I felt myself gasp, and I tried to shut the door, but a stronger force pressed back against me; the door was open within seconds. I heard Axel's chair push back, but not before I felt a hand grab my wrist. With all my might, I tried to pull away, but all my effort dissolved into nothing, because he was stepping up close and jerking me closer.

"Oh, Roxas. How nice it is to see you. You've gotten so big, son." Son? Bullshit! I tried to wiggle my wrist around, but his fingers were slipping into my hair, to jerk my head downward roughly. I did my best not to scream, but a small yelp escaped my lips despite that. My free hand went to his wrist in my hair, pushing to try and get him off.

"Who the hell are you?" Axel asked, stepping in closer, but I tried to warn him not to. I shouted for him to not get involved, but the answer came anyway, the one I didn't want.

"Roxas's dad, his father, his overseer."

"You aren't shit!" I screamed, trying to lash out. Nothing seemed to work.

The air filled up with a sickening fit of laughter, and it made me want to cry and scream and… hide. Everything got quiet after a few moments, but it didn't help me calm down. Even though he wasn't pulling or jerking me around, he wasn't letting go either. Standing still, I tried not to agitate the situation, though it was only seconds that made it all crack and explode. I heard Axel's feet shuffle, but it was in that moment- that very moment- that my dad dragged me back into the small bathroom connected to my bedroom. The lock was flipped, and my body pushed roughly into the bathtub.

My back smacked against the edge, and the rest of me slipped into the bottom, left over water soaking into my shirt. I felt the air in my lungs fall out, and I was suddenly out of breath, wind knocked out of me. Shit. I was coughing when he leaned down to grab my neck, pressing it roughly to the bottom of the tub. Kicking, I tried to get him off, but nothing was working, not at all. I was clawing and pushing his hand as hard as I could, but nothing seemed to help. That slamming against the door just wouldn't stop…

"Oh, Roxas, have you learned nothing? You know better than to fight me." His hands pushed harder, fingers digging into the sides of my neck. Despite how hard I was trying to buck him off, there was no luck. Without any air, I was starting to tap out, just wanting to be let go. He laughed quietly and waited for my body to go limp, which was only seconds later. I could see the black blobs flooding my vision, and then… the lights went out.

Beep. Beep. Beep. There was an annoying noise off to my right, and it was hard to make my eyelids lift. It felt as though it took all of my energy. Trying to take a breath, I sputtered into a fit of heavy coughs, throat dry, which only made it worse. I tried to swallow, and that almost made me heave. I heard a weird sound come out of my throat, but I could only say it was a cough of some kind.

When I managed to get my eyes open, I wished I hadn't opened them. Light assaulted me from all directions, and it took everything I had to keep them open so that they could adjust to the brightness. White. White. There was so much white. Where was I? Had I finally died? Had my dad really killed me? No, no. If I had died, I wouldn't have been surrounded by white. Not white. I blinked hard to try and shake he grey spots from my vision, but it didn't really do much.

Trying to sit up, I cursed and lay back down, glancing about the room again because fuck that had hurt. My chest felt like it was on fire, and I found it hard to focus once again. I forced my lungs to take a deep breath, waning the burn to ease. What I saw next made me believe I was dead.

Red. Fucking red. Okay, I was dead. With acceptance, I just laid back and waited for the pain to go away, but it didn't. And when I bothered to listen, I could hear his voice in the back of my head, as if it was flowing in… and then right back out. It was dull and quiet, but I could hear "Roxas" again and again, as if trying to get my attention. I lifted my brows as high as I could, hoping to pull my eyes open better. The blobs of black and grey were gone, and it only took a moment to focus on some red blob, green dots somewhere below… What?

"Roxas, hey."

I blinked hard and saw him there. Axel. I tried to swallow again so that I could speak, and though I coughed, I coughed much less.

"Hey…" My throat was dry as hell, and it was weird… It was weird to hear my own raspy voice. I felt his finger wrap around my hand, and it took everything I had to hold it back a bit. "What… ha… happened…?" I wanted to talk, for once in my life, I actually wanted to talk to Axel. I wanted to hear him and see him, but it was harder than expected to keep my eyes open. I watched him lean over, felt his lips touch my forehead, and he simply moved to smile at me.

"I'll explain when I know you'll remember. Right now, I feel like you'll just forget. Get better, quickly, so I can kiss you again," he said softly. Get better. There was something wrong with me, even though I already knew that. I just wanted to breathe!