Riku had promised to come see me once I was doing better. I wasn't doing to well though, Dr. Marluxia had me thrown in isolation the moment I stepped through the door. Guards surrounded me, prying me away from him before I even got to say goodbye. I thought about Riku often, wondering how he was doing. Was he keeping up with his school work? Was he working too much? Thoughts of him helped to pass the time, Sora tried to help as much as he could but being stuck alone in a dark room for a week straight with no one to talk to was difficult. This lonely white and crème colored room with only a rough bench to sleep on reeked of bleach and some other underlying smell that I didn't want to dwell on. It only made my thoughts spiral back to the thought that they had left me here.

I thought by the seventh day that I would be allowed to go back to my room but Dr. Marluxia didn't come that day to let me out. No one came at all. . .No nurses, no doctors, no crazy patients, no sounds at all from the hallway. I was truly alone.

Eight days.

Nine days. I was starting to lose track.

Nothing.

"Roxas it's alright. They'll come today and let us out. They've got to." Sora murmured trying to soothe the anxiety that was starting to build up within me. I had curled up into a ball in the corner and was trying to get my lungs to start working again. My throat burned as I felt like I was choking, I couldn't get the air in, I was going to suffocate. This only increased my panic. "Just remember to breathe. If you don't breathe it'll feel worse." He said, copying the phrase my mother had told me when I had a panic attacks as a child.

"Roxas, you have to remember that this will pass. You're scared right now but everything will be okay. You just have to keep breathing and remember that it's going to be okay."

Her soft voice would chant over and over until I had finally calmed down. While my father had been very unsympathetic saying that I was only doing it for attention, she held me until I was calm. Sending me out to play with my siblings once I had smiled again. I missed Xion and Vanitas so much. I tried to think about the last time I saw them, but I couldn't remember. Four years? Five years?

Then there was something strange. . .A memory. . .It was like a worn out film clip, gray at the edges. Something that I hadn't seen before. The sound of crashing glass, a strong scent of something horrible, a flash of sirens. As quickly as it came it was gone. A door had been slammed shut and locked tight on the film and Sora held the key.

"Sora. . .What was that? I don't remember that at all. When was that?" I questioned my other. His voice echoed in my ears but I knew that I was the only one who could hear him.

"This is a memory that you are not supposed to see. You aren't ready for this Roxas." Sora's voice was hard like stone, nothing like his usual light hearted tone.

"I don't remember any of that. What happened?"

"It's not the right time Roxas. Please be patient." Swimming in my thoughts and memories I hadn't even noticed Dr. Marluxia come to the door.

"Roxas?" He called out in a singsong voice making me cringe. "Have you learned your lesson young one?"

"Yes, doctor. I won't run away again." I replied with a monotonous voice. I hated having this man as my doctor. He scared me with the way he looked at me, like how a kid with a magnifying glass watches the ant he's about to burn. He's eyes held something sinister just beneath the surface. I could hear the jingling of keys along with the old door creaking open.

"Good boy. You realize that you will be grounded for a long time right?" In his hand held a small blinking bracelet. A tracking bracelet similar to the ones used for people under house arrest. Joy oh joy I thought bitterly to myself. As if being watched 24/7 wasn't great enough.

"Yes Doctor." I nodded slowly standing up and going to his side. The doctor latched the tracking bracelet tightly on my wrist making me wince. The doctor merely smirked.

"This is going to be our new punishment. . .One that we've thought up especially for you, since you love to try and run. You will wear this bracelet for the next six months."

"SIX MONTHS!" I shouted, "Why? Saix has tried to run away and he's never gotten this sort of treatment!" Dr. Marly didn't waver at my little outburst. He tossed his long pink hair over his shoulder with an angry glance at me waiting until I stopped speaking before continuing.

"If you can go that long with out trying to run. . .We will consider taking it off." I stood in disgruntled silence for a moment before nodding and mumbling a 'Yes Doctor'. What else was I supposed to do? Disagree and stay locked in that room for another six months? Sit there and count how many days it took to drive me insane? That was not the way I wanted to spend my life.

"Good. Now you'll have two extra therapy sessions added per week and you'll do some chores to help pay off what resources we wasted to find you. Do you accept these conditions?" I nodded once more. A scribble on several sheets of paper as he walked. I had to jog to catch up to him, his strides being much longer than mine. "Also Roxas, we've moved you to a different section so we can keep a better eye on you. All of your things have already been moved and searched through."

"Why would you look through my stuff?"

"We aren't sure how you escaped, who's to say that you don't have a lock pick or something sharp among your things which helped you escape last time?" Of course he had an excuse, they always had a bullshit excuse to invade my privacy.

"You will not have a roommate but it seems. . .Your cousin is in that same ward. How interesting." That glint entered his eyes again.

"My cousin?" I questioned. "Which one? I have a lot of them."

"You'll see, I can't be bothered to remember his name. He's Braig's patient not mine." The doctor muttered as he reviewed some notes. After several long minutes the Doctor unlocked the door to the new wing and shoved me into the bland hallway. "You're in room 206. Go find it yourself." He said coolly before slamming the door and turning on his heel.

I looked around my new ward, noticing that it wasn't that different from my old one. Same smell of bleach, same faded paint on the walls, the only difference being that the furniture was flipped around from the other side. While in the old ward all of the furniture had been up against the wall on the left, here it was all on the right. With a simple shrug I left the common area and went to find my new room. I was used to being moved around to different wings. The doctors here would get fed up with me and shove me to a new wing along with a new doctor. Dr. Marly was my tenth doctor already. I was surprised that he had lasted that long at all.

"Roxas?" I heard someone call out. "Roxas!" Suddenly I was scooped up into a hug, being crushed against the only person I had known to do that.

"Hi. . . .Demyx." I manage to say between pained gasps. My blonde cousin finally let me out of his bear hug with a grin that looked like it might tear his face in two. He yanked me into his room quickly and hopped up onto the bed.

"I'm so glad I get to see you! It's been so long! Almost four years right?" He started babbling. Demyx always was a talkative one. But what was he doing here of all places? Aunt Michelle was absolutely loaded. . .If Demyx needed help why didn't they send him to a better place?

"Yeah it's been a really long time. They don't let me out for holidays so I haven't been able to come home in years." My voice dropped a bit as I spoke about it. It was always hard around the holidays for me. I wasn't allowed to go home but my family wouldn't or couldn't visit me. "How have you been? I mean . . .What are you doing here?" Demyx's face dropped as soon as the words left my lips.

"I. . .Uh. . .Mom and Dad sent me here for a bit. They got mad at me and I think they sent me here to teach me a lesson. You know how pissy mom gets." He tried to play it off with a laugh but I could see the pain in his eyes. Demyx and I had been not only cousins but friends, leaning on each other when things in our family got really tough.

We were never given the opportunity to go to public school. His mom finally let him go to a public high school but it was too late for me. We were the only real friends we had.

I wrapped my arms around him hoping that it would give off the comforting feel. If he didn't want to talk about why he was here, then we wouldn't talk about right now. These things needed time, something we unfortunately had plenty of. I saw a slight movement out of the corner of my eye which I could only assume was Demyx's roommate.

"So, who's your roommate?" I asked seeing the small teen sitting in the corner, watching our interaction. He stayed silent the whole time, scribbling in a notebook. Adjusting a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose every now and then.

"That's Zexion. We don't talk much but he's alright." Zexion just stared at me with disinterest but nodded towards Demyx. A thank you perhaps? "Zexion I think you're making Roxas uncomfortable." Said teen quickly got up from his bed and moved over to his desk. "Sorry about him. He doesn't speak at all so he has a hard time communicating what he's thinking." My cousin laughed.

"It's not your fault. Why doesn't he speak to you?"

"Something to do with his vocal cords being wrecked. He hasn't spoken in years." Demyx shrugged. "So what room are you in?" Quickly pulling me back to my feet and leading me to the hall way.

"206." I said quietly as he guided me down to the end of the hallway.

"You're right here! Across from Axel and Saix." He grinned then his face grew a bit sad as he saw something behind me. "I. . .I gotta go, I'll catch ya later!" I watched as he ran to a nurse and she led him away. It must be time for his therapy. I peeked into my new room, one bed, one desk, four boxes filled with my junk. It seemed with every new room I moved to the paint became even more faded and the smell of bleach became stronger. Moving to the closest box, I opened the lid and started unpacking.

"So you're the new neighbor? Welcome to your new home." There was a smirk evident in the rough voice. I turned and saw the most beautiful green eyes I had ever seen. They stood out like emeralds against his pale face and his red hair. . .What an obnoxious color. He must have dyed it that way. "Name?" He questioned as he shoved a piece of gum in his mouth.

"Roxas. How bout you?" I retorted. A mischievous glint entered his eyes. He chomped open mouthed on the gum. Dear god he looked like a horse the way he was chewing it.

"What do you think my name is?"

"Well you're either Saix or Axel." His smirk dropped to a scowl. I must have taken all of the fun out of his game.

"Demyx told ya?"

"Yeah, he's my cousin. We tell each other everything."

"Very nearly everything." Sora whispered in the back of my mind. "Why wouldn't he tell you why he's here?" I had to mentally tell Sora to shut up. Now was not the time to discuss this.

"Cousin, huh? Strange. Dem never mentioned having a cousin here."

"I'm the cousin no one talks about in my family."

"Understandable. You do look a little weird." I glared at him. I was the odd one out in the family. My mother, father, sister, and brother all had beautiful jet black hair. I got the odd gene and was born with blonde hair. I went to slam the door but his hand stopped it. "How rude kid. We were having a nice little chat."

"I don't want to talk anymore. Take a hint." I growled.

"I'm going to choose not to." The red head shoved my door back open and let himself in. He started looking around my room, although there wasn't much to look at. All of it was still packed up in boxes.

The blonde kid was interesting. He went from playful to upset in seconds. I started digging around in his boxes, feeling him bore holes in my back with his eyes. A couple art books, a couple photos, couple letters in this box. I picked up a picture of him and a black haired girl.

"What a cutie. She your girlfriend?" I watched him over my shoulder as his face turned bright red.

"N-No! That's my sister Xion! Why are you even in here? I didn't say you could come in, or that you could look through my stuff!" He stomped over to the box I was looking in and quickly moved it to his desk. I still held a letter that was sitting on top of the box. Curiosity getting the better of me, I started reading it.

My dear Roxas,

I hope you're doing okay. The treatment is going really well. I should be done in a few weeks hopefully then I can come see you once I get the okay from the doctors here. How is your new doctor? I think you said his name was Dr. Marluxia? Do you like him? Is he treating you alright? I know the last doctor was really mean to you. How is your treatment going? Do you still talk to Sora a lot?-

The blonde snatched the letter out of my hand before I could finish reading it. "I didn't say you could read my letters jack ass." He crumpled up the letter and stashed it in his pocket. His blue eyes just glaring at me.

"You never said otherwise. I took that as an. . .invitation." Roxas continued glaring at me as I pulled out a few more letters. All had the same style of hand writing so they must be from the same person. "So who's been writing to you? Aunt? Uncle? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

"None of your business."

"I like to make it my business." He huffed at me before gripping my arm and trying to shove me out the door.

"Well don't make it your business. . .Trust me you don't want it." I tilted my head in a questioning manner but he didn't respond, merely continuing to push me. With me being nearly twice his size though, he had a hard time. "Will you get out already!" Blondie shouted. I leaned back against him putting some of my weight on him, keeping him from pushing me all the way out the door.

"What's the magic word?"

"Get the fuck out?"

"Nope that's definitely not it." My mouth stretching up into a grin. "My, my, my, you are a feisty one."

"I just want you out of my room." There was a soft knock on the frame and Saix stood in the door way.

"Lea. . ." He grumbled holding a small Tupperware container in his hands.

"It's Axel you moron."

"Aqua said to give this to you. She said you looked too thin and insisted that you have this." I stood up straight off the kid and took the container.

"Thanks. . .Is she still here?"

"Yes. She's waiting for me to come back."

"I'll come with to thank her personally." I turned back to Roxas with a grin, "I'll see ya later blondie."

"It's Roxas! Don't give me a ridiculous nick-name." With a growl he shut the door on me, leaving me wondering why on earth he was here. He seemed normal enough, then again most of us did seem normal. I walked down the long hallway with Saix to see his older sister Aqua. She smiled at me as we approached, opening her arms for a hug.

Aqua was a very kind hearted person. When she had come by to see Saix's new roommate and realized my. . .condition, she didn't pity me, she didn't look down on me. Aqua just understood. From then on whenever Saix received a care package she would pack a little something in the box for me. Something low in fat but high in protein. What I found strange was that she never wanted anything in return. No money or gifts. Just a thank you and a promise I would eat it.

She wrapped her arms around my slim frame and gave me a tight squeeze. It hurt slightly but I didn't mind, she was trying to show that she cared. "I baked a very healthy carrot cake for you. I know you wouldn't want the cake I had brought so I made something else. Come celebrate with us Axel."

"Thanks Aqua. 'Course I'll come celebrate I mean, how can I say no when you've baked something just for me." I shot her a smile and she shot one back. Aqua grabbed her brother's hand and they walked to the 'cafeteria'.

The cafeteria was a separate room that connected the Mens and Womens wings and guarded on both sides. Four long tables set up with chairs on either side, with a few of the 'higher functioning' patients cleaning said tables so they could set up for dinner. Aqua lead us to the closest table and sat us down. She pulled out a round container with a modest cake in it, a simply written 'Happy Birthday Saix' was all that upon it. No candles mainly because lighters and matches aren't allowed within the institute. Aqua and I sang happy birthday to Saix, very off key, while Saix stole small bits of frosting off the cake. "Make a wish Saix." He closed his eyes, held his breath and after a few moments he let out a sigh before opening his eyes once more. "What did you wish for Saix?"

"That Larxene would put on some damn clothes. . ." Aqua blushed a bit and laughed, "She's been walking around naked all day to annoy me. She keeps calling it my 'birthday gift'." Both of us let out an uncomfortable laugh since we couldn't see this naked woman. Aqua pulled out a knife to cut the cake. A hand gripped hers tightly from behind, the guard who followed us into the cafeteria pulled the knife out of her hand.

"That is a weapon. These are not allowed on the premises." He barked at her.

"I'm sorry but I needed to cut the cake. I won't do it again and I'll put it away when I'm done I swear."

"Rules are rules." Taking the knife he walked out of the room, I assumed to take it too the office. Aqua sighed sealing up the cake once more. Passing the container to Saix she let a small smile grace her lips.

"I'm sorry, I guess you'll have to eat it all. Maybe you can share with some of your friends?"

"Maybe Isa will want some?" Saix questioned me.

"He's not a big fan of sweets remember?" Aqua shot me a grateful look. Saix had talked about this imaginary brother for several months but it got worse as time went on. Chasing down Zexion thinking that it was the brother. I had written to Aqua a few times to keep her up to date on that hallucination. Normally it wouldn't matter to me but when he stepped up to chasing Zexion I thought she needed to know.

"I'll share with Xigbar and Luxord. Don't worry Aqua." He reached out placing a gentle hand upon hers. "Don't be sad."

"I'm not, just disappointed I can't eat with you. Well I'll do like a did next year from now on and bring cupcakes." Aqua rubbed her thumb gently over her brother's hand, The look in her eyes was a look I had never seen directed at me. So full of concern and care. "So, how are the new medications working for you?"

"I had to be taken off of them."

"Why? Did you have a bad reaction?"

"I didn't have a good reaction." I rolled my eyes at him. He was always so cryptic and vague.

"Have they found something else that will work?"

"Xemnas is working on it."

"Just Xemnas? You must really like him to drop the formalities," She giggled. "Is he a better doctor than the last one?"

"He is rather good. He has his doctorate and seems to understand how the medications will affect me with not having a heart." I half paid attention as I tried to figure out how many calories would be in a dollop of frosting.

"I'm glad you like him. Maybe you'll actually listen to him."

"I listened well to the other doctors. . .It was just that Luxord had better suggestions." Saix let a rare smirk grace his lips.

"Well listen to your doctor this time okay? Luxord doesn't know best-" Her shrill ringtone cut her off. Aqua took a quick look at the number and answered. "Hello? Well I'm not scheduled for another four hours. . .I suppose I could come in, in a hour or so. . .Sooner? I'm a bit far away. . .I can try. Alright, see you then." With a sigh she closed the phone and stood up. "I'm sorry Saix. We're really short staffed today, so they want me to come in early. Apparently the flu is really going around. Is it alright if I cut our visit short today? I'll make it up to you next time and stay twice as long-"

"I understand. Go to work." Saix stood up and walked with her to the door.

"It was good to see you Axel, make sure you eat the carrot cake okay?" I nodded and waved to her as they both left. Her eyes were filled with sadness as linked arms with her brother and slowly made her way out of the Institute. The guard in the corner was glaring at me with his foot tapping, just waiting for me to go back to my wing I supposed.

I quickly shoved another stick of cinnamon gum in my mouth deciding not to tempt myself with cake, heading for the green house just to spite him. Even with the weather being pretty shitty, the green house was flourishing with roses that the girl's wing had planted.

I saw a someone with blonde locks sitting in front of one of the rose bushes with a sketch pad. I assumed it was the girl with the nightmares I had heard about. "Hey blondie," I called. She turned to face me and I nearly dropped my gum out of shock. A zombie had more life in their eyes than she did. Her face was sunken in, with deep circles under her eyes, she looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in days. "Whatcha drawing?"

"The roses. . .I thought they looked pretty but I keep getting scratched by the thorns." Namine murmured as she held a rose in her hand. The thorns had pricked her fingers letting blood trickle down her pale hands onto her sketch pad. "The roses don't like me." I gently pulled the rose out of her grasp, throwing it among the others.

"You need to go back to your room and sleep. When was the last time you slept?"

"I don't remember."

"I'll walk ya this time, but you gotta get some sleep. Got it?" I was trying to help her to her feet, a difficult task as she wobbled all over the place. Then Dr. Marluxia was rushing to where we stood, checking her over before cursing in french.

"What did you do to her?" He sneered at me as he looked over the girl with too much interest.

"You're the one slacking on your job frenchy. I found her here looking half dead and bleeding all over the place."

"I'm taking her back to her ward. You'd best do the same Landon." He threatened before tearing off to the girl's ward pulling on the blonde a little too roughly. As soon as I could tell that she would be taken care of I headed back to my room. I was exhausted already and really needed some sleep. I quickly curled up under my comforter once I was back in my room. I was so out of it I didn't even hear Saix come back until he was sitting beside me. He sat on my bed just nibbling on his cake for a while, not saying a word to me.

"Thank you for celebrating with Aqua and I. She really appreciates it." He mumbled under his breath.

"No problem. She needs to stop giving me food though. I'm getting fat from all the cakes she keeps baking for me."

"She will keep making them for you until you gain some weight. Perhaps if you had some of my birthday cake you could finally put on some weight. It doesn't help that you eat less than a bird does."

"The phrase is 'You eat like a bird'." I growled pulling the covers over my head.

"Is it? I didn't realize. . .Larxene stop pestering him. He'll get upset again." I heard him whine as I drifted in and out of consciousness. He started talking to himself again and I decided that would be a good time to tune him out so I could sleep before I go running.