"So he hasn't heard a word from Axel huh?"

"No. I thought that was very strange. I'm sure Axel would be calling as much as he could. Maybe he's busy."

"Maybe he's sick?"

"Oh, I certainly hope not."

Zexion set down his cup of coffee on the table and clasped his hands together, resting his chin on them. Demyx chugged his mug of coffee and wearily looked on, and opened his mouth to say something, but quickly changed his mind.

"I hope Roxas will find him." Demyx finally said, smiling hopefully. "I never saw Axel so happy."

Zexion nodded in agreement, presenting Demyx with a small smile of his own.

"They'll find each other. It's only a matter of time."

And the two sat silently together, admiring one another and smiling small secretive smiles from across the table.

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Roxas' POV

I bolted down the market street shoving poor pedestrians mercilessly out of my way. I reached the end of the street and huffed and puffed like an out of shape cow and slumped back onto a street bench. 'Man, I gotta lose some WEIGHT. Or at least shape up.' I gazed down at my chest which was heaving and finally managed to catch my breath after a few moments. I looked down at the crumpled up paper in my fist and let out a breath of relief. I'd finally get to see Axel. Though…I wasn't sure why he wasn't keeping in contact. Either he forgot about me…or something was up. I was hoping it wasn't either of the two but if I had a preference it'd be the second one.

Regardless of said cynical thoughts, my heart was racing from joy! (or just being out of shape.) And I couldn't wait to hear his voice. I'd wondered how he'd been, where he'd been, what he was doing now. But….there was a problem.

Cell phones don't exactly carry through to different WORLDS. The signal's way too weak. So it would be hard to contact him if we weren't close enough. His cell phone number was my only chance at reaching him though, and at least I had a small glimmer of hope.

'Why do you think he left you anyway?'

Huh?

'Oh I'm just…..curious. The reason he gave you for leaving was rather hasty, was it not? I just don't seem to understand.'

The hell…? Who are YOU? How do you know what he said anyway?

'I'm like all of your subconscious thoughts, I just happen to be the more cynical of them. Do tell me though; if he loved you so much he wouldn't have left. And he didn't even TRY to contact you.'

You don't know that. Maybe he's busy or sick. You never know…

'Well we'll see, won't we?' Cynic replied, smirking.

I tossed my bag over my shoulder and stood up, walking over to the payphone, sliding the booth door closed. I smoothed out the paper and held my breath, typing his number into the keypad. It made a few strange noises, and finally it started to ring. I felt like my face was turning blue from holding my breath and it probably was, because a very strange old man was watching me through the glass with a raised eyebrow, probably wondering what I was doing. Either that or he was a convict waiting to hurt me. He had this eye patch and this long black ponytail and he was just…..staring at me. I blinked at him, frowning uneasily. I finally turned my back to him, biting my lip and waiting for the scary old man to leave.

"Hello?"

I jerked out of my stupor and let out a shaky breath of pure joy and absolute excitement. I went to shout a joyful greeting when-

"Ah haaa. Just kidding. I'm not here! This is my answering machine so leave an answer and I'll get back to you with a question and maybe we'll get real freaky. BEEEEEEP!"

My mouth dropped as I shook my head incredulously.

Nice. Real….nice. I'll bet Demyx told him to say that. Freaks.

I sighed into the phone and worded myself as carefully as I could.

"Hey. This is Roxas. Or maybe you'd remember me as Roxy-poo-baby-kins." I grimaced at the horrible nickname he bestowed upon me. "I haven't spoken to you in a while. I hope you're doing ok and everything's well." I shuffled my feet, casting my eyes to the ground. "And….well…..I missed you." I hastily mentioned, feeling my cheeks heating up. "That's all. Uhm….well. I'll talk to you later….maybe." I was filled with relief when I hung up the phone.

I stayed in there for a few moments, filled with a mixture of feelings, all blended into a nauseating concoction. I finally bowed my head and walked out of the booth, startled that the old man was still watching me.

I glared at him for a few moments and he merely gazed back at me with his one shiny eye and I finally said, "Hey. Old Man. Can you uh…..can you not stare at me, ok? I don't want any trouble. I don't have any money if that's what you want."

That's not true. I had a dollar. A dollar could buy you a McChicken. I could go for a chicken sandwich right now.

Wait, why am I discussing my need for lunch when there is a psychotic creepy old man staring at me?

"Old Man?" He scoffed at me, his mouth upturned into a sneer. "Kid I'm probably younger than your MOM."

"I don't give a hoot HOW old you are, it's not cool to stare at young people through telephone booths." I gave off a shudder. "It's creepy."

"Man you small fry piss me off. I ought to teach you a lesson right here." I flinched and backed up.

"Uh, n-no thanks man. Like I said I don't want any trouble or anything-"

He let off a huge laugh, at the expense of my fear and shook his head.

"I ain't going to hurt you kid. It's just not worth it. And anyway, any friend of Demyx is a friend of mine."

"Wait a second. You KNOW Demyx?"

"Sure." He smirked, his eye glinting at me. "Hell, we go back a long time. I've seen you two hanging around before. You were more of a small fry then." He lowered his hand to a shorter level, as if to emphasize my puniness.

"Who are you?"

"Don't believe a word anybody tells ya, especially Dem and Axx." He yelled at me, warningly. I flinched and nodded fearfully, wondering where in the world this conversation had taken a turn into. "Just call me….Xigbar. Don't ask no questions, alright?"

Uhm. Alright.

He gave me a thumbs up and a wink with his good eye (at least I think it was a wink, but hard to tell. It could very well be a blink.)

"Well I'll catch ya around small fry. Be good." He gave a half hearted salute and waltzed off. I shook my head and rolled my eyes and continued on down the street.

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"Rooooooooooooooxuuuuusssssssssss."

I blinked and glared up at the ridiculous face peering at me.

"Hi."

I pushed Demyx back and smiled playfully at his antics. He hadn't changed much, and it was good to know.

"Hi to you. Now get out of my face, will ya?" I grinned and flipped through my magazine.

"I'm glad you decided to come back and join us. It's really good to be together again." Zexion said, smiling at me, which was strange seeing it from him since he used to be so introverted,

"Yeah it is. I figured I shouldn't waste the opportunity, right?"

"Soooo. You called him right?"

"Yeah, left him a message."

"That's good." Demyx said, taking a swig of coffee. "He'll call one of us, I'm sure."

I shrugged, feeling something in the pit of my stomach, gnawing at me.

"I also bumped into a friend of yours…..Xigbar was it?"

"XIGBAR?! REALLY?!!" Demyx screamed, causing everybody in the café to look at us strangely.

"Oh wooooooow! He's in town, how great!" Demyx giggled, clapping a hand to his face and leaning forward. "Did he tell you his real name?" He whispered dramatically.

"Uh….no but he did mention something about you and Axel-"

"It's not Xigbar. It's BRAIG." He whispered dramatically, laughing and taking another shot of coffee.

"Braig?"

"It's his birth name. He hates it." He laughed again. "He punches people who call him Braig, in the mouth. Call him Braig."

"But I don't want to get punched in the-!"

Zexion shushed Demyx with a hand on his back and looked at me wisely. "Oh don't listen to him. He's just hyper."

I stared at him with horror as he began to giggle crazily.

Who gave him a job at Starbucks anyway?!

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Well. Review? Is it any good? Is it absolute GARBAGE? I hope it's somewhat like how I used to write. I hope. I'll add more to this chapter most likely but I wanted to see if I was in the right direction.