Another sleepless night later, Roxas climbed out of bed and walked into his adjoined bathroom- where all his clothes were located. Some people may call it 'gross' but Roxas only changed his clothes every few days, it wasn't like he had a washer at his disposable and it's not like he ever did anything in them except lay around, plus they all looked the same- black jeans and a black beater (that no one ever saw because he was always wearing his hoodie). Roxas popped in a Red CD to help him 'wake up', he quickly jumped in the shower and sang to the music, "And this is how it feels… when I ignore the words you spoke to me- and this is where I lose myself when I keep running away from you. And this is who I am, when I don't know myself anymore, and this is what I choose when it's all left up to me…"

As Roxas slid his boots on he looked around for his hoodie, once completely dressed for another dreary day he turned off the music and unlocked his door. Not only did Roxas have a lock on his door knob, but he also had a latch- the ones that require you to turn the metal peg up and then back to unlock- and a door chain. He was a little paranoid, but he didn't care. Looking around he tried to find where Cloud was, eventually he found the man was still in his bed, sleeping somewhat peacefully.

A quick drink of water and out the door he went, since he was the only one that lived on his street the bus never dropped or picked him up at his doorstep but rather at the end of the road- which was only 4 houses down- but Roxas liked walking. As he waited on the side of the road, once again, a car pulled up next to him but the blond didn't bother to look and see who it was- instead he silently hoped that it wasn't his father. He even closed his eyes in an attempt to will any chances of it being his father away. "Hey!" the deep voice shouted from the car to get the boys attention.

Of course it was Sephiroth, yet again Roxas crammed his hands in his pockets to hide his nervousness, "Boy," his father never called him by his name, Roxas would be surprised if the man even knew what it was, said boy didn't answer. "I'm not in the mood today boy," he added but again Roxas didn't respond. He heard the car door open and tried to calm his racing heart, as he moved to back away his father grabbed a hold of his hair and yanked.

Roxas was forced to face the ground in hopes of lessening the pain in his scalp, but his father only began to pull his son towards the car. Panic grew in Roxas, he knew the door would have the child lock on them and the windows would be locked up- once inside he wouldn't have a chance to get away- but no matter how he pulled to get away his father didn't let go or loosen his grip. "Let go," he cried, his face scrunched with tears in his eyes, but Sephiroth didn't listen.

"Hey!" it was like déjà vu- almost, "What the hell," again Axel was there, clad in the same clothes as the day before, he walked up and pried the Father's hand from the Son's hair, shoving the man away in the process and pulling the boy towards him, "Man, you need to back off," the redhead spoke when said man started to walk closer. Roxas quickly and roughly rubbed his sleeved arm across his eyes. His father grumbled and got in his car again, speeding through the stop sign and not stopping, Roxas turned around and continued to wait for the bus.

"Hey… woah," Axel inched back when his hand made contact with the boy's shoulder and the boy jumped, "Sorry," that was a first for Axel- he never apologized to anyone, "You okay?" The redhead kept a little distance between him and the blond but watched the latter's face.

Roxas stared straight ahead and gave a small nod but otherwise remained quiet, and before the redhead could ask any more questions the bus pulled up and Roxas quickly got on. Even though his father was gone Roxas was shaking even more as his heart echoed in his ears, he bounced his leg as he looked out the window and tried to distract his mind with loud music. As soon as he got to school he went straight to the bathroom and pulled out the razor he always had in his pocket, you can imagine what he did next.

Rolling up the left sleeve of his hoodie Roxas placed the razor against his forearm, the middle of the inside, and ripped it across his skin. Nausea rose from his stomach as the blood dripped down the side of his arm, but was instantly replaced with relief and calmness…

Roxas loved this feeling. With a few deep breaths all anxiousness left Roxas and his heart finally slowed to a normal pace, he rested his head back and reveled in the feeling. There was no pain, there never was at first. He pulled out a long piece of toilet paper, about the width of the stall he was in and ripped it, folding the ends in half the rest of the paper followed suit and he began to wrap it around the wound, twisting both ends he knotted them together and pull the sleeve of his hoodie carefully back down.

For the rest of the school day anytime anything came back- memories or worries- Roxas would lightly press on the wound and after a rush of pain he was relaxed again. And just like any day after school Roxas returned to the house, ate something that was in the house and watched out for Cloud.

As Roxas sat on the counter eating a bowl of instant ramen he watched as Cloud stumbled into the kitchen. The older blond looked at the younger, "Shouldn't you be in school?" he questioned, Roxas was never even sure if Cloud could tell what time of the year it was, ever since he was forced to resign from work he never even knew what season it was.

"School let out an hour ago…" Roxas replied before another bite of sodium packed noodles, Cloud grunted and half walked half fell to the fridge, he opened the freezer and pulled out another bottle of liquor, the younger watched with a pained expression as Cloud opened it and chugged some of it.

"What?" he asked when he noticed Roxas watching.

"Nothing," the shorter blond mumbled as he threw his dirty dishes in the sink, jumping down from the counter he went to walk to his room but Cloud grabbed a hold of his arm.

"What's your problem?" the man asked, his sentence could have been more pleasant but the man was lucky he could even grab Roxas' arm without falling- asking for anything more would have been ludicrous.

"Nothing," Roxas tried to pull his arm out of the man's grasp but Cloud didn't let go, "Trust me, it's not anything you'd care about," he succeeded in yanking his arm free.

Cloud yelled at Roxas, "Get back here!" he leaned against the walk way frame, "Roxas! I asked what's wrong!"

Turning around Roxas looked at him, "I told you," he stood still, "Nothing you'd care about," when he turned around he felt a hand close on his arm and whip him around.

"Roxas- answer me," even though Cloud was no longer working as a psychologist he still had all that knowledge- sober or wasted- and Roxas hated that.

"He keeps bothering me again," Roxas shouted back, pulling his arm free, "Just leave me alone!"

"It's not my fault!" Cloud shouted back before Roxas could start walking again. Roxas just shook his head, "You know what," Cloud began backing up, "Think what you want," he turned and left to his room.

Anger pumped through Roxas' veins. He never told Cloud because it was always just another slap to the face because Cloud never did anything about Sephiroth, like he was afraid of the man or something. Roxas stomped to the front door and slammed it shut behind him, weaving through backyards and houses to get as far away as possible in the cool night.

A few bridges and building complexes over Axel was feeling the same emotions. Axel slept where he could- which ranged from bars to his car, but before he could even get a drink at his house for the night a man commented on his appearance. And because of Axel's appearance the stranger thought it best to bring in Axel's sexual orientation, which didn't really anger Axel in anyway but Axel was looking for a fight. Something sparked in him and his usual cocky attitude went out the window with the man flying behind it. Axel walked out of the bar and picked the bloody man up, before he could continue his assault the cops were being called and he was told to leave.

Told once again to leave Axel slammed his car door shut and sped off, cursing to his steering wheel. He'd just turned 21 at the beginning of the year and completely abused his ability to legally buy alcohol, but his age didn't matter when he kept getting in fights before he could even order. He knew there was a park somewhere around him where he could stop his car and sleep for the night, and to his surprise he couldn't find it. As he drove around he found someone walking, by themselves- which is what stood out to him.

There were gangs and affiliations all around the city- most people were forced to join just to survive, but they always were with at least two or more people… not alone, because being alone was risky and stupid. Driving closer he noticed the blond hair and short stature; it was the blond boy he'd kept rescuing from the silver haired man. "Hey," he slowed down the car, "Kid," the blond looked over at him, "What're you doing out here?"

"Walking…" the redhead smirked at his sarcasm.

"Want a ride?" he offered, he didn't take into account that it probably sounded creepy.

"My mommy told me never to take ride from strangers," Roxas walked sideways so he could face the man and hold out his hands, gesturing with his body, "Nothing can be done,".

"You're what, 15?" Axel raised an eyebrow, he couldn't tell if the kid was joking or not.

"Almost 17," Roxas replied, of course the problem the redhead would have with what he said was Roxas' age- but then again it's not like the redhead knew Roxas didn't have a mother.

"I think you're old enough to think for yourself then," to Axel's own surprise his words didn't have a sassy tone but were more truthful sounding than anything.

Roxas stopped walking, "Why not… it's not like it matters anyway…" he whispered to himself and walked towards the redhead's vehicle. He opened the door and paused for a second, "You're not a pedophile or kidnapper or some shit, right?"

Axel paused and looked at the blond, slowly shaking his head, "No," he was a bit taken aback, "No, I'm not." The blond shrugged his shoulders and got in the car. Shifting his hands on the steering wheel, Axel turned and looked at the blond, "What're you doing out at this time?"

Roxas didn't know what time it was but the lack of sun was indicator enough that he had been out long enough. "Nothing… just, wanted to be out," Roxas looked out his window. Stopping the conversation from going anywhere else, he was surprised when he found Axel slowing down on his street.

"Which ones your house?" the redhead asked, Roxas just raised an eyebrow at him, "It's late, you should know better than to be out by yourself at this time."

Roxas didn't reply, he knew it was a bad idea to be out after dark, he pointed at his house and Axel dropped him off, "Alright, try to stay out of trouble kid," Axel told the blond, the blond did a small salute and walked to the house. As he walked away Axel contemplated calling after the kid and asking what his name was, but instead talked himself out of it, "Why the hell should you care?"

Axel knew he did, he just didn't know why.

This story is starting out with pretty short chapters, but I promise the chapters will get longer and more will happen in them :3

Upload: July 29, 2013.