Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Burn ❯ Chapter 6 Cloud ( Chapter 6 )

Burn

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters associated with Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts II. I do own the unrecognizable characters and they're not to be used without my permission.

A/N: Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. This chapter is indeed in Cloud's POV. Sorry if Cloud is OOC. I suck majorly at characterization.

 

Chapter 6 Cloud

Roxas woke up last night.

The call came at nearly midnight. Leon grumbled the entire time he went to pick up the phone. I sat up and simply listened.

“Hello?” Leon asked sleepily. His expression sharpened. “What? You're sure? When did he wake up?”

Huh. Must be talking about Roxas. There's no one else I could think of who'd fit the current situation.

I wasn't surprised when Roxas attempted suicide. It was his only choice to escape the hellish life he was living. Not that I'm glad he did it. I just understand why. His parents barely acknowledge his existence and when they do, they pick on him and bully him. They aren't very nice people. I can state that with certainty. They don't even care that Roxas tried to kill himself and is now in the hospital in a coma…well not anymore. But I care. Technically, he and Sora are Leon's god kids, but I've been with Leon since high school (you do the math) so I think of them as my own. I just don't show it all the time.

Leon hung up the phone and got up.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“The hospital,” Leon answered, switching on the light beside our bed. “Roxas is awake.”
“Oh,” I said.

“You're welcome to come, you know.”
“Yes.” I got up and pulled some clothes on. We hurried to Leon's car.

“Why the hurry?” I asked, sliding into the front.
“There's a…slight problem.”
“Oh?” I prompted.

“Roxas isn't responding well. Talking I mean. Something…happened. He did talk a little at first, but then he sort of…clammed up.”
“Sora?” I questioned.

“We're picking him up right now.”
“Parents?”

“Don't know, probably don't care.”
“Right.”
The two of us fell silent as we drove to pick up Sora. He looked extremely worried as he climbed in the back. None of us said a word as we sped to the hospital. I'm amazed Leon didn't get pulled over for driving twenty over the speed limit. Not that we passed any cop cars or anything.

Once at the hospital, we rushed up to Roxas's room. We were greeted at the door by an anxious-looking nurse. I looked at Leon with my eyebrows raised. He returned my look of confusion. We walked in. The curtain was drawn around the bed of Roxas's roommate…Axel was his name. We could hear a scuffling noise coming behind it as well as raised voices.

“Damn it let go of me!” a voice I recognized as Axel's yelled.

“Don't you understand Axel? This is for your own good,” the calm voice of Dr. Lexaeus explained.

“I…don't…want…to be drugged!”
“You have no choice.”
“Let…GO!!”

There was a ripping sound as the curtain came down, Dr. Lexaeus along with it. He was holding a syringe full of a clear liquid with a needle stuck on the end. Dr. Lexaeus grunted as he hit the ground. For a man that big to have come down like that required a lot of strength on Axel's part. Then again, the saying goes, `the bigger they are the harder they fall'. Dr. Lexaeus got to his feet, the syringe still in his hand. Axel pushed himself up with his arms, his face livid. I don't think I've ever seen so much anger in one person before. His gaze was intense.

“Don't…touch…me,” he spat out.

“Axel stop.” The voice made everyone stop and turn, including Axel. “Don't hurt him. He's just… trying to help.” It was Roxas. Axel looked as surprised as Dr. Lexaeus to hear Roxas talk. The intense expression on his face melted away at once.

“Whatever Roxie,” he said in a bored tone.

Dr. Lexaeus stepped forward and took Axel's arm. He jabbed the needle into his forearm and pumped drugs into Axel's system to sedate him (though why I'm not really sure—Axel had calmed down and didn't even put up a fight when Dr. Lexaeus jabbed him with the needle). Dr. Lexaeus took out the needle and waited. After a few moments, the drugs took effect and Axel blinked sleepily. His emerald eyes closed and his body fell still except for the slow rising and falling of his chest.

“Sara, get some restraints,” Dr. Lexaeus ordered. The nurse he was addressing, who had been standing mutely against the back wall this entire time watching nodded and left. Dr. Lexaeus, upon seeing the worried look on Roxas and Sora's faces, smiled.

“Don't worry,” he said in a reassuring tone. “This is merely a precaution. We want to make sure Axel doesn't hurt himself any further and to make sure that he doesn't lose control again.” Sora looked reassured, though Roxas did not. “So Roxas, do you want to explain why you decided to suddenly speak again? No?” Roxas remained silent, his blue eyes slightly blank. Leon stepped over to the bed and started speaking to him a low voice, Sora as well.

“You scared us half to death…”

I didn't hear the rest; I turned my attention to Axel. It gave me something to do. Sara came in with leather restraints that she fastened around Axel's wrists and ankles, then secured to the bed. She checked his vital signs and then frowned.

“Oxygen is low,” she muttered to herself. She placed a plastic oxygen mask over his nose and mouth and made sure it was secure.

I turned away. Leon and Sora had ceased talking to Roxas. Roxas was still silent. I carefully studied him.

He looked a lot older. In four weeks, he had changed dramatically. His facial features were thinner, harder. His hair, of course, had grown longer. At least his face was clean shaven. The rest of his body was extremely thin. His hospital gown hung loosely off his body. Poor Roxas.

I've known him since he was a baby. Leon became his godfather a year before I even met him. It's kind of weird. Roxas and Sora's parents were sixteen when they had them. Leon, who was a couple years younger than them was made godfather when he was thirteen. I met him freshman year of high school. As the years went by, I sort of became their godfather too. Now I'm just a part of the family. Over the years, I watched Roxas grow more and more unhappy. His parents treated him badly and pretty much everyone else did too because of Sora and Riku. He didn't seem to care outwardly, but inwardly, I knew it hurt him. I could only watch as he slowly broke.

“Dr. Lexaeus?” Sara's voice broke through my thoughts. “It's about Axel.”

Dr. Lexaeus turned. “What about him?”

“His oxygen level and blood pressure have dropped dramatically in the past couple of minutes.”

“What?!”

I turned and watched as Dr. Lexaeus hurried to Axel's side. Even from where I stood across the room, I could see Axel's breath clouding the inside of the oxygen mask. Suddenly, Axel's body started jerking.

“Shit! He's seizing!” Dr. Lexaeus cried. He told Sara something I didn't understand and she hurried from the room. She returned with a syringe. She handed it to Dr. Lexaeus who injected it into Axel's forearm, the same place he had injected the sedative before. After a few minutes, Axel calmed down. His body stopped jerking and he laid absolutely still.

“Get him started on an IV and order blood work to be done. Get an EEG and an MRI done as soon as possible. We need to find out what casued his seizure, if it was just an allergic reaction to the medicine or something much worse.”
“Yes doctor.” Sara nodded and left. Dr. Lexaeus walked back over to Roxas's bed.

“Let's get you some pain medication, huh?” he asked. Roxas silently nodded. His blue eyes were wide with fear. “Now this medication might make you sleepy.” Roxas nodded again. A different nurse, Roxas's nurse came in and administered the drug in Roxas's IV bag.

“Let's let Roxas get some sleep now,” Leon said softly. Sora nodded and allowed Leon to lead him out. I started to follow but Roxas stopped me.
“Cloud…please don't leave yet,” he whispered. The surprises never seem to cease.

“Okay,” I replied.

I walked back to Roxas's bed. He held out his hand. Hesitatingly, I took it. I wasn't good at this sort of thing. This was Leon's area of expertise. Roxas didn't seem to mind. He watched me with his big blue eyes. Suddenly, I felt angry. Angry at Roxas's parents for putting him in this position. And angry at myself for failing to act to prevent this from happening.

“I'm sorry,” I whispered.

For what? Roxas's eyes asked.

“For not intervening. I could have stopped your unhappiness so you wouldn't have to resort to this.”

It's not your fault. It's mine. I read in Roxas's eyes.

“Don't blame yourself. It's not your fault your parents don't love you. There is nothing wrong with you. They should love and protect you…”

It was getting hard for me to talk. Caring never hurt this much before.

To be continued…

 

A/N: Ah, I was so excited about finally getting the last chapter up that I forgot my notes on Lexaeus. He's a lot different than in the series. I think. I don't really know because he's only in COM and I've never played that. He's definitely scary-looking. I think he's sort of rough but for this, he's not as mean as he looks. Okay, I just totally broke my record for fast updating. Probably because I had most of the chapter written up already. I just knew exactly what was going to happen. I have a bit of the next chapter already written out so hopefully the next update will come very soon. Remember: reviews help me to update faster and you know it.