The lights flicked on and the tears had faded, and so had my memories. I looked over at Axel who was talking deeply with Sora, I watched and felt jealousy arouse within me like a monstrous pet, bent on making sure I wasn't forgotten.

But I bit my lip and held back its cruel remarks of rage and loneliness. I watched as Axel stood up, "I'll see you later dude," Axel said as he walked to the door, it was almost midnight.

"Night, Axel!" Sora shouted after him as he shut the door behind him, he looked at me before closing the door, and winked playfully, I felt myself blush lightly and smile a little. He grinned and left.

Dad had already gone to bed in a drunken stupor and now it was just me and Sora who sat down beside me in the silent living room, "You like Axel," he said softly with a sly grin on his lips, I looked away and blushed deeper. "It's nothing to be ashamed of Roxas," he said leaning against the arm of the chair.

I sighed and pulled my knees up to my chest and looked over at him, "Are you sure," I asked softly, he grinned and nodded, he knew well enough that that was as close to a confession out of me that he would ever get.

"Trust me, I'm sure," he said grinning.

"Then what do I do," I asked softly, I was clueless as what to do from here, "I've never actually gone through this before," I whispered softly.

"I can see that," he said smiling, "Just relax okay, if you want, I can help you, I can talk to him for you," I bit my lip as I mulled this over and shook my head.

"No, if it's my crush, then I should figure it out, I'm sorry Sora, but it's technically my responsibility to sort out my own emotions," I said simply, he nodded once and I stood up, "I'm gonna go to bed," I whispered softly. He watched me go silently; I could feel his eyes boring into my back as I went up the stairs silently.

I went straight to my room, and climbed onto my bed and leaned against the cold wall. I looked down at my hands and closed my eyes as my hands began to shake. I clenched them quickly into tight fists and lay down on my side and curled into a ball and began to sob hard.

I turned my face into my pillow to stifle my cries to keep from alerting anyone. I heard Sora in the hallway and I bit hard into the pillow to keep myself quiet as I heard him stop outside my door. A few moments later he continued to walk down the hallway and went to his room.

I whimpered and sat up and slammed my fist hard into my pillow. Rage fueled me as I repetitively hit it; I wanted to hit something harder, I wanted to hurt something.

I was angry at myself, for the pathetic role I played in the ending.

I pushed myself up and grabbed my jacket and yanked it on and ran downstairs. I grabbed my keys off my dresser as I went and ran outside into the cold air. The sounds of the waves and the scent of salt water were gone. I was in a dark city where smog drifted across the sky and mucky water stained the streets.

It disgusted me, but it was my punishment. A punishment I would endure silently.

I walked along the cracked street, there were homeless people littering the street, either walking down in the darkness, or curled up on the side of the road trying to stay warm.

It sickened me to see how terrible the world was. I had grown up in a slice of heaven, and now I had been sent to the cold nether regions of hell.

I felt tears streaking down my face as I walked in silence.

"Hey kid!" I heard a deep voice say behind me, I looked back and saw a group of bigger guys walking towards me. I took a step away and his eyes narrowed, "Don't even think about running." He snapped.

I froze and looked away quickly as he walked over and slammed his fist against the side of my face. I fell backwards and hit the ground, my face throbbed painfully, and I clenched my teeth together as he raised his fist again and his friends laughed behind him stupidly.

I felt rage break through me and I brought my foot up, kicking him hard in the groin. He gasped and pain and grabbed himself, falling to his knees. I got up quickly and took off running; they seemed surprised because it took them a moment before they took off after me.

I felt a frightened whimper escape my lips as I ran fast, my foot splashed through a puddle, soaking the bottom of my pant leg.

I turned the corner around the building and my wet pant leg got caught under my shoe and I slipped. Landing hard on my side and scraping the inside of my arm.

I hissed in pain and quickly forced myself up, but I felt a gentle hand grab my arm as I ran past an alleyway and jerk me in with him. I looked up and saw me looking straight into Axel's eyes.

I swallowed hard and opened my mouth to say something, but he quickly slapped his hand over my mouth and placed a finger to his lips before forcing me to sit against the wall. Then he walked out of the alleyway and leaned against the wall.

I heard the rapid footsteps of the gang running towards the alleyway, I whimpered lightly and pressed against the grimy stone wall behind me as the rancid scent of the garbage can beside me, mixed with the incessant buzzing from the flies, made my stomach churn.

The ground beneath me was slimy and dirty, mucky mud stained my skin and clothes. I felt a single drop of rain drip from the sky above and I looked up as the sky opened up and poured buckets beyond buckets of rain on us.

"Hey! Spiky!" I heard one of them shout, "Did you see a blond brat running through here?" he asked loudly. I didn't hear Axel reply, and I didn't dare look past the garbage can to see what was going on, "You'd better not be lying to me," I heard the man sneer threateningly.

I bit hard into my lip as I waited silently, a few moments later they took off running again.

There was silence before Axel peeked around and smiled down at me, "Alright kid, come with me," he grinned. I stood up; the mud was sticking to my white clothes and skin.

I stared down at the ground as the rain pounded down on us, surprisingly his spiky hair wasn't affected, "You're all muddy," he said smiling down at me. I looked up at him and blushed deeply, "Don't worry, I can help with that," he said grabbing my hand and running through the streets.

I struggled to keep up with him, my feet slapping wildly against the ground as my arms began to sting wildly, I had forgotten I had scraped it up, but now it came back and throbbed painfully.

I winced as he began to slow down outside of a house, he let go of my hand and ran up the stairs. He pulled out his keys and looked back at me where I stood at the bottom of the steps.

He walked slowly down to me and grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at him. He stared at my face, scrutinizing me, his lips were close to mine, and I was so very tempted to feel his.

But he released me and stared down at me sternly, "You've been crying," he said softly.

I bit my lip and looked away, "So?" I asked softly, avoiding his gaze. He raised an eyebrow and glanced at my arm.

"Boy kid, you sure are a mess," he muttered as he gently grabbed my arm and looked at the long scrape on my arm, lightly tracing it with his fingers. I winced and hissed as I inhaled sharply, he released me, "C'mon, we need to get you cleaned up so you don't go back home looking like you just jumped out of a fight," he said before going inside. I hesitantly followed.

He flicked on the lights and I saw a rather rugged looking living room. The floor was a dark brown and the walls were a light copper. He had a couch that looked like he had picked it up off the curb and a coffee table to match. Scraped and scuffed enough to look like it had been the victim of a butcher knife and several other slightly disturbing things.

"Have a seat, I'll be back," he said before disappearing into the back room. I sat down hesitantly on the couch and looked around the room. The walls were bare and the TV that sat against the far wall was small and looked like it sat on a TV tray.

There was a doorway that had black and red beads hanging in it that I guessed led to the kitchen; Axel walked back out with a set of clothes and threw them down beside me, "Take off what you have now and put on those, I'll throw your clothes in the washer and dryer that way they're clean before you go home," he said simply. I quickly obeyed. Slipping out of my clothes, he watched me silently as I bashfully handed him my clothes and slid into what he gave me.

I was now wearing a pair of black jeans and a black t-shirt that was rather baggy on me. He took my clothes and disappeared into the back room before coming back out; he gingerly grabbed my hand and led me into the bathroom where he helped me sit on the counter.

Then he pulled out a first aid kit and silently cleaned the large scrape on my arm. "So are you going to tell me why you were upset earlier?" he asked softly, I sighed and looked down and shrugged.

"Not really a whole lot to tell," I replied gently, he looked up at my face silently; I hesitantly met his eyes and swallowed hard.

"Roxas, you were running away from a gang of the meanest thugs on this side of town. You're bleeding, and have a bruise forming on one side of your face and you still had tears running down your face when I found you. Your face is still a little flushed from crying, and your going to be here for awhile so I suggest you just tell me why you were upset enough to go out of the house after dark," he said as he went back to tending to my arm.

I sighed and bit my lip, "Fine, I've just been stressed by the recent events that led up to me moving in with my dad," I said simply, brushing my hair out of my face.

He looked up beneath his lashes and I knew he was curious for me to continue, but he didn't push it. He finished cleaning off my scrape and wrapped it in some bandaging. His fingers were gentle as he cut the bandaging and taped it down.

"There," he said as he took a step back, I hopped down lightly and looked up into his eyes.

"Thanks," I said softly.

He smirked and shrugged, "No problem, now you just get to wait for your clothes to get cleaned and then I'll take you home," he said simply, walking out of the bathroom. I swallowed hard and hesitantly followed him quietly.

He sat down in the living room and flicked on the TV; I sat down on the couch beside him and stared silently at the TV as he began to flick through the channels carelessly. I looked at him in awe; he was the first person to treat fairly other than my mother and Sora.

Growing up I had no friends and we were secluded from the rest of our family; I was alone, except for mom. Occasionally I would wonder away from home and go to the beach where I would collect sea shells to bring back to her. Usually it was one a day, but I would randomly bring her a ton of shells if I couldn't decide what one I liked best.

I found myself smiling at the memories of her face, at the memories of her voice. Everything that flew through my mind in a flash, and it brought the fading smile back to my lips. I loved how happy I was with her. But then that dark afternoon wiped the smile away, and only thoughts of her lately could bring it back, some times it was other things or I just felt the fake smile appearing in order to appease those around me.

"Roxas," Axel said, I looked at him and my smile flashed away.

"Yes, Axel?" I asked calmly, he smirked lightly and tousled my hair.

"How about tomorrow I become your personal escort around town? I can show you everything that's actually worth seeing," he said simply, "Like you," he said.

I felt my body fall numb as I blushed deeply. "What do you mean?" I asked slightly nervous.

He grinned and stood up and walked away. That final smirk he gave me before going into the laundry room sent my mind reeling into unimaginable questions.

Did that mean what I thought it did?