My notes: Sorry this took so long, I've been really busy. Swamped actually.
And guess what? I'm still failing a few classes...sigh, I can't ever win.

Okay well putting aside my adopted grandmothers death and how much her children are fucking with my dad, I found time for this chapter. ^_^ And guess what? Theres hardly any Roxas abuse! yay!!

So yea, My proof reader is eating dinner, so please dont mind the mistakes okay? She'll fix them soon enough.
Enjoy!

Last note before you read: I give up trying to space my paragraphs right....I hate the document manager and it hates me...sorry...


Axel stepped back, allowing Roxas an easy exit past him, his father, and his life.

Roxas was in the street.
Cold, alone, and lost.

He had been walking for a few hours, and was almost sure he was in the next town.
But then again, he had no idea where he was, so he could be anywhere at this point.

Looking into the sky, Roxas wished his astrology class taught him more about finding his way by stars, not what they meant or why they were so pretty.
With a sigh, he kept walking, ignoring the slight pain and wet feeling from his stomach wound.

Roxas' mind often over exaggerated his wounds, this one probably wasn't as bad as he thought.
Axel had fixed him up, took out the shards of glass from the impact, and bandaged him up.
So in theory, he should be fine, right?

Roxas was overly tempted to look at his stomach, but he kept walking, hoping to find some evidence of where he was. He really wished he let Axel come with him.

Finally a sign.
Quite literally a sign in fact, it read, "Welcome to Hollow Bastion!"
In small print underneath it read, "No casualties in: 3 Days!"

Roxas looked past the sign, it looked like Hollow Bastion was a small village.
One with a rather…Odd sense of humor?

Taking a deep breath, Roxas walked past the village gates.

Although it was night, Roxas got the feeling this village was a dark in the daytime as its sense of humor seemed to be.
Most of the houses were run down, and the places that seemed to be farms a long time ago were covered in broken machinery.

Thinking to himself, Roxas wondered why he had never heard of such a small dark village like this.
How far had he walked?

"Howdy, stranger." Roxas turned toward the smoky male voice, the man behind it was a short haired blond, with a matching goatee and earring to complete his sinister look.

"Do I know you sir?" Roxas asked as he tightened his grip on his backpack strap.
"No, but I know you. How would you like to play a little game with me?" The man stepped closer.
"What kind of game?" Roxas stepped back, determined not to go anywhere near this guy.

Stumbling over a table that was unknowingly behind him, Roxas gasped, "W-who are you?"

"Me?" The man asked like it was the most rude thing Roxas could say to him, "I'm Luxord, the king of games." He waved his hands at Roxas, making his introduction that much more epic.

"Now please, have a seat near that table you almost knocked over, and let us play a little game."
Before Roxas knew it, Luxord was behind the table, and he himself was sitting opposite him.

Luxord laid out six cards in front of Roxas and told him, "This is a game I like to call "Fate", know why my boy?"

Roxas shook his head, so Luxord continued, "It is called that because if you lose, you die." Seeing the look of worry on Roxas' face, he went on, "But don't worry, hardly anyone loses…"

'Why not? If I lose I'm no better off then if I won, besides, if I do lose, he cant kill me…Right?'

"Now all you need to do for me, my boy, is pick a card. To pick a card, simply set your hand on it, and then you will know if you won or lost."

With a deep breath, Roxas closed his eyes and set his hand onto a card.
Then drew it away as fast as he could with a scream, "That thing burned me!"

Luxord simply laughed as Roxas inspected his hand.
It was fine, why did it feel like he stuck his hand into a fire pit?

"It looks like that card didn't want you to pick it." Roxas looked up, Luxord was smiling with his hands folded and his elbows on the table.
Terrible manners.

With a nod, Luxord told him, "Pick again, and pick right this time."

So Roxas closed his eyes again, and picked a card further to the right.
This one felt like dry ice, and Roxas pulled his hand away again with shock, "What kind of game is this Luxord!?"

Again, a nod, "Pick one last time."

This time, Roxas kept his eyes open and picked the card that was second furthest to the left.
Warmth, the good kind of warmth.
The kind of warmth that told you everything was ok, and that made you feel comfortable.
"This one." Roxas told him, picking up the card.

Two of hearts, red.

"Good pick little boy…" Luxord rose from his chair, and began to pack all the other cards into their deck.

"Good boy? So I won?" Roxas set the card back down and stood with Luxord.
"Oh no, you did not win in the least my boy, but you also did not lose…You have set your fate, and you will keep it."

This man was speaking in riddles!
Frustrated, Roxas groaned, "What are you talking about?!"

After he was done packing every card but Roxas', Luxord began to fold up the table, "Take that card with you, when you get home, show Axel."

'Axel? How did he know about him?'

Before Roxas could ask him anything further, he was gone and Roxas was alone.
He wished he knew how to get home, and he wished even more that he let Axel come along.
At least that way he wouldn't have to carry around some freaky card.

Roxas began to walk back to the road that lead him into the village, or so he thought.
Somehow he ended up deeper into this village, and he began to think it wasn't a village after all.
It was far to big.
Wasn't it?

Had he passed that house three times already or were the builders really uncreative?

Roxas' thoughts were broken when a hand was placed on his shoulder.
To many times that meant something bad and Roxas had had it.

With a swift turn, he punched the person behind him in the face, as hard as he possibly could.
He felt a nose break under the impact, and he saw a body land on the ground, groaning in pain, holding their face.

Breathing deep, Roxas stared at the person on the ground.
He was turning to and fro in pain, when he said something that caught Roxas off guard.

"Your definitely Cloud's kid…"

'Cloud!? Dad?! How does he know him?! Why does everyone in this freaky town know about my life?!'

Helping the man up, Roxas got a good look at the guy in the light of the moon.
Brown hair, manly face, and a scar that past from his right eyebrow to his left cheek.

"What the hell was that for Roxas?!" He asked, grabbing for his bloody nose again.

"How do you know my name and my father?" Roxas was fuming, this guy had no right to…Know him?
Okay so Roxas didn't have reason for being mad, but did he really need one?

"Roxas calm down sport," The guy let his hand drop from his nose, crinkled it, then sniffed, "All your questions will be answered soon enough okay? Right now you need to-"
"Don't tell me what I need to do and stop telling me to calm down!" Roxas cut off the man, "Just tell me why you know my name, how you know my father, and what the hell was with that guy and the cards!"

Sighing, the man put a kind hand on Roxas' shoulder, "My name is Squall, and I'm going to help you if you let me ok?"

Brushing the hand from his shoulder, Roxas growled, "Tell me what I want to know, now, I don't plan on staying in this village much longer…"

The man chuckled, then his demeanor got much more serious, "Roxas, I can not tell you these things you ask, I'm sorry…But I will show you your way home, Okay?"

Roxas shook his head, holding back his tears, "No…Just tell me…" He was getting sleepy, it was hard to even finish his thoughts, "What I want…" He was starting to close his eyes, and wobble standing a bit, "What…I want…" He felt Squall catch him as he fell back into sleep.

Roxas woke up face down on the cement.
He was in front of the 7-11.

It was very sunny, at least noon.
Getting up, he brushed himself off saying, "That was a weird dre-"
He stopped mid-sentence when he saw the card in his hand.

The two of hearts, and it was red.

"Hey fag boy!" Hayner called to him, running to his side he smiled, "Fag boy, did you hear the news?"
"What news?" Roxas stuck the card into his pocket.

"They caught the guy that burned the school down!" Hayner gave Roxas a playful punch to the stomach, which under normal circumstances, would have hardly hurt at all.
This though, felt like Hayner had just stabbed him with a stake knife.

Wincing though the pain Roxas asked, "Who was it?"
Like he really cared, all he cared about right now was Hayner was treating him like a person.

"You know that freaky kid in the back of Mr. Crescent's class? The one with the grayish emo hair?"
Yeah, Roxas knew that kid, he was even more quiet then Roxas.
But burn down the school? He never got picked on and he seemed fairly normal…

"Well you know how he was dating the guy from the 7-11?"
"What guy?"
"The cashier that steals a lot, blond, blue eyes, sells teens cigarettes?"
"Oh…Demyx? He did it?"

Hayner shook his head, "No, but his friend did. I guess there's this big like…chain of relationships that lead this guy to burn down our school. He's in his twenties, and now he's going to jail. Can you believe that?"

Roxas shook his head slowly, "Hey…I need to get home okay Hayner?"
"Sure faggy, have fun okay?" Hayner punched Roxas hard in the arm, then left without complaint.

He must have been in a good mood.

Walking into the 7-11, Roxas was almost shocked to see Demyx still at the counter.
Still playing with that blue lighter, feet on the counter, not paying any attention to some teenager stealing beer.
How was he keeping this job?

Roxas bought his usual, a bar of Sea-Salt ice cream and a small bag of Pickle Chips.
They should be about two dollars, but Roxas knew that Demyx didn't care, so he only paid a few dimes.

As he started to walk out, Demyx called to him, "You need to pay the full price for those…."

Returning home, Roxas noticed his father gone, but the house in a disarray like he just left for work.
He threw his bag onto his bed, without seeing Axel laying on it.

Catching the bag as it hit his stomach, Axel smiled, "Your home…I missed you…"

Roxas smiled with him, and went to sit on the bed, "I….Missed you to Axel…"
Axel pulled him into a tight hug, and Roxas didn't refuse.
After his day, he needed one.

They stayed like that for some time, enjoying each others warmth.
Axel's warm hug reminded Roxas of the card.

Pulling away, Axel sighed sadly, and Roxas pulled out the card, then shoved it at Axel.
"Luxord told me to give this to you, he said you would know what it meant…"

Axel stared at the red two of hearts, his smile faded, "Roxie…"
Roxas' smiled faded to, "Yes?"

Axel looked into those deep blue eyes that seemed so sad now, "Roxie…Roxas, I think its time I told you all about where I came from…"


More of my notes: That part of Hollow Bastion could have been a dream, or was it? Mwhahaha you wont know until chapter Roxas!!! Yup, Its his chapter next! Yay!

XD and the deaths part was an inside joke between me and my boyfriend....We are such speical people...

Chapter Roxas will probably take some time, sorry...
I'm planning on it being the last chapter, but there is a lot of story left so...It will either not be or it will be ungodly long or...well thats what sequals are for right? XD

Please review, fav, and alert! When you do those things, they make for a happy Author and then she writes more. See how that works?
Okay, coolsauce.
Thanks as always for reading and look forward to chapter Roxas!

By the way, sorry this chapter was so freaky....XD I felt like writing something like this and this story needed to be progressed so...Yea...:)