Disclaimer: It pains me deeply to tell you this but…Kingdom Hearts is not mine, so no suing the poor fan fic writer!
Warnings: Eventual shonen-ai, language, drinking, and…insanity?
Spoilers: None, but AU abounds.
Notes: Well I'm in the middle of a move right now, so I figured I better get chapter two up while I have time to do so. A big thank-you goes to my reviewers: you guys rock!
Uncommon GroundChapter 2.
Light hit Roxas' eyes with the force of a train hitting a person's brain – or perhaps it had more similarity to a car hitting someone? Either way, it hurt like a colossal bitch.
"Sleeping Beauty has awakened." Someone said beside him in such a cocky self-assured tone that Roxas immediately had the urge to punch whoever it was in the face. Curious, Roxas quickly turned his head to get a good look at who the hell the annoying bastard was.
Very. Bad. Idea.
"My head!" The sudden movement brought on the worst pain he had felt since being hit by the car. The reality being that his two most painful experiences in life happened one after the other – minus that zipper incident from years back.
"Does it hurt?" A profile came into view, and once again he came face to face with some ass-hole who mows down people on the side of the street. The guy had bright crimson hair, a cocky smirk, and just to piss off Roxas a little more – height.
Not Satan though, as Roxas had previously believed. The devil would have been less annoying.
"No shit it hurts." Roxas mumbled in reply, raising a hand to feel the top of his poor abused cranium, only to feel a bandage wrapped there.
"They say it's just a concussion, so you're the luckiest son-of-a-bitch around here." The person he liked to think of as 'not-quite-Satan' said amiably, patting him on the arm.
"Just a concussion my ass."
"Oh and what splendid news! And here I thought I was going to die! Why thank-you for telling me this Axel, you've given me hope!" The strange visitor flailed around the room for a minute and did a very frightening falsetto – Roxas wasn't impressed. He so did NOT sound like that!
"So," Roxas began, after a moment to process what must have happened. "You hit me with your car?"
A worried look made itself apparent on the other guy's face and Roxas congratulated himself on a job well done – freaking out the stranger with that one little word that didn't even need to be said. Lawsuit.
"Now kid, you've got it all wrong. I watched some complete idiot knock you off your feet with their car and drive away! You're just lucky I was there in time to revive you!"
"What? You resuscitated me?"
He nodded his head once, emerald green eyes twinkling brightly in what looked suspiciously like mirth. "Yeah, you had stopped breathing."
The most horrible imagery came to play in the inner theatre of Roxas. It involved him laying prone on the pavement, most likely dying, and some sick bastard trying to give the breath of life…probably grabbing places he shouldn't have! A little grope here, a little tongue there…
"Oh hell no!"
"Yeah," He went on encouragingly, "it's true. I thought you were a goner, but a little mouth to mouth can work wonders! Hey, stop that!"
Roxas was trying to get up. Not getting very far mind you, but there was an effort being made to get away from the psycho rapist. He propped himself up by his arms and nearly got his legs over the edge of the bed before being stopped by the enemy. Well, the excruciating pain also played a minor roll. That is what Roxas kept telling himself.
"You should stay in bed." He had the nerve to wave a finger in front of the blond's face, like you see parents do to toddlers reaching for the stove. "If you want something you just have to ask!" He gave Roxas a gentle shove on the chest, sending him crashing back to the mattress he had just tried to escape from. Roxas let out a dejected sigh.
He hadn't come to Europe for this! Nowhere in 'finding oneself' do you find 'get hit by car' followed by 'get molested in foreign hospital.' Roxas suddenly wished he had his cell phone on hand so he could phone his family. Let them know he was alive – well sort of alive.
His rather odd visitor pulled up one of those cheap, plastic hospital chairs and sat down near the bed, legs stretched out in front of him like he owned the place. Bones and joints making cracking and popping sounds one right after another. Roxas had the sudden urge to shudder, but didn't for fear of inducing more head pain.
"I can see we've gotten off to a bad start." The taller man said in a conciliatory tone, offering his hand to Roxas, who shock it – albeit hesitantly.
"I'm Axel. All around backpacking extraordinaire, cheapo tourist, and now thanks to you…life-saver!"
"Roxas." Was the only grumbled response, offered after he had snatched his hand back from Axel. He didn't want him to get any sick and twisted ideas.
"Well Roxas, it's nice to meet you, just too bad it couldn't be under better circumstances." He gestured around the austere hospital room. White walls, white sheets, white partitions around the beds – the room felt like a living memento of the death of creativity. Not to mention all the sick, injured and seriously old people lying in beds.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"Hmm…" Axel glanced down at the time on his watch. "You've only been out for about four hours. It's just after eight-o-clock now."
"How long do I have to stay here?" Roxas didn't think he could handle staying in the place much longer, which was saying something considering he had only been conscious of his surroundings for a few minutes.
Axel got up from his seat and started to walk away. "I'll go ask a doctor, just sit tight."
Like he was really going to run off somewhere?
In the meantime Roxas gave a thorough once-over visual to all the medical equipment; all the pointy do-hickys and gadgets that keep people from calling it a permanent day. And that was a good idea until the old lady in the bed next to him started to glare, obviously not liking the fact that her IV was being eyed up. He shifted his gaze to someone sleeping. Or were they dead?
"Roxas, what are you looking at?" Axel was back by the bedside and followed his gaze to the man lying in the bed across the room.
"He's just sleeping Rox."
"Not dead?"
"Hmm…well you never know, but I doubt it. Anyways the doctor said he'd be in here shortly, but it sounds like you'll probably need to stay here overnight."
The overnight stay turned out to be true, as the physician in charge had no intention of releasing Roxas until the following afternoon. Roxas begged, pleaded, and eventually got angry, but to no avail – the decision was final.
"Of course, the police will want to have a word with you tomorrow before we release you." The elderly doctor had mentioned, with such nonchalance that he could have been commenting on a new pair of pants.
"Police?" Roxas asked, bewildered.
"Why yes, of course." The doctor took a look a Roxas' confusion and elaborated. "The hit and run."
The words 'hit and run' stood out loudly in the conversation, and Axel hadn't moved from his sitting position next to the bed. He was working at a look of complete neutrality, and so far it seemed to be working. Except for a bit of an eye-twitch that had made itself apparent. Roxas realized he'd been looking to see what kind of reaction there would be, and quickly turned away before Axel caught him staring.
"Well, I'll have a nurse check in on you in a little while. Be prepared for some paperwork though." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "You have traveler's insurance?" A few lines become extra-furrowed on his already craggy face as he awaited the answer. Indeed nobody wanted to be caught dead traveling abroad without being insured up the proverbial ass – the physician knew this from bitter experience.
'Well, at least I have one thing covered.' Roxas thought, before nodding his head in the affirmative. He may have been struck down and stuck in a white cell, but he was damn well not paying for it out of his own pocket!
The doctor smiled. "Excellent. I'll be seeing you later." And with that he quickly took his leave. Much the way Roxas wished he could be doing.
"I fucking hate this." He mumbled after a moment of silent reprieve. No touring, no long lineups and cheap hostels and even cheaper food – just badly flavored Jell-O.
"Well, kiddo, I'm sorry I got you laid up in here."
"You're admitting it now?" He stared incredulously at the redhead. Axel for his part was staring in every other direction other than his.
"What? Just like that you admit to backing into me and practically crushing me into the pavement?"
"I suppose, yeah, something like that." Axel yawned hugely. "I'll admit I'm pretty shity at driving a standard. Add in the whole 'left side of the road thing' and damn – I just suck. I wasn't even planning on driving, but they were giving sweet deals on rentals."
He cut his drawn out explanation short when he saw the glint in his victim's eyes. If looks could kill, Axel would have been long gone.
"I. Fucking. Hate. You." The words were pronounced very slowly, and with such clarity as there to be no confusion in the matter. "The reason I'm stuck in here is because you got a deal on a car rental! And you can't even drive!" He threw up his hands. "I can't believe it! I honestly cannot believe it!"
Axel busied himself rummaging in a big black and red backpack by his side. "You want a magazine to read or something?" Several magazines were pulled out of the bag and handed over without an answer.
"What kind are they?"
"You're going to hate me for this but…"
Roxas starting flipping through the pages before Axel could explain.
"Joy." Roxas mumbled sarcastically, reading the print on the bottom of a particularly nice photo of Trafalgar Square. "I can't actually go and see the sights, so I'll just drive myself to insanity by obsessing over the pictures." He flipped another page. "And articles."
"Hey, at least you'll be out of here by tomorrow. Then you can see everything you want."
But Roxas wasn't listening to anything being said, already too enthralled in the travel guides. There was information on everything – not just London. Manchester and York, Dublin and Edinburgh, Paris, Milan, Rome….even Prague. The sudden interest in the magazines wasn't lost on Axel, who decided to peek over Roxas' shoulder and see what had him so captivated.
"Venice?"
"I wish." Another page turned. "But Italy's too expensive." He scanned an article on pubs in Ireland and continued. "The same goes for Switzerland – too pricy." The previous bad mood was gone, much to Axel's amusement. Perhaps he wouldn't be prison bait after all!
"Where are you planning on going then?" Axel had a gut feeling it would be a little bit of England, France, and Germany. He couldn't really rationalize the reasoning, except that it seemed to fit the bill. That and the fact that he was a strong believer in fate. Well not fate, in a heavy, predetermined sense. Just the belief that when things started to seem weird they generally stayed that way – and since he planned on going to those Countries, it made some sort of sense (in a crazy way) that Roxas would be going there too. After all, he did hit the kid with a car.
It didn't get much weirder then nearly killing a fellow backpacker.
"Hmm…Well I was planning on staying here in London for a few days. Not that I'm going to be getting much sight-seeing in." He glared again in Axel's direction. "After that I wanted to take a bus trip up to York and than maybe further north. Oh, and I want to see Stonehenge."
"Is that all?"
"Of course not! I have plans to go to Paris, Munich, Berlin, and Prague."
"Prague? You want to go there?"
Roxas nodded, wincing after the motion from the headache it brought on. "Yeah, I've always wanted to go to Prague."
"What about Amsterdam?" Axel couldn't imagine a trip to Europe without a stop-over in that city.
"And why would I want to go there?" Roxas handed the first magazine back to Axel, and started to read the second. It had more of an emphasis on mature tourists. The ones with money. Not him – probably not Axel. "From what I've heard that place is just one giant party slum. Not much to do there but get drunk and stoned."
"And don't forget the sex!"
"Right. I think I have a clearer picture now." Sighing he laid his head back down on the pillow. It was flat, and had the distinct smell of disinfectant. 'Someone probably died on it.' Roxas thought. 'Probably got hit by a car.'
"Well Axel. It's been…" Nice? No. Fun? Hell no. "Interesting. I think I'm going to sleep now. My head hurts, no thanks to you, and I'll have a busy day tomorrow playing catch-up."
The last thing he heard before drifting off into a dreamless sleep were the words 'G'night Roxas." Followed by. "I'll see you tomorrow." He could only hope that the last bit was his rattled brain messing around with him.
Naturally he was wrong.
Author's Notes: Hi people! I hope that you are enjoying this story so far, and please, please leave a review and let me know what you thought; good bad or different. The next chapter Roxas will finally be out of the hospital – which I'm looking forward to writing because it gives me free-rein over Europe! Cackles So until then, happy fanfic reading.