Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square Enix.
"He tried to drown me again last night," I said into the still air of my bedroom. As usual, I had awakened before dawn, but this time it was different. This time, I had awakened to the sensation of hands on my chest and nails tearing at my throat. It wasn't real, but of course they never are. That's what I tell myself.
It was the move, the unfamiliar place that prompted my rude awakening, nothing more. The uneasiness I felt was caused by the fear of going to a new school. I knew it would be the same as everywhere else. I would be the popular new student that everyone wanted to get to know at first. Then people would realize I was just a freak. The popular kids would shun me first, then everyone else would follow suit. Of course, there would be those few kind hearted people who would try to be nice to me out of pity. Those… I would shut out. I didn't want or need anyone's pity. Besides, if anyone were caught talking to the freak, it would ruin their reputation forever.
I rolled over, looking at the fading bruises on my wrists in the faint morning light that was now streaming into the window. Those bruises were more than a week old now, but they were still very visible. I knew I had fresh bruises on my neck. I didn't need to see a mirror to know they were there. Those wouldn't be something a simple collar could hide. I would have to wear a turtleneck today.
My black and light blue striped one would go great with my headphones, which would be a must in the crowded high school halls. Horizontal stripes would also hide the fact that I was way too skinny. That was the only reason I really wore stripes. One tends to lose a lot of weight when being denied food unless agreeing to pray at mealtime and repent for one's imaginary sins. Usually, the only meals I got were the free ones at school, but with the move and all… I hadn't eaten in over three days.
"Really looking forward to breakfast this morning," I said aloud in the general direction of my wall. Usually, the walls didn't talk back. Usually. Did I mention I was a freak? Yeah.
As the sun began to rise, so did I, taking the initiative to get ready before my father came to officially wake me up. I flipped on the light and undressed, tossing my pajamas toward the far corner. I glanced at myself in the full-length mirror on my closet door before sliding the door open. I didn't like to see myself naked. There were too many visible ribs and too many scars, half of them self-inflicted. I dressed in loose black jeans that had become so baggy around my waist that they had to be held up solely by a dark blue belt. The bottom hems of the legs were ragged and torn from walking on them. My aforementioned turtleneck went on next and steel-toed combat boots went on last, so people wouldn't step on my toes. Then I grabbed my headphones and hung them around my neck while feeding the wire under my shirt and tucking my iPod into my pocket.
Just as I'd done everything that could be done in my room, including gathering my messenger bag full of school books, my father came upstairs to unlock my door, letting me out of my personal prison for the day.
"Already dressed?" he asked, eyeing my clothes with disdain.
"All I need to do is brush my teeth and I'll be off," I answered without looking him in the eye.
He grunted, letting me into the bathroom that, from the smell, I'd guess he just got finished cleaning.
When I was done brushing my teeth, he stopped me, gesturing to my headphones and saying, "I don't like you bringing that to school, Zexion."
"Would you rather me not shut it out?" I asked, scrunching my eyebrows.
"I'd rather you let go of those demons," he sneered.
There are no demons, Dad, I wanted to say. You're delusional. Instead, I said, "I can't."
"Right," he said, crossing his arms. "Just remember that people don't take kindly to witches for long. If I hear of anything… adverse happening, you're in for it. Don't do anything stupid and try not to ruin anyone's day."
I took a deep breath without saying anything before heading to school. We only lived a few blocks away from Fair Hart High School, so it was easily within walking distance. I preferred to walk alone rather than ride the bus on any occasion. Crowds were… uncomfortable for me.
I arrived well before most of the busses did with plenty of time to spare for breakfast. I walked right past the group of four boys and a girl that were already standing around the bus line and headed toward the cafeteria (I'd studied the map before coming to school, so I already knew where everything was). However, before I could make it even a few feet past them, one of the boys stopped me.
"Hey, new kid," he said, pulling on my messenger bag. The bag slid off my shoulder and fell to the ground, spilling its contents onto the cement. When the boy saw two books (a Japanese manga and a work of Shakespeare) fall out of my bag along with my school books, he commented, "So we got ourselves a reader. I bet you're the smart one too. Mind letting me pay you to do my homework?"
"You'll never learn anything that way," I said quietly as I shoved my things back into my bag.
"Who says I want to learn," he laughed. "Come on. Ten bucks per paper. You get me an A and I'll bump it up to fifteen."
"No thanks," I said, backing away from the group.
"Suit yourself," he said with a shrug. "I can always get another brain to do it, but you just missed an opportunity."
"I'll pass," I said, giving the group a wave before making my way into the cafeteria.
I could feel my stomach growling, begging for food, and I couldn't get through the line fast enough, even though there was no one in front of me. However, when I got to the register to pay, I hit a small snag.
"You're new here, right?" the woman who worked at the register asked. "You got your lunch number yet?"
"Ah…" I said slowly. "No."
"You filled out your paperwork?" she asked, fiddling with the touch screen on her computer.
"It was supposed to be transferred," I said, looking hungrily down at the food that was within my reach. "I came from Radiant Garden, from Hollow Bastian High School. I'm supposed to get free meals."
"What's your name, Sweetie?" she asked, her hand poised over the screen.
"Zexion Corazza," I said, spelling out the difficult name for her.
"Ah… huh," she said, biting her cheek. "Here you are. Corazza. Your number's 3044, hun."
"Thanks," I said with a grin, taking my food to the nearest table to eat. I tried to actually taste the food as I all but shoved it down my throat, but I was so hungry all I wanted was to get it to my stomach as fast as possible. This wasn't the longest I've gone without food. During our previous move we were on the road for well over a week. In that time, we always stopped at fast food drive through windows and my father would always order food for me, but he would throw the whole meal away if I still refused to repent. I didn't get any food that week.
During the summer and winter vacations, I would resort to going to homeless shelters a few times a week because I knew couldn't go without food for three months. Everyone there knew me, and most of them came to find out that I wasn't actually homeless. The woman who owned the place started asking me questions and ended up trying to file a police report for child abuse. When my father got wind of that, he was not happy. To make a long story short, we ended up moving here.
"Hey, new kid," said a tall redheaded boy as I saw him sit across from me out of the corner of my eye. "Golly, you sure have an appetite don't you?"
I glanced up at him and the small blonde boy that was standing with his arms on the redhead's shoulders. The first things I noticed about the redhead were his big green eyes and the strange purple upside-down teardrop shaped tattoos just below them.
"The name's Axel," he said with a smile as he thrust his hand toward me. "Got it memorized?"
I nodded as I shook his hand. The touch shocked me in two ways. Through his touch, I could tell that he wanted to be sincere toward me, which was something not many people strived for, and from the feeling I got from him, I knew exactly who the blonde boy was who was so affectionately leaning on him.
"This here's my boyfriend Roxas," he said with a smile, beaming up at the other boy. "Now, I get a lot of hell for that from a few people here," he said with a serious note. "You're not going to be one of those ignorant homophobes are you? Cuz I'd hate to have to do something about that. You seem like a nice guy."
I shook my head as I swallowed the last of my food and smiled for the first time in a long time. This must have been something of a blessing and despite my general pessimistic attitude, I was now hopeful that maybe… just maybe… this school experience wouldn't be as bad as my last.
"No," I said with a small chuckle. "I'm definitely not a homophobe."
Axel smiled, tilting his head and was about to say something when he was interrupted by the first boy I'd come into contact with here.
"Hey, new kid," he said, coming to stand behind the couple I'd just met. I saw Roxas visibly shrink, sitting down and sort of hiding his face in Axel's arm. "Let me give you a word of advice. If you want to get anywhere in here, don't go hanging around the fags."
"Wanna say that to my face, Seifer?" Axel said, standing up to face the boy while still shielding Roxas.
"Yeah," said the boy who I now knew to be Seifer as he came so close to Axel he was almost chest to chest with him. "You and your brownnoser bitch over there need to stay away from the new blood. Wouldn't want him to catch whatever disease you fags are carrying."
Axel looked like he was going to explode, but before he said anything, I stood up, slamming my fists onto the table and shouted, "You need to shut the fuck up and stop telling people what they can and can't do!"
I wasn't a confrontational person, not at all, at least not normally. This was part of the reason I didn't like touching people I didn't know. I always tended to pick up on things that the other person may not want anyone else to know or pick up emotional tendencies of the other person. This time, both of the two happened. I'd felt both the overwhelming love Axel had for Roxas, and the hot temper he had when provoked. Those words were not mine, not by a long shot.
"What the hell did you say to me, new blood?" he asked, now stepping around the table to face me.
Normally, if this happened, I would have shut myself off and backed out, but I had Axel's heated temper coursing through me, so I didn't back down the way I would have… the way I should have.
"You heard me, you overconfident bastard," I spat. "There's nothing wrong with love, or who one chooses to share it with. If you can't see that, you're just an ignorant fool with your head shoved too far up your ass to see the truth."
"Big mistake," he said, shaking his head. The next thing I knew, his fist was coming at me full swing.
By this time, the lady working at the cafeteria register realized something was going on and stopped the fight before it got out of hand. I ended up with a sore jaw, but other than that, nothing happened. As soon as Seifer's fist made contact with my face, the physical contact snapped me out of Axel's temperament and made me aware of the overly competitive home environment Seifer had to deal with growing up. It didn't make me dislike him any less, but I knew why he'd become the person he was now. Thankfully, I didn't pick up any of his personality traits through the touch.
Gosh, I was a really fucked up person. Ever since I was born, this sort of thing had been happening. I should have known not to shake Axel's hand. I've spent almost my entire life avoiding physical contact with everyone. It was strange, and I didn't know how I did it. It just happened, just like everything else. It just… happened. Physical touch was always uncomfortable or even sometimes painful for me. I didn't want to glean the things that I did about the other person because personal things should remain so and I didn't want their personality to overshadow mine for however short a time it did. I didn't feel like myself after it happened.
"Starting fights on your first day, Mr. Corazza?" asked the cafeteria lady as she pulled me off the floor, thankfully not touching my skin. "Both of you, report to the principal's office."
"Wait," Roxas said, coming out from behind Axel and saying the first thing I've heard from him. "He didn't start it. He was standing up for us and Seifer slugged him."
"Well I didn't see it," she said, "so if you want to go with them and report something, feel free."
"We will at that," Axel said, taking his boyfriend's hand as he gave me a light, friendly punch on the shoulder. "Come on, you," he said to me. "We gotta get you outta trouble."
"My name's Zexion," I said, my voice meek after Axel's fiery temper left me.
"There's the name," he said with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Zexion."
"Thanks," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper.
Today was probably going to be a very long and emotionally draining day, but at least I was away from home, where I would be shoved and locked back in my room until my father came up to get me for "dinner." I tried not to think about it as the four of us made our way to the office to see the principal.
A/N: I'm still working on tweaking this whole "witchcraft" sort of psychic thing Zexion's got going on. I may incorporate illusions later on, but like I said I'm still working on it. I hope it turns out alright. Thank you for your support. Thank you for reading, and please review.