Chapter 3

Lovers Lost

Part 2: Confessions on the Tran

-- Axel --

I stared at the photograph in my hand a smile on my lips, the edges of the photo were dull and withered, some of the color had faded but still two figures stood smiling back at me. The one with red hair was obviously me, I was grinning like an idiot my left hand was in a peace sign and my right hand was behind the stranger I had seen on the train giving him bunny ears. The boy next to me in the photograph, we both looked quite young it made me wonder how old we were then, how long ago this photo was taken. One of the few spots on the photograph that still had color were his eyes his beautiful blue eyes it felt as though I could loses myself in their depths. His thin lips were curved into an elegant smile, blond hair curved around into a swirl going clockwise spiking out at different directions his right hand in a peace sign similar to my left hand. I stared at the photo for a while wondering who he was to me, what was his name I wondered. I looked on the backside of the photo and as I looked upon the tiny black letters a smile formed on my lips there in my writing the letters spelled out Axel wants Roxas to be with him forever. Right below my writing was someone else's the words read Silly Axel I'll always be here by your side just like in this photo we'll be best friends for life!! As I read the last part I frowned a bit wondering what could have happened that made us lose touch.

I set the photo aside and kept looking through the photo album, it was strange that I had never seen these photos before. As I flipped through the pages I realized that they were taken of me and him near a building that looked suspiciously like a hospital. There were little writings that looked like his writing every few pages, most of them were like reminders of what happened in the photos like, Axel brought me to the beach and gave me ice cream on this day I had lots of fun. It worried me a little; I wondered why he would need to write these things. I stopped flipping through the pages when I saw a photo of him in a hospital bed holding a teddy bear tightly to his chest his eyes were sort if teary. It made me smile a little. Next to that one was one with me behind him holding him in my arms both our eyes were closed and the teddy bear was held in his arms still. There were little letters on this page they read, Today is the day of the brain surgery to get the cancer out. I hope I don't lose any of my memories of this summer. I hope that I don't forget Axel or my dad or my sister. But even if I do I have these photos to help me remember. A smiley face was drawn next to it. On the last page there was a large group photo, there was me and Roxas sitting on the hospital bed behind us was a man I assumed to be his father, blue eyes long blond hair his face was aged quite a bit. He wore a white lab coat and a long red scarf, next to him was a girl she had features similar to Roxas and the man, blond hair blue eyes same smile as Roxas. There were others in the photo as well but they were faded out so I couldn't quite make out their faces. We were all smiling but everyone's eyes held a worried look. As I stared at the photograph and Roxas' writing I wondered how the surgery had gone.

As I stood up a sheet of paper, a dried rose, and a newspaper article fell out. I inspected them curiously; the rose had pure white petals even though they were old and brittle. I picked up the newspaper article and began reading, FIRE IN THE RADIANT GARDEN HOSPITAL HALF OF THE BUILDING BURNED DOWN—Last night a blaze started in the west wing of the hospital, how it started is still unknown. Many are dead and hundreds are injured. A cancer patient Roxas Mizrahi, son of local millionaire Ansem D. Mizrahi is missing, a search is in currently set in motion any information on his whereabouts will be rewarded by the Mizrahi foundation—the page was cut off there. "So… that's what happened to him…" I said to myself, but that still didn't explain how I could have forgotten about him. There was still the piece of paper that I hadn't looked at yet, so I picked it up and unfolded it inside was, very neatly written, in someone else's writing that I did not recognize, a letter to Roxas...

To my dear brother, Roxas,

I hope you will be reading this soon if you are it means that Axel found you before us I hope that you remember to visit me and father at Mermaid Theme Park there are two gold passes in the inside of the cover of this photo album ,they are for you and Axel. Say sorry to Axel for me I snuck this into his room hoping that he might be able to find you. Please come by I hope Axel finds you soon and if you're reading this Axel please find my brother I think if he lost his memory after the surgery you are the only one he might remember.

Your sister, Namine

I stood there for a moment, the note held lightly in my hand, stunned and unsure of what to do. "Next stop Twilight Town Beach Resort," a voice came through the intercom, "we will be arriving shortly, all passengers are asked to remain in their cabins until then". It suddenly stuck me like a bolt of electricity; Roxas is on THIS train RIGHT NOW! And if I don't find him before we stop at the beach I might not see him again ever! The various items in my hands fell carelessly to the floor as I bolted out the door in a speed I didn't think I was capable off moving in. I could hear Demyx shouting where are you going as I ran out but I ignored him, something this important just couldn't wait. As I ran towards the rear of the train I remembered that he was on the third last car of the train, in one of those rooms. I was only seven train cars away from him now. I knew that the train would be stopping soon because I could see the train station; usually I'd be glad to get to my destination sooner but the sight of the train station made me want to stop the train in its tracks just so I could see him. Only one car away now and the train is coming to a halt I try to move faster but my feet wouldn't let me go any faster. People were getting out of their rooms and crowding the halls, I receive a few inspective glances from a few girls and quickly hid me face in my hood as best as I could before anyone recognizes me and ask me for an autograph. Please be there, I chant to myself as I get closer to the door. My hand slowly wraps around the handle and opens the door--.

-- Roxas --

The train ride was going by pretty slowly, Hayner and Pence were now sitting in the room with me and Olette. Hayner had decided to sit next to me while he listened to his mp3 player with his eyes closed, Olette and Pence were playing a game of checkers and I was well looking out the window being bored. The scenery wouldn't change much; it would go tree, tree electricity line tree, tree, field of horses and cows, tree, tree etcetera. This went on for maybe five to fifteen minutes until Hayner decided to snuggle onto my arm, not on purpose anyway as we all found out when he began to snore. "Aww look at the cute couple!" Olette squealed clasping her two hands together next to her face and Pence just laughed at my discomfort when Hayner's arms wrapped around me and began to drift down to the lower parts of my body. I could only imagine the look on my face that caused the other two to laugh hysterically. While the other two were off laughing at me I was trying to ease Hayner off of me which only made the situation worst because it looked like I was hugging him back with our lips just centimeters away from each other. My ears picked up a strange sound that reminded me of a camera clicking. As I turned my attention back to the other two there in front of me was Olette's camera… behind the evil object was an evil Olette smirking mischievously. "Well well well look at what I got Roxas HA-HA-HA, you guys looks so cute together!" Olette said, mockingly waving the digital photo on the screen in front of me. My sad attempt to grab the camera and delete the digital photo ended in utter failure, with Hayner and me falling onto the ground with me on top and Pence laughing at us. All the commotion caused a certain blond haired pervert to wake up, the smile on his lips and the look in his eyes told me exactly what he was thinking. One of his quickly wrapped around my waist and his other hand cupped the back of my head bringing my face closer to his

"Now, now Roxas we shouldn't rush things the kids are still in the same room as us after all and the floor really isn't a comfortable place to do those kinds ofthings" Hayner said as he let his left hand wander a little lower, this action made me blush a lot, I quickly got up and smacked him on the head while the other two tried to hush their laughter… that plan however failed miserably as they howled out into loud bursts of laughter and remarks about the look on my face. Hayner, still on the ground was looking rather pleased with his actions.

"Next stop Twilight Town Beach Resort", a voice came through the intercom we all stopped our actions and looked at the scenery outside. The sea was now very visible, its brilliant majestic blue stretched out from one end of the horizon to the other. We all stuck onto the window to get a better view. Palm trees cluttered the sand among many things like shells, litter and of course people. I could see so many events going on from afar, there were surfing competitions, many bands playing on different stages scattered through the beach. , "we will be arriving shortly, all passengers are asked to remain in their rooms until then" This message seemed to make Hayner a bit angry as his brows inched into a frown.

"Screw waiting!! I'm sick of waiting I wanna get out of this wretched train as soon as we come to a stop", He said and ranted on for a while about how he's really been wanting to get out to the sea for once with all of us. "C'mon you guys lets go to the back of the train so we can get off faster!!!" We all nodded in agreement frankly being trapped in a room for two hours with nothing much to do was really, really too much for us to handle. Quickly gathering our things we slid into the hall as quietly as we could and continued on towards the back of the train. The back of the train was open to the outdoors there were railings of course to keep passengers from falling off. We could see many parts of the beach as the train speed us towards our destination, the wind felt wonderful and the hypnotizing sounds of the train's wheels on the tracks as it made a constant beating sound made me feel like time was calmly passing by. We inhaled the fresh air and smiled it felt really good to get out of that room after being inside it for around two hours. As I watched the scenery of the beach pass us by something caught my attention, there near the middle of the beach stood an odd looking, large stage empty not a thing on it, but in front of it there were so many people standing ,waiting for what I could only assume to be their favorite band. I mean who could stand just waiting in the scorching beach away from the water waiting for a band that wasn't even there for who knows how long.

"Hey, you guys know of any popular bands playing at the beach today?", I asked, everyone turned to me with a thoughtful expression, "Cause there's an empty stage with lots of people waiting in front of it there" I stated pointing to the large group of people. Olette and Pence jumped a bit at the sight of the strange looking stage near the east part of the beach, me and Hayner raised an eyebrow at their actions.

Olette was the first to speak "T-that stage it.. it's from the band Oblivion!! Oh my god I can't believe I didn't hear about this!!", she was shouting the last part in an angry tone. "And you two…" she started scaring me a little, "how do you not know about them!? They're like the hottest band around now!"

"W-well I haven't really been paying attention to the media and all that cause of my part time jobs so…" Hayner said saving himself and turning all of Olette's wrath towards me. The second the sound "uhh" left my lips I knew I was done for—

"uh?... UHH!?!?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN UHHHH????? ROXAS! HOW IS IT THAT ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS DOESN'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT MY FAVORITE BAND!?!?!?!? " Olette was screaming biting her bottom lip in an attempt to calm herself.

"I'm… um sorry?" I said, a bit unsure of what to do in this kind of situation

"That's it time to educate you! Pence come and help me! Hayner you get over here too!" She ordered, A magazine in her hand. I wondered when she got that out of her bag. "First lets get the basics , the band is formed by five super hot guys called Oblivion- " Olette began passing our attention to Pence.

"Right and there are two guitarists a lead singer and a back up singer, a drummer, and a base guitarist." Pence said as Olette pointed to the magazine in her hand. The cover was apparently this band Oblivion only their silhouettes where visible though.

"The Band's best Guitarist is Demyx he is usually surrounded by water in their videos which make all the girls squeal cause he rarely has a shirt on in their music videos." Olette squealed pointing to a guy taking up the whole next page, He had icy blue eyes his blond hair was in a strange mullet and strangely spiked up at the top. Despite the eccentric hairstyle he was very good looking I had to admit. "He is 17, one year older than me and single! No girls will come in my way of him" Olette said in a rather desperate suicidal fan girl type voice. "But of course there are many rumors of about him and the lead singer Zexion being a little too close" She continued in a disappointed voice "So I give up on him I just can't compete with Zexion, he's way too cool and way too sexy I think they would make a really hot couple." The sudden change in attitude from desperate to disappointed to super happy took me by surprise a little as she directed our attention to Pence who continued on.

"I guess I'll introduce the lead singer," Pence began pointing to the person on the next page, he Had blue hair falling over top of one side of his face his one visible eye looked very cold and heartless. "This is Zexion, the lead singer of the band, he's the heart breaker of the group a real jackass to some of his fans but his attitude doesn't throw off any of his fans. They say the reason why he acts that way is because he can see right through people and their objectives, as in he knows exactly what they're thinking and has little patience for people who get annoying. Apparently this attitude is one of the many reasons why he's really popular. " Me and Hayner nodded as they continued.

"This guy right here is Marluxia!" Olette began n a happy tone pointing to a guy with light brown hair reaching his shoulders in a disheveled manner his face held a look of malice in a handsome sort of way. "He s the drummer and sings some of the time he has two songs in their debut album called Distorted truth, the songs he sings are, Falling Night Sky and Euphoria of the Garden." Olette looked at the next page a little shocked "Oh NNOOOOO!!!" she screamed

"What's wrong?" Pence asked looking back towards her a little confused.

"The page with Axel and Vexen are missing!!" she shouted in anger. The name Axel made me feel somewhat nostalgic but I just couldn't figure out why so I discarded all thought patterns about the name. "It looks like it got chewed off by a rat or something!"

"Oh well that was amusing while it lasted" Hayner said laughing "Hey look were slowing down now! we made it!" We all shouted in joy as we entered the train station.

--Riku—

It had become a little quieter on the train; me and Sora were staring out the window and Selfie had fallen asleep on the table full of plates previously filled with sweets a moment ago in front of her, Tidus had his yellow and black hood over his head with his earplugs in his ears, eyes closed isolated from his surroundings. The iced tea in front of me had begun to get warm tiny beads of water had formed on the outside of the glass. Sora was staring at the warm soda in front of him as well, his eyes held a bored expression. Brilliant blue eyes began to look up at me so I quickly turned my attention outside. From the corner of my eye I could see his inspective stare, bright blue eyes focused on me as if asking me the questions he held in his mind about that time at the plum tree. In turned my attention back towards him, the sun's radiance softly danced upon his gentle face. The questioning expression on Sora's face faded replaced by a genuine smile. "Hey… Riku shall we continue our conversation from earlier…before these two barged in here and interrupted?" Sora asked curious as to my reasons.

"Outside" I say pointing to the door. We somehow managed to get passed the two without waking them. I stood leaning against the wall beside our door, Sora was on the opposite side of the hall leaning against the window. An awkward moment of silence followed save the sound train's wheels grinding against the tracks. I called out his name breaking the silence "Sora" he looked at me apprehensively. " Sora the reason why I said what I said was because I… like-" the words caught in my throat I stared at him trying to say what I desperately wanted to say but I couldn't, so many thoughts flew through my head at an insane speed things like what if he rejects me what is he's a homophobe what if we can never be friends after I say this what if he loves me too what if what if those words struck me like a cold shattering bolt of lightening and I couldn't move I couldn't speak for a moment as he simply looked at me oblivious to the chaos in my mind. "Sora…" his name seemed to be the only thing I could say.

Unconsciously I moved towards him slowly, my hands moved up to reach for his shoulders, I pressed him against the wall he had his back to softly and moved closer and closer to him, by now we were close enough that I could feel his breath on my cheek I hear him say my name. My mind was screaming hysterically by now this is it Riku the point of no return is coming no turning back now after you do this! I heard him whisper my name again faintly before my lips touched his soft beautiful ones; I slid my right hand to the back of his head and combed my fingers through mahogany strands. The touch of his lips felt like heaven it was beyond anything I had imagined it to be. My tongue invaded him and played along every corner of his mouth. surprisingly I could feel his tongue twirling along with mine. Sora was kissing me back and everything just felt so perfect, I expressed the feelings held in me for so long in one passionate kiss. I wanted Sora to know perfectly well how much I loved him in this one perfect first kiss that we share.

As we break apart from each other I gaze at his face, an expression of surprise confusion and desire clearly shown on his face he looks up at me with blue eyes unsure and hesitant. A smile, a frown he turns his head to the side, embarrassment? A shaky smile forms from his lips. "Riku did that just…" I nod at his question, "we just--" I nod again "That was--" he said with a dreamy look in his eyes, I blush a bit embarrassed. "Riku I- I'm sorry but…" he starts and turns away oh great here it comes the rejection, but I was so close everything felt so right, he seemed like he wanted it to happen too but.. "I just need some time to take all this in, I'm sorry." He finishes smiling with closed eyes. I outstretch my arms and touch his face my thumb over his bottom lip I caress his cheek gently.

"Take as long as you like Sora, I've waited this long I'm sure I can wait just a bit more, until you feel more comfortable with this that is" I say to him smiling. He turns to our door and laughs sheepishly.

"Next stop Twilight Town Beach Resort", a voice came through the intercom. We looked through the hall wondering where Wakka and Kairi had gone to. "We will be arriving shortly, all passengers are asked to remain in their rooms until then."

"I guess there's no point in worrying about the other two knowing them they'll keep each other out of trouble." I say to Sora noticing the worried look on his face. "Let's try to enjoy the last bits of this train ride." My hand slides across the surface of the dark blue door to push it open. For some reason it was somewhat heavy… I soon figured out why. Tidus and Selfie had been pushed up against the door with a bewildered expression on their faces. "Uh what are you two doing" I asked as they sat there in the doorway Selfie was first to get out of her trance like state and grinned crossing her arms she then grabbed my arm and dragged me to the opposite corner of the room.

"OH MY GOD!!!" she whispered in a suppressing scream "I knew it, mwahahaha Wakka owes me sixty dollars huhuhuhu", she grinned evilly looking to the roof as if plotting something, "soooooo you and So-ra eeeh?" she singsonged smiling happily. "Tell me the details I've been bored this whole train ride!!! As my friend you have the duty of keeping me awake, sane, happy, and entertained!!" I laughed nervously at Selfies strange actions thinking so this is what Selfie is like when she has nothing to do for a while huh. Tidus was still on the floor not responding to Sora's attempts to get him out of his trance like state. That was until Selfie got up and shoved coffee down his throat and he jolted up, he looked at me then Sora then me again then Sora then Selfie then Kairi, then me then Wakka…. Wait a minute! Kairi, Wakka!?!?

"WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN!!!" Me Sora and Selfie screamed as Tidus just stood there.

"We'll explain later, What's… goin' on you guys?" Kairi asked followed by a distinct "Ya?" from Wakka as they stared at Tidus.

"N-nothing h-happened…" Tidus said barely above a whisper in a shaky voice, he stared at me for a few seconds before he moved towards his seat and stared out the window blankly.

"Umm… o..kaayy then" Kairi said stareing at Selfie with a please explain to me face.

"H-hey you guys you we can see the train station now were free, ya?" Wakka said trying to break the awkward silence that had filled the room.

--Axel - -

My had gripped the handle and then suddenly the handle began to turn by itself… that is what I thought until it opened and a girl with blond hair opened the door… "Oh hello Axel" it was her! It was Namine!!

To be Continued….

Yeah I'll just end it there for now ha ha sorry guys I'm tired we'll see how it turns out later ha ha ha