Author's notes: Ok. I've been really frustrated lately and I'm really not feeling it. It's taken me a while to finish this chapter because I had to re-write all my notes on this story and my fingers hurt. Also, inspiration only lasts so long before you have to look for it again. (Or does inspiration find you?) I stupidly, but luckily, wasted my inspiration on drawing a picture. Why was it lucky? Because we had a black out later that night.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or the characters, but I do own the city they live in.

WARNING: This chapter has one really violent scene. It actually gave me a nightmare, but that's what I get for writing fanfiction at five am in the morning. But besides that, the usual swearing. Not so much in here this time. (Also, about that scene, it doesn't explain what exactly happened, so it won't be that bad until I do reveal what did happen.)

Again, thank you my reviewers, you make me so happy!

Chapter four was a big disappointment to myself as a writer 'cause I knew I could do better but I just rushed. That's not going to happen again. Slow and steady. Now, after much working and re-reading...Enjoy!

Chapter Five: The Air

"Sorry, Roxy, I won't miss this time!" My eyes jerked open to see Axel about to drop another rock.

"NO!" I rolled away 'in-the-nick-of-time' to dodge it. The stone landed next to the previous one and cracked in half. I looked up at Axel, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

He turned to come back down. I stood up and brushed off the chips of rock on my clothes but I was quickly knocked down with Axel's fist. "I told you it would be quick but you're such a wuss!" I tried to get up but his foot on my chest held me down. "No, I'm ending this. I swore it!" His long, thin arms reached down for a part of the rock, he held it over his head, ready to chuck at my face. Onn instinct, I brought my hands up to cover my face.

"Isn't this murder," I heard from behind Axel. I removed my hands to see a teen closer to my age standing causally, watching us. By the way his hair seemed so unreal, I knew he was one of Axel's friends. The demon dropped the rock and grabbed one of my hands to help me up.

"Sorry, Ro-" I jerked my hand away, nursing my cheek. It was my turn to be bitter.

"Am I that much of a nuisance?" Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say.

"Sure are!" He turned to the stranger and began to converse with him, "get this, Zexion, this guy just can't die. I swear this is like my tenth try!"

'Zexion' walked up to me. We were about the same height but he still had superiority over Axel. "Tenth? Twentieth? Hundredth? Regardless of what number of try it is, you have a duty to obey the client's wishes of disposal." The way he referred to death sent shivers up my spine. Great, another deranged lunatic, just what I needed now. At least he was thinking about me.

"But, he's such a coward!"

Zexion locked onto him with his ice-cold eyes, "but aren't you too, Axel?"

Burn.

Axel lost emotion. He stood there and knew he lost the battle. "Ok, let's go Roxas." He reached over to take my wrist again but I folded my arms. He kept his head down as he turned and walked away in a fast pace, defeated. Before I followed him I turned to Zexion and thanked him for sticking up for me. He didn't seem to care and just looked in the other direction.

"Whatever, bye." I ran after Axel who was already halfway to the train station. "Axel?" He ignored me. I ran up beside him and tried again, "Axel?"

"What?" His voice was as soft as a whisper. What Zexion said to him must have hurt him.

"Is it true what Zexion said about you?" Again, silence. "Axel!" I ran in front of him to stop him but he just walked around.

"Shut up. It's none of your business."

"You're wrong. It's been my business ever since Demyx told me about Xemnas." That struck a nerve. Axel stopped and turned around.

"What did he tell you?"

"Everything."

"Be quiet, you will never understand."

"You're right, but how am I suppose to understand if you don't tell me?"

"Sit." An odd command., there were no benches or chairs.

"What?"

"Sit!" I didn't want to make him angry so I took a seat onto the ground and shortly, Axel sat down across from me. We sat there for the longest time. Me looking at him, but him finding better interest in the ground.

"Well?"

"Well what?" He let out a low growl of frustration. "Keep your pants on, just give me a moment."

I leaned over to Axel and touched his knee, which was currently pulled to his chest, "Axel, why are you scared?" He said something but it was too soft to hear. I 'm pretty sure he was just moving his lips. "I can't hear you."

"They're leaving."

"Who? Your friends?" He nodded and tucked his face in so I couldn't see it. "Don't worry, they're not all going to leave."

He jerked his head back up with narrowed eyes. He was angry again. "Yes they are! Why do you think Zexion was there? He was looking for someone to help him! Since Xaldin and Lexaeus are gone I'm the only one they go to!" Axel hid his face again after his outburst.

"Don't say that. Larxene went to Marluxia."

"And then who did Marluxia go to?" He got me there. Before I could say anything he got back up, a faint smile on his face. "But I shouldn't be complaining. I have to help them. I'm the only one they can go to." He looked down at me and offered a hand. "Let's go, Roxas. I'll help you." He smiled sweetly as I took his hand, it disgusted me.

Moody bitch.

"Now, who's this free-loader?" Axel brought up a foot to nudge the person curled up in front of Axel's door.

"That you, Axel," he yawned looking up at us. He had been drinking. He obviously didn't know where he was by the way he was looking around, scratching his blonde goatee. I wondered if those multiple piercings on his ears were done while he was sober.

"Yeah, you drunkard."

"Hey, the casinos give free booze if you keep on playing! It's a steal!" He focused his eyes on me. "Who's the kid?"

"Roxas." Was he actually introducing me?

"Nice meeting you, Roxas," I held my hand out in order for him to shake it, "name's-" he let out a large belch and my hand retreated back to my side. "Sorry about that. Name's Luxord."

"My pleasure."

"So, Axel, how's work?"

"Enough, chit-chat!" Axel waved his arms around which called for silence. "Drove all around town today. Did Demyx leave you here?"

Luxord's eyes lit up to that name. "Demyx is here?"

I could tell Axel was becoming frustrated by the tone of his voice, "you drunkard, he's the one that probably told you to wait for me!"

He scratched his chin again. "Uh...I haven't seen Demyx since...uhh...the party. If I saw him now, I think I would remember." My heart stopped beating and I'm sure Axel's did, too.

"What?" Axel pivoted to Demyx's door and knocked. No reply. "Demxy? Are you there?" Silence. "Shit," he swore as he jumped down the stairs.

"Where 'ya going, Axel?" Luxord attempted to get up but just sat back down.

"Roxas! Come on! Luxord, stay there!" I jumped down and followed him to the train station.

"Axel, what if he's still there and just wants some time alone?"

"No, it wouldn't have taken this long. We were gone for an hour or two, the fire should be dead by now." We both cringed at the word 'dead.'

"Come on, come on, come on," Axel impatiently tapped his foot at the door of the train, waiting for them to open. "Finally," he jumped out and immediately ran out of the station into the barren wasteland. I would have ran with him if there wasn't a blonde, mullet-headed male next to me when I exited the train.

"Axel he's-," Axel ignored me and continued to run.

"Where's the fire," he snickered.

"Demyx! Are you ok?"

I caught him by surprise, "yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"You just looked really sad, me and Axel were worried."

He smiled, for real, "I'm sorry, I was about to come home just now. I didn't mean to make you guys worry."

"It's fine but," I turned toward the exit, "shouldn't we go after him?"

Demyx threw his hands behind his head, "nah, he'll be coming back in a moment. Axel used to be on the track team, you know?"

"I don't doubt that."

"He could have been better but his smoking holds him back. Dirty habit. It's good you're not addicted to them like he is." He placed a hand on my shoulder but he took it off to point and laugh at Axel when he came dashing up the stairs, out of breath, groping himself for a smoke.

"You asshole, why didn't you stop me?"

"I tried but-"

Demyx cut my off and finished my sentence, "but we wanted to see you suffer!"

Axel smirked and all was restored as we got on the train, "hey, Demyx, Luxord's back. You should say, 'hi.'"

We got upstairs to find a Luxord-less hallway. "Where'd he go?" Demyx rotated around, scanning the hallways but stopped when his eyes fixed on the door that was slightly ajar. "I think he went to the roof."

Axel sighed and grumbled as he went up, I followed while the other blonde tailed behind me. "Luxord? You up here?" We reached the top of the stairs to see the drunken man standing with his feet half over the edge of the building.

He leaned back and gave us a friendly wave. "Hiya, Demyx! Haven't seen you in two years!" Demyx was not very happy but more worried. He ran forward and grabbed his hand.

"Get down, you could slip!" He tugged but Luxord jerked back.

"That'd be ok. I wouldn't mind. In fact, it'd probably make things easier." I looked over at Axel to see his face drained of color.

"No, please, don't make me," he whispered to no one in particular, maybe God, or maybe Demyx.

"Here, get down, Luxord. You've had too much to drink, you're not thinking right." Again, he tried to pull him down but Luxord clumsily moved away. Luckily, he didn't slip.

"Demyx, Demyx, I've never thought more right in my life!" He let out a hiccup. "Now, who's going to help me? Axel?" I looked over at him to see his face lowered. It slowly raised, revealing a manic grin slapped on his face.

"Ok, pal!" He didn't run like he did with me, instead, he calmly walked over and placed his hands on Luxord's shoulders.

I didn't know what Demyx was thinking and neither did I, but whatever we were thinking, we were thinking the same thing. "Axel, don't," we simultaneously called out, trying to pull him back. For his thin figure, Axel was a strong guy. He threw us off with one blow.

"Head first, Luxord." Axel leaned forward and pushed off. A perfect ten. Head first, arms spread like an eagle, Luxord looked angelic: A beautiful dive.

Splat.

What a disgusting noise. To hear the human landing butter-side-down on the cement. I dragged myself to look over the edge. It felt like a hammer beating against my eyes to see that body laying like a bear rug and a cannon against my ears to hear Axel's laughter. Demyx inched back, down the stairs, and into his apartment, I suspect. It was a good thing he went back inside, for the gambler wasn't dead. He emitted a groaning noise and Axel stopped laughing. His expression was that of a child. His teal eyes, fearful, his fist being lifted to his mouth to be nibbled on. "What the fuck," he managed to say.

Luxord was stronger than Axel and managed to flip over to look up at us. His eyes softened and he attempted to smile. It would have looked sweet if there wasn't a crimson ooze covering his teeth, seeping out of the corners of his lips. We stupidly just sat there and watched him as his chest convulsed with blood. The hacking sound allowed me the pleasure of having my own bile being choked up. "Shit," Axel swore, adverting his attention from Luxord to me. "Damn, are you ok?" I wanted to hurl my vomit at him. Did it look like I was ok? Axel nervously glanced from Luxord to me and picked me over the dying man. "Come on, let's get you inside." He threw one of my arms over him and brought me in. On the way down the stairs, I almost mistook Axel's shoe for a target. "Damn! Just hold on!" He rushed down and shoved the key into the lock, forcing the door open with strength I've never seen from him. "Quick!" He shoved me into the confined bathroom. Like the other room, it looked ignored and un-cared for, making it dirty. By then, I didn't feel so bad and just splashed some water into my face.

"I'm...so sorry," I apologized rinsing my mouth.

"It's fine. I feel the same way." He leaned against the doorway, depressed-looking. He didn't even bother to pull out a cigarette.

"Axel," I turned off the faucet, "what about Luxord?"

"People won't look at me as helping but killing; it's best to stay away."

The memory of the blood slowly, seeping out of Luxord's mouth, staining his lips, running through his goatee sent chills up my spine and throwing up seemed pretty good at the moment. "What happened to him?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

"What happens if he doesn't...you know..."

"There'll be an ass whipping for me. But I highly doubt that." His eyes stayed on the ground, searching for something. He stopped searching when his teal eyes locked onto a red coin on the ground, near the door. Crouching down, he examined it. "Poker chip." Axel flipped it into the air with his thumb and caught it as he stood up. His fist tightened around it before he placed it on his shelf along with the other dead men's items. Axel reached into his hoodie pocket and pulled out the spade and mirror. A sigh escaped his lips as he set them down. "Wait here a moment, I need to get something from Demyx." He exited the apartment and the sound of sirens entered the room.

I wondered if the police were going to come up and question me. What do I do? Do I lie? I'm not a convincing fibber. Before I could worry anymore, Axel came in heaving a metal object. He dropped it on the ground next to the shelf, seeing how the weight of dumbbell couldn't be supported by the wooden furnishing. "Lexeaus loved his weights. I can't believe I used to be able to lift these things." I scanned the shelf. I could guess which objects belonged to who but the stuffed animal struck me as odd.

"Axel, there did you get that one from?" I pointed at the fading, used-to-be chestnut brown bear.

Axel ran his tongue over his lower lip, "a little girl."

"I don't see you the type to innocently converse with little girls."

"Olette. She was such a sweet girl." His back was turned away from me, but it didn't have to be for me to know he was sad.

"What happened," I asked taking a seat at the table.

He scratched his chin, thinking, "It was about...a year? Yeah. A year ago I went up to Green Stone Forest, you know, the hippie land?" Axel was referring to the forest that was north of Dagmar. It was placed there for recreational reasons like camping, family-fun activities, tree huggers, that sort of thing. "I went there to take care of some 'business.'"

"The little girl," I gasped.

Axel whipped around, "what the hell? No! I'm talking about me!" He pressed his hand onto his chest to put the emphasis on 'me.' "Anyway, I planned on going by fire." He smirked, "God, I love fire. But, like you, I was afraid. Left gasoline all over the ground, 'wish I hadn't." I leaned it closer since he was getting softer. "A family of three were camping there. Their little girl, Olette went missing. The parents were looking for her and found the spot where I was going to kill myself. One of them must have been smoking 'cause that whole place went up in flames." At this point, Axel was sitting down across from me with a beer. "I knew I was responsible. It was my fault they were dead. It was the least I could do."

"Do what?" Axel, gazing at his beer, began to laugh. His teal eyes turned up to me.

"I pushed her in." He banged his fist onto the table with laughter.

Hey, Demyx, will you kill me, instead?

Axel stopped, "I just got an idea." I expected him to suggest something about buring me alive but we already tried that. "Carbon monoxide."

Carbon monoxide, or CO, in chemistry terms. A colorless, odorless, poisonous gas produced by the incomplete burning of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels. Damn, how did I remember this? Carbon monoxide is produced by fuel-burning appliances such as furnaces, ranges, water heaters, or room heaters. CO is also produce by burning charcoal in a closed area. Running car, plus closed garage, equals a dead Roxas.

"So?"

"You have a car?"

"No, but I do work at a body shop."

"I thought you worked at a gas station."

"Please, Roxas, I'm educated enough to get a better job than a gas station clerk."

"Then why so poor?"

Axel groaned, "as shitty as these apartments are, they aren't cheap."

"Then why live-"

"We're wasting time, let's go." Angry, again.

We didn't have to walk far to get to the place where Axel worked, a large warehouse wtih three just as large garage doors on the side. There was a single window that was lit with a yellow-ish glow. Axel tapped the window and I could see a silhouette of a man move. Soon, the door open and out popped out the head of a middle-aged man with graying hair tied up into a pony tail. The scar and the eye patch over his right eye made him look like some kinda of escaped convict. Yet, his 'surfer' voice and attitude made me think otherwise. "No."Axel jammed his foot into the opening and had the honor of having it slammed in the door.

He winced but tried to stop the man, "Xig, can we use the garage?" 'Xig,' pushed his head out a little more to look at me.

"Why not push him off a building?"

"Already tried."

"Train?"

"Missed it."

"Rock-"

"Missed, again." The pony-tailed man looked down, but before he could say anything Axel answered, "chickened out."

"Damn. Well, go ahead. Last one; here's the keys." 'Xig' handed him a ring keys and he shoved it in his pocket. "My truck's in there. Don't do anything stupid." Axel removed his foot from the spot where is foot would have been crushed if he hadn't moved it. He turned to his right and looked down the row garage doors with the regular door next to it. Seeing how rundown this place was, there was obviously no garage opener.

"Old prick," Axel snickered, "I know he seems mean, but he has a heart of a teddy bear." I caught a glimpse of a smile I've never seen from Axel. It was melancholy, but happy. Happy, but not over-joyced. Not joy, but a divinity of happiness. Something you'd only see out of a child. Probably why he was walking ahead of me, with his back turned.

The red-maned male held his hand over the door knob, positioning the key over the keyhole. "No more chickening out."

"No more chickening out," I agreed.

"No more screw ups."

"No more screw ups." I placed my hand on his arm with the key. He looked over and I nodded my head.

I'm ready.

Axel turned the key but the door knob wouldn't yield. "Sorry, wrong key," he laughed as he fumbled for another key in the dim light that was emitted from a lamp over the door. "This one. I'm sure." He put it in and turned.

Click

Axel flipped a switch to turn on the lights. Just as 'Xig' said, there was a navy truck, with a few dents here and there, waiting for us. "Take a seat."

I didn't question the fact that were no chairs, and sat in the corner. "I'm ready, Axel." He smiled as he got in the car and started it. Before he left he sat down next to me. "What are you doing?"

"I dunno. 'Wanted to talk to you before, you know."

"Ok." Silence. Some talk.

"Roxas, it's been hard but it makes me happy I can finally get rid of you." Jerk. "No, not in a bad way. I mean, in a way that you want." He looked over at me. "You are comfortable with this, right?"

"Yeah. Painless: no problem."

"I'm sorry I was kind of a jerk or just weird. Thanks for..." He trailed off and began to get up, "I better get out of here. I think I can already feel the effects."

"I don't think it was even a minute. Plus, you left the door open."

He looked over and blushed. "Whoops." He kept on staring down at me. "I would give you something to do while you wait, but I'm going to have to turn off the lights. Sorry."

I shrugged, "that's ok. What you're doing is enough." Axel walked to the door and turned around to look at me one last time.

"Bye," he turned off the lights, "you were really cool, Roxas."

"Bye," I whispered back. He closed the door and I could hear his footsteps fading away. It was a shame to be to dying like this and him not seeing my expression. I was smiling in the face of death. Pity. But it's ok, I thought as I closed my eyes. The end was near and I had nothing more to care about. But it did strike me odd how I wasn't hearing his misanthropic laughter over the low hum of the vehicle.

Axel, are you sad?

-celebration- FINALLY! That took me forever! But I read over it and spell checked it and if anything's wrong then...umm...beats me. I'm human!

I hope this chapter was a lot better than the last one.

Please review!

-Lady of the Cards-