A/N: To those who show concern over the fact that Xehanort and Xemnas are co-running the hospital, do not fear - keep in mind that they're the sane ones in this story =) Plus I'm not big fans of them (both creep me out to no end), so they probably won't make anything more than brief cameos.

Oh, and I'll only be updating this story once a week and I'll be keeping the chapters short. It keeps the story more suspenseful this way =) Sorry if I'm being evil, but hey - it'll keep you on the edge of your seat at least.

--

New Friends.

He had been dreading this moment since he woke up this morning.

It was now the end of school, which meant that he had to drive all the way to the other side of town to begin work as a volunteer as the Twilight Town Psychiatric Institute, which also meant that he had to work with crazy people.

The thought wasn't exactly uplifting, and with his brother and sister teasing him about it the entire day it didn't help with his mood either.

"Hey, it's not our fault you decided to procrastinate on your hours," The brunet chuckled when Roxas dropped him and Xion off at home, "You shoulda volunteered at the rec centre with me and Hayner!"

"Or at the daycare with Olette and I." Xion added cheekily.

"Thanks for telling me at least two years too late," The blond grumbled as Sora shut the door, "I'll see you guys in a couple of hours...if I survive, that is."

"If you haven't called by six I'll start on your obituary." His half-sister gave him the thumbs-up as he shifted gears to back out of the driveway.

It was a little bit of a drive since the ward was on the other side of town, and it was a bit lonely too since he was the only one volunteering. He was already regretting not tagging along with his brother and sister when they did their work two or so years ago; volunteering with them and their friends would've definitely made time fly faster. Roxas slumped depressingly in his seat and tried to focus on the road, but his mind was preoccupied with how disastrous he knew things were going to be when he starts his work; what if some madman tries to gouge his eyes out with a spork or something? He shivered at the thought.

The location of the psych ward was a little unusual, but then again it kind of made sense; it was on the outskirts of town, just fifteen or so minutes off the freeway. The large, beige-bricked building was situated in the middle of a dense evergreen forest - probably for safety reasons. There was a large black gate with a couple security guards standing in front, and Roxas had to state his name and purpose and show them some form of identification so that they would let him through.

The parking lot was at the back of the building, so he had to circle the entire thing just so he could go through the main doorway. The interior of the mental hospital was white and bland, just like any other hospital, but the aura was sort of different - it was eerier, in a sense. He could hear voices stemming from the different rooms and the above floors: laughter, low muttering, screeching, frantic blabbering…

"Hello," The same male monotonous voice that he was speaking to on the phone yesterday spoke up, and Roxas turned around to face the front desk. A young man with glasses and grey hair falling over one eye was sitting behind the desk with a strack of paper in his hands, "I trust you're the new volunteer?"

The blond boy nodded and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, that's me. Roxas Takashi."

The young man adjusted his frameless glasses and stood up; he leaned over the desk and extended his hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you Roxas - I'm Zexion Narato, one of Ansem's interns." After shaking hands he eyed the wary expression on his companion's face and smirked. "Let me guess - you were forced to volunteer here because you decided to procrastinate on your community hours?"

Roxas blinked rapidly in disbelief. "W-what - how did you-"

"I'm studying to become a psychologist," Zexion was still smirking as he circled the desk to stand by the boy's side, "Interpreting behaviour - more specifically a sane person's behaviour - is a walk in the park." He subtly gestured towards a door to the left. "Right this way."

These guys don't joke around, do they? "Where are we going?" The blond asked as Zexion opened the door for him; it revealed another stark white hallway, but at the end there was a dark chestnut door.

"Dr. Mafuyu - Ansem - would like to have a word with you," The young intern replied in that same bored tone he had been using for their entire conversation, "He likes to get acquainted with everyone who works for him, including volunteers." When they reached the door he raised a fist and knocked on it gently.

"Come in," A deep voice answered from the other side. Zexion gave the blond one last smirk before opening the door for him.

The office was small, but it was significantly larger than the guidance counselor's. The walls were covered with bookcases containing thick tomes on the behaviour of the human mind, and in the centre was a large desk. Dr. Mafuyu sat behind it with his hands folded neatly on the polished wooden surface and a kind smile on his face. He had long blond hair that was pushed back and a matching blond beard; his eyes were a strange, unnatural orange. Roxas noticed that the wall behind him was covered with various diplomas from prestigious universities around the world, and also many health science-related awards.

"Ah," Dr. Mafuyu gestured towards the comfy-looking leather chair in front of Roxas and the young blond immediately took a seat, "You must be our new volunteer-" He reached for one of the papers that was stacked neatly by the corner of his desk; he squinted at the typed font, "-Roxas Takashi, eighteen years of age and currently attending Sunset Terrace Public High School?"

The fact that he had that kind of information was a little unnerving. The blond nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets so he wouldn't end up fiddling with them. "Yeah, that's me. It's nice to meet you, Dr. Mafuyu."

The older man laughed heartily and shook his head as he flattened the paper on his desk. "There's no need for formalities here, Roxas - please, call me Ansem."

Roxas couldn't help but smirk; he liked this guy already. "Sure, Ansem. So...all I gotta do around here is just keep the patients company?"

"Simple enough, right?" Ansem smiled, "All you have to do is spend a couple of hours a day in your assigned room and talk to the patients. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to form some sort of a friendship with a few of them-" He reached for another piece of paper and scanned it quickly, "-it seems that most of the ones in your assigned room are your age."

The blond pulled his fingers through his hair. "Um...I guess that's good to hear."

Ansem chuckled as he gathered a few more papers in his arms. "It is - they need to interact with people in their age group." He stood up and nodded towards the door. "Shall we introduce you to your new patients?"

Roxas wasn't sure if he should feel excited or worried - right now he just wanted to run out of the building and drive straight back home. He bit his tongue, however, and stood up to follow the doctor out of his office. They zigzagged through a few more hallways (all these hallways were beginning to make the poor blond's head spin) and they finally stopped in front of a regular-looking door. Ansem pushed it open, revealing what looked like a lounge room. There was a television flickering in the corner, and some patients were sitting on the couches and staring blankly into the blinking screen. There were a couple of tables on the opposite side of the room, where a few other patients were drawing absentmindedly on sheets of paper with crayons and markers. They all wore the same outfit: a white shirt, white pants and white shoes. The doctor was right: all of them looked around Roxas' age.

"This is your assigned room," Ansem smiled kindly, "It's one of the many lounges we have here in the psych ward. You'll be reporting here every day - there's a phone there with my office number and Zexion's desk pre-programmed into it-" He pointed towards a cream phone nailed to the wall by the door, "And these-" He handed the young boy a name tag and the stack of papers in his arms, "-are little bits of information on the patients if you wish to know more about them. Keep in mind that some will respond to you and some won't, but even if they don't show much of a reaction it really does makes a difference."

Roxas clipped the name tag onto his shirt and shuffled through the papers; there were at least ten patient profiles. "Thanks." He glanced up from the documents to give the doctor a forced smile.

"Have a nice day, Roxas." Ansem closed the door softly behind him, leaving the blond alone with a small group of mentally unstable adolescents.

Roxas turned around slowly, ruffling the back of his hair with his free hand. He wearily eyed the seemingly lifeless patients staring dully into the television screen and figured he should start there.

A cartoon program was playing on the television, he noticed as he approached it. He sat down on the couch beside a girl who didn't even seem to notice he was there. Roxas hastily shuffled through his patient profiles and looked for her picture; he read the name at the top of the page: Kaori Hideyoshi.

"Er, hello Kaori," Roxas leaned forward a bit to peer into the girl's face, "How are you today?"

The girl continued to blink wordlessly at the television, staring at it through half-open brown eyes.

Roxas raised an eyebrow, but decided to press on. "So, uh, what are you watching?"

No answer.

He pursed his lips and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying his best to keep his temper in check. Why, why did he have to procrastinate on his community hours?

Okay, okay, he couldn't give up now - he had at least two and a half months left of this. If he blew up now he'd have to kiss his high school graduation goodbye.

Roxas glanced around his shoulder to see if there were any other patients that needed 'attention', but everyone seemed to be as lifeless as Kaori.

"What the fuck are you looking at, fresh meat?" A haughty female voice caught his attention and his head turned towards the source; a young woman who looked at least a couple years older than him was sitting sideways on a lounge chair with her legs dangling over the armrest. Her blonde hair was gleaming underneath the fluorescent lighting and her green eyes were staring straight into his confused blue ones. There was something about the way she was looking at him that made him want to run out of the room screaming bloody murder.

"Uh-"

She rose to her feet slowly, smacking her lips. "You're a cutie," She simpered as she approached him slowly; his eyes widened and he stumbled to his feet, backing up against the wall, "Ansem sure knows how to pick his volunteers."

"Be nice, Larxene." A male voice crooned out of nowhere; a tall boy who looked around the same age as the blonde girl stepped out from the side of the room. He had a fiery red mane and sharp green eyes with strange tattoo markings underneath. He smirked and sauntered towards where Roxas was. "Don't mind her - it's just the way she is."

"Did you see what he was trying to do earlier?" Larxene cackled loudly; no one else in the room seemed to notice except for Roxas and the redheaded boy, "He was trying to talk to Kaori - Kaori!" She doubled over and laughed even harder. "It's sooo obvious he's new."

Her words were grating against Roxas' nerves and his hands curled into fists, creasing and crushing the patient profiles. He felt the redheaded boy's hand on his shoulder and he glanced up at him; the older boy was staring down at him with a somewhat kind demeanor. "Kaori's one of the non-reactive patients, so there's no point in trying to talk to her. She'll be fine on her own."

"Oh," Roxas' temper simmered down, "Uh, thanks for the advice."

"So you're Ansem's new volunteer, eh?" The redhead poked himself in the chest. "The name's Axel, and the crazy one over there is Larxene. Got it memorized?" He plopped down on the sofa next to Kaori, "We like to call your kind 'fresh meat'."

"Yeah," Larxene smirked as she rested her elbows on the backrest of the couch, "'Cause most of you have no idea what you're doing."

"You got that right," Roxas muttered as he moved to sit beside the redhead, "In all honesty I don't even want to be here."

"Old news," Larxene yawned and Axel chuckled, "Really-" She paused to squint at the blond's name tag, "-Roxas, what kind of idiot in their right mind would want to volunteer here?"

"I was forced to," The blond replied sheepishly as he tousled his hair, "This is what I get for putting off my community hours."

"Heh, you're not the first one who gave us the same excuse," The redhead laughed, "But I dunno, you seem...different than all the other saps we've had before."

Roxas noticed that both the redhead and Larxene talked slowly, almost charmingly, like they were trying to woo him or something. It was kind of bothering him. "Hm, yeah, I can see where you're getting at, Axel," The blonde leaned in so close to Roxas' face they were almost touching noses, "He looks...lively."

"Not my first choice, but good enough," Axel shrugged and turned his head to face the nervous blond boy, "Look, kid, if you stick with us you'll be outta here in no time. The deadbeats 'round here, they're not very entertaining," He laughed quietly to himself, "But I'm pretty sure you can see that for yourself."

"Axel and I will show you how to make the best of your time here." Larxene smiled almost a little too sweetly, and Roxas felt uneasiness shifting around inside of him.

"Er, thanks," The blond forced on a smile, but it quickly dissolved when the older teens laughed almost malevolently in response.

The two hours passed by quicker than he thought, probably because he spent most of it asking Axel and Larxene a bunch of questions about the asylum. He found out that there were in fact five interns under Ansem's supervision: Zexion Narato, the grey-haired guy at the front desk; Xigbar Ishimaru, who could be found in the elderly wing; Xaldin Tokutomi and Vexen Yosano, who conducted research in the labratories and Lexaeus Fumihiko, who spent most of his time underground with the patients who needed special attention. Roxas also learned that there was an arts room just down the hallway, where the staff kept a few musical instruments locked up.

"You're a musician, huh?" Larxene grinned maliciously as Roxas made his way towards the door, "Now that's a first."

"We've never had a volunteer who would actually do something," Axel crossed his hands behind his head, "Hm, maybe you'll prove to be of some use to us after all."

The blonde didn't like the sound of that, but he smiled anyway. "I guess I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow?"

"Same time, same place." Larxene gave him a wink, and he laughed nervously as he closed the door behind him.

Roxas left the building as quickly as he could without making it look like he really wanted to leave, and when he reached his car he scrambled inside and stabbed his key into the ignition. He didn't care if he was fifteen over the speed limit; he had a lot to tell his brother and sister when he got home.

"You look a little antsy," Sora raised an eyebrow when his brother barreled into the house, "Did the crazy people get to you already?"

"Just a little bit," Roxas was shaking his head as he moved to sit in between his brother and sister on the couch, "Ugh, I really should've just volunteered with you guys."

"So what did you end up doing for two hours?" Xion asked as she sipped from her glass of water.

"I talked to the only two people in the room who seemed to be capable of talking back," Roxas frowned as he rumpled his hair, "But even they were a little creepy."

"What were their names?" The brunet asked.

"Uh, there was a girl named Larxene - really crazy, by the looks of her-" The blond paused to smile as his siblings laughed, "-and the other person was a guy named Axel. He seemed a little more normal than Larxene, but I guess you can never be too certain."

"Well, as long as you're back in one piece, right?" Xion smirked, and her half-brother flushed, "At least you're not taking care of any serial killers or cannibals or anything."

"Oh, I think they keep those guys in the basement," Roxas scratched his head as his siblings gaped at him, "The doctor told me that they keep the patients who need 'special attention' down there."

"Yikes," The brunet frowned, "There's no chance they'll escape...or anything...right?"

The blond shrugged. "They never really said anything about that." He yawned and stretched his arms as he stood up. "Anyway, I'm bushed - wake me when dinner's ready."

Roxas trudged all the way to his room, and when he finally reached his bed he collapsed face-first on his pillows. After rolling around a few times he noticed he was still wearing his jacket, but when he shrugged out of it the patient profiles he had stowed in the inside pocket fell out and fluttered onto the carpeted floor.

An idea ran through the blond's head and he reached for the documents. He sifted through them until he found the ones he was looking for: Axel and Larxene.

Ekiguchi, Axel

20 years of age; male

Resident of Twilight Psychiatric Facility for 3 years

Points of Interest: Verbally manipulative. Has shown mild signs of a sadistic personality, but not to the point where it is considered sociopathic. Takes delight in lighting random objects on fire as a means to relieve tension and for recreational reasons

Diagnosis: Acute pyromania: take care not to hold any matches, lighters, any flammable items or items that may induce fire when dealing with patient.

Levesque, Larxene

20 years of age; female

Resident of Twilight Psychiatric Facility for 3 years; transferred from Radiant Garden Correctional Facility, where patient was a resident for 2 years

Points of Interest: Highly manipulative personality; can easily influence other patients. Has a history of sexual promiscuity; has shown both masochistic and sadistic traits. Has also demonstrated some sociopathic behaviour

Diagnosis: Has shown definite signs of Sadistic Personality Disorder, but is also considered a potential candidate for Psychopathic and Sociopathic Personality Disorder

"Huh," Roxas scoffed, "I thought they said they kept all of the patients who need special attention underground." He flattened the papers against his desk and ruffled his hair. He had a feeling those two were...less normal than they appeared to be, but now that he read their profiles he wasn't sure what to think of them anymore.

"Look, kid, if you stick with us you'll be outta here in no time." Axel's words echoed in his head, and he frowned. Was he really telling the truth, or was he just luring him in?

All of this thinking made the blond's head hurt; he groaned and ruffled his hair as he crawled back into bed and pulled the sheets over his body. This was going to be a long two and a half months...