A/N: Sorry for the very late upload, but I decided to read ParadiseAvengers Fanfic, and it was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I did see the resemblance, but this one will of course go in a slightly different direction. It probably won't be as long either… but without further ado! NEXT CHAPTER!

Sora froze in shock; he jaw dropped slightly, he looked at the boy who returned his gaze with a sad smile. "How….?"

"Do you remember…?" he asked quietly, turning his head away from the boy.

Snapping slightly out of his shock, Sora's expression changed to worry, he responded in a slow and careful voice, "Who…are you? Is your real names Roxas?" tensing slightly as he finished his sentence and braced himself.

"So…you did forget. How long has it been…? Since we were both slaves and under Master Payne?" Roxas asked softly and quietly.

"W…What…how did you know his last name?"

Roxas turned to face the boy and studied his expression, "The first day you arrived…the first day we met?"

The other brunette sat there, eyes wide open,"Y-You w-were a slave!?" Sora stammered out, shocked that the boy beside him who looked like he had lived a normal life was once like himself.

Roxas let out a humourless laugh, and murmured back "Yes…for my whole life. I thought of suicide and murder often, nobody was kind, not even the other slaves. It was a constant battle of the survival of the fittest. At times…I..I was so scared…that I would die from the beatings…and sometimes I thought being unconscious was heaven… an escape from everything." He choked slightly as he recounted his memories.

Sora listened intently, he understood fully what the other boy had been through, and at times he thought the same. The prospect of ending it all was tempting, just one fell swoop and all the pain and suffering could be ended, but they were only thoughts, never actions he did not have the courage to do it.

"Now that I think back on it, I was the same as you…only I was angrier and darker. I've…done a lot of bad things to ensure I could survive. Only because I knew others around me would do the same…I was convinced that it was the only way to survive in such a life. To lie, to blame others and steal from others of your own kind….until I met you." Roxas admitted letting a single tear drop.

Sora blinked in surprise, "Me…? What? When…?" he asked softly, looking at the boy with innocent curiosity.

"The day you arrived at Bryan Payne' house, do you remember?"

The brunette thought for a moment, he nodded, "Yes. Right after Madame Rose sold me, I offered to do the clean-up duty after some slave broke Porcelain vase and that's whe-" Sora cut off as he remembered what happened afterwards, he closed his eyes and shivered slightly.

"You were raped and tortured." Roxas said softly, he shuffled closer to the boy and put his right arm around him, "It was me."

"…What?"

"That punishment was for me. I accidentally knocked it over on my way out of his room, after one of his 'inspections'." He explained bitterly. "Sora, do you really not remember me? Roxas? You said I was the only one apart from your family who knew your real name."

Sora shook his head and sighed, "I don't…but it is familiar to me. Normally I don't trust people quickly and you weren't going to be an exception, until you introduced yourself to me that is."

Nodding sadly, the two sat there for a moment, trying to forget all the chaos going about at the school, his mind drifted and thought about the only one just as important as Sora was to him, Namine. He sighed and tried to recount the happy memories with the only people who had treated him kindly, trying to brace himself for what he was about to say.

…

Namine was shocked down to her core, the boy she loved and freed was now wanted by a kidnapper, and not only that, he knew about Aoi's real identity and demanded for Roxas as well. "I have to find him!" Ignoring her friends questions, Namine whirled around and sprinted towards his class, slamming the door open and looked inside wildly, unable to spot the light haired brunette's spiky hair.

She dashed towards the cafeteria hoping to find him there, stopping in front of the long queue; she pushed walked alongside the line hoping to spot him there but to no avail. Frustrated and worried, the pale blonde girl stomped the ground and continued her search, "Where the hell are you ROXAS?!" she thought to herself angrily.

A sudden thought popped to her head, "Could he be with Sora? The back of the school!" she stopped suddenly and quickly changed directions, heading towards the exit and to their destination. Her anxiety and worry was growing by the second.

…

Roxas turned to the boy and whispered, "Run. Get as far away as you can from here. Leave and never come back, start a new life, get a fake name and ID do whatever it takes."

Sora's eyes snapped wide open and looked up at him with terror, "W-What?! B-But…what about you? Miss Ao as well?" he asked.

"I'm going to see Payne. We can negotiate a deal, I'll go back to being a slave and Miss Kairi can go free." Roxas murmured.

"NO!" Sora said forcefully, surprising Roxas, "You're a free man now! You shouldn't need to go back into slavery, not ever! You also have somebody you like don't you?! Miss Namine wasn't it? She'll be completely destroyed if you do this!" he reasoned with the boy.

"Sora! You don't deserve a life of slavery! Look at yourself! You're too kind hearted for this lifestyle, you deserve much better…you were the first person who ever showed me kindness! I've had my share of freedom and now it should be yours!" he cried back, shaking the boy roughly.

Shaking his head in protest, he pushed Roxas off of him, "Sorry…freedom doesn't come as easy as it sounds. Nobody will pay the tax for me, and he wouldn't take it, he would just kill you both. I'll be fine, its happened so much that I'm used to it by now." He murmured softly.

Roxas opened his mouth to protest.

"ROXAS!" Namine called as she whirled the corner, spotting the two boys she was looking for, she rushed forward and asked worriedly, "Are you two alright?! What are you going to do?!"

"I'm going. Roxas is staying." Sora answered almost immediately, standing up.

"NO!" Roxas insisted and pulled the boy back down roughly, "You're staying here!"

Namine watched Roxas's face turn to horror and thought quickly, she reached out and touched Sora's head softly and said soothingly, "Sora. I don't think it's safe for you to go. The man is obviously a lunatic, and we don't know what he would do to you if he got his hands on you."

Sora turned to the pale blonde and looked at her quizzically, "How…did you know my name?"

"I told her, but we promised not to call you by that until we decided the time was right." Roxas interjected.

"We didn't want to scare you." Namine insisted

Sora looked between the two; he didn't know what to think. They were trying to protect him from the life he hated most yet…he didn't want it.

"I…Miss Kairi."

The two raised their eyebrows in alarm, how could he miss Kairi, his own mistress the one who beat him up just the day before. Roxas turned to Namine and gave her a look, which she returned with just as much confusion

"Sora! Are you crazy?! This is your chance to be free! Yet you throw it away for some woman that just beats you?" Roxas demanded

"What? No! I meant Miss Kairi is still in danger!"

Roxas held in his breathe of relief, "We could tell the police…?" he suggested

Sora shook his head and gave Roxas a look, both knowing that Bryan wouldn't give up that easily, he let off a sigh and slumped his shoulders.

The three sat down for a while trying to devise a reasonable plan but none of them could find a safe way which would avoid danger for both Roxas and especially Sora. Eventually Namine became tired and suggested, "We should notify the police of his location still. We can decide later with the authorities helping us, at least this way we can have some protection, right?"

The two boys looked at her and thought for a moment, Namine did make a good point, it was better than the current situation, but that could only make the problem worse for Kairi. Sora hesitantly agreed, he didn't want to bring any more unneeded pain for anybody else on his behalf.

Roxas turned to Sora and asked, "Do you have a place to stay at tonight? I doubt the Ao family will be too happy to see you during all of this."

"I don't think so…"

"Come and stay over at mine." Roxas smiled and put his arm around his shoulder, "You're welcome to."

He nodded gratefully and gave a small smile, Namine stood off to the side and smiled slightly, her Roxas was always so kind, even after all the pain and suffering he went through. She nodded to herself and tried to reassure herself they would all be fine.

…

Sora ended up crashing at Roxas's apartment, he had laid out a futon just for him, beside his own bed. To anybody else it might have been normal, but to Sora it seemed almost luxurious, it had been forever since he had slept on anything remotely comfortable.

They ate ramen together in silence before going to sleep, Sora couldn't stop thinking about all the terrible things Bryan could be doing this his current owner, it churned his stomach and almost made him gag.

Time ticked away slowly, soon Roxas's soft snores could be heard, yet Sora was wide awake and sick to his stomach. In his head all the terrible moments and tortures he had been through under Bryan was replaying through his head, but instead of himself as the victim, he only saw Kairi.

"Why…?" he asked himself quietly, "shouldn't I be happy? I'm…free"

Shaking his head in disgust at his own selfishness, he stood up quietly, he couldn't just stand here and do nothing, it just wasn't right, and he took a short moment to resolve himself. He turned to Roxas and whispered quietly, "Thanks….friend."

A/N: Kinda wish I would write more chapters before hand so I can keep my readers in suspense .! Well that's a good idea for the future anyway! Leave any questions or comments you may have, I'll be sure to get back to you in PMS!