Okay, so I started working on the AN when I got this chapter earlier today, but guess who got distracted :D

... Too many reviews... can't... reply... *dies of shock*

Sorry, but I'm not going to reply to reviews in this AN. I want this done and over with so I can work on my original story which I finally got inspiration for. Sorry ;P

Basically, sorry for the cliffie (you get another one this chapter), yes, it's awesome Roxas is finally moving out, you'll find out what Riku and Sora are fighting about eventually, some of you reviewers are starting to freak me out O.O, and you're welcome for the two updates. (I still love you all, but sometimes I wonder if you guys are... um... sane. Then I remember you're reading my fanfiction and I realize you can't be sane XD (It's okay, I'm not either.))

So, people keep saying to keep writing... which is weird... because I haven't written in this story since the middle of May... because it's done. There's no need for you guys to tell me to keep writing... just an observation.

Anyway, enjoy, review, check out the poll (please) and I'll see you guys next week.

~Sunechirei

Full Chapter Title: You can never go home again, but the truth is, you can never leave home

Okay, looking for an apartment is a hell of a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I mean, sure, it should be one of the easiest things in the world for a rich nineteen year old living in Radiant Garden, but no. It's not. It's so difficult it makes me sick. So I decided to bring Axel along with me, so he could do all the smart stuff that I can't do, and I could just be lazy. Hooray for genius people...

"You really don't know much about the real world, do you?"

And he was making fun of me. Wonderful. Here I was, desperate for help, and I was being made fun of. It wasn't my fault that I was never taught anything about living on my own. I bet my mom was so surprised when I told her I was planning on moving out, even though she didn't act like it. I bet she wanted me to live at home for the rest of my life.

Yeah, like I was going to do that.

"Well, unlike you, I haven't had a reason to learn this crap," I said, then immediately regretted it. Axel would probably take that as I never wanted to move out and I was planning to live at home for the rest of my life. It wasn't true. Kinda.

"You're so pathetic, Roxie," he muttered, picking at the food we'd stopped to get.

"Yeah, well, you obviously don't care or you wouldn't be going out with me, would you?" I snapped. He was such a jerk sometimes, and it honestly pissed my off, but what could I do? It was just his personality. I'm sure I had weird ass quirks that Axel had to deal with every day...

"Oh, how right you are, Roxie." There was something suggestive about his voice that kinda freaked me out. I was so glad we were in the middle of a crowded area, otherwise he probably would have done something to me, and really, I was in no mood to deal with his flirting.

I needed to find a place to live.

Being homeless would suck.

"You know," Axel said suddenly, "you could just live with me. It would be a hell of a lot easier and-"

"Sora scares the shit out of me right now. I want my own place," I told him simply. Sora was still... being... um... bitchy. I guess that's the best way to put it. Even though it'd been a week since his fight with Riku, the two of them were still having major issues. Work was pretty much hell when the two of them were in the same room, and more than once, Kairi had to yell at them. There was even a time when Sora walked out on her.

She looked so sad when it happened...

None of us knew what was going on still, but Kairi told me that the only other time she'd seem them this mad was right before Riku left Destiny Island after graduating a year early. He was so depressed, she said, that Sora thought he was going to commit suicide.

Instead he just left the island and had almost no communication with them for two years.

Man, my friends had some weird ass issues.

Still have them, actually. I guess they've just gotten better at hiding them. Or I'm oblivious. Axel says I am, but I think he's just upset that it took me so long to figure out he liked me, and even longer to figure out I liked him.

"Sora can just-" Axel started to say, bringing me out of my thoughts, but I shut him up by throwing some fries at him.

"Shut up, Axel. Sora should be allowed to have his issues."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever."

"Oh, you think he doesn't deserve our sympathy?"

"Well, if he would tell us what was going on, it would be easier to be sympathetic."

"You know, you were so nice to me, but not to Sora-"

"Because you're my boyfriend. Sora's just... well, him."

"So?"

I was glaring at Axel by this point. He was acting like such a bastard, and that normally didn't happen. Usually I was the one being a complete and total jack ass, but not today. It was weird.

"Look, Roxie, you don't understand. I don't think Sora wants us to get in his business. So, I'm just going to let it go," Axel finally told me, sighing. "Sure, I want to know, but unlike you, it's not actually my problem."

"You consider my problems, your problems?"

"Uh, yeah." He made it sound like it was an obvious thing. I didn't think it was obvious at all. "But that's not important. You need to stop being all indecisive and choose where the hell you want to get an apartment if you're going to refuse to live with me."

"It's not you I'm refusing to live with..." I muttered. "But fine. What are we going to-"

"Roxas?" I glanced behind me, confused as to who was calling my name, and why. It wasn't a voice I really recognized, but it was somewhat familiar. Weird. I don't even know how to explain the whole thing.

Standing there were two guys, one who seemed like another regular person, but the shorter guy standing next to him was creepily familiar. Why was he so familiar? Because he looked exactly like me. Same height, same hair color, same eyes... It was creepy. Beyond that.

I could tell Axel was having the same reaction I was. I mean, how couldn't he?

"You're Roxas, right?" It was the taller, brown haired guy who was talking to me. Slowly, I nodded.

"Yeah. I am. Who are you?"

"Terra. And this is Ven," he said, gesturing first to himself, then to the guy who looked exactly like me. "Man, Ellie wasn't kidding when she said you guys were like twins." Wait, Ellie? These guys knew Ellie? Which meant she knew what I looked like before she met me. What the hell?

Axel snorted from behind me, and I turned to him. "You're Terra?" His voice was low and dangerous. "You're the guy who tried to kill my best friend?"

Wait, what?

Ellie was Axel's best friend, right? And these guys knew Ellie, so obviously that's who Axel was talking about, but it still didn't make sense. This guy tried to kill Ellie? Someone dared try and kill that hard-ass lawyer who made me want to stay home from work sometimes she was so scary. This guy tried to kill her?

It just didn't make any sense.

"And you must be Axel, Ellie's bitchy cousin," Terra retorted, smirking. "I didn't mean to do that. It was an accident."

"Yeah, an accident. That's why you came at her with a knife for no reason and sent her to the hospital with slashes all over her stomach, and a shallow stab wound."

Okay, this information was something I wasn't expecting to hear. Ven too looked somewhat shocked. But it was kinda funny, even though the topic wasn't at all. Seeing Axel, glaring at this guy, Terra, in the middle of some weird kind of porch where we were sitting. The tension was just so awkward that I wanted to burst into laughter. I didn't, though.

Ven, however, did.

"Okay, um... that was a while ago, and now Ellie's fine, and you're no longer crazy, so it's all good, right?" He said through his laughter. "So, let's not get into a fight, because I don't think Ellie would like it if that happened."

Axel just snorted again and crossed his arms.

"What are you two doing here? I thought you lived far away from here."

"Unlike you," Terra snapped, "I actually have a life. And it's none of your business." Then he called Axel something that I don't even want to repeat, but let's just say it caused Axel to nearly tackle the guy, and Ven to hit his friend in the shoulder.

I didn't realize that Ellie could be friends with someone so horrible. There could be no way that this guy was that much different than before, so she probably knew... that may have been the reason she stopped being friends with the guy. I mean, if they weren't friends anymore. Either that, or it would be because he tried to kill her.

Maybe Axel would know which would be worse to her.

"Okay," Ven laughed, pushing Terra away, "I think we should get going now." He bowed at Axel. "I'm so sorry. He's still a little off from his meds and-"

"I'll only leave if Roxas comes with us."

"...What?" I didn't want to leave, and I'm sure Axel didn't want me to either. I didn't even know this guy, and he wanted me to go with him for some odd reason. To think this had started out as a nice, wonderful outing with my boyfriend, looking for a place for me to live.

I still think life hates me.

"Yeah. Roxas needs to come with us. Otherwise I'm not going to leave and I'm just going to bug the two of you as you're going about your wonderful business."

Ven looked horrified.

"Terra," he hissed, "stop this. Let's just go. It's not that big of a deal-"

"No! I want to know why Ellie's so set on staying in this place, and what better way than to hang out with the guy she's going to be working for?"

What was this guy's problem? Did he have other issues other than insanity? Maybe the meds Ven mentioned earlier caused him to act like some kind of freak. That would make a hell of a lot of sense.

Well, whatever it was, I didn't want to hang out with him.

"Look, I'm busy," I told him eventually. "I'm not going to hang out with you because you have some weird ass obsession with Ellie. You can go away now." I glanced over at Axel and he looked happy about what I was saying.

"Nope. You're coming with me, whether you like it or not," Terra threatened, getting this look in his eyes. Really, I had no choice but to agree. If this guy really had hurt Ellie as much as Axel said, then chances are I was screwed. My mom may be a good fighter (or... was. I don't know if she still is), but I fail at it. Sora can beat me up without even breaking a sweat... this guy could probably kill me in a few seconds.

So, despite Axel's protests, I stood up. Glaring viciously at Terra, I said, "Fine." He looked extremely happy to hear this. However, I wasn't done. "But you'd better have a fucking excellent reason for this."

He didn't have a good reason.

He didn't even have a reason other than to figure out more about why Ellie wouldn't talk to him.

Freak.

How hard could it be to even come up with a lame, fake reason for why he dragged me away from Axel while the two of us were busy? I could have done it easily, but this guy... I swear, some people are just so rude and annoying.

Ven wasn't that bad, though. It turned out that the two of us actually had a lot in common besides how we looked. Kinda.

"Jeeze! How many orphans are there in this city?" That was my reaction when I found out Ven didn't know who his parents were, or even if they were alive. First Axel, then Ellie, then Kairi then my mom and now this guy? It was like they were attracted to me or something weird like that.

"A lot, Roxas. Not everyone has a nice life like you do," Ven told me as we waited for Terra to come back. He'd run off, saying he had to do something and that we should wait for him. Honestly, I just wanted to leave, get away from the weirdo, you know, but I'd feel bad just running off from Ven. He was a really nice guy. I think people thought we were twins though, even though he's about seven years older than I am. Like Axel.

I let out a sudden sigh at the thought of Axel, wishing he was here with us. I didn't want to leave him at all, but Terra just looked so scary...

"You okay?" Ven asked. I just laughed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about something." Someone, more like, but I couldn't tell him that. An awkward silence fell over us, and I became desperate to find a reason to start a conversation, but I really had nothing to talk about. Well, that's not true. I had a shit ton of questions for this guy about why Terra was so weird, but I was too scared to ask anything.

"Where's Terra?" Ven finally muttered, glancing around the busy train center. "He's been gone awhile." He talked about him like he was some kind of older brother. But if this guy was really insane, then why would he...

"What was Axel talking about earlier," I asked suddenly, not sure where my boldness came from. "Why did he say Terra tried to kill Ellie? And... um... why does he act so weird?" I was completely convinced Ven was going to kill me for asking this. He didn't have a dangerous feeling to him, but if he was anything at all like Terra, then it could come on in an instant. But, he just laughed.

"Terra's family has a history of mental issues. When he was nineteen, a year after he started dating Ellie-" He dated Ellie? What the hell? I had no idea what to think about this... "-he had a... well, they called it a psychotic break, but they really don't know what happened. Turns out he's schizophrenic."

…. I was hanging out with a guy who had some kind of mental disorder? Fun.

Not.

This was getting nuts. Sure, Ven was nice, but dealing with crazy people isn't really my forte. Sure, Axel's a bit nuts, but at least I know how to handle his nonsense now. Same with Sora (Riku, Ellie, and Kairi, not so much), but this guy was actually diagnosed with as a crazy person. Sora and Axel were just weird.

"So... he's a psycho... that would explain why Axel didn't like him," I mused, leaning against the wall. "But then why do you hang around him? And that Aqua chick you guys were talking about. From what I gathered, she's taking care of Terra, right?"

"Yeah..." Ven said in a small voice. "Ellie doesn't get it either. That's why she won't talk to any of us. He tried to kill her, and yet neither Aqua or I blame him. We actually continue to be his friends."

"But why? Wasn't Ellie your friend as well?"

"Terra wasn't always insane," he explained. "Aqua and I grew up with him, and we know a side of him that Ellie only caught a glimpse of. Neither of us are really willing to admit that Terra's dangerous, even though we're both well aware of this fact." He sounded serious, but it didn't make any sense to me. They knew he was dangerous, and yet they continued to hang around him because he wasn't in the past...

Didn't the two of them realize that the Terra they knew before was technically gone?

Noticing my confusion, Ven started laughing. "Like I said, Ellie doesn't get it either. Even though she's really smart, she doesn't understand certain kinds of relationships. The only one she's ever really had has been with that Axel guy back there."

"And Riku," I said, remembering how the two of them acted around each other outside of work.

"Riku? That silver-haired guy Aqua said Ellie was going out with?"

I nodded, then realized that Ven had met Riku before.

"Wait, when did you meet him?" I doubted Ellie described Riku as a silver-haired guy to her friends... that didn't seem to be the kind of person she was.

"I think you were in the hospital or something. You and Axel weren't there, but Aqua, Terra and I went to visit Ellie at her work one day." He looked down cast at the thought. "I got made fun of by that hyper brown-haired guy... uh..."

"Sora?"

"Yeah!"

Why wasn't I told about this? I mean, surely three random people showing up at my work while I was in the hospital and causing some kind of ruckus would be a thing I had to deal with, right? Or, was at least something I should have been told about.

I silently declared to interrogate Ellie about this later.

"Man, Terra's been gone a really long time!" Ven sounded really worried, like he thought Terra was going to kill someone or something. I didn't put it past that guy. He looked kinda pissed when he walked off, even though he always looked pissed.

"Maybe-" I started to say, trying to think of some reason why he would have just taken off like that, but a voice interrupted me.

"What's your last name, boy?" I turned, surprised, and saw a really, really, really, really, really, really, really tall guy with long silver hair. He had this haughty, "I'm a hell of a lot better than anyone here," look to him that made me think of Axel. Only, Axel was less freaky looking than this guy.

"Um... none of your business," I told him, glancing at Ven, who shrugged.

"Is it Strife?"

Okay, that wasn't creepy at all. Not many people recognized me by my last name.

"Why?" I asked, becoming curious.

The man smiled. "Is your father Cloud Strife?" I didn't answer, which kind of seemed to piss him off. "I take that as a yes," he snapped. "Well, my name's Sephiroth. Sephiroth Strife, and I'm your uncle."

This guy must have just been joking around with me, because there was no way I had an uncle. Dad always told me he was an only child and his parents died a long time ago.

"Anyway, I haven't seen my precious little brother in a long time, and I really miss him. Would you kindly take me to your house so I could talk to him again?"

Um... What?