It's the last week of August, you know what that means?
Castaway, and after that a tearful farewell to Destiny altogether.
I don't even want to think of the moment I have to bid farewell to Axel.
I...
But I do. The thought comes and goes through my head every night and I wish I could shake the thought but I can't. The thought of the moment when I finally have to leave his side is gnawing at my mind.
Like tonight, the night before we head out to the island.
Roxas is snoozing on my floor, his foot twitching ever so slightly every five seconds. I
God, it's two thirty in the morning and all I can do is watch my brothers foot twitch like a weirdo while engaging in deep thought.
Gaaaah...
My room is illuminated by the dark title screen of a horror movie on the t.v. Roxas and I stayed up pretty late talking like we used to in the old days about boys, girls, and superheros. The blaring red numbers demands my attention from across the room after a while, at least after Roxas' foot stopped twitching. Boxes stayed packed away by the door of my bathroom, and everything I'm not taking with me is in my closet, ready to be packed away in Roxas' room for safekeeping and entertainment as he sees fit once I'm gone.
My room lays so bare, I feel like a kid again.
I can't believe I'm leaving.
Just like that, I'm gone.
No driving the usual twenty minutes to get to school with Roxas.
No gossiping at lunch with Kairi and Namine.
No heading to the old hangout to do competitions.
No Riku. Not ever...
No mom...
No Donny!
Yet, no Roxas...
Not until next year.
And...
No...
...Axel.
That last one doesn't feel real.
What do you mean no Axel? We're just starting to click.
I mean, he's...my boyfriend.
I know...I know.
It can't be real.
He...probably wants to break up with me...
We haven't talked about it.
I see how this is a problem now.
I pick up my phone and text Axel.
"Can't sleep."
His reply wasn't far behind.
"You too, huh? I'm feelin' sleep deprived at this point."
"What's...going to happen to us...?"
"What do you mean?"
He calls me and I tell him to hold on for a second before going downstairs to the backyard.
"Hey." I lean up against the glass door.
"What do you mean?"
I stare out into my empty back yard, looking out at the ocean to where my hangout is.
The moon is hanging over head, illuminating the view.
"I'm...afraid of what's going to happen to us."
"...Nothing has to happen."
"But-"
"-I don't want to hold you back, but I...don't want to leave you either. It's been bothering the fuck out of me and I...I don't care how far you are from me. I really don't care, I mean, as long as you don't. I like you a lot, and I'm willing to try if you are...I-I don't know what I'm saying anymore. Do you understand?" He sounds tired—almost asleep-yet genuine and I can't help but giggle at his raspy voice ramblings.
"Don't worry 'bout it anymore, I won't go anywhere if you don't."
I breathe a sigh of relief, "Okay."
"Get your butt to bed, I'll be seeing you soon sweetheart."
"Night."
"Nighty night."
-x-
ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I jump out of bed and grab the source of noise, gripped in Roxas' hand; a fucking air horn.
"What the fuck is your problem!" I scream at Roxas, who's already half dressed.
"I've been letting you sleep in! Time to go get dressed!" He laughs.
"Get out of my fucking room!"
"Okay but get ready!"
"GET OUT!" I open my door and push him into the hallway before locking my door.
I look at the clock and it's six thirty.
Fucking shit.
Guess I have been sleeping in...
Fuck if I care.
"Ugh..." I tear off my pajamas angrily and put on the clothes I left out for myself last night. I step into my shoes and throw my duffel bag over my back.
"Sora! You gonna hurry the fuck up or what!? We're waiting down here!"
"Roxas shut up!" I yell back pissed, heading into my bathroom.
I wash my face and brush my teeth, slipping the tooth brush in my bag afterward.
I dash down the stairs and look inside the fridge.
"Oh my god you slow cow lets goooooo!"
"If you fucking boys don't shut the fuck up and leave now you're never leavin'!" We here from the basement.
"We're leavin' we're leavin'! Sora, let's go." Roxas closes the front door. I skip food and head out to my car.
Axel's sitting on the trunk of my car smoking a cigarette while Hiro and Roxas converse on the inside. I head to the trunk of my car and give Axel a long kiss good morning.
He's just as tired and cranky as I am.
"I'm going to sleep inside the car..." He yawns, moving off of my trunk.
I throw our bags in the trunk and we're off.
-x-
"Babe, wake up..."
"In a second..."
"You're being too easy on him, you gotta yank the comfort away. Like so."
I feel the hard surface under me move and I catch myself right before I fall out of the front seat onto the pavement. I look up and notice Hiro smirking.
"See?" He looks over to Sora.
"You're a jerk."
I unfasten the seat belt and get out of the car. I see the boats on the dock bobbing up and down and my stomach begins to churn.
Boats.
I grab my bags from the trunk and wait with Sora while he locks his car up for the week. I start smoking a cigarette, looking down the line of boats that had gathered ashore.
I wonder which monstrous machine I get to ride in...
"You smoking those cancer sticks again, Ax?" I hear Sora call from the inside of his car.
I sigh, "Yes, dear."
"You know tongue can grow hair from it, right Ax?"
"I know, dear."
"Just you watch," We start walking towards the docks, "You're gonna grow some pretty little hairs on your tongue there and you'll never feel mine with it again."
"Why call them pretty if you're not gonna love 'em?"
Boats were tied down all along the docks. Some were taking off and some were just returning. Kids lined up in front of the boats, joking around and getting ready for the time of their lives. Hiro and Roxas trudged on ahead, heading over to what I hope isn't our boat.
"Over here!" Kairi waves from the docks.
Jesus Christ...
My cigarette reaches the end and fizzles out on me.
We start on the old wet docks towards Kairi's sea cruiser and the knots in my stomach begin to tighten more and more.
Land disappeared beneath the dock soon, and it's just water.
Deep water.
"Ready for the time of your lives?"
I just laughed. I avoid eye contact with the vessel, turning my back to it completely after awhile to look at land as Sora and Kairi spoke to each other.
"Ready Axel?" Sora wraps his arm around mine.
"Come on, we're about to leave."
Okay Axel, try not to come off as a complete bitch.
I walked up to the ship. Waters splashed below where the dock ended and the boat starts.
"You first, I want to be able to catch you if you pass out."
"Oh hardy har har you fucking pirate..." I retort, jumping on the ship quickly and carefully. Kairi walks past us and tells us to follow her.
Once inside I take the closest seat available, clinging onto it for dear life. Sora notices my anxiety but everyone else ignores it.
"This is nice, geez Kairi didn't know your old man got payed so much just to sit around and do jack—ow!"
Hiro receives a stern smack across the cheek.
"We aren't on a stolen boat...right? You got permission to use it?"
"Of course I did! Daddy loves me enough to listen to my mom when she yells at him to give me what I want since I'm leaving for college."
We all just stare.
"What?"Kairi asks.
"Give the girl a break, guys." Namine laughs.
-x-
As the boat pushes off away from the shores, Axel only seems to be getting worse. His eyes stared off into nothingness and he turned pale.
I've never seen anyone get this seasick, and so fast too.
"I'm...going to throw up." He finally speaks after thirty minutes of silence.
"Kairi, where's the bathrooms?" I ask.
"Down below."
"Are you kidding me? I have to submerge myself under this fucking death trap?"
"Well, it's either that or you can throw up over board-outside."
He looks behind us and takes a gaze outside the large windows of the ship. Calm waters and a blue horizon is visible.
He stands up, "I'm going under..."
His movements are slow and sluggish towards the door that leads us below. I run up and open the door for him.
-x-
We walked into the closest door on our right. Inside contained two beds and a small desk with a lamp. To the left was a door that led to the bathroom.
For about thirty minutes I stared through the window of the ship while hearing Axel's brutal gurgling noises.
He told me to go and explore, but I didn't want to without him.
The ship rocked steadily with the waves.
I offered to help, but he instead locked the door on me.
"No one should have to see this, you're too nice. You wanna help, get me crackers or something," I recall him saying before a slight shove sent me out of the bathroom.
So I did, but the crackers and water have been sitting there since I got 'em.
"I think...I'm gonna die on this boat." I hear him say from the bathroom.
"You need some fresh air, come outside with me?" I lay back on the bed and suggest.
I hear him laugh, "Dead."
"Well, technically speaking, the last place you want to be in case of an emergency is on a boat is down below..."
His voice heightens, "Stop speaking."
"Don't you feel a little claustrophobic by now?"
"...You lose some to win some, Sora. Can you hand me my toothbrush?"
I pull Axel's black bag from the floor onto my belly and start rummaging.
-x-
Here I am on a yacht and all I can do is puke into this fucking toilet and make my boyfriend stay with me out of fear for my safety and pity.
Fancy.
For the hundredth time I flush the toilet. The room is spinning and I feel that horrible, hot sensation.
I wish I had something...oh wait!
I pulled out my wallet and there it falls out.
Two motion-sickness pills that I always keep in my wallet.
"Oh shit..."
FACEPALM.
"What?"
"Found two motion sickness pills." I admit, grabbing the bottle of water to pop my pills.
"Really? That's great! Now you can hang out with me!"
I pop the two pills and look through my wallet more with one hand as I brush my teeth with the other.
I finish up and dry my toothbrush.
I pick up my wallet again and old photos of me and Hiro fall out, and then the mother-load.
"What the fuck is this?!" I couldn't control my excitement.
It was the coke that Saix had gifted me a few months ago.
I searched my wallet six hundred times after fighting Riku and thought I had lost it.
"What? What is it!" I hear Sora's body pressing up against the door and he makes me smile a lil.
He's cute.
"Ah..." I pondered letting him in on my stash.
Would he approve?
...
Because I really don't feel like dumping a bunch of grade A coke from Costa Del Sol down the drain.
Would I even go that far?
For Sora...?
Ah, I don't think so. Can't go 'round sacrificing my stash for every person I wanted to get with.
That'd be retarded.
But I'll take a gamble.
I let him in the bathroom, "So what is it?"
He looks down and to my surprise, he immediately swoops up the bag. My heart starts beating and I lean against the wall, sticking my hands in my pocket and expecting the worse. Instead he inspects it, before popping open the bag.
"What are you doing?" I ask him nervously.
He smiles, "Why call me in here for something if I can't check it out? What is it? Is it sugar? Salt? Some of that other stuff the cool kids are doing nowadays?" He inspects it in the light. I've almost forgotten how naive Sora can really be sometimes.
He dips his finger and licks God knows how much of it before I could stop him, "Be careful! It's some powerful stuff..." I take the bag back from him and notice the large impression his finger left.
He sticks his tongue out, "I'd say so..."
"It goes up your nose, sweetheart."
"Yeesh, Axel that's crazy..."
I look at him.
He looks at me.
We start laughing.
I sense the want in his eyes and I'm only waiting now.
"...Can I try?"
I laugh,"You already took a huge taste, yeah, sure."
-x-
If I'm going to be part of the crowd, I might as well start before I get off the boat, right?
The taste was bitter but the numbing felt magnificent for some reason. I wanted more. I sit on the counter, watching Axel pour out some of the white crystalline powder next to me. He works fast and takes out a business card, rolling it up tightly. Next he takes a credit card of his and draws out two intimidating lines.
"You sure you want some of Satan's sugar?" He hands over the rolled up card.
"Pfff..." Is all I can muster up out of my fear before I swipe the handmade straw away. I stare down at the lines, scared shitless yet nowhere ready to back down.
I came here for a reason, and that is to get fucked up.
"...Correct." I say to my inner musings.
"What?"
"Just so we're on the right page, this isn't meth or anything...right?"
Axel rolls his eyes, "Of course not Sora geez-"
"-Okay, okay. Just makin' sure..."
I breathe out before leaning down and slowly sniff the line up.
Finishing up I feel a small kick and my nose begins to burn.
"Oww...owwww! Ugh..."
I shiver, "Horrible, that's just awful."
But it isn't horrible, my god...
He smiles, "Consider yourself luckier than the rest..."
He holds his long red hair back in his left hand before taking in his line.
I feel jumpy, as I begin bouncing in my shoes.
"Ugh!" I taste the coke goop drip down the back of my throat by surprise. He laughs, "I know, tastes like crud."
An unpleasant, horrible surprise none the less, but I'm giving it a shot.
-x-
"Ah..." I'm feeling great again. I let my hair go and stick the baggie of coke and straw in my pocket.
As we leave the bathroom, I feel in control again. Sora's facial muscle's are saying "fuck gravity" as his grin stays steady.
"Let's go!" He sits impatiently at the door of the room.
I throw my bag over my back and we're off.
We run into every single room we can find, twice.
Up to the deck, but I still felt weirded out about stepping outside so we resumed down below activity for a third time before finding the cockpit where Wakka and Tidus were manning the ship.
And man, do we fuck with them.
"Hey." I sneak up on Tidus' side.
"Sup." Sora blocks in Wakka.
"Oh here we go..."Tidus says.
"What's going on th manning deck Pirate Wakka?" Sora speaks gibberish and I follow his lead.
"Have we made contact with the gigantor whales? What's our status?"
"Don't you guys have anyone else to botha?" Wakka grunts.
"We're all captains in command here!"
"Affirmative." I back Sora's ground.
"Hey, if we used this radio thingy could we call all the other yachts over for a yacht party?"
"I'm the only captain in command here, for one! For two, hey what are you-"
"-Two ten four this is King Sora any other party yachts in the vicinity?"
Wakka's jaw drops and he grabs the radio back from Sora, "What da hell are you on?! You know you could get us in trouble!?"
The radio crackles,"...WHOOOOOO! PARTY OVER HERE!"
"Hey it worked!" We start cracking up and even Tidus can't help but be entertained.
"For two! The radio is for emergency purposes only! Three!"
Wakka and Tidus nod in agreement to something, before pushing us aside and walking towards the door that leads out of the cockpit.
"Wait!" I nearly flip shit, not knowing how a boat really operates.
Tidus and Wakka smile at each other, "What is it, bradda?"
"What's the captain and the co-captain doing walking out on us. What if we go down?"
"You two are pirates, you can figure out how to man a ship, especially before it hits that."
I look to the front where I see the approaching land mass that was originally called Amaya.
Castaway.
They start laughing and Sora winks at me and then scoffs, "I can handle this. Now, let's see which button to press first...I think the mayor would like it if I pressed this big, red, butt-"
"-Move! The mayors not gonna have my butt ova dis! Lu would kill me if I got fired over a couple of stupid kids!" Wakka takes us by the back of our shirts.
"Hey man what are ya doin'? This isn't cool!"
"Yeah man, we know karate!" Sora laughs.
"Yeah you wish." Tidus holds the door open and Wakka effectively throws us out before locking the door.
"Good thinking. Fucking pirates man. Karate?" We hear Tidus laughing beyond the door.
We look at each other as we sat on the floor and begin to laugh.
"It's a pirates life for me." Sora helps me up and we go out into the main room of the boat. Kairi and Pence are playing cards while Hiro snoozes.
Namine and Roxas are outside, talking amongst themselves.
"Hey Axel you're actually walking again." Pence notices.
"Yeah, found two motion-sickness pills in my wallet. Lucky me."
"...Mmm, pussy..." Hiro turns over on the small couch, pretending to sleep still.
-x-
The sun feels great against my skin, I wish I hadn't worn all black today though.
It's so hot.
We arrive at Amaya where Castaway has already kicked off. The old docks were filled with boats of all sizes and topless chicks laay upon the beaches tanning.
Water balloons are being thrown and music is playing everywhere.
Axel, Roxas, Hiro and I sat on top of our bags on the beach. We had one tent to pitch, and a crap ton of canned food inside of a small cooler along with a lot of pot and a few tall cans of beer.
"We should set up camp by the trees." Axel suggests.
"Why not here? In the nice open?" Hiro contests.
Axel rolls his eyes, "It's hot as hell right now, the last place I want to be pitching a fucking tent is under the sun near the fucking ocean. What happens if high tide hits us in our sleep?"
"You're just saying that because you're afraid of the ocean, pussy!"
"Call me pussy one more time-" Axel stands.
"-Guys!" I stop them from fighting.
"I think, that we should probably stay by the woods." I admit.
"I second that." Roxas says, wiping the sweat gathering on his forehead. Hiro rolls his eyes.
"It's just that it's really hot. Shade would be nice, and Axel brings up a good point about the tide."
"Pshh, whatever. You're just playing favorites."
We all stand up and pick up our bags. Axel smiles, tilting his head, "Of course he is. But you're also a little bitch afraid of the woods. Karma, Hiro."
We start walking up the shore towards the grassy land. People buzzed about partying their hearts out.
"Am not!" He catches up to us. Axel starts to laugh, "Hiro's afraid of the woods because when we were little we went camping and my mom scared the shit out of us. It obviously stuck with him for the rest of his life though."
"What she do?" Roxas asks.
"Nothing-"
"-She left us alone in the middle of the night to go pee and Hiro started crying like a baby. 'Mommy's never coming back Axel waaaaaaaahhhhhhh'!"
"Shut up!"
"Dude is that true Hiro? How old were you?"
"He was nine."
"That isn't the whole story! A possum was dying five feet away from our tent and I thought it was mom for the longest time! Axel thought it too! Don't lie asshole tell 'em!"
"I thought she was just thizzing out like she used to whenever we'd go to bed. So, I guess I was afraid that she was having a bad trip or something."
"You're a fucking liar, you told me she was dying by hand of big foot. She purposely put that possum there. What a skank." Hiro grumbles.
-x-
The woods are overflowing with people coming in and out. A few pets roamed around with their owners. I can hear parties from all around. We decided to set up camp under a large Douglas fir tree.
"Ah..." I touch the tree with my palms, looking up at it's greatness.
It goes for miles...
An over-exaggeration, I know. But they're tall none the less.
These trees are so uncommon on Destiny; you only see them when you make the great trek up the mountains over there.
But over here, they're everywhere. It's like the tree's around Twilight University, too.
I don't know, I like them.
"See? It's at least five degrees cooler under here."
"Yeah, I guess you're right..."
"Hey guys." Namine climbs up the small hill over to our post, two brown paper bags in hand.
"Where's Kairi?" I ask heading over to the tent.
"She was talking to Wakka and Tidus before the left. She's coming now but she told me to only let you guys get a hold of ONE bottle. So here." Namine hands over one brown paper bag to me.
We all stock up into the tent. Roxas pulls out the plastic cups we brought and I pull the bottle out of the bag.
From there we start drinking until the bottle's all gone. Axel suggest we explore the woods and I agree. Roxas decides to stay behind with Namine. Since Hiro's so reluctant to even venture into the woods we delegate him with the responsibility of watching the tent and our food stash before setting out.
We walk for what seem like forever, jumping on stumps and making up random games along the way to where ever.
We come across a cliff and I look down, seeing the large beautiful body of water calling my name.
"Axel let's go swimming!"
He shrugs, "Let's go."
-x-
We find our way to the lake, but I didn't expect there to be so many...
Girls.
They sat off to the sides and on the rocks. Their chatter seemed to calm as soon as me and Axel arrived at the scene. He throws his bag off, looking back at me with a grin, "Ready?"
I slightly shake my head.
He cocks a brow, "Whaddya mean? You just told me you wanted to go swimming."
I look down at my shoes, contemplating about getting down to my underwear. The lake looks refreshing though, I can't lie. Axel starts peeling his clothing off and I follow his lead. I strip down to my embarrassing red and black mouse ear briefs before hearing a wolf whistle coming from the crowd of girls just off to the left.
"I like it." Axel shouts from the water with a thumbs up.
"Show us your penis...!" I hear a loud whisper from their group and blush as they start cackling loudly.
I rush into the water and take a dive before coming up for air.
Axel is circling me like a shark.
"So you do know how to swim." I flip the hair out of my eyes.
"Of course I do, the ocean scares me. Lakes always come to an end, I'm okay with this."
We swim for a while, doing flips and handstands and racing.
Girls stared at us like we were pieces of meat, I was afraid that they'd be the ones taking off with our clothing.
I was dead wrong.
I swim up from under the surface of the water and I notice that the girls are gone.
Great, what's even more awesome is that it looks like our clothes are still there.
What's bad is that I can't see Axel.
He's just gone.
Poof.
"Ax...? This isn't funny..."
Before I know it, I'm screaming out like a little girl who's just been pantsed underwater and I'm kicking as hard as I can. It works against me and like that, I am naked in a body of water.
Axel doesn't surface until he's next to the shore again.
"AXEL!" I yell at him, swimming towards the shore like mad.
"Sorry babe, couldn't help myself! These are so cute!" He stretches them out above his head.
I stand twenty feet away from the shore in the lake still, cupping my genitals as I face this uncomfortable situation.
"Ax, what are you doing?" I ask him quietly.
"I...don't know, actually. Maybe I'm taking this prank a little too far..." He says out loud before grabbing my pile of clothes along with his and walking away.
"Axel don't leave me here! Please!"
He's whistling like a bastard as he leaves me in my current state.
"Axel you piece of shit!" I yell out one last time before giving up.
"Shit..."
I sink down into the water and turn away from the shore, focusing my gaze upon the mountain backdrop that surrounds the lake. The sun was slowly starting to sink back down to the horizon and I was starting to get cold and VERY angry.
Fucking Axel you always have to be such a fucking asshole don't you you stupid mother-
"Why hello there!"
I look over my shoulder slowly and see some random ass blonde guy standing at the shore, waving at me.
I cock a brow and he shifts his eyes for a second, "You, you're Sora right? Axel's boyfriend?"
"Yeah!" I quickly spin around in the water and swim up a bit close to the shore again.
"You seen him? Tell him when I get my hands on him I'm going to strangulate him!"
"Tell him that yourself, he sent me here with these. Told me to tell you to catch him if you can. Hold on..." He sets down a small guitar and opens his bag, rummaging through it.
"Who are you, anyways?"
"Oh, I'm Demyx! But you can call me Dem, or Myx, or, um...Demyx," He shakes his head, "Yeah!"
He finally finds my boxer briefs and tosses them to me.
"I never thought Axel would ever have a boyfriend, but I'm glad he's not with the wicked witch of the west anymore."
"Larxene?"
"The one and only ant queen."
We laugh and I climb out of the water.
I'm a bit blown away by how...well...uhm...cute, Axel's friend is.
He's wearing a pink dress shirt rolled up over his elbows over a white tee with cut off jeans. His eyes are hidden behind large, green framed sunglasses. He has two large black gauges, or at least that's what I think you call him. His hair fell as a lazy fohawk. Maybe he tried hard to style it, maybe he didn't try at all.
"Ax wants me to make sure you don't get lost, ready?"
"Yeah."
"Groovy."
Despite my lack of clothing, I'm glad that I have something to go off of. We start walking back into the woods.
Something about him is so funky and exotic, I can't help but stare as he starts dancing around to the disco music that emits from his large headphones, his fingers pointing up into the sky as he bounced to the beat.
"You can't go wrong with Disco, always remember that."
"Of course, seeing as though it's arguably the mother of techno."
He grins, "I like you already."