A quick thanks to my reviewers before we get on with the show! Er, story, rather...

NeverForgetVIIIXIII

I-Want-To-Rent-Ikuto-Kun XD

P5hng-Me-A'Wy

VocaloidsRuleMusic

Diabolus Kara

and a lovely Anon

Thank you all for making me smile with your reviews, and wanting to get this chapter up as quick as I could.

I was walking home from taking my last final, savoring my freedom. Now I just had to wait around until my house was ready for me to move in, which would be in about two weeks. For now, though, I just planned on hanging out at home and taking it easy. I checked my phone, looking to see if Sora had replied yet. He wasn't going to make it over for Christmas; he said it was because plane tickets were so expensive but that couldn't be the case since dad could easily afford it. I figured he must have a good reason to stay, though, and just didn't want to make it seem like he was ditching us.

As I continued scrolling through my messages, I came across our conversation from my trip to the mall. That had been almost two weeks ago. All this time and I hadn't heard from Dem or Axel. That wasn't too surprising, though, considering neither of them had given me their number and I hadn't given them mine. It was probably a good thing - this separation. It gave me time to think, and the only thing I thought about was Axel. I was trying to decide my feelings for him, whether they were true or not. I finally decided they weren't; whatever I'd been feeling, I didn't feel that way now. After a week and a half of not seeing or talking to him, I found that I didn't miss him. If you liked someone, wouldn't you miss them after a while?

My thoughts were interrupted as something collided into the side of me, knocking me to the ground. I cursed when I hit the pavement, grazing my arm pretty badly by the feel of it, and I looked around to see what the fuck had run into me.

A brunette was sitting on my lap, straddling me with a huge grin on his face. I launched myself at him, tackling him to the ground.

"Sora!" I shouted happily. "I thought you weren't coming!"

"Merry Christmas!" He giggled. "I just got in, Dad said you were finishing your finals and I thought I'd come surprise you!"

"Best surprise ever!"

He laughed and helped me up off the ground. "I saw you walking and I couldn't help myself. Oh, you're bleeding!" He exclaimed suddenly, grabbing the arm I'd grazed. "Roxy, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!"

I took a look at my forearm and saw it was starting to bleed pretty badly, but it didn't hurt so figured it was probably worse than it looked. "Sora stop panicking, I know you didn't mean to. I'll clean it up when I get home." I saw he still looked worried so I smiled at him. "It doesn't even hurt. Look," to emphasize my point I stuck my finger to it and traced it back and forth. I hadn't been sure that would work, but it actually didn't hurt at all. "See? No big deal."

Sora frowned. "Well, fine. Be careful you don't get it on your clothes though, there's a lot and it'll stain!"

"Yes, dear," I teased. I took care not to say "mom" which would have only been a natural response, but Sora didn't take jokes like that very lightly.

Sora rolled his eyes but quickly moved to another topic. "So come on, tell me all about him!"

I paused as we waited at a crosswalk for the light to change. "Who?"

"Axel! You haven't talked about him in days, and you didn't really tell me much to begin with."

I shrugged. "There's nothing to tell. I decided I didn't like him." The light turned green and I stepped out to cross the street.

Sora had hesitated on the sidewalk. "You… wait, what?" He ran to catch up to me. "What do you mean you 'decided' you didn't like him?"

"I don't like him," I repeated simply. "I think about him now and… I feel nothing. Maybe I was just attracted to him. I haven't even thought about him for the last few days, Sora."

Sora looked incredibly disappointed. "Oh. Well… alright I guess." He sighed. "What are we going to talk about now?"

I laughed. "Other things? Did you think I was gonna gush about him the entire time you were here like a preteen girl?" I shook my head, smiling. Sora knew me far better than that. "How long are you staying for anyway?"

He shrugged. "Till New Year's, at least. I haven't bought a ticket back yet. I guess it depends on when I get bored of you."

"So you're staying forever then?"

Sora scoffed. "Please, I'll probably get sick of you later tonight. I just have this feeling you're going to annoy the shit out of me."

I smirked and threw my arm around his shoulders. "I missed you, bro."

He wound his arm around my waist and leaned his head against mine. "I missed you too.

Christmas came and went, our dad only coming home for a few hours to have dinner with us before rushing back off to work, and just two days later I was driving Sora up to Radiant Garden to show off the house I would be moving into on January first. On the way Sora told me all about the new friends he'd made, and how he, Riku, and Kairi still hung out all the time. I nodded along as he talked, not questioning anything and not having much to add myself. I drove to Thirteenth District and pulled the car up outside my soon-to-be house.

Sora's jaw dropped noticeably. "This is what dad's buying you?"

"He paid for the down-payment, I'll get a job soon to start paying the mortgage."

"This is awesome, Roxas, almost as big as home."

"Sora it's half the size of home."

"Well, still, you'll be on your own so you don't need a great big house. How many bedrooms is it?"

"Four, and a couple spare rooms that could be more bedrooms or whatever."

Sora whistled quietly. "Can we look around the house and peek inside?"

"Yeah of course, it's my house, dude, no one's gonna tell us to leave." We got out of the car and walked around the house, Sora looking in through the windows that weren't covered.

"Man, this place looks great! I'm pretty jealous, Roxy."

"Dad would buy you a house too, if you wanted."

"Nah, I don't want something as permanent as a house. I wanna travel too much, I don't wanna have to pay for a house and wherever I'm temporarily staying."

We went back to the car and I pulled out, thinking about where we could get lunch before we headed home. I was about to ask Sora what he wanted when he spoke up first.

"So… I've been avoiding it because I didn't know how you'd react… but can I meet your new friends?" He asked hurriedly.

"You mean Dem and Axel?"

Sora gave me a pointed look. "Have you made any other friends?"

I chuckled. "Good point. Alright, we'll swing by the mall and see if Dem's at work. I need to pick up a new pair of shoes anyway." So I drove us to the mall. I hadn't really planned on seeing either of my new - friends today, and I guess they really were my friends. Well, Dem was anyway. Axel was still a giant question mark.

We walked into the mall and I headed straight for the frozen yogurt shop. Now that I was here, I was seriously craving my favorite salty-sweet flavor. I stepped in and saw Dem working the register again, then grabbed a dish and filled it up. Sora grabbed a dish as well and mixed a bunch of flavors together. He always did that, and I had no idea how it could taste good at all. We walked up to the counter to pay just as Dem was finishing up with his current customer.

When he saw me his face broke into a wide smile instantly. "Roxas!" He yelped, leaning over the counter to pull me into a hug. Sora looked surprised and amused, probably because I rarely let anyone but him hug me like this. Demyx pulled away, still smiling. "I was wondering when I was going to see you again! I tried to call you just a couple days after my party but I realized I didn't have your number."

"No, sorry Dem, I forgot about giving it to you, and I didn't get yours to call you either." Demyx waved it off, still smiling, and his gaze shifted to Sora. "This is my brother, Sora. He's visiting for the holidays."

"Hi!" Demyx greeted him happily, holding out his hand to shake Sora's. "It's great to meet you!"

Sora smiled back and shook his hand enthusiastically. "Yeah, you too!"

Demyx rang up our frozen treats, eyeing mine in particular. "You know, you've gotten Axel seriously hooked on that stuff. I swear he's in here almost every day getting some."

I laughed. "Speaking of which, is he home?"

"No, he's actually wandering around here somewhere. You caught me just in time, I get off in fifteen minutes and he came to pick me up to get some lunch."

I nodded. "Alright well I'll keep an eye out for him. I'm gonna go take a look at shoes. Here's my number so you can get in touch if you want." We exchanged numbers and Sora and I left the shop, heading towards my favorite clothing store so I could look at shoes. Just as I had entered the shop my phone vibrated. I looked down at it and saw I already had a new text from Demyx.

I totally forgot to ask, wanna come to lunch with us when I get off?

I asked Sora if he minded and he shook his head, saying he would love to. I sent Dem a text back saying we'd go, then wandered over to the shoes. It didn't take me more than a couple minutes; my old black Vans were badly run down, so I just needed a new pair. Tucking the box under my arm, I joined Sora where he was browsing through the shirts and started looking.

"I think this is more your style…"

That stupid, annoying yet pleasing feeling happened in my stomach again, and I turned around to see Axel smirking at me. But it was the thing in his hand that drew my attention. He was holding a very lacy, very see-through, very skimpy, black lingerie piece that he'd obviously gotten from the women's section of the store.

"Hey, Roxy, what d'you think of -" Sora wandered over, holding a long-sleeved red shirt up to him, just in time to see me punch Axel's shoulder. His eyes widened in surprise, and he hurried over to me. "What's going on?"

Axel grinned and hung the lingerie up randomly amongst the shirts. "Who's this cutie?" He asked me.

I ignored the blush that erupted over Sora's face and introduced them. "Sora, this is Axel. Axel… my twin brother, Sora. He's visiting for the holidays."

Axel, still grinning, threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. "So you're the one who's been keeping my Roxy-poo from me."

I wanted to smack my forehead with my hand, but I felt like that would've been too cartoon-ish. Instead I decided to elbow Axel in the ribs and I ducked underneath his arm as he flinched. I walked up to the cash register to purchase my shoes. It's entirely possible I'm just physically attracted to him, I told myself, trying to explain why it suddenly felt twenty degrees warmer in the store. And it was possible, certainly. Actually, it was probably the case. I'd spent a few mornings thinking about things we could do to each other as I took care of my morning hard-ons. I hadn't been lying to Sora when I told him that Axel hadn't even crossed my mind recently, because he really hadn't, but seeing him again was stirring up all these bothersome feelings.

We left the store and headed back towards Dem's shop to wait for him to get off work. Sora and I sat down at a table, still finishing our yogurt from earlier, while Axel went to get some himself.

"So?" I asked Sora quietly.

"Too early to tell, but Demyx seems nice," he whispered back.

I nodded. "He reminds me a lot of you, that's probably why I found it so easy to like him."

Sora just nodded as Axel rejoined us. He had a dish full of the sea-salt yogurt as well.

"Aren't we going to lunch in a few minutes?" I asked him.

He looked at me, a little surprised. "I am, yeah, with Dem…"

"Demyx invited us along," I explained.

"Oh," he said, taking a bite of his yogurt. "Nice of him to let me know."

"We don't have to come with." I tossed my dish in the garbage can nearby.

Axel hastily swallowed his bite. "No, I didn't mean it like that! Of course you can come with. The more the merrier, and all that."

I could have sworn I saw a smirk cross Sora's face, but if one did he did a really good job at hiding it.

"I'm free!" Demyx called, coming up to them. "Ready for lunch?"

"Yep," Axel answered. "Where are we going?"

Demyx shrugged. "I don't mind, what sounds good?"

That went on for a little while, with Dem and Axel discussing what their options were. Sora piped up every now and then too, when a question was directed towards him. I just remained quiet, I really didn't care where we ate. There was one place I'd been wanting to go for a while though…

"Let's go to the beach," I suggested.

Dem and Axel paused in their bickering and turned to look at me. Demyx broke into a smile and clapped his hands. "That's perfect! We'll get some sandwiches and have a picnic!"

Axel smirked. "Fine with me."

We left the shop and headed towards the parking lot. Sora lagged behind and tugged the sleeve of my coat to make me slow down too.

"Are you going to that spot?" He asked me.

I looked down at my shoes as I answered. "I was thinking about it. Do you not want to?"

Sora looked away from me and stayed silent for a moment, then he turned back to me with a light smile. "Nah, it'll be fine. It's a great spot."

I watched his face carefully, looking for anything that might betray his true feelings, but he seemed okay with where we were going. As we stepped outside I called to the others.

"Do you guys mind if I drive? I know this really great spot, it's a little hard to find so there's hardly ever anyone there."

"I don't mind," Demyx said. "I've never seen your car, Roxas!"

No one else objected so they followed me to my car. I unlocked it and climbed into the driver seat, wondering how they were going to settle who got to ride up front. Demyx climbed into the backseat without complaint, admiring the leather seats and the nice interior. Sora looked quickly at me and then followed Demyx into the backseat, and again I thought I saw a smirk cross his face, but before I could get a closer look he was already in conversation with Demyx. Axel flipped the passenger seat back and sat down, pushing the seat back a little to accommodate his longer legs. Before I let myself admire him too much, I started the car and backed out of the lot.

The trip to the beach wasn't very eventful. Demyx and Sora were talking enthusiastically without pause, while Axel and I barely said a word to each other. He kept fiddling with my stereo, jumping from one radio station to the next. It seemed as if he wasn't content with any one station, changing rapidly from rock to country, then pop, then an oldies station…

I tried to ignore it but eventually I couldn't take the constant interruption. I reached over and opened the glove box suddenly, the lid falling down into Axel's lap. He looked at me curiously as I reached inside, glancing back and forth from the road to the glove box as I pulled out my iPod and cord.

"Here," I tossed my iPod into his lap and closed the glove box. "Just put it on shuffle or something if you can't find anything on the radio."

I heard the click of my iPod unlocking and he started looking through my iPod. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Dem says I have 'song ADD.' I just get bored with the same music."

I nodded. "I get it. I barely listen to the radio anyway, that's what my iPod's for."

He smiled as he plugged my iPod into the stereo and selected my most used playlist. "You've got some good music. Lots of variety."

I rolled my eyes. He was making small talk. I really hated small talk. "Yeah, I like good lyrics. I don't really care what type of music it is."

He didn't have anything to add to that and he just let the music play to cover our silence, while Dem and Sora continued to talk nonstop in the back. After nearly an hour we were getting close to the beach, so I pulled into a nearby Subway so we could pick up some sandwiches. As we neared the beach, I have to admit I was getting a little nervous. It had been years since I'd been to this particular spot. I turned down a small road that was nearly overrun with grass and weeds, but there were still faint tire tracks that indicated this was a seldom travelled road. I looked in the rearview mirror to see Sora's face, but it was turned to look out the window, him and Demyx finally having stopped talking. I sighed, wondering if this was a mistake. I hoped Sora wouldn't be too upset, but I missed this place. Axel looked over at me curiously but I didn't turn to look at him.

Finally the road ended in a small parking lot that was in a clearing amongst some trees. It wasn't much of a lot, really, there were three curbs that designated three small parking spaces. I pulled the car into one and stopped, holding my breath as I turned the car off. Looking into the rearview mirror again I saw Sora was watching me this time, and after a couple seconds he nodded slightly.

"Okay, we'll have to walk out to the beach, but we're here," I said.

We all got out and I led the way down a trail I knew well. I gulped as I felt my eyes sting a little at a distant memory, but I shook my head and concentrated on getting to the beach. Sora caught up to me and put his arm around my shoulders, smiling. I smiled back, and before I knew it the ground beneath my feet turned from dirt and grass to sand.

"Holy shit!" Demyx shouted. He looked awestruck as he took in his surroundings. "It's like some private paradise!"

I chuckled. He was right, though. The place looked like it should be on a postcard from some distant island resort. That was why I loved it, though. And why it had been my mom's favorite place.

"I hope it's alright," I said.

Axel wrapped his arms around me from behind. "Alright? It's fantastic! But why the seclusion? Did you wanna go skinny dipping, Roxy?" The last sentence he whispered into my ear.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed him, which got the point across and he dropped his arms. We sat down and ate our sandwiches, and before long Sora and Demyx were racing each other to the water. I laughed, watching them play and wrestle each other in the water. It'd been so long since we'd both been here, and suddenly I was feeling an odd sensation. I thought it might be homesickness, but I'd never felt that before so I wasn't sure. I drew my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

"You okay?"

I jumped slightly, remembering that I wasn't alone this time, and looked over to my left where Axel was watching me with a worried expression.

"Yeah," I sighed. "This was my mom's favorite spot. It's been a couple years since I've been here, but even longer since Sora has."

"Oh… Then is your mom… uh, is she…"

"She left us when we were six," I finished for him. "I have no idea where she is, or whether she's still alive or not. We haven't heard a word from her."

Axel ran a hand through his hair nervously. "Shit, sorry, Rox, I shouldn't have asked…"

"No, it's fine. The last time we were all together – me, Sora, her, and dad – we had come here to go swimming. Sora loves the water, he would probably live in it if he could. I never really did. It makes me nervous, because I'm not a very strong swimmer, but I love the beach. After that visit, though, we went home. We didn't get back until late, and Sora and I had passed out in the car. When I woke up in the morning, she was gone. No note or anything. As far as we could tell, she had only packed one suitcase. She didn't even take the car." I fell silent, not knowing whether I should continue or not. I didn't even know why I was telling Axel, but it felt natural. Like talking to Sora or Demyx. I felt him cautiously place a comforting hand on my shoulder, obviously not sure if I would brush it off or not, but I just leaned into his side.

"I came back here a lot after that, hoping I might see her. I was young, but my dad had taken things pretty badly. I don't wanna say he became a bad parent, but he wasn't a very responsible one. I took the train up here every chance I could for almost three years, then I just stopped. I finally realized I was never going to see her again. The next time I came up was my sixteenth birthday. My dad had bought me my car, and I wanted to take it somewhere. I don't know why, but this was the first place that came to mind. Sora refused to come with, so he stayed home to have a party while I picked up a bottle of Jack and drove up here. That was the first time I'd ever had hard alcohol." I chuckled humorlessly and I felt Axel's arm tighten around me slightly. I leaned my head over onto his shoulder as I watched Sora chase Demyx through the water.

"I was angry that night. And drunker than I'd ever been before. I screamed and cursed at the ocean, throwing rocks and seashells and trash… anything I could get my hands on. I was angry my mom would just abandon us like she did. I was angry she never sent us a letter, or anything to indicate she might still care. I was angry that I didn't know if she was even alive, and I was angry that it still hurt to think she might not be." I choked back a sob but I couldn't stop now that I had gotten started. "It just wasn't fair. It had been ten years since she left, and I didn't understand why I still cared about her. It was my sixteenth birthday, and she hadn't done a single fucking thing to acknowledge it. Not that she had for any previous birthday, but for some reason this one had just upset me too much. Finally, finally, after ten years, I stopped caring. I stopped hoping I might see her, I stopped hoping she might call us, or write to us. I stopped hoping that she would come home, and hug us, and tell us how much she missed us.

I woke up the next morning on the beach. I had passed out at some point during the night, an empty bottle of Jack clutched in my hand. That wasn't the first time I'd had a hangover, but that been the worst one. I got back into my car and drove home. I didn't tell Sora what had happened for almost a month, but one night he just couldn't take it anymore and we fought for hours until I finally told him." I lifted my head up and looked at Axel, a little surprised at the expression he had. He looked absolutely devastated, and I felt a little embarrassed about telling him all that. I smiled weakly, and was about to apologize, when he pulled me into a bone-crushing hug, flattening me against his chest as both of his arms wrapped around me.

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that."

He sounded shocked and angry, but the thing that surprised me the most was how genuine he sounded. He said he was sorry that that had happened to me, and he really meant it. I softened into his hug a little, enjoying the comfort I felt there that I had previously only been able to find with my brother.

I slowly pulled out of his hug, though remained leaning against his shoulder. He seemed reluctant to let go of me anyway. I took a moment to calm myself down, then I looked up at him. "You're the only person I've told all that to, you know. Besides Sora."

His intense green eyes turned to me, surprised, as they bore into my own eyes. "Why?" He asked.

I didn't look away as I said, "I wanted to."

His eyes narrowed slightly and he looked a little confused, but before he could say anything else I heard approaching footsteps and I turned to see Sora and Demyx walking back up to us. I hastily stood up, grabbing the crumpled up sandwich wrappers and other garbage.

"Ready to go?" I asked them.

"Yeah," Demyx answered breathlessly. "This is a great spot!"

I smiled and we all headed back to the car. Demyx and Sora both fell asleep on the ride back to the mall. Axel looked deep in thought. I pulled into the parking lot an hour later next to Axel's red pickup, Demyx and Sora both waking up as I stopped. We all got out to say goodbye and my stomach twisted up again as Axel smiled warmly at me.

"We're having a New Year's Eve party, you guys should come."

"Yes!" Demyx agreed eagerly. "You have to come! It's gonna be fun!"

I laughed and nodded. "I'll be there."

"Me too," Sora promised.

I watched them leave from my rearview mirror, then drove out of the parking lot myself. Sora and I sat in silence for a little while, but I knew that wouldn't last long. I could tell he was dying to ask me something.

"Thanks for going," I finally said, breaking the silence.

Sora sighed. "It was about time, I guess. I know you've been there quite a lot since… since that day, but I couldn't bring myself to go." He turned to me with a smile. "I'm glad I did though, that was fun! Your friend Demyx is really cool."

"Yeah he is. His party will be a blast."

"… Axel doesn't seem too bad either," he said.

"…"

"I saw him hugging you…"

"I…" I opened my mouth to explain, but my throat had gone incredibly dry. "… I told him."

Sora studied me. "Told him what?" He asked carefully.

"About mom, and my sixteenth birthday."

Sora opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again and closed it again. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he looked down like he was trying to think of the right thing to say. Finally he looked back up at me with a grin. "I'm proud of you, Roxy."

"It was about time, I guess," I said, mimicking my brother's words with a smile.

I really hated writing this chapter. I got writer's block part-way through (you might be able to tell) and then school started and sucked up all my free time...

well, I got it out, which is what matters, and even threw in some of Roxy's back story :)

Till next time my lovelies ;D