a/n: damn these chapters are just flying outta me, i hope this lasts xD again, it's not the longest chapter, but it's here fast so whatever!

enjoy!

a-far-off-memory

"Roxas...what do we do? She's looking at us..."

Ven's quiet question snapped Roxas out of the daze he'd fallen into from seeing his sister leap into his mother's arms. Slowly, he met his brother's eyes, mouth opening and closing as he tried to find a suitable answer until he finally muttered, "I...I don't know..." He swallowed hard, taking a deep breath. "I guess we should...get out of the car?" Getting out of the car was the last thing he wanted to do. He felt sick, and he didn't even want to look at his mother, let alone be nearer to her.

But now Naminé was looking at them expectantly, like she didn't understand why they weren't running to hug their mother like she had.

Again, for the second time that day, Roxas wished he could think more like she did. That things could be as easy for him as they were for her. But she was just a kid, she couldn't understand just how horrible what their mother did truly was...

"I don't want to, Roxas..."

Biting his lip, Roxas rested a hand on his brother's shoulder in an offer of comfort. "I know, Ven...I don't want to either. But Naminé doesn't understand, and...we gotta act normal for her right now." He saw tears rising in the younger blond's eyes, and so he quickly pulled him in for a crushing hug. "Come on, I'll be right beside you. We have to."

Finally, Roxas felt a shaky nod before Ven pulled away, taking a deep breath to compose himself. Slowly, they each opened their doors and stepped out, closing them before converging in front of the car. For the first time since childhood, their hands locked together.

Tifa hadn't moved past the front porch yet, and Naminé was still in her arms. Her brown eyes were misty with tears, but Roxas didn't want to see that. He wasn't going to give in to her tears, not when she'd done so much to screw up their lives.

She wasn't going to get his forgiveness, not easily at least.

They stopped a few feet from the porch. Rain continued to pour, drenching them, but neither of them really cared. They weren't taking another step.

Sensing this, Tifa set Naminé down. "Baby, how about you run inside? It's too cold out, go up to your room and get some jammies on. We'll watch a movie in a little bit."

Nodding rapidly, Naminé ran inside the second she was let down. Tifa pulled the door shut behind her, shoulders tense, before turning back to her sons and offering a weak smile.

"Roxas, Ven...I'm home. I'm so s—"

"Save it," Roxas cut in venomously. Now that his sister was gone, he wasn't going to hold himself back. "This is not your home, mother. You lived here for two weeks. This is our home, where we've lived without you and done just fine." His free fist clenched, and he could feel himself starting to tremble with anger. "We don't want your fucking sorry, mom, because your sorry means nothing. Naminé doesn't understand that you abandoned us, but we do, and you know what? Your sorry can't fucking fix what we've been through. So don't even bother wasting your breath."

Tifa's hands came up to cover her mouth as her tears spilled over, her shoulders shaking with barely contained sobs. Tearful brown eyes moved to her younger son, and she flinched when she saw the same anger on Roxas' face on his as well. "I..." Her eyes clenched shut, a loud sob tearing free. That sob shot straight through Roxas' heart, because no one ever wants to see their mother cry, but... "I didn't mean to be gone so long, I swear, but I...I needed to heal, and I'm better now. I wanted...I wanted to come back in time for Ven's graduation..."

Roxas felt as Ven recoiled, looking over to find him biting his lip to try and hold back the tears that wanted to spill. Roxas wanted to cry, too, but no tears seemed to come.

"Well you know what, mom? You might as well have stayed away longer, because I'm not fucking graduating this year! I haven't been to school in almost two months! But you wouldn't know that—you also wouldn't know that Roxas has moved heaven and earth to take care of us at the cost of his own health! You wouldn't know that he had to quit school because he has so much stress! And you also wouldn't know that he doesn't need to see you, that he doesn't need this shit when his boyfriend just finally woke up after being in a car accident over a week ago! You don't know anything about us anymore, and you know what? That's your loss! We've survived without you for this long, and we can keep surviving without you!" Roxas felt a sharp tug on his hand as Ven began to move back to the car. "Come on, let's go to Zack and Aerith's. They've been more of a family to us than our own mother has, anyway."

Numbly, Roxas allowed himself to be pulled back toward the car, mechanically getting in and starting it up. He didn't look at his mother as he pulled out of the driveway and turned down the road that would take them to the Fair residence—he couldn't do it. His heart was aching and racing and he felt like he was going to throw up if he didn't get away, so he drove until he pulled up outside of Zack and Aerith's home, where he cut the engine and let his head rest against the steering wheel.

"Deep breaths, bro," Ven soothed, sniffling as he wiped at his tears. "Don't even bother thinking about that bitch, don't let her ruin how happy you are about Axel."

"What about Naminé?" he asked weakly. "We just...left. Without any explanation or goodbye to her. We left her, Ven..."

His brother pulled him in for a fierce hug, fingers knotting in the back of his shirt. "I know, Rox...I know. But we had to do it. I don't know about you, but...I didn't want to go back into that house knowing she'd be there too. I know she's our mother, but...I can't look at her right now."

Roxas felt a lump rising in his throat, and he choked out a quiet, "I know." He knew exactly what his brother meant—that house felt alien now, disturbed by her presence.

"Come on, let's just go inside. Zack and Aerith will know what to do..."

Huddled together, they made their way up to the door. They were soaked from standing out in the rain, but it seemed like a minor detail.

A moment after knocking, the door was opened by Aerith, whose eyes widened at the sight of them. "Boys? You're soaked, what are you doing here?"

But then they just collapsed into her arms, unable to get the words out. Roxas vaguely heard her call for Zack as he clutched her tight, feeling her arm wrap around him in response. The tears were finally falling, and he was all but screaming into her chest as it all poured out—all the anger, the hurt, the sadness...it all came out at once, leaving him whimpering and sobbing like a little child.

Zack helped Aerith get them inside, asking Xion to run and get some warm blankets and towels. Once they were all wrapped up, the green-eyed woman got them settled in on the couch, sitting in between them and wrapping an arm around each of them. Zack told his daughter to go and play as he drug a chair up in front of them, sitting down and looking back and forth between them with serious blue eyes.

"What happened, kids? Where's Naminé?" he questioned, tone soft.

Roxas raised his head from its place on Aerith's shoulder, fighting to take a normal breath so that he could speak. "N-Nami's with...with m-mom," he finally got out, clenching his eyes shut as more tears spilled out.

The Fairs shared a shocked look at that, and then Aerith was soothingly stroking both boys' hair. "Your mother came back." It wasn't even a question, simply a statement, like she now understood.

"She t-tried to say she was sorry. S-sorry doesn't fix the sh-shit she's put us through!" Ven cried, scrubbing at his eyes with a blanket-covered hand. "She c-can't just w-waltz back in like nothing happened! She can with N-Naminé, but n-not with us!"

"What do we do...?" Roxas asked, voice a mere whisper.

Aerith's arms tightened around them, and Zack nodded to her. "What you're going to do is stay right here in this house as long as you both need to," she said lowly, sounding tougher than they'd ever heard her. "And it doesn't look like you two brought any clothes, so Zack and I are going to go and pack some bags for you. Zack, call Sora and Riku and tell them to get over here now."

Seeing that his wife had gone full mama-bear, Zack immediately pulled out his phone, raising it to his ear once he'd dialed Sora's number and getting up to move to another room.

"I'll explain to Naminé that you both can't come home right now, okay? Don't worry about her, she'll be alright," Aerith whispered, kissing them both on the forehead. "You are both allowed to be angry and hurt, it's fine to not want to see her right now. I don't want either of you to feel guilty about anything, because neither of you have done anything wrong. I love you both as if you're my own, and I will care for you as such. You don't have to worry about a thing for now."

It was silent for a moment, until Zack came back. "Sora and Riku are on their way now," Zack murmured, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "We'll go as soon as they get here."

Roxas sniffled. "Thank you so much, guys..."

Zack only smiled. "You're our boys, have been for months now. And I'm sure Cloud's ghost would come for us if we didn't take care of you both," he joked with a wink, reaching out to ruffle their hair. "We love you boys like we love our own kids, and that's that. You're always welcome in our home."

"You guys are the best," Ven mumbled, curling closer into Aerith.

Somehow, this felt more like home than what they'd felt in months.

A little while after Sora and Riku arrived, Roxas left. He knew Ven would be okay in their care—there was someone he desperately needed at the moment.

The hospital was as familiar to him at this point as his own home. He navigated the halls until he reached his boyfriend's room, knocking softly on the door before poking his head in. "Just me, Ax," he murmured.

Axel smiled brightly. "Two visits in one day? Lucky me," he said in response, patting the empty space on the bed beside him.

Once Roxas was in the bed beside him, Axel's eyes narrowed in concern. "Love, what's wrong? Have you been crying?"

Slowly, the blond nodded. "Everything's a mess, Axel...after I left here, I took Ven and Nami out to the coffee shop for hot chocolate and donuts. Everything was okay, and then...we got home, and...mom's car was in the driveway."

Green eye widened. "Holy fuck. Your mom came back?"

Another nod. "Naminé was happy of course, but Ven and I...we yelled at her, Ax, a lot. And then we left, and now we're staying at Zack and Aerith's..."

Axel swore under his breath. "Fuck, Rox...as soon as I get outta here, you're moving into my apartment with me and Kai. You don't have to deal with this until you're ready."

Roxas looked over, mouth falling open. "You...you want me to move in with you? Really?"

The redhead let out a short chuckle. "Rox, I've basically lived with you for the past few months anyway. Move in with me, even if you patch things up with your mom. I love living with you, so...think about it, okay?"

Carefully as he could, Roxas wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. "Ax...I don't even have to think about it. I love you, and I love living with you too...so of course I'll move in with you."

The redhead beamed at that, pursing his lips for a kiss. Laughing, Roxas leaned over to oblige him, seeing as he couldn't move his neck due to the brace.

"I love you so fucking much, Roxas Strife," he murmured into the kiss.

The blond kissed the tip of his nose before pulling away, stroking his hair back from his face. "I love you too, you sexy piece of ass," he teased, fingers trailing very lightly over the splint on his nose.

"I am gonna cuddle you so hard when I can move without pain," Axel promised, a smirk on his lips.

Roxas chuckled, curling into his side. "I think I can deal with that."

a/n: yeahhhh so they didn't take it too well, at least they have zack and aerith ^_^

i'll try and keep the speed up, but who knows what'll happen hahaha. thank you all for the continued support, it means so much to me!

afom out~