "If the both of you don't shut up, I'm going to go down
there by myself."
That put the fighting to an end. Cloud looked up at the Nymph with wide eyes.
"But you're hurt. There's no way you'll be able to..." His voice got quiet and
he gestured to Squall's bandaged arm.
"Don't look down on me because of that." Squall's storm colored eyes glared at
the human. "I could kick your ass anytime I want."
"Okay, now that we solved that little mystery, can we go get Roxas now?" Axel
growled.
"And Sora." Cloud glared at the Lycanthrope. How dare the redhead forget about
the brunet twin?
Axel fidgeted in place with his eyes on his blond mate. The boy was clinging to
his brother like his life depended on it and was hiding his face away. He
looked like a little kid who was trying to get away from the boogieman. It tore
Axel's heart that he couldn't be the one down there comforting him.
A flash of amber caught Axel's attention away from Roxas.
"Oh shit!" Axel ducked. The other two gave him questioning looks. "Xemnas see's
us," He whispered like it would make a difference.
Squall and Cloud looked over the edge of the rocks and sure enough Xemnas was
looking up at them with a large grin on his face. Riku and Sora were also
looking at them. The brunet's face had a huge smile on it as he looked up at
his big brother.
The brunet twin tried to get Roxas to look up but the young Lycanthrope didn't
until he heard Xemnas speak. "How nice of you to come, Axel."
Blue eyes shot up from Sora's shoulder and scanned the surrounding area. Roxas
scowled when he didn't see the redhead anywhere in sight. Sora huffed and
grabbed both sides of his twin's head, manhandling the blond till he was facing
up towards the trio. His eyes met Axel's green and relief washed over him. Axel
did come for him!
"Zexion! Xigbar! Marluxia! Demyx!" Xemnas barked. The four emerged from their
dens, all in their human forms.
Xigbar had his arm casually slung around a blond male who was only a little
shorter than him. Or maybe his mullet style hair just gave it that illusion.
Xigbar's one golden eye looked at the scene in front of him and saw the trio on
top of the dens. He pulled his mate closer. "What's going on?" His eye narrowed
in Axel's direction then he looked towards Sora and saw the blond attached to
his arm. The blond's eyes were glued onto the redhead and a ghost of a smile
planted on his face. So that must be Roxas.
A rose colored wolf and Zexion came out of the den that was behind the twins.
Zexion was in his human form, fixing his hair so half of his face was covered
by steel colored bangs.
"Sir?" Xigbar asked once all four Lycanthropes were there.
Xemnas tilted his head up towards Axel. "We have some troublesome guests. Take
care of them." With a wave of his hand, he dismissed them. His golden eyes
turned on Riku. "Get out of here." He growled.
Riku hesitated but after a few moments he decided it was best to go. Axel could
protect his mate. He ruffled Roxas's blond spikes as he walked passed him. Sora
glared at the retreating Lycanthrope's back. Before he could say anything, his
twin clamped his hand over the brunet's mouth.
"Not now," Roxas hissed in his brother's ear.
Meanwhile Axel, not seeing any reason to stay hidden anymore, was sprinting
down the rocky cliff with ease; Cloud and Squall were not far behind but were
hindered by the unfamiliar terrain. The four Lycanthropes that Xemnas had
called were just standing there, confused about what was going on. The rose
colored one, Marluxia, was the first to make a move.
He sprinted up the rocks towards Axel. The wolf knocked into the redhead,
causing him to tumble down the rocks. Axel landed with a grunt and he curled up
into the fetal position to nurse his now bruised side. Marluxia landed next to
him and turned the fallen man over so he could place his front paws on Axel's
chest. He growled down at him with their noses inches apart.
Roxas watched in horror as his mate was pinned to the ground. He wanted to run
and help him but, as he made a move, a thick tree root came out of the ground,
smacked the wolf off of Axel and pinned Marluxia under it.
"Idiots! What the hell are you doing?" Xemnas sneered at the three unmoving
Lycanthropes.
Xigbar pushed Demyx behind him. "But sir, Demyx can't fight. With the pups-"
"Those pups are over a year old. I highly doubt that his body is still
suffering from the effects of pregnancy and child birth." Xemnas brushed off
the excuse with a wave of his hand but the two still didn't move.
Zexion looked from the pinned wolf, to Xigbar and Demyx, to Xemnas, and back to
Marluxia. He did that a few times to formulate a plan before he ran towards the
trapped wolf's side. Before the steel haired boy could do anything, strong arms
wrapped around him, pinned his arms to his side, and lifted him off the ground.
The pup thrashed around trying to make the man lose his grip but it wasn't
working. All he could see of his attacker was his blond hair. It must be that
human. Zexion thought as he stilled, as fighting against his hold proved to be
pointless.
"Axel!" Roxas managed to get to his mate's side. With shaking hands, Roxas
brushed red hair away from the man's face. Axel was awake and was studying the
boy's face. His blue eyes were clouded with tears that were too stubborn to
fall.
Axel reached up and cupped the blond's face. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me.
How are you? Did he do anything?"
Roxas shook his head which made Axel's hand fall but Roxas caught it and
absentmindedly played with the long fingers. "N-no, he just said some things."
"Awww, you guys are so freaking adorable!" Sora gushed in the background.
Squall was removing the root from the now still Lycanthrope and Cloud dropped
Zexion on the ground, making the steel haired man fell on his ass. The blond
ran over to Sora and pulled the younger boy in a tight hug before releasing him
with a glare. "Do you know how fucking worried I was? What the fuck, Sora?"
"I don't know what happened! I was with Mr. Vexen and then I don't
remember...Oh Mr. Vexen! He might be in trouble too! We need to find him!" Blue
eyes scanned the clearing but he didn't see any signs of his science teacher.
Marluxia, Zexion, and Demyx had disappeared and Xigbar was locked in a glaring
contest with the pack leader.
"Don't worry about him. We need to leave before Xemnas notices," Axel grunted
out as Squall helped him stand.
Roxas gasped once his mate was fully standing. "Axel! Your back!" He pointed to
the red stain that was seeping through the redhead's shirt.
Axel was numb from the shoulders down. "It's fine. Let's just get moving." The
redhead had to lean on Squall as the group slowly made their way up the rocks.
About half way up, Roxas felt someone watching him. Blue locked in on amber.
"He may have found you this time, but you won't be so lucky next time we meet."
X~x~X~x~
By the time the group safely made it to the other side, the sun was almost
gone. Axel could no longer support himself and Squall had to carry him on his
back.
"We'll never make it back to the den in time," The Nymph noted.
Roxas was fidgeting. Between Xemnas' threat, a hurt Axel, and a possible
Heartless attack, the blond was more than a little unnerved. He felt a large
warm hand grab his. He looked up and saw worried green eyes looking at him.
"Everything's going to work out. You know I won't let anything happen to you."
Roxas nodded his head and Axel leaned in as close as he could. "I love you."
But before his lips could meet the blond's, Roxas pulled away. "I'm sorry."
Cloud groaned. "Can we get a move on? I'd rather not get eaten tonight."
Sora's eyes widened. "W-what?" He looked over at his twin. "I'm with Cloud."
Squall shifted a bit to readjust Axel's weight. "The best bet we have is to go
to the Outerlands. If we hurry, we might be able to miss the Heartless."
"I get to go home?" Sora asked.
"Looks that way." Roxas mumbled as they jogged in the direction of the human
town.
X~x~X~x~
Night had just fallen when they made it to the Jecht's house. They made it to
the edge of the forest before any Heartless could get to them. All the lights
were on and Yuna's silhouette could be seen in the kitchen.
"Mom!" Sora yelled as he sprinted towards the back door.
Yuna's mix-matched eyes widened at the sound of her son's voice. She quickly
turned towards the door and wrapped Sora in a bear hug.
"M-mom, I can't breathe," Sora gasped out.
Yuna pulled away and started to mess with the brunet boy's hair out of habit.
"Sorry baby, I was just worried you ran away like your brothers." Tears fell
from her eyes. "Am I that bad of a parent?"
"Mom?"
Yuna looked up and saw her two blond sons standing in the doorway with two
strangers, one of which had passed out from weariness and pain. But the brunet
woman didn't even notice them; all she saw was her two lost boys. "Cloud?
Roxas?"
Roxas ran up to his mom and hugged her. He didn't realize how much he had
missed her. The blond had just been home the day before but it just wasn't the
same without her. "I missed you." Roxas mumbled as he pulled away and Cloud
took his place hugging Yuna.
After a few moments, Squall decided to end the family reunion by clearing his
throat. Yuna's head snapped in his direction and her eyes were widened with
shock. "Sorry to interrupt but he's kind of heavy." The Nymph said.
"Oh my goodness!" Yuna ushered the duo inside and guided them into the living
room where Squall placed Axel on the couch to lie on his stomach. Yuna grabbed
a pair of scissors and, as gently as she could, cut the shirt off of the
redhead. She examined the wound. "He lost a lot of blood and it looks like it
will scar." Yuna looked down at Roxas, who was sitting by the redhead's head
and holding his hand with a worried expression on his face. "Roxas, can you
grab the first aid kit for me?"
The blond didn't have to be told twice. He jumped up from his spot and ran up
the stairs towards the bathroom where the kit was kept. On his way back down,
he ran into Naminé coming out of her room
"Roxas!" The little girl ran up to her big brother and almost knocked him to
the ground. "Why are you back so soon?"
Roxas pulled Naminé off of him and continued downstairs with the girl on his
heels. When the two made it back to the living room, Naminé gasped. "Axel?" She
looked up at her older brothers. "What happened?"
Yuna took the first aid kit that was handed to her and continued with her work.
"Do you know him, sweetheart?" She asked with a confused look on her face
"Yup," The blond girl confirmed. "He's Roxas's husband."
Yuna stopped cleaning Axel's lower back and looked up at her son. "Roxas?"
The blond glared down at his sister before he looked over at his mom. "It's a
long story and I promise to tell you everything in the morning."
Yuna looked like she was about to say something but, before she could get
anything out, Sora came into the room with Squall and Cloud behind him. "Is he
going to be alright, Mom?" The brunet asked.
"Well, he's lost quite a bit of blood and his spine and left hip are bruised
pretty badly, but I think he'll be fine." She turned towards Squall. "Can you
sit him up for me so I can wrap some gaze around him, please?" The Nymph did as
he was told and, when Yuna finished up with the gaze, the Nymph laid him back
down.
Yuna stood up and turned towards everyone. "Now you all need your rest. Go to
bed." She dismissed them. "And I do expect an explanation in the morning. And
it better be a good one. Oh and can you send up the tall brunet? It looks his
bandages are old," She added to Roxas in a worried voice.
Roxas nodded his head and went downstairs with the other boys. When he got to
the basement, he noticed the shortage of beds. Sora was arguing with Cloud over
where everyone would sleep.
"I can sleep in your bed and you and Squall can share mine and Roxas's," The
brunet said.
Cloud crossed his arms and glared down at his younger brother. "And what makes
you think I want to share a bed with that fairy? And where would Roxas sleep?"
Sora opened his mouth to say a comeback but closed it. He had forgotten about
his brother. "Maybe he could squeeze on the couch with Axel?"
"Are you kidding? He's freaking huge and takes up the whole couch," Roxas
interjected with a small smirk on his face. It was nice seeing his brothers
fight again. He turned towards the Nymph who was standing off to the side. "Mom
wants to change your bandages."
Squall nodded and made his way upstairs again. He found Yuna back in the
kitchen, waiting at the table for him.
"I don't think we've been introduced. My name's Yuna Jecht." She extended her
hand.
"Squall." The Nymph grabbed the offered hand and shook it as he sat down. The
two sat in silence as Yuna fixed up Squall's face and arm. The Nymph breathed a
sigh of relief when she didn't ask how he got hurt. He stood up and, before the
woman could leave the room, Squall said. "Thank you for everything ma'am-"
"Yuna."
"-Yuna," Squall corrected himself. "But I don't think I'm going to stay the
night. If anything happens to Axel, can you send someone over to Braska's to
tell me?"
"You know my dad?" Yuna asked.
The Nymph nodded. "Sort of." He walked out the back door and threw a
'Goodnight' over his shoulder before he disappeared into the darkness.
Down in the basement, the siblings fell into their usual sleeping arrangements
once Yuna told them that Squall had left. The lights were off but Roxas could
make out everything that was happening around him. Sora's top half was hanging
off of the bed, just begging to drag the brunet to the cold floor. Cloud was
curled up in a small ball and quietly snoring. But the small blond couldn't get
comfortable enough to fall asleep.
After a good two hours of rolling around, Roxas got fed up. He had a feeling
that the absence of Axel's warm body was affecting him. He made his way up the
stairs as quietly as he could and found his redhead lying in the same position
that he was left in.
Roxas smiled a bit, sat on the ground next to Axel's head and started to brush
his bright red hair. Axel let out a little moan and his eyes opened.
"Roxas?" The redhead mumbled as he took in the blond's face. "What's the
matter?" His words slurred a bit as he came back to consciousness.
Roxas shrugged and continued brushing Axel's hair. "I couldn't sleep."
"So you decided to watch me? You're such a creep!" Axel joked. He lifted a hand
and, mimicking Roxas, brushed the blond's spikes.
"Mmmhmm. You're right. I just couldn't help myself. Oh and since you're up and
we're alone, I feel like now's the right time to tell you. I'm sorry about this
morning and well pretty much all of today."
Axel's hand stopped moving for a moment and he just stared at his mate. The
poor blond's face was twisted with guilt. "Roxy, you have nothing to apologize
for. This morning was all on me. I took it too far. And as for my back, that's
also on me. I should have handled the whole situation better than I did."
Roxas wasn't happy with that answer. "But if I didn't freak then you wouldn't
have left, and Kairi wouldn't have run away."
"Can we agree to disagree?" Axel asked in a quiet voice. "I'm still pretty
tired and don't wanna get in an argument over something stupid like this."
The blond was about to argue that this argument was not stupid but decided
against it. He dropped his hand from Axel's hair and traced the purple tattoos
on the man's face. "Alright, I'll drop it. Goodnight." Roxas made a move to
stand up but Axel reached out and grabbed his wrist, keeping him there. With a
grunt, the redhead moved over a bit so there would be enough room for his mate
to slip on the couch with him and, with a firm yank, pulled Roxas over to him.
"Sleep with me."
Roxas hesitated but this is what he wanted right? That's the reason he came up
here. So he slowly climbed onto the couch and laid on his side so he could fit
comfortably. Axel threw his arm around the blond's waist and pulled him closer.
Axel's smell wasn't as strong but it was comforting to the blond. The two
quickly fell asleep like that..
***** Meet the Parents *****
Chapter Notes
     I'm a fail writer and the rewrite of this story is now being
     rewritten as well. If you're interested in the first rewrite go look
     at Abandoned and the redo for that should be up as soon as I'm done
     outlining. I'm so sorry for the inconvenience of all of this and I
     hope you'll all stick around for my other stories :)
"Told ya he'd be here."
"What the fuck?"
Roxas moaned as he opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was two identical
pairs of blue eyes staring down at him. The blond gave a yelp and would have
tumbled off the couch if it wasn't for the heavy weight on his midsection. With
a quick glance down, Roxas confirmed that, at some point during the night, he
had managed to worm his way under Axel and the redhead was using his stomach as
a makeshift pillow. Roxas's hands ran his fingers through Axel's silky locks;
he decided Axel's hair was one of his favorite features of his mate.
"You know, you two are so sweet that I'm going to get diabetes, right?" Sora
gushed
Cloud gave his younger brother a strange look. "You make it sound like a good
thing." Sora stuck his tongue out only to be flipped off. Roxas sighed as he
watched his siblings fight. Some things never changed.
Axel stirred from all the talking. The first thing he saw was the skin that
Roxas' shirt wasn't covering. He glanced up at his mate and was pleased to see
that the blond was distracted with watching his brother's fight. A large smirk
grew on Axel's face as he stuck his tongue out and gave the pale skin a small
lick. The hand in his hair twitched a bit but the blond didn't do anything
else. The redhead planted his lips on the skin and sank his teeth into Roxas's
hip with enough force to leave a bruise.
Roxas gasped and kicked the redhead off of him. Axel landed on the ground and
let out a painful howl. The white carpet under the man started to turn red.
"Oh, shit! Mom!" Sora yelled as he ran up the stairs to get Yuna.
Roxas's eyes widened as he knelt next to his mate. "Axel, I'm so sorry. Are you
okay?" The blond went to reach out to the redhead. As soon as his hand made
contact with the other's skin green eyes snapped open and Axel let out a fierce
growl, blindly swiping his hand in the direction of the blond. Axel's sharp
fingernail caught on Roxas's cheek and left a scratch in its wake.
Roxas fell backwards with his wide blue eyes glued on his mate. He was frozen
as he watched Axel wither on the floor in pain. There was nothing he could do
to calm the man down and that sent a stab to Roxas's heart. A hand pulled Roxas
back up to his feet and he was dragged to the other side of the room. Roxas
didn't want to look away from Axel.
"He's nothing but a wild beast." Cloud mumbled under his breath. His hold on
Roxas tightened.
Roxas wanted to talk back to his older brother, that Axel was not a wild beast
he was just in pain. Before he could open his mouth, Sora, Auron, and both of
his parents came down the stairs. Yuna had her hand clamped around Tidus's arm
while the first-aid kit was in the other.
Tidus didn't seem to understand what was going on. After rubbing his eyes a few
times and yawning, he scanned the living room for the 'disaster' Sora was
yelling about. His blue eyes landed on his two missing sons. Letting out a very
unmanly squeal, the blond man ran up to the boys and pulled them both into a
tight bear hug.
Yuna sighed and mumbled something about how Sora probably got his attention
span from his father. The woman's attention went straight to the man in pain on
her living room floor. Yuna's mix-matched eyes made a quick assessment on the
situation, from how much pain Axel seemed to be in to the fresh cut on her
son's face, and called Auron to help her.
"I need you to flip him and pin his arms down for me," Yuna demanded the large
man. Auron did as he was told and flipped the redhead without getting hit by
Axel's wild thrashing. Yuna peeled the now red bandage and grimaced at the
sight of all the blood that was coming out of the redhead's back. "He's going
to need stitches. We have to take him to the hospital." Yuna said over her
shoulder towards her husband and sons.
Roxas managed to get out of his father's grasp and walk towards the three on
the floor, shaking his head. "We can't do that." Without thinking, he walked
closer to Axel so he could see the damage himself and couldn't help the
troubled look that showed on his face.
Yuna was busying herself by cleaning the large wound but stopped mid task to
look up at her son. "And why not?" She didn't try to hid the annoyance in her
voice
Because if we go to the hospital they'll ask questions that we can't answer.
When we can't answer the questions, they'll get suspicious. When they get
suspicious, they'll find things out about Axel that will probably keep him from
Kairi. Blue eyes widened in realization. Roxas spun around and looked at his
older brother. "Cloud! Kairi's all by herself! We need to go back for her!"
Axel perked up at the sound of his sister's name. "Kairi?"
"Who's Kairi?" Yuna asked. She was back to fixing Axel's back up but the best
she could do was clean it so it wouldn't get infected and wrap it up.
"She's my little sister." Axel said between clenched teeth. He was still in a
lot of pain. Biting Roxas had been a bad idea. Green eyes turned towards Roxas.
"Don't worry. I sent a babysitter. Though, she was expecting us back last
night." Axel finished with a light chuckle.
Tidus seemed to have settled down a bit. "Who are you?" It seemed the blond man
had just noticed the intruder in his house but was put at ease by the fact that
Auron was holding the redhead down.
"Dad, this is Axel. Axel, this is my dad, Tidus." Roxas introduced the two. The
blond was standing between the men.
"Pleased to meet you, sir." Axel said from his stop on the floor. He would have
waved if his arms weren't still pinned to the ground. Yuna instructed Auron to
move Axel off the ground and onto the couch. Once the redhead was seated, he
made a quick grab for Roxas and pulled the small blond onto his lap, earning a
small squeak from the boy.
Tidus eyebrows shot up and he gave the two a questioning look. "What's going
on? I mean, Roxas you disappear for the better part of three weeks with Cloud
out looking for you, and now both of you are back with..." The blond left his
sentence hanging and made a jester towards his son and the redhead.
Yuna sat down on the loveseat that was across from the sofa. "Explain." She had
her eyes glued onto her youngest son and the man Naminé claimed to be Roxas's
'husband'. A hand grabbed Tidus's shirt as Yuna pulled her husband to sit next
to her. Cloud sat on a plush chair that was in the corner of the room, Auron
leaned against a wall, and Sora plopped himself on the floor right in front of
his twin like a little kid who was waiting for someone to tell a story.
"Well..." Roxas's blue eyes traveled around the room so he didn't have to make
eye contact with anyone. Telling your family you were gay was hard enough, but
how could he also throw in that he wasn't technically human anymore? "I-
I'm...sort of...kind of..."
"Gay?" Tidus finished for him in a bored voice. Roxas's face turned red at the
comment. "Don't worry. We didn't know." The blond made a motion between him and
his wife. "But right now it's pretty obvious. Don't worry! I'm not
disappointed. Just surprised." He smiled at his son. Tidus was lying when he
said he wasn't disappointed but he couldn't do anything about it.
"Darn. I wanted grandbabies." Yuna pouted earning outraged cries from her other
sons. "What? I mean, Naminé's to young, and you know how Sora is with
relationships." The brunet stuck his tongue out and made a disgusted noise.
"And Cloud...well, he's Cloud." Yuna laughed at the glare she was getting from
her oldest child.
Axel leaned down so his mouth was by Roxas's ear. "Should we tell her the good
news then?" The redhead's hand moved so it rested against the blond's stomach.
Roxas tuned his head enough so he could send his mate a light glare. "And how
do you suppose we do that? 'Don't worry mom, I'm a freak now who can bear
children, so you don't need to worry about being grandbaby-less'"
"You're a freak who can bear children?" Tidus asked.
Oh shit! I must have said that too loud! Roxas was having a slight mental
freak-out. His blue eyes traveled around the room. Both his parents seemed
confused, Auron still looked indifferent, Cloud was a bit shocked, and Sora was
rolling on the ground, holding his sides and laughing. Roxas really wanted to
kick him. Well, it's now or never. Roxas took a deep calming breath and told
Yuna and Tidus everything. He told them how he met Axel, showed them the bite,
about Kairi, Sora's kidnapping, and everything in between.
Once he finished, the room was filled with silence so the two on the loveseat
could process what they were just told. Roxas wanted to shrivel up and die.
While he was talking, Axel had pulled the blond tight against his chest, making
the small blond feel safe.
Tidus was the first to speak. "So you're a Lycantaloupe?"
Roxas' palm made contact with his face. "Lycanthrope, dad. Lycanthrope." He
could feel Axel try to hold back a laugh. The feeling of the redhead's moving
chest against his back made a smile spread across the small blond's face.
"Po-tat-to, Pa-tat-to" The oldest blond said with a dismissive wave. With a
sudden burst of energy, Tidus shot up from his seat and started to walk towards
the kitchen. "It's too early in the morning for bedtime stories. Coffee time!"
Yuna got up and followed her husband towards the kitchen mumbling something
about how her husband will burn the house down if he touches the coffee maker.
The smallest blond leaned his head back so it was resting on Axel's shoulder.
"Why does it feel like they don't believe me?"
"They might need more than a hickey for proof." Sora said, earning a glare from
his twin. "You could do something to prove it." The brunet covered.
Cloud spoke for the first time. "And do what? Get knocked up? I'll castrate
that beast before that happens." Blue eyes glared into green.
"Back down, Cloud." Auron sculled his nephew.
"Maybe you could shift for them?" Axel said in a quiet voice. "I'd do it but I
don't think my back would be able to handle it."
Roxas sighed. Axel was right but the blond really didn't want to do it. Every
time he changed he felt a little bit of his humanity slip away. He climbed off
his mate and walked towards the small bathroom that was downstairs.
The small blond's reflection was the first thing he saw when he flipped the
light on. He had major bed head going on and there was an angry looking red cut
on his cheek. Roxas closed the door just enough so that he felt confident that
he could paw it open.
A few minutes passed and everyone in the living room was growing impatient.
Axel was biting his long nails down to nubs. Something was nagging at his
nerves.
A wet nudge at his arm brought the redhead out of his thoughts and he was
looking down at his mate's blue eyes. "You okay?" Roxas asked in a low whimper.
Axel smiled down at the blond wolf and scratched him behind his golden ears.
"I'm fine."
A sudden weight on Roxas made him lose his balance and fall. "Holy shit Roxas!
You're freaking adorable!" Sora's arms wrapped around his twins neck and pulled
him into a tight hug. Auron grabbed the brunet by the back of his shirt and
yanked him off of Roxas. Sora pouted up at his uncle before going to sit on the
armrest of the chair Cloud was sitting on. "Doesn't Roxas look cute?" He asked
his older brother.
Cloud looked at his youngest brother. He couldn't deny that the blond wolf was,
as Sora put it, 'freaking adorable', but Cloud didn't like that his brother was
forced to be something like that.
"Coffee's done if anyone wants some-AH!" Yuna jumped backwards when she saw a
wolf standing in her living room. Roxas walked up to his mother and gave her
hand a small lick. "What?
Roxas?" Roxas's ears perked up and his tail started to wag.
Tidus walked in the room and almost walked right into Yuna. "Hey, why are you
just standing- Why's there a dog in the house?"
"That's Roxas." Yuna whispered.
The blond man started laughing. "Roxas? Really?" He looked over at Sora. "Was
this prank your idea? Because I got to hand it to you, it's a pretty good one.
The dog even looks similar to Roxas." Tidus bent down and started to pet the
wolf.
"It's not a prank, sir. That really is Roxas." Axel said from his spot on the
couch.
Tidus's eyes went from the redhead and back to the blond wolf. The front door
opened without a knock, taking everyone's attention off of Roxas, Braska and
Squall walked in.
"Dad!" Yuna rushed over to her father. "What are you doing here?" She was
starting to panic. Braska hated things from the forest and at the moment she
was housing two Lycanthropes.
Braska looked past his daughter and at Axel. "Wow, in the light, you really do
look like your father."
"My father? You knew him?" Axel asked
"Of course I know him. He helped me keep tabs on things going on in the
forest." The older man had a nostalgic look on his face before he remembered
what happened two years ago. "I'm so sorry for your loss."
"Wait, you know each other?" Tidus cut into their conversation.
Braska's blue eyes left Axel and he looked at his son-in-law. "Auron didn't
tell you?"
"Auron!?" Both Yuna and Tidus yelled and turned on the older man, who was
nowhere in sight.
Squall stood by the front door, waiting for the group to get up so they could
be on their way. "We should get going before it gets too late. Fran needs to
get back to her burrow and Kairi's waiting for you two."
Axel nodded his head and went to stand up but ended up falling back onto the
couch, hissing in pain.
"I don't think you're going anywhere soon." Yuna mumbled with a frown on her
face. She didn't like to see people in pain. "You're more than welcome to stay
here till you're fully healed. Kairi can even come." Then the brunet's face
seemed to light up. "You can stay for Nami's birthday!" She turned towards her
youngest son and knelt down so she could pull him into a hug. "This is going to
be great!"
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