"Roxas, where are you?" I muttered as I left Hayner's house. He wasn't there, but it was the first place I checked. Pence also hadn't seen him, and hadn't even known Roxas ran away.
"Kairi, is Roxas with you?"
"No, Sora, I'm sorry. Me and Namine haven't heard from him."
"I see," I said, frowning. "Thanks anyways."
I had been searching nearly two hours when I finally decided to rest on the edge of a fountain.
"Roxas?" I heard the name and excitedly looked up, only to realize they had mistaken me for Roxas.
"No, I'm Sora...have you seen Roxas?" I asked hopefully.
"No...why? Aren't you his... brother or somethin'?"
I looked at the person. Demyx? "Well... I guess we're like brothers, aren't we?" I grinned. "He still hasn't come back... I wish he would, but... he's gone, isn't he?"
Demyx frowned. "He's not coming back because of Riku," he said, rubbing his neck. "But I suppose they didn't tell you 'bout that whole thing, huh?"
"Riku...told me. I... kicked him out."
Demyx nodded. "So it's just a matter of finding him and telling him to go home, isn't it?"
I nodded. "But that's my problem."
He patted me on the back and smiled reassuringly. "You two are like brothers, so maybe you should try asking yourself. Maybe then you can find him."
"Thanks, Demyx...I think."
"No problem, buddy!" He said as he ran away waving after the retreating form of Zexion.
"Try...asking myself, huh?" I said under my breath as I laid back on the edge of the fountain, watching the sky. "If I were Roxas, where would I be?"
Blue eyes as bright as the sky opened to a world of darkness. Where am I? He thought, memories of nights past flashed before his eyes. That's right...I'm here...
"I am one part of a whole. My other part is gone from this world."
"Me...too."
"I've come here to be reunited with him."
"Me...too."
"Then wake up, and open your eyes."
Sora woke with a start as he found himself in a fountain. "How'd I get here?" He asked. "I guess I fell asleep. What a weird dream."
Sora got out of the fountain, and looked around. The area was empty except for a figure in a black coat with the hood up, staring at the ground, hands stuffed in the coat's pocket. Being that he was Sora and skipped over the whole 'stranger danger' lecture by attacking his mother with cuddles, he delightfully approached the figure, sticking a wet hand out. "Hiya, I'm Sora! What's your name?" He asked excitedly, grinning wide.
The figure glanced up at Sora, but not enough to see the face masked in darkness, and shook the hand, pulling the drenched boy down into a hug, before quickly setting Sora onto the bench as they walked away.
"Um, okay...then? That didn't answer my question, but if you didn't want to talk, you coulda just said so..." Sora mumbled to the retreating figure, too quiet for them to hear. He sighed and sat on the bench, staring at the form of the small figure when he noticed an envelope laying on the ground a few feet in front of him. "Huh, that's kinda strange. I wonder if they dropped it?"
Sora walked over to the envelope and picked it up, finding upon examination that the discarded paper read "Axel," in small chicken-scratch writing that looked an awful lot like-
"Roxas?" Sora asked the wind, the letter almost slipping from his grip before he shoved it in his back pocket and ran after the figure. He knew it was probably a futile effort, since a good five minutes had passed before they had vanished from his sight, but the thought that his baby brother-well, cousin, really,-was so close to him and he hadn't been able to tell truly irked Sora.
After a good workout of running around the dark streets of Twilight Town for nearly half an hour, Sora stopped and slumped over at a table outside of McDonald's, sweat and tears pouring down his face as he tried to wipe them away with his still-damp sleeve.
"Oh, the letter...I guess I should give it to Axel, huh?" Sora thought, pulling out his phone before realizing he didn't have Axel's number. Mildly impatient, Sora texted Kairi, his best friend, who was semi-nocturnal pretty much all the time. Within a few minutes, Kairi responded, giving him the number and asking if everything was alright. Sora texted a quick "yeah & thx" back before calling the number.
Now, naturally my first response to an unknown call on my phone at the obscene time of two in the morning is to press the end button and go back to sleep. However, after doing this five times for the same number in the span of ten minutes, I gave in and answered with a groggy and rather annoyed sounding "what the fuck do you want, kid?"
"Axel?"
"Yeah, who the fuck is this?"
"This is Sora! I'm so sorry about waking you up, but this is really important!"
"Sora... how did you-? Never mind. What the fuck do you want?" Seriously, this better be a life or death situation, or I'mma shoot a bitch. Not even kidding.
"It's about Roxas," he said, and I heard a shuttering breath from the line. "I think he tried to contact me, but I didn't know it was him, and then there was this crazy ninja hug flip thing and I was where he was a minute before and then he walked away and I guess he dropped this letter or something and I picked it up and it said Axel so I texted Kairi and got your number so I could call you and here we are!"
Dear god, I thought, rubbing my face, this guy's worse then Demyx! "Okay, so what the hell do you want me to do about this, Sora? It's two in the god damned morning, so if you expect me to haul my ass out to wherever the fuck you are, you're going to be sorely disappointed."
"Oh no worries, Axel, I'll come to you!" He said happily, hanging up before I could protest.
A few minutes later, while I pondered how he knew where I lived, a crashing noise erupted from the small half-bathroom attached to my room, and the sliding door opened revealing none other than a cold looking Sora.
"Hey, Axel! Long time no see!" Sora said, tackling me backwards onto my bed.
I froze, and for several perfectly reasonable reasons. One, I wasn't close to Sora, and here he was, hugging me while I was only in my boxers. Two, the freak had just climbed into my home through the bathroom window at two AM, granted he had called first. Third, he was cold and, to my displeasure, damp. Not a pleasant awakening.
"Erm, hi, Sora...wanna get off me?"
Sora pouted as he removed himself from me.
"You said you had a letter or somethin'?" I muttered, yawning.
Sora nodded excitedly and handed me the letter, grinning like a fool. I took it from him, and studied it. It did, in fact, hold my name on the back of the envelope. I was going to put it on my bedside table when Sora's hand caught me by the wrist. "Aren't ya going to read it, Axel?" He asked, confused.
"Er, yeah, I just need light..." I said, quickly saving myself from whatever ungodly punishment would become of Sora's wrath.
He nodded in agreement and let me get up to turn the light on.
"How'd you even know where I lived, anyways?"
"Kairi," Sora said, grinning.
Oh, that explains it. I thought with a yawn as I made quick work of the envelope and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
I opened it with a sigh, to appease the monster who sat on my bed. "Why didn't you just open it yourself, Sora?"
"That would be an invasion of privacy! I would never do that!"
"...you just climbed through your brother's ex's bathroom window at 2 am, and you're worried about that?-No, don't answer that. Just sit there and, uh, I don't know, do something quiet." I said as I unfolded the paper.
Sora did as he was told, staring off into space.
Axel, or whoever is reading this, really,
I guess this is a letter that I'll never send, eh? I mean, I ran away from home, broke up with a guy I kinda sorta really liked a little more than anyone else because by brother/cousin's douche bag of a boyfriend made me 'cause he's a douche...that sentence was redundant, but I digress.
I don't really know what to say. I don't really think you care, 'cause I mean, why would you? I'm just some kid you barely know who you dated for a little while and then fucked and got dumped by. But maybe you do, at least enough to know that I'm really sorry about this, since Sora's probably off the wall worried about me, even though I know he'd rather have Riku than a lame-o like me. Hah. So much for bros before hos.
Anyways, thank you for being the first person to ever actually listen and give a damn. I'm sorry I didn't tell you shit, and still haven't, and probably never will. I don't really think it matters what I say anymore, 'cause you're the only one who would listen and you probably hate me by now, huh? I'd hate me, if I were you.
I really wish I could have gotten to know you before all this shit happened. You seem like a pretty cool guy. But, unfortunately, I don't think I was meant to get close to anyone, you know? It took all the shit with Riku to realize that I really did feel something for you, even if it wasn't some story-book romance with all the sparks flying and shit. Riku was cold and clammy. It was kinda repulsive, I feel sorry for Sora. But you were warm, and I felt...comfortable with you, I guess.
I can't get him out of my head. My twin, my other half. He's been haunting my thoughts lately, and I just can't take it anymore. I think it's a sign. He wants me to join him. I...kinda want to join him. I've missed him a lot, you know? So I guess I'll probably be gone before you find this, assuming you ever do. I really wanted to thank you for being so nice, but I guess I won't ever have the chance, will I? It's not like I'll ever see you again-you wouldn't like it where I'm going, I don't think. People as dirty as me don't get to go to nice places.
Please, if you do see Sora, (once again assuming you read this), tell him I'm sorry, and I loved him a lot. Also tell him not to blame himself, or Riku. I chose to do this of my own accord, because I wanted to. Some of us just weren't built to last.
And if you're still reading this, or just skipped the ramblings in the center (I would), Axel, I'm sorry. I shouldn't say this, -because hell, I barely knew you,- but damn, you're awesome and I love you. Sorry you got caught up in all of this, and I hope you can help Sora cope, 'cause Riku's a douche and would probably just say "oh well!" and make Sora cry more.
So yeah, um, I never learned how to end letters properly,
-Roxas.
Goddamn. Was this a suicide letter? Fuck. It was, wasn't it? I glanced over at Sora. "Sora?"
"Yes, Axel?"
"I think we need to find Roxie, and soon."
"That's what I've been trying to tell everyone!"
"No...I mean, Sora, Roxie's not okay right now, we need to find him now," I said, pulling on some pants and a random sweatshirt from the floor, hoping they weren't anything embarrassing as I shoved my feet into a pair of tennis shoes, grabbing my phone and dragging Sora out of the house with me and down the street.
I dunno why, but all the sudden, Axel's panicking like crazy. Wonder what was in that letter. Maybe Roxas is holding Axel's best friend hostage? That must be it! Oh no, poor Axel! I'd be pretty desperate to get to Roxas too.
We've been looking for hours now, and the sun's starting to rise. It's so pretty, I kind of just want to sit with Riku and watch it.
Riku...I thought solemnly, biting my lip as tears threatened to slow me in my hunt for Roxas. How could you do something like this? I'll admit it, I was kind of pissed at the guy. Okay, that was an understatement. I was really pissed at him. But imagine how Roxas and Axel must feel...Riku tore them apart, too. Axel was the first glimpse I had at how Roxas used to be...before Ven...well. Before Ventus OD'd on the bathroom floor with painkillers.
Roxas had never been exactly happy, and he was always kind of a downer, but he was never so... empty before Ventus left us. It was like without him, Roxas didn't know what he was doing. He was just kind of...letting life slip away. He hadn't so much as smiled until he met Axel. The day he came home from Axel's house he was so happy and supportive-if not annoyed at having to fix dinner AND me and Riku's relationship problems.
I guess I wouldn't be having too many of those, anymore.
I shook away the thought and swallowed away the sob that threatened to escape my throat. Roxas was more important. He was family-one of the last remaining members of my family, at that. I was his cousin on his mom's side, so Namine wasn't related to me, since they had different moms.
But that's not important! Dang it, brain! We need to find Roxas, not think about silly things like genetics and family trees!
It was then that I realized that I had lost Axel, and was completely and utterly alone in a part of Twilight Town that I didn't recognize-and frankly wasn't sure was even a part of Twilight Town.
The thought of being so alone... scared me.
"Roxas... I need you..." The words escaped my lips as I fell to my knees, breaking down right there in the middle of the sidewalk in front of a shady looking pawn shop and a small pub.
Thank you so much, P5hng-Me-AWy, for your review! 8D Pretty much made my day. XD
