A/N:
Figured you guys deserved a new chapter. :3 You're all such great fans. X3
I'm sorry it's so short/pretty much over. -sob- This was my first actually completed shonenai fic. I never intended for it to be actually long.
But there's an epilogue:D Look foward to that.
Thanks to everyone who read/is reading this. I reached 700+ views for it! HUZZAH!! -pops party cracker-
Disclaimer: I don't own Axel or Riku. But I wish I did. XD
Something was forming.
Yes, audible noises were beginning to make contact with Riku's brain. Familiar speech patterns, a quick one, followed by a longer one. Ba-bump. Ba-bump. No, that's the sound of a heartbeat.
Wait a second--
"DAMMIT RIKU, WAKE UP!"
There was a pain in his stomach, and Riku's eyes flew open as he coughed up a few specks of blood. They fell into the carpet.
"Oh crap, Riku, I'm sorry..." Axel's voice said. Riku looked up, still sitting in an odd position slumped against the wall.
"Axel," Riku muttered.
"Yeah, me. That bitch passed on."
"Am I dead?" Riku asked softly, showing no signs of horror at the aspect. Axel shook his head. "Oh," Riku said, his expression slowly turning back to that of his normal scowl.
"Do you want to be dead?" Axel asked, frowning. Riku shrugged, trying to get up. Axel looked around frantically. "Don't you think you should, like, stay sitting?"
"No," Riku muttered, getting up. "It...sucks,"
"Sitting sucks?" Axel asked, chuckling softly.
"Sh-shut up," Riku muttered, realizing how stupid the statement had really been. He finally succeeded in standing. "See? Nothing bad happened."
"Yeah, not yet," Axel said, eyebrows coming together in a frown that seemed to show the slightest elements of concern.
"Damn, Axel," Riku said, letting a smile break free onto his face. "You never struck me as a guy who worried."
"I don't worry!" Axel said, scowling more.
Riku nodded. "Then shut the hell up." He looked around. "Where'd you say that bitch went?"
"Passed on," Axel said, nodding.
Riku shook his head. "Damn." He blinked. "How'd she hit me?"
"Got really pissed, I guess," Axel replied, shrugging. "She died young, right? She probably still had some life left in her." He looked up. "Or, it's like, when we get worked up enough, normal people see us. Maybe they can feel us, too."
"Oh," Riku said. "She made it seem like--"
"Riku," Axel said, cutting him off. "You're still alive, whether you like it or not."
Riku felt like he should smile, but he didn't.
The two seemed restless standing there, but they both knew they had nowhere to be, nowhere to actually go. "This sucks." Riku said, kicking the door to his room open and flopping onto his bed.
"Tell me about it," Axel replied, staying standing beside the door. Riku let loose a sigh.
"No, really. This really, really sucks." He frowned up at the ceiling, but a sad frown, not his usual angry one.
"I know!" Axel said, rolling his eyes. "It sucks to be the odd man out."
Riku looked up in the same instant of Axel finishing his sentence. Axel turned his head slightly, raising an eyebrow. "...what?" he asked.
Riku closed his eyes and shook his head. "It's nothing, it's nothing," he murmured, letting his head fall back onto the bed.
They were silent a moment, thankful for each other's company, but unwilling to admit it.
"Axel?" Riku asked, killing the silence.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you come back here?" There was no trace of mockery, no voice of hatred, no flicker of annoyance. It was a true, honest question. Axel smiled, leaning against a wall.
"I dunno," Axel answered, shrugging, though Riku couldn't see him. "I just...I really just wanted to come back, I missed this useless place."
Riku was silent, his eyes open once again, staring blankly at the ceiling. He wanted to so much to look up and see Axel's expression at that moment, but he refused to let himself. Instead he did his best to imagine it on the empty white color of the ceiling.
"Did you not want me to come back?" Axel asked quietly.
This time, despite himself, Riku looked up from his bed; sat up, really. He thought of Sora, he thought of Kairi, he thought of his family, he thought of everyone else on the island, who saw him as a troubled teenager that should be going to therapy rather than staying couped up in his room everyday. He thought of millions of ghosts who had taken advantage of him since before he could remember, filling his mind with awful, torturous images, with stories of bloody deaths and dreadful betrayal.
"No," Riku choked, shaking his head. "I...I really did, I wanted you to come back." He walked over, standing in front of Axel, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Then he threw his arms around him, beginning to cry. "Y-You won't leave, right?" Riku cried, feeling like a small child, crying into Axel the way he was. But he could feel Axel in his arms; Axel was just as real to Riku as Riku was himself.
Axel chuckled, placing a hand on Riku's head. "No," he answered softly.
"No, I'm not leaving."
Random second A/N:
When Axel talks about being the odd man out, he's referring to how he couldn't communicate with Roxas. :3 Thought I'd clear that up. -sweatdrop-
Love conquers all.
Heh.
