I'm lonely today. I'm bored, I need something to do. I like to play with different things. But don't look to hard, it's burn your eyes. C'mon. Won't you stay and play with me?

Chapter 4... The Charred Tree


Close your eyes. Don't wake up, it's too dangerous.

Hey…

Please?

Hey…

Won't you stay with me?

"Hey! Hot Head! Jeez, wake up already!" Axel gasped and shot up. He was panting, light sweat skimmed his forehead. He looked over to Roxas, who looked startled by Axel abrupt awakening. He relaxed and sighed, rubbing his head. "Finally, I thought you were fucking dead or something.

Axel didn't say anything, he just put his hands on his pounding head. He groaned in pain. "Hey." Roxas looked a little concerned. "You, okay?"

Knocking pounded hard on the door. Roxas jumped, looking towards it. The knocking continued. Roxas sighed, "Jeez, how many strange door knocks am I gonna get in one day?"

He got up from his chair and walked over to the door. He opened it to reveal a panicked, mohawk guy. "Is Axel here?" he said quickly.

Roxas' eyes widened. "Who?"

"Axel!" the guy screamed.

Axel groaned, looking towards the door. "Demyx? Is that you?"

"Axel!" he cried excitedly. He pushed past Roxas he slammed against the wall with a loud 'hey'. "Axel, Axel thank God I found you!" Demyx body slammed Axel who grunted in pain.

"Jeez Demy! Easy, easy." Demyx got on his knees on the bed.

"Dude you're in trouble!" Demyx said quickly, with concern in his eyes.

"What? What the hell for…" Axel said, still dazed.

"Woah woah, excuse me, mohawk guy!" Roxas screamed. "Who gave you permission to just barge into my dorm!"

"Oh, Roxas this is Demyx. Demyx, Roxas." Axel introduced them while cradling his head with his other hand.

"Huh?" Demyx said looking at Roxas, they he gave a sheepish grin. "Oh, hey. I'm Demyx."

"Nice to meet you. Now get the fuck out of my dorm!" Roxas almost screamed.

"No!" Demyx screamed back. "Axel can't go out in the open! It's too dangerous!"

Axel raised a brow. "Why? Demyx what happened."

Demyx pouted, "The park started on fire. They put it out but the entire park is ruined!" He whined.

Roxas sighed exasperated, "Oh, what a shame. Isn't that just too bad." Roxas said sarcastically. "Now tell me why that means Hot Head has to stay here."

Demyx fisted his hands childishly. "Because Headmistress Farron is blaming Axel for starting it!"

Axel frowned. "What?" he asked, shocked. "Why? Why me?"

Demyx gave Axel a look with a sloppy grin. "Um, you kinda started to lab, library, and cafeteria on fire during the last three years. Don't even get me started on high school, Axe."

Axel smirked, throwing the blankets off him as he sat indian style on Roxas' bed. "Yeah yeah, but that was by accident. The park thing sounds like it was intended. Plus I would never play with fire there! The Initial Tree is there and if I burned that down I'd be, like, executed or something!"

"Well, then prepare to be executed, cause you're the prime suspect!" Demyx cried, flailing his arms around Axel. "No! Axy I don't want you to die!" he said sobbing dramatically. Roxas looked at him with bored disbelief while Axel looked embarrassed.

"C'mon Demyx pull yourself together! I'm not gonna die this is just a misunderstanding! I'll talk to the Headmistress and tell her I was at Roxas' dorm, so I couldn't have been at the park." Roxas' face paled. Axel nodded with a kind grin. Demyx sniffled and wiped his eyes.

"Yeah! Roxas can vouch for you!"

"Woah woah woah woah! Hold on a second!" Roxas said, hands on hips. "Don't think for a second I'm gonna vouch for you!"

Demyx looked to Roxas in disbelief. "B-but you have to! He was here! You know it!"

Roxas huffed, "Look. The dorm rules here are I can't have anybody beside dorm building mates in my dorm. No one, it can count as immediate disciplinary actions on my back. Headmistress Farron is also the dean here and I can't take the chance of being put on probation for a month."

Demyx sniffled, "B-but! Axel!" He cried hard and Axel rubbing his temples. Roxas pouted at Demyx's melt down.

"Okay…" more crying. "Okay…!" Demyx sobs started to become hysterical. "I said, Okay!" he screamed. Demyx paused, whipping his nose. "I'll tell Dean Farron that he was here. But! You owe me a favor cause I'm gonna get in trouble."

Demyx nodded vigorously, a cheesy grin on him. Axel smiled at Roxas, "Thanks, that means a lot."

Roxas huffed again. "I don't know why I'm doing this, you kinda are messed up, maybe you really did it." Axel frowned. "But I could use some favors anyway." Roxas said with a grin.


"Mr. Furama this is the last straw!" Lightning Farron said, slamming her hands on her desk. "You nearly destroy the main science lab, the library, the dining hall, but I put my foot down at our park. Including our treasured Initial Tree!" he screamed.

Axel flinched. "Headmistress Farron, really, didn't do it this time! It wasn't me." he damned himself for the squeak in his voice. He always got scared when Headmistress Farron got this angry. And he's never seen her this angry before.

"Oh! And I suppose you have proof that it wasn't you?" she growled. Axel nodded. Roxas came up from beside Axel, and Lightning relaxed her shoulders.

"M-mother Eclair." he whimpered. Axel felt bad for him. "He wasn't the one who started the fire.

Lightning sighed, "And why is that, Roxas."

"B-because, he was with me… in my dorm." Roxas looked up at her. Lightning's eyes widened in anger. "N-not like that Mother Eclaire! Really! He fainted and I took him in."

Her eyes didn't soften until seconds later, she sighed and rubbed her temples. "Mr. Furama, do you confirm this." Axel nodded. She turned again to Roxas. "Roxas, you do know that it is against the rules to let non dorm mates into your dorm."

"Yes, Mother Eclaire."

"And you understand the consequences?"

"Yes, Mother Eclaire."

Lightning paused, before putting her hands off the table and back behind her professionally. "We will discuss this later, as for now, I need to find the real culprit. This was no mistake, evidence shows that it wasn't. Now if you'll excuse me… you're dismissed." Axel and Roxas sighed as they bowed respectfully and walked out the door.


"Well, that wasn't so bad." Axel said, putting his hands behind his back. Roxas was beside him, fuming. He grumbled to himself. "Huh?" Axel asked, leaning in. Roxas turned his head toward him, and his foot landed hard on Axel's. "Yowch!" Axel said, hopping on what foot. "What the hell?"

"You! You, bastard! Mother Eclaire is going to kill me! She isn't convinced that you fainted and came into my room!" he said, blushing hard.

Axel scratched his neck, the pain in his foot subsiding. "Well…" he didn't really know what to say. Roxas just growled and walked away.

He continued talking while he walked. "Just because you thought you saw me you had to go and fucking stalk me! Jeez I don't even know you and you got me in a lot of trouble!"

Axel caught up, "But it was you, wasn't it?" he asked.

Roxas stopped and sighed. "Really, Axel. It wasn't me. I have no idea what you're talking about." he said, then started to walk. Axel frowned, maybe he was going crazy.

"But, then you gotta help me find out who it was!" he yelled.

"No I fucking don't!" Roxas said. "It's your problem, not mine."

Axel pouted, "Well, you could be a little nicer."

"Just leave me the fuck alone." Roxas said, frustrated as he speed up his pace.


Axel respected Roxas' wish. He really did. It was just… he could not follow him. Really, it wasn't even his fault. He would see Roxas everywhere. In the cafeteria, he was there. In the Main Hall hallways, he was there, even in the elevator, he was there!

Finally, Axel stopped by a coffee shop on campus and got in line. And who would you guess was in front of him, Roxas. Roxas started to shake, but Axel didn't think he noticed him. Unfortunately, he did. Roxas turned to Axel and slammed his foot down on Axel's. Axel cried out.

Roxas glared at him heard. "Stop being such a fucking stalker!" he cried and ran out of the shop. Axel frowned, he wasn't even doing it on purpose.

Roxas wasn't his only problem, the day after the incident, he got huge abuse. Mostly social abuse, everyone gave him the evil eye. Of course, everyone thought he started the park on fire, destroying the Initial Tree.

He sighed, he didn't have much to do. Demyx was visiting his parents, and Riku was busy in their dorm going through directory books like a madman.

Axel strolled down to the park to see the damage. He winced when he arrived. The fire had complete charred everything, the Initial Tree was already breaking apart, ash falling below it The initials written there were unrecognizable. He looked over to the bench where he sat. It was standing, but as black as the night sky.

He remembered back to that day. I like your hair… He was dumbfounded. Maybe Roxas had amnesia? Although, this kid sounded much more kind than Roxas could ever be.

He walked away when people started to glare at him. He went back to when he arrived at Roxas' dorm. He said he hadn't been to the park for a week. Then he fainted. Why did he faint? Was it just emotion? Confusion. Then he remembered the last thing he thought of. I like your hair… its fiery. The boy, his beautiful blue eyes. He looked so deep into them and saw it. Two corpses burning, bones charring.

Mommy… Daddy…

Axel's eyes watered. Was it a memory I saw in his eyes, my own memories? His own parents, burning slowly into nothing but bones and ash. Deep in the boys blue eyes, he saw death. But something else still lurked. He clutched his head in pain.

C'mon. Won't you stay and play with me?


Disclaimer: not all content belongs to me

October 13: Chapter 4... The Blood Runs Blue