Inferno

1.

'In other news, The Inferno was spotted on the outskirts of Midgar late last night in the clutches of Tempest's wind. After a perilous battle, neither man could be found. Could The Inferno's flame have been extinguished for the last time? Find out more tonight.'

Roxas scowled at the news report, watching the shaky video of a figure dropping to its knees inside of a vicious cyclone before the news reel cut out to lead into the next feature story. He flicked the power button on the remote before tossing it on the couch, grabbing his knapsack from the loveseat and heading for the door. His skateboard was leaning against the wall beneath the key rack-- courtesy of Sora's innate tendency to tidy everything but his own room.

Snatching it up, Roxas made sure to lock the front door as soon as he closed it behind himself, jogging down the steps to catch sight of Axel waiting in the driveway, his arm resting lazily on the handlebars of his motorcycle, the other absently scratching at a fresh band-aide on his chin.

Roxas rolled his eyes as he moved to stuff his skateboard as awkwardly as he could into his bookbag, slinging it back over his shoulder when he was satisfied with the wheeled contraption sticking halfway out the top.

"Was your dad drinking again last night?" He asked, watching Axel's previously distracted face light up at the sight of the blond junior. At first, it seemed like he was going to ignore Roxas' question, opting to reach to the back of the motorcycle and grab the spare helmet that was inside of his satchel. He tossed it to Roxas, answering lightly. "Yeah, somethin' like that. You know dad."

Roxas grunted and stuffed the helmet over his head, mildly disgruntled at the feeling of his gelled hair poking into his forehead and cheeks. He lifted the visor as Axel clambered onto the front of the bike. "Your dad's a dick." His muffled voice grumbled, hopping on behind Axel and twisting his fingers into the back of his friend's shirt

Axel barked out a halfhearted laugh and turned on the ignition, the motorcycle's loud engine drowning out the any other response. They turned in the driveway before rolling down into the road, where Axel floored it and Roxas had to desperately grab onto the redhead's midsection to keep from flying off the back end. Roxas angrily headbutted Axel's back in warning, causing his friend's body to shake in laughter as he eased up on the gas.

The second that Axel had seemed to miraculously been able to afford a motorcycle during the previous year, it had become a ritual for the older boy to drive the both of them to school. With Axel's conflicting work schedule, however, Roxas spent most afternoons skateboarding home and hoping he might be lucky enough to roll into a scrimmage between The Inferno and one of the odd Nobodies.

As per usual, the ride was made in silence -- mostly because Roxas hated yelling over the engine and trying to hear Axel through the strong padding of his helmet. When they reached the school parking lot, Roxas hopped off, wrenching the helmet from his head and instantly trying to adjust his hair as well as he could with one hand.

Axel released an overly exhasperated sigh at his companion's antics, "I've got work today, so I can't give you a ride home, don't forget." Roxas scowled, helmet clacking as he handed it back to Axel. "I remember. I brought my skateboard for a reason."

His answer was a noncommittal shrug, Axel fingering with the chipping paint of his spare helmet before he hooked it on the handlebars. "Just making sure..." He grumbled, face contorted into a pained look. Rolling his eyes, Roxas shot his hand out to punch Axel in the shoulder, earning an exaggerated wince and hiss.

"Don't be such a baby. I'm heading for class. Don't wait up." Having said that, he cheerily bumped fists with a humored Axel, hopping over the parking median and jogging towards the open campus.

Considering Axel's tendency for toeing the speed limit, they'd barely arrived before the first bell. Students were already scattering about to get to their class on time, some of them shoving past Roxas in their rush. Hayner was waiting impatiently outside of the gym when Roxas arrived, already dressed out and scowling profusely, tonguing what looked like a split lip. Roxas paused in front of the younger blond, giving him a prolonged and blatant stare that had Hayner's chestnut eyes narrowing. Not another beat of silence passed before Hayner's wiry arms shot out and shoved angrily at Roxas' chest, causing the blond to stumble back with a chuckle. "Shut up, ass."

Roxas couldn't help the wry grin that pulled onto his face as they stepped into the gym's hallway, meandering for the locker rooms. "So, did you get that one in Struggle, or in struggling?" He quipped, instantly receiving a palm to the upside of his head and laughing loudly. Hayner violently pushed Roxas against the wall, storming into the gym with a single finger as his departing wave.

Roxas bit back his smile, heading for the locker rooms to change into his gym clothes. He never bothered to question Hayner's association with their school's Struggle captain, Seifer Almasy, because he feared the consequences that would be answered through his best friend's fist. (and possibly another shampoo-cum-surprise hair dye incident)

Stuffing his backpack into his locker, Roxas was secretly relieved that nobody was in the locker room to watch him jump up and down until he could actually reach the top of the lockers to put his skateboard on them, out of reach and out of sight from anyone who might be less than moral.

Slipping out of the locker room, he cheerily greeted Tidus as the Blitzball star struggled with a seemingly finicky drink machine that popped out a water bottle instead of the blond's desired soda.

Slipping into the gym, he nodded at their coach, Auron, and jogged over to the volleyball net that had been set up for anyone willing to play. Hayner was at the front, adjacent to Seifer as they continued to batter the poor ball, trying to one-up the other.

Roxas wasn't sure if he pitied the other players or the volleyball itself more, as Seifer dived in front of Olette to smack the ball up and over the net. Olette had shrieked in surprise, her open palm whapping him in the shoulder. Seifer ignored her, instead running up to punch the volleyball back again the second it had sailed over the net.

Roxas contemplated joining the older blond boy's side, just to tick Hayner off, but decided against it when Hayner ran smack into an oblivious Rikku in a mad scramble to return the ball.

Roxas shuffled towards the far end of the gym, waving at Demyx, who was in his own world, headphones over his ears and hair hanging in his face. As per usual, the cheery senior had set to dancing around a small crowd of students to entertain them. Roxas turned just in time to see Hayner running at him, gaze directed on the white ball sailing through the air. Eyes widening in shock, he barely had time to sidestep Hayner, grimacing when his leg caught against his friend's ankle.

Hayner toppled forward, skidding across the gym with a shout of surprise, chin cracking against the polished wood and a wince coming fiercely to his face that signified an injured tongue in the mix. Seifer's laughter echoed inside of the gym, causing a mortified fluster to overcome the short blond. Roxas apologized profusely, reaching out to help his friend up as Hayner experimentally flapped his wounded tongue around, grinning cheekily at his friend through his obvious pain. His chin was a blaring shade of red that had Seifer ducking under the net and making his way over while Hayner wriggled Roxas' arm off and jogged after the askew volleyball.

Roxas shrugged indifferently, continuing his path towards the corner of the gym that Zexion sat in, book in hand. The dark-haired boy gave him a curt nod in greeting, and Roxas plopped down on the gym floor beside him, muttering to his companion about how ridiculous it was for the bleachers to be pulled back during the school day. Zexion gave him a noncommittal shrug, flipping the page in his book

Roxas leaned against the wall, opting to watch his friends. Seifer had Hayner's chin in his hands, examining the injury as the younger blond tried to shove his sometimes-friend off of him. Seifer seemed satisfied after a moment of inspecting, and clapped Hayner on the arm, snatching the volleyball before anyone could react and jogging back to his side of the net.

Roxas' thoughts wandered to that morning's news cast, worry gnawing at the back of his mind when he thought of how helpless that barely visible outline of The Inferno seemed to look inside of the relentless cyclone. He pulled his knees up to his chest. Their entire region seemed to be littered with what was, literally, superhumans.

The first few had shown up when Roxas was in seventh grade. He and Axel used to run all the way to Roxas' house every day to watch the news in awe at the destructive power of what they now knew as Freeshooter and Tempest.

They were far from innocent- considering how almost twenty people had gone missing, sometimes with new villains showing up in their place. Kids that Roxas had known while growing up, Ienzo Stark and Myde O'Donahue, had never returned after their disappearances. During their ninth grade year, Roxas had flown into hysterics when Axel had disappeared off the face of the earth for eight days.

They'd called the police, contacted the newspaper, and Roxas had gone as far as to make ridiculous flyers with a picture of Axel playing with his cat, asking to call the given number if he was sighted. On the ninth day, Axel had called Roxas from his house, explaining that he'd merely gotten lost in the woods when he went to help some kid find his dog. After running over to the older boy's house, Roxas had berated him and slapped him until Axel had locked himself in the bathroom in fear of the blond's rage.

After Roxas' worry had subsided, however, he'd burst into tears of relief and blubbered on for a half hour that he'd been worried for Axel's welfare, and that the 'Nobodies' had gotten ahold of him like they to his neighbor, Sai. Of course, Axel had explained that he hadn't meant to disappear for so long, but he had lost track of time, and that all the trees really did look the same in YenSid's forest.

Somewhere in the middle of that same year, another suppossed villain had appeared. However, it was quickly established -- once he visibly punched the Diviner in the face on national television -- that The Inferno was more of a hero than a villain.

Not long after, Tsunami and Synthesis had appeared in a few fights to lend The Inferno a helping hand -- though on occasion, Tsunami would turn around in the midst of a fight and throw a volley of water in The Inferno's face before running off with whomever they happened to be dueling with at the time.

Of course, Roxas had experienced his fair share of encounters with both The Inferno and a handful of the self-proclaimed Nobodies. This included a very heated run-in a mere week ago, when Freeshooter had taken aim into a crowd of people and threatened to kill them if The Inferno didn't come willingly. Roxas, being the foolish teenager that he was, had taken an apple out of the lunchbag in his hand and thrown it at the one-eyed man, clocking him in the side of the head and earning a gun pointed at his face.

However, before he could fire, The Inferno had tackled Roxas into the road and pushed him out of harm's way. For that split second, he'd felt every contour of the man's lean body beneath the form-fitting clothing, and had wished pathetically that the hero didn't wear a helmet to hide his face.

Roxas' cheeks burst into a furious blush at the mere memory of The Inferno's heartbeat fluttering against Roxas' collarbone before the blond had been told to stay out of the way, though the man's voice was distorted and muffled through the helmet.

Roxas buried his face into his knees, berating himself for acting like a childish girl.

Before the complications of The Inferno's appearance, Roxas had been content with practically lusting after Axel for a good two years. He'd never felt so torn in his entire life than he did in the most recent months, unsure of which attraction proved to be stronger.

"Heads up!" Roxas peeked up to watch a Volleyball sail overhead, involuntarily squawking and jerking out of the way as it smacked into Zexion's shoulder.

Hayner jogged up, grabbing the ball and apologizing to Zexion, who seemed to have barely taken note of the volleyball's attack. Roxas grinned wryly, though he couldn't help but impatiently wait for the end of the day to come. He honestly had no desire to stay in school when The Inferno could be somewhere dying, and with nobody to help him.

The bell came soon enough, and Roxas shuffled through his day with anticipation. He went so far as to ask his Television Communications teacher if they could watch the news while they worked on editing their videos. Axel had given him an odd look before returning to his music video about The Inferno, and Roxas and scrunched his nose at his friend's obvious infatuation with the superhero.

He was convinced, no matter how much Axel denied it, that the redhead had a blatant crush on the fire-casting hero. It made jealousy coil in his gut, though Roxas wasn't sure who he was jealous of when the thought came to him, which was more of a dilemma than Axel's ridiculous adoration of the young crime fighter.

By the time his last class had rolled around, Roxas had his skateboard underfoot and was sliding it back and forth beneath the desk, somewhat grateful that his history teacher, Mr. Valentine, hardly bothered to show enough emotion to be annoyed by the scraping sound that the action generated.

Hayner, on the other hand, voiced his irritation in the form of sliding down in his seat behind Roxas and kicking the skateboard out from underneath of his friend's foot, causing it to shoot forward and smack into the back of Yuna's heels. The brunette girl shrieked in surprise, whirling around and giving Roxas a whithering glare. Roxas shrugged apologetically, toeing the skateboard back to its previous position and watching the clock impatiently. He'd already put away his classwork, prepared to depart the second that the day was over.

Hayner seemed to have a similar impatience -- though his was an everyday occurence -- and when the final bell actually let out its shrill ring, both boys were fighting to get to the door first, before Hayner shoved Roxas against the trash can by the door, casuing the taller blond to fall uncerimoniously to the ground with the bin on top of him, scattering papers everywhere.

Hayner cackled loudly, taking a second to pick up the trash can before he shoved his way past students to get outside. Roxas picked himself up, huffing in embarrassment and apologizing to Mr. Valentine while gathering up the scattered papers and returning them to the trash bin. He dropped his skateboard on the ground upon leaving the classroom, intent on catching to Hayner before his friend reached the street.

Hayner was waiting outside the school gates when Roxas finally arrived. Grinning, the struggle fighter held a fist out to Roxas, and the taller blond bumped their knuckles together before Roxas spoke up. "I wanna get home in time for the four o'clock news. Somethin' happened last night to the Inferno and I wanted to see if they had any updates. Wanna come over?" Hayner seemed to contemplate this for a moment, rolling the idea around in his head. "I dunno, man. Seifer said he was gonna help me with that history project Mr. Val gave us last week, he's supposed to come over at five, and my room's a mess." Roxas quirked a brow, earning an embarrassed punch to the shoulder from Hayner as the darker blond dropped his skateboard to the ground and stepped onto it.

"Shut up. The guy's a neat freak with everything. I'm surprised he doesn't have a coronary every time he sees a mirror because that scar messes up the symmetry of his face or something." Roxas trailed after Hayner, their boards rolling lazily down the sidewalk and towards the Marketplace. Roxas wiggled his legs enough for the board to swerve a little so he could better keep up with Hayner.

"Maybe he thinks it makes him more distinguished?" Roxas offered, and Hayner shot him an odd look, snorting loudly. "If that's what you call it."

They cut through the Marketplace, swerving around the odd pedestrian and conversing cheerily until they reached Roxas' house. Hayner gave his friend a curt goodbye before skating off down the street and towards his own home. It would probably require all afternoon to make his room even remotely up to Seifer's obsessive compulsive standards. Dropping his skateboard in the grass just under the front window, Roxas stuffed a hand into his back pocket to retrieve his key, the other going to knock rapidly on the door.

Instantly, he could hear frantic barking from the other side as his dog tried to stop the intruder from coming inside. Unlocking the door, Roxas swung it open and flew his arms apart with a manic grin.

"Max!" He yelled with false cheer, causing the fair-haired golden retriever to run in a small circle and give a quick series of jumps in place. He knelt down, hands going to scratch lovingly at the dog's ear, grimacing when Max's tongue eagerly lapped at his cheek and mouth.

"Max, that's rude!" He groaned, shoving the dog's head away from his face in vain. Max returned with even more effort, and Roxas patted his head and stood, shutting the door behind himself and making his way for the living room. He tossed his bookbag onto the loveseat, making a snatch for the remote control and turning the news on. A scowl pursed his lips when the weekly weather report came on through the speakers. He tossed the remote control back onto the couch and headed for the kitchen, intent on preparing himself something edible before his brothers and father came home from work.

Max whined, following him to the kitchen and standing in the doorway to watch Roxas putter around. The blond grumbled in annoyance, tossing a stale slice of bread to the retriever- despite how much his father discouraged the action- and returned to his task of preparing a formidable sandwich.

'In other news, The Inferno has yet to be spotted after his encounter last night with Tempest.' Roxas dropped his knife mid-mayo spread, jogging out of the kitchen and shoving Max out of the way. He clutched to the back of the couch in anticipation as the video from that morning was played again while the news reporter continued to speak.

'Sources tell us that Tempest had been caught in the middle of trying to kidnap a young girl when The Inferno appeared, stopping the man from taking another victim. The fight lasted about thirty minutes before Tempest was able to create a cyclone in mid-air, surrounding the Inferno and extinguishing the hero's flame. However, when the cyclone was finally stopped, neither men were to be seen.'

Roxas watched as The Inferno fell to one knee beneath the winds, objects flying about and blocking him from view momentarily. Suddenly, the camera fizzed for a few seconds as a particularly strong gust hit it, and when it came back into focus, both the cyclone and The Inferno were gone, leaving only a few scattered objects in their wake. Roxas nibbled on his lower lip, brows furrowing in anxiety.

'Following the destruction, nearby SOLDIERS came in to ascertain crowd control. General Sephiroth had little to say on the matter.'

Roxas knew Sephiroth from word of mouth -- mostly because his oldest brother was training to become a SOLDIER, and had experienced more than his fair share of run-ins with the famous general. He wasn't too terribly fond of the man, but Cloud had always had an odd infatuation with the seemingly invincible General.

Sephiroth's face remained impassive as a microphone was shoved into his face.

'We may not have apprehended the vigilante or his destructive accomplice as of yet, but SOLDIER is determined to have both men, along with the rest of their law-breaking group, in custody within the next few months.' Roxas snorted, remembering clearly how it had only been a few weeks prior that the General had claimed that The Inferno was employing the Nobodies to be villains so that he could be some kind of superhero.

Roxas had seen enough fights to understand that The Inferno was wanted/by the Nobodies. Why- he wasn't sure, but he knew full well that it was going to be a cold day in Hell before the fire-caster would voluntarily follow in their footsteps.

He scowled, turning from the television to finish making his snack, listening as General Sephiroth continued to ramble on about the injustice of superhuman monsters being allowed to freely roam the earth. Putting everything away once he was finished, Roxas grabbed a bag of chips out of the pantry, kicking the fridge with his heel to close it and meandering into the living room with his sandwich.

There was a video playing of Synthesis pulling Freeshooter away from The Inferno with a cluster of vines, followed by another short video of the plant-controlling man doing almost the exact opposite as the news reporter continued to ramble on about The Inferno's 'unreliable allies'. Roxas snorted, putting his plate and chips down and scowling with realization that he'd forgotten a soda, turning around on his heel and returning to the kitchen.

The front door opened, slamming shut not long after as the sound of Cloud muttering into the phone reached the blond's ears. The television went silent before Roxs could make it back out of the kitchen, muted by the older Strife. Roxas placed the can beside his sandwhich, walking around to sit on the couch and wait for Cloud to leave the room.

"So you don't know where you are or how you got there... but you're dressed as Santa and children are crying... right." Cloud murmured, gesturing at Roxas to keep the television's volume down before he wandered off into his own room, shutting the door with the heel of his boot. Roxas waited for a few seconds before he grabbed the remote and turned the sound back on, making sure to lower it slightly as he began flipping through stations, kicking his shoes off and nudging them under the coffee table.

Not long after his sandwich had been digested and he'd munched his way through a good portion of barbecue chips, the front door opened to reveal a disgruntled looking Sora, who held Roxas' skateboard in hand, setting it against the wall beside the door. "You're gonna get that stolen one day, y'know." The brunet lectured as soon as he realized that Roxas was watching him. Rolling his eyes, Roxas sunk down into the couch.

"I don't think anyone is going to want to steal a skateboard, Sora." He scooted over to make room for the older boy, watching Sora flop tiredly into the cushions and lean his head back. "Don't ever be a waiter, Rox. Even I don't have enough happiness for them."

Roxas laughed softly, taking a glance at the small clock above the television and opting to call Axel. He handed the remote to Sora, standing up and digging around in his pockets until he found his cell. "I'm gonna call Axel." Sora grunted his acknowledgement and Roxas left the room, flipping the phone open and hitting Axel's speed dial number.

After the third ring, Roxas began to contemplate whether he should hang up or leave a ridiculous message. In the midst of the fourth ring, however, Axel answered with a breathless greeting. "Hey Rox, can I call you back in uh-" He cut himself off and Roxas' eyes narrowed at the sound of shuffling and Axel grunting.

"Can I just call you back later?" Axel yelped into the phone, "I'm kinda busy."

Roxas stepped into his room. "Uh. sure. bye." If Axel had heard him, Roxas wasn't sure, the display screen flashing 'call ended' in bright letters. He sighed, tossing his phone onto the bed and pulling his computer chair back to slip into it, pressing a thumb against the power button as the '98 began to start up with an agonizing groan.

Elbows resting on the old desk, Roxas sat his chin into the palm of one hand, the other going to rest impatiently on the old gray mouse. His dad was too concerned with Roxas getting good grades to let the youngest blond actually get a job, and so he was stuck with Cloud's old computer from when the oldest sibling had been in school.

Granted, Struggle season wasn't until Spring, and it was hardly halfway into the Fall season, so Roxas had nothing better to do than to peruse the literature websites that he had bookmarked. One of them so happened to be a local website, dedicated to following the recent events of both The Inferno and the entire Nobody syndicate. He was quite fond of the artwork section, where he knew that Zexion often posted to, mostly with art of Tsunami. He'd been surprised to find it at first, amazed by the intricate detail and the way he seemed to make the water-wielding villain almost sexual in each piece of art.

Roxas himself frequented the literature category, having loaded it with his own stories when he wasn't busy with schoolwork or hanging out with either Axel or Hayner. The blond had been pleasantly surprised at the number of people on their coast that weren't against the implication of The Inferno being homosexual -- considering his story was based around the hero's relationship with an imaginary male character that Roxas had concocted on one of his more... creative days.

After waiting the required ten minutes that it took for his computer to finally load his instant messengers and be operateable without definite lag, Roxas opened his email, delighted to find three more comments left on the latest chapter of his story.

His delight, however, was short lived when he came to realize that two of the comments were the usual 'good, plz update', and the last seemed to be a very detailed and violent paragraph on why The Inferno was really in love with Spark Plug, and that it would be a cold day in hell before the self-proclaimed Hero would ever turn into a 'faggot'.

Roxas cracked his knuckles, fingers twitching against the keys as the gears in his head concocted the most snide and intellectual retort that he could think of. He was halfway through the second paragraph - this one detailing all of the instances where the Inferno had favored saving a male over a female - when his door opened and Cloud's head popped in, surveying the mess of Roxas' room before landing on his little brother.

"Go make dinner. Dad's gonna be home soon."

"Hang on," Roxas muttered, gaze concentrated on his keyboard. Cloud pursed his lips. "Hang onto what?"

"Someone on the Internet is wrong." Roxas hissed, his irritation growing as Cloud's presence in his room continued to exist. His fingertips tapped angrily against the keys and Cloud stepped into his room, voice the epitome of curiosity.

"Really? What did they say?" Roxas paused, glancing up at his brother and then pointing to the review that he had in a minimized window. "Some girl is bashing my story because she says that The Inf-"

"That's amazing. Get up and make dinner." Cloud stepped back out, shutting the door soundly, only to reopen it a second later and level Roxas with a threatening stare. "Now." The door slammed shut and Roxas sighed, hurriedly finishing up his response and sending it. He shut down all of his windows -- couldn't have someone coming in and reading his stuff -- and meandered out of his room to perform the ordered task.

With a little less grace and a bit more force, Roxas puttered around the kitchen in search of a big enough pan to cook the spaghetti sauce in, grumbling to himself about illiterate fools and lovesick teenage girls. Once his materials were set out, Roxas set to cooking the hamburger and putting a pot of water on the burner. He was halfway finished when he heard the sound of his phone going off from his bedroom. Placing the spatula on the counter, the blond made a beeline for his room, diving for the small black object on the phone and flipping it open without even glancing at the caller i.d.

"H'lo?" He answered, shoving himself off of the mattress and padding back out to the kitchen to finish with dinner before his father arrived home.

"Hey Roxas, sorry about earlier, I was dealing with a pissed off lady who didn't like the shoes she bought. You know how that can get." He heard a crinkling sound in the background - probably Axel popping open a bag of chips to feed his already emaciated frame. Roxas huffed into the phone, grabbing the spatula to stir the sauce around with the cooked hamburger.

"Sure I do, Axel." He grumbled, letting the redhead know that he was mildly put out at having been hung up on earlier. Axel sighed loudly into the phone, causing Roxas to flinch at the feedback from it.

"C'mon Roxas, don't be like that. I've had a rough week." Suddenly feeling sheepish, Roxas gave the spaghetti sauce a rough stir, muttering an apology into the phone, "My bad, I'm just worried about the Inferno. S'not like he's got anyone to help him."

"Well, he can take care of himself, Roxas. He's a superhero, after all." Roxas pulled a strainer from one of the cabinets, putting it in the sink and resting his cell against his shoulder and ear so that he could drain the spaghetti.

"Well, he's not immortal." Roxas turned the burner off, tossing the strainer into the sink and making sure everything was ready before he headed into the living room to sit on the couch. Sora was no longer in sight, having probably gone to take a nap before dinner, and Cloud was resting in the recliner, book in hand. Seeing the youngest Strife take refuge on the couch, Cloud gave him a quirked brow.

"Dinner finished?" Roxas nodded, waving at his brother to get him to be silent as Axel sighed loudly on the other end of the phone, apparently aggravated that Roxas was defending the local hero so adamantly. The redhead munched on his chips for a second before replying to Roxas' statement.

"Well... if he isn't immortal, then why does he put himself in danger?" Roxas waved a hand about, trying to reach the remote control that sat on the coffee table and giving up after a moment, his arm flopping against the side of the couch and huffing into the phone.

"I don't know, maybe he wants to?" Picking his hand up from its lounging position, Roxas carded it through his hair with aggravation, at a loss as to why the redhead was so adamant at disputing The Inferno's job occupation. More crinkling, probably Axel rolling the bag closed and stuffing it somewhere nearby for later pillaging.

"What if he has no choice?" Axel sounded aggravated, surprising the blond into pulling his hand out of his hair and resting it on his stomach.

"Hyne, Axel, don't get all defensive, its just speculation." His response was an irritated and incomprehensible murmur. Roxas scooted a bit on the couch so that he could roll on his side and stare at the blank television.

"So was work okay?" He asked softly. Cloud's phone went off and the oldest Strife looked heavenward, muttering, "christ." and reaching into his pocket to open it. "Cloud."

"Yeah, I guess. Its as okay as having a job can be."

"What do you mean you 'stole an otter'?" Cloud hissed into his phone, smacking his book shut and standing up to go into his room again. Roxas watched him go for a minute before he responded to Axel.

"Well, as long as you're making a living, right?" He rolled off of the couch, padding into his bedroom to check and see if 'Sparkylove' had responded to him yet. There was a banging sound in the background, followed by what Roxas could barely make out as incoherent garble, followed by Axel muttering another halfhearted curse.

"I've gotta go, pop's home. Dunno where mom is, he'll probably be pissed. Talk to you later."

"Yeah, bye." Roxas hung up, dropping his phone on his bed and plopping onto his chair. Glancing at the clock, he decided that a good hour of playing some old fashioned 'Gongaga Trail' that Cloud had downloaded onto the old computer back during high school when he didn't particularly feel like babysitting Roxas and Sora the proper way, would be the best way to keep his mind off of things for a while.

--

Yes. Gongaga Trail.
because we all know that you were excited when it was Oregon Trail day in Elementary/Middle school.
I was quite fond of the Zoombinis, myself.

The original commission was 10 pages, this is 11. Urhm. I'm going to eventually write more of it when I finish the other commissions, since this isn't done and all. Reviewssssss. I've been having a terrible lieeeffff.

Moved four times this summer. I now live in Columbia, South Carolina. I lived in Florida for eleven years, man. This is such a culture shock for me.

Oh yeah. Roxas writes fanfiction. He's even got his own fictionpress account. Look up Key to Oblivion. I haven't posted it yet, but his fanfic will be on there sometime this month. (;