Roxas didn't sleep at all that night, he patiently waited for Sora and Riku to wake-up so he could ask what Xemnas made them do. He didn't want anyone to know about the deal he had made with the psychotic asshole, the less they knew the better. He was also worried that Xemnas had already gotten to Sora and talking to them about last night might make matters worse. He sat there for a long time thinking about what he was going to do. Riku was the first to get up and when he saw Roxas sitting on his bed staring off into space he laughed.
"Sorry, I was so tired last night I didn't even make it to my own cabin…I hope you don't mind" The silver haired boy said as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. That was Riku a small red mark across Roxas's cheek. "How did you-"
"No I don't mind…hey Riku, after you left the lodge last night what did Xemnas make you guys do?" Riku was cut off. Roxas touched his tender face and look at the other boy anxiously.
"That bastard made me and Sora clean out the boat house. I don't know about Kairi and Namine, I think they had to clean out all the horses' stalls." Riku said as he looked at Sora. "He told us to behave or he would make your punishment worse than all of ours and Sora practically begged for Xemnas to not be mean to you." He grumbled. Sora yawned and stretched, Roxas braised himself for grumpy Sora to emerge but he got something different instead.
"Oh my god Roxas! What happened to your face! Are you ok? I thought he was going to drown you or something!" Sora exclaimed as he jumped out of his bed and into Roxas's to examine his small bruise. He hugged his cousin tightly. In a sense Roxas was ok, but for how much longer and at what price?
"I'm fine. It was so dark on the way back here I tripped over a stump I didn't see and landed face first in the dirt." Not exactly a lie. Sora stared at him for a moment until he decided that Roxas was telling the truth.
"You should have seen what he made us do! And you, having to do all those dishes like that. Xemnas is the worst." Sora had no idea just how right he was. "What did he make you do after you had finished in the lodge?" Roxas hesitated, there was no way he could tell them the truth.
"Uh….well he just said I should stop acting up and then that was all." Now that was a lie.
"That's all! But you came home so late last night I thought for sure you had to do something else." Sora looked at Roxas questionably again. Roxas noticed Riku eyeing him, he knew Riku wasn't stupid. Roxas put his hand on the back of his head and smiled the best he could.
"Nope I got off pretty easy. I guess I was just lucky." In truth he wasn't lucky at all. Sora's expression softened but Riku looked like he wasn't convinced, he let his eyes linger on Roxas' cheer for a moment before he shrugged and looked away.
"So I guess today we officially start summer camp! I won't let Xemnas put me in a bad mood; I have too much I have to do today." Commented Sora, he let go of Roxas and went over to his drawer to pick out clothes and get dressed. Riku watched for Sora to have his back turned before he looked at Roxas again. He got up from the couch and grabbed his arm.
"Come with me." He whispered. At first Roxas didn't move but Riku started to drag him to the door. Sora was too busy digging in his drawers to notice them leave. Once outside Riku let him go and looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear them. It was still pretty early so most people were asleep.
"What is it?" Asked Roxas apprehensively.
"Tell me what really happened Roxas. No point in lying, I'm not an idiot." He stared at him with depthless ocean green eyes that made Roxas feel like Riku would see right through anything he said that was a lie.
"I already told you, nothing happened. He gave me a warning and that was all." Roxas managed to sound more convincing then he thought he could. Riku just stared at him, waiting for the truth to come out.
"So then when I heard you arguing with Axel last night that had nothing to do with anything…it was a completely different problem?" He raised a silver eyebrow. Roxas had completely forgotten about that asshole Axel, now that he was thinking about their argument he wished Riku had never brought it up.
"Yeah it's different." That wasn't really a lie. Axel being a complete idiot and Xemnas using Roxas as the Organization's dog where two different problems, they just happened to fall under the same circumstances. Riku sighed and started to walk back to his own cabin. "Riku, don't tell Sora what your heard okay?" He waved without turning around.
Sora burst outside dressed in an eye catching Bape hoodie and a pair of black sweat pants. "Where'd Riku go?" He asked breathlessly. "He was supposed to come to sign-up with me!"
"Sign up for what?"
"Everything of course!" and with that Sora went running down the path after Riku. Roxas wondered if Sora would actually try to sign up for everything, obviously there would be different things happening at the same time so that wouldn't work out. It was nice to think that no matter what Xemnas thought he still wasn't going to get anywhere near Sora. His cousin was too busy to get catch up, if he noticed the drama at all. Roxas thought that maybe it would be the same for him; if he just stayed strong and busy then everything would be alright.
After Roxas changed his clothes he walked over to the mess hall to get some breakfast. There still weren't very many people awake so Roxas got a pretty good choice of food. Apparently it wasn't as important to be on time for breakfast as it was for supper. Xemnas probably wasn't even awake yet. He found an empty table and began to eat like he had in the train. The people that were in the mess hall seemed to be too tired to care about how he ate. Roxas hadn't given much thought to what clubs or teams he might want to join, he wasn't really into sports and performing wasn't his thing either. It was probably mandatory to sign up for something though so he pushed himself to decide. Besides, joining something would show Xemnas that he wasn't affecting Roxas as much as he wanted too.
"I see your cousin and boyfriend ditched you already, how sad." Seifers voice caused Roxas to jump and spill his orange juice. "Oh good one, chicken shit." Roxas turned around slowly hoping that if he took his time Seifer would just go away. It didn't work at all. Unlike before Seifer wasn't alone, a boy that could easily rival Riku in the looks department was smirking beside him. He had shoulder length silver hair and bright green eyes.
"Good morning to you too Seifer. I see you replaced Rai…did the sex get boring or were you looking for a whole new batch of STD's to contract?" Both boys' smirks turned into glares.
"We saw your little show last night and I've got to say, what were you thinking talking to Xemnas like that?" Roxas rolled his eyes, he honestly didn't know what he had been thinking and he defiantly was not going to discuss the matter with his worst enemy. Seifer waited for an answer he would never get so his friend decided to talk instead.
"I'm really surprised you're even out and about this morning, especially without any noticeable damage…" He finally noticed Roxas's cheek and smirked. "…Ah well of course you didn't get off easy." Roxas was really starting to get irritated now.
"Who the hell are you? Why don't you two just bugger off, I've got enough to worry about without you dumbasses breathing down my neck." He snarled at his two tormenters.
Axel was hungry, grumpy and not in the mood for the arguing that was going on in the lodge he had just walked into. By the sounds of it someone was about to get their ass kicked and it was too early in the morning for any of that. As he walked closer to the table he noticed most of the yelling and arguing was coming from a certain blonde he defiantly didn't want to see. For a moment he stood there, trying to decide if he wanted to break it up so he could eat in peace or let them fight and see Roxas get the beating Axel figured he deserved.
As more and more people started to gather in mess hall for breakfast the choice became apparent. If he wanted to eat peacefully before all the food was gone then he would have to get involved. Axel pushed past a group of tired teens and prepared himself for Roxas's clearly bad mood.
"Do you have to start trouble everywhere you go?" The redhead snorted when he got close enough for the little blonde to hear him. All three boys looked over at him not quite sure who he was talking too. "Bugger off Kadaj and take you little friend with you." The silver haired boy nodded quickly and grabbed Seifers arm. They stocked away and Axel looked down at Roxas.
"I was handling it…." He muttered.
"Screaming and yelling is hardly handling anything. The dog that's the most scared barks the loudest…or something. Besides it's too early to have to sit and hear your whinny voice bitching about something trivial." Roxas glared at him.
"Trivial? Trivial? HOW IS THIS-….fine then I'll leave!" He jumped up knocking his chair backward onto the floor. Roxas couldn't believe what he was hearing. Axel just shook his head and sighed. He was not getting into this right now, the last thing he needed was a headache for the rest of the day. His face was already sore enough.
"Whatever, just don't piss off Xemnas again okay? As much as it is nice for the rest of us to get a break from him, the camp doesn't need another law suit." There was a tone of sarcasm in his voice which made Roxas even madder. He picked up his knocked over chair and slammed it back into place before stomping off to the door. He hated even the sight of that bastard redhead and he had to get away.
Axel watched as Roxas left the lodge, no matter how mad that guy got he still thought he was pretty cute. No wonder Xemnas had scooped him up so fast. That little firecracker would be extremely hard for the egotist bastard to break and Axel thought it was about time for Xemnas know what it felt like to be denied. There was a little voice in the back of his head that was nagging him though, it had been bitching at him since last night.
You can't let that monster touch such an untainted thing! That poor guy will probably get it worse than anyone else here ever has, if you don't do something…
He quickly shut it up by stuffing a waffle in his mouth. He had decided last night that Roxas's problems had nothing to do with him and he intended to stick to that. Not like he owed the little trouble maker anything…how easy it was to call him the trouble maker, after all Axel was no angel either.
Roxas stood with Sora and Riku in the sign-up line. They had convinced him to not only join soccer but also drama and graphic design. Only one of which he was even remotely interested in. Sora on the other hand signed-up for more things than Roxas could count on all his fingers.
"I'm so excited! I have joined everything I wanted to! Riku you have to take me see the horses before I go riding tomorrow and also can you introduce us to the drama people?" Riku nodded and turned his attention to a nearby squirrel that was trying to stuff more food into its mouth then its cheeks then it could handle. The sliver haired teen seemed to be troubled about something. Roxas was too busy thinking about the concerned look Sora was giving Riku. He would have to get a lot better at hiding his emotions if Roxas wanted to keep lying to his cousin like this. He didn't even notice a certain redhead councillor that entered the line up behind them.
"Never thought you'd be the type to play sports" Axel said with a smirk. Roxas whipped around and glared.
"Never thought you'd be the type to be this annoying but I guess we get a surprise every now and then." The blonde said with clear distaste in his voice. Why couldn't this jerk just leave him alone? Axel frowned and matched Roxas' glare.
"Um Roxas….are you going to sign up or what?" Sora asked shyly. The line had moved and it was now their turn to sign the sign-up sheet. He grabbed the pen from Sora's hand began to furiously write his name on the paper…until he pressed so hard the pen exploded and the paper ripped. SOMEONE behind him snorted and then stifled his laughter. Riku and Sora starred with wide frightful eyes. Roxas's face was almost as red and SOMEONES hair.
"Sorry…." He timidly said to the blue haired teen named Saix sitting at the sign-up table before he turned to walk away. Sora gave Axel an accusing look and then chasing after his upset cousin.
"I don't know what you think you're doing with Roxas but I'll be damned before I let you or any of Xemnas's little prick followers touch him." Riku said. "I know the game you guys like to play better than anyone so stop fucking around." He stared at the redhead before he walked after the two look-a-likes. Axel just stood there speechless. What had just happened? Why was he always made out to be the bad guy? And Riku! He hadn't heard from him for months! Why did he have to talk now? He sighed, nothing good ever happened to him.
"Roxas! Stop acting like a kid and come out!" The blonde snorted, Sora was one to talk. "No one cares about the pen, I'm sure they had another one!" How naïve could one person be? Sora continued to knock on the bathroom door. "Is this about the fight you had last night with that councillor? Me and Riku heard everything…Roxas…I know you probably don't want to tell me what's going on but…well I want to help you. We're practically brothers!" There was a click sound as the door was unlocked. Sora slowly opened the door and stepped inside the dark unlit room. Roxas was sitting beside the sink with his head in his hands. The brunette shut and locked the door behind him before he crossed the room and took a seat beside his quiet cousin.
"Where's Riku?" Roxas asked. It a was shock he wasn't attached to Sora's hip right now.
"Um probably looking for us…look, I think you should tell me why you're so upset." He placed his hand gently on Roxas's shoulder.
".…I can't." He whispered and shrugged the hand away.
"Why? Look at your face! That's not from falling! Why won't you like me help you?"
"Because I don't want you to get…don't want you to…" He stopped himself. Sora couldn't know about any of this or he might be hurt by Xemnas. Roxas would never let something like that happen, ever.
"Don't want me to what?"
"Please just drop it Sora, I can't tell you and I don't want to tell you so-"
"Roxas."
The blonde froze at his name being called from beyond the door. He knew that voice and it was the last person he wanted to see right now.
"I know you're in there, I have something I want you to do for me." Xemnas tried to open the door. "Unlock the door and come out." Roxas sat there for moment thinking. What would be the worst thing to do? Stay in here with Sora behind the locked door where Xemnas couldn't get to either of them or open the door to do what Xemnas wanted and save Sora and his mother…If he stayed in here then it would only be matter of time before Xemnas got someone to get the keys. Then he would probably freak-out and do them both in. The answer was clear.
"Okay…I'm coming." He stood up slowly and walked to unlock the door. It opened and Roxas met Xemnas's stare with a timid smile. Xemnas's eyes looked past him and at Sora. A smile crossed his lips.
"Oh I didn't know you had a friend in here with you. Maybe he would like to come help too?" Roxas's eyes widened.
"No! No he can't…uh he has to get our stuff ready for tomorrow's soccer practice." Sora looked at him questionably and then turned his gaze to Xemnas. Why did his cousin look so nervous…usually he was so cocky and sarcastic, right now he looked like a kicked puppy.
"Well that's too bad…" Xemnas said with a hint of malice. With that he turned and started to walk away. "Well just one will have to do for tonight" he called over his shoulder. Roxas quickly turned to Sora.
"I'll be back later, don't wait up….Please." Roxas left his cousin standing there very confused. Was he still being punished, hadn't he said Xemnas only told him to behave? Why did Roxas lie about him having to get their things ready for soccer? Just what exactly had Roxas gotten himself into?
Edited Feb 9th 2012/
Slowly but surely.
