The blonde haired boy looked around at the blank tattered walls of his new bedroom. Then he fell back against the hard bed and stared up at the ceiling.

He sighed as he thought about the awful day he was going to have tomorrow, the first day at his new school. 'Oh, joy!' He thought, unbuttoning his shirt and wiping his forehead. It was really hot in the box of a room that Roxas was now to call his bedroom.

Suddenly aware of the lack of space in the room, Roxas sat up and brought his knees up to his chest, hugging them tightly. He closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths, telling himself over and over that he was going to have to get used to the lack of breathing and moving space.

His parents knew that he was badly claustrophobic, but it had never really made any difference to them. They didn't care.

Roxas thought about where he had slept in the last house they had lived in. In that house, he had slept in the living room, on the floor. His parents had said that he wasn't good enough to sleep on the couch.

Looking back on it, Roxas became grateful that he now had a bedroom that he could call his own, even if that bedroom was a bed squeezed into a 2 metre by 4 metre cupboard.

He opened his eyes slightly, then closed them again as a wave of nausea overcame him. He shot up from sitting on his bed and ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him. He leant over the toilet, breathing heavily, the sweat pouring down his face.

'I can't be sick. I can't be sick.' Roxas thought to himself. If he vomited his parents would surely find out, and he couldn't take another beating, not now.

He made his way carefully over to the window, swung it open, and poked his head out. He closed his eyes and let the breeze cool him down, and the feeling of nausea melting away.

Roxas stared out at his new back garden. It was very spacious, grass and other vegetation covering the 120 feet long piece of land, a thin, narrow path going up the middle.

Roxas looked up and down the garden before closing the window and making his way back into his bedroom. He fought away the sickness that overcame him as he wandered back in. He knew that in a few days he would be used to the room, and the lack of space.

He lay back down on the bed and closed his eyes once again. In a few minutes, Roxas was asleep.

He was woken early the next morning by the sound of his mobile phone ringing. Roxas poked his hand out from under the covers and grabbed the source of the ringing. He flipped the phone open and put it to his ear. "H'llo?"

"So, how is it? Tell me! Tell me!"

Roxas sighed as he heard the sound of his cousin Sora's voice. "How is what? Sora, what time is it?" He snapped, noticing that it was still dark outside.

"Its 10am here...oh..." Sora trailed off, obviously remembering the fact that his cousin now lived a third of globe away. Sora lived on the Destiny Islands, the island that Roxas had also lived on until about 2 days ago. Now that he had moved to Twilight Town, a small town in Hollow Bastion, there was a 7 hour time difference between him and Sora.

'A 7 hour time difference...' Roxas thought, 'that means that the time here is...' he groaned.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked from the other end of the line.

Roxas rolled his eyes. His cousin probably hadn't even thought about the fact that it was 7 hours later where he was. But Sora was never the think before you act kind of person. He was always diving into things before thinking about what he was diving into. Sora was very hyper, pretty much all the time, so Roxas wasn't really surprised. "Sora, next time could you try not to call before its 3pm there."

"Okay!" Roxas could tell that Sora was grinning on the other end of the line. "I will call you later then. Bye, Roxas! Have a good first day at school!"

Then he hung up.

Roxas put his phone on silent just in case Sora decided to call him again before that time. Then he shut the phone and placed it back on his bedside table. Roxas froze as he heard a shuffle coming from inside his parent's bedroom. He could hear them whispering, but they weren't coming into his bedroom. He pulled the covers on top of him and went back to sleep.


Roxas was greeted by a slap round the face when he went down for breakfast the next morning. His eyes widened in shock and he clasped both hands round his left cheek as an intense pain shot through it.

He gritted his teeth and brought his hands away, noticing that they were now covered in a sticky, deep red substance. He then glanced down at the hand his mother had slapped him with, and noticed that there was a vegetable knife in it.

One side of the blade was now covered in blood.

Roxas ran to the mirror then winced as he traced his finger across the cut. It wasn't too deep, luckily.

He turned around to face his parents and clasped his cheek again.

His father walked up to him and yanked his head up by a chunk of his hair. Roxas grabbed his father's hand in a failed attempt to pry it away from his blonde spikes.

"Why were you on your phone in the middle of the bloody night last night?!" His father, Vexen, yelled, yanking harder on his hair.

Roxas's face screwed up from the pain coming from his scalp. "I-it wasn't me! S-Sora called me!"

Vexen rolled his eyes before roughly shoving him back into the counter.

Roxas slid down onto the floor and gritted his teeth as he tried desperately to hold back the tears in his eyes with long, shaky breaths.

He was immediately lifted off the floor again, his arm pulled out in front of him in the process. Roxas stared down at the floor below him, forcing his eyes away from the scars that marked the torture he had suffered.

His father smirked as he saw the many cuts and burns on his son's porcelain skin. Then he let Roxas's arm drop and pushed him to the door. "Now go. You're going to be late for school." He said, glancing at the clock on the far wall. "And make sure to come straight home. You and I are going to have a serious talk."

Roxas winced at the word. He knew what that meant.

He grabbed his bag and ran out the door and down the street. He didn't bother to look back.


Roxas walked past the shops quickly, letting his bangs fall down in front of his face and keeping his head down.

He stopped as he saw himself in one of the shop windows. Roxas frowned at his reflection.

His hair was a mess, spikes all over the place. His cheek was still bleeding, the droplets of blood running down his face and dripping onto the shoulder of his shirt. His shirt was also creased, and his sleeve was ripped.

As Roxas stared deeper into his reflection, he noticed someone watching him from across the road. He spun round to look at the redhead that was now smiling at him.

Axel's P.O.V

As the blonde kid turned to look at me, the first thing that came into my mind was the word cute. He was extremely cute.

The corners of my mouth turned up into a smile.

I studied his face; spiky blonde hair, kinda small nose, nice lips, and blue eyes.

His eyes were a deep shade of blue, beautiful to look at really, but also painful. I could feel his pain as I looked into them, even though they seemed to be trying to hide that pain in the vibrant blue colour.

I cocked my head to the side as I stared at once again at his face. There was a long cut down the side of it, and both dried and non-dried blood trailed down the rest of his cheek.

The kid's clothes were also a mess. The blood had, and was still, dripped down onto the shoulder of his shirt. His sleeve was also ripped and I could see scars going up and across his arm.

He soon noticed me staring at the scars and clenched his fists as he stared down at the pavement.

I came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be the most social person in the world, and since I'm not nosy (well not very), I wasn't going to ask him about the cut and the scars. But as I said before, that kid was cute, and as they say, no pain, no gain.

"You better get yourself cleaned up, Kitten. A pretty boy like you shouldn't be wondering around like that." I said, nodding at him slightly.

The kid looked up suddenly in what seemed like shock, but his expression soon changed to a scowl.

I thought about walking over the road to him, but then I realised that probably wasn't such a good idea. I like my face the way it is.

I looked at his clothes. Kitten was wearing the same uniform as I was.

"So, what class you got first?"

He just scowled at me even more.

"Maths, huh?" I began to walk away from him, but then I turned back round to face him. "Well, I guess I'll see you later then, Kitten."

He opened his mouth to protest but I winked and walked away before he could.

But as I walked away, two words left his lips, "Don't go."

Roxas's P.O.V

As I turned around, his eyes became fixed on my face, and his smile didn't falter as he continued to let his eyes wonder across my face.

Soon enough they came to my eyes.

I stared back, looking into the green colour of his eyes. They were crystal clear, unlike mine, which hid so many lies behind them.

I looked up at his hair. Woah. It was red. There was no way you could miss him coming up the road.

He was also tall, and skinny. Even from across the road I could tell I was quite short in comparison.

I looked back into his eyes. Suddenly all the pain melted away. I didn't feel hurt, or sad. For that short moment I just felt at ease.

That feeling was soon gone as I noticed him staring at the cut on my cheek and then the scars on my arm. His face turned from pleasure to disgust and worry as he stared.

I didn't like that.

He was just going to be another one of them. He was just going to judge he like they did.

I clenched my fists and stared at the ground, also clenching my teeth. Why couldn't he just stop?

"You better get yourself cleaned up, Kitten. A pretty boy like you shouldn't be wondering around like that."

What? He was taking it like a joke? I looked back up in surprise.

Then I realised what he had called me.

Kitten.

What. The. Hell.

I scowled to show that I wasn't happy.

He tried again with another topic of conversation, "So, what class you got first?"

I scowled harder. I wasn't saying anything until he apologised for what he called me.

"Maths, huh?" He started to walked away but then turned back to face me, "Well, I guess I'll see you later then, Kitten."

I opened my mouth to stop him but he just winked and walked off.

"Don't go."

I clenched my now shaking fist, and brought it up to my chest. Then I opened it as something wet dripped onto my finger.

I watched as the tears made their way down my face and dripped into my palm, one by one.

What..?


Roxas's P.O.V

"Roxas!"

Before I knew it, I had run up to the other boy and I now had my hand latched onto his wrist.

He raised one eyebrow before laughing, "If you really like me that much, then I'll walk to school with you if you want."

Finally realising where I was, I quickly let go of his wrist and let my arm drop."N-no! I mean..." I stuttered, looking away when I realised how much I was blushing.

He placed one finger on my chin and lifted my head up gently so I was looking at him again.

"Hey, are you feeling alright?" He asked, his face looking concerned.

I snapped my head away. What did he care? And what could he do about anything?!

"DO I LOOK ALRIGHT TO YOU?!" I yelled, directing my anger at the redhead but keeping him out of my vision.

"Hey, hey! Calm down! And like I said, you should really get yourself cleaned up."

"Stop saying that! I can't do anything about it until I get to school..." I clasped a hand around my bleeding cheek, looking back up at him.

"Or...you could go over to that McDonalds over there." He pointed over to his right. "They have loos."

I nodded slightly, and then began to walk over there. The guy followed.

"Hey, Kitte-"

"Don't call me that!" I scowled.

"Fine...for now. Anyway, what's your name? I'm Akuseru, but you can call me Axel. Got it memorised?"

"Uh...yeah...I'm Roxas."

"Roxas..." He smirked, and I could almost see his tongue make its way across his lips. I blushed again.

When we got to the McDonalds, Axel stopped before walking in.

"I'm gonna wait here. There's no where left to sit in there."

"Oh...okay." I walked in on my own and made my way into the loos.

I closed the bathroom door quietly behind me, and then winced as I once again saw my reflection. I walked into one of the cubicles and grabbed as much toilet paper as I could. I then spent the next 10 minutes trying to clean myself up.


Roxas soon decided that he looked presentable. He had cleaned off most of the blood on his face, revealing long thin cut that made its way across the left side of his cheek. He hadn't been able to get much of the dried blood off his shirt, but it would have to do. He looked at his reflection once more before making his way outside.

As he entered the main part of the fast-food cafe, he immediately noticed Axel leaning against the wall inside the cafe. Roxas started to walk over to him.

He also immediately saw those emerald green eyes, piercing right into his soul.

But why was it that he no longer saw Axel standing there?

Oh yeah. He'd been here before.

With her.

Roxas stopped walking suddenly. His breaths became fast and short and he felt like he was choking. Everything around him became blurred and he began to feel sick.

He ran back into the loos before he could vomit.

Axel, who had already noticed something wrong with the boy, ran in after him.

Roxas ran into the cubicle and slammed the door shut behind him before falling against the wall. He took a few deep breaths and began to feel slightly better. He then stood back up and opened the door, coming face to face with Axel.

Roxas's legs could no longer hold his weight. They gave way, and he fell back against the tiled wall. He brought his knees up to his chest, trembling fiercely.

Axel ran over to him, and knelt down next to the shaking blonde.

Then Roxas screamed.

He clamped a hand round his mouth and looked up, eyes wide in terror. But he wasn't looking at Axel. Instead, he was looking at, what to Axel was an empty space.

He was trembling even more now, and the boy looked as if he would have a heart attack if Axel touched him, if he wasn't already.

"N-no! Please! D-don't touch—AHH!!!" Roxas cried, his hands round either side of his head.

To him, he was no longer in McDonalds.

He was no longer 15 years old.

And he was no longer seeing anything that was real.

Roxas squeezed his eyes shut, and started sobbing. "N-no...please..."

Axel placed a hand on his shoulder and the other boy's eyes snapped open. He looked up at the redhead first before looking around.

Axel stared at him, wondering what could have possibly happened to the kid to have made him act like that.

Roxas brought his hands away from his head and let his body fall limp against the cold bathroom tiles.

"Ax...el...right...?" He croaked, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Uh...yeah." Axel replied, a little freaked out by what had just happened.

They sat there for a minute or so before Axel decided he should remove his hand from the boy's shoulder. He started to lift it but a firm hand placed it back.

"Don't." Roxas whispered, and Axel could feel his shoulder trembling through the grasp.

They sat there in silence, ignoring the people that passed them.

Axel soon decided that he would confront the blonde at one point, but he was afraid of what would happen if he asked what was wrong.

It couldn't possibly be something minor, and Axel was concerned as to if he was going to get any kind of answer at all.

"Umm...we should really get to school, unless you want to, you know, stay home toda-"

"No!" Roxas snapped before staring back down at the ground, "I mean...I'll go. I'm fine, really."

"Okay...if you're sure."

Axel stood up from his kneeling position then helped the smaller boy to his feet. Roxas had trouble keeping his balance for a few seconds but he was soon making his way out onto the street. Axel followed behind, silently trying to figure him out.

They walked in silence, millions of questions building in Axel's mind, and Roxas not bearing to look that him.