Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

The Dollmaker

Chapter 10: Missing

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"Wh-What?" Roxas asked in disbelief. "You're kidding..."

Kairi shook her head. "Nope, it's all true."

"Aren't you--Weren't you into Sora?" Roxas asked. Kairi stayed silent, lucky for her, Sora decided to answer for her.

"I was only her backup," Sora suddenly stood up from his seat. "Isn't that right, Kairi?" He looked down at Kairi. "You only pretended to like me." Sora clenched his fists. "At one point in my life, I actually believed that to be true."

All this time, Kairi had avoided eye contact with Sora as he spoke. Seifer only listened to the words coming from the brunette's mouth.

"Sora, I'm-," Kairi began. She stood up to face Sora.

"Save it Kairi," Sora said coldly. "I don't need you."

She just stared at him, speechless and shocked. "S-Sora...?" was all that she could manage. Kairi had not yet seen this new Sora. So, it's a real shocker to her that he's acting so... different. "I'm sorry, really..."

Sora laughed. "You don't need to apologize. As I said, I don't need you. I have Riku now." He looked down at Riku lovingly, which in turn, scared the living hell out of Kairi. She always thought he was straight, what a shocker it must've been for her. "Right, Riku?" Sora smiled as Riku stood up and enveloped him in his arms. Riku rested his head atop of Sora's and grinned at Kairi and Seifer.

"Right," Riku replied.

Sora then took that opportunity to slip his head from underneath Riku's and pull them together in a kiss that was far from innocent. Kairi stood in place; the shock was too much for her. Seifer just watched in disgust while Roxas was trying to get the fact that Kairi and Seifer were engaged though his poor little head. Maybe that smack in the morning messed up his head. He'll have to track Axel down...

"O-Oh," Kairi stuttered.

"What now, huh?? That's for using me!!" Sora exclaimed as he stuck out his tongue childishly once he pulled away from Riku. "So, if you'll excuse us, we have something to do." With that straightened out and settled, Sora and Riku raced up the stairs.

"Bye!!" they called out before closing the bedroom door.

"Do they do that often?" Seifer asked, directing it toward Roxas.

"Sadly, yes," he replied with a shake of his head.

"W-Well, uhm," Kairi was still standing, her eyes wide and confused. "I-I guess we should go..."

"No," Seifer and Roxas said in unison. The two looked at each other for a split second.

"I want to know why you guys are engaged," Roxas began. "And why you felt you needed to have Sora as your backup." He couldn't help but feel bad for his brother. At one point in Sora's life, it was all Kairi. He would rant on and on about her to Roxas; pretty soon Roxas knew Kairi's birthday, her full name, her favorite color, even her damn blood type!! Then, Sora went to Riku...

"And I want to know why the hell you turned her into a rat," Seifer said. "I honestly thought you were practically in love with her."

Roxas glared at him. "I wasn't in love with her."

"Not from what I saw," Seifer smirked.

Roxas growled inwardly and glared at Seifer. "Well? Are you going to tell me?" Roxas averted his gaze to Kairi as she sat beside Seifer.

"It was an arranged marriage," Kairi explained. "And I felt as though I wasn't good enough for Seifer since he always had such better girls around him. That's why I had Sora."

"If anything, you're too good for him," Roxas said, earning him a glare from Seifer.

"Now, your turn," Seifer said.

"It was a complete accident," Roxas began. "I wasn't trying to turn her into a rat. I was trying to turn you into a rat."

"WHAT?" Seifer asked through gritted teeth.

"It wasn't his fault," Kairi interjected, once again grabbing a hold of his arm. "Roxas can't use magic, at least I don't he can; there's someone that's always with him. His name is Axel and he's the one who made me a rat."

"Axel?" Seifer asked quizzically. Kairi nodded.

"Speaking of Axel..." Roxas began. "Have you seen him?" He looked at Kairi hopefully. She shook her head. "I haven't seen him since lunch..."

"Do you think something's wrong?" Kairi asked.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry okay." Roxas apologized, saying it more to Seifer than Kairi. "It's just that Axel isn't quite at the top of his game lately..."

Seifer then stood up. "Fine, but don't think you're off the hook." He and Kairi left the mansion, arms locked together.

Roxas sighed. Where was Axel? Maybe Sora and Riku had seen him, but maybe he should ask later...

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"Axel..." Roxas muttered in frustration as he paced through his living room impatiently. "Where are you?"

"Calm down, Rox," Sora said as he watched him pace. "It's not like Axel would run away."

Roxas stopped pacing, his face paled and his dilated. "Oh my God... Do you really think he ran away?" He turned on his heel and looked at Sora intently. He rushed over to Sora and began to shake him furiously. "AXEL RAN AWAY?!?!? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!?!?" Roxas yelled as he continued to murder Sora. "Sora you FOOL!!!" Roxas then slapped poor little Sora.

"OW!!! What the hell was that for?!" Sora exclaimed as he rubbed his cheek. "I understand you're upset but you're overreacting!!"

"I am not!" Roxas yelled back as he began to hyperventilate. "I-I... UGH!!" He began to slam his head against the wall continuously. "What did I do wrong????"

"Is he okay?" Riku whispered to Sora as they sat at the couch.

"I'm not sure," Sora replied back. "I haven't seen him this... uhm... 'worried' since the burned cookies and chocolate kitchen incident."

"Chocolate kitchen?" Riku asked warily.

"It's a long story," Sora replied. "But to make it short, the kitchen was covered in several layers of chocolate and 2 kinds of chocolate: white and milk chocolate. Mom was pissed. Dad loved it though."

Riku's eyes widened as he began to back away from his brunette. Sora only laughed at his friend's reaction.

"That's it!" Roxas exclaimed. "I'm going out to look for him!!" He was reading to storm out the door and search every inch of the city. "Don't you dare stop me!" Sora and Riku didn't budge.

"We weren't going to," Sora said simply.

"Good!" Roxas slammed the front door close and ran out.

"Wow," Sora said. Riku looked at him. "Axel must have grown on him a lot in the past three days. This is strange, to say the least. Roxas isn't one to care about someone he's barely met."

"Maybe they have love at first sight?" Riku suggested.

"Mmhm, sure," Sora said sarcastically. "And maybe they'll start making- Oh, wait, they already have started making out..."

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Roxas ran into the city streets aimlessly. He won't stop searching, he won't. If he did, he would feel terrible. The worst part is that he didn't even know why he cared so much. Three days. That's all the time he's had to get to know Axel, but in that three-day period, it's like... they were meeting again. It's like they were made for each other from the moment they were born...

'Axel,' Roxas thought, calling for Axel. When no answer came, he could nearly feel his heart break. 'AXEL!!!' Still no reply came. Roxas's chest felt as if it were about to explode, his head was spinning and nothing was right.

Roxas stopped at a park and sat a park bench. He panted and tried to catch his breath. He leaned against the back of the bench and stared at the night sky.

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'That's it Roxy, I'll always make you smile,' Axel thought as he sent another ray of light at Marluxia. Roxas saw this and watched intently.

'Always make me smile?' Roxas asked Axel curiously. He had obviously heard his thoughts. 'What do you mean?' Axel grinned.

"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," Axel said. He winked at Roxas and turned his attention to the humorous couple.

---

The corners of Roxas's lips twitched into a small smile as he remembered.

'He promised,' Roxas thought. 'He promised to always make me smile, but you're not keeping your word. You'd think I'd have gotten used to it by now, but it's still hard. I honestly believed you to keep your promise. I guess you're just like them.' Roxas shook his head. 'But, if you want to keep it, just come back, Axel...' Roxas laughed at his own stupidity. It wasn't like Axel could actually hear him. 'That's it, I just want you to come back...'

'I never left,' A voice whispered through his mind.

'A-Axel?' Roxas's eyes widened.

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"I hate you, Axel!!" Roxas threw everything that he could grasp at Axel. Random objects were flying across the living room.

"Come on Roxy!! I didn't know!!" Axel whined as he dodged a flying lamp. He ran to the couch and used it as a shield. "WOOOOOXYYYYYY!!!!!"

"Shut up!!!" Roxas then came up behind the couch and tackled Axel to the ground. "How could you make me worry so much??? I HATE YOU!!!" Even as Roxas said this, he buried his face into Axel's chest and wrapped his arms around Axel's waist. "I hate... you..." Roxas hugged Axel tighter.

"I love you too, Roxy," Axel smiled as he ruffled Roxas's hair. "I love you too."

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TA: I'm sorry if you guys hate me for this chapter. That's why I posted chapter 11 right after chapter 10! -laughs nervously- I think I'm losing my funny-ness... -ness... -twitch-