A/N: Sorry for the hiatus! Life and duty called! This chapter will be added to on a later date, but I have to publish what I've written so far!
Reno's return was about what could be expected. It caused quite a stir in his household. Reno got the verbal lashing of his father combined with an embrace that only a prodigal son would receive. And Axel? He decided to stay out of it. He hid up in his room wishing he could talk to somebody, but he didn't feel comfortable sharing with anyone. What would they say?
Oh Axel I'm so sorry your brother came back on such short notice!
Wow, that's tough! Want to stay at my place?
How dare he come back to your home! He left and shouldn't have returned!
Fat chance for any of that. He groaned and sat against the wall of his room facing the window. His mind drifted a little, going through his mental files, wondering what the hell was he doing with his life. How did he get to this point? Did he want to be here? and what was he going to do about it? His mind regressed back to last year just before Reno left home.
...
They were just about as close as twin brothers could be. Reno was technically born first. Their mother has a cesarian so Reno was the first pulled out. It didn't make a difference to either of them, they were brothers and they knew that was something special. Growing up wasn't hard either, both boys were loud, boisterous, assertive, and well-liked among their classmates. They did everything the same, right up to copying each other's handwriting.
Their distinct differences were: Reno was right-handed, Axel was left-handed. Reno pulled his hair back, Axel let it loose. Reno had birthmarks on his cheekbones and Axel had his under his eyes. Those birthmarks were a source of fascination for everyone in their lives. No one had ever seen anything like it. Nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary between the two boys. It wasn't until their sophomore year in high school that things suddenly went offtrack.
Axel had no idea what or how it happened. But he noticed something was not quite right with Reno. He couldn't put his finger on it. Reno wouldn't tell him anything. He would just go about his normal day as always and be his normal self and Axel, not wanting to destroy the harmony between them, let it slide. This went on for about a week. The next week, Reno was gone. No note, no call, no anything. He had left his cell phone on his nightstand and his clothes were missing. Axel hadn't heard him leave, he hadn't seen anything.
The uproar that followed was horrendous. He remembered being questioned over and over.
Where is your brother?
Did you kill him?
Do you have any idea who kidnapped him?
Did he have any enemies?
It all made him so sick to remember. People looked at him weird after that. Even his own father and mother looked at him questioningly. He didn't have an answer to give them. He didn't have an answer for anyone. Nobody seemed to realize that he was just as confused and lost as they were. Didn't they know he missed his brother? Didn't they know he was worried like everyone else? He was hurt too!
School was nearly unbearable for him as the rumors and questions kept coming. There was nothing that could be done. People looked at him funny, called him names all the way up to the end of the year. It was bad enough that he wanted to run away himself. His name got cleared when Reno was announced to be a runaway and police were trying to find him. He receieved some apologies but the damage was done. That summer ended up being pretty memorable, and it was his start of darkness.
...
Axel was brought back to the present by a knock at his door. "What do you want?" he shouted. No reply. The door opened to reveal his brother who closed the door behind him. Axel couldn't bring himself to curse his brother out or beat his face in like earlier. He just stared out the window. Silence filled the room. It was silent for quite a while, so silent that he nearly jumped at the sound of Reno's voice.
"I'm sorry", Reno said. Nothing else followed. Axel didn't reply. He had too many questions, too many words that got jumbled together in his brain and couldn't be processed. He couldn't react. He couldn't convey the proper amount of emotion the situation called for. Instead he looked into his brother's eyes, hoping something could reach him. Reno looked away after a few moments. Axel could tell he was struggling to say more than just those two words. He guessed that they both were at a loss of voice. And for the moment it was okay.
Reno had opted to go back to school the next day. After a morning placement test, it was determined that he had retained enough knowledge to be a senior with Axel. The principal had opted to give him all the same classes as his brother for obvious reasons. And if his disappearance had caused an uproar, Reno's reappearance caused complete chaos. Everyone was so surprised to have him back.
As the two walked down the hallway side by side they got stares and open mouthed reactions. Some people didn't even know he had a brother, which was the word among the lower classmen and transfer students. And just like that rumors spread. Not even two periods in, one of the Evangeleon girls was already on his case: Kairi.
"You never told me you had a brother, Axel", she said to him in the hallway as they walked to their next classes. Axel didn't answer. He simply shrugged her off and kept walking. He didn't want to think about her or anyone else for that matter. He couldn't see her. He couldn't see Xion or Namine as they passed him. He could feel them looking, everyone was looking at him and his copy-no, brother. He couldn't take it anymore. He wanted out. But there was no out, except for the exit that led to the school parking lot.
Seeing his brother to class he turned around and walked towards the exit sign. There was only one person he could talk to or even bear seeing: Larxene. He shot her a text message
Can we meet?
He didn't even wait for a reply as he made his way to her alley. He called it her alley now. It was the place that he felt belonged solely to her and he never bought any of the girls that way again. He looked down at his phone to see she had replied back to him:
I'm sick today but sure.
He was already walking up her fire escape and into her open window. Larxene was laying on her futon wearing an oversized t-shirt. Next to it was some cough medicine, a half-empty glass of orange juice, and an empty box of tissues. "What's with you?" she said meekly, looking up with her electric blue eyes that had softened a bit. Axel wasn't quite sure what to say. He had come there with the intention of spilling everything to her but couldn't bring himself to do so. Larxene didn't push him. He was glad.
Instead he took off his shoes and climbed into bed with her. Larxene was kind of surprised but didn't protest. He still hadn't said a word to her since he walked in.
"My brother came back," he mumbled into her fouton.
"That's not a good thing?" Larxene replied, omitting her surprise that Axel even had a brother.
"He'd been missing for like-a year and then he shows up out of the blue!" He growled angrily. She didn't know what to say. She patted his back with her soft hand.
"I'm sorry, I'm just-" he said quietly as he grabbed her by the waist and buried his face in her cleavage. She squeaked a moment, expecting him to go farther. He didn't. Larxene sighed and patted his head. This guy was way over his head.