Sorry this took so long. My Christmas Special took a lot longer than I thought it would. ^^

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and favorited this story! I really appreciate it!

((Zexion))

I knew I shouldn't have asked him something like that, something so personal. I should have just taken this, my sanctuary for what it was. I shouldn't have been so…so selfish. So selfish to want to know something that is none of my business, none of my concern. Anything would be better than this.

Standing here like some pathetic child, my own selfish tears sliding down my cheeks in streams, while I watch him. Watch him like he's some deer caught in headlights. And, it doesn't look like he knows what to say, like he and I have switched roles and he's not comfortable with. He opens his mouth to answer, but…I know now that I don't want him to. I don't want him to answer such a question. I don't want him to answer a question that I've asked so selfishly, when I know that I didn't deserve to ask it in the first place.

"I-"

"I'm sorry!" I blurt out, biting into my bottom lip as he just stares at me. Stares at me with those oceanic eyes of his. Those innocent eyes of his. "I…I-I shouldn't have asked that…I-I'm sorry." I shuffled my feet along the floor. Please…please say something. Please don't make me keep talking. You know I'll just mess up again…please Demyx. Please…?

"You don't have to apologize, Zexy. It's fine. Really." He smiles, smiles that carefree smile that I…love. That smile that I love. Love with all my broken, fucked-up heart. "And, to answer your question, yes…I-I want you to stay here as long as you want to stay here."

And, I smile just a bit, slightly frustrated. Well, that's one way to avoid the question, but… "Thank you."

"Well, you're welcome. And, now that that's settled, when do you want to head into Hollow Bastion?"

____

Why did I want to come here? I knew that it would only bring back bad memories, new waves of pain. Why would I willingly set myself up for this kind of heart again and again? I must really be some pathetic fool if this is what I cause myself. I must really be.

"Are you ready to go in?" Demyx asks, leaning just a little bit closer to me, a bit closer than should be appropriate, but…I really don't care. As long as it's him.

As long as it's him sitting with me in this slightly rundown blue car with the dent on the side. As long as it's him looking up at the block apartment building with such innocent eyes, one hand on my shoulder. As long as it's him and only him sharing this experience with me, because…as much as I hate to admit it, I wouldn't be here without him. I wouldn't be alive to have the courage to come back here, to go back to school in a couple of days. If it weren't for him, none of this would be happening.

"Yes…" I manage to choke out, sliding away from him and out of the car as quickly as I can, because otherwise, I know I won't go up there, because no, I'm not ready. I'm not ready for this kind of step, but I know it has to be done. Because, I can't move on if I can't get passed this. I can't move on if I can't get passed something so…insignificant to the bigger picture of things. I just…have to get passed this. And, I can. I can as long as Demyx is with me every step of the way, and he will be. I know that now, because…because he wants me. I'm wanted when I'm with him. And, maybe I'm not wanted like my boyfriend's needed me, but I'm wanted all the same. And, that's all I really want. That's not a lot to want, is it? Is it?

I hear him get out and walk up behind me, but I don't turn around. If I turn around, I'll see those innocent eyes. Those innocent eyes I'm about to so selfishly subject to my fucked-up little world. A world that he should never be allowed to see, because…no one from the outside should ever have to see it. Because it's wrong. Wrong and hurtful. Not something that anyone really wants to see. Not something that should be seen.

Hesitantly, I make my way into the building's rundown lobby. The same woman is at the desk. The one with the slick-backed blonde hair and the too-sharply pointed nails. Larxene, the landlord. She's always frightened me, even before I moved in here, but that's okay, because she's not who I'm here to see. I slide past her, Demyx at my heels, and walk up the stairs to the third floor-because I'm sure that the elevator's out again- and knock on apartment number 03. It takes less than a minute for it to swing open.

And, there he stood.

Stood in all his slightly drunken glory.

His hair is the same as it always is. Hung in long, low, jet black dread locks that probably hasn't been washed in a good six months. His clothes are wrinkled and stained by spills here and there…they probably haven't' been washed within the last few weeks; he never was one for doing laundry and cleaning up after himself. His arms are bare and muscled, ripped, like they've always been. I suppose they're what attracted me to him in the first place, because I know that nothing else could have. Maybe I thought I could get him to change. That maybe I could get him to protect me with those muscles. Oh, how wrong I was.

Those muscles are only good for hurting me, for pushing me to the brink with low, biting punches and quickened slaps. For hurting me until I wanted to just curl up and die, disappear because that's all I thought I was good for- all I am good for. That's all those muscles have ever been good for.

"He, I wondered when you'd show back up here, you little bitch? Didn't like the world all by yourself? Hmm…?" he asks tauntingly, a beer bottle hanging limply in his palm, a smirk on his lips.

And, this is why I didn't want to get out of the car.

((Demyx))

I want to kill him.

I want to whip that smirk off his face and rip his throat out. Bash that damn bottle on his head. Pull on those stupid dreadlocks. Pay Axel to take care of him. Something. I want to get rid of him. Get him away from Zexion. Because Zexion…Zexion doesn't deserve this. Doesn't deserve to be treated so harshly by someone like…like him. This sick, sick man.

"Well, you little bitch? Are you going to come in or what?" Oh, how I want to hurt him for calling Zexion something like that. No, not my Zexy. This vile creature isn't to talk about him in such a manner.

"No." Zexion mumbles, scuffling the toes of my shoes against the ground. The toes are too big for him, sliding off in the slightest way, just like everything else I let him borrow. Sliding off. Sliding off his hips, his shoulders. "I-I'm not…coming back."

"Excuse me?" He doesn't look like he likes that too terribly much, like he didn't expect it in the slightest.

"I…I just came to get my stuff. That's all…" The man growls, obviously angry, and Zexion…he doesn't say anything. He just stares at the shaggily carpeted floor below him, finding it more interesting than he should.

"You little bitch!" Before I can even blink, the beer bottle's busted, busted against…against Zexion's arm, a little bit of blood leaking out past the sleeves of the jacket I let him borrow. The man, creature, monster has Zexion's other arm forced into a grip that I know is too tight, must be too tight. His body is flushed against his, forced a little too close, a little too quickly.

"You fucking little bitch! You're leaving? You? Don't make me laugh! You're nothing but a slut! No one will ever want you! You'll be out on the streets, selling off that pretty little body of yours, if you can even get a penny for it." Zexion shakes his head, trying to turn away from the voice that's right in his ears, yelling those lies. Yelling- "You're just a little slut and that's all you'll ever be. You worthless thing!" things that aren't true. Things that I can't stand. Can't stand to hear because I know they're cutting into my Zexion like sharp little knives trying to draw every last drop of blood they can find.

"Hey, that's enough!" I grab his wrist and I don't think I've ever been so angry in my entire life. How dare he! How dare he tell my Zexion those lies! "Don't you dare say that again!" The man winces, his wrist locked in my grip; I must be hurting him. And, it's funny, but I can't bring myself to care. Why should I? Not when he hurt Zexion so badly. Not when he did things that were so wrong. And…

This isn't like me.

I've never been like this.

Ripping, I release his hold on Zexion's arm, and he just stands there. Stands there completely freed from such a person, shaking like he can't really get away. And, it…it hurts, because it isn't this sick, evil man he's watching with cobalt eyes that are just so frightened. It…it's me. It's me that he's so terrified of.

What am I doing?

"Zexy…hey, go and get your stuff, okay?" I say as calmly as I can, my voice concerned, because I am and I know that's what he's used, what he really needs. Instantly, he doesn't look as scared. He doesn't look like he's so very terrified of me. Slowly, he nods and disappears inside the little apartment, his slender back disappearing into the black-holed Hell.

And, the man begins to laugh.

Laugh like he's truly lost his mind, his sanity. "So, you're that little slut's new toy? Or, is he yours?" He laughs a little harder, even though my grip is getting impossibly tight. Impossibly angrier with every word.

"Stop talking about him like that!"

He just laughs a little more, a smirk firmly set on his pale pink, chapped lips. "That little bitch ever tell you about his past, all the shit that he's done?" By the look on my face, he must have thought it was okay to keep going. "Do you want to know what I could get that little thing to do for me? It was just so easy to get him to slide his clothes off, to let me do whatever I wanted with him. He, it took me less than a day to get him into bed. Did you know he was that easy? He, maybe you do. Tell me, new toy, have you fucked him yet? Bent him over a bed? Seen that pale little body naked, bare? No? He. You should. He's the best fuckin' lay you'll ever have, I-"

"Shut the hell up!"

And, thankfully, he does.

"Demyx…" I turn around, keeping my grip firm. Zexion…oh moogles, he heard that, didn't he? He heard everything he said, everything I said. And, I can tell that he did, because…because his feet are turned inward, his lithe little body drowning in my clothes, his hair trying to hide those red-rimmed eyes, his hands trembling by his side. "Can…can we leave now?" He asks, hesitating, biting his lip until I'm sure he could taste that ruby red liquid pooling down his throat.

Slowly, I nod, letting that…that creature go. Zexion steps behind me, but…a little too far back, a couple of bags hugged tightly to his chest. The monster just sneers as we walk away, Zexion staying a safe distance away from me, and…even as we get into the car, I can see it. I can see what this little visit has caused. I can see it through my own plain, distorted gaze.

Zexion's terrified of me.

Aren't I awful? T.T

I really hadn't meant for that to go so badly for Zexion, but I couldnt' help myself.

R+R? I'll post another chapter before the 4th if you do~