Here's the next chapter in the ongoing progression of this story. Hope you like it! I do warn you ahead of time - it involves some very grim topics. Not that the rest of this story has been a barrel of monkies in the fun department but you get what I'm saying. Just warning you, I don't want any reviews that say that it was grim unless you can somehow tie that in to a compliment. Good luck with that.

By the way, I have two new stories! Yay for me! One is Kingdom Hearts called 'Twin Trouble at Destiny High' that a fellow writer and me are writing together (twisted-hearts) and the other is a Legally Blonde fic titled 'Where Did We Go Wrong!?!' If you want to read them please do, if you don't I'm not going to force you. Here, though, is a tidbit from 'Where Did We Go Wrong!?!' to get you interested:

"Thank you God all mighty for the gift of music, the magically color called black, my wonderfully sweet boyfriend Falcon, and my family… most of it anyways. Amen." – Adriana aka Ana saying grace... half of it anyways (You didn't think I'd give you the whole thing did you?)

So disclaimer… haven't I said it enough already? I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its characters…. I do own Rei and Jeremy X and the plot… there. I think that's all I own… yeah – oh, I own my own imagination and my own growing insanity. And this chapter I went a little crazy with those page break line things... sorry, but pushing that button is just so much fun and so amusing too!!!!

On with it already! Lol


Chapter 7


"Oh c-come on R-Rei, j-just for a m-minute or t-two?" Tidus whined, poking his girlfriend in the arm as she drove. Rei sighed and nodded her head setting a new course. Within a few minutes they were parked in the hospital parking lot, Tidus beaming at her as they walked inside. They walked up to the motherly looking nurse behind the counter. "Excuse m-me, are visiting hours o-over?"

"Oh no dears, you still have another hour." The nurse smiled. Tidus nodded happily and proceeded to drag his girlfriend towards-

"Hey, hold on a second Tidus!" Rei said sharply tugging her arm out of his grip. "Sora's room is down the other way, remember?"

"W-we're not going to S-Sora's r-room. C-come on R-Rei, w-we're gonna go s-see R-Riku." Tidus said, turning away from her and continuing to walk down the hallway. "M-maybe he's w-woken up by now, I j-just w-want to pop in for a s-second t-to c-check on him."

"Fine, but this is so not what I had in mind for my Saturday!" Rei complained as she stomped down the hall after him. She continued to grumble under her breath so that Tidus couldn't hear her, her words heated. "You said we could do whatever I wanted this time, and I wanted to see a movie and go out to eat, but never mind that, let's go stare at an unconscious teenager instead."

"Here it is R-Riku's r-room." Tidus smiled pushing the door open. He gasped, rushing inside the room. Rei panicked thinking something terrible must have happened and ran after him, rushing inside the room as well.

"What happened?" Rei asked as she came inside looking around. She stopped short, staring at what was going on.

"Oh R-Riku, you're finally a-awake!" Tidus smiled hugging Riku around the neck. The other boy in the room, Riku's roommate, was shaking his head looking amused and worried at the same time, while Riku looked…

"Tidus, um, what are you doing here?" Riku asked. Shit, he's gonna tell the nurses I woke up and then it'll start. The never ending tests, the medication, the needles. Yuck, I hate needles. How am I going to see Sora again now? It's not like they're gonna let me go see him, they probably won't let me leave the bed!

"I c-came t-to s-see you." Tidus smiled at him. "S-so w-when did you w-wake up?"

"Oh, he just woke up this morning. Aren't you lucky to be here when he did, imagine that, what a coincidence." X smiled at them before picking a book up off his dresser and burying his nose in it as he laughed quietly.

"Do the doctors know you're awake?" Rei asked Riku. He shook his head slowly and she grabbed Tidus' arm. "Tidus, we need to tell them he woke up. Come on, let's go!"

"Oh, you don't have to tell the doctors that I woke up." Riku said casually. "I'm fine, it's no big deal."

"You just woke up from a coma Riku. Of course it's a big deal!" Rei said exasperatedly as she continued to drag Tidus toward the door. "We are going to get the doctors, they are going to come have a look at you, and Tidus and I are going to leave and go to the movies while they run all kinds of tests on you. Bye then!"

And they were gone.

"Boy, she sure is pushy! Did you see how she was dragging him around like a lost puppy on a string? Poor kid, I don't envy him that's for sure." X said with a sigh putting down his book. "You know, you could just pretend to sleep and I could say they were crazy."

"Yeah, but it wouldn't work X." Riku sighed lying back against the pillows. "They wouldn't believe you. And you can't call them crazy – you're the crazy one remember?"

"That's true I suppose." X said looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Well, enjoy your last few moments of freedom then Riku, because once they enter through that down you're gonna have hell's demons armed with needles to deal with."


"Who is it?" A voice called through the door,

"It's Axel, Roxas' friend." Axel called. He couldn't be sure who it was through the door, deciding it was better to say 'friend' than a few of the other words that had popped into his head.

"Oh, hold on Axel!" The voice called back. Axel waited patiently and a moment later the door was opened to reveal an even more tousle-haired than usual Roxas standing there in his pajama bottoms looking drowsy. "Axel, what are you doing here so ear- holy shit, what the hell happened to you!?!"

"Um, it's kind of a long story Rox, and one you might not like to hear at that." Axel laughed nervously looking down at himself. His shirt was splattered with blood from where he had cut himself climbing through the window and it had soaked through, his pants were covered in dirt and blood, his feet bare and bruised, and God only knows how his face looked. "Can I come in? I really need to sit down. I'm fine Roxas, I swear I'm not hurt or anything, I just need to sit down for a while."

"Yeah, come on in. Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" Roxas asked again more to himself than to Axel as he moved aside for Axel to come inside. Axel walked inside, his body shaking in the cold. Roxas shut the door behind him, pressing himself against his boyfriend for a tender kiss that showed he cared and wanted to know what Axel was going through, to share his pain so he didn't have to carry the burden alone anymore. Axel kissed him back, pulling Roxas' smaller body against his. Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel's waist to pull him closer, but Axel pulled back. Gasping for air, Axel dropped to his knees before Roxas' feet, clutching his chest as he continued cough.

"Axel, are you alright? Speak to me, talk would you." Roxas asked him, pounding him hard on the back when he didn't answer.

"Easy there Rox, not so hard!" Axel managed to choke out between coughs as Roxas continued to pound him on the back. "I'm made of very fragile stuff my dear, you gotta be gentle with me babe!"

"I'm sorry Axel I didn't mean to hurt you." Roxas sobbed gently, pulling away from Axel. Axel bit his lip, pulling Roxas around by the shoulders to look into his face. "I'm just worried about you, what happened? Why won't you tell me what happened to you to mess you up like this, is something going on I don't know about?"

"Do you really wanna know what happened to me Roxas?" Axel asked in a low voice, his eyes filled with pain. "I don't want to scare you."

"Yes, I wanna know. I care about you, and I can tell you need me right now Axel." Roxas smiled softly, standing up and pulling Axel up with him. He led Axel slowly by the hand to the stairs, leaving him at the bottom. "You go on upstairs and lye down before you pass out. I'll be up in a second; I just need to grab something."

Axel nodded, climbing the stairs slowly as Roxas walked off. Finding his way into Roxas' now familiar bedroom Axel flopped down face first on the bed breathing deeply, Roxas' scent filling his mind and soul.

"Okay, first things first, you need to change out of these clothes." Roxas said as he entered the room. He carried a small bundle under his arm, tossing Axel the things he had in his other hand lazily as he headed for the small bathroom that led off of his room. "You get out of those clothes while I find the first-aid kit. I don't have many things that will fit you, sorry. You're way taller than I am but I did the best I could."

"Oh." Axel said softly, looking at the clothes Roxas had given him – a large black oversized Flyleaf hoodie, a pair of checked boxers, and an extremely small pair of black girl pants. "You want me to change into this stuff?"

"Well yeah, you can't wear that stuff. It's covered in dirt and blood, you need to change." Roxas said as he crouched down to rummage through the cabinet under the sink.

"Could you shut the door or something Roxas?" Axel asked nervously, fully aware of what Roxas would see if he changed. He would see the cuts from his escape, the bruises his father had left him with, what he had done to his own wrists…

"Oh come on, we both know you're not shy! If I remember correctly I was the one panicking when you tried to get me out of my pants, which you eventually did." Roxas blushed crimson, his eyes on the tiled floor. Axel watched Roxas for a moment before clearing the throat, the same time reaching for the bottom hem of his shirt. Roxas looked up.

"I'm not shy about you seeing me. It's something else, something I've never told anyone before now. But I want you to know." Axel said softly, his eyes still boring in his boyfriends as he dragged his shirt up a fraction of an inch. Roxas' eyes left Axel's as he looked at the small strip of pale bare skin Axel had revealed to him. "Do you want to know the truth about what happened to me Roxas? If you do, keep watching and you'll understand."

Roxas watched with growing apprehension as Axel continued to pull his shirt off little by little, revealing to him the bruises Axel had long kept hidden from the world. The whole time, Axel never once looked Roxas in the face for fear of seeing something written in his eyes he wasn't ready to handle, questions he couldn't answer. Axel the pulled the shirt over his head, tossing in lazily on the floor as he reached for the snap of his jeans, pulling them down his legs and stepping out of them before finally looking at Roxas where he still knelt beside the cabinet.

"This is why I am the way I am Rox, meet my demon." Axel said softly, tears filling his eyes. He kept his arms pressed against his sides, afraid that Roxas might see his mutilated wrists otherwise and question him about it.

"Who did this to you?" Roxas asked from the floor, seemingly unable to pick himself off the floor, his eyes filled with unshed tears as he tilted his head to look up into Axel's face. Axel turned away wrapping his arms around his shaking body, his eyes sliding closed. "Tell me Axel, who did this to you?"

"My father, my father did this to me Roxas." Axel spat out, venom in ever syllable as he spoke, tears falling down his face as his father's face flashed before his eyes. "My mother died in a car crash when I was younger and it sent my father spiraling down into a deep depression that makes him drink until he gets himself drunk, and when he gets drunk he gets violent with me."

"Does he always hurt you this badly?" Roxas asked, going to his boyfriend's side, examining the bruises close up. He ran a hand down Axel's side noticing how Axel's skin prickled instantly at his light touches as if by instinct, how Axel winced and pulled away. His hands ran up Axel's chest to his neck as he kissed Axel's stomach lightly. "Is it always this bad?"

"No, I've never seen him get this violent before." Axel said in a low voice as Roxas' hands continued to ever so gently caress his skin in an attempt to relax and calm him down, to get his mind off the pain he had felt at the hands of his father. "Of course, I never mentioned my mother before."

"He did this to you after you mentioned your mother to him?" Roxas asked, clearly horrified. "Why does he do this to you Axel? Why take it out on you?"

"I don't know Roxas, I just don't know! If I knew what it was that makes him hate me so much as to do this to me don't you think I wouldn't have tried to fix the problem by now?" Axel snapped at him. Roxas' mouth opened slightly in response, shocked at the sudden sharp note in Axel's voice. Looking down at Roxas' hurt expression Axel softened. "I didn't mean to snap at you Rox, I'm sorry. I just don't know what I did that was so wrong. But that's no excuse to be cruel to you, I'm so sorry."

"Its fine Axel, I know this must be hard for you, but just remember I'm here to help you." Roxas smiled handing Axel the hoodie when he shivered. Axel smiled in thanks as he pulled it on, his head popping out of the top like a sudden burst of flame that one sees out over the horizon. "I may not know what you're going through Axel, but I'm here to help you get through it, I'll listen to you. It may not be much, but it's all I have to offer."

"Thanks Roxas babe, it means a lot to me that you're here for me." Axel smiled, bending his head to kiss Roxas tenderly. "Maybe I should go finish changing before you're mother walks in on us. That would be a little hard to explain don't you think, me standing here kissing you in my boxers."

"Don't worry about that, Mom's at work and plans to go to the hospital after work to be with Sora tonight and my father's never here anymore. Stupid business trips and such, you know how it is with parents and their need to be away from their kids. Never having a Dad around, maybe that's why I'm so much like a girl."

"Come on Roxas, you're nothing like a girl." Axel smiled. Roxas raised an eyebrow at him, deafly challenging him to prove it. Axel smiled again and leaned down slightly as he kissed Roxas, his hands running up and down Roxas' thin hips as they kissed. Suddenly Axel moved his hand towards the zipper of Roxas' pants – but grabbed something else instead.

"Axel!" Roxas choked out more from pleasure than pain. Axel smiled and let go, kissing him once more on the forehead before pulling away.

"Really Rox, I don't know about you, but I don't know many girls who have one of those tucked away in their pants." Axel sniggered playfully, running a finger down the side of Roxas' face lovingly. "I'm gonna go change now."

"Yeah, you do that." Roxas smiled lying down on his bed. When Axel returned Roxas motioned for Axel to lye down next to him, reaching for the first-aid kit he had left at the foot of the bed. "Well then, let's have a look at those bruises shall we?"


"I know, but you'll live. Don't you get it Sora? You're everything to me! Don't worry Sora – I won't let anything happen to you." Riku shouted over Kairi's screaming, tears began to well up in Sora's eyes and Riku pressed his face into Sora's neck unable to watch as his closest friend cried.

"Why are you doing this Riku?" Sora shouted through hot tears. He tried to push Riku off but it was no use. Riku was still too strong for him, just like he always had been. "Why are you willing to die for me Riku, WHY?"

"Because Sora, I can't let you get hurt." Riku said stubbornly, clinging tighter to Sora's body. "Sora, do you want to know the truth?"

"Yes, I do Riku, what's going on?" Sora shouted back.

"Sora, I love you." Riku confessed his aqua green eyes capturing that beloved pair of sapphire blue ones that were widened with shock.

"OH MY GOD, HERE IT COMES!" Kairi screamed when the car was mere inches from them.

"I love you Sora, remember that!"

"I LOVE YOU RIKU!"

"What!?!"


"I want to see Sora Nuage." Riku complained to the nurse that had brought him his dinner on a small silver tray.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have the authority to allow you to do that." She said softly as he glared at her. That was all Riku had heard all day for the nurses that came to check on him. Almost as soon as Tidus and Rei had left his room they came rushing in, asking him a thousand questions as they pricked him with needle after needle running various tests on him. After a day of being pricked like a pin cushion Riku didn't want to hear the word 'no' – he'd never been told 'no' before in his life before this day and he wasn't fond of the fact that it kept being thrown at him.

"Well then, could you do me a small favor Miss?" Riku asked sweetly, smiling at her kindly. It melted her heart just enough for him to get her to nod in agreement. "Good, go find me someone with enough authority then! I'm tired of lying here like a useless lump."

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't do that." She said, retreating for the door.

"What does a guy have to do to get what he wants around here!?!" Riku growled to no one in particular as he dumped his dinner into the trashcan in disgust.

"Sleep with one of the nurses, and then you'll get anything you want." X said from the other side of the room never once looking up from his magazine.

"Seriously X, I need another plan." Riku sighed massaging the pressure point between his eyes in an attempt to make his migraine go away.

"Oh, another plan is it?" X smiled, finally looking at him. "I like plans, am I part of this one too?"

"Of course, if you want in on it." Riku smiled as he leaned back against his pillows. "It'll have to wait until tomorrow though, I'm too exhausted too think of anything right now."

"I know what you mean, it's really tiring to lay in a bed while they run tests on you and stab you with things all day." X said. "I get that once every month. You're lucky, they probably won't do that again to you unless you get worse all of the sudden you lucky freak"

"Why do you have to do that once a month X?" Riku asked, interested.

"Oh it's nothing really." X said offhandedly, looking out of the window at the rapidly darkening sky. "I have cancer."


"Hey Mom, what are you doing here?" Sora asked his mother when she walked in the door to his room, her briefcase still ticked under her arm.

"Hey dear, I just thought I'd come check on you. How are you feeling?" She asked him, ruffling his hair as she looked into his ever-expressive eyes. He'd been crying, she could tell by the red circles under his eyes, his eyes reflecting the pain he was feeling inside.

"They – they told me about Riku." Sora whispered to her, unable to look her in the eye as he said it. "He's in a coma. Riku's been in a coma this whole time."

"Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry!" She bit her lip, pulling her son into her comforting embrace. Sora hugged her back, his eyes sliding shut, a few unruly tears escaping him. "I know how much he meant to you dear."

"No Mom, you don't. No one did." Sora cried. "Riku meant the world to me, I would trade him places if I could I care about him so much. I just wish I could have been brave enough to tell him how much I cared for him before it was too late. Now I'll never get a chance to tell him."

"I have an idea." His Mother stated as she pulled away handing him the tissue box from his bedside table. "How about I go check and see how Riku's doing while you get some rest?"

"Thanks Mom, I'd like that." Sora sobbed s he struggled to stem the flow of his tears.


"Hey Axel, can I ask you something?" Roxas asked as he helped Axel wrap stomach and chest with bandages.

"I think you just did, but go ahead Roxas." Axel laughed, wishing he hadn't the instant the pain shot up his side from doing so.

"Why do you keep turning your wrist like that?" Roxas asked as Axel moved his wrist closer against the side of his body. Axel had to take the hoodie off for Roxas to help heal his injures torso, but the prospect of Roxas seeing his wrists still had him more than a little worried.

"Oh, I don't know babe, I've always done it." Axel lied. The truth was much more painful, just like the scars Axel had cut into his own flesh time and time again.

"Alright, whatever you say Axel." Roxas sighed, knowing there was something Axel wasn't telling him but was careful not to push it. Roxas knew Axel would tell him when he was ready to. "You're finished, wrapped up like a mummy!"

"Roxas, I hate to be a burden but…" Axel started feeling foolish. Roxas would never say he was a burden no matter what he did. Roxas cared for Axel - he had already proven that time and time again. "Seriously, I'm starving."

"When was the last time you ate?" Roxas asked, poking Axel lightly in the side as not to cause him any pain.

"Um I don't know Roxas, a week ago or so, why do you ask?" Axel asked him sheepishly. Roxas' mouth fell open. "What?"

"A week ago, do you mean – you mean the last time we were at 'The Dark-Heart' together was the last time you ate anything?" Roxas asked, shocked that anyone could be so cruel as to starve their own child. Axel nodded silently, a curious look on his face as he did so. "What did your father do, try to starve you to death?"

"I don't know Roxas, but I do know is there was no food down in the basement. Believe me, I looked." Axel said with a small laugh, stopping at the look he received from Roxas. "Okay, so he locked me in the basement after he did this to me. I didn't plan to tell you that part of my week away from you because I knew you'd just freak out more than you already have over what he did to me."

"So that's why you were gone so long, you were locked in a basement?" Roxas asked sadly, his eyes filled with pity for his one love.

"Yeah, but no big deal Roxas, he didn't hurt me anymore at least once he locked me down there. One night of pain and the other six I spent alone in the basement with a couple of cigarettes and my thoughts." Axel said moving towards the door. "Are you hungry or not, I'm freakin' starving!"

"You go on ahead Axel. I'll be down in a minute." Axel nodded at his reply and left the room shutting the door behind him, fully away by the small stifled sounds of Roxas' pitiful sobs as he walked down the stairs that Roxas just wanted to be alone right now.

He headed into the dark kitchen, not even bothering to turn the lights on. Opening the door to the refrigerator, light flooded the room as Axel looked for something her could eat. It just so happened as he glanced at the food piled on the shelves that a glint of silver caught his eye and turning towards it he found himself staring at the set of gleaming kitchen knifes set up in their plastic holder on the opposite counter.

Shutting the refrigerator door he walked to the counter, pulling a knife out of the holder with a growing feeling of excitement he always had when he performer his little ritual when he felt all hope leave him. Hearing Roxas cry for him like that had made him feel like nothing could be done to save him, that he was beyond help somehow if Roxas was so upset for him when he himself couldn't cry over the situation he was in.

"And so we meet again in the dark, me and the devil inside of me." Axel smiled to himself as he pulled back the sleeves of the hoodie to reveal the dark scars and gashes that marked the pale skin of his bony wrists like an artist's brushstrokes on a white canvas. Axel though himself an artist, the slits he made his masterpieces, a gardener tending to the growing bloom that was he trickle of blood he knew would escape him by the time he was finished. "One more time, one more slash in the skin, just one more for the pain inside, one more to make this pain I'm feeling go away."

Axel raised the knife over his wrist, preparing to do what he had done many times before now…

The lights turned on suddenly making Axel drop the knife in fear and spin around, his eyes looking around terrified towards the door.

"Axel, what were you doing?" Roxas asked quietly as he walked over to where Axel stood beside the counter pulling the sleeves of the hoodie down over his hands. Reaching out, Roxas grabbed Axel's arm and raised it up, deafly pulling back his sleeve to reveal what was hidden there.


Well there you have it! Chapter 7 is complete, Yay! Roxas just found out Axel slits his wrists and cuts himself when he feels depressed. What will Roxas say??? Sora's Mom went to go check on Riku for Sora, what will she do when she sees he's awake??? Who said what to whom in the car accident??? Find out all this and more in the next chapter! Till then my dears, much love! Cookies for a review!!!!!!