Kingdom Hearts 1. Chapter 1

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 1  
**

Roxas did not move into an old house, and he did not move into a strange neighborhood; in fact, he didn't move anywhere at all. He still lived in the exact same apartment where he'd lived all fifteen years of his life, in quaint little Twilight Town, overlooking the sandlot where he'd played baseball as a kid. His room even still had the same star decorations his mom had run out to get for him when he'd had that phase at age seven where he was obsessed with outer space. The star curtains, the stars on the ceiling, even his star-patterned comforter, surrounded him with a comforting air of celestial grace. He had to admit he still kinda liked it, even though he'd outgrown the theme.

The point is, the supernatural managed to sniff him out anyway. Ordinary Roxas in his plain little town, with his run-of-the-mill parents, solid B grade average, nice girl he sort of liked, no, there was nothing extraordinary about Roxas in any way at all. He was brutally, painfully, even aggressively average. But who knows? Maybe that's what they were looking for.

Everything started on his first day of school. He was a junior in high school, fifteen years old and young for his grade- his birthday was at the end of December. Since he was an only child, his parents had pushed to get him in preschool as soon as they possibly could so his mother could go back to full-time work, and when they'd given him the tests he'd done all right, not good and not bad, so they shrugged their shoulders and let him in. He didn't mind being younger than everyone else. Twilight Town was too small to need to drive anywhere anyway, and the public transit was good, so it's not like he needed a driver's license, and even if he did need a car to get somewhere he could always bum a ride off Hayner.

Hayner was his best friend, practically since infancy. He was almost a full year older than Roxas even though they were in the same grade. They lived next door to each other. Their first week of kindergarten, they picked up Pence, an awkward, quiet kid who could get crazy in private and was surprisingly good at basketball despite being short and rotund. And finally, there was Olette.

Roxas was kind of in love with Olette. So was Hayner. The jury was out on Pence. It was a problem. The biggest problem plaguing Roxas's young mind, at that. Or at least it had been, up until the morning of his first day of his junior year in high school. By the end of the night, he would be desperately hoping for the calm familiarity of worrying about fighting over a girl who was your best friend with a guy who was your best friend. But of course, he had no way of knowing that.

His alarm went off at the usual time, and he dragged himself out of bed, staggering dully down the hallway. The apartment was small enough that there was only one bathroom, and school started before his parents' jobs, so he had to get up extra early to use the shower before they did. Like usual, he kept the shower water cool-to-lukewarm to shock himself just enough that he wouldn't fall asleep and hurt himself. Then he stepped out of the tub, wrapped a towel around his depressingly skinny hips, and sleepily reached for his toothbrush. But he didn't grab the cup with the toothbrushes.

Next to that cup was another cup, a smaller one. He squinted his eyes- his contacts weren't in yet. No, it wasn't a cup at all, it was a bottle. A rather small bottle, at that, and he wasn't sure who it belonged to. He assumed it must have been his mother's, 'cause really, who else's could it be? It was pretty, though. The glass was a deep ruby-rose color, semi-transparent, with a patterned inlay. He wondered what was inside it- maybe perfume? The top was corked.

He uncorked it.

Nothing was inside- it wasn't perfume or anything else. Just an empty bottle. Maybe it belonged to his grandmother or something, and his parents found it while cleaning and accidentally left it in the bathroom? His grandmother had died a few months before, and they were always finding weird knick-knacks that she'd left behind.

Roxas carefully stuck the cork back in the bottle, and put the tiny piece of glassware back on the sink. Well, maybe that wasn't the best place for it, since his dad would probably knock it over and break it while shaving, and if it was his grandmother's, it was definitely important. So, Roxas picked it up and carried it out with him, deposited it on his desk while he clothed himself, and promptly forgot about it. He was running late to meet Hayner, after all, and the two of them were always getting in trouble for missing bits of homeroom.

He grabbed a pop-tart on his way out the door as he tugged his jacket on and grabbed his backpack, kicking the door shut as he galloped out of the apartment and down the stairs into the street. Hayner was in one of the units in the building next door, and they always met on the sidewalk exactly halfway between so that they could walk to school together. Today was no different, and Hayner was standing on the sidewalk already with his own pop-tart clutched firmly in hand, waiting rather boredly for Roxas to show up.

"Dude, where have you been?" Hayner grumbled around a mouthful of pastry. He always got the strawberry with all the sprinkles, but Roxas preferred cinnamon sugar.

"What, would you rather I didn't shower?" Roxas bantered back, and the two walked the rest of the way to the school in comfortable silence, each enjoying his respective breakfast. The school was less than five blocks away, of course, so it's not like it took them that long to get there. With the number of years they'd been going to that dumphole, they didn't even have to pay attention to where they were going- their feet carried them there automatically. So, it was completely understandable that they missed the growing crowds the closer they got to their place of education, and it was completely understandable that they didn't notice the Twilight Town Channel 6 Local News crew until a reporter was directly in front of them, shoving a microphone in Hayner's face.

"Do you boys go to Twilight High?" she asked roughly and impatiently. She'd narrowed in on Hayner, of course- he was more masculine than Roxas, and by most objective standards better-looking, at least he thought so. Of course a random reporter would go after Hayner first. Wait, why was there even a reporter here in the first place?

"Yeah, why?" Hayner asked suspiciously, and Roxas spent a moment wondering if Hayner could read his mind before remembering the original question. Jackpot, the reporter's expression seemed to say- her eyes gleamed wildly and she waved to a cameraman. He shuffled over, bleary-eyed.

"How do you feel about what happened here last night?" she gushed. Hayner looked at Roxas. Roxas looked at Hayner. They both shrugged.

"What are you talking about, dude? Uh, ma'am?" Hayner finally asked. The microphone and camera were in _his_ face, after all, so he should be doing the talking. The reporter herself sighed, and seemed to visibly deflate. Apparently, Hayner and Roxas were epic duds in her quest for journalistic greatness. Well, whatever.

"Cinderella Carlisle hung herself in the cafeteria last night," she said rather bluntly. Honestly, what if they'd been close friends with her or something? Dropping the news on them like that.

Wait.

What?

"Hanged," Roxas corrected automatically. That was all he could think of to say. Even during a tragedy, well, there was no excuse for bad grammar. He looked over at Hayner again, but his friend was unable to help him, too busy sputtering pathetically at the microphone while the reporter rolled her eyes. The cameraman, however, zoomed in further, as if Hayner's stunned expression was ratings gold. Finally, the two boys were rescued by Pence and Olette, running towards them from the other side of the throng. How could they possibly have not noticed all these people? Roxas suddenly felt faint.

"Hayner! Roxas!" Pence shouted. That broke Hayner out of his trance, and he gave the woman an angry scowl before allowing himself to be dragged away by Olette. Roxas followed, noticing much more than made him comfortable that no one grabbed _his _hand, even though he was in great distress. But somehow, now, as a complete unit, he felt much less uneasy than before. In any case, Pence and Olette had apparently been here a while, so maybe they could give up some answers.

The four of them didn't quite leave the school grounds, just the front door, leaving the reporters behind, now including several out-of-town crews. Once they were back behind the school where the crowds weren't so thick, they stopped running and curled up into a tight little huddle. Roxas had barely had time to process what he'd been told, but now that he did, well, he felt nauseous. Really nauseous.

"What happened?" he gasped, panting and dizzy and flushed.

"Apparently Cindy offed herself," Olette whispered. Even more coarse than the reporter, but for some reason when it was Olette, it was ok. "They found her dangling from those big lights in the cafeteria. It was all over the news this morning- didn't you guys check?"

"Uh, no, I don't usually watch the news before school," Hayner muttered. He looked sick, too. They all did. Teens were clumped all around them, just like their little group, twitchy and awkward, looking for all the world like when the sun came up they'd all freak out and scuttle away under the fridge.

"Well, anyway, school got cancelled. The whole place is a crime scene," Pence said, breaking the depressing silence by trying to be cheerful. It failed miserably, and soon he was dragged back down into the depths of misery, just like everyone else.

"At least she'll be remembered, right? Cindy Carlisle, the girl who got us all a day off school," Hayner said morbidly. "I think I only ever talked to her once, and it was to borrow a pencil. I don't even remember what class it was, and it may have been a completely different girl and I may just be remembering it wrong."

"She was in my science class. Most boring presentation on mitosis I've ever seen," Pence added sadly. Roxas had a sneaking suspicion that this was not how Cinderella Carlisle would want to be remembered. He knew next to nothing about her, of course, except that her parents had gone through a messy divorce a few years back, and the town being as small as it was, the drama had been all over the local newspapers. A couple years later her mom died and her dad remarried someone from out of town- again, all over the local newspapers. Not a lot happened in Twilight Town.

"We had gym together. She had Spider-man panties," Olette offered. That earned stares from the three boys. "What? They were cute! And I never had any other classes with her I don't think," she said defensively. Another long silence.

By this point word that school was cancelled had gotten around the schoolyard, and the awkward teenagers were beginning to disperse. The reporters were still there, of course, hawking every student they could get their hands on, but even they seemed to have lost their enthusiasm. Now that the excitement of the novel had passed- a suicide, right here in Twilight Town- well, now it was just kind of sad. The same kind of sad as when someone eats one bite of their dessert and then doesn't want the rest, but no one else can eat it because they already took a bite out of it. Just… what a waste.

"Well, there's nothing to do here," Pence finally said, completely dejected. "Want to get ice cream?"

"Hey, dude, it's barely 8 A.M. The ice cream place won't be open for hours," Hayner sighed.

"I, for one, am going home and going back to bed. You boys can do whatever you want," Olette declared, and she quit the scene with flying colors. She and Pence lived near each other, on the other side of the school from Hayner and Roxas, so it was a little weird she hadn't asked him to come with, but maybe she just wanted to be alone. Come to think of it, Roxas wanted to be alone, too. It wasn't every day that one of your classmates killed herself. If ever there was a day to just give up and go back to bed, well, today was it.

"Me too. Call me later and maybe we can do something. Bye guys." With that somewhat subdued farewell, Roxas turned, stuffed his hands into his oversized pockets, and shuffled his way back to his apartment. His parents wouldn't have left for work yet, they'd be asking why he was back home so soon. Unless they'd seen the news already, in which case he wouldn't have to explain it, which would be nice. Too tired to pull out his key, he leaned on the doorbell until his parents buzzed him up.

"Roxas?" his mom gasped when he slouched through the door. "What about school?"

"Turn on the TV," he sighed. "I'm going back to bed." He was done with the day. Maybe if he just went to sleep, this would all be some kind of terrible dream and he'd wake up again and no one would be dead and Olette would be in love with him and not Hayner and he'd have straight As and a Porsche. He just wished his life would just be normal. You know, normal plus a Porsche.

Unfortunately, his day was already slated to get a whole lot weirder.

Nothing seemed off at first. He went into his room, dumped his backpack in a corner, stretched out on his bed and closed his eyes. His head suddenly ached, and he thought it might be better to take some aspirin before trying to sleep. So, he opened his eyes and sat up.

"Good morning, sunshine." Roxas rubbed his tired face.

"Go away, dad," he mumbled.

"_Dad?_ You wound me." The words were accompanied by a delicate sniff. Roxas froze. Come to think of it, that wasn't his dad's voice at all- it was higher and, well, nasally. The voice definitely belonged to a teenage boy of some kind, but it wasn't Hayner or Pence. At this point Roxas figured it would make the most sense to turn and see who was talking to him, so he did. And then he screamed.

It was a short scream, just enough to undermine his masculine dignity. For the person he was speaking to was, well, no one he'd ever seen before. He looked to be about Roxas's age, just as he'd guessed, so creepy old pervert was ruled out. In any case, he had bright red hair, and he was tall, but with a young face, which he seemed to be trying to hide with tattoos. Honestly, how much must that have hurt?

"Roxas? Is everything all right, honey? I saw on the news- that's terrible. Did you know her?" His mother's voice drifted from down the hall, apparently in reaction to the scream. But Roxas was too preoccupied to put his mother's concerns to rest.

"Who the hell are you?" he hissed. The red part of the red-head's red head was somehow sticking straight up in the air, and the hairs swished two and fro as he spoke, almost in time to the way he moved his head and waved his arms.

"I'm all of your wildest dreams come true, dearie," he whispered dramatically, following Roxas's lead with regards to speaking volume. He leaned in closer, and breathed into Roxas's ear.

"I grant wishes."

Roxas was stunned. He blinked slowly, his mouth hung open, he forgot to swallow and barely managed to stop a thick glob of drool from spilling down his jaw line. _Grants… wishes? _His heart actually skipped a beat. He had to take a moment to recover. All because he wasn't expecting such an outlandish response, he told himself. The sheer audacity of this guy. Hayner probably paid him, or something. Wouldn't be the first time.

"Bull," Roxas muttered back when he finally found his voice. "Who are you really?"

"Roxas? Roxas, are you ok?" Footsteps were pattering down the hallway. Roxas had about no seconds to come up with an excuse as to why there was a mysterious boy in his room who hadn't come through the front door with him. Come to think of it, how _had _this kid gotten inside? The window was still closed. As if he could read Roxas's thoughts, the newcomer smirked.

"Would I lie to you?" he grinned, showing all kinds of pointy teeth. The smile was kind of predatory- in any case, it was more than enough to make Roxas uncomfortable.

"Roxas?" His mother was knocking on the door. Roxas swallowed hard.

"Here, I'll prove it to you," the boy said, barely containing his glee. With that, he walked and planted himself directly in between Roxas and the door. Under absolutely no circumstances would his mother not be able to see him now.

"What are you doing!?" he asked desperately. The would-be wish-granter did nothing but smile.

"Standing here, minding my own business of course."

"C'mon, you need to-"

"Roxas!" At that moment, his mom opened the door.

Content to wait for his mother to demand an explanation, Roxas froze, looking at anything but the open doorway. He couldn't even see his mother, since his visitor was in the way, a bright smile on his face. Maybe _he _could explain to his mother what he was doing here. That could be his first wish, even, if he were telling the truth about the wishes. _I wish you would explain to my mother __**and **__me what the hell is going on._

"Are you ok? Sweetie? I heard you yell. Honey, why won't you look at me?" Roxas dared a glance up at his mother, eyes wide and afraid. Secret boys in his room. He'd be grounded for life. And Mr. Red-Head didn't seem at all inclined to help him.

"Hi, mom," he said weakly. "I can explain."

"Oh, honey," she murmured. "You don't have to explain anything." And before Roxas knew what was happening, his mom had wrapped him in a tight and, well, motherly embrace. The kind of hug only a mother could give, and boy, did he need it this morning. He meekly wrapped his own arms around her waist in return. And then he realized.

She'd moved straight through his flame-haired guest. She couldn't see him at all. The red-head was laughing at him, though he was at least polite enough to stifle it with his hand. Otherwise it might have been rather distracting. Wait.

"Thanks, mom. I think I just want to go back to bed for now," Roxas said, a little too quickly. His mother broke the hug.

"Of course, Roxas. I have to leave for work now, but call if you need anything, ok? Or call Hayner. You shouldn't stay inside all day after what happened," she said worriedly, putting her palm against his forehead out of habit. Mr. Red-Head laughed harder, allowing a few giggles and snorts to escape from behind his knuckles. As soon as his mother was gone, Roxas scowled, full-force.

"_What_ is your problem?" The laughter died.

"You're the only one who can see me. Or hear me," he said, as close to seriously as it appeared he was going to get. "I'm telling the truth. I grant wishes. You're my new _master._" He said that particular word with more than a little disdain. But the emotion was gone as soon as it had come, and the stranger jumped back into his abrasive conversation. "She's a nice lady. Did your mom say your name was _Roxas_?"

Roxas, meanwhile, was feeling quite dizzy, and had plopped back down onto his bed to recover his bearings. So much had happened in such a short period of time. Shower. Pop-tart. Cindy Carlisle killed herself. Newspeople attacked Hayner. He came home. Mom. Random dude appears from nowhere. Mom. Random dude still not going away. Claims to be some sort of genie. What where when why how?

"Why are you here? Why me?" he asked stupidly. It was as good a place to start as any.

"Do you _wish _for me to tell you that?" the boy asked with a wink. Roxas's scowl deepened.

"No, I don't," he grumbled. "I thought you'd just tell me. Isn't an explanation of the rules in the genie contract or something?" Mr. Red-Head looked hurt.

"Well, who knows, if you're going to talk to me like _that_," he sniffed. "Besides, I asked first."

"Asked what?"

"What your name is." He did? Roxas completely missed that. Oh well. He wouldn't be able to do much damage with just a name.

"Roxas." Apparently his name was unusual. The boy's eyebrows raised and his mouth shaped into a little "ooo" of interest. Roxas sort of hated his name, so he had no idea why anyone would get so excited about it.

"Interesting name," the boy gushed. "How do you spell it?" Honestly, what kind of question is that?

"Exactly like it sounds. R-O-X-A-S." The red-head followed the spelling, mouthing each letter with a tiny tap of the air punctuating each one. Maybe he had a passion for orthography. After a minute of feeling rather pleased with himself for his use of the word "orthography," Roxas realized that it may be impolite not to ask the genie for his name as well, assuming he had one.

"Do you have a name? Uh, I mean, what's your name?" He felt stupid for feeling stupid about the way he phrased a question directed towards someone who was probably a sugar-induced hallucination.

"I thought you'd never ask. Most people don't," he said bluntly, with not even a hint of sadness in his voice. "It's Axel. A-X-E-L," he finished as an afterthought, beaming.

"That's not how you spell axle," was the first thing out of Roxas's mouth. Axel glared at him.

"That's how _I _spell Axel." And that was the end of the conversation. Now that they were done talking and he'd calmed down a bit, Roxas took a long moment to take in a little more of Axel's appearance. He certainly didn't _look _like some kind of all-powerful genie. Sure, his clothes were a little odd, but he was only wearing normal jeans with a vest. The weirdest parts of his ensemble were the fact that he wasn't wearing any shoes, and that he wore gold earrings that dangled almost to his shoulders, and really, that wasn't saying much. He wouldn't have been out of place at a skanky indie concert.

That didn't explain why his mother wasn't able to see him, though. Not only had she not seen him, she had _walked right through him. _Clearly, something supernatural was going on. Roxas decided to try that age-old remedy of closing your eyes to see if your problem went away. So, he lay back onto his comfy pillow and closed his eyes. For several blissful moments, Axel didn't talk to him, and Roxas was convinced that he'd beaten out his subconscious trauma. Unfortunately, his celebration was somewhat premature.

"So, you're not going to wish for anything, then?" Axel asked boredly. Roxas groaned and opened his eyes. His sort-of genie was sitting cross-legged on his desk, balanced precariously on all of his carefully accumulated mess. "Usually people are wishing for stuff within the first second, you know? You're awfully boring."

"Maybe I just don't believe you're actually here," Roxas countered. "You didn't answer my question. Why me?" Axel pulled off the most dramatic eye-roll and sigh combination that he'd ever seen, but this time he was more cooperative.

"You opened my bottle, stupid." _What!?_

"Ok, I _so _did not," Roxas said quickly, not caring how childish he sounded. He was not, after all, the type to run around opening bottles all willy-nilly. He was careful about that sort of thing. And he would have noticed a bottle that housed a _genie_, wouldn't he?

"Uh, pretty sure you did. It's right there." Axel pointed, and there it was. The little rose-colored bottle he'd put on his desk. The one that had seemed so innocuous only an hour before. The one he thought belonged to his grandmother. The one that apparently belonged to Axel.

"I thought that was my grandmother's," he stammered.

"Maybe it was," Axel shrugged. "I've never granted any wishes to any old ladies, though." This was all just way too bizarre for Roxas to deal with. A hanging _and_ a genie, all in one day? Andon top of that, Olette still didn't like him. His life sucked.

"Whatever," he muttered, and he rolled over and faced the wall. "I'm going to bed," he declared, as if that may make his new friend go away. Naps solved everything.

"It's not even nine o'clock in the morning," Axel supplied helpfully. Well, at least he could tell time. That may prove useful. "Are you _sure_ you don't want to wish for anything before you fall asleep?"

"Absolutely positive. In fact, I hope that when I wake up, you'll be gone," Roxas grumbled, stuffing his head under his pillow and covering his ears. Just a hallucination, from exhaustion and stress- after he slept, Axel would be gone. _Mind over matter. Mind over matter._ But nothing could kick that sinking feeling deep in his gut that he _wasn't _mentally ill- that deep certainty that Axel was telling the truth.

"Ok, well. Think about it. You're stuck with me until you use them up."

And that horrifying thought was the very last one that occupied poor, ordinary Roxas's troubled mind as he tumbled off to sleep.

* * *

ZOMG, I get back from vacation and there's a new multi-chapter story? I really need to stop doing that. Anyway, I'm pretty excited for this concept. An ordinary Axel-as-a-genie fic... OR IS IT!?

I like reviews. :) Say hello to me please?


	2. Chapter 2

Roxas awoke some hours later, to blissful, complete silence. He sat up and stretched with a mighty yawn, glancing out his magnificent double window, the one that had prompted him to choose this particular bedroom in the first place. Since he'd forgotten to change before passing out, his clothes were rumpled and gross, so he decided to re-dress himself before calling up Hayner to make something productive out of his day.

"So, what're you going to wish for?" God _dammit._

"You're still here!?" Roxas snapped. "Don't you have anything better to do than stare at me?" For that was exactly what Axel had been doing for the past few hours. He'd evidently not budged from the spot on the desk where he'd been sitting when Roxas had gone to sleep in the first place. His big green eyes blinked slowly.

"No, I don't. I can't go anywhere until _you_ use up your wishes, remember?" he said sweetly. "And seeing as how no one but you can see or hear me, going out on the town wouldn't be nearlyas much fun as you'd think." Roxas swore under his breath. As appealing as checking himself into a mental institution sounded, this had gone much too far to be chalked up to a mere hallucination. Axel had already proven that he wasn't all there, in the very literal sense- Roxas _saw _his mother walk right through him. He wasn't dreaming, either, since he'd fallen asleep and then gotten back up again. So that only left one conclusion.

Axel was real.

That did not, however, mean that his claims of magical powers were necessarily true. For all Roxas knew, he could have just been some restless spirit haunting the apartment or something, though that wouldn't explain why he just decided to show up _now_, and only show himself to Roxas. Really, the only way he could confirm whether Axel was telling the truth was to make an experimental wish of some kind, something small, to see if Axel would grant it. But his understanding of the whole genie thing was that as far as wishes went, you only got three, so it seemed stupid to waste one making sure that Axel really could grant wishes. And what would he wish for, anyway?

All of this thinking was making Roxas's head hurt.

"Seriously, kid," Axel urged. "You have to want _something. Everyone_ wants _something._"

"Kid?" Roxas asked indignantly, ignoring the meat of the question. "How old are _you_?"

"A lady _never _reveals her true age, m'dear," Axel said with a wink.

"Uh. You're a girl?" Roxas asked stupidly.

"Nope." No further explanation was given. Axel hopped down from the desk and proceeded to noisily stretch his- well, for now the assumption was that he was a he- spindly legs. The awkward position on the floor was such that Roxas had to all but climb over him to get to his dresser for new clothes. Once he'd acquired said new clothes, he cleared his throat loudly, and indicated that Axel should turn away, or cover his eyes, or something.

"What's that you're doing with your hands?"

"I need to change. Turn away or cover your eyes or something."

"Oh?" Axel asked innocently. He clearly had no intention of doing any of the above. "Why? It's not like it's anything I haven't seen before. Do you _wish _for me not to watch you take your clothes off?" Roxas shot him the iciest glare he could muster, which didn't do much but make Axel giggle. Really, he had no reason to be self-conscious about changing his clothes in front of another dude. It was just the principle of the thing. That, and he was self-conscious. Almost sixteen years old and he still hadn't hit any of his growth spurts, leaving him rather scrawny and pale. Not like Hayner, who was tall, muscular, tanned, athletic, charming…

"I hope you're not going to wear the same clothes constantly for the whole time I'm stuck with you," Axel sighed dramatically. "That would be gross."

"Oh, shut it." Roxas turned away from his obnoxious maybe-genie and tore his shirt off, trying to ignore the burning sensation in his cheeks. A good thing he was turned away, too, since he was able to miss the appreciative once-over that Axel gave him with his eyes. Once he'd replaced his t-shirt, he pushed off his shorts, leaving him pantless save for his boxer-briefs. Roxas liked his junk to be held snugly in place, thankyouverymuch. He shot a glance at Axel, daring him to judge his choice of underpants, but Axel was staring at the ceiling and whistling nonchalantly. Without further incident, Roxas tugged on his new pair of shorts, and dumped his old clothes in his hamper- also known as a pile next to his door.

Clothes changed, he reached over Axel to grab his phone, noticing he had three missed calls, two from Hayner and one from Pence. He was sad that Olette hadn't called him, too. Hayner had also sent him a text, marked as being sent over an hour ago- "were gettin ice cream, wanna come?" He muttered another curse and started trying to text back, something that wasn't terribly easy to do with Axel sprawled over the entire floor space of his tiny bedroom, noisily stretching his lower back.

"Do you really have to do that?" Roxas finally asked, exasperated.

"What? I live in a bottle. It's _cramped._"

"Couldn't you do it somewhere else, then?"

"Do you _wish _for me to go and-"

SLAM.

Roxas slammed the door in Axel's ass (for he was facing away from the door) mid-sentence, storming down the hall to his living room, where he could hopefully make his phone calls in peace. A quick look at the clock on the microwave told him that he'd been asleep for more than three hours- it was already past noon. Who knew he was so ill-rested? He flopped down on the family couch and punched Hayner's number into his cell.

"Hey, buddy. Where've you been?" Hayner's voice rattled through the poor, abused speaker that had gotten a bit busted up from being dropped and put through the wash a few too many times.

"I took a nap. Is it too late to meet up with you guys?"

"Oh, no problem. We haven't even left yet- Olette's taking forever doing some girl thing." Roxas heard Olette scream something vulgar at Hayner from the background, and he could hear Hayner's goofy grin. He felt a pang of jealousy. Olette never screamed profanity at _him._

"That's cool," he said, disguising the pain. "I'll meet you there, then?"

"Who're you talking to?" Axel asked suddenly. He'd somehow reappeared on the couch next to him. Well, not somehow- he probably used his magical genie-powers to appear in the living room.

"Ok. See you in fifteen," Hayner said, and he hung up the phone.

"See who in fifteen?" Axel asked curiously.

"None of your beeswax, that's who," Roxas said, stealing an expression from his father. His parents were pretty odd people, though good-natured. Roxas just wished he had a sibling or something, just so the two of them would have somewhere else to direct their parental energy sometimes.

Roxas had already gotten to the door before he realized that Axel had spared him some sort of semi-witty retort. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed that the red-headed boy was still standing in exactly the same place, on the other side of the room. He had a knowing smile on his face. A smile that was more than a little creepy.

"What's your deal?" he asked cautiously.

"You just wished for something." Roxas froze with his hand on the doorknob. What- how- why did Axel know that? Did the genie bond go that deep? Could Axel read his mind? And- oh God- now was he going to magic some whole new person into existence just because of one stupid thought!?

"I didn't mean it!" Roxas said desperately. He rushed over to where Axel was standing, and now looking a little confused. "It was just a stupid thought. You _can't _grant that! Please! Undo it!"

"Relax, kiddo," Axel said cautiously, taking a hesitant step back. "I don't even know what you wished for- all I can tell is that you suddenly wanted something. Did you wish everyone you know would drop dead or something?"

"No," Roxas said, without further explanation. He was relieved, much more so than he was expecting, and he had to lean against a wall to catch his breath. Who knew this wish thing would be so stressful? Small wonder he was so reluctant to make even a small wish. He was messing with powerful forces, here. He'd been a hair's breadth away from violently and unconsentingly altering his own and his parents' lives. Not to mention his friends'. Oh God, this was complicated.

"Uh," Axel said awkwardly. "Are you ok?" He made no move to help Roxas get some water or sit down or anything like that, content to just stand and watch the show.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Roxas muttered. "I just got a reality check." And a confirmation that he wanted nothing more to do with Axel for the rest of the day, or week, or month for that matter. He walked back over and tore open his apartment door. "I'm going out. Don't do anything stupid."

"Whatever are you talking about, Roxas?" Axel sniffed. "Obviously, I'm coming with you."

Um.

"Uh, no you most definitely are not," Roxas snapped. "You're staying here, and not doing anything stupid."

"But you're my _master. _What if you need me?" Axel argued. "What if you suddenly decide to wish for phenomenal cosmic power and I'm not around to grant it?"

"Well. You can feel when I want things, right? If I suddenly want phenomenal cosmic power, you'll know," Roxas muttered with an eye roll. "Now stay here."

"No," Axel protested.

"Yes," Roxas snapped.

"No."

"Yes."

"Oh, come _on_," Axel wailed.

"If I'm your 'master,' as you oh-so-creepily put it, doesn't that mean you have to do what I say?" Roxas put both his hands on his hips, feeling for all the world like a small and male version of his mother.

"Not exactly," Axel shrugged.

"Do you ever give a straight answer to anything?"

"Maybe." Roxas hissed through his teeth and yanked on his bangs, the way he only did when he was feeling extremely stressed out. This was a battle he surely was not going to win.

"Ok. You know what? Come. Whatever. Knock yourself out. I don't care anymore." And in an instant, Axel was outside the apartment, standing on the stairs, a great big smile on his face.

"Well, what's taking _you _so long?" Roxas closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and counted to ten. Then he turned and calmly shut his door and locked it. He calmly turned around and walked down the stairs. He calmly walked out on the street. All the while, Axel was walking beside him, jabbering incessantly.

"Why won't you _talk _to me?" he complained.

"I can't have my neighbors see me talking to myself," he muttered out of the side of his mouth. "Seeing as how none of them can _see or hear you._"

"So? Who cares what they think?" Roxas didn't answer his question. Instead, he looked both ways and jogged across the street to the trolley stop. The free trolley was one of the nicest parts of living in Twilight Town, and it came so often they didn't even need to have a schedule. Downtown wasn't too far away, in the opposite direction but not much farther than the school, but Roxas didn't much feel like walking. He sat down on the bench and discreetly motioned Axel to sit down next to him. The red-head did so gratefully, and immediately began making snide comments about everyone walking by.

"God, look at that woman's _pants. _You should wish for her to buy some jeans that fit."

Five long minutes passed, with Roxas doing his best to ignore all of Axel's conversation non-starters. He began to wonder if maybe walking would have been a better choice after all, and he wished-

No. He didn't wish for anything.

"You know, why are we taking the trolley anyway? Walking would have been faster," Axel mentioned nonchalantly. Roxas looked over at him. How would he even know? Unless he'd been to Twilight Town before, he shouldn't have had any sort of frame of reference. But since a young woman with a baby had just rolled up to the stop, he couldn't exactly just ask. Suddenly, he got an idea. He pulled out his phone and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"What? Who are you talking to now?" Axel asked. Roxas ignored him, and nodded a few times. Then he looked directly into Axel's eyes, expression unchanging.

"We're taking the trolley. What's that?" He pretended to listen intently for a few moments, then cocked his head to the side. "What? Walking's _faster_? How would you know- have you ever even been to Twilight Town?" He deliberately arched an eyebrow, extending the challenge to Axel's court. Axel quickly caught on to the game, and grinned.

"I have my own ways of knowing these things," he said cryptically. Roxas scowled at him.

"Ok, fine. I'll see you in a little bit. The trolley's coming right now." He said those last words with particular vehemence, and sure enough, there it was, rolling up to the stop. Getting a straight answer out of Axel was like pulling alligator teeth.

Since it was the middle of the day and a weekday on top of that, finding an empty part of the trolley wasn't difficult at all. He only had to go four stops to get to the ice cream parlor, and walking probably _would _have been faster, as much as he hated to admit it, but Roxas was happy to slump down there with the air conditioning. His mother would be appalled to see him being so lazy, but hey, it was a free day off.

"So, you ever going to tell me what you wished for in that sweet little head of yours?" Axel asked. Roxas snorted, rolled his eyes, and looked away. Axel, however, was not so easily deterred. "It felt lonely. Was little Roxas wishing for some friends?"

"No," he muttered harshly.

"Maybe you have some nice girl you like who doesn't like you back? Hmmm?" Roxas blushed furiously and tried to melt into his chair. He did in fact have a nice girl he liked who didn't like him back. For the briefest moment, he was unbelievably tempted. It would be so easy to just wish that she was interested in him, just those few simple words and his problem would be solved. But no! He couldn't do that, not to Olette. As was usually the case with Roxas, morals won out.

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't," he seethed. "But either way, I would never try to _rape _her, and fuck you for implying that I'd use you to do it." His voice rose enough that this time the young mother heard him, and her eyes widened in shock before she grabbed her stroller and jumped off at the next stop. Axel just scooted back and held up his hands defensively.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! No one's raping anyone else," he said quickly. "I just thought maybe that was what you wished for, is all. Jesus." Roxas sighed. Axel wasn't going to stop until he found out what Roxas had absent-mindedly wished for, after all, so he might as well just _tell _him so that maybe he'd get off his case.

"Well, if you're so desperate to know, I wished- I _thought it would be nice _if I maybe had a little brother or sister," he grumbled. Axel stared at him for a long moment.

And then he burst out laughing.

"_That's _what you were so desperate for me not to grant!? That's the most adorably wholesome wish I've ever heard!" Roxas snorted irritably and stared out the window. "So, what'll it be? Brother or sister?" Uh, what? Roxas turned back to him and gaped.

"What!? I think I made it perfectly clear that I _do not want _you to make me a new sibling!"

"Why not? That's what you want, right?"

"Maybe sometimes, but I can't wish for a whole new person!"

"Why not?" Such a simple little question, and all Roxas could do in response was sputter incoherently.

"It's not _right,_" he said finally._ "_Doing that to my parents, and the rest of my family-"

"They wouldn't know the difference. As far as they'd be concerned, Little Roxas would have been there all along. No harm, no foul, right?"

"But _I'd _know he was fake," Roxas argued. "_I'd _know that my brother only existed because I was stupid and selfish. And that's enough." Axel sighed dramatically, and shook his head. Roxas had no idea that he felt so strongly about anything like this, since he'd never thought about it before. Who has the time to stop and think about what you'd be willing to wish for if a genie popped into your life?

"You think about this too much," Axel said simply. "You have a great opportunity, here. You just need to wish for what would make you happy."

"Having a fake brother would _not _make me happy," Roxas muttered. "And neither would _raping_ Olette."

"Ah! So her name's Olette, then?" Axel's eyes glimmered. Just then the trolley pulled into their stop, gratefully giving Roxas an excuse to end the conversation. He hopped up and bolted down the stairs, Axel following right behind, loping along easily on his bare feet. The ice cream place was only a block from the trolley stop, so soon Roxas would be safe with his friends, freed from having to deal with a psycho red-head crazy-man genie.

"Is this Olette person going to be at this shindig?" Axel asked excitedly. "I'd really _love _to meet her." Roxas froze.

"What are you going to do to Olette?" he hissed. No use trying to hide her existence now, since he'd already more than let that particular cat out of the bag.

"Absolutely nothing. I can't do anything unless you wish for it, remember?" Axel shrugged. "It's just, you're kind of a surly dude, if you catch my drift, and I'd love to meet the lady who'd capture the heart of a bastard like you."

Oh, that was it. It was _on_.

"A bastard like me?" Roxas whispered. His left eye began to twitch. His jaw quivered. He was blind with rage. His life had been perfectly fine, thank you, absolutely wonderful except one or two minor problems until this stupid asshole who said he was a genie decided to randomly show up and follow him around everywhere and annoy the piss out of him and he hadn't asked for this and he wanted it to just _stop._

"You say you grant wishes?" he said, his voice strained with anger. Axel smiled, and nodded. "Ok, how's this." He took a deep breath, stuck out his chin, and shouted as loud as he could.

"I _WISH _YOU WOULD _GO AWAY._"

Roxas immediately knew that he had said some sort of magic words, as it were. The world began to wobble and spin, knocking him clear off his balance, time sped down and slowed up all at once and all of the colors seemed to achingly bleed together. Just as he stumbled, Axel reached out both hands to grab him. Roxas gasped for air and glanced up to maybe say thanks.

And then he screamed.

Axel's pupils were gone. His eyes were widened and pure white, and his skin had paled, until it almost seemed to be stretching over his bones, veins visible and lips drawn thin. Those lips were curved up into the very slightest of smiles, and he spoke clearly, in a deep, liquid voice that most definitely was not his own.

"_Granted._"

And then he was gone.

He didn't make a sound, or leave a puff of smoke. He just disappeared. One moment he was there, the next moment he wasn't. Unfortunately, since Axel was the only thing keeping him on his two feet, Roxas immediately succumbed to his dizziness and nausea and went tumbling down onto his knees, coughing and drawing harsh, fast breaths. Something constricted in his chest, and he could feel his heart pounding thump-thump in his ears. Would he have to go to the hospital? Where _was_ the closest hospital, anyway?

And what did it all _mean_? Did Axel actually grant his wish? Was that what having a wish granted was like? Unfortunately, Roxas was going to get an explanation much sooner than he otherwise would have liked.

"Whoa, kid, are you ok? I wasn't expecting such a bad reaction." No. "Anyway, good job. Now you just have seven left!" No. No no no. He couldn't be back. Not so soon. Roxas feebly lolled his head to one side to get a look at his new assailant, and his already ill insides twisted into all sorts of knots. He was staring directly up into the unpleasantly familiar face of an unpleasantly familiar red-head, with weird tattoos, hippie clothes and all. Roxas groaned miserably and curled up into a little ball on the pavement, willing the day to end. He wanted to ask the world what the hell was going on, but in his present state, all he could croak out was a feeble:

"Wha…"

"You're sensitive to magic. I should've expected it," Axel said knowingly. "Don't worry, it gets a lot easier, it's just that the first time is a little rough. I probably should have stood farther away." Axel bent down to help him up, but just as he made contact, Roxas was hit with an especially intense wave of nausea, and he moaned louder and tore his arm away. "Fine, suit yourself. But take it from me, you're getting some stares."

Stares? Oh, God. What if _Olette _saw him like this?

That was enough to mobilize Roxas, and with limited help from Axel, he managed to pull himself up into a sitting position. He felt like he'd been hit in the gut with a bag of bricks. And he was now face-to-face with the origins of the expression 'seeing stars.' He'd never felt so miserable in his entire life, not even in kindergarten when he'd gotten the chicken pox, or that especially bad stomach flu that went around the fourth grade that had left him and Hayner with vomity fevers for a week. But despite his pains, Roxas stubbornly kept right on attempting to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Seven left," he said numbly, still dazed from the effects of the wish. Every single part of him ached. "Why."

"Well, you had- geez, you don't look so good- how many fingers am I holding up?" Axel asked. The outlines of his face were still a little fuzzy, and the ground just wouldn't stop rocking back and forth.

"Eight," Roxas said, much less irritably than he would have usually.

"Exactly. Eight wishes. And you used one." Axel dropped a finger. "How many fingers now?"

"Seven."

"Yep. You used a wish, so now you've got seven wishes left. Well, I guess your brain isn't broken." Sure enough, Roxas's head was beginning to clear up, the pain was beginning to subside, his innards were moving back to where they were supposed to be and the ground was evening out.

"Why eight?" he asked thickly. "I thought… three."

"Because I'm the eighth in my… well, I guess you could call it a line," Axel shrugged. "My little family." The thought of there being more than one Axel was just way too much for Roxas's fragile mind to take. Fortunately, he didn't have to, because just then the magic-induced sickness disappeared, and he was restored to his former self. And his former self only cared about one thing.

"Why the hell are you still here!?" he screeched. "I told you to go away!"

"I _did_ go away. I came back. What, should I have left you to writhe in pain on the sidewalk? Actually, if you're going to act like this, maybe I should have!" Axel proceeded to ramble at length about his thankless job and various ungrateful masters, and how would _they _like being forced to grant stupid wishes all the time. Roxas tuned him out. Something had to be done. As loathe as he was to try another wish again so soon, wishing might be the only way to get rid of Axel for good. He'd have to be careful this time, though. With a good deal of effort, he grabbed onto some nearby bricks and hauled himself up onto his feet.

"Where are you going?" Axel asked sharply. Roxas ignored him and banged into the closest shop he could find. Axel followed. Roxas marched directly up to the counter and charmed the elderly shopkeeper with his big blue eyes and innocent teenage-boy smile.

"May I borrow some paper and a pencil, ma'am?"

"Why, of course, sweetie. Tell your parents I say hello." Roxas took the paper and pencil and parked himself in a corner, nibbling on the eraser as soon as the shopkeeper couldn't see him. He'd have to word this carefully, of course. Wishing that Axel had never met him would be too easy. The genie was a powerful resource- eight wishes!- and as much as Roxas insisted he would use his newfound powers for good, well, he wasn't quite selfless enough to give them up completely. What he needed to do was draft a wish that would keep Axel connected to him, but unable to appear or talk to him unless Roxas specifically wanted him to.

"What are you doing?" Axel asked suspiciously, leaning over his shoulder. Roxas didn't care if he watched. It wasn't like he would be able to stop him from doing it. He wrote, and erased, and wrote some more, and erased some more, until he was content that his draft had absolutely zero loopholes that the genie could exploit. Axel read it, and his eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Watch me," Roxas said, unable to hide a smirk of his own. He made himself comfortable, then held up the paper and read out loud in a quiet but clear voice. "Axel. I wish that you would never attempt to communicate with me in any way nor appear anywhere that I can see you until I ask you to do any of the above by specifically using your name out loud."

Axel was decidedly less eager about granting this wish, and Roxas could feel it in the sluggish way that the nausea overtook him. Axel's white eyes were dull and angry, and he almost spat the word.

"_Granted._"

And then he was gone. This time, for real. He didn't come back. He _couldn't _come back, unless Roxas asked him to. The thought filled him with unspeakable glee. Talk about a win-win situation- six wishes, _and _he didn't have to deal with Axel? Heck, maybe he'd take that phenomenal cosmic power after all.

The sickness hit him again, of course, but it was much more bearable this time, since he knew it would be gone in a matter of minutes and he'd made the wish while sitting down. He convulsed only once, and then lay there peacefully, content to let the illness run its course. Sure enough, it was soon gone, and he strode comfortably up to the counter and deposited the pencil next to the register.

"Thank you," he said with a big smile, and he all but skipped out the door. Each step to the ice cream parlor was as if he was walking on air, bouncing along on his tip-toes, singing along with the birds. Okay, he wasn't actually singing. But he _could _have been, he was that happy.

Hard to believe he'd only known Axel for a few hours, really. In just those few short hours the genie had managed to make quite the obnoxious impression on him. But now, _now _he was officially free, not only free of Axel, but the proud owner of six wishes. Roxas, ordinary Roxas, had outsmarted the genie.

He greeted his three friends with a big, cheery wave, not caring how crazy or disheveled he may or may not have looked. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were sitting at one of the outdoor tables, quietly eating their ice cream. Roxas hopped over the fence and plopped down in the chair they'd been saving for him, startling them all.

"Hi, guys," he said. "What did I miss?"

"Uh, where have _you _been? You look like hell," Hayner gaped. Olette shushed him and smacked him playfully on the wrist, but not even that was enough to ruin Roxas's perfect day. He laughed along and placed his own order, kicking his feet up on a nearby vacant chair. Blue skies, ice cream, no school, and no Axel.

What could possibly go wrong now?

* * *

Aha! Now that Axel has been knocked out of the picture (only temporarily, I assure you), the Real Plot can lurch into action. Hooray! The full cast of Kingdom Hearts will be appearing soon, no worries. ;)

Reviews make me happy :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 3**

The next morning school started, properly, the way it had meant to the day before. The school itself seemed none the worse for wear considering the delay, but a certain somber curtain had descended over the student body, not to mention that the cafeteria was still roped off as a crime site. Because of that particular situation, Roxas found himself eating lunch on the grassy lawn out in front of the school, surrounded by his fellow classmates and enough teachers to put down a full-on civilian uprising.

Almost twenty blissful hours had passed since Roxas had rid himself of Axel. He'd slept peacefully the night before, knowing that he wasn't going to wake up to a weirdo red-head staring at him from his desk. Later, though, around third period, he'd begun to feel a creeping sensation that he later identified as _guilt. _He felt guilty for sending Axel away. Or rather, he felt apprehensive about what kind of horrible vengeance the genie would attempt to wreak once he was allowed to talk to him again.

_Don't be silly, _he'd admonished himself. _He can't do anything at all unless __**I **__wish for it. He can't hurt me at all. _And with that, he'd patched himself up enough to get all the way until lunch without having a nervous breakdown.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette lay sprawled on the grass, each enjoying his or her own self-prepared lunch. As usual, Hayner's was a hodgepodge of whatever sugary treats he could find in his house, mostly cookies and granola bars. Olette brought a PB&J for lunch rain or shine. Pence, the health nut, had an apple and some carrot sticks. And finally, Roxas also had a PB&J, because it gave him something to talk about with Olette.

The four friends had run out of gossip within minutes, so of course, conversation turned to class schedules.

"My morning's _awful. _I have math first period. Who wants to have math first period?" Hayner grumbled.

"Yeah, Hayner. Because Algebra 3 is so incredibly difficult," Pence teased, and Olette snorted into her sandwich. Roxas wished that he had been the clever one who made Olette laugh.

"How's the PB&J, Olette?" he said lamely. "Crunchy like usual?" Wow, that sounded dirty. He quickly dug into his own creamy sandwich to hide his blush. Luckily, the others didn't seem to care that he was embarrassing himself. Whether that was good or bad was yet to be determined.

Twilight Town High School was not a big school, just as Twilight Town was not a big town. Roxas's entire class had fewer than fifty people in good years, and this year, it had dwindled to more like thirty. Well, twenty-nine, if you took into account the unfortunate suicide. In any case, for these outdoor lunches the school had been divided into two groups, upper classmen and lower classmen, since there wasn't enough room on the lawn to handle all one hundred fifty some students at once. Roxas and his friends were of course juniors, so right now, the juniors and seniors were spread out over the grassy field, clumped into cliques and minding their own business.

All, of course, excepting one Seifer Almasy, self-proclaimed head of the Twilight Town High School Disciplinary Committee, whatever the hell that was supposed to be. Seifer was only a junior, just like Roxas, but he was a very special kind of bully: the kind that everyone sort of left alone because being a douche seemed to make him happy and he wasn't doing any real damage, anyway. It didn't help that his mother was mayor of Twilight Town, and as such controlled most of the school's funding. All of the teachers were afraid to go near him.

Today, in his usual rounds of the student body, Seifer had picked out one girl in particular, a cute red-head named Ariel something-or-other, and had decided to berate her for some nothing-in-particular.

"I don't think those straps can pass the Three Finger Rule," he drawled. Ariel absent-mindedly thumbed the straps to her tank-top, then opened her mouth to defend herself. Seifer cut her off. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to report you."

"Yeah. Skank," muttered his side-kick slash maybe-girlfriend, Fuu Jin, who was wearing a tank-top herself. She was a senior, and her dating a boy a grade younger than her had been the talk of the school for about twenty minutes.

"Now, now, Fuu. No need to be mean," Seifer sneered. Fuu's hulking baby brother Rai guffawed in a way that was two parts obnoxious and one part creepy, blended together over some mean-spirited ice. Rai was the star athlete of Roxas's grade, not that Roxas ever bothered with sports, being more content to play video games and doodle pictures of cars in his notebooks. People like Rai had a tendency to look down on that sort of thing, so Roxas had a tendency to avoid them.

"Uh, I'm sorry. Who are you again?" Ariel asked, obviously confused. She was new that year, that was why Roxas didn't know her last name. Every year there were usually one or two new students on the first day, and they usually disappeared just as quickly, along with a few of the regulars. Most people didn't stay long in Twilight Town. Roxas had never given much thought as to why. Maybe all of them found genies too, and immediately wished to live somewhere other than Twilight Town? Actually, that would make total sense, except for the everyone-finding-genies part.

"He's _Seifer, _you know?" Rai exclaimed.

"Head of the Twilight Town High School Disciplinary Committee," Seifer added smugly. Ariel's expression was unreadable. She could have been about to burst into tears, or burst out laughing, or go into an angry tirade about minding one's own goddamn business- there was really no way to tell. Without a word, she reached into her bag, and pulled out a lump of fabric with a funky shell pattern.

"I have a sweater," she said slowly, and at that point it became very clear that she wasn't taking Seifer very seriously. Roxas kind of likedthis girl, though red hair wasn't really his thing, and besides, checking out the new girl would be mentally cheating on OIette. Or something.

Olette herself was watching the scene play out with just as much attention as the rest of the group, and as soon as the sweater was out, she broke into a fit of giggles, hiding them behind her hand with a very unladylike snort.

"I _like _this girl," she whispered to the other three, articulating Roxas's very thoughts. _See! _He wanted to shout. _It's meant to be, Olette! Come away with me and-_

"Yeah. She's hilarious," Hayner sniggered, before Roxas could get a word in edgewise.

"Why doesn't she have anyone to sit with?"

"I think she's new," said Pence. During the whispered conversation, Seifer was finishing up his strutting and general douchebaggery.

"Well, good," he sneered. "Make sure you _wear _it next time, or I may have to write you up." Ariel obediently put on the sweater. Satisfied, Seifer strutted off to his next victim, cronies Fuu and Rai in tow. As soon as he was gone, Ariel rolled her eyes and pulled the thick garment off, shoving it back into her bag. Roxas couldn't help but crack a smile, but Olette beat him to it.

"Dude. That was _awesome. _Seifer's sarcas-o-meter is so totally broken," she cheered, crawling over to the new girl and flopping down next to her on the grass. "Sorry he's such an asshole. Most of us aren't that bad. I'm Olette," she finished, extending her hand in an oddly formal manner for an introduction that involved the word 'asshole.'

"Uh, hi. I'm Ariel. I'm new. But you probably knew that already," the girl smiled, and she stiffly shook Olette's hand.

"Ariel? That's a pretty name," said Olette, and that was apparently all it took for the two girls to become the very best of friends. Soon they were chattering about everything from pets to clothes to movie stars. Eventually, Pence, Hayner, and Roxas were dragged into the conversation and introduced properly. Pence was able to follow the conversation easily, though Hayner was lost, and Roxas was allowing his thoughts to wander.

Ariel Maray, that was her full name, and she was nice enough. She seemed kind of uneasy, however, like she wasn't entirely comfortable being where she was. Her eyes fluttered back and forth as if she was afraid to make eye contact, and she never stopped fidgeting with her clothes. Had Seifer really unsettled her that badly by criticizing what she was wearing? Maybe letting him run wild wasn't such a good idea after all…?

As silly and naïve as it sounded, sometimes he just wished everyone could be _nice _to each other.

As soon as the w-word passed through his brain, Roxas felt his insides flinch. For five whole minutes, he'd forgotten about his genie problem. Could Axel feel his wish? Had he been summoned nearby? The more time went on, the more he realized that wishing Axel away from him probably hadn't been such a good idea, either. The look the genie had given him as he'd been forced to grant Roxas's wish haunted the edges of his mind. In any case, he had a heavy suspicion that he'd grow to regret it.

"Don't _you_ think so, Roxas?" Olette was looking at him expectantly. She'd apparently just told a rather funny story, and everyone but him was laughing. He blinked stupidly.

"Uh. Think what?"

Just then, Roxas was rescued from further embarrassment by the loud clank of a bell signaling a return to class. Never had he been so grateful to be going back into the school.

His first class after lunch was English, and Roxas flopped into his desk, already prepared to be bored. He'd downloaded Tetris onto his graphing calculator, but somehow, he didn't think that that was going to be enough to get him through the rest of the afternoon. Add that he was now completely paranoid that Axel was watching him and the minutes ticked by like drippy slug bits.

Fortunately, something was about to happen that had the potential to hold his interest.

"Class," the teacher drawled boredly. Roxas already forgot her name. It was written up on the board, but he couldn't be bothered. "Class, please pull out the books you _should _have been given at registration."

Roxas tuned out the usual oh-I-don't-have-mine and oh-mine-is-missing-that-page, instead content to stare out the window and pretend he was somewhere else. He even allowed himself to indulge a small wish or two. _I wish I were somewhere else. _No, no, that wouldn't do- Axel would put him in the Earth's core, or a mile above the ocean. _I wish I were on the beach. A good beach. With an umbrella, and a pretty girl bringing me sodas. _Were he a little older, he would have wished for something a bit stronger than soda. He wasn't able to keep thinking about wishes, however. He couldn't think about wishes without wondering if Axel could feel them too, waiting just outside his realm of awareness, waiting for him to say the magic words so he could reappear and grant it.

While he was lost in thought, the door creaked open and someone Roxas vaguely recognized from the administrative offices bustled in. After a hurried conversation with the teacher, he disappeared. The teacher- _Ms. Stone_, according to the board which Roxas finally checked- turned and cleared her throat to regain the focus she'd never gained in the first place.

"Apparently we have some new students joining us today," she drawled. "Please make them at home. Ladies, you can come in." With teachers like Ms. Stone, of course, it was always _ladies _and never _girls._ These three ladies, however, were the first high school girls Roxas had ever seen earn the title.

They were, in a word, beautiful. No, beautiful didn't quite encapsulate the feeling enough- they were beautiful the same way the sky is beautiful, or the ocean. Timeless, completely timeless, not oozing with sexuality or anything of the sort, but the beauty of a doll, a statue, or an angel. Roxas, quite simply, did not have the words to describe any of the three. Well, except for one particular feature that stood out, even through his hazy adolescent mind.

The three ladies looked exactly the same.

_Exactly _the same- down to each freckle, the curve of the nose or cheek, height and weight. The only difference was in the hair. The first to enter had cropped locks, jet black and carefully styled. The second's rested lightly on her shoulders, a deep, maroon-red. And the third…

Well, the third took Roxas's breath away. Quite literally, in fact. He found his breath shortening and his stomach twisting up in knots. Her hair was pale blonde, and almost as long as her waist. She caught on to Roxas's staring, and she offered him up a shy smile. Roxas smiled shyly back, all while trying to hide his nausea.

"Please introduce yourselves to the class," said Ms. Stone, but Roxas almost didn't hear her. He wanted to know the angel's name.

"Xion," said the first, her voice deep and even.

"Kairi," was the second. And finally-

"Naminé," said the blonde, with a demure little smile. "My name is Naminé."

_Naminé. _What a pretty name. Roxas was suddenly very aware that there was an empty desk directly next to him, just waiting to be filled by a pretty blonde. _I wish Naminé would sit next to me. _A stupid thing to waste a genie wish on, really, but right then, he would've done it. Fortune smiled on him that day, for the three girls, probably sisters, decided to split up, and within moments said pretty- no, _beautiful _blonde was sitting next to him, pulling out her notebooks and pencils. Roxas's day just couldn't get any better.

"I'll tell you where to get books after class. For now, just share with the person next to you," Ms. Stone said dismissively, before turning back to the quote she'd written on the board. Immediately, Naminé's big blue eyes were looking at Roxas expectantly. Ok, his day _could _get better. His stomach twisted all over again.

"Uh, you can share mine," he said.

"Thank you," she smiled. That smile- she was always smiling, but it never seemed stale. Roxas hesitantly held out his English book, suspending it in the gap between their two desks. The book was heavy, but for Naminé, he would overcome. The story was some morbid tale about a lady who kept her dead husband in her house for years and years. Roxas didn't even care. Naminé, however, seemed completely enthralled, and for that, he feigned interest.

Class passed much too quickly for Roxas's liking, even as the muscles in his arm began to give out. The bell rang and he unhappily shoveled his books back into his backpack, standing to move on to his own math class, where there almost certainly would not be any cute girls reading equations with him. As he was leaving, however, he brushed past the three new girls, and overheard something that made him very happy, indeed.

"_God_, Naminé. What was that? We're here not five minutes and you're already all over the first cute boy you see?"

"He was nice," Naminé said defensively. But Roxas didn't care about the bland adjective. He was still focused on what the first one, Kairi, had said. She said he was _cute. _A _cute boy_, as if it were given fact. And Naminé hadn't contradicted her at all, and instead had added her own new positive quality. He was cute _and _nice. And, what they'd said meant that Naminé had sat next to him on purpose, owing to the aforementioned cuteness and niceness. His heart went all a-flutter.

Roxas went through the rest of the day with a considerably more confident spring in his step. His life was on the upturn just after _meeting _Axel- maybe he didn't need wishes to get through life at all. He might have been a little bit more concerned if he'd heard what they said next.

"Whatever," Kairi hissed at both of her sisters. "Just stop fooling around. We need to find the one with the X in his name."

* * *

Axel was not happy.

He spent the first twenty minutes or so of his exile screaming obscenities in Roxas's stupid oblivious face, but that got old. Then he followed Roxas to the ice cream place and mocked everything he said, to no one but himself. He met this infamous 'Olette' person and thought she was nothing special, and told Roxas so in the most vulgar terms he could think of. But Roxas was boring, so he eventually zapped himself back to the apartment and pretended to ransack his bedroom, even though he wasn't actually able to touch anything. By that point he was exhausted, so he went up to the roof to sit and sulk.

An entire night went by like that, with Axel sitting with his arms around his knees, staring at the sky and wondering what he was going to do with himself until Roxas broke his wish. Never before had a master done something so humiliating to him. Usually they immediately launched into the wishes for money and power and fame and a sexy boyfriend and on and on, until their eight wishes were spent and they were completely miserable and Axel bid them adieu. That was the only way he could be separated from a master, of course.

Either the master had to use all of his wishes, or one or both of them had to die.

Roxas, snoring peacefully a roof and some feet below him, did not seem likely to die anytime soon. Nor, if he went completely crazy from the isolation, could Axel kill himself- the bottle's magic didn't work that way. So, he was stuck in invisible limbo until little even-headed Roxas decided to get off his dull-as-paste ass and wish for something.

Even as he resented his new master, Axel had to appreciate the boy's cleverness. Keeping a genie connected to himself without being forced to deal with it in the day-to-day was brilliant, if cruel. Brilliant enough that Axel had to wonder if the kid knew what he _was…_

…_No. There's no way._ He shook the silly thought out of his head.

The next morning, Axel shouted insults at and about Roxas's mother all through breakfast. His profanities were getting more and more colorful as he went on, dipping into languages no one even spoke anymore. But no one could hear or see him, so his creativity went unappreciated, and too soon Roxas was gathering up his things and leaving for school. Axel saw him as far as meeting up with his stupid best friend with the crazy hair. He couldn't be bothered to learn the kid's name.

"Your hair looks like crap," he said conversationally. Roxas and his little friend walked right through him, pattering off towards the school. The idea of a public institution of learning didn't interest Axel at all, so he walked off in the opposite direction from Roxas, towards the center of sleepy Twilight Town.

The world was almost exactly as Axel remembered it, though he had no way of knowing just how long it had been since he'd last been there. Some of the stores had moved around, but besides that, the town was _exactly _the same, down to the brick streets and the trolley and the odd architecture of the buildings. And of course, as per the name, the entire place was bathed in the soft glow of perpetual twilight, as if it couldn't quite work up the energy to fully wake up before falling back to sleep.

That the world never changed was no fault of its people, of course- it had been designed to stay like this, and how could anyone fight against a design they didn't even know existed? But he sort of liked the ethereal quality of the place. Being in Twilight Town gave him a feeling that was as close as he could get to nostalgia. It was the closest thing he had to a real home.

The entire walk around the town took less than an hour, and soon Axel was bored again. He walked back to Roxas's apartment, since walking ate up more time than teleporting would, planning to sit on the roof and shout some more if he couldn't find something to do. Fortune smiled on him that day for the first time, well, ever, because Roxas's parents had forgotten to turn the TV off before going to work. He couldn't change the channel, but at least he had something to watch.

Twilight Town's news team was doing a special report on the dangers of eating anti-bacterial hand soap. Axel did a quick check to see if his new family had any, and was delighted to find an entire box of it underneath their bathroom sink. He made a quick mental note to listen for any wishes that could feasibly be interpreted as 'I wish to eat soap.'

The next breaking news item, however, did considerably more to pique his interest.

A girl at Roxas's high school had killed herself. He remembered hearing about it in passing the day before, it being the reason Roxas wasn't at school, but he hadn't bothered to fish for details. Now that he was alone and invisible, however, he could use an interest, and always immortal Axel was _fascinated _by death, particularly of the self-inflicted kind. As much as he joked about it, he couldn't imagine it at all- who would ever _want _to die?

The report's tone was the usual somber business about terrible tragedies and lost potential and the like, all set to a backdrop of pictures of the girl smiling and, well, alive. Cinderella Carlisle was her name, and she was a rather pretty girl, for being dead and all. But as the news program progressed, something began not to feel right.

She was too happy in those pictures. All of the photos of her doing her sport thing that Axel didn't recognize, and of her childhood birthdays, and at her dad's wedding- her smiles were completely genuine. Axel's status as a wish-granter afforded him some ability to sense people's desires, and though his intuition was dulled by being faced with photographs rather than a real person, he was confident in his ability to notice a _death wish_.

And this girl most definitely didn't have one.

The TV told him that she'd committed suicide in the cafeteria of Twilight Town High School, so that was where he was going. He didn't put the effort into lengthening the transit time this time around, and simply teleported directly into the heart of the school, where he knew the crime scene to be.

The noose was still hanging exactly in the center of the room. Cinderella's body had been removed of course, but Axel could still feel it. His suspicions were exactly right. Unnatural death had a very unique and heavy presence, and it was skanking up the cafeteria to the hundredth degree. He was so overwhelmed by it that he failed to notice that he wasn't anywhere close to alone.

"Hello, Axel."

Since Axel hadn't been seen or spoken to by anyone for more than twenty-four hours, he still didn't notice right away, and for a long moment he didn't respond at all. The realization that someone had addressed him directly and by name dawned on him slowly, and he suddenly whipped around. The face staring back at him and proving that yes, he really was being seen, was one he was both thrilled and horrified to take in.

"Hi, Zexion," he said weakly. "It's been a thousand years already?" The man- well, boy- well, teenager, to be specific, was leaning up against one of the bare cafeteria walls, fiddling with a stretch of police tape. His flat gray eyes were fixated on Axel with a single eyebrow slightly cocked, and his perfectly groomed lavender hair was, as usual, making Axel self-conscious about his own ragged mane. Zexion's small frame was wrapped in a thick black cloak, and his mode of dress could not be any more different from Axel's- in fact, the only sign that the two had any connection at all were their long matching earrings.

"Yes, it has indeed been one thousand years already," Zexion replied, with a slight sniff of condescension. Axel knew him well enough to know that what he'd really meant to say was _of course it's been, moron, that's the only way the two of us could be here like this in the same place at the same time so why did you even bother wasting time by asking me in the first place, _butZexion was more the passive-aggressive type.

"Everything's so similar. It always surprises me," Axel said, still clinging to the format of typical polite conversation. He eyed Zexion's cloak. "I don't think anyone dresses like that anymore, though." Zexion snorted.

"I don't think anyone _ever _has dressed the way you do. Why aren't you wearing shoes?" Axel just grinned and wiggled his toes. His coworkers, if you could call them that, weren't the most exciting bunch of wish-granters in the world, but they were still his coworkers, and he was happy to talk to someone. The joy of being seen wore off quickly, however, and Axel was suddenly hit with the implication of Zexion's presence right there in that cafeteria at that moment.

"So, uh. How are things? Do you have a new kid?" Axel asked carefully, an uncomfortable lump building up in his stomach as he hoped against hope that the answer would be no. Zexion smirked and nodded.

"A silly girl. No one important." Of course, Axel had known what the answer would be- Zexion wouldn't be in Twilight Town at all if his bottle weren't there as well. He was overwhelmingly relieved that Zexion hadn't asked him who his own new master was, because he had no idea what he would say.

_Roxas. _He'd hoped the X was a coincidence. Lots of names had Xs in them, right? You know, like Axel. And Zexion. And eleven more that now were rolling their way through Axel's mind, one much more prominent than the others, beating out a steady rhythm of horrible memories that one thousand years ago he'd hurried to go to sleep to forget.

_God, Axel, get a grip, _he thought to himself urgently, hoping that Zexion couldn't somehow tell what he was thinking, even though he knew that was a stupid fear to have. _You can't do anything about it if he's not using his wishes, so just forget about it for now and you'll figure out what to do later. Maybe. Oh God._ His mouth was dry and his head ached.

"A hanging. I give her exactly zero points for creativity," Zexion was saying drily, still considering the noose. So he'd come here for the same reason Axel had, then- suspecting, _knowing_, that this girl's death had not been entirely on the level, and wanting to find out who and how and why.

Well, now Axel knew. He knew much more than he wanted to. And Twilight Town was about to have its most exciting fall in exactly one thousand years.

* * *

WOOT. I maintain my opinion that Zexion makes everything better just by being there. And what oh what does everyone want with poor Roxas? Will he get over his delusions of straightness and dislike of redheads in time to have hot sex with Axel? (Well, I can tell y'all the answer to that last one is yes. ;) )

Thank you to everyone who's faved and reviewed! I like this story quite a bit, though I think I have too many ongoing stories going on now, lol.

... I accidentally made an extra horizontal line and now I can't figure out how to delete it. CURSE YOU, FFNET DOCUMENT MANAGER. You win this round.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 4**

The rest of the week passed rather uneventfully for Roxas, as the students settled into their usual routine. After the first couple of days the cafeteria was reopened, so the lunches on the lawn were abruptly halted. And Roxas managed to resist calling on Axel for three long days.

Naminé stopped sitting next to him in English class, probably thanks to the comments from her sisters, but that didn't stop Roxas from trying to get her attention. She thought he was _cute_, after all. You don't just give up on a pretty girl who thinks you're cute. It's just not done.

"Roxas."

He'd tried a couple times to talk to her after class, without success. And he didn't have any other classes with her. He was in advanced math, which shifted his schedule around, so his was more or less the exact opposite of hers, which is difficult to do when there are fewer than thirty people in your grade. Roxas just had no luck at all.

"Roxas."

_Hayner _was in all of Naminé's classes except English. He'd better not be trying anything with Naminé. Roxas was beginning to grudgingly accept that Olette liked Hayner better than him, but if his best friend broke Olette's heart to run off with Naminé? Well, Roxas would have to-

"_Roxas._"

Roxas was snapped out of his reverie by a loud shout from Ms. Stone, and a piece of chalk hitting him in the head. People began to snicker. Apparently he was meant to answer a question he didn't know about a book he hadn't read. Homework wasn't really Roxas's, as they say, thing.

"Uh," he replied articulately.

"That's what I thought," the teacher muttered grimly. "Please don't _daydream _in my class, Roxas."

"Ok," he replied articulately. Once she left him alone, he sighed and went back to doodling in his notebook. He just looked totally not cool. Stupid Ms. Stone. No way Naminé would talk to him now. He drew a little house and prepared for his little car to crash and burn.

English ended, thankfully with no more embarrassments, and Roxas shouldered his bag and shuffled out into the hall with the rest of the awkward teens. They made a formidable crowd, even with the school being as small as it was. Roxas was more than in the mood to be lost among them.

"Roxas?" Naminé's small voice came from behind him, and he whirled around in surprise, accidentally hitting someone- a girl named Belle- with his oversized backpack. She swore at him and threw him a lewd hand gesture, but he didn't care. Naminé stared at Belle with wide eyes before returning her focus to Roxas.

"Uh, that's your name, right? Roxas?" she repeated.

"Uh, yeah, that's me," Roxas mumbled. He didn't like the way his voice sounded- too teenage wastelandy- so he cleared his throat and stood up a little straighter.

"It's a nice name," Naminé said approvingly. Roxas's stomach fluttered. His whole world was upside down, but somehow, all of the other students rushing past him didn't notice. "May I ask how it's spelled?" she asked.

"R-O-X-A-S," Roxas grinned, in the manliest and flirtiest voice he could muster. Naminé seemed to like it well enough, because she smiled back at him.

But what she said next was enough to send him into wild fits of happiness.

"Do you want to hang out sometime? Roxas?"

_Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes._

"Yeah, sure. That'd be cool," he said casually. Inside, Roxas racked his brain. He couldn't let Naminé know that he was only fifteen and couldn't drive, not this early in the game, and wasn't that what girls expected on dates? To be picked up and chauffeured around and stuff? Besides, he had no idea what he would talk to her about if they hung out all alone. Safety in numbers, safety in numbers-

"Actually, me, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were planning on going to the beach tonight if you'd like to come," he suggested. Everyone took the train to the beach, so the car problem was moot, and he was sure his friends wouldn't mind helping him get a girlfriend. Uh, helping the new girl get acclimated to the school. Yeah, that was it.

"That sounds great," Naminé smiled. The hallways were clearing out; the class change period was almost over. "What time?"

"We were gonna meet at the train station right at 4," Roxas said. Suddenly, Naminé looked disappointed. Oh no- was it something he said!?

"I have some things I need to do first after school. Do you mind if I'm late?" Relief flooded through Roxas's body.

"No, of course not! The beach isn't that big, so you'll be able to find us," he smiled. Then both of them ran off towards their respective classes. After English Roxas had pre-calculus, and he made it into the room just as the bell was ringing. Heads turned as he dropped his backpack without a care for how loud it was, but he didn't mind the stares. _He _had a sort-of date with the new girl. That was more than any of these people could say for themselves.

The math teacher in their school was a heinous beast of a woman named Ursula Weaver. As if her rotund, bulbous figure, terrible 80s haircut, and overdone hooker make-up weren't enough, Ms. Weaver liked to wear spandex leggings in lieu of regular pants. She preferred to sit during her lessons, but the stool she had was much too small for her, so it creaked uneasily whenever she so much as went near it. On top of that, when she sat she'd try to cross her legs, but the girth of her thighs was too much to allow that, so she'd be left feebly trying to pull one leg over the other with her stubby hands while trying to explain variables and trig equations and whatnot. As such, the kids in Roxas's class were very focused on looking anywhere at all besides the front of the room.

The advanced math class was smaller than the regular math class, only ten students, but Roxas knew all of them. He'd picked a desk right behind his sort-of friend Tidus, who he'd been friends with in elementary school before soccer came between them. Tidus loved soccer more than most people loved breathing. Unfortunately, God had decided to make him excellent at math and dismally terrible at anything and everything involving even mild physical activity, so by the time he reached high school, Tidus was quite an embittered young man.

"Hi, Tidus," Roxas said conversationally. They were friends in elementary school, after all.

"Whatever," Tidus muttered back at him. Roxas looked at who else was around for him to talk to. Ariel was in the advanced math class, but she was sitting clear on the other side of the room. And, he remembered with a pang, Cindy Carlisle was meant to be in this class, too.

After math he had chemistry, his last period of the day. The high school overlords had apparently decided they hated him, and put all his hardest classes at the very end. They'd started experiments on the very first day, so Roxas was immediately shunted to a work table with his partner, Pence, bless him, and two girls, Aurora Dawn and Snow White. Snow's wild curls bobbed earnestly as she worked on her lab equations, all while Aurora yawned boredly and Pence tried to explain to Roxas what was going on.

"No- no, Roxas, you need to balance both sides," Pence attempted, erasing what Roxas had just done. "It's just like math, but with letters and symbols instead of numbers."

"This is _not _just like math," Roxas complained. At that, Aurora finally gave up on wakefulness and collapsed onto the bench with a loud _thunk_.

All through his dismal afternoon, Roxas couldn't stop thinking about Naminé. He was kinda sorta going on a date with Naminé. Not only were they kinda sorta going on a date, they were kinda sorta going on a date to the _beach. _That meant Roxas might get to see Naminé in a bathing suit! But that also meant that Naminé would see _him _in a bathing suit. His oversized trunks that were too big because they couldn't find any small enough for him because of his scrawny little torso that no girl ever least of all _Naminé _ would ever think was hot and oh God, why had he decided to invite her to the beach!?

_Ok, Roxas, deep breaths, _he thought to himself. Somewhere in here, Snow finished up her lab work and left to chat with a girl at another table, and Aurora started to snore and drool. _I'm sure that objectively speaking you look perfectly fine in a bathing suit. It's all about confidence, right? Confidence._

The bell rang.

"I'll see you at the train station at four, right?" Pence shouted over the rustle of backpacks and chairs. See, the ladies loved Pence, and he was totally cool with being outside without a shirt on, even with all his pudge. Why couldn't Roxas be more like that? Without the actual pudge, of course.

"Yeah, I'll be there," Roxas said hurriedly, and not until later did he realize that he'd completely forgotten to tell his friends that Naminé would be meeting up with them. Oh well. He supposed he could tell them on the train.

Roxas packed up his books and rushed back to his house, not even stopping to wait for Hayner. He had only about twenty minutes left in which to find himself the most girl-enticing outfit he could. After pulling everything in his closet on and off at least once, he settled on a plain white t-shirt and a bracelet for a 'wow' factor. Girls liked it when boys accessorized, right? Fortunately for Roxas's self-esteem, he was unaware that Axel had spent the day lounging on his bed, and had supplied colorful commentary to every outfit he tried.

"All this for _Olette_? Totally not worth it, dude," he said, though no one could hear him. "God, you're wearing _jewelry_? Do you want this chick to think you're gay? You're packing some nice-looking junk, though. Maybe you should just not wear pants at all?"

And so, Roxas chose an outfit, and rushed back downstairs without a moment to spare. Hayner was already waiting for him outside their apartment buildings, sighing impatiently and looking much better in his bathing suit than Roxas could ever hope to in a million years. His own t-shirt, not unsimilar to Roxas's, clung neatly to the muscles in his torso, muscles that Roxas did not and probably would not ever have. His hair was effortlessly styled, while Roxas's stuck out wildly to one side no matter what he tried to do with it. Hayner was the image of hot teen sex, and Roxas was the image of awkward teen virginity.

The two boys walked to the train stop in near complete silence, the way they were used to. Roxas realized that he probably should have told Hayner then that he'd invited Naminé to come with them, but he didn't really want to. Was he just jealous? Was he trying to keep Naminé all to himself? No, that would be silly. He was just worried that his friends would be mad at him, that was all. Yeah.

Pence and Olette were already at the train station when they arrived. The straps to Olette's bikini were poking out from under her tank top, and Roxas found himself swallowing hard and forcing himself to think of chemistry. The four friends pooled their money together, bought their tickets, and hopped on the next train to the beach. Talk quickly turned to their first week of classes.

"Roxas is terrible at chemistry," Pence teased.

"Am not," Roxas muttered back, embarrassed. He didn't like having it pointed out when he failed.

"It's ok, Rox. I had no idea what was going on in there either," Hayner tried to comfort him. Roxas rolled his eyes and went back to staring out the window. Even though it was barely 4:30, the sun was already beginning to set. That was how Twilight Town had gotten its name, after all- the place was in a state of perpetual sunrise or sunset, and the sky was almost always a beautiful shade of pink or orange. Somehow, the sun never quite seemed to make it all the way up into the sky.

"I love this. It's so great to hang out like this, just the four of us," Olette said happily, and Roxas felt a sudden pang of guilt. He really should have checked with his three best friends before inviting another girl along. Would they think he was using them, or taking them for granted? Would they even welcome Naminé into their little group?

_God, you're not even dating her yet, _Roxas scolded himself. _You can worry about what your friends will think of her once you get as far as holding hands, ok? For now, calm the fuck down. _He worried that his worry was showing, however, and he began to fidget uncomfortably.

_God, I wish- no! No wishes._

"Are you ok, Roxas? You look like you're getting motion sick," Pence asked worriedly. Roxas figured he was, at least a little. Though he always felt vaguely ill these days, ever since Axel had appeared in his life. He remembered the genie's words about him being sensitive to magic.

"Nah, I'm fine," Roxas assured him, even as he forced down the butterflies in his stomach. "We're almost there anyway."

The rest of the train ride passed without incident. They arrived at the beach, and Olette picked out a spot for them to drop their stuff. With that, she tore off her top and shorts- 2_H₂0 = 2H₂ + O₂!- _and ran off towards the water, followed closely by Hayner, who caught up just as the waves hit her knees and tackled her into the surf. Roxas's burning jealousy was only quelled by the knowledge that he himself had invited another pretty girl to come to the beach, too. One that he still hadn't told his friends about.

"Uh, Pence?" Pence had pulled out a comic book and laid down on his towel, apparently planning to sun himself, even though his skin was naturally pretty tan.

"What is it, Roxas?" he asked, peeking over his sunglasses.

"Um. It's nothing," Roxas said quickly, and he sat down on his towel, too. He wasn't quite ready to take his shirt off and run around in the water with Olette and Hayner. Besides, he had to put sunscreen on first. He had sensitive skin, and he burned easily. Yeah. He pulled the tube of SPF 30 out of Olette's bag, and started lathering up his thighs.

The soft voice reached him before he even heard her footsteps.

"Roxas?" He whipped around, and there was Naminé. She was wearing a soft white dress to cover her bathing suit, and she was bent over to speak to him, waving shyly. Suddenly, Roxas's heart started to beat just a little bit faster.

"Naminé! It's you! I mean, uh, hi! Uh, how are you?" he stammered. Pence raised an eyebrow.

"I'm fine," she said cheerily. "I hope I wasn't too late?"

"N-no, of course not." When it became explicitly clear that Roxas was not going to introduce him, Pence took the initiative.

"Hi, I'm Pence. You're new, right? I think you're in my gym class?" he asked smoothly. Naminé nodded and smiled. Honestly, how did Pence _do _that? He wasn't affected by girls at all!

"I hope you don't mind, my sisters decided they wanted to come with me," Naminé said, and a slight touch of pink reached her cheeks. Nice to know that pretty girls could be embarrassed by things, too. Roxas felt himself relax a little bit.

"The more, the merrier," he grinned- a cheesy line to be sure, but at least he didn't stutter. "Where are they?"

"Oh, they went for a walk down the beach," Naminé said quietly. "And I was kinda wondering, if, uh, well, if you don't mind, if maybe you'd like to, uh-"

"Roxas would _love _to go for a walk with you," Pence supplied hurriedly. Before Roxas knew what was happening, he was being dragged to his feet and all but shoved in Naminé's general direction. She was positively beaming.

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah! Of course!"

"Have fun, Rox. We'll still be here when you get back," Pence said slyly, then he turned back to his comic book as if he hadn't seen, heard, or done anything at all. Roxas smiled uncertainly at Naminé. Naminé smiled uncertainly back. Then the two of them set off walking down the beach, a good foot of space in between them.

"So, uh, where are you from?" Roxas asked, just to start a conversation. The silence was killing him, and his friends were hundreds of yards back, too far away to be able to save him. Whatever happened to safety in numbers?

"Oh, it's really far away from here. You wouldn't have ever heard of it. It's nice, though," was all the answer Naminé gave. All of her answers were like that, Roxas realized as the conversation went on- always painfully vague. What's your favorite subject? Oh, I like them all. Do you have a favorite movie? Oh, movies are nice, aren't they? If Roxas didn't know better, he'd say that Naminé had never been interested in anything her entire life. And because of that, his interest in her was beginning to wane. He missed Olette's foul mouth and mannerisms.

"So, uh, do you think we should go back now?" he asked.

"Oh, no," she replied. "It's just a little bit farther, now." Now Roxas was confused. Naminé had never mentioned a specific destination.

"Uh, what's a little bit farther now?"

"Us." Roxas shrieked in a decidedly unmanly fashion and whirled around to face his assailant, only to be met with the faces of two teenage girls. Both exactly like Naminé.

Kairi and Xion.

"Oh. Oh!" he sighed, panting. "It's just you guys. You scared me. Uh, hi, I guess." Xion said nothing, just smiled vaguely in greeting. Kairi, on the other hand, stepped forward to get a better look at him. Roxas was immediately uncomfortable with the intensity of her gaze.

"Nice work, Naminé," she said approvingly. Roxas suddenly felt not unlike meat. Something was wrong. "He's adorable. He'll fit right in. He kind of reminds me of the boss, you know?"

"Uh," said Roxas stupidly. "What?"

"Don't worry, Roxas," said Naminé. "Nothing bad will happen." That was beyond a doubt a sure indication that something bad was about to happen. Roxas was immediately on his guard.

"I don't like him," Xion said flatly. Kairi shot her a glare, and she fell back into silence. The sun was almost completely below the horizon, now, and the beach was painfully dark. Roxas couldn't even see his friends anymore, no matter how hard he tried.

"Tell me what's going on," he snapped, as sharply as he could, though his voice had a noticeable waver.

"We're taking you back with us," Kairi said easily, as if it were to be expected, and maybe he should have known that already.

"Back where?"

"Don't worry about it," Naminé repeated. "It's not bad at all, really, I promise." The three girls were advancing on him. He'd never realized how eerie it was before, the fact that all three of them looked exactly the same, but now, in the fading sunlight, they looked like machines. Like dolls. Fake, manufactured, and dangerous.

"Back _where_?" he asked again, his voice higher pitched. He turned, and shouted down the beach.

"HAYNER!"

Kairi laughed at him.

"Don't laugh, Kairi," Naminé hissed. "Can't you see he's scared?"

"You know, he probably should be," Xion mused. Naminé elbowed her in the ribs. Roxas kept trying to shout for help, even though some part of him knew it was futile.

"PENCE!"

"Your friends can't hear you, kiddo. That's why we brought you all the way out here," Kairi said boredly. "But seriously, it's way easier if you don't try to struggle. So if you could just chill for a minute-"

"OLETTE!"

"Ok, seriously? Shut up," Kairi snapped. Roxas was cornered now, stuck between the sharp slope of a dune and three girls who apparently wanted to kidnap him. His stomach was twisting into knots upon knots and he tried to get Naminé's attention but she seemed to be looking anywhere else. He had no idea what was going on, to be sure- he hadn't for days, now, not really.

But despite all odds, and despite all evidence that it wasn't the best of ideas, there was still one person left who Roxas could call on for help, just one person who would _have _to come help him, no matter what. He took a deep breath, and he screamed.

"AXEL!"

Miles away, back in Twilight Town proper, Axel himself had worked up the courage to leave Roxas's apartment for the first time in three days, and was reclining on the town's clock tower, enjoying the sunset. As soon as Roxas spoke his name, however, the conditions of his most recent wish caused Axel's magic to lurch back into action, pulling him rather roughly towards where he was needed. He sighed.

"Aw, f-"

Back on the beach, Roxas was shivering. His last-ditch effort hadn't worked- his genie was nowhere in sight. All that had happened was a brief pause in movement from his captors, as Kairi in particular stared at him and raised an eyebrow.

"What did you just say?" she asked sharply.

"-_uck_," Axel finished, appearing with a dramatic flash directly in front of Roxas. He looked mightily pissed, but Roxas had never been more happy to see anyone in his entire life.

"Axel!" The genie had come, just like he'd ordered in his wish. He looked exactly like Roxas remembered him, with the same wild red hair and awkward clothes and lack of shoes. Now, all he had to do was wish himself out of here. He was safe.

"No shit it's Axel!" the red-head shouted back at him. "Did it not occur to you that I might have things I like to _do_ in my free time? That maybe, just maybe, I have better things to do than be at your beck and call to come and rescue your sorry, worthless ass?" He snapped his neck around to see why exactly Roxas had summoned him.

And in an instant, everything changed.

Axel's eyes widened, then narrowed in immediate dislike. Before Roxas knew what was happening, he was being shoved backwards into the thick dune grass so the genie could plant himself firmly in between him and the three girls. Xion and Naminé still stood on either side of Kairi, expressions completely blank. Not that Roxas could blame them, of course- he was the only one who could see Axel, so they'd just seen him get tossed back by nothing at all, which would be confusing to anyone, and-

"_You_!" Kairi hissed.

"Could've said the same to you," sneered Axel. Roxas couldn't see Axel's face, but he was reasonably sure that it accurately reflected the amount of hatred present on Kairi's. Wait.

"You can see him!?" Roxas croaked. For a long moment, no one answered. Then-

"Yeah, they can see me. You should've called me sooner. Just say the word, Rox, and these little angels'll be pixie dust," Axel said grimly.

"Roxas, don't listen to him," Kairi snapped. "You don't know what he_ is_-"

"He doesn't know what _you_ are, either, except that you just tried to kidnap him. And hey, he called _me_ to come to the rescue. So I guess he's on my side," Axel said triumphantly. He sounded more than a little bit prouder than he'd been just a minute ago to be rescuing Roxas's 'sorry, worthless ass.'

"Uh, weren't you totally pissed at me a second ago?" he squeaked. Yes, squeaked, because even though he had no idea what was going on, he knew that he himself was in some kind of immediate danger. Maybe it was the turmoil in his innards telling him that.

"Roxas, don't let him deceive you," Naminé said quietly, entering the conversation for the first time. Kairi shushed her with a sharp gesture. Xion was silent.

"Don't worry, Rox. No one's deceiving you but these three," Axel reassured him gently. His words and voice were kind. Uncharacteristically kind, in fact, and it was making Roxas vaguely suspicious.

"Then why is this the nicest you've ever been to me?" he asked skeptically. Kairi burst out into harsh laughter.

"Aw, were you being mean to your new _master_?" Kairi jeered, with undue emphasis on the word 'master.' Axel visibly flinched.

"I give as good as I get," he said casually, but Roxas saw that his muscles stayed tense. Axel's body was blocking his view of Kairi, but he could sense that the girl wasn't stressed at all. She and her companions were completely and totally relaxed, considering Axel's agitation almost boredly.

Then Axel decided to take it up a notch.

Flames erupted from beneath the sand and engulfed him completely. Roxas screamed, scuffling back from the sudden heat. But the fire wasn't wild, in fact, quite the contrary. The flames danced around Axel's scorching body, flowing upwards over his torso and arms, focusing themselves into two very specific points, where they hardened into two spiked wheels. Axel caught the weapons easily in his hands, and lowered himself into a fighting stance. Roxas could do nothing but gape. Kairi laughed.

"Do you really think it _wise_ to start a fight, three on one?" she asked haughtily.

"We'll see," Axel said confidently. "You may mock my methods, but that kid right there-" Roxas assumed that that indicated him- "gives me access to more power than you lot could ever even dream of." He tilted his head back to look Roxas right in the terrified eye for the first time since his arrival.

"Go on, Rox. Wish for me to win so we can get out of here."

Roxas was in shock. He'd just seen someone set himself on fire, right out on the beach. Had anyone else seen it? No- Axel had said that no one but Roxas could see him, and up until right now, the evidence had supported that claim. Any hope of a sudden rescue was thoroughly trashed.

"I wish," he whispered hoarsely. The heat from Axel's sudden fire had his sweaty clothes stuck to his body. And that was what it was all about, right? He was staring right at some sort of hellish fire-demon, about to take on three unarmed kids from his school. He made up his mind.

"I wish you wouldn't hurt them," he said firmly. That had clearly not been what Axel had been expecting, and his body went rigid as he whirled around, face a mix of surprise and pain.

"What!?" he roared.

"Smart kid," Kairi giggled. Roxas wasn't entirely sure what he'd just done, but Axel's pupils were already fading. He hadn't thought that Axel could be any more angry at him than he'd been after the previous wish, but then, he'd just been annoyed. Now, Roxas could see him battling the wish with everything he had, with a desperation he'd never seen in Axel's confident features.

"_G-G-G-Gr-Gr…_" he stammered. Kairi was openly laughing at him. Axel gritted his teeth and gripped his weapons more tightly. The fight against Roxas's stated desire, however, was one he was not meant to be able to win.

"_Gr-Gran-Grant-Granted,_" he gasped. The two massive spiked rings disappeared just as suddenly as they'd arrived, and Axel was left totally spent, hunched over, more exhausted than Roxas had seen him. He was relieved in spite of everything- Axel was dangerous, and he didn't want a fight breaking out over _him. _This way, everyone was safe.

Or so he thought.

"More power than we lot could ever dream of," Kairi taunted. "Roxas, you're more with it than I thought," she said approvingly, directing her attention back to where he lay, covered in sweat and sand. Axel said nothing. Kairi continued. "Now, dear, all we have to do is get rid of _him-_" almost certainly though not explicitly indicating Axel- "and you'll be free. Free to come with us."

"No," Axel spat.

"What if I don't want to?" Roxas snapped, suddenly feeling uneasy. "I just _saved _you three-"

"Saved us from what? A three-on-one fight that we would have won anyway?" With a smirk, Kairi extended her right hand. A flash of light, and a weapon appeared, not unlike Axel's, but Kairi had only one, a long blade decorated with ornate flowers. "I think I can handle this one myself, girls," she said confidently, and Xion and Naminé obediently stepped back. Roxas looked desperately to Naminé for help, but her expression was blank.

"Roxas," Axel said calmly. "I'd just like to say, right now while I've got the chance, that I hate you and your misguided chivalry bullshit." And with that, Kairi slammed him across the face with her blade. He collapsed bonelessly to the ground, not even bothering to defend himself.

"Axel!" Roxas shrieked, as Kairi delivered a solid kick to his ribs. The genie- no, _his _genie- lay on the sand cooperatively, all while his assailant proceeded to flog him mercilessly. Roxas wanted to shout for him to get up and defended himself, before he realized- Axel _couldn't _defend himself without potentially hurting Kairi. He was utterly bound by Roxas's stupid wish.

Axel may have been an asshole, but Roxas wasn't one to side with the kind of person who'd beat up someone who was totally defenseless.

"Just a suggestion-" Axel hissed as Kairi once again thwacked him with her weapon, which didn't seem to be a blade at all but some sort of pole- "maybe you should try wishing for something else?"

"Uh," Roxas stammered. Xion and Naminé were circling around the one-sided fight, preparing to corner him. He was too weak to run on his own, let alone on wet sand. Axel was developing a sporting black eye, and his body was releasing a few unpleasant sounding cracks. The situation, as they say, was looking rather bleak.

"Any time now-" Axel shouted in pain, still too dignified to scream- "wouldn't want to rush you or anything-"

"Let _go_!" Roxas was otherwise occupied, as Xion and Naminé had grabbed both of his arms. They were disturbingly strong, holding him in place no matter how hard he twisted or thrashed. Why had he ever thought that _he _would have to protect _them_?

"Please, Roxas, you have to trust us," Naminé pleaded. "I'm not trying to hurt you-"

"Don't listen-"

"Please-"

"Roxas-"

"Roxas!-"

"I wish I didn't have to go with them! With Kairi!" Roxas hastened to clarify. The words were shouted before they even passed through his brain. Somehow, subconsciously, against all possible odds, he'd decided to throw his chips down with Axel. Maybe it was because he knew he could order Axel to tell him the truth, or maybe because Kairi just rubbed him the wrong way.

Whatever the reason, in that exact moment, Roxas chose the devil he knew.

With a sudden _pop_, most likely imagined, he was back in his bedroom with a very angry genie.

* * *

Oooooh. You know, I don't think I'm very good at writing the teeny bopper high school stuff. Good thing that chunk of the story is almost over, huh? We need to get Roxas's view of women a little bit more into the 21st century, and then we need to get him in bed with Axel. LOL.

Also, I believe "Roxas, don't let him deceive you!" is actually one of Axel's lines from KH2. But wev, Naminé can share.

Q OF THE DAY: I do these in my other ongoing fic, Erased, so what the hey. Let's see... Where do you think Kairi, Naminé, and Xion are from?

REVIEW BECAUSE IT'S ALMOST MY BIRTHDAY :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 5**

Roxas hit his bed with a loud thud. Apparently, Axel had dropped him. He didn't mind, though, since he was too shaken and scared to feel any pain. His body hummed with adrenaline and a cold sweat was creeping through his clothes. Axel, on the other hand, was entirely calm, though he wasn't meeting Roxas's eyes. He was staring out the window, but the look on his face made it clear he wasn't really seeing anything at all.

"What," Roxas whispered, when he finally found his voice. He was shaking too badly to get out the rest of the sentence. Axel pretended not to hear him.

"What just happened?" he tried again. Axel still didn't respond. Axel- Axel- he was forgetting something important about Axel. Wait. Hadn't Axel recently been on _fire_? Roxas yelped and pushed himself farther away, though his room wasn't big enough for a proper escape, and his legs didn't much feel like standing.

"Be quiet. You want your parents to hear you?" Axel said icily, the first words he'd spoken since they'd come back. He was right, of course, and Roxas clamped his mouth shut. Right as he did, however, a loud beeping noise came out of his pocket. His cell phone- he hadn't gone swimming, so he'd never taken it out of his trunks. Once the initial shock died down, he pulled it out and stared at it.

A call from Pence.

Oh- oh- they were still at the beach! And Roxas had just disappeared, literally into thin air, and who knew where those girls had gone, or what they even _were_, and he started shaking all over again.

"You'd better answer it." Another round of good advice from Axel, who hadn't moved from the window. Roxas fumbled the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"Hi," he said, a little too loudly.

"Rox! Where are you!?" Pence shouted. "It's almost dark and you're not back yet and I'm sorry if you're making out or something but we got worried and you can do that later!" A loud snort and something that sounded suspiciously like Hayner scoffing at the very idea came from the background, but Roxas couldn't even get defensive. He swallowed hard.

"Uh, sorry, guys," he choked out. "I went home. I, uh, wasn't feeling well." There was a heated argument. Pence tried to cover the phone with his hands, but Roxas got the general idea- Hayner was pissed. Hayner was always pissed. That was how best friends worked, of course- they were always mad at each other. This one wouldn't be the first lecture he got from Hayner, and it wouldn't be the last, but Roxas wasn't much in the mood to be shouted at.

"Rox? You still there? Hayner wants to-" was all Pence got out before Hayner snatched the phone away from him.

"Roxas," he screamed. "What the fuck is your problem? You went _home_!? You realize we were sitting right next to the goddamn train station, right? You could have _told_ us you were leaving!"

"Yeah!" said Olette in the background.

"I'm sorry guys," Roxas said more quietly. "It's just, I… uh." He struggled to find a good excuse, but he couldn't lie to Hayner. And considering that the truth wouldn't go over very well- hey, I got attacked by some girls from school and my genie I've got by the way magicked me back to my apartment to save me?- all he could do was hem and haw. Hayner would know he wasn't telling the truth, anyway, so might as well just say nothing at all. Eventually he'd give up.

"You just _uh_?" That was the key word, of course- eventually. "What the hell, dude? We've been planning this for weeks!"

"Yeah, asshole!" said Olette.

"I'm sorry," Roxas repeated miserably. He really had screwed it all up, hadn't he? He shouldn't have even invited Naminé in the first place. Axel apparently thought the same thing, since he'd decided to provide an icy glare to match the angry words on the phone.

"You're such an idiot. See you on Monday," Hayner muttered, and the phone hung up with a sharp click. Well, he wouldn't be seeing his friends this weekend, or maybe he would anyway- usually when Hayner had one of his moods like this, he forgot about it the next day. Roxas sighed miserably and slumped up against his pillows. So much for his first weekend back in school. Well, he had homework he could do, or maybe he could jog or something.

"Ahem."

Or he could take care of his wounded and angry magic-friend.

"Sorry you got beat up," Roxas muttered, with considerably less sincerity than when he'd apologized to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. He rolled over to face the wall, not especially in the mood to deal with his suddenly present-again genie.

"That's all? Can't I at least get a washcloth or something? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm _bruised _and _bleeding._" Roxas glanced over at Axel with one eye. He _was _pretty banged up, and he had a couple cuts, though bleeding was a strong word to describe it.

"Can't you just magic yourself whole again or something?" he grumbled. _Preferably somewhere else?_

"Actually, no, I can't- I can't do squat unless _you _wish for it. Which wouldn't be so bad a thing, you know, considering it's _your _fault that I got beat up in the first place. And hey, you're welcome for saving your life, by the way." Roxas rolled his eyes.

Emotions-wise, Roxas was not an especially complex person. Which is not to say that he didn't _feel _emotions- he had the usual range, along with the tempestuous surges of irrationality typical to teenagers. He was not, however, accustomed to maintaining more than one emotion at the same time. And now that he was worrying about leaving his friends on the beach, the rest of the afternoon and evening had faded politely into the background, along with the memories of the anxiety and panic he'd felt. _Why _had he gotten so worked up? Had his life really been in danger, or was he just overreacting?

"Did you really?" he asked quietly.

"Did I really what?" asked Axel, in between the swearing as he peeled his bloody vest off of his battered torso.

"Save my life. Were they really going to kill me?"

"Of course they were. Did you miss the creepy circling, and the speaking in unison, and the fact that she pulled a giant sword out of nowhere? What more do you want?"

"You pulled weapons out of nowhere, too," Roxas pointed out.

"Self-defense," Axel shot back. "_You_-defense."

"Are they genies, too?"

"Depends what you mean by 'genie.'" Fair enough. The questions had to be more specific.

"They made fun of you for having a master- does that mean they don't?"

"What, you heard that?" Axel said distantly, without making eye contact. He was being dodgy, _really _dodgy, much more so than usual. Even Roxas could see that. He moved on to yet another question.

"Why did they want to fight you?"

"I have a big personality, and they have big personalities, and sometimes when people like that get together, it can be explosive," the genie clipped, still refusing to meet his eyes.

"Will you ever give me a straight answer to anything?"

"Maybe." Roxas swore under his breath.

"What if I wished for you to answer my questions honestly?" he threatened. Axel saw the threat and raised an eyebrow.

"Go ahead- try it." For a long moment, the two did lock eyes. Roxas stared defiantly up from his bed, even as Axel looked down on him, straight down his nose, as if he were something mildly distasteful that one might want to wipe off a shoe. But Axel had been right- Roxas only had four wishes left, and he wasn't ready to waste another one on Axel, not yet. The genie had effectively called his bluff.

"I don't want to," he growled.

"Then don't bring it up." Axel snapped away and went back to staring out the window, though of course he was still looking at nothing. Roxas would give anything to know what was going on inside that red head- _Axel, _somehow,knew exactly what had happened on the beach, but he didn't seem eager to share.

So, he decided to confront him directly.

"Are you dodging my questions?" he asked sharply, in his best accusatory tone. He already knew that Axel was dodging his questions, of course. All he wanted was to force his genie to admit it. There had to be a way to get the upper hand, right?

"What's it to you?" Axel scoffed.

"So you are, then."

"What makes you say that?"

"If you weren't, you would have said 'no' instead of answering with another question."

"Would I?"

"You just did it again."

"Oh?" Axel asked, smirking. Roxas was getting worn down- he was beginning to suspect that he'd never, ever beat Axel in an annoying-off.

"I hate you," he muttered, slumping back into his pillows.

"Likewise, I'm sure," Axel sniffed triumphantly, as he dumped his bloody vest in a heap on Roxas's floor. Fortunately, the genie's blood appeared to be just like the rest of him, in that it couldn't change its surroundings in any meaningful way- the blood stayed attached to the vest instead of staining the carpet. The last thing Roxas needed was to try to explain to his mother how his carpet got covered in blood. Mothers tended to worry about that sort of thing.

Which gave Roxas an idea.

"Wow, those cuts really do look terrible," he cooed. He swept over to Axel's very confused side, gently running his fingertips over his myriad injuries. This particular brawl clearly wasn't the first time Axel had been in a fight- there were scars criss-crossing his torso underneath the open wounds. Roxas frowned and ushered the taller boy over to his bed, pushing him down and making him comfortable now that he knew that there wouldn't be bloodstains everywhere.

"Uh," said Axel.

"We need to get you cleaned up so these don't scar like the old ones did," Roxas tsked. "Stay right here, and I'll get the band-aids and the Neosporin."

"You'll get the what now?" Axel asked suspiciously, but Roxas was already gone, bounding down the hall to his bathroom. What with having a teenage boy in the house, and a _skateboarding _teenage boy no less, his family was always well-stocked with remedies to just about any physical ailment in existence. Besides the usual disinfectants, he even found some bandaging tape and gauze. With a happy whistle, he gathered up his supplies and ran back to his room, where Axel had seen fit to promptly stand back up, as if the bed were possibly trying to eat him.

"Lie back down," Roxas scolded, and within a few minutes he'd effectively mothered Axel back into a sitting position. He pulled out a warm washcloth and began dabbing grains of sand out of all the open wounds. Axel hissed in pain and tried to pull away, but Roxas held him firmly in place.

"Why are you doing this?" the genie grumbled. "Didn't you just say you hated me?"

"Didn't you just save my life?" Roxas countered. He finished up cleaning off the dirt and grime and squirted some Neosporin onto the washcloth to begin disinfecting. "You didn't just make that part up, did you?"

"No, of course not." Roxas dabbed Neosporin onto one of the uglier cuts. Axel shrieked. "Ow! What the hell!?"

"Stop whining. It's so that they don't get infected." Axel squawked and squealed and protested and carried on, but he managed to sit relatively still while Roxas finished cleaning out all of the injuries and carefully bandaging them up. He tied off the last bit of bandage tape, and rolled back upright to survey his handiwork.

"There. Now don't do anything crazy for a couple days, and you'll be fine." Axel made a noise not entirely unlike a _harrumph _and stalked off into one of the corners to sulk. The old adage about honey and vinegar was still rolling through Roxas's brain, though he stayed carefully silent. Maybe _now _the genie would be willing to give up some answers?

"It's _your _fault I got beat up, you know," Axel finally accused.

"Sorry," said Roxas, and he tried his best to mean it. He had to play this carefully, now. He had to keep the focus of the conversation on himself, without asking any direct questions. Axel was pissed- he could use that to his advantage.

"How was I even supposed to know they were dangerous? They're just girls from my school," he tried. Axel swore and muttered something to himself that sounded suspiciously similar to _The school! Of course._ He didn't continue the conversation any further than that, however, and Roxas was forced to try again.

"I can't believe my life was really in danger," he whispered. "I mean, do you think they'll try it again? What do I do, Axel?" It was a long shot, but maybe Axel liked to give advice?

"You shouldn't worry your cute little head about it," was all he said. Roxas's eyes narrowed. Oh, so now he was _cute_, was he? He bit his tongue to hold in a barbed retort, and decided instead to use his apparent powers of cuteness to his advantage. Axel was surly, but he _had_ saved his life, after all- there had to be a heart in there somewhere. With a quivering breath, Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and began working up some tears.

"Axel," he whimpered. "I'm scared." Just saying the words felt somehow freeing. The stress of the past week- the suicide, finding a genie, fighting with his friends, being attacked by crazies- all of it was somehow pouring out through his eyes. The tears began flowing more earnestly, and he choked back a few rickety sobs.

"What? Oh, come _on_!" Axel turned his back and did his best to ignore him. Roxas just cried harder, hugging a pillow against his chest. Ignoring the sobs wasn't working, so Axel turned around to glare at him. "What are you, like, fifteen?" Roxas wailed and curled up into a little ball. "God. _Please_ stop it."

"But I'm sc-c-c-aared," Roxas hiccupped miserably. "W-what if they come back?" Axel groaned, walked over, and sat down next to Roxas on the bed.

"Trust me- they won't. And they won't be at your school anymore, either. Now _please _stop crying?"

"How can you be s-s-sure?" Roxas whimpered, though on the inside, his mind was calculating. Axel sounded very sure of himself, and it was clear from their confrontation on the beach that he knew those three girls from somewhere else. He would know better than anyone else Roxas had access to.

"Just _trust _me, _please_," Axel begged. It was perfectly obvious that he just wanted the crying to stop. Well- Roxas had finally discovered a way to out-annoy his genie.

"Why s-should I?" Roxas whispered. Axel opened his mouth to answer, but Roxas cut him off, bringing his big, watery eyes up to make eye contact.

"Tell me, Axel. If they come back- if they come back, will you save me again?"

Axel took a long moment to answer. Roxas could see the words rolling over and over in his head.

"Yes," he said finally. But lest he sound sappy, he added some more. "You're my master- I sort of have to," he shrugged, turning away. But he'd already said too much. The tears dried; Roxas inhaled a sharp breath. Suddenly, it all made sense.

"You _have _to?" he asked quickly. "As in, if my life is in danger, you _have _to intervene?" The idea hadn't even occurred to him, that there was possibly other baggage that went into the master-genie relationship. Besides just that Roxas was the only one who could see him, Axel might have had a whole host of other restrictions! Unfortunately, the genie himself had realized he'd been played, and jumped back up, eyes narrowed in dislike.

"Don't go jumping off any bridges," he snarled. "It only works if it's a _supernatural _threat."

"But still," Roxas grinned. "You have to protect me. Am I right?"

"Who knows?" Axel growled. But as soon as he'd said it, his eyes widened a little in what appeared to be fear. Fear that Roxas would find out- what? And Roxas's grin widened.

"You can't lie to me, either," he said gleefully. "That's why you answer all my questions with questions- you can't lie!"

"What!? That's crazy," Axel scoffed, but he wouldn't meet Roxas's eyes.

"Tell me, Axel," he said sweetly. "Can you lie to me?" Axel didn't say anything at all, but his face was getting redder and redder. "Well?"

"Of course I can't," he spat, before clapping a hand over his mouth when he realized what he'd actually said. Roxas couldn't help but giggle with boyish delight, even as Axel's scowl deepened. He'd won Axel's game- he'd figured out his genie. And on top of that, he still had four whole wishes left. Roxas was unambiguously winning. But despite his triumph, he was exhausted- a full day of school, plus the beach, plus fighting with Axel, had left him with no energy at all. He finally dragged himself off his bed and walked over to his dresser to find some pajamas. Axel glared at him all the way, but at this point, Roxas couldn't care less.

"Turn around while I change," he ordered. "Unless you _like _seeing me naked?" Axel glared daggers, but obediently turned around, even if he dragged his feet while doing so. Roxas changed his clothes, turned off his lights, and climbed into bed, without so much as wishing his genie a cordial _good night_, even as he stood there in the dark.

"Fine," Axel muttered finally. "I'm leaving." He was gone in a flash, but Roxas could only smile to himself. That was what he'd always wanted, right? For Axel to go away? Once he'd cooled off a bit, Roxas could get some proper answers out of him. For now, though, he was safe. And if anything bad _did _happen, well, Axel was contractually obligated to do everything in his power to protect him.

Unfortunately, Roxas was about to discover that the most distressing revelations of the week were going to come from _inside _of him, and not from anywhere else. But he drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face, completely oblivious, thinking of Olette and the good times he wished they could have.

_No. No wishes._

Swept away, deep in dreamland, Roxas was aware of absolutely nothing but the soft fingers gently stroking him in his, well, _down-there _area. He wasn't quite comfortable enough with sex to refer to it as his _penis, cock, manhood, throbbing member, _or even to admit that he was being given a _hand job. _But at the very least, he could admit that it felt nice.

Really nice.

Roxas groaned quietly and bucked his hips up into the soft caresses, evoking a chuckle from whoever was toying with him. The hand's grip tightened a little and increased its pace, and Roxas pushed himself right along with it. He'd never been given a hand job in his waking life, of course, but that wouldn't stop him from enjoying his imaginary one. A small squeak of pleasure passed his lips.

"Should've known you'd squeal like a little bitch," a voice murmured, pushing down on him faster. Roxas's fingers bunched into his sheets and he moaned for more.

"Want more? You've gotta beg for it," the voice teased, low and husky. Roxas immediately complied.

"Please," he choked. "More." The hand went faster, slick and wet, pumping for all it was worth, milking thick drops of pre-cum out of Roxas's aching body. Inside his dream, said body was floating, simply existing with nothing but heat and wetness and pleasure. He felt wonderful. Better than wonderful. But his tormentor wasn't content to stop there.

Before long, he could feel something squirming, deep inside of him, in a place where no one _ever _had been allowed to visit, not even in Roxas's most wild of dreams. But now… now, it was ok. He'd never felt this before, not even anything similar, but his imagination provided the stimulus, his mind reaching down through his body and releasing every valve, freeing every bit of pressure to build up under his skin. The force pushed up against him and he moved along with it, rocking his body with every motion as the sensations reached a fever pitch.

"You wanna cum?" the voice rasped, from somewhere above him.

"Y-yeah," Roxas moaned.

"Say my name," his lover demanded, pushing into him faster and faster. "Say it."

"Oh- oh-" Roxas gasped. "Ah-"

"_Say it._"

"Ah- aahh- H- Hayner," Roxas finally groaned out, before he exploded. His friend collapsed on top of him, getting wild blonde hair all up in his mouth and face. Roxas coughed.

Then he woke up.

He was all sticky and sweaty, wrapped up in tangled sheets. Axel was still nowhere to be found, thank God. The last thing Roxas needed was to have his skeezy genie listening in on his sex dreams.

At around that point, Roxas remembered that he had a sex dream.

Shortly thereafter, he remembered just who had been boning him into oblivion in said sex dream.

And not long after that, Roxas threw up.

* * *

Axel scuffed his toes down Twilight Town's brick roads, swearing as he went. The entire day had been a complete disaster. How had he not _known _beforehand that those three had arrived in town? Why hadn't he been keeping a closer eye on Roxas? He _knew _how important the boy was. So why wasn't he doing his job?

And besides that, Roxas had begun figuring out just what Axel was allowed to do and not do. Knowing that Axel wasn't allowed to lie to him, well, that was a huge blow. His only hope now was that Roxas would somehow not ask the right questions. Which was entirely possible, of course, considering how far-fetched the answers were, but Axel was quickly learning not to underestimate his young master at all.

That last wish- that was his golden window, and now it was closed. The words had been so deliciously open-ended. And there _was _a way, exactly one way, in fact, to make it absolutely definite that Roxas would never, ever, in his entire lifetime or a million years be able to go where those three had wanted to take him. But Axel, well, he hadn't been able to do it. He'd chickened out and taken the kid back to his house instead. _Why_?

Axel was spared further self-loathing by the arrival of someone else who was more than happy to do it for him. He felt the presence before the other even spoke, and knew immediately exactly who his boss would have sent to fetch him. He swallowed hard.

"Hi, Saïx," he said with false cheer. "Thousand years, no see, eh?" As he said the words, he turned around slowly. He had correctly guessed the colleague in question, of course, who was now standing alone in the middle of the street and glaring at him through harsh yellow eyes and a scar in the shape of a perfect X. Saïx had a tendency to come off as unbelievably creepy, and Axel certainly wouldn't wish for anything from him, were he given the chance. The man's wild blue hair was neatly pulled back and he was dressed in a trim, professional, and very modern suit. Axel was dimly aware that he maybe should have put another shirt on before running around in the street, knowing just who would be out looking for him.

"Come," Saïx said simply. "We need to talk." He vanished immediately, with the clear expectation that Axel was to follow. Axel knew exactly where he was supposed to go, of course. Whenever they were all awake at the same time, every single thousand years, they always met at the highest point in the town, the plaza directly underneath the massive clock tower. With a sigh of resignation, he followed Saïx.

And was immediately met by ten pairs of angry eyes.

Well, to be fair, some of them were more apathetic than angry, though everyone was definitely staring at him. One member was conspicuously absent- the one responsible for Cinderella Carlisle's death, who had already gone back to sleep. Axel swallowed hard.

"How'd _he _get picked two times in a row?" one of the older members snarled nastily. "Isn't there a 'can't screw up twice' clause?"

"We can just chalk this up to bad luck, I guess," sighed another well-dressed man who was standing somewhat off to the side.

"Silence."

Axel swallowed hard. He'd know that voice anywhere, of course. Deep and even, both cruel and commanding- who else but Number One, the Big Bad, the Boss? He should have expected that he'd be reprimanded by the best. This was his second try, after all, and after he'd failed so miserably last time… well, he was frankly amazed they didn't just kill him and give Roxas someone else's bottle. Not that it worked that way, but he was sure they'd do it if they could.

"Axel," Xemnas said directly, and Axel quailed a little bit. Xemnas, their boss, certainly looked the part of leader-of-cabal-of-evil-genie-types. In contrast to Saïx's crisp, modern evil, Xemnas had opted for a more classic attire, all cloak and flowing robes and misty shapes. On anyone else, the outfit would look ridiculous. On Xemnas, it made babies cry.

"Axel," he repeated. "We are all aware of your charge, Roxas." A hiss of angry mutterings passed around the group. "I have it on good authority-" here, Saïx's eyes bored into Axel's skull, and the red-head fought back a scowl- "that today, young Roxas was cornered by our enemies. Is this correct?"

"Yes," Axel muttered.

"And that he wished for you to prevent him from being taken away by them. Is this also correct?"

"Yes," he gritted out.

"I have recently been informed that in response to this wish, you brought him back to his parents' house. Is this also correct?" Axel got no chance to answer, because all hell broke loose. Weapons were summoned; threats were screamed; a large fellow was forced to hold a younger member back. The fight quieted, and everyone stared at Axel, silently demanding an answer. He swallowed hard.

"Yes," he whispered.

The group, apparently spent, had no response to that, nothing but fuming anger and silent disappointment. Xemnas sighed and shook his head.

"Axel, I am a forgiving soul. You won't be punished. Yet." Axel let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "But I trust you know that we will be watching you. You've failed us before; don't let it happen again, or there will be consequences." With that final warning, he vanished, leaving Axel to the dogs. He knew he was safe, for the time being, anyway- there was no way that the members would go against Xemnas's wishes. But that didn't save him from the threats and dirty looks as they disappeared back to their own masters, one by one, until only a few were left. One of them came up to offer him words of encouragement, for which he was grateful, even if they were a little backhanded.

"Listen, kid. You've gotta hurry it up. Now that they've made contact, they'll be sending the big guns after you, you know that." He jabbed his thumb significantly up towards the eye patch covering half of his face. Axel shuddered involuntarily. Yes, he remembered when the surly man before him had lost his eye- he remembered it in graphic Technicolor.

Eye Patch disappeared along with the rest of the crowd, and before long, only two were left, miserable Axel and another boy about his own age.

"Hey, it'll be ok," the other teen said awkwardly. "Who d'you think he'll be?"

"Dunno," Axel muttered darkly. "He's pretty dumb. He's probably playing with himself right now, or something." More likely, Roxas was hatching evil plans to manipulate him into divulging all of his secrets. But he wasn't going to tell the others how conniving the little snot was, not yet.

"Well… you'll figure it out," the last remaining member said cheerfully, before disappearing himself, leaving Axel entirely alone. Alone in the dark. Alone with his feelings. With a dry and frustrated sob, he collapsed onto the stone tiles. They were right- he _couldn't _do this, and he _shouldn't _have been chosen again. The assignments were random, that was what they'd always been told- the bottles appear, some kids pick them up, the end- but in this case, Axel couldn't help but wonder if Xemnas had managed to pull some strings. Maybe _this _was his punishment. They knew he couldn't handle it before, so they were making him do it again, only this time around, his life was on the line.

His thoughts dwelled on Roxas. The boy had his obnoxious points, and Axel wasn't overly fond of him, but he'd been nice today, cleaning up his wounds like that. He certainly didn't deserve what Axel had in store for him. The more he thought about it, the harder Axel's job became.

_Well, great._ _What am I going to do?_

Axel curled up tighter and just held himself, all the way until the sun came up and the massive clock chimed morning.

* * *

TA-DA! Mmm, delicious plot. And hey, y'all got some smut, too! Considerably more purple than I usually write it, but eh, Roxas is a total sap, amirite? Have fun on the questioning-your-sexuality train, Rox!

Sorry for the long break between updates- my birthday happened, then I went on a birthday vacation, then I was playing 358/2 Days. This story draws pretty heavily on 358/2 Days, actually, which is made kinda evident by the setting and the presence of Xion. I didn't really like her in the game, we'll see if I like her in the fic. Hmm.

REVIEWS PLZ? :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 5**

Poor Roxas did not vomit only out of confusion and disgust. Once the original evacuation had occurred, he lasted about thirty seconds before sprinting to the bathroom and puking again, missing the toilet by about a foot. He threw up again into the bowl, and one more time, until nothing was left but bile. And then once the bile was gone, he dry-heaved miserably. The apartment was not terribly big, after all, and the whole door-slamming ordeal had both of Roxas's parents scrambling out of bed to make sure he wasn't dying.

After he'd been love-smothered a bit by both of them and cleaned up, he was sent back to bed with a glass of water. Unfortunately, the water didn't stay down- it was so aggressively rejected that it was still cold when it came back up. Roxas was sent back to bed on an empty stomach. His head ached and his vision spun.

The next morning his father took him to a doctor. The diagnosis was a particularly violent stomach flu, and the prescription was bed rest and fluids. If he couldn't keep water down by the end of the day, they should take him to the emergency room for an IV, she said. So Roxas was taken back home and tucked into bed, lights turned off, to sleep off his sudden illness.

Axel was nowhere in sight. Which was probably for the best, since Roxas didn't really feel like dealing with him and being sick at the same time. In any case, his weekend was shot anyway, so maybe it wasn't such a big deal that his friends didn't want to see him, and especially after that dream, he wasn't particularly ready to face Hayner, besides. He passed into fitful sleep, curled up in his sweaty sheets.

By the time he woke up, _really _woke up, it was dark outside. Axel was still gone, thank God. Roxas was thirsty. He managed to roll out of bed, still wrapped in sweaty clothes, and stagger his way to his kitchen.

The kitchen and living room were connected, and Roxas was very surprised to see a young girl in his house. After a long moment, his sickness-addled mind identified her as Alice, their neighbors' daughter. From there, it took his brain another few moments to deduce that his parents were babysitting. They were both sitting on the couch, watching the evening news. Alice had turned their coffee table into a tea party.

"Would you like some tea, Mr. Rabbit?" she cooed, in an accent that wasn't quite placeable, pouring pretend tea from his parent's teapot into a small teacup, also from his own kitchen. "How about you, Mr. Hatter?" She was addressing two dolls she had propped up on his parents' coffee table book collection. Finally, she turned to the last side of the table, the one directly across from her, and very much empty. "And would you like some too, mister?" she said sweetly, and she poured another cup of fake tea. Roxas blinked. Well, lots of kids had imaginary friends, right? It was too early on to be questioning the girl's mental state. He fished for a cup of his own.

"Oh, hi, honey," said his mom. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty," Roxas rasped, and he made a face. His voice sounded terrible.

"Well, try to drink something. If you throw up again we have to take you to the hospital," she said, and she went back to the news, something about a local mechanic disappearing. Roxas flipped on the tap and watched in dazed fascination as the water sloshed around into the glass. He filled it to the brim, but took one small, experimental sip. He waited patiently. Nothing of the vomity sort seemed to be happening- in fact, drinking water felt good. So he took another sip. Still no puke. So, he drained the whole glass, and got himself another one.

"I think it'll stay down," he told his parents.

"Oh, great!" his mom said. "That's great, honey." Roxas moved to sit down in the living room. Alice blinked up at him curiously. For some reason, it felt like everyone was staring, and he was suddenly self-conscious.

"Roxas, do you mind staying in your room? For Alice. You know how she is, and we don't want her to get sick," said his dad. Roxas did indeed know how she was- not only was Alice prone to all manner of illness, but she was also the kind of fearless-to-stupid kid who was in the habit of doing things like wandering into traffic.

"Ok. See you later," he said, and he went back to bed.

"Let us know if you need anything," his mom called, and Roxas shut the door. But when he turned around, he ran smack into a warm body. After a muffled shriek of surprise, he realized that the offending person was in fact Axel, who he should have expected anyway. Somehow, the genie always managed to catch him off guard. He glared.

"Where've _you_ been?" he asked nastily.

"On your roof, watching for the evil bad guys who want to take my Roxas away," he answered cheekily. The news didn't shock Roxas nearly as much as it would have were he not incapacitated by illness. "Besides, I tried to drop in and say hi earlier, but you didn't want to talk to me."

"Uh… you mean when I was asleep?" Axel bounced past him with way too much energy and flopped down on his bed.

"You've been clogging up my head with wishing all day," he complained. "You gonna wish for something, or should I go back to guard duty?"

"What!? I haven't wished for anything!" Roxas snapped. He didn't have the mental power for coherent thoughts, let alone wishes. Besides, Axel was being way too nice, especially after their fight from before. What was his angle?

"On the contrary. You've been wishing you didn't feel like crap nearly constantly all day."

"Well, of course I don't want to feel like crap. That's stupid." Roxas rolled his eyes, a little painful since they were dry, before pausing. "Wait. You can tell when I want something, even if I'm not thinking about wishing?"

"Yep," Axel answered honestly. He had to be answering honestly, of course, since he was forced to. "And hoo boy, was there some interesting stuff going on in your head last night. Who was the lucky dream girl?" Roxas's face broke into a hot blush.

"None of your goddamn business, that's who," Roxas said, a little too loudly and a little too quickly. His face was turning an even brighter red, he could sense it, but there was nothing he could do. Curse his fair skin and hair. Curse it!

"Olette?" Axel asked snidely, leaning into Roxas's face. "Or was it _Kairi_? Are you _that _kind of dude?" No, Roxas was not that kind of dude, though he was apparently the kind of dude who had sex dreams about his best friend. His _male _best friend. And with Axel leaning down and smirking at him like that, Roxas was reminded of how handsome he'd thought the genie was when they'd first met. He felt another wave of nausea, but not the pukey kind of nausea. More like butterflies. And _that _thought gave him the pukey kind of nausea.

"I'm going to bed," he said definitively. "I'm tired." Hopefully, tired enough not to have any dreams.

"But I'm bored," Axel complained. "And there's literally no one else to talk to."

"Go hang out with Alice," Roxas yawned. "She talks to people who aren't there anyway, so maybe you'll get caught in the crossfire." Axel raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, glancing at the door.

"I think I'll pass on that," he muttered. And then he disappeared. Roxas was never going to get used to the abruptness of it. He'd have to ask Axel about adding a noise or something, maybe one of those bell collars they give cats. The thought of putting a collar on Axel made him giggle, then feel a slow but creeping horror. He quickly snapped his lights off and closed his eyes tightly, carefully clearing his brain and keeping it that way.

Roxas spent most of Sunday in bed, being pampered by his mom and chatting off and on with Axel, who showed up occasionally to make fun of him before whisking himself away again. By Monday morning he was almost completely recovered, more than recovered enough for his parents to force him to go to school. He showered, collected his usual pop-tart, and was pleased to find that Hayner was indeed waiting for him outside to walk to school.

"Hi, Hayner," he said carefully, hoping he wouldn't blush. _It was just a dream, Roxas. It didn't mean anything, right? Just a dream. Just a dream. _He desperately sought safety in denial.

"Hi, Roxas," said Hayner. "What's up? I have a math test today, it's awful. I mean, second week of school? Come on. Come _on._" This was what Hayner always did. After a fight, he would take a few days to steam, and then show up acting like nothing had happened. And of course, Roxas always responded by ruining the game to check and make sure that everything was forgiven.

"I'm really sorry about Friday," he said. "Are you sure it's ok?"

"Duh," said Hayner, and the two boys kept walking along, munching on their respective pop-tarts. Hayner was like that- he spoke his mind, but then he didn't stay angry. Roxas appreciated that in his best friend.

Even though they weren't walking terribly quickly, they'd left early enough to get to school in plenty of time. Just like they did every morning, Roxas and Hayner stopped outside the local 'haunted house' to finish breakfast. The place was covered in vines, pushing through brick and puncturing windows- it had been that way for as long as Roxas could remember. No one even knew what kind of plant it was, but it looked like it was trying to eat the house. Who knew what was inside?

The two boys arrived at the school and headed straight for the door, only to be stopped at a card table with an obnoxiously colorful table cloth, much too bright for so early in the morning. Roxas squinted at the sign.

_Cinderella Carlisle Memorial Fund._

"Would you like to donate something? We're trying to raise some money to help her father set up a scholarship fund," said the girl behind smoothly. Roxas was completely unsurprised to see that the speaker in question was Jasmine Latif, Student Council President and by far the most popular girl in the entire school. She gestured wildly when she spoke, causing the almost certainly solid gold bracelets on her wrist to knock together. Her family had more money than most people could ever dream of.

"Uh, sure," said Roxas, and he dropped some munny into the jar. He needed the rest to buy a soda with lunch. Hayner gave even less than he did, and Jasmine sniffed disdainfully, but accepted their contributions with a simple 'thank you.'

The morning passed rather uneventfully for Roxas. That is, until he accidentally walked in on some guys he didn't recognize making out in the boys' bathroom. He blushed and stuttered about completely nonsexual and unrelated topics for hours. Apparently, God hated him.

Lunch was now in the cafeteria again, though everyone conspicuously avoided the table at the center of the room, and the meal had a subdued air. Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette ate their meals quietly, the fight from the weekend apparently forgotten. Now Ariel ate with them every day, too. She was nice, and they liked her a lot, but she was every bit as twitchy as the first time Roxas had met her, constantly pulling at her clothes. On top of that, she had a habit of _observing _everything a little too closely- her gaze was rather intense, like her thoughts were going a million miles a minute. And she asked weird questions. Like:

"Seifer is holding on to Fuu's hand. Why is he doing that?" she asked curiously. Hayner snorted into his cupcake.

"No way is he doing that. You're making that up," he said.

"No!" Olette shrieked, though not loudly enough to carry past their table. "She's serious- look!" Roxas was the one sitting next to her, so it was him that she grabbed to turn and stare.

"Olette, what-" he started, but then he stopped.

And stared.

Seifer was indeed holding Fuu's hand. They were in line at the window where they sold the snacks. And, from the appearance of things, Seifer was currently whispering sweet nothings into her ear. Roxas continued to stare blankly. He was seeing it, sure, but all logic, everything he'd ever seen Seifer do or say from elementary school when he'd broken Roxas's favorite crayon on purpose all the way up to about five minutes ago was simply _not _matching up. He gaped.

Hayner appeared to be having a similar reaction, and was vaguely slack-jawed. Ariel just looked confused. Pence was the only one on the table that couldn't care less, and he was still quietly eating his celery.

"So what does it mean? Why are you guys staring like that?" Ariel asked again.

"No way are they officially dating. They've been hooking up for what, two years now? _No way. _If it was going to happen, it would have already happened," Olette sputtered.

"Looks like it _did _happen," muttered Hayner. "Ew." No one seemed willing to answer Ariel's question, so Roxas waded in to shoulder the burden.

"It means they're dating," he explained, feeling a little stupid. "You know, boys and girls holding hands? Only happens when people are dating." Ariel continued to stare eagerly, eating up the explanation. He continued, uncomfortably. "Like boyfriend and girlfriend." _Or boyfriend and boyfriend _passed through his mind, fresh from the bathroom incident. He quickly squelched the thought.

"Oh," she said, and she stared with everyone else. The rest of the cafeteria was abuzz with gossip and stares as well, and Fuu at least seemed to have noticed, a faint blush on her face. Seifer, however, did not care at all, and was drawing little shapes on the palm of her hand. For the first time since Saturday, Roxas felt vomity.

"Your _girlfriend _wasn't in class this morning, Roxas," said Hayner suddenly, changing the subject.

"Uh, my what now?" said Roxas.

"You know. Naminé? Romantic walks on the beach Naminé?" he pressed, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Roxas's attraction to Naminé had been completely forgotten, and the sudden reference to it made him jump. "Her sisters weren't here, either. You probably made her sick, and then she passed it on," he laughed. Roxas frowned. So Axel had been right- they weren't at school anymore. He knew much more than he was letting on. Roxas would have to grill him later. While he was thinking, Olette misinterpreted his expression as hurt.

"It's ok, Rox. We'll clean you up," she said sympathetically, patting his shoulder. The spot tingled. Wait, what?

"Clean me up?" he sputtered, and the bell rang.

English was his first class after lunch, and sure enough, Naminé, Kairi, and Xion were conspicuously absent. The empty seat next to him drew nervous stares from Roxas so often, it might as well have been staring back. If Axel had really been telling the truth, they wouldn't be back tomorrow or the next day either, or ever again. Did that mean that they'd only come to the school in the first place just to look for _him_? The thought made him ill.

On the way out, he crashed into someone again. And, once again, it was Belle. He braced himself for an angry tirade, before realizing that Belle did not at all look herself. Her face was gaunt and anxious, with huge bags under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept for days. She didn't say anything at all, and just pushed past him, disappearing into the crowd.

After English he had math. Tidus spent the whole class bragging to some painfully uninterested girl about some goal or other he'd made in his last soccer game. Roxas had stopped being friends with him in middle school, since soccer was his entire stupid life. Sure, he was good- really good, almost professional level- but it was all he ever talked about, and it was obnoxious.

Finally, he had chemistry. The bench only had him, Pence, and Snow White today, since Aurora wasn't in school. Snow was very quiet, so that left Roxas and Pence to talk.

"I'm glad this experiment doesn't use any acid," said Pence, pouring the glucose powder into one of the test tubes they'd been given. Roxas followed suit.

"Dude, acid is awesome," he laughed, and while he was laughing, he accidentally spilled glucose all over the table. The stuff kind of had an odor, and he made a face.

"Crap…" he muttered.

"Oh! I need to sweep that up!" Snow said suddenly, and before Roxas and Pence even knew what was happening, she'd been to the sink and back with paper towels, sponges, water, soap, disinfectant, and rubber gloves. By the time she was finished with the offending mess, the bench was glistening, as if daring any germ to come within ten miles. Satisfied with her work, Snow flounced back to the sink to put away her supplies. Roxas and Pence looked at each other.

"What was that all about?" Pence whispered.

"Who knows? At least _we_ didn't have to clean it up," Roxas whispered back. The two boys finished setting up their experiment and put it into one of the cabinets with the rest of the class. They were nearly half an hour early, so they started doing homework instead. In the meantime, Snow had reorganized the entire sink cabinet and was moving on to polishing the beakers, while the teacher frantically tried to explain that no, she did not have to do that, and could she please sit down and finish her assignment?

"Wow. OCD much?" Roxas said out loud.

"Eh, everyone has their own weird hobbies," said Pence. "At least she's not hurting anyone." He lowered his voice, and leaned in closer. Pence wasn't one for gossip, so whatever this was, Roxas knew it had to be important. "Jasmine found out what Cindy's suicide note said, and she's been 'accidentally' telling everyone," he whispered.

"Really?" Roxas asked. "What did it say?"

"Oh, typical suicide note fare- "I wish everyone would pay attention to me" or whatever- but can you believe Jasmine's _telling _people? It's awful." He paused. "Uh, Roxas? Are you ok?"

_I wish everyone would pay attention to me._

Roxas's pencil dropped out of his hand, and landed with a clatter on the tile floors. Snow dove to retrieve it, and he didn't even notice. His mouth was dry.

"Roxas?" Pence asked, concerned. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to upset you-"

"Does everyone know?" he asked softly.

"Oh, I don't know- I only overheard her telling one of her friends. And you know how they are, I mean, they don't even talk to anyone who doesn't own their own yacht." Roxas laughed a little at that. It was true, after all. But even so, his mind was racing. Maybe it was a coincidence. He _hoped_ it was a coincidence. But the only way to find out for sure was by asking Axel, which he couldn't do until the school day was over and he got home, and even then, he had to hope the genie would show up, and on top of that, it was a big leap of faith to assume that he could be trusted. All of the uncertainty was making him fidget with his hands.

"Sorry. I guess I shouldn't be telling people, either," said Pence miserably. The two boys went back to working- at least, Pence worked, and Roxas pretended to. He wasn't in any condition to do homework. Not only were Kairi, Naminé, and Xion out to get him, but maybe Axel, too? Axel, who was contractually obligated to protect him? It was all just too confusing. He felt ill. Maybe his sickness from the weekend was coming back?

Suddenly, the door opened, and a late student stumbled in. She was wearing dirty, torn-up jeans and a poorly fitting t-shirt that was clearly hand-me-down, and Roxas easily identified her as Jasmine Latif, the poorest girl in school. She'd probably been sneaking a nap somewhere- people said that she worked full-time on top of being a high school student. Roxas felt bad for her.

"Miss Latif," said the teacher tiredly. "Next time you're late, I'll have to give you a detention." Jasmine sniffed, and with a rather out-of-place haughty expression, strutted over to her own bench. But Roxas could see something else, a stronger emotion, peeking out from underneath the pride: fear. The girl was trembling.

Well, that made sense- she'd get fired if she couldn't go to work because of a detention, right?

"I can't believe she told people about Cindy's suicide note," Pence muttered. "I mean, the rich kids are never going to like her, no matter how much dirt she spills. They don't even talk to anyone who doesn't own their own yacht." Roxas laughed a little at that. It was true, after all. But his mind was still stuck on the note.

_I wish everyone would pay attention to me._

The very minute the bell rang, Roxas was out of the school, sprinting all the way back to his apartment, where hopefully, his genie would be waiting for him.

* * *

Ta-da! Another quick update! Or rather, quicker than the last one- I've been a little caught up in playing FF7 for the first time. Everyone and I do mean everyone who has a genie was in this chapter. All twelve of 'em. This chapter is a little bit shorter than the others, but Roxas and Axel's confrontation worked better as a separate chapter than as a tag-on to this one. Sorry guys! There will be more ficcery to come, promise! I wrote this while listening to that trippy Owl City song about the dancing fireflies. It seemed appropriate.

Someone asked if this fic has any spoilers for 358/2 Days. Nope, no it does not. The influence mainly comes from which relationships between which people are important. HMM. HMM, I say. ;)

Q OF THE DAY: Which genie/Org member do you think goes with which person? There weren't too many hints, but I'm curious what you guys think based on what's out there so far.


	7. Chapter 7

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 7**

Axel was minding his own business, as usual. He thought it might be nice to see Roxas again after school. Against all odds, he kept on hoping that the boy would do something to make Axel _really _hate him. Like, a lot. Like, enough to make his job just a little bit easier.

Yeah, as if that would ever happen.

He used concern for Roxas as a front, but really, he was just afraid that if he spent too much time outside, one of his less restrained coworkers would track him down and pummel him. Being of the generally anti-pummeling persuasion, Axel had opted to lay low, staying inside the apartment whether he revealed himself to Roxas or not. Unfortunately, even that seemed to be not enough, since if Roxas's words were anything to go by, his little neighbor kid had a bottle, too. The whole situation was beginning to look more and more orchestrated, and Axel wondered again just how much control Xemnas had over who went where.

On top of that, being attacked by genies was the least of his troubles. Kairi and her little goons had already showed up once- they would know what Roxas looked like, where he lived, who his friends were, and, of course, who was protecting him. His cohort were making absolutely zero effort to hide their presence, and with Twilight Town so magically altered as to be barely recognizable, their enemies would be certain to move quickly.

But thinking of all of that was too panic-inducing, so he decided to focus all of his worries on Roxas instead. Roxas was the one who was in danger, after all. School was out by now, and he could feel the kid getting closer. He was moving pretty quickly, too- did something happen? Was he being attacked again? No, he would know if it were anything bad- this must be ordinary teenage boy stuff. But just as Axel was making up his mind to fly to the rescue anyway, Roxas arrived at the apartment, pounding up the stairs and directly into his bedroom. He looked like hell. Axel himself had de-bandaged himself and pulled on one of Roxas's t-shirts, so he was looking quite dashing. He liked being the most attractive guy in a room.

"Hi, buddy," he said in reasonably cheerful greeting, but Roxas was having none of it. The boy threw his backpack onto the floor and charged right into the wild demands, rhetoric a-blazin'.

"Are you trying to kill me!?" he demanded. Axel blinked. That had most certainly not been what he was expecting.

"Uh, no?" It was enough of the truth to not be a lie. "Why the hell would you think that?"

"I found out what Cindy Carlisle's suicide note said today," Roxas shouted. He could be as loud as he wanted, since his parents weren't home. "Apparently, she wis- she w-worded that everyone would pay attention to her," he corrected himself quickly. Axel snorted a little, but tried to stay serious, if for no other reason than that the scary little blonde might maul him otherwise. Roxas continued, apparently missing the amusement. "You really expect me to believe that's a coincidence?" he snapped. "Did she open you up before I did?"

Axel gaped. Roxas really was too good at figuring out the rules. Most kids, all of the kids he'd had in the past, would just want to wish for money and fame and sex and be done with it. Hell, that was what he himself had done. But Roxas was too cautious. He was different from the others, that was sure. Axel begrudgingly had to admit that he was a good pick. Though if he ever did figure out _his _role in the whole shebang, he would most likely flip a shit.

Which was why Axel wasn't going to tell him. Not until he was forced to.

"No, she didn't," he answered truthfully. For the first time since Friday, he was grateful that Roxas knew he wasn't allowed to lie. The entire conversation would be a nightmare if Roxas didn't believe him. But hey, he might not believe him anyway. And in any case, he could already guess what Roxas's next question would be.

"It's _not _a coincidence, is it?" he asked, in such a way that it was very clear that he was not actually asking a question. Axel said nothing. No, it was not a coincidence.

"That's what I thought," Roxas muttered. He sat down on his bed, brow furrowed in concentration. Axel could see the gears turning. He'd already mentioned that there were others like him, when Roxas had asked why he got eight wishes. And Roxas knew from experience that magic made him ill. He'd been violently sick all weekend, he had to add it up-

"You mentioned there were others like you," Roxas said slowly. "They're here, aren't they." Axel stayed silent. "How many?" Roxas pressed. Axel was still refusing to join the conversation, so Roxas continued on his own. "At least seven," he mused, "since you're number eight." Normally Axel would have been somewhat thrilled to have the cleverest master of the crop, but as it was, Roxas's smarts were just going to make everything more complicated. The other genies were a threat to him. Axel knew that, but should he tell Roxas? Roxas, meanwhile, was developing his theory, and he'd begun pacing the small room.

"No one can see or hear you but me." He turned at the door and paced back to his bed. "That must be true for the others, as well." He stopped. "So- who's been acting strange?"

_You wouldn't be able to tell, Roxy, _Axel thought. _Wishes don't just affect the wisher. You know that. _But he didn't say anything. Watching the gears in his master's head crank was much more exciting than just giving away the answer. Life passed rather slowly for Axel, being over six thousand years old, so he could get into even the most boring of spectator sports.

"Nothing's been weird at school. I mean, besides the whole Cindy thing, so she's one," Roxas muttered to himself. "No one talking to themselves, or-" He froze, and his eyes widened. "Oh my God. Alice!" Axel barely had enough time to grab Roxas's arm before the boy bolted out of the room.

"Whoa there, kiddo," he said quickly, the first time he'd spoken in several minutes. "Just where are you going, now?" Roxas snarled at him. "Dude, trust me, Alice is fine. She doesn't need Prince Roxas to rush in and rescue her from the big, bad genie."

"You mean you _knew_?" Roxas yanked his arm away. "You _knew _and you didn't tell me? That thing was in my _house_!"

"I'm in your house," Axel sniffed.

"You're different! _You _I can control!" Now, that hurt Axel's feelings a little bit. He didn't like feeling like a pet. "Alice, she's only eight, she doesn't know any better, she might get hurt-"

"She's fine," Axel said again, with an eye roll.

"How do you know that!? Have you been going over there and chatting with them!?"

"Well, no," Axel admitted. "But I don't think any of my esteemed colleagues would get off on doing anything evil to an adorable eight-year-old girl."

"One of them saw fit to murder a fifteen-year-old girl," Roxas pointed out.

"Yeah, well, that one was a few cards short of a full deck to begin with, so I don't see why she'd be any different now," Axel shrugged. He realized almost instantly that he'd said far too much. Roxas's eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to speak. But no words came.

Instead, he projectile vomited all over Axel's borrowed t-shirt, and promptly collapsed.

Axel had seen quite a few unusual and disturbing things in his day. But that didn't stop him from feeling a sharp burst of panic as Roxas's eyes glazed over and his legs gave out beneath him. He dove to catch him and just barely stopped Roxas's head from hitting the side of his desk.

"Rox?" he asked urgently, shaking the boy a bit even though he knew sort of academically that that was the exact wrong thing to do. "Hey, Rox! Roxas!" The boy twitched a little, and was beginning to foam at the mouth. Axel swore, tore off his vomity t-shirt, and scooped Roxas up to put him on his bed. Luckily for him, Roxas had entirely avoided puking on himself, leaving Axel to clean up the mess.

Once he was sure that Roxas was safe, just unconscious and not dying, Axel pulled on a new t-shirt and set off to find the source. Roxas's sudden attack of nausea most definitely meant that there was magic afoot, but what sort, Axel was having trouble figuring out. A quick patrol, inside and out, showed that the apartment wasn't under attack. Alice lived only one apartment away- maybe she'd wished for something, and Roxas's reactions were just getting worse? He wanted to go next door and check, really he did, but doing so risked an explosion. So he warped back to Roxas's room, defeated, only to discover that Roxas was missing.

"Uh. Roxas?" he asked. No answer. Axel panicked. "Roxas!" He dropped to the floor and looked underneath all of the furniture, as if maybe Roxas was hiding from him. He dug through Roxas's closet. And that was when he heard voices.

"Sorry. I guess I'm not over the flu I had." Roxas's sheepish voice carried through the apartment. But who was he talking to?

"Oh. I- I'm sorry." A girl's voice, one Axel didn't recognize, and she sounded very nervous.

"You can go home if you want. I don't want to get you sick." Roxas laughed a little. "I don't think you've built up an immunity to me yet." Axel followed the voice into the living room, and could do nothing but stare at the spectacle in front of him.

Roxas was snuggling on the couch with some girl Axel still didn't recognize. A crappy romantic comedy was playing. The whole scenario had an air of oo-let's-canoodle-while-the-parents-are-out with which Axel was not entirely comfortable. And most importantly, he had no idea who the hell the girl was.

"Who the hell is that?" he asked loudly. Roxas startled a little, but the girl didn't react at all, which meant she couldn't see or hear him. So she wasn't with Kairi and her ilk, which was a plus.

"Uh, R-Roxas? Are you ok?" the girl asked quietly. She had wild red hair in a shade not unlike Axel's own, and foggy blue eyes that looked rather confused.

"I'm fine. Just thought I heard something," Roxas shot Axel an evil glare before he reassured her with a kiss on the cheek. Axel's eye twitched, and he could've sworn he saw the girl stiffen. So no one was comfortable. Well, that was reassuring.

"Roxas, may I speak with you for a moment?" he said calmly. Roxas turned his back, as if trying to ignore him. Well, Axel was having none of it. In one fell swoop, he'd grabbed Roxas's hand and pulled him up off the couch, before dragging him off down the hall. He paused for a moment outside of Roxas's bedroom before deciding the bathroom would be less suspicious. Pushing Roxas in front of him, he shoved them both inside and slammed the door shut.

"What are you doing?" Roxas hissed. "She could've seen something!"

"Who is she?" Axel ignored the accusation. "What is she doing here?"

"She's my _girlfriend, _idiot. She's here all the time." Well, then. Oo la la.

Wait.

"You don't _have_ a girlfriend," said Axel.

"Uh, yes I do. She's sitting right out there, and she can probably hear me whispering at nothing and is probably wondering what's going on-"

"Uh, no, you really don't," Axel interrupted. "I've been living in your house for two weeks, I think I would've noticed if you had a girlfriend." He paused. "Besides, what happened to Olette? You know, the girl you were totally in love with until about five minutes ago?"

"Who?" said Roxas suspiciously. "Wait, you mean _Olette_? Ew! We've been friends since we were five! Why'd you think I'd have a crush on _her_? Boys and girls can be friends without dating, you know." He sounded needlessly defensive, as if he'd gotten a lot of flak for it over the years. Axel groaned and pushed a hand through his hair.

"Roxas," he said again, more slowly. "You do not have a girlfriend. You have never had a girlfriend. This isn't real." Roxas just stared at him. No. No, this absolutely could not be happening. _No way _did some asshole use a wish on his Roxas. They all knew how important he was!

"Roxas," he repeated, as if maybe saying the name over and over would bring him back to conventional reality. No such luck, so he tried an appeal to logic. "Remember that conversation we just had in your room, about how there are more genies like me, and how they're in Twilight Town right now?"

"You mean I was right?"

"Yeah, you were right. And I think one of them used a wish on you just now." Roxas snorted.

"Please. I think I would notice if someone cast a spell on me or whatever," he said, waving a hand dismissively.

"What, besides just now when you threw up on me and passed out?" Roxas didn't respond to that. He just crossed his arms defensively and put on his best pouty teenager face.

"Can I go back now?" he asked.

"No. You need to wish for me to put you back to normal."

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, if you're normal already, nothing will happen, so what's the harm?" Axel's powers of persuasion did not appear to be working. Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"I only have four wishes left."

"That's your own fault for wishing for stupid shit," Axel snapped. "But seriously. Wish for me to change you back."

"No."

"Fine." Axel grabbed Roxas around the middle and hauled him over to his bedroom. If he was unwilling to confront what had happened, well, Axel was just going to have to do it himself. In seconds they had arrived right next to Roxas's desk, where Axel's bottle was still sitting peacefully, undisturbed since that first day.

"Pick it up," he ordered.

"What!? What are you doing!?" Roxas squawked.

"I can't touch it, so you have to. Pick it up," Axel repeated. He jostled Roxas up and down, not enough to hurt him, of course, since that was magically verboten, but enough to be persuasive. Roxas yelped and snatched up the bottle. Axel promptly dumped him onto the ground, but before he could scurry away, he grabbed onto his middle to hold him in place.

"You hold onto that," Axel said sweetly, "and we're going to go have a chat with your little girlfriend."

"W-what?" Roxas gaped. "You can't- no one can find out-"

"Trust me. She won't be all that surprised. Come on." Axel shoved Roxas out into the hall, holding onto his hand to make sure he wouldn't try to drop the bottle. Reluctant Roxas was pushed all the way out into the living room, where the girl was still sitting quietly, trembling, as if uncomfortable with being left alone.

"Eh, sorry, Ariel," Roxas offered by way of explanation. "It's just-"

"We have something to show you!" Axel finished cheerfully, even knowing that the girl- Ariel- couldn't see or hear him. Yet. He used his grip on Roxas's wrist to force the boy to open his hand. Roxas fought, but it wasn't enough.

The tiny, glistening bottle was exposed.

"Roxas-!" Ariel stood now, finally, and jumped back. Her eyes darted quickly around the room.

"See, Rox? She's looking for _me_. She knows I'm here," Axel said triumphantly, happy to have his theory proven correct. Roxas stiffened. "Still believe she didn't use a wish on you?"

"Roxas," Ariel said uncertainly. "Where is he?" Axel smirked, and leaned down to his master's ear.

"Tell her to open it."

"What!? No!" Roxas squeaked. Ariel's face darkened.

"I said-" he repeated more slowly, grinding a knee into Roxas's spine, but again, not enough to properly hurt him. "Tell. Her. To. Open. It."

Axel could see Roxas's brain working, still, but the gears were slower than usual. He was confused. Of course he would be- he thought his Ariel was his girlfriend, and what he'd been saying seemed to indicate that quite a history had been implanted into his memory as well, or at least that he believed they'd been dating for a while. But at the same time, he was too smart not to realize that Axel was telling him the truth.

Right?

"Rox," Axel said softly, relaxing his grip. He couldn't force the boy to do anything, after all. "You're in danger. You know that. And I can't protect you if you don't trust me." The words sounded sappy coming out of his mouth, and he couldn't quite make himself believe them. Were he in Roxas's position, he wouldn't be terribly inclined to trust himself. But Roxas didn't know the whole picture. And even as he was racked with self-doubt, Axel could see his master giving in.

"Open it," he murmured, extending the bottle towards Ariel. "He wants you to open it." Axel heaved a sigh of relief, a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding.

"W-what?" she gaped, still defensive. "Why?"

"I don't know," Roxas answered honestly. "No idea. But he wants you to open it." Axel watched, breath bated, as the girl slowly stepped forward, as if maybe approaching a cobra. She reached out and plucked the tiny bottle from Roxas's outstretched palm. Her hand reached for the cork, but she hesitated.

"Roxas…" Ariel looked away. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know this would happen. I didn't even mean to-"

"Open it," Roxas said, with an edge to his voice. "Please."

Ariel carefully twisted the cork. The motion was accompanied by a faint squeaking noise and a hiss. Axel had never witnessed his own bottle being opened before- the experience was a little bit weird and out-of-body. The cork popped out easily, and Ariel blinked down at the open bottle in her palm. Then she looked up.

And shrieked.

"Congratulations!" Axel purred, shoving Roxas onto one of the couches and sweeping across to Ariel's side in a few easy steps. "I am indeed the one who until recently inhabited that bottle. Unfortunately, I am currently bound to dear Roxy here, and you will not be getting any wishes from me now or, well, ever. Better luck next time. Or should I say, better luck _last _time?" Roxas was staring up from his seat, eyes wide. Ariel had backed up in quite a hurry to get away from him, but was currently trapped between him and the wall. Axel did have to admit he was a little frightening- he had an awful lot of hair.

"Axel, what are you doing?" Roxas finally snapped, apparently erring on the side of defending his lady love. "He's usually not like this-"

"Oh, I'm _always _like this. When people make wishes in my house, that is," Axel said haughtily. Ariel was looking appropriately cowed. "Now. I just had a little chat with Roxas, and he seems to think you're his girlfriend. I don't know or care what you wished for. What I _do _know is that if you don't run along and undo it right the fuck now, I will haunt you 'til you die. Got it memorized?" The threat hung heavily in the silent room. Roxas was silent. Ariel was trembling. Axel was satisfied.

"Ariel," Roxas finally choked. "You _are _my girlfriend, right?"

"I- I don't-" Ariel was shaking, with tears in her eyes. She was so upset that she couldn't form words. Well, good. The last thing Axel needed was a spy in his house. Not that it was literally his house, but as long as Roxas lived here, it was his home as well. And, as far as he was concerned, there were no magical interventions allowed.

"You're leaving now," he ordered, and he reached out to grab her arm. Just as he touched skin, however, a sharp jolt passed through his body, almost as if he'd been burned. His eyes widened, and he frowned. He was plenty used to being around humans, so why would this one hurt him? Unless-

Suddenly, things made sense. His eyes narrowed. He knew _exactly _whose ass he was going to have to kick for this particular misstep. Ariel seemed to sense that something was amiss, but refused to break eye contact.

"You know, you should really consider going back where you came from," he said lowly. Ariel's eyes widened, but she made no move to indicate that she didn't know exactly what he meant. "And tell your buddy that while I appreciate the attention to detail, he needs to stay the fuck out of my business," he added, almost as an afterthought.

"Axel!" Roxas snapped from the couch. "How can you say that!?"

"No… Roxas, he's right," Ariel said softly. "I'm sorry. I'll fix it. I'm sorry." And without another word, she disappeared out the door, barely remembering to close it as she went. Roxas stared blankly after her. Axel was satisfied at a job well done. Ariel was gone, and most likely had had enough guilt trip to last her a lifetime. And most importantly, Roxas was safe. But when Axel turned to gloat with him, he realized that his master had never stopped staring at the door.

"I don't understand," he said slowly, after a long while.

"What's to understand?" Axel scoffed. "She's not your girlfriend, never was. If he does it right, you won't even remember this ever happened. So-" He stopped.

Roxas was crying. Genuinely this time, not like when he'd been manipulating- no, right now he was crying openly, swollen face and all, but trying to hide it, as if he was afraid of what Axel might say.

"Roxas?" he asked uncertainly. Crying was one thing that Axel absolutely one hundred percent could not deal with, anytime ever.

"I don't understand," Roxas repeated, accompanied by a rattling sob.

"Hey. Don't be upset," Axel said awkwardly, sitting down next to him. "It's not real." _He _was the one who didn't understand. He'd just swept in and rescued Roxas's tender mind and memories from the clutches of a manipulative genie- shouldn't he be happy?

"We've been dating for two years," Roxas whispered. Axel's heart began to sink. "I met her on a beach vacation and we dated long distance. I was so excited when she moved here." He sniffled and turned to Axel with teary eyes. "You mean- none of that actually happened?"

"Nope. All made up," Axel said, and he tried to be cheerful. It _was _all made up, right? Nothing to worry about. Wouldn't even remember in the morning.

"It doesn't feel made up." Roxas curled his arms around his legs and refused to say anything else. Axel sat next to him, wondering if maybe he should try to help. He hadn't helped anyone with an emotional problem in more than six thousand years, and even then, he hadn't been very good at it. Hesitantly, he wrapped an arm around Roxas's trembling shoulders and tried to give him an awkward half-hug.

Much to his surprise, Roxas leaned into the hug, curling up against Axel's chest, sobbing even harder. Axel was surprised, but instinctively wrapped another arm around the miserable boy. They stayed that way for what seemed like hours. The sky outside the windows darkened to night, the answering machine beeped to tell Roxas that both of his parents would be working late. And still Roxas refused to move, curled up in Axel's arms, bawling his broken heart out.

Axel was beginning to understand just why his master was so reluctant to use his wishes.

Eventually Roxas cried himself to sleep, but Axel was unmotivated to move him to his room. That is, until Roxas woke up with a gasp and vomited all over Axel's shirt. Again.

"Ungh…" he groaned, and Axel released him, allowing him to try to stand before tumbling back down. "Did I pass out?"

"Yeah," answered Axel dully. "You passed out."

"Oh. Maybe I still have the flu." He glanced down at Axel's shirt, wet from puke and tears. "Uh. Did I do that?"

"Yeah," he said. "You did that."

"Oh. Sorry." He managed to stand back up. "God. I don't feel good- I'm going to go lie down. Maybe take a nap or something." He looked at Axel strangely. His eyes were completely dry. "Hey, are you ok? You look weird. Besides the puke, I mean."

"I'm fine," Axel said quietly. "I'll clean myself up."

"Oh. Ok." Roxas turned and walked away, disappearing into his bedroom. After a long moment, Axel stood too, peeling off his second vomity shirt and dropping it into the hamper. He wanted to see Roxas again, ask him questions, check to make sure that he absolutely did not remember anything and that the pain really was gone, even though he already knew the answer, and knew he absolutely couldn't bring it up.

Secrets, secrets, that was his whole life, and they'd already cost one girl hers.

And every little thing Roxas did just seemed to make his job one million times harder.

* * *

Finally, a full chap from Axel's POV! Y'all weren't expecting a big ol' hit of the SAD, were you! :D There were a lot of little foreshadowing tidbits in there. Quite a few of you put a LOT of effort into guessing which genie goes with who, LOL, so have fun with that. Y'all are way better at the Q-of-the-Update than the Erased crowd. Don't tell them I said that. xD

Sorry for the update lag. I've been busy penetrating the gaming industry at the very most basic level- in other words, I just started working at GameStop. I have worked three days. My boss owns a functional replica of Sephiroth's Masamune and literally shouted at me for (in his humble opinion) mispronouncing "Chrono Trigger." I admit that I probably will not last the month before quitting. Oh, and he totally talked smack about people who write fanfiction. :)

Q OF THE DAY: I am debating whether I should change the categories for this fic. Right now it's Humor/Supernatural- is that where you would leave it, or should I change it? Commiserating about the awfulness of gamer d00dz is also welcome. :)


	8. Chapter 8

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 8**

Roxas went to school on Tuesday without incident. He woke up at the usual time, and walked outside with his usual pop-tart. Hayner was waiting for him in the usual place. They walked in their usual amiable silence. Autumn roses were blooming on the house with the vines. Classes passed normally. Ariel didn't eat lunch with them, which was a little weird, but Roxas figured she had an appointment or something. He went through an entire day of blissful ordinariness, a rather nice change from what his life had been of late. The school bell rang, and he walked out with his friends. Yes, this day had been entirely ordinary.

That should have been the first hint to Roxas that something was about to go horribly wrong.

It all began with a second run-in with the unambiguously gay duo. Roxas, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were walking off the school grounds when they passed an out-of-the-way alcove, popular with smokers and, apparently, horny gay boys. This time, the taller one had his hand down his boyfriend's pants. Roxas's face broke into a hot blush, and he coughed uncomfortably. No one else had reacted at all to the glorious spectacle before them, but they did react to Roxas's reaction.

"Hey, Rox? You ok?" Pence looked over at the show. "Oh." He shrugged and kept moving. Hayner and Olette's interest was piqued now, too, and they looked over curiously. Hayner scoffed. Olette looked like she kinda liked it.

"Geez, Roxas, why are you freaking out? It's just some dudes kissing." Roxas flashed back to the very graphic dream he'd had about being a dude and kissing-and-then-some Hayner, who was also a dude. He remembered these things in violent, graphic color, and his face flushed even more. His legs tried to cross sort of instinctively, even though he hadn't had a problem with spontaneous erections since he was thirteen.

"Don't be so judgmental," Hayner said, rather judgmentally. Roxas sputtered wildly and tried to come up with a response. He didn't hate gay people! Didn't have erotic gay dreams about your best friend sort of disqualify you as a gay-hater? But what was he supposed to say to defend himself? _Hey, I'm totally down with the gay people because my subconscious wants to bang you? _

The moment for defense had already passed. The conversation had moved on to movies that had come out this week. Roxas groaned miserably, though no one else could hear him. It was all just so confusing. Why would seeing something as innocuous as two boys kissing have that affect on _him, _and no one else? Unless-

No. Maybe. Wait, no. But maybe? Wait. _No._

Roxas made it back to his apartment while still having a fight with himself in his head. He trudged upstairs and dropped his backpack on the couch, desperately trying to convince himself that he did _not _like boys. He liked girls. Remember that huge crush you have on Olette, Roxas? Remember that? All straight. Straighty-straight-straight.

_But it's possible to like girls __**and **__boys, _a naughty little voice told him. _Remember when you were obsessed with Tidus in elementary school? And how about all the times you've gotten all excited watching sweaty, gritty, manly, sexy action movies? Sure, maybe the first twelve or so times were coincidences, but-_

"I like girls," he muttered out loud, almost like a mantra. "Boobs are great. So are short skirts. And bikinis. And girls in bikinis, on the beach. All wet. Yeah. Wet bikini girls."

"Roxas? Is that you?" Roxas jumped and turned around. His mother's head was poking out of his bedroom door, and she had an eyebrow raised. Roxas decided to pretend he didn't see any of that, and vowed to keep his thoughts back in his head where they belonged.

"Uh, yeah. Hi, mom. I'm gonna take a nap." Without making any sort of eye contact at all, he stalked into his room, straight past where Axel was waiting for him, and flopped down on his bed, closing his eyes.

"Did you have a bad day?" Axel asked. For once, he lacked his usual sarcasm, and almost sounded genuine. But Roxas didn't feel like groveling at his feet over it- 'not being a douche' wasn't generally something you got praised for.

"Whatever," he muttered. "Go away." He rolled over onto one side to get away from him.

"Girl problems?" Axel pressed. Roxas groaned. Oh, if _only _it were _girl _problems he was having. What he wouldn't give for a frickin' girl problem. And he was on the verge of telling him so outright, when he was saved from horrible embarrassment by the doorbell. He heard his mother walk by on her way to the front door, and suddenly, that consumed his interest. Axel huffed indignantly.

"Hi," someone was saying. "I'm in Roxas's pre-calculus class. We have a project we're working on?"

"Oh, of course. Come in. He's in his room, I'll get him." Roxas frowned. He most definitely did not have any calculus projects to do, at least, not that he remembered. Was that Tidus? _Who you had a crush on in_- no! None of that now! Axel saw the worried expression on his face, and laughed at him.

"Aw, did Roxy forget about his math homework?" Apparently, the whole not-being-a-douche thing was short-lived.

"Shut up," Roxas muttered, quietly, since his mother was coming down the hallway.

"You could always wish for me to do it for you, you know," Axel said, not unkindly.

"_Shut up,_" Roxas hissed. His mother arrived, and tapped neatly on the door.

"Roxas? Honey? One of your friends from school is here to see you. Uh-"

"Sora," the boy supplied. _Sora_. Did he know a Sora?

"Yes. Sora," his mom repeated. She turned the door handle, and pushed it open.

Roxas blinked.

The boy, Sora, standing next to his mother was not someone he'd ever seen before. Wait, no- that wasn't entirely true. His face was familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Something about the planned messiness of the brown hair.

"Oh!" Roxas said. "You're-" _that dude I saw making out with another dude_, he finished in his head. He'd stopped himself from blurting it out, but barely.

"Late, I know," he said smoothly, without missing even a fraction of a beat, even as he tugged on his hair and an awkward smile crossed his face. Roxas's mother just beamed. She was always wanting him to make new friends. But seriously, was this guy even in his math class? How had he not seen him before? And why couldn't he remember having a project due? Had he fallen asleep in class again?

A loud _thud _indicated that Axel had leaped down from his desk. Roxas turned to see what was wrong. Had he not turned his head, he would have noticed that his brown-haired visitor had noticed the noise, too. Axel's skin was pale. Even paler than usual.

"Oh," he choked. "Look at the time, gotta go." And without further warning, he grabbed onto Roxas's forearm- not his hand, lest he slip away- and bolted, shouldering the new boy- _Sora_- out of the way and hauling ass towards the apartment door.

"Hey!" Roxas squeaked. "What-"

"Roxas!" his mother scolded. "What's gotten into you?"

But Axel had already reached the door. Far behind them, Roxas could hear Sora offering his mom an explanation as to why he'd just up and fled the apartment.

"We're all meeting in town- he's upset because he forgot. I'd better catch up," he said cheerfully.

Well, that was nice of him.

Roxas suddenly felt his feet leave the ground as Axel slung him over one shoulder, facing backwards, apparently so he could pick up speed. He leaped down the stairs- it could only be described as a leap- in mere seconds and dashed out into the street. He hadn't made it three steps before Sora came running out after them, at an equal or greater pace.

Then he stopped, rather suddenly. His feet left the ground. And even as Roxas watched, with his own eyes, Sora was tossed violently into the air by nothing at all.

"Axel," he asked. "What-"

"Less talking! More running!" Axel panted. Sora reached the apex of his flight.

"I think something stopped him, though," Roxas said. Axel snorted derisively. Or rather, he tried to snort derisively, but he was out of breath, so it came out as a feeble sort of wannabe wheeze.

"Just watch." Roxas watched. Sora was dropping, but that wasn't all. He wasn't free-falling. He twisted his body so he was plummeting downwards head-first, and extended both his arms into a dive. A bright flash of light arched over the city. Sora's fall accelerated. His hands clasped together on the hilt of a weapon, one that Roxas couldn't see clearly.

One final flip to slow himself down, and Sora connected with a crash. But just what he connected with was a mystery. He recoiled from the blow with one more graceful twist before hitting the ground on both feet. Roxas had never seen anything like it. The feat was inhuman. Could _Axel_ do anything like that?

Sora located them easily, and took off at a run. Not two steps and his feet began to sink into the pavement. He yelped in frustration, the only noise Roxas had heard him make.

"What the hell just happened?" he gaped.

"It's not him you need to look out for. It's the other one. He lurks. Always lurking." Axel showed no sign of slowing down. Roxas had no idea what had him so scared- well, ok, he had some idea. He'd just seen a guy get tossed forty feet into the air, summon a weapon out of nowhere, and do a perfect spin dive into an enemy he couldn't even see. Yeah, ok, now he was getting a little scared too.

Axel had long since picked a direction, and he was dashing straight into the most populated area of town, with no signs of breaking his pace. Apparently, he was going to try to lose their chasers in the crowd. That strategy never worked in movies, and Roxas had no idea why Axel thought it would work now.

"Are you stupid? Of course they're going to look where all the people are!" he shouted. Axel ignored him. Roxas could hear the trolley, and the sounds of the downtown evening crowd getting closer. Everyone would be going home from work around now. The sun was setting. How were they even going to get through rush hour?

They hit the throng at top speed. Roxas unconsciously braced for impact.

But there wasn't one.

When he opened his eyes back up and looked at what he'd expected to be a trail of destruction, he realized that everything was totally normal. Everyone walking had simply stepped to one side, without any sort of reaction at all. Roxas blinked.

"Uh," he said. And of course, that did leave him totally unprepared for when Axel actually did come to a screeching halt. The genie's shoulder jabbed him in the stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him. He couldn't see what had gotten Axel to stop.

"Move it," Axel said tersely. Roxas couldn't see, but he heard some nervous footsteps. He got another swift hit to the gut when Axel took off again at a run, but as he passed, he got a glimpse of Ariel, staring at him- at _them-_ with wide and confused eyes.

"Wait, she can see you!?" he gaped.

"No time! Later with the talking!" Roxas sighed and tried to get comfortable. But when he looked up again, he let out a decidedly un-masculine shriek.

Sora was chasing them.

"Oh my God!" Roxas squawked. "Must go faster! _Must go faster!_" Without even breaking his stride, Axel swung Roxas over his shoulder and into his arms, bridal-style, like a pretty pretty princess.

"Don't look back, Rox," Axel panted. "It's no big deal- nothing's going to happen, ok?" Roxas obediently switched to looking forward. Only to, once again, scream in abject horror.

They were leaving downtown- that was the good part. The bad part was that someone was blocking their way. Someone who Roxas recognized, even though he tried as hard as he could not to.

The other gay boy who plagued his life.

Soft twilight glinted off his distinctive silver hair, illuminating his body even as his bangs obscured his face. Even though Roxas couldn't see his eyes, it was brutally obvious who he was waiting for. As Axel got closer to him, a slow, dark smile spread across his lips. He extended one hand, and just like Sora before him, and Kairi, with a quick burst of light, a blade appeared. This one was quite a bit more intimidating than the others, though- all black and red, like a bat's wing.

Roxas screamed. Axel swore. A quick bank turn, and they were tearing off down a nearby alleyway, but not fast enough for Roxas to miss the way the newcomer took off after them, from standstill to sprint in less than a second.

Axel was fast, there was no doubt about it- he was running much faster than a normal human would have been able to. But why was he running at all? Why were these people after him in the first place? Unless-

"Are they- are they after me?" Roxas choked. Axel didn't reply, but his expression darkened. That was all the answer Roxas needed, and he curled up in on himself, even as Axel's bony arms dug into his knees and shoulder blades. Kairi, and Naminé and Xion, _they _had been scary, but they hadn't tried to chase him down like a dog.

"Should I use a wish?" he whispered.

"No time," Axel said tersely. "But seriously, don't worry about-" He froze, just in time to shift Roxas's entire weight into one arm, summon one of the massive weapons that he'd used on the beach, and deflect a sword blow that would have hit him right in the throat. In another instant, he'd dropped Roxas roughly on the ground, before summoning the second weapon and blocking a hit from behind.

Roxas gaped.

Sora and his apparent boyfriend had them surrounded. How had they moved so quickly? And how had Axel been able to react so fast!?

"Give up the kid, and no one gets hurt," the one with the silver hair said flatly.

"Fat chance," Axel retorted.

"Oh, please," the first boy, Sora, laughed. "You're obviously not taking very good care of him. He's all roughed up." Roxas instinctively glanced down at himself. He looked perfectly fine, thank you. Well, maybe his hair was messy.

"He's _fine,_" Axel gritted out._ "_Leave and I won't have to maul you." The threat was forcefully made, but weak- he was clearly backed into a corner. He wasn't nearly as confident as he'd been when facing Kairi.

"This isn't the time or place to be making demands, _Axel_," the silver one sneered. "Now give us the kid."

"No way in _any _realm, _Riku_," Axel spat back. So, all of these freaks were on a first-name basis. That still didn't answer one question, though- the question that had been bothering Roxas ever since he'd first been attacked on the beach.

"Who the fuck _are _you people!?" Sora and Riku managed to stop their glaring match with Axel long enough to look at him curiously, almost as if they'd forgotten he was there at all . Having all of the attention on him for once made his resolve waver, but he managed to stare right back at them, in a way that he hoped was somewhat confident.

"Not now, Rox," Axel hissed out of the corner of his mouth. But now that Roxas had started, he wasn't going to stop.

"I think I have a right to know!" he shouted, his voice getting stronger the more he spoke. "I think I deserve to know why I got dragged out of my house, and why I'm being chased and attacked, if I'm really in danger and why everyone's going to stand around talking about me like I'm a- a-"

"Tool?" Riku drawled. Sora shushed him- he shrugged. "What? That's what he is. A tool. An _implement_, if you prefer."

And Roxas, for once, was speechless.

"Roxas is _not _just a _tool_," Axel said vehemently, jumping in almost instantly. It the first time he'd raised his voice, well, ever. And even Roxas could tell that he'd said something significant. The looks on Sora and Riku's faces told him that much.

"Sure he's not," Riku laughed condescendingly. "And see how far that line of thinking got you last time around?"

"Riku! Stop it," Sora snapped. "Don't provoke him. Let's just take Roxas and go."

"Roxas isn't going anywhere," Axel said again, though no one else seemed to believe him, not even Roxas himself.

He was backed up against a wall, surrounded by three men, all larger or at least faster and stronger than him, and all armed with gnarly weapons of a sort he'd never seen before. His biggest concern was getting the hell out of this place. He could always wish for it, but where would Axel take him? And what he'd said about it taking time- would the time it took to grant the wish be enough for Riku and Sora to kidnap him?

He was saved from having to think anymore by a loud _crash _from one end of the alleyway. Sora whipped around, but Riku was there before him, his blade connecting with another weapon, one that Roxas of course couldn't see. That was getting awfully old.

"Riku! I can fight for myself!" Sora whined. Roxas missed whatever Riku's response was, because he was upside-down and backwards, flung over Axel's shoulder. When Riku had moved, of course, that left one side of the alley open. Axel did not appear to be wasting any time in getting the hell out. He was already running. But only one of them was fighting- Sora could still catch up-

"Thanks, buddy," Axel said hurriedly.

"What?" asked Roxas. But Axel wasn't talking to him. He watched as Sora whirled around and took off after them, only to crash face-first into something that seemed rather large and heavy. Roxas could've sworn he saw a stray tooth bounce across the pavement.

Axel dashed out of the confines of the alley, clinging to Roxas like his life depended on it. His weapons were gone to wherever they went when he wasn't using them. All of his energy was focused on pumping his very long legs. Roxas barely even saw the town as it flashed by, he was running so fast. He saw enough, however, to realize that they were very quickly leaving the center of town. In fact, the town was almost gone. They were at the end of the trolley line.

"Axel, where are we going? Put me down!"

"Can't do that, Rox," Axel huffed. "We're almost there."

"Almost _where_?" He flailed and kicked and complained, but he didn't even manage to slow Axel down. If they kept going at this pace, they were going to be leaving Twilight Town entirely.

Roxas had never been outside Twilight Town. Not once in his entire life. As far as he knew, his parents had never been outside of Twilight Town either, nor had any of his friends. He did not want his first experience going out of town to be against his will on the shoulder of a somewhat untruthful genie. He was being _abducted._

"Don't make me use a wish on you!" Roxas snapped. Axel groaned, and he swung Roxas back around to the front. Roxas thought he was going to get some answers, all the way up until the part where Axel shoved a handkerchief in his mouth. He squawked.

"I brought it just in case," Axel said apologetically, just as they reached the town wall. Roxas realized where they were. He and Hayner had come around here as kids. It was the one spot in the normally impenetrable city wall that had a hole in the base. He'd never found out what was on the other side. Until now, apparently.

It was a forest. Axel ran into the trees, not breaking his pace even as a small branch thwacked Roxas in the arm. He tried to get the hankie out of his mouth, but Axel had wedged it in there good. He drew anxious breaths through his nose.

The forest got thicker as they ran, until the branches all but covered the sky. Roxas couldn't shake the suspicion that he was being taken somewhere he did not want to go. People with good intentions didn't throw you over a shoulder and drag you into dark and brooding forests, right?

And then he got sight of their destination.

A mansion. A mansion both creepy and old. A mansion with large, rod-iron gates, giving off a very intense do-not-enter vibe. A mansion that Axel was currently sprinting towards, without even trying to slow down. The gates were looming ever closer, and Roxas suddenly began to get afraid that they were going to crash.

"Axel!" he tried to say- it came out more like "Mmmph!" The gates were closer. Then, suddenly, they were opening- they were open- and then he and Axel were through. The gates slammed closed. Even though they were closed in, Axel didn't stop running until he was all the way up to the front door. He shoved it open and they tumbled inside.

It was over.

Axel dropped Roxas onto the floor. He did it gently, but Roxas stumbled anyway, catching himself on a dusty piece of furniture, a table of some sort. He used his non-dusty hand to pull the hankie vehemently out of his mouth, before turning to Axel with fire in his eyes.

"Roxas, are you-" Axel started, but he never got a chance to finish.

"Axel," Roxas said calmly. "I _wish _you would tell me what the fuck is going on."

* * *

Wow! That was some crazy stuff that just happened up there! But we finally got some Sora and Riku, so I know a few people who're happy. ;) Plus, we finally got Roxas away from his crappy high school! What shenanigans will we get up to next?

Many thanks to both my usual beta and Pantharya for betaing! If you read and enjoy this fic and would like some more Organization 13 silliness, please go read Pantharya's An Odd Mission. Actually, you should go read it even if you hate this fic and don't want some more Organization 13 silliness. It's just that good.

Reviews make me happy :)


	9. Chapter 9

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 9**

"I can't grant that."

Roxas stared into Axel's acidic eyes, both calmly and directly. The effect was nonexistent.

"What?"

"I said," Axel repeated tersely, "I can't grant that."

"Why the hell not?" Roxas snapped. The calm before the storm was rapidly being pulled away, and he could feel an anxious knot swelling up in his chest. Before long, the fear was transforming into rage. Axel was on the very brink of dodging his last question.

"It's complicated," Axel dodged, though he retained enough ballsiness to refuse to break eye contact.

"How could it possibly be complicated?"

"There's a self-preservation clause," he answered cryptically. Roxas scowled. The whole genie-master relationship appeared to have more restrictions than a clearance sale. _Congratulations! You win your heart's wildest desires. See store for exceptions. _He wondered briefly if there was a manual somewhere.

In any case, the idea of a self-preservation clause was perfectly reasonable- Axel certainly couldn't be expected to work his magic if, for example, Roxas wished for him to rip his own throat out, no matter how much he desperately wanted it right now. However, he failed entirely to see how the wish he had made could possibly invoke any sort of self-harm.

"How could answering my one simple teeny tiny itsy bitsy little question _possibly _hurt the all-powerful, oh-so-mighty genie Axel?" he demanded, scorn in his voice. "Do you spontaneously combust if you tell someone who Sora and Riku are?"

"It's complicated," Axel repeated tonelessly. Roxas wanted to scream.

"Hey, you know what else is complicated?" he shouted, with a hint of crazed giggle. "Seeing people that no one else can see. Getting almost kidnapped by some girls on the beach. Getting dragged out of your house with no warning, only to be chased down by two guys with crazy swords. Throwing up every five minutes. Speaking of which-"

Roxas doubled over and threw up. The nausea that had been plaguing him abated, but only slightly- he coughed again, and something thick and red dribbled out of his throat.

Blood.

Axel was at his side in an instant.

"Whoa," he said, with genuine concern. "Maybe you should sit down." He tried to usher Roxas over onto a musty chair. For the first time since their arrival, Roxas became dimly aware of their surroundings. They were on the inside of some filthy and decrepit old dwelling, and the air was heavy with the scent of mothy fabric, old wood, dust, and of course, fresh vomit. Roxas did not want to sit down.

"I don't want to sit down!" he screamed, tugging himself free. "I want to know what the hell is going on!" Axel dropped his own arms down to his sides, his body language admitting defeat.

"Roxas," he said, slowly and deliberately, as if talking a suicide risk down off a windowsill. Roxas did not appreciate the condescension. "I can't tell you much, but trust me-" certainly not that first time he'd made that request with nothing to back it up- "nothing bad is going to happen to you."

"Bad things are _already _happening to me!" Frustrated tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"I think that's just because you're making things too complicated," said Axel, as if that made anything better. "If you'd just be like every other kid and wish for money and phenomenal cosmic power-"

"And what is with you and phenomenal cosmic power!?" Roxas screeched, recalling the number of times Axel had made that very same offer. A record that was now appearing very suspicious. "What's your angle!?"

"Who says I have an angle?" Axel asked innocently, though his twitching fingertips spoke otherwise.

"Axel," Roxas began. The No-Lying Clause, as Roxas had decided to call it, was basically the only weapon he had in his arsenal. "Do you have an angle?"

"Define 'angle,'" Axel said shiftily. Roxas howled with rage.

"God _dammit!_" he screamed, at no one in particular, though Axel flinched._ "_What the fuck am I supposed to do?" He really didn't know. "Just wish for you to go the fuck away again-"

Axel cut in.

"You'd be endangering yourself-"

"Then I'll wish for _all _of you to go the fuck away!" For that, in his heart of hearts, was what Roxas truly wanted. He wanted a return to his painful ordinariness- to playing boring board games with his parents, to being bad at chemistry, being picked on by Seifer and obsessing over Olette.

_You never appreciate what you've got until it's gone, _a cheerful cliché spoke to him from the back of his mind. He wanted to throttle it.

"It wouldn't work," Axel said sadly. For his tone was indeed sad, and not threatening. He was looking at Roxas with a sympathy that at least appeared genuine. But that didn't make Roxas at all inclined to believe anything he said.

"Why not?" he asked sharply.

"It's complicated," Axel sighed. Roxas seethed.

"Because of your _angle_, right?" he hissed. "You'd do the wish wrong on purpose."

"No!" Axel shouted, the first time he'd raised his voice. "Because there are some things- a _lot _of things- that my magic can't do," he finished, shoulders slumping. "I can't rework the whole universe, or undo time."

"Oh, so I get stuck with the defective genie?" Roxas sneered. Axel huffed defensively.

"You don't understand what's after you!"

"Yeah," Roxas countered, "because _you won't tell me._"

A heavy silence fell over the stinky mansion. Axel and Roxas's eyes were locked, a soundless battle for dominance, until at long last, Axel broke eye contact to stare at the floor.

"I can't," he whispered. "It's better if you don't know."

"Better for who?" Roxas demanded.

"For whom," the genie corrected automatically, dodging the question. Roxas's eyes narrowed. He was beginning to realize that there were quite a lot of things he didn't know. Axel's face was troubled, and the more Roxas tried to peer into it, the more Axel seemed determined to hide.

One thing was certain- Axel was hiding a hefty treasure of information. And not very well, at that. Roxas was always taught, from childhood, to work first with the tools he had readily at his disposal. Axel himself, Roxas's own genie, was the weakest link in this magical mess. He had what Roxas needed. And Roxas himself was feeling rather fed up with beating around the bush.

"Axel- what are you?" he asked bluntly. Axel jolted at the directness of the question, but maintained steady interest in some patterned floor tile.

"_Who _are you?" Roxas pressed. "You've been with me for weeks and I don't know a single thing." For a long while Axel whistled a jaunty tune and pretended not to have heard. Roxas coughed again, and another trickle of blood came out of his mouth.

"You really don't look so good, Rox," Axel said worriedly. "We should get you in bed."

And, at that moment, Roxas saw an opening.

"I'm not going to bed," Roxas snarled. "I'm too anxious to sleep. And all this anxiety isn't at all good for my constitution, wouldn't you agree, Axel?" His eyes narrowed, and his challenge was clear. Axel's expression showed that he understood perfectly.

_If you** really **__care about my well-being, you'll give me what I want._

"There's not much to know," the genie finally said quietly, apparently hoping to pass himself off as shy or humble. Unfortunately, Roxas knew quite well that he was neither shy nor humble, and cut straight through the charade.

"Let's start with basics, then," he said, all business. "Do you have a last name?" That was usually where he started with classmates, and it seemed to apply well enough here.

"Yes," Axel said shortly.

"What is it?"

"Waltz. Axel Waltz. Happy now?"

"No." He had plenty more questions. "Where do genies come from?"

"Birds and the bees, Rox," Axel said irritably. "I have- _had_- both a mother and a father, and I was birthed unto this mortal coil just like you were. I'm sure it was messy and painful and I'm glad I don't remember it." So, Axel had parents. That was news.

"What happened to your parents?"

"They died." Axel was not volunteering any details. He was usually so chatty that the monosyllables were a little disconcerting.

"When was that?" Roxas pressed.

"Quite a while ago, I'm sure." Axel waved a hand dismissively. Well, his parents had died long enough ago that he'd had plenty of time to get over it. Which begged another question.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"No- I mean, how old are you really?"

"Sixteen," Axel repeated cheerfully. "Always will be."

"Axel," Roxas gritted out, trying to keep his frustration in check. "How many years have you been alive?"

"A lot."

"How many?"

"Too many." Roxas groaned. Axel grinned triumphantly. Oh well. Time to move on to another branch of questioning. He was a little surprised in spite of himself at how basic the questions he asked were, but that just went to further demonstrate how little he really knew.

"Where are you from?"

"Twilight Town." Roxas hissed and tugged at his bangs. Axel seemed determined to make the entire process as painful as possible. Unfortunately for him, Roxas was equally as stubborn, and not at all the type to give up, well, ever.

"I meant, where did your mother messily give birth to you," he said, in the hope that dragging Axel's mother into it might offend him enough to cough up some answers.

"Twilight Town," he said again. "We're not that different, Rox. I told you I was boring." Roxas ground his teeth. Wait.

"Wait- you really were born in Twilight Town?"

"Yep." That managed to pique his curiosity. He didn't know much of anything about his hometown's history. For whatever reason, it wasn't taught in schools. He'd never thought about it before.

"So what was it like when you lived here?" he asked eagerly.

"The same," Axel yawned. "I even went to your high school." If Roxas hadn't known for a fact that Axel wasn't allowed to lie to him, he would never have believed it.

"Wait," he asked excitedly. "So if I looked up Axel Waltz, you'd be listed as a student there?"

"Well, probably," he shrugged. "I don't know if they keep records that are more than five thousand years old."

"You're more than five thousand years old!?" Axel blinked, and immediately realized that he'd said too much. With a solid glare, he cut the conversation short.

"Ok, that's enough fun for one afternoon. You need to lie down." Before Roxas could say anything else, Axel was scooping him back up into a rather undignified bridal-style carriage.

"Hey!" Roxas squawked.

"Up we go!" Axel strode easily over to the stairs and climbed up, one by one, not the bounding leaps he'd used to get out of Roxas's apartment. He turned into a hallway and kicked open the first door on the left, revealing a tiny room with one twin bed, smaller than that one Roxas had at home. The bedroom had no windows, and no sources of light whatsoever, making the place oppressively dark considering that it was still late afternoon outside. Roxas immediately began to struggle.

"You can't put me in here!" he protested.

"You need to rest. You're going to hurt yourself. And as your self-appointed caretaker, I just can't let that happen." Axel laid Roxas gently on the tiny bed. Roxas continued to fight, but being put into sleep-position triggered something inside of him- a deep fatigue that he hadn't realized he'd been trying to push down. In moments he was sinking into the soft comforter and letting his eyelids droop.

"Wait," he said, though exhaustion slurred his words. "My parents-"

"Are fine," Axel cooed, stroking his hair. Roxas didn't have the energy to get offended. "Just sleep. I'll make sure there's food for you in the morning, ok?"

"Ok," Roxas said drowsily. And then he was asleep, without even taking off his shoes.

_Roxas was walking down a beach- not his own beach, but an unfamiliar one. Well, unfamiliar was a strong word. He'd been here before, he just couldn't remember when. Maybe as a little kid, his family had gone on vacation here, or something like that. He knew the place and he didn't all at once._

_He walked for what felt like ages, meandering along the seashore, oblivious to everything but the path directly before him. The sunlight was bright and the smell of salt water was overpowering. _

_He didn't know his destination until he reached it. There, knee-deep in the water, was a girl- the one he'd been looking for. Her long red hair was tied back in a bow. She was staring wistfully out to sea. _

"_Hi," he said, his words echoing strangely. "Who are you?"_

"_I'm Ariel. Just Ariel," she said calmly. She didn't turn around to look at who she was talking to. Her eyes were locked on something distant that Roxas couldn't grasp. "Who are you?"_

"_Roxas," he answered._

"_Oh. That's a nice name," she said absently. The beach was fading rapidly, and Ariel was all Roxas could see or hear. Even the smell of the ocean was gone. The entire scenario had a decided air of fast-forward. Something skipped, something important, and before Roxas could catch himself up, his hands were entangled in thick red hair and he was kissing, just kissing, his lips were wet and swollen and everything else had vanished. Everything was upside down and backwards and he felt vaguely nauseous but it might have just been excitement, and he wasn't on the beach anymore, he was somewhere else._

"_Ariel," he moaned quietly. He opened his eyes briefly to stare into her bright blue ones. No, green- they were green. He'd misremembered._

"_What did you say?" she teased, her voice deepening, a hand reaching around to gently rub the small of his back, slipping down towards his sensitive rear. _

"_Mmm. Axel," he groaned, leaning up into the embrace. The taller boy laughed, and squeezed him a little tighter. Roxas's world was spinning. He was delirious with pleasure._

"_Yeah," his tormentor grinned. "Axel."_

Roxas awakened and jolted upright, momentarily unsettled by the strange surroundings and stranger dream. Most of it was slipping away from him, but he was slick with sweat and in proud possession of a raging hard-on, so he could guess at the gist. He briefly remembered his last erotic dream and shuddered, though even as the wave of unease passed through his body, the memory of being boned into oblivion by his male best friend made his penis get a little bit harder.

Yes, Roxas had a problem of a decidedly non-magical nature. And now that he'd begun, his brain hopped to the memory of Riku shoving his hand down Sora's pants. Not even knowing that those two ostensibly wanted to kill him was enough to make the memory any less hot. Almost instinctively, still half-asleep, he was unbuttoning his jeans and shoving a warm hand down his boxers.

The first pump made him gasp a little and buck his hips. How long had it been since the last time he'd had an orgasm? He pushed harder, and soon settled into a steady rhythm, feeling the usual pressure build up inside. How long _had _it been? Since the dream? He pumped harder. He certainly hadn't been masturbating ever since Axel had shown up. That would work about as well as a car wreck, what with Axel always lurking, watching-

Roxas remembered the content of his most recent dream just as he crested the point of no return.

The resulting shriek-of-horror-combined-with-powerful-orgasm was definitely one of the odder sensations he'd ever felt. The sudden surge of emotion made his limbs shake. Or maybe that was the orgasm part. In any case, Roxas collapsed bonelessly onto the bed, gasping for breath, eyes wide from shock, his spooge all over the already filthy comforter.

_Axel, _he choked, if it were possibly to choke while thinking. _I made out with __**Axel**__. _Ok, so the boy did have nice abs. _No._

Roxas tried desperately to think of anything else, and ended up dwelling on the first half of the dream, the part with nice, wholesome Ariel, before the gender-swapping metamorphosis. Though now all he could think about was how similar she looked to Axel. Something he'd never thought about before, not once.

Wait.

Roxas gasped out loud and jerked upright. _Ariel. _That was it. Ariel had been able to see Axel. He'd seen it himself. Axel had paused for her in the street, hadn't shoved her out of the way like the others, he'd asked her to move, she'd responded, she'd been looking at him. Both of them. Ariel could see his genie. But _how?_

While he was coming to one realization, he reached another, just as quickly. Despite his noisy dreaming, jacking off, shriek of horror, and gasp of surprise, Axel had not appeared to tell him to go back to sleep. He was alone.

Which meant that nothing at all was keeping him in the mansion.

Roxas righted his clothes and crept over to the door, clumsily feeling for it in the dark. He turned the knob and pushed it open. No Axel rained down to punish him. So far, so good. He only had one chance, after all- he had to get to Ariel before Axel noticed he was missing. Maybe Ariel, whoever she was really, could give him some of the information that Axel kept so closely guarded.

He crept down the hallway and down the stairs. It was still nighttime, so it was fairly certain that Ariel would still be at her house. The nap had apparently done its job. Roxas's strength was restored, he didn't feel even the slightest bit nauseous, and all of his blood seemed to be staying where it was supposed to be. He sneaked out of the mansion with no difficulty whatsoever. A path from the house was cut through the woods, and in minutes he was back in downtown Twilight Town. He could see the clock tower. The night was young- it wasn't even nine o'clock yet. He had plenty of time.

With no one watching, he set off towards the home of one Ariel Maray.

* * *

Hooray! A new chapter! And not even three days after Christmas! Merry Christmas, btw. I'd like to take this moment to semi-publicly thank my beta reader for getting me a KINGDOM HEARTS SNUGGIE for Christmas. Yes, I am the proud owner of a KINGDOM HEARTS SNUGGIE. It's a blanket with sleeves. That has Sora on it. It is my muse. I wore it while writing the dialogue for this chapter. YAY KINGDOM HEARTS SNUGGIE. I HAVE ONE AND YOU DON'T. NEENER NEENER NEENER. Now I just need to start going to snuggie parties and lording it over all the people with their sucky animal prints.

Tune in for our next installment, wherein Roxas and Axel write a bad romance. (Oh, Axel. I want your lovin' _and _I want your revenge. Uh, I mean, what?)

Q OF THE UPDATE: What is Axel's angle? Or, if you prefer, what is Ariel's angle? Does she have an angle? Well, does she? I don't know, you tell me. ;) Comments expressing a deep and abiding love of Lady Gaga are also welcome.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 10**

The Maray family had quite a bit of money. Roxas had suspected as much, but now, for the first time, he was confronted with the fact directly. The house was massive, even larger than the mansion where Axel had tried to hide him. Just the walk up the driveway took at least five minutes.

Roxas hadn't known where Ariel lived, since he'd never had a reason to ask. So he'd pulled out his cell phone, with only two bars of battery left, and called Pence. He was the friend least likely to probe for information, so he was the one Roxas called. The cell phone itself had two missed calls, both from his parents.

"Pence," he'd said hurriedly. "I need Ariel's address." Pence had cooperatively pulled out the student directory and given Roxas the names and numbers he needed, no questions asked. Roxas didn't even need the homework excuse he'd prepared. But then, just as he was about to hang up, a thought occurred to him, and he got ambitious.

"Pence," he said quickly. "You have access to the school records, right?" Pence was a renowned hacker, though much to Hayner and Roxas's dismay and Olette's delight, he basically refused to use his powers for anything but good. A total waste. But now, they might come in handy.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Pence said. "Why?"

"Could you look up someone named Axel Waltz for me?" Roxas quickly prepared a lie. He wasn't a good liar, and Pence would see straight through it, but at least he'd have something to say.

"Why?" asked Pence. "Roxas, are you ok?"

"I saw his name carved in a city wall and I was curious," Roxas lied. "I wondered if he was a student. Oh well. Here's Ariel's house, I have to go." He hung up before Pence could say goodbye. Maybe he would look up the info, maybe he wouldn't. Next, he punched the speed-dial number for his apartment. The battery ticked down to one bar.

"Roxas!" his mother shouted, picking up the phone on the first ring. "Where are you!? We've been so worried-"

"I'm fine, Mom," Roxas interrupted. "I'm going to be out late."

"What? Don't talk to me like that, young man! Get home ri-" Roxas hung up on her before she was finished. He just wanted to let his parents know he was ok, that was all. They could survive one night without him, right? He quickly turned off his phone to preserve the battery, and set off down the street to Ariel's house.

That was before. Now he was standing in front of the enormous front door, not entirely sure what to do. By that point it was late enough that if Ariel herself didn't answer the door, he was basically sunk. If she had an over-protective father, he'd be chased off the property with a shotgun. But the house had too many windows to try to track her down, so he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and hit the doorbell.

Luck was on Roxas's side that night, for the first time, well, ever. Ariel opened the door. She looked at him for a moment, before she drew a startled breath and took a step back, almost as if she was afraid he was going to attack her. Roxas didn't have time for displays of odd behavior.

"Ariel!" he said quickly. "Please- I need your help." She looked doubtful, and peered behind him. "Axel's not here," he added, gauging her reaction. She looked relieved. She did not, however, seem to relax at all as she stepped aside to let Roxas into her house.

Said house, were it possible, looked even bigger on the inside than out. Ariel led him through the entranceway, which was flanked by columns of course, into a second room, with a sweeping double staircase the likes of which Roxas had only ever seen in picture books. They went up the staircase on the left, down a few hallways, past some suits of armor, and finally, ended up in front of a door.

"This your room?" Roxas asked. Ariel nodded. He was a little nervous. He'd never been inside a _girl's _room before. But once the door had swung open, Ariel's room was painfully ordinary- just a bed with clean white sheets, some dressers, a closet, an old desk, and pictures of the ocean dotting the bare walls. Roxas was pleased to note that she didn't have a cool double-window the way he did.

"Nice room," he said awkwardly. Ariel gestured for him to sit on the bed, which he did. She plopped down in the desk chair and stared at him. Roxas swallowed hard.

"Uh, thanks for inviting me in," he said. Ariel offered him a faint smile and kept waiting. Roxas wasn't sure where to start. _I think_ _some people tried to kill me today _would freak her out to be sure. But why had he come here? To find out why she could see Axel. That was a simple enough question.

"Hey, uh. I was just wondering. Why can you see Axel?" Ariel startled. "I mean, we ran into you on the street, and he spoke to you-" Ariel looked very uncomfortable- "and usually I'm the only one who can see him." He paused. Ariel didn't say a word. "You're awfully quiet tonight. Are you feeling ok?"

At that, Ariel finally smiled, the smiles that were so common at school. But this one was unbearably sad. She turned to her desk, fussed around for pencil and paper, wrote something in neat even letters, and held it up for him to see.

_I LOST MY VOICE._

Roxas stared.

"Really?" he finally asked. Ariel nodded sadly. "Like- just for a little while? Or for forever?" Ariel shrugged. "How did that happen?"

In place of answering his question, Ariel turned and pulled open a desk drawer, the one on the bottom. She reached into the back. Roxas heard a faint _click, _a secret compartment was opened, and Ariel withdrew her hand, clutching something small. She carefully unfurled her hand and offered the object up to Roxas.

A bottle.

The bottle was the same size as Axel's, but this one was a different color, a deep aqua-marine, with a carving around the bottom that resembled a snake. A thick cork kept it closed. Ariel took Roxas's hand, and deposited the bottle in his palm.

"You want me to open it?" he asked uncertainly. Ariel nodded. Roxas considered the bottle. He remembered how he'd discovered Axel, how casual it was, and accidental. This time it was all painfully deliberate. Roxas held the bottle away from his face, took a deep breath, and opened it.

At first, nothing happened. He waited expectantly. Ariel's head was bowed.

Then it happened.

He heard singing.

The song was loud, but not abrasive. A male voice, very high-pitched, almost falsetto, a lilting tenor with the slightest of vibrato. The melody was quite unlike Roxas had heard before, rocking back and forth, like a boat being carried by waves, rolling waves, slow and fast all at once, ethereal. As he listened, he made out the accompanying string instrument, a soft and even plunk-plunk like fat raindrops on a windowsill.

"Is that-?" he asked quietly. Ariel nodded, and tugged at his hand. Still clutching the bottle, she led him back down through the enormous house, crept through the dining room and what appeared to be a second living room, all to get to an ornate pair of French doors at the back of the house. She unlatched the door, pushed him through, and then followed, silently closing the door behind them.

The singing was louder, which meant the genie was outside. Roxas still couldn't see him. He looked at Ariel questioningly, and she simply pointed, down the sloping grounds to an expanse of flat black. A lake.

"Your house has its own _lake_?" he gaped, almost forgetting to keep his voice down. Ariel shushed him, and with another sharp tug, she pulled him down the hill, towards the source of the mysterious music. Close to the lake, the brush got thicker, and she gently pushed it away, leading Roxas directly to the heart of her problem.

Roxas wasn't sure what he'd expected. Maybe another Axel, maybe not. The boy- he couldn't have been more than a boy, _maybe _one or two years older than Roxas, if he were charitable- could not have been any more different from Axel if he'd tried. The similarities began and ended with a familiar pair of sweeping golden earrings.

The boy was reclined in the shadows, submerged from the waist down, and apparently totally naked. His eyes were closed, his face wrapped in a dreamy expression as he sang. The instrument was partially submerged, propped up on his lap. Roxas watched, enthralled at this new genie's hypnotic effects, watched as his smooth lips formed words, words he couldn't for the life of him understand, even as they swept him in.

"Do you- do you understand him?" he whispered breathlessly. Ariel nodded sadly. He wanted to ask her to translate, then, though of course she couldn't.

The genie began to sway with the melody, and as the tempo picked up, the water began to move, too. It started with slow ripples moving away from the singer and the instrument. Soon, the ripples turned into waves, splashing against the muddy shore. And before long, the entire lake was alive. The flat black that Roxas had seen from the house was gone, replaced by a churning, frothing mass, noisy and alive, moving and shaking to the rhythm of the genie's song. He hit a high pitch, and the water began to lift, crystalline droplets flying off of the surface to swirl around the genie's body. So it continued, the lake dancing to his every note, for what felt like eternity but couldn't have been more than minutes.

Roxas remembered the way that Axel could summon fire. Did each genie have his or her own ability, then? Was this one able to summon water?

At last, the song ended, the notes slowed, and the water sullenly sunk back to where it had been before it all started. The genie released the last, warbling note, and gently plucked out the final measures. When he finished, he sat perfectly still, eyes closed. The lake was quiet. Roxas looked over at Ariel, and she gently put a finger on her lips.

"My name is Demyx," he spoke suddenly. "You opened my bottle." His eyes stayed closed. Demyx's voice was high and melodic, tinged with the slightest hint of an accent that couldn't quite be placed, exactly what Roxas would have expected him to sound like. The genie was quiet again, and took a deep breath through his nose. Roxas wondered briefly if he was waiting for a response, but Ariel once more squeezed his arm and put a finger to her lips.

"I am already bound to a master," Demyx said formally. He finally opened his eyes. They were a wild blue-green, like the ocean right at the horizon. "I cannot grant you any- wait. Ariel!?" He turned and narrowed his eyes, focusing intently on who exactly he had been speaking to. He carefully took in Roxas, from his unruly blonde hair all the way down to his battered sneakers. His eyes widened.

"Uh. Roxas?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, that's me," he said. The reaction he got was not at all what he'd been expecting.

Demyx screamed bloody murder and dove into the lake. The sudden harsh noise decidedly disturbed the peace, and the water shuddered unpleasantly. At the same time, something flopped out of the water. Something large, slimy, glittery, and decidedly fishy-looking.

Roxas also screamed bloody murder.

"What the hell was that!?" he screeched. Giant fish were very, very low down on Roxas's list of things he liked. In fact, giant fish were quite high up on Roxas's list of things he hated more than anything else in the world. Not that he'd ever admit it, but he was rather afraid of them.

Ariel, meanwhile, desperate to keep the peace, had grabbed onto Roxas's arm and clapped a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. After he settled down- but barely, and he refused to go within ten feet of the lake shore- she picked up a large rock and threw it, as far as she could. The heavy object hit the water with a ker-thwunk, and after about a minute, Demyx popped up, with only his eyes above the water.

Roxas didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent, considering the strange new genie with wary eyes. Demyx appeared to be equally wary of him. Ariel was attempting to communicate with Demyx using wild hand gestures.

"Why did you let _him _open my bottle!?" Demyx finally shouted back angrily, before dipping back under water, leaving only his wide, suspicious eyes. Somehow, even when wet, his hair managed to stick straight up. Roxas peered closer, and suddenly, he remembered.

"_Thanks, buddy," Axel said hurriedly. Demyx shot past them in a blur._

"_Hey, no prob," he grinned cheekily, before hoisting his massive instrument. With an excited whoop, he swung it around and mightily bashed Sora directly in the face. "Does this mean we're even for the whole boyfriend thing? Axel-?"_

"Hey! You were there," Roxas said, back in the present. "You know Axel. You fought with Sora!" Demyx didn't come any closer, and he didn't seem to relax at all. If anything, he got more tense.

"Axel. He doesn't know you're here, does he? God, he's going to _kill me,_" Demyx wailed. Ariel kept trying to reel him in. "Seriously, Ariel, _why_? Why would you do this to me?" For a long moment he waited for an answer, before letting out a wistful sigh. "Oh, right. The no-talking thing. I really shouldn't have done that." He sank further into the dark water.

"_Hey_," Roxas shouted. Demyx ignored him. But now Roxas knew that he was afraid of Axel. He could work with that. "Come back out here, or I really _will _have Axel kill you!" he threatened. Ariel huffed indignantly, in a how-dare-you-threaten-my-genie sort of way.

"What? He's being a douche," Roxas shrugged.

"Yeah? Well, uh. If you try to sic Axel on me, I'll sic Ariel on you! Get him, Ariel!" Demyx shouted back from the other side of the lake. Ariel stared at him incredulously.

"I don't think she wants to, Demyx," yelled Roxas, addressing the genie by name for the first time.

"I'm not coming out until _he_ leaves," said Demyx petulantly.

"But you saved my life before," Roxas said. "Why did you do that?"

"I owed Axel a favor. Don't think it'll happen again."

"For 'the boyfriend thing'? What was that?" Demyx's eyes got big and he sank even further underwater, so that only parts of his eyes were showing.

"How did you know about that!?" he wailed. Then he turned to Ariel, who looked equally distressed. "I did it _perfectly_! Ariel, I did it perfectly!"

"What are you talking about?" Roxas snapped at both of them. Demyx realized his mistake, and sank down so only his hair was out.

"Uh, nothing," he said meekly, popping out for the briefest moment. "Absolutely nothing. Nothing at all." He dropped back down, leaving some tufts of spiky blonde hair.

"What happened?" Roxas pressed, going so far as to chuck a rock out towards where Demyx was trying to hide. Demyx popped up again.

"Ask Ariel." He disappeared.

"She can't talk!" Roxas screamed out of frustration. Demyx popped up again.

"Oops." He disappeared. Roxas swore under his breath and kicked a pebble into the lake. Demyx reappeared, stuck his tongue out, then disappeared for good, leaving only a tiny ripple on the flat lake surface.

"Well, that worked about as well as a car crash," Roxas groaned, flopping down on the sandy bank, not caring anymore how dirty his clothes might get. "And I've got nothing that will help me with Axel. And I still don't-" He stopped. Ariel was looking at him as if he were rather stupid. "- know why you can see Axel. Why are you looking at me like that?"

Ariel shook her head, sat down next to him, and grabbed his arm. Using her index finger, she began to draw shapes, both sharp and loopy, all over his hand. After a while, he realized that she was writing letters. She was trying to talk to him.

_B-O-T-T-L-E, _she wrote.

"Bottle?" asked Roxas stupidly. Ariel nodded. "Wait- you opened Axel's bottle!?" Ariel smiled, nodded, and even clapped her hands a little, delighted that she'd been understood. Roxas, however, was decidedly less pleased. He shook her away and stood up, revolted.

"When the hell was that!? And how did you get to it!? Did you break into my house or something!?" Ariel shook her head quickly and reached for his hand again. She quickly pressed out another message.

_A-S-K-A-X-E-L._

"Ask Axel?" Ariel nodded.

"Ask Axel what?" The amiable question came from behind them. Roxas startled and whipped around, only to discover just about the last person he wanted to see at that moment- Axel himself, his arms crossed and his eyes furious, looking very disgruntled and for all the world like a parent who'd spent the afternoon trying to corner an unruly child. Ariel dropped Roxas's hand in a hurry.

"Uh, hi, I-" Roxas started to say, but Axel ignored him and turned to Ariel.

"What's with the holding hands in the dark? I thought we got over that, yeah?" he said, with more than a bit of menace in his voice. Ariel shook her head quickly and sat on her hands.

"Axel, what are you talking about?"

"And _you, _sir, are very lucky that your new friends don't like the dark. We're going back." He roughly grabbed Roxas by the shoulder and yanked him away from the lake. Just as they were about to make their exit, however, Axel paused, and turned back towards the still water.

"And don't think _you're _off the hook," he shouted. The tiniest of ripples showed that Demyx had heard, and most likely shuddered at the possibilities.

They hadn't made it more than two steps before a huge splash erupted behind them.

"I'm so sorry, Axel! It'll never happen again! Well, I mean, nothing happened! But still!" Demyx gushed, from out on the lake. Roxas sighed and didn't bother to turn around. He was vaguely aware of Axel considering him from the corner of his eye.

And that was when he saw his opening.

He kept right on staring innocently up at the house, as if he hadn't heard Demyx at all. Apparently satisfied, Axel turned and walked back to the lake, even wading in a few steps. Roxas almost opened his mouth to warn him about the giant fish, but decided against it. Let him get bitten. Who cares?

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," Axel said coolly. Roxas thought it would be best for his cause if he assumed Axel was talking to him.

"What, so now I'm not allowed to go outside anymore!?" he snapped, as angry as he could get. He wasn't a very convincing liar, or so he'd been told. "It's not like you weren't able to _find_ me, stalker." Ariel looked at him, confused, and Roxas silently put his own finger to his lips.

"Shut it, Rox," Axel muttered.

"Make me!" Roxas retorted. Axel rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, gotta be honest, Axel, I don't like him very much," said Demyx from out on the lake. Roxas carefully pretended not to hear. Demyx was swimming up towards the shore, apparently reassured now that Axel hadn't throttled him on sight.

"I thought you undid that last wish," said Axel.

"Oh, I did!" said Demyx, quailing a tiny bit. "He absolutely doesn't think Ariel is his girlfriend anymore, I promise. I would've noticed. And seriously, that was an accident anyway! You believe me, don't you?"

'_The boyfriend thing.' _So that's what it was. Roxas had believed that Ariel was his girlfriend.

_Roxas _had believed _Ariel _was his _girlfriend_.

_Ask Axel, _she'd told him. Did that really happen? Then why couldn't he remember? He looked at Ariel. She refused to look back at him.

"Yeah, sure I do," Axel sighed. "Come on, Roxas. Let's go."

"Don't let him come back here again, Axel," Demyx called, this time from only a few feet away. His voice sounded harsher up close. "Seriously. I don't even know if I _want _him to be one of us."

Roxas froze.

Demyx had said it so casually.

_I don't even know if I __**want**__ him to be one of us._

Ariel drew a sharp breath.

_I don't even know if I __**want **__him to be one of us._

_I don't-_

_I don't even know._

At approximately that time and location, late at night, at the side of a private lake, Roxas, until recently an ordinary teenager, absolutely, one hundred percent lost it.

* * *

Oh dear! For everyone that correctly guessed "Axel wants to turn Roxas into a genie," you get a gold star. Next chapter is poor Axel's POV. Speaking of this fic, this fic has ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS now. One hundred. That's ten reviews per chapter, dude. How awesome is that? Thanks guys!

ALSO, if you haven't seen them yet, CHECK OUT ADORABLE KID AXEL-AND-SAIX: [[ www. khinsider. com / images/ NewScans / LeaIsa1 .jpg ]]

**Q OF THE DAY:** What are you reading? No, seriously. Here are fabulous fanfics I've read that you should also read:

Compass, by Razer Athane :: Fabulous beyond-the-grave Axel/Aerith. No, seriously. Axel/Aerith. How rad is that?

An Odd Mission, by Pantharya :: Non-AU fic wherein Demyx kicks some mad ass with his sitar. Woo!

Fool's Bet, by Scout19 :: Hilarious college-fic Cleon. Yay Cleon!

And, gratuitously speaking, if you like this fic, you'd probably like my other stuff. ;)

Also, in real-book news, I just re-read The Phantom Tollbooth, and now I feel bad about my own writing. I want to write something like _that. _LOL!


	11. Chapter 11

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 11**

"You… what?"

Roxas sat down quietly. He pulled his knees up to his chin. His eyes glazed. Axel himself was still focused on Demyx, and didn't notice that his young charge had quite literally dropped out of the conversation until Demyx bothered to draw attention to it.

"Oh. Roxas? Are you ok, buddy? I'm sorry, I didn't mean it," he said genially. Well, that was stupid. Roxas couldn't see or hear him anyway. But then, Demyx never was the brightest crayon in the box. That was when Axel noticed that Roxas had plunked down in the wet sand. He blinked.

"Wait," he said slowly. "He can talk to you?"

"Oh. Yeah. Didn't you know? Ariel gave him my bottle while you weren't looking and- oh," he said, trailing off into nothing. He preemptively sank down into the dark water of the lake, bracing himself for a quick escape. "I- I see what I just did there," he whimpered.

"_Dammit, _Demyx!" Axel whirled around, but Demyx was gone, replaced by still water. So instead he turned to Ariel, who had also disappeared, or at least tried to- she had hidden herself behind a large-ish willow tree that would have been effective, were the tree itself not so conspicuous. Roxas himself had not moved from his not-so-comfortable spot in the mud. Axel was left one hundred percent alone and with a total lack of anyone with whom to hold a conversation.

"Come on, Roxas," he muttered. "Let's just go." He bent down and grabbed Roxas's hand, fully intending to pull him back up to his feet. Roxas did not respond. Axel tugged harder. Roxas, were it possible, did not respond harder. Axel was at a loss.

"Roxas, you don't want to sit out here by this pond, do you?" Roxas did not respond. Axel groaned. "What, did you make out again and give him your no-talking germ or something?" The second inquiry was, of course, directed at Ariel- the tree rustled somewhat, and he again got no response. The world seemed intent to shut him out.

"Well, I guess we should just go then," he muttered. "Come on, Rox." Roxas was still disinclined to move on his own volition, so Axel scooped him up the way he usually did. He shot an angry, parting glare at the tree where Ariel was hiding before turning back towards the lake.

"Don't think this is over, Demyx," he shouted. "You and I have-" he paused to think of the most threatening phrase he could come up with- "unfinished business." A quiet ripple shot through the water as Demyx presumably shuddered in horror. Axel shook his head to himself and strode out of the yard, careful to support Roxas's limp neck as he went.

As soon as they were off the premises, Axel slowed down his pace somewhat. The people- could you call them people?- who were after Roxas didn't come out at night, so they weren't in any immediate danger. He was able to take a moment to collect his thoughts on his current status.

Status: bad.

Roxas knew what he was up to. Roxas had access to Demyx. Roxas knew what he was up to. That was the worst part of all, really. No way could he get Roxas to wish to become a genie now. His ship was sunk. His fire was doused. He was over. Finished. Done. He had nothing left. Nothing, nada, zippo, zilch.

No. No, he could still salvage this. All he had to do was convince Roxas that being just like him was a swell idea that he'd absolutely love. Never mind that Axel himself absolutely hated it. Never mind that Axel himself would do anything to skip back six thousand years in time and undo the stupid wish that had gotten him stuck like this in the first place. Ok, he would not be able to convince Roxas that being just like him was a swell idea. That option was off the table as well.

They made it back to the mansion in the woods with plenty of time to spare until sunrise. Axel hadn't realized just how far away that mansion was, though- when he'd gone to fetch Roxas back he'd just teleported to where he was, but that wasn't an option with Roxas physically in tow. Just how long had Roxas been out without him noticing, anyway? He was an absolutely terrible babysitter. No, body guard. No, babysitter.

More importantly, he was going nowhere ever if Roxas didn't wake up. Despite his best conversation starters and random bouts of jostling, Roxas had not shown the slightest bit of reaction to the world around him since they'd left Ariel's house. Yes, this was bad. This was very bad.

Roxas was important. He knew that much, they'd told him. Since his last mess-up, they'd been keeping extra-close tabs on him. That was actually how he'd allowed Roxas to sneak away in the first place. He'd been, how shall he say, otherwise occupied, mostly with being yelled at.

_You need to be more careful, _Saïx had said. Figures that he would show up to help and then stick around for a lecture. _Roxas might be more important than we thought. We can't afford a mistake like last time _blah blah blah, it all bled together after a while. And so, Saïx had finally left. And when Axel had dragged himself dejectedly back up towards the bedrooms, he was surprised to find Roxas quite missing.

That was then. Now, less than an hour later, Roxas had gone from missing to catatonic. He was completely useless to everyone, including himself, in his present state. And Axel himself was undeniably, one hundred percent, beyond-a-shadow-of-the-slightest-of-doubts screwed. The comatose are not, after all, capable of wishing for anything. And masters who were incapable of wishing were quite useless to his people and their cause.

He carried Roxas silently through the trees, much different from their earlier flight. The mansion was the only place safe enough for them now- the only place where Axel would have enough power to stave off a kidnapping. That was where Roxas could rest and recuperate. At least unconscious, he wouldn't be able to complain about not being at home.

The bedroom was even mustier than Axel remembered, but he managed to close the damp curtains and get Roxas situated somewhat comfortably on the bed. He lit a small fire for some warmth and visibility. Roxas looked peaceful there, his eyes lidded but not completely closed, pupils glazed and unresponsive. He blended perfectly with the scenery, as if he'd been lying there caught between wakefulness and sleep for as long as the mansion had stood, resting on a faded quilt while the wooden walls rotted around him. Axel was almost jealous, since he seemed so comfortable- he himself was stuck on a rickety chair, keeping the fire alive, wishing he could go somewhere else and try to relax but knowing too well that if he took his eyes off of Roxas's body for even a second, it would disappear.

"Roxas," he said finally, more out of boredom than of any real expectation for a response from the boy. "You do know you can't stay like this forever, right? I mean, it's been at least three hours. I was expecting you to snap out of it." Roxas did not respond in the least. His breathing maintained the same slow rhythm and his eyes didn't move.

"Seriously," he tried again. "You're going to get us _both _in trouble." Roxas did not appear to care. He was in shock, he had to be. Axel knew that, sort of academically, but he had no idea how to revive him. He knew from hearsay that unconscious patients were often able to hear what others were saying around them. Maybe he could appeal to Roxas's intelligence?

"You wanted information. If I give you what you want, will you wake up?" Roxas, of course, wasn't able to respond. Was it worth the risk? He was between a rock and a hard place. If Roxas didn't wake up, he was screwed. If he ended up destroying the fabric of time and space, he was screwed.

"I guess I'll have to start in the very beginning, then," he said lamely. "Ok, so. In the beginning." He took a deep breath. He cracked his neck. He didn't want to do this, but he didn't really see any other options. Roxas had to wake up.

"In the beginning, there was one realm. It didn't have a name, of course- it didn't need one. Everyone who lived in the First Realm was blessed with eternal life, and everyone was happy." Axel laughed nervously. The words were mechanical, a recitation of a story he'd heard a million times over. He half-expected someone to appear out of nowhere and smite him for heresy. "I know it sounds hokey, but this is how it was told to me. I, of course, wasn't there." Roxas was silent. He continued.

"After an eternity of peace and prosperity, a fight broke out. One faction, led by one particularly strong and ambitious, uh, I guess you'd call them 'beings,' decided they wanted to control the First Realm. That was when Darkness was introduced to the world."

"The battle lasted literally forever- time didn't exist yet back then. The two sides were perfectly matched, and no one was getting an edge. The First Realm, though, was straining under the weight of all of the conflict. It couldn't keep up with the powers that its people had. So then, finally, it began to crack."

"The First Realm split evenly, right down the middle, into two- the Realm of Light, and the Realm of Darkness. Those original beings were forcibly separated, sent to live apart, with no way of ever meeting. For a long while, everything was peaceful again. Until something happened that no one had expected."

"Everywhere that the two realms touched, new worlds would spring up. They weren't meant to come into contact, see, so even a tiny bump set off a chain reaction. New life was being created everywhere. And then, right in the center of the universe, where the contact was the strongest, an especially big world popped up, a place exactly halfway between Light and Dark. A place that came to be known as Twilight Town. And the realm where the mortals lived came to be known as the Realm of In-Between."

Axel paused his story to gently brush Roxas's bangs back out of his face. The boy's eyes were flat and terrifying. He really was completely gone.

"You'd better be listening, because I'm not going to want to repeat this," Axel said. Roxas couldn't even blink. Axel sighed. "Somewhere in there, you're probably wondering where you fit into this, right? Well, I'm getting to that." It just wasn't the same without Roxas around to verbally abuse him.

"The creatures in the Realm of Darkness weren't satisfied with what they had. The Superior never let go of his ambition to conquer the Realm of Light. But to get there, he had to go through the Realm of In-Between, a Realm that, you know, pretty much rejected him and the others outright. So he had to find a way to circumvent the rules. And he found it, of course, when one day, a young man fell into the Realm of Darkness. His name was-" Axel paused before saying it- "Xemnas."

"They found that the Superior was able to use Xemnas as a sort of one-way channel- with Xemnas returned to the Realm of In-Between, the Superior was able to channel his power through him- but not much, and only one spell at a time. That was how the whole 'genie' shtick got started, you know. Xemnas recruited a second man, who then recruited a third, and so on and so forth, with each one able to use slightly more power than the last. I already told you that I'm number eight. There are four after me." He paused for dramatic effect, hoping that his bombshell would stir some life in the boy.

"Roxas… You're number thirteen."

Nothing.

"You'll have more power than all of us, Rox. We need you. That's why everyone is after you." He sighed. "Those other five… they're from the Realm of Light. They're not like us. What they did, when they saw the beings from the Realm of Darkness gaining power, they just sort of… stole human bodies. I mean, I have my memories from before this happened to me. They don't. There's nothing left."

"Roxas…" He said the name one last time, a hopeful tinge to his voice, but still nothing happened. His plan had failed. Roxas wasn't moving. With a low groan, he leaned back in his chair. He'd have to wait it out, then, and eventually the others would find out, and intervene- yeah, that would be pleasant. About as pleasant as a goddamn nuclear holocaust. Axel opened his mouth, prepared to spit some choice words at his catatonic housemate, when something quite unexpected happened.

Roxas woke up.

"Axel," he said weakly. The focus returned to his eyes slowly, and they flitted about, registering where he was. In sharp contrast to his usual prickly attitude, Roxas looked sweet, and tired, and utterly vulnerable. For once, Axel actually _wanted _to take care of him.

"Roxas?" Axel was at Roxas's side in an instant, all irritation forgotten in the name of making sure his master wasn't going to die. "Oh my God! Are you ok? Are you-"

Roxas interrupted him by slapping him right across the face.

Axel yelped in pain and put a hand to his cheek.

"Dammit, Roxas! Did you just _slap _me!? What are you, some kind of girl!?"

"Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" Roxas shouted, eyes ablaze. So, he _had_ heard everything, just like Axel had hoped he both would and wouldn't. The boy paused to get his bearings. He was trembling, though if it was out of anger or out of fear was impossible to tell. "Who the hell do you think you are!?"

"Roxas-"

"Get out! Get the _fuck_ out! Get out of my face, get out of my _life_-"

"I don't have a _choice, _Rox! Can't you get that!?" His voice raised to match Roxas's, but his heart wasn't really in the fight. His shoulders slumped. "This is a lot bigger than you or me, ok? If you get rid of me, they'll send someone else after you. And again and again, until they wear you down." He shook his head. "At least this way, I'm still _me._"

"What the fuck are you talking about!?" Roxas was wild and suspicious. His hair was disheveled from his sort-of nap. He looked like a caged animal about to bolt. Axel, accordingly, made sure that he was blocking the only exit.

"You saw Kairi, and Naminé and Xion. The other side- when they pick you out, it's not just a puppet show. It's a full-on hostile takeover. There's nothing _left, _Roxas," he sighed. "Not the slightest bit of who those people were before-"

"Maybe I'd rather be dead than used," he snarled. Axel thought about the lifelessness in those girls' eyes. In the newest recruit, Xion's, eyes. No, Roxas didn't want to be like that. He couldn't want to be like that, even if he didn't know it yet.

"Maybe you would," Axel scoffed. "If that's the case, just walk right out there and let them kill you. Scrape every last bit of Roxas out of you. Turn you into a doll." Axel stared Roxas down. Roxas stared right back. The boy was uncannily good at calling his bluffs. He had an interest, both professional and in the cause of self-preservation, of _not _allowing Roxas to be killed and scraped and doll-ified. Roxas, however, did not seem concerned about that in the least, and was deep in thought, considering something else entirely.

"You can't hurt Ariel," he said finally. "Demyx can't hurt me."

"What? What are you talking about?" Axel's eyes narrowed.

"When we were running. Ariel was there. You waited for her to get out of the way instead of pushing her," Roxas said. He was observant, as well as being a little smart-ass. "The genie rules-"

"I'm not a goddamn genie, you made that up-"

"-they still apply, even if I don't get any wishes. Right?" Axel stared stupidly. He had no idea what Roxas was trying to say. Usually, the boy was disturbingly good at figuring out exactly where and how Axel's abilities were bound, but this time, he was several steps ahead.

"What?" was all he could say.

"What I'm saying," Roxas explained patiently, "is that, if I open all of the bottles, you people won't be able to touch me."

A long pause. The kid was _good._

"Theoretically speaking," Axel begrudgingly agreed. He couldn't see any holes in the logic. Before this round, he'd never had multiple masters at the same time, so he had no way of knowing for sure.

"Do you have a way of telling where they are?" Axel had the ability to locate his esteemed colleagues, yes. He often neglected that ability and lapsed into a sort of complacence that allowed them to surprise him a lot, but when the need arose, he could find them if he wanted to. He also wasn't able to lie to Roxas. Axel averted his gaze and became very interested in what might have at one time been a lace doily.

"Ok," Roxas said, satisfied, a slightly more relaxed expression spreading over his face. "Then you're going to help me find them all."

Axel froze.

"What?"

"That's my wish. I wish-" Roxas paused. He stayed deep in thought for a long moment. "I wish for you to take me to each of the genies in your line- all of them- and help me open each of their bottles, to the best of your ability."

What.

Axel swallowed hard. He had to give Roxas what he wanted- he was bound, he didn't have a choice. But boy, was he was going to catch it for this one.

"Granted."

* * *

So, from my POV, it really doesn't seem like that long since I last updated this, but it's been a month and a half! Cripes! Cripes, I say! This chapter is a little bit shorter than normal because it's mostly a big ol' exposition dump and not much else happens. But the wacky and comical adventures will start up again next chapter, I promise.

Many big thanks to PANTHARYA for beta-reading, since my usual beta is in the process of moving in with her boyfriend. :) You should all go read his fanfiction because it's fabulous. Just add ~pantharya to the end of the FFnet URL at the top of your browser and hit 'enter.' Do it right now. And then experience the fanfiction magic. MAGIC. THE FANFICTION IS MAGICAL.

Also, a shout-out for TheSuperBanana, who correctly guessed the angels-and-demons motif of this fic all the way back in Chapter 4. You're too smart for this fanfic. Maybe you should be writing it instead of me. :)

Q OF THE DAY: This one is for those of you who like to read Real Books ZOMG. On which work of classic literature is the plot to this fic (er, somewhat. loosely. ok, very loosely.) based?


	12. Chapter 12

So sorry for the super-long gap between updates! As I wrote in the notes for Erased, since the last time this fic was updated, I moved, switched jobs, and went back to being a full-time student. Things are busy here. Very busy. But who cares, 'cause I updated! :D

* * *

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 12**

Nothing happened.

Roxas glared at Axel.

"Well?" he asked. Axel sniffed at him.

"You didn't say _when,_" he said flatly. Roxas held back a furious scream. Axel, Axel, Axel- what was going on in his head, Roxas wondered, and why was it always so impossible to guess?

"Fine," he snapped. "I wish you would take me to each of the genies of your line, all of them, and help me open each of their bottles, to the best of your ability, starting _right now _and continuing to do so whenever the fuck I tell you to." Axel shot him a venomous glare in the moment before his pupils faded away to white.

"Granted."

Axel grabbed Roxas's arm and pulled him towards the bedroom door. Roxas dug his heels in. Axel tugged and pulled, and Roxas was helpless to resist genie strength. He found himself manhandled out the room and down the stairs, roughly but not enough so to actually hurt him, he noticed. Because Axel wasn't allowed to hurt him.

"I didn't say you had to be mean about it," he grumbled.

"You said right now. So we have to go right now, whether you like it or not," Axel hissed. "Maybe you should choose your words better." He pushed Roxas out the front door and into the messy yard before slamming the door behind them and taking off at top speed. This time, however, he didn't carry Roxas, instead opting to drag his master along behind him.

A few minutes of this, and Roxas's legs were getting awfully tired.

"Can we take a break?" he gasped, or tried to. It was too hard to speak and take desperate breaths all at once. All he could do was pump his legs and try to keep up with Axel. His muscles brimmed with lactic acid, his lungs burned, his eyes were getting watery.

And then they stopped.

Axel's eyes were wide, and he moved his head back and forth, as if he were sniffing the wind, like some kind of search dog. They'd stopped moving in the middle of a quiet street, not too far from Roxas's school. It was all Roxas could do to stop himself from collapsing right in the middle of the road. There weren't going to be any cars this late at night, right?

"Here we are," Axel deadpanned. Roxas looked up at the house in front of them.

The infamous Haunted House. Dark and brooding and covered in vines.

"Um," he said. He could think of nothing less appealing than going inside- the place frightened him. "So… is this genie behind the house? Or next to it?" Axel shot him a look, half irritated and half amused.

"Inside, stupid," he said. "How did you think the vines got there in the first place?"

"They've always been there. Since I was a kid." Axel chuckled a bit and shook his head.

"No. No, they really haven't. Can't you feel it?" Roxas looked back at the vines, and then up at Axel. He felt absolutely nothing, save the aggressive night breeze. Axel rolled his eyes. Roxas began also feeling a mounting sense of irritation.

"You know how you always get sick when you use wishes?"

"What of it?"

"You're sensitive to magic," Axel explained curtly. "Normal people don't freak out from being around genies. It's part of the whole genie potential thing, I guess." Roxas looked over at Axel.

"Did you have it too?" Axel's eyes darkened and he looked away.

"I just don't want you getting overwhelmed and freaking out because you didn't know what to expect." Roxas looked up at the house, then closed his eyes. For a long moment, he felt exactly the same as before, plus incredibly silly. As he cleared his mind, however, he became more aware of his surroundings. He could feel the plants in front of him- it was hard to describe- _breathing_, much more dramatically than any natural plant ever would. They were dynamic. They were alive.

When Roxas opened his eyes, Axel was looking down at him much too smugly. He was also offering him an ax.

"You'll need this," he said. Roxas stared at him incredulously. He was not accustomed to manual labor.

"What, you can't just teleport me in there or whatever?"

"I'm not allowed to interfere with someone else's work," Axel shrugged. "Somebody wished for this to happen."

"Why do I find that hard to believe," Roxas muttered.

"Whatever. The guy we're looking for is out right now, so you'd better get moving before he comes back." Axel sat down on the sidewalk, cross-legged, situating himself comfortably so he could watch Roxas work. With a resigned sigh, Roxas hoisted the ax and turned towards the very first vine.

Axel cheered as he took the first swing. The ax was much too heavy for Roxas's small frame, and the momentum carried him straight through to the ground. He missed the vines gloriously and ended up chipping the sidewalk instead. His teeth jittered as the ax connected, sending the force of the blow up through the wooden handle and into his body. Axel booed and hissed.

"You're not helping."

"I wasn't trying to." Roxas gritted his teeth and adjusted his stance like some self-conscious little league baseball player. His gut was telling him that before, he shouldn't have missed. Illogical as it was, the plant had blocked him somehow. This time, he focused, and put all of his strength into the blow.

The ax connected.

The shock that moved up into Roxas's body was much stronger than when he'd hit solid rock. His arms shook and he almost dropped the ax. The piece he'd hacked off hit the ground, already browning, pathetic, and dead. The vines screeched in pain and protest. They swirled towards him, a last, desperate attack, before retreating. Roxas grinned and looked back at Axel.

"Not so bad, eh?" he said triumphantly. Axel huffed impatiently, before his eyes widened.

"Hey!" Roxas was too busy gloating to notice the plant's retaliation. A single, slender vine was wrapping up his left wrist in a gentle bind. Axel noticed, however, and he jumped to his feet.

"Hey!" he shouted again. "Watch out!" Suddenly, Roxas was being grabbed from behind. The plant had such a grip on his arm, he wasn't able to move the rest of his body. He was being pulled back into the morass, consumed alive by hungry vines.

"Oh, for the love of- hold on!" Axel grabbed Roxas around the middle and tugged for all he was worth. In response, the plant pulled even harder. Roxas's arm was being crushed. Tears welled up in his eyes and he cried out in pain. The ax dropped dully out of his right hand. Axel maintained his grip, but it was a losing battle. He dug in his heels, but before long, he was going to be sucked in as well.

"Ok, Rox," he said quickly. "Don't move."

"Like I could!" Roxas screeched back. Axel let him go and took a few quick steps back. He spread his arms on either side of his body. Roxas's eyes widened. He had seen Axel do this once before- on the beach, when he'd pulled up a fire storm from nowhere.

Axel was going to burn him out.

"Uh," he stammered, "maybe this-"

Axel's eyes went white. His skin paled, impossibly so- the veins in his face were all visible, blue and red and painfully real, the way they always were when he used his magic. The plant seemed to feel it too. It moved more quickly, hissing and writhing.

The fire was summoned in a massive column, consuming Axel's entire body. From what Roxas could see, it appeared to shoot up out of the ground, though he knew the sidewalk would be left intact. The heat was unbearable. The vines thought so too, and began to withdraw. Roxas could move some of his limbs again.

"Don't move," Axel repeated, in a voice that wasn't his own, deep and authoritarian. He put his hands in front of his chest, facing the covered doorway, and the vines. They knew what was going to happen. Roxas felt them shudder with fear. He himself was shaking.

Axel shot a burst of flame directly into the plant. Roxas heard and felt it scream. He was dizzy, overwhelmed by the voices inside his head. The vines released him and he collapsed onto the ground, completely unable to catch himself as he fell. He felt overwhelmingly nauseous. Bile dribbled out of his mouth.

"Come on!" Axel's voice was normal again, and his hand felt perfectly ordinary against Roxas's shoulder, though a little warmer than usual. Roxas couldn't answer. His mouth was full of vomit. Axel muttered a curse and hoisted Roxas off the ground before using Roxas's hand to pry the door open, then tumbling them both inside.

Roxas found himself dropped rather unceremoniously on the nearest piece of furniture. That was all well and good for him, because he immediately rolled over and puked on the floor.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Axel sniffed. Roxas threw up again, a pool of unbearable misery dredged up from his gut and expelled through his mouth. Axel sighed. "At least you're not puking on _me _this time."

"Oh," Roxas rasped. "Like stealing one of my t-shirts was so hard on you." Axel brushed some dust off of the stolen black shirt appreciatively. Roxas's clothes were still a bit too small for him, though, and as Axel moved, the shirt rode up his stomach, revealing a bit of toned muscle and, more importantly, bright orange happy trail. Roxas blushed nearly as red and looked away. To keep his attention off of Axel's muscly abs, he looked around at where he'd ended up.

The inside of the house was surprisingly well-maintained, considering what had happened to the outside. The furniture was much nicer than what Roxas's family had in their house. He'd just thrown up on what looked to be a hand-woven rug, with a lovely flower detail around the outside. Hopefully the vomit would clean out of it.

Was he delusional? Yeah, probably.

"Nice house," he slurred. His brain was slowly clearing up. He was just happy he didn't have to deal with a homicidal plant anymore.

Wait.

"I thought you weren't allowed to attack those vines?"

"I'm also not allowed to let you die," Axel shot back. Roxas said nothing, and Axel rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Come on, you need to find that bottle before he comes back." Axel grabbed Roxas's arm and lifted him to his feet, carefully placing him so as not to dump him in puke.

"Where is it?" Roxas asked stupidly, looking around the living room. "Where am I supposed to start looking? This place is huge!" His own home certainly had no second floor.

"It's upstairs. One of the bedrooms. The master's probably a kid, like you." Roxas moved to insist that he was no kid, but bit his tongue, instead opting for the more biting insult.

"And you." Axel shot him a glare and led the way towards the stairs. On the way, they passed through a kitchen and a very formal dining room, both of which, besides the general fanciness, were perfectly ordinary, save one unusual feature.

A man and a woman had fallen asleep together at the dining room table.

Roxas gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. His first instinct was not to let anyone know that he was breaking into their house. The rational part of his brain caught up later, but not before Axel had a chance to tease him.

"Relax, kiddo. I don't think you're going to wake them up." Roxas swallowed hard and nodded, but still stayed perfectly silent as they crossed the dining room to the stairs at the back of the house. Even so, he couldn't help but steal a single glance back before they went up to the second level. The somewhat elderly couple were sleeping peacefully, their heads resting on the table, like high school kids who'd fallen asleep at their desks in class. Axel caught him dawdling and dragged him the rest of the way up the stairs.

The second story of the house had five doors. The first two led to guest bedrooms, with not much in them besides beds and end tables. Still, Roxas checked both closets and found nothing. The third door led to a bathroom, but a search of the cabinets didn't turn up any bottles. He opened the second to last door to reveal a master bedroom, much larger than the first two. This one had more furniture, but nothing out of the ordinary in any of the drawers or closets, save one apparently well-loved vibrator that Roxas quickly replaced.

"Fifth one's the charm," Axel said quietly. "Who knows what'll be in there?" He wiggled his fingers to emphasize the spookiness. Roxas swallowed hard and reminded himself that if anything tried to murder him, Axel was contractually obligated to intervene.

_Ok, _he thought silently. _Here we go. _He extended his hand, turned the knob, and stepped into the very last thing he was expecting.

Roxas found himself entering a girl's paradise. The room was all frills and flowers and canopy bed and pink, so much pink. The tableau was the opposite of scary, half endearing and half gross, like a baby doll had thrown up all over everything. His eyes followed the pink- so, so pink- wallpaper border around to the closed canopy bed. Which was also pink.

"What do you think is in there?" Roxas whispered to Axel.

"If I had to guess?" Axel yawned. "I'd say a sleeping beauty." Roxas crept over to the canopy, grabbed a corner, took a deep breath, and threw the curtains open.

Axel's guess was not entirely off.

"Aurora!" Roxas gaped. He recognized the girl from his chemistry class at once. She was the one who was always falling asleep in class and then copying Roxas's equations. Right now, she was sleeping happily, a smile on her face as she dreamed sweet dreams of something-or-other.

"Ta-da!" Axel cheered, entirely inappropriately.

"But she's been sick," Roxas stammered. "She's in my science lab. And this house has been like this forever. It can't possibly be her! Who put her here, and those people downstairs? Who did this to her!" He knew that he was being incoherent, but he didn't much care. His hands found their way up to his bangs and tugged, as if that would help him think, which it usually didn't, but just this once, please?

"Why don't you find out?" Roxas was fully prepared to whirl around and tell Axel exactly what he thought of his incredibly unhelpful advice, when he saw Axel's outstretched finger. He followed its path to where Axel was pointing. A tiny bottle was resting on a shelf by Aurora's desk, the same size and shape as Axel and Demyx's.

"Shit," Roxas muttered. He quickly walked over and picked the bottle up. The glass was a rosy pink, with matching flowers engraved all through the design.

"You'll understand when you meet him," said Axel simply. Roxas glowered, but easily twisted the cork free. He didn't miss the way Axel shrunk back against one of the walls.

"What!" A third voice, deeper than Axel's, rang through the house. It may have been Roxas's imagination, but he thought he heard the structure itself creak as the vines squeezed down on it. "No one can get in or out of this house. I made sure of it." The voice paused. Roxas could practically hear the owner thinking. "Not unless he had help. Is that you, Axel?" Axel tried to hide some more. Roxas had no idea where the voice was coming from. He looked towards the door.

"Behind you." Roxas whipped around. His new genie-ish friend was leaned against one of Aurora's bed posts, arms crossed, looking equal parts irritated and amused.

But that wasn't what got Roxas's attention.

He finally understood what Axel had been trying to tell him.

He started at the shoes, perfectly polished, with steel soles and pointed toes. Moving up the tailored pants to an expensive leather belt, he was forced to stop when he hit the man's ruffled sleeves. Roxas did his best to stifle a very loud snort.

"My name's Marluxia," said Marluxia, in his creamy voice. "Normally I'd offer you some wishes, but, well. I'm otherwise engaged." He gestured a ruffle loosely towards the bed. With a deep breath to steady himself, Roxas took in the red silk vest, aggressively embroidered, before finally making it up to the man's face.

Roxas couldn't hold it in anymore. He burst out laughing. He couldn't help it. Marluxia was strikingly handsome, but his hair was long and pink, carefully styled, curling to a rest on his shoulders. His hair was _pink._

"Something funny?" Marluxia asked, a hint of danger in his voice.

"Nothing at all, Marluxia," Axel said easily. "Nothing has been less funny any time ever." He stepped out of his meager hiding place as if he hadn't been hiding at all. Roxas wasn't sure what had given Axel his sudden change of mood.

"Your sarcasm isn't appreciated," Marluxia sneered, his façade of geniality gone. His handsome face twisted into a rage. Roxas promptly stopped laughing.

"What did you do to Aurora?" he asked sharply. Marluxia turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"You talk a lot," he said flatly. He turned to Axel. "He talks a lot."

"You don't need to tell me," Axel shrugged.

"Hey! _Hey_!" Roxas managed to stop just short of shouting 'pay attention to me,' but he did position his body in between the other two men, making himself the de facto center of everyone's attention. "I need to know what you did to Aurora, _right now._" He stood up straighter, his confidence somewhat restored. After all, he was the one in control. He was this genie's master. "I know you can't lie to me, Marluxia."

"Oh?" Marluxia's eyebrow's went up and his smug expression returned.

"Chill out, Rox," said Axel. "He's not going to tell you anything. You already got what you wanted, so let's _go._" He tugged on Roxas's arm, but Roxas refused to follow. He stayed where he was, glaring daggers at Marluxia, until Axel picked him up and physically removed him from the room.

"The others will be hearing about this, Axel," Marluxia called after them. "Don't think we can't retaliate." Marluxia made no move to follow them, but the not-so-subtle threat made Axel flinch. He carried Roxas down the stairs, past who must have been Aurora's sleeping parents, and straight towards the front door. The vines outside were parted just enough for them to pass through. Apparently Marluxia wanted them out of his house. As they left, the menacing plant closed like a curtain behind them. Axel didn't stop moving until they were several blocks away.

Roxas was none too pleased with being man-handled, of course, and protested the entire way, resigning himself to his fate somewhere around the front door part. Now that he was back on his feet, though, he had a bone to pick.

"What'd you do that for!" Roxas hissed, intensely but quietly, so as not to wake up anyone in the surrounding houses.

"It's best to spend as little time around Marly as possible," said Axel sourly. He said nothing else, apparently deep in thought himself.

"We need to go back," Roxas declared. "We need to help Aurora." Axel stared at him incredulously.

"Uh, absolutely not, and she doesn't need our help." When Roxas obviously didn't believe him, Axel sighed and elaborated. "Listen. She's alive, and she won't be dying anytime soon, because if she died, Marluxia would have to go back into his bottle and, you know, sleep for a thousand years, and that's clearly not what he wants. He just found a way to make her sleep for some extended period of time and hid her body so that no one would wake her up. Incapacitate your master so you have free rein of the town without having to deal with wishes. It's the oldest trick in the book."

"Oh, there's a book now?" Axel glared at him, and Roxas smiled. Even if the purposes for her sleep were somewhat nefarious, it did make him feel better to know that Aurora wasn't in any danger. Given that he himself, if Axel's word were to be trusted, was in a great deal of cosmic danger, he didn't really have the time or energy to be rescuing everybody else, too.

"What did he mean when he said they could retaliate?" Axel sighed.

"What they can do is trick their own masters into making wishes that harm or control you in some way. Like when Demyx sent Ariel after you." He paused to massage his temples. Roxas found it funny that immortal genie-things could get headaches. "I mean, theoretically they could have someone wish that you would wish to become one of us, but it would be hard to get that to come out of some kid's mouth. And obviously they can't kill you, or make you unable to use your wishes in any way, so we don't have to worry about the sleep thing." He sighed again. "I guess mostly we just need to watch out for them trying to slow you down and confuse you. Like when Demyx sent Ariel after you." Roxas did not miss Axel's use of the word 'we' instead of 'you.' So Axel _was _looking out for him.

"But I would know, right?" Roxas asked, even as his heart sank. "I mean, I would know if someone wished for me to do something. Right?" He trailed off, already knowing the answer.

"You can never tell what's been affected by wishes," Axel said flatly. "Just look at this house. You didn't know that it's not supposed to be this way, even though it was perfectly vine-free less than a week ago. And remember how deeply you believed Ariel was your girlfriend?"

"Shut up," Roxas muttered, unwilling to remember his very confusing faux-heartbreak, the messy details of which he still hadn't finished sorting out.

"I'm just saying," Axel continued, "that you can't trust anything but your instincts. Not your eyes, ears, or nose, not your fingertips, not your tongue, and certainly not your memories."

"So, basically," said Roxas, "what you're saying is that this is impossible." Axel shrugged.

"Kinda, yeah." Well, had impossible ever stopped Roxas before? No. No it had not.

"Then we'd better get to another one before the kids wake up. I think we still have time." Based on where the moon was in the sky, they had at least another hour before the sun would come up. Axel didn't move at all. Roxas looked over at him sideways.

"That was an order." Axel's expression switched to irritation, then quickly softened into something unreadable before he grabbed Roxas's hand and took off in another direction.

Roxas was loathe to admit it, but he kind of liked the hand-holding.

* * *

REVIEW PLZ? Maybe if you review, it'll take me less than six months to update next time, LOL.


	13. Chapter 13

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 13**

Axel closed his eyes and tried to find another one of his colleagues. He could play this game with Roxas over and over again, but nothing was going to change the ending. Roxas was going to either end up like Axel, or end up like the others. Why Roxas was refusing to accept that was beyond him.

Had _he_ been that stupid, while he'd been human?

Axel stuffed his hands in his pockets and set off down the street. He couldn't fight back against a retaliation that hadn't happened yet. All he could do was wait for someone to make a move on Roxas. Then, he'd be contractually obligated to protect him. His coworkers knew that. They were playing _him. _Roxas was just collateral damage. On top of that, the kid only had two wishes left. If he used them both, Axel would be back in his bottle, and his erstwhile master would be scooped up by Team Realm-of-Light faster than he could say "Hi, I'm Roxas."

"Where are you going?"

"You wanted to know where all of my charming colleagues are. You can, you know, follow me, or not." Roxas muttered a curse and jogged after him. He was much shorter than Axel, of course, and the way he had to trot to keep up never stopped making Axel grin.

"Who's next?"

"We'll find out when we get there."

"We?" asked Roxas. "So, you can't tell who it is?"

"I never said that," Axel muttered. He hated the way Roxas dissected his every word, finding the truth, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. When this mess was all over, he'd make an excellent member of their team.

Axel hated himself for thinking so.

"Are there any more with bright pink hair?"

"No- that's just Marluxia."

"I thought you all had X's in your name. 'Marluxia' doesn't have an X."

"It's spelled M-A-R-L-U-X-I-A."

"Oh. That's weird."

"Tell me about it. Ask him about his childhood the next time you see him. You know he can't lie to you, now. And he can't use that chick to get back to you while she's conked out." Roxas, even while jogging along beside him, somehow managed to cock his head and raise an eyebrow. Axel made a mental note to ask him how he always managed to look so cynical.

"Do you want to tell me about _your_ childhood?" Axel grimaced.

"No."

"Didn't think so."

Axel and Roxas settled into an uneasy silence as Axel shuffled along the street. He did know who they were chasing, and he wasn't thrilled about it. Xaldin had a way with words, though, and maybe he'd be able to convince Roxas that what he was doing was stupid. Axel, after all, had failed miserably.

As they walked, Axel realized they were leaving the town center, and moving out towards the woods. He only saw Twilight Town once every thousand years or so, and he didn't have a great memory for directions. Roxas had probably noticed where they were headed ages ago. The boy didn't speak at all, simply moving along, in a very sturdy fashion. Axel thought once more that he would be an excellent "genie," and he inwardly slapped himself.

Eventually, they passed through a gate, and the paved road switched to dirt. They were officially outside the town's walls. Creepy shadows scattered themselves all over the pathway. Axel was unaffected, and as far as he could tell, so was his young charge.

"Do you guys usually target students?" Roxas asked. Axel chose to answer with another question.

"Hmm?" Ok, not his smoothest dodge.

"Last time, you said that he person with the bottle was probably a kid, and it turned out to be a girl from my school." Roxas sounded tired. "There's another kid from my school who lives out here. I can't think of anyone else. It must be her." _Her_? Axel frowned at the thought of introducing another girl to the mix. At least the last one had been permanently asleep.

"Let's hope it turns out better than with Ariel, then," he muttered. "If you start thinking she's your girlfriend, trust me when I tell you it's not true this time, ok?" Axel paused to laugh to himself. "Like you could ever get a girl to _want_ to date you, anyway." Roxas quickly turned his face away, to hide the fact that it had turned bright red.

"Come on. It's just down the road here," he directed, and he picked up his pace to move out ahead. Axel nodded. The signal he was feeling was indeed coming from the little cottage at the end of the dirt path. It was weak, though. Xaldin's bottle was present, but Xaldin himself was somewhere else. Which, really, Axel didn't mind at all. Xaldin would certainly have some strong words for him once Roxas went through with his plan.

The problem was, he had no way to _stop _Roxas from doing what he was doing. He supposed he could kidnap him or prevent him from leaving his room or something, but then all Roxas had to do was wish for him to stop kidnapping him or preventing him from leaving his room. Really, the only weapon he had was psychological warfare. He wasn't stupid, by any means- at least, he didn't think he was- oh God, was he stupid?- but Roxas had managed to outwit him at every turn. He'd thought telling Roxas the truth would frighten him into cooperating, but that didn't work, either.

Things were bad. Things were really, really bad.

If he failed again- God, were they allowed to fire him?

"Do you know this girl well enough to show up at her house in the middle of the night?" he asked quickly, to take his mind off of things. Focus on the mission. Roxas had wished that Axel would help him do this, so help him he would have to.

"Uh," said Roxas. "I, uh. I was hoping we could just sneak in again." Axel sighed.

This was going to be a disaster.

The two of them walked straight up to the front door, as if they were clutching a pair of VIP invitations. Roxas boldly grabbed the door knob and tried to open it. Naturally, it was locked. A quick check of the first floor windows and the back door produced the same result. Luckily for everyone involved, Axel had a contingency plan.

"Did you bring a knife, or a hairpin, or anything?"

"What for?"

"To pick the lock."

"Uh, I didn't wish for you to break into her house."

"You wished for me to help you find all the bottles," Axel explained patiently. "The bottle is in that house. We need to get in the house. You can't get in the house. I'm required to help you." He supposed he could've instead helped Roxas break a window, just to be an asshole, but the cottage was kinda cute, and Axel felt bad about tearing up someone's house. Ooo, but maybe he could get Roxas arrested for vandalism? If Roxas was in jail, he'd have to stay in one place! Oh, but then he could just wish for Axel to get him out of prison.

Damn.

"You know how to pick a lock?" Roxas asked curiously. Axel laughed.

"It may surprise you to learn that I was not the most straight-edged of children." Roxas broke into a wide smile. The kind of smile that kids get when they're right. The I-told-you-so smile.

"See? You _did _want totell me about your childhood!" Oh. Shit.

"Damn it all," Axel sighed.

Roxas was clearly not going to produce any lock-picking tools, so Axel was left to make do with what he had. Luckily, over the millennia, he'd gotten very adept at using his earring for all sorts of things. He carefully lifted took it off, straightened the hook, and went to work on the lock on the front door. In a matter of minutes, it popped open.

"See?" he grinned. "Mad skills."

"Shh," Roxas hushed him quickly. Axel felt very much taken for granted, especially considering that no one could hear him, anyway. Still, Roxas pushed the door open, as quietly as he could. Of course, these old houses were not known for their stealthy construction. The door creaked like a monster, as did the floor boards in the entryway.

"The bottle's on the second floor," Axel said, in his normal voice. "Have fun on those stairs." He slid his earring back onto his ear. The stairs were foreboding, uneven, and frankly, appeared to be very unsafe. Well, they must have been built with love, at least. Roxas took one step onto the bottom stair, and winced at the angry sounds it made.

"Can't you carry me or something?" he whispered.

"It would make the same amount of noise, dude." Roxas creeped up the stairs- well, as creepily as he could, with all the groaning and squawking- and finally emerged on the second floor. The upstairs hallway was cramped under a pitched roof, and only had two doors. One was on the left, and one on the right.

"Door on the left," Axel said. A closer look revealed a small nameplate tacked to the door. It was flowery and whimsical, the sort of thing you get for a young girl. The name _Belle _was roughly carved into it.

"Belle," he murmured. "I suppose she's your classmate?" Roxas didn't answer. He was frozen in place. "Shall we see if she's home?" Roxas swallowed hard, and placed a hand on the door knob. He turned it painfully slowly. He gently pushed the door open.

As soon as he took a step into the room, he was greeted by a book to the face.

Axel's first and overwhelming instinct was to protect his master from harm. He jumped forward to catch Roxas before he fell, and supported him through a second blow. For an instant, he was about to rain down hellfire in retaliation. The impulse was forced out of his mind the moment he looked up at the assailant.

A young girl, well, Roxas's age- _and my age_- was staring directly at Roxas's face, her eyes wide with fear and adrenaline. She was wearing a white nightgown, and her hair was wild, very much as if she'd been sleeping peacefully, only to be awakened by someone breaking into her house.

"This is the infamous Belle, I take it?" he asked. Roxas coughed something that might have meant yes. Belle leaned forward to get a better look at Roxas's face. When she recognized him, her expression changed from fear, to confusion, to anger, and just a pinch of contempt.

"Roxas?" she asked. Roxas's nose was bleeding, and he didn't answer right away. He was leaning quite a bit of weight on Axel, and Axel wrapped his arms tighter around his middle. The magical burst to tell him to protect his master from danger had faded, but he didn't want to drop Roxas on the floor. So, he had protective instincts that weren't magically induced, then. That was new. Or was it? He'd have to think about that.

"Come on," he urged. "You survived Marluxia's killer plants- a couple books to the face aren't gonna knock you out, are they?" Belle, of course, couldn't see or hear him, and was entirely focused on the strange boy in her room in the middle of the night.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" she said, her voice in a low calm, but Axel could see her clutching the book she was holding just a little more tightly. She was fully prepared to go on the offensive if necessary. Axel was fully prepared to protect Roxas from the onslaught, if necessary.

Funny- he'd never imagined having to protect Roxas from other humans.

"This is an interesting development," he said cheerfully.

"Uh, h-hi," Roxas stammered. His various issues with talking to girls had, apparently, not been resolved. "This isn't what it looks like," he said lamely. Axel tsked and shook his head.

"Really? What is it, then?" Belle hoisted her book higher.

"Um- I just wanted to say hi," he blurted out. He was recovering quickly, and he pushed away from Axel to stand up straight. Belle raised an eyebrow. If Roxas wasn't careful, he was going to get his ass kicked.

"Y-you haven't been in school," Roxas said. "I was w-worried." Well, if Roxas was distracting their victim, that left Axel to locate Xaldin's bottle. He was invisible, so he could poke around as much as he wanted. Unfortunately, he wouldn't actually be able to _touch _the bottle once he found it, so Roxas needed to stay in the game long enough to uncork it.

The girl's room was every bit as fanciful as the nameplate would suggest. Everything was rather cramped, thanks to the pitched ceiling, and it all looked like something straight out of a fairytale. She even had a picture window. Her bed had a canopy, the furniture was all ornate and beyond old, and there were books piled everywhere- the end of the bed, the floor, and packed tight in an expansive set of bookcases on the far side of the room.

Axel checked everywhere close to Belle's bed first. He hadn't known a single master who didn't keep their bottle close to them at all times. The bottle had to be in here, even if Xaldin himself wasn't. The bedside table came up short, so Axel started checking through Belle's shelves.

"It's the middle of the night," Belle said coldly. "Please get out of my house."

"Ok," Roxas said, his voice only slightly too high-pitched.

"Stay in the fight, kiddo," Axel called. "I haven't found the bottle yet." The first bookcase had nothing but books on it, and a vase with no flowers. He moved on to the second.

"I- I mean, it's funny that we're both awake though, right?" Roxas tried again. Belle glared at him.

"Not really."

"I mean, j-just a little?"

"I'm going to call the police."

"Found it," Axel shouted triumphantly. "It's over here on this bookcase, second shelf." He pointed a finger to show Roxas where to go. As upsetting as this whole experience was to him personally, Axel was interested to get peeks at his colleague's homes. He didn't usually get to see that stuff, and it was sort of like peeking at someone's childhood photos. Xaldin's bottle was a pale green, not quite as blue as Demyx's, with a wavy but smooth pattern carved into it. To represent the wind, Axel supposed. It wasn't like the flames on his own bottle were very realistic, either.

"Oh, hey," Roxas yelled suddenly, his eyes fixated on the tiny bottle. "Is that a copy of, uh, _Crooked_ _Castle_? I love that book!" Before Belle could react, Roxas was dashing towards the bookcase, his face bright red. He snatched the bottle from where it sat, just beyond Axel's fingertips. Belle didn't realize what he was doing until after he'd pulled out the cork.

"Hey!" she shouted. "You can't-"

A fourth presence appeared in the room with them in an instant. His eyes fell on Axel first, and despite his best efforts to be brave, he felt himself quail under the intense gaze. He stood up a little straighter, completely on edge, and from the glance Roxas gave him, he could tell the kid noticed.

Stupid Roxas and his stupid observant-ness. It made Axel feel naked. _Centuries upon centuries _of lies should not be stripped away so easily.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon." Xaldin turned to address Roxas directly. Roxas, bless his goddamned suicidal little heart, didn't back down. Apparently, his encounter with Marluxia had made him _more _aggressive, when it should have had the opposite effect. God, hadn't he seen what Marluxia did to that girl? "Normally, I would offer you three wishes now," Xaldin continued. "As you can see, however, I already serve a master." Once he'd finished the required formalities, he turned to look at Axel. Axel's knees wobbled. Xaldin's lips curled up into a cruel sneer.

"I see you're still not able to control him, Axel," he sniffed.

"It's not his fault. I made him do it," said Roxas. Even though the comment was exactly the wrong thing to say and was probably going to result in both of their horrible, gruesome deaths, Axel found himself somewhat touched that Roxas would stick up for him. Xaldin raised an eyebrow, and shook his head at Axel, in painful disapproval.

"_And _you've let him think he's in control. Shameful." Normally, Axel would grovel and apologize, out of an instinct of self-preservation, if nothing else. Xaldin in particular, of all of his colleagues, knew how to make someone hurt. But something inside of him made him stop.

If tiny Roxas could be brave, why couldn't he?

Axel stayed silent.

In the commotion, everyone- well, Axel, at least- had forgotten that Belle was still in the room. She stood off to the side, clutching her book so hard her knuckles turned white. Axel didn't catch on to her wild expression until it was too late.

"You-!" With a look of grim determination, Belle pointed one, shaky finger. Her attention was focused entirely on Xaldin. "How dare you-!" She sputtered, and words didn't come out of her throat. Finally, she stopped trying, and her eyes narrowed.

She lunged.

Despite her recent attack on Roxas, Axel was not expecting such a burst of ferocity. Using the very book she'd used to bloody Roxas's nose, she smacked Xaldin, as hard as she could. He didn't flinch. She hit him again, and again- when the book was ineffective, she switched to punches and kicks- blows that certainly would've brought Axel to his knees. Through it all, Xaldin watched her, with a twisted smirk on his face.

Axel got his usual vague, uneasy feeling that they were in over their heads.

He got that feeling a lot around Roxas.

"Where is he?" Belle screamed, over and over. "Tell me- where is he? What did you do to him?" Finally, she collapsed, clutching the bottom of Xaldin's cloak. "Please," she sobbed. "You need to tell me where he is." Both Axel and Roxas watched in silence. Axel felt something tighten in his chest.

It might have been guilt.

Axel's kind delighted in making its masters suffer. It stemmed from a bitterness at being at all controlled by humans, he supposed. Some, like Larxene, simply killed their masters as soon as possible to get out of the contract. Others, like Xaldin, used their considerable talents to make their victims suffer unimaginable torment for extended periods of time. Axel wasn't sure where he fell. _Do a half-assed job, 'cause you don't actually care that much?_

"Here's an idea," Xaldin finally said, when Belle's sobs had quieted. "How about you ask this boy for his help?" He gestured idly to indicate Roxas. Axel's attention snapped back to the present.

Oh _hell _no.

Axel had dragged Roxas away from Aurora, but would he be able to stop him from helping this girl, who was awake?

"Whoa," Axel said, without thinking. "Leave him out of it." As soon as the words popped out of him, he winced. He wasn't sure what had spawned that bit of wholesome worry. All he knew was that he did _not _want Roxas mixed up in whatever Xaldin had cooking. That was an easy-bake recipe for ending up dead.

Xaldin did not, of course, miss Axel's inappropriate concern for his master's well-being. He walked over to Axel and stared down at him. Xaldin was, of course, both taller and larger than Axel was, and he was quite an imposing figure. This time, though, Axel stood strong.

Well, sort of. He did back up against the wall. And hunch over a little bit.

"I would think such a simple task would be easy with _your_ help," he smiled. "Besides. A nice trip to the woods will give you some time to think about your role in all of this. Don't forget, Axel: we're watching you." With that cheerful farewell, Xaldin disappeared, as quickly as he'd arrived. Axel let out a heavy breath, and slumped against the wall.

Stupid job.

Stupid Xaldin.

Stupid Roxas.

A heavy silence fell over the room. Axel focused on his breathing, to calm himself down, a strategy that had been taught to him ages ago when he'd been called down to the school counselor for fighting for the millionth time that week. He wasn't sure why he remembered it now. He didn't want to remember his time as a human, but Roxas kept pressing for details, and now tiny snippets of memories were popping back into his mind at the worst times, and he absolutely hated it.

"Are you ok?" Roxas finally asked, uncertainly. Axel was sure he was asking the both of them. Belle wasn't looking too great, either, crumpled on the floor, stifling quiet sobs. Xaldin had always had that effect on people. He sneaked a glance at her, and she looked unbearably pathetic.

Whatever Xaldin had done to this girl, Axel was certain that it was very cruel, and very dangerous. The invitation to help Belle with her problem was a couldn't-even-be-bothered-to-veil-it death threat. Since Axel wasn't having much luck converting Roxas, the others would rather see him die than go to the other side. Axel knew that, of course.

Did Roxas?

Rarely did Axel find the need to intervene on his masters' behalf without being forced to, but this time was serious. He didn't want to get tangled up with anything Xaldin had put together. That was just common sense, really.

"You don't have to help her," he said quietly. "It's just like before. You got what you wanted- we should just move on to the next stop." Roxas didn't acknowledge that he'd heard. "This isn't about doing what's right, or whatever. Obviously, this girl- uh, Belle- is in trouble. But Xaldin wants to _kill _you, Roxas. You saw what he's like." Axel stared down at his feet. "If we go out there, I might not be able to protect you. I-"

_I don't want you to die._

After another long silence, broken only by Belle's quiet sobs, Roxas turned to him. His eyes were cold. He looked directly at Axel and began to speak.

He got as far as "_I wi_-" before Axel cut him off.

"Don't waste a wish on this." Axel shook his head. "If this is really what you want, then go for it. You know I have to protect you the best that I can. Just don't complain to me when you end up dead." He was trying to sound tough, but his voice broke a little. Dammit, he really _didn't _want Roxas to die. Was it just because he didn't want to go back into his bottle so soon? That he didn't want to get punished by Xemnas?

"Thanks, Axel," Roxas whispered, with a genuine smile. Caught off guard, Axel awkwardly smiled back. The two of them stayed that way, and a warm, fuzzy feeling swirled in the pit of Axel's stomach. He might have called it friendship.

He wasn't used to having friends.

With a resigned sigh, Axel set to work helping Roxas not die.

"We should ask her what her 'task' is," he said. "I wouldn't want to just run into anything that Xaldin planned." He paused. "You're stuck helping, now. You made your decision." Roxas's smile faded, and he read Axel's face carefully. Axel wasn't sure what he was looking for, or what he could see. Finally, Roxas turned away and looked over at Belle.

"You're afraid of him," he said. Again, his statement applied to both of them. Axel frowned, and would have totally shouted back _am not! _or something equally childish, except that he wasn't allowed to lie to Roxas. He was completely piss-your-pants terrified of Xaldin. The dude was fucked up. While he was thinking, Belle answered, the first time she'd spoken in several minutes.

"He took my father." She mumbled the words, then sniffled. Her hair was covering her face. Axel blinked. He'd never heard of anyone kidnapping family members, but then, he didn't talk with his cohorts much about work. It suddenly occurred to him that Roxas's parents might be in danger. He saw Roxas draw the same conclusion.

"Xaldin _took _him?" Roxas's voice was hard. Belle didn't answer.

"Ask what she wished for," Axel prompted. "Or maybe, ask how she found him first."

"I'm going to help you get him back," Roxas said, instead. Axel slapped his forehead. Now was _not _the time to be playing cowboy for the pretty girl. At least, he would have called it playing cowboy, if Roxas hadn't said the words in the most awkward way he possibly could. Belle, at least, did not look terribly impressed.

"You can't." She wasn't crying anymore, but she wasn't getting up, either. She stayed curled on the floor, now clutching the edges of her bedspread. "I don't even know where he is."

"He has to be with Xaldin, right?"

"Not necessarily," Axel said. "I wouldn't put it past Xaldin to leave an old man alone in the woods." Roxas forcefully ignored him.

"Belle," Roxas started, awkwardly. He really did not have a way with women, at all. For whatever reason, Axel was beginning to find it charming. It reminded him of himself as a human teenager. "I know it's crazy, but- I have one too. A genie, I mean." Axel didn't bother to correct him on the term. "That's how I found you. Axel brought me here." To her credit, Belle didn't even pause to ask Roxas if he were fucking serious. She simply asked:

"Is he here right now?" Roxas nodded.

"Yeah. That's who Xaldin was talking to." He paused. "They can, you know, see each other," he said. "And talk, and stuff."

"Quit while you're behind," Axel muttered. Belle didn't appear interested in his and Xaldin's shared ability to, you know, see each other, and talk, and stuff.

"What does he look like?" she asked instead. Roxas turned and looked Axel up and down.

"Oh, I don't know. Average height. Really skinny." Axel glared at him, and he smirked, the little bum. "Wacky red hair and tattoos. He wears my clothes all the time and it's super awkward because they don't fit him."

"Gee, _thanks_." Axel glared harder.

"He ever steal your family members?"

"No." Belle looked skeptical, so Roxas added, "but he might've tried, and I didn't notice." Axel took great offense at those words.

"I never tried to steal your parents, and you know it. I think. You do know that I never tried to steal your parents, right?" Roxas, who was still focused on Belle, ignored him. Axel was beginning to feel superfluous. A sea of regrets were welling up at his agreeing to help Roxas in this. He wondered if going back on his word counted as telling a lie. He'd never tried it. Finally, Belle spoke again.

"He sounds nice."

"_Thank you_," Axel said, deliberately. "You're nice, too, Belle." Roxas ignored him again, and instead asked the question that Axel had so totally told him to ask right at the beginning of the conversation.

"What did you wish for?" For whatever reason, Belle's eyes began to fill with tears all over again. She curled up into the bed, burying her face in the blankets, refusing to make eye contact with either of them. Well, she couldn't see Axel anyway, so she was refusing to make eye contact with Roxas.

"It sounds so stupid now," she said, muffled by the blanket. "But- I wished for an adventure. I was bored, so I wished for an adventure. Next thing I know, my dad's being dragged away, and- I mean, look!" She gestured wildly toward her bedroom window. Both Axel and Roxas automatically turned to look, but Roxas spoke first.

"Is that a _horse_?" Sure enough, there was a horse grazing peacefully in Belle's backyard. He looked like a nice sort of animal, big, but gentle. There was something off about him, though.

"Xaldin left him here." Ah, that was it. "I named him Philippe," Belle laughed bitterly. "He seems to be ok eating the grass, I guess…" She trailed off. "Oh, and he also left me a sword. He said-" her voice cracked- "adventures don't mean anything unless the stakes are high."

Typical Xaldin.

"How long has he been missing?"

"A few days. Maybe a week." Belle sighed. "I don't even know if my dad's still alive."

"He's definitely still alive," Axel said. "If Xaldin wanted to kill him, he'd do it in front of her." Roxas turned to him, eyes wide.

"That's sick!"

"I told you. Xaldin's a sick bastard," he shrugged. Belle turned to look at Roxas, confused.

"S-sorry, that was Axel," Roxas said quickly. Belle looked around, and Axel waved, though of course she couldn't see him. Maybe next time, Roxas should bring his bottle around, so things wouldn't be this weird? No- Axel didn't want a dozen different masters. He got enough crap from his coworkers already.

"What did he say?" Roxas opened and closed his mouth. The boy had many talents, but he was an absolutely terrible liar. Axel quickly said something else.

"So, are we gonna go rescue her dad, then? I can take you directly to where Xaldin is. Her dad might not be right with him, but it's a start." Roxas gave him a look that said _thank you _and translated for him.

"Axel says he'll take us to where Xaldin is." Belle perked up.

"What, like teleportation?" Oh, God, please. Kids these days.

"No, on the horse."

"He says 'no, on the horse.'" Roxas imitated Axel's voice as he said it, and suffice to say, the imitation was not very accurate. Axel's voice was _not _that high and nasally.

"See if I ever help you again," he muttered, but his hands were tied. Even if he didn't tag along, Roxas was going to go through with this stupid plan, anyway. And then, when Xaldin's inevitable trap was sprung, Axel would be called to fight for Roxas's life from wherever he was enjoying something that wasn't fighting for Roxas's life, anyway. This way, he was cutting out the middleman. Or something. Having Axel around would also cut out the risk of Roxas getting lost in the woods, which would totally happen. The area in and around Twilight Town wasn't large, but with no directions, getting lost in the dense forest was almost a certainty.

Preparations were made. Belle quickly changed into jeans and a sweatshirt for the trip. Axel led Roxas, and through Roxas led Belle, out to the yard. Philippe was waiting for them, and he greeted Axel with a soft whinny. Axel smiled, and ran his hand down the horse's broad face.

"Hey, buddy," he said. "Mind taking some kids on a ride?" Philippe obligingly lay down to allow Belle and Roxas to climb on. He didn't have a saddle, but Axel was sure they wouldn't need one. Belle climbed on first.

"Good horsie," she said, a tiny waver in her voice. She leaned forward to stroke his neck. Roxas moved to get on behind her, but Axel stopped him.

"Be careful, Roxas," Axel said seriously. "Being on the horse might make you sick."

"What are you talking about?"

"It's not a real horse. Xaldin conjured him. You don't do well with magic, remember?" Roxas nodded. Axel felt very much like a parent lecturing a child. There was so much information that he needed to know, though. "Oh, and another thing. The horse and sword are part of the wish, so once it's fulfilled, they'll probably disappear."

"What do you mean?"

"After we find her dad, we'll have to make it back out here on foot. I can't carry all three of you. I mean, one, because that's physically impossible, and two, because I can only interact with you specifically." Roxas blanched. Obviously, he hadn't thought or even known about those things. Axel felt odd telling Roxas the truth, with no hesitation.

_It's all part of protecting him, _he told himself. _I'm required to do that, right?_

The forest was in front of them, absolute in the darkness. Roxas climbed on Philippe's back behind Belle, and they both yelped as Philippe stood back up. The horse gave Axel a tired sort of look, as if to say: _seriously, dude_? Roxas immediately looked nauseous.

"You know," he laughed nervously, "I almost liked it better when you didn't tell me anything."

"Well, this isn't part of any wish, so right now, I'm not your servant. I'm your partner." _Partner- _Axel rather liked the sound of that. Well, maybe he'd get to fry up some more monsters tonight. He grinned with a wild abandon, and gently clicked his tongue, encouraging Philippe to follow him into the black. As he slipped into the shadows, he called back over his shoulder.

"Hold on, and don't die."

* * *

OMG remember how I wrote this fic and then didn't update it for like ten months and it was great? Wow, those were the days.

I intended Belle's whole adventure to be one chapter, but it was getting ridiculously long, so I split it into two. Because I'm a douchebag. I do douchey things. It's how I am.

You should totes review so that I don't wait another year to update. ;) ADIOS~

UPDATE: Like, everyone ever has whined at me in reviews about how ZOMG Jasmine was a rich girl and then she was a poor girl! YOU USED THE SAME CHARACTER IN TWO DIFFERENT ROLES, DID YOU KNOW? For fuck's sake, people. She has a genie, she made a wish, and she's poor now. Please stop yelling at me about my "mistake."

Carry on with your regularly scheduled fanfic reading. :)


	14. Chapter 14

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 14**

Axel walked through the forest at a slow, even pace. The underbrush was dense, but never got to be more than knee-high, so he didn't need to cut anything back. Philippe picked his way delicately through without complaint. Belle and Roxas remained silent, save Roxas's occasional grunt of displeasure. The one time Axel turned to check on him, he'd been shocked by how pallid his young charge was looking, so now, he kept his eyes firmly forward. He couldn't deny that he was worried, but staring at Roxas like a creepshow wasn't going to help anyone. Axel pinpointed Xaldin's signature magic easily, and he followed the trail somewhat subconsciously, allowing his mind to wander.

Had _he_ been that sensitive to magic while he was alive? He honestly couldn't remember at all. He'd only gotten through two wishes, and the first one was for new shoes, so it was hard to tell. The shoes hadn't made him sick as far as he could remember, but given that he'd long since abandoned all sorts of footwear, he supposed they must have done something bad. In the present, his bare feet squished pleasantly in the mud.

Now, the second wish, being turned into what he was now- _that _hurt. Like hell on fire. Except, Demyx had confided in him once that _his _transformation felt like slipping into a refreshingly cool lake on a hot day, though, so maybe the whole fire thing was just Axel's personal demon's style.

"Roxas?" Belle's voice broke his thoughts. "Are you still awake?"

"Uh-huh," Roxas moaned. Axel tried to think of something to say, like a cheerful _hang in there buddy _or something equally lame, but he came up short. He felt guilty trying to cheer Roxas up, when he knew that no matter what, the boy's life was going to end in shit. If he'd gotten any bottle besides Axel's, this whole mess would be over by now. Axel had long suspected that Xemnas had a way of assigning his minions to certain people. Well, ha ha, boss!

Everyone's laughing.

Big fucking joke.

"Is your genie still here?" Belle asked. The trees were rapidly closing in, and if Axel hadn't known better, he'd have guessed the foliage was trying to grab them.

"Uh-huh."

"Um, do you feel ok?"

"Uh-uh."

"Was that uh-huh good, or uh-uh bad?"

"Unnngh," Roxas let out a long, pitiful moan. Axel stopped Philippe. He had no strong feelings towards Belle, one way or the other, but he still didn't want Roxas to barf on her.

"Come on, buddy," he urged. "Don't puke on the pretty girl." He supported Roxas on his shoulder, and the boy vomited gloriously, in a two-foot projectile arc. Luckily, he hadn't eaten that much, so there weren't airborne chunks of partially-digested french fries to worry about.

Belle totally freaked out anyway.

"Oh my God! I want to walk," she snapped. She pushed Roxas away and tried to climb off the horse herself. Where she was planning on going from the middle of nowheresville was anyone's guess.

"Tell her to save her strength." Roxas tried to do as he was asked, but it came out as mush, so Axel just tugged the horse forward. Belle barely kept her balance.

Axel hadn't really spent a lot of time out here in the middle of nowheresville. The denizens of Twilight Town were traditionally sort of afraid of their bordering forest, which was why it had never been developed, even though Twilight Town had been around since almost the beginning of time. Axel had certainly never come here while he was human, and he'd only come here on account of a wish once. The woman wished for a vacation, and, well, when had Axel ever had great control over the results?

_"I wish I had friends."_

Axel grimaced, and tried to block the memory out. A wish he was never going to forget.

_"I wish I had friends."_

_"Whoa. Seriously? Um, ok. Uh, wish granted."_

_"Cool! Does it happen right away?" Axel frowned slightly. Would a parade of sweaty teenagers be bursting through this kid's door at any moment? Or maybe they'd only be weirdo internet friends? He waited for a few moments for some crazy magical shit to go down. _

_And then he realized._

_"Sure does," he beamed. 99% of his job was just rolling with the punches. "Let me know if you want to go to the movies, or eat ice cream, or something."_

_"Huh?"_

_"You wished for friends. As of now, I, Axel, am officially your friend. So, lemme know when you wanna do best friend stuff. Oh, and you have seven wishes left." He expected the girl's face to crumple, her spirit crushed by a miserably wasted wish. She didn't look sad, though. On the contrary, her face brightened._

_"That's such a good idea!" she gushed. "Let's go to the movies right now!"_

_"Oh, um. Really?" Axel paused. "You should probably wish that something good is showing, then."_

She didn't. That was how Axel got the privilege of sitting through nearly three hours of _Stars Crossed: A Tale of Passion_.

It was awful.

"This would be much more enjoyable if you could talk," he groused at Roxas, forcing himself not to think of his past masters. Roxas garbled something angry back at him. Their usual banter, however, had an apprehensive air about it.

The forest was getting to both of them.

This kind of place was perfect for Xaldin, though, who preferred things shady and mysterious and clichéd. Knowing him, he probably just kidnapped Belle's father to be a dick and keep himself amused. He was probably, at that very moment, twirling his sideburns with sinister glee at the fact that Axel had been dragged into this mess, too.

The trees whispered on all sides, as if to usher the four of them through faster. They were getting close. Belle was determined, but obviously exhausted, and Roxas couldn't do much more than drool and moan. Stopping to rest wouldn't do much good out here in nowheresville, and Axel didn't have the mad skills to go toe-to-toe with someone five ranks his superior.

Basically, they were totally fucked.

"Rox, you need to pull yourself together. I don't know what's in there, and I wouldn't count on her actually using that sword." The sword itself lay glistening across Belle's lap. She looked afraid hold it properly. Or touch it at all. Or look at it.

"Axel," Roxas whimpered. "I'm trying, Axel." Axel wasn't used to seeing Roxas act this pathetic, and the sight was unnerving to him.

"Well, try harder," he said, mostly for his own sake. Roxas's chin jutted out into a defiant pout.

"You're a douche."

"Look who's talking."

The wind picked up as they traveled deeper into the forest, making it difficult for Axel to keep his bearings. That was Xaldin's doing, too, he was sure of it. He could always turn around. Show up back at Belle's house, say he got lost. _Oops, there was nothing I could do_! Despite his better judgment, though, he pressed forward.

He'd made a promise to Roxas, after all.

Stupid Roxas.

His parents were probably wondering where he was. Axel could sense that the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, though it hadn't reached inside the trees yet, and that meant that Roxas had been missing for an entire night.

_I wonder if my mom wondered where I was. I wonder if anyone looked for me._

Axel bit his lip.

_I wonder if anyone ever noticed that I left._

Then, after many excruciating hours-that-were-actually-just-minutes of hacking through thick underbrush- with Axel doing all of the hacking, lousy freeloading kids- the four of them broke through into a clearing.

Xaldin was waiting for them.

Well, ok, the sun had only just began to rise, so all Axel could see was some sort of dark figure. But it was definitely Xaldin. Who else would be standing out in the woods like this? Unless Twilight Town had gotten way more weird in the last thousand years. Besides- Xaldin's angry and off-putting aura was making a cold wind sting Axel's ears.

"I'm glad you made it," he said, his voice dripping with the kind of politeness that made it sound like the speaker was making fun of you. Yeah, totally Xaldin. Belle responded first. She leaned awkwardly over Philippe's neck.

"Where's my father?" she demanded. Her voice was shaky, but her resolve was firm. Xaldin tilted his head to one side in a quizzical gesture that was very much unlike him.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" he taunted. "Aren't you enjoying your wish?"

"I wished for an adventure," she screamed. "I wished for an _adventure_!"

"Wouldn't you call this an adventure?" Xaldin's face was obscured by the shadows. "You rode a horse, and you're holding a sword. You journeyed into places you'd never been before, with help of some unlikely allies. Don't you feel adventurous?"

"You didn't have to kidnap my father."

"Not all adventures are pleasant ones," Xaldin said evenly. "You don't always enjoy yourself. You don't always learn something new and special, and come out with a happy ending. Sometimes, you just travel in a circle, and sometimes, you're worse off than when you started."

Axel freely admitted that he was completely shit-his-pants terrified of Xaldin. Of all of his colleagues, Xaldin was one of the most calculating, and one of the most ruthless. On top of that, Axel's entire body was probably smaller than the muscles in Xaldin's neck. But as he listened to Xaldin speak now, he heard something else in his voice, something that he wasn't used to.

It sounded like _bitterness._

Bitterness from someone who'd been traveling in circles all his life. Someone with no control over his own choices, who was only able to act for a blessed few days every thousand years.

"You're talking about us," he said out loud. And for the first time, in an unprecedented spark of empathy, he wondered: what had _Xaldin _wished for to cause him to end up like this?

Xaldin saw Axel's unprecedented spark of empathy, and raised him a stare so cold it made Axel's _demon_ shiver.

"Don't ever make assumptions about me, Axel," Xaldin said stiffly. "Regardless, I've stayed here long enough." He addressed Belle. "Your father is locked in a cage, fifty yards north of here."

"A _cage_?" she cried indignantly.

"What's the catch?" Axel muttered to himself.

"Axel." Roxas was gasping for breath. His eyes were wide. "Behind." Axel focused on the forest behind where Xaldin was standing. A shadow- an uncomfortably large shadow- was lumbering through the trees, directly towards them.

A lump caught in Axel's throat.

"Get off the horse," he snapped. "Get off the horse! _Now_!" He grabbed Roxas, who grabbed Belle, and somehow, they both managed to dismount, landing in a heap on the forest floor. As soon had they stopped touching Philippe, the horse disappeared, as if he'd never been there at all.

Totally. Fucked.

"Is that- a monster?" Belle gasped. Her fingers wrapped around the hilt of her sword.

"Don't have too much fun," Xaldin said darkly.

He disappeared.

The creature broke into a gallop, charging directly at Belle. The bulky shadow grew larger, and larger, until finally, it erupted into the clearing with a mighty roar.

It should be noted that very few things that his partners-in-magic did surprised Axel.

His eyes widened, however, as the creature barreled towards them. The thing looked kind of like a cross between a wolf and a cat, if he had to guess, but it was _big, _bigger than the horse, and it had massive claws on all four feet, and Belle was going to die, and he wasn't going to be able to do anything about it.

Just like before. A girl's life had been taken from her right in front of him, thanks to his own stupid mistakes. He never should have let her come out here, he never should have gone along with what his master wanted-

Belle clutched the sword hilt in both hands. She held the blade straight out in front of her, as if hoping the monster would impale itself. She wasn't going to last two minutes against that thing. Axel wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn't.

Fortunately, of the three of them, someone was able to act.

Roxas dove directly in front of the beast.

The claws were coming down. They made contact. Roxas's blood was flying out into the air-

And the entire forest was on fire.

The reaction was immediate and involuntary. Fire was building in Axel's gut, an acidic sensation in his throat, and the heat inside of him was rising. He could barely keep a handle on his magic at the best of times.

"Watch out," he yelled, in a voice that wasn't his own. His body surged- fire itself- and he launched himself, or maybe just the fire, at the monster attacking his master.

The beast fried. Its screeches of pain filled the forest, so that it almost seemed the forest itself was screaming. Axel couldn't stop. He destroyed Xaldin's spell by force. He poured heat on the monster until it melted into nothing.

Roxas and Belle were invisible to him. The threat was everything. The threat must be eliminated.

"Axel," Roxas gasped. "It's dead, Axel. You can stop. Axel!" Axel tried to force the fire back down. He really did. The demon inside of him was pumping him full of power, too much for his human body to handle. He was only distantly aware of how frightening he must look.

The heat simmered down.

"We need to get out of here," Roxas was screaming. "Get us out of here!" Axel's blurry vision made it over to Belle, who was clutching her unconscious father. Somewhere in the chaos, she must have found him. Man, kids these days. They got shit _done. _Despite being the one with supernatural powers, Axel was feeling aggressively useless.

"I can't do anything about them unless you wish for it."

"I wish-" Axel interrupted him in a hurry.

"Be careful when you say it," he said. "Something like 'I wish you would take me, Belle, and Belle's father to a safe place within Twilight Town.' It has to be specific." Axel's fire was dying down, and he could see Roxas staring at him. Blood was dripping out of a wound on his shoulder. Axel hadn't made it in time.

"Axel," Roxas began slowly. "I wish you would take me, Belle, and Belle's father back to Belle's house, and thoroughly heal all of our wounds."

_Belle's house? _Axel thought. _Well, he's the boss._

"Granted. Hold on tight." Again, his power surged up inside of him, pushing Axel out of his own mind. The forest began to fade out of view, shimmering and replacing itself with Belle's familiar cottage, the trees a comfortable distance away.

He went to Belle and her father first, since they couldn't see him. Belle was unhurt. Her father was unconscious, but didn't have any injuries worse than a few ordinary cuts and scrapes. Roxas, however, was losing blood, and fast. The beast had connected a split second before Axel had been able to react, and really, they were lucky it hadn't taken Roxas's arm completely off.

Not that Axel wasn't awesome enough to be able to fix that, of course.

The wish continued, without Axel doing much to move things along, and his hands pushed Roxas down onto the ground, as if they were moving on their own. He deftly removed Roxas's torn up shirt and jacket. Roxas blushed a rosy pink color. Apparently, he was somewhat less than used to having men undress him in the woods.

Axel chose to ignore their rather compromising position, and attribute Roxas's flushed face to nervousness.

"Don't worry," he assured him. "It won't hurt." As he spoke, Axel's body moved of its own volition, pressing a hand against the open wound. Roxas flinched away instinctively.

"Relax, dude." The blood on Roxas's shoulder was drying up, and the gashes were closing, but it was all happening slowly, painfully slowly. Roxas was squeezing his eyes to stop from puking.

He was a sturdy little guy. Axel had to hand him that. He almost had his arm taken off, and he didn't even cry. Now, Axel was pumping raw energy into his system, and Roxas was forcing himself not to react at all.

He was tough.

"Almost done." The beast wound was already closed, but Roxas had said 'thoroughly.' His whole body would have to be cleaned up before the wish would stop. Axel's hands moved, automatically, from the shoulder to some mosquito bites on Roxas's arms. From there, with no prompting by Axel himself, mind you, his hands traveled to a faint scar on Roxas's lower stomach.

"How'd you get this?" he asked gently, as his fingers erased it.

"Sk-skateboarding accident," Roxas stammered. A violent blush had taken over his cheeks. Apparently, he wasn't used to dudes rubbing his belly.

Well, whatever. Axel grinned wickedly.

"Just be grateful you don't have diaper rash." Roxas's face turned an even darker shade of crimson, and he made an awkward sputtery noise in protest. Axel finished removing the scar, and used one finger to disappear a cut that a tree branch had left on Roxas's cheek.

"There. All better." In spite of himself, he smiled at the sight of a properly restored Roxas. As he did so, the last of his magical powers drained out of his body. Clouds of exhaustion fogged up his brain. He'd been pushed to the absolute limit.

"God, Roxas," he sighed. "You're so stupid."

Axel passed out.

* * *

Uh oh! Roxas only has one wish left! Let's all cross our fingers and hope nothing tremendously bad happens to him.

Sorry that this chapter is kind of short. Originally this chapter was supposed to be part of the last chapter, but it got too long, and I didn't like this half of it, so I kept rewriting it and rewriting it and now here we are. Sorry if things got a little melodramatic- I've been watching Naruto. (And... and... I kind of want to write Naruto fanfiction. It's come to that. IT'S COME TO THAT)

Q OF THE DAY: What do you think Roxas is going to use his last wish for? (One of us knows the answer, and it's not you. ;) ) Also- which genie do you think we'll be meeting next?


	15. Chapter 15

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 15**

Axel disappeared.

Before, he'd only ever disappeared when Roxas told him to, or when Roxas was sleeping or something. He'd never vanished mid-sentence during a crisis. One moment, he was leaning over Roxas, a little smile on his face, a very real hand pressed against Roxas's shoulder, and then- poof! Nothing! Gone!

Roxas was staring, dumbfounded, at the empty space in front of him, when Belle called his name.

"Roxas! Are you ok?"

"He's gone," he said stupidly. He didn't even care that there was a girl _right there next to him _and he wasn't wearing a shirt. Axel- where was Axel?

"Who's gone?"

"Axel," said Roxas, in shock. "He disappeared." Belle was quiet for a moment. Roxas mentally went through all of his wishes. He was sure he hadn't used them all.

The first one- he'd gotten frustrated, and wished for Axel to go away. It didn't work, of course, so he used the second wish to make Axel go away for real. The third wish was for Axel not to hurt Naminé and her sisters. The fourth wish was for Axel to rescue Roxas from Naminé and her sisters. He used his fifth wish to ask for information, but Axel had told him he couldn't grant that one, so it didn't count. Instead, Roxas wished to be taken to all of the other genies in Axel's line, and then had to wish again to get around a loophole. The seventh wish was to get himself, Belle, and Belle's dad the hell out of that forest.

That meant he still had one wish left. Axel shouldn't have vanished. Unless the one that couldn't be granted still counted as a wish, which would be _incredibly _unfair. But the more he thought about it, the more he was sure: the connection between himself and Axel was still active.

"Maybe he's just tired?" Belle said. Did genies, or whatever Axel was, even _get _tired? Roxas had never seen him sleep. Belle, on the other hand, was obviously exhausted, shaking as she clutched her unconscious father. Roxas was barely aware that he'd been up all night. He was sure he looked like some kind of filthy vagrant as he tugged his torn up shirt and jacket back over his head.

"I'm going home," he announced, standing up. Despite his lack of sleep, the healing had given him a burst of energy. The bottle- he had to get to Axel's bottle. He cursed himself for leaving it behind.

Belle was alarmed that he was leaving.

"What am I supposed to do if Xaldin comes back?" she asked. Roxas thought about it. He knew the ins and outs of manipulating one of these things pretty well, after all.

"Just don't wish for anything," he said. "Don't even say the word. Even if he's not around, he'll know if you've asked him for something." He tried to think of what else he'd learned from being around Axel. "They can twist the wishes around, obviously. But know that he can't hurt you directly, not unless you wish for it. He can hurt other people though." Belle's face was pale and her expression was grim, but she nodded as she absorbed the information.

"I'm jealous," she finally sighed. "Axel seems nice."

_Nice?_

"He's, um, himself," Roxas said lamely. He'd never counted himself as particularly _lucky _to have found Axel, but if the others were all like Xaldin or Marluxia, maybe he had really gotten the luck of the draw. Demyx seemed reasonably ok, if a little scatter-brained, though Ariel clearly wasn't better off as a result of whatever wishes she made.

"I need to go home," he said. Belle nodded.

"Sorry I can't give you a ride." It was plainly obvious that neither she nor her father owned a car. Well, he'd walked here, and he could walk back. He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it." Before he could leave, she spoke again.

"Um, Roxas," she said softly. When she stood up, she wobbled a little, most likely from fatigue. She left her father's side and walked over to him. Her cheeks were pink. Suddenly, his hand was in hers, and he felt a warm squeeze. For an uncomfortable instant, it seemed like she was going to come closer, but she must have seen the look on Roxas's face and decided against it.

"Thank you for helping me," she said instead.

"You're welcome," said Roxas, without even thinking. Belle let him go. He turned and left at a sprint, back towards the heart of Twilight Town.

It didn't occur to him for several minutes that Belle had been, you know, _flirting _with him.

Mere days before, he'd been desperate for female attention. Now, he was ignoring it in favor of worrying about a magical fairy man who lived in a bottle in his room.

And what's worse, he saw nothing _wrong _with that.

He pushed the subject out of his mind and focused instead on how awesome it would have been if he'd been able to grab his skateboard when Axel dragged him out of the house. By the time he reached his own street, he was exhausted, and the sun was a bit higher in the sky. It was still super early, though- there was no one outside.

His parents wouldn't have left for work yet.

Roxas shoved his key in the lock, ran up the two flights of stairs, and pushed open the door to his apartment. Sure enough, his mom and dad were there in the living room, with their coffee, both dressed for work but with no obvious plans to leave. Their heads were bowed in intense conversation. When Roxas walked in, they both startled and looked up. His mother started to cry.

Both of them looked extremely happy and extremely pissed.

"Hi," said Roxas. He wasn't sure what else he was supposed to say. They had every right to be freaking out- his call last night _had _been pretty cryptic, and then he hadn't come home until 7 A.M. He glanced at the kitchen clock for the time.

"We were worried _sick_," said his mother, just as his father said, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Around," said Roxas. He tried to walk straight to his room, but his father grabbed him. Roxas shook his arm loose.

"We expect an explanation, young man," his father said. The 'young man' sounded awkward and stilted, like his dad was too angry to use his name, but needed a placeholder and couldn't come up with anything better. They didn't argue often.

"Can I shower first?" he asked shortly. Roxas had never been nearly so tense with his own parents before. For the most part, being as average as he was made him an extremely decent son.

"Yes, sweetie," his mother said quickly. She reached out and grabbed his father's arm. Roxas stormed his way through the apartment, only barely hearing his mother whisper:

"Let him go. I'll make sure he gets to school. We can talk about this tonight." They continued a hushed conversation that Roxas only heard parts of, the occasional _he's a teenager_ and _he'll cool down_. He blocked his parents out and went into his bedroom.

To his relief, Axel's bottle was right where he left it, on the back of the desk.

He had no idea why he'd ever thought to leave such an important thing behind. The moment he grabbed it, he knew, instantly, that that was where Axel was hiding. Somehow, he'd exhausted himself, and been forced back inside. Roxas wasn't sure how that worked, but he did know he wasn't going to leave Axel alone in his bedroom. He didn't mind being the babysitter for a little while. As he picked up the bottle, though, he caught a glimpse of himself in his bedroom mirror.

He looked _terrible. _No wonder his parents had freaked out.

His hair was sticking straight up, more than usual, tinged a funny brown color from his time spent running around the city. His clothes were torn and stained. Thanks to Axel's healing, his skin was perfectly clear, which only emphasized how bad the rest of him was. His face was incredibly pale, a sure sign that the constant vomiting was taking its toll on his body.

Well, a shower would be a good start.

When he was done, he pulled on some clean clothes, leaving the ruined ones on his floor. A quick check showed him that he still looked ill, but not deranged. He shoved Axel's bottle in his pocket.

Axel had mentioned, several times, that he could feel a link to what Roxas was feeling. It wasn't something Roxas had dwelled on before now. Maybe the link was only going one way before. Maybe he just hadn't been concentrating on it enough, or maybe it had gotten lost in all the nausea. In any case, now, he could feel it, and he took comfort in the magical hum that pressed against his hip.

He walked back out into the kitchen, desperate for something to eat. His mother was still home- she was going to be late for work. When he walked in, she looked up and smiled at him. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around a coffee mug. The bags under her eyes were as dark as they were large.

She looked like she hadn't slept all night. She probably hadn't.

"You look much better, Rox," she said softly. "Are you all right to go to school?"

"I'm fine," he said. He still had several minutes before Hayner would be waiting for him. Once his mom left, he could grab a pop-tart. He really was ravenously hungry. He hadn't eaten since lunch the day before.

"I have to go to work now," his mom said. She got up and poured out the rest of her coffee into the sink, depositing the mug in the dishwasher. "I'll try to get home early. We'll talk then, all right?"

"Ok, mom." She came over and wrapped her arms around his middle. Surprised by the sudden embrace, Roxas returned the hug awkwardly.

"I love you, sweetie," his mom whispered, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you tonight." He mumbled something back before she released him.

She grabbed her purse and left, closing the door quietly behind her.

Roxas gratefully rushed into the kitchen and grabbed his delicious breakfast snacks from the cupboard. After inhaling the first one and shoving two more into his face, he marched out of the apartment, and fumbled through locking the door and chewing and swallowing all at once.

Someone bumped into him, and he almost choked.

"Hi, Alice," he said, without thinking, as soon as he managed to get the pop-tart down. He knew who it was, immediately. No one else in his building was that clumsy.

"Hi, Roxas," she said. "Say hi to my friend too." She smiled up at Roxas with big blue eyes, and then he remembered.

Alice had a genie, too. Axel had told him so.

"Hi." He stared suspiciously at the open space next to Alice, hoping that that's where the genie was standing. It was difficult to imagine what this one would look like. They were all so different.

"Uh," he asked. "What's your friend's name?"

"Lexaeus," Alice said proudly. Roxas heard the telling X in the middle of the name. He was definitely dealing with one of Axel's pals. He thought about backing off, since he didn't have Axel around to tell him what was happening. Someone who knew what was going on, to walk him through it. But then, he remembered that Alice saw nothing wrong with having friends no one else could see.

He decided to go for it.

"Has Lexaeus offered you any wishes?" he asked bluntly.

"Yes," she said. Alice had no concept of what was normal and what wasn't. "I wished for a toy, but it broke." Well, things could have been worse, but giving a broken toy to a little girl still seemed pretty low.

"After that," Alice continued, the dreamy expression still on her face, "I wished for chocolate cake, but my mom told me I couldn't have any." And then giving her sweets that she couldn't eat. Now it was just getting pathetic.

"Did you wish for anything else?"

"No. He told me if I made too many wishes, he'd go away and we wouldn't be able to play tea party anymore." She actually looked a little sad at that. So, she still liked this Lexaeus person, even though he gave her broken toys and cake she was forbidden from eating? Well, that was typical Alice. Either way, having the genie around wasn't good for her.

Now, all he had to do was ask Alice to give him Lexaeus's bottle, and then open it. Roxas wasn't entirely sure how to explain the bottle to her, though. He did know that the others he'd seen all looked really similar, so that was worth a shot. He pulled Axel's bottle out of his pocket and showed it to Alice.

"Do you have something that looks like this?" he asked. She smiled and nodded.

"Yes!" The faded blue dress she was wearing had large pockets in the front, pockets that bulged with all sorts of weird childhood trinkets. She reached in and pulled out a bottle, one that was instantly recognizable as being related to the rest of them. This one was a deep amber brown. Alice's tiny hand made it look larger.

"Can I see it?" he asked. Alice nodded and began to hand over the bottle. Just before Roxas took it, though, she froze, then pulled it back to her chest. She turned to someone Roxas couldn't see, her expression a vague sort of pout.

"Why not?" she said. "Roxas is my friend." Her pout deepened. So, Lexaeus didn't want Roxas to be able to see him.

Roxas was faced with some choices.

He could tackle Alice and take the bottle out of her hands. That would provoke her genie into protecting her, though. On the other hand, Alice was passive enough that he was sure he could make her let go without hurting her. It wasn't like he'd wrestled toys off of her before.

He was thinking seriously about stealing something from a child.

Well, now or never.

"I wanna see it," he said, and he grabbed for Alice's hands. With her usual level of compliance, Alice handed it over easily. The bottle was warm.

Roxas spun around and yanked the cork out.

Instantly, he felt a new presence materialize behind him. Alice was complaining that she wanted her bottle back, in her quiet sort of way. Roxas tucked the cork back into the bottle.

He wondered what this one would look like. Pink frilly hair? Red spikes? Black braids?

Roxas turned around.

He yelped and jumped back.

This guy was _huge._

Admittedly, Roxas was kind of small. He was self-conscious about his small, non-muscular frame, certainly not manly at all like Hayner, or even Axel, who was skinny, but taller. But this man- this Lexaeus-

Roxas's _waist _was smaller than this guy's _arms._

Alice was barely tall enough to reach his belly button. His neck was thicker than either of Roxas's thighs. He was so big that he almost didn't fit in the hallway. His wild auburn hair stood up so much it was brushing against the ceiling. Obviously, he needed to turn sideways to go through doors.

"Yo," the hulking man said. His voice was so deep it made Roxas's skull shake. A memory came back to him.

Lexaeus had been waiting when he and Axel ran out of the apartment with Sora on their heels. It was Lexaeus who had tossed Sora into the air, with some hefty piece of equipment that Roxas couldn't identify, some sort of large, blunt axe. When Sora tried to run, Lexaeus slammed one of his fists into the ground, cracking the pavement open, and causing Sora to drop downward, just as Roxas had seen before.

The damage to the street, it occurred to him, had been repaired. Or maybe it had never actually been damaged at all. And where, exactly, had Sora and Riku gone?

Oh, shit, this was all just too complicated.

"I have nothing to give you." Lexaeus did not make any gestures while he said this, not a shake of his head nor a shrug of his shoulders. He was like a brick wall. No- something thicker than brick. Cement.

"That's ok," Roxas said awkwardly, as if he were apologizing. He handed Alice her bottle back and she tucked it back into her pocket."Um," he said. "I have to go to school."

"Me too," said Alice. She took Lexaeus's hand- a gesture that would almost have been cute, were he not an eight-foot-tall murder machine- and together, they followed Roxas out of the building. While waiting for Hayner, he watched them walk down the street together and turn the corner.

He could only imagine what he and Axel looked like, walking around side by side.

"Are you ok, dude?" Hayner was waving a hand in his face. He didn't actually look that concerned, so he probably just wanted to wave a hand in his face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Roxas lied. "I just didn't sleep that well." Or at all. Except those couple hours in that mansion where he was unconscious, which didn't really count.

Hayner and Roxas continued to school in silence. When they passed the "abandoned" house with all the vines, Roxas forced himself not to look at it, or think about the girl who was trapped inside. Part of his brain reminded him that that house had always been that way, and he forced that down, too.

The Sora and Riku issue was nagging at him. Axel had as good as said they'd be back. Why hadn't they come after them during all of their midnight adventures? The more he thought about it, the more anxious he got. Every shadow seemed to Roxas to look just like Riku's crazy bat-wing sword.

Luckily, they made it to school without incident.

By the time the first bell rang, Roxas had plopped down in his homeroom chair, thankfully abduction-free.

The lack of sleep began to hit him during his morning classes. He was both zoned out and fidgeting uncontrollably, simultaneously too wired to relax and about to pass out on his desk. During his more lucid moments, he found himself frantically looking around for flashes of silver, or brown, or red or blonde or black, but luckily, none of the magical sword brigade appeared to be coming after him, at least not during class. Either way, his heart rate stayed above average.

By lunchtime, he was a zombie.

After obtaining his tray of questionable lunch foods, he stumbled over to his and his friends' usual table. Roxas had no appetite whatsoever. Nothing on the tray looked like anything he wanted to put in his mouth.

"I found that guy you were asking me about," said Pence. Roxas blinked. What guy? When had he asked Pence for help? Why was he dragging Pence into this mess? God, did Pence have a genie too? Had he been tricked into this? What was going on?

Almost on reflex, he looked around for silver hair. Or brown, red, blonde, or black. He thought he saw Xion and almost freaked out before realizing that it was a dude.

"Remember?" Pence asked. "Axel Waltz? You saw his name somewhere, and wanted to know if he went to our school?" He was pulling a laptop out of his backpack. Why he brought a laptop with him to high school was anyone's guess, but it was handy for times like these.

Whatever "times like these" were.

"Oh," he said. "I forgot."

"Are you really ok, dude?" asked Hayner, for the second time that day. Roxas wondered if there was a good way to excuse his way out of this. His "I saw the name somewhere" justification was totally lame. Unfortunately, he had at least one of his best friends in all of his classes, so passing it off as some sort of school project wasn't likely. He'd never shown an interest in old, dead people before. Maybe he could say that he thought he and Axel might be related?

The very thought made him retch.

"Well, Axel Waltz was a real guy, and he did go to this school," Pence shrugged. "It's just that it was, like, a _really _long time ago." He was typing something into his computer, probably to bring up the info he'd found on Axel. Not that he really wanted to _know-_

"How long?" Roxas found himself asking, before he could stop himself.

"Six thousand years."

The bottle felt heavy in Roxas's pocket.

Axel was _old_. And furthermore, he'd been telling the _truth_.

Of course, Axel couldn't lie to him- he knew that- but faced with factual proof that Axel had been a living person running around Twilight Town six thousand years ago, the _reality _of the stories Axel had been telling him, about being born in Twilight Town, about the _beginning of the universe_, hit him in a way it hadn't before.

"Did you see his name on a tombstone or something?" Pence asked curiously. Roxas stared at him. Technically, Axel was still alive.

"Why do you ask that?"

"He never graduated. He didn't even have a senior year picture taken." _Axel was a real person who'd been turned into what he was now. He was sixteen. _Of course everyone would think that he died."I mean, he looks like kind of a delinquent," Pence continued, "so he might've just dropped out-"

"Can I see?" asked Olette, and she grabbed Pence's laptop before he could finish. "Oh, yeah- just look at those tattoos. He was probably in a gang or something." Roxas did his best to glance over Olette's shoulder without looking too interested.

His hair was shorter, and the earrings were missing, but yep, that was definitely Axel. The school pictures from six thousand years ago were no different than the ones Roxas had taken every year in the present. Axel's face stared up at him with a petulent expression, as if he hated having his picture taken.

Roxas was suddenly glad that the real Axel wasn't around to watch them all gawk at him.

"How do you find these people?" Hayner asked, leaning over to get a look for himself.

"Nothing fancy. It's all public," Pence explained. "The school keeps a record of every student they've ever had, all online. It goes back even farther than this guy."

"Scary to think that this stupid school has been around for that long," Olette muttered. She seemed distracted by her food. Roxas decided to stare down at his food, too. A creeping dread was spreading through him.

Axel was a real person, just like Roxas was. That meant that it was more than possible for Roxas to be turned into what Axel was now, just like Axel had said was the plan. But if he just got to all the genies- he still didn't know how many there were, at least eight- if he did that, they wouldn't be able to touch him-

A tingle went down Roxas's neck, and his head shot up.

Marluxia was staring at him evenly from across the cafeteria.

Roxas met his eyes. They were flat and threatening, even from within the nest of pink hair. Marluxia leaned against the wall, poofy sleeves crossed, observing Roxas through the throng of students, all of whom were oblivious to Marluxia's presence. Roxas's heart rate picked up.

They were _watching_ him.

_He can't hurt me, _he reminded himself. Well, not directly, anyway. He did not continue down that train of thought. An alternative, of course, was that they were there to protect him from the other team- Sora and Riku, as well as Kairi and Xion and Naminé. That thought brought no comfort, either.

Seeing Marluxia, though, had reminded Roxas of something important. So far, nearly all of the bottles he'd found had been in the possession of other teenagers at his school. He'd met Demyx, Marluxia, and Xaldin, which meant he knew that Ariel, Aurora, and Belle were involved. Alice had Lexaeus, and she was a little young, but she was also Roxas's neighbor, so it might be a proximity thing. The unfortunate Cinderella had one, too, but it was safe to assume her genie was out of play.

So, including his own, he'd met or found out about six genies, and he knew there had to be at least eight.

He knew that they were probably attached to kids from his school. When Axel recovered, he'd be able to lead Roxas to the ones remaining, but so far, charging in blind hadn't exactly been good for either of them.

Knowing what to expect would be nice.

Nothing unusual had happened at the school lately, except for Cinderella's death. But then, Axel had told him that wishes were able to change reality so completely that no one would be able to tell the difference, and Roxas knew this to be true, since he _still _wasn't convinced that the spooky haunted house hadn't always been covered in vines, despite seeing the evidence to the contrary with his own eyes.

Marluxia was still staring at him.

Axel told Roxas that he was sensitive to magic. It upset his stomach. That seemed likely, since Roxas had been a pukey mess ever since Axel had shown up in the first place. So, basically, Roxas had to look around the school and see who made him want to barf. Not the most dignified detective work, but it was all he had to go on. He glanced around the cafeteria at his classmates.

In an instant, he felt it.

Not heavy nausea like before, but a small twinge. He was looking around for the source when someone plopped down next to him.

"Hey, Roxas," Tidus greeted. "Wanna come to my game this weekend?"

* * *

LOOK AT ME I UPDATED A STORY! I am so with it, dude. I am the coolest. The coolest! Literally no one voted for Lexaeus being the next person Roxas meets, but eh. God damn I am just so tired.

Many thanks to Axel's Roxas for betaing! She is the second coolest.


	16. Chapter 16

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 16**

This weekend. Today was Friday. Would Roxas even be alive that long? He couldn't really be sure. He didn't want to promise anything that he couldn't keep because he was dead. On the other hand, that line of thinking was unbearably morbid, so he tried to ignore it.

"When is it?" he asked instead.

"Tomorrow morning," Tidus said. "We're playing the team from Traverse Town. Should be awesome."

"Have you guys even lost a game yet?" Hayner asked, with some interest. His head was propped up on one hand as he swished his cafeteria food around with a fork.

"Nope," he said. "Well, I mean, we've only had two games so far, but the team is great this year." Tidus puffed up a little bit. "I scored three goals last time," he bragged.

"Cool." Roxas was more focused on the uneasiness in his gut. Tidus's goals were the least of his concerns. He looked around the cafeteria. The crowd of teenagers didn't seem to have any problems at all. Neither Ariel nor Belle were in school, not that Roxas could blame them. Fuu was cuddled up with her boyfriend a few tables over with her standard stick-up-butt expression. Snow was sweeping food scraps off the floor. Well, that was a little weird, but nothing out of the ordinary-

"-so you're coming, right?" Tidus burst out. He'd apparently just finished a long story about his very most awesome soccer exploits. Roxas hadn't heard a single word of it.

"Sure," he said without thinking. He was so tired that his brain was trying to sleep without him.

"Great! And maybe we could hang out afterwards or something. I haven't seen you in such a long time- I mean, I see you, duh, but we haven't hung out or anything- you know."

"Yeah," said Roxas. "Sorry." His apology was awkward. He and Tidus had been very best friends as kids. They were even on the same soccer team, the "Twilight Sparkles." The whole group voted on a name and that was what they came up with. They thought it was awesome at the time, but in hindsight, they could've picked something a bit more… dudely.

Roxas himself had never much gotten the hang of soccer, and by middle school he'd already gone from junior athlete to skater bum. Tidus had gone on to be star of the high school soccer team- the considerably more masculine Twilight Stallions- and they'd stopped hanging out as much. Roxas was a little ashamed to say that he'd never been to a single one of Tidus's games.

He came to a decision. He was definitely staying alive through tomorrow morning.

"I'm excited to see your game," he said, as genuinely as he could manage. "I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Awesome!" And with that goodbye, Tidus got up and went back to his own table, where the rest of the jock-bros were sitting. Roxas noticed that they weren't especially welcoming. Despite his star status, Tidus sat at the end of the table.

"Didn't you guys used to be friends or something?" Hayner asked, without any real interest.

"Yeah," said Roxas. "Well, I think we're still friends, I just stopped talking to him as much." He thought he sounded like an idiot. Hayner thought he sounded like an idiot, too- it was visible on his face.

"Do any of you guys want to come to the game with me?" Roxas asked instead. He was greeted by a series of excuses not to get out of bed on a Saturday morning. Well, that was ok. He'd go by himself. Or with Axel. Hopefully Axel would be recovered by tomorrow.

The group went silent while the four of them finished their meals. Roxas managed to eat about half of his. His body, apparently, didn't feel like having any nourishment. The low-level, constant nausea wasn't helping.

The lunch period had several minutes left. Roxas watched each individual tick of the second hand with a level of attention that implied the next one might not happen. Hayner was still eating. Olette was alternately glancing at Roxas and at her hands in her lap.

The awkwardness was palpable.

Pence was the one to break the silence.

"So," he said. "If you could wish for anything in the world, what would it be?"

The bottom of Roxas's stomach dropped out.

Pence couldn't _know_, could he? Or- what if Pence had a genie himself? What if he was trying to outsource his wishes? But- _Pence_? No, Roxas's closest three friends couldn't be mixed up in this mess, he wouldn't stand for it-

"More wishes."

Hayner's answer snapped Roxas out of his quiet meltdown.

"Oh," said Olette. "I didn't think of that. You can wish for more wishes?"

"Well, you can wish for anything you want, and I want more wishes," Hayner shrugged. Pence rolled his eyes.

"Ok, then what would you wish for once you had enough wishes?"

"Video games, probably," said Hayner.

Roxas realized, rather slowly, that the world was not ending.

"Really?" Pence asked. "Anything in the world, and you'd choose video games?" Hayner shrugged.

"Well, I guess I could cut out the middleman and just wish for a ton of money, but that seems like a stupid thing to wish for." Olette laughed.

"I'd wish for smarter friends," she giggled. Hayner's mouth curved into a deep frown.

"Hey! I resent that."

Roxas's heart rate returned to normal. They were talking. It was just talk. Pence had asked a philosophical question to break an awkward silence. Not unheard of, right? Everyone was acting normal.

Well, everyone except him.

Roxas slowly became aware that everyone was looking at him, waiting for an answer. He winced. Unlike them, he _had _been offered wishes- eight of them- and he squandered all but one of them already. Well, ok, he wouldn't call it "squandering" since they'd all been used to save his own life, but still. What _would _he use his last wish for?

_Axel's freedom._

He surprised himself with the readiness at which the thought came to his mind. That was what he wanted: for Axel to be free. At the same time, though, he knew that wishing for Axel's freedom was probably useless.

"So? Roxas?" Olette pressed. "What would you wish for?"

"Well, I'm sure you can't wish for more wishes," he said. "They have rules against that sort of thing. I mean, I'm sure they have rules against that sort of thing."

Roxas knew immediately that he'd said something ridiculous. Everyone was staring at him.

"Wow," said Hayner. "Genie rules? You are the most boring person alive."

"For real," said Pence. "At least Hayner wished for money."

"Um, yeah," said Roxas. "I'm super boring. Wow, I have to go to English." Without looking at any of his friends, he gathered up his books and ran out of the cafeteria.

The rest of the day passed painfully slowly. Roxas ran into a couple making out in the hallway, and he instantly panicked, only to relax when he realized it was a boy and a girl. Fuu and Seifer, to be exact. Seifer looked sort of confused at the interruption, but Fuu looked murderous.

"Leave," she snapped. Roxas didn't need to be told twice.

He spent the school day trying frantically to remember what normal people did and how normal people acted. Normal people hadn't been up all night fighting monsters in the woods, and normal people weren't worried for their supernatural friends' safety. Whenever anyone asked him about his obvious fatigue he'd spin some crap about homework, or a movie marathon, or a movie homework marathon. He couldn't keep up with the lies he was telling, but it didn't bother him as much as it probably should have. All he wanted was to stumble home and maybe get some sleep. His parents would let him sleep a little before eviscerating him, right? When the bell rang for the end of the day, though, he barely made it two steps out the door before he was stopped by a gentle hand on his shoulder.

It was Olette.

Roxas was surprised by how indifferent he felt. Not two weeks before, he would've flipped out if Olette had sought him out to talk to him without Hayner or Pence present. Now, though, he was only concerned about getting home so he could check on Axel.

The bottle was heavy and warm in his pocket.

"Hey, Roxas," said Olette. "Do you have time to talk?"

"Sure," said Roxas, even though his mind screamed _no._

"Ok, cool," she said. "Let's go get some ice cream." She took his hand and led him through the swarm of students with a practiced ease. Roxas followed, glad that for once someone was showing him what to do instead of just staring at him from a few feet away. His mind was checked out. They reached their favorite ice cream parlor, and before Roxas could even pull out his wallet, Olette had purchased two ice creams and was handing one to him.

He didn't realize how hungry he was until he took the first bite. While he devoured the food, he only barely listened to what Olette was saying to him.

"Are you ok, Roxas?" He swallowed some ice cream.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said.

"Don't lie to me." Roxas was surprised by the force of the response. Olette's eyes were narrowed, but she didn't just look angry, she looked- hurt?

"You disappeared last night," she said. Her tone was accusatory, but also pained. "Your parents called all of us to find out where you were. Your mom was in tears," she said. "All we had was that call you made to Pence to look up that dead guy. We all tried to call you- why didn't you pick up?" Roxas suddenly realized that he hadn't turned his phone on all day. Now, he was afraid to.

"We even went out and looked in person," she said. "We weren't expecting you to just show up at school today. What were you doing?"

"Uh," said Roxas stupidly. What could he tell her? Not that he was fighting monsters. Knowing Olette, "it's complicated" wouldn't fly, either.

"Why aren't Hayner and Pence here?" he asked instead.

"They figured you'd be more likely to talk to just me," she said. "Three makes it an inquisition, and, well, Hayner just wanted to beat you up. He's not exactly good with words."

"That's true," Roxas said. Olette sighed.

"You're really not going to tell me?" she said. "We thought you were _dead. _You obviously didn't sleep at all last night- were you with a girl?"

And with that, Roxas found his escape.

He _had _been with a girl. A few girls, actually. Sure, he hadn't, you know, been canoodling with them or anything, but some girls had been present.

Ugh- _canoodling_?

"Ok, yeah, I was with a girl," he said, hoping that he sounded like he'd been trying to keep it a secret. It was sort of the truth. "Happy now?"

"Only if you tell me who." Olette's face was deadly serious. Well, of course- high school gossip was serious business. Roxas also got the impression that she didn't believe him.

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell," he sniffed.

"So you're really telling me you were hooking up with an actual girl last night?" Olette said. "That's what you were doing all night with your phone turned off?" Even though he really was lying, Roxas found a way to be offended that Olette didn't believe him. What, was he gross or something?

"Is it really that unbelievable?" Olette stared at him for a long while before finally giving in.

"I guess not," she said with a shrug. "I mean, you're cute and all, and you went out with Ariel, but I always kind of figured- um, nothing," she cut herself off. Her face turned a faint pink. Roxas had to take a moment to sort out everything she'd said. One, Olette thought he was cute! Two, he had to remind himself that he'd never actually gone out with Ariel. And three-

"Kind of figured what?" he asked. Olette sighed.

"Ok, don't get mad," she said. "But I always got the impression that you- uh, you know- swung the other way."

_Swung the other way._

Olette thought he was _gay_?

He'd had a giant crush on her for months and she had no interest because she thought he was _gay_?

"You thought I was _gay_?" he sputtered.

"I told you not to get mad."

"Do Hayner and Pence think so, too?"

"No, no- I never talked about it or anything, it was just a hunch I had-"

"You thought I was gay," Roxas said dumbly. His teenage life was over. No amount of screaming that he loved boobs was going to make this go away. And the minute he'd said the G-word out loud, dozens of memories were flooding into him, ending with his sexy dream about Hayner and the way his face heated up when Axel touched his stomach.

The evidence was pointing to a strong possibility that Roxas liked dudes.

Not only that, but he'd apparently been projecting strong enough "Roxas likes dudes" vibes that Olette had picked up on them, which meant other people must have, too. God, did _Axel _know that he liked dudes? He groaned miserably and buried his face in his hands.

"Please don't be mad at me," Olette begged. "I'm sorry for even mentioning it."

"Just forget it," Roxas moaned. "I need to go home and get some sleep."

"Because you stayed up all night with a girl?"

"Just shut up, Olette."

"I still expect you to tell me the truth," she shouted after him. "And you'd better not disappear again!" Roxas was grateful that she didn't give chase. He had too many things on his mind, not the least of which was his sudden epiphany that he liked dudes. Or, he should say, that he _also _liked dudes. He still liked chicks too, right? So did that mean he was into, what, humans? Well, Ariel wasn't quite human, but at the time he'd _thought _she was a regular human, so- wait, what did _that_ all mean?

It was all just too confusing. For a brief moment, Roxas wished his dick would just fall off so he wouldn't have to deal with it.

Despite the ache in his exhausted muscles, Roxas broke into a jog, to get home that much faster. He took a shortcut through the old sandlot where he and Tidus had played soccer as kids. Everything would be ok. He just had to get some rest and clear his head. No more distractions until he got home.

Unfortunately, distractions had a way of seeking him out.

He was barely halfway across the sandlot when he heard an all-too-familiar sound. Someone was crying. Specifically, a _girl _wascrying. A girl around his age.

_Whatever, _he thought. _I like dudes now and apparently everyone knows it, so I don't have to care about girls crying. _His opinion changed, however, when he caught sight of just who was crying alone at the entrance to one of the side streets.

Fuu Jin.

Roxas had never seen her show a single non-rage emotion, let alone extreme grief. The shock of seeing Fuu act like a regular person caused his feet to stick in place. She had to know that this was a place no one would notice her. If Roxas hadn't heard her first, he never would have seen her hiding place at the far corner of the lot. Curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to go over and see if she was ok. He stopped a few feet away, and asked:

"Are you all right?"

Her head shot up.

Fuu stared at him. Her face was a blend of vulnerability, shock, and rage.

Mostly rage.

"Asshole!" she screamed, and she punched him as hard as she could. Roxas would be lying if he said it didn't hurt. He could already feel his eye swelling up. Before he could stammer out an explanation, or even raise his arms to protect his face, she'd taken off down the alleyway. He turned to go after her, but nearly tripped over something soft on the ground. He looked down to see what it was.

She'd left her purse behind.

"Wait!" Roxas shouted. "Fuu!" But she ignored him, running as fast as she could, disappearing into the town.

Roxas couldn't blame her for it. He'd probably do the same if someone from school found _him_ crying, and he was much less uptight than Fuu.

In any case, the least he could do was turn in her purse to the police station so no one stole anything from her. But as he reached down to grab it, a shiver passed through his body, and he almost lost his balance.

_What was that? _he thought. He hadn't been planning on looking inside her purse at all, but now, he tore it open. Roxas only barely remembered to look around to make sure no one was watching him, lest he look like a common thief. Underneath Fuu's wallet and books, and some make-up, and- ew, tampons- he found what he was looking for.

A tiny lavender bottle, engraved with smoky lines.

"Seriously?" he breathed. "Why Fuu?" Axel's bottle was still resting against his hip, but Axel himself was, of course, not available to give him an answer. He hesitated to open it, remembering that Xaldin and Marluxia had both been extremely frightening. Once he opened the bottle, though, he would be safe from any harm the genie could bring upon him. He made up his mind to go ahead and do it.

Hey, maybe Axel would be impressed that he'd managed to find one on his own, even if it had been a total accident.

Roxas pulled the cork out of the bottle.

He was greeted by the faint smell of old paper, and the now familiar sensation of a pair of eyes appearing to bore into his back. Roxas identified the source of the feeling and turned to greet his new acquaintance.

The boy- he was more boy than man- was small, about the same size as Roxas himself. After giant-size Lexaeus, it was a refreshing change of pace. He was dressed in ordinary school clothes, a long, plain t-shirt and some jeans, and his messy purple hair covered part of his face. For the first time, Roxas was faced by a genie who wouldn't look out of place at his school. His only truly remarkable feature was the single long, beaded earring that hung from his ear- an earring that matched Axel's.

"I can't give you any wishes," he said. "But I'm sure you know that already. My name is Zexion." His speech was quick and authoritative. Roxas's immediate impression was "student council president," or maybe just "child prodigy."

"Nice to meet you, too," he replied sarcastically. Being faced with someone who _wasn't_ scary beyond all reason boosted his confidence. He realized he was still clutching Fuu's purse.

"Why was Fuu crying?" he asked, cutting right to the chase. A tiny smirk appeared on Zexion's face, and he jerked his head to get some of his hair out of his eyes. It didn't work very well.

"She does that every day," he said. "It seems she's stuck in a bit of a conundrum."

"One that I'm sure you made for her." Roxas's accusation fell on uncaring ears. Zexion simply shrugged.

"I gave her exactly what she asked for," he said. Roxas found that difficult to believe. Zexion continued. "It's not my issue that she feels conflicted about the result."

"What, exactly, did she ask for?"

"I see no harm in telling you," he said. "She wished for a boyfriend." He said the words with such disdain that it almost made Roxas wince. This Zexion clearly found both Fuu and Roxas- and all other humans, probably- unbearably dull.

Roxas, for his part, was beyond happy that Fuu's wish hadn't resulted in him getting shackled with another fake girlfriend and the corresponding fake emotional baggage. Once was enough.

"Specifically, she wanted one boy with whom she was particularly infatuated to be equally infatuated with her," Zexion clarified. "Of course, now she's miserable, because the boy isn't the same as he was when she fell in love with him. But that's common sense." The look on Roxas's face must have shown that he didn't find that to be common-sensible at all, so Zexion continued to ramble. "Since the boy as he was had no interest in her, he'd have to be a different sort of person completely to be her boyfriend. Now that he's a completely different person, however, _she_ has no interest in _him_. She has everything she ever wanted, but she pines for the way things were. A conundrum."

Roxas processed this information.

"You talk funny," he said.

"Hn." Zexion sniffed haughtily and again tried to flip his hair. Roxas narrowed his eyes.

"And you're also kind of a prick."

"I gave the girl what she wanted. What she thought would make her happy," said Zexion. His voice grew quiet. "Happiness is an illusion. It's easier on yourself and everyone else just to accept the lie." The words were soft, but loaded with significance. This Zexion was familiar with misery.

"And are you happy doing what you do to people?" Roxas asked him, looking directly into his eyes. If Zexion was surprised by the question, he didn't show it. His hair slipped slightly, obscuring his face.

"It doesn't matter if I'm happy or not. What I want or don't want has no effect on the results." As he said the words, however, he stiffened, and turned towards the end of the street. His eyes narrowed- the closest thing to genuine, non-bored-teenager emotion Roxas had seen from him since they'd met minutes before.

"Where is Axel?" Zexion asked sharply.

"Uh," said Roxas. "Well, he got tired, and he sort of disappeared." That was what happened, wasn't it? He didn't miss Zexion's significant eye roll.

"What an idiot," Zexion muttered.

"Hey!" Roxas was irritated now. He wasn't sure why he jumped so quickly to Axel's defense, but he did know that Axel's coworkers were a bunch of big jerks. "Take it up with Xaldin, he's the one who attacked me with some crazy animal-"

"If either of you knew your place," Zexion interrupted, "you wouldn't have been in that forest to begin with."

"How dare you tell me-"

"Shut up," Zexion snapped. "We don't have time for this. We're too exposed here. Go to your home. It's more secure." Roxas was jarred by the use of _secure _instead of _safe_.

"Don't tell me what to do."

"You know, I really don't know why I bother," he sighed. "If you want to die, I suppose I can't stop you." Nevertheless, Zexion snapped his fingers, and a large book appeared in his hand. Roxas was reminded of the way Axel would summon his massive spiked rings. A book, however, was considerably less threatening.

"A dictionary?" he asked incredulously. "What are you going to do, smack me with it?"

"Run," was Zexion's only answer. Roxas followed his gaze.

A long sword, crimson red and shaped like a bat's wing, was pointing directly at him. Cold teal eyes bore into his own. A wave of intense nausea passed through his entire body, causing his knees to shake, and him to lean into the brick wall for support. He gasped for air.

"Run faster," Zexion said drily. He held his large book out in front of himself, and the pages began to turn. At first, Roxas thought the wind was picking up, but the air where he was standing was perfectly still. Zexion's body began to change, dark and ethereal, as if his skeleton were visible through his skin. Roxas retched, a slight bit of bile dribbling down his chin. He couldn't feel anything below his stomach.

The pages were whipping from side to side. They were almost hypnotic. Roxas stared, and as he did, he realized that the air itself was getting darker, like early nightfall. Or like a squid squirting ink around to cover its escape.

_Escape._

Roxas turned and tried to run, but he couldn't do much more than hobble, as if his feet were tied together. He made it exactly seven steps before he collapsed, overwhelmed by nausea. Zexion noticed, and he let out an exasperated sigh.

"I'm going to move you," he said. Roxas gasped for air.

"How-"

That was all he got out. Everything went dark. His body was gripped by an unbearable pressure, squeezing him on all sides, like he was being forced through a tunnel that was too small for him. It was the worst sort of torture, and his mind screamed into the artificial darkness, convinced he would suffocate if he didn't go insane first. Genies, good and evil, death, 6,000-year-old teenagers, and beyond flashed through his mind as Roxas prepared to let go the last shreds of his sanity.

Then it was over, just as suddenly as it had started.

Roxas was lying on the ground in a street not unlike the one he'd left. The lights were back on. His body was free. He recognized this street, though- Zexion had somehow teleported him to another alley, about a block away from his house.

_Never again, _he thought, and he tried to get up.

His entire body rebelled.

Roxas threw up.

The first time he threw up everything in his stomach. The second and third times he retched, all that came out was warm bile. After that, he continued to heave while nothing came out, his body stuck in a futile effort to get rid of the magic that had teleported him to this location.

While he dry-heaved and hiccupped, Roxas started trying to crawl towards his house. He was too weak to stand, but if he could make it out into the street, someone would probably see him and help him the rest of the way.

Unfortunately, he didn't make it that far.

A cool blade pressed against the side of his neck. A single foot pressed into his back, keeping him on the ground.

"If you don't struggle, I can knock you out without hurting you." Roxas recognized the speaker: Sora, the boy who'd tricked his mom into letting him into their house. His warm voice contradicted the coldness of his intentions.

Obediently, Roxas did not move.

* * *

I AM ALIVE.

Hopefully Axel will be back soon. I totally miss Axel, you guys. Also I played DDD and it's the coolest.


	17. Chapter 17

**Wishful Thinking - Chapter 17**

When Roxas awoke, he immediately wished he hadn't. His nausea was so intense, he was sure he wouldn't be able to stand even if he _weren't _tied to something.

Wait, what?

Roxas dug into his brain. What was the last thing he remembered?

Sora's boot stepping on his back.

Well, _that_ was encouraging.

"I think he's waking up. Did you really have to tie him down like that?" The boy speaking was definitely Sora, though his tone was much more playful than it had been while ordering Roxas to keep still.

"We can't be too careful." The second voice was deeper, and calmer. What Roxas heard wasn't so much a lack of emotion as an excess of restraint. The speaker had to be Riku, though Roxas wasn't yet able to open his eyes and confirm it.

"He can barely move," Sora argued. Unfortunately, he was correct. Roxas's eyes still wouldn't even open. "And it's not like we couldn't catch him even if he bolted. Humans aren't that fast."

"And what if he hurt himself?" Riku asked. The idea hadn't occurred to Roxas. He had to admit, grudgingly, that hurting himself intentionally had sort of become his shtick, starting with the plants all over Aurora's house. Right now, though, he was too sick and beaten down to formulate a plan to injure himself further.

He finally managed to force his eyes open, though.

Sora and Riku were standing a little too close to each other while they argued. Roxas forced a brief flashback to their heated kisses out of his mind.

"Oh, honestly, Riku. You tied him up because you're worried he might hurt _himself_?" Sora leaned even closer. His lips and Riku's were not even an inch apart. "That's awfully morbid, and besides-"

Roxas tried to speak.

All that came out was a guttural whine, like a cat being strangled.

In an instant, Sora was at his side. He pressed a hand against Roxas's forehead, a sensation that was simultaneously so hot and so cold that it burned him. The intensity of the touch nearly made him vomit again. Fortunately, Sora pulled away the offending limb, instead offering a smile.

"Hi, Roxas. Long time no see," he said, as if they were friends. When Roxas tried to protest, he was quickly hushed. "Don't try to talk, you'll just make it worse." Behind Sora, the three girls from the beach stood in a row, staring at Roxas with expressionless eyes. Riku was gesturing at one of them.

"Kairi, can you bring some water?" he asked. The redhead broke from her sisters, and obediently stepped forward with a glass of water. The headache was blurring his reality, but Roxas was fairly sure that she'd pulled it out of nowhere. She certainly wouldn't be able to find a more, you know, _earthly_ source of fluids, not up this high.

Wait- _up this high_? Did he know where he was?

The thought was gone as soon as it had come. Kairi was forcing him to drink the water. Hydration had no effect on his nausea. She might as well have been tossing each glass into a lake.

"You weren't out for very long," Sora was saying in the background. "You're pretty tough."

"We're just lucky you were able to get yourself separated from that thing," said Riku. _That thing- _did he mean Axel? Despite his weakened state, Roxas managed to be indignant on his genie's behalf. Axel was not a _thing. _Axel was Axel. He would've said so, too, if he were able to talk.

"It's almost nightfall," Riku continued, as if he didn't even _care _that Axel was Axel.

"Don't worry, they can't get you up here. We'll keep you safe." Sora gave him a smile that was probably meant to be encouraging, but all it did was make Roxas feel cold. That could have just been the chill from the breeze, though.

Wait- _breeze_?

As he returned to near-full awareness, Roxas realized what his subconscious had already figured out.

He was on top of the clock tower.

Twilight Town's clock tower was the tallest structure in the whole town. Anyone could see it from anywhere, and Roxas had been using it to navigate since he was a child. All the teenagers in town climbed to the top on dares, to win bets, and just to hang out. Hayner always insisted that he'd made out with a girl up here, but since he refused to provide the girl's name, Roxas had never taken the claim seriously. Most importantly, the spire had always been the focus of strange rumors. "If you climb to the top of the clock tower at midnight, you'll hear voices," was a common one. Combining what he knew about this place with what Axel had told him, he was forced to come to one obvious conclusion:

The tower was the point in Twilight Town that was closest to the Realm of Light.

That was why they'd brought him here, much like how Axel had taken him to that creepy mansion in the middle of the woods. The knowledge made Roxas wary. Even if Axel had fully recovered, would he be able to reach this place? He'd been pretty confident that no one could touch them in the mansion.

Instead, Roxas tried to get more information about his surroundings. Riku had tied him to one of the decorative columns, in a seated position. That meant that his legs were free, for all the good the limp piles of bone and muscle could do him. He was fully exposed, but no one would be able to see him up here in the dark, or at all from the street, really. Sora and Riku had to have a way to keep ordinary people away from them all. He tried to speak again, but this time, real words came out.

"Why'd you kidnap me?" he asked dully. His voice was barely above a whisper, and it cracked. Totally pathetic.

"For your own protection," said Sora. "You have no idea how much danger you're in."

_I think I know how much danger I'm in, _thought Roxas bitterly. Night was falling, and lights were popping on in every house in Twilight Town. He used to love this view, but now he loathed it. His own home was on the opposite side of the tower, so he couldn't see it at all.

And to think, he'd _just _promised Olette not to disappear again. He doubted his fake girlfriend could get him out of this one.

"We've been watching you," Sora continued. "You're pretty remarkable."

"Yeah, remarkably _stupid_," Riku muttered. "Why would you go _looking _for them?"

"Don't, Riku! It doesn't matter now." Roxas was getting a distinct impression of good kidnapper, bad kidnapper. With a silent, creepy, all-female audience.

"What do you want from me?" he asked. He knew what they wanted, of course, because Axel told him- they wanted his body. The question was, would they require the appearance of consent, like Axel's team? Or was he already totally boned?

Sora took a long while to consider his answer.

"We need your help," he said.

"My help," Roxas repeated drily. His sarcasm was lost on Sora, who still seemed to be struggling to piece together what he wanted to say. When he was ready, he squatted down in front of Roxas, staring into his eyes with an intensity that was wholly uncomfortable.

"The world isn't exactly how you think it is," he said. Roxas bit back a laugh. Yes, he'd figured that much out, at least.

"When we were younger, much younger, Riku and I lived here, just like you," Sora continued. "We decided we wanted to leave Twilight Town. Well, Riku did, and I went with him." Riku smiled a little bit at the memory, revealing that he was listening. Roxas was burning with questions- how did they leave? How did they know they _could _leave?- but he kept his mouth shut.

From there, Sora's story became very similar to the one Axel had told him in the mansion.

"Did you know that are other worlds out there?" Yes. "Other realms, that this one can't even touch?" Yes, he did know that, though being told again made it seem more real. "We were way lost, and we thought we weren't going to make it, but then we found the Realm of Light. It's, well, I can't really describe it. It's more of a feeling than a place." Sora looked like he _was _in fact going to try to describe it, but Riku wisely cut him off.

"There were these_ beings_," he said. "They told us they'd send us back here, if we could help them in exchange." Sora picked up the thread again.

"It's not just the Realm of Light- there's also a Realm of Darkness. The Realm of Darkness was trying to spread into this realm, the one where Twilight Town is. But, you know, neither Realm can affect things here directly, so they were manipulating people from a distance, and the Light couldn't do anything about it. So they needed us."

"When we got back here, thousands and thousands of years had passed. The Realm of Darkness was seriously building up its forces. So we needed to recruit, too. That's when we got Kairi and Naminé." Roxas looked over at the two girls. Naminé showed no indication that she'd heard her name at all. Kairi glanced over, briefly, then went back to staring at the sky. Sora was still talking.

"But we couldn't keep up. The other side somehow rigged the game, so that they could recruit a new member once every thousand years. We figured out the pattern, though," he said proudly. "Once every thousand years, a child is born with an X in their name." His expression turned dour, and he leaned even closer, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"I don't want to freak you out, but they're trying to turn you into one of _them_, Roxas."

This time, Roxas really did laugh out loud. _That _was the big reveal? He'd known that already for- God, had it only been days? It felt like weeks. Or years.

Unfortunately, Sora interpreted his reaction as some sort of hysteria, so he reached out to give Roxas's shoulder a reassuring touch. The bolt of nausea shut Roxas up quick.

"It's ok, though," said Sora. His wide smile was back. "If you join our side, we can stop it."

Ah, so here it was. Axel's team relied on a good dose of trickery and lies-by-omission to claim their new members, but these guys were using a more gentle touch. Make them afraid, then offer to help. Roxas preferred the genies' straight-up, balls-out assholery.

"Join your side?" He already knew what the catch was.

"The process is easier if you volunteer," Riku explained. If anyone present besides Roxas realized how creepy that phrase sounded, none of them showed it.

"What do you mean by, 'the process'?" Roxas's words were bold, even though he was completely helpless. He had nothing to lose, after all.

_Except Hayner. And Pence, and Olette, and Tidus, and Alice, and Belle, and my parents. _

_And Axel. _

He pushed their faces out of his mind, or tried to. Axel's was stubborn.

"All we do is give it to you," said Sora, as if it were the simplest and most normal thing that could happen to a person.

"Give _what_ to me?" Roxas pressed.

"What we have." Apparently, Roxas's face conveyed for him that that wasn't enough information. Sora continued. "Um, I guess you would call it a power? It's kind of like a second presence, inside of you." He scrunched his face up, once again struggling to describe something indescribable. And once again, Riku took over.

"Basically, if you're willing, you and the power can coexist peacefully," he said bluntly. "If you're in conflict, the power will take over."

Roxas thought back to the fight between Axel and the three girls on the beach. He thought back to Axel's words: _at least this way, I'm still me. _Sora and Riku seemed reasonably functional, probably because they'd touched the Realm of Light personally. The girls, though- their "recruits"- weren't even human.

"So, I'd be a slave," he spat. "A slave to something else inside of me." Sora recoiled as if he'd been struck.

"I don't feel like a slave," he pouted.

"Yeah? Well, what about her?" Using his chin, Roxas gestured to the third girl, the one with the jet black hair. She hadn't moved, breathed, or shown any awareness of her surroundings since Roxas had awoken.

"Xion is a special case," Riku said. Even when he said her name, Xion didn't react.

"Am I a 'special case,' too?"

The fact that neither Sora nor Riku were able to give him an immediate answer was more answer than he could ever wish for.

"We'd just discovered the pattern." Sora walked over to Xion and gently brushed her hair out of her face. She didn't move. "X-I-O-N. She was too close. We ran out of time, and we had to save her."

"She's still young," said Riku. "It's only been a thousand years. She'll get used to it."

_It's only been a thousand years. She'll get used to it._

A sick sensation was spreading through Roxas's abdomen, and this time, it wasn't magical in nature.

Nope, this was just regular old disgust.

"You _did this _to her?" he hissed.

"She'll get better," Riku repeated. "We had to protect her. The alternative was much worse." Roxas was seeing red. He actually bared his teeth and _snarled, _like an animal.

"Yeah- worse for _you_!" he shouted. "Did you ever even ask her what _she _wanted?"

"We did," said Riku, "and then we did what was best for the greater good."

"Riku, you're making him angry," Sora hissed. Roxas struggled against his bonds. If his hands were free, he would have wrapped them around Sora's stupid throat, or Riku's, it didn't matter. In that moment, he was willing to kill. The sensation overwhelmed him. His murderous intent spiked his blood pressure. The extra heat coming off of his body beat back the cold air.

"The anger is a problem," Riku said. "Fighting like this is exactly what you _don't _want to do."

"We might not get another chance," said Sora. "I'll do it now." Extending his arm, he summoned the large blade that Roxas had seen him wield before. Up close like this, though, he could see it more closely. The shape was very much like a very large key. Sora swung it around, and pointed it directly at Roxas's chest.

"I'm going to unlock your heart," he said, quite seriously, as though the words weren't total nonsense.

Behind him, Xion's eyes widened.

_This is it, _thought Roxas. _This is what Axel was trying to protect me from. _He ground his teeth at his own helplessness. Sora's Keyblade gave off a soft glow, not unlike the change in appearance that happened when Axel used his magic.

_Wait- Axel's magic!_

He had no way of knowing if Axel would respond. Axel probably wouldn't even be able to make it up to the top of the clock tower under normal circumstances. But Roxas had one wish left, and wishes were special. Wishes were power.

And if it didn't work, well, he'd have some pretty badass last words.

"Hey, assholes!" he screamed. Sora's magic and the wind were causing his hair to whip around violently. Grabbing Sora's gaze with his own desperate, crazy eyes, he watched as Sora realized, too slowly, what he was about to do.

"I WISH AXEL WOULD _FUCKING MURDER YOU_!"

* * *

CLIFFHANGER! I AM A HUGE TOOL! I EXIST TO MAKE YOU SAD!

Anyway, I got a lovely review from sakurasapprentice7, and then I got off my butt and wrote a new chapter. Actually, I just stayed on my butt and wrote a new chapter, but the point stands. REVIEWS: THEY WORK!

I was like "oh, fuck, I'm pretty sure I had a throwaway line about Axel sitting on top of the clock tower somewhere in this fic." And I did! Ignore the plot holes. Don't worry about it.

LIFE UPDATE: I've been finishing up school stuff and working my boring retail day job. I've also been crafting like crazy so I can open my own Etsy. I'll keep you posted, Loyal Fans. Also, I am balls excited for the Kingdom Hearts HD remake! I mean, _finally_.

Q OF THE UPDATE: Do you think Axel will, in fact, show up and _FUCKING MURDER _Riku and Sora? Do you want him to? I know the answer to the first question, but not the second.


End file.

Kingdom Hearts, Humor, Supernatural