Title: Wings of the Tormented
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Pairing(s): AkuRoku (Main pairing), RikuSora, Zemyx, Seifner
Rating: T+
Genre: Romance/Drama
Word Count: 3,091
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything to do with it, guys. D: I don't own any name-brand items that might be mentioned in this fan fiction either.
Summary: To be a guardian angel is to watch over the people you're assigned to, and make sure they're kept safe from harm. Rarely is one angel assigned to only one person in particular. Roxas is about to find out what happens when you not only have an angel watching over you 24/7, but also have one living next door.
Author's Notes: I don't really have much to say about this particular story. I thought it up a really long time ago, but I'm just now actually getting around to turning it into a nice story from Roxas's point of view. (The very beginning part is obviously not first person, but… Just wait.) Anyway, I'll try my best to actually finish this story. I don't finish many of my fan fictions, but I have so much free time right now that there's no excuse for me not to finish it. Enjoy~
Chapter I: The Man in the White Suit
"Come on, Roxas," the silver-haired man said in a silky, almost seductive sounding voice as he reached for the blonde's hand. Roxas slipped his hand into Xemnas's, letting him lead him up the old, wooden stairs.
The music blared in the room below. The floor shook from the music's vibrations under Roxas's feet as he tilted unsteadily. Why did he feel so unstable? He hadn't been drinking. Or at least, he didn't remember drinking. Not that that was a very good sign. Xemnas walked across the small room to the double bed in the corner. He sat down and crossed his legs, patting the spot on the mattress beside him, inviting Roxas to have a seat. The short, blue-eyed young man traversed the room and seated himself next to Xemnas.
"So, what did you need to tell me?" he slurred, giggling stupidly at the sound of his own voice.
Without warning, Xemnas was suddenly on top of him, his soft lips pressing against Roxas's in a firm, almost painful kiss. He kissed back, involuntarily, letting the older man dominate him as he shoved his tongue into Roxas's mouth. The blonde's head spun. He was just letting this happen, even though he didn't want it. When was his mind going to catch up with the rest of his body? Suddenly, he felt as though he would throw up. He opened his mouth to protest, but all that came out was an unintentional moan of pleasure. He felt Xemnas smirk against his own lips as he reached for Roxas's pants.
Suddenly realizing this was almost too wrong for words, Roxas aggressively broke the kiss.
"Xemnas!" he breathed roughly. "You said you had to tell me something!" He pushed against the silver-haired man's chest, attempting to wriggle out from under him, but Xemnas only pinned him back to the bed.
"I'm telling you something with my body," he replied coolly. "Actions speak louder than words, my dear." He gently tucked a blonde strand of hair behind Roxas's ear, smiling down at him.
"No!" Roxas yelled. "I don't want this, Xemnas! I thought we were friends!"
"Oh, friends we are," Xemnas whispered, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Roxas's neck.
"No," Roxas breathed, his heartbeat quickening. "No. Stop it, Xemnas. Please… Stop!"
I suddenly shot up in my bed, clutching my sheets tightly in both of my hands. If I had to guess, I would say that my knuckles were turning white from the pressure, but it was too dark to tell for sure, and I wasn't particularly concerned with my knuckles, anyway. I looked around in a panic. White walls, small bedside table, beat-up recliner in the corner of the room… I was in my apartment. I breathed a long sigh of relief.
"Of course, stupid," I whispered to myself. "Where the heck did you expect to be? It was just a dream."
I felt my forehead, worried I maybe had a fever, which could have caused that awful dream to resurface. My whole body was covered in a cold sweat, which wasn't exactly surprising. I shook my head, trying to get rid of that memory, as I had tried to do over a year ago.
Glancing at the digital clock on my bedside table, I saw that it was only 4:32 AM. For a moment, I contemplated going back to sleep, but I decided that another hour and a half of sleep wouldn't do me much good, especially if I would only have another dream about that night again.
So, instead, I made my way into the kitchen, wrenched the refrigerator door open, and snatched the carton of orange juice from inside, chugging half of it.
"Another great start to another great day," I muttered irritably to myself before heading to the bathroom for a freezing cold shower.
I had gotten lost in my own thoughts for far too long while in the shower, so I was running late for work. I cursed under my breath once I had finished showering and checked the time. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt out of my closet, and threw them on. I was about to blow dry my hair, but I decided to just let it air dry on the way to the Crimson Jazz. My hair was always a disheveled mess, anyway. I snatched a jacket from the coat rack, and with that, I was quickly out my apartment door, dutifully locking it behind myself.
It was a very sunny day, but still quite chilly, and I was glad that I had remembered to take a jacket with me. I then froze in my tracks, patting my pockets frantically.
"Oh, no, please tell me that I have it," I whispered to myself. "I don't have time to run back and get it!" Then I found it. My camera was safe in my jacket pocket, thankfully. Good thing I had accidentally left it in there yesterday.
My digital camera is my one prized possession. I never, ever go anywhere without it. Without my camera, I would feel somehow incomplete.
"You're late!" Cid shouted over the counter as I entered the Crimson Jazz. Cid Highwind is my boss. He's the loudest, most obnoxious man I've ever met, and he owns almost every business in this whole damned town. When I applied for a job at this café, I wasn't aware that I would be working for Cid, so once I was hired, I was a little unpleasantly surprised, to say the least.
"I know. Sorry, Cid," I replied coolly, taking my apron off a hook just behind the front counter.
"Sorry don't cut it, kid. You're nineteen fucking years old! You should be able to make it into work on time," he continued to yell, and the few customers that we had this early in the morning were starting to look either scared or concerned. Or both.
Over time, I've learned to just kind of tune out Cid's loud rants. It doesn't do me any good to listen to the insults that he sometimes throws at me, so I'll just nod attentively and try to look as though I hear him.
My best friend, Demyx, was currently standing right behind Cid, and he looked pretty scared and concerned, himself. He's never been quite as laid back as I am or at least good at faking it, so it's always been obvious that Cid scares Demyx half to death. He looked at me worriedly, and I gave him a slight shrug.
Once Cid was satisfied that he'd made his point, he retreated back to his office, and I sighed in annoyance.
Demyx scurried over to where I was standing. "How are you not scared shitless of that man?" he asked me, still looking sort of worried.
I chuckled at his question. "I don't know. I guess I just find him… loud and annoying. Not scary." I tied my crimson apron on, and Demyx did the same.
"Well, I find him very scary. That's why I always come into work on time. I'd rather not be yelled at for a good half hour, if that's all right with you. It's frightening enough watching him yell at you all the time."
"It's a wonder I haven't been fired yet. Cid really seems to hate me," I mused.
"As if he doesn't hate everyone," Demyx replied with a nervous laugh.
I smirked at that remark. It was true. Then I heard the small ringing of the bell above the entrance. I started to say, "Welcome to the Crimson Jazz," but noticed that it was just Yuffie, doing her best to sneak into the café without alerting Cid that she, too, was late for work.
"Trying to slip in casually without getting your ass chewed out yet again, huh, Yuffie?" Demyx called, almost mockingly. He obviously prided himself on being practically the only one who was ever at work on time.
"Shhh!" Yuffie hissed. "Keep your voice down, will you, Dem?" She took her own apron off its hook and quickly put it on, coming to stand next to Demyx and me as if she had been there the whole time.
Apparently, Demyx had called a bit too much attention to Yuffie's arrival, and Cid came out of his office to see what was up. "What's all this yelling about?" he asked, irritably.
"I wasn't that loud, was I?" Demyx mumbled to me under his breath. I shrugged in response.
"Yelling, sir?" Yuffie asked innocently.
Cid looked around skeptically, then turned to Yuffie and raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought I heard… Never mind." He turned around. "Sheesh, I'm getting too old for this job." We heard his office door slam shut in the back of the small café.
"God, Yuffie. You must be a ninja or something. Maybe I should try sneaking in the way you do every day. That would save me from a Cid rant or two," I said, seriously considering it.
Yuffie grinned at me, proudly. "Yepp, that's me! The great ninja Yuffie!" She giggled and skipped off to clean the tables that had only just been vacated.
"So, Roxas," Demyx began after Yuffie had gone. I looked up at him from the coffee cups that I was in the process of washing. "We still hanging out after work today?" he asked.
"You bet," I replied, hoping for the day to go by quickly. Working at the Crimson Jazz was nice and all, but I certainly had a far better time just hanging out with Dem.
Demyx and I have been best friends since our freshman year in high school. I was looking for a quiet place to study one day (the library was far too crowded for my taste), so I had decided to see if the music room was empty. When I walked in, I found Demyx sitting alone, just playing away on his guitar. In the back of my mind, I was slightly disappointed that the room was occupied, but I was also intrigued by the mysterious guitarist.
"What song is that?" I asked, hoping to not startle him, since he probably hadn't noticed I was even there.
He looked up, a bit surprised to see me standing before him, but replied, "Oh, uh… It's just something that I wrote. Nothing special."
"Really?" I asked. "I think it's great. You write songs?"
"A little bit… When I have some free time on my hands. I mostly just sit down with my guitar and play whatever comes to mind."
"You're really good," I said, and I wasn't lying. When I had walked in and heard him playing, I was surprised to find that it was a student playing so well. A student my age, nonetheless.
"You really think so?" his face lit up. "I've actually been thinking about maybe starting a band, but I'm not really sure yet. I'm Demyx, by the way." He held his hand out to me.
"Roxas," I replied, shaking his hand.
And we've been best friends ever since.
"Oh, wait," I said, remembering something all of a sudden. "I promised Naminé that we would hang out today. We never get to see each other anymore, since she's been so busy with college and everything."
"So bring her along!" Demyx replied with a wide grin.
"You mean it?"
"Definitely. It's totally cool. It's always nice to see Naminé." He grabbed a towel to dry off the cups after I finished washing them.
"Great." I smiled. "I'll call her to let her know what the plan is once we get off work."
Ring… Ring… Ring…
"Come on, Naminé, pick up." I stood outside the dimly lit café, holding my cell phone close to my ear and shivering only slightly from the chilly wind that blew through the town. I heard the entrance's bell ring from behind, and I knew that Demyx was coming to join me on the sidewalk. Yuffie was left to do the rest of the cleaning up tonight because Cid had figured out that she had been even later than I was this morning. I had chuckled inwardly when Yuffie was scolded by our boss.
"Hello?" came Naminé's voice from the other end of the phone line.
"Hey," I greeted, glad that she had finally answered. "You all done with classes for the day?" Naminé attends TTU, which is a pretty good university and everything, but we both know that she could have gotten into a better school. She's absolutely brilliant, but she wanted to go to the closest college possible so that we would still be able to hang out whenever it was convenient for her.
"Yeah, all done. Would you like me to meet you at the Crimson Jazz now?"
"That'd work. By the way, Demyx and I also made plans to hang out today, so is it cool if the three of us go out together?" I asked, hopefully, but doubtful that she would say no, anyway.
"Of course, Roxas! You know I don't mind." I could hear the grin in her voice, and I couldn't help but grin, myself.
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit," I said.
"See you soon, Roxas," she replied, and we both hung up.
"So it's cool with her?" Demyx asked as I put my cell phone back in my pants pocket.
"Of course. You know Naminé. Always up for anything."
Believe it or not, Naminé and I had been friends long before I even met Demyx. She and I were in the same class in first grade. We never paid much mind to each other, until one day when we were supposed to draw pictures of our pets. When I was little, I had this tuxedo cat named Demetri. Unfortunately, I've never been a very good artist, especially not back then. So, naturally, I became very frustrated when I couldn't draw a cat correctly. I sat across from Naminé, and she noticed my frustration right away. Much unlike me, Naminé has always been a fantastic artist. So, being the kind person that she is, Naminé helped me draw Demetri, and it was the best drawing of a cat that I had ever seen. I was only seven years old, after all. Since then, we've been absolutely inseparable.
I pulled my camera out of my jacket. "Smile, Dem," I said, holding the camera up.
Demyx made a funny face, and I took his picture. I chuckled when I saw how the photo had turned out. "I said to smile, you goof."
He laughed as well, and I showed him the picture on my camera's small screen. "I think it looks better than if I had smiled. You know, I think you're just a natural photographer, Roxas. Every picture you take always looks great with the perfect angle and lighting. How do you do it?"
I shrugged. "I guess it's just a gift I have."
And we both sat down on the curb to wait for Naminé.
I looked through all the pictures on my camera that I had taken with Demyx and Naminé tonight on my way back to my apartment. I tried to decide which ones I wanted to hang on my walls at home. With that thought, I started to think that I would soon run out of space on my walls to put pictures because I took so many. What I needed was more picture frames! I practically collected them. I mean, I needed to with all the pictures I constantly took. If I had more money, I would have gone to buy some right after Demyx, Naminé, and I had parted ways for the night. Oh well, I thought, maybe some other time.
I climbed the stairs to my apartment, starting to finally feel exhaustion catching up with me, but when I got to the top, I saw a rather odd sight.
"Oh, hey, buddy!" the strange man standing in front of me called, obviously happy to see someone. "Think you could give me a hand with some of these boxes?"
I stared. This man was nothing like I had ever seen. He was very tall and lean with spiked, flaming red hair, and there was a tear-shaped tattoo on each of his pale cheeks. He was sporting a blindingly white suit, but for some reason, wasn't wearing dress shoes to go along with his insane outfit choice. No, he wore beat up, red Converse All Stars.
"Err… Hello? Anybody home?" the weirdo called.
I felt awful when I noticed I had been gaping at him like some kinda fish, but hey, what the heck did this guy expect? You go around dressing like that, and people are no doubt going to stare!
I felt a blush creep across my face. "What?" I called back, somewhat upset at him for basically mocking me.
"I was wondering if you could give me a bit of help with these boxes?" he gestured to the sea of cardboard boxes that surrounded him, and I noticed that he was standing in front of the door right next to my apartment door. Wait a sec… He was going to be my new neighbor? This freak? You've got to be kidding me.
"Come on, kid, please? I'd really like to get moved in as soon as possible, and it's late. I really need some rest."
I sighed in defeat and strode over to him, picking up one of his many boxes. I wondered absentmindedly what in the world he needed all these friggin' boxes for, but I thought better than to ask. Starting a conversation with this unusual redhead was something I didn't particularly want to do.
"Thanks. You're a lifesaver, kid."
"It's Roxas," I muttered irritably under my breath.
"Come again?" the stranger asked.
"I have a name, and it's not 'kid.' It's Roxas," I repeated louder than I had originally intended to.
"Alright, alright, calm down there, Roxas," he replied, saying my name as if he had somehow known what it was all along. "I wasn't trying to offend you or anything." He bent down to pick up one of his boxes, as well. "Axel."
"What?" I spat.
"My name," the white suited man said, smirking for some reason.
"Oh," I felt another blush heating up my face, though I didn't know why, and I busied myself with taking more boxes into his mostly-empty apartment, hoping he wouldn't talk to me again, at least not until we had finished moving his thousands of boxes inside.
