So here's where I drop the bomb. A couple people I'm sure saw this coming, and I know Brinkmess knew back in chapter 21 that this was coming. So just take it as you will.

I know, about time Vexen made an appearance, right? For the life of me it is so hard to give him a role other than a doctor. I love that creep bastard though, although he's a lot nicer in this story. Or, at least it seems that way.

Enjoy?

"What do you mean?" Axel shifted curiously from where he sat on the examination table. "So… I've got GRIDS?"

"Well, they're calling it by a different name now, but yes." Vexen cleared his throat and looked from the paperwork in his hands to his patient. "The new technical name for it is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. AIDS, for short. In recent years it has been devastating the gay community. Tell me Axel, have you been sexually active with other men or shared any needles with anyone who might have been?"

Axel stared hard at the floor and nodded. "I'm gay, if that's what you're trying to ask. I've had a handful of partners but in the past three years I've only had one, and I've been his only partner so…"

"Before him?" Vexen pulled out a pen and began scribbling notes down on Axel's file. "How many others?"

"Three. Just three." Axel sighed and looked to his doctor with concern. "What's the deal? How serious is this thing?"

Vexen ignored his patient's question and continued with more of his own. "Of these three men, how many have exhibited signs of illness or death?"

"Only one… I…" Axel wrapped his arms around himself feeling suddenly very alone. "Why all the questions?"

"There is still very little known about your illness, Axel. Every bit of information helps." Vexen continued to write his notes before glancing up at the man. "What was his cause of death?"

"Suicide." Axel looked to the doctor who cocked a curious eyebrow. He didn't want to delve too deeply into conversation with this man but he realized that any information could help. "He had some kind of cancer. Sarcoma, or something like that. He had watched a friend of his back in England suffer and die from it and he didn't want to suffer the same fate. So he, well…"

Vexen nodded slowly, eyes intent on Axel. "Was he sexually active with this friend of his?"

"He didn't say, but that's highly likely. He was never the monogamous type, to say the least." Axel bit his bottom lip. "Are you trying to say that the cancer was contagious?"

"This particular form of cancer, yes." Vexen nodded slowly and turned his eyes to the paperwork before returning them to Axel. "You're lucky you've lasted this long."

"Lasted?" Axel's heart skipped a beat. "What do you mean, lasted? How sick am I?"

"Forgive me, that was horribly unprofessional of me." Vexen sat his paperwork aside and looked to Axel in seriousness. "As a physician, one of the hardest jobs I have is giving people bad news. Axel, nothing of what I'm about to tell you will be good or happy news. You are very ill. AIDS is a disease that is still unknown to us. We don't know what causes it, only how it spreads. And what we do know is that a person with this disease does not live very long once they become ill. From what we've seen, a person can live with the disease for years without showing signs. You are likely a prime example of that. Others aren't so lucky."

Axel swallowed hard, his hands now trembling. "Alright, and what does this mean for me?"

Vexen sighed heavily and stood from where he sat across from his patient. "Your tests came back to show that you tested positive for Pneumocystis Pneumonia and Tuberculosis."

"But, those are both curable, right?" Axel looked to his doctor as the man loomed over him. "I mean, I used to get Pneumonia all the time when I was little and Tuberculosis is fixable too. Right?"

Vexen shook his head. "I'm afraid that once you become ill, there is very little we can do for you. AIDS weakens your immune system greatly and currently there is no cure for it. With so little known about this disease, the life expectancy of a patient exhibiting symptoms varies. It could be days, it could be weeks or even months. But it is usually painful and agonizing death and most patients don't survive the year." He sighed and picked Axel's papers back up in his hands. "I'm not going to sugar coat things for you and provide you with a false sense of hope. You are dying, Axel. How rapidly, I can't say. It depends on how quickly this illness decimates your body. But make no mistake, you will likely not live to see your twenty-eighth birthday."

Axel stared down at the floor, unable to move and unable to really speak. He blinked away the tears that began flooding his eyes. "R-Roxas..."

Vexen cocked a curious eyebrow at his patient. "Roxas? Is he your lover?"

Axel managed a slow nod and sucked in a quivering breath. "Is he sick too?"

"It is highly likely, especially if you two have had intercourse without the use of condoms." Vexen once again began taking notes on Axel's file. "But if he is infected, and hasn't shown signs of illness, that is a good indication that it hasn't had an effect on his immune system yet."

"Will he get sick?" Axel pressed his hands to his face and forced down a sob. "Will he die?"

"We all die eventually. That is a fate that no one can escape." Vexen tucked his pin back into his pocket. "You know, I don't normally give such advice to my patients, as it tends to be reckless. However, if I were you, I would spend a lot less time worrying about how much time I have left, and a lot more time thinking about how I'm going to spend it." Vexen turned to start out the door. "After all, what is truly important isn't how long we live life, but how effectively we live it."

"Y-you're right." Axel stood slowly and wiped his eyes. "Thank you." He followed the blond doctor out of the room and headed down the long hall to the waiting room. He stepped out and spotted Roxas waiting for him with a hopeful smile. He forced a smile to return to his lover and approached him slowly.

"So, what did the doctor say?" Roxas grasped Axel's hand in his as they started into the parking lot.

"I've got Pneumonia, big surprise." Axel shrugged and climbed onto his motorcycle. "I'll get my prescription later on. I'll be fine."

"You should be in bed." Roxas climbed on to the back of the motorcycle and wrapped his arms around Axel. "I guess I'm just going to have to take care of you."

"Nah, I'll be fine. I do want you to keep your distance from me though." Axel started the engine and glanced back at Roxas. "I don't want you getting sick."

Roxas laughed lightly and shook his head. "Pneumonia isn't contagious, smarty pants."

"This kind is." Axel turned to look at Roxas slowly. "The doctor said it is a new kind, highly contagious. I don't want you getting sick, I know how stubborn you are about doctors."

"I really don't care." Roxas tightened his grip on Axel's waist and pressed his face into his lover's back. "I'd rather get sick and die than not be able to love on you."

A bolt struck through Axel, a mixture of guilt, fear and sadness. He shook his head vigorously and shouted. "Don't say stuff like that Rox!"

"I-I'm sorry." Roxas pulled back to look at his lover but the redhead was staring straight ahead. He sighed and put his head against Axel's back once more. "Come on, let's go home."

"Alright." Axel pulled the motorcycle out of the parking spot and started into traffic. He felt like crying the whole way home but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't let Roxas know how truly destroyed he was right now. Inside him, he was battling himself. He knew he had an obligation to tell Roxas that he had this disease, and that Roxas likely had it as well. But at the same time, Axel knew he didn't have much of his own time left, and what he did have, he wanted it to be happy with Roxas. Telling Roxas now would devastate him. It would eradicate whatever happiness the two could share before his death. How could he rob the person he loved most of blissful ignorance for at least a short while? Eventually Roxas would learn the truth, that was inevitable. But for now, right now, Axel couldn't bring himself to tell his lover that their happy life together would soon be over.