I love everyone's reaction to Tifa's back story. I was hoping no one would have guessed it XD

Anyway, I'm going to go backwards with reviews this time :D So, first of all, to Satanic Tiger Bunnie of Doom: 1, that's an awesome name. 2, waffles? Why waffles? 3, It makes me happy that you ended up liking the story even though you didn't think you would XD

UnmeiNinja: Thank you for reading this story for the past two days (from when you submitted your review) and I'm glad you like Axel's personality :) I find this story to be very entertaining too, and of course I wouldn't give up on it! It's impossible to do so when your muse is bugging you to write it every few minutes. Not to mention your friends who ask every day if you have a new chapter and it has to be good or they get mad at you -_- Anyway, thanks for the review!

813 i love you 813: Don't worry, you'll learn about Roxas and Axel's past eventual- wait, what am I saying? This story IS their past XD Well, together. You know pretty much everything about Roxas, but I suppose you're talking about the first time they met... You'll find out about that eventually XD

BuddyCakes: Oh, I'm just getting started with the cliffies (:

ThePirateMage: Wait, Clack? Where did you get that from in this story O.o As for what's happening with Roxas, and why Tifa won't accept them... well, you'll find out. Sometime.

P5hng-Me-A'Wy: Oh good. Because you're going to need a lot of patience :D Everything (kinda) will be explained in good time. Just, not always when you expect it to be explained. :)

Hallucinating Skys: Yeah, poor Roxas... But that's the least of his worries right now XD It's fine. I got used to it quickly XD

and finally, xXSweet BlasphemyXx: I tried to make it a good twist. Even though I've been planning this since day one... XD So it wasn't really a twist for me when I wrote it... (alright. You kinda freaked me out there...)

Sorry that my replies are... short. I'm tired and I want to work on Il Pleut dans la Nuit because I got an AWESOME review for it and I'm excited now :D Sorry. Freak of nature who loves constructive criticism XD

So yeah, chapter 33 is a bit early, and chapter 34 will be later today because I won't really have time tonight to post... maybe. But oh well XD

Please enjoy chapter 33, and of course review. :)

~Sunechirei

Full Chapter Title: We're all born naked, wet, and hungry. Then it gets worse

"Roxas? Wake up! Hey!"

"Nn." The voice was far away, but at the same time so close to me. It interrupted my dream though. I was dreaming about when I was a kid, and I was sitting on my mom's lap, asking her about something that happened to me at school, only, I couldn't see her face. It was blurry, and I couldn't hear her voice. But I could see myself. I was about five. Maybe six. It was a happy dream.

"Roxas!"

But that voice calling my name was pulling me away. It was pulling me away...

"Roxas!"

My eyes finally opened, and the vision of my dream vanished, turning into nothing but a memory. There was something wrong, I could tell that.

"Hey! He's awake!" Axel was leaning over me, and I could feel one of his hands on the back of my head, the other holding my hand, which was resting on my stomach. I groaned, trying to sit up, not sure what was going on. Axel, however, didn't let me get up.

"Whoa! You just fainted. You shouldn't be getting up."

"Fainted?" I actually managed to sit up this time, despite Axel trying to keep me down, and I looked around. I was in the entryway of an apartment; Sora and Axel's apartment. Things were spinning all around me, but I could still make out the familiar layout of the apartment from where I was sitting. Sora wasn't far away from me, and he held a phone in his hand, like he had been about to call someone. The worried expression on his face let me know that I really had passed out, or something along those lines.

"Yeah, you just collapsed a few minutes ago. Sora was about to call an ambulance," Axel said, placing a hand over my forehead, probably to see if I had a fever. "I told him it was pointless, and that passing out wasn't that big of a deal, but..."

"Why the hell would that happen to me?" I asked. My voice was slurred, and everything seemed to bring about a huge headache.

"You had a panic attack," Axel said quietly.

"Panic attack? What the hell-"

"Whatever happened with your parents seemed to strike home with you. I guess that the fact you had trouble breathing caused you to faint. Probably not used to having panic attacks."

"No shit, I've never had one before. I don't even really know what they are." I'd heard of them, of course, but no one bothered to explain to me what they were. I assumed it was when you panicked, and something bad happened...

"Panic attacks are weird. They differ for everyone, but I assumed you were having trouble breathing? And I could see you shaking. Those are common symptoms. Whatever your parents said to you really freaked you out though." Oh, so it's basically what I thought it was. Panicking so much something bad happens. Wonderful.

Maybe my parents lying to me for nineteen years really did bug me. Well, of course it bugged me, but I was just acting like it wasn't. I probably should have said something to my parents, or someone, rather than just freak out my boyfriend by passing out. Just for future reference.

Suddenly, the wave of dizziness came back. I groaned and leaned against Axel's chest.

"Ugh, I feel like shit," I muttered, closing my eyes.

"Yeah, you will. Come on, let's get you to my room so you can lie down."

"Mom! Come on, we're going to be late!"

"Calm down, Roxas. I'm going as fast as I can."

"Well, move faster!"

"Roxas..."

The little seven year old boy looked down at his feet, recognizing the warning tone his mother had.

"I'm sorry," he said. "But Hayner said it was going to start at two, and it's almost two!"

"I know, I know," the boy's mother said, kneeling down. She placed a hand on his shoulder and continued to speak. "But you have to be patient. Patience is a good virtue to have."

A grin suddenly on the boy's face, he looked up and said, "Okay!" Then paused for a moment, looking confused. "Wait, what's a virtue?"

The mom laughed. "A virtue is a good behavior a person has."

"Oh." It was obvious the boy didn't really understand, but his mom let it go, patting him on the head.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's go."

Sitting in the principal's office, Roxas looked as though he'd walked on death's doorstep. His blond hair was dirty and messed up, his clothing, ripped and muddy, and there were bruises all over his face and arms. Sitting in the chair next to him was the boy's best friend; Hayner Mural. He too looked like a fight had just taken place.

"Boys, will you please tell me what happened? You're not in any trouble, we just want to know what happened," the principal said, her voice pleading. However, neither boy said anything. They only exchanged a quick glance, then looked back at the woman. "Boys..."

"Mrs. Beatrix, Roxas Strife's mother is here."

"Alright, send her in."

The door opened, and in walked a medium height, black haired woman. Tifa Strife, Roxas' mom.

"Hello, Mrs. Strife. Thank you for coming here. I think your son needs to go home for now."

"Alright, thank you," Tifa said. She glanced down at Roxas, who had an embarrassed blush on his cheeks. "Come on, Roxas." Her son stood up and followed her out of the office. Neither of them spoke as they walked out of the school, even though middle school students from all three grades were coming out of classrooms to watch.

Everyone knew Roxas Strife, even if the boy didn't know that. He was the most sought after eighth grade guy in his middle school. No other guy was as good looking as him, according to the girls, he was also very nice to them, and had this kind of innocence that made them want to be around him.

However, this brought anger from the guys in the school who were interested in girls.

"Roxas, why did you get in a fight with that boy?" Tifa eventually asked after the two had made it out of the school and to the parking lot. Roxas shook his head. "I need you to tell me..."

"No. It's not that big a deal."

"Yes it is. You can't just do that."

"I said it's not that big of a deal!"

"Roxas, don't lie to me. You're clearly upset."

"Oh, like you never lie."

"I don't to you."

Yeah right.

I don't remember falling asleep. I remember the dreams, but I don't remember falling asleep. Maybe I passed out again? Though, I figured if that was so, then I would have woken up in a hospital bed, not in Axel's.

"Hey, sleepy head's finally awake. How're you feeling?" Axel was sitting next to me when I opened my eyes, smiling. Why was he smiling? Did he have to smile at me when I had a splitting headache?

"What do you want?" I snapped, rolling onto my side so I didn't face him. "I want to sleep."

"You've been asleep for almost seventy hours, Roxas, I think you should be waking up now," Axel said, pulling my shoulder down so I was on my back again. I glared at him, not believing his words. There was no way I'd been asleep for almost three days. It just wasn't humanely possible for me to sleep for that long without waking up at least once or twice, and I didn't wake up at all. Or, I don't remember waking up.

"Yeah right. Go away-" I was shut up when he kissed me. It pissed me off when he did that. "Oi, was the really necessary," I muttered when he pulled away.

"I haven't been able to kiss you for three days. It was completely necessary."

"Oh."

So, he wasn't lying. I'd really been asleep for three days, and I still felt absolutely horrible. I guess what Mom told me really did have a nasty effect on me. Maybe that's why I had those dreams. The first one about my "virtues" and "behaviors," and the other about being honest. She had been a hypocrite those days, when she told me that I shouldn't lie to her... It really angered me.

"So, what exactly happened with your parents? Why are you-"

"They've been lying to me all my life."

"What?"

I shook my head and sat up, using Axel's shoulder to help me. "Everything about who they were before I was born... they lied about it. My mom never went to college, she lived in Hallow Bastion for eight years! Not only that, but she and my dad have known each other all their lives. She lied to me! She fucking lied to me!"

My voice was shaky and hoarse. I really wished it wasn't, and that it would just be normal, because Axel noticed. And he became worried.

"Okay, okay, calm down, no need to freak out, take a deep breath, come on."

Obviously he thought I was going to have another panic attack. I wasn't, of course. I wasn't having any trouble breathing, and other than a headache, I felt perfectly fine. Well, physically, anyway. Emotionally I felt like I was going to die in a hole.

I was never, ever going to tell Axel that.

"I'm fine. I... I'm just pissed and confused," I eventually said. "You don't need to worry."

"You can tell me that, but I'm still going to worry," Axel said, rolling his eyes. "Now. You've been asleep for three days, so you're probably hungry." As he said this, I felt my stomach rumble and I blushed. Yeah, I was hungry.

"I don't think you should do this...," Axel muttered. "You're just going to become more upset, and you're probably not going to like what you hear-"

"I just want to know what's going on." I wished he would just shut up. The only thing he needed to do was drive me to Hallow Bastion, so I could look for them. For my mom's gang. Or, that's what I was calling them. She said they were like a gang, so that's what I decided they were going to be called.

Axel had been bitching about me doing this since I mentioned it earlier today. He kept saying that I was being irrational, and it would be better to talk to my mom before hand, but if I talked to her, she could do something to change my mind.

I didn't want to change my mind.

"Roxie, do you honestly think you should be doing something so irrational like this? You're going to the slums of Hallow Bastion. This place is the worst of the worst. You could be killed just walking down the street," Axel warned, stopping his car. "At least let me come with you-"

"Fuck off, Axel," I muttered, opening the door. Slamming the door before he could reply, I began to stalk off, hoping he would just drive off. He didn't.

"Roxas! Wait!" Instead, he got out of his car and began to follow me like some kind of stalker. "I'm going to come with you, alright?"

I turned to face him as soon as I could, causing him to stop short and cross his arms. The two of us just stared at each other for a minute or two, not saying anything. Finally, I sighed and shook my head.

"Look, I get that you think I'm in danger here, but I'm not going to be here for very long. You just go back to Radiant Garden. I think Sora might destroy your house if you stay down here for very long." Obviously, Axel was not going to listen to my reasoning. As soon as I finished speaking, he grabbed my shoulders and gave me a serious look.

"Roxas, you're an idiot." I tried to protest that but he continued talking before I could say much. "I love you, but you're not very smart when it comes to running around on the streets. I know more about this than you do so-"

I shoved off his arms and backed away.

"Oh, yeah, you and your genius brain. I think I'll be fine." As I turned to leave, I realized there was someone standing directly behind me, arms crossed. I had to stop short to avoid crashing into him. Glancing up at his face, I immediately recognized him.

It was the weird ass guy from a few days ago, Vincent.

"Come with me," was all he said before turning away. I looked around, not sure how the hell he found me and why he wanted me to come with him. Maybe he knew I was coming down here and he had been waiting for me. Actually, it would make more sense if he had been stalking me for the past few days, which would explain the creepy feeling I got.

I really hope he hadn't been watching me. That would just be fucking creepy...

"Roxas..." Axel's distraught voice sounded behind me. All I could do was turn around and wave goodbye to him

"I'll be fine. Go home."

So I followed Vincent, hoping desperately that Axel wouldn't follow me. When I heard the car engine turn on, I breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that he'd finally complied to my wishes.

All of my focus turned to the man walking in front of me.

I had to jog to keep up to the weirdo, so I was out of breath when I finally managed to ask, "Where are we going?" He didn't reply. "Hey, I asked you a question!"

"Don't talk."

Okay, I think Mom had a thing for dark non-social guys. That would explain why she fell in love with Dad, and also why she got along so well with this creepy man.

So, the two of us walked for quite a while, starting on the open road, then eventually turning onto back streets, and alleys. Even though it was the middle of the day, it seemed like midnight. No light at all, and the air was thick and disgusting; I felt like I was in a sewer. How could anyone live there?

Before long, Vincent led me to a tall, wooden door, one the looked about a hundred years old and had strange markings on it. I didn't understand what they meant, but I had a feeling it had something to do with the people who lived behind it. Some kind of code, or something. I asked Vincent what it was when he opened the door, but I was dutifully ignored. It was really getting on my nerves how quiet this guy was.

"Hello? Are you even alive in there?" I eventually asked, overwhelmed by my irritation. I could see him roll his ruby eyes before he turned around.

"I can see how you're related to Tifa," he growled. "Never knowing when to shut your mouth." Anger flowed through me, and I opened my mouth to speak, but he turned and stalked off into the dark hall before I could say anything.

Grumbling, I followed him.

Then, the weirdest thing happened.

I crashed into a door.

The guy was gone, and I was standing in front of a newer looking door, in the dark, with no idea where I was. Some people are just so rude.

I could see a light peeking out from under the door frame, so I decided it was worth opening the door to see what was behind it. If the situation hadn't been so fucking terrifying, I probably would have started humming some random theme song to a spy movie or something like that. That's how cliché the whole thing was.

The door made no sound as it opened, but the sound bursting from the other side was deafening.

"It's not fucking funny Zack! Give it back dammit!"

"What's the magic word?"

"Do you want to die?"

"Hm... that works."

I was stunned.

Two people, both in their forties at least, were standing in the middle of the room. They both had black hair, but one had really blue eyes, like, Dad's color, and the other had brown, and was shorter. This female was wearing clothes fit for some kind of ninja, and she was holding out her hand expectantly to the guy, Zack. He just wore regular jeans and a t-shirt, which I might add had blood stains on it. I don't know what they were arguing about, but whatever it was, they'd pretty much demolished the room for it.

I wanted to disappear, but before I could, the guy saw me out of the corner of his eye, and he turned. I laughed nervously, and began to back away, startled by how dangerous this guy seemed.

But he had other plans.

"Holy shit! You must be Roxas!"

The next thing I knew, I was being dragged into the room, where three other people I didn't recognize were. Of course, I didn't care about them. I was more curious as to how this guy knew my name.

"Roxas? Tifa's son?" a kind, gentle voice asked from the other side of the room. I glanced over there, and sitting at a makeshift table was a woman with brown hair that was held up with a pink ribbon, and blue eyes. She was rather pretty, I had to admit, but she had this motherly tone about her that was somewhat overwhelming.

"Of course it's her son! Why else would he be down here," Zack asked, ruffling my hair. "I doubt Seifer would be stupid enough to send such a scrawny, pathetic boy down here to try and kill us all."

Uh... okay then.

This guy was really freaking me out. He was the exact opposite of my father, and he acted like he was five or something. I mean, how many middle aged men had that much energy! It was ridiculous. Plus, he was looking at the woman who'd spoken earlier endearingly, so I assumed she was his wife, Aerith. She seemed too nice to deal with this weirdo.

"Let him go, Zack, you're going to scare him away," the woman Zack was arguing with earlier said. Zack let me go and grinned.

"Fine, take away my fun. You can be such a buzz kill sometimes, Yuffie."

It was like these people never had to grow up!

I'd probably lost my voice before that, and I finally got it back when I noticed two people, probably Ellie's age, watching me curiously.

"Yeah, my mom's Tifa." It was a little bit of delayed reply, but...

"Then she must have told you the truth," Aerith muttered. Though her voice was quiet, I could still hear the sadness in her voice. "It must have been so hard for her to tell you." Silence fell across the room for a moment, but it was interrupted by Aerith again. "Would you like something to drink?"

I shook my head. "No. I just... just wanted to see this place."

"Excellent, I'll make tea." I gave Aerith a disbelieving look as she stood up and hurried over to the small kitchen I hadn't noticed before. She just ignored what I said! "I think tea's the best when you need to have a talk."

But, I didn't want to talk. I tried to say this, but Zack clapped me on the back.

"No use arguing, son. She wants to talk to you."

The two of us were alone in a small side room. The sound from the others was loud enough that we could hear it, but quiet enough that I couldn't really make out what any of them were saying. Like a restaurant of some kind, only homier. And scarier.

Interesting combination

"So, you're nineteen, right?" Aerith asked me suddenly, breaking the lingering silence between the two of us. I nodded, and she laughed. "I can't believe it's been twenty-four years since Tifa disappeared from here." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "We all thought she was dead at first. Seifer does hate her, after all."

"Who's Seifer?" I asked.

"He's the leader of SeeD, and the one who ordered Tifa to be killed."

I leaned back in my chair. This was all really weird. This woman was supposedly my god-mother who's never met me before, but she didn't seem surprised to see me, and she recognized me, and she was talking to me like there was nothing weird about this whole thing. It was a bit freaky. Zack too was like that. Acting like he'd known me for such a long time, even though I'd never met him before.

"Roxas, what do you want to ask me?"

I looked at the woman, somewhat startled, but answered anyway. "I want to know why Mom would lie to me about all of this for my whole life."

Aerith smiled. "I can't answer that for her. She has her reasons, Roxas. Just as she has her reasons for not wanting you and that boy, Axel, to be in a relationship."

Okay, that was freaky. "W-What do you mean?" I asked. "How the hell-"

"She talks to me, Roxas. She's told me all about you, and how she's worried about things, and she's so scared that you'll hate her, Roxas. She thinks that her only child, her only son, will hate her. She's afraid."

"So? Doesn't give her the right to lie to me! Or tell me she can't accept me dating a guy I really like!"

When she laughed, I wanted to leave the room right then, but there was something about the situation that kept me there. "Roxas," she said after a while, "when you're older, you may understand more what's going on in your mom's head, but I doubt you ever will. The things she's gone through... well, you will never even begin to understand the kinds of pain she's felt."

"And you do?"

I didn't mean for that question to sound harsh. I was more irritated at my mom than this woman, but I guess it just came from me instead. Aerith, however, didn't seem to care.

"Everyone here, Roxas, has suffered some kind of pain." Her hands moved slowly to her stomach, caressing it gently. "Even I have felt a pain that very few would ever be able to understand." I didn't quite get what she meant by that, but I didn't have long to ponder it. "We're a family here. Every one of us has our part to play, our sorrows to hold, our family to love."

I looked down at my hands, not sure what to say.

"Roxas," Zack's voice said from behind me. I jumped and turned to look at him. "You're welcome here any time, okay? But right now, I think you have a mother you need to talk to."

"Okay."