Three lunches. Three breakfasts. A dinner enough for three. Lightning was starting to get tired of making them. Though Cloud worked so much she felt bad NOT doing it, and leaving Roxas to starve seemed a bit cruel. She laid the first of the days meals out just in time as the two near-identical brothers stumbled out of their beds.

Cloud sat at the table, his exhaustion making it's self known through the bags under his half-open eyes. Roxas however, wasn't graced with as much...Well grace. He tried to sit at the table but missed his chair completely, landing himself in his brother's lap. Lightning wanted to laugh, especially with the look Cloud had given his younger, but she'd moved past that. It wasn't about fun or family anymore, it was about staying alive.

Cloud dumped Roxas to the floor and lightning drowned out the ensuing argument by running through the day's itinerary in her mind. She had to clean the kitchen, pick up her check, drop Cloud off at work and-

The sound of a crash disrupted her thoughts. Roxas towered over a very distressed looking Cloud, and as if that weren't scary enough, he held two legs of a chair above his head with a panicked expression. Cloud looked as though he'd just been shot, holding his head tightly. "It was an accident!" Roxas blurted in his defense, though Lightning didn't buy it. "Go get ready for school!" She yelled, though for a yell it was on the quiet side. Roxas nodded rapidly, dropping the chair and running off to his room.

She kneeled over cloud, pulling him into a sitting position. "Are you alright?" she asked and he stared at her like she was stupid. "The kid's dysfunctional! He needs HELP!" Cloud said rather loudly, and Lightning slapped a hand over his mouth. "Hush! Do you want him to hear!" She hissed and Cloud's eyes softened.

"After Mom and Dad died NONE of us have been the same! You should know better then to judge him, he's getting so much better..." She said almost mournfully and Cloud sighed, nodding slowly. "I get that, but he'll never be able to go back to school if he doesn't learn to accept that they're gone. He's been out for two months already! How long is it going to take!" He asked with a worried expression.

"As long as he needs! " She replied in a sharp tone. "Do you need help?" She asked with a sigh, her only answer was Cloud standing and making his way back into his room. She jumped when it slammed and listened quietly as she heard the door lock as well. She groaned and stood upright, running a hand through her hair as she cleaned the kitchen, finishing her train of thought.

"Drop Cloud off, buy sturdier furniture, get groceries, take Roxas clothes shopping..." She continued out loud, then frowned when she ran out of dishes to do. The kitchen was spotless, which was weird because she hadn't touched the plates left on the table. It also meant someone had stolen HER food. Her brows furrowed and she marched into the hall, kicking both doors open. "Alright! Who took it!" She shouted and Roxas cowered while Cloud stared at her blankly with a piece of bacon in his mouth in the process of putting his pants on.

She looked at them both then heard a crash, followed by tearing fabric and a whimper. "What the hell was THAT!" She groaned, walking through the kitchen. She grabbed a knife on her way and held it tightly only to find a puppy chewing on the curtains in the living room. Her eye twitched slightly. Moving from the window, to the dog, to the plate, to the now-open door she sighed. "What in the HELL do you think you're doing in my house!"

Roxas and Cloud both peeked from behind the door frame into the living room. Cloud laid low, while Roxas' face light up in pure joy. "A puppy!" He shouted, hugging it tightly. Lightning stared at them for a second before sighing. She hadn't seen him smile like that in months, which inevitably meant the dog was staying, despite the low budget and her hatred of animals.

Roxas coddled the dog, laughing at it chomped on his hand. "It's so cute! Can I keep it! " She looked at Lightning hopefully and a small smile crossed her lips as she rolled her eyes. "Go for it kiddo. So long as no one's looking for it."

Giving her a tight hug that lasted a whole two seconds he scrambled back to the puppy's side. "Aww! It's fur's really clean, and soft, kinda like snow... I'm gunna name it-" Roxas started only to jump when Lightning interrupted. "Don't you DARE finish that sentence!"

Roxas nodded and frowned. "I'll name him... Uh... Oh... It's a girl... I'll name her... Misty!" He stumbled over his words and Lightning nodded with a skeptical expression. "Much better. Now, clean up after your damn pet!" She said with a huff, walking back towards the kitchen.

Cloud stared blankly out the window. He hated rainy days, mainly because everyone ELSE did. Not that he usually cared about what others thought, but when people don't like rain, they don't go out in it, and when they don't go out, they don't give things to him to ship off to the unknown. It didn't matter much anyways, his shift was almost over and he got paid by the hour, though, six hours of staring at the rain was the definition of dull.

To his relief, the beaten red car slid to a stop outside the building. He watched some form of struggle through the cars window, then sighed as Roxas fell out into the road, the door slamming behind him. He grabbed his jacket, locked up the shop, and walked out into the rain to meet him muddy and wet brother. With out a word Roxas climbed into the back seat and Cloud sat beside his sister, shaking his hair out.

Half a second after he stopped, he received a hard smack on the back of the head and he yelped, staring at Lightning like she'd just eaten his child. "The hell was that for!" He whined and Lightning stared at him for a moment before pointing to her now-wet shirt. "You get to do the laundry when we get home."

Cloud wanted to argue, but he knew better. His sister was mean, violent, and even just plain bitchy, but he knew why she did it. If she didn't, the family would fall apart completely. On the inside he couldn't help but feel they were getting along. Before their parents passed, they rarely even looked at each other but now they could stay up all night, playing board games and just talking. It seemed cheesy, but it was the truth and they both knew it.

The only problem seemed to be Roxas. Being the one to witness the accident that took their parents he always felt like he was responsible for it. He took it out on himself, which wore him down and made him violent and over all a depressing site. He was expelled from school for stabbing a teacher and though Cloud thought it a better idea to enroll him in another school, Lightning wanted to let him stay home until he was ready to move on. She always argued that he'd had no room to talk, which was true, seeing as he was technically a drop out.

Roxas looked miserable in the reflection of the mirror. Cloud stared at him for a moment before reaching over, snatching the steering wheel from his sister. The car swerved off the rode and on cue a very confused and furiated Lightning slammed on the breaks. "What on eatch is wrong with you!" She shouted, rambling on after that, but that was all Cloud heard. He pushed open the door, slamming it behind him and pulled Roxas out of the car. Lightning followed, afraid that Cloud was going to hurt him. It was only then that she realized what he was doing.

Cloud rolled up his blood-soaked sleeve and stared in horror, his gaze turning to the most compassionate he could muster. The boy's arm was covered wrist to shoulder in cuts varying in depth, a few off them bleeding. "Roxas, why didn't you say anything!" Cloud shouted, slamming him into the car. He didn't do it hard, though it caught Lightning by surprise. She yanked on his shoulders, trying to free Roxas to no avail. "Why the hell didn't you tell us!" He shouted and Roxas' eye began to water. "Like you would understand!" He hissed, worming his way out of Clouds grip before running off into the woods.