Chapter Six---Putting to Sleep A Lion

Axel awoke in a good mood. He was warm, he'd sleep the whole night through for the first time in months and the smell of coffee filled the air. Life was good. However, when Leon brought up coffee and toast, Axel's mood quickly soured.

It wasn't Leon or the previous night or anything relatively…well, relevant to what was happening now. It started when Axel really stopped and smelled the coffee. Demyx's' coffee. The same coffee Demyx himself had made for Axel every morning for 3 years. The coffee brought back good memories, which in turn led to bad ones which put Axel in a foul, foul mood. Leon didn't understand what in the hell was going on.

"Roxas, I swear to God if you don't turn that shi—"

"Axel!" Namine's azure eyes were wide in astonishment. Her hands were on slim hips and she frowned disapprovingly. Roxas looked back and forth between the two before he turned the radio down obligingly. No sense in making his landlord angry with him. Besides, he knew why Axel was upset and Axel only ever got upset for three reasons;

Someone spilled booze or coffee

Someone made the coffee Demyx used to make or;

It was the day Demyx died.

Roxas briefly wondered if Leon knew what was up with the red-head but it was obvious by the bewildered look on the man's face that he had no clue. Roxas wanted to explain it to him but he knew that Axel was touchy when it came to Demyx. Demyx was the one thing Axel had ever truly loved.

"Come on, we're late and Cloud's going to be pissed." Axel's voice had suddenly taken on a defeated, edgy tone and Roxas traveled a safe distance behind him. Sora, however, had no clue as to their friends' nasty little mood that morning and burst in, loudly, and began hugging Axel.

"You'll never guess what happened on the way here!!! I can hardly—" Axel snapped.

"Get off me Sora!! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Sora backed up quickly and stared at Axel in disbelief.

"What? Axel—" Axel pushed past him.

"Whatever, just get in the car Sora, we're late." Sora's good mood instantly disappeared as he climbed in behind Leon.

Cloud could tell by the way Axel walked that he was not having a good day. And Axel having a bad day meant he'd be in the back tearing up Cloud's clean kitchen and snapping at anyone who dared disturb him.

"I'll run the register today." Axel didn't acknowledge him, only washed his hands and pulled his hair back, heading for the kitchen. Leon entered slowly, as if waiting for Axel to blow up on him too. He raised a brow at Cloud and began making the coffee.

"I don't know. Did someone spill something?"

"What? No. He was fine last night and then this morning when I made coffee he suddenly had a hissy fit." Leon scowled as he spilled coffee grounds trying to get them into the filter.

"Coffee? Did you use the good stuff?" Leon nodded, unsure of the relevance.

"Yea, he had bags of the stuff."

"That's the stuff his ex used to make." Leon continued to stare at him.

"They were together for a long time. Then Demyx came down with cancer. He made that coffee for Axel every morning the entire time they were together. It's almost December, that's when Demyx died and he always gets like this when it's this time of year, or when he smells that coffee. He hasn't really gotten over it." Leon thought about this. He couldn't blame the red-head for having sentimental attachments, even if they were kind of silly.

"How long ago did he die?" Cloud sighed softly.

"Two years. He's come a long way." Silence overtook the room, heavy and thick. Axel could be heard in the kitchen swearing and slamming things but Roxas assured him that Axel made the greatest baked goods when he was upset. This wasn't exactly comforting to Leon when he heard soft sobs coming from the kitchen. He peeked around the corner, enough to be seen but not enough to intrude unless Axel wanted him there.

Green eyes looked up at him somewhat startled and horrendously sad. Axel wiped his eyes and sighed heavily, attempting to laugh. It didn't work and he ended up sobbing even more. Leon entered the room slowly, eyeing the redhead on the stool. Axel's shoulders were slumped and he didn't bother looking up at Leon this time. It was almost like he was giving up. It was then that Leon realized just what Axel was;

Broken.

Roxas sat down beside Sora and smiled. He knew the brunette had some exciting news but was torn between his friend and his excitement. Sora smiled half-heartedly and sighed. Roxas set a cup of hot chocolate down in front of him and grinned.

"So, Zexion finally asked you out huh?" Sora stared up at him with amazed sapphire orbs.

"Dude, how did you know?! Are you psychic? You are, aren't you?! You've been holding out on me!!! I can't believe this, my own brother is psychic and he doesn't even tell me! Life is so unfair." Roxas looked at his brother with a deadpan look for several minutes before he slapped him upside the head.

"I'm not psychic moron. You've been ranting about him for months and I figured it was about time he finally got around to it." Sora had the decency to look sheepish.

"Oh. I knew that."

A.n: Ahaha take that writers block!!!! Review!!!

To my reviewers, thanks so much for sticking with this story and I'm sorry its taken so long to update but cut me some slack, I just had a baby so I've been a bit preoccupied. J Keep up the wonderful reviews and I shall update soon!!!!

Ulti!