S!CK
By Candied
Author's notes: Akane-Luff- I'm sorry I made you cry and destroy your can of soda. ;-; And well, I still didn't explain the connection in these next two chapters, but you get some hints::hands tissue:: LadyTori- ::Munches on Demyx's home cooking and chocolate goodies:: The happy will come back, and you can decide for yourself whether or not to kill Roxas' mom somewhere around chapter 15 or 16. Moonlight Mile- Another threat on Ms. Hikari's life, eH? Heh, well... I can see your point. chibi neko doll- Of course you must keep reading! You'll never know what happens if you don't. O.O animebuddy- ::Hands tissue:: It'll be ok, you'll see. I'm sorry for making you cry, too. Kareena- Sorry for getting you down in the dumps. Not sure if these two chappies are much of a 'pick-me-up', but they're getting two step closer to happy time! x fuji x- Thanks! And you'll find out what happens soon enough. Also, Roxas was too busy worrying about Axel to really pay attention. ASKInfinity- Yeah, so the plot thickens and people cry. Happy times will come again though, wait and see. kogalover38- Don't worry, there's still a lot more that is going to happen in the story, so don't go thinking it's over just yet! Mina The Forgotten Memory- ::Eats cake:: Wow, I get a lot of goodies for writing sad stuff. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement! bluemoonalchemist- Yes, there will be butsechs, it may just take some time. IceCold- So, the general masses hate Ms. Hikari. ::shruggs:: Oh well. Here's the continuation you asked for, and soon there will be more! Hitam- I'm glad you're enjoying it! Welcome to the S!CK Reviewer's Family! PapouGirl- You have faith in me? Like... worshiping kind? No? Dang. It was worth a try. AJ Can't Hackit- No deaths just yet, wait and see, wait and see. SaisaishiDragon- I'm gifted? Awesome! Sorry for making you cry too. ::hands tissue:: Axel- I didn't kill you! It will be happy again soon, ok? I luff you. Give me a hug and I might just write faster... Devastaion-Eve- Okie dokie, just get it to me and I'll write it up. Emerald Twin Blade- ::passes out another tissue:: It's not over, don't worry. Here's more, ok? Don't cry... evil-music-in-the-background- ::hands tissue:: don't die! It's here now, ok? Soon the happiness will come back! ScribbleSama- I'm glad that you're enjoying it even though it's AU. As far as the explanation, chapter 15 will have you covered there.
Ok, now that I'm all out of tissues and stuffed with goodies, on to the next chapter!
Chapter 13: As the World Falls Down
I stared down at my hands, my eyes drifting over the creases and lines in them, wondering the mysteries of life and fate.
It had been two weeks since I had last seen Axel. Two weeks since my life had crashed and burned. The lingering pain still had not dulled.
"If you meet someone three times in the same day, it's destiny." I heard my grandmother's voice ring through my mind.
Was it really my destiny to be so broken-hearted?
"Roxas," came a voice.
My head snapped up, and my eyes looked to my teacher, Mr. Tychi, towering above me.
I felt my cheeks redden. "Huh?"
"The answer to question eight?"
Crap. I had totally zoned out again. Quick, Roxas, say the first thing that comes to mind!
"Fire!" I called out nervously.
Mr. Tychi raised an eyebrow.
"The square root of 184.6 is fire?" he asked, placing a hand on his hip.
I lowered my eyes to the floor. "No, sir."
"Please pay attention, Mr. Hikari."
"Yes, sir."
I heard Olette sigh next to me, and our last class of the day continued.
"Fire?" she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
"Axel." I replied, sighing.
When the bell rang, I grabbed my bag and stood, ready to bolt out the door.
"Roxas," Mr. Tychi's words stopped me in my tracks, as the rest of the class swept past me, eager to leave.
"Yes, sir?"
"May I speak to you a moment?"
I nodded and sat back in my seat until the rest of the class left.
When the last student was gone, Mr. Tychi brushed a hand through his grey hair and stood in front of me.
"I understand that a kidnapping is a very traumatic experience-"
"Sir, I wasn't kidnapped."
He raised an eyebrow and clasped his hands together.
"May I ask what did happen, then?"
I had always known Mr. Tychi as a kind man, and so decided to confide in him.
"When Hayner died, I, well... I met someone who tried to help me with the - pain. It worked at first, but then they asked me to leave, and I was in even more pain than before."
My teacher nodded his head in understanding. "Young love?"
"Yeah?"
The man paced in front of me. "Those are two very difficult things to deal with- especially at once. Let me ask you something, are you sure she doesn't want you?"
Heh, 'she'. Hell, I'll go along with it.
"Not really. She seemed really upset about it, actually."
"Well then, here's my advice: Find a way to tell her how you feel. Let her know that you still care. If she doesn't respond, then it's just not meant to be."
"We're just not meant to be!"
I cringed.
Then I faked a smile, only because I had no way to go about talking to Axel. "Thanks, Mr. Tychi."
I stood and grabbed my backpack, heading for the door.
"And, Roxas?"
"Yes?"
"Try not to let this affect your schoolwork." He winked at me.
"Got it."
I made my way out of the building, and onto the streets to make my way back to my mother's.
Life was a grim one, without Axel there to hold my hand. Everything just slipped through my fingers the way sand does. It was as if there was nothing solid for me to hol on to.
I hda lost any attention span I previously had, and my grades were falling as a result of it. It didn't help that I would lay on my bed and cry instead of doing my homework, either.
To make matters worse, I was certain that I would have a heart attack by the end of the month. Every time I saw a glimpse of red hair, my heart would skip a beat before speeding up with excitement.
Problem with that is, Reno now practically lived at my mother's.
As my new habit, I opened the door to the apartment, tossed my bag down and left promptly, speaking to no one.
It wasn't long before I was walking along the bridge that Heyner and I used to sit at.
I saw a girl sitting on the rail, faced away from me with her legs dangling over the edge. She had blonde hair, lighter than my own, and wore a white dress.
She heard me walk over to her, and turned to me with startling blue eyes. She was very pretty.
"Come here often?" she asked, motioning for me to sit beside her.
"Used to, with my friend." I responded, taking the offered seat.
She nodded, looking down at the water. "Mmm. Same."
"What's your name?" I asked, looking at her. She seemed about my age.
"Naminé. What's yours?"
Why did that name sound so familliar?
"Roxas."
"Roxas?"
I nodded. The girl, Naminé, smiled cheerfully.
"I know you."
I raised an eyebrow. "You do?"
"Yes. Hayner's best friend, Roxas."
Strange, I didn't recall Hayner ever mentioning a Naminé.
"You knew Hayner?"
She sighed. "Yes, he was like a brother to me. He reminded me of my real brother. He knew him, too. My brother and I would write letters to eachother, and Hayner would deliver them."
"Why didn't you send them through the mail?"
"My parents forbid me to have any contact with him, and so they would check my mail," she replied, voice growing softer.
"Why, if I'm not prying."
She shook her head. "Not at all. You were a friend of Hayner's. Anyway, they didn't agree with his 'lifestyle', mainly his sexual preference."
I sighed, somehow this all seemed strangely familliar. "That's awful."
"It is," she agreed, before pulling a picture out of her pocket and handing it to me. "It's the only one I have left."
The photo looked owrn, and I could see that Naminé was quite younger in it. I looked to the boy with his arm slung over her shoulders. Blue eyes, sandy-blonde hair styled in a mullet-
My eyes bulged. "Demyx!"
"You know him?"
I nodded, looking at the picture.
"Yeah, he's my boyfr- er... I mean, Axel's friend."
For a moment, she was quiet. When she spoke again, her voice told me that she knew something I didn't.
"I see."
I handed her back the photo, and she took a pencil and paper from her pocket, scribbling something on the paper. She handed it to me, and stood up.
"Call me sometime, Roxas." she said, before leaving me alone in the first place I had ever seen Axel.
Now, more than ever, I realized that there was something that everyone had kept a secret from me. Naminé knew Hayner, and Hayner knew Demyx. If Hayner knew Demyx, it was obvious that he knew Axel as well.
What had they all been keeping from me? What the hell was the conspiracy here?
The door creaked open, and I grinned at the boy in front of me. Hayner looked at me nervously, but let me inside. I looked down the hallway, spotting a tall figure with red hair climbing out the window to the fire escape.
"Who was that?" I asked.
"No one!" Hayner answered, before dragging me to his room.
Oh my God. That memory. It was Axel. The guy climbing out of the fire escape was AXEL.
How the hell did he know Hayner?
I ran all the way back to my mother's and crashed into the apartment, grabbing the phone. I quickly dialed Axel's number, and listened to the ringing.
No answer.
I tried again.
No answer.
Once more...
"This is Axel. Leave a message or fuck off." the phone said to me, and I winced at his voice, waiting for the beep.
"Axel! It's Roxas! Please call me back, I need to talk to you."
I hung up the phone and dropped my head, doubting he would return the call.
I kicked a cabinet, and wansered into my room, deciding to do my homework to get my mind off this mess.
No such lock. Instead of writing the answers to my questions, my feelings about the entire situation with Axel poured out onto the paper.
I stared at them for a moment, having just noticed what I was doing.
Then, before I knew it, I was scribbling away madly, every thought that crossed my mind dribbling across the pages of my notebook. All the emotions running through my veins, all the hatred, frustration, and sadness kept inside flowed into lines on the paper before me.
When I was finished, I had all but broken a sweat.
My eyes scanned the papers, reading the emotional lines, barely making out some of the words that were blurred by tears that had fallen to soak the pages.
It probably didn't help, I admit, that I had been writing to fast it was as legible as chicken scratch.
But as I read it over, I felt moved by my own angrily-written literature, finding a rhythm to the madness of the thoughts. It was almost like sad poetry, though I was the only one who knew what it was about.
I put down my pen, and propped my head up on my hand. I was going over my new information.
So, I had met Demyx's younger sister, Naminé. Naminé was friends with Hayner. Hayner was friends with Demyx. I had spotted Axel leaving Hayner's apartment, once upon a time.
As I mulled over this data in my mind, I only grew more and more confused.
After a long time of breaking down the info, putting the pieces together, forgetting it all, and repeating the process, I finally broke it down into one important fact.
This is how I got to it: Naminé knew who I was, through Hayner. Naminé was Demyx's sister, and Hayner knew him as well. It also seemed that Naminé knew who Axel was, and I had seen him leaving Hayner's a week and a half before Hayner's death. Obviously, he knew Axel.
If Hayner knew Axel, and was prone to discussing me with Naminé, then it was likely that Hayner had discussed me with Axel as well.
Which meant Axel knew who I was before I met him.
Unfortunately, I still couldn't add up that information with the chain of events.
Let me tell you, I had one serious headache.
I had to find a way to talk to Axel, I just had to.
Now that I knew this much, all I needed was a way.
My eyes again wandered to the paper containing my random scribbles.
And then, fate graced me. I had a plan, a genius plan, that needed to be carried out as soon as possible.
As far as I could tell, my idea was foolproof, one that could make everything right in my world and for those around me.
I grabbed my notebook, ran out the door to my room, and exited the apartment.
The crisp night air whipped my skin as I ran across the city streets, heading in the direction of the subway station.
After wuickly paying for my ticket and boarding the train, I impatiently rode into Axel's part of town.
When the subway stopped, I ran out of the terminal and onto the streets.
I didn't notice the angry stares I recieved, nor would I have cared if I had.
I was a man on a mission.
I made it to Axel's apartment building and shot up the stairs and inside. I skipped many of the steps to the second floor and burst through Demyx's door, huffing for breath.
"Ahhhhh!" Demyx squeeled in fear, falling over backwards in his chair to hit the floor.
I looked at his feet, pointed toward the sky, panting.
"Sorry, Demyx."
"Roxas!?" he scrambled to get up, but hit his head on the table.
"Owwww..."
He finally managed to get into an up-right position and rubbed his head tenderly.
"What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here-"
"I met your sister, Naminé."
He seemed to brighten up very quickly, but I quickly continued.
"I know that you all knew Hayner."
He bit his lip and shuffled his feet, shifting his gaze about the room, avoiding my eyes. I knew that Demyx was not the one to explain it all to me.
"I'm not asking for an explanation, just your help in return for mine."
"Go on."
"I have a plan to get Axel to talk to me, and for you to see your sister."
His eyes brightened up.
"What is it?"
"Ok, the plan is this-"
Author's notes- Wow, I don't let you guys in on anything do I? You'll find out though, soon enough.