Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Burn ❯ Chapter 8 Zexion ( Chapter 8 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

I learned to tolerate hospitals when my best friend was admitted. After all those years of avoiding it like the plague, I was going back. I closed my eyes and hid my face, willing the memories away.

Non Anime: Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Drama | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.03.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 235 | Status: Work In Progress

Burn

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters associated with Kingdom Hearts or Kingdom Hearts II. I'm merely borrowing them.

A/N: Be warned that this chapter is from Zexion's POV and this is my first time writing from his POV. And I suck at characterization.

Chapter 8 Zexion

I had to learn how to tolerate hospitals when my best friend Axel was admitted. I have always had a thing against hospitals, ever since I was a little kid. Probably because I had a bad experience when I was a kid. My parents were killed in a car accident when I was ten. It was traumatic and ever since then, I tended to avoid hospitals. That is, until Axel was admitted.

I remember that day quite well. I went over to Axel's house to help him study for an upcoming math test since math wasn't exactly his strongest subject. When I walked through the front door, I smelled two things simultaneously; smoke and burning flesh. It made me feel scared and nauseous. Against my better judgment, I grabbed a towel from the kitchen to cover my nose and mouth and went upstairs. The hall was covered with thick black smoke and it seemed to be coming from Axel's room.

Oh god, Axel, not again. I thought, thinking that he set his curtains on fire or something. I pushed open the door and stopped short.

The room was on fire and Axel was standing there in the middle of the fire, just…standing there. I dropped the towel.

“Oh my god Axel!” I exclaimed.

Axel turned and looked at me, his green eyes glittering. He had a strange expression on his face. Almost like…satisfaction. I rushed forward into the fire and grabbed him by the wrist. He didn't protest as I pulled him from the room. Coughing, I dragged Axel down the stairs and into the living room. I made him lie down on the couch while I went into the kitchen to call 9-1-1. When I returned, Axel was screaming in pain. I did my best to comfort him.

I rode with Axel to the hospital. After all those years of avoiding it like the plague, I was going back. Thankfully, this time, I wasn't the one who had to go, though I wish Axel didn't have to. They made me wait in a small empty waiting room all alone. Not that I really minded. I had other things to do, though. I had to call Axel's parents. Even though they hated me. They thought I was a bad influence on him, that I was to blame for him being gay. Just because I was gay. Yeah, Axel's parents are homophobes. At least he has parents.

After I finished making my phone calls, the only thing I could do was go back to the stupid little room and wait. Memories started resurfacing--my parents' terrified screaming, shattering glass, twisted metal. I closed my eyes and hid my face in my hands, willing the memories away. When Axel's mom arrived, I had to pull myself together. Axel's mom's eyes narrowed when she saw me.

“You can go home now,” she told me. “There is no need for you to be here.”
I wasn't going to be dismissed that easily. “I'm not going anywhere. Axel is my friend.” I crossed my arms and stared her down. Finally, she gave in and left to do…something. I didn't ask. I stared blankly at the far wall. She didn't come back in until much later.

They didn't give us an update for hours. Finally, a doctor came out. He had reddish brown hair and was incredibly muscular. I felt extremely small compared to him. However, he smiled.

“I'm Dr. Lexaeus,” he introduced himself.

“I'm his mother. How is he?” Axel's mom said curtly.

“He'll live,” Dr. Lexaeus answered. He turned to me. “And…who are you?” he sounded curious, nothing more.

“I'm Zexion,” I replied. “I'm Axel's best friend. I was…the one who discovered him.”
“I see. Have either of you noticed any…self-destructive behavior in Axel before this incident?”

“Yes,” Axel's mom said bluntly. “We've taken him to several therapists before this, but nothing's helped. He's burned himself before.”

“I see. I'm going to do a full psychological evaluation and I recommend that he be admitted to the Psych Ward as soon as possible.”

Axel's mom nodded. She excused herself to make some phone calls, leaving me alone with Dr. Lexaeus.

“Would you like to go and see him?” he asked softly.

“That'd be okay?” I asked.

Dr. Lexaeus nodded. “I can sense that he's very close to you.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “He's the only friend I have.”

“Yes, well…come with me.”
I followed the doctor down the halls and up to the fifth floor. In a room near the end of the hall was Axel. The doctor left the two of us alone. Axel was unconscious, though I wasn't sure of how he got this way. His red hair was a mess, as usual. He was deathly pale, even paler than me, which is saying something. There was an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth and his breath clouded the inside of it. His arms were heavily bandaged and there were machines of all sorts running. I tried not to flinch as I walked closer.

“Please don't leave me Axel,” I said in a soft voice. “You're the only friend I have in this world.” I felt a tear slide down my face. It was the first time I cried since my parents died.

After Axel was admitted and after he woke up, I visited him every day. I got into the habit of coming every day after school to see him. It was hard at first but I eventually got over my fear and started to feel comfortable in the hospital. I think it was Axel. He always made me feel comfortable. It had always been like that. His parents only visited him once a week. Depressing, I know. He didn't seem to care. He said that they always made him feel like a child.

Slowly, Axel began to recover. He couldn't feed himself or dress himself, but he was doing a hell of a lot better when he was first admitted. Things settled down and Axel got really bored.

Until he got a roommate.

They kept Axel away from a lot of people because he has this thing where he gets upset around a ton of people. It's strange because you'd think of Axel as a people person, especially after you've known him for a long time like me. He also gets upset if you drag him by the arm. No one has found a cause for it though when he's admitted to the Psych Ward, I'm sure they'll be able to figure it out.

Anyway, when this kid came in after trying to jump off the clock tower, they decided to put him in with Axel mainly because Axel was also a suicide case and they thought that they'd get along well.

But Roxas was in a coma.

No joke. He just lay there day after day. No matter what anyone tried, no matter how much his friends and family talked to him, he just remained in a coma. He had a lot of friends and people who loved him so it seemed weird that he'd try to kill himself. But according to Axel, his parents didn't care about him. It makes sense that he'd try to kill himself. Axel knows a lot about him. He seems to care a lot about Roxas.

I think he loves Roxas.

It's weird because he doesn't even know him, but I can tell by the way he looks at the kid. But I'm not jealous. I'm totally over Axel.

Really.

Axel was my first love. The reason I knew I was gay. I was never attracted to girls, but I wasn't attracted to guys either. Until I met Axel. He had been going out with a girl named Larxene. Bitch. She was mean and abusive. I was glad when they broke up, but not just because I was in love with Axel. I didn't like to see him being abused. It hurt me. I don't know why.

Anyway, we started going out because Axel realized that he was attracted to me. He figured out that he was bi because of me. And then I found out that Axel's parents were homophobes. Heh, yeah, that relationship didn't work out, but we remained friends. And I grew out of my crush out of him. Now we're best friends.

…what was I talking about?

Oh yeah. Roxas.

The kid finally woke up. He doesn't really talk, though Axel can get him to open up a bit. Oh yeah, and Axel had another one of his fits. A really bad one, followed by a seizure.

I went to see him the day after it occurred. Surprisingly, his parents were the ones who told me what happened. I guess they felt like they were obligated to let me know or something. I'm not sure.

He looked pretty decent when I walked into his room. His parents made their weekly visit and then it was my turn He was sitting up, as he had been these past few weeks. His arms were lightly bandaged and he was dressed in sweat clothes. He was smiling pleasantly when he saw me walk into the room.

“Hi Zex,” he greeted me warmly.

“I heard about what happened,” I began. “Do you want to go somewhere more private to talk?”

He nodded. I cleared it with his day nurse, Becky and got him into a wheelchair. Thank god he was unnaturally light; I'm not exactly the biggest person around. We went into the courtyard to talk. After we had finished, I brought him back up to his room. He was very reluctant. I couldn't blame him; I'd want out after being cooped up in a hospital for a month.

When we got back, a boy whom I understood to be Roxas's twin brother Sora was there talking to him. Along with him was a silver-haired boy with bright aquamarine eyes. He watched me warily as I wheeled Axel over to the bed and helped him to lie down.

“Thanks Zex,” Axel said, shifting himself. “Hopefully I'll be able to get around on my own soon so I won't have to depend on others so much. And…” his voice softened. “Thanks for taking me outside. It felt really good to get out of this damn hospital, even though it was only for a little while.”

The corners of my lips lifted for a small smile. “You're welcome Axel.”

To be continued…

A/N: Again, I'm really sorry that it took me so long to get this chapter posted. This is sort of a filler chapter. I realize that the link to the music video doesn't work so I posted it in my profile. Reviews help me update faster! I swear!