"His eyes, they closed, and his last breath spoke, he had seen all to be seen, a life once full now an empty vase, wilt the blossoms on his early grave..."

Axel rubbed his eyes. The stereo with built-in alarm clock had been a smart choice of gift on Roxas's part - he wasn't breaking into Demyx's empty room to "borrow" his stereo anymore, and he finally had an alarm clock that didn't go up in flames on its first use. However, "What's Left of the Flag" probably wasn't the best song ever to wake up with. He didn't turn it off as he went into the bathroom to deal with his daily routine - another first.

"So, torch the stereo yet?" Roxas joked at breakfast.

Axel shook his head. "It's my first alarm clock to last more than one morning."

Roxas pretended to do a spit-take. "Dear, sweet Kingdom Hearts - Axel let an alarm clock live!"

"Bite me..." Roxas snapped his teeth at him. "Not literally, doofus. You're punchy today."

"Despite being told I'm incapable of feeling anything by people who should know and apparently don't, I'm in a good mood this morning."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Well, you always enjoy giving me grief - did you finally beat Empire Souls or something?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "No. It has nothing to do with that."

"Does it have to do with that mysterious other package I found and you wouldn't explain?"

Roxas carefully looked in a different direction. "Maybe."

"Does it have something to do with why you disappeared for most of Christmas afternoon?"

"...Maybe."

Axel nodded with mock solemnity. "What did that other package contain? Art supplies, perhaps?"

"...You know what? Bite me." Axel snapped his teeth at him. "Not literally..."

"You started that," Axel muttered.

Roxas pretended he hadn't heard it. "Luxord's still not back...where do you think he is?"

"On a three-day bender, the same as every Christmas. I wasn't expecting him to be back yet."

"...How in Kingdom Hearts's name does one remain drunk for three days for purely recreational purposes?"

"Wow, you must be surprised; you sounded like Zexion there. And to answer your question...I can't answer your question, because I've never done it before. You'll have to ask Luxord what the appeal is, if and when he sobers up."

"Once he sobers up, he'll be dealing with the grandmother of all hangovers, won't he?"

"Probably, and frankly, it serves him right. I never thought I'd say this, but I feel a little sorry for Marly, because his room is right next to Luxord's, and...drunk Luxord means time does really strange things in his area. I wonder how long it's going to take him to get to breakfast - or maybe he's already eaten it and left and he was moving so fast I didn't even see him." Axel paused. "You know whose absence is really bothering me - Vexen's."

Roxas nearly choked. "You think something's up with Demyx?"

"That or Luxord has finally given himself a severe case of alcohol poisoning...considering what his tolerance level must be by now, I don't even wanna guess how much booze that would take." Axel shook his head. "Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe Vexen just overslept."

Roxas raised an eyebrow. "Do you think Vexen can oversleep?"

Axel took a deep breath. "Well...I think it's unlikely any of his alarm clocks have met an icy death just for going off." He sighed. "I'll check up on him after I check my blood glucose. If he has gone downhill suddenly, Vex'll probably want as few visitors in at once as possible."

While Axel was in the bathroom testing his blood glucose after breakfast, he listened carefully to the other door - the one that led to Demyx's room. I can hear music in there...like someone's got the stereo on...I know for a damn fact I turned his off last time I was in there...

Curiosity got the best of him, and he opened the door. Demyx was sitting on his bed, cradling his broken arm and looking around like he was trying to reorient himself. "...Demyx?! You finally got out? When'd Vexen spring you?"

Demyx nearly fell off the bed with surprise. "...Just a few minutes ago...once Vexen decided it was safe to escort me back to my room without me being unable to stand upright for five seconds without keeling over or something."

"So you're allowed to actually stand up and walk now?"

Demyx nodded. "As long as I take it easy, obviously." He stood up to demonstrate. "I'm still a little shaky - I blame all the enforced bed rest. I haven't stood up on my own in two weeks. You would not believe how stiff my legs were when I started this morning."

Axel shrugged. "I only got stuck in there overnight," he said, fingering the fading red lines on his throat.

Demyx noticed. "Ax, I've been meaning to ask...what'd they do to your neck?" he asked quietly.

Axel shuddered slightly and took a deep breath. He was trying to decide whether to go ahead and tell him, no matter how much thinking about it disturbed him, or make some excuse and try to force the whole experience out of his mind for another little while, when he realized there was a third option. "I'll tell you if you explain what the hell your issue with Christmas is."

Demyx sighed heavily and closed his eyes. Axel had just about decided he was going to let the subject drop when he spoke again. "My Other never celebrated Christmas. My grandmother wasn't Christian, and we didn't exactly have a ton of extra cash anyway. And...I always caught hell from the other kids at school for it, among other things. And...just to top it all off, my Other died on Christmas Eve."

Axel could feel his face turning red. If he'd explained that a little earlier... "Among other things? What other things?"

"Your turn to talk."

Axel swallowed hard. "It's from the chains."

Demyx's eyes flew open. "Oh...I'm sorry...if I'd known, I..."

"Would never have asked - because you'd have already known and wouldn't need to." Axel shook his head. "Compared to what they did to you, it's nothing. You can stop feeling sorry for me any time now."

"I told you not to go back, dammit -" Demyx was shivering slightly too.

"I know." The room was silent, except for the music on the stereo. Demyx eventually hauled himself all the way onto the bed and lay down, as if he was intending to go to sleep. "Are you gonna start showing up for meals again?"

Demyx shrugged. "Good question. Depends how sore I am, I guess."

"You know, you might still be able to get some breakfast; I don't think it's too late yet..."

Demyx waved a hand. "I already ate before coming down here. I'm good." He sighed. "I never realized what a great room this was before. It's nice to be back." Axel nodded, and Demyx reached into the air. There was a sound like a large bubble popping, and suddenly his bed was littered with the broken fragments of his sitar - fist-sized chunks of wood and metal, now, instead of minute splinters. It was possible to guess what its original shape was, now. Demyx smiled faintly. "It's putting itself back together." He fingered his broken ribs carefully, smiling a little more broadly. "So am I."

AN: Funny, the shortest chapter thus far is the one that took me longest to write. I guess it's because we're out of "action" mode and into "recovery" mode. Any more chapters are probably going to be pretty short too. I might even take the opportunity to introduce an OC later. :o

So, after writing the first three lines, I went to my Flogging Molly radio station on and the first song that starts playing is "What's Left of the Flag". It's always made all kinds of sense to me that Axel is a Flogging Molly fan.

Holy sheeyit, I forgot the legal stuff! I don't own Kingdom Hearts, got it memorized? And I don't own "What's Left of the Flag", either; that belongs to Flogging Molly.