Notes: Sorry this took so ungodly long to post. I dont know why I keep doing that with this story.
Well I do this time, writers block. Ugh, its terrible.
On the bright side, I acutaly like how this turned out. Kinda...Parts of it at least.

Enjoy!

It was raining again, hard.
Then again, here, it always rained hard.

He watched it hit the streets and broken buildings out the window.
Each drop, seemingly so harmless, yet bringing so much destruction.
He missed the plants, the greenery, the life.
Everything now…It all seemed so bleak and lifeless.

"You alright?" He turned around, his best friend leaning against the door jam.
"Yeah…I was just…Thinking." He let out a mock fake smile.
"Of when we were kids?"
A nod.
They watched the rain break the outside world together.

O.o.O.o.O

It was finally Saturday. Roxas always loved the weekends.
He got to get up when he wanted, he got to watch cartoons and even eat breakfast on the couch while watching his cartoons.

His poison of choice for today's breakfast was packed with marshmallows that had the consistency of cardboard and at least half the taste. The actual cereal in the mix, which was about a third of it, was colourful and bland.
Luckily, Roxas was eight, and colourful cereal packed with marshmallows made of cardboard was enough to fill his belly and make him think he was eating something tasty.

He took his bowl and plopped himself onto the couch, he was short so his feet didn't hit the ground, they swung freely to his own inner beat.

The cartoons played in front of his eyes, the cereal being consistently shoveled into his mouth, but he wasn't watching and he wasn't tasting. He was lucky he wasn't choking with how absentminded he was being.
All his senses and brain skill were being devoted to thoughts of Axel, and what was to come this weekend.
As he was told, he didn't speak a word to his parents.
But, Ohhhh, how he wanted to.

He finished his breakfast and slurped up all the extra milk from the bowl.
On the next commercial he headed for the kitchen to put his dishes away.
"Mornin' teeny." His dad chirped at him from the table.
He was drinking coffee clad in a pair of pajama pants and fuzzy blue slippers.
"Morning dad." Roxas beamed back at him, "Why are you awake so early?"

His father finished his coffee with an "ahh" and set the cup down, "I'm going job hunting today. Wanna come with me?"
"No." His mother serenely interrupted from the stairs she was walking down, "He will not go with you to something like that."

Roxas and his father looked at each other then back to his mom, "Why not?" Roxas whined.
"Because…I-I need you here today."
Roxas pouted and sat back on the couch.
He asked his father what 'job hunting' was, and if he would need a gun.
He smiled at him and told him that it just meant he would be spending less time with Roxas again.
That is, if he caught something.

O.o.O.o.O

After Roxas finished his cartoon, he took a shower and got dressed.
He had no idea what time Axel would be picking him up, but he wanted to dress nicely for him.
He didn't know why, but for some reason, Roxas wanted to impress Axel.

So he picked out his 'nice' clothes.
A black button-down shirt, gray cargo shorts, and he even wore a special black and white checkered bracelet thing his grandma brought him back from her last vacation. He thought it made a nice touch.
He was told only to wear it on 'special' occasions, and Roxas thought seeing Axel was special.

He looked himself over in the mirror for some time.
His hair was getting long, it needed to be cut.
Maybe he should ask his mother to take him somewhere and get it cut.
But…what if Axel came by while he was gone?
It was best for him to stay around the house today.

When he was finally okay with his hairstyle, although all he really did was brush it a different direction, he went back downstairs to entertain himself with something electronic.
Upon arrival to his living room, he took a look around.
He wanted to make sure if Axel came over while he was sitting in here, he was doing something that would be impressive.
But…what?

While Roxas was racking his brain trying to figure this out, his vision landed on his book shelf.
Of course! He could read!
Older kids read a lot, and they seemed smart and that would surely impress Axel!

He walked over to his dark mahogany book shelf, it was filled to the brink with think hard back books, and smaller paper back, and everything in between. His mother loved reading, and had probably read most of this.
Roxas scanned the shelf for something entertaining. He couldn't see the first few shelves, because it was much taller then him.

He finally picked a paper backed book that wasn't to thick, but still thick enough to impress.
He took a seat in the recliner next to the shelf, and served his new book.
The front of it looked like what Roxas thought was a picture frame wrapped in wrinkled, brown, old paper.
Above the main picture was the novels name in red letters, "Rose Madder".
It was by some guy named "Stephen King", but Roxas had no idea who he was.
He saw a lot of books by this guy in his mothers book shelf, so he guessed he was good.

Roxas was a very fast reader for someone of his age, so after the first hour of reading he had gotten through a far amount of the book, and was highly disturbed.

"Roxas!" His mother called, and he jumped.
"What?!" He snapped, then regained his composer and cleared his throat, "Uh, I mean…what mom?"
"I'm going downtown, I'll be back in about three hours. Be a good boy while I'm gone, okay?"
Roxas agreed, and she left.

O.o.O.o.O

"How…Did this all happen?" He asked his best friend, whose arms were wrapped around him in comfort.
"I…Don't know."
They were still watching the rain. That was all that was really left to do anymore.
Watch the rain and huddle against the cold it brought.
"I really miss it…" He bowed his head, and his friend hugged him harder.
"Don't be so down, look on the bright side, we still have each other. And everyone else to."
"I wish…" He looked back up, the rain was getting even harder, "We could have been saved somehow."
He was hugged even harder.
"I wish…" He began, but his mouth was shut by a kiss from his friend.
When they broke apart, his friend told him, "I wish it too, so does everyone..."

O.o.O.o.O

Roxas had fallen asleep mid way through his book.
He was stuck in a nightmare brought on by said book, and was shaken awake.
He jumped, then blinked a few times to clear his blurry eyes.
Red…
"Axel!?" He blinked a few more times, to see if it was really him, "What are you doing here?!"

Axel quickly placed a hand over Roxas' mouth, "Shh, Roxas, are your parents home?"
Roxas shook his head 'no', and Axel let him go.
"What are you doing here? How did you find my house? What are we gonna do?" Roxas was bubbling with excitement.

Axel stood straight and thought for a moment, "Lets go to your room, and uh…Play a game or something."
Roxas agreed and took Axel up the stairs to his room.
They found a place on the floor to sit, and decided together to do a puzzle.

Roxas was a little disappointed by all this, but he was so happy to be with Axel.
Something about him made Roxas feel warm, and he just wanted to smile when he was near him.
Even Roxas and Tidus were never this close, and they had been best friends much longer then five days.

"Where does all this blue go?" Axel said, studying a piece of puzzle by holding it up to the light.
He was sitting like he did at recess, legs out in front of him, leaning back, supporting himself with his free arm.
Roxas was looking for lavenders, like the few on his piece, "Try the sky Axel."
"Gotcha!" He laughed and found the place for it.

"So…" Roxas began as he placed a piece of a ducks head together, "What do grown-ups do for fun?"
Axel watched him and smiled, "I'm hardly 'grown-up' Roxas."
"Then how old are you?"
Axel thought, counted on his fingers, then replied, "Seventeen. How old are you?"
"Eight." Roxas said right away.
Axel nodded, "Eight is a fun age, but you know a better age?"
Roxas shook his head.
"Seven. It was my favorite age. I miss it."
Roxas scrunched up his face, "Why? I like being eight better then being Seven."
Axel smiled, "I was Seven before…Never mind."

"No, tell me." Roxas pouted.
Axel ruffled up his hair, "Another time buddy."

They started working quietly on the puzzle again, and Roxas asked, "Why aren't you in school Axel?"
"Oh well…I dropped out."
"Why?"
"I had better things to do with my life." He put down a piece that finished the border.
"Like?"
"Like work at your school." He smiled and picked up a piece of puzzle, "Where does this go?"
"Why would you want to work at my school? Shouldn't you got to school and get smart so you can get an even better job? Dad says that's why I need to stay in school." Roxas disregarded Axel's question.

He placed his piece down, "I…I have my reasons, okay buddy?"
Before Roxas could say anything, he heard his mom open the front door.
Axel's eyes got big and he panicked.

They both stood up fast, and Axel ran to a window, "How high is this room?"
"Really high! Don't jump!" Roxas was panicking to.

"Roxas! Come down here, I have something for you!" His mother called.
He looked at Axel, who was literally turning in circles trying to find a way out, "I have a plan."
"You do?"
Roxas nodded, "Stay here, and I'll tell you when I come back."

O.o.O.o.O

Roxas sped down the stairs and met his mother with a smile, "Yes mom?"
"Here." She handed Roxas a chocolate cookie, "I thought you would like a treat."
"Thank you."
His mother sighed and leaned on a chair, "I'm going to go lie down now Roxas, please don't bother me for a bit, okay?"

Roxas hugged her and told her to feel better, then ran back up to his room.
Axel was laying on his bed, staring up to the ceiling.
"I like your bed." He told him as he entered the room.

Roxas sat next to him and smiled, "Here…" He broke his cookie in half, and gave Axel the bigger side.
They sat on his bed, and shared his cookie, and laughed.
'Just like old times…' Axel thought.

Once they were done, Axel hung his arm around Roxas' shoulders, "Well, what's the plan Roxas?"
Roxas leaned into Axels semi-hug and sighed, he smiled nice, and this was really comforting, but he didn't know why.
"Well?" He asked again.
"It doesn't matter now, my moms asleep, you can just leave through the front door."
Axel looked down at Roxas, "This means I have to go doesn't it?"
Roxas nodded.

They walked together down the stairs, slowly, neither one talking.
Once they reached the front down, Axel sighed, "Thanks for letting me come over Roxas. Sorry it was so boring…"
Roxas shook his head, "No, I had a lot of fun. Whenever I'm with you its fun Axel."
They exchanged a few smiled, then Axel said, "I cant see you tomorrow. But when Monday comes around, I promise to see you at recess. Okay?"
Roxas smiled and nodded, "I plan on it."

Axel opened the door and stepped onto the porch , Roxas held the door for him.
"I'll see you then, okay?"
Roxas nodded.
Before he knew what was happening, he was being hugged tightly, his face in Axel's stomach because of the height difference.
"I'll miss you."
When Roxas looked up to reply, Axel kissed him on the forehead and left.

Note: FLUFFY!!!! Tee-hee, I thought some of it was cute.
Heres a tip to help you understand all this. Everything in this chapter is happening in the present.

And if your still having trouble understanding my story, since that happens a lot, go check out my profile.
I'm adding a section for a recap of the story as it progresses. I gave one to a good friend and she said it helped her understand.
Also, updates on my writing and reasons why I'm not updating are there to, in case your ever wondering why its taking me so long to type anything.

So please review, fav, and alert!