***Well, wasn't last chapter odd? Axel came out of the closet, I skipped a week, Roxas's friends found out about his parents, we find out that Roxas is Ven and Xion is Aqua, and Roxas and Axel get all kissy-kissy. Plus Roxas told Axel that he had something he wanted to explain to Axel and Namine. Ooh! Drama! Explanations! Suspense! Yay! Holy crap this chapter's long…***
Roxas Pov
The sleepover went pretty smoothly after Marluxia's distraction. Everyone settled in for movies and a short popcorn fight, while Axel tried to grasp onto what little information Roxas had given him and Roxas held Axel's hand under the blankets all night.
In short, a pretty fucked-up day that ended well.
Roxas woke up to his ipod blasting in his ears, telling him his alarm went off. It was four in the morning.
He detached himself from Axel and left a note in the hand he had been holding. He grabbed his stuff and headed home.
This time he didn't get lost.
He crept in through Cloud's room and got all the way to the basement undetected. But his mother was waiting there for him.
"Boy. Why were you not here?" She asked, her voice calm.
That's scary.
"I… um…" Roxas trailed off.
"ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!" She screamed. He cringed.
"I… I was visiting Sora. He… he came to town and he told me to leave with him. But I refused. And… he just wanted to talk." Roxas lied, thinking up the best possible story.
If she knew he was at a party he'd be dead.
"Well, why did you even go? That abomination deserves to burn in hell!" She said in her calm voice.
"Uh… I just… I needed to be sure. I couldn't take your word when you said that he was, but now I know." Roxas said, looking at the floor. He hoped Sora would forgive him for saying that about him.
"You lie! You were out partying or some other such sinful activities!" She yelled.
"I wasn't partying. That's the rule you told me NEVER to break. That and telling." Roxas whispered to the ground.
"You better not have been. If you were partying OR telling about what we do… you won't have the breath to call the cops this time." She hissed, grabbing the front of his shirt.
Roxas swallowed and nodded.
She cackled and punched his already black eye.
She left, going upstairs to that crazy church stuff. Roxas held his aching eye and sat on his bed.
A few hours later he heard the door slam once.
A few minutes later it slammed again.
Mother and Father are out.
Now all he had to do was wait.
Axel Pov
Axel told Namine that he'd help her with clean-up, and she was more than happy to put him to work picking popcorn out of the carpet after everyone left.
Roxas had left Axel a note telling him to bring Namine to his house so he could tell them the rest.
"So, why are you really here?" Namine asked as she helped pick up the kernels.
"Roxas left me a note before he left. And when we were talking yesterday he promised to tell me the whole story. And he wanted you to hear too." Axel explained.
"There's more?" She gasped.
"Tons more, from what he told me." Axel nodded.
"Like what?" She asked, concerned.
"Well, I seem to remember him saying something about rape. And about his sister…" He trailed off, unsure whether to tell Namine about Roxas being Ven.
"What time did he say to come over?"
"Um, any time between 6 am and 9 pm." Axel said, reading off the note.
"Well, we're pretty much done here. Let's go!" She smiled.
So they started the long walk to Roxas's house.
Roxas Pov
Roxas walked around his room, thinking of how exactly he'd tell them all of this. He scratched the back of his head and he heard the door bell ring.
That'd be them.
Roxas walked up the stairs and looked out the window. A head of spiky red hair greeted him. He smiled softly to himself and opened the door.
Axel and Namine walked in and he took them to his room.
"So…" Namine said, a bit awkwardly.
"Um…" Roxas agreed, scratching his arm.
Axel tried to touch Roxas's shoulder, but Roxas flinched away.
"Roxas… I just want to know what happened to make you want to flinch every time I touch you." Axel whispered. He reached out and tried to take Roxas's hand, but Roxas jerked away again. Axel retracted his hand.
"It's not that I don't want you to… It's just… a long story." Roxas mumbled, taking Axel's hand.
"We've got a long time." Axel said flatly.
Roxas took a deep breath and looked through his lashes at Axel. He could do this. Axel and Namine wouldn't hurt him.
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.
He couldn't do this.
Axel squeezed his hand gently. Roxas relaxed a little bit. He opened his mouth and it began talking to them.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Tiffany was an odd girl. That's what everyone said about her at least. Always had her nose buried in the bible. Her parents didn't know what to make of it; they had been Catholic, but… Not as overly religious.
Then she met Robert. The man held… similar beliefs to hers. At least, that's what he said.
He brought her to a bar. And convinced her to take a drink.
He had laced the drink with something. They had sex that night, something Tiffany never would have dreamed of before. At all. Ever.
Two months later Tiffany, barley 18, was married.
Seven months after that she was holding a child in a hospital bed, glaring at the thing that had ruined her life. She held off two years until she couldn't bear the sight of the child's face, which looked so much like his father's or his eyes, which were mirrors of hers. She hit him and sent him to his room, something insignificant at the time, but it marked the beginning of the abuse.
Her husband held off another year until he began to beat the child. They would forget about little Cloud for days, not washing him or feeding him.
By then Tiffany was pregnant again, and drinking more.
They had a beautiful girl, one with features identical to her mother's. This made Tiffany hate her even more. It was like she was mocking herself.
Tiffany's husband impregnated her again soon after her hated daughter was out of her. This time with twins.
Tiffany hated the brown-haired twin the least. He, with the odd hair, looked different from the rest of the family. Although he did have Tiffany's eyes. It was like a curse.
Her last son looked almost exactly like his older brother. Scarily so. It was like he was taunting her too, judging her for hurting an innocent child.
Which is why after they were all born Tiffany began to not think of them as children. They were THINGS. Its. Not people, not even animals, abominations.
So was her husband, but she couldn't divorce him. Then even her faith would be taken from her by this man, and she refused to let him take everything.
After Cloud had been born the only person in the family they saw was Robert's sister. And she was the meanest person on the face of the Earth.
Roxas Pov
"We were born in this place called Agrabah. It was a desert, from what Cloud's told me. He was the oldest, three years older than me. Mother had Xion just after what the cut-off date for school would be, and had us just before. That is, she had Sora and me just before the date. That way we were in the same grade. We lived in Agrabah until we were three and Cloud was six. We came here and Cloud went to the private school. Before we were born he was getting most of the abuse." Roxas whispered, his stomach clenched.
"Poor Cloud…" Namine trailed off.
Roxas nodded.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Tiffany and Robert left their home in Agrabah because the neighbors heard Tiffany cry out one night. Robert had been taking his anger out on both her and Cloud because he had been fired from his job.
He blamed all his problems on Tiffany. She was the one who had threatened to get him arrested on rape charges if he didn't marry her.
At least she generously gave him four other things to take his anger out on.
They moved to the metropolis that is known as Hollow Bastion. Bright lights, tons of jobs, millions of people for them to blend in with. No one would notice them, they had just bought a small house and enrolled their kids into a school. Nothing strange.
People had begun looking for the kids though. They had figured out about the abuse.
So they dyed their kids' hair. They dyed Xion's blue and called her Aqua. They dyed Sora's black and gave him yellow contacts and called him Vanitas. They dyed Cloud's hair brown and called him Terra. But they let Roxas stay the same.
No one besides them actually knew Roxas existed. Tiffany's parents knew she got pregnant, but had no idea that she was carrying twins. She had cut all ties with them before the twins were born, and when they asked for the child's name when they went to the hospital they were just told the oldest twin's name, Sora.
They called Roxas Ventus. He and Sora played all the time. Especially with Xion. But then… Sora was brainwashed by Tiffany and Robert. He told on them whenever they did something wrong and sometimes made stuff up.
So, Cloud began to hang out with Xion and Roxas more. He played games with them, helped them with stuff, he even took the blame when they did things wrong.
One day Xion gave them little flower/star things on ropes.
"What's this?" Little Roxas asked.
"A Wayfinder. I heard that if you have it with you at all times, you'll always find your way back to whoever you love. And since we all have the same ones, we'll always come back to each other!" Xion exclaimed, brushing her blue hair out of her eyes.
"Thanks Xi-er- Aqua." Cloud stumbled. They still had to get used to the new names.
Roxas Pov
"They dyed his hair brown and told us to call him Terra. They dyed Sora's hair black and called him Vanitas. They let me keep myself the way I was, no one would recognize me anyways. And they dyed Xion's hair blue and called her Aqua." Roxas continued.
"Oh my God." Namine gasped in comprehension. She recognized the name 'Aqua'. She had been her best friend.
"Xion was so little. Before they fully brainwashed Sora… she gave him his Wayfinder first. It was pink, and it had a little smiley face on it. Back then he played with us more. Mother and Father were less mean too. They only hit Cloud, and only a little then. They began to brainwash him after that. They got steadily worse. Then Xion gave me and Cloud Wayfinders. My Wayfinder was green. Cloud's was orange. And Xion's was blue. We wore them every day. I don't know about Cloud, but I still have mine." Roxas went on, ignoring Namine's comment. He reached under his shirt and pulled out a necklace. It was a star-flower shape with a weird symbol in the middle. The petals were colored in green. Namine was staring at it with an odd expression.
"What?" Roxas asked.
"Aqua-er-Xion always wore it. But she didn't have it on at the funeral." She whispered.
"I know." Roxas responded. He turned and lifted a few floorboards. Axel and Namine watched as he dug around until he apparently found what he was looking for.
It was a box. A normal-looking plastic bin.
"This is all I have left of her." Roxas whispered. Axel and Namine were silent.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Roxas and Xion got up early. Roxas had to wear that stupid uniform, but Xion got to wear whatever she wanted.
She pulled out a long dress from the floorboards. It was black, it zipped in the front, and had long sleeves.
"Wow Xion, I mean Aqua, that's really cool." Roxas admitted as he looked at the dress. Xion smiled and put it on.
"Now I can do anything! I'm a superhero!" She exclaimed, pretending the dress was her superhero disguise.
"Aw… I want to be a hero too…" Roxas mumbled sadly.
"You are! You've got the power of smartness. You can solve any problem." She informed him.
They ran outside and played "superheroes" until they got to their schools.
Roxas Pov
Roxas opened the box. He pulled out a dress, a floor-length black sleeved dress. It kinda looked like a black coat. Axel recognized it immediately.
"That's…" He trailed off in wonder.
"The dress she wore almost every day. She loved it so much. I kept it when Mother and Father tried to throw her stuff away." Roxas mumbled, folding it and putting it on the floor. He took two books out. The Cat in the Hat and Harry Potter.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Xion sat on her bed, reading. Roxas burst into the room, rubbing his side.
"Hey Aqua! Whatcha readin'?" He asked, wincing as he walked over to her.
"Harry Potter" She answered, not looking up.
"You love to read. I wish I could read as fast as you." Roxas admired, still holding his bruised side as he sat.
"Well here." She pushed the book to him, "All you need is a few good books and you'll be as fast as me in no time!" She smiled at her younger brother. He took the book and bean to read.
Roxas Pov
"These were her favorites." Roxas whispered, putting them beside the dress, "She's the one who taught me how to read fast. She was always reading here, she made us play games based on books and she'd tell Cloud and me stories and we'd just sit there, listening as she told us." Roxas remembered.
"Yeah, she read a lot. She could keep up with Zexion." Axel whispered.
Roxas dug around the box some more. He pulled out a bunch of pictures from when they were little. Pictures of "Aqua" and of Xion. There were some of him and a black-haired boy. Some of a brown-haired boy. Some of "Terra" and of Cloud. None of their parents.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
"Say cheese!" Xion cried, brandishing her camera and clicking mercilessly.
"Aqua! You've got a million pictures of us already!" Sora complained. He was playing with them today, something totally out of the ordinary.
"Hold still! I don't have enough of you!" Xion yelled at him.
"Fine." He pouted. Roxas got into the picture next to him.
"Cheese!" He exclaimed, throwing his arm around his twin.
Suddenly Xion threw her camera beneath the floorboards.
"Why are you yelling cheese?" Tiffany demanded, storming down the stairs and shaking Xion.
"I was pretending to take pictures." Xion lied in a scared voice.
"You BETTER just be pretending, if I catch you with my camera one more time…" Tiffany let her threat hang in the air as she left.
Roxas Pov
"She stole a camera. She loved the thing, used it a lot. She told me that she would be a famous photographer when she grew up. She talked about growing up a lot. But… when Mother and Father began treating her the worst… She started using the words "if I grow up". She… I think she knew. She wasn't stupid or a little kid. She knew that what they were doing was wrong. She knew she should tell someone. She just didn't want to leave us alone. She didn't want to be taken away and never see us again. So she hid it. She told me a lot about Namine." Roxas whispered, tears trailing down his face.
"Did she say anything about the rest of us?" Axel asked.
"Yeah. She described you all. Told me everything. We were best friends. I had one friend, Selphie, at school, usually I just tried to read whatever Xion was reading at the moment so I'd know what she was talking about when I got home." Roxas sniffed.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
"Aqua, why do you always wear that around your neck?" Namine asked her best friend.
"It's my Wayfinder. As long as I have it I'll never lose my way, I'll always know where to go. I gave some to my brothers." Xion giggled.
"Can I have one?" Namine asked, unleashing the puppy eyes.
"Sure! I just have to make one!" Xion agreed.
She walked home later with the materials for the Wayfinder under her dress.
She was so hungry. She hadn't eaten in three days…
She got to work on the Wayfinder in the basement. Soon Roxas jumped down the stairs.
"Hey Aqua!" He called, used to calling her that.
"Roxas… don't call me that. I like my name. My REAL name." Xion sighed.
"Okay Xion. What're you doing?" He asked, pointing to her inventing.
"Making a Wayfinder for Namine. I think she'll need one soon." Xion sighed, holding her stomach, partially out of pain and partially out of hunger.
"Shit, when's the last time you ate?" Roxas asked, worried.
"I… I don't remember." Xion admitted.
"I'll be right back." Roxas promised. He ran upstairs.
"Roxas!" She hissed. She stared at the door, worried. Then he snuck back down with a package of crackers.
"Here! Give me a few so I can eat them so if Mother makes me barf it'll look like I did it. Now eat." Roxas commanded.
"But…" Xion trailed off.
"EAT." Roxas ordered, forcing the package into her hands. She ate.
"Now hide that thing. I'm going to go tell Mother I ate this." Roxas gulped and walked up the stairs. He silently crept into the kitchen and reopened the pantry. He crinkled the wrapper as if he was digging out crackers and eating them. Then he knocked over a big bin.
"Roxas!" Tiffany yelled as she walked into the room. She beat the shit out of him, but he didn't make a sound. He knew Xion was safe.
Roxas Pov
"My parents beat her up a lot by 4th grade. She was always in pain. The day before she died she gave Namine that yellow Wayfinder. When she came home she took me over to her bed and sat there for at least three hours just talking. She told me everything she knew about everything. She told me about all of you. She told me little details about everything she loved. Mother and Father had been starving her for a while, five days I think. She was so skinny. I snuck her bits of food, but there wasn't much I could do." Roxas continued. He pulled out a blue dress from the box. It was simple and small. Very pretty, it shimmered in the dim light.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Roxas sat, confused by why Xion was telling him everything. He decided that it was her hunger making her go crazy, so he sat and listened. Then Xion pulled a dress from the floorboards.
"Where did you get that?" Roxas gasped.
"It was in the attic. In the stuff that Mother brought with her. It must have been hers." Xion explained with short sentences.
"She'll kill you!" Roxas exclaimed. Xion just shook her head.
"Will you dance with me?" She asked. Dancing was her favorite thing, besides taking pictures.
"Wait, take a picture." Xion ordered. Roxas did as she told him, still humoring his starved sister.
"Okay, dance." Xion whispered.
"How're we supposed to dance without music?" Roxas asked his sister.
So she whispered a song. A Disney song, that one from Beauty and the Beast.
And they danced. They were pretty good at it, seeing as it was Xion's favorite thing to do.
Soon Xion was out of breath, but she wanted to dance so badly. She danced more and more.
"Roxas." She whispered, slowing the dance.
"Yeah?" He asked, still confused by her.
"I have this huge crush on Riku. I just wanted someone to know." She said quietly.
"Why don't you tell him?" Roxas asked.
"Because he's Sora's best friend. How would I tell him?" She asked.
"I don't know." Roxas responded. They began to dance normally again, but Xion passed out.
Roxas Pov
"She pulled this out a floorboard. She put it on. And she asked me to take a picture. So I did. Then she told me to dance with her. And I did. She loved to dance when we were little. She twirled and we had fun. And then she hugged me and we were still swaying. And she whispered about her crush on Riku, he went to school with my brother. Then she passed out from hunger and I got her into her sleeping clothes and I put her to bed. She woke up in the middle of the night and Cloud snuck her some food, so she ate. The next day she kissed Riku. On the cheek. Sora had brought him over to play and she kissed him on the cheek and ran downstairs." Roxas's tears were falling faster now. He wiped them away and put the dress down.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Xion ran down the stairs as fast as she could. Roxas looked up and smiled at her.
"Hey Xion, what's up?" He asked, putting down his book.
"I kissed Riku on the cheek." She blushed.
"Aw…" Roxas teased.
"Shut up! It was fun." She giggled.
We heard feet on the stairs, so Roxas stuffed his books under the floor as Tiffany and Robert burst in.
"We heard from Mr. Makel… That you've been stealing, you little wretch! You've got some nerve. Not just food, no… you STOLE film for a camera! You don't even HAVE a camera! You filthy thief! You sinner! You'll burn in hell! You have broken every rule we set for you, and now you have to pay." Tiffany ranted. Roxas gasped from the bed and ran to help Xion. She was so fragile…
"Don't even think about it, Roxas!" Tiffany screeched. She punched the small boy in the stomach and held him down, punching and kicking him, until he heard a sickening CRUNCH! From where Robert was kicking Xion.
"Xion!" He yelled. His mother punched his face.
Xion screamed, sobbing. Then Robert sprinkled something down her throat and she was quiet. She was so bloody…
Tiffany and Robert went up the stairs, leaving Roxas and Xion alone.
"Xion…" Roxas moaned, crawling over to her.
Her pupils were huge. Whatever Robert had put down her throat made her happy.
Xion touched Roxas's face and sighed.
"Roxas, I've found my way. I don't need the Wayfinder anymore. But you haven't found yours. You need extra help. Take mine, it'll help. I love you Roxas. I love Sora. And I love Cloud. I love all my friends. I hope they can get by without me, cuz I won't be around to help them… Roxas, get away from them. I'll miss you, but I don't want you to come with me." Xion babbled.
Roxas looked at her like she was crazy.
"Why can't I come with you? Why will you miss me? I'm right here!" Roxas whimpered, holding his stomach.
And Xion laughed. It was such a pretty laugh.
She kissed his forehead.
"Make sure you get my Wayfinder before someone steals it." She whispered.
Roxas decided to humor her as he panicked. He took the charm from her neck.
"Sing Roxas. I want to dance, but I can't, so sing and I'll dance in my head." Xion coughed.
Roxas sang. A lullaby that he learned in school.
Xion started gasping for air and Roxas paused.
"Sing." She wheezed
Roxas realized she was going to die. Tears fell, but he sang for her. Until her eyes fluttered closed and she was cold.
And he kept singing. Until his parents came downstairs to tell him to pack.
And as his parents left the house an hour later he had the Wayfinder around his neck and he had hidden Xion's stuff inside some of his things.
So he grabbed the phone, dialed 911 and waited as his parents loaded up the car.
"911, what's your-" the lady was cut off.
"My parents killed my sister and they left her in the basement. We're on Radiant and Garden." Roxas whispered into the phone. He hung up and walked over to the car. He sat between Cloud and Sora.
Roxas Pov
"Mother and Father came down together. They screamed at her, yelling because it seemed that she got caught stealing food and some new film for her camera. I tried to help. I really did. But how much good could a scrawny 10 year old do? Mother held me down and beat me up while Father… broke her. She was so hurt, that's the only word I can use to describe it. Broken. They left us there, her bleeding to death and me in pain. I got up and went to her, she was so bloody. Her hair was purple it was so soaked. But she smiled at me. And she touched my face. And she said 'Roxas, I've found my way. I don't need the Wayfinder anymore. But you haven't found yours. You need extra help. Take mine, it'll help. I love you Roxas. I love Sora. And I love Cloud. I love all my friends. I hope they can get by without me, cuz I won't be around to help them… Roxas, get away from them. I'll miss you, but I don't want you to come with me.'" Roxas choked out.
"And I had no idea what she meant! I didn't think she was dying… I just thought… She'd get better! She always got better! So I said 'Why can't I come with you? Why will you miss me? I'm right here!' and she laughed. She kissed my forehead and told me to make sure that I got the Wayfinder before someone stole it. So I figured she was talking about going to the hospital. And I took the Wayfinder. And she told me to sing. She said that she wanted to dance, but she couldn't, so she wanted me to sing. So I did. I don't even remember what it was that I sang, I just sang until she… started gasping for air. I stopped singing for a second. Then she told me to sing again and it finally sunk in that she was dying. So I was sobbing and singing until she was cold. I was covered in her blood. I stuffed her camera and the pictures under the floorboards just as Mother and Father came down to tell me that we were moving." Roxas sobbed. Axel hugged him and Roxas, again, cringed when he was touched. But he rested his head against the taller boy and cried. He pulled a second necklace from under his shirt. It was identical to the first, except it was colored in blue.
"It's okay, I understand now." Axel whispered to the blonde's hair. He buried his face in the soft locks and Roxas was rigid for a second, then relaxed. He clenched Axel's arm and turned around to face him.
"No, that's just the beginning." Roxas sniffled.
"Cloud took me to the funeral. I couldn't go up and say anything because I looked just like Ventus. Plus I couldn't really SAY anything either. I was too sad." Roxas admitted.
"Yeah, we all wondered why he was there." Namine said her thoughts aloud.
"And I saw you. You were crying and you didn't have the tattoos or piercings yet." Roxas said to Axel.
"Mhm, and you were crying in the bushes." Axel nodded.
"We moved to Twilight Town. Sora came out of his brainwashing enough for me to be able to talk to him. He still threw me under the bus for himself a few times, but only when he really needed to. Cloud was growing up. He was in high school. He became friends with Tifa, Areith, and Zack. Mother and Father beat him more. They cut his wrists once, it was so bad he ended up in the hospital. And everyone thought he was emo. They stabbed him with a mirror shard. They made him tell his friends that he was anorexic. But then he started getting attention from adults who thought he was emo and anorexic, so they stopped beating him as much. And Sora still got the best treatment, so that left me. They took out all their anger and stress out on me. For 6th grade I was kind of zombified. I didn't talk to anyone. Then I came out of my shell a little in 7th grade. I made friends with Hayner, Pence, and Olette." Roxas went on.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
"Hey nerd! You with the goldy-locks!" Banzai yelled. Roxas sighed. This happened every day.
"I don't have any money, if I did I still wouldn't give it to you, now just beat me up so I can get back to my book." Roxas answered in a bored voice.
Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and Scar took his advice. He could barley walk when he stumbled over to his friends.
"Roxas…" Olette worried. Roxas just sat down.
"Olette, I'll tell someone when it gets too bad. I can take this. I'll be fine, I always am." Roxas sighed. They went through this every day.
"Why don't you tell anyone?" Pence asked.
"No one would care." Roxas said quietly. Olette and Pence shared a look. Roxas hadn't told them anything about himself when he joined their group. They wondered what was going on inside his head.
Inside his head he was wishing he had some food. But that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
Roxas Pov
"Then Shenzi, Banzai, Ed, and Scar came along. It was like Hell. I'd get beat up at home, then go to school to get hurt even more. Hayner, Pence, and Olette tried to get me to tell someone, but… I wouldn't. I knew Mother and Father would just blame it on me. So I took it. Until Sora and Riku got fed up with it and kicked their asses. By the way, Riku moved there too. He was part of the reason we moved THERE. You see, he was moving there anyways, and Sora just told Mother and Father about how little the cost of a house was there, and Ta-dah! There we were. Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed never messed with me after 8th grade. They even went to a different school." Roxas continued.
"So that's why?" Axel asked, wishing the story were over. He had begged Roxas to tell him, but… now he wished he didn't know.
"No. The reason why is the next year. My teacher, Vexen, was my favorite. He taught science. He was so cool, nice to everyone, made jokes, you know. Then one day he told me to see him after class. He told me that he knew about what my parents did. He knew how they hurt me. And he told me that he'd tell them that I did something bad if I didn't do whatever he said." Roxas mumbled, pulling away from Axel. Axel probably wouldn't want to touch him after he said the next part.
Axel's eyes widened. He could guess where this was going.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
"Okay, that's all for the day. Remember your homework. And Roxas, I need to see you after class!" Vexen called to the students.
"What'd you do?" Pence teased.
"I don't know." Roxas smiled, shrugging. Pence laughed and left. Vexen closed the door.
"Roxas, something odd has come to my attention." Vexen began, "It seems to me that some domestic violence is occurring at your house." Vexen accused, looking straight at Roxas.
"I have no idea-" Roxas began, but was cut off.
"Cut the crap, Roxas. I know this. Now I'll tell your parents that… you stole some of my chemicals if you do not do exactly as I tell you." Vexen threatened.
Roxas gulped. His mother regarded stealing as the ultimate crime.
"What?" Roxas asked. Vexen smiled and licked his lips. He'd enjoy this.
Roxas Pov
"So he raped me. And it hurt so bad, I can still feel it when I dream. I felt so… disgusting. Like a whore. And I LET him do those… THINGS to protect them! He threatened that he'd tell people about my parents. He said he'd tell my parents lies. He even said he'd tell them about what he did to me and that I LIKED it! He was so sick! And I couldn't do anything! And so he… one day when I was in 10th grade… he… took a syringe and injected something into my arm. It was wonderful, it made me feel like I was flying. I was so happy. I came in every day for that stuff." Roxas admitted, a wistful look in his eyes.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
"Roxas, someone's been hearing you. I'll just give you this to make you quiet." Vexen laughed, piercing Roxas's skin with a needle.
Roxas had to come in here once a week for "Extra Credit"
Vexen pushed the plunger down and Roxas felt warmth course through his veins.
He was happy, flying. There was no pain. There was a jack in the box behind him, bouncing.
"Holy shit, you're one bright clown." Roxas mumbled at Vexen, who merely laughed.
Roxas Pov
"He DID that to you?" Axel gasped. Roxas was scared as he nodded. Axel crushed him in a hug and didn't even do anything when Roxas flinched.
"He only gave me a little. Enough for him to… do his business, enough for me to be high for a few hours, enough for me to get addicted to it, but not enough for my parents to find out. No, it was my friends who figured it out first. They… they found me lying there on the floor in his classroom. No pants on. The heroine almost out of my system. They thought it was the first time it happened, and I let them believe it." Roxas whispered.
3rd Person Pov (Past)
Roxas was lying on the floor of the Chemistry room, heroine dulling in his veins. He could feel a little pain now. Oh, it always hurt.
"Roxas?" A familiar voice asked from the hall. Hayner.
"Roxas!" The same voice yelled, rushing over to his side. It seemed that he put his lock-picking skills to the test and picked the door.
"Olette, stay out!" Pence cried as he saw Roxas on the floor. But of course Olette didn't listen.
"Roxas!" She ran next to Hayner.
"Olette, get help. I'm going to call 911" Pence ordered.
"Rox, what happened?" Hayner whispered.
"Vexen… told me to stay after class… had a needle… and made me feel so happy… but it hurts now…" Roxas mumbled, unable to form a coherent sentence.
"Oh my God… Roxas… I'll help you get your pants on." Hayner said, trying to figure out what the hell to do.
Roxas had his pants back on when Ms. Jasmine rushed in. Hayner was kneeling next to the slightly more sober Roxas.
"Oh my God. I-I" She stuttered, unsure of what to do.
"Pence is calling the police." Olette told her.
"I think Vexen gave him some drugs. He said that Vexen had a needle…" Hayner told Olette.
"What happened?" The EMT asked as he got Roxas on a stretcher.
"No one knows. Vexen's long gone." Ms. Jasmine whispered. She had worked with Vexen for so long…
Roxas Pov
"I told them that Vexen had been giving me heroine… that he forced it on me… I told them that I was scared. They told my parents. It was the end of the year, Cloud was in college. Sora had known about the whole thing. He had been trying to help me, but there was only so much he could do. Over the summer was hell. I was in withdrawal for a few weeks and I really, really, REALLY wanted more. Finally Sora yelled at me about something, telling me that Xion would be ashamed of how I was acting. And he left. He was gone. He's living with Riku now. Mother and Father found out that he was gay. I'm surprised they didn't kill him, they're both VERY religious, except for the whole 'don't hurt anyone' thing. Of course they think we're spawn of Satan and that we should be killed." Roxas spat out very quickly
"Oh my God, that bastard did that to MY boyfriend?" Axel hissed, still in shock about Vexen.
"I-I was alone. Cloud in college, Xion dead, Sora running away. I am alone and they'll kill me like they did Xion. And I don't want to die, Axel. I've been trying so hard to stay alive for this long, I… I don't want to die!" Roxas broke down into tears again.
"Roxas, you won't die! I won't let them kill you!" Axel promised, still crushing the blond in his hug.
"Neither of us will let that happen to you, Rox." Namine promised quietly.
"Okay. I trust you guys." Roxas whispered. Axel tilted up the smaller boy's chin.
"I'll protect you. I know you can usually take care of yourself, but that doesn't mean you have to go through this alone." Axel reassured him. Roxas smiled.
Then Axel kissed him, pressing his firm lips gently against the softer ones. Roxas moved his lips in sync with Axel's and twisted his fingers through the taller boy's fiery hair. Roxas felt Axel's lips curl upwards in a smile and Roxas smiled with him. He could trust Axel. He broke away from the kiss suddenly and Axel looked up at him in confusion.
"Something I said?" He joked, looking at the smaller boy's scared face.
"No, I'm so sorry Axel. My head doesn't trust you… I want to so badly, but… Vexen did this too… He… as soon as he found out… he kissed me… and then… did THINGS. I'm so sorry Axel." Roxas sobbed, knowing that telling Axel the truth would break his heart. But Axel just hugged the boy again and whispered that he'd never do anything like that.
"It'll take some time, but I'll convince you somehow." Axel whispered as Roxas cried himself to sleep.
Axel Pov
"Ax… I knew you were gay, but Roxas's parents'll kill him if they find out…" Namine said quietly when Roxas fell asleep.
"I know… yesterday, when I went after him, I kissed him. And then he flipped. He thought I was doing the same thing as his teacher. But then I explained that I wasn't going to do that. And he kissed me back. And it looks like he's still having trouble with it…" Axel trailed off, stroking the blonde boy's hair.
"Well… it's only been a day. Give him some time. Everything's happening so fast for him right now. He only came to our school two weeks ago." Namine reminded him.
"I know. But we're so stupid! We should've realized sooner, what with Aqua and all." Axel said.
"But we didn't really notice what was going on with Aqua, did we?" Namine reminded him.
"I know…"
"I'm surprised he told us anything. He's really good at lying… How come that lie last night was so crappy?" Namine asked.
"Maybe he couldn't think of a good one." Axel shrugged.
"I'm… going to go Ax. I've gotta tell the others." She said quietly.
"Yeah, he wanted us to… I wonder why he didn't want to tell them?"
"Were you THERE last night? They freaked out! I'm freaking out right now, but I'll wait until I'm with Marly until I start crying, I don't think Roxas needs that right now." Namine said, halfway up the stairs.
"Be careful!" Axel yelled.
Namine nodded.
***So… That was a fun chapter to write! This fic is far from over, just thought you should know. I shall write more soon! Damn, I uploaded like crazy this weekend. I was just like "okay, I'll make a fanfic for AkuRoku day." And BAM. Five uploads. I got 3 one-shots and I finished Death or Life, and I uploaded a chapter of this.***