FicWad

Chapter 2

You Are

I am! yet what I am none cares or knows,
My friends forsake me like a memory lost,
I am the self consumer of my woes.
- John Clare, "I Am"



Roxas awoke to find himself in bed beneath warm blankets. Almost forgetting what had happened to him, Roxas moved slightly but as he did so, pain shot through his body and he stifled a scream. The memory of what Larxene and Marluxia had done to him suddenly came back to him and he let out a long sigh.

"You're okay!" Axel's voice sounded next to Roxas and the boy turned his head to see him sitting on the bed next to him, a worried look in his eyes. "You...you really scared me, kid," he said. "Damn Larxene. ...Anyways, I'm...sorry," Axel said softly and bit his lip. He did feel sorry...but how? It was strange how for some reason, unlike the other order members, he and Roxas seemed to be the only ones that truly could show emotion. "This is all my fault," the red-head continued. "If I hadn't came up with the stupid idea to burn Larxene's book, this wouldn't have happened to you. Hmph. Some best friend I'm turning out to be," he sighed.

Roxas, despite his pain, was able to smile at his friend. "It's not your fault. I should've tried to fight back but...I didn't. Maybe...I'm just...a coward." The blonde boy sighed.

"You're not a coward," Axel said. "You just...need some practice fighting. That's all." He smiled comfortingly, using a piece of cloth to dab away some blood that was still oozing from a cut on the side of Roxas's face. "You'll be fine, and as your best friend, I promise I'll never let anything like this happen to you ever again. Got that memorized?"

Roxas smiled. "Okay, Axel," he said, his breathing slowly going back to normal.

Axel's eyes saddened. "Before you passed out...you said something to me. ...You asked me if I knew what your purpose is, remember?"

Roxas nodded.

"Well...I think I know," the older teen said, grinning. "I think...you're here to keep me company. See, before you came here, I really hated being in the Organization, always surrounded by these idiots. Before you came along...I didn't really understand friendship...but now I do."

Roxas smiled back and he suddenly felt a weird feeling in his eyes like he was on the verge of crying. But nobodies didn't cry, right? "You're my best friend, Axel," he stated quietly.

Axel grinned before picking up a book. "I found this in the library while you were sleeping," he said. "It looks kind of dark so I thought you might be interested in it."

Roxas opened his eyes when Axel placed the book in his hands. The title of the book was The Sight by David Clement-Davies and on the cover were two pretty eyes that seemed to belong to a white wolf. But Roxas was still in pain from being beaten up by Larxene and Marluxia and soon he could no longer hold up the book. "Can you read it to me?" he asked, closing his eyes again and letting out a tired sigh.

"Sure, Roxas," Axel grinned, opening the book and flipping to chapter one, starting to read the story to his friend. Roxas couldn't help but laugh whenever Axel would voice the story's characters with much enthusiasm.

"You're so weird, Axel," Roxas said with a playful grin.

"Heh. Weird, huh? I already knew that," the red-head said, smiling at the boy before continuing to read. When Roxas had fallen asleep, he closed the book, placing it beside the blonde before he went to the other side of the room and layed on his bed. He sighed. I'm such an idiot, he thought, I should have known Larxene would've taken her anger out on him instead of me. Poor kid.

He tuned his head to stare across the room at Roxas who was still sleeping silently. Axel's green eyes softened and there seemed to be a trace of guilt in them as well. He then closed his eyes, drifting into sleep. The next morning, he was awoken by someone nudging him. Axel looked up to see Roxas standing there. He looked a lot better than the night before and Axel guessed his strength must be returning. However, poor Roxas's left eye was still black but it was not like that wouldn't go away. He would eventually be back to normal.

"Hey," Axel said, "you feeling better?"

"Yeah. A little," Roxas answered.

"When your eye heals, you can start practicing how to use that weapon of yours," Axel said, sitting up.

Roxas nodded. "Yeah," he said, trying to smile. He didn't really like fighting but if he really had to, he would.

"Now, stay here. I'm gonna go have a little 'talk' with Larxene." He grinned for he knew he wouldn't just be using words against her. Smiling cunningly, he imagined torching the cruel Organization member. "And if anyone tries to hurt you while I'm gone, defend yourself! You gotta be tough if you really want to stay part of the Organization," he stated.

"I will," Roxas replied, his keyblade appearing in his hands. He then watched as Axel left the room. Lying his weapon on the bed beside him, Roxas picked his book back up and continued with his uninjured eye. Later, he suddenly heard a female voice shout "I'm gonna kill you, Axel!" from outside the room and then a familiar laugh. Seconds later, the door opened. Roxas watched as Axel locked the door, standing with his back against it, laughing.

"Hahaha! Can't get us now, Larxene!" he called as he heard her banging the other side of the door. He then heard her let out a fustrated "Arrgh!" before her voice faded and they guessed she must've stormed off through the hall.

"So, what did you do?" Roxas asked with an amused look.

"Set the top of her hair on fire. Not that much though. Then I poured a glass of water on her to snuff it out 'Cause I knew she'd really try to kill me if I didn't get rid of the flames. Heh. But one thing's for sure. I don't think she'll mess with you again," Axel answered.

Roxas laughed at the thought of what that must've looked like. "Hmm. You sure we won't get kicked out of the Organization now?" He asked worriedly.

"What? Of course not! It was her fault anyway. She asked for it, beating you up like that. I may have set her book on fire but is that really that bad? Anyway, I don't think she'll even report it to Xemnus. She'll probably just hate the two of us for now on." Axel smiled, sitting next to him. "So, how far are you in that book?"

Roxas opened the book more to show how much he had gotten done and Axel's eyes widened. "Geez. You must read pretty fast," the red-head said, "reading bores me after a while," he continued, lying back on the bed and staring up. "All I usually read is some mangas every now and then."

"Comic books?" Roxas grinned. "I wouldn't exactly call them books."

"Hey!" Axel growled. "Mangas can also be called graphic novels, you know."

"So?" Roxas shrugged, continuing to read The Sight.

"So, the novel part. A novel is like another word for a book so, there you go. Mangas are books...only with pictures," Axel said.

The blonde laughed. "Okay. If you want to think that." He then looked back to see a manga in the older boy's hands. "Read a real book!" he said, laughing at he pulled the manga away from Axel and shoved The Sight in his hands.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Why do I have to read it? I found the book for you to read."

"Yeah," Roxas said, smiling, "but it's better when you read it. You add a bit of humor to it."

"Fine. Whatever," Axel said sounding rather defeated. He picked the book up and continued to read from where Roxas had left off.

Roxas grinned, listening intently and giggling every now and then when Axel would try to give the story's characters life. Finally, the boy fell asleep...on Axel's shoulders. When Axel noticed his friend fell asleep, he cleared his throat, waking him up.

"Huh?" Roxas said, looking up at him tiredly. "Oh, sorry."

Axel nodded though he was grinning. "I think you need some sleep," he said. "You'll need sleep anyway if you want to heal fully."

"Yeah," the boy replied, getting to his feet and walking across the room to his bed where he then layed down, drifting into a deep sleep.

Three weeks after poor Roxas had been beaten by Larxene and Marluxia, the boy stood, healthy and back to normal. His black eye was fully healed and he felt stronger. He was also starting to get better at defending himself.

"Axel," he said, walking over to his friend.

"Hmm?" he said, looking over at him.

"I wanna do some more practice fighting," Roxas replied cheerfully.

"Okay," Axel said, starting to lead Roxas out of the castle. When they were outside, Axel took out his chakrams, looking around cunningly. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Roxas answered, his keyblade appearing in his hand. "Let's go get 'em!"

With this, the two charged forward. As they did this, little black forms began to form in front of them-- heartless. Axel and Roxas stood back-to-back as they fought the heartless that were trying to attack them. Axel turned to see how the younger boy was doing and was quite shocked to see how much progress he had made over the past few weeks. He watched as Roxas quickly did away with the heartless in front of him. He then grinned looking back at Axel.

"Not bad," Axel said and Roxas thought he could see a hint of pride in his green eyes. Again, Roxas wondered why they were able to feel emotions if their kind was not suposed to. "You're almost as good as...well...me now. Heheh. Was I a good mentor?"

Roxas smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks, Axel. You're the best."

Axel grinned. "Yeah. I'm pretty good, aren't I?" He laughed, folding his arms behind his head. "Now, c'mon. Let's go back."

Roxas followed silently but it wasn't long till they were stopped. He glared coldly at Demyx but did not say anything. It seemed Roxas usually only talked when he was with Axel but everyone else pretty much meant nothing to the boy for he meant nothing to them as well.

"Get outta the way, Demyx," Axel snapped, putting on an annoyed look.

"I just wanna hear him say something. I mean, dude. The kid never speaks!" Demyx said in his whinny voice. He walked over to Roxas and waved his hands in front of the blonde's face. "Is he even alive?"

"Get away from me," Roxas hissed.

"Woah!" Demyx shouted, backing away from the younger boy. "He's pretty weird. No wonder why he always hangs out with you, Axel," he added, giving the red-head a cunning grin.

Axel sighed. "Don't you have anything better to do other than annoy us, Demyx?" he growled.

"Annoying you guys is the best thing to do! It's what I do best!"

"Why don't you go fight some heartless?" Roxas asked flatly, expressionless.

"You know me. I'm not really the fighter of the Organization." As he said this, a heartless suddenly appeared, popping out of the ground and squirming towards him. Demyx let out a scream and began to whimper, backing away from it. "Aah! Don't let it touch me! Mommy!" he yelled, running away.

Roxas and Axel both laughed, watching the coward run back into the castle.

"What an idiot," Axel said.

Roxas nodded. "Demyx is such an a-" He blinked in surprise when Axel covered his mouth with a gloved hand. "What?" he said, pouting.

"Look, just because I call the others that sometimes doesn't mean you should," Axel scolded him, though grinning.

"You're a bad example for him, Axel." The two turned to see Demyx standing by the castle's entrance. He laughed, playing with something in his hands which sounded like a video game. He quickly lost whatever it was he was playing and let out a childish moan. "Aww. I swear this thing is rigged. It's impossible to beat! Darn it!"

"You are such a wimp," a cold voice came.

The three turned to see another teen walking towards them, hands in his pockets and eyes half way open. One could say he had a rather depressed way about him.

"Zexion!" Demyx called his name in greeting. "What's up, man?"

Zexion turned his gaze to Demyx, dark eyes narrowed. "Shut up," he said flatly.

Demyx grinned, playfully punching Roxas's shoulder. "Zexion isn't that talkative either," he said.

"I said...shut...up!" Zexion growled, using Demyx's hood to pull him forward so he could get his point across.

Demyx shook, staring into the other's dark eyes. "Don't hurt me! Don't hurt me! Please!" he pleaded until Zexion released the hood of his cloak and stepped back, grinning.

"Heheh," Zexion smiled. "You really are a wimp," he stated, sliding his hands back in his pockets.

"Why do you always have to go freakin' me out like that?!" Demyx groaned. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Everything scares you," Zexion pointed out.

"True," Demyx said puting on a defeated look. "Still...I hate it when you do that!"

Zexion let out a laugh which sounded quite eerie to the others. "Aw, c'mon, Demyx," he said. "I'm not that scary, am I?"

"When you get all creepy like that, yes! Very scary," Demyx stated, pouting. "Anyway...hey, Zexion. Wanna go annoy the old members? Huh, huh?" he said, taking out his sitar and starting to play.

"Whatever," the other boy muttered.

"Coolness! C'mon!" Demyx exclaimed, trying to drag Zexion with him. He paused when Zexion gave him a glare that seemed to translate to 'touch me again...and I'll kill you'. Demyx cowered at the sight of the other's look before saying, "Eh, woops. Now, let's go!" he said, his hyper grin returning. "I'll race ya!" With this, Demyx turned and ran into the castle, thinking Zexion was too.

Zexion watched him go, sighing. "Idiot," he muttered before begining to slowly follow Demyx. "I'm surrounded by a bunch of idiots."


Roxas turned to Axel. "What's that weapon Demyx has?" he asked worriedly.

"A sitar," Axel answered. "He can control water with it."

Roxas frowned, looking up at him. "Water? So...if he ever fought you, he could snuff out your fire attacks, couldn't he?"

Axel laughed at this. "Yeah, but don't worry. Demyx doesn't fight unless he really has to. He's nothing but a wimp. Usually, all he does with that sitar of his is play it really loud to annoy us all."

"Oh," Roxas said. "But...if he ever did fight me, do you think I could win?"

"You, of course. I mean, just look at those fighting skills you had earlier. Look, quit worrying about everything, ok? ...I'm here for you."

Roxas smiled, soft blue eyes shinning with trust. "I know," he said. "C'mon, let's go back inside. It's starting to get cold out here."

"Yeah," Axel agreed. The two then began to make their way back into the castle. Outside, it began to thunder. Flashing lightning lit up the sky and gray clouds drifted above in the heavens. Then drops of rain began to fall as if the sky itself was crying.