A Tilted Axys

Chapter 13

The sun was setting softly in the peacful canyon town. Axys sat on the tallest peak she could get to, watching as the flaming orb sank into the unyielding horizon. She thought of her new life. Her new husband. She could see him below her in the valley. He sat around the campfire with others from the canyon, laughing along with them. It was so hard to believe that Yazoo, one of the most powerful and terrifying people she had ever met, yet there he was, joking as if he belonged there.
She thought back to their meeting.

{Flashback}
"Vincent! I have Elena! Just get Tseng and let's go!" she yelled, trying to carry an unconscious Elena and fight off Yazoo's beautiful martial arts at the same time.
"I have him, lets-NO!" Vincent roared when Yazoo's foot connected with Axys's head, knocking her to the ground, Elena flying from her grasp.
"Take Elena and go! I can handle him!" Axys said, bravely.
"Axys-"
"JUST GO!"
Vincent reluctantly gathered Elena along with Tseng and-with one last look back-he ran, using the boost of speed offered by Chaos to get them far from the forgotten city. "I'll come back, I promise!" he swore.

Axys stood, wiping the blood from the side of her face and scowling at Yazoo. Kadaj came to stand in front of Yazoo, and Yazoo fell back and off to Kadaj's left. Loz joined them on Kadaj's right and the brothers slowly advanced on her. She fell into a defensive stance, backing up and beginning to circle the brothers. Kadaj and Loz both wore sadistic grins, and when she looked at Yazoo, her insides froze over. He looked like . . . there was no explanation. He was so terrifyingly beautiful. Scary in that 'oh my god take me NOW' kind of way. He looked like death himself. She was aware he was worthy of the title.
She circled around the brothers looking for a way to take them down one by one. Trying to decide who to go for first, and for the first time since she became a Turk, she doubted herself, and cursed the situation she'd willingly put herself in.
Loz seized the oppourtunity she gave him when she took her thoughts from her enemies, and rushed her. She barely came back in time to block his attacks, before he placed one well-aimed punch to her abdomen. Axys flew across the clearing, landing in a cloud of dust and groaning at the impact. She came to her senses and looked up just in time to roll out of the path of Yazoo's boots. She flew to her feet and threw a barrage of strikes and kicks at Yazoo, amazed as he gracefully avoided every blow.
"What's the matter, asshole, afraid it'll hurt too much if I hit you?" Axys taunted, angry that she couldn't even brush him.
Yazoo chuckled, a creepy 'I'm having fun with this' laugh and Axys barely avoided a shot of his fingers, aimed at her throat, that could have ended her life.
"What's the matter? Afraid it'll hurt?" he teased, using her own words against her.
Axys angrily darted towards him, swinging her double-chained whips as she floated with quick, light steps. Loz jumped in behind her, zapping the back of her neck with the Dual Hound. She fell to the ground. Loz and Yazoo stood over her, smirking. They both slowly bent down to drag her to her feet, and she surprised them by lashing out with swift hands and slamming both of their legs out from under them. She quickly jumped to her feet, only to narrowly avoid a swing of Kadaj's double-bladed sword, the Souba.
She arched over backwards again and again, dodging his swings with extreme difficulty. She could barely avoid the lethal blade, let alone strike an attack of her own. She twirled away from a swing aimed at her chest, and slammed front-first into Loz, who grabbed her arm and threw her, spinning, straight for Yazoo. The middle clone drew his gun the Velvet Nightmare, and fired a well-aimed shot at the air born Turk.
The bullet shot clean through the side of her chest and she fell to the ground with a violent "thud". She tried to stand, only to fall back to the ground, gasping for breath. 'Shit, he must've punctured a lung!' She thought, trying desperately to regain her feet and fight. If they were going to kill her, she was determined to take at least ONE of them with her! She looked at the hand that had been clutching the wound in her chest. It was covered in dark blood that ran down her arm and dripped into the rapidly darkening soil. A sharp pain in her side made her gasp and arch away. She looked to her side to see Kadaj's sword embedded in her flesh. A shadow fell over her and she gulped, preparing for death as she looked up to see Loz standing over her, the Dual Hound inches away from her face.
"No, Loz. Kadaj? I think we should keep her. She could prove . . . useful." Yazoo said, grasping Axys' hair and pulling hard.
Axys really didn't like the way he'd said the word "useful", but she wasn't given too much time to dwell on it. Their decision was made and Loz slammed his fist into the side of her face, knocking her unconscious.
When she awoke, she was in a dark room, chained to a wall. If only she had known what fate had in store for her . . .
And Vincent . . . he hadn't come back.

{End Flashback}

"Axys?" She was startled from her thoughts by a soft, purring voice. She turned to see Nanaki behind her. "What are you doing up here, my friend?"
Axys motioned for him to join her. He did, and she affectionately patted him on the head. "I was just thinking about how absurd fate can be." The giant cat laughed.
"It is that." They sat in silence, watching the small village prepare for their social dinner.
"You've changed, you know?" Nanaki said, nudging her hand with his nose.
"Yes, I know. Blame Yazoo."
"I did absolutely nothing, and you know it." Axys gasped and whirled around at the sound of her husband's voice.
"I have to blame someone!"
Nanaki could sense that Axys had something on her mind that concerned Yazoo, and he knew that he should leave them be. "Thank you for allowing me to sit with you, Axys. Will you join me for dinner?"
"We would love to, Nanaki, thank you." Yazoo answered for his wife, also sensing that something was bothering her. He scratched the big cat behind the ear as he walked past him. When they were alone, he sat beside her and pulled her into his lap.
"What is the matter, Koibito?" he said, resting his chin on the top of her head.
"I've just been . . . thinking."
"About?"
"The day we met."
He was silent for a long while.
"Do you regret-" he started, finally.
"No, I don't regret a second."
"Then what?"
She thought a moment, trying to decide how to approach what she knew was a sensitive topic. "I don't really . . . know you, Yazoo. I really don't know anything about you. Like, what made you the way you are? I know it's not just Jenova. You still have your own mind. I want to know . . . about your past."
Yazoo stiffened. "You know I don't remember anything." His voice warned her to leave it be.
"Yazoo we HAVE to talk about this! You three injected me with Jenova cells and I remember everything just fine!"
"Axys . . ."
"You don't remember anything? Anything at . . . all? Please Yazoo . . . don't hide it from me? What are you afraid of?" Axys twisted in his arms and looked at him, pleading.
"I don't . . . want to lose you." Yazoo's body held a new kind of tension. He was afriad.
"Yazoo, don't you think that, after all we've been through, if I was going to leave you I would have done it already?"
"But Axys, this is . . . evil . . . "
The placed her hands on both of his, and guided his hands to her swollen belly. "And THIS is good, Yazoo. Whatever it is, you can tell me. It won't change how I feel about you."
Yazoo breathed out a troubled sigh. "A-alright. But please don't interrupt me."
Axys nodded and Yazoo stared into the distance, and began his story.
"I remember it all. My parents died when I was young, and I had no siblings. When I was fifteen, a was taken in by an older couple with three children of their own. They had a daughter named Akiko. She was beautiful, and just my age. We became the best of friends through the years that I lived with the family. Eventually, we fell in love, and were married." Axys gasped softly, looking at Yazoo in amazment. He continued. "Our marriage was wonderful, and I loved her dearly. She gave me a daughter when I was twenty. Her name was Hana. I worked as a martial arts instructor for ShinRa, at the time. Tseng approached me when Hana was only a few months old, and tried to convince me to become a Turk. I refused. My refusal didn't go over well with President ShinRa. He sent other Turks to my home to force me to join them. Things got out of control, and I killed them. That's when they sent me to Kalm to train a class of younger Turks. When I came back, my home had been burned to the ground. Akiko and Hana were killed. I blame myself. If I had stayed . . . I could have helped them . . . saved them . . ." Axys opened her mouth to speak to him, tears falling from her eyes. He held a finger to her lips to hush her and went on. "I went to ShinRa and . . . tried to kill his son. They captured me and as a punishment ShinRa gave me to Hojo. While I was locked away, I met Loz and Kadaj. Hojo used to torment me, tell me how my wife and child had screamed in agony, and I wasn't there to save them. I vowed at that moment that I would never give my heart to anyone again. Then he injected me with Jenova cells, and I started hearing that voice. It spoke of vengeance. Hatred. Chaos and destruction. When Sephiroth was killed the first time, Hojo released all of the prisoners he'd injected, to test the Reunion theory. That's when I took the other's back to my adopted hometown. Kadaj started hearing Mother's voice, and she told us what we had to do. Then I met you. You were such an enigma. I couldn't figure out why you weren't afraid of us. Why you didn't fear death. You were strong, stubborned, loyal, independant. I hated that I loved you."
"I can understand why!" Axys said, still crying for him. "I promise, Yazoo. I will always be here. Me and our son. We will never leave you."
Yazoo desperately wanted to let go of his fear.
"You don't hate me for abandoning them?" he asked, almost timid.
"Of course not, Yazoo. You didn't abandon them! How could you have known what would happen?"
"I didn't know . . . " he trailed off, looking into the distance. 'I didn't know.'
Axys suddenly stiffened. "Baby!" She sounded terrified.
"What is it? What's wrong?" He almost dropped her on her rear when he stood to defend her from whatever had scared her.
"My water broke!"

(A.N. - Okay, I lied. Babies NEXT chapter. I am tired. I require SLEEP. *yawn-age* please . . .review . . . ahm . . . *zzzzz* . . . *zzzzz* . . . *zzzzz* . . .)