Chapter 14

Hollow Bastion Orphanage

Roxas loved the ocean he's hearing while riding the ship. It felt so peaceful to him added with Axel being so close to him, he felt like he's the happiest guy in the world though there's really no way for him to say it out loud since it would really hurt his pride. In fact, he's afraid that puppies might die if he's acting that sappy. Waves of water could be heard splashing to the ship. Roxas had spent his twenty minutes just having a stare off with the ocean below him and he hadn't gotten bored yet. He loved the sea, he loved the color. It was his own eyes color and it reminded him a lot of Sora. However, the ocean's color seemed darkened and saddened. Roxas didn't know why he's feeling like this but it seemed like the ocean's crying and weeping—its color was really dark, not at all reflecting the bright skies above.

Maybe, he thought—maybe the ocean's been tainted—by what, he had no idea. When he was small, he used to go to the hill at the Twilight Town, just staring off to the ocean with Sora. He remembered exactly that he was still twelve years old that time and Sora was fifteen. The two boys would spend their time just staring at the vast blue seas. It was beautiful and Roxas loved it. However, as time passed by, Roxas had become busier and had started to ignore the beautiful things in life.

Even though the color's darkened, Roxas still loved that ocean he's looking at. The calm and soothing voice was enough to get him off of his thoughts. He had no real problem but his heart had been clenching ever since they boarded the ship. His breath hitched once in a while and sometimes, he found himself having a hard time breathing. The blond would hide his face and dig inside Axel's chest, inhaling the scent he was so familiar and comfortable with.

Axel shifted and Roxas felt more and more uneasy. The redhead didn't seem to have a quite time ever since they boarded the ship headed for Hollow Bastion. He would sometimes get up from where he was sitting and just walked around the ship back and fro, leaving Roxas alone sitting. He would go to the bar and buy a glass of frapuccino and it would take almost centuries for him to finish it and he would go back and buy another cup. Now, his stock was almost over and he was about to stand up and go buy some more. Roxas growled and yanked Axel's arm with both of his hands causing the redhead to thump down on the sofa. "Are you really that in need of caffeine? You've had three large cups of frapuccinos already, Ax," he pouted.

"Uh no, not really," Axel grinned. "I need to go to the toilet."

"Well, last time you said you wanted to go there too and you come back with another large cup of coffee. I might think you're cheating on me, Ax. I'm jealous," Roxas smiled deviously while at the same time sweetly. He leaned in closer to Axel and boring into his lover's emerald eyes.

Axel grinned widely. "I'm nervous."

"Nervous? Why?" Roxas tilted his head to the right out of confusion, folding his arms together, kneeling on the sofa so that he could match Axel's length.

"Look, I really need to go to the toilet," Axel chuckled awkwardly.

"Sure," the blond gave a small smile and watched as his lover walked away. He knew something was wrong with Axel but he couldn't guess why. Maybe he's nervous because he's about to take Roxas tohis hometown? Maybe he's nervous because Roxas was about to meet his family... "Family," Roxas mumbled. "Axel's from the orphanage..." he sat back down on his seat, furrowing his eyebrows together, thinking. That means Axel had lost his family, right? Maybe that why he's uneasy about this... But, if I'm from Hollow Bastion Orphanage and Axel's also from there... that would mean—I'm thinking too much...

After watching the sea for a little while more, Roxas decided to follow Axel. He got up, made sure that he left nothing behind, and headed over to the toilet. The toilet that was nearest to where he was sitting was occupied. He waited outside until everyone inside the three toilets to come out but Axel never showed himself for the last ten minutes. The blond became impatient and he growled, going inside every toilet to find out that there's no one.

--

Meanwhile, Axel's spending his time at the in-ship coffee bar, drinking the black coffee he just ordered. He didn't want to be near Roxas when he's like that. He'd rather spend his time in the bar but he couldn't. He knew Roxas needed him beside him. The redhead's face was becoming paler as the time passed by. "Are you alright?"

"Huh?"

"You're quite unforgettable and I think this is your fourth large cup of coffee," the bartender girl giggled.

"I'm good," Axel grinned.

"Hey," the girl purred. "I like your hair, it's hot. Where'd you get it done?"

"It's natural," Axel answered indifferently.

"Really? Hey, what say you and me go out together? I live in Hollow—"

"Sorry miss, I've got a boyfriend already and I don't want to quarrel with him again."

"Excuse me?" the girl put on a look of disgust on her face. "Boyfriend?"

"I'm not really interested in girls anymore," Axel laughed. "So, sorry there." Just as Axel was about to leave the bar, he saw his lover approached him from afar with a face of worry mixed with anger.

"You said you were going to the toilet. I waited for ten minutes for you but I didn't find you," the blond pouted, unhappy.

The girl rolled her eyes and looked away, clearly disgusted with the idea of homosexuality. Luckily, Axel was able to get himself to ignore her and he walked to Roxas, sneaking an arm around the lithe blond. "I need some more coffee," he reasoned.

"No, you wanted to see that girl, didn't you?" Roxas pouted once more, meeting Axel's eyes.

"Roxie—" Axel grinned.

"I don't want to quarrel with you, but Axel—" Roxas smirked and leaned over, placing his hands on Axel's chest and closed the distance between their lips. Axel was surprised at the contact, he put the plastic cup of coffee he's holding on the table behind him and circled the small body in front of him with his arms, holding the blond closer to him. Without hesitation, the redhead stuck his tongue out, asking Roxas for permission. Roxas gave approval almost immediately and began tongue battling with Axel. Wet sounds could be heard resounding through the whole bar area and the passengers that were also there couldn't help but stare as the two men kept going further with their little show of love.

Some gave a look of disgust, some stared in awe, some blushed, some smiled, and some managed to ignore the whole thing. The two kept on with their little ministrations until they had to separate to catch some breath. Axel grinned widely, looking into the blue eyes of his lover. "Roxas, that was... wow."

"You're mine and if I catch you trying to go with someone else other than me... prepare to get chopped to pieces, Ax," Roxas glared.

"I think I love you even more when you're jealous, Roxie. I wouldn't mind with you jumping me out of nowhere."

"You wish," Roxas grinned, circling his arms around Axel's neck about to pull the redhead down for another kiss again but the ship rocked and the two lost balance. Roxas ended up falling down flat on his back on the sofa, dragging Axel along with him. The ship soon calmed down and Roxas looked around to make sure everything was okay. One thing he was sure about, Axel sure didn't look fine. The redhead held his mouth tight with one of his hands, showing the look as if he's about to barf. Roxas panicked slightly as he saw his lover's face turning blue and he quickly released the arms that were around Axel's neck. The redhead quickly got up and walked away with long steps, soon out of sight.

The blond sat there, dumbfounded, looking around hoping that someone would tell him what's wrong. He quickly snapped back out of his thought and ran after Axel, into the toilet—where he thought Axel would be. And indeed—Axel was there, not even closing the door, barfing and transferring out the inside of his stomach through his mouth. Roxas curved his mouth down in every way possible but swallowed his nerve and ran over to comfort Axel. The color of what's coming out from Axel's mouth was not a pretty one. It's a mixture of brown, black, and white. Mostly brown since Axel consumed a lot of coffee. Roxas rubbed Axel's back and pat it a little so that Axel felt better.

Axel seemed to be okay for a moment and he took in a deep breath, slumped down on the sink but soon when the ship started to rock again, Axel was back to his previous activity. Roxas quickly reached out and dragged out a huge amount of tissues, shoving them over to Axel. The redhead coughed before finally stopped throwing up and fell on Roxas. Roxas held Axel. "You okay?"

"No, not at all," Axel answered weakly, his face pale.

"Aww, c'mon. Kissing me can't be that bad," the blond rolled his eyes, pushing Axel up and looking at him straight in the eyes. He put on a disappointed face.

"Roxie—" Axel chuckled but it sounded like a small fit of cough instead. "You know I love kissing you."

"Yeah, I know. And you know I love teasing you," Roxas grinned. "Ugh, you smell like puke."

"What do you know," Axel rolled his eyes.

"I can't believe you're sea sick," Roxas laughed loudly, amused. "Go wash your mouth and get rid of the smell," he ordered softly and Axel silently obeyed. "You should have told me about this."

"I don't want you to know," the redhead answered.

"Ah, afraid that I'd tie you to a ship if you did something wrong?" Roxas teased.

"Yeah."

"Hey, that's actually a good idea. Remind me of it when you did something wrong. ...it will be only an hour until we arrive. I'll try and make you feel better. Try to hold it in."

"Sure," Axel agreed half heartedly, wiping the water from his mouth and followed Roxas out of the small toilet which miraculously could fit the two.

They returned to their seats. Roxas helped Axel sat down first since the redhead was a little bit unsteady. After that, he sat down beside him. He watched Axel intently. The redhead looked really messes up, his eyes were closed and his long legs were stretched on the table in front of them. Roxas smiled and lifted Axel's legs, putting it down on the floor and jumping on, sitting on Axel's lap. "Does coffee makes you better?" he whispered, resting his head on Axel's shoulder.

"It helps me get my minds off of things," the redhead sneaked his arms around the blond.

"Tell me more about yourself. I never knew much about you, Ax..."

"Me? What do you want to know?" Axel chuckled but coughed later on, trying his best to keep the nausea in his stomach.

"Well, you said that you were from the orphanage. I never knew about that."

"Not many people know." A pause. Roxas wanted to persuade Axel to tell him but decided to stay quite. Finally, Axel began, "I was—put into the orphanage even though my Dad was still alive. Mom died early and dad ended up having to work someplace very far away. He couldn't take me along with him so he put me in HBO. He came home once in a while, maybe once for two or three years," he stopped.

"So, there's a chance I'll meet your dad in Hollow Bastion?"

"No, he's dead," Axel's face turned grim. His eyes were glued to the floor.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Roxas whispered guiltily, burying his face into Axel's wild untamed hair.

"Not your fault," Axel chuckled solemnly. "I never thought that—that would be last time of me seeing him... he's killed in front of my eyes..."

"Axel... it's okay if you don't want to talk about it..."

"I'm quite happy now actually. I have you with me. That, at least, can keep me entertained," the redhead laughed heartily.

"So, I've become a tool of entertainment to you?" Roxas grinned.

"Yup."

"I'll keep you addicted. So, how was life?"

"After dad died, everything went wrong and—" Axel stopped. "Well, it turns out well now. I have friends in HBO. There's this boy whose hair is blond just like you, named Demyx and he's super hyper in the morning. I can't stand him," he smirked. "And he's sort of in the crazy side too but he's a good guy. You definitely have to meet him and there's this guy, Zexion. He's on the quite side, opposite from Demyx but he's really smart and he could almost imitate and practice everything he's read or heard," he trailed off and glued his eyes to the floor again, not once trying to make eye contact with his lover sitting on his lap. "Roxas, listen... about your family... I was the one who—I'm really sorry, Roxas," his hands formed into fists, ready to receive any kind of hostility and questions from Roxas. He was going to spill it or least was trying to but Roxas remained silent on him. Soon, he heard a small soft snore from his neck. Axel looked over to find Roxas was already fast asleep with his head rested on his shoulder and his face near his neck, looking very peaceful. He felt a bit ticklish when Roxas breathed into his neck but he never showed a smile. His face remained grim and all he could say was, "Roxas..." he couldn't help but feel that something wrong will happen in Hollow Bastion—something that he would rather avoid.

--

When Roxas woke up, he found himself on a king size bed covered in a red fiery blanket which smelt like wardrobe but had this certain soft and warming scent of Axel. He didn't know where he was but he was sure that he's already in Axel's house and already got off the ship. He fell asleep and Axel carried him there. He felt a slight guilt for having fallen off asleep since Axel was telling him his story. He ran a hand through his messy hair and breathed out a huge sigh of disappointment—disappointed of himself. He jumped out of the bed and looked around the room, a nice small room with a wardrobe and a big glass slide window with white curtain.

He stepped out of the room and found himself in a small one room apartment with carpet floor. It was chilly there unlike the weather in Twilight Town. Roxas bit his lower lips, already feeling the shiver up his sleeves. He just realized that he's dressed in a thin t-shirt with knee length baggy pants, no wonder he's freezing. He found a small note place on the kitchen counter written:

Make yourself at home, Roxie. I have something to do, I'll be back soon. Axel.

Roxas set the note back on the counter. In front of the kitchen there was a small blank square area with nothing at all, no sofa, no TV, no computer, no table, no chair, nothing. The blond had no complain though since he didn't really mind whether there's entertainment or not but it sure will get boring. At least—there were some psychology books around in the corner.

--

Axel stepped in the big building painted white. The inside was bluish and there were a lot of kids. Some were already teenagers while most were kids. There were quite a few that Axel didn't recognize. He's quite surprised that the orphanage had taken in a number of orphans in his three months absence. Not that any of it was his business but something's felt wrong around there. Without asking for any permission from anyone, he stepped into the sleeping quarters located in the west wing of HBO. He stepped inside the room he was already so familiar with. Inside, he found a teen wearing black sweaters and skin wrapping jeans, sitting on his bed anxiously, staring out the window. His lilac hair covered half of his face, hiding his expression. When he noticed the presence in his room he quickly stood up and turned around to regard the redhead man.

"Axel," he called with a low deep grimacing voice.

"Where's Demyx?" Axel asked.

"Xigbar took him away..." the teen said and stared with blank emotions.

"Xigbar? What's he up to?"

"I don't think he's going to do anything but I'm still worried."

"And you just watched as Demyx was taken away?" Axel asked, growing impatient.

"I couldn't do anything, number eight."

"You could! But you didn't!" Axel growled, grabbing the teen's arm and yanked it. The lilac haired teen hissed at the pain sent to his body. Axel noticed it and he pushed the long sleeve of the teen's sweater up. His eyes grew wide out of anger when he saw the bruises, scratches, and wounds that tainted the pale arm. "Who did this?"

"Axel, Xemnas's back."

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me! Have you found out what he's doing in his three years absence?"

The teen shook his head. "I couldn't find out anything. He knows what we're doing and planning."

"Zexion, where'd Xigbar take Demyx off to?"

"The lab."

Axel's eyes grew wide. He hated those words. Everything that's taken into "the lab" came out either dead or worst than before. Zexion suddenly coughed out blood. The blood painted the white ceramic floor red. The fit of coughs continued and more blood came out from the teen's mouth. Axel ran over to soothe that friend of his. He was relieved when the cough stopped.

"I tried to fight with them and they made me eat something... I think it's alive in my stomach. I can't get it out."

"What the hell?! What's..."

"A lot of things happened in this past three months, Axel. A lot of kids here suddenly disappeared and a lot more was brought in. I don't know what happened to them."

"Xemnas must be trying to perform the—"

"Zexy," A teen with Mohawk blond hair came into the room with clothes torn to pieces and little to cover his body. Zexion, despite his pain, took the blanket and ran over to cover Demyx. The both kneeled down and Demyx just smiled, hugging Zexion, and rubbing the back of the lilac haired teen.

--

Roxas yelped a bit when he heard the sound of the door unlocking. It had been very quite for the past few hours and he had been reading intensely to pass the time. When he saw the familiar redhead got into the apartment, he smiled, put down his book, and ran over to his lover's side. His smile disappeared when he saw Axel's clothes covered with blood. He approached Axel slowly but his steps fastened a while later. He held onto the taller man's arms. "Axel, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Leave me alone, Roxas."

"What?"

"I need some time alone. Leave me be."

Roxas stared and finally stood straight, letting go of his grip. Axel shut the door behind him and walked pass Roxas and headed straight to the bathroom. Roxas decided that it's best to leave Axel be even though he's worried and curious. He got back to his book but found out soon that he couldn't concentrate at all.

Axel got into the bathtub and turned on the shower without even bothering to take off his clothes. He kneeled down on the bathtub and punched the wall. His fists soon bleed. He couldn't help but feel angered. Angered—and there's nothing he could do. Something's very wrong was happening and he had no idea on how to reverse it. Demyx and Zexion were in pain and all he could do was just stand there. He couldn't call the cops. Hollow Bastion didn't really have cops and even if there was—it would be pointless. Every single person that's in the orphanage or had ever been in it would be tortured with no idea on how their future would turn out. Even those who had managed to run away would still be haunted by it.

As far as Axel knew, Xemnas had bound all thirteen of them and he's not sure if the man had found a new member. He didn't really care, all he wanted was to save everyone. More importantly—Roxas. He's sure that Xemnas would come to Roxas someday and that someday would be soon. He had to take Roxas somewhere safe but he couldn't tell him the truth. Roxas would turn hostile towards him and everything would go wrong. He wasn't ready. Last time he was about to tell, Roxas had fallen asleep.

--

On the bed in the quite orphanage, two teens were hugging each other on the bed. None of them could sleep either because of the nightmares that haunted them, the silence, or the fit of coughs from Zexion that always threw out blood causing the blanket to be damp and painted red. Demyx was beyond worried. He couldn't stand just lying there and looking at his best friend's pain. Demyx finally decided to summon his water but was stopped soon by Zexion. "You can't," he said, voice hoarse.

"It will make you feel better."

"And you'll get worse. Don't be stupid, Dem." Zexion's voice almost sounded like a whisper.

"But—that thing that Xaldin put inside your mouth...!"

"It's still inside here, Dem. And I think it's eating the insides of my stomach," Zexion said calmly. If people didn't know better, they'd think the teen was joking.

"Zex!" Demyx almost shouted, unable to hide his building worry.

"I'll be okay."

"No, you're not. This is..." Demyx narrowed his eyes and avoided Zexion's eyes. He swallowed his nerve and sneaked his arms around Zexion's neck, pulling the boy in and placed his lips on his. He pushed his tongue into Zexion's mouth forcefully without warning causing the boy to yelp. The blond seemed to be searching for something inside of Zexion. Zexion tried his best to push Demyx away only causing Demyx to tighten his embrace. The kiss continued until Zexion felt something inside of him was taken away. Demyx had used his water technique and transferred the creature into his own body.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll be able to tame that thing inside me," Demyx grinned with confidence. "Now we're even. You've tried to save me before and now I've tried to save you," his words ended with a fit of cough.

"Dem!" The usual emotionless Zexion showed worry in his face. He sat up, trying to find a way to help Demyx but his usual clever brain couldn't produce any good idea.

"I'm okay," the blond forced a smile. "Hey, Zexion."

"Yeah?"

Demyx gulped and hugged Zexion tightly, almost crushing the smaller male. Zexion hid his face inside Demyx's chest and gripped the blond's shirt tightly. "Axel will come out with a way to save us right?... to get us out of this curse? And you'll come up with a plan too, right?"

"Yes, I will find out a way, Dem. I will."

"And I will protect you. We've been together for so long now, right?"

Zexion hummed as a reply, remembering back the day he and Demyx met. He had hated Demyx at first and he's still not quite sure about how he felt about Demyx now. On the other hand, Demyx felt a strong emotion over Zexion. The blond had always showed emotions to everyone however, he knew Zexion was different—different in more ways than he could ever imagine but he couldn't figure out what.

The night was peaceful and cold. The two best friends kept warm by hugging onto each other while on the other side of the town, Roxas couldn't sleep and he kept wondering. Next to him was Axel who had remained silent ever since. He hadn't spoken a single word since then even though Roxas had diverted the conversation to something else. He hadn't even touch Roxas which Roxas found very unusual. Roxas soon felt the cold taking over him even though he had been safely tugged in the blanket, without Axel's warmth, nothing felt the same for him. He managed to fall asleep. That night, nightmares started to take over the blond's dream again, while the redhead was wide awake.

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Alright, so... it turned out this way. Let's see... this is awkward. Please, tell me what you think. I'll reply to the reviews I can't reply online here. I think I've replied the all the reviews for the last chapter. :D Thank you very much for reading and reviewing!

Rikku2233: Hey, thank you very much! No, you don't need to be sorry. Hehe, I'm very glad that you're still reading and I hope you keep reading on. Thank you!

Tre Le Coco: Thank you! I'm glad to know that you think this isn't turning out as a disappointment. I hope I can write out Roxas' reaction well though. It would be soon, maybe in the next two chapters. Thank you! I've finally moved. Hehe :D

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Yay! Update at last! I'm really sorry that this takes so long to update. Life's been treating me harshly recently so forgive me for the crappy-ness of this chapter (I think there are many grammatical errors and jumbled up sentences in this chapter)... Ahaha. I hope you enjoyed it though and I guess you're very confused—though I hope not... Thank you very much! Oh and happy AkuRoku day! (in two days) :D Hope you have a great day!