"Sora!" Roxas called out, attempting to dash forward. Riku caught his arm and twisted it behind him, holding the gun to his temple.
"What are you doing?" Roxas hissed, squirming.
"Keeping them from killing both of us," Riku said quietly into Roxas' ear. "If they still think I'm about to kill you, they might not shoot us."
Pretty okay plan, except that it was still really frightening.
Sora leaned out over the box again. "Sir! Please sit down!" one of his assistants urged. Sora batted their hand away. "Shoot me instead, Riku. If you really want to kill the source of this catastrophe."
"What are you saying?" Riku asked, needing clarification.
Sora had guilt written all over his face. "I'm saying I brought us here," Sora replied. There was quiet mumbling in the audience.
"To this game," Riku confirmed. He hardly thought Sora was capable of purposefully sending them to such a vulgar and murderous game, though.
"To the whole thing. I wanted to get away, but I didn't want to go by myself. I guess…" Sora avoided his gaze. "I guess I thought that if we were in different circumstances, I could maybe have the courage to confess to you…and Roxas would…"
"IT WAS YOU THE WHOLE TIME?! WHAT MADE YOU THINK THIS WAS OKAY?!" Roxas yelled at him, not feeling the need to be patient with his brother.
"I…" Sora began, taken aback by Roxas' sudden outburst. Riku wrenched his arm. "Don't yell at him," he snapped.
"MAYBE I JUST WANTED TO KNOW THAT YOU CARED ABOUT ME AT ALL!" Sora yelled back suddenly, loosing his balance and almost falling out of the box. "Do you think I like being the good kid all the time? I'm exhausted from living up to Dad and Larxene's expectations of me!" He gripped the edge of the box.
"You're an idiot, Sora," Roxas said. Riku twisted his arm a little bit more.
"I'm sorry, Roxas! I didn't mean for it to turn out this way!" Sora cried. The last thing he wanted as for Roxas to hate him more. "I didn't know it was me at first. I took us into the Labyrinth, but everyone lost their memories. I sent you to the parasitic village, to have some fun, maybe. While I sorted things out. I realized what was going on, but I didn't know how to stop it. I took you to the Twilight, to try and fix it. Then, to the Emerald City, to try and give you some time with Axel. I thought…that it could reconcile what I did a little bit. But by that time, you were running the stories by yourself. So I wandered off, to see what I could do, find some answers, a way out, anyone that could help. When I was too weak, I collapsed and brought us to the Alphabet City, I guess as a last ditch effort." Sora explained it all as best he could, hurriedly, as the crowd was getting restless and the trigger fingers of the officials were itching.
"What about the ball?" Roxas asked.
Sora smiled slightly at Roxas. "I thought that I'd do that for you…you know. Offer you all your dreams come true, or something like that. It sounded like a nice idea at the time, but it got all mixed up. It was you, it was everyone, that started manipulating the stories. That must be why we ended up here." It was Sora's best guess, some distorted reality where Sora was put in a position of authority, as he had been the entire time, and his two deepest interests were laid out on the battle field. Sora drew himself back into the box a little. "Everything turned out so horrible."
Roxas' face broke into a half-smile, that he hoped Sora could see. He shook his head, as best he could with a gun pressed to it. "Who said it was all horrible?" After all, he had gotten a lot closer to Axel, and even though it was annoying at the time, it was kind of fun sometimes.
"What?" Sora asked in disbelief.
"It wasn't so bad, Sora. Maybe I even deserved some of that. I admit I learned a lot of things, too," Roxas said. Riku nodded. "I think we all did," he added. Riku knew he certainly had learned some things about his friends and himself that he wouldn't soon forget.
Everyone jumped as a gunshot ripped through the silence. Roxas thanked all manner of gods that Riku hadn't been startled enough to accidentally pull the trigger.
"This was all a very touching story, but are you aware how many people have vast amounts of power and money riding on this game?" The black player said, a hint of irritation in his voice.
Riku backed off, still pointing the gun at Roxas. "I guess…I'll have to shoot you now," Riku said, steadying his hand once again. Could he shoot him somewhere that wouldn't actually kill him, but they might assume him dead? Maybe he could shoot him in the shoulder and then kick him in the head to knock him out? It made Riku slightly sick to think of all these choices. Especially since he knew that shooting and killing Roxas was really the only way to get out of this.
"No, Riku!" Sora yelled from the player's box.
Roxas quite clearly didn't want to be shot. His knees were shaking just a little.
"Do you see any other option?!" Riku asked, exasperated.
"Do it now," Roxas said, spreading his feet a little and bracing himself for the blow.
"We'll see you at home," Riku told him, as if he could choose whether to live or die accordingly.
"Roxas! Roxas!" Sora's cries fell on deaf ears. The two boys on the board knew what was to be done.
"Yeah," Roxas replied, taking a deep breath.
Riku thought of closing his eyes, or looking away, but he knew he should be just as brave as Roxas needed to be right now. He looked Roxas directly in the eye and squeezed the trigger.
A gunshot tore through the stadium and Roxas fell to his knees. The crowed cheered wildly for a moment, Sora trying to scramble out of the box, Riku's hand shaking violently. The cheering turned to screams and shouting as several other shots were heard, and the breaking of glass. Riku looked up just in time to squat and cover his head from the falling shards. Searchlights poured into the building and people made as if they were going to bolt, only to be trapped by men rappelling from the ceiling and seizing them on the spot.
"This is the FBI! You're all under arrest!" came a booming voice over the helicopter speakers that were hovering above the building. A full on raid was in progress, and Riku could only stand on the board, looking from the gun to Roxas in shock. He pointed the gun at the floor and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked and nothing else. He fired it several times, his ears filling with a clicking noise.
Riku threw the thing on the ground and watched Roxas get up off his knees, checking himself. He laughed sort of awkwardly, looking at Riku.
"Wasn't loaded," Riku explained, shrugging as if it were no big deal. Huge bit of good that guy had done him, giving him an unloaded gun to fight with.
Unexpectedly, Roxas dove forward and hugged Riku. Riku sort of stiffened up, but after a second, returned the hug. "Sorry," Roxas apologized for it promptly. Riku just sort of shrugged. There was no harm in it. In fact, it was perfectly welcome.
Someone suddenly seized both Riku and Roxas, pulling their arms behind them.
"Oh, I always wanted to see you in handcuffs. Too bad I didn't bring any," Roxas' captor said, pulling off his raid helmet and letting his red hair return to its normal spikiness.
Roxas rolled his eyes. "Get us OUT of here. For good this time," Roxas said.
"What about Sora?" Riku asked. He glanced up at the empty box.
"Zexion's got him," Demyx explained, only keeping a loose hold of Riku's hands behind his back. As soon as he said that, Zexion was leading Sora across the chess board. They didn't want to look suspicious to the other agents still apprehending people, so Riku, Roxas, and Sora remained as prisoners.
"Who's got a brilliant plan to get us the hell out of here?" Axel asked.
Roxas grinned. "Shoot out one of these floor tiles. Going inside anywhere is going to get us somewhere," one thing he had particularly taken care to learn in the Labyrinth.
Axel pulled out his gun and shot at one of the tiles, kicking out the jagged edges with his boot. "After you," he told Roxas urging him towards the edge. Roxas felt the sudden urge to plug his nose before the plunge, but he refrained and just took the leap into the darkness.
Roxas landed gingerly on the soft carpet of his living room, the clock's sudden loud chime startling him just a bit. There was no one around, and his very first instinct was to check on Sora.
Roxas took the stairs two at a time, his heart leaping at the light coming from under Sora's door. He opened it without asking, to find Sora seated on his bed, looking about ready to topple.
"Sora!" Roxas exclaimed, rushing to the bed, but taking it slowly at sitting down next to him. He looked around Sora's room, subconsciously taking an inventory to make sure it really WAS Sora's room.
"Are we really home?" Roxas asked, trying to push down his sheer excitement at the fact.
Sora nodded a little and swooned, his head landing on Roxas' shoulder. "Roxas…?" He asked, barely above a whisper.
As if he knew exactly what Sora was going to say, Roxas ruffled his hair gently. "Don't apologize anymore. In fact, I'm sorry. For saying all those stupid things, when I should have been watching out for you. I should have let you know how important you are to me, instead of resenting the fact that Dad and Larxene seemed to like you better."
"You mean that?" Sora asked, with a rather weak grin.
"Definitely. Now get your ass in bed," Roxas commanded, giving Sora a bit of a push to topple him over towards his pillows. Sora didn't bother changing clothes, he just crawled under the covers with a tired sigh.
"Let me know if you need anything," Roxas said, closing the door quietly as he left Sora's room. Roxas retreated to his own room, catching the clock in the hallway that somehow only read 7:45pm. Barely any time had passed!
Roxas plopped down at his desk with a heavy sigh. He looked at the Labyrinth book on his desk, and shoved it roughly into his backpack. Roxas stared into the mirror on the wall, scarcely believing he was there, back in reality. There was a click behind him and he watched the bedroom door open, and Axel peek his head in.
"Axel!" he exclaimed, turning around and jumping up to hug him fiercely. "What are you doing here?" Not that he minded in the least bit.
Axel laughed. "Well I figured that since you couldn't come out tonight, I'd come see you." He held up a white plastic bag from the grocery store around the corner. "And I don't know about you, but I'm freaking starving." He handed the bag to Roxas to rummage through first. "Don't worry, no peaches," he promised.
"Oh, Sora's probably hungry, too. I didn't ask him," Roxas commented. He wondered what he should bring him. Did they have some chicken noodle soup or anything?
"Don't worry about it," Axel said, sitting down on Roxas' bed, pulling him down next to him. "I brought Riku over, too. So he'll take care of Sora." Axel pulled Roxas closer to him, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "So we can, you know." He smirked.
"Eat?" Roxas asked, cheekily. Axel shook his head, leaning down a little.
"I have a report to write," Roxas insisted, leaning back a little. He was just teasing, of course. But it was amusing all the same.
"Maybe later," Axel suggested, tackling Roxas onto the bed. "What time do your parents get home?"
Roxas put a hand on Axel's shoulder, pulling him down. "Late."
"I brought you soup," Riku said, letting himself inside Sora's room. Sora was lying on his back under the covers, not yet asleep.
"Mmmm…" Sora replied, sitting up a little. "Is it a good kind?"
Riku set the Tupperware down on Sora's nightstand. "I made it," Riku replied. "From a can," he added, when Sora looked at him skeptically.
Sora laughed a little as Riku sat on the edge of his bed gingerly. "I didn't think it was horrible either," he said, about the story.
Sora just sort of smiled. "Did you enjoy your few moments of bad guy kick assness?"
Riku thought about it for a moment. "The leather pants were a little iffy," he admitted.
Sora wrapped his arms around Riku's neck. "I liked them," he said.
"Well, maybe I can invest in a pair," Riku changed his mind, wrapping his arms around Sora in return.
"Hey, Riku?" Sora said, looking up at him.
"Hm?"
"I don't think I'm contagious anymore."
Riku smirked. "Perfect."
Thank you so much for reading, everyone! Its been lots of fun, and I appreciate all of your reviews so much. I didn't know where this was going to go, or how it was going to work out when I wrote it, but as long as someone out there enjoyed it, I'm absolutely thrilled.