Axel looked over his bank account statements with a small hum of satisfaction.

Until the fairies had come into his life, Axel had pretty much been working only part time. He'd managed to make a small fortune during the bubble and had invested it intelligently in companies that were still doing well. His portfolio had taken some hits but in general it was good, providing him with a nice income. Until a few cute little fairies had come along, he hadn't really needed to work very hard. Now he was dusting off his skills and promoting himself again, and finding that even in a recession he still had a knack for moving homes. It helped that his city was still doing pretty well, of course.

He'd almost managed to pay off his credit cards again, and that was a good thing because he wasn't going to cancel his vacation. Speaking of which…

"Hey Roxas? Can you take care of everyone while I'm away?" Roxas looked up, startled, and Axel smiled. "Reno and I are taking a Caribbean vacation together this year. There's no way I can get you guys past customs, so you'll have to stay here." He and Reno had planned their vacation and put down the first payments long before Roxas came into his life.

"Sure! When am I going to meet Reno?" Roxas let the question distract him from Sora. It had only been a day, but Sora wouldn't speak or do anything except cuddle up to him. He was doing that right now, in fact, and Roxas gently ran a hand through brown spikes as he looked down at his brother. Sora was sleeping, arms around his waist, and looked like a resting angel.

"Probably right before we fly out for the vacation, actually. Reno doesn't come by very often, he's based out of Midgar and his boss keeps him on his toes." Axel had a feeling that Rufus was more than Reno's boss, but that was his brother's business and he wasn't going to ask. Axel hesitated, looking at the two fairies. "How's Sora doing?" Roxas winced, looking down.

"Not so good." He'd barely managed to get the brunette to eat, and Axel dearly wanted to demand his money back. It took some brass balls to sell a fairy who would hardly eat for four and a half thousand dollars. But if he asked for is money back she'd demand Sora back, and that wasn't happening. "Axel, he needs to go to the vet." Roxas had been able to get a very good look at Sora's injuries and while he didn't think there was anything that could be done for his leg, the wing might be repairable. Fairies were magical beings and their wings were more subject to repairs than a lot of things. And if it couldn't be fixed, it needed to come off. The dangling strands were hurting Sora now, full of sensitive nerves that were scraped every time one of the strands touched something. Roxas placed a gentle kiss on Sora's forehead, then looked up as he felt Axel sit down on the couch beside him. The redhead was looking down at him with a serious expression in his green eyes.

"I know. But I don't want to take him there until he can at least talk to us, tell us what happened. The vet might want to know." Axel looked at the little fairy sadly. "And I don't want him to be traumatized anymore than he is." Roxas hesitated, then nodded.

"It can wait." Sora wasn't in any danger of dying and the wounds wouldn't get any worse from waiting. "Thank you so much, Axel." Roxas knew that repairing the wings would be expensive, but Axel would do it if the vet said they could. He understood how much flying meant to a fairy. Axel smiled and gently ruffled Roxas' hair.

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad to help." He'd never imagined fairies could find such a place in his heart. He'd never even liked pets until now, but then, he'd never owned one that could talk to him before. Axel grinned as he reflected on the fact that he was quickly turning into a 'fairy person.' The websites had claimed that fairies were like popcorn, you couldn't have just one, and it seemed they were right. Demyx dreamily started to sing, and Roxas joined in a moment later. Axel listened for a moment, smiling, then blinked as a third voice joined in.

"Sora! You sang?!?" Roxas and Demyx both stopped singing as Roxas hugged his brother, who blinked and winced as his broken wing was jostled. Axel was suddenly hopeful as he looked at the brunette. There was more sense in those big blue eyes than he'd seen before.

"Roxas…? This isn't a dream?" Sora said, confused, then suddenly burst into tears and hugged his brother back. "Roxas!" Roxas just held his brother as the brunette wept, burying his face in his vest.

"It's okay Sora, it's okay. You're safe now." Roxas soothed him, until Sora hiccupped, quieting and glancing around.

"But Roxas… you must have an owner…" Sora said with quiet dread and Axel winced as the brunette looked up at him, eyes wide and traumatized. Roxas hastened to reassure him.

"This is Axel. He's really nice Sora, I like him a lot. Over there is Demyx. We're happy here, really. Sora, what happened to you?" Roxas gently petted Sora's hair, then stroked his remaining wing. Fairy wings were always a bit sensitive, so that felt good. Sora shuddered and the story began to come out.

He'd been bought at full price from a dealer, by a middle-aged man who'd come out of the closet with his wife. She hadn't been willing to let him have a gay lover but had grudgingly said yes to a sex pet. According to Sora he hadn't been nice at all, but the sex had been the very least of his problems. The main problem was the other inhabitants of the house. The man had three children who didn't like his pet at all, as well as two cats and a Doberman. The cats liked him all too well, and Sora had spent days curled at the bottom of his cage as a cat sat on top, just watching him. Or worse yet, batting his cage and making the small fairy cry. The cage was large, a real fairy enclosure, but the cats could still move it around and they had terrified him. The children had often poked him with sticks and taunted him, so much that Sora went for days without eating from the stress.

Things had come to a head when the children had forced him out of his cage so the dog and cats could chase him. He'd already exhausted his time at full size dealing with their father, and hadn't been able to resist. Axel's hands clenched into fists as Sora sobbed in remembered terror, stammering out how the dog had caught him and broken his leg after a cat had torn apart his wing. The dog had been swinging him through the air by his leg when the mother found out what was happening and rescued him. She didn't like him at all either but she'd been mindful of how much he'd cost. She and her husband had decided that dealing with his injuries and trauma would be too expensive, and had dumped him at the pet store for fifty dollars. That made Axel angry all over again at the pet store. They'd known how badly damaged Sora was and had just been trying to chisel some unsuspecting buyer.

"Sora, I'm sorry." Roxas said tearfully. He was shocked at how badly his brother had been treated. He'd been worried for him when he found out that he was given away for free, but someone had actually paid full price for Sora then let him be treated like this. It was horrific. "You're going to be fine now, I swear. Axel is really nice and it's good here."

"No cats or dogs? No children?" Sora said, his voice small and fragile as Roxas hugged him tightly.

"None." Axel said firmly and Sora burst into tears again as Roxas patted his back. Axel waited until the crying jag was over before speaking gently. "Sora, we really need to get you to a vet to take a look at your wing. Do you think you're up for it?" Sora nodded, wiping his eyes.

"Please… I know they'll probably have to take my wing off but it really hurts…" Sora hated the way his wing felt right now, hated the way the fibers dragged and tingled whenever he brushed something. It made him lose his appetite, too, and he was feeling very weak. Axel nodded, expression serious.

"Alright. I'll see when they can fit you in." Axel got up and went to the phone, calling the exotic vet he'd found. They were very expensive but not many places handled the care of fairies, pixies and mini-drags. "Hey, this is Axel Bashanova. I was wondering what the soonest appointment I could get is? Really? Excellent! I'll be there." Axel hung up the phone, grinning. "Good news! They had a cancellation and there's an appointment open in two hours." Roxas looked relieved and Sora was nervous, but nodded. He really wanted his wing taken care of, one way or the other. "Although if they say they can reconstruct it, they'll probably have to make an appointment for a later time." Reconstruction work would take hours. But Axel rather doubted it was going to come up. He'd read up on wing injuries after they'd brought Sora home and he doubted the wing would b at all salvageable.

They would just have to see.

hr

Axel and Roxas both watched as the vet, a younger oriental woman, examined Sora thoroughly. Her face was expressionless as she surveyed his healed wounds.

"What happened to him? Do you know?" She was aware that Axel had only had his fairies for perhaps a month, and Sora's injuries were clearly much older than that. Axel answered as Sora looked down.

"A dog and a cat." The vet grimaced and nodded. Cats in particular were the bane of fairy and pixie life, although it could be perfectly safe if a cat was raised from kittenhood with the fairy. One of the cutest pictures on the internet was of a cat pinning a laughing fairy down with one soft paw and grooming her. But introducing fairies to grown cats was dangerous. Fairies were just too small and the way they flitted through the air activated predatory instincts. Cats were a natural predator to fairies and pixies in the wild. The same was true of dogs, but less so. Dogs that didn't have a strong prey drive could live happily with fairies even when they met as adults, although fairies usually regarded them as a nuisance.

"Well." The vet carefully examined the wing, lifting a few of the strands and ignoring Sora's wince. "I have bad news. This might be repairable but the cost would be considerable, and there would be no guarantee of success." From her expression she didn't like what she was saying, but felt it had to be said. "It would cost at least ten thousand to try." Axel winced as Sora sniffed and Roxas looked down. Both fairies knew that was a tremendous sum. "To be honest, I would recommend just taking it off. The chance isn't really worth it. Even if the reconstruction is successful, I doubt he'd ever get full range of movement back." Axel took a deep breath, looking at Sora.

"Sora, are you okay with that?" The little fairy looked up, surprised he would ask, then hesitantly nodded.

"Y-Yes. I mean… I never thought I would fly again anyway." He'd already resigned himself to being flightless. Roxas flittered down to hug him and Sora hugged him back. The vet sighed.

"Well, that will still cost about a thousand dollars and will require an operation. Would this Sunday be good? I have an opening." They quickly agreed to Sunday at three PM. Axel gently picked up Sora, settling him into his pet ball as Roxas flew back to his shoulder.

"Let's stop at the pet store on the way home and get him some more clothes." Axel considered the pet ball for a moment. It was clear, but still not an ideal way to carry Sora around the mall. "And maybe I could buy a basket for when we go places." That would be rather cute, actually. Demyx and Roxas on his shoulders while the little flightless fairy was in a basket on his arm. And even if Sora could fly, Axel was fresh out of shoulders.

"That would probably be good." Roxas liked the idea. At least Sora wouldn't be stuck at home when Axel took them out on trips. He jumped down into his ball and Axel put it in the hard case, making a mental note to see about getting more carrying space for his motorcycle. Or maybe trading it in for a real touring bike. The pet balls weren't that small and if he got another fairy they wouldn't be able to fit.

Wait. Another fairy? Was he really planning on getting one? Axel considered it for a moment then laughed as he started into traffic. No, he wasn't planning on getting another fairy but they just seemed to be happening to him. Idly he wondered if any of his other friends would have a fairy they wanted to dump on him.

He had no idea how prophetic that thought would happen to be.

hr

Axel smiled as he watched his three little fairies at play in the hot tub. Sora was actually standing on his stomach, since he couldn't use his wings to float, but Axel was more than willing to be his footrest. Roxas had been a bit jealous at first but he'd quickly seen the sense in it. Fairies didn't naturally float without both wings, so Sora had to tread water or sink. Axel frowned for a moment, wondering how Sora would get by when he was away, then laughed at himself. Sora could just take his full form and use the shower. The little fairy looked up at him curiously and Axel smiled at him.

It had been over a week and the vet had done an excellent job removing the remains of his wing. He actually looked very cute now, with just the one remaining wing. The vet hadn't been able to do anything about his leg and Sora walked with a pronounced limp. Fortunately, between the two of them Demyx and Roxas could carry Sora up onto the couch or the windowsill, and that was all he needed. The couch to watch TV and the windowsill to enjoy the sun and watch the city life going by. All in all, everything was going very well with his little pack of fairies. Even his finances were looking good and Axel thought the trip to the Caribbean would be no problem at all. Although if it was, he could just borrow some money off Reno. His brother was never stingy. Axel was dozing off when the phone rang. Yawning, he picked up his cell. He was expecting a call about a deal being finalized, so he'd taken it with him and set it on the edge of the hot tub.

"Hello?"

Axel, this is Marluxia. I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor. Axel blinked, focusing his attention a bit. Marluxia wasn't his friend. He'd been the one who stole Larxene away from him, actually, although Axel wasn't holding a grudge anymore. But Marluxia couldn't know he was over it so this was a surprise. I know we're not on the best of terms, but there's no one else I can think of I'd trust to do this for me.

"Hmm? You wouldn't trust Larxene?" That was just weird. Marluxia sighed.

Larxene least of all. I heard she gave you that fairy I got for her. Would you mind taking care of another, for a short time? Axel blinked, startled at that. I have to go to the hospital and take some tests. It's probably nothing but they say I should plan to be away from home for a week, and my mother has cats. I can pay you for your time and I have plenty of supplies for her.

"Uh… sure, I suppose." Axel could see why Marluxia wouldn't trust Larxene with this, given how badly she'd treated Demyx. Although… "What were you thinking, giving that fairy to her? He was in bad shape when I got him."

I was thinking it might get me in her pants. Axel was startled into laughter by the honesty. It worked, too. I'll bring my Namine over tomorrow, if that's good?

"Sure." Axel picked up his blackberry, consulting his schedule. "I have an open house in the evening. Can you come by in the morning?"

Certainly. Would eight be good?

"That would be fine." It was earlier than he usually got up, but Axel could always get back to sleep. Closing his cell, Axel looked over the fairies. Roxas and Demyx were splashing each other and Sora was looking at him curiously. "Hey guys, listen up. We're getting a new fairy tomorrow." They all turned to stare at him, a bit shocked. "She's probably only going to be staying a week though. Her owner has to go to the hospital."

"She's not a sex pet, is she?" Roxas said suspiciously and Axel grinned, shaking his head.

"Jealous Roxas!" Roxas blushed but looked stubborn as Sora giggled a bit. Axel smiled. "No, I'm sure she's not a sex pet. I'm not sure what type of fairy she is, but we'll find out tomorrow." Axel vaguely recalled that Marluxia had owned a fairy for years, so she definitely wasn't a sex pet. They were a very new thing, barely a year old. Roxas nodded, satisfied, and went back to his game. Axel watched him with a smile, reflecting on how odd this was. Was Roxas his pet or his boyfriend? Or both?

Axel rather thought it was both. They weren't equals and never would be, Axel took care of all the bills and literally owned the little blonde. But it wasn't just a master/slave or owner/pet relationship. They liked each other, and there was no reason they couldn't spend the rest of their lives together. Fairies were shorter lived than humans, living only around forty years, but Axel was twenty-three and Roxas was only two years old. He would probably still outlive Roxas unless something went wrong, but not by a ridiculous amount. They would have a long time together. Axel suddenly scooped up the little fairy in his hands, making Roxas squeak, and brought him to his cheek, cuddling him for a moment.

"I love you." He said softly, and smiled as Roxas laughed and hugged his face.

"I love you too." His lover whispered back, and Axel felt a surge of warmth as he turned his head to look into shining blue eyes.

They were both unaware of Sora looking up at them sadly.

hr

Marluxia arrived the next day with everything Axel would need to care for a fairy. Axel was a bit surprised by how haggard the pink haired man looked, as he opened the door. The last time he'd seen Marluxia he'd been lively and active, but right now he really did look sick.

"Hello Axel. Thank you for doing this for me." Marluxia stepped in the house and glanced around. "I, ah, hate to ask, but could I see how you take care of your fairies?" He was holding a pet ball protectively and Axel blinked, a bit startled. He hadn't thought his pet would mean that much to Marluxia.

"Sure. I've done a lot of research, I think you'll like it. There's a hutch on the wall there…" Axel showed Marluxia all the little things he'd picked up for his fairies, and the pink haired man was mostly satisfied. Except…

"You don't have a food dispenser?" That seemed more than a little odd. But Axel grinned.

"Don't need one! Roxas and Sora are both sex pets. They can just take a full sized form for a few minutes and pour out more food for everyone." That had saved him quite a bit too, although he'd gotten a water dispenser anyway. Food could be set out several times a day and be fine, but the water dispenser was also a cooler. It kept the water nice and fresh, better than bottled. Marluxia nodded, satisfied, and opened his pet ball.

"This is Namine." A tiny little fairy with long golden hair cautiously climbed out of her ball, and Axel eyed her wings, a touch surprised. She was a truly rare breed of fairy, a Golden Bell. They had tremendously lovely wings and pretty voices, but they were hard to breed in captivity. Legend had it that they were descended from the ancient ruling and mystical class of fairies, and Axel almost believed it as he looked at her wings. They were iridescent purple, shot with golden threads that glittered in the sun. Really, they made the other fairies look a bit drab in comparison. Roxas and Demyx both fluttered up, looking her over as she looked down shyly. "She's a bit quiet, but really very friendly. Say hello, Namine."

"Hello." She echoed, her voice soft and sweet. Roxas smiled and offered her a hand, which she accepted.

"Hi. I'm Roxas and this is Demyx. The guy on the couch is my brother, Sora." Namine turned to look at the couch and nodded to Sora with a smile. Axel was pleased. He wasn't sure how well Namine would fit in, but she was only going to be staying for a week anyway. He was sure she'd do fine for that long. Marluxia watched as she fluttered over to the couch and sighed.

"Well. I'd best be going." Axel almost asked him what was wrong, but then decided it wasn't his business. They really weren't close friends.

"Good-bye." Axel turned to look at Namine as he heard the deep sadness in her voice. He saw a matching sadness in her face and uneasily remembered some of the things he'd read about Golden Bells. They were more powerfully magical than most fairies and it was said they could sometimes see the future. Marluxia paused at the door, then forced a smile.

"Good-bye Namine." The pink haired man left and Axel took a deep breath, shaking off the mood. He was probably just imagining things. Of course Marluxia would be fine and he'd be back for Namine in a week.

Of course.