Kalos Quest Vol 3: Trapped

92. Shattered Spirit

Axel coughed violently as he felt his heavy body thrown onto the rough ground.

Where... what...

A gasp and the sound of footsteps nearing him. He felt a warm, soft hand touch his aching shoulder.

"Axel!" Luna's worried voice rang by his ear, "you're all beat up— dad! I told you not to hurt him!"

He let out a soft wince as he opened his eyes slowly, seeing Luna's blurry figure in front of him. Axel tried getting up with a smile, touching Luna's hand with his. "It's okay, Luna..." he said weakly, "it's okay. I'm fine."

Axel was a mess. His voice was hoarse, and could barely stand by himself. He had dark circles under his tired eyes, not to mention the numerous injuries he had all over him. He was pale and weak— the sight of that made Luna's heart hurt. She held Axel's rough hand in hers. Luna helped him sit up, "you're not— this isn't fine at all! There's got to me something I can do—"

"If you don't want me to get hurt anymore," he said with a chilling smile, "then don't interfere, okay? Just trust me."

"But—" she hesitated.

Would things have changed if I told Axel about Pixie?

Axel's distraught voice rang in her mind: 'Then you've been lying to me, haven't you! All of you! What for?'

Learning that Luna, Bonnie and Kace had been hiding the truth from him must've been tough for Axel. Luna thought it was for the best to keep whatever happened at the Anistar Sundial a secret from Axel so he wouldn't blame himself for the aftermath, but honestly, she was starting to wonder if that was even the right decision.

Maybe... if I could stand up against dad—

She wanted to. She knew she had to, but his piercing gaze was all it ever took to silence her. Deep inside her, she held fear towards him that wouldn't go away. She looked at Axel, hoping to find reassurance in his eyes that it'll be fine.

She didn't find any. The usual sparkle in his eyes was gone. Instead, they radiated sadness and desperation, as if he were hiding something from her.

It's always like this. I can never tell what Axel's actually thinking. I keep on feeling like there's another side of Axel that he never shows me.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, "it's my fault, isn't it? That you have to—"

Axel shook his head, silencing her with another smile, "Don't blame yourself, Luna. You didn't do anything wrong."

It's all my fault you got dragged into this mess after all.

"Sorry to interrupt your reunion, but Luna, before you lash out at me, I must say that except for the cut on his cheek, all the other injuries are not my fault," Eclipse said, "And Axel, I'd let you know that I didn't lay a single finger on Luna."

"What do you want." Axel demanded with a glare, staggering up unsteadily and swinging his arm at Eclipse, only to stumble forward. Luna barely caught him as he breathed heavily in her hold, still trying to advance towards Eclipse, "And Pika...! What did you do to it!"

"It's uninjured," Eclipse assured him, "that said, that was quite an intense attack right there, wasn't it?"

Damage reflection material... come to think about it, when Pika hit the chains, aside from my wrist, I felt a sharp pain along my back too.

"...back. Something weird." he managed, "check my clothes."

Luna looked at him, hesitating for a moment before reaching into his back. He felt Luna's hand brush along his neck as she took off a strip of thin metal from the back of his collar.