The Tide Bends to the Moon

Ice-Puppet

Authors note: This just popped into my head. Aren't those always the best? Enjoy

Chapter 1 - Sleepwalking

The Flurry of Dancing Flames had never understood why the Melodious Nocturne always looked like he never slept. Demyx went to bed at a decent time- at least, the sitar music eventually ended around the time Axel went to bed, so he assumed Demyx was sleeping. Yet he was always late to meetings because he slept in and when he did show up he looked like he had spent the night downing energy drinks and hadn’t gotten an hour of sleep.

It did nothing to hinder Demyx’s cheerful façade, however. The blonde was still as happy go lucky as ever, always ready and willing to lose a game of cards to Luxord or lose around of Mario Kart to Roxas and Axel. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that he always looked so tired, Axel would have never noticed the fact that Demyx’s sleeping was completely off.

It wasn’t something he mulled over often, mind you. Demyx wasn’t exactly the first thought on his mind. Sure, the guy was a ‘friend’ amongst enemies and he certainly liked the guy more then he liked most of the other members, save for Roxas, but that didn’t mean that he spent all his time thinking about why Demyx didn’t sleep. It was Demyx’s problem. However according to the current events, he was extremely curious.

He had awoken from a nightmare that had faded a few seconds later, but still left his body covered in sweat. Wanting a glass of something liquid to calm his gasping breath, Axel had slipped out of his room in order to head down to the kitchen. That was when he had spotted him.

Padding ever so quietly down the hallway was Demyx, not slouching like he normally did, instead walking like a robot might do, his back perfectly straight. Axel had curiously called out to him, but Demyx either hadn’t heard him (unlikely, given the silence in the hallways at this time of night) or was ignoring him completely. The flurry, not enjoying the concept of being ignored, had approached the blonde in a huff, moving to grab his shoulder and turn him around.

He gasped.

Demyx’s eyes were completely dead. It was like he was a soulless being, instead of a heartless one. He didn’t even acknowledge that Axel had grabbed him, steadying himself automatically before simply standing there, staring straight ahead- which, given their slight height difference, meant that he was staring at Axel’s lips.

“Demyx?” Axel asked, waving a hand in front of the other’s sea blue eyes, before snapping a few times. Still, no response. “Hello? What, are you sleep walking, or something?” Nothing. Groaning in frustration, Axel considered leaving the other to his own devices and returning to his own trip to the kitchen. After pondering this for a few moments, however, he decided against it, and instead pulled a hand back. Swinging it forward, he forcefully slapped Demyx across the face- an open handed slap, after all, they were ‘friends’- snapping the blonde’s head to the side.

That did the trick! Demyx’s eyes fluttered for a few moments before he frowned, lifting a hand to cradle his stinging cheek. His eyes focused on Axel and he’s was frowning, memories of confusion playing on his face. “Axel? What are you doing in my room?”

Axel crossed his arms and stared down at the shorter being, the nobody before him. He gave a glance around to confirm the fact that yes, they were in the hallway, not in Demyx’s room, before he finally spoke. “We’re not in your room, Demyx.”

Innocence, that’s what Demyx reeks. Like a smell he can’t get off of him. Like the smell of fish that, according to Zexion, still clings to his body, even though its been quite some time since he had changed from his Somebody form to his Nobody form. Demyx is like innocence embodied and Axel thinks that if Demyx truly existed, that his existence would be in the form of innocence. He’s not sure, however, if its merely because he had been a merman in his past life and everything was so new, or if he had lived such a sheltered life that the innocence still plagued his adult body. Either way, sometimes it was enduring, and sometimes Axel just wanted to take his chakrams and smash the other boy’s head in. “Oh,” Demyx said as if he was just then realizing. “We’re not.” Then he looked toward Axel, expectantly. “Why am I in the hallway, Axel?”

“How should I know?” Axel defended, biting back instantly. He didn’t do anything! It wasn’t him! “I was just going to get a drink and I found you here, walking along. You were sleeping, I think. Sleepwalking. Took a damn lot to wake you up, too. I should have just let you wander.”

Oh, there’s that frown- that sign that he’s not always so bubbly. But then Demyx smiled again and Axel wanted to wipe the look off his face so badly he could almost taste it. “Oh. Thanks, Axel.”

They stood there in silence, then, with nothing left to say. Demyx seemed to catch on to this and gave a short little wave, a mere flick of a wrist, before he turned around and practically ran back to his own room, the door crashing heavily behind him.

Sometimes, Axel wondered why he bothered at all.

Friendship is such a weird thing.

--

The next day Demyx looked a bit more rested, although it seemed Axel was the only one who noticed. Or, rather, Axel was the only one that cared to notice. He used to think that Xigbar paid attention, since he and Demyx got along in the way a surfer might get along with a mermaid, but considering that the Freeshooter had yet to comment (at a point where Axel could hear him) on Demyx’s sleeping habits, that way of thought had slowly began to disappear over the days, weeks, and months.

Saix was especially moody that morning… well, as moody as a cold and emotionless person could be, Axel supposed. It was Roxas that pointed it out after Demyx dared to sit too close to the Berserker and earned himself a hateful glare. Demyx, always the last one to realize such things, didn’t notice and continued on with his day in his normal, cheerful manor. He conversed with Luxord about whatever, that smile plastered over his face.

And while Roxas pondered what has Saix’s panties in a bunch, Axel pondered the night’s rituals, and if he was going to run in to Demyx once again.

The day was uneventful, as they usually were when he didn’t have a mission. Xaldin was away on a mission, as was Larxene, and for that Axel was grateful- he was never in the mood to put up with the Nymph, so any day that he didn’t have her around he counted as a blessing. The woman was an absolute terror.

Night came, soon enough Demyx had played through his routine sitar practice and Axel pondered settling down for some rest, but upon trying he realized that he wasn’t going to get any sleep until he figured out just what was bothering him. So, with a memory of anger in his mind, he sat beside his bedroom door and awaited the show’s main attraction.

He wasn’t waiting long. Sure enough, Demyx opened his bedroom door and stalked out, not bothering to close it behind himself. Axel pulled himself to his feet and trailed after the blonde as he headed down the hallway and up the stairs, still in that robotic state.

Curiously, Axel ducked behind a pillar as Demyx stoped directly in front of a doorway. If his memory suited him well, which it usually did, then that room was Saix’s private quarters, a room that Axel would not enter even if forced with a gun against his head. Demyx, however, seems completely willing to open the bedroom door and slip inside and Axel, intrigued, snuck over and slipped the tip of one of his weapons into the doorway before it could close completely.

Sai was standing before his large window, seeming to ignore Demyx’s presence in his room. However as the blonde approached he turned around, lifting a single hand to trail the tips of his fingers against the other’s cheek.

Axel was in shock. Were Demyx and Saix in a relationship? He might have expected such a thing from Xigbar or Luxord, seeing as they hung out with Demyx on a daily basis, or even Lexaeus, who seemed like an older brother to the Nocturne… but Saix, as far as he could tell, could not stand anyone except for Xemnas, least of all Demyx.

“Strip,” Saix stated coldly and Axel resisted the urge to snort in distain (least it cause unwanted attention toward him) as Demyx instantly obeyed, unbuttoning his night shirt and pulling it off, letting it drop to the floor. Throwing a hand over his mouth, Axel held muffled the gasp that involuntarily fell from his lips.

Demyx’s back and sides were covered in scars, marks that looked like deep scratches.

Saix pushed the Nocturne back and roughly threw him down onto the bed, crawling over him and moving to nip harshly at his throat. Axel was about to leave, knowing very well that he didn’t want to watch the two of them go at it like heartless rabbits, before something caught his eye- Demyx tilted his head to the side and the Flurry caught sight of his blue eyes. He realized, in that moment, that the Nocturne’s eyes were completely lifeless, as they had been when he had been sleep walking, the night before.

Saix was taking advantage of him.

Eyes narrowed, Axel pulled his eyes away from the door and leaned against the wall. He didn’t want to watch such a thing, especially not now that he knew it was nonconsensual.

Some time later the door opened and Demyx walked out, now fully dressed. He didn’t seem to notice Axel as he spun on his heal and headed back toward the stairs. The redhead trailed after him, sprinting ahead in order to slide in to the other’s room before he entered and closed it, locking it to anyone who he did not want to enter.

As soon as the door had closed, Demyx let out a breath as his eyes cleared. He lifted a hand to his face in surprise before wincing and grabbing for his side. Axel watched from the shadows as Demyx pulled off his still unbuttoned shirt and revealed fresh claw-marks that stretched over his right hip. They looked deep. The water mage sighed upon seeing the wound and muttered, “Not again…”

“Again?” Axel asked, sliding out of the shadows. Demyx jumped and turned toward him animatedly, blue eyes wide. “So this has happened before?”

“Axel, how did you get in here!?” Demyx cried in what was almost fear, stumbling backward, his hand still over the wound on his side.

“Your door was open,” the redhead informed, taking another step forward. He eyed the hand Demyx held at his side for a few moments before sighing. “Do you have any potions? I completely fail at healing magic.”

Frowning, the water mage tilted his head. It was either because he was confused about Axel’s concern, or because he was confused about his door being open. Possibly both. “What do you mean, my door was open? It’s closed!” To make his point, he motioned toward the doorway. “See?” Ah, so that was it.

Green eyes rolled as Axel stepped forward once more, jerking out a hand and dragging Demyx’s away from the wound in order to inspect it. “I didn’t say it is open, I said it was. You were sleep walking again, I guess, and you left your door open. I couldn’t sleep so I came here to check on you, but you weren’t here, so I figured I’d stick around until you returned. Where the hell did you get this wound? It’s nasty. Did you get into a fight with a dusk?”

“Um…” Obviously uncomfortable with how close Axel was, Demyx rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I wake up sometimes with wounds like this. I don’t know where they come from.”

“Sometimes?” Axel repeated, looking over the blonde’s shoulder toward his back. “If that’s your definition of sometimes, I’d hate to hear what you think of ‘often’.”

“Uh, Axel…” taking a step back, Demyx replaced the hand over his wound, frowning at the redhead. “Why do you care?”

Feigning hurt (or, rather, remembering how to feign hurt), Axel threw a hand over his physical heart. “Really, Demyx! I thought you and I were friends! Can’t I show a little ‘compassion’ to someone I ‘care’ about?”

This seemed good enough for Demyx, who avoided eye contact and shrugged, only to wince slightly at the painful stinging from his side.

“Now,” Axel addressed, crossing his arms. “Do you have any potions?”

“I usually just heal myself,” Demyx admitted and the redhead remembered that the bubbly water mage was the best healer in the castle- as water mages usually were. As if to prove his point, Demyx laid his hand over the wound gently and cast a healing spell, green light erupting from his palm for a few seconds before dying down. He pulled his hand away and grabbed a rag off his night stand, summoning up a bit of water to wet it before cleaning the left over blood away from the now closed wound. There was, however, still a scar left over.

“I’m surprised you haven’t told anyone about this,” Axel admitted, watching Demyx’s careful movements. It was obvious the blonde had done this many times before.

The look Demyx gave him was almost priceless. “Who would I tell?” the mage asked, his voice irritated.

Pondering over this question, the Flurry realized that the Nocturne was correct. No one in the Organization really gave a shit, at least not enough of one to help Demyx out if he came crying to their doorway about waking up with scars all over his body. In fact, probably the only person who would give a shit about such things was Namine, but getting to her meant going through Marluxia, who Xemnas had given the duty of watching over the strange nobody. Seeing as Demyx had some sort of unwarranted fear of Marluxia, that wasn’t going to happen. The only other person who might have given a shit was Roxas.

Wondering why Demyx hadn’t, in fact, gone to their mutual friend, Axel suggested the idea, “Why not Roxas?”

“Roxas has enough to worry about,” Demyx responded, using his abilities to pull all of the water (mixed with blood) out of the cloth before he traveled with it toward his bathroom, dropping into the sink. (His control over his element was almost amazing, at times.) “I don’t need to bother him with my problems.”

It was just like Demyx to ‘worry’ about ‘bothering’ other people. Axel snorted. “Fair enough.” He watched as the blonde stepped out of the bathroom, picking up his blood-stained shirt off the floor. “Well, tell you what- I’m feeling friendly enough. I’ll help you figure this out.”

Demyx looked surprise. He then smiled and offered up, “Don’t worry about it. It’s not important.”

Somewhat ‘irritated’ Axel crossed his arms over his chest. “Demyx, has anyone ever told you that your self-esteem is about as good as Xigbar’s sight in his blind eye?” Another surprised look crossed the water mage’s face. “I told you- you’re a ‘friend’ of mine. One of the only people in this place I can stand being in the company of. So why is it so shocking that I’d like to help you?”

“Don’t know,” the Nocturne admitted with a shrug as he threw his shirt away. “Guess I’m just not used to it. You’re always hanging around with Roxas, so I kind of figured when you were being nice to me it was all his doing. You weren’t this friendly before he came. In fact, it was like I didn’t exist to you.”

“It’s the truth,” Axel confirmed with a shrug. “But take what you can get.” He reached out, patting Demyx awkwardly on the shoulder. “Anyway. Not much I can do tonight, so I’m off to bed. Night.” He waved his goodbyes and left through Demyx’s bedroom door, slipping in to his own bedroom moments later.

Why hadn’t he told Demyx the truth about what had gone on? Why hadn’t he just explained that the Nocturne had spent the night sleep-sexing Saix? What was he ‘afraid’ of? ‘Hurting’ Demyx? The mage was bound to find out sooner or later, so it wasn’t like he could spare Demyx’s ‘feelings’.

After pondering his decision for a few moments, Axel decided his reasoning was this; he wanted to investigate the matter on his own and telling Demyx might compromise this somehow. It was a good enough reason for his uneasy mind as he settled into sleep.