... Seriously?

Um.. hi. It's been a while has it not? ^^; I'm sorry for the 4 month delay, I'm truely going to try never to do that again. I had all but given up on this chapter though, now that it's out of the way I really hope I can get the rest done.

Tily: Holy crap! I actually thought you'd died!

Kit: You can't get rid of me that easily )

Vexen: How dare you kidnap me! I have rights!

Kit: Do you want me to get Marluxia in here? Because I'll do it!

Vexen: ...

Kit: *sigh* [mumbles] I wanted Roxas

Tily: Kit's not happy with today's special guest, but she wants you to enjoy the chapter. ^_^ Square own the characters, Kit owns the story.

When Roxas left, the world might as well have gone with him as far as Axel was concerned. He was helpless and knowing that there was nothing he could do, that there was no way to stop this from happening, broke him. So he listened as the only person he had ever loved walked out of the door in tears, (unable to watch without wanting to stop the blond) giving him time –in the bitter silence of loneliness- to cry; like he'd stopped himself doing in front of Roxas. But the blond was not here now, he wouldn't be for a long time, and with that knowledge his tears stung his green eyes and rolled down Axel's cheeks. Because even if it was only for a while, that conversation… had been goodbye.

"Axel?" Riku and Sora entered the apartment again to find it empty, a lone picture frame standing in front of the wall where Axel had been when they had left and the pair already knew this was bad. The redhead was taking this hard and as they exchanged worried glances, Riku sighed. "I'll see how he's feeling," he said and Sora nodded, squeezing his lover's hand gently.

"Be careful, I've seen Axel get upset and it isn't pretty," Sora replied, rubbing his still red and puffy eyes walking to sit on the sofa, his head in his hands and sorrow wracking his body.

Riku walked slowly to Axel's door knowing full well he should just leave the boy alone right now, but this had hit them all pretty hard. Even though he understood why Axel was taking it the worst, he had to let the redhead know that everyone was here for him—that he wasn't alone.

The silveret stood outside Axel's bedroom door and raised his hand, pausing briefly to prepare himself for some sort of onslaught, and knocked. "Axel," he said, but there was no response. So he knocked again, "Axel, can I come in?" again no response and Riku frowned. "I'm coming in," he finally stated and twisted the door knob.

The redhead's room was filled with boxes lining two walls and stacked high, almost as if they were the walls themselves. A bed sat in one corner and a wardrobe in another, but other than that the room was empty. There were no curtains, no pictures, nothing of colour but the blue bed sheets. Blue. Another reminder.

Riku found the redhead not on the bed, like he had expected, but in a ball on the floor. If the room had curtains, they would have been closed and cutting off the sunshine that he knew Axel desperately did not want to see right now. Sunshine was happy, and he definitely was not.

Axel didn't move when the door clicked, he knew why Riku was here, but the silveret would be leaving disappointed. Axel didn't want company, didn't want re-assurance; he wanted to be left alone to wallow in heartbreak and the only way he'd get that to happen was to ignore Riku until he left –an easy feat.

Riku sat down next to the redhead in silence, placing his hand on the boy's shoulder as some form of reassurance, even if it wasn't effective currently.

"I'm sorry, Axel," he said, knowing full well it wasn't his fault, but at least trying to offer some condolence. The boy had just lost his true love after all. "If there's anything you need we're all here for you."

The redhead didn't reply. In fact, he barely even heard Riku's words, his ears were ringing so loudly and everything else was distant to him—he didn't want to listen anymore. After another minute of silence the silveret squeezed Axel's shoulder and stood up, understanding that his friend didn't want company, and left the room.

He wasn't sure how long he lay there; his body had passed the point of discomfort and settled into some kind of comfortable numbness. Eventually Axel let out a long breath and sat up from his position on the floor, scanning his darkening room and the boxes lining his walls, his eyes settling on the box containing his laptop. As he pulled the box away from the pile, the redhead made a resolve: he would make this work. Both him and Roxas, they would get through this, whatever it would take.

He flipped open the lid and turned on his laptop, his back aching with sudden spasms from moving as the screen loaded. With his resolve set in his mind, -battling quite violently with the part of his mind telling him to give up- he opened his e-mails and found Roxas' address, typing the only thing he could think of to make this all feel a little better.

Roxy,

I know this is going to be hard, but we'll get through it until you get back, I promise.

I love you so much,

Axel.

Axel sat on the edge of his bed and rubbed his hands over his rugged and unkempt face. He hadn't moved from his room in two days seeing as there wasn't much reason to get up anymore. Riku and Sora had both been there to check on him though the redhead still refused to eat or speak to anyone.

Had it really only been two days? It felt like a lifetime to Axel. He glanced at the clock; from his old geography lessons he knew that there was a five hour time difference and that it would be early afternoon for Roxas. Axel let a melancholy smile cross his lips. 'I wonder what Roxas is doing.'

With some effort from his weakening and starved body, Axel stood from his bed and walked over to the laptop on his desk and flipped the lid, turning it on and sitting down in his dark room with the curtains still drawn, everything around him was silent, save for the cooling fan of his laptop; a machine which had never been used so much in it's life, yet had never truly been switched off yet.

The little piece of technology had been serving its purpose well lately, having been his only form of contact to Roxas –who had been replying to the redhead's e-mails daily—something which had managed to lighten Axel's heavy heart, if only a little. Knowing that Roxas was ok and still willing to make this work was more than just reassuring. So Axel typed another message for his beloved blond, one which made this feel… normal (or as normal as it could feel under the circumstances).

Good morning sunshine.

I hope you're safe. Tell me about your day when you get home.

Forever yours,

Axel.

He rubbed his hand across his face again and sent the message, reading and re-reading his inbox until his eyes hurt and his chest was once again heavy with longing.

This was no way to live, sending e-mails as a sort of morphine to dull this aching heart of his. But, if it kept Roxas close, then he would do nothing else.

Axel's eyes stung when he woke a week after the incident. Light streamed through a small crack in his curtains and hit his face; it should have been warm and comforting but Axel could feel nothing, only the pain it was causing his eyes. He sat up with a groan as voices finally flitted to his ears. It wasn't unusual to hear his roommates talking, but they weren't the only voices Axel could hear today. There was another and it didn't take long for the redhead to register Demyx's voice –and it was hurting.

Out of curiosity, Axel walked over to his bedroom door and opened it enough to hear his blond friend sob, "why didn't he say something? Why didn't he say goodbye?" Demyx questioned thickly though no one could give him those answers.

"He had no choice Demyx; his family took him without notice." Riku tried to explain to his friend who continued to cry on Zexion's shoulder –the boy having agreed to come with Demyx to find out why their friend had disappeared off the face of the earth.

"If he'd had the choice he would have said goodbye to everyone, but he only had time to come here, and the only person he wanted to see was Axel. You have to understand, Demyx, Roxas didn't want any of this."

"I just can't believe he's gone," the sandy blond admitted as his boyfriend rubbed his back in an attempt to calm him down.

"None of us can," Sora added sadly.

"How's Axel?" Demyx asked. At the sound of his name, the redhead opened the door slightly more to hear his friends.

There was only silence to answer that question. It was understandable that Axel had taken this the worst out of everyone, but he had said nothing to Sora or Riku when they attempted to reach out to him. He was like a ghost, and neither of the boys thought Demyx would want to hear that.

"Axel took this hard, he and Roxas truly loved each other after all. He's just in a bad place right now," Riku manoeuvred around the question, and Demyx looked perplexed.

"You mean he's locked himself in his room for a week and won't speak to anyone?" Zexion replied, and Riku sighed at the boy's accurate interpretation.

"We can't blame him," the silveret replied.

"We just want him to know that he's got us, and that we're here for him, but it's not easy when he doesn't want to see or speak to us," Sora added.

Demyx had already started crying again and as Axel closed his bedroom door again, he sighed. Sora and Riku had defended him so much and he was being so unfair to them. He hadn't mentioned to Roxas that he'd been starving himself from food and communication for a week so he decided he'd just bite the bullet and try to get around the apartment more, at least for his friends sake. He would (at least) try to muster that much.

A/N: I told you it would be Axel's side of the story this time. C:

Tily: I've been looking forward to this, poor Demyx though.

Vexen: That annoying number nine's far too emotional for a nobody

Kit: *glare!*

Tily: Oh dear, I better stop Kit before she kills Vexen. Please leave her reviews, even if she doesn't have time to reply they keep her going and always make her smile.

Thanks for reading. C:

Oh! And tell me who you want to be my special guest next! ^_^