heey guys, second chapter! and thanks for those lovely reviews *grand total of two so far woot woot* lol especially yours YouCrackMeLikeAnEgg/Becca! anyways, this chap is pree short but i just write whatever comes to my head so some chapters will be longer than others...

oh yeah, my disclaimer... i own nothing except for the plot! xD

Roxas PoV, the next day

I wake up the next day in an ugly white room with beeping sounds and chords attached to me. I'm in a hospital, I realize. What the hell happened? I remember fire and running… running with… Sora? Or had I imagined him being there?

Oh, right. Axel… lit the woods on fire… Jesus. His pyromania has gotten really bad. I make a mental note to get him some help as soon as I can, even though I'm pissed at him right now. I mean, I still love him.

Still half unconscious, I hear a girl's voice talking to me. "You'll be okay, Roxie," it's saying, crying heart-wrenching sobs that make my heart feel like it's breaking.

"Xion—" I try to say more, but a coughing fit overtakes me.

"Oh, you're awake!"

I wince as she hugs me. "What did you do with Axel?" I murmur, trying not to talk any louder so that I don't have another coughing attack.

Xion sobs and grabs my hand in an iron grip. "R-Roxie, they s-said he was an—an arsonist and put him in handcuffs. He's in jail for a long time, this time."

"Again?" I groan. "How long?"

"Well, not that long, but still… a few months, it depends on his behavior, and they bring him to therapy three times a week. But still, Roxie, that's such a long time!"

I sigh. "He can manage. As long as we visit, he'll be fine."

Xion nods uncertainly, but her blue eyes stay sad. "They also said that they were going to keep an eye on me, too. But you're good."

This doesn't make me feel any better. I sigh. "Thanks," I say.

"You're welcome." She gives a tiny smile. I smile too. It disappears quickly when I remember the reason I'm in the hospital. I mean, besides Axel.

"Where's… Sora?"

"Roxas…"

I know this is bad. She never, ever calls me Roxas unless something is seriously wrong. "He's dead," I say flatly. "Isn't he?"

She shakes her head and I resent the relief I feel, but at the same time bask in it. My heart does a little happy dance. I saved his life! Yay!

"Don't jump to conclusions. He's alive, but he's got a few broken ribs and a pierced lung. He's really lucky. The doctor said that if the tree had landed a bit more to the right, he'd have been a goner. It's a miracle he survived in the first place." She makes a wondering face. "I overheard the doctors talking about how quickly he's healing, how weird it is. But they're still happy about it."

I lean back on the hard pillow, relief coursing through me. "That's good," I breathe, closing my eyes briefly before reopening them and asking, "So, why do you sound so depressed then?"

"Roxie, I'm not depressed." She shakes her head, making her dark hair fly around. "Not about Sora. I don't even know him, well he seems cool… but… it's just… Axel…"

"What about him?" I try not to let my anger at him show in my voice.

"He's—he's— I can't believe he's in jail. I-it's not his fault he's like this, and I really— " She swallows, looking down, and stops talking abruptly.

"What?" I lift her chin, forcing her to look at me.

"I think I—" She looks away again. "Nothing."

"Xion…"

New tears fall from her closed eyes. "I love him, Roxie!"

My eyes widen. I can't think of anything to say. "Uh…"

"And now—now he's in jail!" She pounded her fist furiously on the table next to my bed. "There's no one to bail him out of jail, 'cause his family is dead except for his brother, whathisname—"

"Reno," I supply helpfully.

"Yeah, him, and he doesn't give a rat's ass about Axel. We can't do anything, 'cause we're too young! You have to be like seventeen or eighteen, but we're only sixteen! What if he doesn't get proper help in there? What if he gets worse and he like— kills himself or something? This is terrible!"

I open my mouth to try to respond to all that, and to remind her that I turned seventeen a few weeks ago, but then a nurse walks in.

"Oh, you're awake," she says happily. "Visiting hours are over."

Xion wipes her eyes with her sleeve, stands up, hugs me, and leaves without another word. I clench my jaw as I watch her leave. Shit, I'm on some sort of emotional rollercoaster here. My emotions are everywhere. I'm pissed at Axel, but I feel bad that no one bothers to get him any help, even though he's filthy rich. I've tried to get him some help… but it didn't work out too well… because money makes the world go around, and I have no money. Now, Xion is in love with him, and he's in jail. And me? I'm possibly in love with someone I just met. And he's a guy.

I guess I'm not straight after all. Axel was right about one thing.

And I almost died. I know my mother doesn't give a shit, so who's gonna pay for the medical stuff? Because I, for one, am not filthy rich.

"That's a very pretty girl you have there," the nurse comments, writing something on her clipboard. It snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Excuse me?" I ask.

"That girl," she gestures to the door that Xion had just walked out of, "she's very pretty. You're a lucky guy."

"Oh," I say stupidly. "She's not… she's not my girlfriend, I'm… she's not my girlfriend."

"I see." The nurse smiles. "Well. A handsome boy like you, you'll have a girl in no time."

"Um…thanks." I don't bother explaining that I don't like girls. A sudden pain shoots through my left arm and I wince.

"Would you like some pain medication?" the nurse asks, smiling assuringly the whole time.

"No," I reply tersely. Jesus, no one should be so cheerful. It's unnatural and just plain wrong.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

She fidgets uncomfortably at my unwillingness to cooperate. "I'm sorry if I offended you when I implied that you have no girlfriend. I'm sure you have someone special to you."

I sigh. "Thank you. I… I do. I'm sorry too. I just… I want to see the other guy who was brought in. Sora?"

She smiles brightly again, perking up. "When he wakes up, I'll be sure to let you visit." She stares intently at me after this.

"What?" I ask uncomfortably.

"How are you feeling?" she asks, placing a cool hand on my forehead and doing something to one of the tubes attached to my arm. I don't give it much thought as I reply, "Fine. My throat hurts, but other than that, I'm good."

She frowns. "That's weird."

I don't know what to say about that, so I just don't talk. She continues, looking at her chart, "You shouldn't even be awake yet. You're breathing fine, but you should still need the oxygen pump." She shakes her head, long brown hair shaking down her back. "That other boy—Sora, you say?—is also healing exceptionally quick…"

"I've always been like that," I assure her. One time, I'd broken my wrist and it had healed completely within two days. And my cut from my mother is completely gone now, save for a small white scar. I don't know what to say about Sora, so I just don't mention him.

"Do you have any parents we could contact?"

I turn over. Touchy subject. "I have a mother, but don't try to contact her."

'Why not?"

"Just don't."

"And your father?"

"No idea." I leave it unsaid, but my tone tells her to go away. She leaves. I begin to drift off.

Damn, I think, she did give me those stupid pain meds…

read and revieeew pleeeaaase or ill devour ur souuls :)