Kalos Quest Vol 3: Trapped

93. Trickery

Luna felt powerless. Once again, she couldn't do anything, Axel was the one who had to step up for her.

I thought travelling Axel changed me, yet in the end, I still can't stand up against dad. And because of that, Axel had to give up the USB...

She didn't dare to look at Axel. It's almost as if she's afraid of seeing him. She didn't want to see Axel get hurt.

He's strong. Axel'll be fine, right? He told me to trust him, so—

Even Luna herself knew that it was an obvious lie. There was no way he was fine, not with that beat up condition.

He's always like this.

"Please just stop..." Axel's voice quivered softly. He had his side faced towards her, and with his increasingly long hair in the way, she couldn't read his expression.

That said, she didn't have to look at his face to know that he was distraught. She didn't quite understand why Eclipse had to force the information out of Axel that way, but it was certainly effective.

They didn't get really physical with Axel, did they? She thought, I don't get it. I think they did a lot of talking, but I didn't catch all of it. What they did felt more like classic bullying, didn't it? I wonder why... wouldn't it be easier for them to force Axel to spit out everything he knows through physical torture or something?

Luna swallowed hard at the thought of Axel getting beat up to the brink of death. She was glad it did not come down to that because this was already too painful to watch. She had never seen Axel getting oppressed to tears.

It was the first time she saw him look absolutely broken.

She couldn't tell what she was feeling when she saw him like that.

Pity? Worry? Fear? Guilt?

She could hear his shaky breathing across the room as Eclipse stood in front of him imposingly.

"Luna's frightened, but she's unharmed, so don't worry," Eclipse said as the boy avoided his sharp eyes, "where's the USB?"

Don't do it.

There was a moment of hesitation from Axel, "one condition. Let us go right away."

"Oh," Eclipse smirked, "talking terms now, are you? Not bad, I like your guts."

Axel tensed up a bit, beads of sweat rolling down his face. Something's wrong. I'm feeling worse as time goes on. I'm losing my consciousness slowly, or rather, my mind... it's like swimming around in blankness, so clear yet so murky at the same time. I'm feeling way weaker as well and my chest feels heavy... is it because of the Pollen Puff?

He covered his mouth instinctively, "shut up... do you want the USB or not?"

"Do you not care about what happens to Luna?" Eclipse asked him back.

Axel gritted his teeth, "what do you want."

"Let me think," Eclipse said slowly. He had Axel in the palm of his hands, "For starters, let's have you express your sincerity," he pointed down to the ground with a condescending look, "grovel to me, forehead on ground. Easy peasy. Apologize for being such a pain in my neck."

Axel looked sideways. He didn't want to do that. Even trash like him had a bit of pride. His ego wouldn't allow him to bow down to Eclipse of all people.

"Where'd that drive of yours go?" Eclipse challenged mercilessly, "come on, it's not that easy to get someone to agree to your terms. You're lucky that I'm making such a simple demand in exchange."