Characters belong to Square Enix, story belongs to me.
Inspiration from"The other side isn't so green" and "Here at the other side" By Sammy-Dee.
Sorry for the late update, I had part of this written out, but I got stuck rather badly. Deleted what I had written, and started over yesterday, finishing rather quickly :).
Hope you like it.
~DSL

The evil behind two faces

Chapter 13

"Axel is sick" by Demyx Yamanouchi

As the first few days with the twins passed, Axel seemed a bit better. He seemed a bit happier, which made me smile, he deserved that. I noticed that Roxas was paying for Axel's way back home. Unfortunately enough, I wasn't the only one who noticed. His parents got suspicious nearing the end of the first week, taking it out on him. To me, it therefore was no surprise when he didn't show up for school on Friday. And again, Monday and Tuesday, no Axel.
Roxas seemed to have some sort of interest for Axel as well, asking about him every day. Asking me to stop by after school, delivering his homework, to see how he was doing, if he was getting lonely... I had to disappoint him every time, knowing that every visit, every phonecall would make it worse for Axel. Way worse.
Unfortunately, Roxas was a curious one, and didn't accept no for an answer. He stopped by on Saturday, trying to deliver the homework and see how he was doing, if he was getting any better. Knowing that it wouldn't help Axel, Riku and I decided to show the twins around town on Sunday, taking Roxas' mind off of Axel. Riku showed particular interest in Sora, and I watched the pair with amusement, the brunette was so oblivious to Riku, interested in everything and anything at the same time. Roxas just sulked beside me, pretending to be interested in the things Riku and I showed him, but obviously, his thoughts were elsewhere. And to be honest, so were mine...

When I still hadn't heard anything from Axel on Monday, I really started to get worried. His father had goon too far before, every time was like taking a gamble with fate. His father knew that, Axel knew that, we all knew it, but nobody could do anything about it.
When I looked outside at night on Monday, I saw a flash of red, and somehow Axel had seen me, standing still before the window. He seemed to be alright, he gave me a weak thumbs up, and then walked on, not wanting to cause more trouble. I had seen him in worse states, but in better states as well.
Tuesday, Roxas wasn't just sulking, he was downright depressed. Only looking at the ground, constantly asking me if I had heard anything from Axel, and his mood getting even worse when I told him I hadn't. I didn't share the short encounter through the window, I didn't want to worry him any more than necessary.

When Axel got back to school on Wednesday, Roxas was suspicious, to say the least. He kept trying to figure out what had been going on, asking both Axel and me, then when we didn't give an answer that was satisfying him, he asked Zexion and Riku as well, who knew even less than I did. Long story short: everyone was worrying about someone. Roxas and I were worried about Axel, Sora was worried about Roxas, Riku was worried about Sora and Axel, Zexion was worried about Axel, but he never showed his worries. At some point during lunch, Roxas left for the bathroom. At that point Axel joined our worry club, knowing something the others didn't. I gave him a questioning look, but he shook his head. Sora seemed to be even more worried by then, but also didn't say a word about it. When Roxas finally came back, he seemed a bit paler than usual, but once again, nobody spoke.
Roxas just kept a close eye on Axel, but that was a mutual thing. Axel didn't let the blonde get out of his sight, somehow seeming to like his presence a lot. I could see the worry written in his eyes, and I couldn't help but wonder what would come out of this.

In the weeks following, Roxas learnt to be worried whenever Axel was absent, as he'd come back to school pretending nothing had happened, but having bruises, cuts, sometimes a limp. He didn't ask about it, but he looked after Axel a bit, making sure he ate something during lunch, making sure he paid attention during class...
Soon, Axel had gotten used to Roxas' behaviour and learned to appreciate it. As he didn't have much money to spend on food (or just didn't want to spend much on food), he didn't eat much, and sometimes didn't eat at all. Roxas made sure he ate something, preferably something healthy.
Axel asked him to stop visiting and calling when he was sick soon, not explaining why, but, Roxas being the smart kid he is, got the hint and stopped doing so. It was torture to him, I got to witness it from closeby as Roxas tended to stick with me a lot when Axel wasn't at school, trying to get some information on his state from me. Unfortunately enough, I didn't know much, if anything more.