Here you go, chapter 8 is up and running! Tra la la, I am just so happy! Hee he, think of this as an early Turkey Day (Or Thanksgiving, same difference) present. Hope you like it, and yes, it comes with a bow on top (lol).

I don't own Kingdom Hearts, as sad as that fact is to me. I'm sure many people wish they owned it but sadly the company that created it does. And that company is doing a bang-up job if I do say so myself – that means freakin' awesome by the way, I know I talk funny sometimes. I do own Rei and Jeremy X (referred as only X) however along with the plot. Yeah, that's about it.

Raise the curtains, bring on the smoke and sound effects! On with the show!

Chapter 8

"I can't believe it X, why didn't you tell me about this before?" Riku asked the boy now striding around the room dragging his IV around after him as he went just so he didn't have to lye still. "Why are you pacing around the room like that anyways?"

"Oh, I just fidget a lot you know how it is when you're nervous. Pacing is just a nervous habit, I do it whenever I tell this particular part of my life's story. Believe me though, you don't want to hear the rest of my life, it's rather boring. A lot of it was spent right here in this room staring at the ceiling and torment whichever roommate I had at the time." X smiled back at Riku broadly, his eyes misting over as he did so, his face transported to a place where he wasn't ill and everything was right in the world if there is such a place. "I get it from your silence, you want all the tediously juicy details of my story don't you Riku? Well, alright then, I'll give them to you with all the rest of the stupid bits as well. Let's see, how to explain it to you."

"Just tell me X, I'm your friend now remember? You can tell me anything." Riku smiled lightly at him as X stared at him. "What, don't you want me as a friend X?"

"No, it's not that Riku I just never had someone want to be my friend before. Come to think of it, I've never had a friend before now. Huh, look at that." X chuckled as he sat down on the edge of his bed. "So anyways, I have cancer. That's just about it."

"Oh come on, after all that you aren't going to say anything else?" Riku whined tossing a pillow from behind his head across the room so that it hit X squarely in the forehead with a soft poof-like sound. "Really X, there has to be more to the story than that. I'm not completely stupid, if fact I'm far from stupid so get talking."

"There is more to the story of course, there's always more to it than what people tell you there is. I found that on very early in life, very early indeed." X sighed exasperatedly, for once in his life actually being serious about something he said. His eyes looked hollowed and dull as though the light that usually shone there had gone out like the flickering flame of a candle in a particularly high and viscous windstorm over the high seas. "When I was about seven years old I started getting sick all the time for no reason so my mother brought me to the hospital, this very one in fact, to see what was wrong with me. Dad had run off years ago with his filthy no good skanky whore of a secretary from the legal practice where he worked as a lawyer so it was just me and my Mom since I was about five years old. When Mom brought me here they ran all sorts of tests on me and finally found out what was wrong with me. I had a tumor in my brain the size of a large golf ball on the right side of my brain."

"What happened next? Tell me X, I'm dying to know!" Riku asked when X paused for a breath of air and to dry the tears that had welled up in the corners of his eyes as he told his sad tale. Riku pretended not to notice for X's sake seeing as X didn't seem the type of person who wanted to be fawned over unlike Sora who would cry until someone came and put an arm around his shoulders to calm him down. "How did your mother take the news of your illness?"

"Mom was devastated by the news of course. One tragedy after another in her miserable life or so it seemed to me, first her fucking husband leaves her for his young blonde piece of ass secretary and then her baby boy finds out he has cancer." X sighed again tossing the hard white starched pillow Riku had thrown at him up in the arm and catching it so that he had something to do while he talked instead of looking at Riku's horrified face. "She stayed with me all the time, quit her job and all that stuff so that I wouldn't be alone. They operated on me to get rid of the tumor but found a complication. The cancer had severely weakened me and my kidneys had shut down. If I didn't get a new one and fast I wasn't going to make it so Mom did what any mother would do in that situation. She gave up one of hers for me to live. Obviously it was successful or I wouldn't be sitting here today having this nice little chat with you."

"Your mother sounds amazing X, she must really love you with all her heart." Riku sighed making X look over at him. "I wish I had a mother like that."

"What's wrong with the mother you have Riku?" X asked him, taking a break from his own story to hear Riku's.

"Nothing's wrong with her really, she just isn't the best at Mom-like-stuff you know?" Riku explained, the look in his eyes telling X more than his words ever could. "I mean, I love my Mom a lot don't get me wrong. But as much as I love my Mom I can't see her or Dad giving up a body part for me. Half of the time I don't even think they know I exist." Riku said sadly looking at the floor. Riku had tears in his eyes and X knew it no matter how hard Riku tried to hide it from him. "I mean okay, they give me whatever I want but that doesn't make me happy or make me feel loved. It's like a bribe so they don't have to spend time with me. Haven't seen either of them in nearly a month, they went on vacation to Hawaii and won't be back for some time. That's why they haven't come to visit me while I'm here I suppose, they probably don't even know I'm in the hospital at all."

"That's rough Riku. I know how it feels to miss your parents." X smiled weakly at him. "My story doesn't end happily I'm afraid. About a weak after the operation my Mom started feeling funny or at least that's what she told the doctors when they asked he what was wrong. They wanted to take a look at her but she said she was fine and that they needed to worry about me and not her because they had found another tumor in my brain on the side opposite to the side that the other tumor had been on."

"They found another tumor in your brain?" Riku asked quietly, hoping he had heard wrong.

"Yeah, another one but that's not the worst of it." X said solemnly. "On the morning I was supposed to have my operating I woke up to find my mother no where in sight. That was when the doctor came in and informed me that my mother had died that morning. Apparently there was an unseen complication from when she had given up her kidney for me that they hadn't known about until it was too late. I was only eight years old Riku, and I've been alone ever since."

How can I possibly begin to describe the feeling it gives me? What does through my mind, the pleasure that courses through my being is as indescribable as it is slightly disturbing to my waking mind. I raised the knife over my wrist, preparing to do what I had done many times before to make the pain stop…

The kitchen lights turned on suddenly startling me so much that I dropped the knife held over my exposed forearm in fear and spun around to look towards the door where Roxas stood staring at me with a mingled look of disgust and disbelief in his ever beloved eyes.

"Axel, what were you doing?" Roxas asked quietly as he walked over to where I stood beside the counter pulling the sleeves of the hoodie down over my slightly shaking hands. Reaching out towards me without a word Roxas grabbed my arm and raised it up, deafly pulling back the sleeve I had just moments before hurriedly tugged down over my trembling fingers to reveal what I had hidden therefore so long now…

Snapping back to the present, Axel pulled the knife back from where he had held it suspended in thin air over his scared flesh as that horrible thought of Roxas catching him like that came to mind. He looked down at the scars on his outstretched wrist and grimaced to himself in self-loathing.

"It was just a bad thought, a bad daydream is all. Roxas doesn't know about these…" Axel's hands closed into fists, his face set with determination as he placed the knife back where it belonged in the case, tugging his sleeves down over his scars. "And Roxas doesn't need to find out about this just yet, especially not that way."

Roxas walked in then, his eyes red rimmed and raw. Sitting down heavily in one of the empty kitchen chairs he sniffed, laying his head down to rest on the table. Axel bit his lower lip, going over to sit beside Roxas and rub his back.

"Are you alright Roxas?" Axel asked him as he took a seat beside him, worried about the boy who has so often lately been his hero and his life. "I'm worried about you Roxas. You don't seem like yourself lately."

"I'm fine Axel, really I am. There's no need to look so worried, I just needed to be alone for a minute." Roxas smiled unconvincingly, his smile not quite meeting his eyes no matter how hard he tried to make it look genuine. Axel raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't look at me like that Axel, I mean it when I say I'm okay."

"You know you can tell me anything Roxas. Just tell me what's on your mind sweetheart and I'll make it all go away. I'll make everything all right if you just tell me what's wrong." Axel cooed pulling the much smaller boy into his lap to comfort him. Roxas pillowed his head against Axel's chest in defeat, a single tear slipping down the side of his thin face as he shut his eyes against the emotions that had suddenly surged up inside of his body and soul overcoming him completely.

"I'm an emotional wreck Axel. I don't know what's wrong with me lately! I mean, I wasn't in the crash with Sora and I don't have amnesia, I'm not dead like Kairi obviously, I'm not in a coma like Riku, and I'm not being abused by anyone like you are. Nothing's wrong with me but I still feel so hopeless!" Roxas sniffed sadly, his face still pressed into Axel. "I'm just so damn upset lately for no God damn reason. Sora has amnesia from a car accident that killed his girlfriend and put his best friend in a coma and now I find out about you and your problems and I just – I don't know what to do with myself I – I can't seem to function properly and I – I can't describe it in words to even myself at times…"

"I understand Roxas. You don't have to say another word about it." Axel said softly stroking his hair tenderly speaking softly all the while to the young teenager held protectively in his arms. "Just let me hold you, no more talk about those things for now. I'm here for you."

"Thank you Axel, I know it sounds cheesy but…" Roxas started, his face tinged pink with his embarrassment but after a moment he charged on, not caring how stupid he sounded. "I feel so safe around you, like nothing can hurt me when I'm in your arms."

"I'll never let you go Rox, remember that." Axel smiled softly, kissing him lightly on the lips as Roxas wrapped his arms loosely around Axel's waist.

And that's how they stayed.

Knock knock knock!

"It's open, come on in, everyone else does." X sighed to himself as the door opened. A middle aged woman with long brown hair came inside the door smiling sweetly at him. "Can I help you?"

"Maybe dear, I'm here to see…" Her voice trailed off as she glanced towards the other bed, her breath catching in her throat as she looked down at the sleeping boy. She walked across the room to sit on the edge of the bed and flip Riku over to look into his face. "Oh Riku, you poor thing what happened to you?"

"Are you his mother then?" X asked quietly from his bed. She looked up and smiled shaking her head slowly.

"No, I just came to check on him for my son." She smiled again as she ran her fingers down through her hair. "I'm Mrs. Nuage, Sora's mother. Sora asked me to come check on Riku for him since he's not allowed to leave his room under the circumstances."

"Oh, so you're the mother of the boy Riku likes." X chuckled to himself when she looked puzzled. "Let the cat out of the bag have I, oh dear me. Riku will never forgive me for that one, I think it might have been a secret, damn it."

"Do you know Riku?" She asked sounding confused.

"Of course I do, I mean he is my roommate after all woman!" X laughed at her as he reached for the magazine on his bedside table. "Do you think I'm not capable of holding a conversation with someone or something? We've talked of course and he's told me a lot about himself, I mean, what else can we do locked up in a hospital room together besides talk and sleep all the time? Personally I prefer talking but I bet you've already figured that out by now."

"Do you mean to say that you've talked to Riku since he's been here?" She asked him sounding more shocked than ever. She threw her arms up in the air when X nodded, raising her voice in her confusion without meaning to do so. "What do you mean you've talked to him? How can you talk to someone in a coma? That doesn't make any sense."

"Uh…" Riku moaned in his sleep flipping over onto his side so that his arm touched that of Sora's mother. He opened his eyes slowly, blinking blearily up at her with a small smile at the sight of the woman he considered his 'second mother' due to all the accumulated time he had spent over at Sora's house over the years. He sat up slowly, looking into her eyes all the while. "Hey Mrs. Nuage, what are you doing here in my hospital room?"

"I'm so bored! What do you have to do to get some action around here?" Sora complained as Yuna walked into his hospital room with her usual chart containing data on Sora's progress tucked under her arm as always. She smiled at him as he looked over at her blushing slightly. "Sorry Yuna, I know how much you hate to hear me complain."

"It's okay Sora, I don't mind." She smiled. It did bother her because she knew exactly how much it upset the poor boy to be cooped up all day long in this white room with almost no one to talk to all day long because he had often told her – not that he knew he had. He hadn't told her directly or told anyone else directly really. Sora talked in his sleep as Yuna found out only the night before when she came to check his heart rate during the graveyard shift before she went home and found him muttering in his sleep. "How are you today?"

"I'm great Yuna, but can I ask a teeny question?" Sora begged her. She nodded and he continued onwards. "When can I get out of here?"

"I don't know Sora, but I do know one thing." She sighed as she checked some of the boxes on her evaluation sheet and reached for the pills on his bedside table. "You need to undergo a psychiatric evaluation before we can clear you to leave. You know, just to make sure nothing's wrong with your brain. Be a good boy and take the rest of these while I go and fetch the psychiatrist, won't you?"

"Alright Yuna, you go and get the shrink while I swallow the pills." Sora grimaced secretly wishing he could switch places with Yuna and make her swallow the pills for him. Nearly five minutes later Yuna reappeared with a tall man in a white lab coat and black rimmed glasses.

"Sora, this is Doctor Saix, he's here to evaluate you over the next few days to see if you're well enough to go home." She smiled pushing the older man towards the edge of the boy's bed before rushing out of the room shutting the door with a snap behind her.

"Hello Sora, nice to meet you." The tall man said in a monotone voice as he extended a hand for Sora to shake. Sora took it, the man shaking his entire arm making him laugh. "At least you can still laugh, most people who've lived through what you have usually stop laughing or talking altogether."

"What exactly have I been through Doctor?" Sora asked him hopeful he might just get some answers at last.

"Call me Saix, no need to call me Doctor Sora really." Saix smiled down on him as he pulled a desk chair up towards the edge of the bed to sit down in. "So you don't know what happened to you that night then do you?"

"No, I don't." Sora sighed leaning back against the bed rubbing his forehead. "Well, I mean I don't remember everything."

"How so Sora, do you mean you remember something from that night after all?" Saix asked, professionally curious as to what Sora had meant by that. "Tell me, what do you remember?"

"I only get small flashes of what happened and they might not even really be what happened for all I know. I remember being in the backseat of the car with Riku, Kairi was driving. I remember telling Kairi I wanted to break it off with her and her freaking out." Sora said slowly, thinking everything through in his mind as he said it trying to put order. "I remember trying to make them stop fighting and realizing another car was coming towards us."

"Then what happened Sora, do you remember what happened next?" Saix asked him taking notes on his clipboard hastily. Looking up into Sora's face when he didn't answer, Saix say a look of total revulsion on Sora's face, his body shaking slightly as a few stray tears slid down his face. "Sora, what's wrong? Answer me, what's troubling you? Is it something you remember Sora, I need you to answer me."

"I remember, I remember everything from that night!" Sora sobbed his bottom lip trembling slightly. Saix placed a hand on his shoulder but Sora pulled away sharply nearly falling out of the bed in his urgency to get away. "It's all my fault! Its all my fault that Riku got hurt!"

"OH MY GOD, HERE IT COMES!" Kairi screamed when the car was mere inches from them.

"I love you Sora, remember that!" Riku yelled in a broken voice etched with tears over Kairi's persistent screaming and shrieks of terror.

"I LOVE YOU RIKU!" Sora shouted back wrapping his arms around Riku's neck as tears flowed down his face. Riku didn't reply as shocked as he was at Sora's confession. Riku never thought he would ever get to hear Sora tell him he loved him back thinking Sora would instead reject him and find ways to distance himself from Riku. Needless to say, Riku's usually genius-level brain felt like it was about to explode from the information that had just been revealed to him.

"What!?!" Kairi asked Sora quietly, sounding completely shocked at what Sora had said. She looked as though she was about to cry again but no tears came as upset as she was by all that had happened that night. "You love… you love Riku over me? That's why you're dumping me isn't it Sora?"

"You love me Sora, you really love me back?" Riku asked him sounding hopeful and apprehensive at the same time as though he didn't dare believe what he had heard unless Sora confirmed it for him first. It was then as Sora made to answer Riku that the car finally hit them sending them skidding off the road with such force that the car's occupants were thrown around like rag dolls, Riku and Sora receiving less of a bumpy ride as they were clutching onto each other like their lives depended on it. The car collided with the road side barrier and the vehicle flipped over. Kairi went right through the front windshield with a cry as Riku and Sora continued to hold onto each other, their combined grip the only thing keeping Riku from falling down onto the roof of the car.

"Riku, hold on tight I won't let you fall!" Sora shouted realizing his grip was failing him.

"Let go of me Sora, we both know you can't hold on much longer. I'm just to heavy for you to support." Riku panted as Sora continued to pillow his body against his chest with such force that Riku could barely breath. "Sora, if you don't let go of me soon the seat belt will snap and we'll both be dead. I don't want that Sora, I want you to live."

"I want you to make it out of here alive too Riku, I can't just let you go. Not after we just found out that we love each other." Sora cried through the tears falling thick and fast down his face, rolling off his nose onto Riku's pale face. The seatbelt made a ripping noise and Sora bit his bottom lip looking scared – scared for his life and Riku's.

"Just let me go Sora, it'll all be okay in the end. We'll both make it out of this I swear it to you, just let me go before it's too late." Riku cooed comfortingly as Sora tried to pull Riku closer to his chest. When Sora still didn't let him go, Riku let go of his grip on Sora making him gasp as he tried desperately to keep a hold onto Riku so that he wouldn't fall to his death.

"Riku, don't do this!" Sora screamed through his panic to keep Riku from falling. Suddenly his grip slipped from around Riku's waist. Sora watched Riku fall as through it was in slow motion screaming Riku's name as he crumpled against the metal roof of the car that had recently became the floor. "Riku? Riku!?! RIKU! NO, WAKE UP PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE, NOT LIKE THIS! RIKU, DAMN IT ANSWER ME!"

Riku didn't answer instead lying motionless on the roof, his eyes closed as a pool of blood spilled forth from his head and collected under Riku's head. Sora cried as he looked down on his fallen friend, all alone until the paramedics came and he finally passed out as they attempted to get him out of the wreckage.

Well um… there it is I suppose. Not exactly a cheery present. Ahem, I hope it did the job though and you liked it.

Next chapter you find out exactly what Sora's mother talks to Riku about, more Axel and Roxas happiness, and maybe a few more surprises. I don't know, and what I actually mean I know but I'm not going to tell you. Man, just think how bad it would be if an author didn't know what they were talking about in their own story… damn, that's a scary thought…

So anyways… Review please, reviews would make my Thanksgiving just wonderful! Now you know who said what in the accident and all that jazz. Was it what you expected? Tell me in your review!!! Until next time my dears, live, love, write and read!