Check it out! New fic!! And as an added bonus, it actually has chapters with decent lengths!

Tell me what you think! :D

Disclaimer: I asked to own Kingdom Hearts for my birthday. Sadly, I just got over 50 copies of the game. Sigh.

Roxas smacked his alarm clock with much more force than necessary. It was his 18th birthday today, but it was also the first day of the second semester of senior year. The fact that he had the worst case of senioritis wasn't helping to keep his eyes open. Why did he have to go to school on his birthday? That should be against the law.

"Roxas! I made you pancakes in the shape of birthday cakes!"

Roxas groaned at the noise. "I'll be down in a minute," he called back. Was it just him, or did his bed just get softer? His eyes slipped shut again- "They're getting cold, Roxas!" –as Cloud's voice startled them back open. Another groan, and Roxas was headed downstairs.

"Good morning sunshine," Cloud smiled at him good-naturedly. He held out a plate piled high with pancakes. "What kind would you like? Blueberry? Chocolate chip? Banana?" All three?"

Roxas stared blankly up at him. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's wrong with cooking your only brother pancakes on his birthday?" He shoved the plate into his hands and went back to cooking.

Roxas scanned the plate, finding the pancakes to be incredibly accurate. He didn't doubt that they would taste just as good as they looked. Cloud was an excellent cook. But he didn't normally do things like this. The most plausible reason for this display of brotherly affection would be that this was his first birthday without their parents.

"You didn't have to do this, you know. It's not like it's much of a birthday anyway since I have to go to school."

"Well, the least I can do is try to make it just a little bit better, so suck it up and eat your pancakes," He narrowed his eyes and waved his spatula at him, "I worked hard on those, you know."

"I know, I know. And I do appreciate them," he emphasized his point by shoving a huge bite in his mouth and chewing noisily, receiving an unimpressed eye roll from his brother.

After finishing his breakfast, Roxas dragged himself back up the stairs to get ready for the day ahead. He grumbled to himself as he shed his pajamas on the bathroom floor. Despite the delicious breakfast, there was still much to be desired from this day. As he let the water for his shower heat up, he saw something flicker from the corner of his vision. He whipped his head around to where he thought he saw it, finding nothing. He shrugged and stepped into the shower, sending a shiver down his spine, as he glanced around the room once more before closing the curtain.

--

"Dude, why are you so jumpy today?" Hayner remarked while shoveling Fritos in his mouth. "You keep looking over your shoulder like someone's stalking you or something."

Roxas turned his attention back to his friend, pretending like he wasn't doing just that. "Really? I guess I'm just bummed about having to be here today."

Hayner nodded empathetically. "Looking for an exit? I tried that. This place is like a fucking prison though."

Roxas hummed in agreement, still idly scanning the cafeteria's corners for any signs of movement. He'd been seeing brief flashes of something all day. He was probably just being paranoid, but he couldn't help but think it might be something more. Someone really could be stalking him. It wouldn't be the first time.

"Happy birthday, Roxas!" chirped Olette from behind him as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"We all pitched in to get you this," said Pence from somewhere to the side as a cupcake was brought into his vision.

Roxas couldn't help but smile. "Thanks guys. I would eat it except for the fact that Olette is crushing my esophagus."

She chuckled softly and reluctantly released her hold on him, making Roxas cough over-dramatically. She rolled her eyes in his direction as she took her usual seat next to Hayner.

"Looks pretty good, huh?"

"Yeah Hayner, but I'm not sharing," Roxas replied triumphantly as he bit into his cupcake.

"…What?" Hayner gave him a puzzled look.

"You meant the cupcake, right?" Roxas answered, mouth full.

"When? I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, you… you said that it looked good," Roxas turned to his other friends to back him up, but found that they had equally puzzled expressions.

"Maybe you heard something from another table," Olette ventured, attempting to help him out.

"I guess I must have…" He turned toward the tables around him, but all the noise from them seemed to be lost in the overall din of the cafeteria. He was certain it had come from his general vicinity though.

"So do you have any plans for after school, Roxas?" Olette asked, presenting a much appreciated change of subject.

"Yeah, Cloud was going to make me a big dinner," he answered, mouth full.

"Heh. Can I come?"

Okay, that did not sound like Hayner this time. It sounded much… closer. And honestly, he was really freaked out by this. "Uh, guys? I'll see you in class, okay?" He shoved the rest of his cupcake in his mouth and left before they could respond.

He walked down the empty halls, pace quickened by panic. So he was hearing voices now. That was new. He listened more acutely here, seeking the voice out, hoping to figure out the source now that he was out of the cafeteria.

"-totally blew up Vexen's-"

Roxas halted. He heard it again. It was like a piece of a conversation. He listened harder.

"-at's he doing? He's just stopped in the hall. Looking rather constipated actu-"

Shit. His head whipped around, eyes frantically searching the area around him. Whoever the voice was coming from could see him.

He began walking again, returning to a normal pace. If the voice's origin could see him, he needed to act as if he couldn't hear it. He would've blamed this on Seifer, but he was way too dumb to set up anything this complex. He would just go through the day, pretending like nothing was wrong. All he had to do was tune the voice out. No problem.

--

… Big problem. Because of the stupid voice, he couldn't concentrate on any of his afternoon classes. He ended up having to get notes from Pence half the time. It just kept talking. Mostly bits of a one-sided conversation, but sometimes it seemed like it was talking directly to him. A few times it actually gave him answers in class. It was surprisingly quiet through calculus, though.

When the last bell signaling the end of school finally rang, Roxas all but bolted out of the room. He felt bad for ignoring his friends, but he didn't want them to worry. He had to get home and sort this out on his own.

Once secure in his room, he settled onto his bed, waiting for the voice to speak up again.

"You sure this is working, Dem? I'm getting absolutely no feedback."

And there it was. Right on cue. "Auuuugh! Get out of my head!" He yelled at what he assumed to be nothing.

"Oh? So you can hear me? Very sneaky, Roxas."

It knew his name? Fuck. "How… How do you know my name? What are you?"

"The name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"

"You have a name? So you're… a person?" Roxas couldn't help but search his room for a speaker, even though all evidence pointed to insanity.

"More or less. We'll get into that later."

"Later? What do you mean 'later'?" Roxas wriggled under his bed. Nope, no speaker.

"You know. Like as in, not right now. Also, there's no point trying to find me. You'll see me as soon as soon as Dem gets back."

"What?!" The surprise sent his head straight up into the wood frame of his bed. "Ow… fuck…" He rubbed the spot tenderly.

"Tsk, tsk. Such a potty mouth."

"Whatever," he disregarded the statement, crawling out from his awkward position under the bed, ceasing his search. "What did you mean I'll be seeing you?"

"Uh… well… we'll get to that later too. Right now we'll both have to cope with just talking."

"So… I'm not just hearing. You're actually talking. This is a conversation." Roxas was less asking and more convincing himself he wasn't crazy.

"Yup. But right now, you're the only one that can hear me, so don't make a big deal of it."

"Great. This is just perfect. I really am going insane." He massaged his temples and slumped onto his bed, suddenly feeling very worn out.

"Aw, no, Roxy. It'll be okay. It's just hard to explain."

"What did you just call me? Well I know for sure that that nickname couldn't have come from my subconscious. Maybe you are real… whatever you are." What was he saying? How could this disembodied voice be real? But… what else could it be, other than insanity? He seriously doubted his mind's creativity, and this whole situation was a bit too damn creative.

"So, hey, I need to go talk to Demyx for a minute. We have to sort some things out, but I'll be back."

"Okay? And who's Demyx?"

"Uh…"

"…Later?"

"You got it. See ya, short-ass."

He spluttered at the nickname, but was glad he was finally left by himself. This was way too freaky. It couldn't be real. There was no way…

--

Roxas was halfway through his birthday dinner with no word from the voice- er, Axel. He was starting to get worried, and that worried him. Shouldn't he be glad the voice was gone? Was he back to normal now? Aw, crap, Cloud was staring again.

"Sorry Cloud. I have a lot on my mind right now. It really is good though," he forced a smile, taking another bite of Cloud's famous spaghetti.

Cloud sighed, returning his attention to his own food. For all that Cloud knew, Roxas was upset about their parents not being around. And in some ways, he was, but he was strong enough to keep how he felt about that from showing. He couldn't, however, stop thinking about that damn Axel.

"Hey there. Did you miss me?"

Roxas practically jumped out of his seat at hearing the voice.

"Roxas?" Cloud inquired about his self-being, finding his behavior increasingly worrisome.

"Oh, um… I, uh, just bit my tongue accidentally and it startled me. No big deal."

"Heh. Didn't mean to scare you."

Roxas glared at nothing in particular, hoping the voice would get the message.

"Don't give me that. Anyway, Demyx is here now so I can begin the whole… process."

What process? Dammit, if he could only talk to him.

"When you're ready, just come in into your room. We'll be waiting for you there."

What? Wait! He shouted protests in his mind, realizing that the voice couldn't read his thoughts.

"Roxas? You sure you're okay? Maybe you should go get some sleep or something," Cloud, to Roxas's horror, had been watching his reactions to his one-sided conversation.

"Yeah. Yeah, that will probably help. I didn't get much sleep last night." Then it donned on him. Maybe hearing these voices was the product of lack of sleep! He could go upstairs, get a good night's rest, then when he woke up, there would be no more Axel.

"Don't worry about cleaning up. I'll handle it. You just worry about getting enough sleep," Cloud said, looking truly worried about Roxas's condition.

"Thanks Cloud. For everything." Roxas gave his brother a brief smile for his efforts, then made his way back to his room. As he approached his door, he could hear the hum of Axel's voice from inside. So much for going straight to bed. But there was a second voice there too. Could it be that Demyx guy Axel was talking about? Only one way to find out… He slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open, hearing the voices cease their conversation in anticipation. He slid in the space he allowed himself between the door and the frame, scanned the room for signs of life he knew would not be there, and-

"Holy shit!" Roxas jumped back, colliding with the wall behind him.

"Now, now, Roxas. Don't be scared…"

"What the-?! Hell… Are you-?"

"It's me! Axel."

"Y-you're like… like a fucking ghost or something." And that's exactly what he looked like. He was a blue-ish grey, and quite transparent. He could see his dresser right through him. It was like his body was outlined and filled in with incredibly watered down watercolors. A typical ghost portrayal.

"Well, you see… I am." Upon receiving no immediate reply, he clarified, "… a ghost."

Roxas was pretty sure he looked like the ghost now. His face had lost its color long ago. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to run out of the room screaming and get Cloud or anyone to tell him he was sane; that there was not ghost in his bedroom.

"Shit, now you're freaked." He ran an unfeeling hand through his transparent hair. "Calm down for a bit, okay? I won't do anything. I'll stay right here until you're better."

Roxas nodded mutely and inched toward his bed, sitting on the very edge when he reached it. He concentrated on breathing and not looking at the supposed ghost not 10 feet away from him.

"So… let's say you are a ghost. Does that mean you're dead?"

"Yup. It's sort of a long process, though. I'm still on my way."

He worked up the courage and looked over at him again, this time looking at his features. The first thing he noticed was his wild hair that spiked up in every direction. He wondered if it was natural or if he died with massive amounts of hair cement in his hair and had to deal with it forever. Next were his eyes. They were a cold blue-grey, but he could feel the warmth behind the undead appearance. Under his eyes were two almost teardrop looking markings. Were they tattoos or were they just a ghost thing? Was skinniness a ghost thing too, because jeez, he was skinny.

"I'm confused about how this whole thing works. Why exactly are you here anyway?"

He inhaled a deep breath-did ghosts need to breathe?-and shook his head slightly before answering.

"That's a good question. I'm here because, well, we used to be friends and you have to aid me in this whole death thing. The reason I'm a ghost right now is because I didn't want to give you up."

"But I've never seen you before. I'm pretty sure I would remember someone like you, especially in the flesh."

"Well, that's the funny thing about this. You don't remember me."

"But why would that be? Why don't I remember you? This all sounds way too fishy."

"No! Not fishy! I'll prove it to you! Ask me anything about you."

Roxas thought hard. He had to think up something good to see if this guy was actually telling the truth. "…When I was about 6, I got my first pet. What was it and what was its name?"

"First off, you were 7. Your pet was a turtle and its name was Henry." Axel smirked at Roxas's dumbfounded expression.

"Okay… That's a little creepy. But am I really supposed to believe that you're a ghost?"

Axel rolled his eyes at this and advanced toward Roxas, making the blond increasingly nervous.

"Whoa… W-what are you going to do…?" Roxas got off the bed and backed toward the wall.

"Jeez, kid, relax. I'm not going to hurt you."

Roxas's breath quickened. There was a freaky blue-grey stranger in his room coming toward him with who-knows-what kinds of weird ghost-like powers that could quite possibly vaporize him in an instant. Then his back hit the wall and he knew he was stuck. He couldn't run now. He had to defend himself. He squeezed his eyes shut, let out a brief cry of terror, and shoved at the body- barely inches away from him now- but hit… nothing.

He opened his eyes and saw that Axel was just standing there, laughing at him. He looked down and saw that he hadn't hit his body at all, but went right threw him. He withdrew his arms from the man's stomach, sucking in a startled breath at the sight.

"Told you I wasn't going to hurt you." Axel ran a hand through Roxas's torso, further demonstrating the fact.

Roxas shivered and wrapped his arms around the place Axel's hand had passed through him. "You're like… ice water, except just air…" Roxas stated, still rather dazed.

"So eloquent, this one." Axel went as if to tousle Roxas's hair, but his hand passed right through his scalp, giving Roxas a brief brain freeze. Axel frowned and withdrew his hand, displeased at the outcome.

"That's… too weird." He gave Axel a good look-over, then, "What would happen if I were to… walk through you?"

Axel spread his arms, inviting the blond to go ahead. "Try it."

Roxas took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and-

"Axel! I'm tired of waiting, I want to meeeet hiiimm!"

Looking beyond Axel's mostly see-through form, Roxas could make out another blue/grey shape appearing, then Axel turned, still partially blocking Roxas's view, and addressed the newcomer.

"Demyx!! I told you to wait! He was almost inside of me!"

"Whoa-ho, Axel! That's got to be a new record!"

Roxas' head spun from the sudden change of social atmosphere. "Uh, excuse me?"

Axel turned back to Roxas, now very flustered. "Yeah? … Oh! Right, sorry." He sidestepped, giving Roxas a better view of his new guest. "Roxas, this is Demyx."

"Nice to meet ya, Roxy!" The newly appeared ghost grinned at him.

"… Hi. So what exactly is going on here? Are you another person that I" -Roxas made quotes in the air with his fingers- "forgot?"

"Uhehe. Naw, I'm just here to help you guys out since you're both so new to this."

"Both? So Axel's clueless too?"

"Not entirely. I've given him the basic rundown, but that's nothing like the real thing. Believe me, since I started a couple of weeks ago, things here have been totally diff-"

"-Wait. A couple of weeks? Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Roxas was incredibly skeptical now. Not only did this guy look like a total idiot, he was inexperienced too.

"So I might not be the most learned guy on the subject, but my tactics are flawless!"

"Right. Flawless meaning that your anchor despises you after just 2 weeks." Axel rolled his eyes at his friend.

"Shut up! He does not despise me! He just needs to get used to me again."

Roxas groaned internally as the two continued arguing. What was he getting himself into?

"Well you wet the bed last month!"

"How many times do I have to tell you?! That was water! I was trying to make my bed into a waterbed!"

Thunk

"… Do you hear that?"

Thunk

"Hear what?"

Thunk

Axel put a finger to his lips, urging Demyx to be quiet, then scanned the room to find the origin of the noise. On the opposite side of the room was Roxas, repeatedly banging his head against the wall.

"Ah! Roxas!" The two ghosts shouted in unison and hurried over to his side. Axel reached out to grab his shoulder to prevent him from further damaging his skull, but his hands passed right through him.

"Dammit, Roxas. Stop that."

Roxas shivered at Axel's touch, or lack thereof, and turned to face the two. "Are you quite finished? Because if this is going to be a frequent occurrence, I'm out."

Axel's eyes grew wide in horror and he shook his head animatedly. "No, no! I'm really sorry about that. Please don't leave me."

He was really serious about this…? Maybe it wasn't an enormous high-class outlandishly expensive prank. Yeah, he knew that sounded far-fetched, but real ghosts? Who knew? "…Okay. I guess you can count me in, then."

Axel's expression was washed over with relief. "Phew… Thanks Roxas. I'll be sure to keep this idiot in line." He nudged Demyx in the ribs, eliciting an indignant squawk from his friend.

"So. What do I have to do?" Roxas was getting excited about this. He'd never engaged in anything paranormal before. How many people could say that they helped a ghost reach the next life? Excluding the crazy ones, of course.

Axel looked at Demyx and the two shrugged. "There's really not all that much you can do. You mainly just had to accept me. Now it's just a matter of letting me spend some time around you until I can either let you go or…" He held up his hands, weighing the potential outcomes against each other.

"…Or, what?" He cocked his head to the side, studying Axel's expression. Hopeful? Worried? Gassy?

"Ehh... It doesn't matter. Just something I have to deal with. Don't worry your pretty little head over it, Roxy." He extended a hand toward Roxas's already mussed up hair, but pulled it back halfway, remembering the unpleasant outcome it would create. He raked it through his own wild array of spikes instead. "Gotta get used to that…"

Roxas wrinkled his nose at the nickname and at being called "pretty" but shrugged it off for now. "Are we done? I didn't get much sleep last night and I have school in the morning."

"Ah! What time is it??" Demyx spoke up after having remained surprisingly reticent for the past couple of minutes. He really didn't seem like the quiet type.

I glanced at the clock on my wall. "Uhh, almost 11."

"Shit!" he exclaimed, "I told Zexy I'd be back half an hour ago!"

"He's probably enjoying the quiet time…"

"Oh, shut up!" He glared at Axel, then turned to Roxas with a smile. "So nice to meet you Roxy. See you tomorrow!" Then he was gone.

Roxas let out a sigh as he flopped backwards onto his bed, exhausted from the recent going-ons.

"Aw, sleepy already?" Axel asked as strode over to his side.

He wiped his hands over his tired eyes and kicked off his shoes. "Yeah. It's been a long day."

Axel gave a slightly pained look, realizing that indeed, it had been a long day for the blond. Embarrassed and mad at himself for not thinking of poor Roxy's condition, he apologized saying, "Aw, jeez, sorry Rox. I shouldn't have sprung this all on you today."

"It's alright. I just want to get some sleep." He burrowed under his covers, not even bothering to change into pajamas. Stupid ghost had messed up his birthday even further. But at least it distracted him from how shitty it could have been.

"Sure, sure. Sweet dreams. Sleep tight."

"Nn…" Roxas was already drifting off to sleep, his eyelids growing heavier by the second.

As Axel's form began to disappear, he added, "Oh, and Roxas? Happy birthday,"

Roxas's eyes blinked back open, startled by Axels' recognition of the day Roxas came into existence. He turned to thank the redhead, but he had already gone.

Or so he thought!! We all know Axel's going to creep on Roxas while he's sleeping. :P hehe