Chapter 6 - in which trees are abused

One Week Later

"The time has come for you to choose a weapon to begin to learn to use." Vincent's parting words from the previous day's session echoed in Roxas' head as he walked up Axel's driveway. He was so terrified he could feel his heart beating in his chest so strongly that it hurt. As he neared the door, it swung backwards, and a man he had never seen before yanked it open.

"Roxas!" The man was short (although still taller than Roxas), slightly rotund and with twinkling brown eyes. Although his manner was friendly, Roxas could tell by his greying hair and heavily sagging eyelids that he was world-weary. This could only be Axel and Reno's father. "Pleased to finally meet you. I'm O'aka, Axel's father. I'm sorry I haven't been around to meet you before now. Axel has told me a great deal about you." He shook Roxas' hand energetically, and all but hauled the youth into the house, ushering him towards the door behind the stairs. "Come, come, everyone is waiting for you downstairs." He kept silent as they descended the stairs, but just before they got to the closed gym room door, he stopped and turned to face Roxas, catching his eye contact.

"Roxas, I want to thank you. Reno told me all about you and your friends bringing Axel into your group, and Axel has been happier since we moved here than he has in years. I am glad you've started this with him," he said, indicating the door, "he needs someone to share this part of his life. Anyway! Today is an important day! Watch your step inside." He opened the door.

"Huh? Oh!" The scene inside was not what Roxas was expecting. The weapons were not in the cabinet; rather, they were laid out in rows on the floor. Vincent was standing in the middle of the floor and Axel, Reno and Cloud were on the bench. O'aka st down next to them.

"Roxas, come here." Vincent beckoned. Obediently, Roxas crossed the floor to him. "What you see before you is every weapon I can train you in. What I would like you to do is walk among them, examine them, but please, do not touch any until you know which one you wish to wield. Take as much time as you need, but please, do not look ot anyone for assistance. Ideally, you would make this choice alone," he said with a sideways glance at the bench, whose occupants feigned ignorance, "but I could not stop the voyeurs from being here." Roxas smiled, and felt comforted, knowing that the other four on the bench were as excited about his choosing a weapon as he was. "When you have made your decision, bring it here." He stood back, and gave Roxas the floor.

Where to begin? There were five long rows, and Roxas decided to approach the task methodically, starting at the bottom of the left-most row. He moved slowly, bending to take a closer look at a particular weapon every so often, but tried to keep in mind Vincent's 'don't touch' advice. The craftsmanship in each weapon was plain to see, some of them were quite beautiful. He passed Axel's chakrams and feigned interest, drawing a laugh from Reno and then a series of hushed 'sssssh!'s from O'aka. He walked up one row, down the next, up the third... until halfway down the fourth row he stopped short. It was the strange weapon he'd seen on the first day, but out on the floor it was even stranger. As he had suspected, the hilt was not so much a hilt as a handle, and the blade jutting out was nothing of the sort - it was cylindrical and very, very thick. The irregular lump at the business end happened to be in the shape of a dumpy crown, and overall, the entire daftly-shaped weapon resembled a key. It was the most stupid thing Roxas had ever seen, and before he realised what he was doing, he reached down and picked it up, forgetting Vincent's earlier warning about touching.

Immediately, he knew it was perfect. It was so beautifully balanced, and the metal felt warm to his touch. It felt like it weighed little to nothing. The hilt was comfortable, natural. He gave it a perfunctory swing, and the movement was smooth; the momentum exactly as he wanted it to be. He looked up to see Vincent grinning over him, and he dropped the weapon to his side, embarrassed.

"Is that your choice?"

"I... uh..." Was it? Was this the one weapon he wanted? "What's it called? It's... really strange looking."

"It's called a keyblade. It's... one of the most unusual weapons available; wielded by very few. I once met someone who backhanded it."

"It looks really stupid."

"...yes. But if it feels right..." It did feel right. "Is it your choice?"

"Yes."

A cheer rose up from the bench, and Axel and Reno raced to Roxas, each of them throwing themselves at him and patting him on the head in a congratulatory fashion, until eventually someone's legs gave way and they ended up in a heap on the floor. Axel was beaming, and behind them, Cloud and O'aka looked on, pleased. The smile on Roxas' face could have lit up a room, and indeed, the room felt brighter in that moment than it ever had.

"I don't mean the interrupt this adorable diorama, but honestly, there is work to be done. Can we all grab something and put it in its proper place? Roxas, please hand me your keyblade."

Roxas complied, and Vincent picked up the nearest two weapons to him, which were Axel's chakrams and a long metal rod with a leather-bound handle, and carried them to the cabinet, stowing them safely away as the other five people in the room followed suit, until the cabinet was locked. From the rack to the side, Vincent pulled a perfect wooden replica of the keyblade and tossed it to Roxas, who caught it high above his head, and brought it down in front of him. Although not as light or smooth as the real version, the wooden weapon was an excellent imitation, and its balance was admirable. Vincent's voice rang out clear and authoritative,

"Grab a wood or leave, children."

With that, Axel picked up his own wooden chakrams and stood next to Roxas, the other three mumbled a final few messages congratulating Roxas on his choice, and then filed out of the door, shutting it behind them. Beside him, Axel twirled his chosen weapons idly, and Roxas swallowed heavily.

"Let's begin."

Later that night, Roxas lay in bed, staring at the ceiling with his arms behind his head, waiting for his hair to dry. He'd come home and immediately run himself a bath with his mother's bath salts, and spent a solid hour soaking his aching muscles, massaging one particularly ugly bruise on his shin that he had actually given himself with a particularly uncontrolled swing. Now dry, he thought back on the evening, and winced as he remembered the enormous cut and bruise he had given Axel on the other boy's right arm, which he'd not complained about but in the changing room he had caught the older boy rubbing it gently and hissing in pain. Axel, however, had refused to acknowledge that it was anything but a graze, even less so when Roxas tried to apologise for it.

Carried away by some soft music in the background, Roxas' eyes glossed over as he reflected on his life and how much it had changed in the space of two short weeks. He'd gone from a happy-go-lucky aspiring artist to a clandestine Fight Club-like scenario, and all because of meeting Axel. Axel had turned his life upside down, spun it around and kicked it in the rear, and he had not actually 'done' anything - Roxas found himself drawn towards the mystery, the excitement and the vague sense of danger surrounding the redhead. Did he enjoy it?

'Yes', the answer came, unfalteringly. Axel loved it. Even with the few practice strokes he'd made that evening, the sense of power Roxas had felt was unbelievable, like he was always leading up to this. Vincent had instructed him to try to hit Axel, who simply defended. It had been so frustrating that a sort of manic bloodlust had overcome him which made him careless, leading to his self-injury which had stopped Axel defending to ask him if he was ok, which was when he'd managed to come down hard with his wooden keyblade on Axel's arm. The hot anger had dissipated on impact, and the session dwindled after that, despite Axel's protestations of unaffectedness. In fact, when Roxas had touched the bruise while they were getting changed, Axel had been very flustered. Roxas couldn't tell if it was because the older boy was ashamed, or... something deeper.

And what of Roxas' behaviour? How did he feel about Axel? He'd told Hayner and Zexion that he was attracted to Axel, but he had a feeling it went deeper than that; he just was not ready to address that yet. He was terrified that even giving credence to those internal thoughts would open him up to ruin their friendship, which Roxas was simply unwilling to do.

And what of Axel's behaviour? He had come to Twilight Town, let Roxas into his life, shared his deepest secret, been open to him - or had he? Despite everything, Roxas couldn't help but feel that there was something missing - Axel had explained that the training had begun because Vincent did not know how else to interact with the brothers, but something about that did not ring true with the impression he had made of Vincent.

Roxas only hoped that one day, Axel would trust him enough to be totally honest with him.

Life went on. Axel and Roxas continued to hang out by day, and spend their evenings training in Axel's basement. Roxas grew stronger by the day, but he took little praise as he watched Axel battle Reno and even Vincent, and found that his friend raised his game by such a stark amount that Roxas immediately resolved to progress even faster, to legitimately stand toe to toe with the older boy.

The also attended the martial arts club on Tuesday nights, which Roxas found all the more fun with his other training. The martial arts club was very well organised, and Leon himself was personable and enthusiastic about the two newcomers, discussing plans for the next regional competition with the entire group, as well as a display in the school Christmas show. He also had had one or two quiet discussions with Axel privately, which Axel did not divulge, but which Roxas knew was related to the Struggle. Overall, he felt like he was working towards something almost tangible, and could feel himself improving. One Sunday, four weeks after Roxas had first met Axel, the older boy suggested a change of scenery - to go to a location outside of the town and pack a lunch and spar out in the open, which Roxas readily agreed to, and so they found themselves driving out to the woods just on the outskirts of Twilight Town, which stretched for miles.

The road eventually petered out to a dirt trail, then Roxas told Axel to pull his car in. Grabbing his backpack and the coolbox, Roxas led the way over a stile and up a faint path, Axel following close behind with their woods. They walked through a dense tree line, which gradually thinned and there was a clearing with only an ancient oak tree in the centre.

Axel whistled - it was absolutely what he'd had in mind. "Whoa, Roxas! You read my mind, this place is perfect."

"Thought so! My mom used to take me and Sora here when we were little to have picnics. I'm sure I've spent a high percentage of my childhood up in that tree."

"Awesome. Food first?"

"God yes." They broke out the food, munching noisily on overstuffed sandwiches and slurping sodas like a pair of six year olds, until eventually Roxas walked over to the tree, picked up his wooden keyblade, waggled it in front of Axel, and called,

"En guarde!"

Axel chuckled, then suddenly ducked under the outstretched wood and rolled off to the side, leaping up quickly and collecting his chakrams along the way. When he stood to his feet, he held the weapons to his sides, and Roxas faltered momentarily, before steeling his resolve.

"Don't hold back, Ax!"

"...are you sure?"

"Heads up!" They clashed.

Forty-five minutes later

"This is POINTLESS." Roxas threw the keyblade down in disgust. "This thing is stupid. You're like ten feet taller than me, and you've been doing this shit for eight years. I've been at it three weeks. I am fucking giving up, this is ridiculous." He flung the unusually-shaped weapon at the large oak tree to their right and the branches trembled violently with the force of the impact.

"Tell that to the tree. I think it's shaking. You might have fractured its branch." Axel's tone was teasing, but Roxas did not take well to the jibe, glaring angrily at Axel, sweat dripping down his hair, leaving his face framed attractively. Axel bit his lip, quelling the urge to raise Roxas' ire even further.

"Fuck you, asshole. Just 'cos you know what you're doing." Roxas suddenly found himself pinned by his lapels to the tree. Axel's eyes were blazing with deep-seated emotional turmoil, and Roxas' momentary frustration evaporated into a sickly fear.

"Don't. Just don't. I've spent my entire adolescence having to fight Vincent - you know he endurance tests us? I mean, it's not anything we didn't 'sort of' agree to, but having your hardcore uncle repeatedly hitting you with a bat or whipping you until you can't feel it anymore? It's not exactly fun, Roxas. The whole time I've had my uncle beating me down, then berating me for not managing to best him, despite the fact that he's been at this longer than I've been alive. He doesn't give half this shit to Reno, because he apparently sees 'something stronger' in me, I don't fucking know what. Would you rather I had you hitting a nine year old instead?" When he finished his tirade, he was shaking with the release of pent-up rage and sadness, and his eyes widened. He released Roxas and stepped back, staring at his hands as if they did not belong to him. He whirled round, and began walking towards the path they had come into the meadow on. He managed to walk forty feet before Roxas finally knocked himself out of his daze.

"Hey, Axel, wait! I'm sorry!"

Axel responded with a dismissive wave. "I need to cool off, leave me alone for a while." Roxas leaned back against the tree, a sick feeling in his stomach, and no clue how to salve the lifetime of stored frustration he'd inadvertently blown open with his petulant behaviour. He was trying to think rapidly, when he heard an ominous creak, and looked up to see the thirty foot branch directly above him lurch, then break from the trunk and began to freefall. He froze in fear.

"ROXAS!" He heard Axel shout from the path, but he couldn't process that he was in danger - the primal fight or flight instinct vanished, and he stood rooted to the spot. Then, he vaguely processed that Axel had yelled again, and time slowed down.

"BURN!" Axel roared. As soon as the words left the redhead's mouth, the air around Roxas seemed to heat up. He felt a sickly pull, and then flames exploded around him, surrounding his entire frame. He felt rather than saw the branch hit the fire, and it was disintegrated instantly. There was an enormous whooshing sound that echoed in Roxas' head. As suddenly as they'd started, the flames disappeared, and he was showered with the branch's remaining ash. Caught in a stunned stupor, Roxas did not notice Axel speeding towards him until he was grabbed roughly and pulled close to Axel, the older boy's long arms wrapped tightly around the blond.

"Holy fuck, Rox, are you ok? You could have been killed, why didn't you move?"

Pressed to his chest, Roxas could feel Axel's heart racing. "Mmmmffff!"

"Huh! Oh! Sorry." He released Roxas from the chest-crushing hug, and stooped to Roxas' eye level. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Roxas coughed, the air in his lungs still burning. "I'm fine. What the hell was that."

"It... spontaneously combusted? Air friction from the drop?"

"Ok, I'm not totally stupid. It didn't do anything, you did. How the hell did you do that?" Axel hesitated, and Roxas was surprised to see him look stricken. He appeared to debate for a few long moments, then he stepped back from Roxas and seated himself against the tree truck. He gestured to Roxas to do the same, which Roxas did, patiently, knowing this was important. Axel's skin was white as a sheet.

"What I'm about to tell you, you have to promise to tell absolutely no-one - not your mom, not Sora, or your friends - no-one." Roxas nodded, and Axel continued. "I did do that. I guess you'd call it magic, but I don't really think of it that way. I wasn't really thinking - you didn't move, I panicked and it just sort of happened, but it's something I started learning to use when I was a kid. Reno can do it too, and so can Uncle Vincent - that's why we train together. It started out of necessity - anyone who can do this stuff generally starts doing it at puberty, but sometimes it takes longer to start. Reno started blowing the circuit breakers in the house while he was asleep. Every night for two weeks, Dad was going mental 'cos he couldn't work out what was happening and we'd wake up to a fridge that had been off all night. He happened to tell Vincent, and Vincent twigged it immediately. He moved in with us two days later, and he's been there every since."

"Circuit breakers? How did he... he did what?"

"All Speakers have a particular skill they have an affinity for. Usually it's an element - Reno's good with electricity, as you've noticed, fire's my gig. It's not like I can't do other stuff too, it's just fire's easy for me, but not the most useful. It's unwieldy, and wastefully destructive."

"What does Vincent do?"

"Vincent is really unusual - he can make himself invisible, which, given his line of work, seems extremely helpful."

"I thought you said you only suspected that?"

"When you really get to know him, he'll tell you some stories. We still don't know for sure, but he has definitely got a high body count behind him. You can see it in his eyes, sometimes."

Roxas frowned, thinking back to something Axel had said that jarred with him. "You called people like you Speakers? I'm guessing that's a formal thing?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a nickname really. There've been people like us forever - since the dawn of man, really. Who'd you think started the whole fire craze? Anyway. The old name for the art of whatever you want to call this is called the Will and the Word, because you draw in your Will to power what you want to do-"

"The spell."

"Sure. And then you say a Word to release it. The word is key - it isn't the same word every time, and it has to be related to the 'spell' or it won't work."

"'Burn'?"

Axel winced at the reminder. "Yeah. Bit crude, but it did the job, I was panicking."

"Your concern for me is flattering."

"Shut up, twink, I'm explaining. It was do or die. Anyway. So, 'cos of the Word, we became known as Speakers, and we call the thing itself Speaking."

"If I could talk to the animals..."

"Oh ha, ha, ha. I knew someone who could do that, once. She was killed by a bear that was offended by her attitude." He grinned maliciously, and Roxas' eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Fuck."

"I know, stupid girl. She wasn't one of these namby-pamby Bambi types, she was a total bitch, and she got what she deserved. She was cruel to the animals she was gifted to understand."

"Wow, you'd have thought..."

"I know. She was twisted."

"Can you show me?"

"Rox, I can't talk to animals."

"Nonononono, you idiot."

"Oh! Sorry, yes, ok." He held up his hand, and once again Roxas felt the odd pulling sensation before Axel's hand burst into flames. Axel himself seemed taken aback for a moment, before he shrugged.

Roxas stared at the flame, fascinated. "My god. That's just incredible."

"Haha, that's what I thought the first time I saw it, too. 'Cos of Reno, Vincent thought he'd better get me to learn how to control mine properly, he always thought it was important. You don't generally know what your affinity is for until it happens for the first time, and when I tried to do what Reno did, nothing happened - well, a tiny spark, but that's it. But when I get annoyed, this happened. It's pretty sweet to look at, but it's sometimes more trouble than it's worth."

"I wish I could do it."

"Ha, doesn't everyone! Besides, if you could, it'd probably be something like the ability to shrink yourself or something lame like that."

"Oh my god will you leave it with the height jokes, jeez! All my friends are the same height, and you and your freakish non-twin are taller - think it might be you that's just weird and lanky?" The laughter that rang out was genuine, and the flames on his hands rippled as he chuckled.

"Wanna see something really cool?"

"Sure."

"Touch my hand."

Roxas turned to face Axel more directly, and hesitantly reached his hand out towards Axel's burning one. As he did so, he realised that the flames did not burn - he kept pushing his hand forward until his palm met Axel's. Then, Axel slowly interlocked fingers with Roxas, and Roxas' heart skipped a beat. He looked up at the taller boy, and their eyes met for the briefest second before Axel's lips were on his, needy and strong. Stunned initially, Roxas' entire self rejoiced and he returned the kiss eagerly, mouths opening and tongues clashing, Axel now leaning back into the tree trunk. Eventually, they broke for air, and Roxas took in Axel's flushed form. He was sexy anyway, but with red cheeks and swollen lips, he was alluring in a way Roxas found make him almost uncomfortable.

Axel spoke first. "Ok, so I guess you too."

"You could say that."

"Since when?"

"...first day."

"Same." Axel's face brightened as he spoke, and Roxas felt his heart lift at the same time. "You were all sweaty and your cheeks were all pink, and your hair was falling down and I just thought 'jackpot'."

"I thought you were a girl." There was a pregnant pause.

"...what?"

"Well, I could only see your back - you had your hand on your hip. But you're not, thankfully."

"Do I stand like a girl!"

"Yeah, kinda, when you're bored, you sort of stick your hip out, and..."

"Oh, you did not just imply that I have womanly hips."

"You do! They're sweet."

"Shut up. Shut up." As if to carry out his order, he claimed Roxas' lips again, this time softer, more exploratory. He gently brought a hand up to cup the small smooth cheeks, and ran the other hand through Roxas' beach-blond locks. Roxas wrapped his arms around Axel's waist and held him in complete disbelief that this moment was happening. Axel's lips were so warm, and, belatedly, he noticed the fire had disappeared from Axel's hands. For something that was alight just a moment ago, Axel's hands were smooth and soft and the same slightly higher temperature as Axel's mouth, and then his tongue was in Roxas' mouth and that was hot too and then the whole world fell away and there was just Axel, Axel's heat, Axel pressing into him... Roxas raised his arms to cling to Axel's shoulders, all the while his tongue tentatively dancing with its invader, his arms stretching upwards now to run through Axel's hair, and there he got another shock... He was expecting Axel's hair to be hard and full of product, but it was soft and thick. He paused his movement while he threaded his fingers through the crimson strands, fascinated with the difference from his expectations.

He felt Axel smirk into his now-still lips, and after allowing a few moments discovery, Axel drew Roxas' attention once more by grinding his hips into the distracted boy's. A sickening feeling burst across Roxas' stomach, and he momentarily wavered, sliding further back along the tree trunk. The kiss went the other way, however, and Axel removed his tongue, pulling away marginally, then leaving a chaste peck on Roxas' pink lips before leaning his forehead to touch Roxas'.

"I can't believe I finally got to do that," he said, his voice slightly unsteady. "But I don't want to move fast with you... I don't want to rush into something. I've been with people before but nothing serious. This could be different and I don't want to just leap into something rash."

Gratefully, Roxas managed to drop his left hand to find Axel's right, and he squeezed it. "I feel the same - you're the first person I've ever been interested in, but if I'm honest, I'm a little scared by it." His face was red as he admitted this, but Axel gripped his face anew and looked him deep in the eye.

"...so am I. I've never told anyone outside of my family and a few other Speakers about... me... and I'm still scared you're going to run away from me now."

"No. It's awesome."

"Oh good." Axel cracked a weak smile. A comfortable silence descended Roxas could hear the wind picking up and whistling through the trees, the grass rustling, and Axel breathing. Eventually, Axel broke the silence.

"Pick that dumb wood up and let's go again." He stood up, picked his chakrams up and adopted a relaxed open stance. Newly invigorated, Roxas collected his mock keyblade from the ground at the base of the tree, bent his knees and raised the weapon, ready to dance once more.