Rookie

I apologize in advance in case there are a lot of spelling mistakes. I forgot to save my Beta'd copy of this chapter. Hopefully you still enjoy. :D

Chapter Twenty Four - Day Two Hundred and Sixty-Nine - The Last Day

Thursday June 3

The Last Day - morning

xXx

Roxas stirred slowly, as if still in a dream. A moan left his lips as his body warned him not to wake yet. But he had to. Something was forcing him to yearn to look upon his redheaded lover. Cerulean orbs opened slowly, his hands roaming out to where just a short while ago he would have found the elder teen. Now there was no trace of the elder besides the fading heat that had seeped into the matress overnight.

"Axel?" the blonde asked groggily, forcing himself up. "Axel?" His voice grew more urgent when he realized the redhead wasn't in sight. As he sat, he winced at the pain in his backside and memories from the night before washed over him.

'Rox, I love you. I don't want to hurt you.'

It's okay, it feels good.

Roxas brushed a hand through his golden locks, letting the sounds from the heated times wash over him, filling him with warmth. He forced himself to stand despite the discomfort. It had all been worth it. Those scattered touches, heated kisses, breathy moans - all of it had been perfect. 'Rox, are you still awake.'

Mmm.

'Rox, I ... Rox, I'm leaving in the morning.'

Hmmhmm, that's nice.

'No, Rox, I'm serious. I'm leaving.'

The blonde felt a stone drop in his stomach. "Axel!" He couldn't believe the desperation in his own voice as he sped from his room with only a pair of boxers strewn upon his body. A soft, muted noise brought him to the doorway of his lover's room. Axel was there, standing over the bed, piling things into his suitcase. "Where are you going? What are you doing? Axel, answer me!" A chill worked its way over the blonde's skin when Axel refused to even acknowledge him. "What are you doing?" Losing all of the fear and desperation, Roxas sounded small and weak, sadness drowning in his voice.

"I told you, I've got to go."

"You can stay!"

"It doesn't work like that."

"Then let me go with you!"

Axel finally turned but Roxas was infurieated when the redhead moved over to the dresser beside the door instead of comforting him. "I'm leaving, you're staying. It's final, Roxas." The blonde flinched at the sound of his name.

"You say that like you don't care anymore."

"I have to sound like that or else I won't be able to force myself away."

"You don't have to leave."

"Roxas, you couldn't possibly have thought I would stay, did you?"

The blonde stiffened. This wasn't happening. He wasn't just about to say good-bye to the best thing that ever happened to him. He threw his arms wide when the redhead tried to brush by him. "So that's it? You get what you've wanted after all this time and then you just leave? We finally have sex and then you just leave, off to find someone else's ass to get inside?"

"Move, Roxas."

"No! Not until you answer me!"

"Roxas," the warning held within the redhead's voice was thick and the blonde felt the horror bubble up inside of himself. Was Axel really capable of resorting to violence to get away from him?

"Did I really mean nothing to you?" Axel grabbed the younger teen's shoulders, shoving him back with a yelp. Roxas was surprised to still feel the fire dance over his skin at the touch but he ignored his shock as he stumbled backwards. He stamped after Axel as the redhead moved down the hall to the bathroom. Standing in the doorway, Roxas crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly wishing he had thought to put on more clothes. "Axel, could you please just answer me?"

"Rox, listen, I don't wanna talk about it. Because I know that you'll end up hating me."

"What does it matter if I hate you or not? It's not like I'll ever see you again if you leave."

"I'm coming back for you in three years."

"I don't want you to."

"Not right now you don't. You're mad at me. You feel like I'm betraying you." Axel turned to the blonde that held tears in his eyes. "Look, Rox. I love you. Like, a lot. I'll keep in touch and then when you turn eightteen, I'll come back and we can pretend that none of this happened."

"I won't forgive you that easily."

"I know." Axel gave a reassuring smile even though it was killing him to be doing this to his lover. "Don't worry, Rox. I'll keep in touch."

"I don't want you to."

Having grabbed what he needed from the bathroom, Axel brushed by the wavering blonde, making sure not to graze that warm skin that he had been sure to mark the night prior. "You can't just leave me!" Roxas screamed from the other end of the hall as Axel dissappeared into his room.

"I have to."

"You can't! What if I don't let you?"

"I thought you said that you didn't want me back?"

"Not if you really leave me! I will hate you forever if you leave me!"

Axel forced his suitcase closed, taking one more longing look around the room that he had occupied for so long. "Roxas, I really appriciate all that you and your mom have done for me, but the best thing for me to do right now is to leave."

"Why? How could that possibly be the best thing?" The blonde was following the elder teen down the stairs that were blurred by tears.

"I don't want to get in trouble, so I can't really stay."

"I don't care if you get in trouble! Just ... you can't leave, Axel!"

Axel turned when he got to the foot of the stairs. "Roxas, just stop. You sound like a broken record. I'm leaving, you'll get over it, I'll come back, we'll work things out. Got it memorized?"

"No!" Roxas ran around the redhead, spreading his arms wide in front of the door. "I won't let you just walk away from me! You shouldn't have led me on all this time! Why did you even come near me if you knew that you were just going to leave? Now I'll have nothing! I'll be nothing! Without you, I'm nothing!"

Axel set his suitcase down by the entryway, grabbing his keys as he went. "You're nothing? What about me, Roxas? Do you think that I like having to leave the best thing that's ever happened to me? You think I won't miss you? If it weren't for you, my dad would still be beating me, I wouldn't have had a place to live that I can actually get really great meals, I would have ended up flunking out of school, probably would have contracted some sex-desease. But, Roxas, look at what you've brought me! I'm back in with my brother, I have a bunch of great friends. Everyhing I am is because of you. Why do you think I tried to get you back in with Hayner and Pence when you got into your fight with them? Why do you think I introduced you to Sora and Riku and everyone? I wanted you to be happy when I was gone, because, you know, I knew that this would happen all along! I knew I would have to leave you! So I wanted you to be as well off as I had control over when I left."

Roxas was shaking, only ever having seen the redhead this filled with rage when confronting Seifer. "My mom abandoned me. My brother abandoned me. And now I'm abandoning you. But, Roxas, I'll tell you something they never told me. I'll come back. I will still love you, no matter how long I have to stay away. I will always remember you and I will always miss you."

The anger was slipping from the redhead as he picked up his suitcase with one hand, the other holding tightly onto the keys. "Now, Roxas, if you would kindly get the hell out of my way." Axel found his way still stubbornly blocked by the blonde. "Roxas." The hint of venom slipped back into the redhead's voice. "Move before I make you."

"Axel ..."

"Rox, please."

"You were going to leave without telling me?"

"Because I knew this would happen. I didn't want to fight with you, Rox."

"Stop calling me that."

Axel sighed, closing his eyes in exasperation. "I'm sorry, Rox. I really am."

"I told you to stop calling me that!" Roxas felt the tears slipping down his cheeks and his resolve broke. He just wanted to be in those long arms, having those perfect lips kissing him all over, being told it was all just a joke. As if Axel could almost hear Roxas' thoughts, he wrapped one arm around the blonde, pulling the boy close.

"Rox, I still love you."

"I-I ... I love you too."

Axel leaned down, pressing their lips together before he edged his way around the blonde, backing up against the door. "Rox," he sighed quietly, waiting for the nonresponsive teen to look up at him. His nimble fingers turned the doorhandle and he slipped out through the door. "Roxas!" The blonde jerked his head up, his face drenched with tears and pain. "I promise you! You'll be the next person I sleep with, three years from now!"

And he was falling back now, already with his hand on the handle to open the car door. Roxas wanted to run to him, to scream at him some more, to beg him never to leave, to tell him that he would miss him too, but his legs refused to move him out to chase the redhead. The car had already been backed up, slipping away down the street before Roxas stepped out after his lover. "Like hell you'll be able to make it that long," he hissed under his breath as the last sight of the vehicle disappeared around a corner.

Slowly, he clued into the fact that he was in nothing more than boxers and that anyone that looked towards him could see his half-naked body. He moved back inside the house, heading back up the stairs. He groaned when he saw his bed and stripped off the coverings, not wanting to have to lay in the aftermath of the night prior. He felt himself overcome with exhaustion, curling up in a ball on the bare matress when the sheets had been removed. His blurred eyes fell on the nightstand table and the breath hitched in his throat, his fingers reaching out tentitively.

"Y-You ... Axe, you left it. ... You ... weren't supposed to leave it." Roxas gripped the ruby-encrusted loop tightly to his chest, sobbing with all he had. Emptiness filled him.

He didn't know when he fell asleep.

xXx

"Shit. Shit, no! I ... I can't have lost it!"

"What's the matter, Bro?"

Axel pounded his fist into the matress as he tore through his suitcase. "I didn't lose it. I fuckin' forgot it!"

"Whoa, man, calm down! What did you forget?"

The younger redhead rounded on his brother, fury, disbelief, and panic written clearly on his features. "That thing you gave me a long time ago. That ruby thing. I forgot it!"

"Okay, just, calm down a little bit. Are you sure? Maybe you just overlooked it."

"No!" Axel growled, brushing by his brother. Reno followed the teen that was to be living with him for the time being. "I didn't 'overlook' it. We took them off last night so that they wouldn't get tangled and break. I've gotta go back and get it!"

"Do you want me to go? You just got here."

"No, I've gotta do this. I know where it is."

He had only been away from the place he had lived for so long for an hour and already he was in his car, speeding back. Axel stepped up to the front door, wondering if he should knock fiirst or just barge right in. Choosing the latter, Axel called the blonde's name out softly at first but then more loudly. When he recieved no reply, the redhead took off his shoes and made his way up the stairs. His heart fluttered when he entered the blonde's room and found him laying asleep, a troubled scowl on his lips, tears dried on his cheeks. Something clenched in his chest when he noticed what the younger teen was holding.

A small speck of crimson could be seen within the teen's grasp. A quick glance at the bedside table confirmed the redhead's suspicions. Leaning down, Axel left a soft kiss on the blonde's temple, brushing back a few tossled spikes. He grabbed the key that sat alone on the table before heading into the room he had once known to be his own. He pulled the blanket from it before going back in and draping the warmth over the younger teen.

"I promise, Rox. I promise that I'll come back. I love you more than I've ever loved anyone before." The blonde whined a little when he felt the new weight on him in his troubled sleep but he unconsciously leaned into the heat as Axel brushed his fingers over those blonde locks. "I promise." He slipped from the room without Roxas waking.

To Be Continued

So, this is the last official chapter of Rookie, but there is always the epilogue, and then after that, the sequal, which I've actually already started on. One more week to get your bandnames in until I make the poll! :D

~xbuttonsx~