May it Be
Chapter 1
So, this is my first FanFic in a while. I know there's a plethora of KH high school fics out there, but it seemed comfortable. Besides, "I had an idea that might separate my story from the rest of those out there." (Sound familiar?) But we'll see how it turns out. (And this one, I promise to update. Cross my bloody heart.)
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May it Be
Chapter 1: Another Beginning
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Roxas gazed down at his backpack and school supplies heaped in a pile at the foot of his bed. Huffing a sigh, he sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. He was weary of new schools. New schools meant new people, and he was not a social being.
He lived with his mother, his father having left four years ago after brutally beating Roxas and turning on his mum, leaving her with a jagged scar down her neck and a wounded, ever-bleeding heart. After that man left, Roxas and his mum moved. The first move was understandable, leaving behind painful memories. Roxas questioned the second move, but he was not overly bothered. From that move to the most recent- the fifth- he became far more wary of his mum even mentioning other cities. It wasn't much of a hassle, moving, as they never put down any roots. Roxas never made any close friends. He learned very quickly how much of a disappointment it was to lose his friends within the span of a few months. But he never did understand why his mother didn't want to settle down and fully embrace a single new life.
Roxas leaned back, his feet dangling off the edge of the bed. He had given up on having any expectations of the school or the people. He didn't know anyone in Twilight Town. Sure, the neighbours seemed kind enough, but he didn't know them. He didn't know if they were habitually so kind, or if they visited and brought food now so they could stop by to ask for favours later. He had come to understand that human beings were inherently selfish.
He left off his thoughts as he heard his name being called.
Despite his lack of an appetite, he left his room to assist his mother. Entering the kitchen, it seemed as if she was attempting to wrestle a vat of a pot filled to the brim with boiling water to the sink to drain it. Roxas rushed in to put the strainer in the sink and gave his mum the hand- or both of them- that she needed. Everything else was on the table, so he grabbed a bowl for the spaghetti noodles that had been submerged in the boiling water and transferred them from the strainer to the bowl once his mum moved the pot. He took the spaghetti to the table as his mother followed with a pot holder to put beneath the bowl.
Little was said during dinner; Roxas' mother spoke less with the passing of the years. He assumed that it had everything to do with the incident. He would occasionally see her reach up to tentatively stroke the scar that marred the smooth skin of her neck; he doubted she even realized what she was doing.
Dinner finished, Roxas took the plates and silverware to the sink to wash off and set in the dishwasher, returning to the table to retrieve the bowls of food, putting them away in the refrigerator. His mother trailed behind with the potholders. The kitchen and table cleaned, Roxas thanked her for dinner, kissing her cheek as she smiled softly back at him.
He turned to leave, but paused to tell her that he was going to bed.
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" his mother asked quietly.
"As ready as I can be," Roxas muttered sourly. He shrugged to take the edge off of it. He was tired of new cities, new schools, new people, but he wasn't going to take it out on his mum. Without her, he would be struggling in an ocean of inconsistency. She was the piece of driftwood from the shipwreck of their lives that kept him afloat. She was the only constant he had in his life.
His mum nodded and smiled at Roxas, understanding what he was going through. "You'll be fine. Get some sleep. I love you."
"Love you too, Mum," Roxas replied with a smile.
In his room, Roxas reached for a bottle of pills. A pill and a change of clothes later, he was settled in bed, falling into a mercifully dreamless sleep.
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At precisely 6:37, Roxas' alarm squawked at him, jolting him from sleep, though not entirely from unconsciousness.
"Demm't threemormint," he mumbled irritably, his arm flailing to connect his hand with the snooze button. Snuggling back into his blankets, Roxas promptly fell asleep. Until his alarm blared again. This time, he missed the snooze button and fell out of bed with his loss of balance in his flailing about to quiet his alarm. And the wood floor was cold.
A wretched start to a potentially horrid day.
Roxas groaned and hunched into a standing position, finally turning off his alarm. He yawned and stretched before stumbling out his door and across the hallway into the bathroom. His hot shower started off cold, waking him up with a shock just as the water began warming up. Out of the shower, he glanced at his towel-dried hair, giving up on it before he made any attempt to force the unruly spikes into some semblance of organization.
Breakfast, for Roxas, was nonexistent. He never ate in the mornings, which is how he managed to keep his cute, girlish figure. Grabbing an apple for lunch on his way out the door, he kissed his mother, who had just come out of her room for her coffee, goodbye.
"Have fun," she told Roxas through her smile.
He laughed softly in return and left the house. The school was only a few short blocks away, so Roxas chose to walk. It was pleasant to have a chance for the quiet to seep into him in the morning before he entered the noisy bustle of a school day.
The school, once it was in view, was a rather large, new-looking structure. 'Twilight High School' was spelled out on the front of the school with a large fiery bird of sorts- a phoenix, Roxas' mind supplied- beneath it. Which was pretty fucking rad. Of all the schools he'd attended or seen, not one of them had a mythological mascot. Until he came to Twilight Town, of course.
Roxas made his way into the school and managed to get lost. It wasn't difficult, getting lost with so many people filling the halls and taking his own lack of height into consideration. There were no signs, no apparent office-like areas.
And then, to further his troubles, he tripped over his own feet with an oath and sprawled at the feet of a really tall someone, who, surprisingly, didn't step over his body and continue walking down the hall. Looking up, Roxas' breath caught in his throat as a pair of brilliant green eyes stared down at him, surrounded by a mane of spiky, red hair. One delicate eyebrow arched up in a curious expression as Roxas continued to stare.
"Do you plan on lying there all day?" the taller boy asked Roxas, rolling his eyes and sighing with a short burst of air when the boy on the floor didn't move, his awed expression changing to one of confusion.
A pale hand was extended. Roxas, unfortunately, needed another moment.
"Y'know, it really is rude to stare."
Roxas gave a start and shook his head shortly, both to clear the haze that had overtaken his mind at the redhead's appearance and to get a few stray strands of hair out of his face, before reaching up to grab the proffered hand.
"Axel."
"W-what?" Roxas asked, clearly confused as to why the taller boy mentioned an axle.
"My name. Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" the Axel added with a smirk.
"Oh. Roxas. I'm Roxas," he stuttered out, breathing still difficult, embarrassed at his own timidity and mistake.
"You're new and, most likely, lost," Axel stated bluntly, a patient look coming over his face. Roxas managed a nod and a small, embarrassed grimace. "Schedule?"
"I need to find the office first," Roxas muttered, a pink tinge colouring his cheeks.
Axel gave a short bark of a laugh and took Roxas' shoulders, turning the shorter boy around, and then throwing an arm over his shoulders as they began walking in the direction from which Roxas had originally come.
"So, where'd you move in from?" Axel asked offhandedly.
"Most recently, Agrabah."
Axel's eyebrow lifted with curiosity as he regarded Roxas with a sideways glance. "Most recently? This isn't your first time moving?"
Roxas sighed, telling himself that it would be a good idea to get accustomed to explaining this to people. "Yeah, my mum and I move a lot- five times in about four years." Oddly, he didn't feel quite as irritated as he explained it to Axel, whose eyebrows only climbed higher as Roxas explained.
"You mom's job requires that you move so much, or…?" Axel asked with innocent curiosity, not at all expecting Roxas' quick and terse response.
"It's personal," Roxas replied, a dark look coming over his face, though it was quickly replaced by embarrassment as he realized how and to whom he responded. "I'm sorry. It's just that- my mum and I, we don't speak of it."
"It's all right. I get it, kid." Roxas almost slipped back into his awestruck stupor at how nonchalant Axel was. "Where all have you lived, then?"
Roxas didn't understand why his mind- and body- seemed so confused with the appearance of this dashing redhead. But then, he was a boy; he didn't think like that. No, he was straight. "Before that we lived in the Land of Dragons, Wonderland, and Halloween Town."
"You grew up in Halloween Town?" Axel asked, almost as if he was making an attempt at small talk, yet still honestly curious about Roxas. The smaller boy was, quite clearly, a walking wet dream, but Axel hoped there was something within that gorgeous, blonde head.
"Hell no! That town's filled with freaks. The mayor is the closest thing to normal, and he has two faces with two entirely different personalities. Not to mention that every being in that town takes joy in the dark and morbid. I may have emo tendencies, but I wouldn't go so far as to thrive in such an environment, let alone choose to live there!" Roxas burst out, breathing a bit harder with the force of his short tirade that could easily have become a monologue. Yes, he hated Halloween Town, but most likely because he was more of a freak to those living there than they were to him. And the other children teased him mercilessly. Quite literally.
Axel turned his head to stare at Roxas as he spoke, suddenly bursting out in a peal of laughter as Roxas finished. The boy did have a personality behind his lovely, big blue eyes.
"I don't see what's so amusing," Roxas grumbled.
"Nothing, nothing," Axel replied with a shit-eating grin still plastered on his face. Roxas, however, could tell that he was being analyzed. "Where did you grow up?" Axel asked, his smile having yet to fade.
"Radiant Garden," Roxas said, shrugging of the feeling of one being observed.
"Ah, never been there. Is it nice?"
"I suppose so, but I can't remember much of it," Roxas said, his eyebrows drawing together in the beginnings of a frown.
"Why not?" Axel was watching Roxas, again, his gaze falling sideways on the shorter boy.
"Bad memories." Axel began to frown at this and opened his mouth to speak, but Roxas continued speaking. "My mind is kind enough to remove memories that cause me pain. My childhood wasn't particularly pleasant," he finished with a grimace. He didn't quite understand why the words were flowing so easily. It was usually impossible to speak to anyone about anything relating to his childhood, let alone a complete stranger. Maybe not a complete stranger. He knew the taller boy's name. And that he was kind enough to stop and lend him a hand and provide him company. A tentative friend? Maybe?
Axel looked as if he had something more to say, but paused, instead, in front of a door, opening it with one hand while gesturing towards the room with the other and bowing slightly, all with a slightly mischievous, slightly teasing, slightly mocking smile. Not to mention the glint in his eyes. He really couldn't help the action; Roxas did look a bit feminine in lack of height and skinniness, and was entirely appealing to Axel. It was a heartbreak waiting to happen.
Roxas took in Axel's stance and mentally contemplated potential acts of vengeance before preceding Axel into the room. Axel laid a hand on Roxas' upper back, guiding him towards a homely, grey-haired woman at a desk.
"New kid," Axel said, leaving his hand on Roxas' back several seconds longer than the smaller boy believed was necessary. Not that Roxas minded, but the feeling of being fine with the action made him nervous. He truly was bent on remaining straight. As often as he and his mum moved, he really didn't want to be any odder than could be helped.
The older woman smiled at the two boys and nodded, asking for Roxas' name before shuffling through several folders in the file cabinet beside the desk. Pulling several out, she looked them over once before handing them to Roxas and turning to Axel. "You wouldn't mind keeping him from getting lost?"
"Not at all." Axel smirked, a gleam shining in his eyes. Roxas wasn't certain whether to feel relieved that someone was there to help him or feel nervous because it was Axel. Everything about the redhead made him feel at ease, that feeling in turn making him nervous and slightly paranoid, especially considering his initial reaction at their meeting.
The woman smiled again. "Thank you, dear. And welcome, Roxas, to Twilight High." It was almost ominous, even coming from the kindly woman.
Roxas moved away from the desk, leafing through the papers the woman had handed him until he found his schedule.
English, Physics, Statistics, Biology 2, History, and Basket Weaving. Basket Weaving? The fuck?
Axel started chortling behind him, clearly looking at Roxas' schedule over his shoulder. However, he stopped when Roxas turned his head to glare at him.
"Ah-hah. Well, we have quite a few classes together. You're a junior?" Axel asked, still looking at Roxas' schedule.
"Yup."
"Damn. Maybe not so many classes. Juniors and seniors have different English and History classes. I, of course, am a senior," Axel finished with a smirk, clearly flaunting his superiority in terms of the high school pecking order. "Oh. Demyx," Axel started, head snapping up to glance at the door. He turned back to Roxas. "You don't mind coming with me to meet a friend, do you? We usually hang out before class starts."
Roxas shook his head, Axel immediately grabbing Roxas' wrist and pulling him out the door and down the hall. The smaller boy managed to get his wrist out of the redhead's grasp, speeding his pace to match Axel's.
A bit further down the hall, a boy with dirty-blonde hair cut in a mullet stood up and bounded towards the two.
"Axel, you are uncharacteristically late! What-" he paused, gazing at Roxas.
Axel shrugged at Roxas' slightly star struck expression, though, Axel mused, it was more likely unacknowledged fear of the boy with the mullet. Rolling his eyes at Demyx's clearly awed expression, which was closer to 'where'd you pick up this cutie?,' he broke the silence.
"Demyx, Roxas, Roxas, Demyx. Close your mouth; you're drooling."
"Dear god of all walking wet dreams…" Demyx was still gone.
Axel snapped his fingers in front of the mullet-kid's nose a few times. "Snap out of it, Dem. He's only human, not a god. Besides, he's my walking wet dream."
Demyx paused staring open-mouthed at Roxas to turn and pout at Axel. "It's really unfair; you got first pick. What about the rest of us? I'd rather like a gorgeous boy to fall out of the sky in front of me."
Axel chuckled. "Technically, Roxas fell at my feet," he said, smirking at Roxas, who had turned a rather decent shade of red at their conversation.
"Oh! He's so much cuter when he blushes," Demyx said, rushing over to enfold the shorter blonde in a protective hug. Axel stood back and laughed as Roxas' face became progressively brighter. Seeing two others on the floor, a boy with pink hair and fashionably tacky clothing and a blonde girl with a sour look on her face and dressed in mainly greys and blacks, glance up at him from over Demyx's shoulder didn't help lighten the colour Roxas' face had ultimately become.
Demyx finally allowed Roxas to take a decent breath and dragged him over to where the two others were sitting, Axel following behind. The pink-haired boy stood and walked over and set his face inches away from Roxas', who blinked at the sudden proximity before backing away.
A grin overtook the pink-haired boy's features. "He really is gorgeous. No fair, holding back on us, Axel. You could have at least shared him with us," the boy said as he grasped one of Roxas' arms in a conspiratorial embrace.
Axel walked over to Roxas and pried the pink-haired boy's arms from Roxas' arm. "You've met Marluxia," he said to Roxas wryly. "And Blondie, there, is Larxene. Crazy bitch," he finished, nodding towards the girl, still sitting on the floor, who flicked him off.
"Fuck you."
"And I haven't been holding back. He's new. Doesn't mean you have the right to fight over him- Dem, Marluxia," Axel said looking at the two boys at hand, silently pointing out that only he, alone, had that right.
And the bell rang just as Demyx and Marluxia groaned, Larxene cackling a laugh. Axel grabbed a hold of Demyx's arm before he could start off towards class.
"Roxas is a junior, too. I think he has a few classes with you." Axel paused as Demyx's eyes lit up. "And please, please don't molest him."
Demyx laughed. "Of course I won't." He nearly skipped over to Roxas, grabbing his arm. "Roxie and I are just going to get to know each other a bit."
Axel gave up and rolled his eyes, starting off on his own towards first period. "See you 'round, Rox," he said, lifting his hand over his shoulder in farewell.