Yay, new chapter! I have no idea if this is better or worse, since I have no reviews yet, but I thank the people faving or story-alerting. That gives me a better idea :). Still don't own kingdom hearts, disney, etc. Although. . . . . . . . (grabs torches, rope, and justin bieber cds) I'm sure we could torture the rights out of them!
Roxas groaned softly as he felt warm rays of light beating down on his closed eyelids. He lazily flipped over so that the light now warmed his back instead, but his attempts to go back to sleep were foiled seconds later by a crash in the kitchen.
"DAMN IT!"
The boy started, shooting up in bed faster than one would think humanly possible and sweeping his now wide eyes all around the room. The shades were drawn halfway down on the windows, but golden light seeped underneath and flooded the lower half of the room, Axel's bed included. The ceiling and corners basked in faint shadows, and a chorus of birdsong, previously unheard by the sleeping boy, now flittered through the room, breaking the silence that had followed Axel's harsh exclamation.
Roxas rubbed his eyes a moment, wondering if he should go and help. By the bright light, he assumed it was mid to late morning, longer than he had slept in in a very long time. And yet he sat there, unmoving and unmotivated, as no further loud noises sounded to startle him.
Assuming everything was fine, the sleepy blond plopped down into the bed again, curling up and clutching his soft pillow tightly. He'd been too tired to really think about it last night, but now that Roxas wondered absently, he found that he actually enjoyed sharing a bed with someone else. Provided they did kick or crush him, of course; his father had been an active sleeper, so that had happened to the boy every now and then growing up.
But Axel did neither of those, as far as he could remember. His sleep had been relatively undisturbed, although he did feel the presence of a warm back against his own and calm, gentle breathing that helped soothe him as he drifted off. It was pleasant, and as Roxas sighed and pulled his legs in a little closer to him, he couldn't help but feel a little lonely now...
"Wake up, kid...It's time for breakfast..."
Roxas groaned and furrowed his brow. He wasn't ready to get up yet! Without opening his eyes, he firmly buried his head in the pillow, trying to shut out the new feeling of someone repetitively poking him in the side.
"Roxas..." the voice drawled lazily. "Rise and shine, sleeping beauty..."
The blond snorted and shook his head weakly, still keeping his eyes firmly shut. He vaguely heard a sigh and a soft clink as the voice spoke again.
"Okay...Guess I'll have to try something else..."
The next minute, Roxas was violently assaulted by little wiggling fingers trailing over his sides, digging deep. His eyes shot wide and instantly watered as he began to thrash and laugh loudly.
"A-Axel!" he managed to choke out. "W-What the h-heck?...S-Stop it!"
The redhead was smirking, leaning over him with mischief gleaming in his eyes.
"You were asking for this, Roxy! And now I'm gonna give it to you!"
Roxas rolled over, facing the older boy who was now kneeling on the bed and tickling him harder. He jerked his arm out to try and push him away, but Axel blocked it with ease, now choosing to attack the sensitive skin under his arm. The blond roared with laughter, though his stomach was aching terribly by this point and he was sure Axel had jabbed him a few times in the process.
"A-Ahhha! O-Okay! I'm up! I-I'm up!" he hollered, curling in on himself to try and hide. Axel finally relented then, pulling away from him slowly and still with that big, aggravating grin on his face. For a split second, as he caught his breath, Roxas contemplated fighting back and revenging himself on the unsuspecting redhead. But Axel, seeming to guess what was on his mind, removed himself from the bed and picked up a tray from the bedside table, displaying it proudly for the pouting younger boy.
"Well, you look a lot better this morning. Since you're up and about now," he chirped, ignoring the cranky stare effortlessly, "I figured you'd like something to eat."
Roxas's mouth instantly watered when he caught sight of the plate of food. It wasn't soup or beans, like he had imagined, but was instead made up of what looked to be scrambled eggs and an assorted arrangement of small berries and other fruits. The boy couldn't place exactly what they were; after all, very few people that he knew before had been brave enough to enter this forest, and so a fair amount of its vegetation remained a mystery to the rest of the kingdom. People always said that monsters and bandits lived deep inside the woods, scaring away anyone foolish enough to wander in...
He then blinked as Axel moved quickly and placed the tray on his lap, chatting away.
"I figured the canned foods were getting a bit dull, so I went out looking for some of the wild fruit that grows near here. On the way, I found this little bird's nest, probably abandoned from that storm a few days ago. Anyway, there were one or two eggs still intact inside, so I brought those back too!" The redhead beamed proudly, turning back to his wardrobe and proceeding to dig through it. "Eat up! We've got some time today, but that doesn't mean we just sit around! Out here, you work by the light of the day, and once that's gone, well...you'd just better make sure your chores are all done by then!"
The blond stared blankly at the food for a moment, mesmerized, before he began shoveling big portions of it into his mouth, barely savoring it at all. Axel looked a bit surprised by the noise, but he smirked playfully at the boy, continuing his search.
"Hungry little thing, aren't ya?" he chuckled. "Not surprising, though. You're skinny as hell!"
"Are you asking for a strangling, Axel?"
"No really, I'm serious!" he said. "We gotta put some meat back on those bones! Or at least help you grow an inch or two!"
Roxas sputtered and glared back indignantly, though his hand never seemed to pause as he forked more egg.
"That's not funny, Axel," he mumbled around the bits of food in his mouth. "I inherited that from my mother. I can't help it if I'm short!"
"Are you sure you're really the prince? I thought royalty were supposed to be a bit more...I don't know, mannerly?"
"Don't care. Hungry."
The redhead chuckled again, coming back over to the bed and setting a small bundle aside as he sat next to Roxas, watching him scarf.
"Good to see those etiquette lessons went to good use."
"...Shut up..."
Once the prince had finished, he sat back against the pillows and sighed contently. A few of those fruits had been very sweet and juicy, but one or two of them had tasted dry like raisins, making for a nice, diverse blend of flavors. He was vaguely curious about them, but decided that there were more pressing things to think about at the moment.
"So what are we doing today?" he asked, looking at Axel with a small touch of wariness. He had a feeling he knew what was coming, and it wasn't really that he didn't trust Axel...
"Well, first I thought we might have a little chat about why the kingdom's most important person is running around the woods by himself."
Roxas winced faintly. He'd been afraid of that.
"It's kind of a long story..."
"I've got time," Axel said calmly, meeting his nervous blue eyes firmly but not unkindly. "I don't mind entertaining a guest every now and then, but I think I deserve to know what prompted this unexpected visit, don't you?"
The prince watched him for a moment, then sighed heavily. He looked down at his lap, where he began to fidget with his hands; a bad habit of his when he was nervous. He told Axel about growing up in the castle, and how he and his father had been very close when the king was alive. Everyone knew the story of how Vexen had come along; it was all over the kingdom when that happened, and even in this remote corner of the kingdom Axel had heard the news from some traders passing through the outskirts of the wood. But the redhead's eyes widened when he heard about Vexen's assassination of the king.
"Really? That's insane. I mean, I've heard of power struggles before, but...ouch...if you're right about this..."
"That's not even the half of it," Roxas said glumly, still keeping his eyes trained on his hands. "Most people just said I was too young, or too upset to remember it clearly, but I wasn't! I just know Vexen bewitched my father somehow, because he wasn't the same after that old bastard came around!" Tears pricked in his blue eyes, gathering at the corners as the wave of emotions rolled over him. Pain, betrayal, anger, sadness...
"I never saw him anymore, and he never even tried to come and see me! And then that day, w-when I found him...I just..." The memory was still all too clear to the boy, and he finally broke into sobs, leaning on Axel as the redhead wound his arms around his shoulders comfortingly.
"I believe you, kid. You don't exactly forget something like that..." He patted his back soothingly, sighing as he felt his shoulder becoming wet with tears. It took a few minutes to calm him down completely, but with some coaxing from Axel, Roxas continued with his story. Again, Vexen's harsh tax laws and punishments instated in the last five years were not news to anyone, but as Roxas came to the part of the story when he ran away and got lost in the woods, there were subtle signs of anger beginning to grow in Axel's expression as he spoke. Directed at him or not, it frightened the boy a little.
"I don't know when I collapsed exactly. It was dark and cold, and all I could think about were things jumping out and trying to grab me. Like those monsters and bandits I'd always heard about as a kid, that live here and attack poor, unsuspecting travelers. It was terrifying, and I-" Roxas paused, noticing that his friend was chuckling softly, steadily letting it get louder. "What? How is that funny?" he snapped, a bit hurt by Axel's nonchalance.
"Roxy," he said, trying to suppress his laughter, "Those are just some silly stories that the miners spread to keep out the general population..."
By now, the boy realized that his objection to the nickname was futile. He just sighed, looking very lost now. "Huh?"
"Well, think of it this way," he said. "A lot of the people who live out here like to-"
"Are there that many people living out here? Really?" Roxas asked, shrinking a little as Axel glared slightly at the interruption.
"Not too many, but let me finish! You see, the people that live out here mostly like their privacy. They don't want noisy living spaces or religious people always banging on their doors and what not, so they come to live out here, where no body bothers them and they can just sort of do things for themselves."
The blond looked at him curiously. "Is that why you moved out here? To get away from it all?"
Axel poked his nose lightly, causing the boy to blink. The older boy smiled warmly at him. "We'll get to my story all in good time, Roxy. But anyways, the first people to come live here ages ago became miners and loggers and whatnot. And they didn't exactly want people coming in, chopping down trees, and making a mess of things in such a nice, quiet place like this. So over the years, they've been spreading rumors to the traders, who don't pass through the deeper parts often enough to know, about monsters and bandits and scary things like that, in order to keep the majority of people out." He tapped his chin for a moment, looking at Roxas thoughtfully. "Now, there could be some bandits roaming around in here, but I haven't seen any..."
Roxas nodded. That made some sense. Some of the other forests bordering the kingdom were slowly disappearing due to a higher demand for wood and the resources found in those mines. The kingdom was getting enough from them, so perhaps that was why Vexen never seemed to bother with this one.
"So that's why he sent me here!" the boy exclaimed. "Because he figured the stories were true, and even if they weren't, he could still use them as a scapegoat to pretend it was just a freak accident!"
Axel shook his head, looking rather disgusted. "That's just not right. I guessed the guy was a jerk before, but I can't believe he'd pull something like that! It's hard to cover that up as an accident, and everybody and their grandma knows that he wants to stay in power."
"At least, if it was banishment, I could deal with that...but-"
"But that would never work!" the redhead said dismissively. "Even if there wasn't a law in place already, the people would never allow him to banish you. You're the rightful heir to the throne. Killing you quietly would probably be the easier of the two options..."
"Gee, thanks Axel," Roxas said sarcastically, looking down sadly again. "I really should have thought up a better plan. But Demyx attacking me like that...I just...I didn't expect that..."
Axel looked thoughtful for a minute, frowning slightly. "I feel like I know that name from somewhere, but oh well...It's probably nothing." Reaching for the bundle beside him, he passed a fluffy light-blue towel to Roxas, who looked perplexed as he took it.
"I think that's enough of the Q and A for now." he said simply, lifting up a light-green towel and tossing it over one shoulder. "It's nice and warm this morning. I propose we take a little bath near the base of the stream. It'll be a bit cool this time of year, but I think we both need it."
"But aren't we going to be working later? What sense does that make?" the blond asked, frowning slightly. Axel just grinned back.
"Who says everything has to make sense? It's free water out here, Roxy! And after the storm, there's bound to be some overflow. Today will be a semi-lazy day, so we can just go back again later if we get sweaty, deal?"
Roxas hesitated for a moment, but the more he thought about it, it actually sounded like a good idea. The spring water at the edge of the forest had felt pretty nice, and he was sure he smelled like moldy leaves and mud from when he passed out that night. Even without being literally covered in grime, he still felt itchy and dirty.
"That sounds okay," he replied, smiling a bit brighter as he hopped out of bed and moved to follow Axel. But just as the redhead was about to walk out the door, Roxas remembered something, small but nagging at him slightly.
"Hey, Axel?"
The older boy turned as he reached the doorway, looking back to his friend happily. "Yes?"
"Are you...are you going to tell me your story soon too?" It felt weird, telling his life story to a kind, albeit strange man he knew hardly anything about. Axel gave him an obliging nod, motioning him to follow.
"I'll tell you later...It's not all that special..."
The little blond frowned and paused again, not satisfied, but Axel noticed and met his gaze honestly. "Don't sweat it, kid. We'll talk later. That's a promise..."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Axel propelled himself into the stream head-first, in a graceful dive that ended up splashing Roxas heavily from where he stood on the bank. The boy shivered and shook out his hair, looking down at his wet clothes and groaning loudly.
"Axel! Thanks a lot!"
A redhead bobbed back up to the surface, smirking evilly as he back-stroked away from the prince.
"No problem. Now get in! The water's fine!"
"It feels cold to me!" Roxas replied, dipping his foot into the water slightly and shivering again. It wasn't warm by any stretch of the imagination.
"I thought you said you hated the cold!"
"Stop whining and get in, Princess! It feels great!"
Roxas scowled, but preceded to strip off his now slightly damp clothes, ignoring the little taunts and catcalls from the redhead. The boy blushed faintly, jumping in as soon as he was done to avoid any more ogling, but he found out as he landed that he had underestimated the temperature a little bit...
Oh my God, COLD!
It was too cold!
With a gasp, he swam back to the surface, cursing Axel for lying and cursing himself for getting so flustered and jumping in without thinking it through more. Damn them both! He glared around at the banks, looking to find Axel and beat him within an inch of his life, when he suddenly heard a deep whisper in his ear.
"Surprise!"
The next moment, something grabbed his ankle and tugged him harshly back under the water. Roxas yelped and kicked hard, striking out at his attacker with the force of surprise and panic. He registered making contact with something once before pulling himself out of the grip and made it back up again. A few minutes later, and Axel bobbed up beside him, looking pained and breathless and more than a little angry.
"Ow!...Hell, Roxas! That was...low, you...brat!"
Realization dawned on Roxas then, and despite himself, he began laughing hysterically.
"Serves you right, you creeper! Careful trying to drag me under, you might lose something important next time!" All he had lost this time was his pride, the boy mused.
"Why you little-" And on that note, the little blond shrieked and paddled frantically away, as an indignant Axel began to chase him up the stream. The sun lolled lazily overhead as the two boys laughed and played in the water, and as crazy as all this had started, Roxas was having the most fun he'd had in a very long time.