Author's Note: There is swearing and abuse in this!

Life was finally looking up.

Axel strolled into his house after his successful date with you. He was grinning ear to ear, which is why as soon as he walked past the living room, he received a, "Hold it," from his father and a, "Come over here," from his mother. Axel rolled his eyes a little but turned right around and went into the living room. He looked at his parents. His mom was covered with freckles, with blonde hair and a petite build. His dad had a stern look to him, but he had the softest blue eyes Axel had ever seen. He was much taller than his wife, even taller than Axel. His parents made kind of an odd pair, but their personalities melded perfectly; they were meant for each other.

"What's up?" Axel asked, plopping on the couch.

His parents exchanged a glance, then his mother burst into a huge smiling and began bouncing in her seat. "How did it go?! Your big date with your dream girl! Oh, it took all my self-control to not call you before you got back! I've been itching to know!"

Axel chuckled a little, and scratched the back of his head, a habit he'd developed when he was nervous or embarrassed. "Umm, it went alright," he mumbled.

His mother stopped bouncing instantly and stared at him in horror. "Just alright?" she whimpered.

Axel stood and walked to the doorway. "Hey Ma, you can't expect too much from a first date," Axel explained. Before maneuvering upstairs however, he muttered a quick, "But we are dating now," then bolted away.

He heard his mother squeal and his father try to match her excitement. He shook his head at his comedic parents, finally entering the sanctuary of his room.

He quickly stripped of his clothes, save for his boxers, and slipped into bed.

Axel was as happy as he could be, but he's dream were far from pleasant.

~~~

Axel was thrown into the middle of his parents; they were yelling at each other. For some reason, he was extremely small, only about the size of their feet. Axel, not wanting to listen to the ever-growing confrontation, curled into a ball on the floor. He waited for the shouting to stop. He could feel himself heating up.

When he looked up, he could see his father towering over him. He turned around to see his mother crying. When he looked back, his father was gone, leaving a lone door in the middle of darkness. The door shrunk down to Axel's current size. Axel opened the door and peeked around inside.

It was his grandparents' house. He felt a little nudge behind him pushing him into the house. He whipped his head around, seeing the back of his mom, walking away. He cried out to her, but she didn't turn around.

His grandparents walked up to Axel, telling him they were going to the zoo. Axel loved the zoo, and hoped going would make him feel better.

The car stopped in front of a dark building, rain pouring down around them. Axel's grandparents led him into the building, which very clearly was not the zoo. The sign on the top read "Orphanage". When they opened the door, there was nothing inside; it was just a gigantic hole.

His grandparents began cackling maniacally. They shoved him through the doorway. Axel tripped through and began falling, falling, falling. He saw his grandparents waving at him, both with evil smiles on their faces.

When he finally landed, he was in tears. He took a deep breath and looked up, seeing 4 doors in front of him, each labeled with a number.

Axel shakily stood up, and headed for door number 1. He entered the room.

The room was full of children his age, but none of them looked happy; most of them looked quite sickly. He looked at the surroundings; the people who owned this house clearly had a hoarding problem...or just never cleaned.

Axel began to feel sickly himself, just from breathing in all the fumes. He saw a man and a woman on a couch, both smoking and drinking, not paying attention to any of the children they had in their house.

Someone knocked on the door. Seeing that no one else would answer it, Axel limped to the door, the environment taking its effects on him. When he opened the door, there were two men standing outside. One of them bent down, handed Axel his card, and whispered, "We're going to get you out of here tiger." As soon as he said that, a hole opened beneath Axel, and he fell through.

He landed back in the room with 4 doors. He didn't want to go through anymore, but he didn't really have a choice. He went through the second door.

This time it was just a man in the room. He was talking about Axel's ability. How did he know about that? The man was trying to force Axel to use his powers. He said he wouldn't let Axel leave until he did. He locked Axel in the basement and wouldn't feed him, let him use the bathroom, or even acknowledge him until he used his powers.

Axel was having an internal conflict. He needed to get out but he didn't want to use his power. However, he knew it needed to be done, else he would die down there.

He summoned his caretaker down to the basement, assuring him he would use his powers. When the man came down, Axel reluctantly controlled his powers, and burned the man's legs; Axel didn't want to be a murderer, he just wanted to get out.

He ran upstairs and called the number on the card he received earlier. The man arrived to find Axel in the corner, crying. Axel told him not to come near him, that he was a monster, but the man approached him anyways. He bent down and explained, "This wasn't your fault kiddo. Let's get you outta here."

He led Axel out the door, but when he stepped outside, Axel realized he was in the room with the doors again. Two more to go. He built up some courage and stalked towards the third door, looking around with every step, becoming very paranoid. He opened the third door and stepped through.

He walked into a pretty nice looking house, a thousand times better looking than the first one he was in, and he wasn't stuck in the basement either. He walked around, looking for someone, anyone, to console him. He heard his name called in the distance. It was a woman's voice. He ran to it.

He found her sitting on the living room couch. Her voice sounded nice enough, but as soon as she started talking to Axel, it became very clear that the words coming out were not nice at all. She called him worthless, a fuck-up, a freak, a loser, a no-good piece of shit. And that was just the beginning. She also told him that no one would ever love someone as hideous and monstrous as him. Axel eyes started tearing up, which caused the woman to call for her husband.

A man walked into the living room, a belt in hand. He dragged Axel away, bruising his arm, and brought him into the bathroom. Once there, Axel was spanked. And not just with the belt, but the man also punched Axel in the face and shoved him in the toilet. The abuse kept going on and on, until the woman called for dinner. Axel was left on the bathroom floor in a pool of his own blood.

He heard sirens. There was a commotion outside. Someone opened the bathroom door. It was the same guy from the other two houses, the one that called him tiger and kiddo.

The man bent down and picked Axel up. "Don't worry champ, we won't let this happen again." Axel closed his eyes, finally feeling safe.

He opened them a minute later to find himself in the room with the 4 doors again.

He was relieved there was only one room left, but terrified of what could be behind the last one.

Axel forced himself up, and trudged his way to the last door, the one labeled with a "4". He walked through it.

A blinding light hit Axel, and when his eyes finally adjusted, he saw two people stranding in front of him; a man and a woman. The woman had the most freckles Axel had ever seen, and the man's eyes were extremely blue. They opened their arms to him.

Axel felt an overwhelming desire to trust them. He ran towards them. The light began taking over his sight again before he made it to them, but he knew he made it, because he felt something he hadn't felt for a very long time. He felt love.

~~~

The red-head woke with a start from his nightmare. Although it had ended nice, he couldn't stop thinking about what had happened earlier in the dream. He was sweating and breathing heavy like he had just run a marathon. He caught his bearings, and slowly he laid his head in his hands, semi-curling into a fetal position.

"I wish that that was only a nightmare," he whispered to no one.