Disclaimer: I really don't think I have to do this for every chapter...
pride1289: You still review this story. :) Thanks!
hermione494: Permission ban: A student is not allowed to go home during the weekend. Penal servitude: You'll find out, trust me! XP
Jymac: Oh, I promise you'll see a lot more of that fake court as the story progresses!
Abhorson: Don't feel that way. I'm the one who feels like an idiot. -.-' But still, thanks for the review!
Evil Genius of the COCA: Penal servitude... Well, you'll find out about that! ;)
A/N: Okay, so school's finally over, thank god! XD And tomorrow I'm going away for vacation in Portugal and I'll be there for a week. But I will bring my laptop with me, so I can write if I find the time to do so... :) Anyway, there probably won't be any new chapter for a week and a half or so. Just so you all know!
Warning!: This chapter contains some really mild swearing.
Chapter 5: Roxas
It was time for the first round of penal servitude during the first weekend.
Zexion had told Axel it usually wasn't all that bad. In most cases, it consisted of something pointless, like carrying rocks from one place to another. Axel asked what what the college students' intentions were with giving the younger ones work like that. Zexion simply said the only intention was to force the cheeky students to work hard, so that they would realize it would get even worse if they kept behaving like they did. And since Axel had behaved in such a "rude" manner in front of the council, maybe they had some harder task in store for him.
When the alarm clock woke Axel up in the morning, it was pretty strange to see Zexion's bed being empty. Zexion had left earlier this morning in order to catch his train home. But he had left Axel a note, which said: 'Please, take it easy, okay?' Axel couldn't help but to smile slightly when he read that.
There was a careful knock on his door. When Axel opened it, he saw a younger and very nervous high school student standing there.
"Are you Axel?" The boy asked.
"Yeah."
"Marluxia wants you to attend to the school yard in ten minutes. And you can't be late."
"What happens if I am?"
"They'll beat me up." With that said, the terrified high school student hurried away from there.
Axel stared after him. Oh god, could those college bastards really do things like this? How could they even stand living with themselves, behaving like this? And why the hell did no one do anything about what happened at Starsworth? It was freaking absurd!
But in order not to get into trouble, Axel quickly got dressed and went out to the school yard. Marluxia along with the silver-haired teenager – who's name apparently was Riku, the right hand of Marluxia – were already waiting for him there. Marluxia glanced at his expensive Rolex wrist-watch when Axel stopped in front of them.
"Well, Axel –", Marluxia looked up, "– it looks like we don't have to give our little messenger boy a beating, after all."
Axel didn't say a word. He was careful with keeping his facial expression blank, which made him unreadable.
Marluxia's lips formed a lopsided and slightly sadistic grin. He nodded toward something on the ground in front of his feet. Axel looked down and spotted a shovel and a tape measure. Huh? He looked back at Marluxia.
"Your work today is to dig a hole in the ground right here." Marluxia said, pointing. "You'll make the hole exactly one meter long, one meter wide and one meter deep. If you don't..."
He trailed off in a way he probably thought was supposed to be threatening. Axel on the other hand just found it really ridiculous.
"We'll come back later for an inspection." Marluxia explained.
And then, he turned around and walked away from there alongside with Riku. Axel venomously stared after them before sighing and bending down to pick up the shovel and the tape measure.
When Axel had finished digging the hole quite some time later – he had lost the track of time after an hour – he straightened up and obediently waited for the inspection. It would have been okay if the weather had been fairly good. But right now, that wasn't the case at all. Because the ominously black clouds hanging from the sky ever since the morning had eventually started to rain. And it was insufferable to simply stand there in the rain and wait, soaked to the bone.
Axel was unbelievably cold. He violently trembled, which made him scared for the possibility of getting a cold because of all this. But he had done a good job, at least. He had been very careful with all the measures while digging. He was convinced that the hole would get accepted during the inspection.
When Marluxia and Riku showed up, they both carried an umbrella each. It didn't even look like they had gotten a single drop of rain on themselves. And on top of that, they wore thick long coats, making it look like they both were pretty warm.
They stopped in front of the hole in the ground. What surprised Axel the most was that no one bent down in order to check the hole. Instead, they both simply stared down at the hole for a short amount of time.
"Good job." Marluxia said, amused. "Do you know what you are going to do now?"
Axel expressionlessly looked at him. "No, what?" He asked without any interest, although his voice was shaking with cold.
"You are going to fill up the hole."
Both Marluxia and Riku smirked maliciously when they quickly walked away from there, leaving Axel alone to silently curse for himself.
It had gotten dark when Axel's round of penal servitude eventually was over. He went to the shower room of his dormitory, shaking as rain constantly dripped from him. His fingers were stiff as he undressed before walking into one of the shower stalls.
He showered beneath the hot water a long time before returning to the dressing room. He put on some clean and, most importantly, dry clothes and then went to the cafeteria. He was starving since he hadn't had any time to eat breakfast this morning. Although, since it was too late for dinner, he wasn't sure if he could get anything to eat. But it was worth a try, wasn't it?
He stepped into the cafeteria. It was empty and terribly silent. The only sound was some muffled talking that came from the other side of the double-doors leading to the kitchen. It was strange to see the cafeteria looking so... abandoned.
Axel walked up to the kitchen doors in order to try to open them. Locked. Shit! he thought, grimacing. He looked through the small round windows placed in the kitchen double-doors. The only thing he saw was an empty and short hallway. But someone had to be somewhere in there since he could still hear the talking. He decided to wait here for someone to come out of there.
Axel walked over to his table at the other end of the big hall. He sat down at his seat and sighed with relief. His hands ached and were full of blisters caused by the hard and exhausting work. At least he wasn't cold anymore.
Once more, he wondered why nobody did anything about what went on here at Starsworth. The teachers... Why didn't they care about what the students did? It all could end in a really bad way if things continued like this.
Axel leaned down over the table, letting his forehead rest against the surface of it. He closed his eyes. His whole body was sore. He hadn't expected this day to end in a way like this. The tiredness quickly washed over him, like an enormous tidal wave.
He thought about his mom, wondering what she was doing right now. She probably played the piano while dad and Axel's nasty younger brother watched some movie on the TV.
Although this school seemed to be pretty twisted, Axel wasn't going to give up. Not now. He had to graduate from high school first. He didn't want to give his mom yet another reason to cry for. She already had enough of those the way things were now. He wanted her to be proud of him, for once. That would be a pretty nice change.
Axel heard how someone opened a door before closing it again. He straightened up, the tiredness quickly fading away. He glanced over his shoulder and almost received a shock from what he saw.
The beautiful blonde boy he had seen the other day came out of the kitchen carrying a tray, on which there was a plate of food as well as a glass of juice. The blonde determinedly walked toward Axel, who simply stared at him. When he reached Axel, he put the tray down on the table in front of the redhead.
"Eat." The blonde softly instructed.
Am I imagining things? Axel wondered. "Thanks." He said gratefully before starting to eat.
The blonde remained standing there beside Axel, looking at the redhead. By some reason, it felt like those sapphire-blue eyes of his could see right through Axel and read him as if he was an open book. The blonde had such a straightforward and fearless expression, but it still wasn't unpleasant to be observed by him.
Eventually, the blonde sighed and sat down on the seat on the opposite side of the table. "Did ya get penal servitude?" He asked.
Axel couldn't help but to notice a certain dialect in the blonde's words. He spoke in a drawling kind of way, which made him sound like a real redneck. Axel wasn't sure of where people spoke with that kind of dialect. But nevertheless, it was still very beautiful. The dialect gave the blonde's words a nice ring, making his voice really unique.
"Yeah." Axel answered, grimacing slightly.
The blonde nodded, a glimmer of compassion in his eyes. "Y'know, Marluxia an' those college bastards really deserve to get beaten up themselves. That'd do 'em good."
"But you get expelled if you hit a member of the council." Axel protested.
The blonde laughed a little. Axel thought it was the most wonderful thing he had ever heard. "I know that." The blonde said, his eyes glittering. "I only meant they deserve a real beatin'."
Axel smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know, but that won't do much help, will it?"
"No, I'm afraid it won't."
Axel shrugged his shoulders. He grasped the glass and drank of the juice, which felt good for his dry throat. When he put the half-full glass down again, the blonde was still looking at him. There was something so beautifully straightforward about the blonde, it almost seemed a little scary.
"So, where are you from?" Axel curiously asked.
"Destiny Islands."
"Oh."
Axel remembered the pictures of Destiny Islands that had been in the geography books of the ninth grade. Apparently, it was one of the most beautiful places on earth. Unfortunately, he couldn't recall a single fact that he had read about Destiny Islands. Which meant he couldn't impress the blonde with any knowledge about the place.
"An' what about you?" The blonde asked, sounding interested.
"Radiant Garden."
The blonde suddenly got a really dreamy facial expression. "I'd like to go there someday." He mumbled. "I read there's plenty of jobs there and that's exactly what I need."
"So why don't you just go there?"
"I have to save money to afford with somewhere to live and things like that. An' that'll take some time since I send half of my salary home to my parents."
Axel couldn't help but to admire the honest manner of the blonde. If Axel had been the one to say all that, he would have lowered his gaze a long time ago. But the blonde didn't. He simply sat there, firmly looking straight at Axel. Which must mean that he was very strong and had a durable mentality.
Axel silently ate his food for a while before the blonde started talking again.
"What's yer name?"
Axel looked up, surprised. "Axel. And yours?"
"Roxas."
Roxas. Axel wordlessly tasted the name, letting it roll across his tongue. It wasn't any ordinary name, he knew that. But for some reason, the uniqueness of the name made it really wonderful.
"Nice name." Axel smiled. "I'll remember that."
"Well, if ya get any more penal servitude, you'll probably remember my name whether ya like it or not." Roxas cheerfully joked.
Axel chuckled slightly. When he got quiet again, he realized it was the first time he had gotten close to laughing in... well, plenty of years, at least. He looked at Roxas. If a person managed to get Axel laughing, then that person was definitely someone that Axel would grow to like.
A door opened before a light voice called, "Roxas! Come here, now!"
"Comin'!" Roxas answered.
The door was shut and Roxas turned back to Axel, deeply sighing. He shook his head a little before getting up from the chair. He glanced at the empty plate in front of Axel, his eyes somewhat quizzical.
"Have ya finished that?" Roxas asked.
Axel reluctantly nodded. He actually didn't want Roxas to go, but he more of less had to. Axel lifted the tray and reached it out to Roxas, who took it.
Roxas straightened up and tilted his head to one side as he looked down at Axel, who remained sitting at the table. "Well, I guess I'll see ya tomorrow, then." He said, a thin smile curving his lips.
"Yeah, I guess." Axel agreed, smiling back.
Roxas nodded before starting to walk toward the double-doors that he had come from before. Axel turned around, following him with his gaze until he disappeared into the kitchen. Axel really liked him.
Roxas... I'll remember that name for sure.
A/N: OMG, I can't believe I gave Roxas an Alabama dialect! XD I wanted to experiment a little and this is the way it turned out. But still, yay for Roxy! XP So... review? Please? -Puppy eyes-