Teenage Dirtbag - Axel/Roxas - Chapter 1
This was not my weekend, hell it wasn’t even my month. It must be some kind of big cosmic joke or something. Everybody in the whole universe is laughing while I suffered. Well isn’t that what life was? Just one long, drawn out, horrible joke with the ultimate punch line. Life sucks. I turned over, burying his blond, spiky head in his pillow. It was my birthday, my fucking birthday, and I was in a new town where I knew nobody, had nobody to talk to or celebrate with. That just made the whole thing so much worse. Sure we, my family and I, had moved a month ago in which time he could’ve made at least one friend but I preferred to spend my time mopping and being ‘a little EMO bitch,’ as Sora had so eloquently put it. I had been dragged away from everything I had ever known, the only friends I ever had. I was allowed to be depressed. Well maybe depressed was a bit strong, it’s not like I wanted to kill himself or anything. I just didn’t want to get out of bed or put any effort into life right now. OK, maybe depressed was dead on. The sound of my phone vibrating across the nightstand drew me away from my thoughts. I lazily reached out a hand and blindly groped across the surface seeking out the device. Victory! I finally grasped the phone and actually decided to roll over to look at it.
‘New text message,’ the screen declared, happily flashing away. I flipped the phone open and began to read the message. It was a lengthy birthday wish from Hayner. I allowed my lips to turn up in a small smile as I read the message through. While I was reading the message my phone vibrated again, alerting me to another new message, this one from Cloud, which consisted of a simple happy birthday and a ‘stop being a whiny EMO bitch.’ Oh that’s the big ol’ EMO kettle calling the little EMO pot…. EMO…doesn’t even sound good in my head.
“Whatever.” I said quietly and set my phone back on the nightstand before laying back down on my side. From where my bed was I could see out the window, the perfect view of the sunset and evening sky, it provided some level of comfort. Though sunsets here paled in comparison to the amazing sunsets in Twilight Town, but then again I had friends to share them with. I sighed and closed my eyes again, willing my brain to shut down, hoping to fall asleep and wake up back home, my real home.
--
“Roxas!” Sora shouted, I could hear him running up the steps and down the hall. Sora didn’t bother knocking before he pushed the door open letting it swing wide and hit the wall. “Roxas!” Sora shouted again and started running towards my bed jumping and landing less than gracefully on the mattress. Sora grinned as he clambered up the bed and sat on top of me.
“Get off you freak! God, have you gained weight.” I groaned, finally responding to Sora’s presence. I pushed helplessly at Sora who was happily perched on my stomach. I gave up and just relaxed back into the bed glaring up the brunet. “You should act your age,” I grumbled.
“Aw, don’t be bitter just ‘cause I know how to have fun Roxie.” Sora teased, I continued to glare. Despite the murderous look Sora’s smile never faltered.
“What do you want anyways?” I asked.
“I want you to come with me,” Sora said, prodding my chest as he said it. I rolled my eyes and batted Sora’s hand away.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because…” Sora said, letting the word hang in the air.
“Not good enough,” I stated and closed my eyes, trying to will away the one-hundred and fifteen odd pounds of annoying brunet away.
“But…I,” Sora said, his voice shaking. “I’m lonely…and I’m worried about you. I mean you don’t do anything!” Sora shouted his voice cracking. “Please, for me?” I opened one eye to peak at Sora who was worrying his bottom lip and had tears welling up. I watched as Sora blinked and a single streak of salty water ran down the brunet’s cheek.
“Oh, very good.” I said, bringing my hands together in a clap. “One of the best yet.” Sora promptly went from horribly sad and on the verge of some major waterworks to annoyed.
“Fine,” Sora said. “I made plans to go on a double date, Leon has a friend in town and didn’t want to leave him all alone in his apartment, something about fires and massive, costly damage…I dunno he was doing that mumble thing.” Sora paused for a moment, to breath, before continuing. “So anyways the only way Leon and I could go on a date was if I could find someone for his friend.”
“And I’m this someone?” I asked, actually slightly amused now.
“Well no, actually, Demyx was this someone, but he canceled.” Sora explained.
“Why?” I asked.
“He kinda sorta, totally, stage dived and fell flat on his face.” Sora said, pressing his lips together tightly. I could tell he was trying not laugh, I on the other hand didn’t. As soon as I started laughing Sora followed suit. “Stop..stop! It’s really not funny, he broke his nose.” Sora said, trying to regain his composure.
“The hell it’s not!” I shouted. “Dude, he plays a fucking sitar, it’s not exactly crowd surfing type music.” I busted out laughing all over again as did Sora.
“Oh God, my stomach hurts.” Sora said, rolling off me, still laughing. This was the best I had felt in this entire horrid month. After they had finally gotten themselves under control, after many failed attempts, Sora and I lay side by said on my bed staring at the ceiling,
“Happy birthday Rox,” Sora said.
“Happy birthday Sor,” I replied, actually letting my lips turn up in a smile.
--
“How the hell did you talk to me into this?” I asked, for the fifth time that night. “I hate blind dates, I hate dating in general!” I continued to complain. “This outfit sucks.”
“The outfit is fine, you needed to get out, and if it helps don’t think of it as a date.” Sora said. “Axel isn’t expecting anything at the end of the night.”
“Good…good.” I said quietly, smoothing out my shirt yet again before going back to fussing with my hair.
“Stop it,” Sora said, slapping my hands away from the blond spikes.
“Let me go,” I retaliated with a slap of my own.
“Your hair is fine, people are starting to stare and whisper quietly amongst themselves.” Sora said. I looked around and sure enough people kept glancing over at us before mumbling to the other people at their respective tables. That only served to un-nerve me more and I started fussing with my hair again.
“Stop it!” Sora growled. “You look nervous and guilty, they probably think you’re gonna bomb the place.” The brunet finished, his tone hushed.
“I am nervous!” I countered.
“Don’t be, this is not a date for you. Just think of it as meeting a new friend.” Sora said, obviously getting truly annoyed which was rare for the brunet. I was puzzled as to why Sora was dating someone like Leon. The man was scary, in my opinion. Leon was quiet and barely showed any kind of emotion, the most I had ever heard him say was “Hi, where’s Sora?” Sora on the other hand was loud and happy, like all the time. Except for now. I switched to staring blankly ahead and playing with my wrist band under the table which Sora didn’t seem to mind.
“Oh!” Sora shouted, scaring the hell out of me. I jumped slightly and turned to look at Sora. “I got you something.” Sora said, obviously happy again. I watched as Sora dug around in his pockets before pulling out a small package.
“Happy birthday,” Sora said and handed the small box over to me. “It’s something for that odd little collection you have.” Sora explained.
“It’s not odd, a lot of people collect them.” I replied defensively
“You collect keys, Roxas.” Sora said. “You have more keys than a janitor.”
“They’re cool!” I practically whined.
“Just open the damn present,” Sora said, sighing.
“Fine,” I grumbled tearing the brown wrapping away from the box. “Fucking awesome!” I shouted, drawing looks from several of the people around them. “How the hell did you get this?” I questioned taking the newest key out of the box. It was black, with bat like wings at the base and an intricately designed tip.
“It was in a pawn shop down town. I knew you didn’t have it,” Sora replied with a smile.
“It’s great, thank you, though I would’ve settled for ice cream.” I said with a small smile. I quickly attached his newest key to the chain hanging around my neck. The chain was reserved for the keys that held some special meaning to me. Currently there were only two more on the silver chain. A very simply key, the first he’d ever gotten and another intricately designed key that was silver with a blue and yellow snowflake like shape at the tip. The latter had been given to me a month ago by Hayner, Pence and Olette as a parting gift.
“Glad you like it,” Sora said, obviously happy that the gift deserved a place on the chain. Sora watched as I continued to run the chain in-between my fingers, looking down at the keys. “Please don’t get all depressed again.” Sora groaned. I looked towards the brunet and gave him a sad smile.
“It’s hard, ya know?” I said with a sigh.
“They wouldn’t like you being even more of a whiny EMO bitch than Cloud.” Sora said with a smirk.
“Please,” I scoffed. “The day someone out EMOs Cloud is the day the world ends.” I said with a hollow laugh. I was still to pre-occupied with thoughts of his friends and the life he’d left behind. They may only be a couple days away but they might as well be on an entirely different world.
“Look lively,” Sora hissed elbowing me in the ribs.
“Jerk,” I said, grabbing my side. Damn pointy elbowed freak. I looked up to see Leon and a red headed porcupine, who he assumed to be Axel, approach.
“Hey, Leon.” Sora said, slipping into that giggly, high-school virgin persona that grated on my last nerve. I really didn’t know why Sora played innocent around Leon. It was either because that’s what Leon liked, pervert, or it’s what Sora assumed the older brunet liked.
“Hi,” Leon answered curtly, sitting down and crossing his arms, assuming what I had named his default position. Leon regarded me with a glance and a nod. “I thought Demyx was coming.” What am I not good enough you stoic, narrow assed…
“Hey!” The red-head, who just had to be Axel, said loudly, interrupting my mental rant. “Axel,” He said, extending a hand towards me.
“Roxas,” I said shaking Axel’s hand. I turned to face Leon, who seemed to be glaring at am. “And Demyx had an accident, Leon….can you let go of my hand now?” I asked Axel who seemed to examining my fingernails, are they dirty or something? Axel looked up at me and let go of my hand with a smile.
“Demyx, isn’t he the guy who performs down at the coffee shop?” Axel asked.
“Yeah,” Sora answered. “You’ve seen him?”
“A few times, the other night he tried to crowd surf. Priceless,” Axel said with a grin. Leon just shook his head and I could’ve sworn I just saw a small, very small, smile on his lips.
“You collect keys?” Axel said, pointing at my necklace.
“Yeah, why?” I asked.
“Don’t go all defensive Blondie, they’re cool.” Axel said. “So I take it you like the Unversed movies then too?”
“Hell yeah!” I said, allowing myself to smile.
“Do you wanna go get some food while these two geek it out?” Sora asked Leon, who just nodded and proceeded to get up. “What do you want?” Sora asked.
“Are you getting a salad?” I asked.
“No,” Sora answered. “I’ll just get you what I get. Axel?” Sora turned to regard the red head.
“Fries, big basket.” Axel said with a smile that seemed oddly flirtatious. “And a large Coke. Got it memorized?” Axel asked tapping Sora’s forehead.
“You’re odd,” Sora said with a smile before walking off.
“It’s a compliment,” I said.
“I took it as one,” Axel replied. “I’ve never seen you around before,” Axel stated.
“Moved here a month ago,” I said. “I don’t exactly go out much.”
“Don’t you like it here?” Axel asked, leaning on the table. I looked at the redhead and just shrugged.
“Did those hurt?” I asked, referring to the tattoos under Axel’s eyes.
“Not a much as you’d think,” Axel replied. I continued to look at the man across from me. I couldn’t tell if the man was actually interested in talking to me or not. Axel wasn’t like most people I’ve talked too, with the exception of Leon and maybe Cloud. The redhead’s face showed no real emotion despite the small smirk that never seemed to leave. I felt nervous and unsure, breaking eye contact with Axel choosing instead to focus on the table top.
“Nervous, Blondie?” Axel asked, his voice sounding slightly amused. I just shrugged and continued to stare at the table top.
“I’m not really good with new people,” I said quietly. I heard Axel hum in acknowledgment.
“Well, what do you do for fun?” Axel asked.
“I dunno,” I said. It was true, I really hadn’t found anything fun to do here yet.
“Well what did you do before you moved here?” Axel asked. Maybe he was actually interested. I mean he’s trying to make conversation. I chanced a glance at Axel who was sprawled against his seat.
“Hung out with my friends, skateboarded, listened to music.” I said.
“Are you any good?” Axel asked.
“Yeah,” I said, allowing a bit of cockiness to slip through.
“You’ll have to show me,” Axel said.
“Hu?” I looked up at Axel again and the redhead was smirking.
“Your skateboarding, you say you’re good so you’ll have to show me sometime.” Axel said.
“Yeah, yeah it’s just that would mean getting together again.” I said, my words rushed feeling even more nervous now.
“What’s the matter Roxie, don’t wanna see me again.” Axel teased and if I had been paying enough attention he would’ve noticed emotions dancing through Axel’s eyes. But I was to wrapped in myself, not quite believing Axel would actually want to hang out again. Did I just make a new friend?
“No…I mean yes…I mean…” I didn’t know how to word my answer now.
“I know what you mean, Blondie, chill.” Axel said with a chuckle. “Breathe, Roxas. I don’t want you passing out.”
“It’s just I can’t believe you actually wanna hang out with me….ya know again.” I said, god I sound like an insecure looser! “I wasn’t exactly exciting company tonight.” I continued, just shut up! I yelled at myself.
“I’m sure you could be very good company Roxas, and I need someone who is a bit more excitable than Leon to hang with.” Axel said with a small laugh.
“Yeah, well I think a rock is more excitable than Leon.” I said, finding myself smiling yet again.
“What about Leon?” Shit. Leon and Sora came back to the table. They were gone long enough that I practically forgot that anyone else was with me and Axel tonight.
“We were just talking about your oh so emotional displays,” Axel said with a smirk which Leon matched and sat back down next to the redhead. Sora sat down next to me and began passing the food around.
“What the hell is this?” I asked, staring at my food. “There’s no meat. I mean that white shit can’t be meat.”
“It’s a tofu burger,” Sora explained with a smile. I responded with a glare.
“This,” I said poking the burger. “Is not allowed to call its self a burger.” Axel laughed as I continued to prod and regard my food carefully. Half expecting it rear back and attack me. I looked back at Sora who just rolled his eyes and took the burger.
“If you want something else go get it, but the line is hell to get through.” Sora said taking a bite of his own burger. I looked towards the counter and sure enough the line stretched out the door. I groaned and sunk down in my seat.
“Here, we’ll share.” Axel said pushing his basket of fries closer to the middle of the table. I quickly straightened up and grabbed some fries from the red plastic basket.
“Thank you,” I said around a mouthful of fries.
“So you two are getting along I take it?” Sora asked.
“Yeah, Roxie’s cool.” Axel said with a smile.
“And Axel’s odd,” I said with a smile of my own.
--
As it turned out sometime to Axel was the next day.
“How the hell did you know where I lived?” I asked, yawning and stretching. “And why so early?”
“I asked Leon,” Axel responded walking next to me down the sidewalk. “And it’s past noon, it’s not early.” I just grumbled a ‘whatever’ and rolled slowly on my skateboard next to Axel. The warm summer air washed over me as he glided down the surprisingly even sidewalk.
“Why the hell do you have a beanie on?” Axel asked. “It’s summer.”
“You came into my house and practically drug me out of bed. I didn’t have time to fix my hair.” I said.
“You mean you actually have to style it?” Axel asked. “I thought you just rolled out of bed and said ‘fuck it.’”
“It takes a lot of work to look like you just woke up,” I said and pushed my foot off the ground again.
“I wouldn’t know,” Axel said, watching as I skated ahead before circling back around.
“You just crawl out of bed and throw clothes on?” I asked.
“Pretty much, sometimes I shower.” Axel answered.
“Dirtbag,” I said with a snicker.
“Maybe,” Axel replied with a shrug. “Can I try?” Axel asked, gesturing at the skateboard under my feet. I gave the redhead a disbelieving look before hopping off the skateboard and flipping it up.
“Just don’t break the board,” I warned handing the skateboard over to Axel.
“Have some faith Roxie,” Axel said with a smile. Axel placed the board on the concrete and put on foot on the black, sandpaper like surface before pushing off with his other foot. I watched as Axel moved forward, gliding gracefully…for about ten seconds. I continued to watch as Axel wobbled slightly and promptly fell off the rolling skateboard. I was torn between laughing my ass off or asking if Axel was OK. I decided to run after my still rolling skateboard before choosing one. However as soon as I passed Axel I started laughing anyways. The redhead was sitting on the ground, wide eyed and slightly dazed. I caught my board and rode it back up to Axel.
“You OK dude?” I asked leaning over Axel.
“Yeah,” Axel breathed.
“Nothing broken?” I questioned watching as Axel shakily pushed himself to his feet.
“Don’t think so,” Axel said standing up, swaying slightly. I instinctively placed my hands on Axel’s shoulders to steady the redhead. “But that was awesome!” Axel shouted, grabbing a hold of my wrists. “It felt so good, not the falling, that hurt, but the gliding…that was great.” Axel explained excitedly, looking like a hyper-active toddler on Christmas.
“Yeah, it is great.” I agreed, trying to ignore how warm Axel’s hands felt. “I can give you an old board to practice with, if you want.” I offered and Axel’s eyes lit up yet again. The redhead seemed to notice how expressive he was being and reigned in his emotion, thusly letting go of my wrists.
“Sure, that’d be cool. But only if you’re there to teach me, OK?” Axel said and I nodded in agreement.
“So what now?” I asked, letting my arms drop back down to my sides.
“I still want you to show me how good you are,” Axel said.
“OK,” I said and hopped back on my skateboard. “You know any good spots around here?”
“Most of the skater punks hang out downtown,” Axel said. “I’m sure they’ll let you ride, even though you’re a bit of a pretty boy.”
“Aw, you think I’m pretty?” I said, playing along and batting my eyelashes.
“The prettiest skater boy I’ve ever seen,” Axel replied with a wink.
“Loser,” I said with a laugh before pushing off the ground again and gliding ahead of Axel.
“Hey!” Axel shouted, I glanced back to see him running to catch up with me.
--
“Well this is….nice,” I said looking around the designated skater hangout. It looked like every dirtbag, burnout and HotTopic punk in the world were crammed into a four by four square. There were kids on bikes that haven’t been made since the 80’s, teens on skateboards and even more people sitting on cars that were older than they were. Most regarded us with nod while others flew past us yelling ‘fresh meat!’
“Yo! Loser,” Someone shouted, who the hell were they talking too? I looked around spotting a man waving his arms above his head. What the hell? “What are you doing here?” The man asked walking over to me and Axel. Really what the fuck?
“Reno,” Axel said, regarding the man a nod. The man, Reno, smiled in return.
“You finally decide to try and live up to your image?” Reno asked. “Who’s the blond?”
“This is Roxas, the reason we’re here.” Axel said, throwing an arm around my shoulders and pulling me closer to him. What the fuck is going on here? Not that I mind…in fact this is kinda nice. Axel is nice and warm….Nonono new train of thought.
“Really?” Reno asked, looking me over. “What’s he do?” He continued, bending down to look me in the eyes. Excuse me? I am right here, don’t talk about me like I’m some new toy.
“I skateboard,” I answered.
“And he talks,” Reno said with a smirk that was exactly like Axel’s. “You any good pretty boy?”
“You sound like Axel,” I said. “And yes I’m good.” Reno smiled and stepped back.
“Show us,” Reno said. Everybody had stopped what they were doing and were looking at the three of us with interest. Talk about pressure. I looked at Axel, who had his eyes trained on Reno.
“He doesn’t have to prove himself to you,” Axel said. Reno tossed his head to the side to look at Axel, an amused smile on his mouth.
“Ah, but he does, if he wants to skate here that is.” Reno turned back around to regard me. “So go on, Roxas, show us what you can do.” I looked around the area, trying to decide what I could do. There were metal railings and small ramps made with particle board. The most interesting thing was the large ramp situated in the corner of the area.
“Fine,” I said, having formulated a plan in my head. I let my skateboard drop to the ground and hopped on, pushing off I headed straight for the large ramp.
“Typical!” I heard Reno shout behind me and Axel respond with a ‘Shut up!’ I ignored them and picked up speed as I approached the ramp. I hit the wooden surface with all I had, propelling myself up the incline. I looked up to see people stand up quickly and move. I hit the end of the ramp and spun myself around. I rode back down the ramp, it was gonna be hard to gain much speed here.
“You’ll have to do better than that Blondie!” Reno shouted. I quickly turned my board around, trying not to loosed much speed as I hit the ramp again. I managed to gain a little more air this time around but not enough. I gritted my teeth, fuck! I should of known better. I saw a small ramp positioned at an angle close to the big on. Maybe…I hit the smaller ramp and flipped around before I could go over it. I headed for a second ramp, this one having three separate inclines and was positioned conveniently in front of the big ramp. I hit the right ramp and flipped so I’d land on the middle one. I had speed now, I pushed my foot off the ground, trying to pick up as much as possible.
“What the fuck!” I heard Reno shout and just grinned to myself. I hit the top of the big ramp again, gaining more than I had previously. I pushed forward into a spin, knowing I wasn’t going to land back on the ramp. Instead I was aiming for the rail that ran along the steps leading to the top of the ramp. I bent my knees and prepared for impact. I held steady as my board hit the rail and I immediately started grinding down the metal. Reaching the end I jumped off, flipping my board with my feet before landing back on the ground. I immediately pushed off the ground, in the perfect position. I could see Reno and Axel, both looking shocked. I propelled myself towards the ramp that was in front of Axel and Reno. I hit the ramp and soared right at Reno, who I hoped was smart enough to duck.
“Crazy fucker!” Reno shouted and hit the ground as I sailed over him harmlessly, landing a couple feet away from him. I stepped off my board and flipped it up and turned to face Axel and Reno.
“Were you trying to off me?” Reno shouted standing back up, fist clenched at his sides. “Jesus Christ kid,” Reno ran a hand through his hair.
“Was that good enough?” I asked. Reno just glared.
“Nobody but me has ever figured out how to use those ramps right.” Reno said. “And it took me months,” The redhead sighed and reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. “And you come in and manage to figure it out in ten minutes.” He continued pulling one of the cigarettes free and bringing it to his mouth. “Axel,” Reno said, extending his hand. Axel dug a lighter out of his jeans and gave it to Reno. Reno lit the cigarette and inhaled deeply, exhaling the grey smoke slowly.
“It was beyond good enough,” Axel said, plucking the smoke from Reno’s fingers and taking a drag.
“Yeah, yeah.” Reno said, waving his hand and taking the cigarette back. “You’re good, kid.” Reno sighed, taking another drag. I smiled, a real smile, and leaned against and upturned trashcan. “Maybe you can finally teach Axel how to use a board.”
“Maybe,” I said and looked at Axel who wore a small smile. “After all, it’s not like teenage dirtbags have anything better to do, right?”
--
“Dude, I wish you could’ve seen Reno’s face. He was so pissed when you started using ‘his’ ramps like that.” Axel laughed, wobbling slightly on my skateboard. I reached out to steady him. “Thanks,” He said and pushed off the ground again. “You make this look so easy.”
“You just gotta find your center of balance,” I told him.
“Yeah, yeah.” Axel mumbled. “So where to now?” Axel asked, wobbling again but manage to catch himself and regain his balance. I looked around spying a small ice cream shack.
“Ice cream,” I said pointing. Axel smiled and hopped off my skateboard, handing it back to me.
“Mmk, my treat.” Axel said, I was going to protest, I mean it’s not like this is a date…right? “You deserve if for dealing with Reno.”
“Are you guys like related?” I asked, falling into step next to Axel.
“No, why would you think that?” Axel asked.
“You’re joking right? I mean come on,” I said, not believing Axel’s answer.
“We are not that a like,” Axel said.
“Mmhmm,” I hummed.
“We’re not!” Axel shouted. “I mean he’s completely insane.”
“I didn’t say anything,” I said.
“You hummed,” Axel accused. “You insinuated you didn’t believe me.”
“I didn’t know a hum could insinuate,” I said, chuckling.
“Punk,” Axel said, punching my shoulder lightly.
“Dirtbag,” I retorted. “Just buy me my ice cream.”
“Demanding brat,” Axel scoffed.
“What the hell is that?” I asked, looking at appeared to be a human sized duck.
“The places ‘mascot,’” Axel said, air quoting the word mascot. I examined the duck while Axel got us our ice cream.
“Welcome to Mc. Scrooge’s!”
“Oh my god!” I shouted and jumped away from the talking duck. Axel busted out laughing as did the employee behind the counter. “It talks,” I breathed, clutching my chest. “Damn.”
“You OK, Roxie?” Axel asked, handing me my ice cream.
“Yeah, just wasn’t expecting a talking duck. What is this Disney World?” Axel just laughed again and shook his head.
“Come on Blondie,” Axel said and started walking away. I gave the duck one more glance before I jogged away to catch up with Axel.
--
Axel had led me to a new part of the town, but then again just about every part of town was new to me. It was a large stone structure that was practically deserted.
“What is this?” I asked Axel as the redhead walked out onto one of the enclosed balconies and leaned out a window.
“The postern,” Axel said. I walked over to the window Axel was at and could see a massive gorge that stretched out for miles. A wrecked castle sat at the center on the gorge. “I relic from the olden days.” Axel said. “It was in good shape up until a couple decades ago.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“Massive earthquake,” Axel explained. “It’s what made all of this, basically destroyed the entire place.”
“I never knew that,” I said. “You would figure it would be in history books or something.”
“You’d think,” Axel agreed.
“What’s down there?” I asked, just barely making out some people milling about in the deep fissure.
“Crystal mines,” Axel said. “The one good thing to come from the quake, it ripped open the ground and exposed crystal people never even knew was there.”
“Well that’s good…I guess.” I said.
“It’s what makes Radiant Garden…well radiant.” Axel said. “Richest place in the Kingdom. Did you learn none of this in school?” Axel asked, scratching the back of his head. “I mean Twilight Town isn’t that far away.”
“To be honest I never paid much attention in school, that’s Sora’s department.” I explained.
“Ah, Roxie, I knew you were a true dirtbag.” Axel said with a laugh.
“Yeah, guess so.” I said and leaned out the window next to Axel who had since climbed up to sit on the ledge. The sun was setting slowly behind the ruined castle, the last rays reflecting off the crystals deep in the fissures. I looked glanced at Axel who took the last bit of his ice cream, letting the stick dangle between his fingers. The setting sun turning his hair and eyes a shade darker. I hummed to myself and continued to eat the ice cream in my hand as I turned back to watch the sunset. Radiant Garden might not be Twilight Town but it was shaping up to be a pretty awesome place.
--
Ending Notes: 5,303 words, twelve pages and three days of work for one chapter. What fun. As an FYI I went back through like halfway through and changed the perspective. So I did kind of re-read it but I’m sure there’s still mistakes, so ya know tell me if you see any. Also I know dirtbag should be dirt bag, but really it’s a reference and laziness. Word wants me to fix a bunch of shit that wouldn’t make any sense if I were too, I don’t get it, but whatever.
In the time I was writing this I actually beat KH II, granted I skipped out on completing the journal. I was sad, still am actually. I mean I cried because it was over. I cried throughout the game though, I mean it’s really quite sad if you think about it.
Anyways, reviews are lovely, not gonna say they’ll get the next chapter up faster, but who knows. Sometimes all you need is to know some people like something and it motivates you.