A/N: Welcome to the first story published by Pathetic Otologist~ This started out as a little drabble and morphed into a pretty amusing and entertaining story. So I thought I should let it out before it killed me with fire and pissy Roxas.
WARNING: It's rated 'M' for a reason... that reason being later chapters, terrets syndrome, and rather un-kid-friendly topics. And the Yaoi. But I'm a firm beleiver that Yaoi should be a class taught from 5th grade on. ^A^
Disclaimer: If I owned anything but the plot, there would be obvious shounen-ai, Yaoi and other un-G-rated things in the game... which there aren't... Damn you, Squeenix...
Like vines, we intertwine....
Eyes cast over the space; searching for like pairs. A brother, a cousin, a mother, a father.... someone. But he was alone here; no color to hint at, no memory of a face, no whisper of likeness among them. They were gone? Had they forgotten him, as he had forgotten them-or, perhaps, they resented him for forgetting them? Hated him for not being there for something... something he couldn't remember; perhaps they left because HE left... But how could that be when he'd had no choice?
Lanky fingers pawed at the ratty bag they had given him- no, it was his bag, he reminded himself; they had told him that. Pale digits worked open the belted fixes, reaching in as his lean form settled on the concrete divide between the huge span of racing water behind him and the road in front, the Hospital's open doors standing imposingly across; slowly working to bring forth the aged, battered wallet. It was forged from leather that had been handled too much, slightly stiff from being wet. No address; only a card with his name- or what they had assumed was his name. Axel Hideki.
Nothing else on the card; only the name in its almost-black crimson hue. No munny, either. He remembered Munny; the need for it to do almost anything in this place... Traverse Town. But nobody here knew him here- they had checked. And neither had anyone for the next three towns in any direction claimed him.
Brows furrowed in concentration as he tried to work his way back... back... to before the hospital room.... before the flash of recalled memory of the cold, freezing, welcoming crush of almost-frozen water... Pain. Pain seared its way into his mind, consuming it for a moment before he forced his thoughts to work FORWARD again.
What had HAPPENED to him? He knew what they had told him- what they knew; He had been found in the third district of Traverse Town's Nocturne River, he'd been in a coma for a week in the hospital; he'd been in the news for a few days, they had searched for his family, relatives, lovers.... anyone. They knew his name; but it seemed that was all they could find from him. It was almost as though he had merely APPEARED in the raging, volatile waters of the half-frozen river. The worn leather bag that had been found a few feet from him only had a few little things; a journal, washed clean and wrinkled from the river's raging tides, a small key chain- two circular, spiked objects, The wallet with his name, and... Axel's fingers dug back into the back of the bag, fumbling about for a moment before quickly pulling out the small trinket. Tugging it out, he stared at it with questioning eyes.
If not for the odd color and the clearly Crystal shine about it, it could have passed off as a beautifully crafted marble. But... The color called to something deep inside Axel's sore mind, causing another spike of pain to erupt as he tried to pry further into it. Cursing under his breath, He leaned back against the low wall, one pale, long hand coming up to carefully touch at the skin of his temple- vivid red spikes lay haphazardly across the purple bruise there; the product of the river's angry tides slamming him into a rock, the doctor had said.
Where was he supposed to go now? The question surfaced yet again as his hand dropped to his side once more, a slight downward tug pulling at his thin lips.
The people at the hospital had said he couldn't stay there anymore- the hospital had granted him a week there after he had woken in the beginning, in the hopes that he would recover his memory. His nurse had been kind, at least- If a little insane. Rikku, a fiery blond with the strangest shade of aqua eyes Axel could think of, had an affinity with explosions and claimed the only reason she was in her line of work was to pay for her hobby of building rockets and other things with high likelihood of explosions. Rikku had been the one who explained the situation to him when he had first woken up, not knowing who he was but realizing he was in a hospital, he felt cold, and his head felt like splitting open.
Rikku had been the one to convince the hospital to allow reporters from The Traverse Tabs- the local paper- to come in and cover the story in hopes that someone would be able to claim him as thier own. She had gone far beyond the call of real nursing duty, and had become Axel's only friend in this new, unfamiliar, and unforgiving world where he seemed to be only a visitor, never a resident. But even Rikku couldn't stop the hospital's ruling to send him out after his third week with them. She had even helped him search for somewhere to go.
But in the end, here he stood, in front of the hospital, his head throbbing gently, with nowhere to go and a desperate craving for something tugging at his mind, making it hard to think of something else.
With a low growl, he pushed from the wall, turning his back to the hospital as he started walking north- Rikku had said to follow the river this way, to the upper levels of Second District. She wanted him to go to some little cafe and wait until she got off her shift, and had promised to help him find a place to go. He grimaced as his head throbbed gently as he pulled the name of the shop from his mind once more. Crescendo. To Axel, it sounded like something preppy; maybe a little place with jazz music playing 24/7. But, he would go. Because Rikku was all he knew for right now in this new world.
Sora Kidayu was normally a very easy-going person; He prided himself on his ability to remain happy and cheerfully worry-free in almost any situation. Almost being the key word in this particular case.
So when Riku Tiderio stepped into the small, warm shelter of Crescendo to find the boy flitting about like a madman, muttering to himself, and cleaning in little bursts an already spotless counter; it caused him pause. Indeed, the boy- normally jittery and smiling when his old school mate appeared- didn't even notice him enter the building.
"Sora? Are you-" Riku didn't have a chance of finishing his statement, Sora wheeled about and let loose a huge, welcoming smile that stopped him dead, right next to the condiment table. But, at seeing it was only Riku, the boy let go of the smile and sighed, turning to continue fluttering about the small cafe.
"Oh, Riku, it's just you. Do me a favor and wipe down the condiment table." Sora ordered flightily, before swooping in beside his friend to do it himself. Riku's brow quirked- It was not every day when one saw Sora Kidayu flitting about nervously, and something about it simply did not sit right with Riku.
"Sor', what's going on?" Sora peered over at him, slowing down his motions as he smiled nervously.
"Well, Rikku called- she's sent someone over here to hang out for a while... You know that boy from the paper? The article that Demyx showed us?" Riku nodded, slowly, eyes trained on Sora even as the brunet turned his face back to the cleaning. "Well, the hospital had to release him- he's okay now, but he still can't remember who he is or anything, so she wants us to help him out."
Riku frowned at the thought of the hospital kicking out someone who didn't know who they were- he would be terrified. Then again, it worried him a bit more that they would be sheltering someone they didn't know, but Riku forced that thought from his mind. Silently, Riku reached out and patted Sora on the shoulder. The smaller boy visibly relaxed just a slight amount. "Sora, I'm sure we can help him. He'll be better before you know it."
Sora smiled at his friend, his eyes following up to the taller boy's face, framed by silvery hair. "I know, but what if he doesn't like me?" Sora's concern showed true on the matter- his eyes nearly brimming with unhappy tears at the thought. Riku frowned and scoffed.
"If he doesn't like you, he's not human." Sora smiled slightly, lips lifting slowly to form a little hint of it before breaking out completely as he reached out and hugged his best friend. Riku smiled down at the messy mop of brown tucked under his chin, his own arms coming to wind around the smaller frame and hug back. He silently swore to slaughter the new man if he proved to be troublesome for Sora.
It was one of the rare days when there were only a handful of customers to deal with in the bar; the normal patrons, as well, so it wasn't even that difficult. So when the phone rang, Demyx tried to force back the huge yawn threatening to escape as he lifted the old-style receiver to his ear. "Hello, this is the Crimson Rhapsody, I'm Demyx, and how can I help you today?" He rattled off his prepared bit, a small grin flying to his face as he found he had remembered not to answer the phone with a 'yo, this is Demyx!'
"Hey, little brother." At Rikku's voice, Demyx sighed in relief, letting the huge yawn escape and trail off after a moment. There was a chuckle on the other end, and Demyx grinned proudly to himself for no real reason at all.
"So what can I do ya for, Sis?" Demyx asked; the grin still in place as his sister began rattling off a tale about explosions, a burnt kitchen, a boyfriend on the run, and a boy who needed a place to stay. "So; you burnt down the kitchen again, then?" Demyx ventured to guess, still not quite able to keep up with his sister's hundred-mile-mouth, even after twenty-two years. There was a long-suffering sigh from the other end that made Demyx roll his eyes and grin.
"No; the explosive chemicals in the POT burned down the kitchen, I was an innocent bystander... But that's not why I called- didn't you LISTEN to what I said?" Rikku muttered to him, impatient, as apparently she was on her break- a quick glance at the burnt copper clock on the wall only served to confirm this theory. When Demyx didn't reply, his sister plowed on. "So I need to go and bribe Tidus to come back home and not stay on Zack's couch again- or Aerith might have my head, and I need you to give Axel a place to stay while we try and help him remember."
Oh, that's what she had been talking about, Demyx thought. His mind flitted to the paper he had thrown at Sora and Riku the other day; the front page story on the boy who'd been drawn out of the river. The picture that accompanied the story had made it seem like the boy was in much worse shape than Rikku had let on; his head had been wrapped, he had straps and wires and tubes all over him, and he looked pale as a corpse. Demyx shivered at the memory. "You mean nobody came to claim him?" Demyx asked, feeling a little nip of sorrow at his heart at the thought of the man being left on his own.
"Yes- we couldn't find any family or friends who knew him. Not even in Twilight Town- I even called Roxas and checked if anyone was missing. Nothing." Rikku's voice sounded tired and strained as she explained, and Demyx's face softened. The black door to his right clicked open; emitting a tall, dark-silver haired man who cast a questioning glance from his one visible eye.
Demyx shook his head, turning back to the phone, "Sure, Rikku, I'll let him camp out in the extra room. I just have to clean it up a bit." Zexion Tiderio rose a brow at his employee at the sound of Rikku's name- personal calls were to be made during break unless it was an emergency. Demyx held up one finger, telling Zexion to hold the rant as he listened to his sister's instructions, nodding and making small sounds of affirmation for a moment longer before hanging up the phone.
"Demyx, how many times must I remind you, personal calls-" Zexion started but Demyx shook his head.
"I know, I know- at my break. But the guy they pulled out of the river was released today, and since nobody's come to find him, he needed a place to stay; Rikku was just calling to make sure I was OK with it." Demyx cut in, explaining as Zexion's brows came down in concentration.
"No one came forward as a friend or family for the man?" Zexion asked quietly, frowning slightly. Demyx simply nodded in response, casting a glance over the warm colors of the bar; the crimson stage with its ruby curtains and the black tables, adorned with bloody red cloth and lit only by the low-light chandelier- It was a warm place, that was one certainty.
"He's gonna be staying with me for a while, so I might need to take a couple days off to show him around so he doesn't get lost; is that okay?" Demyx asked, his eyes trained on the bar top before him. His superior let out a low, suffered sigh, and suddenly there was a hand ruffling his mulleted head.
"Take three days; I'll get someone to cover the bar while you're away." Zexion didn't look at his employee, but he felt the wide smile spread and warm him moments before the hug came. He tolerated the contact until Demyx pried himself away, grinning at Zexion as the slightly shorter man turned his icy eyes to him. "Take off early, it's not that busy here, I can take care of it."
Zexion watched as the younger man pranced through the back door, already untying the black apron strings that hugged his hips as he danced away. A sigh escaped him once again- it had been that upbeat and open smile that had made Zexion hire the boy in the beginning, and it was the same one he could not bring himself to say 'No' to anymore.
Oh, how life's trickery abounds, the man thought as he turned to answer the now ringing phone. Perhaps he would close up early and drop in at Crescendo.
Axel had somehow managed to find himself standing in what seemed to be the most happy preppy-looking neighborhood he had ever seen- at least that he could remember, which wasn't saying much. And he was lost. Let's not forget that. Hopelessly, completely, and utterly lost.
He had followed Rikku's directions, but he must have turned down the wrong 'Alto Avenue' because he did not see a small shop anywhere; let alone one with a lime green sign welcoming customers to 'Crescendo.' Obviously he had not been a city guide before his memory loss. Thinking that perhaps he had simply not gone far enough, Axel kept to the sidewalk, continuing down the street until he was confronted by a large apartment building.
A frown came to his face and he scowled at the grand, welcoming building; it was a nice place, sure, but the cul-de-sac that served as its drive shot down his theory of not having gone far enough. For a long moment, he thought seriously about sitting down right where he was on the sidewalk, passersby be damned; he thought about letting the helplessness of his situation wash over him. But some deep, primal part of him reeled and raged at the idea- give in to hopelessness, what was he, a pansy? It seemed to cry.
The nagging craving at the back of his head was growing needy and demanding, making his skull pound with not only the angry pansy voice, but with an entirely pissy gimme voice. They seemed never-ending, and a scowl came to his face as he reeled to the wall beside himself; ivy climbing to the roof of the tall brick building. Resting his head against the cool leaves, he knocked his forehead gently but firmly, muttering curses as they came to him. "'Impossible to miss' she says, 'just follow Alto' she says... well I FOLLOWED Alto, didn't I?" Another curse wove out, alongside another rap against the wall.
The next rap was prevented by a startling occurrence- a hand grabbed his shoulder.
Axel didn't know how he did it, or why, or when, but he suddenly found himself with an armload of restrained and squirming girl. She was tiny; lucky to reach his shoulder in height and only with the aid of white sneakers with a bit of height to them, her thin wrist felt like a bir'd wing in his hand where it sat, brought up near her shoulder blades painfully by him. White-blonde hair swung over one shoulder and her voice held a light melody to it as she cried out again for him to let go.
With wide eyes, Axel threw his hands away from her- into the air; holding himself as though she was pointing a gun at him. Stuttering with words, Axel managed a noise that was somewhere in the middle of a Platypus being strangled and a cat barking. The girl, rubbing the wrist Axel had held behind her back, turned very bright blue eyes on him quizzically. A moment passed between them as the girl seemed to hover between uncertainty and anger at him, her eyes flashing back ans forth from his own to his hands, still held in the air. After a slow internal debate that played out in different colors on her face, she smiled somewhat unsurely, raising her own hands slightly by her face in a calming gesture that had Axel lowering his own a bare few inches, still uncertain what was happening here.
"I'm sorry; I just wanted to know if you were lost..." Her voice still had the melodic ring to it, and Axel winced.
"I should be the one apologizing; I don't know why I did that..." He trailed off, realizing that maybe this girl could help him. He eyed her for a few moments, lowering his hands to shoulder-height and biting his thin, pale lips."But yeah, I AM lost... Do you know if there's a cafe anywhere on this street... It's called-"
"Oh, you're looking for Crescendo!" the girl cried, realization dawning on her face. "I should have guessed, everyone who wanders down here is looking for it, usually." Axel was still stiff, worried he would react too violently again, yet this girl seemed perfectly fine. "You passed it about a block and a half ago...."
"Oh..." Axel didn't move, not sure what to do; after all, he had basically ATTACKED this poor girl... "Uh... I'm sorry about your arm... are you sure you're alright?" Silence took over for another moment, a look of shock coming to the girl's face an instant before it broke out into a peaceful and serene smile that made Axel fall to ease.
"How about I show you to Crescendo?" Her sweet melody of a voice made Axel nod numbly, allowing his arm to be drawn from him, shifting his bag as it teetered, threatening to fall from his shoulder as the girl dragged him back the way he had come... back toward the River he had sprung from.
It was another twenty minutes after Riku arrived that Sora found he had nothing left to do but sit and wait. Nervously twitching back and forth behind the counter, he began triple-checking the cafe express machines for the eighth time.
Riku sighed, exasperated, and rose from his seat at the cafe's bar in one of its comfortable barstools to leap over the counter in one fluid motion, dodging over the neatly stacked mugs to land right in front of Sora just as the smaller boy turned to check them again.
"Things will be fine, Sora." Riku soothed, his voice calm and sure while carrying its usual demand. Sora stilled, his worried eyes filling with a happy calm as he let out a shaky breath. Riku witheld the urge to run his fingers through Sora's hair to calm the boy further, chastising himself for wanting to make the other boy realize he was here for a reason, damn it, and that was not to help welcome some stranger into their lives.
Sora opened his mouth, ready to speak as Riku leaned slightly forward, his weight shifting as his hand went to reach for the smaller's,when the little bell over the door rang again, signaling the admittance of someone. Sora's eyes flew to the door, slowly followed by a begrudging Riku's, only to see a petete little blonde girl standing beside a somewhat disheveled looking man with flame for hair.
"Welcome to Crecendo!" Sora cried, a huge smile coming to his face. The girl smiled widely in return, offering a small wave and pushing the Red-head forward; the man himself looked a bit shocked and out of place, his clothing somewhat grimy and disheveled, the warped bag hanging over his shoulder doing nothing to help him look at ease. Sora, for his part, disreguarded this, bounding arond the counter to glow happily around the older man. Riku followed at a slower, more somber pace, a slight frown tugging the corners of his lips.
Sora lead the two visitors to the bar, settling them down in the stools as he danced about, chatting merrily and reaching over the counter for a menue, recommending drinks and muffins and shakes and teas to the two. After a few seconds, though, the red-head seemed to regain some semblance of himself and cleared his throat. "Uh... Not that I'm not happy you're welcoming me like this, but I-I don't have any munny to pay for anything...."
Riku paused, raising a brow as Sora froze, mid-chatter, his mouth still agape and the girl hid a small smile behind her hand. "Oh! Rikku didn't tell you she called ahead?" Sora interjected. A look of realization dawned over the Red-head's face and he smiled somewhat appoligetically, still eyeing Sora as though he expected to be jumped.
"I'm Namine, and this is Axel." The girl spoke up, easing away the tension that had been forming with the awkward moment with a smoothe motion and a laughed and Riku eased his muscles, unaware when he had tensed in the first place.
"I'm Sora, and that's Riku!" Sora chipped in warmly, his smile returning as Riku stepped forward to draw out another stool and place himself in it. "Rikku said to have you wait here until Demyx could come!" Sora chittered, bouncing around the counter and bringing out menues. "Since it's cold out, I figured I'd give you somthing hot to drink!"
Axel's hand went to his hair, tugging gently at it's spikey mass. "If you have anything that'll help a headache, it would be much appreciated, actually." He muttered. Riku raised a brow at the girl- Namine- who shrugged.
"Axel and I ran into one another when he got lost. Oh, Sora, a cup of warm tea sounds wonderful, please." she explained simply, saying the last in aside to Sora with a warm, serene smile to the boy. Riku eyed Axel for a moment as the other man fidgeted in his seat, eyes wandering around as everyone began to settle down finally. The man truly did seem like he had no idea what he was doing; if Riku's mind hadn't been conjuring up images of how he would feel in this situation, then he would have found it funny. Another half an hour passed in somewhat awkwart time, Namine and Sora chittering together, trying and failing to pass the conversation to a mono-syllabic Riku as Axel fished for a foothold.
It was revealed that Namine had been at RGU- the local university- for two years studdying fine arts and Ballet, and that she had run into Axel coming home from the school for the day and decided to help him. She found out why he had been lost and that he had no memory, and Sora seemed to be forming yet another friendship with the young, pretty girl.
"Who's Demyx?" Axel's voice, suddenly interjected into the conversation that had now turned to how Sora had come to work at the cafe, made everyone pause for a moment, eyeing the man carefully.
In that time, though, the bell over the door rang out yet again, and a stumbling, smiling Demyx spilled inside, throwing out hello's left and right before catching sight of Axel and grinning, barreling for the man who could only sit by helplessly and watch the mulleted man plow into him at full speed, an arm wrapping around his shoulders merrily as Demyx cried out in glee. "I found you!"
"That would be Demyx." Riku clarified a somewhat hopeful, somewhat terrified looking Axel, who seemed to deflate slightly yet smiled nonetheless.