“Drink?” Namine replied awkwardly, her face still feeling hot from all of the embarrassment she’d endured for the day.

“Mm,” Marluxia purred softly as he stepped forward and seated himself at the lip of the bed. Kicking off his boots, he reclined part-way. Though Namine tried to squirm away from the rose haired beauty, her body did not cooperate much. She was weak, tired, and very ill. Pushing back the confines of his shirt, he lifted Namine that she faced him, straddling his hips. Her padded behind felt awkward, but Marluxia was glad to have that extra bit of protection between she, himself, and more importantly his velvet bed dressings. Wordlessly, he shifted he girl until her chin rested daintily beside the flushed pink nub.

Flustered to be in such a position, the blonde girl attempted to turn her head away but to no avail. Marluxia was quick enough to stroke his hand over the top of her head, preventing her from turning away from the curious sight of his chest. “Marluxia… please—this is…”

“Shh,” Marluxia interjected, deciding it best not to let the girl’s wander in the wrong direction. “You must drink now,” he added in satin tone. “There may not be much milk yet, but the little I have will help you.”

Namine was utterly confused. Screwing up her brows in thought, she glanced up to the petal prince. “…Milk? I don’t understand.”
“You do not need to understand.” Marluxia’s conclusion was gentle, but forceful. Shifting the girl’s head once more, he insisted the child’s lips over his flushed nub. “…Drink.” He commanded. A brilliant blush immediately flooded Namine’s cheeks. For a horrifying moment, she froze in place, exhaling a shuddered breath or two in hope that Marluxia would forget the whole idea.  It was to no avail. Marluxia prompted her once more with a solid: “drink…. I do not mind the intrusion.” The pity of  it was—Namine did!

“Marluxia, please!” Namine continued, turning all shades of red.

Marluxia shook his head and sternly barked: “no. It is necessary, so do not try my patience.” Namine quivered, but awkwardly parted her lips to accept the small nub of his nipple into her mouth. Closing her lips down around his flesh, she turned awkwardly and offered his flesh a small suckle. Initially, nothing came of it, and so she repeated the measure. It wasn’t until her fourth draw that a faint taste of something salty and sweet touched her mouth.

It was startling enough to force her to draw back with an awkward shout. “Aa—something…”

“Milk,” Marluxia murmured softly as he began stroking the back of the young one’s hair. “It contains antibiotics that will help you fight this illness…”

Namine bowed her head awkwardly, unsure how to ‘feel’ about Marluxia’s cumbersome way of helping her. On one side, it humiliated her so and she was rather peeved about that. On the other hand, she also understood that it was a great inconvenience to Marluxia. This confused her. Why couldn’t the man  be less… confusing; less confounding? Reluctantly she rested her lips back against him and took another awkward draw of his flesh. This time, a healthy bit of milk greeted her, forcing her to suckle in repeatedly.  “N- nn!” she whimpered finding the taste more pleasant than she would have imagined.

The Gummy ship lurched forward and up into space, forcing Kairi’s stomach to pin itself to her spine. “A- Aaa!!” She cried out in discomfort. Even Riku cringed, though Sora seemed excited as ever to be blasting off into space.

“WOO-HOO!” Sora squealed, feeling in a bit higher spirits.

Axel ignored the keyblade wielder’s enthusiasm and tried to hold Kairi steady. “Hey, don’t worry Kairi. Leon’s a tough guy—so surely he’s a decent pilot.” How pitiful that the moment he’d said that, the wing of the gummy ship clipped an incoming space vessel. “AGH!”

“UWAA!” Kairi  whimpered, shrinking into the nobody’s frame slightly. “…I feel ill…”

“Rgk!” Grunted Riku.

“LEEEOON! You’re DOING it WRONG,” Complained Sora.

Leon grunted and corrected the ship. “I said hold on—and the fore field is fine, so stop complaining. Just sit down and enjoy the ride,” he grumbled.

“If you’d just let me do it,” Sora whined.

Leon narrowed his eyes but did not take his eyes off the navigation chart. “Sora—I’d rather not deal with any more exposures. Sit down and shut up.”

“Hmph!” Sora scowled as he crossed his arms across his chest and glared out the window.

“I don’t care WHO pilots as long as we don’t all get vaporized in the process,” Axel groaned. Kairi whimpered once more and Axel sighed, shifting her as best he could. “…come on, don’t get sick again… that’d be bad.”

“Hmmmnn! –I don’t know if I can help it,” Kairi fussed, her eyes watering lightly as her head spun. Just then even Axel grunted lightly as he felt the awkward pressure of milk building in his chest. Resigned, he simply stroked the girl’s back, ignoring the girl’s occasional slug to his arm. Kairi wasn’t sure she wanted a villain stroking her—much less taking care of her.

Sora spent the remainder of the trip sulking. Leon remained white-knuckled at the steering column, glaring into space in hope of avoiding any farther screw-ups. Leon was  an amazing fighter, but Sora was a better pilot. There was a reason or two Sora had been made Keyblade master. Riku faired rather poorly and had taken to fading to a paler and paler shade. Generally he wasn’t the sort to become airsick, but this trip ‘round, he certainly wasn’t feeling grand. “Egh,” Riku grunted. “Are we there yet? You’re taking forever, Leon.”

Leon refused to answer for a long while. Only when the ship began to slow and slowly descend was the answer known. They had arrived at Hollow bastion. The only bad thing was that Leon had neglected to announce his landing.

“There she is, Aerith!” Cid was barking on the mechanic air-deck as he showed off a new brand of air-cycle. “Like a flyin’ motorcycle from he—WHAT THE,” needless to say, Cid unleashed a string of profanities that would have gotten Sora’s hind paddled and grounded. The scruffy mechanic leapt back from his unfortunate creation… as Leon touched down and squashed its right wing like an old cupcake. The swearing hardly stopped there.

“Leon?” Sora began, lifting a brow. “That crunch… didn’t sound good.”

Leon’s face was a bit pale but he sighed and stood without a word. No sooner than he’d opened the hatch did Cid come bursting in, ranting and raving.

“LEON! Whaddafu**’re you doin’?! Do you know what you just did?!”

“Damned if I care right now, Cid. Kairi’s—“ began Leon.

Cid cut him off in scruffing his collar and giving him a rough shake. “I can kick your keister out your talk-hole, ya punk! Now start explainin’ with yer yap or I’m gonna – Wait… Did you say somethin’ was wrong with Kairi?” Cid’s grip on Leon’s collar slacked and Leon pushed passed Cid and pocketed his hands.

“…Don’t beat the crap out of Axel. He’s here on peaceable terms… for now,” Leon grunted.

 Axel stood awkwardly with Kairi and toted her gently. “…alright… I’m just going to go BY the scary mechanic… and go down the stairs…” Kairi moaned in pain, Cid growled. Axel was able to ease himself down the flight-stairs sure enough, but grimaced at the feel of heat in Kairi’s brow. Sora and Riku were not but a breath away from Axel’s heels, ready to paw and pick him over if he moved an inch out of place with Kairi. Cid remained out on the mechanical deck for the time being, lamenting the destruction of his precious creation; groaning about the waste of parts and how long it would take him to pound them out again.

“I’m going to take you to a guest room,” Leon commented suddenly as they flanked up a massive stairway just inside the great hall.

“Sounds good…” Axel murmured, feeling rather uneasy to be this engrained in enemy territory. If they wanted to, they could have extinguished him at any moment. It wasn’t the easiest idea to contend with in confidence. He still appeared quite relaxed, shifting Kairi who was breathing a bit heavier in his arms.  “Look,” Axel began as Leon showed him to a quaint, empty bedroom. “…I’m going to need some supplies from town—or from the castle, if you have them. “

Leon folded his arms silently- crossly- indicating that he was listening. Axel continued on explaining about the complete effects of the virus to the best of his abilities. He was no science wiz as Vexen was.  The explanation came awkwardly at best, and as he explained things with smattered anatomical terms, Kairi cringed; a horror flooding her.

“No—No way!” Kairi shrieked.

“…Hey, I’m sorry, but you’re the one that ran head-long into the stupid lab,” Axel mumbled.

“And you’re the one who kidnapped her,” Riku growled, summoning his keyblade.

“Riku,” Leon murmured as he extended his arm out to block Riku’s attack-path. True, he would have had to intervene his entire body to stop a real attack from Riku, but for the time being, he assumed it enough to quell the boy’s fury. He assumed correctly as Riku growled weakly and stabbed the tip of his blade into a crease of the floor-tile.

“You’re going to get the cure for us though… right, Axel?” asked Sora softly, almost pleadingly.

Axel paused a moment and tore his eyes away from both Sora and Kairi’s. Damn those baby blues!  “…Yeah,” he murmured distantly, a small hint of what sounded like regret in his voice. “…This is somehow tied to me anyhow. I should have kept better hold of my hostage.”

Riku growled once more, but Leon cut him off. “So long as the deal remains, you may stay, unscathed. I will see to it that all you need is sent directly to this room. Any accommodations you require, you need only ask anyone in the castle. They can make the necessary arrangements for you.”

“…I’ve never heard you string more than four words together. How inspiring,” Axel teased, flashing a lop-sided grin of approval toward the scarred hero.

Leon was not amused by the teasing and instead twisted to gather Riku’s arm. Keeping tight hold beneath the boy’s shoulder, Leon grunted: “Sora. Riku. We need to talk about something.”

“Wait just a minute—You can’t just leave me here!” Kairi squealed, looking awfully betrayed.

Riku grunted as he was pulled along, and cast Kairi a promising look. Sora, on the other hand whimpered and murmured: “don’t worry, Kairi! We’ll be back soon. Leon’s not going to kill us or anything… right, Leon? ….Leon?”    Leon failed to answer and continued dragging Riku in tow.