Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts

The 'C' Word

Chapter 1: Sentencing

It started out innocent enough.

Fatigue...

Unexplained bruises...

A little weight loss...

All in all, it wasn't thatserious, Roxas figured. He was pretty active, that'd explain the fatigue and weight loss, and as for the bruises... well, he was a skateboarder, it came with the turf. And so, he and his family explained it all away. That is, until his symptoms got worse.

Night sweats...

Frequent colds that he couldn't seem to get over...

That pounding headache...

It wasn't until that fateful night when, while brushing his teeth, he noticed some pink in his spit. Upon closer examination, he realized his gums were bleeding.

That was when the tests began. A whirlwind of doctor visits that always seemed to be drawing closer to the inevitable sentence.

Leukemia.

Of course, Roxas knew that wasn't what was wrong with him. Only old people and little kids got leukemia. Roxas was fourteen. Definitely not a kid anymore, and certainly not an old person, no matter how he felt.

And yet somehow, after multiple physical exams, blood test, and even a horrifying bone marrow biopsy, Roxas found himself in a dopey hospital room, in a dopey pediatric cancer ward of a dopey hospital.

His family was talking to him. Simple, comforting things. Roxas wasn't paying them much attention, though. Such a whirlwind of things had happened over the past few days. He was having a hard time processing all that had happened. It occurred to him that he should ask a question, or something, but nothing came to mind. So he kept his mouth shut.

"Roxas...Roxas!"

Jolted out of his daydream, Roxas turned to look at his older twin, vaguely aware that the other inhabitants of the room were staring at him.

"Huh?"

Sora's vibrant blue eyes were downcast. "I just wanted to say that I'll see you later." He gave his brother's hand a light squeeze. His face betrayed his guilt over being healthy while his twin was sick.

The rest of the Strife family said their good-byes, big brother Cloud giving Roxas' hair one last ruffle before they left. Before they left Roxas alone with two complete strangers.

Two complete strangers with cancer.

Suddenly, Roxas realized that the strangers were still staring at him. They were huddled together on a bed, cards gripped in their hands. A dirty blond and a fiery redhead, probably only a little bit older than Roxas. They had a gaunt, sickly look about them- chemotherapy. Roxas shivered; He'd look like that soon.

The redhead spoke first, "So, your name is Roxas." His green eyes sparkled slightly, "The name's Axel." Roxas blinked, studying him. Two little triangles were tatooed beneath his eyes. It didn't seem like the normal style of a cancer patient.

"He's Demyx." This... Axel continued, jabbing a finger over to the dirty blond.

The teen gave a goofy little grin and raised a hand. "Hey, welcome to the ward." Roxas couldn't help but stare at him as well. Between he and Axel, he looked sicker. His blue eyes were sunken back into his face, his color was worse, and he looked gaunter. Still, he looked cheerful. Demyx followed Roxas' gaze to his hair. The sides had been shaved close to his skull, it was only just now growing out in thin, brittle strands. He chuckled nervously. "Brain tumors, had to cut me open to do a biopsy..." He tapped a row of stitches, "Shaved the other side to match, you know?" He ended rather quickly."

Roxas nodded slowly, remembering his own bone marrow biopsy. But then again, this guy had stuff cut out of his head. The blond boy shuddered again.

"And the bookworm over there is Zexion." Axel jabbed his thumb at a small boy in the corner of the room. Roxas hadn't noticed him before. The slate-haired teen was buried in the pages of a thick book. He seemed to be paying no notice of them.

"Ah, don't let it bother you." For a moment, Roxas had no idea what the older blond meant. Surely, he couldn't mean having cancer. Not to let having cancerbother him. "Zexy's like that to every one."

Roxas stared. Don't be bothered because Zexion was ignoring him. That's what Demyx meant, not to be bothered that Zexion hadn't said 'hi' yet. Had he really just taken a completely benign conversation and make it out to be totally about cancer? Roxas swallowed.

"So... Roxy... You go to school around here?"

Roxas rubbed his temples, "Look... I don't really want to talk right now..."

Pursing his lips, Axel shrugged, "All right, suit yourself. Got any three's, Dem?"

The blond paused. His poker face faltered, before he threw a card over at Axel. "How d'you always know?!" In response, Axel only laughed.

Under different circumstances, Roxas would've smiled. Axel had a nice laugh. But he definately wasn't becoming friends with these hollow shells of human beings.

He wasn't like them. He definitely wasn't like them at all.

Involuntarily, Roxas shuddered. Tomorrow, he'd be receiving his first dose of chemo.

END

Do any of you know what an aneurysm is? It's when a blood vessel randomly pops in a person's brain. My spelling and comma (lack of) use has been known to cause them. With this in mind thank you Lili93 for fixing up this atrocious mess.

You rule more than pudding cups.