Axel frowned as he looked up from the car he was fixing. He felt like someone was watching him. He'd felt that way all day, and it was starting to get very annoying… but he had no idea what he could do about it. It had to be his imagination. There was nothing there.

Sighing, he went to the bathroom, then outside for a quick smoke break. He liked cigarettes a lot, although he knew he ought to quit. They weren't good for him at all, even if they didn't seem to affect his breath much. At least, that's what Sora said.

"Axel?" He blinked, almost jumping out of his skin at the soft voice. Then he stared as he saw the boy from the club. He looked even younger in broad daylight… maybe fourteen? How had he managed to get into that club? Although his spiky hair and big blue eyes were very cute.

"Uh, hi." Axel was momentarily off balance, then blinked. "Hey, how did you know my name?" He couldn't recall telling the boy his name. "And who are you, anyway? Are you stalking me?" It was incredibly odd that the boy would show up here… and in the back alley of the shop, too, not the front. Almost as thought the kid had been waiting for him to be alone. The boy tilted his head to one side, thinking… then smiled. It was a beautiful smile, and Axel felt his heart seize for a moment.

"Everyone knows your name, Axel. I'm Roxas. And… I guess I am stalking you. But I'm just here to protect you from your enemies." Axel stared at the boy. This was… surreal. Was the kid mentally ill? One of those crazed stalkers you could sometimes meet, who would fixate on you and never let go? That was a frightening though.

"I don't have any enemies to be protected from." Axel said gently, and the boy laughed… but with an edge of sadness.

"Oh Axel. You have more enemies than you could count… and they want you dead." Axel frowned, deciding the kid was definitely insane. "Bring the doll with you, if you can. She will help protect you." Axel blinked as the smoke from his cigarette briefly stung his eyes… and the boy was gone.

"…?" Axel stared at the spot he'd been standing, and cautiously waved a hand in front of him. He hadn't quite seen the boy vanish, but… that blink hadn't been fast enough for him to make it out of the alley even if Roxas had been a world class sprinter. "…Okay." Axel wondered uneasily if he was the one going crazy. That was… a bad thought. But crazy people heard voices and saw things… and believed people were out to get them… "Ah, shit." Shaking his head, he decided to forget about it for now.

But he would have to talk to Sora about it later.

He can't remember a thing. He couldn't see what I am… oh, this is bad. It's really strange though. How can he still report when he doesn't remember? He must be doing it subconsciously.

…He's so beautiful. I wonder if the humans know how blessed they are to have him here? They probably sense it, actually, even if they don't really know. His friends all love him. I hate to disturb his serenity, but I have no choice.

No choice at all.

Axel curiously examined the doll as he made supper for him and Sora.

On closer examination, it was disturbingly lifelike. It had dark skin, the color of coffee with a few creams, and very black, long hair. Her eyes were a warm brown and seemed to move with him as he turned on the stove and cut the vegetables. That would have been creepy… but she was also smiling, a warm impish smile and her eyes seemed to glow with warmth. Despite her uncanny aspects, there was nothing sinister about the doll. Her legs were a bit odd, though. They looked like something out of a fantasy novel… they were joined like a goats, and had cloven hooves, but they were scaled. The scales were a dark purple, and there were spikes at the joints. If she were actually a person, making love to her would be a slightly difficult proposition. Those spikes looked sharp. But then, you'd just have to be a little cautious… or make sure to do it missionary. The spikes pointed more backward than forward. The wings were scaled the same way and had similar spikes…

"Am I really considering the best way to have sex with a person based off a doll?" Axel said to himself, amused, and missed the doll's sudden grin. "I wonder what her name is." He was sure the doll had some kind of name. She looked like a custom piece of work.

Chemistra. But people call her Chem. A voice whispered, and Axel paused, eyes widening.

"…Roxas?" He cautiously glanced around the kitchen, but no one was there. "…Okay." He looked at the doll, uneasy. "Chemistra. Okay. Um… hi there." The doll didn't say anything back, for which he was profoundly grateful. That would have been a bit much.

He quickly fried the vegetables and the hot sausage. Fresh from the local Italian supermarket, it was expensive but seriously good. Then he added the pasta sauce, and started on the noodles. He timed it perfectly… just as he was straining out the noodles, Sora walked through the door.

"Hi Axel! Oh wow, that smells good." Sora made a beeline for the food, shedding his backpack along the way, and Axel grinned. Sora was still growing and eating a ton of food… but he always made plenty to account for that.

"Thanks! I got some of that special sausage from Lina's you like. Oh… and guess what I got us for dessert?" He pointed with his chin at a white paper box on the counter. Sora beamed… he knew exactly what that meant.

"Cream cheese cannelloni! Axel, I love you." Sora gave him a quick peck on the cheek, which made Axel laugh.

"Careful! I'm straining out the noodles here." Quickly finishing that task, he added the noodles to the sauce and gave the whole thing a quick stir. "And here we go. Parmesan's on the table." It was real parmesan; from the same place as the sausage… he had a huge chunk in the refrigerator and grated a good half cup of it every time they made spaghetti. Nothing beat freshly grated parmesan… well, except maybe freshly grated black pepper. He had a pepper mill too. Axel thought sometimes that he should have been a chef… but working on cars made just as good money and the hours were better. Although ultimately, a chef could make better money if he was good. Axel smiled at the thought of himself on the Food Network. That would be… really awesome actually. "Maybe I should try that." He could always try being a chef someday. There was plenty of time. He was only eighteen. Lots of time to experiment and see what he really wanted to do with the rest of his life. Axel set the spaghetti onto the table, and Sora quickly helped himself.

"Try what? …This is SO good Axel." Sora was clearly caught up in gastronomic bliss. Axel smiled at his reactions and took a good helping of the spaghetti, drizzling the parmesan over it before taking a bite. It really was that good… he'd gotten the noodles perfect and the other flavors were just right.

"Oh, I was just thinking I could try being a chef and see if I could make a break onto the Food Network. That would be awesome." Sora made a face.

"I don't think getting on the Food Network is that easy, Axel." Then he considered Axel for a moment and grinned. "Although… with your hair, eyes and tats, you're really photogenic. Maybe you could." Axel smiled, brushing back his hair with one hand. The Food Network was all about food… but ultimately, it was also TV.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Maybe I'll try out for one of their home chef things." They ate quietly for a moment, just enjoying the food. "So how's school coming?"

"Really great! I'm helping Demyx out with his math homework." Axel smiled, a touch sadly, as Sora went on about the things they were learning. He didn't understand most of it. Math just wasn't his thing.

Wait, what? Math isn't your thing? Roxas voice was clear as a bell and full of complete disbelief. Axel started violently, almost knocking his plate off the table and Sora stared.

"Uh, Axel? Are you okay?" Axel swallowed hard, glancing around, but saw… nothing. No boy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes… but that voice had been so clear.

"Sora… I was going to tell you a bit later, but…" Axel hesitated. He knew Sora wouldn't like this. Sora had an uncle who was a paranoid schizophrenic and had refused help… it had made family gatherings a torture for years until he finally went too far and hit someone with a bat. "Remember that kid who gave me the doll at the club?" Sora frowned but nodded. "I… met him again. In the back alley behind the shop. I asked him if he was stalking me, and he said yes… but to protect me from my enemies." Sora blinked, startled.

"But you don't have any enemies!" Sora immediately protested. "Everyone likes you." Axel frowned.

"Yeah, that's what I said… but he said I have a lot of enemies and they want me dead. Oh, his name is Roxas." Axel chewed his lip. "The creepy part is… he told me to keep the doll with me, that it would protect me, then he just vanished. I mean, I blinked and he was gone, it was that fast. And now I keep hearing his voice in my head." Axel couldn't keep the fear out of his voice, and Sora looked a bit scared too. His uncle had heard voices.

"Axel…" Sora reached out to touch his hand, a bit helplessly… then blinked as he suddenly thought of something. "Hey, I think I have an idea!" Axel tilted his head to one side. They really couldn't afford therapy and he didn't have health insurance. What idea could get past that? "Demyx's brother, Zexion, is a practicing psychiatrist. Maybe he could see you for cheap? I can ask." Axel blinked, then smiled warmly.

"That's a great idea Sora. I'd really appreciate it." If there was something wrong with him, he wanted to get some treatment for it immediately. Hearing voices was serious business. So was thinking you had a lot of enemies that wanted you dead.

Axel tried to ignore the exasperated sigh in the back of his mind. It wasn't real.

Couldn't be.

"Axel…" Sora gasped, eyes closed, as Axel's mouth gripped him like a vice. It was so good… Axel was deep throating him effortlessly, swallowing slowly and making Sora's eyes roll back in his head. It felt like all the blood in his body was going down to his throbbing erection.

Axel, meanwhile, was enjoying the heady scent that was Sora. A bit like the vanilla shampoo he used every morning and Dove soap, but a wonderful, warm scent beneath that could always drive him crazy. So beautiful and so innocent, with the other scents mixed in. So powerful… and the way Sora's erection was twitching as he moaned was an amazing turn on, too.

Caught up in what they were doing, neither one noticed the doll on the nightstand moving her head to stare at the window. It was open to let in the cool night air. And a dark hand had gripped it. Something with far too many eyes began pulling itself over the windowsill…

CRACK! Very briefly, a woman stood and her whip snapped out with dark force behind it. The thing in the window erupted into gas, vanishing with only a smear of goo on the windowsill… and the doll tumbled onto the floor. It all took less than a second.

"Mmph… what was that?" Axel pulled back, to Sora's disappointment. He opened his eyes and glanced around, then tugged on Axel's spiky hair.

"Just a car backfiring… please Axel…" Axel grinned at the need in Sora's voice, and went back to what he was doing.

Sora had to be right. What else could it be?

The next morning.

"Ew." Sora regarded the stuff on the windowsill, wondering what it could be. It was dark purple and… gooey. Very gooey. "Hmm." Deciding to be virtuous… Axel was usually the neater of the two… he went to get some cleaners out of the kitchen. Removing the stuff proved to be difficult, but he finally got it off, and looked suspiciously up at the apartment above them. "Did one of those kids throw a jar of jelly off the balcony?" Sora tapped his cheek thoughtfully. "Maybe that was the sound we heard last night."

A completely reasonable and utterly wrong theory. Axel rolled over in his sleep… his shift started late today… as he heard Roxas laughing in his dream. And female laughter joined him. If Sora had looked over at the doll, he would have seen that Chemistra was grinning.

But he didn't look and didn't see.