Roxas stared at the plate in front of him, piled high with an assortment of food. "Do you really expect me to eat all of this?" He asked warily, poking at the pile with his fork. It had probably been his imagination, but he could have sworn he saw something more.

Axel didn't answer, as he was too busy shoveling nauseating amounts of food into his mouth. "Try it," he said, after swallowing the food painfully, "I may not look it, but I'm a brilliant cook."

"Oh, and humble, too," said Roxas, rolling his eyes, "That's not really the point, though, is it? The point IS that no normal human being could possibly eat this much food."

Axel pretended to look hurt. "I eat this much food every day."

Roxas gave him a look that said quite clearly what he thought of that. Axel grinned and went back to eating.

Roxas speared a sausage on his fork and stared at it intently.

"It's not poisoned," Axel laughed, "Will you just eat it already?"

Roxas shot him a defiant look and popped the sausage in his mouth, chewing with vehemence. Oh, it really was good. Roxas made a pleased, "Mm," and got another, grinning while chewing. "Wow," he said after swallowing, "It really is good."

"I told you. Now hurry up. I have to get to work soon and I need to escort you home still."

"You don't need to do that," Roxas said quietly, looking away, "I can get home myself."

"No way. I'm taking you home whether you like it or not."

Roxas set his fork down on his plate, his appetite gone. He didn't relish the idea of Axel walking him home at all. "I would really rather just walk myself back. It's no big deal."

Axel sighed, running his hand through his spiky red hair. "Look, I'm the type of person who can't let a kid…-"

"I'm not a kid!" Roxas interrupted indignantly.

Axel frowned and continued, "…I can't let a GUEST walk home alone. So, I always walk them home. It's the way I am, nothing you say can change that." Besides he thought, If I let you walk back alone, there's no doubt you're going to just throw yourself back over that bridge. He hadn't asked Roxas about it, knowing it was probably a touchy subject, but Axel really did wonder why the blonde boy had tried to kill himself. As far as he could see, Roxas didn't seem suicidal. At least, until he had started talking about taking him home. Was that it? Did he have a bad home life? If that was the case, why didn't he just say something about it? Although, Axel knew that some people didn't like to talk about those kinds of things with anyone, let alone complete strangers. As much as he hated to admit it, he WAS a complete stranger to the boy, and the fact that he wasn't exactly pouring out his soul shouldn't have been all that surprising.

"I'll go get dressed," Roxas said quietly, standing up.

As much as he tried to hide it, Roxas did have a lot going on, a lot more than he ever let anyone else know. He wasn't going to say anything to Axel. He was going to just go home and maybe he would get another chance to kill himself later. Only this time he would do it more discreetly, so there would be no chance of another do-gooder like Axel screwing it up. He found his clothes hanging out on the balcony. He grabbed them off the line and went to change. He found himself slightly sad that he had to discard to clothes Axel had given him, but he decided that that was just because it was from his favorite band, nothing more. Besides, now wasn't the time to start getting emotionally attached to someone. He was going to die soon, and interference was not welcome.

Axel gathered up the plates and scraped Roxas' barely-touched food into the trash. It wasn't exactly that he was surprised that the blonde had barely eaten, only a little disappointed. It only proved the boy was suicidal. From now on, Axel would have to make sure to keep an eye on him. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if someone he had saved just went and killed themselves later.

Roxas came back out, fully dressed. "I'm ready to go," he said, his eyes dull and glazed. Axel stared for a moment with concern and steered the blonde out of the house.

They didn't talk much along the way, even though Axel tried his hardest to start many conversations. Roxas didn't seem to be paying him any attention, though, and eventually Axel just gave up.

"This is my place," he said, stopping at a small yellow house, "Thanks again for walking me." He looked like he was anything but thankful, but Axel accepted it anyway.

"No problem. Here." He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Roxas. "That's my cell number. Call me if there's ever anything you need to talk about. I'll always be there." Roxas stared at the paper, and Axel could have sworn he saw a smile begin to creep its way along his face. But Roxas turned away, heading into the house. Axel left quickly, knowing he was going to be in trouble for being late to work.

Roxas went inside and quietly shut the door. He didn't bother announcing himself. Even if anybody was in the house, they wouldn't care that he had been gone a whole day. Heck, they probably wouldn't care even if he told them why he had left in the first place. He stared at the slip of paper Axel had given him. His instinct told him to throw it away, that he was going to be dead soon and didn't need such trivial things. But he pulled out his wallet and stuck it in there. At least when he died, maybe then Axel could come to the funeral. That is, if his parents didn't just bury him in the ground, not wanting to waste money on a funeral for him.

Roxas clenched his hand tightly at the thought. It made him angry to feel so unloved, but it also made him feel…happy. He wouldn't be missed once he was gone. At least he didn't have to cause his parents any more pain than he had made them go through already. This would be the only useful thing he would ever do for his parents, and he only hoped they would appreciate it.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. Yeah, it was a little cliché, but so what? He wasn't trying to impress anyone. He climbed the stairs slowly, not bothering to hide the knife. He half-hoped that someone, anyone, would walk past him, see the knife, and talk him out of it. But nobody came, even though Roxas could hear voices in the upstairs den. Nobody would ever come. He just had to accept that fact. At least he wouldn't have to deal with it much longer, although that did little to make him feel any better.

He went into his room and gently closed the door, but left it open a little. His room was nothing special. He had shared a room with his brother before, but now it was his. The only difference was that it was empty of all of Sora's things, leaving it quite bare. Maybe it was depressing, but Roxas had never really thought much of it. Besides, like he had said before, it didn't really matter. Nothing would matter soon.

Sitting on his bed, Roxas held the knife over his wrist. Now was the moment. He had to get it done before he lost his nerve. He had to do it quickly because any hesitation would leave him bleeding for hours before he passed out, and, although he was sure he deserved it, he didn't want to be in pain. He screwed his eyes shut and pressed down, hard.

It hurt. It really hurt. It was probably the most painful physical thing he had ever felt. He gasped, bending over, while hot warmth dripped thickly from his wrist and fell onto the white carpet, leaving a blackish stain. He felt his vision swim and felt pleased that he had done it correctly. In a matter of minutes, he would pass out, and within the hour he would be dead. He lay down on his bed, watching as the blood gushed out from the slit in his wrist. It was quite fascinating, really. The red ran down his arms in rivulets that he arranged in his mind as people and things he knew. Before he passed out, he imagined he saw Sora's face, smiling back at him.

"Finally," Axel stretched, smiling, "My shift's over. What do you wanna do now, Demyx?"

Demyx shrugged. "Whatever. Although I'm leaning a little towards sleep if that's an option."

"It's not," Axel laughed. "Come on, what's a night on the town without my best friend?" He paused a moment, hearing his phone ring. "Hold on a sec. Yeah?"

"Hello, are you a family member or friend of a Roxas Hikari?"

Axel frowned. "Yeah, he a friend, why? Who is this?"

"We found your number in his wallet. We thought you might want to know that he's in the hospital."

Axel's breath caught in his throat. "In the hospital? Why?"

"He tried to slit his wrists. Luckily, his parents found him before he lost too much blood and brought him to the hospital. He'll probably be fine."

"Probably…?"

"At any rate, if you're going to visit him, I would do it soon. He's at the Saint Mary. The secretary will give you the room information."

"Thank you," Axel murmured, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Demyx asked.

"The hospital. Someone I know is there. We have to go, now."

AN: I wanted Axel to be a cook. So sue me.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, sadly. I don't know of a hospital called Saint Mary, but I'm sure there is one so I guess I don't own that either.