He dragged me into the park with almost a childlike grin on his face; I could almost taste his excitement as we ran past the large fountain. Green lush grass bordered the stone pathway and the random yellow patches of daffodils were beginning to wither. Summer was slowly winding down into fall, and there were children running around enjoying the last few days of summer vacation.

I watched Axel as we slowed to a walk, he continued to pull me by the hand until he took me to a bridge where he stopped and looked out at the lake. I followed is admiring gaze and found that his eyes had settled on a family of ducks, a mother being followed by her three ducklings. The quacks they were emitting were almost quiet; the three ducklings had a higher pitch from the mother duck.

I glanced back at Axel who stared at the family of ducks with a gentle smile with a gape of awe. So he has a sensitive side? I'll have to remember that.

"Do you come to this place often?" I asked, he looked at me and smiled.

"Yeah, but mainly during the summer, during the winter this place is gorgeous yes, during the fall all of the beauty is starting to die down, but it still has a certain gorgeous quality, spring is the best time because everything is just beginning. The flowers are just blooming, the animals are prancing. I love to see nature and life in full swing, it makes me feel so alive," he said, he was smiling wildly with his eyes dancing excitedly.

I smiled, I almost felt a sense of pride just standing beside him, I took an involuntary step closer and I saw him grin before he grabbed my hand and started running again, "Come on, we can't just stand here, there's far too much for us to see still!" he said grinning, I heard an ecstatic laugh escape his lips. I felt myself let out a small laugh as well, it was more of at his childish side than anything else, it was a amusing and made me respect him even more, due to the fact that he could act this much like himself around others. As it was my true identity was locked deep inside me, kept away from the judgment and harm of others.

We ran past a group of trees and I heard a voice, "Axel!" it called out. We stopped abruptly and I ran straight into Axel and fell backwards, landing on my butt.

Axel looked back as a girl stepped out of the trees with another girl practically attached to her hip. The first girl had bright pink hair that flared and wore a white button up shirt and blue jeans. She had a flower tucked behind her ear and a chain of daisies formed into a ring that was placed atop her head. Her voice was very deep and it almost terrified me, was there a possibility that this was actually a transgender or something?

The other girl was solid blonde, two chunks of her hair was pulled back and away, almost sticking up, she kinda reminded me of a bug, she wore a black and yellow shirt with a solid white lightning bolt on it, her jeans were bright yellow like the sun and were skin tight. She had a pair of yellow fingerless gloves. She let out a high pitched giggle, "About time we found you, Spiky," she said grinning. Her voice sounded sweet but had a sharp underlying tone.

"Oh, hey Larxene, Marluxia, what's up," Axel said with a familiarized grin, "Roxas, these two are in my year, so I guess you could say their in your year as well," he explained looking at me. "Marluxia is the head of the Drama Department and the Garden Club. Larxene is leading class bully," he said playfully. So Marluxia is a guy…he sure doesn't look it. But I guess you can't really judge a book by its cover. "Guys, this is Roxas, he's new in town, he's Sora's twin brother," Axel explained.

"Hi there," Larxene said, she had a scary sweet smile on her lips as she walked over and bent down to be eye level with me. I took a couple of steps back and swallowed hard. Her eyes flattened and a look of pure irritation got closer, "To be such a pansy bitch like your brother, suck up your fear and learn to deal with it, because if you don't, you'll lose everything you love."

I stared at her for a moment before glaring back at her, "Fuck you," I snapped.

I heard Axel start laughing before wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, "Easy you two," he said as he ruffled my hair playfully. "Keep it civil and remember not to lose your tempers," he said smiling.

"Fine," Larxene said as she straightened up and walked back over to Marluxia, "Come on Marly," she said, "I'm pretty sure we can find some people to dump water on," she said before taking off, grabbing Marluxia's hand as she ran.

I looked at Axel, "Who were they?" I asked, sure I knew their names, but not them personally. I didn't understand what the hell just happened.

"Marluxia and Larxene, they're part of my group of friends," Axel explained, "I would say gang but after meeting Marluxia I don't really think it would seem that intimidating of a group."

"He looked like a walking flower…"

"He probably is a flower…or a fairy. He's in denial about it though."

"It shows, does he keep the blonde in tow with him at all times just to throw off any growing suspicions?"

"Yeah, but you can actually find him and Larxene at the nail salon every Saturday getting manicures…it's kinda terrifying…"

"That would make me cry if I saw that."

"I've seen worse…trust me…" he said, he had a bit of a terrified gleam in his eyes before grabbing my hand taking off running again, "Come on let's go to the zoo!" he yelled.

I stumbled slightly before catching my balance again and trying to keep up with him, his legs were extremely long so I finally ended up falling.

Axel turned around and giggled slightly before picking me up and hoisting me up onto his back. I gasped slightly as he started running while giving me a piggy back ride. "Wh-What are you doing Axel?" I asked.

"This way you don't keep falling and getting yourself hurt," he said over his shoulder as he ran with me bouncing on his back. It felt kinda strange, but I found myself laughing ecstatically, I was actually happy, and I could feel him laughing as well as we ran. Either from my laughing or from the freaked out stares we were getting, either way I had never actually been given a piggy back ride, and it was…fun!

But too soon he was letting me slip off his back and we went into the zoo where I found a large assortment of animals, some of which I'd never seen before at the zoo back at home where mom and I lived.

Lions, tigers, cougars, cheetahs, leopards, bears, wolves, coyotes, snakes, lizards, monkeys, and so much more; I found myself running from cage to cage to see them all. but when we got to the deer I fell completely numb and I bit into my lip, Axel seemed to noticed my sudden mood change and he stared at me as I watched the doe with her young stag.

"Roxas?" mom asked as she hugged me close to her, it was quiet as she looked at me. We stood in the parking lot and our car was only a few yards away.

"Yes mom?" I replied, my voice cracked in the chilly night air.

"I have something I want to tell you." she said as she let me go and we continued to walk to the car.

"What is it?" I asked, studying her face carefully, there was apprehension written all over it and something about it made me even more curious, but coating my curiosity was dread.

"Well…" she unlocked the car and we both slid inside, she busied herself with starting the engine and adjusting herself, almost as if she didn't want to tell me, but with a glance at my inquisitive gaze and she sighed, "Phil and I are getting married," she said. I was quiet as this slowly sunk in. after it finally hit I felt enraged.

"What!" I almost yelled, she stared at me almost in shock, I don't know why though, she knew I despised the man, but she didn't know why. "Why would you marry him? Mom he's an insensitive pig! Why would you go after that kinda guy?"

"Because he cares about me," she said as she began to drive down the empty streets, "He asked me, and I said yes, nothing more to it and I don't intend to change my mind about it Roxas, so just stop," she said firmly.

"Yeah…dad cared about you too and look where that got you," I muttered bitterly as I folded my arms across my chest and looked out the window gruffly.

"What did you just say young man!" mom yelled, looking at me with anger.

"Mom, you can't deny the fact that you thought dad cared about you as well, he told you he loved you, he asked you to marry him, and he also did so many other things for you, but in the end he just turned into an abusive asshole that you ended up leaving, and now he has Sora with him and you have me with you," I snapped.

"Well at least I'm sure Sora doesn't try to make cheap shots like you do," she spat.

"How would you know, you left him with that…that…fuck hole!"

I felt her slap me hard across the face, "Roxas, that is enough!" she yelled, "I won't have you talking this way anymore, you're grounded longer than you'll be alive, and I won't stand to have you disrespect me or Phil anymore! Do you understand me?"

I stayed silent as I stared at my feet, mom was silent, and then I felt her eyes on me, I glanced up and gasped.

Dashing across the street was the dark outline of a deer. "Mom!" I yelled, she looked and swerved fast, just barely missing the deer but colliding hard with one of the trees that lined the street. Once the glass was crunching against the pavement beneath the tires, I felt immense pain before I fell numb and everything went dark. Am I dying?