Without a word, the teen followed the men outside, but he saw they walking towards Leon's car.

"Are we leaving?"

Axel turned back, a smile on his face, "Just for a little while."

"Okay," he got into the vehicle, his mind taking a moment to debate on whether or not he should have run back and grabbed his phone. He didn't need it.

"So... where are we going?" The teen always knew he was never supposed to ask questions, he knew better than to. But, it was a good day, all his pain had melted away in his sleep, everything that haunted him was nowhere to be seen.

Roxas wasn't the only one to notice, Leon and Axel had both taken note of how the teen was acting. Axel from the moment he first opened his eyes, and Leon from the moment he saw the teen come out of his room with no hoodie on. Sure, Roxas had walked out without his hoodie on before, but that was because he was trying to rub his scars in Leon's face. This time, Roxas was purely innocent.

"It's a surprise," Axel smiled, looking over his shoulder. He was lounged out in the front seat, more than comfortable.

Roxas wished he could do that. He wished he could relax around people, knowing in his mind that if a problem ever presented itself, he could easily protect himself. Axel had a trouble past, like him, but Axel could defend himself, Axel grew up being in charge of his life. The redhead took his life into his own hands, knowing his mother wasn't good for him, and he ran away.

He was just a kid, but he took care of himself, and did what he had to to survive.

Roxas was nothing like that...

Overtime something would go great, he would mess it up by thinking his father had changed. He was always hopeful that his father would turn into the person he needed. But, the end was always the same.

Roxas didn't have the ability to protect himself, everyone always over powered him, and that made the teen feel powerless. The only thing he had on his side was his smart ass mouth. And his cutting.

Neither of those things truly made him stronger though, they just fueled the fact that he was on the breaking point of his mind.

He took a deep breath, it was too good of a day for such negative and intense thinking.

They hit a bump as they pulled into a parking lot, the teen looked around, he'd never been there, and he didn't even know where 'there' was. The longer he spent looking around, the more his nerves played against him. He had no idea where he was, but he was trying to reassure himself, new doesn't mean bad.

"Come on," the smile on Axel's face relaxed the blond. He followed the mens' movements as they got out of the car. After another deep breath, he grabbed Axel's hand. He had to repeatedly tell his brain to shut up, but he wanted to enjoy what ever it was. Leon and Axel wouldn't do anything bad to him, right?

That made no sense, why would Axel work so hard just to hurt the teen, and why would Leon go through all the work of getting custody of him... Things just didn't add up like that, he had to keep thinking to himself.

They walked through two sets of doors, into a dim lit area. Roxas wanted to think they were in a restaurant, but he'd never been there, or really to a restaurant, let alone one like the one they were in. Following quietly behind the hostess, he was awed by the set up. It was like a pub, with a whole bunch of long tables and long bench, with the projection of a movie on the wall. He'd never seen the movie before, but it looked interesting.

The teen couldn't focus on it too long though, he continued to look around the room, noticing the other people there, and when a menu was placed in front of him, he jumped.

Shaking his head softly, he smiled, hoping that no one had seen it. Everyone important had though, but they chose not to mention it. Roxas seemed better from the moment he woke up, and if he had more good days than what he had in the past, maybe he could actually get better.

"Pick out what you want to eat," Leon said with his own smirk.

The blond noticed then that no one else had menu's, "Don't... you guys need a menu?"

Axel was quick to speak up, "No, you're going to order everything we eat."

The confused look the teen gave was enough to ask for clarification.

It was Leon who elaborated, "It's breakfast, order a stack of pancakes or waffles, and get a couple sides."

Roxas glanced at the menu, realizing just how the food worked. He could order a plate of food for the whole table, a huge stack of pancakes to share, or waffles, french toast, eggs, he read on, his mind realizing just how many choices he had.

He began to ask what they liked, if this side sounded good, or if this one sounded better.

"Order what you want," Axel laughed, "We'll eat everything on there."

The teen couldn't tell if Axel was serious or not.

"You want to be 'strong'," Vexen sneered, "Yet you can't even pick out food."

Biting his lip, the teen pointed. He could order food, he could do it, he wasn't that powerless. Right?

Reciting the order over and over in his head, he prepared himself for what the waitress arrived. Flawlessly placing the order once she arrived, part of him wanted to feel proud, while the other side belittled him for finding such difficulties in 'talking'.

"What's all this for?" The teen spoke up, crashing the train in his thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"Well... what's the reason for us going out... like... what's the occasion?"

"Why does there need to be an occasion?" Leon asked gently, looking over at the teen when he finished speaking. The blond didn't respond though, he remained quiet, staring at the table in front of him.

Vandalism apparently wasn't a big issue to the owners, the table was covered in carvings, all the way from names to hearts. They're weren't a few here and there either, they were everywhere, carved in, then worn down, then re-carved on. Like the teen's arms, except he never wrote lovers' names or drew hearts.

Axel pulled him out of his thoughts, "Well," he slid down the bench to be right in front of the teen. "Consider it a late birthday present."

The food was quickly brought out, but the teen was too entranced in the movie to notice.

"Eat up," Leon said as he took a bite of his own food, "We have more to do after this."

The teen smiled, but was quickly bombarded with emotions.

"Axel... can I see your phone?" When the redhead complied, Roxas opened a new message and quickly began texting.

'Do you think Leon is a good guy, do you trust him? Do you think he's the type to over react?'

He watched the tattooed face as he read the words. A cheeky grin spread across Axel's face, as he began texting his own message.

'Yes, I think he's a good guy, and no, he's rational, like you.'

He nodded his head, giving the phone back to Axel without saying anything more. The teen wanted to tell Leon about his mother, but he also wanted to get a hold of his mother, but his phone was at home, and Leon had 'plans' for the day.

"Do you think we could stop back..." he almost said home, "At the house?"

"Yes," Leon nodded, "If you hurry up and eat."

It didn't take long for Roxas to eat after that, although, his stomach was extremely small, and he wasn't able to eat much. Unlike Axel and Leon who were practically inhaling their food like they hadn't eaten in months. Roxas really hadn't eaten in months, but it caught up to him, making him unable to have more than a few bites before he felt nauseously full.

"We need to work on your eating," Axel laughed as he held the door open for Roxas.

"What do you mean?" the teen ducked out the door, into the sun lit parking lot.

"Gotta get your stomach bigger, so you grow more." Throwing his arm over the teen's shoulders, Roxas was forced to acknowledge just how short he was.

Pushing the man away, Roxas smiled, a light laugh escaping him.

Roxas still had demons, still had things he needed to face, and needed to get over. But, how he woke up, was like a hundred pounds had been removed off his shoulders. He felt so light, and so carefree.

But reality came crashing back down, hard.

"What the hell?" Axel sat up in his seat, looking out the windshield at the view that shouldn't have been there.

They had headed back, but the house was crowded, surrounded by police officers and yellow tape. Roxas watched as they loaded someone into an ambulance as a van drove away slowly, he had no idea what was happening, but the vibes alone were enough to terrify him.

"What happened?" Leon parked and walked under the yellow tape, approaching a police officer that seemed to know him.

The teen quickly jumped out, following Leon even though Axel tried to pull him back.

"The house was broken into," the man stopped, looking at Roxas. He tipped his head to the side, causing Leon to follow him to a spot that wasn't within earshot.

Heavily, the world came crashing back down, crushing the teen's lungs as he began to breathe heavier.

"Rox, calm down," Axel tried to get the teen to look at him, but was unable, the teen wiggled free and ran inside.

Everything in the dinning room was throw and tipped over, the living room was no better, he slowly walked to his room, feeling like his feet were being weighed down. He swallowed hard as he noticed his bed, the covers thrown and the bed stabbed, ripped apart. The house was destroyed, not like someone was looking for something, but rather, they didn't find what they wanted, and were pissed.

"What happened?" Roxas asked as he stepped back outside, but he was ignored.

"I'm going to be taking you to a safe house, the only people who know the location is us," the man was trying to lead the teen, but Roxas ripped his arm away.

"Tell me what happened!" Roxas screamed, looking at the police officer to Axel.

The redhead stood beside Leon, a concerned look on his face, but he quickly approached Roxas, leading him away from everyone.

"Listen, Rox," He placed his hand on Roxas' upper arm, "I tell you everything, no ones trying to keep it a secret, just, you have to calm down..."

Roxas searched Axel's eyes, the redhead always seem to know better, like when he was in the hospital with the restraints. Nodding his head, he slowly followed Axel, he was nowhere near calm, but he knew he wouldn't be till he was told what happened.

"Roxas?" A police officer approached the teen, holding the blond's phone, "What was this number you texted?" The man opened the text with his address.

"Why?"

"Who was it?" Leon rephrased, arms crossed as he stared off to the side.

"It..." blue eyes glanced at Axel and then back at his phone. "It's my mother's..."

"Rox, why didn't you tell me?" the redhead was the first one to question the blond, and that was probably for the better.

"I was going to, I was, but, I just... I don't know, it... it just happened... I wasn't thinking," there was no hiding that the blond was frazzled.

Everything was a blur for a little while after that, the teen got back into Leon's car, with Axel in the front, and they followed the police cars to the police station. By the time Roxas finally snapped out of it, he was sitting in a room with a police officer, the man repeating himself over and over again, but Roxas couldn't understand what he was saying. He looked at the small machine on the table between him and the man, recording everything he was supposed to be saying. Finally the blond was pulled out of his trance, only because the man slammed his hand on the table.

"Roxas?" he yelled, finally getting through to the teen.

"What?" The teen glared at the man.

"How did you get your mother's number?" his voice was much gentler, understanding he now had his attention.

"She gave it to me," his mind still wasn't completely there, at least, not like he thought it was.

The house being completely tore apart flooded his mind, opening his mouth he attempted to ask a question, but the officer had his own questions.

"When did you meet her?"

"Yesterday?"

"Okay, so you met your mother yesterday... Where did you meet her?"

"On the street-"

"What street?"

"I don't know, I was just on the street, she walked by me and she pointed me out."

The teen realized then that the man had been writing down everything he was saying, "Listen," he began to speak, sitting forward. "I'm trying to help you, you're not in trouble, we're all just worried about you... Do you remember anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

"Was there anyone else on the street? Did she seem off or anything? How did she approach you?"

"I was just walking, and we bumped shoulders. She kept talking, and then she started saying I looked familiar and stuff. And then she guessed my name and she gave me her number... why does it matter?"

"Are you absolutely sure there was no one else there? Did she say anything that didn't sound right?"

When the teen shook his head, the man stood up, opening the door and walking out. Leon and Axel walked in, and a few minutes later the officer returned.

Even though the teen questioned the men, neither one answered him, the most he got was indirect answers from Axel.

"Ax..."

Roxas stopped when the police man walked in, sitting in his seat again, papers in hand.

"Alright... Yes, Larxene 'is' your mother," he started, but the teen cut him off by repeating the name.

"Larxene..." he never knew his mother's name, and as it turned out, that woman was his mother. Hope aspired in the teen as questions filled his mind, knowing he would get answers for everything now.

"Yes," his eyes returned to his papers for a second before facing the teen. "Well, she's in custody now. She took part in breaking into your house," He placed the papers on the table, folding his hands. "It seems, a few days ago, she had contact with your father."

No.

"Her phone recorders support her statement that Sephiroth was threatening her to find you."

"Can I see her?" Should not have been the first words out of the teen's mouth, but they were, and it enraged everyone in the room, to some extent.

"Rox," the redhead was cut off.

"She's in the hospital, it appears when she showed up at your house, she had Sephiroth and Vexen with her, they roughed her up a bit." The police man didn't answer his question, the teen was going to ask again, but the man's final statement caused the teen to look at Leon. "It's your guardian's choice, but," he looked at Leon, "We expect Sephiroth to visit her in the hospital, so we have extra security present and a few police on guard around her room."

All eyes were now on Leon, but the man took his sweet time to answer. "Completely guarded?" He asked his next question when he received a nod, "And there would still be an escort to and from the hospital?"

"You'll remain in our care, and we'll be escorting you to the safe house."

"Leon...?" Roxas begged, he wanted to see his mother. She was a victim in all of it, as much as the teen.

"Zack has to meet us there," he uncrossed his arms.

A smile spread across the teen's face, overjoyed with the idea that he could finally confront his mother. His respect and trust towards Leon also went up a beg, but he wasn't about to tell the man that.

The things I really wanted to emphasize with this story have fell kind of on the back burner. But, as a very smart person pointed out, this is only 'technically' a first draft, a rough... very rough... draft.

Uploaded: March 1st, 2017