Disclaimer: KH2 and co. are from Square-Enix and Disney peeps! –Feels really damn gay- XD

French people: please don't hurt me! (You'll see why…)

Chapter 5- Discovery uncovered

"Go on. Ask him."

"Sora, he's not gonna let me."

"How to you know?"

"…I…I just know, okay?"

"C'mon, I want you to go have fun! You need to get away from home."

"What about you?"

"I'll stay with Riku."

Roxas bit his lip, staring at the slip in his hands. He really wanted to go, but he didn't want to leave Sora home alone with their…parent, if you could call him that. But if Sora was going to stay with Riku…

"C'mon, Roxas!"

The older sighed and nodded, stepping gingerly from the hallway where the two had been whispering into the living room. "…uh…" He looked back at Sora, who was urging him to go on. He swallowed hard. "Uh…" He stepped up behind the couch. "Uh, dad…?" A mere grunt was the reply. "Uh…there's going to be a class trip in my history class. I kinda want to go, so…I was wondering if-"

"What the hell do I need to sign?" Roxas held the paper in front of his father, who mearly snatched it and signed it without reading anything. "Fine, go. Get the hell out of here, you brat!"

"Yes sir…thank you…" Roxas ran back to Sora in the hallway, who hugged him excitedly. "Oh! I can't wait to tell Axel tomorrow that I can go!"

"Dis is pro-duk-shi-on num-bear twelve! I am-" Axel stopped doing his imitation of the French, placing his head on his hand. "-Acting pretty damn gay, actually."

"For real man, I was in tears," Demyx choked, holding back a peal of giggles threatening to spring forth.

Axel merely gave Demyx the bird as Riku and the Hikari's walked up. "Oh, beautiful Axel." This, too, was greeted by the bird. The motion was stopped when Roxas pounced on Axel excitedly, yelling, "Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Guess what? Guess what?" like a little kid. "Holy shit Roxas! Did you eat Sora's Rice Krispies covered in sugar, or what?"

"I can go!"

Axel blinked at him, not entirely sure what was going on. "Huh?"

Roxas held the form in front of his face. "My dad signed it! He said I could go!"

Demyx let out a whoop of victory, while Axel hugged Roxas excitedly. "Alright! Fantastic!"

"But…"

Axel hated that word. "But?"

Roxas looked at Riku. "Can Sora stay with you while I'm gone?"

Riku looked confused for a moment. "Uh…you leave next Monday, right?"

"Yeah."

Riku bit his lip. "Monday and Tuesday are a no go. We're getting the house anti-pest-infested, so we're staying with my aunt those nights."

The twins looked at each other. Sora smiled. "I'll be alright for two nights, I promise!"

Roxas didn't seem to believe him, but nodded.

-Teachers lounge-

(The teachers are: Xaldin-History, Luxurd-ASSISSTANT in gym, Xemnas-Biology, Saix-Driver's edee hee hee, Xigbar-guitarcuz he reminds me of my guitar teacher)

"Their history isn't so good."

"In their report?"

The guitar teacher shook his head sadly. "Yeah…They missed a lot of school in junior high. Roxas made the work up quickly, but Sora…"

"Has anyone other than me noticed how this kid is always hurt?" Luxurd passed out cards to Xaldin, Xigbar and himself. "He's got one hell of an injury streak."

Saix glanced over the student's permanent records. "Yet with all of these injuries, only once has he been to the nurse. And that was for a headache after getting hit in the head with a basketball."

Luxurd snorted. "My bad."

Xemnas glanced at Roxas' reports. "Roxas missed the most classes. The records say he spends a lot of time in the councilor office."

"Does he say anything?" Xaldin asked.

"No. The councilor leaves the door open and just lets him cry. He never says a word."

Xigbar cleared his throat. "I heard that the last councilor who asked him to talk got a lecture about hell on earth by him." He chuckled. "That kid has gonads, I'll tell you what."

"Yes, there's a copy of that 'lecture' here." This caught the teachers' attention. They all looked to Xemnas.

"To hell with it! To hell with you! You tell me to talk! That it'll make me feel better! But my own personal hell will only get worse if I tell you! They say there is no hell-well I'll be damned if I'm a fucking liar! The closest circle of hell has my brother and me in it, and we can't escape it! The fires of our hell are a wall from the outside world, and the moment the truth is reveled, Satan lifts his ugly ass head and makes things worse-unbearable even! Behind the most beautiful people, there is a hell they face. At least, that's what they call it. Until they've been in MY shoes to see first hand what hell is like. I'm living in a hell on earth, whether you believe me or not! And I'll NEVER tell a damned thing to you or any of the other manipulative bitches for the sake of keeping my brother safe!"

Luxurd let out a low whistle as Xigbar chuckled. "Yup, kid's got balls."

"Personal hell…" Saix thought about it for a moment. "Do you suppose…?"

"What the hell does he mean by that?" Luxurd asked, setting down his cards.

Saix tapped the table. "…Abuse of some kind…perhaps?"

The teachers all fell silent as the bell to end free period rang. "Well," Xemnas muttered. "We shall see what comes up. Xaldin, you keep an eye on Roxas during the trip. We'll watch over Sora."

The teachers came to an agreement, and headed off the teach/annoy their classes.

Xaldin's history class was less than amusing. Roxas was across the room. Demyx, for once, knew more answers than Axel. And Axel…well, he was still brewing about what had happened the other day. IT had been bothering him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

IT was so unlike Roxas. Usually Roxas would have welcomed it wholly. Had something happened recently?

'…Pain exists, even in the brightest smiles…'

Was that phrase just another, roundabout way of telling anyone reading it that something was wrong? Axel looked over to Roxas. He was writing in that damned notebook again.

As he wrote, Roxas' eyes glazed with tears. But they disappeared quickly when he noticed Axel watching him. He then smiled cheerfully at him. Axel hadn't seen Roxas smile like that in years. Not since…

-Four years earlier-

Axel, Demyx and Riku were throwing water balloons at each other, cracking up everytime Riku got utterly soaked. The sun, the water…they day couldn't be ruined! That was until…Roxas and Sora showed up.

Roxas ran up to Axel, hugging his sopping wet form in a fit or tears. Sora just fell on his knees and cried. "Woah, Roxas…Roxas, what's wrong?" Words were incoherent.

"You remember," Sora choked between sobs, "how our mom was going o-o-on a business t-tr-trip?" When the other nodded, tears leaped to Sora's eyes again. "W-We got a c-call this morning…The plane home w-went down last n-ni-night!" This put both the twins in complete sob fests.

Axel smiled vaguely back at Roxas. Ever since that summer, Roxas hadn't smiled like he used to. His mother had been Roxas' pride and joy. Nothing would ever be able to replace her, and Axel knew that. Sora seemed stronger about it; he continued to smile, showing that it wasn't going to bring him down, no matter how depressed it made him feel. But Roxas was the polar opposite. Maybe he'd ask him about it on the trip. Who knew?

Why the hell did I make Saix the driver's ed teacher? > Dude, major road rage. That's my only answer.