Roxas remembered what happened last month, in a painkiller-fueled dream. Through haziness and doubtful images, he remembered the event that ultimately ended Kairi's life.

Class was over, same as usual. The students dispersed with friends or crushes, scuttling out of Mr. Eros' classroom. Sora, Roxas, and their clique were the last to leave as they listened to Riku telling a story about basketball practice. Roxas made yet another excuse to stay behind while focusing on his desk. Sora was confused by his brother's sudden shyness but didn't turn down his request. He shooed the others away before saying goodbye, just to receive a half-hearted farewell. Only Roxas and Mr. Eros remained. The teacher stacked some unchecked papers into a manila folder serving as the replacement for his forgotten briefcase. Roxas, shielded by his hoodie, slumped into his seat to unsuccessfully hide himself from Mr. Eros. He just needed to stay in the classroom long enough for the school to empty, finally giving him time alone. He loved his brother, but he couldn't deal with Sora's cluelessness about Kairi much longer. How could Sora not see what kind of person she was?

"Roxas?" Mr. Eros spoke up, breaking his student's train of thought. "Your friends are leaving without should probably hurry."

Roxas was unmoved.

"Roxas?" he called again. A worried look twisted his handsome features when the blond still didn't answer. He glanced over to the door, which stood open to the empty hallway, and a thought crossed his mind.

Roxas' blue eyes slowly swiveled upward as a shadow fell over him. Mr. Eros stood before his desk, smiling down at him and looking somewhat… eager. The teen looked around himself and found they were now completely alone; there were no lingering students or teachers in the halls, either. He sighed and faced his teacher.

"I don't like hanging around a girl…" he answered sheepishly. He didn't need the man to ask. Mr. Eros pulled up a chair and sat with his student while he continued.

"She's a nasty witch, always causing trouble with her insensitive comments and...and her snide remarks, and…" His sentence trailed off as Mr. Eros' hand was placed over his. He looked to the man with complete confusion, and met a dazzling, yet intimidating smile.

"I know how teenage girls are," he said in a low, husky voice. "They were awful to me at your age. But I found that I could always talk to my teachers. I'll gladly be your confidant… Why don't you come over to my place and we can talk about this more? You're also falling behind in your work, so I could give some tutoring as well."

Roxas gave him a long, hard stare. While his grades said otherwise, he wasn't a stupid kid. He was fully aware of what the man intended, and yet he didn't want to tell him no. Instead, against his better judgement, he flashed him a smile and nodded.

"I'd love that," he answered as he rose from his chair and gathered his books.

Roxas awoke suddenly to the blaring alarm on his phone. With a groan he reached over and smacked it into submission. The reach exposed the bandages on his forearm that he'd forgotten about. He laid in silence for a while, focusing on them, before nodding off to sleep again. A knock on his bedroom door interrupted him yet again.

"Roxas, get up! You're going to be late again if you don't," Sora called through the door. When his brother didn't answer, Sora took initiative and barged inside.

"I said 'get up'!" he yelled, grabbing the blanket off his brother and throwing it to the floor.

"Fuck off, Sora. I'm not going…" Roxas muttered, covering his face with a pillow. Despite rescuing him from what happened yesterday, Sora still caused it in the first place, and that was a hard thing to forgive. It took a night to himself, away from Sora's apologies, for Roxas to determine how messed up the whole situation was. Sora sighed, already tired again.

"Roxas, what's going on with you? This isn't like you. I mean, no one likes school but lately you don't like anything… Even before...Kairi...happened, you just stopped caring. I'm worried about you, but-"

"I don't need your pity party this early in the morning." Roxas interrupted. A moment passed, then Roxas felt something soft land on him. Curious, he peeked back and found an irritated Sora.

"Why won't you just talk to me? Why do you have to act like no one is there for you? I saved you from death, I picked you up from the internship because I was worried about you, and I'm still worried about you because of what bad shape you're in, yet you still brush me off. This is getting ridiculous, Roxas. …You know what, do what you want." Sora left the room in a huff, slamming his brother's door behind him. Roxas sighed and laid back down, burying his face in the pillow. He wasn't planning on going to school anyway.

The blond jumped when the chime of his phone woke him again. He looked around, dazed and confused. He must've fallen back asleep and didn't realize it… His phone chimed again and he reached for it without looking. After failing a couple times, he finally found it and brought it to him.

The message was from the one he'd dreamt of, Mr. Eros. He read it twice, squinted, then rubbed his eyes. He wasn't sure he was reading it right. He read again with cleared vision and sighed. No, he read it right. At first it seemed innocent enough, a worried teacher wondering where his student was. But the rest of it wasn't so pure. He was asking if, once again, Roxas would like some company, which was code for more nefarious deeds between them. The blond scoffed and tossed the phone aside, remembering where his dream had left off.

Mr. Eros' home was large, yet quaint. It was oddly well kept, for a single man. Roxas was instructed to go into the living room and make himself comfortable while his teacher got them some drinks. The blond should've been worried, but simply nodded and did as told. He sat in an old recliner, which was very plush and way too large for him, and scanned the area. What he noticed first was the home was void of any pictures, family or otherwise, which was incredibly odd. Most people had at least a picture of a dead family member somewhere… Next was that the home was spotless, as if Mr. Eros did nothing but clean while he was alone… Well, he supposed the man could've hired a maid.

"Here you are," Mr. Eros said, offering Roxas a glass of water and dragging him from his thoughts. The blond smiled and thanked him, taking the glass with both hands. The older male lingered for a moment, his smile broadening, before sitting close in an opposite chair he pulled closer.

"You're quite the charmer, Roxas," he started while his student took a sip. "Why are you always alone?"

"I… choose to be, I guess," he lied. Mr. Eros caught on and he sighed. "My brother's best friend, or, girlfriend, I don't really know… I told you, she's evil. But since I'm friends with everyone my brother is friends with, I can't really escape her…"

Mr. Eros smiled at him, as if he understood. "I know what that's like, being treated unfairly for no real reason… But I'll tell you a secret. There's always at least one person you can escape to." While he was speaking, his hand had made its way onto Roxas' thigh, and was currently traveling inward. Roxas looked down at it, then back at him, and his mind momentarily went blank.

I should run… He told himself, as Mr. Eros closed the distance between them.

I should run… He repeated, then, I should get the hell out of here and tell someone… As his lips moved with the man's.

But I don't want to…

In the present, Roxas stared at himself naked in his bathroom mirror. Bruises and cuts covered his pale skin. He sighed for the millionth time that morning as he started up the shower. The rest of the morning played out as usual: shower, get dressed, eat a little, and watch some television before school. It was much later than normal and he should've been in homeroom instead of his living room. He remembered the text and ran upstairs to answer his teacher.

Sorry, I've met someone more interesting. He sent with a grin. Roxas hoped the man suffered. He looked up into the shiny reflective glass of his computer screen and wondered when he'd become so cynical. Maybe Sora was on to something… He brushed it off. His brother was never right about anything. He loved Kairi, after all.

But he wasn't exactly lying to Mr. Eros, either. He had planned, while in the shower, to return to the Institution to negotiate with its leader.

…

After making an attempt to dress up, not forgetting his hoodie; taking the bus; and entering the building, Roxas was greeted by the secretary's light-flipping habit. He adjusted his eyes while sneaking past the distracted woman. He wasn't sure where his destination was, but the building was simple in structure. He remembered being taken down a hallway, first by the Institution's leader, and then by...the redhead who rescued him…He had to hurry.

What Roxas didn't take into consideration was the fact that Larxene had grown accustomed to her light-switching habit and can see the intruder just fine. Without missing a beat, she stretched her free arm onto her right side and fished out her cellphone. She pressed a number and the green phone icon on the dimly-lit screen.

"...Big Boss? Hi...um," she whispered. "That Roxas kid came back..."

Roxas paused in front of Vexen Shi's office, recognizing it immediately as where he decided to leave and never come back. Roxas wanted absolutely nothing to do with the man who gave shots so he prepared to keep walking. He then heard a muffled, familiar voice through the door.

"Pay attention, interns. This is important," said the voice, followed by what seemed to be a person struggling. Another, scratchier voice begged Vexen to let him go, adding a desperate apology for good measure.

"Observe and take notes," Vexen said, "because I will show you a secret that this company keeps, and only the most trusted of lackeys know about it. That, starting today, includes you."

"Thank you, Mr. Shi!" said an excited female voice. More shuffling, more grunts and pleas from their kidnap victim... Roxas wondered what was going on inside…

"Keep quiet and accept this. I told you not to be a smartass," Vexen said to Axel after leaning close. He still had that cocky, contradictory smirk on his face, because heaven forbid his students overheard him and found out what he was really like…

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry!" said Axel, writhing on the seat he was strapped to. The leather dug and scraped against his bare wrists. Vexen snarled at how quickly Axel crumbled to such a pitiful state. The redhead dug his nails into the chair's arms until his fingers turned from peach to red to ghostly-white. He thanked the gods that he wasn't tied to the operating table, which usually led to a much worse fate than whatever Vexen had planned. Vexen maneuvered around various ice sculptures he was busily chipping away from when his interns dragged in Axel. He came back with a pair of pliers, opening and closing them over and over again. Axel didn't know if Vexen was mocking him or making sure the tool worked, but his brain was firing neurons. Get out now. Axel moved more fervently, feverishly, as if his life depended on this moment. A part of him believed that it did…

"Paine, hold him down," Vexen ordered. The bored-looking Goth girl pushed herself from the desk and walked to the back of Axel's chair. From his peripheral vision he saw her hand press firmly on his shoulder, and she did the same with the other. That only encouraged Axel to try harder. He rocked the seat back and forth using his upper body for momentum. He accidentally head-butted the girl in the mouth, but she barely reacted.

"Mr. Shi, why don't you strap him to the desk?" she asked, her lip swelling. "Or I could get the operating table."

Oh no…Axel shut his eyes. Not that…Please not that.

"No, the Boss doesn't need to know what we're up to. Plus," Vexen flashed an eerie, toothy grin at the prisoner, "I don't want any blood on my desk."

Excuses…Those were just hollow excuses to justify Vexen's impatience. He wanted to do this for a while and needed a reason, any reason to do it. Vexen's stare fell onto Axel's right hand, his dominant hand. He reached for it and Axel tried to move away. Paine wouldn't let him.

"Please…I'm sorry…" Axel said again but was ignored. Vexen pried Axel's forefinger from around the chair and forced it straight. He could feel the redhead trembling, hear his voice shaking as he swallowed saliva.

"Stay still. It'll minimize the bleeding," Vexen said as he clamped the pliers onto Axel's fingernail.

"W-What? What?!" That comment only made Axel panic more. The chair started screeching beneath him when he tried to pull away, but it only quickened Vexen's intentions. Axel winced and froze where he sat. He figured that he had to do what Vexen said not only for the blood, but for the pain as well. The more Vexen pulled, Axel pushed, but it only helped so much. Axel felt his nail getting detached from the cuticle, slowly yet forcefully…with the cold metal pressing against his skin. It was a horrible feeling. He bit hard on his lip to prevent any screaming, since Vexen seemed to get off on his suffering… He breathed rapidly through his nose as if it somehow eased the pain. More pulling. Axel could feel cool air where he shouldn't. It hurt. Oh God, it hurt. Something warm slid around his fingertip and dripped, dripped, dripped onto Vexen's floor. Axel's skin stretched and clung desperately onto the nail, causing Vexen to lose his grip and the pliers to be yanked back. He left the job halfway done. Axel couldn't help it; he let out a squeak. His blood bubbled up again from where his nail used to be and stained the floor. Vexen grabbed on again and in one, swift movement, he forced the nail off. Through his welling tears Axel could see the scientist turning the fingernail this way and that in the pliers. He seemed fascinated for a moment before chucking it into the trash bin near his desk. Axel twitched when he the nail clanked against the metal cylinder. He stared at it, and then at Vexen, before the stinging cold air made him realize that his coworker was moving on to the next finger. Axel unintentionally clenched his entire hand. Another jolt of pain. He winced and loosened his grip, giving Vexen an opportunity to straighten his next target. The pliers clamped onto the nail and Vexen pulled it up. As soon as Axel felt the pressure and the sting on his finger he screamed. He couldn't hold it in any longer. Nothing coherent, not a cry for help, just a terrified scream. Vexen kept pulling, ignoring the blood and unpleasant cracking sounds emitting from the nail's attempt to stay put. Axel's tears began to flow down his cheeks, his nose, and between his gritting teeth when he tried once again to keep quiet. All he could see was shapes. Shapes of the women who kidnapped him. Shapes of the sculptures Vexen showed what little humanity he had towards. The shape of Vexen…with blood-riddled pliers. Soon Axel lost another part of him, and it was thrown away so, so carelessly. Axel didn't even fight back when the ring finger was unfurled. He didn't know how much longer this would take or what this was even for, but he didn't want to endure it any longer. Make it stop...Please…

Vexen took note of how quiet Axel became before he began repeating the process. Two of his interns were scribbling away while Paine, who remained obediently still, felt the redhead slumping for a moment before stiffening. She then heard something that made her let go. Laughter. Giddy, high-pitched laughter.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING FREAK. I'LL SLIT YOUR GODDAMN THROAT."

Axel kept laughing, tears still staining his face, and sent that threat directly at Vexen.

"Eight. How nice to see you," Vexen mumbled, distancing himself from the prisoner.

"Don't let me catch you, Vexen. You wouldn't like that," Eight sang. He clenched his left hand and pulled on its leather strap. He broke free seconds later. He clawed at Vexen as far as the chair would allow, making Vexen back away further. So Eight was in pain as well… Vexen took note of that before bumping into his desk.

"Veeexeeen." Eight's smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared. He used the same hand to break the other strap. He still had to free his legs, but Vexen's interns were terrified.

"Mr. Shi!" Rikku, the excitable intern, shouted. Vexen grabbed a smaller sculpture behind his back, whirled his arm around, and hit Eight on the side of the head as hard as he could. Eight's upper half drooped as a bit of blood trickled from where Vexen struck him. The redhead, for the first time in a while, was completely unconscious. The interns didn't know what to say, and Vexen was still recovering from an adrenaline rush. It was silent.

Roxas, confused, pressed his ear harder on the door. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings and was patted on the shoulder by the last person he wanted to be caught by. Roxas wanted to run away again, but his captor had a strong grip. Roxas sighed and turned to face him.

"I know we've started on the wrong foot yesterday," said the Boss, letting go. "I'd like you to reconsider the internship. I know that it's an odd request, but I believe that you'll benefit from working for us."

"...I agree." Roxas nodded, smiling. "Thank you for giving me another chance."

The Boss seemed taken aback by how calm the boy was. What was he up to?

"On one condition," Roxas said. There it was... "I work for the redhead as his personal intern. It….seems like he could use some help."

"What? You can't just do that. You have to go through trials, a prerequisite of some sort"

"Look." Roxas didn't want to waste any more time. "I don't know why, but not only am I not dead right now, but you offered me the 'internship' twice. Twice. You need me. If you don't do what I ask, I'll walk right out that door again."

"And we'll track you again."

"Then I'll just turn myself in for the murder of my friend. I seem to be the number one suspect." Roxas was getting desperate. "And I can tell you're hiding something, so I doubt you'd want to get involved with the police."

The two were quiet, Xemnas' face scrunching up at Roxas' stupid, smug grin.

"...Does cigarette smoke bother you?" he asked the boy.

"No."

"Would you be able to avoid Axel if he has headaches, if he grows irritable, if he looks at you strangely?"

"Yes."

"Will you be able to keep any company secrets you may stumble upon, lest you go to prison for crimes far worse than murder?"

"...I have nothing to lose, but...yes. You can trust me."

"Then...as of today, under very heavy surveillance, you are Axel Hachi's intern."

"Thank you, Mister…?" Roxas said, extending his hand. Xemnas stared at it.

"The Boss. Just the Boss," he said before turning and walking deeper into the hallway. Roxas followed, assuming the man was leading him to Axel's office.

Axel...so that was his name…

"So why are you suspected of your friend's murder?" the Boss asked. Roxas cringed. He must've implied that he didn't really do it, but Xemnas didn't call his bluff for some reason.

"Because she's a bitch and everyone knows I hate her." Roxas shrugged.

"Hm." Xemnas wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"...And…" Roxas continued, "she caught me...with our homeroom teacher...you know, together. So she blackmailed me. I had to do her bidding, the teacher and I broke up, if you could call it that...It was bad."

That was all Roxas was willing to say.

"...You admitted it so easily," said the Boss. "I could turn you in right now."

"Pff, like anyone would believe you. You're more suspicious than I am."

Xemnas chuckled softly before going into Axel's empty room without knocking.