You Are My Kingdom Hearts ➳ Axel

Pathetic Pathokinesis

Chapter 19: Pathetic Pathokinesis.

Jai's POV:

"It's exactly what I thought," Balthier muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. His gaze snapped to mine as he drummed his fingers along the lobby desk. "You have the power of Pathokinesis, do you not?"

"Path...okinesis?" I murmured slowly. I barely understood anything that had happened in the last hour. It had all been a blur. Axel had gone to fetch more bandaids, only to be stopped by Balthier who requested my presence.

Balthier nodded. "The ability to sense and manipulate emotions."

"Yeah... how did you know?" I asked, chewing the inside of my cheek nervously. Axel continued to stare at me with harsh eyes. He was really mad at me.

"I've seen it before," Balthier spoke forlornly. "It's reached the point of self-destruction. If you continue... you'll slowly kill yourself, lovely lady."

"How is that even possible?" Axel demanded, his eyes flaring with anger. I stayed silent, still trying to come to terms with the information.

Death. I would be a casualty to my own power. It was ironic in the way that it had saved me from uncomfortable situations time and time again, and now it would literally be the death of me.

"An abuse of power," Vincent stated emotionlessly. His arms were folded over his chest, his steady gaze on me.

He was leaning against the lobby counter beside Balthier. Throughout the conversation, Vincent hadn't said a word, but now he chose to speak up.

I laughed dryly. "What's the point of a power if you can't use it?"

"You only use it when necessary," Axel growled, his hands balling into fists.

"It's always necessary."

"Don't be a smartass."

"Whatever."

Balthier shook his head and slammed his fists on the desk. "Stop arguing like children!" he yelled at the two of us. Axel cowered slightly at Balthier's new attitude, but I didn't even flinch. I didn't care all that much anymore. 

"What can we do to help her?" Axel asked quietly, his eyes shut. I bit my lip. If I was already on the road to self-destruction, there couldn't be much hope. Then again, when wasn't I on the road to self-destruction?

"Jai, you need to rest. No using your power, no fighting. Nothing," Vincent cut in. His eyes were devoid of emotion, and so was his tone. His air of nonchalance was admirable. I certainly had a thing or two to learn from him about keeping my emotions in check. 

"You're kidding," I deadpanned. "We ran away, Vincent! You can't just tell me not to fight when I need to keep training!" 

Vincent chuckled. "Finally, you tell the truth about why you're here. You held out for a week, which I must admit is pretty impressive." 

I clamped a hand to my mouth as Axel merely held his head in his hands. Balthier laughed at both of us, sharing a knowing glance with Vincent. I'd seriously just told them we were runaways. Man, I was stupid. 

"We knew," Vincent revealed with a slight smirk. 

"What?!" I exclaimed in disbelief.

"We know exactly who you are and why you're here," Balthier replied, somewhat sheepishly.

"Perfect timing too," Vincent added. "We had time to alert the people who were looking for you of your whereabouts." 

Axel's hand snaked out in anger and he punched Vincent in the face. He was breathing heavily, his body obviously shaking with rage. "We trusted you!" he shouted furiously.