Roxas flinched as a bunch of wet snow slid down his collar, and cursed. It was a wet day in a wet, stony city and a bunch of snow had just slid off the roof overhead and into his shirt. He worked it out, then looked around forlornly. He'd been on this streetcorner for hours and there was no sign of a client.

He was having a terrible week. It seemed like everything that could go wrong was going wrong, in the absolute worst way. And the hell of it was, it had started out wonderfully.

Roxas licked his lips as he remembered the redhead. He'd known the man was rich the instant he saw him at the club. He was spending money like water and treating the staff well, but with the subtle signs of someone used to being waited on hand and foot. And the man himself had been gorgeous, with that beautiful, spiky red hair, vivid green eyes and well muscled body. The combination had been too much, and he'd finally screwed up the courage to approach him. He hadn't really expected to succeed… a man like that could hire any expensive whore he chose, not a street boy in his only good outfit. But the man had seen something he liked and the price they'd agreed on had been very generous.

So generous that Roxas almost felt bad about stealing his money afterwards. Almost, but not quite. He desperately needed money, and not even the generous sum the redhead had agreed to would have been enough. But at least he'd given the man a night to remember… he would remember it himself. It was a pity he couldn't approach that redhead again, if he saw him. It had been amazing…

Roxas opened his bag lunch, and his eyes widened as bugs fell out. He'd only packed it this morning! The food had been good then, but now it was rotten and bug infested. What was going on?

"It's like someone's put a curse on me." He mumbled, then paused. A curse? Oh no.

His bad luck had started after he robbed the man. Roxas thought back hard, trying to remember. Had there been any hint the man was an aethalmage? No… but there was nothing to indicate he wasn't, either.

Aethalmages were the elite of the elite. Feared by most, loved by some, they were the true rulers of the land. Aethalmages often slummed because they could. If you saw someone walking through the worst streets at night, with no obvious protections, you would be well advised to watch for any tingle on the skin or smell of ozone in the air. Those were the telltale signs of magic, and any mugger unfortunate enough to touch an aethalmage would live just long enough to regret it. It was easy to tell, though. Most aethalmages didn't want to exert themselves killing muggers, so the protections advertised themselves. He hadn't felt or smelled anything like that at the club… but an aethalmage would stop that at a club. It would disturb the other patrons.

Roxas groaned, putting a hand to his forehead, and pushed off from his corner. He needed to see a witch right away. The service wouldn't be cheap, not if he went to a good one, but some curses had a way of ramping up. He needed to know if he was really cursed, and if so, what to do. And he'd already paid ahead another three months, with the money he'd gotten from the redhead.

The future past that would just have to look after itself.

The blind witch peered into her crystal ball as Roxas watched.

She was his age, and her name was Namine. Despite her young age, she had a great reputation all over the city as a true witch. She lived in a lower middle-class neighborhood and sold her services to anyone who could raise the fee. It was expensive, but Roxas was getting desperate. He'd almost broken a leg walking over. If he wasn't cursed, his luck was truly appalling. Namine raised cloudy blue eyes, not looking directly at him. He'd heard she'd been born blind.

"You're definitely cursed." She said in her light, sweet voice, and Roxas winced. It wasn't exactly a surprise but it still wasn't welcome news. "I see a man with red hair. You stole something from him."

"Yeah, I know." Roxas was already getting sick of thinking about it. "Can you tell me who he is and how to get this curse off? Is there any way to remove it?"

"Hmm…" Namine peered into her ball again thoughtfully, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, this is a potent curse cast by a strong man… not on you, in particular, but all his belongings." Roxas sighed to himself. That figured. "Oh… oh my." She blinked into the ball, and for a moment Roxas almost thought she was seeing something. "The curse is marked and sealed by… Axel Tavoden."

"Tavoden?" Roxas felt sick all over again. The Tavoden clan of aethalmages were all powerful and very, very rich. They specialized in the arts of war and technomancy, so they were deadly as well as deeply connected politically. They were also notorious for their wild escapades… and fiery red hair.

"Tavoden. No one will remove this curse for any fee you could pay. You will have to petition Axel himself to remove it." Namine said, without any sympathy. Then she tilted her head. "This is interesting. The aether is offering advice unsolicited." Roxas paid even more attention. Magic was supposed to do what you asked, no more and no less. If it did do more, that was a sign that something important was in the offing and you should damn well pay attention. "It recommends you be honest."

"As if I would dare lie to an aethalmage." Roxas said bitterly and Namine smiled, with a tiny bit of sympathy. Roxas sighed, and stood. "Thank you, Namine."

"No thanks are needed. It was my pleasure." She watched him go with her blind eyes, and when he was gone she put him out of her mind.

She wasn't going to waste a lot of sympathy on thieves, no matter what their problems were.

Roxas prepared carefully for his trip to Uptown, and tried his best to placate the curse. Such things sometimes had a rudimentary intelligence, and it might hold off as long as he was going to see its maker.

It seemed luck was with him on that, because nothing horrible happened on his way to Uptown. Roxas was in his best outfit and walked into that rarified neighborhood confidently. The best way to look like you belonged was just to act like you did. The rest would follow.

Uptown was beautiful, and his heart ached to see it. There were delicate fountains, filled with huge fish. In the poorer parts of town, those would have been eaten. There were little parks everywhere, and the huge mansions of the rich. The homes of the aethalmages had their marks on the outside of the home. He finally stopped at one in particular, and looked at his paper before swallowing. Namine had made a copy of Axel's mark for him, as best she could without her eyes, and this was definitely it. He looked it over cautiously.

As the mansions here went, it wasn't a very large one. But it was very well put together, with a very nice flower garden behind an iron fence. Roxas tentatively touched the gate, and it swung open, making him jump back. But nothing happened, so he cautiously stepped inside, the gate closing behind him. He walked up to the front of the mansion, over soft grey paving stones, and tentatively knocked at the door.

The man who answered was older, balding and looked down his nose disapprovingly at the young boy on the doorstep. He was wearing a uniform of dark red and green, and Roxas swallowed, feeling his confidence evaporating. This was an upper servant who would surely notice he didn't belong here.

"I… I would like to see Axel Tavodan, please, if he's taking visitors?" He managed to say. The butler frowned at him.

"May I have your name, sir?" The butler asked, tone polite but chilly. Roxas sighed.

"Roxas. No last name." Last names were for people who actually knew who their fathers were, and Namine had said to be honest. The butlers' expression shifted slightly, getting a hint of both weariness and disdain.

"Are you the one who gave the Master the crotch itch last month? Because if so you can see yourself to the door this instant. He's still a touch upset about that." Roxas blinked at that unexpected sally.

"No! I just met him last week." He protested, then looked down. "He… he's put a curse on me."

"Oh… that one." The butler didn't sound at all surprised, and Roxas looked up, startled. "He said to expect you, but he thought it would be another week before you figured it out. Very well, I'll tell him you're here. Come in." The butler ushered Roxas to a sitting room, and Roxas tentatively sat on one of the chairs. They were all upholstered in rich fabric and felt very comfortable, but he wasn't in the mood to enjoy them. To pass the time, he examined Axel's home.

It was everything he had ever imagined a mansion would be. There were nice bas relief scenes on the walls, carved into marble tiles and decorated with gold leaf. Potted cherry trees and vases of star lilies were everywhere. Roxas hesitated, then walked over to a bunch of the flowers to sniff them. The faintly spicy, sweet smell of the star lilies always fascinated him. He'd known a girl in the slums who grew and sold them, and in better times he'd bought them.

From the sitting room he could look into the main foyer, and it was similar to the room he was sitting in except for a spiral staircase and a dark wooden banister.

"Master!" There was a despairing sound to the cry, and Roxas blinked as someone slid down the banister. Who would do that in an aethalmages home? Then he nearly swallowed his tongue as he saw the familiar red hair.

"It's my banister, Rodrick, I can slide down it if I want!" Axel called up to his butler and grinned, hopping off the banister and walking to the sitting room. Roxas stood rooted, feeling paralyzed. The redhead was just as handsome now as he'd been in the club… actually, he was more handsome, if anything. Instead of trendy club clothes, he was wearing a ratty grey shirt and pants that were clean but torn and burnt in places. No doubt they were his work clothes. It made the redhead seem more real, more like a real person than just a rich drone. "So, Roxas! I didn't think I'd be seeing you again quite this soon." Axel flopped down onto a chair, and Roxas blinked. The redhead was violating all his notions of how aethalmages were supposed to behave. "Have a seat, have a seat." Axel gestured at the other chairs, and Roxas hesitated, then sat. "I was really disappointed in you. I was paying at least triple the going rate."

More like ten times, Roxas thought but didn't say. It had been a very good club, and he'd only gotten in because things were slow. The whores who usually frequented the place had higher rates than he did.

"I… I'm sorry." Roxas said quietly, looking down. "I needed the money. My brother's in the hospital and they're charging a lot." Axel frowned, tapping his ear with one finger.

"Repeat that." Roxas blinked, but dutifully repeated what he had just said, and Axel sighed. "The truth. Damn. What happened to him?"

"He…" Roxas swallowed. It was hard to remember that horrible night. "We're orphans. We've been getting by as prostitutes… my brother Sora, he was always so gentle. He got a bad customer. I… I found him when I got home. He'd been choked and hit on the head. He was still breathing but barely… he hasn't woken up since." It had been a terrible thing to come home to, his brother's face swollen and blue tinged, every breath rasping as his body struggled to survive. And all the blood… Axel closed his eyes for a moment.

"You remind me of myself, kid." Roxas blinked. What could a rich aethalmage find to remind him of himself in a story like that? "Kid… Roxas… I can get an aethalmage to take a look at your brother for you and maybe heal him, if you want."

"You would do that?" Roxas' heart jumped with hope… then sank just as quickly. "Why?" He couldn't keep the suspicion out of his tone. Axel grinned, but with a sad edge.

"So suspicious… okay, let me tell you something about me. My father was Gilius Tavodan, but my mother was Tamsin Lightskirt." Roxas blinked. That was a common sobriquet used by whores. "She was a bit of an earth witch and a definite whore, living on Penny Lane. Really pretty. Anyway, she met dad the way I met you, in a club, and they kind of had a thing for a while. I was born, and lucky for me, I might as well have had my paternity tattooed on my bottom." Axel ran a hand through his vivid red hair. "So even when they didn't have a thing anymore, he gave her money for me. Made sure I went to school, had clothes and enough food. And when I was twelve, he had me tested for magic. Turned out mom probably had some aethalmage in her, because I came out really strong. So then he enrolled me in the academy." Axel paused the story, then continued a bit sadly. "Mom was murdered when I was fifteen by a drunk customer. Dad found him and had him hung for me, but it didn't bring her back."

"Oh." Roxas swallowed, then frowned. "But if you were, um, a bastard, how…" How had Axel ended up in this beautiful mansion? It looked old, probably inherited. Axel shrugged.

"Dad never had any other kids, so he legally adopted me and made it all official. My looks scream Tavodan, so there's never been a problem. Hardly anyone even remembers it." Axel looked at Roxas thoughtfully. "So, do you want me to see about getting a friend to look at your brother?"

"Of course! But what do you want for it?" Roxas wasn't going to let up on that particular point. Axel had to want something. Even if his story had tugged on the aethalmages' heartstrings, there had to be something. Axel shook his head with a grin.

"Suspicious! I have a proposition for you, but we can worry about that after we have a look at your brother. You'll be free to accept, or not, as you please. Oh, that reminds me." Axel pointed at him, and a spark of red light flashed over his fingers. Roxas could smell the ozone smell of magic. "Curse removed. Come along, lets get this going." Roxas could only follow as Axel strode out of the room, and wondered what he was getting into.

Hopefully, something good.

Axel leaned against the outside of the hospital, looking around in aristocratic disdain as Roxas fidgeted.

St. Maria's Charity Hospice wasn't the kind of place to gladden an aethalmage's heart. It was in the worst part of town and surrounded by filthy tenements. And despite the name, they charged for their services if you could pay. Particularly things like caring for a comatose family member. Still, it was better to pay then try to get charity. Real charity cases often got the more experimental treatments, and Roxas wasn't having any crackpot who fancied himself a medic touching Sora. Axel spotted a cockroach, and spat, managing to nail it with uncanny accuracy.

"When is he getting here. He better not have stopped to fuck someone in an alley again." Axel muttered, and Roxas tilted his head.

"Who are we waiting for?" He asked, and Axel glanced over.

"Demyx, the wonder of all things medicinical." Axel frowned slightly, then stretched. Roxas watched, interested. Axel had changed into a beautiful outfit of black silk, with a golden necklace, before they left, and Roxas knew why. No one would believe an aethalmage was wandering around in tattered work clothes, but silks in the slums were a plain warning. "I was going to leave it to him to tell you this, but since he's being so tardy… do you know anything about the effects of head wounds and, um, lack of breathing?" Axel was fairly sure that Roxas wouldn't know the word oxygen. Education in the slums was sadly lacking. Roxas frowned.

"Not really. The doctors around here wouldn't tell me anything. They hardly looked at Sora." He hadn't been able to interest any of them in his case. Axel sighed.

"Probably just as well, since there's nothing they could do. Okay." Axel tapped his fingers against the brick wall for a moment. "There's basically three ways this can go. Number one is… your brother could be dead. If the brain is dead, then the body is dead, it just doesn't know it yet."

"But… he's got color in his cheeks! And if you touch his hand, he grips." Roxas objected, feeling a wave of fear at the thought. Axel shook his head sadly.

"That's automatic, Roxas. It doesn't mean anything. If Demyx says your brother is dead, you're going to have to accept it and let him let the body go. Okay?" Roxas felt tears burning his eyes, but nodded jerkily. "Second, your brother could be alive but… damaged. If air doesn't get to the brain for a while, it can do all kinds of nasty things. If you're lucky, it could be just physical, but it could be mental." Roxas nodded. He had seen that sort of thing before, and while he didn't want Sora to be feeble-minded, he'd take care of him no matter what. "Then there's the best case scenario… that he just needs a bit of healing to pep him up and tell his body that everything's okay, he can wake up now. That's a lot more common than you might think, especially if there's been a trauma involved."

"I hope that's it." Roxas said softly, and Axel reached over to squeeze his shoulder, smiling sympathetically. Then they both looked up as someone stumbled out of a nearby alleyway.

"Oh dear!" Roxas blinked, wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. While Axel's clothing was rich, it was also practical and didn't show stains much. This man, on the other hand, had decided to come in a sky blue outfit with a very lacy, very elaborate shirt that had been sewn with seed pearls. It was already showing some stains, and he tugged on his cuffs in dismay. "Axel! Why have you asked me to come to this filthy place?" The man wandered over, and Roxas wondered if he ever moved in a straight line. He had sandy blond hair in a mullet, and gorgeous blue eyes.

"My friend here has a brother who needs your amazing skills, Demyx." Axel said patiently, then glanced at Roxas. "This is Demyx, a powerful healing aethalmage. He's also a huge manwhore, so watch out." Demyx sniffed and pulled out a gold pocket watch, examining it.

"I'm supposed to go to a meeting with the Chamber in… oh, who cares. They can go on without me. Show me the patient." He gestured grandly, and Roxas blinked before shaking his head and leading them into the hospital. Staff looked up as they entered, clearly thinking about approaching them… but Axel glanced around and they decided they had business elsewhere. "I wonder how long it will take before the director of this hovel comes to see us?" Demyx said whimsically, and Axel grinned.

"Probably not long, so let's go. I hate listening to butt-kissing." St. Maria's enjoyed the patronage of several important people, and the director was good at mustering up more, but Axel definitely wasn't in the mood for that. Roxas led them straight to Sora's room. Demyx went inside and the blond would have followed, but Axel gripped his arm. "Demyx likes to work in private." Roxas looked up at him, clearly worried, and Axel smiled again. "Don't worry, he's one of the best healers in the city." Axel leaned against the wall again, crossing his arms and casually intimidating anyone who looked to be heading in their direction. The smell of ozone soon radiated from the room and was even more effective at driving people away. "It's taking a while… that's a good sign. If your brother were dead, he'd have known instantly." Axel commented, and Roxas felt a cautious hope. Then the door swung open, and Demyx poked his head out, grinning. But before he could say anything, Roxas heard a familiar voice.

"Roxas?" Roxas pushed past the aethalmage, making him yelp in surprise, and ran to the bed. Sora was sitting up, and although he was as weak as a kitten, he was awake and smiling shyly at his brother.

"Sora!" Roxas threw his arms around his brother, and squeezed him so hard the brunette squeaked. "Never do that to me again. I thought you were never going to wake up." Sora sniffed, and wrapped his arms around Roxas.

"I… I'm sorry Roxas. I didn't want to, after what he…" Sora couldn't go on, tears welling up in his eyes, and Roxas patted his back.

"I know." Roxas face went grim as he remembered what he found. The experience must have been brutal. He looked up at Demyx. "Thank you." Demyx waved it away.

"Don't thank me, thank Axel. You owe me big time, by the way. I had to drain an entire crystal reservoir to reach him." Demyx waved something in front of Axel, and Axel sighed.

"I bet it was half drained before you started." Demyx started to protest, and Axel raised a hand. "Alright, alright. Stop by my place sometime and we'll discuss it."

"No, I think I'll go with you now." He said brightly as Axel frowned. "Come now Axel! I'm sure you did this partly just because you're a nice person, but you surely have an idea for these two boys. Don't deny it! And you're not me, so it's probably not your bed. Well, not just your bed. I want to know what's going on." Axel rubbed his head with one hand as Roxas frowned and Sora watched uncomprehendingly.

"Fine… you'd find out in a week anyway. Let's all go back to my home so we can discuss this in a civilized setting." Sora's hospital room certainly wasn't that. Sora looked up at Roxas questioningly, and Roxas smiled at him reassuringly.

He wasn't entirely sure he trusted the aethalmage, but they owed Axel big time. It was time to find out what the redhead wanted.