Hm... I have to wonder if it's worth it to reply to reviews on here O.o It takes so much time and space... it's kinda pointless in a way...

I have an idea! If you want me to reply to your review, let me know somehow, and I'll send you a message :) Otherwise, I'll just thank people by name here, and... well..

Excuse me, I have a headache, so I'm a bit weird right now... Well, I'm always weird, but this is different... or is it? I have no idea... *sigh*

So, thanks to P5hng-Me-A'Wy, 813 i love you 813, my beta of course :P, and animeXIII for the reviews. I love you guys :D

Anyway, please enjoy this chapter, even though it's a... well, I'll just let you read it and see for yourself :) So, have fun, enjoy, and review. See you next week.

~Sunechirei

Full chapter title: If duct tape, band aides, or Tylenol can't fix it, you're screwed (Part 1)

"You and Axel are sleeping together, aren't you?" Sora inquired, cornering me in the hallway. It was him. Him and Riku, both with their arms crossed, serious looks on their faces, and irritation in Sora's voice. "Is that why you and Naminé broke up? Because she found out you and Axel are sleeping together, right?"

I blinked, scooting along the wall to get away from the two insane guys. No, I was not sleeping with Axel. I never had slept with Axel. Almost doesn't count. I didn't even know why these guys thought that we were having sex.

Um... no,why do you think that?" I ventured.

"Because," Riku growled, shoving his hand against the wall to keep me from escaping, "you guys are happy. Too happy. And you aren't fighting anymore, and there's nothing awkward about being around you guys. Something's up." He glared at me, "We want to know what it is."

I nearly groaned in frustration.

It had been two weeks since Axel and I decided we were just going to act like normal business partners, like he had never confessed to me, or made out with me, etc. it was working, and yes, I was happy, but apparently that meant I was sleeping with him.

Sometimes I wonder...

"Look, nothing's going on. We're just acting normal. Why are you so angry about this." I tried to push Riku's arm away from the wall, not sure what was going on, but he didn't budge. Was everyone in this place stronger than I am?

"It's weird," Sora said, sighing, all irritation gone from his voice. "You two have been going at it since your first day working here, and now, suddenly, you're both normal." He shook his head. "What's with that?"

What could I tell them? They didn't need to know that Axel and I made a deal to ignore him being all flirty, and that night in Twilight Town, or that Axel had told me he liked me. Loved, actually, but that's all in the specifics.

"The only weird thing about this, is it's different," I muttered, trying to shove Riku's arm off the wall, so I could move, "You two aren't used to different. It's fine the way things are. Just leave it alone." I was really in no mood to deal with them.

However, Riku seemed to want to torture me, because his arm did move, but this time it was pressed against my shoulder, and I was shoved towards the wall. Reminded me of what Axel would do, only I knew for a fact Riku wasn't gay, and he was totally in love with Ellie.

Glaring up at him, I was tempted to say that Axel would be jealous if he saw what Riku was doing, but I guessed I would be killed had I said it, so I kept my mouth shut. Sora, on the other hand, had no such thoughts. "You might want to be careful, Riku. Axel may come up here."

Riku just rolled his eyes. "I could care less. I could beat the shit out of him any day, and he wouldn't touch me. Ellie would murder him." It was nice to know that Riku was so full of himself. How did he know Ellie would hurt Axel? I was pretty sure Ellie cared more about her best friend than her boyfriend, but what did I know...

"What do you want with me?" I asked, struggling against Riku's arm. "I have nothing to tell you. We're just being normal business partners. Nothing interesting about that."

"You're right," Sora sighed, "nothing interesting about that at all. That's our problem."

"Excuse me?" I swear my voice dropped about five octaves. Apparently I sounded dangerous, because Sora shivered slightly. Riku didn't really react, but his eyes got wider. But, it didn't affect them that much, because my question was answered.

By Riku, this time. "For the past ten months, the sexual tension between you and Axel has been our only source of entertainment," he told me, laughing. I wanted to murder him. Actually, dying would be too good and too easy for these two fucking bastards. They needed to be tortured, maliciously tortured so that they could suffer. All I was to them was a joke. A damn fucking joke.

Was there any respect for me?

"I hate you," I muttered, trying to shove off the arm. "Go away." My wonderful day had just turned into one that was hellish.

I should have been expecting this.

Ever since I'd started working at this place, nothing had gone right. And even the small things that did go well for me didn't last long, like Naminé. I was just waiting for this whole thing with Axel to just curl up in a ball and die.

It always happened that way. There was probably only a little amount of time left before something happened and I was stuck back in a situation where Axel and I couldn't be in the same room as each other. I really didn't want to go back to that, but what could I do?

"Well, that's not the only reason." Sora crossed his arms. "You should know by now that I'm Axel's roommate, and recently he's been acting weird. Really weird. Like he's depressed or something. He's never been depressed before."

"And what does this have to do with me?" By this point, I had no idea what was going on. Axel was depressed? He seemed happy to me.

"You're the one he-"

"Hey, what're you all doing to poor little Roxie here?"

I felt Riku cringe, and his hand moved quickly from my shoulder. All three of us glanced over at the elevator where Axel was standing, a smirk on his face.

For the first time in... well, ever, I was actually happy to hear the voice of my red-headed coworker. That meant that Riku and Sora were going to finally leave me alone. That would be absolutely wonderful.

"You guys seem to be having fun," Axel said, walking towards us. For the first time in two weeks, I noticed something in Axel's eyes that I'd never seen before. It was... sadness, I think. Maybe Sora was right, maybe Axel was depressed, maybe I should- "But I need to talk to Roxie, so I'd appreciate it if you would stop interrogating him."

He and Riku seemed to be getting into a glare war, because an awkward air fell over us.

You know, I noticed about then that Riku was actually shorter than Axel. Not by much, maybe a few centimeters, but it really made a difference.

Finally, Riku sighed, and backed away, grumbling to himself. I wanted to say something to Axel. Thank him or something, but before I could, he wrapped one hand around my wrist, and yanked me away from the wall, towards the elevator. I heard Sora call out to us, but my heart was pounding too much for me to hear.

Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit! I nearly screamed, What the hell is wrong with me!

I knew what was wrong with me, actually. What was wrong with me, was the guy holding onto my wrist and dragging me to the elevator. He was always my problem, even though I didn't want to admit it.

Finally, the doors closed behind us, leaving Riku and Sora alone in on the eighth floor. Axel let go of my wrist and turned to grin at me.

"T-Thanks," I muttered, leaning against the wall of the elevator. I watched, curious, as Axel pressed one of the buttons. I didn't know what he could be doing, why he wanted to talk to me, or if that was just a ploy to help me get out of that annoying situation.

"Thanks," I said again, breathing out slowly, "I thought I was going to die back there." I swear I saw Axel roll his eyes, though it wasn't very obvious, so I didn't actually know.

"I didn't come here to save your ass, Blondie," Axel told me as he reached into his pocket. "I came up here, because I actually need to talk to you."

Oh shit. He needed to talk to me. Every time I'd heard those words being said, something bad happened to me.

I opened my mouth to tell Axel "No," that I wouldn't talk to him, that I wanted to just go home and sleep; that I'd just been harassed by two extremely scary guys and I need to go home and calm down a bit, that talking to him was the last thing I wanted to do. Of course, I never got to say any of these things, because suddenly, there was something flying at my face.

Instinctively, I reached up and caught it, completely surprised to see Axel had just thrown his car keys at me.

"W-What?" I stuttered, giving him a strange look.

"I need to talk to you," he repeated, rolling his eyes. "You're going to drive."

If I didn't know better, I would have sworn the world had stopped spinning. Me? Drive? With Axel in the car? That never happened. I mean, never. Every time I'd tried to drive, my keys were forcefully taken, and I was shoved in the passenger's seat of his car without another word, while he took the wheel. Me, driving...

Something was up.

"What do you mean," I asked as the elevator door opened again. Axel didn't answer me, instead just grabbing my wrist and dragging me off. I didn't fight him this time, which was unusual, I think I was more curious as to what he was doing to really try anything, though in the back of my mind, the thoughts of what his hand reminded me of was trying to break through.

I quickly pushed it down.

"What are you doing?"

We passed by Naminé as I asked this, who gave us a sad look.

Things with Naminé... well, they were awkward still, no matter how much I tried to change that and just be her friend again. She just ignored me, only talking when absolutely necessary. Kairi was the same. It's like they knew something about me that I didn't, and it angered them.

Of course, I had no idea what thing was, but it was pissing me off that they wouldn't tell me. Still, I waved at her, trying to get her to smile at me, show that Axel was just being mad and he wasn't flirting with me at all, and that there was no way I was part of this madness.

I don't think it worked, especially since her eyes narrowed when she saw me waving. I quickly withdrew my hand and laughed nervously as Axel pulled me out of the building towards the parking garage.

At this point, I was tired of being dragged around, so I yanked my hand out of his grasp and stopped walking.

"I would like an answer to my question now." Axel stopped as well, turning to face me. I didn't even realize that we were right by his car, until he turned around and pointed towards the driver's seat.

Gesturing towards the keys in my hand, he said, "I told you. I need to talk to you, and you're going to drive."

"What does you needing to talk to me have anything to do with me driving," I hissed back, frustration rising. This guy wasn't answering any of my questions. "You're up to something, I know it, now please, tell me what it is before I get in the car."

Axel sighed, leaning against the back of his car. "Don't you trust me, Roxie?"

"Nope," I answered simply. "Never have. Never will. What are you up to."

"Just get in the damn car!"

The keys nearly fell out of my hand I was so surprised. Luckily, my grip tightened around them before that could happen, because I was afraid something might break if they dropped, and Axel looked extremely pissed already.

"Just," he muttered, looking away from me, "just get in the car. I'll tell you what I want to talk about when we're on the highway."

I was scared. The idea of being mauled by Riku and Sora? Yeah, that was terrifying. The idea of Axel acting like he was embarrassed about something; that was worse. What the hell could be going on in his brain right now? I wanted to know, and I wanted to know fast, and the best way for that to happen was to get in the car with him.

And drive.

That was the weird part about this.

"Where are we going?" I asked, not sure if the quavering in my voice was noticeable. If it was, Axel didn't comment on it.

"Just head south."

I don't know why I obliged.

There wasn't really anything south of Radiant Garden. Some really small town named Disney, and a large, empty field where a huge battle once took place, but that was it. Obviously, Axel just wanted to talk without distractions.

As I drove, I couldn't help but feel nervous with Axel sitting in the passenger's seat. It just didn't feel right, especially since I drove like a normal person and he didn't seem happy about this. His foot was tapping, humming slightly, and he kept glancing out the windows. It was like he was nervous about something.

What a weirdo.

Finally, we got to a section of the road that was just straight. No traffic, nothing, so I finally opened my mouth to talk, but Axel beat me to the punch.

"I take it Sora and Riku were talking to you about our current relationship?"

How did he know? I nearly groaned. I wouldn't put it past any of them to have planned this entire thing out so I would go an talk to Axel like this. The three of them were evil enough to do that...

"Uh... yeah."

"What did you tell them?"

"Just that nothing was going on. Which is true."

"Hm..."

Axel was silent again, just sitting there, not looking at me, not even really paying attention to anything. He looked really sad right there, well, from what I could tell from out of the corner of my eye. It was difficult, of course, to actually see what his emotion was when I was trying to keep my eyes on the road, but there was an air about him that made me feel like he wanted to cry. Weird feeling, almost unreal, but still, it was there.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" I asked hesitantly, speeding up slightly.

Trees whizzed by, as did random animals just grazing about on the grasslands surrounding us. Axel still didn't say anything, but he was staring out the window again, hesitating, waiting for the right moment to speak. Well, that's what I thought he was doing.

Axel was so hard to read, that it was really impossible to tell what he was thinking. Maybe he was just screwing with me. Maybe I was over thinking things. Maybe I was being paranoid and I needed to learn when to stop being an idiot.

Yeah, that last one sounded accurate.

"Will you please answer my question no-"

"I'm not happy with the way things are," Axel said, rudely interrupting me, "I don't want to act like I don't like you, because I do, and I want things to be the way they were before New Years."

My response to this was simple.

I slammed on the breaks.

Turning to face Axel, my jaw dropped in confusion. Where had this come from? Was Sora really right about him being depressed? He always seemed happy in the office, like absolutely nothing was wrong.

Either that, or I was just oblivious and missed him hiding his sadness, which didn't make sense, because I was extremely observant. Kinda. Sorta. Not really.

"Y-You said-"

"I know what I said, and I'm taking it back." Axel shifted to face me. "You're just thinking of yourself, Roxas," I felt my heart skip a beat when he said my name, stupid thing, "you aren't even considering my feelings in this whole thing." He sighed, "You're being selfish."

"Oh, you're one to talk," I snapped at him, "You really think that flirting with me, kissing me, treating me like I was some... some toy, wasn't selfish of you? How do you think I felt all those times? Huh? Do you think I wanted to be just some guy you toyed with and embarrassed?" I continued to glare at Axel, waiting for him to say something, but no words left his mouth.

So I continued my rant, "You fucked with my mind, acted as though nothing I did mattered, how I felt was nothing to you, and yet you claim that you like me? I doubt that." The words my mom told me two weeks ago seemed to be coming back to me. "You said that you loved me. Well, it doesn't really show."

For what seemed like an hour, neither of us spoke, only sitting there, in the middle of the deserted highway, glaring at each other. Too angry to really say anything else, I pulled a quick U-turn and began speeding down the highway again, reaching out towards the radio to turn it on. I didn't know why I was so angry.

Maybe it was more frustration, but I wanted to get away from Axel as quickly as possible, and I didn't want to talk to him at all. I was actually thinking of going to my father and telling him I was sick of this job, and I wanted to go to college. Sure, I would probably lose some good friends but that didn't really matter to me.

The music being turned off caught my attention, as did Axel's hand on my leg. I flushed, keeping my eyes trained to the road.

"Look, Roxie, I didn't mean-"

What Axel didn't mean I never found out, because just as he said this I crossed a street, like I normally would, and something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. It was only for a second that I saw it, only an instant that my brain was able to register what I was seeing, only a moment, and then it hit us.

Literally.

The last thing I remember was being crushed against the door, before blacking out.

Lights flashed, sounds boomed in my ears, like I was at a concert of some kind, only the noises were more that of panicked people, rather than excitement. I didn't know what was going on. My vision was fuzzy. A pounding headache made me unable to think straight.

Where was I?

What happened?
Who was talking to me?

A sharp pain in my arm caused me to cry out silently. It was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life. My entire body ached, throbbed, making me want to close my eyes and sleep. So I did. I closed my eyes, but sleep didn't come over me. Instead I got flashes of images, terrifying images, that caused me to open my eyes again.

This time, everything was clear.

The first thing I saw was blood. My own blood splattered on my hands, on my clothes, and the pain in my body became even more intense, if that was even possible.

A pounding in my head.

I closed my eyes and groaned.

I opened them again.

The second thing I saw; Axel sitting next to me, unconscious, blood trickling down from his head.

Despite the pain, my eyes widened.

"H-Hey," I croaked. I could barely hear my voice. "W-Wake u-up!" I began struggling against my seat belt, ignoring the dull pain spreading throughout my entire body, making me want to scream. I grabbed Axel's shoulder, shaking it slightly. "N-No. W-w-wake up you idiot! Wake up!"

"The driver's conscious!" I barely heard someone call outside the door to the car, "Someone bring over a stretcher, he's badly injured!" A pause, and I turned towards the door, seeing a guy in a medical uniform opening it and reaching towards me. "Sir, it's going to be alright, I need to you help me get you out of the car."

"N-no. I have to help..." I gasped in pain as the paramedic grabbed my arm, and nearly screamed, ignoring the apologies from the man. "I have to help-"

"I need a sedative over here, now!"

Sedative? He was going to knock me out. No. I couldn't.

There was a jab in my arm, and my vision went fuzzy again, as did my hearing, and everything seemed to be spinning out of control.

"Wait," I muttered in a slurred voice, "I have to... I have to help... I have to help Axel."