"Roxas, please pay attention," Mrs Lockhart scolded.
"But Axel's not at school today," Roxas was worried for his best friend. Why was Axel randomly missing a day of school?
"He is probably just sick at home with a cold or something," Mrs Lockhart said exasperated.
"What? Axel doesn't get sick! Germs are afraid of Axel! The only time he's been sick in his life was of heatstroke but that was, in some measure, my fault!" Roxas exclaimed.
"I don't know, I'm sure you can see him after school," the teacher tried again.
"But what if he's in trouble? Axel would tell me if he couldn't come to school," Roxas interrupted.
The rest of the class followed the conversation closely. Roxas was a model student. He paid attention during class and got good marks. Now that Axel wasn't here he wasn't listening and was actually disrupting the lesson by arguing with the teacher! Call the military, the apocalypse is probably on its way!
"I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this. He will explain when he gets back tomorrow," Mrs Lockhart finalised before turning back to the board.
"You know for a fact he's coming in tomorrow?" Roxas asked immediately perking up.
"Well, no," the teacher hesitated in explaining it to Roxas.
"Didn't he call in sick?" Roxas asked disbelievingly.
"No..." Mrs Lockhart was interrupted by Roxas dashing through the door at inhuman speeds. The entire class watched, surprised, as Roxas probably beat track and field records for the school.
"Roxas! Roxas! GET BACK HERE!" Mrs Lockhart yelled, running to the door. But by the time she reached the courtyard Roxas was gone.
xxXxx
RING! RING! RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINGGG! !
Roxas pressed his finger to the doorbell a last time for safe measure. In less than half an hour he had ran across town from the school to Axel's apartment. In his rush to escape he forgot to take any of his text books or even his backpack.
"RENO! AXEL! If you are in there you had better open this door or I will make the Great Paintball War look like a kiddie show!" Roxas yelled at the unresponsive door.
Roxas suddenly stiffened. He could literally FEEL the glare that was threatening to spontaneously combust the back of his head. Sheee's baaaaack... his paranoid mind supplied.
Roxas slowly turned around, the aura of a man who had just been sent to his death surrounding him.
"Hello Roxas."
"Good morning, Mrs Shapiro," Roxas attempted to sound confident. Key word is attempted.
Mrs Shapiro was a crazy old lady who lived next door to Axel and Reno. She had fourteen cats if that tells you anything about her personality. 'Forget my husband! I love my cats' was her mantra in life. "In case you haven't noticed, your idiot friend and his wackjob brother aren't here," she told Roxas in her oh-so-kind voice. I wish you could hear sarcasm while you read...
"Do you know where they are?" Roxas asked- his fear being replaced by worry for his friend.
"No."
"Do you know where I can find him?"
"No."
"Do you care at all?"
"No."
"Is there a Dr Phil marathon that you were watching that my yelling interrupted?"
"See? You are a smart boy," Mrs Shapiro crowed sarcastically before turning around and shuffling back into her apartment.
Roxas hung his head in despair. If Mrs Shapiro said they weren't home, you KNOW that they are not home. The lady has supersonic hearing.
Roxas determinedly nodded to himself. Axel was in trouble and he was going to find him.
THEN he can go get grounded by his mother and get a detention from his teacher for skipping school.
But, you know, Axel first.
xxXxx
Mall? No. Firework stand? No. IHOP? No. Waffle house? No. Local bar? No.
Something was seriously wrong here. Axel wasn't at any of his usual hang-out spots. Roxas lost hope when he couldn't find Axel at IHOP. Not really, he just got hungry but he was proud of himself! He didn't stop for pancakes... Axel first, Axel first, Axel first, he held onto this mantra as he dragged himself away from the restaurant.
You are probably staring at the last one... Local bar? Axel doesn't really drink, he just likes to try and convince the bar keeper that he was in fact 21, not 17 years old.
It never really worked. But it sure was fun seeing the look on their face when Axel tried to convince them saying he was a 21-year-old cross-dressing as a girl who is dressing as a guy. Ah, priceless.
Roxas wracked his memory for anywhere else Axel might be. The thing is, throughout the eleven years they have been friends, Axel would always look after Roxas. Roxas had never had to look after his friend because Axel was the cool, calm and collected one.
Where would he be? Where would he be? Roxas repeated the question to himself as he continued down one of the main roads in town. It had been two hours since he had more or less broken out of school.
He looked around his surroundings again before raising his gaze up a slight hill that marked the town's central park. Green grass grew for 4 blocks with trees sparsely grown throughout.
Roxas walked into the park, scanning the naturally-grown area critically. This was the last place he could think to look.
He saw the old swing-set that stood at the centre of the park. A lone silhouette sat solemnly by the gently swaying seat.
Even through the bright afternoon sun Roxas could clearly make out who it was, sitting with his face turned to the ground.
Roxas stood for a second taking in the sight of Axel looking so... crushed. His shoulders were slumped and he seemed almost lifeless. If it wasn't for the shoe tracing mindless patterns in the sand Roxas would have thought the sight a depressing painting.
Well, after 11 years of having Axel cheer him up, Roxas finally could do the same. He just wanted Axel to be happy.
xxXxx
Roxas lowered himself beside his best friend. Seeing how deflated and defeated Axel looked Roxas gently wrapped an arm around him. Axel flinched slightly at the contact but then his face returned to a startling lack of emotion. That was what scared Roxas the most.
Roxas rested his head on the other's shoulder. Axel didn't even react. The blonde slid both arms around the redhead's waist and buried his head in the crook of Axel's neck. He quickly wracked his brain for something to say. Something, anything to cheer his best friend up.
Axel was always so composed- what had happened to make him this upset?
"I'm not going to ask if you are okay because, obviously, that is a dumb question. I'm here for you if you want to talk though," Roxas' voice was soft as if he feared he could break the redhead.
"Everything's my fault," Axel didn't look up when he spoke.
Roxas hesitated before asking, "Nothing could be entirely your fault Axel. What happened?"
"Reno wouldn't have to constantly work, Demyx and Zexion would be popular with other juniors, Hayner, Pence and Olette would be able to spend more time with you and you would have a girlfriend," Axel's voice matched his face as he elaborated- sad. Just... sad. There was no word strong enough to describe the misery Roxas saw there.
"Reno loves his job although not as much as he loves you! Hayner, Pence and Olette care about you just as much as Demyx and Zexion do, which is why we are all friends. It was never going to work between Namine and I but the only reason I got a girlfriend in the first place is because you gave me the courage to," Roxas explained. It was all true. Surely Axel realised that.
"Reno and I wouldn't be alone," Axel countered. There was no strength behind his voice.
Roxas' face morphed into one of confusion. What? Was it because their dad left? "Your dad was a thick headed simpleton. Your mother is just on business, right?"
"No! My dad left because he didn't want kids or to actually work for a living and my Mom was a clinically depressed bitch!" Axel almost shouted.
Roxas was starting to fear for his best friend. What had happened? The question burned itself into his mind but he was smart enough not to voice it while his friend was so obviously upset. "What do you mean?" Roxas asked instead- tightening his grip around Axel's waist.
"I mean," Axel answered angrily, "My mom hates me. She blames me for everything. For my dad leaving, for our family breaking and for the toll that the constant stress of work is having! He's getting sick more and more often," Roxas' eyes widened, not only at the shocking news but at how angry Axel was. Even to him.
"I lied about the business trips so I wouldn't scare you away," Axel interrupted his own sentence with a malicious scoff, "not that I should've worried about that. If anything you would freak out about me not caring for myself well enough." Roxas smiled faintly at this.
Even if Axel was saying this in a haze of anger and depression he knew it was true. If a little exaggerated.
"It's because I care about you. So do Dem, Zex, Pence, Olette, Hayner, Sora, Tidus, Wakka, Kairi, Reno, Rude, Cloud, Aerith and just about everyone we know," Roxas reassured.
Axel's next sentence was so quiet Roxas had to lean in a little to hear it. It was probably only Axel thinking out loud but he still wanted to know.
"I bet life would be better without me."
Axel's left cheek suddenly erupted in pain. His outward appearance hardly changed.
"Stop it Ax! You are scaring me! You're my best friend in the whole world. If anything I love you more than my own family. There is no way life could be anything but miserable without you!" Roxas yelled. That one statement Axel had muttered had made him furious enough to not only yell at the redhead but to slap him as well.
Axel bowed his head sadly- averting his eyes to the ground. Not like he made eye contact once throughout the entire conversation. Suddenly a somewhat heavy weight hit his chest. The impact not only knocked him so he was lying feebly on the ground but it also hammered all air out of his lungs. He took a painful breath, realising whatever had struck him to the ground was still weighing on his chest.
He looked down to see a spiky head of blond hair seemingly attempting to bury itself in the redhead's chest.
"I am so sorry Axel! . Admittedly if you looked depressed I probably shouldn't have slapped you. It was even left back handed! You know how painful back hand is! I AM SO SORRY!" Roxas begged (read: yelled) for forgiveness.
As soon as the blond boy's earlier tirade had finished he immediately regretted hurting his friend. Roxas' inner begging-for-forgiveness was interrupted by laughing. Judging by how is head was jerked by movement beneath him he assumed it was Axel who was laughing. He nervously lifted his eyes to glance at the redhead's face. Roxas' guess was proved accurate.
Axel was laughing.
Roxas' expression changed from one of remorse, into one of confusion, into one of happiness before settling on confusion. Axel calmed his laughter and looked at the petite blond lying on him. "You are so bipolar Rox!" he said happily.
The happy tone did not stop Roxas from pouting.
"Thank-you Roxas."
With that said Axel looped his arms around Roxas and squeezed faintly... before turning it into a playful wrestling match.
Author's Note: Well we're half way through the story so I thought I'd add a bit of a sad moment. I hope you guys like it, or at least don't hate it! ^_^'
So yes we're about half way through. It's soooo long... D:
I hope you guys are liking it =)
A big thank you to kate882, x-Trisana-Skystorm-x, xSerenityInChaosx, Akemi713, RooCazoo and Mad As A Hatter 13 who reviewed last chapter! All of your reviews are sooo great!
*gives out high-fives, Barney Stinson style*
Merci pour lirez, tu magnifique, fantastique gens!
lol Wish me luck for my French exam! xD