A/N: *hangs head in shame* don't hate me. Disclaimer: I do not own kingdom hearts.
A stiff, tense atmosphere covered the room as my words sunk in. Aqua covered her mouth with the back of her hand and squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh my god, what are we going to do?" Sora whispered. I flinched at the amount of fear in his trembling voice. Riku held him closer, blinking in stunned shock. Everyone was in a silent panic, especially Terra; the poor guy had started shaking. "We do nothing," Roxas said. We all looked at him in disbelief. "What? What do you mean do nothing?" Axel spoke up. I felt a glimmer of surprise; that was the first time I'd heard him speak. Roxas glanced up and was abnormally calm, though his eyes were hard. "We pretend like nothing happened. Stay in character as long as possible. If we all act the way the school wants us too, it will be seen as an apology. No one will get hurt," he explained flatly. All eyes turned on him and Roxas met each gaze steadily.
While the others nervously nodded in agreement, I could only stare at him, my head swimming. Roxas refused to look at me and stood up. "We should start by getting out of the bathroom. The school closes in five minutes," he said, glancing halfheartedly at the clock on the wall. I felt a brief glimmer of surprise; we had been hiding for eight hours already? There was a brief silence then Sora spoke up. "Won't people see us?" he said. I shut my eyes tightly and tried to calm the sudden jolt of anger in my chest. "Of course. But we have a greater chance of them not seeing us if we go out the back entrance," Roxas said. I sat stiffly as the rest of the group got to their feet. The others were looking at Roxas now like he was some sort of savior. It pissed me off. 'He doesn't even have to go into character! He doesn't understand,' I thought, wanting desperately to say it out loud.
A pale hand came into my line of vision and I looked up, startled. "Come on, Ven," Vanitas said. I glanced around and realized that we had been left behind. I felt as though there were glass shards caught in my throat. I looked away as I took his outstretched hand and I let him help me to my feet. I stayed quiet as we caught up with the rest of the group. "Ventus, is something wrong? You seem...I don't know...tense," Vanitas asked. My jaw clenched and unclenched. "Does it look like I'm okay?" I hissed. Vanitas flinched only slightly. "Well, what's bugging you?" he questioned, placing a hand on my arm to pull me to a halt. I turned to glare at him, then froze. His face held the same expression as it had when we were getting the suitcases. 'Damn it, he did nothing wrong. Stop being such a douche!' I scolded myself. I sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry for snapping. I'm just...I'm a little pissed off at the moment. You didn't do anything wrong," I said. I could hear the exhaustion in my voice and shook my head.
He let his hand slide from my arm and let it fall limply to hang at his side. The skin covering my arm tingled. "Uh, here. I usually mess around with the charm and it calms me down when I feel stressed out. Maybe it will help you, too," Vanitas said handing me a small bracelet. I studied it and ran my fingers over the charm. It looked a little like a heart with an 'X' through it. I smiled shyly at Vanitas and thanked him. He simply nodded and we hurried to catch up with the others. I slipped the bracelet into my pocket and found myself staring at the back of Roxas' head as he walked beside his partner. He just seemed so confident, so sure of himself. My anger roared through me once more. 'Well, why shouldn't he? He has no worries,' I thought bitterly. I stopped mid-step; everyone had stopped walking. The group was quiet for a moment. "We should probably get home now," Aqua said softly. I glanced at her and immediately felt guilty; I was so busy focusing on my childish anger towards Roxas instead of noticing my best friend's state of mind. Hell, from the look of things, everyone looked exactly like she did: tired, depressed, worried, and, most of all, fearful.
"Ven?" I looked up and realized that Roxas had asked me something. I swallowed my anger. "What?" I asked. My brother stepped closer to me and took my hand. "We need to go back to Dad's place. Are you up to it?" he said. An involuntary shudder went down my spine. I gulped and clenched my jaw, despite my fear. There was no way I was going to let my little brother see that I was afraid. "Sure. What do we need there?" I asked. Roxas, who had been so confident before, suddenly looked vulnerable. It made my heart ache. My anger faded away almost instantly. "I remember that I have something in my room that I need to get. It's important. I won't be able to sleep without it," he whispered in my ear. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, but I didn't question him. I felt a small nudge on the small of my back and glanced behind me. Vanitas looked back at me in concern. I smiled a little in reassurance. "I'll be home soon, okay?" I said. He still seemed concerned but nodded regardless. I followed my brother as the group dispersed, each of my friends going in separate directions. Roxas didn't speak as we climbed the inclined sidewalk towards our house. "Hey, are you okay? I didn't get a chance to ask you," I blurted. My brother turned his face towards me and my eyes widened as I saw the damage that Seifer had caused. His right eye was swollen shut and had turned an ugly purple color. His lip was split in two places and a long cut went up the side of his left cheek. The skin covering majority of his face was black and blue with fist-shaped bruises.
"Oh my god, Rox, I'm so sorry," I breathed, tugging him into a hug. He hesitated for a moment then hugged me back. "I'm an awful big brother. I should have been there for you, to protect you," I said, my chest heavy with emotion. Roxas made a muffled noise and his fingers gripped the back of my jacket. "D-don't apologize. You couldn't have known that this was going to happen," he mumbled. I squeezed my eyes shut and bit my lip; he sounded like he was about to cry. "Besides, you had it worse than me," he said. I frowned in confusion and pulled away slightly. Roxas looked up at me, a knowing look in his eyes. "You really think that I don't know Dad beat you?" he asked. I glanced away and started walking again. Roxas followed and gazed at me expectantly. "You shouldn't worry about me. I'm fine," I said. Roxas huffed a laugh without humor. "You're not fine. No one is," he said flatly. It made me cringe a little, hearing how bitter my brother sounded.
"I know about what happened, Ven. I know that you stood up to Dad so I wouldn't have to face his wrath," he continued, "If anyone should be saying sorry, it's me. I haven't been the best brother in the world either. While you were off getting beaten nearly to death, I was...," he trailed off. I watched a blush creep into his cheeks and put two and two together. Despite the melancholy atmosphere, my eyebrows flew up and I had to try to stifle my grin. "You and Axel?" I asked. Roxas spluttered and turned his face away, which had gone beat red. I couldn't help it; I burst out laughing. The mood lightened considerably, to my relief. My brother covered his face and shoved my shoulder. "Oh, shut up! You're so embarrassing," he said flustered. I swung an arm over his shoulders and pulled him against me. "I never would have thought that you would get with the redhead," I teased. Roxas groaned and hung his head in defeat. "Dammit, there goes the whole moment. I didn't think that I was going to like him, but shit happened," he muttered. I waggled my eyebrows at him suggestively and, when he tried to respond, he ended up choking on his own spit.
I threw my head back and laughed. 'I've missed laughing with him,' I thought. "Well, what about you?" Roxas snapped. I furrowed my brows and looked at him in mild confusion. "What about me?" I said. Roxas pursed his lips and just stared at me pointedly. "You obviously have something going on with that goth guy," he said. My face went hot, much to his satisfaction. "W-what are you talking about? I do not have something going on with him. He's just my partner," I said, waving it off like it was nothing. Roxas started laughing and I realized that he was doing exactly what I'd been doing a moment ago. 'Little brat,' I thought affectionately. "His name is Vanitas, by the way, not 'goth guy'," I said. My brother raised his eyebrows and grinned like a cat. "Oh, forgive me, you have a thing going on with Vanitas," he said, drawing out the name. I frowned and stuck my tongue out at him. "I do not!" He grinned for a moment longer then became serious. "So, be honest. Are you two a thing?" he asked. I scratched the back of my neck in embarrassment and sighed. "Nah. It's just some mild flirting and small moments, that's all. I'm not going to get my hopes up. It's not like he'll ever like someone like me," I said. Shit, even I could hear the sadness in my voice.
I cleared my throat and focused on the sidewalk. "And you? How serious are you and Axel?" I asked, trying to steer the attention away from me. Roxas was silently staring at me, his eyebrows slightly furrowed. I clicked my tongue and pointed to our house. "Looks like Dad isn't home. Let's just hurry and get what we need and get out before he gets home," I said. Roxas nodded slowly in agreement, the look of concerned worry still etched in his expression. I walked a little bit faster and hopped up the steps to the porch. I frowned and stepped away from a large pile of newspapers that were stacked in a heap against the front door. I glanced at the mailbox and saw that it was nearly overflowing with mail. Without thinking, I tugged the mail out and stuck it under my armpit. I reached into my pocket to pull out my keys, but I stopped when Roxas grabbed my jacket sleeve. "Make sure that he isn't in there first," he said quietly. I clenched my jaw and peered into the front window.
The house, dimly lit by the sunlight, seemed to be empty. I couldn't really be sure, however, since the windows held a considerable amount of grime on their panes. I pulled away and wiped off the dirt from my hands on my jeans. Nervously, I gulped and reached into my pocket again. "There doesn't look like anyone is home. We just need to be really, really quiet, just in case," I muttered as I took my keys out my pocket. I tried to put the house key into the lock, but my hand was shaking so badly it just clinked against it. I didn't want Roxas to know that I was just as scared as he was; it would only make matters worse. I was the older brother and it was my responsibility to protect my little brother. With this thought in mind, I forced my hand to steady enough to get the key in the lock successfully. I nonchalantly looked over at him and found that he was looking around skittishly, not paying any attention to me. I sighed in relief and opened the door. Roxas took a deep breath and followed behind me into our house. I immediately gagged; there was an overwhelming scent of alcohol and trash. I lifted my shirt to my nose and glared around at the awful mess of a living room. Brown and green beer bottles, some broken and some half full, littered the floor, coffee table, and end tables. At least twenty cartons of empty Chinese food were scattered every which where, along with a variety of dirty laundry. I took a small step forward and had to avoid a mysterious stain that covered about a quarter of the rug. A flash of rage warmed my skin; our mother had made that rug. I heard a barely disguised snort of disgust from Roxas and knew that he had thought the same thing.
As we made our way through the living room, I found myself noticing more things that were out of the ordinary. Not only was it freezing cold, but there was also a thin layer of dust covering the surfaces of the tables and counters. The lamp that usually sat on the end table was broken on the floor, its bulb shattered. In fact, a lot of our things were thrown all over the room, either broken or close to it. It didn't make any sense to me. 'We haven't been gone that long, have we? What the hell could have happened in a few days?' I thought incredulously. Shaking my head, I placed the mail down on the island in the kitchen and stared at the fridge. The door was ajar and the light inside it was flickering in an almost eerie manner. "Holy-!" Roxas exclaimed before covering his mouth and nose with his hands. I mimicked him; the smell was worse than the one in the living room. It was like rotting meat and sour milk. I reached inside and pulled out a carton of milk. I tugged it open and gagged. I hurriedly went to the sink and dumped out its contents. Chunks of moldy milk hit the bottom of the sink with sickening splats. "That's so gross," I groaned, throwing the carton into the trashcan, which was close to overflowing.
I shut the refrigerator door and began sifting through the pile of mail. "Bills...bills...spam...coupons...," I mumbled, pausing. I held up a thick envelope and looked over at Roxas in surprise. He peered over my shoulder at the letter and his eyebrows flew up to his hairline. "Dad is seeing a shrink?" he said incredulously. I nodded and frowned down at the envelope. "If by seeing you mean sleeping around with, then yeah, he's seeing a shrink," I said, examining the other side of the letter. A fancy symbol looped around the back of the envelope. I took a pen and traced the symbol on the palm of my hand impulsively. "What's that for?" Roxas asked. I shrugged, not taking my eyes off the envelope. There was something about it that...freaked me out. "I'm going to look more into this when I get back to Vanitas," I explained. Roxas seemed worried but didn't question me, for which I was grateful. I stood staring at the envelope, trying to wrap my head around what the stupid thing meant. Roxas tugged at my jacket and gestured for the stairs. "Come on, we don't have time to figure things out right now," he said. I didn't respond; I simply followed him up the stairs into his room, the gears in my mind turning. 'What has happened since we've been gone?' I thought. What did Dad do? I glanced down at the slightly smudged symbol on my hand. For some reason, it registered as something important that I had seen somewhere before. I just couldn't remember for the life of me how it was familiar. Roxas rushed into his room and threw himself onto his bed with a sigh of contentment.
"I've missed my bed," he murmured happily as he snuggled with his pillow. I chuckled and lightly punched the back of his leg. "Hey, dork, are you done making out with your bed? What did you need to get?" I joked. Roxas scoffed and sat up, a thick binder in his hands. I tilted my head and sat next to him. "What's this?" I asked. Roxas smiled and opened the cover gently, as though it was fragile and would break at any second. I peered down at the binder's contents and felt as if I'd been punched in the stomach. "Mom," I said softly. Photos of our mother filled the pages of the binder, each one at a different angle. I took in her glossy brown hair, fixed in her usual braid and pink bow. Her green eyes glowing with love and amusement with having her picture taken. Her smile lit up her face and made the knot in my heart loosen. It was as if, just by seeing her smile, everything was going to be alright again. I couldn't help but choke out a small laugh; she had had that effect on everyone around her. "Remember when I had that phase where I wanted to be a photographer? I saved every photo I ever took of her in here," Roxas said happily. The corner of my mouth quirked up at the memories. Roxas had been about six when Mom had given him a camera for his birthday. He had been so excited and had taken her picture right then and there.
'She looks so...happy and warm,' I thought. As I stared at the pictures, my chest and throat tightened and tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. She would never be like that again. I would never be able to see her smile at me, never hug her close and smell her flowery scent, never be able to hear her say that she loved me. It was all because of Dad, because he couldn't control his temper. No matter how hard I tried, the memory of that say was burned into my mind. It had been a particularly rainy day and Mom, Roxas, and I were in the kitchen making pancakes. It was our tradition, to make breakfast for dinner on really stormy nights. We all had batter on our faces and shirts because we tried and failed to flip the pancakes like they did in the cooking shows. Despite the mess, we enjoyed it. That is, until Dad came home. As soon as we heard the front door slam, our smiles fell. Dad had come through the kitchen door and had thrown a fit about the mess. Mom went to him and tried to explain the mess with laughter in her voice. He wasn't buying it and had taken her by the arms. Roxas, who had ran to get his camera, came in at the wrong moment. Dad turned on him and snatched the camera out of my brother's hands. Roxas, who was only six years old, didn't understand and reached for it. Dad reared back to hit him and Mom, threw herself over Roxas. The camera came down and it struck the back of her head. I remember screaming as I watched her slump over Roxas' petrified form. Dad dropped the camera, shattering it into pieces. I had run to her and started shaking her, shouting for her to wake up. Dad had run away, saying it wasn't his fault. I could almost feel the slowly cooling of her skin as I held her.
I shoved the memory out of my consciousness, tears dripping onto the backs of my hands. I sniffled and my brother glanced at me in concern. "Dude, are you crying?" he asked. I turned away and wiped at my eyes. "It's nothing," I said, my voice thick. Roxas closed the binder and set it down beside him. Without a word, he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me, resting his head on my shoulder. As much as I appreciated the embrace, it just made me want to cry harder. I swallowed hard and kept my face out of his line of sight. After a few minutes, I cleared my throat and turned back to face him once I'd composed myself. "Alright, you got what you needed. Let's go before-," I said breaking off by a noise downstairs. Roxas and I stared at each other, panic-stricken; the noise was the sound of the front door opening and closing again. Dad was home.
A/N: This was a really long wait. I hope you all still want to continue reading. I've had some crap happening lately and I haven't really had the chance to write. I'll try to update sooner. I'm already working on the next chapter. Please, even though I probably don't deserve it, review and take a peek at my other stories, too. I'm also looking for suggestions and ideas for future chapters or for any story you all want. Send me a PM and I'll message you back asap. Ciao!~