Roxas woke up around ten o'clock in the evening. Disoriented by waking in a bed that was not his, it was only by hearing Axel muttering to himself in the living room that Roxas remembered where he was and why. Still brushing the wrinkles out of his shirt he meandered out to face the boundless energy of his writer. So it came was a bit of an unwelcome shock to find the red-head sitting perfectly motionless on the ridiculously plush couch with his cell phone clasped between his trembling hands. Roxas paused in the doorway, feeling like an intruder in Axel's grief. He moved to pull back, but the slight movement caught the other man's eye.

"Hey," he greeted, a trembling smile on his face. "That was the family attorney. My father's died." He paused as if just realizing what he said. "I'll, uh, I'll need to pack, let Xemnas know. I need...do you know what it costs to get to the World that Never Was?"

"I'll make the travel plans. Do you want a first class ticket?" Axel peered at him in shock.

"You aren't coming?" Roxas blink was the only show of surprise he gave.

"You want me to?" he asked. He didn't mind, but even after five years of working with the eccentric author the blond was still trying to figure out what his role as Axel's editor required of him.

"Of course I want you to come!" Axel stated - clearly exasperated. "You cannot tell me that you're cold hearted enough to leave me at the mercy of my brother. I'll never survive!" Roxas ignored the other man's exaggeration, focusing instead on procuring two tickets.

"Why do we have to go to the World that Never Was?" he asked, fingers flying over the keyboard of the laptop he had liberated from the pyromaniac. The little light that had come into Axel's eyes while he had teased Roxas extinguished.

"It's the family estate," he muttered darkly, turning to stare morosely out the window.

"You own the World that Never Was?" he asked incredulously.

"No, my father owns...owned...it. He was going to leave it to both of us but...well, I doubt he did." Roxas opened his mouth to ask what the other man meant but Axel cut him off. "Are we good for the tickets, because we still need to pack and call Xemnas."

"I charged the tickets to your account. I'll call Xemnas on the way to my apartment.

"We'll probably be there a week," Axel stated, still not turning around. "Be sure to pack at least three suits." Roxas stared at the red-head's back, at how straight he was standing. He suddenly felt like Axel was further away from him than he'd ever been before.

"Axel..." he began, but stopped. What was he going to do? Ask him to come back? He was right bloody there. Reassure him? In the five years he'd worked with Axel he'd never mentioned any of his family besides his mother - and she was already dead.

"Don't." Axel ordered, voice soft but demanding. "I didn't even like the bastard." Roxas got nothing further and Axel still hadn't left his position by the window, so the blond stood and headed for the door.

"I'll be back later."

The first time Roxas heard anything about Axel's family was also the first time Axel had called him when drunk. Roxas had not yet been assigned as Axel's keeper, so he was less than enthused when he was woken up at two in the morning by a drunken Axel asking if Roxas could pick him up from the bar. The blond had slammed the phone down, fully intending to leave the other man hanging and go back to sleep. Fifteen minutes later a very irritable Roxas was hauling a very drunk Axel out of the bar.

"Want to tell me what you went and got this pissed for?"

"It's the anniversary," Axel had sighed. "Four years since my mother died." Roxas had really wanted to stay angry at the other man, but when he thought of how he felt when his own mother had been ill...

"I'm sorry." Axel had grunted in response, leaning over and sticking his head between his knees. His left hand inched over and grabbed Roxas' right forearm.

"I'm holding on until the car stops moving."

"You do know you only live five blocks away. You could have called a cab." Roxas informed him, more for the sake of taking Axel's mind off the moving car. He really didn't want the red-head puking in his car.

"I forgot."

"You remembered my cell number, but forgot your own address?"

"I only memorize the important things," he had told the blond. Roxas, not knowing whether he should be flattered or creeped out, had dropped the conversation in favoring of getting the drunk man into his loft.

Neither of them had mentioned that night again and Roxas was thankful that they had never had a repeat. While Axel would inevitably be cranky and refuse to work on that day, Roxas had never seen him drunk off his ass again. He counted it as a minor success.

With Xemnas informed of the new development and his own bag packed, Roxas returned to Axel's loft and waited for the red-head to answer.

"Remind me to give you a key," he said absentmindedly as he grabbed his own suitcase from the front hall. Roxas made to protest, but the pyromaniac was already out the door. Roxas joined him by the elevator, taking in his jittery movements and wild eyes.

"Hey," Roxas stated, placing a comforting hand on his bicep. "We can leave as soon as they read the will." Axel gave him a thin smile.

"I'm afraid my family is a bit more complicated than that."

Roxas had never really left Twilight Town. He had stayed on Hollow Bastion to attend university and occasionally - when he felt confident he could leave without Axel taking it as abandonment - he would visit Destiny Islands and spend two or three days catching up with Sora. But aside from that, the universe was virtually unknown to him. So as their ship took off at 11:45 that night, Roxas peered intently out the window. He was a little disappointed that they couldn't pass any closer to the other worlds without being pulled into their orbit.

"Don't worry, we'll be visiting them all later." Roxas' head whipped around.

"What do you mean?" he inquired suspiciously. Axel looked up from the tablet he was scribbling notes onto and Roxas tried to ignore the way his heart clenched every time he saw the red-head in his glasses.

"Don't worry, it's for the book. I'll have to visit the worlds if I want to make it as accurate as I can. After we've finished the funeral business, we'll start at Destiny Islands." Struck by the technical way Axel spoke of his father's death, it took him a moment to register their next destination.

"Destiny Islands?"

"Yeah. Problem?"

"No. My brother lives there," Roxas stated, trying to make out what world they were passing now. Behind him, the sound of pen on paper ceased.

"I...didn't know that. You have a brother?" Roxas turned around and scowled.

"Well so do you," he stated defensively.

"Yes...yes, I supposed I do," Axel mused. Roxas peered at him from the corner of his eye. "But you get along with yours," he stated.

And you don't?" Axel smiled sadly.

"There's a reason I haven't been home since my mom died, Roxas." Anything Roxas might have said after that was lost as the ship began its descent.

The smaller man stepped off the ship with a gobsmacked expression on his face. While Axel looked less than enthused to be back home, the blond stared at the huge castle, trying to crane his neck back far enough so he could see the top of the tallest turret.

"So, the prodigal son returns." Roxas' head dropped down and he took in the man standing at the castle entrance. Although he was older than Axel and clearly took after a different parent (Roxas had never seen pictures, but he always assumed that Axel took after his mother) Roxas felt confident that this pink-haired man was Axel's brother.

"Why Marluxia, you're down right cheery. Did you happen to overthrow any governments today?" Marluxia sneered in response.

"I'm sure you can still find your old room. And your...guest," Roxas could only describe the look Marluxia fixed him with as 'hostile', "can stay across the hall from you." Axel sighed.

"Roxas, this asshole is my older brother, Marluxia. Marluxia, this is my editor, Roxas." The editor in question sent a quizzical look to the man standing next to him. Why the emphasis on 'editor'?

"Ah..." The hostile look on Marluxia's face abated. "You should rest well tonight. Axel, you'll be expected to help greet guests at nine tomorrow. You do still know how to tie a tie, don't you? Roxas, you're welcome to join." Without waiting to hear a response, Marluxia turned on his heel and disappeared into the labyrinth of the castle. Roxas followed behind a subdued Axel and wondered how heart-broken the red-head would be if he killed his brother.

At nine o'clock Roxas bumped into Axel as they exited their rooms at the same time. The blond moved to step back, but Axel enveloped him in a hug and Roxas froze, allowing Axel to take the comfort he needed but still too uncomfortable to return the gesture. Roxas was not used to physical contact with anyone outside his immediate family. The red-head released him, straightened Roxas' crooked tie and pulled down his own suit jacket. When the smaller man noted that Axel didn't have a tie, the red-head grinned.

"Payback for last night's comment."

By noon, Roxas was ready to murder all of Axel's family. The undisguised hostility displayed toward Axel, and Roxas - at least until Axel explained that the blond was his editor, was wearing down on his patience and Roxas found the family's homophobia totally gauche. He was going to stage a protest. As Axel moved to greet his cousin, Roxas put his plan in motion.

"Axel, it's so sad that it took your father's death to bring you home," she stated, looking everywhere but at Axel. "And you are?" she asked, turning to Roxas.

"I'm Roxas," he stated, cutting Axel off and shaking the annoying cousin's hand. "I'm Axel's partner." He cast a quick sidways glance at Axels face to see if he had overstepped any boundaries but the taller man was trying not to laugh. As Roxas refocused his attention on the woman in front of him, he could see why. Her face had scrunched up in disbelief and she yanked her hand away - as if touching Roxas' skin had scalded her. She shot one more nasty look over her shoulder as she scurried away. "Well, that wasn't nice."

"Roxas..." Axel said slowly. "I think I'm in love with you. Could we do a repeat performance in front of my Aunt Mildred. I think if we finished it with a kiss we might actually kill her." Roxas heaved a put-upon sigh.

"I knew this day would come. Axel, for the last time, what you imagine in your head will not happen in real life. Your aunt will not drop dead if you kiss me."

"The only foolproof way to prove that is for me to kiss you in front of my aunt."

"I AM NOT LETTING YOU KISS ME IN FRONT OF YOUR FAMILY!" Roxas hissed.

"So you'll let me kiss you away from my family?" And if flirting would get both of them through this experience without adding to the body count, well...

Roxas couldn't even begin to remember when the flirting began. He knows it started after Axel told him about his mother, after Axel became Roxas' only job. He thinks they managed to write Axel's second novel with some semblance of professional decorum, but Roxas knows that it was long gone by the third.

He had been editing the beginning of the book while Axel was passed out on the couch after a late night writing spree. He had come across one of those passages that made a reader laugh out loud - the type many writers strive for and rarely hit. Roxas, not wanting to wake the sleeping writer, had bit his lip and let an honest smile cross his face.

"You should smile more. It suits you." Axel stated sleepily.

"I'd smile more if you'd quit trying to blow your deadlines." Roxas told him, making another mark in the margins.

"Not my deadlines I want to blow," Axel retorted, settling his glasses on his face. And so they had continued on, innuendo being snuck in whenever deemed appropriate - almost always on Axel's side. At least until the day Axel had made Roxas so angry he had pushed professional conduct over the cliff and cursed out a shocked Axel.

"Cursing, Roxas? How very un-gentleman like," Axel had stated when Roxas had finished.

"Yeah? Well so's a blowjob, but you seem rather adamant on that subject!" Roxas retorted before storming out, slamming the door behind him.

He was back at nine the next day, neither one of them mentioning what had taken place the day before. But their interactions - for better or for worse - had been irrevocably changed from professional business associates to bickering like an old married couple.

By the final day, Roxas was already packed and eager to get the hell out of the castle before he committed mass murder. Ever so slowly he had collected the missing pieces of what had happened between Axel, Marluxia and their father. Marluxia had taken after their father - cold and calculating with little regard to anything except the end product. How the end product was achieved was a completely moot subject. Axel had taken after their mother.

"She used to love to read," Axel said, staring at her photo. They had been hiding from the rest of the relatives and Axel had slipped both of them into his old study. "She would daydream about castles in the air, gritty characters with hearts of gold, innocent kids setting off on adventures and coming home tainted by real life. When my dad married her, he built this castle thinking he was giving her everything she ever wanted. He didn't realize that some dreams aren't met to be obtained." He paused, letting a wry smile twist his lips before continuing. "He always hoped for kids to take after him. Marluxia did."

"He's in the government?" Roxas asked.

"In this section of the universe, he is the government. Father always hoped I'd do something in the sciences; make an important breakthrough and solve the world's problems. Something that would immortalize me in books."

"Isn't that what you're doing now?" Roxas asked dryly.

"I'm glad you see it that way. Father saw it as me frittering my life away and Marluxia thought it was just youthful rebellion. Mom was the only one who ever really encouraged me. When she died...I haven't been home since."

"Seems kind of silly to stop seeing your kid because they don't want to follow the career you chose for them." Roxas stated.

"Yeah, well, they also disagreed with me being gay." Axel stated dryly, moving away from his mother's picture.

"Seems kind of silly to stop seeing your kid over something they can't change," he had retorted. Axel laughed, the first honest laugh Roxas had heard out of him since they had left to come to the World that Never Was.

"Yeah. I'm signing my half of the world over to Marluxia," he stated suddenly. Roxas raised an eyebrow, as if to ask 'What brought this on?' "I don't want anything to do with this place. It's not my home. It never was, really. What do you think?" Roxas paused, wondering whether this was the time or the place for subtlety. He decided to forgo it.

"I think this place could burn to the ground today and I'd be perfectly okay with that."

"Yeah, me too. Let me sign the papers and we'll get out of here."

~Review~