Chapter 10: Lost Words

The words couldn't find a way out of his mouth, They hung on the tip of his tongue behind his lips. Xion sat there, staring at him, waiting. Roxas's smile slowly faded into a thin line with the corners of his mouth hanging down.

"I can't tell you," he finally spoke.

Xion frowned. "Okay Roxas." She knew she couldn't get anymore out of him. She watched him slowly make his way over to the large window in the living room.

He pushed back the curtain enough to look out. He stood there for a few moments.

"It's getting late," Xion stated to break the awkward silence.

He continued looking out the window. "Ven was supposed to have a day off today," Roxas said in a low voice. A gentle whisper almost.

Xion turned her head to look at Ven's mahogany wood door. The strained-grain deep red wood strikes as a beautiful piece of hand crafted art. "Is he still here?"

Roxas looked down and shook his head. "No, he left early. He's been working extra hours. I told him not to." He let go off the curtain, letting it fall back in its original spot. "We had a huge fight about it a year ago." Roxas grasped his right forearm. His fingers wrapped around it and tightly squeezed. He felt his heartbeat in his palm. "He was always leaving me. Working late nights, sleeping all day. I never really got to see him much. It pissed me off so badly." His grip tightened. The veins on his hands popped out. "I accused him of purposely working so much so he wouldn't have to see me. I screamed that I hated him so much. I hated him like Mom and Dad. And then…" Roxas trailed off. He still remembered feeling the bone and cartilage in Ven's nose cracking and ripping apart. He remembered the screams and the confusion of it all. He still remembered all the blood.

"After that it was really never the same."

Xion titled her head in confusion. "But you and him get along so well." She remembered back to when they brought her home from the hospital. They laughed and joked the entire way home just like how two brothers were. Their smiles and laughter seemingly real.

"It's all fake," he uttered. "It's all fake. There's no meaning behind it all. We're strangers living together. There's no love." Roxas fell back, landing hard on his tail bone. He kicked his legs out and held them close to him. He hid his face in his lap. "I'm all alone."

There was a small rustle as Xion moved around on the couch. Roxas heard soft footsteps as they came toward him. He felt a small hand on his. He lifted his head a little. He saw Xion sitting in front of him from underneath his bangs. She took his hand in both of her hands and lifted it up. She placed it on top of her head.

Roxas lifted his head more. He looked at Xion's beaming face.

She giggled. "I know what it's like to be alone. To be all alone and everyone hates you." She continued to smile at him. "We can be alone together. And maybe we won't be so alone if we did that. There won't be any hate between us. Just me and you, Roxas." Her lower lip quivered as a single tear fell down her cheek. She continued to ramble. "I really suck at this whole… talking thing." She laughed at herself. Tears flew off her jaw line.

"I would like to be alone… with just you," Roxas admitted. He wiped Xion's tears away with his free hand. He struggled to find the words he desperately wanted to tell her. He wanted to scream it at the top of his lungs, to the whole world. He wanted everyone to know.

"Xion, wouldn't it be crazy if one day, we were together? Just one day we… we just started going out. How crazy would that be?"

Tears streamed down Xion's cheeks. She laughed again, smiling happily. "Crazy? I guess we really are crazy then."

Roxas had found the words. The words that eluded him for so long. That short three worded phrase. I love you.

Ven packed his guitar case and cleaned up the stage covered with a thousand different wires intertwined with each other and taped down on the stage. He always tripped on them, ripping them, with a loud blaring popping screech, out of the stereos that lined the rim of the stage. Eventually his manager had to invest in duct tape to hold down the wires. Now Ven just trips on the lump in the middle of the stage.

Ven forced the mic off the mic stand and collapsed the long skinny stand. The bar was usually barren at this time. He continued to pack everything away.

The large entrance door swung open and two pairs of footsteps walked in before letting the door slam shut behind them. He heard the usually, "Good evenin'", from the bartender. He always greeted people with that, even if it was 3 AM in the morning.

"What can I get you two?" asked the bartender as he wiped down the counter.

"I'll have a whiskey," ordered a man with a hoarse voice.

"I'll… uh… just have water." The second man sounded too young to be in the bar.

Ven continued to take everything off the stage as the two men walked over to one of the booths in front of the stage. As he walked down the same steps to the side of the stage, carrying one of the smaller speakers, he heard one of them whistle at him. He turned his head quickly.

At the booth was an older man with scars on his face and an eye path with grey stripes that streaked through his long hair and a younger teen with a round face with a dirty-blond mullet. Eye-patch waved Ven over.

Ven put the stereo down and walked over to them. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah," said Eye-patch, "Demyx here is a big fan of you."

Demyx squirmed in his seat. He giggled. "I'm a huge fan off you Ventus!" he squeaked.

Ven rubbed the back of his head. He tugged at his little ponytail. "Just call me Ven," he nervously said. He never had a fan before.

"Can I get your autograph?" Demyx held out a ripped piece of paper and a cheap looking pen with the end all chewed up.

"Sure." He gladly accepted the pen and paper.

"So, I heard you have a brother?"

Ven was too focused on writing to listen to the old coot.

"He's very… famous around these part of towns."

Ven slammed the pen down.

"Xigbar, you made him angry," Demyx whined.

"My brother is nothing like them, okay?" Ven spat at him. "He'll never be like them!" He spun around and angrily stomped away.

"Get in the car, Demyx," Xigbar ordered calmly.

Demyx pouted. "But why me? I don't like getting hands dirty."

Xigbar pointed to the exit while taking a shot of the whiskey. Demyx bitterly went out, mumbling obscenities under his breath. He flipped the glass upside down on the table. "Whoo!. That's some fine whiskey."

Ven grabbed his guitar case. He looked over to see Xigbar still sitting in the both. He raised his empty shot glass to him. Ven rolled his eyes and shook his head. He walked through the exit.

Xigbar put his glass down and smirked devilishly. "This was easier than I thought."

Outside, the noise of tires screeching on the icy pavement echoed through the night as it quickly faded into the distance.