Axel woke up in the infirmary. His first instinct was to fire off as many curses as he could think of. That was, of course, before he realized Zexion and Vexen were standing right beside him.

"That was impressive," Zexion said dryly.

"Thanks, man," Axel grunted in reply, pushing himself up into a sitting position. "What the hell happened? Who was that guy?"

"That guy," Zexion said, leaning down and hissing the words into Axel's ear, "was my sister's boyfriend. He was the one who alerted me to the fact that you were passed out at a random table in the freaking middle of campus."

"Musta been him," Axel muttered. "He probably cast some sort of friggin' magic spell on me while I was there."

"Magic doesn't exist, Axel," Zexion said.

"That's what you think," Axel shot back, with all the conviction of an illogical five-year-old, before Vexen waved a hand to quiet the both of them.

"Axel, if this continues, I'll need to report you to the administration," Vexen said.

"It wasn't the damn pills," Axel exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. "I told you, Saïx took all of those. They're not on me anymore. I was just tired. Maybe it was withdrawal or somethin'."

"If that's so," Zexion shot back, "then what are these?"

He reached down—with dismay Axel realized his backpack was sitting on the ground next to him—and pulled out the exact bottle of pills that Axel had depended on during his time in the library.

"Fuck," he sighed, leaning back.

"Looks like we've found the culprit," Zexion sighed, shaking his head and staring at the bottle. "Antidepressants . . . Axel, where are you getting all of these?"

"None of your business."

"That's not an answer."

"None of your fucking business."

"Shall we go ask Saïx?" Zexion turned to Vexen.

"He doesn't know, either." Axel crossed his arms. "Why don't you just let me go?"

"Because you're still overdosed on however the hell many pills you took," Zexion shot back. Vexen put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him back, sensing that the other medic was beginning to lose his temper.

"We'll have to keep you here until the medication is out of your system," Vexen explained. "And also until all of said medications have been eliminated from your . . . personal belongings."

"God, you're invasive," Axel muttered. Vexen glared at him, while Zexion turned away.

"By the way," the younger medic added, "there's someone who wants to see you."

"Yeah?" Axel replied. "Are you gonna make him wait 'til I'm sober too?"

Zexion opened the door, and the blond boy from the table just outside the student center stepped in.

"Oh, yeah, I recognize you," Axel said.

The blond boy looked uncomfortable. He ran a hand through his hair and shifted his weight a little, but he didn't say anything.

"Axel, this is Roxas," Zexion said. "He called on us when he found you passed out at a table."

Axel laughed. "Actually, I sat down at his table and then passed out."

Zexion turned to the blond boy—Roxas. Xion's boyfriend, Axel reminded himself. "Sorry," Zexion muttered under his breath. "He's still jacked up on pills. He doesn't really know what he's saying."

Roxas blinked.

"I know you know I know what I'm talking about," Axel told him in an almost singsong voice. "Anyway, sorry you didn't get to see Xion there, man. I'm sure she didn't really mind anyway. She had me to talk to."

Roxas's expression contorted, but he didn't say anything. Zexion shook his head. "Axel, who do I need to bring in here to get you to shut up? Saïx? Maybe Dean Xemnas?"

"I'll say whatever the hell I want," Axel responded.

"Both of you, calm down," Vexen interrupted. He grabbed Zexion by the forearm and dragged him toward the door, ignoring the other medic's protests. The door slammed, leaving Axel alone with the blond—Xion's boyfriend, and the guy who had found him unconscious at a random table. Roxas.

"So what, are you gonna fly off the handle at me now?" Axel asked. "I'm waiting. Ready, go."

Roxas shifted his feet. "Um, I don't think that's really necessary—"

"No, no, seriously," Axel said. "Go on. Let's hear it. I wanna know all about how I shouldn't have talked to your girlfriend and I'm a goddamn loser and what I did was just out of line. Go. Go ahead."

"I said that's not necessary." Roxas looked him straight in the eye. "It's true, I don't like the idea of someone like you talking to Xion. But I'm guessing these two won't let you out of the infirmary for another year, so I don't think that's going to be an issue again."

"Oh god," Axel said, rubbing his forehead and letting out a slight laugh. "I gave you your damn chance, and you took it. That insult was like a blade straight to the heart. Or it would be, if I had a heart." He laughed.

Roxas shook his head. "What do you mean, if you had a heart?"

"Listen to you. No wonder Xion dates you," Axel said. "You're adorable."

"It's called faith," Roxas snapped. "I don't think the worst of everyone, unlike you."

"Oh, but how could I think the worst of someone like Xion?" Axel sighed. "She's beautiful. She must be the purest person to exist. Unless you've had your say in that." He turned to glare at Roxas.

"I haven't done anything," Roxas said, holding his hands up as if in surrender.

"Of course you haven't. You child. Looking for the light everywhere you go, as if there isn't any darkness anywhere," Axel quipped.

Roxas shook his head. "Sorry, but Zexion was right. You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh no, Roxas, now you've done it. Now you've seen the darkness," Axel said with a shake of his head. "Now you've seen the void that occupies the space where my head should be. You'd better back off before it infects you and eats your thoughts."

Roxas backed up a couple of steps. "Do you know where Xion is? I mean—no, of course you don't. Never mind. I'll, uh . . . see you later."

"What? What was that?" Axel called after him. "Did you just tell me you wanted to see me again? Did I hear that right?"

"No," Roxas said before exiting the room and slamming the door.

"Would you look at yourself, making more enemies," a voice said from Axel's side. Axel turned to the right to see his roommate standing in the corner. Their eyes met and Saïx flicked his wrist, causing his hair to fan out behind him for a split second. When it fell back into place again, he was staring at the opposite wall rather than Axel.

"H-how long have you been there?" Axel asked, willing his heart to stop racing. His pulse wouldn't slow down, of course, not after his near-OD.

"A while." Saïx still didn't look at him.

"Saïx, I hate to say it, but . . ." Axel balled his hands into fists. "You're kind of scaring me. What the hell's going on?"

"That is my line," Saïx snapped, whipping around to look at Axel. "You were the one who reminded me that we were friends. Were. Past-effing-tense. Now look at you. Sometimes I wonder why I bother."

"Saïx . . ." Axel squinted, looking at him. Part of him felt guilty for making his roommate worry. Another part of him was paranoid enough to try to figure out what Saïx's ulterior motives had to be.

"Come back and talk to me later when you're not high," Saïx snapped, and before Axel could find the words to respond, he turned and walked out of the room.

Axel closed his eyes in an attempt to forget the room around him and the events he'd witnessed in the past twenty-four hours. After a minute of thinking, he came to the conclusion that he just wanted to see Xion.

He took back that thought almost as soon as he let it come into his mind. No. No, he didn't want to see Xion. He'd messed things up with her completely during their last meeting—all that accidentally insulting Roxas and everything. Yeah. Accidentally.

No, he decided, he didn't want to think about her after all.

Saïx's words crashed through his head, and he remembered the days that the two of them had spent as freshmen, going virtually everywhere together. Saïx had always teased him about wishing they'd never known each other, but that was only teasing, and only when Axel did something insufferably stupid. Now he feared that Saïx actually wanted to forget their friendship. Like Larxene when she broke up with me, dammit, he thought. He couldn't bear to have Saïx do almost the same thing to him.

And on top of that, when he really thought about it, he didn't even feel high anymore.

A/N: I have been so so so so so so so so busy. I never anticipated having this much work EVER. Ahhh.

Anyway, I have a break for a while, so I'm hoping to get some more writing in. Thanks for sticking with me! :D