You Are My Kingdom Hearts ➳ Axel

Sacrifice

Chapter 23: Sacrifice.

Jai's POV:

My legs were heavy, and my eyes were fighting to stay open. We'd decided it was time. Time to make a move -- to put everything on the line. For our friends and family. We had to fight for what was really important.

I felt muscular arms circle around me, and a soft voice spoke by my ear. "Come on, Jai. Stay with me."

"Axel..." I murmured gently.

I reached for him, but for some reason, I couldn't quite make contact. He chuckled, and let his fingers tangle with mine.

"Here," he offered, squeezing my hand.

"I don't understand... where are we?" I mumbled groggily.

This definitely wasn't the hospital. Last thing I remembered was sneaking out of the complex, even after Doctor Malfoy explicitly told us I wasn't cleared for discharge. Everything after that just... went dark.

I finally began to wake up, registering the lush trees surrounding us. A forest? I couldn't think of anywhere that I'd been with this kind of environment.

A cup was thrust into my field of vision. "You need to drink this," Cloud announced.

He was looking anywhere but directly at me. Axel grabbed for the cup with an insincere grumble of gratitude, before pressing it to my lips. I used all of my strength to turn away from it.

"What is it?" I murmured, eyeing Cloud suspiciously.

He gave a small laugh. "It's your special fruit stuff."

I slurped it up, coughing and spluttering once I was done. It was a strange taste, but it did make me feel more awake. I moved away from Axel, attempting to support myself. My body was incredibly weak -- but hey, I deserved it for messing with powers I didn't understand. I managed to stumble forward.

"Jai, let me help," Axel pressed, reaching for me. "You need to save your strength."

His cool fingers touched my collarbone and I shuddered. He inhaled sharply.

"Sorry. I didn't mean--"

"It's fine."

I felt the warmth rising to my cheeks. I put my head down to hide the obvious blush and continued to try and walk on my own. Cloud and Axel were now behind me, while everyone else was up ahead. I still couldn't make out where we were. Normally, if we needed to go somewhere we could use the gummi ship.

"Hey, Redhead?" I murmured.

He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yeah?"

"Can you tell me where we are now?"

I heard Cloud laugh. I turned to look at him over my shoulder, and noticed the smirk on his face.

"We actually... don't know," Axel admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"What?" I demanded.

Both men began walking either side of me, their faces twisted into confused expressions.

"One minute we were boarding the gummi ship with Demyx, and the next... we were here," Cloud mumbled with a shrug of his shoulders.

"And where's Demyx?" I asked, unable to spot him ahead.

Axel sighed. "We don't know."

I couldn't help but groan. "What a nightmare."

"Yep," Cloud agreed with a shake of his head.