Categories > Games > Kingdom Hearts > Facade
Chapter 3: A Matter of Trust
0 reviewsMore Organization members are found from both sides. It doesn't end pretty for some of the characters.
0Unrated
The sun was becoming increasingly intense in the hot summer afternoon. Thus, most of the animals had taken refuse in their caves and burrows underground. It was known to them that most humans did not travel in such great heat because, though they did not wear their fur except on their heads, they were susceptible to heat stroke. The animals poked their heads out, however, to regard the strange creature that defied their expectations and still traveled.
Lexaeus was not particularly happy. He'd taken the long way toward the capital to cover the most ground. A mistake, in his opinion, as it had yet to do him any good whatsoever. Now he was rather cranky, tired, hot and wishing he had taken a shorter route. Lexaeus was just contemplating taking a rest when a small something went whizzing by his head. As if on instinct, all thoughts to rest had left his mind and he pulled out his tomahawk, glancing in the direction from whence it came. He frowned and held his weapon up cautiously, waiting for an indication on the direction it came from. Another came flying at him, but Lexaeus deflected it. Who was shooting at him?
"Be a man and fight me face to face!" he challenged, glancing around. A barrage of bullets began to fly in his direction. So many that Lexaeus had to dive out of the way, narrowly avoiding them; he frowned deeply from the ground. "Coward."
Lexaeus raised his tomahawk into the air, allowing it to linger for only a moment before he brought it crashing down to the earth once again. Almost instantaneously, the ground began to rumble. A slight cry of surprise could be heard, but that was all that Lexaeus needed. He had found his target and bolted from his spot with speed that one wouldn't expect from such a large man. Lexaeus found him hiding behind a bush on the hill nearby. The man had realized his mistake and backed away quickly, shooting wildly in the other's direction. It was futile and, after quite a while of attempting to run away, the sharpshooter soon found a large tomahawk holding him down on the ground.
"Hey, man, don't be so touchy," he said with a laugh.
"Why exactly did you feel the need to shoot at me, especially without warning?" Lexaeus asked, frowning down at him in disapproval.
"Wanted to test you," his would-be 'assassin' explained. "You've gotten better."
"While I greatly appreciate the effort, it really wasn't necessary," Lexaeus sighed and shook his head. Then they were silent. A few moments like that passed where neither spoke, allowing for complete silence before Xigbar finally spoke again.
"Are you going to let me up now?"
"Of course not," Lexaeus stated, leaning slightly on his tomahawk. Xigbar winced and groaned at the pressure.
"Great..." he muttered. "Can you at least tell me what's going on? Y'know, since we're obviously going to be here for a while. I hate being stuck in the dark."
"That, I suppose, I can do," Lexaeus said, a slight smirk crossing his features. "As I'm sure you've figured out, we're dead."
"Yeah, guessed that," Xigbar rolled his eyes, but was silenced by the large weapon pressing into his ribs.
"And we've been sent here to complete a sort of mission..."
"How lame... ow! What was that for?" Xigbar snapped, glaring up at the larger man.
"I could do without the commentary," Lexaeus told him, annoyed. However, he didn't get much further in way of an explanation. At that moment, Lexaeus spotted Axel as he appeared on the path, heading in their direction. And Luxord was with him! "Damn..." Lexaeus picked up his tomahawk, relieving the other of his discomfort.
"Well, that's more..." Xigbar didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Lexaeus picked him up by the shirt and threw him into the bushes. "What's the big idea?"
"Shh..." Lexaeus hushed him, placing a finger to his lips and ducking into the hiding place as well. "We have traitors in our midst."
"Axel?" Xigbar frowned deeply.
"Along with Marluxia and Larxene," Lexaeus finished for him. "No doubt they've turned Luxord against us as well. He's with them and doesn't seem to be struggling." Xigbar looked rather discontent for a moment before he began to smirk, an idea forming.
"Then we'll just have to teach them the consequences of turning their backs on the Organization," he said, pulling his guns out once more, a manic look in his eyes.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Lexaeus smirked as well. The two of them then stood, emerging from their hiding place. They then charged directly at the small group, catching everybody off-guard. Axel was the first to draw his weapons and, thus, the battle had begun. The animals did not stay to watch this one, for they knew that great danger was afoot.
Lexaeus did a rather excellent job of holding his own against Axel and Marluxia. Xigbar wouldn't let Luxord and Larxene near him and was shooting at them like a mad man. It was to be expected that the two senior members of the Organization learned to fight more than one skilled fighter at a time. In the heat and confusion of battle, not one of them noticed the sun sinking slowly below the horizon. As the remaining rays of light dipped beyond the hills there was a bright flash of light. All six had to quickly shield their eyes with their hands and various objects. Axel knew instantly what had happened and scurried out of the way of the now giant tomahawk, for Lexaeus had also been rather quick on the uptake and took the opportunity to attempt to crush the fox.
It took Xigbar and Luxord a few moments to register what had just happened to them. Once that was accomplished, they panicked. Luxord reared back on his hind legs, whinnying in surprise. Xigbar managed to run in a large circle, finally stopping when he ran straight into Lexaeus' leg, leaving quite a few of his needles there. Axel continued to attempt to attack Lexaeus, using different methods to get close to him without being squished, also due to the fact that he could no longer hold his chakrams. It looked as though Lexaeus was rather outnumbered when a great howl could be heard from atop the nearby hill. Marluxia frowned deeply and turned his head to look, unnerved by the savage animal. The wolf came barreling down and straight for Axel. The fox didn't even have a chance to react as he was hit at full speed with sharp teeth and claws.
Axel yelped in pain and attempted to fight back, but it was futile with the wolf, which was nearly twice his size. Axel could feel the wolf's teeth break the skin and a red liquid began trickling out of its mouth and down his side. Axel's struggling was useless and most likely only managed to impale him further. Eventually, Larxene figured out a solution and hit the wolf with a rock, causing it to yelp. It tossed Axel to the side and snarled at her. Larxene brandished her weapons and called to Marluxia, who was occupied with calming down Luxord as Lexaeus was occupied with ridding his leg of porcupine needles. He glanced to Larxene as she called and saw her nod to Axel. For a moment he hesitated, wondering what the consequences would be if he simply left him there to die. He then decided that the risk was far too great. He scooped up the fox his arms, wary of the blood as it soaked his sleeves. He then called to Larxene and turned away from the battle to run in the opposite direction. Larxene took the hint and pulled Luxord, steering him right after them.
Lexaeus glanced up and saw that they had gotten away. He frowned deeply, disappointed that they hadn't finished the fight, but it was beyond his control now. He put away the mighty tomahawk and turned to look at the wolf. Its eyes were still savage, despite the fact that it had calmed down considerably.
"Saïx..."
Lexaeus had been right in assuming the others were long gone-and now they were desperately looking for some place to help Axel. Anywhere would do for them at the moment. It was difficult, however, considering that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Marluxia was growing quite impatient and only slightly worried that they would lose Axel in their attempt to find him a place to rest. A farm house appeared in the distance and Marluxia was relieved, mostly due to the fact that it had just begun to rain. They were all drenched by the time they reached the door to the farmhouse, save Axel, who Marluxia had managed to shield. He pounded impatiently on the door as Larxene and Luxord waited behind him, equally as restless.
"Good gods!" a woman exclaimed as she opened the door. "Don't y'all know what time it-?"
"Sorry to bother you," Marluxia said quickly. "But this little guy here needs help right away." Her eyes widened as she eyes Axel beneath Marluxia's protective grasp.
"Oh, my word! Why didn't ya say so in the first place? Come in, come in!" She stepped aside. "Sir... would you like to put your horse in the barn?" Luxord looked quite put out by that comment indeed.
"No way, lady," Larxene frowned. "The horse comes with us. He can fit." The look she had upon her face at the moment was just daring the lady to protest. She looked like she might, in fact, when Marluxia spoke up.
"We'll pay you extra," he said quickly. "Now, if you please? We don't have much time."
The woman led them to an empty room and sat them down on a bed, urging them to lay Axel there as well, telling them to never mind about the sheets. She then disappeared, only to return with a full first-aid kit. Marluxia took it from her as Larxene sat in the corner of the room with Luxord (who was only halfway inside). It wasn't long before both Marluxia and the woman were tending to Axel's wounds. It was bad, the woman noted, but said that he would live. Axel was grateful to hear that. Luxord was muttering to himself in the corner, seemingly trying to make sense of everything that was happening to him. Axel decided to ignore him and simply focused his attention on those tending to him. As soon as he was bandaged, he felt Marluxia pick him up again, realizing then that he really hated being manhandled, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment to prevent it. The woman changed the sheets as Marluxia stood up and then Axel was placed on the bed where he quickly dozed off to sleep. Larxene took the time to do her best to coax Luxord inside and make him lie down so that he was finally comfortable. Marluxia figured that she would just make Luxord's mood worse, but there would be no sense in arguing with her. Instead, he left the room and shut the door softly behind him, running a hand through his hair.
"Y'all need more than one room for the night or will that do?" the woman asked him.
"If it's not too much trouble we'd appreciate two rooms." He flashed her a smile and she nodded.
"No trouble at all!" she smiled as well. "We've all kinds of strange folk like you comin' around these parts lately."
"Have you?" he raised an eyebrow, slightly interested to hear what she had to say about that.
"Yep," she confirmed. "Not too long before y'all showed up another little girl did. Poor thing looked so lost and kept asking about a boy." Marluxia's eyes flashed as she spoke. She didn't notice it, but anyone else would have been chilled by the way his lips spread into a predatory smile.
"Really?" he asked, listening intently now. "Did she happen to mention her name at all?"
"I do believe she did," the woman nodded, thinking for a moment. "I think she said it was Naminé... why?"
"I know who that is," he grinned. "She got separated from us. This is very fortunate. You're a lifesaver, madam."
"Oh, yeah! That's good. I felt horrible for the poor dear. I had to give her a cup o' tea and send her straight to bed," she sighed, shaking her head.
"And rightly so," Marluxia assured her, taking her hands in his and kissing one of them. "Thank you very much for finding her for me. Do you mind if I wake her up in the morning? I'm sure it will be a very nice surprise for her."
"O-oh. No," the woman shook her head, blushing a deep shade of red. "Go right ahead.
"Thank you very much, once again," his grin widened and he kissed her hand again before returning to the room, hardly able to contain his glee.
END CHAPTER 3
Thank you again to all my reviewers! You guys keep me going! The next chapter is written. I just need to type it. Once again, thank you all and stay tuned for the next chapter!
Always,
Lily
Lexaeus was not particularly happy. He'd taken the long way toward the capital to cover the most ground. A mistake, in his opinion, as it had yet to do him any good whatsoever. Now he was rather cranky, tired, hot and wishing he had taken a shorter route. Lexaeus was just contemplating taking a rest when a small something went whizzing by his head. As if on instinct, all thoughts to rest had left his mind and he pulled out his tomahawk, glancing in the direction from whence it came. He frowned and held his weapon up cautiously, waiting for an indication on the direction it came from. Another came flying at him, but Lexaeus deflected it. Who was shooting at him?
"Be a man and fight me face to face!" he challenged, glancing around. A barrage of bullets began to fly in his direction. So many that Lexaeus had to dive out of the way, narrowly avoiding them; he frowned deeply from the ground. "Coward."
Lexaeus raised his tomahawk into the air, allowing it to linger for only a moment before he brought it crashing down to the earth once again. Almost instantaneously, the ground began to rumble. A slight cry of surprise could be heard, but that was all that Lexaeus needed. He had found his target and bolted from his spot with speed that one wouldn't expect from such a large man. Lexaeus found him hiding behind a bush on the hill nearby. The man had realized his mistake and backed away quickly, shooting wildly in the other's direction. It was futile and, after quite a while of attempting to run away, the sharpshooter soon found a large tomahawk holding him down on the ground.
"Hey, man, don't be so touchy," he said with a laugh.
"Why exactly did you feel the need to shoot at me, especially without warning?" Lexaeus asked, frowning down at him in disapproval.
"Wanted to test you," his would-be 'assassin' explained. "You've gotten better."
"While I greatly appreciate the effort, it really wasn't necessary," Lexaeus sighed and shook his head. Then they were silent. A few moments like that passed where neither spoke, allowing for complete silence before Xigbar finally spoke again.
"Are you going to let me up now?"
"Of course not," Lexaeus stated, leaning slightly on his tomahawk. Xigbar winced and groaned at the pressure.
"Great..." he muttered. "Can you at least tell me what's going on? Y'know, since we're obviously going to be here for a while. I hate being stuck in the dark."
"That, I suppose, I can do," Lexaeus said, a slight smirk crossing his features. "As I'm sure you've figured out, we're dead."
"Yeah, guessed that," Xigbar rolled his eyes, but was silenced by the large weapon pressing into his ribs.
"And we've been sent here to complete a sort of mission..."
"How lame... ow! What was that for?" Xigbar snapped, glaring up at the larger man.
"I could do without the commentary," Lexaeus told him, annoyed. However, he didn't get much further in way of an explanation. At that moment, Lexaeus spotted Axel as he appeared on the path, heading in their direction. And Luxord was with him! "Damn..." Lexaeus picked up his tomahawk, relieving the other of his discomfort.
"Well, that's more..." Xigbar didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as Lexaeus picked him up by the shirt and threw him into the bushes. "What's the big idea?"
"Shh..." Lexaeus hushed him, placing a finger to his lips and ducking into the hiding place as well. "We have traitors in our midst."
"Axel?" Xigbar frowned deeply.
"Along with Marluxia and Larxene," Lexaeus finished for him. "No doubt they've turned Luxord against us as well. He's with them and doesn't seem to be struggling." Xigbar looked rather discontent for a moment before he began to smirk, an idea forming.
"Then we'll just have to teach them the consequences of turning their backs on the Organization," he said, pulling his guns out once more, a manic look in his eyes.
"I couldn't have said it better myself," Lexaeus smirked as well. The two of them then stood, emerging from their hiding place. They then charged directly at the small group, catching everybody off-guard. Axel was the first to draw his weapons and, thus, the battle had begun. The animals did not stay to watch this one, for they knew that great danger was afoot.
Lexaeus did a rather excellent job of holding his own against Axel and Marluxia. Xigbar wouldn't let Luxord and Larxene near him and was shooting at them like a mad man. It was to be expected that the two senior members of the Organization learned to fight more than one skilled fighter at a time. In the heat and confusion of battle, not one of them noticed the sun sinking slowly below the horizon. As the remaining rays of light dipped beyond the hills there was a bright flash of light. All six had to quickly shield their eyes with their hands and various objects. Axel knew instantly what had happened and scurried out of the way of the now giant tomahawk, for Lexaeus had also been rather quick on the uptake and took the opportunity to attempt to crush the fox.
It took Xigbar and Luxord a few moments to register what had just happened to them. Once that was accomplished, they panicked. Luxord reared back on his hind legs, whinnying in surprise. Xigbar managed to run in a large circle, finally stopping when he ran straight into Lexaeus' leg, leaving quite a few of his needles there. Axel continued to attempt to attack Lexaeus, using different methods to get close to him without being squished, also due to the fact that he could no longer hold his chakrams. It looked as though Lexaeus was rather outnumbered when a great howl could be heard from atop the nearby hill. Marluxia frowned deeply and turned his head to look, unnerved by the savage animal. The wolf came barreling down and straight for Axel. The fox didn't even have a chance to react as he was hit at full speed with sharp teeth and claws.
Axel yelped in pain and attempted to fight back, but it was futile with the wolf, which was nearly twice his size. Axel could feel the wolf's teeth break the skin and a red liquid began trickling out of its mouth and down his side. Axel's struggling was useless and most likely only managed to impale him further. Eventually, Larxene figured out a solution and hit the wolf with a rock, causing it to yelp. It tossed Axel to the side and snarled at her. Larxene brandished her weapons and called to Marluxia, who was occupied with calming down Luxord as Lexaeus was occupied with ridding his leg of porcupine needles. He glanced to Larxene as she called and saw her nod to Axel. For a moment he hesitated, wondering what the consequences would be if he simply left him there to die. He then decided that the risk was far too great. He scooped up the fox his arms, wary of the blood as it soaked his sleeves. He then called to Larxene and turned away from the battle to run in the opposite direction. Larxene took the hint and pulled Luxord, steering him right after them.
Lexaeus glanced up and saw that they had gotten away. He frowned deeply, disappointed that they hadn't finished the fight, but it was beyond his control now. He put away the mighty tomahawk and turned to look at the wolf. Its eyes were still savage, despite the fact that it had calmed down considerably.
"Saïx..."
Lexaeus had been right in assuming the others were long gone-and now they were desperately looking for some place to help Axel. Anywhere would do for them at the moment. It was difficult, however, considering that they were stuck in the middle of nowhere. Marluxia was growing quite impatient and only slightly worried that they would lose Axel in their attempt to find him a place to rest. A farm house appeared in the distance and Marluxia was relieved, mostly due to the fact that it had just begun to rain. They were all drenched by the time they reached the door to the farmhouse, save Axel, who Marluxia had managed to shield. He pounded impatiently on the door as Larxene and Luxord waited behind him, equally as restless.
"Good gods!" a woman exclaimed as she opened the door. "Don't y'all know what time it-?"
"Sorry to bother you," Marluxia said quickly. "But this little guy here needs help right away." Her eyes widened as she eyes Axel beneath Marluxia's protective grasp.
"Oh, my word! Why didn't ya say so in the first place? Come in, come in!" She stepped aside. "Sir... would you like to put your horse in the barn?" Luxord looked quite put out by that comment indeed.
"No way, lady," Larxene frowned. "The horse comes with us. He can fit." The look she had upon her face at the moment was just daring the lady to protest. She looked like she might, in fact, when Marluxia spoke up.
"We'll pay you extra," he said quickly. "Now, if you please? We don't have much time."
The woman led them to an empty room and sat them down on a bed, urging them to lay Axel there as well, telling them to never mind about the sheets. She then disappeared, only to return with a full first-aid kit. Marluxia took it from her as Larxene sat in the corner of the room with Luxord (who was only halfway inside). It wasn't long before both Marluxia and the woman were tending to Axel's wounds. It was bad, the woman noted, but said that he would live. Axel was grateful to hear that. Luxord was muttering to himself in the corner, seemingly trying to make sense of everything that was happening to him. Axel decided to ignore him and simply focused his attention on those tending to him. As soon as he was bandaged, he felt Marluxia pick him up again, realizing then that he really hated being manhandled, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment to prevent it. The woman changed the sheets as Marluxia stood up and then Axel was placed on the bed where he quickly dozed off to sleep. Larxene took the time to do her best to coax Luxord inside and make him lie down so that he was finally comfortable. Marluxia figured that she would just make Luxord's mood worse, but there would be no sense in arguing with her. Instead, he left the room and shut the door softly behind him, running a hand through his hair.
"Y'all need more than one room for the night or will that do?" the woman asked him.
"If it's not too much trouble we'd appreciate two rooms." He flashed her a smile and she nodded.
"No trouble at all!" she smiled as well. "We've all kinds of strange folk like you comin' around these parts lately."
"Have you?" he raised an eyebrow, slightly interested to hear what she had to say about that.
"Yep," she confirmed. "Not too long before y'all showed up another little girl did. Poor thing looked so lost and kept asking about a boy." Marluxia's eyes flashed as she spoke. She didn't notice it, but anyone else would have been chilled by the way his lips spread into a predatory smile.
"Really?" he asked, listening intently now. "Did she happen to mention her name at all?"
"I do believe she did," the woman nodded, thinking for a moment. "I think she said it was Naminé... why?"
"I know who that is," he grinned. "She got separated from us. This is very fortunate. You're a lifesaver, madam."
"Oh, yeah! That's good. I felt horrible for the poor dear. I had to give her a cup o' tea and send her straight to bed," she sighed, shaking her head.
"And rightly so," Marluxia assured her, taking her hands in his and kissing one of them. "Thank you very much for finding her for me. Do you mind if I wake her up in the morning? I'm sure it will be a very nice surprise for her."
"O-oh. No," the woman shook her head, blushing a deep shade of red. "Go right ahead.
"Thank you very much, once again," his grin widened and he kissed her hand again before returning to the room, hardly able to contain his glee.
END CHAPTER 3
Thank you again to all my reviewers! You guys keep me going! The next chapter is written. I just need to type it. Once again, thank you all and stay tuned for the next chapter!
Always,
Lily
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