A/N: Yay! Chapter four! Thanks for sticking with me this far. C: Sorry it took me so long to updattttee. Dx
NOTE: Chapter three has been rewritten, so you should go reread it. :'P I wasn't happy with the way it turned out, so. Yeah! (: Make sure you read that before this~
Also: Hugenormous thanks to MegaPig, DracoZombie, Aelkain, riml, BLueGaze19, AsakuraX, Tinge, "Random Fandom," CrazyWhatIfGirl, "Guest," and duckie lover 151 for reviewing! :'D I lovelovelove reviews and they make me want to update! When no one takes the time to review, how do I know you even took the time to read it, you know? ): And, again, thanks to Draco for all your help. :D
Disssssssssssssclaimer: I have yet to find any ownership paper with my name on it. Only in my dreams, guys. So, no. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. :P
Kingdom Hearts: Contact
IV. Welcome Me Home
*Sora not threatening to go off and try and murder someone had been a good sign, maybe even the kick-off to the better end of a bad situation, Roxas thought. He returned to school and was determined to move along as normal.
The hallway was quiet; the blonde had waited back so there wasn't a chance the crowd would hit his shoulder or him in general. He stepped out and walked to his locker—ah, hello, Thirteen—and spun the dial on the lock. As he opened it the hinges moaned but didn't put up a fight and his attempt to put his book bag inside was a complete success. Blue eyes met themselves in the reflective surface on the front of his bag. Roxas was amazed by just how quiet the week had been; it was already Friday. Other than Hendricks patting my shoulder yesterday, and my knee flaring up, this hasn't even been too hard to cover up. He couldn't stop the tiny grin forming on his lips. The situation might've been awful, but it was obvious his acting skills weren't too shabby.
He deemed that Friday a good day, right then and there. He didn't have any homework, for one, which he was grateful for; he'd woken up a considerable amount less sore that morning; and, best of all, he'd been exempt from his test in Pre-Cal! He'd made plans to hang out with Axel that afternoon, as well, but the red-head had to work late, so video games and pizza would have to wait until a little later that night. The boy closed his locker door, the small grin tugging at the edges of his lips. Indeed, the better end of a bad situation.
With nowhere to go, Roxas headed home by himself. Sora was going out with Kairi (which had taken many I'll be FINE!s to allow it to happen) that night, so he had the house to himself and a computer calling his name. He took the long way home (and avoided that street by about nine blocks. It wasn't that he was afraid, he just wasn't stupid) and the bruise on his knee didn't even hurt much. He snuggled back into his coat to keep off the fall wind; he loved good days. If only every day were nice…
He got to his house and pulled out his keys, humming to himself as the autumn gusts played with the tail of his coat. He moved to insert the key into the lock, but on contact the door creaked backwards a few inches. Roxas paused. It hasn't been closed all the way… I closed it this morning. …That means… He held the key where it was before his grin dropped off his face, along with the hand holding the small metal object. Good day. Good day? Ha!
The blond pocketed his keys and glanced through the small gap the door had made, but couldn't see anything moving around. The lighting in his living room was darker than it usually was in the afternoon, and he realized the curtains were drawn. There was only one reason he could think of that would make that happen, though he couldn't say he was surprised. It had been about three weeks already.
He pushed the door open farther with his left hand. The first thing that hit him was the stench of alcohol and smoke, and for one moment he was afraid he was wrong, so wrong, and it was actually Saix's crew, waiting for him. As the light from outside filtered inside, though, he sighed out something that could've been relief as his first assumption was proven correct. At first glance it looked like his living room floor was littered with corpses, but there was an occasional drunken snort that would rumble from different areas of the room. Roxas shook his head and held his breath, stepping around the various trash and bottles that dotted the dirty carpet, aiming for the stairs that seemed more like the stairs to Heaven than the stairs of hell he'd seen them as before. He reached the banister and was almost on the first step before he heard it.
"Roxas?"
It was quiet, raspy. He flinched at the sound.
"Issat you, Roxas, honey? Or issat Sora?"
He stopped trying to climb that stairs when a hand gripped his shoulder. He tightened his hold on the banister to keep from yelling out, eyes squeezed shut as tight as he could manage, and turned towards the person holding him, whose hand fell away as he moved. He forced a smile onto his face.
"Hi, Mom."
The woman's face before him contorted into a drunken grin and a giggle came from between her teeth. The hand returned and latched onto his hair. "Oh, 's you, Roxy, my baby, hiiiii… You… y'ur so… so blonde… I miss yoooou…"
Roxas took her hand from his hair and let it drop. In the back of his mind he wondered when she got home (only his mother would have a drinking party in the afternoon, of course) and brought all the people with her. He looked at the pathetic excuse for a mom in front of him and couldn't stop the disgusted expression that came to his face. "Get yourself together."
The blond was all but stomping up the stairs, then, ignoring how much his bruises didn't want him to walk in such a heavy way and past anger pulsing through his veins. He could hear her wailing, still at the bottom step ("I'm sorry, baby, I… I… I love yoooou!"), but he didn't care. He'd been dealing with her coming home drunk, getting drunk, being demanding or a combination of the three for years; he'd seen her from bawling her eyes out to kicking her 'delinquent' and 'useless' sons out the house. He stopped having concern for her years before, he'd told himself. Every insult, every deplorable state, every forged signature, every door slammed in his face. He didn't care. He didn't care.
Upon reaching the top step, Roxas reached into his pocket before he realized he still didn't have a cell phone. He hung his head and sighed, anger still making his fists clench but he began to stride rather than stomp. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it and moved to his room, snatching up the bag he'd packed that morning and locking his door behind him as he left. He locked Sora's door with his spare, as well, and walked back to the stairs. His mother was nowhere in sight, and the commotion hadn't seemed to have woken anyone up. The blonde clenched and unclenched his fists, resisting the urge to run down the stairs and scream and break something, wake them all up. Strewn around his house, like they owned the place.
It was unfortunate, though, that the person who, in actuality, owned the place was somewhere passed out down there too.
He slipped outside without a sound.
Roxas was walking towards the shopping district, aiming for the payphone in front of a grocery store he could use to call Sora. When he got there, he rattled his hand around in his pants pocket before sighing. Make a plan to go to a payphone, forget to bring change. Of course I would. The sliding doors whizzed open and the noise grabbed his attention, planning to go inside to exchange some bills for change, but he paused at the sight of the person coming out of the doors.
"Namine?"
The blonde girl looked towards him, seeming a little startled, before a smile broke out on her face. "Oh, hello, Roxas!" She moved the few steps to him, shopping bags swinging in her hands. "What's got you in this part of town?"
He thought about lying (it was a little—very tiny—bit embarrassing), but decided it wasn't worth it, so he improvised. "I, uhm, lost my cell phone," he said, a sheepish grin picking at his lips. "And the house phone… isn't available, and I need to call Sora, so," he stated this while waving his left hand at the phone, "here I am."
Namine giggled a little. "You lost your phone? Is that why you didn't answer me yesterday?"
"Y-you texted me? Oh, I'm sorry, Namine, I—"
"It's okay. I figured it out on my own eventually." She was smiling still. "You want to use my phone? That way you won't have to pay to use that."
"Oh, I don't want to bother you…"
"It's no problem! You've gone out of your way to help me, anyway. It's the least I could do." She held out her phone and gave him a face so convincing it seemed like she'd be upset if he said no.
He took the phone. "It'll only be a sec, I swear."
She grinned.
The conversation with Sora was simple and to the point. The longest response had been curse, followed by: "alright, I'll come talk to you tomorrow. You'll be at Axel's?" When he hung up, Roxas moved back over to Namine, who was waiting with a patient appearance. "Here ya go," he said, handing it back to her. The sheepish smile returned. "Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome, but it really wasn't anything."
Roxas' eyes fell on the bags at Namine's feet and he glanced back up at her. The words were tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. "I'll walk you home, if you don't mind. You look like you could use some help." Once his brain caught up with his mouth, though, every ounce of blood in his body rushed to his face and he turned his head to the side so fast he swore his neck popped. "I-I mean, if—"
Namine seemed to leap on the opportunity, though. Part of Roxas told him it was because the bags were actually quite heavy; another part told him she liked his company. He didn't know which to believe. "Sure," she replied. "I-I'd like that."
He looked back at her, disbelieving his ears at first, but she was staring back at him, another smile gracing her lips. The light pink on her cheeks had to be make-up, though. He stooped down and picked up several bags, and she snatched up the last one before he could, mumbling something about not being useless, and all Roxas could do was laugh.
In the dark, quiet alley, his echoing laugh startled his two companions out of their dazes, and he turned to face them, his observation complete. They both gave him quizzical looks, and Saix answered them with a simple sentence.
"Revenge will be sweet."
.
*What? I used a time-skip to avoid the conversation between Roxas and Sora because I didn't know how to write what Sora would say and I knew it'd be a lot of dialogue? Sorry, Sora-fans. He isn't a main character in this, nothing else got revealed except for the story you already read, and I just moved the plot along. And I'm lazy. And don't like writing Sora because he's usually OOC when I do. Dx SO. If I was more comfortable writing his character, I probably would've done some of that scene, but you didn't exactly miss out on anything when I didn't write it. So.
Questioning looks for the end, anyone? (:
I feel like Namine is a little OOC (and maybe Roxas a bit in this too. Ugh), but, to be honest, Namine isn't really developed that well in the series to see just how she'd react in social situations. I'm using her more defiant/outgoing personality from II, but… She just doesn't get much personality love in the series. xD So… sorry if I disappointed you with the way she reacted, but she obviously isn't going to be like "You were never supposed to exist, Roxas!" and be all-knowing about him, as she's only met him in-story now… what, twice? SO. YEAH.
And no. Don't expect any super-fast kissing scenes, or them to be dating in the next chapter, or anything (this is not a fluff story, my friends! I'm here for plot-line!). Relationships just don't develop that fast. This wasn't some loveatfirstsightOHhe'sjustsoamazingI'minlovewithhimnow thing (Roxas thought she was cute. Whoopee!). xP To be honest, they'll probably never even kiss in this story unless I decide to make an epilogue, much less confess how much they 'love' eachother in the next chapter or so. :'P I don't know. We'll see. I'm just saying, though. I'm sick of reading fics where characters decide they're "in love" and they've only known eachother for days. 'Like' them, sure, but you don't hang out with someone and then suddenly realize you're just in "love." It just doesn't work that way in, like, all cases (I guess there could be an exception in there somewhere, but this isn't one). SO. Done ranting now. xP
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