blahdeblah blah. disclaimer blah don't own blah
rated m for stuffs.
this chapter is in a kinda weird format. Dream sequence will be in italics. But seeing as how I can't tell every side from just that dream, I will put 'added content' in bold italics. Added content refers to the fact that the dreamer, in this case Axel, can't know what goes on while he is away, but seeing as how something needs to be said about things, I will be inserting extras that Axel can't possible know about. Hope it makes more sense when you read it.
"...And this will be the wing you two will be staying in, as well as working in." A pink haired young man led Roxas and Zexion through the palace, showing them around. "This is young Demyx's room. He is staying here for the time being as a favor to a friend of the family." They continued down the long corridor. They walked for what seemed like forever when they finally reached the last room in the hall. "Last, but certainly not least, this is Prince Axel's room..." Before he could go on, the door burst open, and a very angry redhead appeared, glaring at the pink head.
"Marluxia, how many times have I told you, don't call me Prince? Goddamn, you'd think you'd learn!" Axel said, a large vain forming on his forehead. Demyx appeared behind him, but not too close. He smiled at Zexion briefly, before putting his attention back on Axel, whom he noticed suddenly grew quiet. "Ah I see." Axel mumbled, staring at the two new servants.
Roxas had to control the urge to kill the man in front of him, but Cloud's voice acted as his conscience, and he refrained from leaping the 3 feet onto Axel's throat. Sensing the awkward aura that had suddenly formed, Marluxia decided to guide the two to their rooms. "Lets go. And I apologize Axel. It slipped my mind."
"Huh? Oh... Eh it's fine." Axel absentmindedly said, and turned to go back into his room. Shutting the door, he turned towards Demyx and sighed.
"I'm surprised on how well you conducted yourself around him, aside from that little outburst." Demyx said.
"Around who? Marluxia or Roxas?"
"Well I was talking about Marluxia, but I guess Roxas too. What with Marluxia always shacking up with Larxene and everything."
"You forget, that I couldn't give less of a shit what she does. This marriage is just for my father. Yeah Larxene is ok and everything, but I don't love her, and I doubt I ever will. If she wants to hook up with a guy with pink hair, who am I to say she can't? We aren't committed to each other except politically." Axel shrugged his shoulders and sat on his bed.
"Well aren't you just the big grownup." Demyx teased.
Axel rolled his eyes, a smirk playing on his lips. "Yeah."
"Night Demyx." Axel said as the blonde departed from his room for the night. 'Well, this certainly is an interesting turn of events.' he thought to himself, as he readied for bed. 'I'll move in on him tomorrow.' Despite the fact that Roxas was forced to be around Axel all day after he had gotten unpacked, the two had spoken not a word to each other. Roxas went to extraordinary lengths to keep his distance as best as he could. Shrugging, Axel slipped under the covers, and he suddenly realized how beat he was. 'Man, being hated sure does take a lot out of you.' Axel thought, as he drifted into sleep.
"Hey Reno! Where are you going? Can I come? Can I come?" Axel said, jumping up and down, holding onto his brothers pant leg.
"Calm down. God Axel, you are about to pull my pants off!" Reno said struggling to keep just that from happening. "And you can stop laughing Rufus." Reno glared at the blonde who was watching the scene unfold with a smile.
"But it is so adorable. You two are exactly alike. Right down to that fiery hair." Rufus bent his knees and patted Axel on the head.
"Please." The older redhead said, rolling his eyes. "I was never this annoying."
"Oh really?" the blonde inquired, eyebrow cocked. "Ruuuuufus! I wanna go to the market!!! Its too stuffy in the palace! Lets go lets go lets go! Sound familiar?"
"Aw shut up!" Reno said laughing. "Ok fine Axel, you can come with us. But you have to be good. Heck, I might even get you a souvenir."
"Really! Awesome!" Axel said, his eyes lighting up.
A few hours later
"Reno I gotta pee!" Axel said, dancing around in a circle.
"Geeez, you know for an eight year old, you sure do have the bladder of and eighty year old." Reno said sighing. "Fine, lets go take a potty break." He said in a childish tone.
"Reno, you are so mean!!" Axel whined.
"I agree." The older blonde said, fueling the fire between the brothers.
"Whatever happened to being awesome?"
"Shit happens." Axel said, smirking.
"Hey you are only a kid! Where did you learn that?" Rufus said to which Axel responded by pointing at Reno.
"Don't shift the blame onto me." Reno threw up his arms in the air in mock defense. "I thought you had to pee anyway. Better hurry up before we leave you behind. I think that store over there has one." Reno watched his younger brother bound off in the direction of the shop, while he leaned against a wall next to Rufus.
"He reminds me of Roxas. All that energy. They should get together sometime." The blonde said, moving a bit closer to Reno.
Reno acquired a troubled look on his face. "I don't know if that's such a good idea. With your 'family history.' I don't want any more crap for your family from my father. He already suspects enough."
Rufus let out a sigh and looked up, at nothing in particular. "It's not right." He finally said.
"I know. But what can I do? There isn't shit we can do about it until the old man dies." Reno looked off to the side and saw a stand selling stuffed bears. He walked over to it, eyes keying in on the blonde bear. "Perfect."
---
"That was fun!!!" Axel said smiling, bounding his way up to the door. He held onto the stuffed bear Reno had gotten him. Hiding the bear under his shirt so his father wouldn't see it, Axel opened the door. The last thing Axel wanted to be seen as in his fathers eyes was weak. So what if he liked stuffed bears? Reno understood this as the way kids are, and so he indulged him every once in a while, so long as their father never found out. "Thanks Reno and Rufus!" Axel snuck in the door, leaving the two outside. The two stood for a minute, just looking at everything but each other.
"Finally we are alone..." Reno said in a low whisper, breaking the silence.
"Not really... we are on the front steps of your palace that is surrounded by guards and the fact someone could walk out any second...." Rufus said.
"Well then lets take this somewhere a bit more private?" Reno's mouth lingered on the shell of the blondes earlobe, and he gently nibbled it before going inside, a very horny blonde in tow.
Axel awoke with a start, a slight sweat on his body. Every time he had a dream involving his brother, good or bad, he awoke the same, cold, sweaty, and thirsty. Throwing the covers off him, he crawled out of bed and stumbled his way to the door. Opening it quietly, he walked down the hallway and into the next corridor; the one that housed Larxenes' and his sister, Namines', chambers. Walking past Larxenes' room, he heard soft moans of 'Marluxia' and short gasps. "Figures." Axel thought to himself, and continued down the hall. His sisters room was at the far end, and was the most secluded room. She had been sick most of her life, and she was bedridden even on the best of days. Every once in a while she was able to gather enough strength to leave her room and sit in the parlor for a few hours, but other than that, she was alone. She spent her days drawing, and because she was closest to Larxene a good deal of the time, proximity wise, the two had formed a friendship of sorts. Axel creaked the door open, and saw his sister, who was not yet asleep. "You know..." Axel whispered, "You should be asleep. It's one in the morning." Axel shuffled inside her room and sat on the edge of her bed.
Namine looked at him and smiled. "Lets see, what have I done today? Oh yeah I stayed in bed, slept, sat in bed some more, slept again, ate, slept... oh and I drew a picture. I think I've gotten my rest for the day. Besides it's quiet right now, a perfect time to think. During the day, there is too much shouting."
Axel ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah I guess I'm partly to blame for that. Sorry." He offered a small smile, but it was transparent.
"Axel... Don't worry about it. I'm not mad. I'm only teasing." Namine looked at her brother, who was in turn looking at the floor. "Ok maybe it is a little late and my humor is dry." Still failing to earn a chuckle from him, she decided to change the subject. "What brings you down here at this time anyway?"
The redhead leaned back on the bed and sighed. "I had another dream about... you know who."
"Ah I see." Namine suddenly grew quiet. "What was it about?"
"Just about one of the days we went to the market with Rufus. You know I never noticed how happy Reno was when he was with him. Only when I have these dreams I do. Or maybe that's just my way of blocking out the past and trying to make myself feel better. Who knows. I miss him..."
Namine didn't say anything, only nodded in agreement.
After a minute of total silence Axel offered, "Well I guess I'll leave you alone and let you go back to not sleeping." Faking a grin, "I'm thirsty anyway." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "Feel better soon." It was an old ritual they had when she was only a small child. Even though everyone knew she would probably never live a normal life, or a long one at that, he just felt wrong not saying it. Pushing her hair back, Axel sat up and crept out the door.
"Good night Axel."
The voice was so soft and small, barely audible. The voice of a tired girl, even though she spent all day in bed asleep. He shut the door with a soft 'click' and went down the hall towards the kitchen. The quite 'pit pat' of his bare feet against the marble floor gave him some sort of rhythm in his racing mind. Through the dining hall and quickly nearing the kitchen, he heard movement from the back. Slowly creeping through the kitchen doors, he saw a mass of blonde hair shuffling about.
Looking for the water pump, Roxas knocked an old glass of wine over. The glass didn't break, but it spilled all over the counter and floor. "Damn." The blonde mass cursed quietly, but an obvious trace of 'pissed off' was in his voice.
"Whats your problem blondey?" Axel inquired, approaching Roxas.
"You."
"Why, I'm flattered." The redhead rolled his eyes. "But seriously, what the hell? I've done nothing to you, and for no reason, at least not one I can see, you hate me. God, you are such a whiny brat. If you must hate me, at least give me a reason." Axel reached over for a towel and threw it on top of the spill on the floor. "If you can't even do that, then you can shut the fuck up."
"Where do you get off? Huh? You don't know what I've gone through. Where I'm from. There is a perfectly good reason why I despise you." He said aloud.
'Is there?' He thought to himself.
"And that would be......" Axel tapped his foot on the marble floor, awaiting an answer.
"Because, you made, or rather your family, made my life a living hell."
TEH AUTHORS NOTE!
Wow talk about a bad case of writers block... coupled with school and whatnot.
In any case it is done. What will happen next? Who knows. Who knows when it'll get posted either. :P Whenever I damn well feel like it I guess. Haha R&R if you so enjoy to.