Hello Axel,

This is your father. Your mother will be writing a separate letter as soon as she gets done with a colicking baby. You're quite wrong you know. The postal service has been upgraded to a guy on a jeep. I can hear you now… "What happened to the horse?" It's helping deliver milk for a living. The postal man is optimistic that he'll have many good years ahead of him. I'm glad to hear my teaching has served you well in your new school.

The villagers are quite alright but there's been an earthquake warning for the area. That shouldn't affect us much, this is stable ground, but Baraba is on the fault line. We'll have to see what happens but if the worst comes to pass we'll both have to leave the village to tend to the victims. Hopefully the earthquake will only be minor. The seismologists swear that one must be coming but they can't fully predict the strength.

Reno is being his usual self, but hormones are hitting him especially hard this year. Your mother has had to give him extra chores. I wish we could have sent him with Roxas rather than you, but that would have been cruel to everyone. Oh well, we must endure.

Write back whenever you want son, and we'll reply when we can.

-Your father, Raphael

Axel hunny!

How is Roxas doing? Tell him to write! We haven't gotten a letter from him yet but it might just be in the mail. You never know out here.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying everything out there. It's a shame they've split you up but I'm glad you're all making friends. How are things going with Sora? He seemed like a very nice boy. Naturally I hope you'll both come back but I do hope Roxas likes his twin. It would be very sad if they don't get along after all this time.

What was I… Oh yes. Raphael told you about the earthquake warning. Well, Mrs. Falli says that the pattern of swallows clearly indicates it's going to be a bad one. Now, I don't necessarily believe what swallows say but your protection against the earth talismans aren't looking too good. No, they haven't burned but they're all faded and worn. So I don't think it's looking too good. Raphael says it's all silly omens but he already has his suitcase packed. Just in case.

Other than that there's been several baby goats born lately, as well as a litter of kittens. They're all very cute although I do wish I could convince the owners of the cat to spay her. So many kittens. But I suppose there are always barns for them. Oh, and Mr and Mrs Laan lost their old milk cow. She caught an infection after my operation.

Please keep writing to us. We all miss you very much Axel. And tell Roxas to write if he hasn't.

-Love,

Mom

Hey punk,

Tell Roxas to write, yo! Mom isn't going to say it but she's a bit upset ya know. They're trying not to act like it's, ya know, a popularity contest but they're worried he'll want to stay with his new family. I mean, they have a pool. Dad says if they raised Roxas right he won't be bribed by a pool but ma still worries. So get the spiky haired brat to write, yo!

Um, yeah, earthquake warning blah blah blah. I'm told that if the shit hit's the fan I'm gonna be going too as muscle. You know, "Reno, hold this. Reno, dig here. Reno, beat up that looter." Well, I wish on the last one but you get the drift. What fun. And your fucked up Tao charms seem to think it's real. If we put them everywhere in Baraba will the city be spared? Yeah, I don't think so either. Fucking useless charms. But I guess they're mostly warnings.

What was I thinking? Oh yeah. Felicity is looking really hot. She got this sah-wheeet little sundress that makes her tits look like sweet little melons I just wanna - uh, yeah. Yeah. If I weren't going to Uni I'd be on my knee with a ring. That girl is so hot and nice I think I'm in love. Do you think I'm in love? No? Oh blow me Ax. Say, aren't you noticing the girls yet? Any hot chicks at your new school? Write me back with full descriptions. I want melons. Oh, and tell Roxas to write. He can tell me about the hot chicks in his class too if he wants. Although they'd only be thirteen? Eh, fuck that, I'm not pedobear. Later red.

-Reno

Axel waited patiently for Roxas to show up, twirling his chopsticks idly.

He was at the Lucky Charm Inn, a Tao restaurant close to the school. Roxas had asked him to meet him there after school. But it was almost an hour now and the blonde hadn't shown up.

"What the hell Roxas?" Axel had already finished off a plate of appetizers, reasoning that Roxas could just order the main course when he finally got there. But where was he? Fishing out his datapad Axel placed a call. He'd already tried calling but it had just rung with no answer.

Axel grimaced and hung up after the twelfth ring. Instead he dialed home. Maybe Zabel and Kyle would know where Roxas had gotten to. And if not, they needed to know that he seemed to have gone missing. Not that Axel thought there was really any kind of problem.

Hello Axel! Zabel's cheerful voice answered and Axel smiled. He was still getting used to this caller ID thing.

"Hi mom. Hey, do you know where Roxas is?" Axel asked.

Why yes. He said he was going to a party with Hayner, Olette and Pence. Why? Axel blinked at that reply and hesitated. Had he gotten the dates wrong? But no, he was sure they were supposed to be meeting today.

"Really. Uh, so when did he tell you he was doing that?"

Right before he left school. Is there something wrong? Zabel sounded worried now and Axel drew a deep breath before manufacturing a smile.

"No, it's all good. Thanks mom, I'll be home in an hour or so." Turning off the datapad Axel flipped through the menu before picking out a dish almost at random. He was still hungry and wasn't going to let Roxas being a complete asshole get in the way of a good time.

But he sure as hell wasn't going to forgive or forget.

Roxas stayed overnight at Hayner's house along with the others. Pence had found a stash of his parents' alcohol and brought it with him, so they were all a little inebriated come nightfall. Roxas was sure he could have gotten home safely, he actually wasn't a total stranger to alcohol, but he'd been outvoted. He went to their bus stop and got on board well before Axel and Sora.

So Roxas only realized there was a problem when Axel paused by his seat with a vicious smile and leaned down to speak in his ear.

"Asshole." His voice was very clear and Roxas stared at him, utterly shocked as Axel straightened and swept past, every line of his body expressing his anger. Sora didn't look at him either and Roxas could tell his twin was ticked. What had happened?

"Wow, that was rude." Olette remarked and Pence agreed. Roxas blinked and stared forward as a horrified realization settled over him. "Roxas?"

"Oh god I forgot!" Roxas slapped a hand over his eyes as his friends stared at him. "How could I have been so thoughtless?" It was bad enough that he'd bailed on Axel's birthday but completely forgetting he'd set up a meeting for supper with him was inexcusable. "I was supposed to meet him after school yesterday!" Roxas was glumly certain that his new parents were going to rip a strip off him, if Axel had told them about this. He'd certainly told Sora. "I wonder how long he was waiting?" He felt terrible. He'd have to do something major to make up with Axel.

What he didn't realize was that his brother had other plans.

"Hey Larx, can you help me with something?" Axel sat behind the blonde girl, who was using her unbelievably expensive bag as a very effective way to keep people from sitting beside her. She glanced over her shoulder at him as she carefully filed her nails.

"Maybe. What do you need?" She wasn't going to make any promises until she heard what was going through Axel's pea sized brain. Sora was sitting beside Riku but he was listening in.

"Well, see, my brother and I used to be really close." Axel waggled his eyebrows at her, hoping she would understand what he meant. She looked disgusted. "Hey, he's adopted! Anyway. Ever since we came here, he's been ignoring me in favor of his new buddies. He stood me up last night. So I'm thinking I want to try to make him jealous."

"Oh?" That was sophomoric, stupid and promised to be full of interesting drama. Larxene didn't bother to point out the stupidity. Drama was entertaining. "So where do I come in?" Axel grinned.

"Well! I was hoping you'd agree to make out with me. Sora could make sure Roxas sees us." Axel explained and Larxene nodded as Sora hesitated, then suddenly spoke.

"I – I could make out with you Axel." He offered shyly and Axel glanced over, shocked. He caught the look on Riku's face before the silver haired boy looked down.

"That would be really dumb Sora." Axel said easily as Sora blushed. "For starters, Roxas is your brother. Do you want to hurt him like that?" Axel knew Sora had a bit of a crush on him but it just wouldn't be right to act on, not while his feelings about Roxas were so firm. And hopefully Roxas felt the same way even if he was being a thoughtless twat at the moment. "Not to mention hurting Riku." Sora looked surprised and glanced at his friend, catching the stiff look on his face.

"Oh… Riku, I'm sorry." Axel lost track of their murmured conversation as he turned back to Larxene. Hopefully they would work that out, he was sure Riku had very serious feelings for Sora. The blonde girl was looking amused by the whole thing.

"It's like a gay soap opera. What do I get out of this?" She immediately went to the main point and Axel frowned. He hadn't thought about that.

"What do you want?" Money obviously wasn't it. She was rich. Larxene tapped a long, manicured finger against her bottom lip for a long moment.

"You can get me sandwiches from the deli for a week." She decided and Axel nodded. That would mean a lot of running for him if he wanted to eat his own lunch, the deli wasn't that close to the school. But it was a fair price. "So how will we do this?" Axel grinned as he laid out his plan.

It would serve Roxas right.

A few days later.

"Where is Axel?" Roxas asked Sora who smiled innocently, his blue eyes bright and cheerful. He was enjoying his part in Axel's plan now.

"He said he'd meet us by the North parking lot." They'd plotted this all out carefully and Sora casually entered a text into his datapad, giving Axel and Larxene the signal they'd been waiting for. "C'mon, let's go this way." Sora tossed his backpack over his shoulder and started walking. Roxas thought he was joining Axel and Sora at the Inn to make up for what he'd done. And they would do that… after Axel made his play.

There was a muffled moan and Sora paused as if he was surprised, peeking into a classroom and squeaking before he stepped back. Roxas blinked, confused and looked over his shoulder to see –

"…!" Roxas swayed, feeling a little faint as he saw Axel with that blonde girl in his arms, kissing her like he meant it. What was his brother doing? Was he frenching her? Sora dragged him away before Axel could notice them. "But… what… he…" Roxas felt like his brain had just fried. He and Axel had been close for so long. When Axel came out to the parking lot, looking a little shamefaced but pleased, Roxas didn't know what to say.

Through the meal Roxas didn't say much, just silently seething as Sora and Axel joked and played with the chopsticks as they ate. He noticed how Sora almost seemed to be flirting with his brother. Why hadn't he noticed that before? Because he'd just taken Axel's love for granted and that certainty had been shaken. Roxas pushed his food around on his plate, surreptitiously glaring at Axel. As soon as he got home he was going to have it out with him!

"Hey Roxas, what's wrong? You're awful quiet." Axel playfully ruffled his hair then looked hurt as Roxas jerked away. "Roxas?"

"Nothing." Roxas muttered and Axel hid a smile. It looked like Roxy was jealous! So he did care. Axel shrugged and went back to his food. Before too long they were all walking home, although again it was mostly Axel and Sora talking while Roxas followed behind them, a silent shadow. Once they were home Roxas took the first opportunity he could to corner Axel in his bedroom.

"How could you?" Axel just looked at him, as if he was surprised. Roxas found himself yelling at the redhead. "How could you do that with her?!? I thought we were… I thought we had…" Tears welled up in his eyes, tears of hurt. He'd thought they were together. It wasn't something stated, just the way they felt. How could Axel just turn away? Anger suddenly tightened Axel's face and he spoke heatedly.

"I thought so too! But then we got here and you ditched me for your new friends! You have Olette, why shouldn't I go on and find someone for me?" Axel couldn't keep the jealousy out of his voice and didn't try. Roxas should know how he'd been hurting. Roxas blinked.

"Axel, I'm not dating Olette!" Although Roxas was guiltily aware that it could certainly have looked that way from Axel's perspective. He'd been spending a lot of time with his new friends, a lot more than he'd been spending with Axel and Sora. Axel crossed his arms and glared.

"Oh yeah? Then why'd you ditch me then stand me up, huh? And no, I haven't forgiven you!" Axel snapped as Roxas opened his mouth to protest. "Roxas, I love you more than anything but I'm not going to let you treat me like shit!"

"…" Roxas suddenly hugged him, making Axel stiffen before he tentatively hugged his brother back. "I'm sorry." Roxas said, his voice muffled by the fabric of Axel's shirt. "Please forgive me? I won't ignore you again." Maybe he could take Axel with him… or he could just stop spending so much time with his friends. That might be better. Sora needed his time too and Axel was always with his brother. Axel's arms went around him and the redhead spoke in his ear.

"I forgive you. But if you ignore me again I'm going to kick your ass." Roxas giggled weakly but Axel meant every word. "Don't worry about Larxene, we weren't serious." At all. Larxene would probably demand a full recount of exactly what had happened tomorrow.

They were both oblivious to Sora watching them from the doorway, pleased but a little sad.