Stolen

Chapter Seven:

Hayner glanced over at his companion sitting at the windowsill of their apartment while he closed up the first-aid kit. “You know,” he commented as he got up to put the white box back to where they kept it on a self in the bathroom. “If you keep frowning like that you’re face is going to stay like that forever.”

The only response he received from the younger teen was a grunt of annoyance. He could hear the rustle of movement but when Hayner returned to the living room he noticed his companion only rubbed at his left shoulder. He crossed the room and sat down in front of his roommate.

“I wished you had called me,” he said taking the boy’s restless right hand in his own. “Rather than taking that man on by yourself.”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference,” Hayner could see his companion struggling with holding back tears. “They wouldn’t listen to me.”

“He could’ve killed you,” Hayner whispered. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you.” He released the hand he was holding and reached up with both his hands to gently make the teen face him. Hayner wiped away the tears that streamed down the cheeks he was holding before pulling the boy in for a short kiss. “I love you.”

“I c-couldn’t help it,” the sobbing teen finally choked out. “I saw him and I just reacted. He’s –”

“Shh,” Hayner interrupted. He pulled the boy into his arms then lifted him from the windowsill. Carrying the teen into their bedroom, he gently rested him on the bed. “It’s been a long day. You should get some rest.”

Hayner placed a soft kiss on his lover’s forehead before working on removing clothing. Careful of the teen’s sore arm, he continued getting them ready for bed.

~*~

Regretfully Squall pulled back slightly from Sora’s seeking lips. He looked down into the curious sapphire eyes. “What was that for?”

Sora merely blinked up at him with pink surfacing on his cheeks in embarrassment. The boldness of his previous move had vanished and Sora had reverted back to his shy self.

Squall couldn’t fight the smirk that pulled at his lips and Sora pulled away, frowning at the older man for being teased. He stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest and turned away from Squall.

“You still owe me answers,” Sora let out, defiance in his voice. He was determined to know everything about what was going on.

“Do I?” Squall asked offhandedly. He leaned back against the front door and rested his hands in his pockets.

“Yes,” Sora replied. “Start talking.”

Realizing there was no way he was getting out of it, Squall sighed and walked past Sora, heading for the kitchen.

“Hey,” Sora complained.

“Relax,” Squall interrupted before Sora could get another word out. “Just going to grab a beer. And I’ll answer your questions if you answer mine.”

Sora curiously followed him into the kitchen and seated himself at the small table. He didn’t know what Squall wanted to know, but he figured Squall wasn’t going to talk on his own. He decided it was best to start at the beginning of today’s crazy events, “why did you leave me alone?”

“Hmm?” He reached into the fridge and grabbed a bottle. He twisted the cap off and offered it to Sora.

Sora only stared at the brown bottle. “I’m seventeen.”

Squall shrugged, closing the fridge door a little harder than necessary. He sat on the counter beside, and took a few swigs of the cold alcoholic drink.

“In the street or wherever it was,” Sora clarified. “You left me alone and that’s when that guy came at me.”

“I saw someone I knew,” Squall replied. He figured going with the truth was his best option, leaving out the parts that Sora shouldn’t know. “I thought you’d be safe there but I was wrong.”

Sora was silent for a moment, mulling over the new information in his head.

“Did that kid say anything to you?” Squall asked.

“He said that he wanted me to come with him,” Sora said, playing with the sleeve of his hoodie. “And when I refused, he grabbed my arm and started pulling. Said that I was in danger and it was really important that I go with him. Do you know who he was?”

“No.”

“What happened when you came back?” Sora questioned. “It sounded like a fight.”

“It was a fight.” Squall said, bringing his hand up to touch the tender spot on his cheek where the stranger’s fist had connected with his face. When he wasn’t drinking from it, he kept the cold bottle gently pressed against the sore spot.

Sora’s eyes followed the movement to Squall’s mouth. “Your lip is cut,” he said.

“Yours was the first time we met as well,” the older man replied. “And that brings me to one of my questions. Who has been abusing you?”

Sora’s jaw dropped slightly at the sudden question. He had completely forgot about his violent and controlling uncle and the memories of the pain he had experienced brought tears to his eyes. He hung his head in shame, stuttering out the answer. “S-Seifer.”

Squall took another drink of his beer while he contemplated what to say next. “You want to know why I kidnapped you?” he asked after a moment. “Because you deserve better. I wanted to take you away from harm. Keep you safe.” It was technically a lie, but it was the closest thing to what Squall was truly feeling; he wished it were the real reason he took the boy.

Sora glanced up at him, he didn’t say anything, but his expression showed his thanks.

Setting down his now empty beer bottle, Squall slipped off the counter onto his feet and crossed the kitchen to pull Sora up as well. Without words, he led the boy into his bedroom and they both climbed into bed. Neither of them caring that they were both still fully closed, Squall opened his arms and Sora cuddled against the man’s chest. It wasn’t long before they both fell into a comfortable sleep.

~*~

They were both woken up early the next morning by a knock on Squall’s door. Hesitantly, he climbed out of bed and silently made his way to the front door of his apartment to see what all the noise was about.

Before he even reached the door, he heard a familiar female voice from the other side of the door.

“Squall,” Kairi’s voice came somewhat muffled through the door. “I know you’re in there. Open up.”

Without bothering to answer the annoyed woman, he unlocked and opened the door. “Finally” she said as she brushed past him, holding a newspaper in her hand. “I’ve been waiting out there for five minutes.” She took a moment to smooth one of her hands through her short red hair. As if finally take the time to look over Squall’s appearance, she added, “You look like shit.”

“Good morning to you too,” Squall replied, already as annoyed as she was.

But as soon as he spoke, she turned on her heel, waving the newspaper she held in his face. “This is him, isn’t it,” she demanded pointing to the picture of Sora printed in full colour on the front page. “That boy you took. It’s Sora Almasy, right?”

Squall glared at the offending piece of recycled paper and ripped it from her grasp, scanning the article. “He’s offering a million dollar reward for Sora’s safe return,” he whispered in disbelief.

“So it is him,” Kairi said, her suspicions confirmed. “Seifer Almasy had a meeting with the press last night offering the reward. And there’s another $100,000 reward to anyone who has any information about his nephew’s whereabouts.”

“Damn it,” Squall cursed. This made things a little more complicated. “His uncle doesn’t even want him so why go through the trouble of causing a scene to get him back?”

“Politics, little brother,” Kairi replied. “If someone finds out that the kid is gone and that no one reported him missing, then Seifer is made the bad guy. Mr Big Bad CEO has to keep the public on his side.”

“Half brother,” Squall replied out of habit.

“Whatever,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “Why did you even kidnap Sora?”

“Squall?”

Both adults turned to the new voice joining the conversation. Only half of Sora was visible from hiding in the doorframe of Squall’s bedroom. He stared curiously at Kairi.

“Oh,” she breathed out, just as curious about the boy as he was about her. “How are your wrists healing, sweetie?”

Sora pulled back slightly, shocked that this strange woman knew about his attempt at suicide. He stood completely still, refusing to budge an inch.

“Well, come on,” Kairi tried again. “Let me have a look at them.”

With a worried expression, Sora glanced over to Squall. All of the other man’s emotions were carefully hidden behind a blank expression.

“She’s a nurse,” was all Squall offered about the woman.

It was good enough for Sora, so he walked the few paces until he was standing in front of her. She took his wrists before he had a chance to offer them and began examining the scabs.

“These are healing nicely,” she concluded, smiling down at Sora, a smile that he couldn’t help but return.

“Who are you?” he tried asking as politely as possible.

“Oh my, where are my manners,” Kairi exclaimed, “My name is Kairi. I’m Squall’s older sister.”

“Half sister,” Squall corrected again.

A small ‘oh’ was all Sora could think of to say.

“I patched you up when Squall first brought you home,” she explained almost too cheerily.

“That’s enough,” Squall interrupted before she had a chance to say any more. “Isn’t there some sick people you should be tending to?”

As if on cue, a loud beeping noise sounded in the room. Kairi released Sora’s hands and fumbled for the source of the jingle. “That would be my pager,” she said, looking over the small black device. “I have to go.”

“Good-bye,” Squall said as she headed for the door and in another second she was gone, the door slamming behind her.

Sora turned to Squall now that they were the only two left in the apartment. “You never told me you have a sister,” he said almost sounding offended that he didn’t already know this piece of information.

“You never asked,” Squall replied quickly. He retreated into the kitchen successfully ending the conversation.

~*~

“I have to go out for a little while,” Squall said, breaking the silence after eating breakfast and getting cleaned up. He eyed Sora carefully; the teen was surprised at first, then his expression melted into disappointment.

“I can’t go with you,” Sora guessed.

Squall nodded. “I can’t take you with me. Not during the day, and definitely not after everyone has had a chance to read this morning’s newspaper.”

“It’s because of the reward isn’t it?”

Squall didn’t reply but Sora already knew the answer.

“I shouldn’t be too long,” Squall said grabbing his keys on his way to the door. He turned and paused to take one last look at Sora before he closed and looked the door behind himself.

Squall trusted that he didn’t need to remind Sora not to do anything stupid. He knew that the teen understood that the safest place for him was with Squall. And Squall highly doubted that Sora would be dumb enough to do something that would place either of them in harm’s way.

It took longer than Squall had thought to make his way back to place where the deal was supposed to take place last night. He was there for one reason only: to retrieve his missing revolver.

Taking the last step around the corner to where the fight happened, Squall froze in place. He quickly recovered and hid back behind the corner, hoping to go unnoticed by the two men already standing in the alley. Squall silently cursed his bad luck.

He could hear garbage bags being moved and tossed around. The people were looking for his gun. Squall guessed that one of them was the attacker from the night before and the other probably a bodyguard.

All he knew was that he had to get his revolver back, and Squall was too busy trying to figure out his plan of action that he only realized that the men had snuck up on him when it was too late.

From around the corner, the pair of strangers came. The boy from last night was holding the gun in his good hand; safety off and pointed right at Squall. His injured arm held in place by a sling, the teen glared at Squall.

Sighing in defeat, Squall slowly raised his hands halfway in the air. He struggled to keep the panic he felt from showing on his face. His only thought was what would happen to Sora if the stranger killed him.

“Where is he?” the stranger growled, his index finger caressing the trigger. “What the fuck did you do to him?”

The other man took a step forward, placing his hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Calm down,” he whispered. “You won’t get any answers if you kill him.”

The taller of the two was clearly the brains behind this operation, and Squall was thankful that one of them was logical. Unfortunately it meant that Squall was at a serious disadvantage. It was unlikely that he was going to walk away from this situation unharmed.

Much to Squall’s surprise, the smaller teen backed off slightly at the request of his friend. He took the time now to look over the kid that was holding his weapon. There was something strangely familiar about the boy; maybe it was just because the blond reminded him of Sora. As Squall started into the eyes of the kid, he realized, to his horror, that they were the same shape and shade of blue as the teen he kidnapped.

“You can’t be,” Squall said before he even knew he was speaking.

“Shut up,” the armed boy barked. He went to move forward but the taller blond still held him in place. “Tell me what you did with Sora.”

“I –” Squall started but he was interrupted by the impatient teen.

“If you hurt him I swear, I’ll kill you.”

“Sora is fine,” Squall finally managed to get out. “Why are you so concerned about him?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” the boy laughed sarcastically. “My name is Roxas. Sora’s my brother. My twin.”

~*~

AN: Sorry about the long wait, and if there are any mistakes. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.