Chapter Two: Loose Electrical Wire on 10,000 Volts

Saïx convinced Axel to go back to class three hours later. Their morning classes weren't the same, and Axel debated going back to his dorm to retrieve his last dose of the right kind of pills, but he came to the conclusion that he didn't have enough time and continued on his way.

Before he reached the building, a pair of arms snagged his waist from behind and pulled him back. He turned his head a few degrees to catch a glimpse of the perpetrator and saw a familiar face. A very familiar face.

"Larxene…," he murmured.

"Don't get any ideas," she snapped, shoving him away. "Saïx told me what you did last night. I don't have any intention to sleep with a guy who has to drug himself into unconsciousness every night. You can just kiss that idea goodbye."

"I can deal with that," Axel muttered and leaned around to press his lips to hers, but she dodged.

"No, I didn't mean that literally, you asshole. What I'm saying," she said, drawing the words out and looking him in the eye, "is that we're done. This is too much."

"You're kidding right now, right, Larx?" Axel asked, holding out his hands. "You wouldn't actually believe something Saïx made up about me, would you?"

"He didn't fucking make it up," Larxene retorted. "He showed me the evidence and everything. Told me about Zexion's part in it, too."

"That's bull…," Axel began, but Larxene looked away, the pain clear on her face. "You don't actually want to break up with me," he hypothesized. "You just want it not to be true."

"Wrong," Larxene contradicted, turning around.

"How can you say that?" Axel demanded. "Look at your goddamn face, Larxene. You look like you're gonna cry at any moment. You don't wanna do this. Who the hell're you trying to fool?"

"I'm not fooling anyone, Axel," she told him. "You're the one who's fooling. And the worst part is, the person you're trying to fool is yourself."

She walked away, leaving him to stammer to himself and stare after her. Shaking his head, he forced himself to look away from her and continue walking to his first class.

He couldn't concentrate. While the professor gave the day's lecture, Axel stared at his notes, drawing various sketches between the lines. When he looked at them from an angle, he realized they heavily resembled the lines of a heart monitor, beating on either side of the page and flatlining in the middle. He scribbled violently over the pictures, drawing stares from a few of the students in the rows around him. He pretended not to notice and made another attempt at paying attention to the lecture on the next page.

His hand shook like a loose electrical wire on ten thousand volts. In the end, he clenched his hand into a fist and gave up.

The guy next to him leaned over. Axel pretended not to notice until he heard a voice say, "Hey, are you okay?"

Axel debated whether to answer for a moment, but in the end, he muttered out of the side of his mouth, "Not really." After a second, he continued, "You want to give me a copy of your notes?"

"Yeah, no prob, man."

"Thanks." When the guy faced forward again, Axel chanced a look at him. He had blond hair that was full of gel and stuck up toward the ceiling. With a jolt, Axel realized who he was talking to—this was Zexion's friend, Demyx. He gritted his teeth and turned back to the lecture.

When the period ended, Demyx stood up, gathering stray sheets of notes into his notebook. "Hey, come with me to the student center and I can get you those copies."

"Sure," Axel said, throwing his own supplies into his backpack and slinging it over one shoulder. He followed Demyx out of the lecture hall.

"So, um…" he began as they walked, "you know… Zexion?"

Demyx laughed. "Oh, Zexion? 'Course I know him. We're pretty good friends, actually."

"Well, that's… good to know." Axel ran a hand through his hair.

"Why d'you ask?" Demyx questioned.

"No reason, actually," Axel ventured. Demyx didn't seem to recognize him or know about the episodes Zexion had brought him through, and if Zexion hadn't told him anything, Axel wasn't going to volunteer the information. "I was just curious."

"I guess you know Zexion, then."

"Sort of," Axel said. "I mean, you know—my roommate knows him, too."

"Ah, one of those 'I know a guy who knows a guy' type of things," Demyx answered with a laugh.

Axel breathed a sigh of relief. He'd been right. Zexion hadn't told Demyx anything.

"So, um…" Demyx paused.

"It's Axel," Axel filled in for him.

"Right. Axel." Demyx stopped to open the door of the student center. "How long you been here, anyway?"

"I'm a junior," Axel said. "You?"

"Hey, same here," Demyx answered. "Zexion is, too. He lives here 'cause he's got a work study thing with the infirmary."

Because I didn't know that, Axel wanted to say. "I don't really know why I'm still stuck here, honestly. I guess because I haven't found a roommate who'd live off campus."

"Ooh, no fun." Demyx stopped again, this time to swipe his ID on one of the copy machines. He took his notes out of his backpack again and made a few quick copies before handing them to Axel. When their eyes met again, Demyx's expression changed. "Hey, aren't you the one I always see with Larxene?"

Axel's mouth went dry as he took the notes from the blond. "Um… I mean… Probably." He gave an uneasy laugh and spread his hands. "We were together… for a while."

Demyx raised an eyebrow. "For a while? You mean you're… not… anymore?"

"Actually," Axel admitted, "she just broke up with me. Like, right before that lecture."

"Oh. Shit," Demyx replied. "Sorry I asked."

"Whatever, it's not a problem," Axel replied. He twisted to shove the copies of the blond's notes into his own backpack, accidentally crumpling several of the pages in the process. As he withdrew his hand, his fingers brushed against a few of the extra amber containers he kept in his backpack for emergencies. Thank God Saïx hadn't found those. Axel had returned to his dorm room this morning to find that Saïx had, in fact, confiscated most of the pills in the bathroom while he was unconscious. He could definitely use some right now.

"You sure it's not a problem?" Demyx asked. "You look kinda like you wanna kill someone, actually."

"I'll get over it." Axel centered his backpack on his shoulders again and forced a grin. "Let's face it. Larxene isn't really the most dateable girl out there, anyway."

Demyx laughed. "Can't argue. But—don't say you already have someone else in mind."

"No," Axel corrected quickly. "Maybe."

"Damn, man," Demyx answered.

"I don't," Axel told him. "You, though—what about you?"

"Oh, well, about that…" Demyx began.

"Hmm?" Axel prompted.

"Yeeeeaaah, um, not really a conversation I wanna have right now," Demyx sighed. "Sorry, bro. I should get to class."

"You have another class this soon?" Axel asked.

"Actually, I do. See you in lecture tomorrow," the blond said and waved as he dashed off toward his next class.

"Later," Axel mumbled under his breath. As he turned to leave the student center, he half wondered what Demyx had meant by a conversation he didn't really want to have. How bad could it have been? He wasn't dating Larxene or something, was he? But no, he'd agreed that Larxene wasn't all that desirable, and it was unlikely that anyone would have stolen Larxene from him so soon after she'd broken up with him.

He sighed and stopped at the door, where he reached into his backpack again and extracted a small white pill. He swallowed it without water, praying that the anti-anxiety effects would kick in as fast as possible. He could still feel his hands shaking and his pulse racing.

As he slipped his backpack over his shoulders, taking a deep breath to let his system accept the chemicals, the door swung open and smacked him in the face.

"Ow!" he exclaimed, trying to move in the opposite direction of the door, but as his back was against the wall, there was nowhere to move.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," a voice said from the other side of the door. When Axel looked to see to whom the voice belonged, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

Because who would stand in the space in front of him, after having slammed the door quite literally in his face, but a girl?

A/N: Thanks for reading, if you've read this far... I don't really know what compelled me to go this way in terms of pairing... But anyway.

Review if you feel like it! :D