Author's Note: Thanks so much to RelieveTheGreat for your review! :D I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. It's Axel's POV. Please tell me what you think.

Chapter 2: Standing on the Bridge

(Axel's POV)

I yawned as I shrugged on my black leather jacket and snagged my backpack. It was my first day at my new school today. My mom had spent last night fussing over me, telling me not to wear so much black and to get my hair cut, my tattoos removed, and take out all of my piercings. My parents wanted me to look 'proper' and to 'fit in'. I didn't really give a shit what they wanted. I looked how I wanted to look and made friends with whoever I wanted to. I didn't care much for trying to 'fit in' with the popular crowd like my parents begged me to do. It was my life to live after all, not theirs.

I pounded down the stairs and out the front door calling out a "bye mom!" over my shoulder.

"Be good! Remember who you are! You're Axel Shade and you have a name to uphold young man!" she called back.

"Like hell I'll be good," I snorted as I climbed into my precious car. And I could give a damn about 'upholding' our family name. My perfect proper parents did enough 'upholding' and shit to cover all of us. I knew that I could do whatever I wanted and no matter how bad things got all I'd ever received was a stern talking to from my dad and a few of my mom's over-dramatic "I'm so sorry this is my fault because I'm a terrible parent and you don't know better" speeches.

All in all life was pretty easy. We'd moved quite a few times so I've never developed any close friends or serious relationships but my parents were determined that this was the last move we'd ever make. We were going to stay in this town at least until I graduated high school. I was sixteen, a junior, so I had two more years of schooling to go before I got to move out and go to college.

People stared when I pulled into the school parking lot. My precious baby car was flashy and I knew it. It was the only thing I ever flaunted. Usually I didn't give a damn about being rich and I had never been snooty or arrogant about it but I couldn't resist in indulging in an expensive car. I loved cars.

The school was relatively small and I found the front office easily. A plump, friendly looking woman seated at the front desk smiled brightly at me.

"You must be Demyx Hart!" she cried out cheerfully.

I took a step back, overwhelmed by her sunny nature. "Uh... no. The name's Axel Shade."

"Oh!" She looked very surprised. I'm sure she didn't expect the son of one of the richest men in the country to look anything like me. People can be so stereotypical sometimes. I was used to it by now though.

"Well I do apologize my dear. Here's your schedule! Our other new student, Demyx, should be here any minute and I'll send you two off with your guide, Zexion. You both have the same first period class as Zexion so he'll show you where it is. In fact , you have two classes with Demyx today and three with him tomorrow! Who knows, you might end up as friends!" the woman chirped, smiling so widely I feared her face might break.

The office door opened saving me from having to reply to Happy Woman's ecstatic comments. A boy my age stepped in. He was a bit shorter than me and had a strange haircut that looked like some sort of mix between a fohawk and a mullet. Some how he made it work though. Actually he was sort of cute. He had a cheerful face and looked like he was the strange, hyper, slightly clueless type of person.

"Ah you must be Demyx Hart!" Happy Woman exclaimed.

The boy nodded, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "That's me!"

"This here is Axel Shade. He's also a new student. You two have the same first and last period today. Zexion has the same first class as you so he'll show you where to go." She handed Demyx his schedule and gestured toward some seats against the wall at my right. "Ready to go Zexion?"

"Yes." The boy replied dully.

"Holy shit!" I yelped. I hadn't noticed the boy sitting there the entire time. He'd startled the hell out of me!

Happy Woman got a stern look on her face. "Now now Axel, we don't tolerate curse words in this school. Watch your tongue."

I couldn't help but snort out a laugh. "You are aware that this is a high school aren't you lady? You can't seriously expect to keep the place free of swearing?"

Happy Woman no longer looked anywhere close to happy. She scowled at me. "Now listen here young man! I expected better from you. I'm sure you're parents didn't raise you to use bad language like some sort of hooligan! So please refrain from swearing while on school property."

I did my best not to burst out laughing. "Yes ma'am."

"Good! Now Zexion, take them to class,"Not-So-Happy-Anymore Woman ordered stiffly.

He nodded silently and walked toward the door without a word. I followed behind him with a grin at Demyx who smiled right back at me. "We're going to be best friends!" he whispered loudly. I just laughed. He might be right but I didn't know him all that well yet so I didn't want to get his hopes up just in case.

We were led into a classroom by our quiet guide just as the warning bell rang.

"That means we have five minutes to get to class," Zexion said in a soft voice.

"Ok." I tried to look him in the eye but he was hiding my his strangely colored hair. Of course I wasn't one to talk about strange hair color. Mine was a brilliant shade of red after all.

Demyx and I spoke to the teacher, an energetic man with graying hair and a wide smile. We were able to sit wherever we wanted in this class so I took a seat in the back and Demyx followed suit, occupying the desk next to me. "This is going to be fun!" he squealed. I raised my eyebrows. "Seriously? I hate math."

"Then I shall help you!" he crowed with a giggle.

I blinked at him a couple times before letting a smile settle across my face. "Great."

Demyx seemed like a spazz but I didn't mind. I was a pretty accepting person. I was cool with anyone who didn't try to order me around. Know-it-all's with leadership complexes annoyed the hell out of me. I guess you could say I have 'authority issues'.

The day went by pretty quickly. I got hit on by a few girls but easily brushed them off. I wasn't into girls. The fact that I was gay mortified my parents and they did their best to keep it all hush hush but I didn't give a damn about that. I did what I pleased and I wasn't ashamed of who I was.

At lunch time I found Demyx and we sought out Zexion. We discovered him sitting alone at a table reading a book while nibbling at a sandwich. I felt kind of bad seeing him there by himself. I know I'm a total badass but I have a soft spot for lonely people and the poor emoish looking kid didn't seem to have any friends.

"Zexy!" Demyx cried, flinging his arms around the quiet boy from behind. "Can we sit with you?"

Zexion jumped looking mildly terrified but a slight blush dusted his cheeks when he saw who it was hugging him. He blinked up at Demyx uncertainly. "I suppose so."

"Yay!" Demyx squealed. He plopped himself down on Zexion's right side with his lunch tray and motioned for me to sit as well. With a chuckle at the spastic blond's antics I did as he wanted.

It took a few minutes but Demyx was finally able to get the lilac haired emo boy to join in a conversation with him. I watched the two with amusement. Zexion was obviously crushing on Demyx. I could tell from the way he watched the other boy and his constant blushing. I was pretty sure Demyx liked Zexion in return but with the spastic blond it was harder to tell. He always showed such exuberance toward everyone and I didn't know him well enough to tell if he was giving Zexion any special attention.

When lunch ended we parted ways. I didn't see Demyx until last period. As we entered the English classroom my eyes swept the room and landed on the cutest boy I'd ever seen. He had spiky blond hair and piercing blue eyes. His face was adorable with soft boyish features and he was short. I could imagine hugging him, his face pressed against my chest. It was all I could do not to gape in wonder as the teacher introduced us to the class.

I was delighted to be assigned the seat right next to the cute little blond. Demyx noticed my excitement and once and the direction of my gaze. He giggled, elbowed me, and wiggled his eyebrows with a wide grin. I laughed and gave him a playful shove as we separated to sit in our assigned seats.

Up close I could tell that something was wrong with my newest infatuation. There was an aura of emptiness about him. His eyes were a beautiful shade of blue, startling in the intensity of their color, but there were horribly blank, like a dolls. He held himself so unnaturally still that I wondered for a moment if he was even breathing. His expression was vacant. There was something terribly off about this boy.

"Hey," I said, keeping my voice down so that I wouldn't attract the attention of our teacher. "You alright man?"

He didn't react at all. It was like he didn't even hear me.

"Hey you alive in there?" I asked worriedly.

Once again I received no response though I did think I saw his eye flit towards me for a fraction of a second but it happened so fast that I wasn't sure if I'd imagined it.

"Hey kid what's your problem?" I asked. I prodded him with my finger, wondering if physical contact might snap him out of it.

He didn't even twitch.

"That's Roxas. He doesn't talk to anybody," a nasally feminine voice stage whispered from behind me. I twisted in my seat to look at her. She had glossy bleached blond hair, a small pointed nose, and eyes that were a murky gray-brown. She was wearing too much make-up and showing too much cleavage.

"Is he mute?" I asked curiously.

She shook her head and batted her long, glittery fake eyelashes at me. "He used to talk. Then three years ago his twin brother, Sora, died. I think he fell asleep in the bathtub and drowned or something. After that Roxas just started ignoring everyone. It's really sad. He was really close to his brother."

I froze for a moment. That was horrible. I couldn't imagine having a sibling, let alone a twin, but I was knew it must have been a painful thing for this kid to go through. "God kid, don't you know it's not healthy to bottle all that hurt up inside?" I asked quietly. I poked him again, this time I didn't expect a reaction. And I didn't get one.

"I'm Alicia by the way," the girl said, leaning closer to me. She was thrusting her chest out and tugging her shirt a little lower. I could practically see nipple at this point. I shivered in disgust. "And you're Axel right?" she continued with a lipstick smeared smile.

"Ya." My reply was short and pointedly disinterested. She pouted a little and tried to say something else but I interrupted her. "I'm gay. Like really really gay."

"Oh." She stared at me in shock for a moment before sitting back in her seat and tugging up the collar of her shirt a little. I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to face the front. Roxas, what a cute little name. I liked it.

I couldn't help but watch him out of the corner of my eye throughout the entire class period. He never moved, never showed any sign of life aside from the slight rise and fall of his chest. It scared me a bit. There had to be more to his story. To have something happen that cause so much pain you turned into a sort of zombie he must have gone through something horrifying.

When the bell rang he moved suddenly, picking up his backpack and standing mechanically. He moved toward the classroom door like he was on autopilot. There was still no sign of life in those beautiful blue eyes.

Demyx caught up with me as we left the class. He grinned at me crazily. "You like that blond boy don't you?" he asked gleefully.

"He's cute," I shrugged, "but there's something wrong with him. He's just... empty. And he doesn't talk. I want to change that."

Demyx's smile drooped a little. "That's so sad. What's his name? Did you find that out?"

"Ya. Some girl told me that it's Roxas. She said he was that way because his brother died. But the way he was acting... there has to be more to the story."

"Roxas," Demyx pondered thoughtfully. "I'll try asking Zexy about him. He might know something about what happened to him."

"Zexy huh? I've noticed that you've taken to calling him that. Do you have a little crush too?" I nudged him with a smirk.

The hyper boy blushed and nodded frantically. "He's just so cute."

"If you say so," I chuckled. "Not really my type."

"No you like adorable blond boys named Roxas," Demyx teased back. He gave my shoulder a playful punch as we reached the parking lot. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure thing." I nodded.

I climbed into my baby and started up the engine. As I pulled away from the school I noticed Roxas a little ways up the street. He was walking along the sidewalk as expressionless as ever. I drove up along side him and slowed down, rolling down my window as I did so. "Hey kid! Roxas! Want a ride?"

He turned and looked at me with his blank eyes. He didn't even give any indication that he'd heard me, just walked up to my car, opened the passenger door, and climbed in. I grinned at my success and gunned the car the moment his door shut. I didn't want to give him a chance to change his mind.

"Hey, put your seatbelt on," I said. I smiled at him with a halfhearted hope that he just might smile back. He didn't of course. He stared straight ahead as if I hadn't spoken to him at all. I was sure he heard me though. Something had flickered momentarily in his eyes when I'd spoken to him. Well whatever. If he didn't want to buckle up he didn't have to. "Your own life kid."

Still no reply. Shocker.

"So where do you live Blondie? I need to know where to take you." I was suddenly very curious about what kind of house he lived in. What were his parents like? Did he talk when he was at home or was he just as withdrawn and mute as he was everywhere else?

For a moment there was silence. I grinned as I waited for him to figure out a way to communicate with me despite his obvious inability to speak. I was about to repeat the question, not sure if it had reached him through his odd state when he moved, reaching for his bag and pulling out a sketch book. Roxas bent over it, scribbling something down quickly. A little of his blond hair fell into his eyes but he didn't move it out of the way, just concentrated on what he was doing. He was still emotionless, his movements stiff, but it was the most life I'd seen from him since we'd met. I watched him in fascination out of the corner of my eye, trying to keep at least some of my attention on the road.

After a moment the little blond ripped the page from the sketch book. He shoved it at me and it ended up resting across my legs. Despite the continued emptiness of his eyes and blankness of his expression his actions seemed almost frustrated or something. I raised my eyebrows but didn't comment, opting instead to glace at the paper. The drawing was neat and easy to understand. The handwriting was small and a little messy. I found it adorable.

"So what kind of music are you into?" I questioned as I used my free hand to fumble with the radio. I didn't really expect him to answer and he didn't. I asked a few more questions, just to confirm that he was 't going to reply to me. He remained silent.

I couldn't stand the silence between us though. So I talked and talked and talked, trying to fill up the quiet. Most of what I said was random babbling but Roxas didn't seem to mind. In fact I was quiet sure he'd tuned out everything I'd just said.

When we pulled up to his house he bolted from the car. I watched him with worry, biting down on my lip and chewing at it in frustration. I wanted to help this kid but he wasn't going to make it easy at all.

The house Roxas lived in was kind of small. The grass was a little long but it was a healthy color of green and despite the size and feel of age about the home it looked like someone cared for it well enough.

I sat in front of his house for a moment and stared at it thoughtfully. Tomorrow I'd check up with Demyx and see what Zexion had told him about Roxas. Hopefully the emo boy knew something about my little blond. I was burning with curiosity. With a sigh I pulled out of Roxas's driveway. He didn't seem to be coming out any time soon. Not really sure what else to do I drove back home.

My mother was on me the moment I opened the door. I was surprised to see her home. She looked like she was about to leave though. Her hair was done up and her makeup was flawless. Her high heels clacked loudly on the hard floor and she swept me into a hug and cooed "how was my boy's first day of school?" I batted her fussy hands away and smiled. "It was alright."

"Good," she smiled back at me. "Well I'm off. You're father's leaving on a business trip and taking me with him this time."

I sighed. "Mom we just barely got here and you're already leaving?"

"Oh you'll be fine won't you? We'll only be gone a week or so."

I shook my head. That was just like my mother. She loved to travel and always tried to tag along on father's trips. "Ya I'll be ok. I'll see you in a week mom."

"Oh good." She hugged me again before breezing past me and out the front door.

I trudged up the stairs and dropped my backpack in my room. I wondered what I should do. I hadn't gotten Demyx's number so couldn't exactly call him up and see if he wanted to hang out. Today was promising to be a boring day.

I ended up sitting around watching TV for a few hours before I decided that I really needed to get out of the house. I put on my shoes and left. I didn't know my way around the town yet so I just wandered aimlessly. The sun started to sink, turning the sky soft shades of pink and orange.

I passed shop after shop, looking for something to catch my interest. I'd been walking for a while when I noticed the bridge. Or more specifically, the person on the bridge. A little blond was staggering across it. He was bleeding.

I realized with dawning horror what he was about to do as he approached the railing. I ran.

"Roxas!" I screamed. "Roxas stop!"

He didn't seem to hear me and he straightened up, his feet planted firmly on the bridge's railing. I continued to sprint, my feet were on the bridge now. I was so close. For the first time since we'd met Roxas looked alive. His eyes were no longer blank and a relieved smile spread across his face. He looked so content and he fell forward to his death.

My arms circled him just in time, yanking him backwards. His body hit mine hard and we were both sent sprawling on the ground. I quickly sat up and leaned over Roxas to asses the damage. He looked weak and pale. His arms still bled freely and his feet were a mess. His fiery blue eyes glared at me with hate before the flickered closed and he passed out.

I fumbled for my cell phone and dialed 911. My fingers were clumsy with the buttons and I had to try three times before I finally got the three important numbers right. I was scared. So scared. Roxas had almost died right in front of me.

The ambulance arrived in record time and I watched them cart the little blond off with fear in my heart. Oh please god let Roxas be ok.