Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts… it comes so naturally now.

Side Note: Hmm, didn't really enjoy this chapter and I hope it dies and crumples away into the wind… Be warned. I gave you fair warning of the bad chapter.

Railroad Tracks – Chapter 5

Because We Feel

Mornings were never good for the group.

Zexion was an asshole. Simple as that. Demyx was glad he didn't have his morning class, the teacher already walking on glass around him. Second period wasn't much better but he wouldn't take it out on the blond at least.

Axel would curl up in his little ball and cry why the world had to start so early. Demyx was glad he did have class with him to start off the day. He made everything so much more interesting. The detentions that piled their desks year round proved that.

Roxas would groan and moan, complaining about "dumb fuck" Axel. But he'd run to the office after first class to do God knows what in there.

Sora really was the only one he could possibly handle. Bright and cheery, he loved the brunet. Demyx, no doubt dubbed him the happiest of their group. Or, he used to hold that title, but he was going to get there again.

Soon.

Maybe.

But this morning, this particular morning where Demyx had woken up with a blaring a headache and a small bruise on his cheek, nothing was really going along the way he wanted it.

One, he couldn't really smile without his cheek hurting.

Two, his parents were yelling at each other again.

Three, Zexy was pissed as usual, but more so when he glanced at Demyx' face.

Four, it was Monday.

Five, the list goes on, dammit!

He glanced at his watch. It was only seven thirty-three. Not the best time. And Zexion was always too quiet. Demyx needed distractions. He couldn't supply them.

He groaned for the eleventh time – yes, he was keeping count because yes, there was nothing to do – and watched the front of the school, waiting for a blond and brunet. Usually it would have been extremely hard to find that considering it was somewhat common. But it was – glance – seven fucking thirty-four and Demyx was hopeful.

Axel wasn't giving much to go off besides the quiet snores that emitted from besides him. Damn pyromaniac needed to wake up and give a simple hello.

Was that too hard to ask for?

What Demyx wasn't too fond of was life's humor. It was never on his side when most needed. In the past he must have done some pretty shitty things to end up on the bad side of life. Shit, even hell might take pity on him sometimes. Today, yes, hell would definitely take immense pity on him.

Like clock work – glance, seven forty – Sora and Roxas came through those stone walls. Fortunately, Axel woke up as if he had an internal clock wound up inside him to go off whenever Roxas was near. Unfortunately, neither the blond boy nor the red-head looked pleased at the other's presence. Fortunately, Sora was there. Unfortunately, he wasn't in the best of shapes this morning like the rest of them.

Yes, Demyx was going to have to write an angered letter stating why and how life showed it's appreciation towards him.

In complete silence, both boys sat and stared at the tree behind Zexion's head. They even blinked in unison. It was one of those moments you knew they were twins. But Sora broke the silence by coughing, bless his soul. It was short-lived when Axel and Demyx were the only ones to respond with a greeting. The aura flowing off Roxas was enough to have even Zexion looking up, Demyx' cheek and miserable Monday mornings forgotten, in the wake of a very upset – if you could even call it that – Roxas.

And as if he was a hopeless, broken blessing from God himself, Sora laughed. He laughed.

"I was thinking, Dem," he pointedly called out to him. "We could go see a movie after school. Or, something." Anything. Demyx was sure the boy would do anything. He frowned.

"Sorry, Larxene is doing something at home and she… needs… me?" The blond became quite confused as Roxas glared at Sora. The shiver down his spine did not go unnoticed.

"Right. Larxene, home. Of course," Sora's voice cracked. "Uhm, Axel how –" He stopped himself and Demyx cocked his head to the side. He glanced to the red-head whose eyes had not left Roxas' since their entering then flickered to Roxas as his glare might have been murderous and back to Sora who was having trouble keeping up his smile. He was sure breathing wasn't supposed to be that hard.

"Hey guys," And Sora's smile may have just run away, never to come back. Naminé stood behind the two, reaching for Roxas' shoulder but stopped as she quickly assessed the situation. "Uh…"

Demyx' confusion could only grow when fear broke out on the brunet's face and Sora bolted from the table, forgetting his bag and just running. Roxas made no move to get up. And when he didn't, Axel stood. The whole group watched in shock as something close to a growl came from Roxas. Though that didn't stop Axel, racing after the brunet, grabbing both his and the other boys bags.

"Huh," Zexion grunted then shrugged and went back to glaring at the table.

Demyx just continued to stare as Roxas, eyes darkening as he glared back at him. "What, Dem?"

Oh yes, that letter was going to be long.

Supposing it wasn't such a smart idea to run in school as there were many angry teachers here, he finally slowed to a pace as a certain room came into view. It was unlocked, as usual, because Marluxia didn't really care if someone went into his room. There were only a few moments in time that it was locked, and Sora had always run away before he could fully make out the sounds coming from behind the door.

The classroom was littered with light from the windows, casting shadows longer and framing floating dust particles. It looked old, almost picture-like. Like a painting. Which was kind of cheesy so he dismissed the thought. He took steps, almost expecting the walls and floor to melt at his intrusion. Melt into a gooey mess that would sink into his shoes.

Someone cleared their throat.

"Sora…" Axel said, letting the two backpacks drop with a thump. He stepped forward ever so slightly, then to the side, switching his weight constantly between feet. Sora smiled just enough for him to know something wasn't right.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Roxas…"

Axel stopped moving, but grew restless only after a few seconds. "Wish I could tell ya. I wouldn't know myself. I was going to ask you."

"Oh." And he returned to watching the dust the swirled around his breaths, coming to life until eventually resting somewhere out of reach. "Axel…" But no answer comes. He looked over to find that his backpack was on the ground and the red-head was gone. He wondered when he had become so quiet with his big feet. But then he was alone again, and all he could hear was Kairi's choked voice with a cold washing over him at undeniably fast rates.

Why didn't he like this situation?

…

After this morning, he knew Axel was avoiding him. He wasn't the expert on Axel's actions, but he was sure Axel normally didn't dive into a girl's bathroom to get slapped multiple times for the fun of it.

He was avoiding him.

Sora shivered again as he sat by the window that Vexen refused to close. He was regretting picking this seat, cursing his teacher over and over again. But it did come in handy when he glanced down, a shock of red protruding his peripheral vision.

But it was just a storm of leaves. So he was getting slightly jumpy. Anyone would if there friend suddenly avoided you like the plague.

Like Naminé…

"Shit," he groaned, remembering this morning. He didn't want to run away. Her voice was just so… so Kairi.

His head shot up when a book connected itself with his desk. "Anything you'd like to tell us, Hikari?" Vexen stood there, closely to emphasize his power. He wasn't in the mood.

"Yeah, the answer to number four isn't six," he glanced to his notebook. "it's ten." He glanced up again. "Your bad," he mumbled. Demyx spluttered some nicely worded phrases behind him, kicking his calf.

Blinking back tears, his eyes widened. Whoops…

Though, surprisingly enough, Vexen just barked at the other students and fixed the problem he had written on the board. Demyx leaned up. "What's up with you? First you're having these weird panic attacks and now you just totally pissed off Vexen. There goes your grade!"

Sora just buried his head in his hands, fighting back the nausea and vomit that threatened to escape him. Today was not his day. Demyx rubbed circles as his breathing once again was caught in his throat.

He wondered idly if Sora would keep his promise. He hadn't offered anything in return, but it was Sora. Sora wouldn't break a promise. Now would he? Of course not. Sora was faithful. He glanced over to the boy who was quickly exiting the gates.

But lately he'd been a chicken.

There was that slight chance that he'd back out way before the last minute.

An arm looped its way around his, guiding him the opposite way of the bouncing brunet. He glanced down at the warm white jacket separating her skin from his.

"Naminé, what are you going?"

The blond girl with blue/violet eyes glanced up and smiled. He smiled back, albeit a little worn and tired. Her eyes rolled to the side. "Shopping sweetie, shopping," she says. He sighs. "What? Every gay guy needs to at least once help their girl... friend," she obviously paused between the two words. "Pick out a gorgeously awesome outfit. Try sticking to light colors though." It was his turn to roll his eyes.

…

"I don't see my need of being here."

"Because…" she drawled. "You are supposed to have great fashion sense."

Roxas raised a brow, stopping his shifting and utter embarrassment of looking through girl's clothes. "That's pretty stereotypical. For you anyway." She scoffed and pushed her hair out of her face. Obviously displeased.

"There's nothing here," she whined. Her eyes suddenly lightened. "Let's go get ice cream!"

"I swear, sometimes it's hard to tell who's crazier between you two." Roxas blinked, unsure of what he just said. Naminé's hand tightened around his but never stopped their travels to the little stand. She ordered a vanilla and a sea-salt. He smirked.

Minutes after sitting down with cold treats, Naminé whispered, "Roxas, you know you're being stupid." He watched her to make sure he wasn't just imagining what she just said. She opened her mouth again. "You're going to cause more trouble for Sora. Axel, his friend, is already avoiding him."

"Why is everything about him!" Kids around the water fountain jumped at the sudden noise and some started to cry. Mothers of course glared.

Naminé smiled. "Is that why you broke up with him?"

"I don't think that matters."

"I think that matters greatly."

"Screw what matters to you," he mumbled.

Laughter filled the unusually quiet dome that was the middle of the mall. "I think," she erupted between giggles. "That what matters to me, is the same with what matters to you. Think about it, Roxy."

The blond boy took to just staring at his melting ice cream. No, if it came to matters, Sora was definitely one of them. Though Axel wasn't necessarily the one with the problem. Well the asshole should be! He can't take a single day in his life seriously! Fucking prick.

"Shut up." And Naminé just laughed, frowning slightly.

When he had reached home, it was supposed to mean safety. But war was what he had stumbled upon. War with two unrelenting, horribly stubborn sides.

What was he to do?

Yell, of course.

What else?

"Leave me alone!" Sora was sure to smack the ground for more power in the words.

"Sora, I just need to know why –"

"You don't need to know anything," Sora spit out. "Everything is fine. Why wouldn't it be? There's nothing wrong!"

Cloud spared a glance at Roxas, who had just stumbled in, two bags in tow. He wondered what his face looked like. "Apparently it is something if you're so flared up about it. All you've been doing is moping around about Kairi. Frankly, it's getting on my nerves." Sora flinched.

Roxas bit his tongue, not to avoid saying anything, but a habit of his he had grown when trying to figure out what Sora was thinking. "Then why don't you send me back to mom and dad," the brunet all but whispered. "They loved me." Roxas' jaw dropped and it was Cloud's turn to flinch.

"Sora," he reached out, only to be slapped away.

"Go away. Just go AWAY!" Sora brushed past Roxas, who made no attempt to stop him and felt no guilt when Cloud looked at him in anger. Because he wasn't running for Sora either.

Breathing heavily, he finally stopped as he made it to a convenience store. He didn't know this area of town, but he knew who was in it. But that didn't matter so much anymore. Not at the moment. He pulled out his phone, just staring at it. Hitting contacts, Sora scrolled through them mindlessly, not really paying attention to the names of many. He was sure he went through it three times before he finally stopped on the newest one.

In the easiest way it read, Riku.

Thumb hanging over call, the bell signaling someone exiting the store caused him to slam his phone shut. He glanced up and saw a familiar face, but the almost-stranger just glanced over him and walked the way Sora had come. The shocking red hair reminded him of why he had probably run here and not somewhere else. Taking off again, the cracks in the sidewalk were easily evaded.

Out of breath, pounding on an old door, messed up red-hair and triangle tattoos upon a pale face made him smile just a little. Axel frowned at his empty hands, but sighed as he moved to the side, allowing the brunet entrance.

"You know," Axel mumbled. "You and your brother are a pain in the ass."

11/14/09 – Started

12/3/09 – Finished

You so know don't hate me for being late on my update… right? And I know this is bad, but I am stuck for inspiration. Nothing is jumping out at me.

Side Note: Heehee… Uh, yeah. -_- You know… nudge nudge.

Thanking Corner:

shaysterr – That's my goal. To keep you reading. I'm glad you like it and things will be revealed soon. Yeah, hopefully soon.

Neko Ninja Hezza – Gasp, I really have no problem with Kairi. Sorry 'bout that. Thanks for the awesome chapter comment. I guess you have to keep reading…

SailorDemyx49 – Yes, I broke up Roxy-bear and Axel. All will come out in the future; you just have to be patient. RiSo…hmmm, I don't know… wink! Nah, just kidding. I repeat, please be patient with me because this is my first story and I'm getting the hang of it. I usually don't write something so… complex with romantic interests. I'm more of an angsty-non-romantic person. Guess that gene passed me over. It's hard to keep up with it in a story! I give credit to all those poor writers! Hee hee, just wait. Little bits are coming and the main event… you'll just have to wait. Dun dun dun!

Kchanheart – I'm not trying to brag but I usually am a very fast updater… but I had to rewrite everything but the first part because it was shit! Like, I couldn't believe I had written it. I'm so pissed at myself right now for this chapter. I guess we can't be pleased with everything. But I'm glad you like it and I'll try much harder. But, alas, my other story has been calling to me lately. So, we have to see which one wins me over first. Haha, I find it undeniably weird that stories are the things my heart fights over. I guess boys just aren't important enough…