Skeleton Life
Summary: A city in which rich versus poor is a sharp study in contrast, where life is impossible without family. A group of kids bound together by shared tragedy. Over the course of years, two grow and love.
Notes: Akuroku day was coming up, I had nothing. I can't finish one because it's so damn epic. What to do? So trying to chill, I started playing something I'd wanted to hear for a while. The song is Skeleton Life, a vocaloid song, and when I looked at the translation of the lyrics (because obviously I don't speak Japanese enough to know what the hell it was saying aside from random words and phrases like 'mou ichido') I got inspired. So here goes~ (Didn't have time to find or send this to a beta. Here's the fun part: tried to get my brother to look over it, he usually loves reading my fics. He thinks this one is 'too gruesome'. I don't know... judge for yourself?)
It was the being carried on his back like a child that bothered him. He'd just stepped on some beach glass, that was all, so why was Axel carrying him? For that matter, he'd only mentioned in passing that they should hit the beach- it was easier to find things there that they could sell or something once they got back to the slums. It wasn't a great life, but it was living at least. And for orphans, that was the best they could hope for.
"Rich people drop change and things, it's gotta be easier to find money there." Axel had just delved into their meager savings (savings he wanted to use to get them into an apartment after they came of age enough to get jobs where they could actually demand minimum wage) and bought them a train ticket to the beach, him and Roxas alone. Roxas knew there was sand that concealed things, but they'd done all right- helped an old beachcomber for lunch and a few dollars, found a few more dollars in change, and the twelve-year-old blond had pocketed a couple of seashells that he thought nice enough to maybe give to his brother. But towards the end of the day, in their rush to get back to the train, Roxas had lost his sandal and cut his foot on some glass. Axel had only slowed down enough to wrap the foot in his shirt, grab the shoe, and haul Roxas onto his back, taking off running like some weird-looking chocobo. The fifteen-year-old managed to get them to the train just before it took off, and while they were on the way back to the city, he pulled the glass out and bandaged the foot better.
"Sorry…" Roxas apologized- Axel was the only person who could elicit an apology, especially in light of the fact that though he and his brother had only been on the streets a few years, he was already a better pickpocket than some of the older kids in their weird little gang/family. With this injury, he wouldn't be able to work, and he'd have to make Axel dig into their money even more to get bandages and antibiotics. The redhead tore a strip off the bottom of his shirt and tied it around Roxas's foot wordlessly. Even though the unofficial leader of the gang was Xemnas, people knew that if you wanted something done right and right away, you came to Axel. He knew how it worked- he'd been on the streets the longest of all of them, and he knew where and how to get things. When Sora and Roxas had been orphaned, Sora had immediately clung to a silver-haired boy named Riku- he had a family, not much of one but it was still family. Roxas had been drawn to Axel like a magnet.
At the time, Roxas had only been eight. He'd been cold, and scared, and when Xemnas had brought him to the gang, saying if he didn't come he and his brother would die soon on the streets, he'd felt alone. Then flame red hair had filled his vision, and the next thing he knew he'd been in a hug, and the eleven-year-old Axel had started arguing with Xemnas, knowing his tactics and reassuring the boy that though Xemnas had been partially right, yes, they were safer now and introducing himself. Roxas… had reacted in what became typical Roxas fashion.
He punched his personal leech and told him not to patronize him. Not in so many words, but the gist was the same. Over time, they'd become inseparable, and now… now Roxas felt like a jerk, repaying his friend and mentor by getting injured to the point he wouldn't be able to pick pockets for a couple of days. And all because he thought going to the beach would be a good idea…
"…It's all right, Roxas." Axel finally said, voice cracking only a little on the end- it was better than a couple of years before, when Roxas had thought someone had tried to strangle him again when he came in with his voice cracking horribly. Roxas just hoped his wasn't as bad as all that… "We did pretty good for ourselves today. And we got to see the beach. What'd you think of it?" he asked, grinning as he shook more sand off Roxas's shoe.
"…I'd like to live near it someday." Roxas said as he stared out the window. "It's really nice…"
"…me too, kiddo." Axel grinned as he slid Roxas's shoe back on his bandaged foot and ruffled sandy-colored hair. "Maybe someday. But for the next couple of days, school for you!"
"Aw, Ax, do I hafta go to that dumb charity school?"
"Until you hit 15, yes." Axel said sternly. This rule actually wasn't one of his own- it was a rule of one of the original six members of the gang, old friends who had been orphaned during the gang wars that turned the once-idyllic city into a study in sharp contrast, the rich versus the poor, in the daily struggle to survive. Zexion was the only member of the gang that still went to the school despite the fact that he was almost seventeen. He was marketable, yet he wanted to know- and he thought that all the kids needed to know as well. But beyond the age of 15, he couldn't force them. Roxas skipped more often than not and just had Sora bring him homework and turn it in for him, only showing up for final exams and such important events. Axel had once been the biggest opponent of it, saying when a kid hit ten they could help work the masses, until Roxas and Sora had come along. Then he'd been gung ho for them to continue school up to 17- it would mean having to continue for him but he hadn't cared, he'd said. "And I'll be walking you there every morning to make sure you don't wander off and get hurt. Too many people with ill intent."
"God, Axel, I'm not Demyx. I don't need a babysitter."
"Neither does Dem but Zexy still keeps an eye on him." Axel justified. Roxas sighed- Demyx, though only a few months younger than Axel, acted like the youngest kid in the gang sometimes, and Zexion had taken it on himself to keep an eye out on him. "So, you'll go to school?"
"At least until this heals." Roxas promised, and Axel hugged him.
"Good kid. And hey, you being in class, that may actually give a couple of the teachers heart attacks."
"Always nice to know I'm adding to the mortality rate." Roxas grinned.
--
"No, dammit, Sora, you can't go see that girl!"
"…ouch, what's Riku got his panties in a twist over?" Roxas asked, one fine spring day almost two years later. Axel, now seventeen and fully grown into his voice (though still growing taller- he was already almost six feet tall, he needed to stop growing!), looked up, bandages over the angry red welts of abused, freshly-tattooed skin under his eyes. "Did you change them today?"
"Yes, Roxie, I did." Axel grinned, knowing full well that Roxas hated that nickname- he'd sang on street corners for a few months until his voice started changing (though it had finished with him still able to sing at least alto recently), under the nickname 'Roxie'. "And I don't know the full story, apparently Sora saw some cute girl and he wants to go meet her in the park tonight but Riku's suspicious."
"Right…" Roxas said, flopping down and opening the textbook with his homework in it, heedless of the dust cloud from the dying couch in the 'living room' of the dilapidated building the gang took refuge in.
"Rich girl slumming it."
"Ah."
"You're not going because I love you, Sora!" That caught everyone in the room's attention (which meant that Axel, Roxas, and the previously unnoticed Marluxia were on their feet and at the wall in seconds to listen). "Dammit, I've watched over you, and I love you too much to let you get hurt by some girl looking to piss her parents off! If they caught you with their daughter, they'd have you arrested and no one cares if a street kid gets home alive or not!"
"Dammit, Riku, I'm not a kid anymore! Give me some room to breathe!"
"I'm older than you-"
"By ONE YEAR, BIG DEAL!"
"AND I FUCKING LOVE YOU TOO MUCH TO LET YOU ROT IN A PRISON CELL JUST FOR BEING AN ORPHAN!" Roxas took the end of his pocketknife, a find in a junk store, and poked a hole through some of the crumbling mortar and plaster to get a look at his twin and friend, Axel taking the knife after and repeating the action. From what Roxas could see, Riku had his head on Sora's shoulder, arms wrapped around him loosely. "If you're so damn determined… I'll go with you… but I really wish you wouldn't. I want… I want to be the only one Sora needs…"
Roxas felt a blush spread across his face as he saw Sora tilt his head just enough to kiss Riku on the ear, barely hearing the next whispered words. "I do need you, Riku, but she's offered help to us. I didn't want to tell you because I love you, and I knew this would be how you reacted. You're too damn proud sometimes, Riku."
Axel coughed a little and stepped back, closing Roxas's knife and putting in the blonde's back pocket, patting as he did. "Let's give them some space, guys."
"Shit, I gotta tell Larxene!" Marluxia laughed, sprinting up the stairs as fast as he dared, calling for the sole girl in the gang. Roxas sat back down, blinking as he tried to get used to the idea of his brother and Riku… together. They'd always been unnaturally close but this… this was something else.
"Shit… Axel, if I start getting that fruity, stop me."
"Same here, bud." And so they lapsed into companionable silence, ignoring the whispers from the next room as well as they could until Roxas could stand it no longer and threw a book at the wall- risky enough in a practically-condemned building- and was surprised by a new window into the downstairs office Xemnas had given Zexion to store his books in and work the accounts- with more adults in the gang now they were bringing in a bit more money. Riku and Sora, in the midst of what looked like a very heated make-out, were more than a little embarrassed, and more than happy to take the rest of their discussion elsewhere.
That night, in their shared bedroom, Axel peeled one of the bandages off his face to get Roxas to smear more antibiotic on the new tattoo. "It looks better than it did yesterday." Roxas noted. "Maybe you'll be able to take off the bandages soon."
"I hope so, they itch like hell." He complained. Roxas just thwacked him gently with the tube of antibiotic and went back to work silently. "…hey, Roxas, what if I said I thought I had a crush on someone?"
"Who?"
"Secret. What would you think?"
"I'd think… hm… good for you. You need someone to talk to besides me." Inwardly, Roxas dreaded the idea of his best friend liking someone new. He couldn't figure out why but he didn't like it. "Besides, anything to relieve the gloom, right?"
"Yeah… you remember that time we went to the beach when you were twelve?" Axel asked, and this made Roxas pause. Why would he bring that up?
"Yeah, I remember. We netted about five bucks in change, a couple of seashells, and Xemnas and Zexion both about killed us." Roxas recalled.
"And you cut your foot on beach glass… do you still have that scar?"
"Yeah, I've got it… God, that was awful. Though given how I walked around before it's no surprise it got infected. At least Vexen knew what to do."
"God yes. I was too busy freaking out… I'd seen kids die out here from something as simple as a scraped knee…" Axel laughed ruefully; he didn't seem to like talking about the pre-Roxas days much, all he'd told Roxas of the gang before was that there had been three others when he was young, one who looked a lot like Roxas, a girl Larxene had been close to, and another boy with dark hair who had brought Riku and stayed. The girl had been run down by a rival gang and killed, the boy who came with Riku had been imprisoned and killed within a week for supposedly trying to escape, and the Roxas look-alike… no one ever told him what happened to the Roxas look-alike, but every time he woke Axel up from a bad dream he would give him the most… sad look. Like he was seeing a ghost of the past.
"Why are you bringing that up?"
"I saw the seashell on the desk in Zexion's office… and it made me wonder…" Axel grinned. Roxas got it immediately- spying.
"Lemme put my shoes back on and we'll go listen in."
"No! No, Roxas, I asked Demyx and he admitted they've been together for a year. He said the day they got together he'd pulled a stupid move and hurt his hand, and Zexion was just so glad he'd gotten out alive that he kissed him. So I was wondering if… ifyou'dhelpmepracticekissing."
"…do what?" Roxas asked, confused.
"If you'd help me practice kissing. I don't want to drive my crush away by not knowing how." Axel said. Roxas sighed; what made him think he was any better? "I saw you kiss that blonde girl at school that day."
"Damn you and your blackmail." The girl in question was a very pretty young woman, and Roxas had been attracted to her at first but… something just didn't feel right. They had never really dated, choosing to just stay friends. "A-all right, first you-" he was cut off by Axel smashing his lips into his in a violent kiss that left him dazed. Teeth clacked, and was that a tongue in his mouth?! Roxas shoved him off, glaring and sputtering. "Dammit, Axel, you don't just jump someone! You gotta start out slow!" Roxas could feel a blush coming to his face for the third time that day, and sat up. "You move close slowly, and just…" he trailed off as Axel followed his instructions to the letter.
This time, the kiss was slower, more enjoyable, no painfully clacking teeth. It was chaste, sweet, and as Axel lapped at his bottom lip as if asking for entry, Roxas found himself unable to resist. For some reason this kiss was more… intense than the last, and he brought his arms up around the redhead's neck as he felt arms around his waist. All too soon, Axel separated them, almost breathless. "Like that?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah… just like that." Roxas breathed.
"I could use more practice, I guess… but for now… I think sleep is best." Axel said, looking out a crack in the boards covering the windows to see the dimming street lamps, the only light in the gloom. Roxas murmured agreement and climbed into his own makeshift bed, back facing Axel's bed. He hadn't expected that kiss to affect him like that… why? What was it about his best friend that was affecting him like that?
For the first time, Roxas began to suspect that maybe he liked his best friend a little more than he should have.
--
"Goddammit, get the kids out!" Axel screamed over the din of raid sirens, gunshots, and loudspeakers. Demyx gathered three small children, new to the streets, to his legs and ushered them out a back door to hide underground. The slum raids had become more and more frequent ever since the mayor's daughter had disappeared- the gangs were suspected of having kidnapped her, but the truth had been she had fallen for a young girl from the streets, and wasn't going to be told to pretend it wasn't real love any longer. Roxas's former flame had been the lucky girl, and the two were probably settled in some new town by now. Roxas was eighteen, Axel was twenty-one, and Xemnas was dead, killed in a raid just the previous week. His best friend and suspected lover was taking it the hardest, out in the streets even now fighting whoever he could reach in a suicidal attempt to defend what had saved him and other children. Xigbar- an old member from way back that Roxas had never known well- was up in the third floor shooting at whatever he could manage. Vexen was underground, having vanished there the night before when Marluxia had warned them all of a possible raid. Larxene had gone with him, hobbling along just in case, knowing that if a raid came she would be one of the first ones dead thanks to a well-placed electric fence shocking the hell out of her and hurting her leg during a small-scale robbery.
Zexion was in his office, trying to gather up their account books into a bag and choose a few volumes he couldn't live without. The rest he would torch, though it would hurt him to do it. Roxas could see him through the hole from four years before debating between a schoolbook for the children of the gang (the charity schools had been disbanded just a year before due to a high drop-out rate) and a book of poetry he and Demyx had enjoyed.
"Toss me the poems, Zex! I'll get them out for you!" Roxas shouted, catching the book as it was thrown to him. "Sora, Riku, you two cover Zex and get underground, we'll catch up!" The two in question didn't argue, simply readjusted their holds on the pipes that served as swords for them and took off running, Zexion and the bag of books between them. Roxas watched, almost terrified that they wouldn't make it, but they did, just in time. Luxord, another member Roxas hadn't known all that well, came down, Xigbar on his shoulder and favoring his left side.
"Bloody got him, bullet to the shoulder. I'm taking him underground, it's all you two now." Luxord said as quietly as the din would permit.
"What about Saix?" Axel asked, never pausing in his close watch, occasionally shooting, and tacking broken glass onto a modified tire-iron.
"Dead, dude…" Xigbar croaked out. "They ganged up on him and took him out like garbage." Axel's only reply was to bite his lower lip- he'd never been fond of Saix, no, but a member was still a member, and they'd lost too many in the past three months to not mourn. What had originally been a gang of 15 had been reduced to maybe nine in a short amount of time- though the kids brought them up to 13, it was still a loss.
"Roxas, you cover them. Get underground."
"Axel, I'm not leaving you to fight alone-"
"GO." Axel demanded, not turning to look at Roxas. "I'm going to blow this place sky high. When I'm done, the only thing that'll be here is ash… and maybe some dead guys." No one doubted him- the things Axel could do with a can of gasoline and a lighter were amazing. "Go, Roxas. And be careful."
"…you better be down there in thirty minutes or so help me, Axel…"
"Go." Roxas didn't argue anymore, just helped hoist Xigbar to Luxord's back and ran with them, fending off the panicking people around them. As soon as they got to the grate to enter the sewer, Roxas felt more than heard a loud explosion, and turned to look, watching his home for the past eleven years go up in smoke and flame. A knot rose in his throat, but he didn't have time to cry- he helped Xigbar down into the sewer before jumping in himself, gagging at the stench. A few hundred yards down the tube, everyone was in what was probably the only halfway-clean area- Vexen and Laxene must have cleaned it the night before in preparation for the injured they knew would be coming in. Vexen scowled and started cleaning Xigbar's wound, Larxene wanted details and to know where Marluxia was. A few minutes later, covered in dirt and grime, he entered.
"Sorry. Had to find a new way here, that jackass Axel blew up the house. Literally." Larxene could have given two shits and a damn less, she jumped up, hobbled her way over to Marluxia as fast as she could, and hugged him. Vexen looked over and pouted.
"If you weren't covered in enough topsoil to grow a garden with I'd be right there with Larxene. Are you injured?"
"Only right here," Marluxia smirked, pointing to his chest. "Superfical cuts elsewhere, I can handle it."
"Did you see Axel?" Roxas asked. Marluxia shook his head.
"No… saw Saix's body though. I stopped just long enough to close his eyes. He looked peaceful… a little like Swiss cheese, but peaceful." Roxas slumped back against the wall, burying his head in his arms. One of the younger kids, a little brunette girl, walked over and rested a hand on his arm before hugging him. Roxas said nothing, just hugged her back. She plopped herself down in his lap and let him smooth out her hair to braid it back.
"Are we going to get a new home, Roxas?" she asked. "This one smells funny…"
"We're only going to stay here until we're sure everyone who can get here is here. Then… I don't know…" he sighed, before she poked his stomach. It sounded and felt rather hollow… "Oh, Zex, here's your book."
"You saved our poems?" Demyx asked, arms around the two young boys of the group. He sniffled a bit and scrubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. "You sweet, sentimental idiot… what about your first edition? What about your manuscript? Your damn medical textbooks?"
"None of them matter." Zexion said, going over to the mullet-hawked man. "They don't have the memories this one does. I'd rather read a note about you not understanding quite what the allegory is in a certain poem than a note on the aorta or cardiac arrest."
"Oh, Zexy!" Demyx whimpered and latched onto the older man, the two boys at their side moving on to Luxord for a good story while all the other adults were busy. Roxas focused on braiding the girl's hair, counting down minutes in his mind. As the girl moved on to go talk to Larxene and Marluxia, Roxas sat there, staring as if dead… it was how he felt inside.
Axel had always been there. Since the beginning of time it seemed, there had always been Axel. He could hardly remember his parent's faces or names, and he knew Sora couldn't at all… but for Roxas, the memory of meeting Axel was as fresh in his mind as if it had happened only the day before. If there was a time without Axel… Roxas didn't know if he could keep going on and be strong. He wished he had insisted that he stay, that Axel get out too. Now the redhead was probably buried in rubble, dead or dying… the world wasn't worth it…
"Hey… I hear something." Riku said, making Sora look up from where his head rested on Riku's shoulder.
"Oh god, if it's the cops…" Xigbar groaned. Roxas made sure the kids were safe, tucked away behind Marluxia and Vexen, and picked up his pipe, ready to bash some skulls in for what they had done to the one constant person in his life. It wasn't just footsteps Riku heard though- Roxas could hear something else as the person walked closer, boots clunking on the sewer floor.
"I'm ali~ve, I'm ali~ve, oh yeah, between the good and bad's where you'll find me, reaching for heaven~, I will fight, and I'll sleep when I die, I live my life, I'm alive~…" That off-key singing, a song heard on the radio that refused to leave the mind… he recognized the voice. The pipe clattered to the floor and he took off running, colliding into a solid chest that smelled like smoke and gasoline. "Whoa! Roxie, calm down, going to knock me off my feet here!" Axel laughed, holding on to the smaller male. Roxas just looked up almost tearfully, pulled Axel down by the hair, and kissed him, soot and dirt on his face and all. Sora and Demyx took up whooping at them like some kind of sitcom, and they broke apart after a few minutes, tears cutting a path through the dust and grime on Roxas's face.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again. EVER. I will castrate you if you do. And your crush, whoever they may be, can go jump in a lake."
"…you want to go swimming, Roxas?" Axel laughed, burying his nose in spiky blond locks. "The only crush I've had is one on you. Since that time we went to the beach I've had a crush on you. Didn't know how you'd react." An insistent tug alerted Roxas that there was a small child by him, and he looked to see the little girl standing there, looking up at him.
"Are you two gonna kiss again, 'cause if you are the boys want to know so they can hide their eyes like the stupid babies they are." Axel and Roxas stood there for a few moments before laughing, Axel even picking the girl up.
"I like you; we're going to have to keep you around, kiddo." He grinned, walking over to the rest of the group to get cleaned up and treated, his hand in Roxas's back pocket.
"So… where do we go now?" Sora asked. "Our home is destroyed, we have nowhere to go, and with so many people…"
"Well, we sure as hell aren't splitting up." Larxene insisted. "It's safer in numbers. And I'll be damned if anyone else dies because I'm not there to keep their ass out of the fryer."
"Larx's right." Marluxia said, leaning against the wall. "We have to stick together. And since our home is destroyed… we can always go to another city. Somewhere where being an orphan isn't such a stigma."
"Or," Axel piped up, smiling, "Why don't we go to the beach?" Everyone looked at him like he was insane. "Look, there are towns near the beach. We passed through several a few years ago. There's got to be a city further down the train line. And I did grab our savings box. You think I'm going to blow up a house with money in it?" he laughed. "We buy train tickets, and get the fuck out of Dodge. How's that sound for a plan?"
"… what about money when we get there, jobs?" Vexen asked.
"Well, shit, you practically have a medical license. We'll take out some loans, get you a degree, work like crazy to get money to pay them back and rent a place."
"For fifteen people? Axel…"
"No… he has a point." Vexen said thoughtfully. "I never finished my internship, the gang wars swept the city and they wouldn't let interns in for fear they were gang members. I'm only 32, I can do this. It sounds viable."
"Well…"
"And Larx, you wired the damn house for electricity, you know your stuff!"
"True…" she preened from her seat.
"Marluxia, you have gardening, Zexion keeps amazing accounts, Demyx plays music, Xigbar knows guns like no one else, and Luxord, well, you outgamble the best." Axel said, listing off talents. "Finding jobs should be a breeze!"
"Yeah… yeah!" Sora grinned, and Roxas knew the deal was sealed then. If Sora went along with it, then Riku would too, and if Riku went with it, they all would. Axel picked himself up, and clapped his hands.
"All right, so it's settled, we wait until the raid shit settles down, sneak out and go to a new place. No more scraping, no more begging." He reached for Roxas's hand, squeezing it reassuringly. "We're going to make it."
"And when we do, we sue the city." Zexion scowled, arms around Demyx almost protectively. "What they've done violates basic human rights. They're not even giving people a chance anymore."
"We'll take that one later. After we make it." Axel said, patting Zexion on the shoulder. "But I'm glad you're on board."
--
"Happy twenty-fifth birthday, Axel." Roxas grinned, sunshine on his back and warming his body through the white sheet covering him from the waist down. Axel groaned and shot him a look, green eyes begging not to be reminded. "Hey, you survived a quarter-century, don't give me that look."
"True…" he said, smiling finally. "Didn't dream about the raids, did you?"
"Nope. You?"
"Not once." Axel laughed, pulling Roxas down for a kiss. The two laid in the soft bed, luxuriating in the fact that today was Saturday, they had nowhere to go, and this new town didn't give a damn about their parentage or lack thereof. Downstairs they could hear the commotion of a variety of things- Sora trying to cook breakfast with Riku's assistance for the kids (they'd picked up three more on the way out of town, but the commotion downstairs sounded more like they'd picked up twelve), Larxene hollering at Marluxia that she'd asked for the reader and how were they ever going to get the damn ceiling fan installed if he didn't stop leering up her shirt, Demyx messing with his guitar and Zexion shouting for a bit of quiet since he had to finish this account today, Luxord and Xigbar playing poker and arguing over who had been fleecing who, Vexen snoozing on the couch until breakfast and snoring occasionally. It was certainly chaotic, but it was soothing to the two former street-urchins.
"So, are we just going to stay in bed all day or are we going to go downstairs for your birthday breakfast?"
"Hm… I can't just have you for breakfast?" Axel grinned rakishly, earning a joking smack from Roxas and a laugh. "Just a while longer… until they settle down a little."
"All right." Roxas agreed and the two settled down to the peace of a noisy house.