One Wish
Chapter 2 – Believe the Nightmare
xXx
"You're not freeloading off of me anymore, you ungrateful little bastard! Get out of my house right this second!"
Roxas ducked away from the empty beer bottle that came rocketing towards his head. "Not without Sora! I'm not leaving him in this shithole you call a house!" Another bottle was thrown, shattering far to the teen's left.
"Watch your fuckin' mouth, kid!"
"I'm nineteen, dad! I'm not some little pipsqueak you can order around! I'm not Sora!"
"I'm not a pipsqueak, Rox. I'm big enough to look out for myself.
Roxas froze at the sound of his brunette brother's voice. "Sora ... I thought you were staying the night with Riku." The younger stepped closer to the blonde, eyeing the filled book bag in Roxas' hand.
"We saw you come home. I wanted to see you again so we ran over here."
Roxas glanced over his shoulder at his father. "Well, go upstairs, okay? Go pack. I'm getting you - ahh!" Roxas had seen the latest bottle as it left his father's hand and instantly knew the target. Lunging forward, Roxas put himself between the weapon and his little brother. He felt it shatter against his back, crying out and pulling Sora close. "We've gotta go, Sor. I'm not gonna let you get hurt!" Edging his little brother back, Roxas got him back to the door without any other sharp objects being thrown at them. Riku was waiting at the door, but Roxas shoved him out of the way.
"Roxas, I'm not just gonna leave all my stuff! Where'll we go?" Sora tried to rebel against his brother but Roxas was stronger, getting the door closed behind them.
"I'll go get your stuff. But you can't take much. I don't want dad to hurt you. We both know how he gets at Christmas because of mom. He's worse this year than I've ever seen him. So listen to me. Both of you. Riku, I know we don't get along very well, but I need you to look after my brother. Sora, you need to live there until I can get on my feet, okay? Don't you dare be a burden to them."
Tears were in the younger brother's eyes as Roxas still looked around like he was about to get shot. "Roxas, it sounds like you're about to leave!"
The elder sighed, closing his eyes, leaning forwards, and placing a soft kiss on his brother's forehead. "Only for a little while. But, I promise. I'll be back. I'll be back and we can be our own family, just me and you. We'll have a house and everything. I promise."
Sora turned his glistening eyes to his best friend, almost begging him for some answers. "Would it be okay, Riku? For me to stay for a bit?" Aquamarine eyes traveled onto the elder brother, searching for something. Roxas didn't try to hide anything, knowing that his brother's survival was on the line. He just looked back into those always-accusing eyes, feeling the hate that Riku held for him. Finally Riku moved back to looking at the brunette boy.
"Of course. I'd never leave you stranded like that." Roxas knew that it was an insult on him so he did the first thing that came to mind. He balled his fist.
"You asshole! You don't know a goddamned thing about what we've gone through! Don't you dare fuckin' accuse me of-"
"Roxas! Please! He wasn't accusing you of anything! Please!" Sora's begging tone brought Roxas back to his senses, realizing he could have just ruined his chances of keeping his brother safe. Closing his eyes and counting slowly, Roxas calmed himself.
"I'm sorry, Riku." he ground out. Stepping away from his brother, Roxas gripped the doorknob. "Sora, you head over there while I get you some clothes, okay? Please?"
Sora nodded sadly, allowing himself to be led from his house by the silver-haired teen. When he knew for sure that his brother was safe, Roxas allowed himself to feel the pain in his back where some of the glass had dug in.
xXx
Axel groaned, hating the smell of himself. The fragrance surrounding him was sweet to the point of being sickening in his eyes, but the children seemed to love it. Their faces would brighten when he walked by and he got some sort of weird sick feeling in his stomach from it. He told himself that it was just the smell getting to him.
It'd already been three days of wandering around the Earth but he hadn't found someone that adored him yet. But he was trying. He had found a small little apartment to make his being there seem more realistic. None of his neighbours had even batted an eye at him.
The day earlier he had tried to approach a kid that seemed to be gawking at him, giving him a large, toothy grin, leaning down to be more the kid's height. Before he knew what was going on, the little boy was crying and a woman was screaming at him, hitting him over the head with her purse, screaming "Get away from my son, you perverted pedophile!"
That was something he'd never been called before. If anyone's a pedophile, it's Marluxia, he grumbled to himself, nursing his wounds.
As he walked, he stumbled upon one of the shrines for Marluxia - a Santa's Village - that were scattered all about the countries. This was the third one he'd seen in as many days so he decided it wouldn't really hurt to stop in and see all the lies that had developed over the years.
"Welcome to Santa's Village. Enjoy your stay." An elf a head shorter than the redhead drawled, obviously not amused by the thought of an adult looking around the attraction alone, with no kids of his own in sight. Axel smirked, eyeing the employee with his emerald eyes glistening.
"I don't plan on staying all that long."
Bright blue eyes were rolled, causing Axel's smirk to widen. "Well, that's a shame, because everyone loves our village," was drawled as though spoken from a script. The tone of the boy's voice made Axel laugh.
"Do you speak with so much enthusiasm to everyone?"
The shorter boy only glared. Axel never let his smirk die as he put his hands up in defence, walking away from the elf. When he had moved far enough away, he ran a hand up through his vibrant spikes, laughing aloud. "Way to get someone to adore you, asshole." He laughed again to hide how desperate he was beginning to feel. He only had another twenty-two days left until it was Christmas. He had been so certain that he was going to find someone.
Did he really have such a revolting personality?
He whipped around when he felt something small connect with the back of his head. "Was that enthusiastic?" Axel looked down at the candy cane at his feet before looking up at the elf that had thrown it.
"Careful there, elf. I've got some connections with the one you call 'Santa'. You wouldn't want to get put on the 'Naughty' list, now would you?"
A grin spread across the shorter male's face as he stepped closer to the redhead. "I don't believe in fairytales, sir. I'm too old for that crap."
Axel leaned down closer to the boy's face, giving him an eerie grin. "I'm glad you don't believe in Santa, because that's a lie. He's real, but all that anyone knows about him is a lie." He didn't know why he felt like explaining his story, but this boy seemed to haul it out of him. "But the horror stories are real. All real. Believe the nightmares, not the dreams." The boy backed away, crinkling his nose, spluttering slightly at the overwhelmingly sweet stench. A blonde eyebrow was raised and Axel wondered if there was hair the same shade under the cap.
"What do the nightmares say?" he asked, obviously not believing a word the redhead said but feeling like humouring the taller man.
"Santa has a brother. An evil brother. That eats the wicked. Santa gives him the Naughty list and he goes and gobbles them right up." Axel straightened himself, putting a finger to his chin, looking to the sky in thought. "Though he's getting pretty slack, so, he's about thirty years behind schedule." Laughing, the redhead watched the boy's humoured expression fall.
"Yeah, man, I think that you need to go visit the loony bin for a while."
Axel exaggerated a fake pout. "Aww, what, reality is too scary for the little elf?"
The boy shook his head, backing away. "It's not reality. Just something some nutbar cooked up. Some nutbar that reeks."
The last statement caused Axel to tilt his head in confusion. "Reeks? Like, smells bad? But ... I thought kids liked sweet smells." The boy's lip curled in disgust.
"Pedo! Is that why you came here? To prey on the kids?"
Axel stumbled back at the rage on the boy's face. "What? No! Jeez, why does everyone call me that here?" Pounding his forehead with his fist, Axel grumbled at the boy in front of him. "I'm not a pedophile. I just don't want Marluxia to beat me!"
"Well, I don't think you should stay here if you're just trying to lure away kids! Get out, right now, before I call security on you!"
A sigh left the redhead's lips. "Now, now. There is no need. I wouldn't want anyone getting hurt. I've just got to win a bet and then I'll be out of your hair."
"I'll be keeping my eye on you, you pervert."
"Little elf, I'm not a bad guy. Well, everyone thinks I am, but I'm not. Just give me the benefit of the doubt, would you? This is getting annoying. I've never fought to get someone to understand me before, you know." The shorter male started shaking his head slightly, barely moving it back and forth, only enough for Axel to sense the fear coming from him. A concerned expression crossed the redhead's features when the boy started to back away once more. "You're ... afraid of me, aren't you?"
"N-No. Why the hell would I be?"
"Watch your language. There're kids around." The one in the costume glared up at the redhead and Axel sighed, running a hand through his spikes. "This was a mistake. Don't worry about me abducting any kids. You won't even need to call security. You're ticking me off, so I'm leaving before I manage to hurt the only one other than my brother that I've had any sort of decent conversation with in a long while. Goodbye, elf. Don't you dare manage to get yourself on the Naughty list. I wouldn't want to see you thirty years from now huddling in fear." A smirk forced its way onto Axel's lips at the shocked and horrified expression on the younger's face. "Merry Christmas." He was heading for the exit before the 'elf' called out to him but he didn't turn back. He knew he probably shouldn't have uncovered his secret, but he didn't really care.
It's not like anyone would believe him anyways.
xXx
To be Continued
xXx
Poor little Elf.
~xbuttonsx~