Dear lordy-be I'm on a roll with this story. Aasdfasdf I'm so freaking excited, you guys have no idea. I've got the whole thing planned out in my head, and when I'm not able to be on the computer to write it, I'm usually planning it out in my notebook for when I can. I don't think I've ever been this addicted to one of my own stories before. I think this is going to be the first one that I finish (knock on wood cuz I cannot jinx this!). So please enjoy this fun little chapter~


Chapter 9

Mental Holiday

School went by dreadfully slow that friday, probably because I was excited to go downtown for the first time. In all honesty I was a bit ashamed of myself for not getting to go down there sooner, or even go to the great Henry Doorly Zoo that was oh-so popular. However, I do think that Axel was blowing it a bit out of proportion. Sure I hadn't been to either of the two places that this city prides itself on, but hey, Omaha was huge and I was just a single teenager, not to mention I didn't exactly have the time to go down there anyway.

So when school finally came to and end I found myself in Axel's car – he had picked me up from my apartment again so we didn't have to bother with my car – speeding off downtown on a chilly Friday near the end of September with the B-52's blasting Rock Lobster out of the speakers.

All in all, Axel was in an extremely good mood. Part of me had been worried since Tuesday night that he would act differently around me after I told him the truth, but he proved that it was going to change nothing. If anything it brought us closer, and I didn't feel so constricted with trying to keep secrets all the time. Or maybe Axel's happy mood was just rubbing off on me.

We arrived downtown and once we found a parking spot, I was staring in awe at the tall buildings and brick roads. Axel was behind me, wrapping a scarf around my neck. "It's cold, so wear this."

"Yeah, thanks." I nodded, stuffing my hands into my coat pocket. It was awfully cold for September, but then again, I had learned that Nebraska didn't have very stable weather.

"We're at the Old Market. I figured this is the best place to start. The pedestrian bridge is a bit farther down, we'll drive there next." Axel said as he put on a pair of red gloves that stood out from his black coat.

"So where to?" I asked.

"Just start walking and once you find a place that you wanna go into we'll check it out." he instructed, following next to me as we walked under the large canopy type... thing that hung over the sidewalk. We walked for hours, making small talk until one of us found a store we thought was interesting and stopped to take a look. Axel insisted on paying for most of everything, resulting in us getting into an argument at the register almost every time. It seemed to go back and forth on who would win, and lucky for the cashiers, it didn't take that long for us to decide, though I'm pretty sure we pissed more than a few people off.

The stores were amazing. Ranging from art to candy to antiques; this place had everything. I watched in awe as a carriage passed by, the horses hooves clacking on the brick road and a circular cage that reminded me of Cinderella contained a happy couple. When they saw me staring the woman waved, smiling happily.

"You wanna go on that?" Axel grinned, nudging me in the arm.

"What? Come on, that's probably one of the most cliché things ever." I said, rolling my eyes, but I didn't even try to hide the small smile that was creeping onto my face.

About two hours into our walking, I had about four small bags, and Axel had five, all containing little trinkets like and one with a leather jacket Axel said that he fell in love with. However, it was getting colder as the sun started to drop close to the horizon, and my feet were hurting from so much walking.

"Lets grab a bite to eat." Axel suggested, pointing towards a restaurant called Spaghetti Works just a few stores down. I nodded, hurrying over to the building. "Then after we eat we'll go down to the pedestrian bridge. That thing is awesome."

"Sounds good." I nodded again, pushing the door open and holding it for him. "Lady's first."
"How thoughtful." he grinned, stepping inside and heading over to the waiter to find us a seat. We were showed to a table near the window, handed our menu's and asked if we wanted to order our drinks. "I'll get a coke."

"Same." I said, folding open the menu to find something I liked. There were all kinds of pastas and pizzas and other different Italian foods. We decided on getting the garlic cheese bread for an appetizer, talking about random memories or upcoming events while we decided what we wanted to eat.

"So Demyx and I tried to start a band freshman year." Axel said, chuckling at the memory. I raised an eyebrow, curious to hear the story. "Yeah, only we don't really have the same taste in music, and he wanted to put his sitar into it somehow... not to mention it was only us two, we didn't even have a drummer. He could have, but he insisted on the sitar. So we'd get into an argument all the time and eventually decided that we should give up on the whole idea."
"How long did it last?" I asked.

"About two weeks."

I shook my head and sighed.

"It looks like you're feeling better." Axel commented, leaning back in his chair with a small smile. "For a while I thought you'd never actually be this..." he scrunched up his face, trying to think of the right word, but after a moment he just waved his hand in the air ."...whatever."

"Calm?"

"We'll go with that."

I shrugged. "I've never really just went out on the town. I mean, I've gone out a lot before but it was only ever to one place, and I usually had a reason to be there. It's nice to just walk around and stuff. Plus, I got a little friendly advice from some friends."

This time Axel raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yup."

"Are you going to enlighten me?"

"Nah, I think I'll pass."

"Now that's not fair." he pouted.

I grinned, resting my chin in my hand. "I guess life just ins't fair."

"A very true statement." he agreed, glancing down at the menu. "Know what you're getting?"

"Fettuccine Alfredo."

Axel grunted. "How unoriginal."

"Then what are yo getting?"

"The cheese tortellini." he grinned, folding his hands over the table.

I hummed, closing my menu as a waitress came by to take our orders. We sat quietly for a while after that, enjoying the silence. I stared out the window and watched as people walked by, most of them couples who were huddling close together or holding hands and laughing. Other people were in groups or just by themselves. One person in particular caught my eye, wandering around with her hands in her pockets. I scrunched my eyebrows, confused. Was that Xion? When she caught my eye, I could tell something was wrong.

"Seriously though, did something happen? You seem different." Axel asked, snapping me out of my daydreaming.

"Am I?" I shrugged, glancing back out the window, but Xion was gone. "I dunno, just trying not to worry so much, I guess. About time I gave myself a break, right?"

"Is that some of the advice your friend gave you?" he asked, amused.

I grinned. "Hmm... maybe."

When the food arrived, small talk continued. Axel asked about what my old school had been like, my friends, any old significant other in my life. I explained that there had been the few I dated for maybe a couple of weeks, but never longer than that, and told him about my friends Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They may have been one of the only things I really missed. I in turn asked Axel about any childhood friends he didn't see anymore, and as we ate I got to learn even more about him.

We left the restaurant at seven and jumped into Axel's car to drive down to the bridge so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back for his car. At first I was slightly nervous; the bridge was awfully high above the water, after all, and I wasn't exactly a fan of heights. But as we began to walk onto it I found that it wasn't really that bad. Sure if you stood still you could feel it swaying a bit, but I tried to ignore that part. The sunset looked absolutely amazing, and the water was beautiful as the sky reflected onto it.

The two of us stopped right in the middle and leaned against the railing, remaining quiet as the sun slowly set behind the horizon. Letting out a deep breath, I kept my eyes straight ahead as I spoke. "I thought about your offer. I... think we should go ask your parents if it's okay."

Axel stared at me, his mouth hanging slightly open, as if he were trying to see if I was joking. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I thought about it a lot, and... well I don't really have anywhere else to go, right? I'll find a way to repay you guys eventually, but I do think that it's my best bet so far."

He looked back out at the river and nodded. "I guess we'll talk about it when we get back, then."

"Alright."

There was a short silent before Axel suddenly pushed off of the railing and grabbed me by my hand. "Come on, watch this." We ran past the other people walking along the bridge until we reached the end of the river, and a white line was drawn across the bridge. On one side it said Nebraska and on the other it said Iowa. "Look, I'm in two states at once." he said smugly, one foot on either side of the line and his hands on his hips.

I couldn't help but laugh. "You're such a dork." Despite my accusation, I stood next to him, mimicking his pose.

His grin widened. "Yeah, but you still love me." I was caught off guard by that, but he didn't give me enough time to react and let out a happy sigh. "I decided that if I ever get married to a man, and Nebraska isn't legalized by then, I'm going to get married right on this line."

"That's... interesting." I said, still trying to wrap my head around his last statement. That was obviously just a friendly joke, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure I had heard him or Demyx say that before, but... I shook my head and tried to remind myself that I wouldn't think about my feelings until after things settled down.

"Welp, this was fun but we should probably get back; we've got a lot to talk about when we get home." Axel said, clapping his hands and heading back the opposite way we were headed. I followed slowly, and when he turned back an evil grin spread across his face. "I'll race ya back!" and with that he was gone.

"Axel, wait-" I cursed under my breath when he didn't hear me and took off after him. By the time I caught up and we had stopped at Axel's car I was wheezing and coughing, one hand on the hood and the other clutching at my throat.

"Jesus, Rox, why didn't you tell me you had asthma?" Axel groaned, holding onto my arm as I tried to breathe so I wouldn't just topple over. I glanced up at him and could see the worry and frustration in his eyes. I waved one hand, fumbling around in my many pockets until I found my inhaler.

"I tried to tell you," I gasped, finally breathing a bit better, but my throat still hurt. "but you ran off-" I coughed again. "-before I could."

"Sorry about that." he sighed, scratching the back of his head. "It was pretty far to run for anybody."

I shook my head, climbing into the passenger seat. "Well it doesn't help that I'm not athletic either."

Axel shrugged, turning the keys in the ignition. "I guess."

"Now lets get this over with." I said, bracing myself for how asking his parents would go.


When we arrived at Axel's house, his mom and step-dad were washing dishes together. Axel informed them we were here with a cough. "Hey, uh, we wanna talk to you two."

"Oh sure honey, what is it?" Aerith asked, wiping her hand son her apron. Zack turned as well, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe we should sit down?" I offered quietly, and with a nod we filed into the living room. I was surprisingly confident as we all took our seats; Aerith and Zack in the loveseat and Axel and I sharing the larger couch.

"Do you wanna start?" Axel asked me quietly.

I nodded, and began speaking. "You see- ahem... You see, recently some stuff has been going on. You already know," I motioned to Aerith and Axel. "but... I've been living alone since I moved here. Certain... things happened and my dad and I kind of had a fall out. It got pretty bad. Most of the time I locked myself in my room, because if I simply in a room with him for longer than a couple minutes, we'd get into a fight. I couldn't stay home anymore, and to get away from two people in my life and with the help of my mother and Cloud, I moved here, changed my last name, and enrolled in school." I said, shifting my glances between Axel's parents, him, and off at nothing. I explained everything to them, eventually. From the man that had somehow gotten into my room that one night to how he continued to torment me, and how it ruined my relationship with my dad. I was only interrupted once at first, when Zack started to rant about how my father didn't do the right thing and should have tried to protect me, but Axel glared at him and he let me continue.

I told them about how my brother had come by about a week ago to tell me that my neither him nor my mother could help me anymore, and that I was basically on my own since I refused to let him take me in; after all, he was struggling enough on his own.

Axel took up the ending, giving me a much needed break from my speech. "So Roxy's got nowhere to go, and since that guy is after him – and even if he wasn't – do you think... we could let him stay with us? At least until we get out of school?"
"I have a part-time job, and I'll help out as much as I can around the house." I added, almost begging them to say yes.

Aerith shot Zack a sad glance, and after what felt like forever they finally nodded slowly. "I think it would be okay." his mom said. "We have an extra room, after all, and it's not like we don't have the money to spare..."

"Plus we could use the extra help around the house." Zack added, grinning. "Of course, if you've got a car we aren't gonna help you with gas money."
"I wouldn't even try and ask." I said, trying to to smile too big, but I was excited! They said yes! "So, um... when should I..?"

"Why not at the end of this month? So in about two weeks. That way you can pay the last of your rent and then move in at the start of the month, and it'll also give us some time to prepare for you coming over." Aerith replied with a smile.

"Alright." I nodded, practically jumping in my seat. I never thought I would actually be this excited for them to say yes. Then again, I didn't expect them to even agree in the first place.

"We're gonna head upstairs." Axel said, laughing at my jumpy-ness, but I could tell he was excited too.

"Let us know before tomorrow morning if he's sleeping over, will you?" Zack called as we ran up the stairs.

"Will do!" Axel yelled back, closing the door to his room behind us. I let out a very unmanly squeak when I felt his arms wrap around my stomach and lifted me completely off the ground. I found myself being spun around in circles as I clutched at his arms in fear of being flung off somewhere and hitting either the wall or the floor; neither of which sounded appealing. Eventually he set me down, letting out a sigh and ruffling my hair before falling backwards onto his bed, arms spread out. "I can't believe they actually agreed. I mean, I know they're cool and all but seriously- come two weeks you're going to be living here!"

I smiled, sitting down next to him. "I kinda want to see how Reno and Kairi are going to react."

"I know, right? Knowing them they'll freak out." he grinned.

I raised an eyebrow. "Like you when you started flinging me around the room?"

"Except twice as bad since there are two of them." he said, not denying the fact at all.

I let out an amused hum and laid down next to him, kicking my legs over the side. We sat in a comfortable silence for a couple minutes before Axel – after kicking his legs up into the air – sat up and turned the TV on. "Movie time?"

"What are we gonna watch?" I asked, turning over so I was facing the TV.

"Hmm... good question." he frowned. "Ah, do you wanna sleep over or not? Cuz I've gotta let Zack know if you're staying."

"If we watch a movie I'll probably fall asleep." I pointed out.

"Alright, I'll be right back. Pick out a movie or something while I'm gone!" he called, running out of the room. I shook my head; I didn't think it was possible for Axel to be more hyper than his usual self, but apparently I was wrong. With a smile, I hopped off the bed and went to inspect his DVD collection.

Axel came back and flopped down on his bed. "Find something yet?"

"You like The Princess Bride?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? It's a good movie."

"Sure it is." I said, placing it in the PS3 anyway. About halfway through the movie, I was hooked. What? It really was a good movie! I was honestly surprised; I thought it was just going to be one of those cheesy girl movies but it was actually a decent movie, good for girls or guys.

Axel was grinning at me by the end. I had stayed awake just to see how the whole movie would turn out, and I was very glad I did. "So, is it worthy?"

"I think it passed the good movie test." I nodded, getting up to find another to put in. I wasn't sure how late we'd stay up, but I did know I needed some background noise. Putting in another random movie, I grabbed the bags of what I bought at the Old Market and dumped them onto the bed to examine all of them. Axel did the same, making his own little pile. Seeing as he was more open with his spending, his pile was bigger.

Most of the things I had gotten were small; a couple keychains, old types of candy, a couple CD's and a supposedly lucky three-legged pig. Axel, on the other hand, had a couple of band t-shirts, his leather jacket, two keychains, a pair of oxblood Doc Martins, and a matching three-legged pig. Not to mention a whole lot of candy. Can someone say sweet-tooth?

Popping one of the hard candies in his mouth, Axel picked up his little brown pig and started playing with the single leg on the back. "Where's it's tail?"

"It doesn't have one." I said, unwrapping one of my own candies. Apparently Axel decided not to tell me that this type of candy had a sour liquid in the middle, and as soon as the harder outside broke my eyes widened and I almost spit it out, but quickly ate it and stared at him. "Holy shit!"

Axel burst out laughing. "Oh my god, your face! That was amazing!"

I smacked him on the arm. "How was I supposed to know that it was sour on the inside!"

"Maybe because it says so on the wrapper?"

I pursed my lips, taking a different candy and, making sure it wasn't sour, popped it in my mouth.

"Okay so what are we watching?" Axel asked, moving onto his third piece.

"Uh, I couldn't really find anything so Emperors New Groove."

He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? And you were trying to diss the Princess Bride?"

"Whatever, I'm going to fall asleep anyway." I sighed, stuffing my face in my pillow.

"Do you want a blanket?"

"There are plenty right here." I pat the bed to bring attention to the fact that it was covered by blankets.

"You aren't messing up my bed just to lay facing the movie." he said.

"Then I'll to this." I grabbed the top of the blanket and pulled it over, holding on as I rolled over twice across the bed and successfully wrapped myself up in half of the blanket.

"And you say I'm the dork?"

"That's because you are." I mumbled, closing my eyes and snuggling into the blanket.

It was quiet for a couple seconds, and after a while I peaked my head out to see what Axel was doing. He had grabbed the two corners of the comforter on his half of the bed and flipped them up. I squeaked as I was rolled out of my cocoon and hit the headboard. "And you said not to mess up the sheets."

"You already killed my bed when you wrapped yourself up, so might as well use them properly. Besides, then I'd be stuck sleeping in the cold." he said, spreading the blanket out over both of us. "Now pass me a pillow."

I stuck my tongue out and threw a pillow at his face. "Yes your majesty."

"Thank you princess." he bowed.

"That's prince to you." I rolled over and hit him with my pillow, but he grabbed it and rolled over quickly, hiding it from me.

"This is blasphemy!" he cried. "You can't hit your queen! You should be beheaded!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a different pillow and turned away. "Oh shut up."

"Sleep well princess. You better hope my guards don't come behead you in the morning." he yawned.

"You love me too much to do that." I mumbled, already half asleep. Axel didn't say anything back, but I was too exhausted to take a note of it. A couple of minutes later I was falling asleep to the sound of Axel softly snoring next to me.


Soooo yup~ a nice little break from the sadness that's been going on. They needed a fun trip downtown, dontcha think? So I'll have chapter 10 up soon! Can you believe it? 10 chapters! Double digits! A new record for me! I'm so excited! Anyways, please review, it makes me so freaking happy when you do.