A/N: This story is some weird mix between canon and AU. It's set in Radiant Garden, but it's not the exact same Radiant Garden from the games, and Saïx and Axel are somebodies. The Gardens are still being taken over by Heartless. Everything else should be eventually explained if you read. C:

This was originally meant to be my entry for "Bread" in Raberba girl's "Other Kinds of Love" challenge, but it got so big that I had to split it up into multiple chapters, so I decided it would work better as a completely different story.

Enjoy! :D

Saïx's sensitive ears picked up the sound of metallic clanging outside, jolting his focus away from his Astronomy homework. His first instinct was to immediately dive from his chair and hide underneath his desk, not because of fear, but because of protocol. They practiced the Heartless attack drill at least once a week at school. Obviously there wasn't a Heartless in his room, and he had always found the drills useless – he doubted Heartless would ignore simply because they hid – but the late night of cataloguing the constellations outside his window had made him tense. He went back to work.

Clanging again. Heartless weren't usually that noisy. Maybe a stray cat? He theorized.

But cats didn't shout curses.

What idiot would be out at this time of night? Nobody in Radiant Garden would venture outside after dark, not with the Heartless appearances at record high. Most of his neighbors were older and didn't go outside much even in the day, and his parents were so tired after coming home from work that they could've slept through a hurricane.

The clanging and cursing continued – how was Saïx supposed to concentrate on his homework with all that noise? Curiosity urged him to investigate the potentially-hostile person.

Just let the Heartless take care of him, his logical side said. With all that noise, they will appear in no time.

But he didn't want Heartless hanging around his house, either. Sighing, he went downstairs and donned his coat and boots after failing to locate the person through his window, even using his telescope. Just to be safe, he took the poker from the fireplace, too.

I'll just take a glance and assess the situation, Saïx reasoned. If the stranger appeared mostly harmless, maybe he could scare him off.

Poker held out like a sword, Saïx sneaked out the front door, closed it silently behind him, and hid his anxiety. The fresh snow absorbed the sound of his footsteps as he crept around the side of the house, which the porch light barely lit. But it wasn't entirely necessary. The stranger, clearly a teenage male from the sound of his irritated complaining, was making enough noise to conceal him.

"Who locks up their trash, for Kingdom Hearts' sakes? It's not like they're using it!"

Saïx froze, watching the probably-mentally-disturbed teenager try to pulverize the lock on the trashcan with a pair of metal Frisbees. No, not probably, he had to be insane. How could he survive this freezing weather without any kind of coat? His dirty t-shirt hung loosely on him, and Saïx imagined that if he were to look under it he could count his ribs. A matted explosion of red hair whipped in the biting wind, but the teenager barely seemed to feel it.

Eventually his sharp-edged Frisbee missed and clanged off of the metal trashcan, shocking Saïx out of his confusion.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He demanded, poker now held loosely at his side. Even though the stranger looked wild, there was something about his desperation that told Saïx that the other boy was more scared than he was.

Jumping like he'd been shot, the redhead threw a Frisbee at Saïx. If he'd been any slower, it would've cut a gash in his coat. He bared the poker again.

"Oh, it's just a kid." The stranger laughed in relief, not looking at all intimidated. "Don't bother with these trashcans, I can't get them open."

Saïx blinked. Who was this guy? "I suggest you leave my property immediately."

The stranger frowned, slinging his remaining Frisbee over his shoulder, and took a better look at Saïx. "You're not – wait – you live here?"

"Obviously," Saïx replied bluntly.

"But you're a kid."

"I'm about as old as you," Saïx pointed out. "Why is that significant?"

" 'Cause this is an Old People street, obviously," the stranger mimicked. "But hey, if you live here, you got any food?"

Saïx put the pieces together and was taken aback. "You were looking for food in my garbage?"

The stranger's eyes grew dark. "You rich people waste enough to feed plenty of us."

"Us?" Saïx asked. Who was he? And why did he think Saïx was rich? Yes, his family had a fairly stable income… which must be better than most were fairing under these circumstances… but they weren't wealthy. They just had what they needed.

The stranger walked behind Saïx and picked up his other Frisbee. "My name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"…I'll remember that." Saïx hoped he wouldn't need to. This "Axel" needed to leave before they attracted any Heartless—

As if drawn by his thought, a group of Shadows melted from the darkness at the edges of the porch light's glow. He had seen pictures, heard stories, but nothing could prepare him for their monstrous forms and glowing yellow eyes. His heart froze – were they stealing it already? – and his body froze along with it. Their claws groped hungrily for his feet.

Axel destroyed one with a single hit from his Frisbee, muttering a curse. "I thought this street might be clean."

"Nowhere in Radiant Garden is," Saïx said, trying not to show his fear. Axel looked annoyed, but not scared. From what Saïx could piece together, this was a normal occurrence for him.

"Well, we'll fix that." Axel grinned. "You might want to stand back."

When the Heartless emerged from their shadowy pools, Axel became a red-haired blur, his Frisbees wheels of destruction that sliced cleanly through the Shadows, sending them back to the Realm of Darkness. A few escaped and lunged at Saïx, who knocked them back with his poker. He was surprised to find that their bodies had the density of molasses under a skin of mist; his poker kept sticking in their chests. It was easier to avoid that problem when he held the unorthodox weapon backhand, though he was nowhere near Axel's skill level. He only took on the enemies that directly attacked him.

They ended up back-to-back, retreating until they were directly under the porch light's glare. There couldn't have been that many Shadows when earlier. Some Darkballs even entered the mix. They seemed to be waiting, sizing the boys up to decide if their hearts were worth the trouble.

"We're going to die," Saïx said dryly. Axel laughed, a hint of hysteria entering his voice.

"You've never even fought before, and that's all you're gonna say?"

"Would you rather I start screaming?"

"Heh, I like your attitude. Can I get your name in case we die horribly?"

"It's Saïx."

"Okay then, Saïx. Let's give 'em one heck of a show!"

Axel flung himself at the horde, and the Heartless lashed back. No going back now.

Saïx tried to stay on the defensive, monitoring the Heartless' attack patterns and dodging when they were about to strike. It was terrifying. He never knew – never imagined – that he would come face-to-face with the monsters in combat. If he could have fled, he would have. I'm such a coward, he thought, but he kept stabbing the Shadows. Kept fighting. Maybe he wasn't a coward after all. If he was a coward, he would be dead by now.

And he wasn't doing an awful job. He made sure to cover Axel's back, just as the redhead stayed close enough to protect him from the hungry darkness. Careful as Saïx tried to be, though, the chaos of battle overwhelmed him; he was good for a novice, but not good enough. There were too many; he wasn't fast enough; those beady yellow eyes were getting to him; the pungent smell of darkness clouded his exhausted thoughts; he couldn't keep his fear locked tight and now it blurred his focus. He slipped on a patch of ice.

A Shadow leapt at his face, raking claws of darkness diagonally from his forehead to his cheek. He thought he heard a howl – probably his – but he wasn't aware of himself. The clouds rolled away from the moon.

Blood roaring. Vision reddening. Slashing. Bashing. Destroying. Darkness in his veins. He wasn't in control of himself; some other power took over his limbs. Everything blurred and sharpened simultaneously. So much pain, but it only fuelled his rage.

The next moment he was truly conscious of, he had collapsed on his knees in the snow. There were no Heartless, and no sound except for Axel screaming his name.

"Saïx! Saïx! C'mon, don't go off and die on me now!" Axel's hands felt like claws as he shook him by the shoulders.

Saïx groaned. "That was painful."

"You took on all of them!" Axel yelled. Too loud. Saïx's vision swam, he only caught bits and pieces of dialogue. "—thought you were dead, you should be dead after doing something that stupid—I woulda taken them – not gonna watch anyone else die—"

"Who died?" Saïx asked, struggling to stand. His face burned; he felt two gashes now instead of one. When he touched them, wet blood stained his fingers red, like warm paint. Oh. That's why he was so dizzy. Axel caught him when he almost collapsed again.

"I'll tell you later, right now let's keep you from dying." Axel pulled out a glowing green bottle. "Here, drink this."

Saïx eyed it dubiously. It looked radioactive.

"What, you never seen a potion?" Axel asked. Saïx hadn't, and his mom was a doctor, which only made him more skeptical. "Don't worry about how it looks. It'll make you feel better, trust me."

Well, it was his best option. Probably. Anything to make the fire in his face go away.

It tasted bitter on the way down, but it left a warm fuzzy feeling in his stomach. His wounds instantly faded to a dull ache, many of them vanishing completely. He could stand again.

"That's gonna scar." Axel pointed to the crossed cuts on the bridge of Saïx's nose.

"How will I explain that to my parents?" He wondered aloud. He still couldn't process it himself… it wasn't like he had great pride in his looks, but to have permanent gashes marring his face… If nothing else, it would always be a reminder. He would never be able to forget about the nightmarish fight or the insane redhead. He already wished he could delete the memory, maybe even delete Axel, who had caused all this mess…

"Hey…" Axel carefully pulled him out of the snow, then shifted his meager weight nervously from foot to foot. "I'm sorry. Really. Just add this one to the long list of Axel Hearth's mistakes…"

…No, Saïx honestly didn't want Axel erased. The Heartless he definitely wanted gone, but not the other teenager. After going through a battle with him… he felt some pity. Sympathy. This was Axel's normal life. He hadn't meant to drag Saïx into it.

"You didn't summon them," he said.

"But you wouldn't have been out here if I wasn't trying to break into your trash cans." Axel grimaced. "I'm sick of getting other people hurt…"

Saïx wasn't sure how to respond to that, so he asked, "Are you still hungry?"

He laughed hollowly. "You kidding? I'm always hungry."

"Then follow me."

They sneaked back inside. Axel seemed amazed just to be inside a house; he kept pausing to stare at things like the oven and washing machine and Saïx's bed. Saïx retrieved his skinniest pair of pants and a longsleeved shirt from his closet, both of which would still be too big for Axel's stick-like frame, but at least he would stay warmer. Meanwhile, the redhead stuffed his face with one of Saïx's mom's fresh loaves of bread.

"This ish sho goosh," he said with his mouth full, attacking the bread with more force than he'd used on the Heartless. "Who made thish?"

Saïx frowned in disapproval. "My mom. Don't get crumbs on the floor." His parents never allowed him to eat in his bedroom, but he decided it was a better option than making noise in the kitchen, which was closer to their room.

Axel swallowed and belched loudly. "Hey, when you live on the street you've got better things to worry about than table manners. Like having stuff to put on the table."

"So… you live out there," Saïx said, wiping the remaining blood off of his face with a warm washcloth. He could barely tell it had been white afterwards. "With the Heartless." It sounded like suicide. But they'd survived one night.

Axel shook his head, still tearing into the bread. "Around the Heartless. Not with them."

"But you live with someone." He'd mentioned an "us" before, and he talked too much for a complete loner.

He nodded, but didn't say anything more. Saïx decided he would give him some time before prying.

When Axel finished eating (leaving surprisingly few crumbs), Saïx gave him the clothes.

"Use the shower down the hall; I won't have you staying here covered in filth." He wasn't sure how long he planned for Axel to stay. He wouldn't make him go back out in the dark, but he couldn't hide another teenager in his house without his parents noticing… besides, he didn't know how long he could put up with the redhead.

Axel grinned. "You got any spare underwear in here?"

Saïx glared. Axel was only proving his point. "That is a line I will not cross."

Laughing, Axel left to hit the shower. Saïx wasn't sure what to do without the semi-obnoxious redhead to keep an eye on. He managed to answer one question on his homework, but he could hardly focus when his mind was working to piece together Axel's story. He knew some parts of Radiant Garden were collapsing more quickly than others, but he still couldn't picture kids living on the streets. Axel must be an orphan… but then who did he live with?

And what was the deal with his Frisbees? Axel had left them on Saïx's bed. Each had a picture of a flame with an evil grin embossed on the front. They weren't perfectly circular, nor did they look particularly aerodynamic. Were they Frisbees at all, or were they meant to be used as weapons? Where did Axel get them?

Saïx paced the floor, lost in thought until he realized how long Axel had been gone. Of course, it might take hours to clean all his grime off; he probably hadn't had a shower in months, and that was being generous. Still, paranoia made him check. He could still hear the water running, but the bathroom door was open.

"Axel?"

The room was abandoned.

What? After shutting off the water, he ran a quick reconnaissance of the house and found the pantry open as well. The only things that appeared to be missing were a few boxes of pasta, spaghetti sauce, and the last of his mom's bread. In the space where the food had been was a scribbled note:

Sorry, Sai. Gotta feed my family.

P.S. Dont bother looking for the sea-salt ice cream.

P.S.S. Tell your mom her breads delishous.

Saïx crumpled the note, an aggravated growl starting deep in his throat, and not just at Axel's lack of grammatical skills. After they'd fought side by side and he had tried to be hospitable, which didn't come naturally to him, Axel just took off with his food?

Maybe he lied about all of it, Saïx thought. All of it but his lack of food, at least. But he couldn't do anything about it. Axel would be long gone, and even if he wasn't, Saïx wasn't about to go out in the dark again.

I still have his Frisbees, he realized. They were in his room.

Axel would have to come back, and when he did, Saïx might just use his berserker powers on him.

A/N: This should be updated on a semi-regular basis, since I already have the first plot arc written out. I plan on updating "Breaking the Ice" next, though.