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"That's a pretty snazzy coat you got there, man. Designer, I bet. Think it'd fit me real well."

Axel stared at the man, rage suddenly flaring in his chest. You...arrogant...bastard...how dare you...

The man frowned. "Hey. You drunk or just stupid? I said give me that coat you got on. Stand up."

Come here...treat me...like a dog...show a weapon...try to frighten me...you'll be sorry...you ever saw me...

He stood up slowly.

"So you're not a total idiot. All right, now take that coat off and hand it - hey...what the fuck?!"

Axel grinned maniacally as the disputed coat burst into flames.

"Now...just how badly do you want it?"


Demyx winced as he stepped into the water. "Nine, are you actually afraid of the water? I would think that, water being your element -"

"It is. But I prefer /clean/water as much as anyone. This crap is /nasty/." But unless the three Nobodies could find a boat sometime soon - like before the entire French Quarter went up in flames - they would have to wade. Roxas had been the only one not actively dreading the experience, at least until he saw how uncomfortable Demyx and Zexion were.

Nasty as the water was, it was still water, and Demyx couldn't help but feel more comfortable than he thought he should. In fact, he could almost have relaxed if not for that dark cloud hanging over one of his favorite parts of the world. He grimaced and waded on. Maybe I'll be able to do something about those fires even if my powers aren't quite working yet...

"Nine, do be so kind as to hold yourself to a pace we can maintain." He turned around. Roxas and Zexion, who were not only shorter than he was but less agile in the water, were getting left in his wake.

"Oh...um...sorry about that..." He tried to slow himself down so they could catch up with him. That pace lasted all of five minutes.

"Demyx, you're still going too fast." Roxas had gained only a little ground; Zexion, who was hampered by his lexicon, had lost even more.

Demyx sighed. "Would it help if Iwalked behind you two?"

"It might." He held still until the shorter Nobodies had passed him, then continued at their pace, even though he found it uncomfortably slow. That lasted about seven minutes.

Splush!

Demyx fished Zexion out of the water."You know, I think I have a better idea..."

The silver-haired Nobody looked at his soaking lexicon distastefully. "Do tell...what the - wait - Nine, put me down! Thirteen, stop laughing!"

Demyx looked back at Roxas, who looked like he couldn't have stopped laughing if it meant turning into a Dusk."Try not to trip over anything, okay? Because I can't carry you both."




"Do not ever think you can fuck with me and get away with it, got it memorized?" Axel, still blazing merrily, advanced slowly on the would-be mugger, who'd dropped his gun and was now backing away unsteadily. He's wet his pants. Pathetic. "Would you still like my coat? Because I'd be perfectly happy to give it to you," he said in a mock-conciliatory tone, extending one fiery hand towards the man.

The mugger turned tail and fled, screaming. Axel actually laughed at him. Right now, surrounded by his element, he was feeling far better than he had in a long time. He stared challengingly at the rest of the people in the street. Looters. Thieves. Ragtag."Well, if he doesn't want it, do any of you do?"

Another man pointed a gun at him; Axel could see his hand was shaking so badly there wasn't a snowball's chance he was in real danger. "G-get away from here, d-demon!"

"Oh, you think I'm a demon, do you?Well, I'm so flattered..." Wheels of fire appeared in Axel's hands, eventually resolving into his chakra. He barely noticed the building behind him suddenly ignite.




Demyx sped up as best he could as another column of smoke appeared over the French Quarter. Zexion squirmed a bit, but not dangerously. "Nine, drop me and I /will/turn you into a Dusk."

"Trust me, I'm not going to drop you...unless you squirm too much and make me lose my grip."

Zexion glared at him, but held still."Why this sudden hurry?"

"Axel's set another fire. Look." Roxas, wading along behind them, pointed at the smoke ahead. He sped up too, shaking his head. "Oh, this is bad."

Zexion sighed. "Nine, you're astrong swimmer; you can swim faster than any of us can wade...if you could possibly stoop to swimming in this water, why not put me down and do so?"

Demyx stopped suddenly. "Because Ihave no idea what sort of garbage I might run into when I can't see a foot in front of me?" he said, as if it was so obvious the question didn't need to be asked. "Why aren't we all walking around blindfolded?"

Zexion thought about that for a moment."Then why don't you put me down and simply wade on ahead, as you've already proven yourself faster than either of us at that?"

"And leave you two here?"

"The fires, Nine. How much of this world do you want Eight to incinerate?"

Roxas nodded solemnly. "Either he's lost control or he's lost his mind. We'll catch up to you eventually."

"All right..." Demyx set Zexion down carefully. "See you two in a bit." He splashed off at as close to a run as he could manage.




Axel was grinning madly as the terrified looters edged away or fled his presence entirely, or tried to put on shows of bravery. After days of living through hell in his mind, topped off by this crushing disappointment in recovery - and then having some idiot point a gun at him and demand his cloak, for /lagniappe/- he had pretty well snapped. Relying on the flames surrounding him to keep his drained body energized, the Flurry of Dancing Flames was living up to his name, twisting and whirling and spreading fire and havoc. He'd set two buildings ablaze so far without sparing a thought for either of them, and was about to put a third to the torch.

"What did I tell you people about guns?" he lectured yet another hapless man who'd thought firearms would stop him, and flung his chakram at the man's head. "No gunplay, got it memorized?" He missed on purpose - he hadn't lost his mind so completely as that - but it didn't concern him in the least that where his weapon bounced off, the wall started to burn.

Maybe next time I shouldn't miss.




Demyx gulped as another pillar of smoke rose into the air. "Axel...whatever's wrong with you..." I hope you don't kill anybody. Or burn down what's left of the city.

And please don't hurt yourself. Or me.

He was running faster now - he was out of the water. His chest burned as he breathed in smoke - he choked back a cough- couldn't stop now - he could see the flames - feel the heat - saw the frightened people - the flaming man in the center of it all - Axel's lost his mind - don't let him destroy the city - I tried too hard - not for nothing- he reached up - pulled his sitar out of the air like it was the most natural thing in the world...

"Dance, water, dance!"

For the synthetic half-assed life of him, he had no idea why he'd yelled that particular phrase. But it worked.

Axel yelled as he was doused with several gallons of water, completely quenching the flames that wreathed his body. As if a spell had been broken, most of the remaining people chose that moment to take to their heels. The few who remained were watching Demyx with undisguised awe and admiration. Axel, on the other hand, glared at him with raw hatred for a few moments, prepared to throw his weapon - to kill, this time...and sank to the ground.




Almost as soon as they'd gotten clear of the water, Zexion had taken off running, leaving a startled Roxas behind him. After a moment wasted standing around blinking like an idiot, Roxas followed him, but the older Nobody had long since gotten his wind back and was leaving him in the dust. Zexion must have known this part of the city like the back of his hand, because Roxas was being led through alleys and gaps he wouldn't have guessed existed if the Schemer hadn't dodged through them first.

Suddenly the silver-haired Nobody stopped short, and Roxas almost cannoned into him. "What did you stop for?"

"Letting you catch up." Zexion sniffed the air. "This way."




Oh, great...I didn't kill him, did I? He raced over to the Flurry's side."Axel?" he said, giving him a slight shake. "Are you all right?"

Axel's eyes fluttered open."...Demyx? Is it really you...or am I just imagining you?"

Demyx smiled slightly. "Nope. It's me. The real thing."

"...You son of a bitch."

Demyx blinked in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Axel slowly forced himself upright."You have no idea...what I went through...because of you..."

Demyx took a step backwards and tightened his grip on his sitar as flames began to swirl, enveloping Axel's body once more. "Axel...what are you talking about?"

The mad Flurry - Kingdom Hearts, he looks like a demon - raised his weapons. "Why don't I explain..."




A sudden puff of smoke made Roxas start coughing. He slowed, trying to regain his breath. Zexion reversed course just long enough to grab his hand and start dragging him along. "No slowing down, Thirteen. If Eight is so unbalanced as to commit random acts of violence on a whim, and Nine has only weak control over his element -"

Roxas sped up, lest his arm be jerked out of its socket. "But maybe he hasn't lost it - maybe he's in a fight -maybe he's lost control of his powers -"

"The fires, Thirteen! If Eight is causing them, we can wait to learn the reason!"

"But he wouldn't hurt Demyx...I mean, he's been worrying about him this whole time..."

"We can find out when we reach them!" Roxas guessed that meant "shut up and kept running".




"Three days I spent trapped in that storm with you...in my own head..." Axel slashed at Demyx in a way that would have torn his throat open from either side if the Melodious Nocturne hadn't ducked. "Three days in Hell..."

"Why did you come back?" Demyx asked in a strangled voice, backing away from the slowly advancing madman.

"I wanted to find you..." Slash."I wanted to know..." Swish. "Why you saved me."

"What?!"

"I called you a coward...a weakling...a failure...but when it all went to Hell around us, I was the coward. You were the brave one. And then...when I try to return the favor...turns out I'm the weakling as well." The flames around him intensified. "But not now."

Demyx found himself backed into a wall. He reached for the strings of his sitar, but Axel knocked it out of his hands.

"Why didn't you do what I'm about to do?"

He raised his chakra over his head, ready to strike a killing blow...but his weapons were blocked by a pair of Keyblades.

Roxas's face was ghostly white."Axel, what are you doing?!"

The chakra wavered."R-Roxas?..."

"A-Axel, stop! Think for asecond!"

Axel did stop, and stared, his mouth hanging wide open. The chakra fell to the ground, and a moment later, so did he, the flames engulfing him flickering out. "What am I doing?" he whispered.

"You are kneeling in the debris-covered streets of the French Quarter of New Orleans, completely naked, a moment ago you were hell-bent on killing a man who saved your life earlier this week, and five minutes ago I daresay you were gleefully putting empty buildings to the torch and threatening helpless passerby. Quite amazing for supposedly being too ill to walk by yourself." Zexion was always mercilessly honest. "What did happen to your clothing? Did you incinerate it all?"

"Shut up," Axel muttered, curling defensively into a ball.

Demyx shakily retrieved his sitar."...So...um...are you going to try to kill me again?"

"No." Axel left it at that.

Roxas unsummoned his Keyblades and went to help him up. "I'm sorry, Axel," he whispered.

"You shouldn't be...if it weren't for you, this would have been really bad. Just...you're not allowed to disappear, got it memorized?"

Roxas smiled weakly and shook his head."I don't want to know how crazy you'd go if I disappeared."

Axel sat up stiffly, holding his aching head with one hand and covering himself with the other. "...I could really use some clothes."

"Well, if you promise you're not going to go apeshit on me again..." Demyx was still regarding Axel warily."I guess I could let you borrow my old robes." He held out the folded garment.

Axel took it gingerly. "It smells like death and toilets...where have you been?"

"I've been in Hell, Axel. Hell in astadium." His face had never been so serious.

"...Oh," Axel said weakly. He stood up, leaning heavily on Roxas, and pulled on the tattered, ill-fitting robe. "But...still...why do you do things like that?" he asked helplessly.

"...Do what?"

Axel stared. "You don't get it. You really don't get it."

"Axel..." Roxas said warningly.

The redhead shook his head. "No, it's okay. If he doesn't know what I'm talking about...I might as well leave it."

Demyx was baffled. "Seriously, what/are/ you talking about?"

Roxas pulled Axel's head in a little closer. "Axel, if it had been me, would you be surprised?"

"Well, no, but you're my best friend..."

"I...didn't expect anyone to rescue me. I didn't think anyone cared enough."

Roxas looked over at Demyx, who was still staring at Axel in utter confusion. "I'm not jealous - you're allowed to have other friends."