"This is our tree. There are many trees like it, but this is ours." The two teenagers were perched in a big oak tree, sitting on one of the branches. It would have been a perfect branch to hang a swing from, but no one had cared when they were younger and now that they could do it themselves, they no longer wanted one.

"Silly goose." Axel smiled as he felt a warm hand on his elbow and smiled at his sister. Sea green eyes met bright, grass green and he felt an undeniable spark. She was so beautiful. "Is that a quote from a book?"

"No, a video game." She laughed as he grinned. "It's true though. This is our tree, no one can take away our tree."

"Nature can. It could get hit by lightning tomorrow." She pointed out, and Axel made a face.

"You're spoiling the romance." He smiled as she laughed. He loved hearing her laugh, it was a beautiful sound. "I was thinking though. Could we get any rope? Heavy duty stuff?"

"Rope?" She looked at him thoughtfully, and didn't seem surprised at the question. "I don't know. Probably not. Why?" Axel looked down at the branch beneath them, and shrugged.

"Oh, just an idea of mine." He stared off into the woods for a moment. "I just thought that this would be the perfect branch to hang ourselves from. We could hold hands and jump off together. You know?"

"Sounds romantic." There was no shock or surprise in her voice. But then, why should there be? They had discussed committing suicide together plenty of times. They just hadn't quite found the will to do it. "I'm not sure about the rope though. We'll have to keep a lookout for some good stuff, we want something that will break our necks cleanly. I read that it can take up to a half hour to die from a botched hanging." Axel winced at the thought. He'd been strangled often enough to know that he absolutely didn't want that.

"We need to get supper started soon." Axel sighed and started climbing back out of the tree. "What were we making again?"

"Chicken and noodles with cupcakes for dessert." Astrid didn't sound enthusiastic and Axel knew why. Supper was their most hated meal of the day, because as soon as supper was over their other duties would begin. Axel shoved that thought aside, concentrating fiercely on the moment.

It was all they could do.


Axel shifted, cuddling up to Roxas a bit in his sleep. The blond sighed but didn't waken and Axel slid smoothly into a different dream of the past.


"What are you doing?" Axel asked his sister curiously as she carefully worked her spade around a wildflower, freeing it from the soil without damaging it.

"Collecting a flower." She frowned in concentration as she pulled out the plug of earth and carefully deposited it into a pot. "There."

"Well, duh. I mean, why are you collecting wildflowers?" She glanced up at him, and Axel was captivated by her beauty all over again. She looked so lovely, wearing a straw hat with a pretty floral bow over her white, sleeveless shirt and blue jeans.

"I'm going to plant them at the elephant's graveyard." She said with a small smile. "I think I figured out what I did wrong last time. I picked flowers that needed too much shade, it's very sunny there. Hopefully these will do better." Axel stared at the flowers, feeling ashamed. He hadn't thought to do anything like that. Although…

"The elephants won't care, Astrid." She paused in her work to look up at him, sea green eyes sad.

"I care." And she went back to her digging as Axel swallowed.

"Uh… would you like some help?" She looked up again and her smile was like the sun coming out from behind a cloud.

"I would love it." Axel smiled back and went to fetch another spade. It might be silly and the elephants certainly wouldn't care, but it was still a touching gesture. He would do it for Astrid.


Axel woke up early and just watched Roxas he slept. The blond was just as beautiful as his sister. He wondered vaguely if he had picked Roxas because he was almost the same size as Astrid and had much the same delicate beauty. Although he probably shouldn't mention that to his blond captive. Roxas was a guy, and probably wouldn't appreciate being told he looked a bit like a girl, no matter how true it was. Axel smiled at the thought and nuzzled the blonde's throat. Roxas sighed and shifted, his eyelids fluttering open.

"Axel…" Roxas squirmed slightly as Axel slid an arm over his chest. They hadn't done anything last night except sleep, but Axel was clearly in a different mood now. Roxas gritted his teeth as a warm, calloused hand slid under the blankets to stroke him. He would have been lying if he'd said it didn't feel good. "Can you use a condom this time?" The stroking suddenly stopped, which was actually rather disappointing. Roxas glanced up to see a shocked expression on Axel's face.

"Oh… shit! I forgot!" Axel was mentally cursing himself. He'd never taken someone to the house before, and it had broken the usual routine in his mind. "You don't have anything, do you?" Roxas eyes widened and he growled, punching the redhead in the chest.

"I should be asking you that! No, I don't have anything, do you?" Axel shook his head.

"I shouldn't. I get tested once a year just in case, and the last one was last month." Axel paused as he realized Roxas had gone completely soft under his hand. "I just killed the romance, didn't I?" Roxas blinked, then shook his head with a small smile.

"This isn't romance. But whatever it is, yeah, you killed it." Roxas pulled away, hopping out of bed and feeling somewhere between grateful and disappointed when Axel didn't press it further. Roxas sighed at himself. It was a bit annoying that he felt that disappointment, but he just couldn't help it. Axel was so hot and, despite kidnapping him, so… nice.

Axel was in the middle of making breakfast when there was a strident peeping sound from the computer room. Roxas almost dropped his book as Axel cursed, quickly removing the omelet from the heat.

"She's early! Here Roxas, you finish this, it doesn't need much more." Axel shot out of the kitchen as Roxas grabbed frying pan. She? Oh, of course, Axel's sister. Roxas smiled as a plan suddenly formed. But would Axel allow it? That was the question.

He had finished eating and been reading for nearly a half hour before Axel came back into the room. The redhead was smiling and dug into his food, although it was cold by now. Roxas glanced up curiously, wondering if Axel would say anything, and he did.

"She's having a good day today. Maybe that bone marrow transplant is helping." Axel took a deep drink of his coffee and grimaced. "Argh, cold." He stood, taking it to the microwave to reheat. Cold eggs he didn't mind, but cold coffee was too much.

"I thought bone marrow transplants were for leukemia." Roxas was a bit fuzzy on the details, but he wasn't sure that was the usual treatment for bone cancer.

"Got me. I've tried to read up on it, but I don't understand what they're doing anymore. I think it's just to boost up her immune system. The radiation and chemotherapy has been doing a number on her." Axel came back with a piping cup of hot coffee, but his mood was more somber. "I'd give anything to be able to take her place. Poor Astrid has been through hell with this."

"I can imagine." And he could. If Sora had been in that state, Roxas would have wanted to take his place too. "Axel, could I talk to your sister sometime?" Axel looked up from his coffee with laughing eyes.

"Roxas, I'm ignorant, not stupid." Roxas jaw sagged open as Axel grinned. "One yell from you over the webcam and I'd be toast. Those damn nurses are listening all the time, and I'd really hate to have to explain this to my sister."

"I wasn't going to!" Roxas protested, inwardly cursing the redhead. How did Axel always know? Axel just laughed. "Oh… fine, I was going to. How the hell did you think that?" Axel shrugged good-naturedly.

"Easy. Me and Astrid almost got into trouble with the nurses last year over something we shouldn't have said, so it wasn't hard to think of." There was a sudden sadness in Axel's eyes, but he shook his head and went back to his food. "Hey, want to play some DDR?" Roxas couldn't help but smile. That was one of Sora's favorite games.

"Sure, why not." It would be good to do something besides read. Roxas was going to have to see how far the collar would let him reach soon.

Things settled into an odd kind of routine over the next few days. Axel relaxed a bit and was far less clingy, often spending time doing things on his computer or doing work on the house as Roxas read a book. The rest of the time they spent together, often just talking or playing video games. And having sex together every night, although Axel never forgot the condoms now, to Roxas' relief.

"This would be perfect if only he was my boyfriend at home." Roxas mumbled to himself as he walked through the house aimlessly, then blinked. Had he really just said that? Of course he was attracted to the redhead but did he actually want him as a boyfriend? "He kidnapped and raped me!" Roxas bit his lip. It didn't really feel like rape, though. There was nothing painful about what Axel was doing and Roxas was relatively certain that if he put up enough of a fuss, Axel would probably stop. It was more… coerced, since Roxas didn't want to really piss Axel off. He wasn't sure if Axel could become violent, but didn't want to find out. He felt helpless compared to the redhead. "Ugh." Roxas wasn't even sure he could trust Axel. He still hadn't checked out the basement or the attic.

Maybe now was the time. Axel was in the computer room, doing something that seemed to involve talking to other people with a mic and speakers. Roxas couldn't understand it. What did SS the priest mean? Not to mention heal the tank and chakking noob. Roxas walked purposefully to the basement door and opened it, pausing for a moment to find the light switch. Frowning, he looked the bulb hanging from the ceiling and down at the dark, narrow steps leading into the basement. Walking down the steps, he looked around. The basement was unfinished, with walls of concrete and a cold, concrete floor. There were no furnishings, no boxes, nothing. Just an electrical breaker panel. And not a single spider. Roxas frowned as he heard the door slam shut behind him.

"What in the world?" Roxas felt all his doubts surging back. Had Axel been lying to him? Then he saw a spider. It was pulling itself up a strand of silk to the ceiling. Suddenly filled with a distant horror, Roxas' gaze followed the spider up to the ceiling.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!" Roxas screamed as he saw not just one spider, not just a few spiders, but a swarm of spiders on the ceiling. It was a churning black mass that made him think of a horror movie. And more of them were dropping. "NO!" Running out of the room, his arm caught on the light hanging above the stairs as he swung at a spider trying to land on him. The light smashed to pieces and Roxas realized with terror that he was trapped in the basement, in the dark, with about a million spiders. "Axel! AXEL!" He screamed and clawed at the door, trying to open it. But it seemed to be stuck. Suddenly it opened and Roxas fell out, sobbing with relief.

"Roxas, what-woah!" Axel was startled as Roxas burst into tears, clinging to him. Axel quickly brushed a spider out of the blonde's hair and held him close, patting his back. "Hey, it's okay. They're just harmless spiders. It's okay." Roxas shivered, eyes tightly closed as Axel concentrated on soothing him.

"I'm… sorry. I didn't mean to freak out that way." Roxas pulled back, wiping his eyes. "It's just, when you said spiders, I though there might be a few dozen. Not something out of Arachnophobia. Axel, what would you do if they came into the rest of the house?" Axel shuddered.

"Besides weep in a manly way? I have no idea. Please, don't mention it, you might give the spiders ideas." That really was a nightmare scenario. Axel didn't mind a few spiders, he was almost fond of them, but he didn't want the swarm getting out of the basement. Fortunately, he'd checked and they really were completely harmless, nothing venomous like black widows or brown recluses. "There must be some kind of food supply in the basement, but I haven't been able to figure out what it is. Want some tea?" Tea was Axel's choice as a calming agent, and right now Roxas needed some calm. Roxas sniffed and nodded.

"Please." Soon Roxas was sitting in the kitchen, nursing a mug of chamomile tea as Axel drank a mug of earl grey. "Axel? What do you do if one of the breakers goes off?" The electrical breaker panel was in the basement. Axel winced.

"I cry a lot, suck my thumb then get on a heavy duty raincoat and take care of business as fast as possible. You'd be amazed how quickly I can get those breakers fixed." Axel shuddered again and took a deep drink of his tea. Roxas blinked as he suddenly realized something.

"Axel, what about your game?" He knew he had interrupted it, and Axel had been playing with other people. Axel laughed, then shrugged.

"Not important. The priest really sucked anyway. They'll boot me and find another dps." Roxas decided not to ask. He wasn't allowed on the computer anyway, so he couldn't play whatever Axel was on. Another question had occurred to him.

"Axel, the stuff in the attic. Is it as bad as the basement?" Roxas had planned to check that out as soon as he was done with the basement, but now he wasn't too sure about that. Axel had been completely truthful about the basement. Did he really want to see what was in the attic? Axel paused, eyes thoughtful as he looked away into space.

"If you're not very sensitive, it's not as bad." He finally said. "If you are sensitive, you might lose your lunch. It's up to you." Axel shook his head. "I'd really rather not talk about it." Something in his tone kept Roxas from pressing the matter, and the conversation turned to something less serious. But Roxas had a feeling he would eventually have to check out the attic. He wanted to understand Axel's life, and he was sure the attic had a lot of clues.

No matter how disturbing it might be.