S!CK

By Candied

Author's notes: Thank you for the lovely reviews!!! I'm so happy to hear from you guys, you really make me want to write! And so, I'm proud to present to you; Chapter three. This was my favorite chapter to write so far, so I hope you enjoy it! READ ON!

Chapter three: Blow me away.

I was in pain. A dull, thobbing, aching pain.

However, this was not enough for me to open my eyes. I sat up, my brain not understanding the short width of my sleeping area, instead only deciding to bring a hand to my sore neck, rubbing tenderly.

But, in all honesty, when I opened my eyes, I plastered myself to the back of the couch I had spent the night on, eyes darting wildly around me with a determination to figure out where I was exactly.

And then... I saw him.

The same spikey haired brunette, those glee-filled ocean eyes, that happy little grin that could send rage though my bones.

I was in hell. I was still in hell.

Before that spikey-haired brat could speak, I stood up and went to walk to the kitchen, hoping that my scary, redheaded captor had a coffee pot.

But, as usual in my short life span, fate had a different idea. In my sleepy stupor, I had failed to notice the hoodie, that Axel had thrown to the floor the previous night, had coiled itselt around my foot. As you probably predicted, I fell flat on my face, knocking over one of the chairs by the table in the process.

Bang.

BANG.

Now, fully awake, my eyes had darted to a hole in the wall, which encased something small and shiny. Something metal.

I sat straight up, looking in Axel's direction, just in time to watch a hand that held a pistol fall back beside his body. He was turned up so that if I jumped on that bed just right, I could shove my foot up that ass, letting that red-haired freak know just what I thought of him!

Then, I realized; his eyes were closed. His mouth was agape. Those red locks were mussed beyond reason.

He hadn't even woken up.

I stood, fists clenched so tight my knuckles could reflect sunlight, trembling with fear and adenaline.

That. Bastard. Shot at me!

Moving slowly and vindictively torwards his bed, I prepared to attack.

Creeeeaaaak...

I glanced over at the door, a pair of blue eyes staring in at me, from the face of a blonde-haired individual.

Demyx put a finger to his lips, to tell me to be quiet, before using said finger to lure me out the door.

Silently, I crept from the room to meet the mysterious sitar player in the hall. I guess he had heard the shot, because he gave me a knowing glance.

"Axel sleeps with weapons on hand. I think he's paranoid or something, but no matter," he shook his head, his eyes and expression becoming painfully serious. "Never, ever, wake up Axel. Let him have his fight with the alarm in the morning, and, if possible, try to get out before he does." He paused, looking at the door, "Axel never wakes up in a good mood."

With that, the sandy-haired musician beckoned me torwards his apartment. I was thankfull, for it seemed that Axel in a bad mood couldn't be good- especially with weapons.

The door opened to Demyx's apartment, and I almost shreiked with joy. It was clean, there was real furniture, and it smelled as though breakfast were on it's way. At this moment, I accepted him as my Lord and Savior.

He heard my stomach growl, and viewed the sheepish smile I wore after it.

Laughing, he spoke. "I figured that Axel wouldn't feed you, the guy barely eats himself, so I made us some breakfast." He motioned for me to sit at his kitchen table, and I obliged, mouth watering when he brought two plates of pancakes to the table, sitting down.

Instantly, I was forking pancakes into my mouth, enjoying the buttery maple flavor. He laughed as he watched me scarf down some more, until he finally spoke.

"So, who's your friend?" he asked, motioning torwards Sora, who had plopped himself down in a chair.

I raised a questioning brow, "You mean my... problem?"

Was he looking at Sora?

He nodded, "Yeah, the brunette with spikey hair?" He was staring straight at him.

I thought that annoying little ray of sunshine would explode with glee.

"You can see me!?"

Demyx nodded, mouth full of pancake.

And then I knew. Demyx was God.

Hallelujah!

Unfourtunately, Sora wouldn't shut up. But I guess it wasn't so bad. He was asking all the questions I wanted answers to.

"You can really really see me!?"

"Yup."

"How come?"

"I have a heightened sense of sight that gives me the ability to see things from other planes."

"Like ghosts?"

"Yup."

The only problem was, it was Sora, and in his excitement, he asked each question six or seven times.

Now that I thought about it, I wasn't sure how I felt about my 'inner voice' having the ability of communicating with other people.

No, that can't be good.

Not that Demyx seemed to mind when I interupted with a question of my own.

"How did you and Axel meet?"

One would swear that Demyx mentally sighed relief as he leaned back in his chair after finishing his meal. "A group of us have been friends since we were toddlers- you'll meet them later. Axel and I just happened to team up when push came to shove,: he motioned to Sora, "So we spend a lot of time together."

I nodded. Sora pouted.

An alarm was heard going off in the next aparment, followed by a series of loud banging noises and a few gunshots. It sounded like they had come from different guns...

I stared in shock at the wall which seperated myself from the crazed red-head, all too thankful it was there. Demyx was grinning.

"FUCKING ALARM!" Axel shouted, apparently still throwing things around the room.

After a long series of loud bangs, I heard his door open and close, but was too slow to hide under Demyx's couch, or one of the matching chairs, before Axel opened the apartment door, scowling in at me.

"Why... is there a hole in my wall?" His voice was so angry, so scary, so... evil...

"Because you shot it." I replied. No, thank you very much, my voice did not squeek.

He was in front of me before I could blink, grabbing me by my sweater and shoving me into the wall, at his eye level. "It's your fault... Blondie." The word was spat at me like the venom of a rattlesnake.

I had never been so ashamed of my hair.

As he glared at me, I glared back, seemingly unafraid on the exterior. On the inside, somewhere deep in my soul, I cried for my mommy.

Luckily, Demyx's smiling face appeared next to Axel's, coercing his his arm down, until my feet hit thr ground.

I'm saved!

Axel's frighteningly deep turquoise eyes turned to Demyx, seemingly threatening his life. However, he simply sighed angrily and let go of my shirt, moving torwards the door. It was then that I noticed he was dressed and clean.

"I'll be home at six," even though he wasn't facing me, I could tell that he spoke through gritted teeth. "Be in my apartment. Six. Got it memorized?"

The door slammed, and Axel was gone, leaving me pumped full of adrenaline in the humble aparment of Demyx.

Yeah, Axehole. I got it memorized.

My sandy-haired friend smiled weakly at me and plopped himself on the sofa. I could see Sora, out of the corner of my eye, curled up like a ball in the corner.

Dear God, he was my inner voice.

Demyx and I spent the day lounging around his apartment, talking and laughing like old friends.

"So, where does Axel work?" I asked, the curiosity finally getting to me.

Demyx smirked a little, his hair moving in the created wind of his shaking head. "Construction. It's always best to put a brute like Axel to labor. I think it relieves stress for him."

Brute? Axel?

I suppose I had never concidered it because of what a tall, lanky man he appeared to be. Then again, I had seen his muscles when he had taken off his hoodie, and he had propped me against the wall with incredable ease...

"Oh..." I responded.

"Does he like it?" Sora asked.

Demyx made an akward face. "Yeah, he seems to like it alright. It's just hard when he gets angry and things set fire..." He was going to continue, but I couldn't help myself.

"Set fire?"

The sandy-blonde nodded. "He's pyro-kinetic. He can set things on fire with his mind. It gets out of hand though, if he gets too upset."

The man who had promised to help me was a crazy, creepy, pyromaniac in need of anger management classes.

For a moment, I concidered suicide.

The day continued on, Demyx, Sora and I sharing jokes, laughter, and old stories. Demyx reminded me so much of Hayner that I felt at home. Talking to him was like talking to a brother. And then there was Sora, ever optimistic, shining into our conversation as well.

The thought hit me like a brick wall. Sora was so real, too real, especially when being talked to by another person. I had joked with him, laughed with him as though he were real.

But he wasn't. The thought was icy enough to bring a chill to my spine. Sora was still just... me.

I watched as Demyx and Sora exchanged stories. Every story that Sora told was one of my memories. Every. Last. One.

Eventually, the time flew away with us, and I found myself starting to get aquainted with, technically, myself. Demyx pointed to the clock, and gave me a sorry smile. "Axel will be home soon, you probably don't want to irritate him."

I nodded, removing myself from the comfy chair I had previously been sitting in, giving Demyx a little wave. "Will I see you later?"

"I should be getting ready to go to work." He replied. He had already told me about his gigs playing his sitar at clubs. He had played for us, he was awesome.

"Alright, I'll probably hide over here in the morning then."

"I'll be looking forward to it."

I lazily made my way into Axel's apartment and layed down on the couch, turning on the small television, only to find static and no channels. I turned it off, and stared at the ceiling. Sora's face appeared above me, and I almost had a heart attack.

"Don't do that!" I said, sitting up and turning to face him.

"Sorry," he replied, giving me a toothy grin.

I stared at him for a moment, before shaking my head. Even if he was a good companion, that didn't make him real.

Minutes later, Axel barged in carting a bag of groceries that he brought into the kitchen. I started to help him put the -pretty random- food items away, and it took a few minutes to break the silence.

"Did you have a good day?" he asked.

I nodded, "Demyx, Sora, and I- I mean Demyx and I chilled at his place."

Either Axel didn't notice my slip-up, or didn't care. "I figured as much, but the fun's over. Today I assume we'll start on your therepy?"

I looked at him akwardly. I hadn't decided that...

"I assumed that was what you wanted since you were so avid about being alive, and because your face looked so dissinterested when I suggested medication."

I shrugged. "Oh."

We finished putting away the groceries, and that's when things got weird.

"Tell him to leave."

I raised an eyebrow, before looking at Sora. "Go away." He just gave me a hurt pout.

Axel smacked a hand to his forehead. "No, man, you gotta mean it!"

After yelling at Sora repeatedly until he was a metaphorical ball of tears, Axel gave up on that plan.

We tried violence, begging, and even an escapade involving mayonaisse- please don't ask, before Axel plopped himself on the couch, obviously stumped.

"You're tough, man. Maybe you'll just have to be crazy and learn to live with it."

I scowled at the red-haired demon.

He rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok. We'll figure something out. I'll talk to Demyx when he gets home. If he can't think of anything, we'll bring the whole gang into this. Someone has to have a good idea."

I sat down next to him. I was wearing some of Demyx's clothes, which consisted of some tight-fitting jeans I wasn't yet used to, and a white button-up shirt. I looked so misplaced next to Axel, who was again sporting his vulgar hoodie. But for some reason, it made me smile. So he was crazy and creepy, and I was just crazy. Maybe what I really needed, was a friend. Naturally, I didn't mention that theory.

When Demyx got back, Axel left me in his aparment while he went to talk to him. After some time, they both came in, and Demyx proudly proclaimed his solution to me.

"Acceptance!"

I raised an eyebrow at him, and was probably looking at him like he was stupid. "Acceptance?"

"Well, yeah," he continued, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "Just accept him. Accept yourself. It's about forgiveness, man! Just accept and forgive yourself and he'll dissapear."

"Hey Axel, about those meds-" I started, noticing that Axel had swallowed a pill just as I spoke. I looked at him questioningly, but he beat me down with his eyes.

"What about them?" my teal-eyed demon asked.

"Nevermind, I was kidding."

I propped my head up on my hand, staring at Demyx. "So how exactly do I accept and forgive myself?"

Dead end. The blank stare I recieved was more than enough to show me that.

"Ok, I'll try it." I responded, "But I'm not sure how well it will go if I don't even know how to do it."

The pair shrugged at me, before Demyx retreated to his apartment. I supposed I would meet 'the gang' another day. I looked to Axel, who went and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Axel?"

"Yeah, man?"

I paused. What did I want to say? "What are those pills you take?"

I didn't have to see his face. The icicles dropped into my veins, chilling my blood. "None of your business."

We sat in silence for a while, Axel just drinking his beers. I watched him strangely. He moved in strange ways, had weird ways of doing things. It seemed like he even blinked differently from everyone else.

"Axel?"

"Yeah, man?"

"How long am I going to be here?"

"As long as it takes."

After a while, I layed down, and let myself drift into sleep.

"Roxas..."

"Do you ever feel... incomplete?"

I could feel myself falling in the darkness...

"I'm happy, Roxas. I'll finally be happy."

"Promise me, Roxas. Promise me you won't cry."

It was cold, and I was being swallowed whole.

"Best friends, forever, Roxas. You and me."

"Got it memorized?"

But then, I felt warmth. There was a light, shining down on me from somewhere, but I couldn't see where...

Author's notes: Here ya go, I hope you like it! It's a bit shorter than the others, I know, but hey, at least you've got some good old foreshadowing! Hehe... In case you didn't catch the foreshadowing, note the words before he sees the light. Yeeeees, there you go my happy little fan-girls! Anyways, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Now, REVIEW! Or Roxas will never realize his feelings for Axel! Go! Review!