Guys, school is going nuts. We are being smothered with work, and now that the Shut Down has been extended by two weeks i can just hear the teachers losing their minds.

But never mind that! Enjoy this chap!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

When Roxas first noticed the gem on his chest, he didn't think much about it. He didn't think much about anything, really, so it's not surprising. That's just how it is when you're a half-conscious zombie.

Later, when he could string two thoughts together and steer them towards a conclusion, he still didn't think about it. Why would he? There were so many more interesting things to get distracted by, so he just kinda glazes over it if it ever crossed his mind.

He thinks about it again on the eighteenth day of his existence when he and Axel are on the clock tower.

Axel grumbles around his ice cream, "Seriously, who went and pi-" He catches Roxas watching him curiously and goes pale. "iiiiuut rocks in Vexen's cereal?" Roxas blinks at him and tilts his head, and Axel tries to choke himself on his ice cream.

"I don't think anyone did?" Roxas answers, looking at his half-eaten treat for answers. He frowns as he tries to think. "Maybe Xigbar? He looks mean enough to do it." Roxas says quietly, then nods decisively. He feels like that's a safe bet.

Axel snorts, then does choke. Roxas eats while he waits for Axel to breathe again.

"Don't-" He coughs. Roxas wonders if he should help. He should ask Axel how you help someone who's choking first though. Which might be hard right now, because he was really going for that ice cream.

Roxas leans back and continues waiting. Axel finally starts to come down.

"Whatever you do," He rasps, pointing sharply at the blond, "Don't say that to either of them. Hell knows what they'd do to you."

Roxas thinks on it, then frowns. "Yeah," He agrees, because he doesn't want to get on their bad sides, especially not Vexen. Today he looked a little… manic, what with his twitching eyelid, and him randomly grabbing fistfuls of his own hair and letting out strangled screams.

He'd rather deal Larxene right now. She probably won't throw him off the clock tower if he makes a sound like Vexen might.

Actually, Vexen might throw himself off the tower. Now that's a thought.

Axel raises an eyebrow at him. "Interesting face you got there. What are you thinking?" He asks.

"Vexen is weird," Roxas tells him, giving a titled smile when Axel laughs.

"Yeah, he is being weird right now, isn't he?" Axel mourns his abandoned ice cream. It's already mostly eaten, and what's left is covered in dust. Not worth eating anymore, he sighs. "I think he's frustrated. One of his projects not wanting to work right, or something."

"He should eat some ice cream. Maybe then he won't throw himself off the tower." He might still rip out all his hair, but the thought of Vexen being bald makes Roxas feel something akin to joy.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Axel shakes his head and leans back to let Roxas finish his non-sandy treat. He watches the clouds for a bit, then gets an idea.

"Hey, Roxas?" He grins. Roxas hums and looks at him curiously.

"You know where clouds come from?" Roxas blinks, then shakes his head. He's almost done with his ice cream.

Axel starts motioning with his hands as he explains, "Clouds form when super tiny droplets of water are pulled up by the sun, like steam. They bunch together in the sky until they get heavy enough to rain down. Cool huh?"

Roxas frowns in confusion. "But they don't look like water. They look… fluffy, and soft. Water is neither of those."

Axel snorts and shakes his head. "Nah, it really works like that," He then grins widely, "Oh! And lightning? You know how it comes down when it rains?"

"Yeah?"

"It's actually going up, from the ground to the sky."

Roxas leans away from him, looking absolutely offended. "Now I know you're lying."

"No, I'm not! It's completely true! And the moon is made of cheese!"

"What?"

Roxas looks so lost that Axel can't help but break down laughing. He folds over himself, near crying while poor Roxas tries to stabilize his already fragile understanding of the world.

Axel decides to show him some mercy before his brain melts. "Okay, okay!" He wipes his eyes. "That last one was a lie. But the other two are completely true, you can even ask Zexion."

Roxas still looks at him suspiciously, but he eases back into a comfortable position. The two stare at the sunset for a bit, for lack of anything else to do. It's nice.

Roxas then asks thoughtfully, "Hey Axel? You know a lot, right?"

Axel yawns, putting his arm on his knee and his head in his hand. He nods, "Yeah, I like to think so."

Roxas scoots closer and asks, "What are the rocks?"

Axel opens one lazy eye. "You're gonna have to more specific. You mean rock layers? Dirt? Crystals?"

Roxas shakes his head and tugs at his zipper. "No, I mean the rocks on our chests. What's that about?"

The redhead processes that for a second, then yelps out, "What?!" He sits up quickly, nearly knocking into Roxas. "What rock in our chests?!" He puts a hand on the blonde's forehead and looks at him closely. "Are you feeling okay? Maybe I should tell Saix to hold off on the missions…" He frets.

"Don't be weird," Roxas scowls, swiping his hand away. "And you know what I'm talking about. There's no way to miss it; I'll show you." Axel watches carefully as he sips his coat down to the middle of his chest.

In the center of his chest, right under his clavicles and on top of his sternum, is a smooth teardrop-shaped gemstone. It's 5 centimetres from top to bottom, and 3 centimetres across at its widest point. Twilight Town's eternal sunset turns the clear gem orange, and the rods of gold shooting through it like thin spider webs gain a gorgeous shine.

Seeing it in this light leaves Roxas kinda stunned at its beauty.

Axel, on the other hand, is just plain stunned.

He starts spluttering, "Was- was that always there? Have you always had that?" Roxas cocks his head and says, "Well, yeah. You don't?"

Axel takes a deep breath and shakes his head to calm himself. "No. I do not have that. I don't know how you have that- What is that? Some kinds gemstone?" He starts tapping it with one finger to see how solid it is, but Roxas swats his hand away. He frowns uncomfortably, "Stop doing that!"

"Can you feel that? Is it actually embedded in your skin?!" Axel seems to be going a little off the rails again, so he takes another breath. "Alright, time to visit Vexen."

He stands swiftly and tugs Roxas up with him. The blond immediately starts pulling back.

"What? But you said to stay away from him," He tugs harder, but Axel's grip is firm.

"Nope. We gotta check this out. I'm not having you turn into a crystal without even knowing it. Let's go."

And so they went to Vexen, and Roxas spent the rest of the day being poked and prodded and having the most uncomfortable day of his existence. When Vexen tested the gem's hardness he actually had to be restrained so he didn't kick the scientist or hurt himself struggling.

By the time Vexen was satisfied, Roxas felt raw and bruised from his gem being scratched at. If there's one thing he learned today, it's don't let anything happen to it. If scratches felt like being cut with a knife, he doesn't want to know what anything else might feel like.

The psycho ended the session almost giddy and ranting in a hushed voice of this being 'the solution' and 'finally I can progress'. It was weird, and Roxas left as soon as Vexen's attention was off him.

Axel felt so guilty he said he'd give Roxas two ice creams a day for the next week. Roxas wondered if he could hear his screaming outside the lab.

Days later a new member joined the Organization. Number XIV, Xion.

After Axel leaves, Roxas isn't quite sure what to do, beside missions and drifting around the castle. He could eat ice cream at the clock tower, but it just isn't the same alone.

Then he finds out Xion can also use a Keyblade, and they become as attached to the hip as they can be. Roxas can't wait for Axel to come back and join them.

Except he doesn't. They wait and wait, and Saix tells him that Axel was destroyed at castle oblivion, along with the others assigned there. And if Roxas doesn't have a heart, then it must have been his gem that turned hard and cold. He spent the rest of the day in a haze of shock and emptiness. He spent the night eating ice cream alone in his room.

He still doesn't know why his eyes were leaking.

Xion helps him feel better. She starts copying someone she saw doing this thing during one of their missions, the humming thing he heard Demyx doing sometimes. She listens closely for songs as they pass through worlds, then when they get back to the castle she hums them. Roxas isn't sure she's doing it right, but it looks fun and sounds pretty enough that he starts doing it with her too.

The contrast their voices have makes the songs sound funny. She sounds smooth, but sorta monotone and his voice keeps cracking, especially at the lighter parts of the songs.

Xion even does it when Roxas falls asleep for twenty days. A song for every seashell she leaves beside his pillow.

They hum together when he wakes up.

"You two are so out of harmony!" Demyx cries when the three of them are alone in the Grey Room. Xion and Roxas startle out of their song, looking to where he's slouched half off the couch with his hands over his ears. He keeps on complaining, "Seriously, I think my ears are gonna start bleeding!"

Roxas and Xion look at each other in alarm, then back to Demyx. "What's wrong?" Roxas asks him. "Do you need to see Vexen? Or Zexion?"

Xion tilts her head at Roxas and frowns. "Weren't they at Castle Oblivion?" She asks. Roxas blinks, then frowns too. "Oh yeah…" He slumps.

Xion concentrates very hard to think of a solution to their current problem. "Where do we go if we get hurt now?"

"I always went to Axel. Where do you go?"

"Saix."

"Whoa, whoa!" Demyx interrupts, waving his arms and standing to go lean over them. "I'm not actually bleeding, so we don't need to get Saix involved, right?" He peeks over his shoulders nervously, like Saix can be summoned by the mere mention of his name to rain hell down on Demyx.

The kids both stare at him, befuddled.

"Then why did you say your ears are bleeding if they aren't?" Xion asks. Roxas is glad they're always on the same wavelength of never having a clue to what's going on.

Demyx scratches his head, perturbed. He mumbles, "Right, forgot you don't get figures of speech yet…" He suddenly whips a finger at them, and they both go cross-eyed looking at the tip.

"I can't listen to this chaos anymore! You two are getting a music lesson!" He declares. It's silent for a moment, then Xion and Roxas start shuffling away from him.

Demyx slumps over with a pout. "Oh, c'mon! You two sound like drowning cats, and we don't have anything else to do anyway."

"We don't have anything to do," Roxas snorts, shoving at Xion to make her shuffle faster. "You probably have missions to do or paperwork. Should we go find Saix?"

Xion nods, "Yeah, let's go find Saix." They wouldn't actually, because dealing with Saix without Axel there to mediate is like staring a giant heartless in the eyes and hoping it won't eat them.

They managed to make it off the couch, but before they can escape he grasps at both their hoods.

"Hey!" "Let go!"

He holds them at too awkward an angle to squirm away and happily leads his protesting kidnappees to his room.

"C'mon, you two are gonna love it!" He cheers.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

My notes for this part say: "So Sora turns into a Heartless and his body yeets itself to Twilight Town. There Xemnas finds it, goes 'finders' keepers!' and names it Roxas."

Axel is trying very hard not to swear in front of these kids who come up to his shoulder and are like less than a year old. It's great.

If the days don't quite match up with cannon, then don't worry. It's just me not being able to count. And also, what is a calendar in this series? Seriously, the only thing that vaguely resembles one in Kingdom Hearts is the day thing in 358/2 Days. It's wild.

Can you name what gem Roxas has? No worries if you can't, I'll say it in the next chapter, but it's just a fun little quiz.

I wonder? :)
What was frustrating Vexen? :):):)

Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment on you're way out, maybe clean your hands with some nice smelling soap! Until next time!