CHAPTER FOUR

Riku walked to the bar, hunched against the cold evening air. He heard it before he saw it, a haze of cigarette smoke and loud chatter filling the night, the sidewalk becoming busy with people lined up to get in even at this early hour. The neon sign for Destiny Islandreached his gaze, its cheery palm tree logo gleaming through the darkness. He hadn't been back since the time he'd assisted them with the gangster shakedown, but he was recognised by the bouncer as soon as the guy set eyes on him. He was waved past the queue and into the dim confines of the club.

Inside, the place was set up with the bar alongside the far wall, tables and chairs scattered around the wide room, with the stage sitting in the centre, elevated and smothered in hot lights. A gleaming black piano stood next to a microphone on a stand, behind which were Sora and Kairi, respectively. They were mid-performance, Kairi singing the classics with a sultry breathiness, Sora barely visible at the piano, deeply focused, the sound of his playing filling the place to the rafters.

Riku removed his hat, crossing to the bar, where he was again recognised and handed a gin and tonic without even asking. He found a corner table and sat quietly, sipping his drink and watching the place steadily fill. It was a place where people could talk, drink, and smoke without having to yell to be heard, the performance central but smooth enough so as not to be competitive for attention. Riku signalled a passing waiter for another drink, lit up a cigarette, and settled in to wait for a break in the music. It was the closest to a relaxing time that he'd had in a while. A bowl of pretzels found its way to his elbow, likely sent from the bar, and so he managed to stave off some hunger pangs, enjoying a generally pleasant time.

When the first leg of the performance wound up, there was enthusiastic applause, with Kairi descending from the stage while Sora remained to play some light tunes like a palate cleanser. She made a social sweep of the room, welcoming the regular punters and greeting new faces, stopping occasionally to chat, before one of the waitstaff murmured into her ear, her eyes finding Riku in his corner an instant later. She made a beeline for him, sitting at the table and picking his cigarette case up from the table, taking one out and placing it between her lips for him to light. He obliged, allowing her a moment to gather herself and glance around to make sure no one was listening in. She leaned forward, her evening gown sparkling with every motion.

"I wasn't expecting you here so soon," she told him, gaze scrutinous. "You here for my tips already?"

Riku smiled blandly. "Not quite yet. Actually, I came to see Sora."

Kairi nodded slightly. "He told me you'd come to see him this morning. Have you uncovered anything about his brother?"

Riku hesitated, toying with the rim of his glass, eyes darting. "It's more that I need to ask something of him."

Kairi frowned. "But you already saw him so recently. I didn't think you'd need to talk to him again until it was all over."

Riku studied her disapproving expression carefully. "…Are the two of you… involved?"

She blinked, then let out a titter, her hand fluttering over her chest. "No, no, nothing like that. But we do go back a fair way." Her humour faded. "What's happened is – awful. Sora isn't the same person he was this time last week. He needs help, Riku. But…" She looked over her shoulder to where the young man continued to play, Riku's gaze drawn along with hers to his small form and serious face. Under the bright lights, he looked – gaunt. The deep shadows under his eyes that Riku had noticed that morning were deeper than ever. Turning back to him, Kairi tenderly said, "He's my friend. I don't want anything more to happen to him. I don't want him to suffer." Her gaze firming up, she went on, "So I don't want you coming here with anything that isn't completely vital. If you want to verify something, you can just run it by me, and I can find it out for you. Sora needs to be shielded from all of this, Riku."

Riku sighed, expression quirking with momentary frustration. "I hear you. But I wouldn't be here for him if it wasn't something important to the investigation." He met her stare, forcing himself to not show the apprehension he was feeling. "I can only ask this of him."

She pursed her lips, falling silent for the rest of her cigarette, Riku waiting patiently. As she crushed the butt out in the ashtray, she said curtly, "Fine. I'll let him know you're here. He's got a break coming up soon, for a few songs."

Riku inclined his head in thanks, and with one last haughty look, Kairi elegantly rose and swept off, leaving behind traces of smoke and perfume. Her simple wrath was almost heart-warming. She was doing her best to look out for Sora. Clearly, he was a well-loved person. Still, there was something in Riku that was thankful at the fact that they weren't intimate. Without letting himself think too closely on that, he dropped the nub of his cigarette into the ashtray and busily lit up another. He closed his eyes for a time, letting the flowing melodies of Sora's piano pass through his weary body.

At length, the break between songs became a silence, followed by Kairi singing again, going acapella. He peeled his eyes open in time to see Sora drop into the seat that Kairi had previously occupied, looking nervous and tired. Sitting straighter, Riku cleared his throat and said, "Sora! Thanks for seeing me."

Smiling wanly, Sora shook his head. "No, I told you to come by. Thank you for going out of your way to come and speak with me." He drew what seemed to be a fortifying breath and asked in a low voice, "Did you find something out?"

Riku grimaced. "I'm sorry, but at this point I haven't accomplished anything significant."

Sora sagged slightly, not with disappointment but relief; he had clearly not been relishing the coming news. With that set aside for now, he grew confused. "Oh – okay. Then, what can I do for you?"

Riku exhaled slowly. "I managed to talk briefly with Axel, the man you said was your brother's boyfriend." Sora nodded faintly, Riku's tension rising as he said, "He wants to meet us both tonight after your shift to talk about Roxas."

Sora went still, processing this. "So… he knows something? About…?"

Riku shrugged helplessly. "I don't know what he does or doesn't know, but he refuses to speak to me unless you're there with me." After a beat, he awkwardly added, "I'm sorry to put you in the middle of it like this. You can refuse if you want, and I'll try to get him to talk to me."

Sora again shook his head, waving off the idea, looking perplexed. "It – it's all right." He thought for a moment, then nodded once, very slightly, as if to himself. "Okay. I'll go. I'm sure that Axel wouldn't ask this for no reason." He gnawed at his lower lip, glancing back at the stage. "I'm working until the bar closes. It's going to be a while."

"It's fine," Riku reassured him. "I'll go and take care of some business, then meet you back here when you get off."

Sora hesitated, then nodded. "Okay. Um, my shift finishes at three, though. Is that okay?"

Riku smiled crookedly. "Not a problem. Maybe this means I'll finally catch up on my paperwork. That's a long time to be playing piano, though. How do you do it?"

Sora smiled a little at being back in familiar territory, a startlingly cute expression. "I don't play the whole time. I do bar duties at the end of the night and help clean up."

Riku coughed slightly, mumbling, "Well, that's good then." With his goal out of the way, Sora's agreement garnered, he gathered his hat and cigarettes and stood. "I'll be back by three, then. Don't forget me, now."

The last part was meant to be teasing, but the young man shook his head adamantly up at him, earnestly swearing, "I couldn't! I mean – I won't." His cheeks reddening, Sora gave him a final, tight smile and headed quickly over to the bar.

Riku left Destiny Island,back out into the street, where he drew a breath and shook out his arms. Craning his head back, he looked up at the moon, huffed out some steam, and muttered, "Okay!" Head back in the real world, he made his way to the office, where he spent a couple of hours crunching budget numbers and scribbling out rough invoices. At every minute of his life, he was just barely scraping by. But, even so… if it meant he could help people… He shut his eyes as Sora flitted through his brain again. Grinding the heel of his palm into his forehead, he wondered when he was going to stop doing this. Thinking incessantly about the client wasn't going to get the case solved any faster.

After grabbing a nap on the sofa, Riku, with an hour to spare, went to a nearby diner for some solid food, before heading home to get his car. In Twilight Town, you didn't need a car too often, between the fact that so much was within walking or tram distance, but once midnight had melted past, it wasn't entirely sensible to move about the open streets. This was a frequently violent town, and Riku would be damned if he was going to expose Sora to that on his watch.

He cruised back to Destiny Island, the streets all but empty now, parking at the rear and knocking on the staff door. The bouncer from earlier let him in, watching over the rear of the place until everyone was safely out. Riku found Sora on the main floor with a broom in hand, shirtsleeves pushed to his elbows. Upon noticing him, the boy gave him a quick wave and then glanced over at the bar, where the manager nodded, releasing him for the night.

"I'll be just a minute, Riku," Sora promised, disappearing into the back of the club before emerging a short while later with a satchel of his belongings, a heavy coat, and a thick scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face. "Sorry. Thanks for waiting." They left the bar, Sora exchanging goodnights with the bouncer, Riku leading the way to his car, to Sora's surprise. "Oh – are we going somewhere far?"

Riku nodded. "The wharf." In addition to being an isolated spot, it was on the other side of town, about an hour away. Sora frowned nervously at the news.

"Wow. Axel's being pretty… cryptic about all this, isn't he?"

Riku met his worried gaze. "I thought the same thing." They milled about outside the car, Riku unlocking it but not yet opening the door. "Hey – Sora." The boy blinked at his name, focusing on him. "You don't have to do this. This isn't something you need to involve yourself in. I know I'm the one who approached you about it, but that's only because I wanted you to be able to decide for yourself. It doesn't mean you don't have a choice."

Sora hesitated, then smiled at Riku, his mouth hidden by the scarf but the warmth of it reaching his eyes. "I know. Thanks. But this is… definitely something I have to do. I have to hear what Axel has to say." He lowered his head. "Roxas deserves answers for what happened." He blinked rapidly, clearing away any moisture that might have been welling. "I'm sure Axel must know something. I need to hear it myself." Despite everything, he was determined. He had a lot of strength hidden away in that slight frame, Riku's heart softening at the thought.

"…Okay, then." They climbed into his aged station wagon, Riku starting it up with a rumble, turning the headlights on, and setting out into the night.

.o.O.o.

The drive across town was quiet, Sora peering out the window at the passing city streets while Riku tried to prepare himself for the unknown. If he'd at least met Axel beforehand, had a chance to gauge him, he might have had an idea of what was waiting up ahead at the warehouse; but as things stood, he could only take a wait-and-see approach, and hope to protect Sora if things went south.

Sora, for his part, jogged his leg up and down, hugging his body for warmth as the car's heating ducts struggled to pierce the chill. He was anxious, as was Riku, but had accepted the situation with surprising aplomb, rolling with the punches, as it were. His own twin had been killed in a dirty alleyway; probably at this point, he was willing to go nearly anywhere to find out why.

They reached the warehouse district shortly before four a.m., Riku driving slowly through the narrow lanes in search of Axel's meeting point. When they were up to the S row of warehouses, he killed the headlights and lowered gears, easing the car quietly along until the sign for W came into view. He stopped the engine, murmuring to Sora, "We'll go on foot from here." Sora went along unquestioningly, Riku's tension palpable in the small space.

They stepped out onto thin bitumen, Riku leaving the driver's door slightly ajar, so that if they needed to make a rapid retreat there would be no unnecessary fumbling. Everything about this meeting had his hackles up, his teeth on edge with the old feeling he used to get as a cop when a situation was about to go seriously awry. God, he needed a cigarette. And a drink.

As a precaution, he went to the trunk and popped it open, making sure Sora didn't see what he pulled out and stashed up his coat sleeve. He led the way, making sure to keep Sora close, their shoes crunching quietly over the dusty road. They reached row X of the district, the lights of warehouse thirteen visible like a beacon in the distance. Riku kept his senses alert as they closed in, the back of his neck tingling with a powerful sense of wrongness. Why this place? Why so isolated? Why so ambiguous?

They reached the doors of the warehouse, which were partially opened in anticipation of their arrival. The space within was messy, filled with shipping containers and crates, forklifts, and palettes of what looked like construction materials. In the centre of the space was a red-haired figure dressed entirely in black, sitting pensively on a large crate, his boots dangling towards the ground. His piercing green eyes found them, a thin smile showing on his lips as they warily approached him.

"Sora," he said, his voice a lazy drawl. "Good to see you again." He flicked his sharp gaze to Riku, the smile becoming a smirk. "And you must be the private dick. Gotta say, I half expected you to come alone."

"Sora has a right to hear what you've got to say," Riku tersely replied. "It wasn't my call to make. He chose to be here."

"Axel." Sora spoke up with a trembling but resolute voice. "Do you know anything about Roxas' death?"

Axel's eyes slid back to him, his mocking expression fading. He was silent for a moment, a shadow seeming to creep across his being. "…I don't know why Roxas died. And I don't know how it happened." He suddenly burst into a wide grin that pulled terribly at the corners, his throat jerking as he said, "But, fuck me, I miss him." The rictus contorted so far from a smile that it was painful to witness. He made a sound like a sob from deep in his chest, his hands trembling upwards to cover the top of his face. Only that awful mouth was visible, teeth gleaming as they gritted under the harsh warehouse lighting.

Sora, tears leaking down his cheeks, demanded, "Why did you call me here? If you don't know anything – if you didn't have anything to do with it – why? Why here? Why now?" He moved towards Axel, stopped only by Riku's hand against his chest. "What do you know?"

It took a minute for Axel to steady himself, his teeth disappearing from view as his face slowly relaxed. When his hands lowered, there was an emptiness in his expression that alarmed Riku to the point that he began tugging on Sora, backing them away from him – but too late. He twisted at a glimpse of motion to the side, to find they were surrounded by several figures in black robes, their faces hidden from sight. Sora clutched at Riku, hitching a panicked gasp at the sight of their menacing forms. To Axel, Riku snapped, "What is this? What are you doing?"

Axel ignored him, saying dully, "It's going to be all right, Sora. All you have to do is come with us, and nobody will get hurt."

Sora's fingers dug into Riku as he cried, "Axel! Whatever this is, Roxas wouldn't want it!"

A flash went through his green eyes, but otherwise the man's expression didn't shift. "Just don't fight it," he said softly.

"Don't fight it, my ass." Riku dropped the tire iron he'd been hiding up his sleeve into his hand and took a swing at the closest figure, slamming it with a deep noise into their skull. They dropped like a sack of bricks, his next swing aiming the head of the tool into the solar plexus of the one charging towards him, crunching some ribs and dropping them down to join their comrade. He threw himself at the next one, who managed to get in a good punch to send him staggering back before he lashed out with a leg and hooked his foot behind their knee, yanking them forwards and down before smashing their exposed kneecap with his club. The person screamed, the first voice to find the air since Riku had started moving, seeming to prompt one of them to draw a gun from several feet away, stopping Riku cold at the sight of the barrel.

"That's it," the figure sneered, cold and male. "Not so hot when a gun's out, are you?" He swung it to encompass Sora, who up until now had been following Riku in shock, but froze under the gun-wielder's focus.

Uneasily, Axel spoke up. "Hey, Xigbar…"

"Hey, hey, hey now," the robed figure tutted. "Way to blow the anonymity there, Axel."

"Don't point a fucking gun at Sora," Axel replied agitatedly. "If he gets hurt –"

"What, your dead boyfriend's going to get upset?" Xigbar laughed.

Axel hissed, his eyes narrowing into slits as he hopped down from the crate. "Now, wait just a goddamn minute –"

"Ah, this is boring." The figure called Xigbar swung the gun back to Riku and cocked the hammer, Riku feeling his chest lurch as he realised the trigger was about to be pulled.

Sora, realising the same, cried out, "No!" and threw himself into Riku to shove him aside, Axel bellowing, "Sora!" just as the shot cracked deafeningly out.

The echo seemed endless, the body that dropped to the ground sporting bright red hair. Axel had managed to throw himself in front of Xigbar, and now lay motionless on the concrete, thick blood flowing outward in each direction.

"Oh," said Xigbar. "Oops."

Before anyone else could recover, Riku was moving again, slashing the tire iron out and dragging Sora's stunned form after him through the break in their lines and into the mess of the warehouse where bullets wouldn't find them.

"Oh, come on!" Xigbar yelled after them. "Don't run…! There's nowhere to go!"

Nonetheless, with the black figures in pursuit, Riku managed to haul Sora to the doors and back out into the night, the pair of them running to the car, Riku shoving Sora through the driver's door and over to the passenger's seat in a sprawl, gunning the motor and slamming the accelerator, the car nearly spinning out as he wrestled the wheel around and sped away.

In the rear-view mirror, he saw them stop chasing, the few that were uninjured standing in a line watching him go. It was eerie; there didn't seem to be any sense of urgency in their demeanour, as if it didn't even matter that he was escaping them.

In response to the fear that bubbled up at this thought, he pressed harder on the accelerator, the car nearly exploding out onto the street to leave the warehouses and wharf far behind. Next to him, Sora was crying, shaking, saying over and over again, "Oh, my God… oh, my God… Riku! Axel! Oh, my God…!"

Roughly, Riku reached for him, dragging him close and pressing his wet face into his chest, holding him while steering with one hand. "It's okay, Sora. It's fine. You're okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Sora moaned like the world was ending. Riku couldn't say for sure it wasn't. All he could do was keep driving, as fast and as far as possible, until dawn's light started staining the horizon.