(I own nothing)

~Chapter Ten~

**some drugs in this chapter, although not many**

Moogle whined pitifully, staring up at me. I sighed.

"Do you have to go out?" It had only taken a week to house train him, and he'd learned the word 'out' fairly quickly. He glanced at the door, then back at me, clearly not interested in going outside. How can animals always tell when we're depressed? "It's okay. He'll be here soon, hopefully..." Demyx was supposed to be here by now; he was going to come over after work. "He's probably just working later. His phone is off." Usually, he texted me when he was going to be late, but occasionally, he was unable to get away long enough, or maybe his phone was dead. Moogle sighed, too, waddling over and sitting on my foot. "Oh, you're adorable," I told him, bending to pet his disproportionately huge ears. He smiled at me, his tongue flopping out, and rolled onto his back. Like the well-trained human I am, I obliged, scratching his belly. "Oh!" I gasped as my phone vibrated in my pocket, surprising me. I whipped it out, almost not daring to hope to see his number- yes! "Demyx, what's going on? Are you okay? Where are you?" I asked immediately. I'd been here for two hours, imagining all sorts of awful things that could have happened.

"Hi, this is Demyx's... manager," a strange voice responded.

"Where is he? What's wrong?" There was a pause, and it sounded like someone was shouting.

"We're having a bit of a... work emergency, so he's going to have to stay longer than expected."

"What? What's going on? " There was a longer pause, and some rustling sounds.

"I'm sorry, but I really am not at liberty to share that information with you." He sounded a bit nervous, and hushed, like he was trying to be quiet. Something was not right.

"Is he okay? Why didn't he call me?"

"He's fine, but he's rather... occupied at the moment. I'll have him call you when he's able," the man said hurriedly... and then he hung up. Without giving me a chance to respond or ask any more questions. When I called back, it went straight to voicemail. I occupied myself by cleaning the kitchen to within an inch of its life, and was about to start on the bathroom, when my phone went off again. I jumped to answer, but my heart fell when it wasn't Demyx.

"What?" I snapped.

"Jesus, Zex? What the fuck?" Axel snapped back, sounding a little concerned.

"Demyx isn't here. His manager called from his phone a little while ago, and said they were having a 'work emergency,' but he wouldn't tell me what. He was supposed to be here two and a half hours ago, and he didn't even text to say he was working late. Do you have any idea what's going on?"

"Fuck," he muttered. "Zex, don't worry. I'll call you back in a minute." Again, he hung up before I could reply. What the fuck was this, cut-off-Zexion-day? I growled angrily, stalking into the bathroom to begin the cleansing, Moo hurrying to get out of my way. What the fuck was going on with Demyx? It was obvious that Axel had at least some idea of where he might be, or what he was up to, but until he called me back, I was stuck here, confused. As I was scrubbing the toilet, I knocked the candle that sat on the back of it onto the floor, the glass jar shattering. I sat on the edge of the bath tub, and for the first time in a long time, I just sat there and cried my eyes out. Everything had been so fucked up recently, and I'd been doing so well in dealing with everything, and then the candle breaking had just sort of pushed me over the edge. It wasn't that big of a deal (it was a dollar store candle), but it just served to reinforce the fact that everything was going to hell. Moogle whined at me from the doorway, and I jumped up.

"No! No, don't come in here!" I shouted, slipping out the door and closing it enough that he couldn't get in and step on the broken glass. I picked him up and hugged him close; after all, he'd been checking on me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout..." He licked my cheek, and I set him down, reaching for the broom as my phone went off again. "Axel? What's going on?" I demanded. "Do you know where Demyx is?"

"Yeah, I'm with him..." My heart dropped like a stone.

"What's the matter? Is he okay?"

"He will be..."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"Listen, we'll be home in a little bit, but I have to... take care of some stuff, first."

"A little bit? How long is that? Tell me what is going on right this instant!" I heard voices in the background, and they sounded... upset.

"Zex, calm down, please. Demyx is fine, and we'll be home. Give me an hour or so... Just sit tight. I'm sorry." And the bastard hung up on me again!

"Grrrr!" Moogle whined, cocking his head at me. I grabbed the broom, swept him out of my way (gently), and cleaned up the shards of glass. I sat at the kitchen table, but couldn't stay still for more than two minutes. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt..." I'd never smoked alone, but I was so worried... if there was ever a time to smoke, it was now, and I knew Axel would agree. I pulled out his bag- I'd pay him back later- and poured out a bowl's worth. My fingers shook as I began to break it up, but then I gave up, and just put the small buds directly into the bowl. I hit it, setting it on the table afterwards, as I held the hit, and I instantly felt a little better. I was still upset, but at least I could handle it. After all, there was nothing I could do to get them here faster, or to get Axel to tell me what was going on, so there was really no point in getting too horribly worked up over it. Moogle trotted over, sitting at my feet and looking up at me, begging. "You want a treat?" He wagged his tail, and I got the bag of dog treats out of the cupboard. "Sit!" He arf-ed at me, but sat obediently. "Good puppy!" I took another hit, blowing the smoke towards the small dog. He sneezed, looking mildly irritated, but sat back down, looking at me expectantly. "What, you want more?" Who was I to deny the dog? I shared my next three hits with him, and the whole next bowl. He didn't seem to like the smoke itself- it makes sense that animals would instinctively fear smoke- but he definitely liked the effect. Of course, he was so happy and easy-going anyway, it just sort of... amplified his character. His ears perked up, and he yipped, staring at the door, giving me a few seconds of warning, before there came very insistent knocking at the front door, accompanied by a familiar female voice.

"Zexion? You there? Open up." I obeyed (because that's the only thing you can do, when she sounds like that), to find Larxene supporting an out-of-it Demyx.

"Demyx! What's wrong? What happened?" He didn't look good at all! He couldn't hold himself up, leaning heavily on Larxene, and his eyes were only partially opened; they kept rolling around and trying to focus on things, before slipping closed again. He muttered a "hello," but I wasn't sure whether he was talking to me, or... someone else. He was clearly pretty out of it.

"Help me get him inside." I again did exactly as she said, setting up my bed with blankets and everything needed to make him comfortable.

"L-Larxene? What's going on?" I asked quietly, not wanting to irritate or distract her.

"Heroin," she muttered, teeth clenched. I sat down, feeling numb. "Go get me a bucket or something; he's been puking the entire way home."

"Where's Axel?" I asked as I sat the trash can on the ground by him.

" He had to go talk to... someone," she spat, expression furious. "As if he hasn't been warned before, that son-of-a-bitch..." clearly, a very benign relationship...

"Who?" She sighed, feeling Demyx's forehead.

"His goddamn dealer." If she knew him, and he'd already been warned... "Zex?"

"What?"

"How... how much do you know about his past?" She asked gently. I shook my head. "That's what I thought. Demyx has had... some problems," she started, but was interrupted when Demyx started trying to sit up, opening his eyes and... talking?

"'M okay, 'm fine..."

"Shut the fuck up, no you're not," She snapped, turning on him. "You almost fucking overdosed, and you've been blowing everyone off, and treating poor Zexxy here like shit."

"Zex?" He turned to me, trying to focus his bloodshot eyes on me. "'M sorry, Zex, I love youuu." I didn't know what to say to that, but I sat at the top of the bed, pushing his hair out of his sweaty face.

"I-I love you too..."

"Demyx, how long has this been going on?" Larxene asked, glaring heatedly at him. "Tell me the truth." He shook his head, and Larxene growled quietly. "You owe it to your friends, and you owe it to your boyfriend, who has been nothing but accommodating and understanding, even though you keep blowing him off. Now talk. And don't give me that," she added, as he tossed his head back and forth, eyes squeezed shut, moaning. "I know more about heroin than you, so don't even try to convince me to believe you're still too fucked up to talk, and don't expect me to be sympathetic." He covered his hands with his eyes, and I was a little concerned- Larxene had said that he'd almost overdosed. What if he really was still in danger? I shot her a worried look, and she shook her head, telling me not to worry.

"A couple months..." He muttered, not looking at either of us. Larxene swore violently.

"So by that you mean five or six?" He didn't answer, telling us everything we needed to know. "Dem, this can't go on. You know it can't; you almost died before, and this time, you've got more to lose. Don't do that to us... Don't do that to Zexion. You don't want to hurt him, do you?" He shook his head, and when he finally took his hands away from his face, his cheeks were tear-stained.

"Zex... I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." I was at a loss for words, instead sitting at the top of the bed, stroking his hair gently. How the fuck was I supposed to react to this? Larxene sighed.

"Are you going to be okay with him, Zex?" She asked, standing and stretching.

"I... will he be okay?" She seemed to know what she was doing...

"Yeah, and Axel should be here soon." I nodded. "Alright, then I gotta get going. Just call me if you need anything." I walked her to the door. "Zex..." She paused, her hand on the doorknob, then turned to face me. "It will get better. We'll get him through this... we won't lose him." She smiled at me, but it was a very tired smile, and it looked sorta out of place on her strong (usually angry) face. "Before, he didn't really have anything going for him. Now... now he has you." She smiled again, hugging me suddenly. I stiffened, surprised, but hugged her back (a bit awkwardly). "See you later, Zex. Like I said, just call or text me if you need anything."

"Thank you so much, Larxene. Drive carefully... thanks..." I trailed off, waving as she got into her car. When she started the car, I went back inside, resuming my former post next to Demyx. He started slightly as I sat down.

"'M sorry, Zexion," he started, but I shushed him.

"Don't worry about it right now, love. We'll deal with it in the morning, okay?"

"Are you mad at me?" It broke my heart the way his voice shook, as weak as his body.

"No, Demyx," I sighed, laying down next to him and wrapping my arms protectively around his painfully thin form. I kissed him softly as he nestled in next to me. "Right now, I'm just happy that you're okay, and that you're here with me."

Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust only movement.
~Alfred Adler

We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable.
~Alexander Solzhenitsyn

A/N: Hey, sorry it took me longer than expected to update... my rat Phoebe died, so I was kinda in a funk. sorry. :/

also, I don't know much about heroin, other than what I researched for this. And I saw Trainspotting, so I'm never trying heroin, thank you very much. :l anyway, if I get anything wrong, sorry. let me know, and I'll fix it.

sorry if the last half is kinda messed up; I had a vicodin a while ago.

thank you for all the reviews; they motivate me. soooo, let me know what you think! thanks for reading!