Chapter 5 is here peoples! I don't know how often I'm going to be able to update for the next couple of weeks cause it's the end of the semester and therefore exam and summative time so I'm pretty busy but I'll do my best.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters but I will make it my life goal to try :P

Axel

I pull into the driveway and park the car, sitting in silence and darkness for countless minutes. "You can't just throw those three words around so lightly." Roxas was right. Who was I kidding? He's fourteen and I'm eighteen, I can't just say that and expect him to tell me he loves me back. I sigh and pull the keys out of the ignition, getting out of the car and locking it.

I walk up to the front door and step inside. The hall and foyer are dark. I walk into the kitchen and pull open the fridge, taking one of Reno's bottles of beer and uncorking it. I'm ready to chug it down when I feel someone in the kitchen with me and I sigh, shutting the fridge door and turning around to find Demyx standing behind me, his arms folded with a disappointed scowl on his lips.

"Axel, don't you dare." He commands.

"Dem, I can't get drunk remember? It doesn't matter." I state.

He rolls his eyes, stalks over, and pulls the beer out of my hand. "Okay, what happened?"

I rub my eyes and drag my hand down my face. "I told him I love him and he couldn't say it back." Demyx hits me upside the back of my head. "OW! What the hell Dem!" I yell.

"You're an idiot. Roxas is a sensitive kid and he doesn't need you fucking up his life."

"Yeah, I kind of figured that." I reply dryly.

His face softens. "So what are you going to do now?"

I smile. "Well, although Roxas did refuse to tell me he loves me, yet, we're going to get to know each other, which will involve dates and spending lots and lots of time with him."

Demyx rolls his eyes. "Now there's the Axel I know."

I reach over and grab the beer out of his hand, taking a drink of it before he can take it back. He sighs and shakes his head. "Sometimes I wonder why you call me the child."

I raise my eyebrow. He seriously just said that.

Roxas

I go to school early on Monday just to avoid another awkward conversation with Cloud. The whole weekend was kind of quiet and strained at best. Cloud and I barely talked and all we did was spend the whole time with Zack.

When I get there, the school is practically empty. I find a tree and sink to the ground with my back against the trunk, bringing my knees up to my chest and resting folded arms across them. I watch people walk by to get to the school until I'm nearly falling asleep. Through half lidded eyes, I see two pairs of feet step into view.

I reopen my eyes and rub them, looking up to find Sora and Xion. My stomach churns as I remember that they never told me the truth about them, but I manage to put on a false smile. "Hey guys."

Sora folds his arms. "Roxas, we need to talk."

I swallow hard. "Okay."

"Look, we think you should stop hanging out with Axel." Xion states pointedly.

I blink in shock. That was unexpected. "Why is this suddenly coming up?"

"Well…" Sora throws an uncertain glance at Xion, and then looks back at me. "He's dangerous. I know you know that."

My eyes narrow at him. "I know some things, not a lot of things evidently." I push myself to my feet and attempt to walk past them, but I feel one of them catch my arm in a strong grip to stop me. I whirl around to find that it's Xion.

"Roxas, could you just listen to us on this one? Axel's not safe; you don't know anything about him." She warns.

"I don't know a lot about you guys either now do I?" I ask coldly.

Both of them freeze and look at each other, then back at me. "How much did he tell you?" Sora asks.

"More than enough." I pull my arm free from Xion's slack grip and walk towards the school without missing a step. Again, I feel bad because I've let my anger get the better of me. What's wrong with me?

There was one thing I had forgotten over the weekend: I have to spend my whole day with Axel. He's going to notice something is bugging me. I walk into class just before the bell and take my seat next to him. I pull out my binder and a pen and rest it on the desk in front of me. I can feel Axel staring at the board and although I'm glad he hasn't turned his attention to me, I also feel slightly hurt by it. Now I definitely feel like I made the wrong decision.

I can't work for the rest of class, I just kind of sit there, staring at my notes and hoping my work will do itself. Or maybe my whole life can just fuck itself over already. When the bell rings, I barely notice, but Axel taps my shoulder, snapping me out of my trance. I look up at him and find that he looks kind of awkward.

"So, um, what do you want to do for spare?" He asks, running his hand through his hair.

"We could go out for an early lunch." I suggest.

He smiles. "Perfect."

He turns to leave and I hesitate for a second before I get up and follow him out. We leave the school and head into town, walking in silence the whole way. I begin to shudder and shake from the cold halfway through. Winter is truly starting to come through.

Axel notices me shaking and pulls his jacket out of his bag, draping it over my shoulders. I turn to him and find him wearing only a t-shirt. "Aren't you cold?" I ask.

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Rox, I'm a demon remember?"

I roll my eyes. "People are going to know you're weird when it's the middle of winter and you're not wearing a jacket."

He grins. "I'll wear a jacket when it comes to that time then. Until that time though, you're the one who needs it."

I blink and then turn my gaze to the ground. I can't believe that's the first conversation we've had for two days. "Axel, I'm really sorry about Friday." I mumble.

"You don't need to be. It was a stupid thing for me to say. You're right, we need to work on our relationship before we go all 'Twilight'."

I raise my eyebrow at him. "There is no way I'm Bella." I say sternly.

He breaks out laughing at that. "Not even close Roxy! You're way cuter."

I blush slightly. "Thanks, I guess. You're way hotter than Edward." I nearly face palm. Did I just say that?

His smile widens and he pulls me into a crushing embrace. "Aw! Thanks Foxy Roxy!"

I notice people staring at us now. "Ax, people are watching." I warn. Completely mortifying, him screaming my nickname to the world just then.

He lets me go. "You're so cute when you get embarrassed."

"Ax." I warn, a blush creeping back onto my cheeks.

"And your little blush." He adds, making me blush harder and glare at him. "And don't even get me started on the glare." Now I'm pouting. "Or your pout."

"AXEL CINDER YOU'RE DEAD!" I yell.

He runs off cackling as I chase after him, ready to beat his head in. At least now things are back to normal. As long as he doesn't hate me, everything's fine.

I don't know why things were ever even awkward in the first place. Over lunch, Axel and I find that we're getting along normally and we just talk and spill all of our secrets, well, basically. My past is still an off limits topic. We head back to school for the afternoon and then afterwards, he offers to drive me home.

He pulls his car into my driveway and parks it. I unbuckle my seatbelt and flash him a smile. "I'm glad things worked out today. I was worried that you hated me."

He scoffs. "Yeah, like I could ever hate you." There's a smirk on his lips and I immediately regret saying anything.

I lean back in the seat and fold my arms. "Jerk."

"You love it." He teases, planting a kiss on my cheek.

I damn my heart when my impulses take over and I reach up, grabbing his face before he can lean away and pulling him in for a kiss. Once our lips meet, he's shocked, but I'm kissing him, moving my mouth against his. He smiles against my lips and starts kissing me back, delving his tongue into my mouth.

In a way, I can't believe I'm doing this. It feels so wrong and so right at the same time. Why didn't I ever kiss him sooner?

I'm left breathless when he's the one to pull away, mostly for air. He has this grin on his face that isn't cocky for once, it's sincere. "Wow Roxy, I didn't think you could kiss back, or that you had the guts to initiate a kiss."

I feel my face heat up and I sneer at him. "Jerk." I open the passenger door and climb out, slamming it shut and walking towards the house, giving him a slight wave over my shoulder. I'm smiling though as I walk into the house and when I close the door, I watch him leave through the barely transparent window. I let out a sigh of pleasure and shake my head slowly. Yeah, this feels right.

Now that I'm not in a bad mood, I figure that I should confront Sora, Xion, Namine, and Kairi. I find them before school the next day and start to make my way over to the tree they're sitting under when I'm intercepted by Demyx and Zexion.

I look up at them. "Hey guys."

"Roxas, we need to talk." Zexion says.

I frown. Why does everyone need to talk to me lately? "I'm kind of doing something at the moment, can't it wait?"

"Come on Roxy, this is important!" Demyx complains.

I pout, thinking the same thing about what I was supposed to be doing before I follow them. They lead me to the back field of the school, which is completely empty. "Okay, so what is this about?" I ask.

"Axel told us what happened between the two of you last week." Zexion says bluntly.

"Yes, but it's all fine now." I assure him.

"Listen Roxas, Axel's never fallen this hard. We're his best friends and we don't want him to get hurt." Demyx says.

I nod. "I understand, but that's exactly what I was trying to prevent. I don't want either of us to get hurt for rushing into this."

"Yes, but that's not particularly what we're worried about. Axel can live forever, but we're not too sure if you can." Zexion tells me.

I blink in shock. I had forgotten about that kind of factor. I don't know exactly what my not-true-humanity grants me. Well, so far it hasn't granted me anything except trouble.

"Just… be really careful about this whole thing okay?" Demyx asks, flashing me a smile.

"Yeah, of course." I agree.

They say goodbye, Demyx gives me a hug, and they leave. I stand frozen in the middle of the field, contemplating. Maybe I should try asking Angeal and Genesis to make me an angel again.

Since Zexion and Demyx took my time earlier, I use lunch to seek out Sora, Kairi, Xion, and Namine. I find them at the exact same spot as Sora and Xion were at last time and take a deep breath before I walk over to them. They all look up at me in some unplanned synchronization that's kind of creepy.

I take a seat next to Namine and look around at all of them. "Look, I'm sorry about how I acted yesterday." I apologise.

Sora grins. "Apology accepted. You know everything now anyways so there's no use in hiding."

"You see, we were all changed a hundred years ago and we drifted together, kind of like Axel did with Demyx and Zexion. Every supernatural creature has this sort of instinct to look for the light and we found it in you, so we knew that we had to stick by you and protect you from people like Sephiroth." Kairi explains.

"Axel is a demon, and since demons feed on light, we just figured that he isn't safe for you to be around." Namine adds.

"Guys, your concern is nice but I can take care of myself. Axel's not a bad demon; he doesn't even have a contract with Sephiroth. He, Reno, Demyx, and Zexion are good." I tell them.

Xion smiles. "Okay, but if any of them bug you then just let us know and we'll give them a piece of our mind."

I chuckle and shake my head. "I'll keep that in mind."

With my relationships with my friends back intact, I figure all that's left to do is make sure that Cloud and I are on speaking terms, and also talk to him about the immortality situation.

We sit at the kitchen table for dinner that night, just the two of us since Zack is working. I notice that he's only forking his food like me, and dinner feels awkward, like it has for a while now.

"Cloud," I catch his attention, "I'm wondering if maybe I could talk to Angeal and Genesis?"

He lets his lip twitch in I think what was meant to be a frown, but his face otherwise remains impassive. "Rox, we've talked about the angel thing dozens of times, it's not happening."

"Why? I might actually be able to stand up for myself instead of just being useless and defenceless." I argue.

"That's not the point. Zack and I can protect you. Being an angel is way too dangerous."

"So it's fine for you to do it then! You say something is dangerous and then you go do it, but when it comes to me I can't! Why!" I yell, sounding a lot angrier than I had intended.

Now he allows a frown to cross his features. "Roxas, you can't understand why. Things are complicated."

"Explain this to me then because I'm dying to know. You won't let me become an angel so you don't have to worry about me dying?" I ask.

He narrows his eyes. "Don't think for a second that I don't worry about that every single damn day. Don't you get it? What you are cannot live forever. Demons and other supernatural creatures would be after you for your entire life and your light would grow stronger. You'd be in even more danger than ever."

My heart sinks and I slouch in my chair, looking down to avoid his gaze.

I hear him sigh. "Supernatural creatures are tough to kill. If you were to become immortal and Sephiroth of all people caught you, he could drain your light for eternity and feed his power infinitely."

I slightly tremble at that thought. The light that supernatural creatures sense in me is really like an energy source, and they can feed on it to make themselves stronger. I hear it costs me my soul though, and if I lose too much light at once, then my soul disappears and I'm a hollow shell, or I die.

"Do you understand?" Cloud asks, shaking me from my thoughts.

I look up at him. He gives me a tight-lipped grin. I can't even smile back and I just nod instead. I don't really want to die and I definitely don't want to leave Cloud. I'd never ever see him again, and he's the one who has been here for me my entire life. I would have to leave Axel, and Zack, and Demyx, Zexion, Sora, Namine, Xion, Kairi, and Reno forever. Maybe I can figure out some other way, maybe just gain immortality so it's not as bad.

I wonder what will happen if I say five reviews for the next chapter? Please make it happen :)