1Cold Blaze
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or setting of this story I only (… kind of) own the ideas :)
Summary: Axel's grief stricken, he's lived a hard life but recent events are seemingly too much for him to handle. For better or worse these events are about to reach a violent and raging climax.
Rain drops plummeted to the earth like a volley of arrows. They bombarded the zombie, plastering the long red spikes to his face and neck. "Fuck!" The growl echoed in his throat as he kicked the trash-can previously sat inoffensively against the wall. However in the man's current state of mind nothing escaped his scowl and he was inclined to feel insulted by anything he saw; the whole world seemed like one big obscene gesture shoved into his face.
The man swayed down the street in a feline fashion; a portrayal enhanced by his wild predatory green eyes that seemed to glow in the night with an inner flame, but at the same time he seemed… lost. The dim glow of the street lamps reflected in his eyes and left pale shadows in his wake as the rain drops danced off his dark cloak. The man continued to seemingly walk aimlessly while at the same time cursing his fate, the fate of his friends and the entire world; especially the rain that was clinging to him, as he saw it as a personal injustice; a sick joke of some vindictive God.
A teenager walked down the street, the sunlight bouncing off of his blonde, windswept hair. In complete contrast to the weather, his face seemed to be set into a permanent scowl as he marched down the street in a stiff but determined form. The boy, who seemed to be in his mid-teens, had both fists clenched as his cold blue eyes stared straight ahead, focussed on his target and unflinching as his mind was consumed by one thought, revenge.
The red head came to a sudden stop as his scowl was met by the gazes of a group of teens. The man's previous grimace twitched until it reformed into a dangerous looking smirk when he saw the kids in front of him; the kids in his way.
The man continued at a brisk walk until he was in speaking range of the three teens that had stood stock still all the while. There was a calculating silence as both sides sized up the opposition.
The one who first captured Axel's attention was not the one who held it. He was tall, possibly bigger than Axel and much more muscular, he was tanned and wore an orange muscle vest and blue track suits. The one who held Axel's attention was much smaller however, a similar build to Axel but shorter. He wore a black beanie covering blonde hair, as well as a white sleeveless jacket, black boots, brown trousers and a blue top that showed his abdomen causing Axel to snigger and the blonde to twitch when he noticed it was he who had held Axel's gaze at the time. Though the other was bigger this one seemed much more dangerous, he had an air about him that spoke of menace and Axel was a good judge, if this wasn't enough the way he stood slightly ahead of the other two who seemed to gravitate around him spoke volumes. The last of the trio was a slim girl with lilac hair a blue sleeveless top and pale three quarter length trousers and what stood out the most were her red eyes.
The teens also took into account what they could from Axel's appearance just as he measured them up. The frown was once again on his face, the slanted angry eyebrows contrasting with the tattoo tear drops in what seemed to be a physical manifestation of his warring emotions. The staring contest was cut short however as the angry looking red head took a step forward, causing the kids gathered ahead of him to flinch.
"Who the hell are you?" unfazed the red head just stared at the blonde with an arrogant smirk.
The large oaf got riled up by the show of disrespect and took a step forward, "HEY! Seifer just asked you a question… Y'know?"
Deciding to play along Axel gave a mock bow before stating, "The name's Axel, got it memorised? Now move along."
Seifer shook with anger at this before regaining control and barking through gritted teeth, "We're the Twilight town disciplinary committee and unless you want to get hurt, move along," with the last few words the boy matched Axel's smirk and indicated back the way Axel had come with a nod.
Ignoring the boy's threat Axel started to once again make his way towards the three man group and in response Seifer, who was the most confident and obvious leader of the three, made a mad dash to the flame headed aggressor. However as the boy charged Axel's vision began to darken and when it cleared the charging blonde had disappeared and been replaced by another, much more furious boy of around the same age. This was not the only difference though, the weather, time of day and even the setting had changed.
The two teens were in a small room, the younger of the two waved his hands frantically in an attempt to drive his point home but Axel wouldn't be moved, and he stood strong against all of the insults, obscene gestures and pleas the boy threw at him. "Axel PLEASE!"
"No Roxas, it's too dangerous. You can't go up against the organisation without suffering the consequences… Xion knew that."
"I DON'T CARE!" Roxas screamed in frustration, "We can't let them get away with what they did to her! You're her friend, how can you just sit by and do nothing?"
Axel simply grunted in response to the lighter pleading tone before elaborating, "Because I value my life, I have friends, family, a girlfriend, I can't- I can't just risk it all for the sake of revenge…"
"Then you're a COWARD!" Roxas said as he brought his fists down in an effort to punctuate the retort. "You'd let your friend suffer just to stay comfortable? How can you live with that?"
"So what's the answer, do I just let myself die for nothing?" The red head quickly continued before he could be interrupted, "What you're suggesting… it won't stop her or anyone else from suffering. Roxas, you can't take them on and win, you must know that…"
"Then I'll DIE TRYING!" The kid growled as he kicked his way out of the room.
Axel was ripped out of his reminiscent regrets by a sharp pain in his face at the point Seifer's struggle bat connected with it. "Fuck! Gyaa…" After the first hits response was only that of a low growl Seifer attempted to keep up the momentum with another under handed swing; however this proved less than effective as it was easily dodged by the red head that then began to back away in a slightly crouched position.
Just as Seifer began to think he had the upper hand, the tables quickly turned, in the form of Axel springing from his coiled position and ripping the struggle bat from Seifer's arms. This was followed up by a change of pace, with Axel kicking Seifer to the floor and then turning and using the struggle bat to sweep the feet of the charging Rai and Fuu from under them.
Axel instantly dropped to the ground above Seifer and straddled him before wrapping his left hand around the teen's neck. Axel then began to repeatedly pummel the boy with his free hand, a hand clenched so tightly that the nails somehow pierced his leather gloves, leaving angry welts on his palm and causing drops of blood to well up between his fingers.
Axel continued to punch the boy until the largest of the group, who even dwarfed Axel in terms of muscle, pulled him off despite the fact that the smallest lilac haired girl had been attempting to accomplish this feat for a while after being knocked down. Axel was dragged away while an unconscious Seifer was left on the floor, covered in blood and bruises.
Despite his recent acts of aggression Axel still seemed full of pent up rage, a testament to the red heads true fury considering the grievous injuries he has already inflicted that night. The feline form twisted out of Rai's grip and delivered a kick to the giant's chest, forcing him to stumble back a few feet. However he shrugged it off and charged at Axel with a wild swing of his fist.
If he had been in a calmer frame of mind Axel would have smirked at the opportunity given but as it was his face was set in a wild snarl. Axel easily took advantage of the opening with a simply block and followed up with a change of tactic. So far strikes had been ineffective so the red head grabbed the arm and used his momentum to spin underneath it and twist Rai's arm behind his back in a process. Without giving the oaf a chance to recover or retaliate, Axel grabbed the left arm and placed his foot between Rai's shoulder blades.
It could have been done quickly but Axel wanted to take his time and savour the moment. The sadistic red head planned to further the pain by increasing the suspense as he slowly extended his leg, ignoring Rai's struggling and attempts to break free. He decided to make the giant wait for the inevitable pain just as he had to wait for the news of Roxas' death. No one would talk about it; no one ever did in these situations. You'd just open a paper one day or turn on the news and a member would be staring out at you while some random reporter told you how their body was found. There would be no clues or leads and the only ones who knew anything of this mysterious victim wouldn't be allowed to mention it. They'd simply know that they'd done something wrong and all you could do was pray that you didn't unwittingly make the same mistake.
This time Axel was brought out of his musings by the sound of pain not his own as Rai's shoulders finally gave into the pressure and dislocated, stirring a cry of anguish from the giant falling to the floor. Seeing that Rai was now out cold from either the pain or shock of the fight, or possibly both, Axel moved on to the final member of the, "disciplinary committee," who's red eyes were with fear, stirring a memory of the last time Axel saw a similar look, though the eyes were different…
Green met blue as the two pairs of eyes connected. Xion greeted her older friend with a cheery, "hey," and a hug before the atmosphere caused her mood to become somewhat more subdued. "Axel what's going on, are you alright?" her initially cheery smile, like her mood, wavered when she began to notice the atmosphere and began to wander what was going on.
"Xion, I'm sorry. I really am…"
"…What?"
"I really am sorry Xion" Axel muttered before revealing the sack and rope from behind his back.
"No… Axel no!" A panicked Xion was slowly backing away from one of her two closest friends before a voice materialized behind her.
"Yes Xion" The smug voice spoke, causing Xion to jump and spin around. She was in a fighting stance within an instant but before she could act on her obvious aggression Axel's hand made contact with her neck and her unconscious body lay in the sullen red heads arms.
Axel, whose body continued to move forward while his mind was otherwise distracted, didn't spare a second glance at the terrified girl as he brushed passed her. His once lithe form began to grow leaden as the roaring inferno that previously fuelled him began to smoulder.
"Hehe…" the red head chuckled humourlessly, "the poor zombie never did find out… that this was all MY fault." A slow tear traced the path of Axel's tattoo as he staggered forward towards his ultimate goal.
Axel stared up at the clock tower, a scar on the otherwise unmarred black sky. It was almost symbolic to its role in the red heads own life. The rain had stopped at some point during the fight but he was oblivious to almost all outside stimuli, he just couldn't calm the tornado of thought and regrets in his mind. The clouds had likewise disappeared, leaving a striking image of the clock tower and sky lit by the moon and stars. Axel emit another humourless chuckle at the irony of standing before such a picturesque scene at his darkest moment.
The site of some of Axel's happiest memories stood erect before him, yet all he could think of was pain. He had such a connection to this place, the whole trio did and when he looked up to their ledge he could almost hear their laughs. However the sound of their joy didn't bring about the usual serenity and sense of life it usually summoned. The only thing the sound did was gather all of the pain and remorse he had felt since the event with Xion and elevate it through his body until it congested his throat. Roxas and Xion choking him from beyond the grave, there were probably a long line of other people that he had hurt or killed waiting to lend a hand and God knows that there was no shortage of those…
With a slight wince Axel brought a bottle of vodka to his lips and downed a large volume of the poison in an attempt to wash away the bad taste left in his mouth. With some of the more prominent feelings subdued the red head took a moment to snigger at the poor hobo who'd wake to the absence of his two bottles of the world's greatest comfort.
Axel was by no means a light weight but after a few more chugs of his new pain killer his breathing had become laboured and his breath was so transformed the whiffs left a trail of ash as they passed through his air ways. However though the waves of bliss passed over him the pain was still present below the surface, a pain that worsened as he dropped the full bottle that he grasped loosely in his left hand.
"FUCK!" A furious Axel immediately fell to his knees, gathering what alcohol he could into his hands but only gaining glass embedded gloves. For the first time since what he did to Xion a glint appeared in cold green eyes. He doubted it would work but it was the first time he actually felt the urge to do something so he couldn't bring himself to care. Axel rose slowly, the match previously inside his jacket now in his gloved hand and ablaze.
For the first time in months Axel felt actual excitement as the flames reflection danced in his green eyes. With a smirk, the match was dropped and twisted in the air leaving a penetrating after image, a fire serpent coiling mid-air, throbbing with excitement over the coming destruction. The result of contact was immediate; flames spread along the fuels surface instantaneously and up the wall it had splashed upon. He was under no delusion that these flames would last or bring down the monument currently stabbing into his heart but for the first time in he didn't know how long he simply lived in the moment, no regrets of the past and no worries of the future, only fire. It was as if all the pent up emotions inside of him had finally found an outlet. The flames were his spirit incarnate; his most unstoppable, undeniable and unfathomable emotions had finally taken physical form leaving the drenched man hollow and empty, yet he had never before known such peace.
Author's Note: This was kind of a weird idea but I like Axel and I see him as a bit of pyromaniac, plus I wanted to write as an angry person. This shouldn't have taken as long as it did but hopefully it was an okay read… Please review, whether it's about what you liked, disliked or about a mistake you spotted I'd be happy to hear from you.