Written for a forum. :3 This is Larxene and Demyx's childhood. This is their friendship, this is their past. Enjoy.
Don't own the words or the characters or anything.
Note: Changed Larxene's name
remember when we were kids,
and always knew when to quit it?
are we denying the crisis..
or are we scared of admitting it?
They were friends.
Maybe even more, but they were close. Very close, they spent most of their time together, swimming out to the little island and wasting away their days. Laying on the sand and enjoying the breeze and the thick salty air. Goofing off and spending most of their time just hanging out, talking, staying up all night to watch the stars, his arms wound around her whenever she got cold.
School didn't matter, neither of them cared too much and though he was more of a slacker than she, they spent most of their days just wasting time. Their little town was free from corruption of big cities, but at the same time it was almost worst. Though there weren't heavy strings of drugs and violence, there was a thick blackness living in everyone.
Being such a small town, rumours spread fast. They consumed the dry town like wildfire. That smoke would poison everyone who came close. They were only twelve, ignorant to that poison. It didn't matter to them, they were too young to care, to get it. So they just enjoyed their time together before it all sunk in with each new year.
He was a little older than her, and on his birthday she started to see this poison. She wasn't blind, she knew that the way her parents acted wasn't right, a little girl didn't deserve that kind of treatment, but she had never thought much of it until her best friend's birthday, and she saw the kindness that they gave him. She had never wanted to spend time in one of their houses, enjoying the feel of outside more because she just thought that all parents were like hers.
Demy's parents were kind, they did everything for him and she really didn't understand. She liked how they treated her, she liked the way they asked her what she wanted, asked her if she wanted more cake, asked if they wanted to do anything special. Looking back on it now, she had a feeling that his parents know how hers were, and so they treated her a little extra just because they felt sorry for her.
The night she went home, she was greeted by the usual mess. Their spotless house and her grubby shoes from clomping around in the mud with Demy earlier, their angry faces - she hid in her room, knees pulled hard to her chest with her face pressed into her knees. Wondering why they couldn't just greet her with a hello, a 'welcome home, dear'. Anything would have been nice, instead they made her take off her shoes outside and roll up her pants - straight into the shower to clean up for her.
She didn't understand it, and Demy threw a small rock at her window and she peered out, the bags under her eyes clearly visible. She shook her head when he motioned for her to come down, and instead sat on the floor beside her bed, legs still hugged to her chest. He didn't leave, and climbed up to crawl in through the window and place his comforting arms around her. She clung to him, hiding her face in his shirt as he said soft things into her ear.
As they grew older, she stopped doing so well in school. She had been a smart girl, able to get high marks despite her slacking. She stopped caring, she stopped bothering to do well and it showed, her grades dropped lower than Demy's had ever been. She spent less time with him, though she had never really liked being home, she spent a lot of time there because she just didn't feel like going out. And as she grew older, her parents became more strict, their screaming wars vibrated the house. She would just sit there, staring at the floor and listen. They fought about groceries, money, work, but never her.
On her fifteenth birthday, her mother left. It was a huge mess she caused, breaking dishes, the few friends she had over went home, Demy stayed, taking her hand and leading her upstairs into her room, holding her hand as she squeezed it and fought the tears. Flinching at ever destructive noise. Each time the glass broke, each time someone yelled, each time a door slammed or a body hit the floor.
He was there for her the whole time, trying to ease the worried stress in her system, the pain that was ripping through her. She couldn't deal with it, it was hard to control and she felt like she was breaking. As the final slam ripped through the house she could only cling tighter and bite her tongue until she tasted blood. Her father came into the room, blood on his cheek and hauled his daughter up by her shirt, making her stand. "She's gone" He hissed, "The bitch won't be back. We're on our own - you need a job. Get on that. Now"
He let go roughly, and she collapsed, her body quivering as Demy tried to catch her, he slammed the door and her composure finally cracked. She clung hard to him as he did his best to soothe her. Stroking her pale yellow hair and trying to do his best. He had no idea what to do, he was shocked at what had happened and could only hold onto her and let her squeeze him until there were bruises across his skin.
She was changing, there were bags under her eyes and she began to push everyone away, failing her classes and starting to smoke. Demy wouldn't leave, he stayed at her side, trying to help her. Trying to help her heal, trying to pull her back. She grew mean, and would snap at the flick of a penny, the job she got was something she hated. Answering phones and pasting this stupid phony smile across her lips. Trying to make money so her father wouldn't freak out. She pretended she was under paid, and used the rest of the money that she got on booze and smokes.
Demy did his best - trying to convince her to come out of this rut she was falling into. Trying to save her, trying to break through to the girl he knew. Nothing worked, she only tried to push him away more and more.
She sat in his living room, her knees pulled to her chest. Alcohol running lethargically through her system, tears running down her face as she sat on the floor, Demy with his hand on her shoulder, trying to talk to her. Trying to tell her that things were fine.
At sixteen. Relena dropped out of school.
Alcohol became a common thing, her face was washed out and her skin was pale, Demy was worried but there wasn't much he could do anymore. He just sat with her, trying to get her to stop this. Her stress levels were through the roof with each new day.
One night, she came home from work late, her father had got into her booze and was livid that she had been drinking. Though she was annoyed that it had taken him nearly a year to realize. Was he that out of it? He threatened her, a knife in his hand. They were yelling and she did her best to hold her own, stand her ground, his arm came flying at her and a clean little slice to her ear and her head cracked against the wall with the force of his throw. Her head spun, her vision blurred. She pulled herself up the best she could, and that's where it happened.
He stood above her, darkness swirled within her. Would he kill her now? The small trickle of blood was all she leaked, and she rose, fear written in her dull green eyes. She bolted, running upstairs to her room and locking the door. Her breath coming fast, her heart racing, her head aching. She sank to the floor in the corner, clutching her legs to her chest and rocking, trying to ease away the intense worry in the back of her mind. Standing at the back of her neck, she tried to ease it. To get rid of the worry.
Demy didn't come by that night - if there had ever been a time that she needed him, it would have been then.
It continued to happen, her father had found a way to scare her, that fear, that panic, drove her into obeying, terrified at what he would do. Demy arrived a few nights later, finding her huddled in her room, staring at the ground with a haunted look in her eyes. He went towards her, when his fingers lightly brushed her arm she flinched, turning her wild eyes to look at him.
He tried touching her again, and she stiffened, squeezing her eyes shut hard and clinging harder and harder to her knees. Water leaking from her closed eyes as he tried to pull her close. She remained stiff, as though the touch scared her. He just stayed with her, trying to soothe her. Running his fingers through her hair and trying to get her to relax.
Eventually, she did. Curling into a ball in his arms as he rest his mouth against her hair. The worry evident on his face, he needed to get her out of here, far away from him. Far away from everyone that could hurt her. Enough people had done that, she needed a safe place that she could go. She fell asleep in his arms, and he leaned against the wall, staying up all night to watch her. She looked so tired, she hadn't slept much with her anxiety, so he let her sleep. Making sure she was fine, in her sleep, she started screaming, clawing at him and thrashing. He couldn't wake her, and only held her until she stopped, his body trembling hard as he tried to keep her sane. Tried to keep her from breaking. She felt so fragile, she was so thin and there were half full bottles of liquor and smokes scattered across her room.
In the morning, he skipped school and carried her to his house, she simply lay limp in his arms, and he brought her to his room, laying her on his bed and stroking her cheek. His mother entered the room, looking concerned. She only stood in the doorway, watching her son's hands shake as he stroked the cheek of a girl that she had seen change so rapidly over the past few years. Sad for him, and for her, she brought a tray of food up, ruffling her son's spiky hair to encourage him.
Relena didn't go to work, Demy didn't go to school. When she found the energy to move she sat back down on the floor, pulling her legs to her chest. He hadn't slept, the stress was breaking him and he kept trying to get her to eat. Trying to get through to her - nothing seemed to work. Had he lost her?
She spent a week at his house, a week that he didn't go to school. He tried every hour of every day to get through to her, to hear her soft voice. At the end of the week, he ripped her arms from her knees, holding her wrists hard. Shouting her name, trying to get her to listen to him, she seemed to relax, and looked up at him. Her thoughts were swirling in her mind, she couldn't think. But she saw him, saw what she was putting him through, and moved forwards, dropping her knees to the floor and pressing her face into his chest. He let go of her arms and she wrapped them around his waist. She said nothing, but he could tell she was sorry.
She was still as he held her, tears running down his cheeks in half-relief, half painful stress.
The years kept passing, she went back to her father's house, trying to keep her anxiousness away. Trying to stay strong, to look him in the eye and tell him that she wasn't afraid.
Now eighteen, she was trying to keep it together, trying to keep the darkness way, trying to keep the panic attacks from happening, trying to keep Demy close, because most of her wanted to push him away. He was too stubborn to let her do that, and would come over every night to make sure she was okay. They didn't go to the play islands anymore, he did his best to keep her from breaking. Tried so hard, he had stopped going to school long ago to try to help her.
Nothing ever worked. He cared about her but she continued her binging. Not eating, instead filling her empty stomach with smoke and alcohol, with everything that she was going through, she didn't see what she was putting him through. She didn't see the way he seemed so destroyed every day.
She came home from a long day of work, her new job was just as bad as the old one, and because of that she was fired. Her father demanded money from her, pulling out the good old knife and pointing it at her. She stood strong, numb from some new drug she was trying, staring at him plainly. Telling him that she wasn't working anymore, and that he could go fuck himself.
He pressed the tip of the knife into her collar, she didn't move. Only stood there, watching him try to intimidate her. Watching him try to get a reaction from her. Red ran down the front of her shirt as the blade moved deeper, slicing through the skin. She hardly felt it, and tilted her head to the side, asking if he was done yet.
He hit her, her fragile body crumbling against a wall, a dish from above rattling and shattering across her boot-clad foot. She only blinked at the mess, her head spinning terribly, she stood, easing herself off the ground. Her foot wasn't hurt, but there was a steady ache just above her collar bone.
Demy had been on his way, and heard the commotion. He tried the locked front door and growled, kicking it in and finding Relena with blood running down her front. The red bright in the cheap yellow lighting of the room. He moved to her side, grabbing her hand and pulling her. The man grabbed her other arm, bruising it and tossing her like a rag doll across the room. She landed in the kitchen, and just lay there. Lacking the energy to get up. Her body was humming pleasantly and she knew she'd be sore later. Watching Demy stand up to her father, watching a flash of blood across his cheek as his fist connected with her father's mouth. Quickly, he moved to her.
He hauled her up off the ground, cradling her against his chest as he took off outside, running down the street with the girl just laying against him. Heading to the islands. Someone's boat was docked, and he set her down in it, climbed in, and started moving. Going the short distance in a little wooden boat to the little islands, carrying her out and taking her to the old shack that they had built years and years ago. Carrying her inside and setting her down, she groaned softly, bringing a hand to the blood splattered across her pale flesh. He sushed her, telling her not to make a noise as he worked to clean it, taking his shirt off and ripping it to shreds to wipe up the red.
She brought one heavy hand to his face, stroking his cheek with her fingers. Smearing the line of blood on his own face. She did something that worried him more than anything else that she had done - she giggled. Cackling madly with the red across her fingers, her hand still across the side of his face. She sat up, a light smirk across her lips. Worry reached him - what was going on?
Relena pulled her knee to her chest, the other stretched out. Looking amused about something that he couldn't put his finger on, her own fingers moved to her lips, pink tongue tasting the blood on them. Mentioning something about her father, curses dripping from her heart-shaped lips. He muttered her name, pressing his hand to the side of her face. Was she okay? This wasn't like her, not at all.
He was worried, and tried to knock some sense into her, but it seemed like all of it had been knocked out already. The strange smile across her face, he was scared of her. She tapped his nose lightly, her arms were too thin, she giggled and he was scared for her. What was happening to her?
He muttered her name, she moved towards him, peering into his eyes. There was still red staining her shirt, as if she didn't even notice.
There was nothing he could do, he watched her as she stood and pranced around the shed, talking to herself and laughing. He was scared of what she was turning into, he was more than worried about her. He felt so lost, and eventually she wandered over to him sitting there and pressed herself against his side, ducking under his arm and cuddling up to him. Closing her eyes and falling asleep.
What had she become? He stoked her hair as she slept, asking her the question over and over until he couldn't take it anymore. He wanted to just leave, she was poisoning him. Instead, he only held her tightly. Trying to imagine her as the same girl that he used to know. Kissing her forehead tenderly, praying that she would be back to normal, that maybe she was just on something again and that's why she was acting to weird.
In the morning, she was so different. He knew that smile was fuelled by something else, something completely different. It seemed as though she had finally snapped, her fragile mind unable to take the mixture of abuse and self-destruction and anxiousness, she had snapped. Relena was no more, in her place there was a girl he didn't know. One that didn't seem to care about him, one that seemed to enjoy making his life miserable. It hurt.
She seemed content staying in that shed, though she would go with Demy back to his house to shower and change, the scar on her collar was usually plainly visible with the clothes she wore, and she only served to push him around.
He didn't play music anymore. He used to all the time, they'd sit out on the beach and play music, sometimes she would sing. Her soft voice was beautiful and it felt so nice, so natural against the evening sky. But now, her voice was cracked as if it ran through sandpaper.
The summer was beginning to storm, and the worst happened. The years had been rough, Relena was like a doll that he was ashamed of having. She simply existed and he didn't know if he could reach her where she was anymore. He was in his twenties, so was she. They were on the little islands, she was laying across that wooden bridge, her long legs hanging over the edge, Demy sat beside her, trying to play music. Trying to bring her back. He even tried singing, trying to bring her back to him, trying to get her to remember those songs they used to sing together. Nothing, no response from her, just her staring, fascinated by the storm brewing above her, that it didn't matter. Not until she heard a voice, a loud booming call. A man she knew at her father, she sat up and stared at him. Fear written in her eyes. She scrambled to her feet and she sought out Demy's hand, finally grasping it and squeezing, trying to stand strong as he came over to her. He was carrying a blade, sharp and a little longer than the one that he had used last time. Demy stood in front of her, trying to protect her, trying to save the shell of his friend from destruction.
It was too late.
He moved to the bridge, watching them. Calling Relena all sorts of things. Telling her that she was selfish, that she should be with him because he needed to her help him out. He had raised her for eighteen years and she needed to pay him back, he moved forwards and she took a small step backwards, hiding behind her friend. Her hands touching him, clinging to him.
He tossed Demy out of the way, he landed on the other side of the bridge, almost tumbling off into the churning ocean waters before. It had begun to rain. He stood in front of her, pointing the blade at her. She was scared, she was the same old Relena that she had been all those years ago, just a scared little girl looking into the face of her father.
Sucking in a breath, she darted forwards, elbowing his arm and backing into him, snatching the knife from his hand as they fell backwards. She rolled away, holding the knife hard in her hands. Shouting at him to leave her.
They fought, Demy pulled himself up and watched them. Grabbing his guitar in his hand, all these things were just too much, he couldn't hold on anymore, when her father came close, he hit him as hard as he could, shattering the guitar against his head. The man fell, and Demy turned to Relena as she threw herself at him, clinging to him. His breath was growing weaker, she felt it. He took a step backwards and stumbled, the world around them went pure black. She was lying on her stomach and he was falling. Hanging over an invisible edge, she clung to his upper body, and he clung to hers. She called his name, hiding her face in his chest. The rain was everywhere, she could feel it. His body was weak. He couldn't hold on.
"Hey" He said softly. "Come on now, you can always find me." He knew what was happening - though he didn't understand it. She could see the years of pain she had put him through, it echoed in his eyes, and she tried to hold onto him. "I won't be gone" He whispered, his grip growing weaker, leaning up to press his forehead against hers. "Promise me that you'll stay safe" He said softly. "Promise me that you'll stay strong, wherever I'm going I don't want to see you there. You're not allowed" His face scrunched up as something in his chest began to crumble, trying to break out. It was too much.
"No please, please don't leave" She begged. "I need you, I can't do this alone. Oh please" Her voice shook, and she clung to him as his grip relaxed, she couldn't hold on for too much longer. "Don't leave me, please." She begged, and he only smiled, that smile that she had missed. The one that had been gone for so many years.
"I'll be fine. Leave here, Relena. You'll get better if you go, you'll be able to heal. And.. I'll always be with you" His lips were soft, and they pressed to hers before his grip relaxed completely, unable to keep holding on, she screamed, grasping his hand with both of hers, trying to keep him from falling. Tears clinging to the tip of her nose. Muttering his name, begging for him to hold on, begging for him to come back.
But he didn't, he looked up at her with that small smile on his face, squeezing her hand one last time before he dropped. Letting go, and his body started to vanish. Staring at his feet, sparkles of him disappearing into the world of blackness she was in. A pale glowing heart floated from his chest, rising, disappearing into nothingness as she was left alone. The world came back, the wing rushing in her ears and the dark stormy sky cackling. Lightening struck hard from the sky, she was laying across the bridge, her hands hanging over the edge. There was no sign of him in the water, he was gone. She had never felt so empty in her life. She had done this, hadn't she? She rolled to her back, watching the lightening crackle above her, taking in the static feel in the air. Suddenly, she was hauled to her feet, her father held her by her shirt, hitting her face. She grunted, sagging in his grip.
Relena didn't care anymore.
He dragged her 'home', and she just wondered where Demy was. Where was he? Why had he told her not to follow? Why?
Too many questions, she hugged her knees to her chest and sat with her head bowed. She had never felt so alone in her life. Without Demy, life was meaningless. She let him do whatever he wanted to her, and he did. Tossed her around, forcing her to cook for him, forcing her to clean for him. She did everything he told her to do, she hadn't spoken to his mother, she didn't know what to say to him. She didn't know how to tell him, she didn't know what had happened.
So she kept quiet as she heard whispers, asking where Demy was. They started to blame her, knowing that she was the reason that he dropped out of school, the reason he had looked so tired and sad all the time. She had been the cause of all of this, in her time of craziness she hadn't noticed. Now what could she do
It was only a few short weeks before she followed him into the dark.
Her father stood in front of her, she had a small collection of knives that she held between her fingers, trying to stay stable but she just couldn't. She hadn't been drinking in an awful long time and it felt as though she was losing something very close to her. Something important. She held the blades in her hands as he came towards her, this was the last time.
He broke her arm, and she slipped the knives deep into his throat. The warm blood gushed across her hand and he fell, she stood, holding her knives, they clattered from her hands, her world churned and she had killed. She had taken a life, outside there was lightening. It had been storming for weeks now. She could feel the electricity in the air and she closed her eyes. When she opened them, the storm was brewing over her and she was surrounded by darkness. Electricity cackled, and she could feel as though something was being torn from her chest. Her body started to fade, her heart rose from her chest slowly, her vision clouded as she fell backwards, disappearing completely. Leaving the knives and the pool of blood behind for good.