I have no ownership of these characters although the idea for this story is mine and mine alone.

"We have built empires, created civilization. Advanced in science, math, and documented history. We can move mountains, and reach their peaks. And today we make history. Today we change the course of human life."

I was among the golden meadow that swayed like the waves in the ocean. In the center an oak. It was as tall as the mountains that were unreachably far in the distance, only making their presence known from a slight purple coloration in the always rising sun. The Tree. It was scared and twisted as if many generations of lions had come to sharpen their claws. It was full of life. And I would run to it and place my hands on the bark. The branches stretched out for what seemed like miles and the birds gathered here. Sometimes there were birds everywhere. All kinds. When I wasn't here I was at that lake that reflected the image of the mountains so perfectly one could have thought they were right beside the shore. The water was like cold air. Entering it was like being born again.

"…We have changed the quality of human life, and today we have met a new milestone and created life, the essence of perfection, the perfect human." The man motioned to the presentation behind him. It displayed images of their scientific breakthrough. It contained information about complex chemical formulas and simplified information about the chemical makeup of DNA and RNA. The room was dark, the lights were dim and the stage where the scientists stood was illuminated with a blue hue from the projector. The slightly balding man with the light blonde hair and beard, one of four on stage, addressed the crowd once more. "Now we're not playing god," he chuckled, "but in these past twenty year we have identified every gene causing genetic mutation, and identified what makes us smart, what determines specific features: athleticism, artistic gifts, and so forth. We have eliminated every possible genetic mutation in the gene pool and selected the best traits from society and created a stronger, healthier human…" The doctor turned around to look at the projection on the screen. It was slowly clicking through images of the subject through stages of development. "No, we are not God. Life is a challenging thing to produce and while the subject goes through normal human development we cannot remove him from the tank until there is-…" There was a frantic beeping. A few murmurs from the crowd, the doctor presenting cast a wearily eye towards the red headed man who accompanied him on stage. His cheeks flushed and he pulled the pager out of his pocket and read the message snapping a wide eyed gaze from the devise back to the other. With a nod from the redhead the elder understood what was happening. He began to clap, "… brain activity…" the elder doctor smiled keeping eye contact with the other and then turned to the crowd eagerly, "Ladies and gentlemen this is my colleague Axel. He's going to deliver, in a sense, this prodigy who is eagerly awaiting life as we speak." Axel was already jogging down the aisle that divided the crowd of people who were now standing and clapping. The front doors of the auditorium were closer to the elevators. He had to make it from wing B on the ground level to wing A hall 2 on the third floor. The pale-bearded doctor on the stage chuckled and shook his head, "How curious."

Little fish. Golden fish. They move so freely and carelessly, but always came to my call. I was at the edge of the water. The air was chilled and the outlines of the mountains were crisp in the mirror-like lake and the little fish, the gold ones, were swimming around my finger tips that I let lazily hang over the edge. It was like a game. I would swirl my finger as if stirring them and they would swim under and around, attaching their wide mouths on to the digit every now and then as if it was an enticing worm. Our game was disrupted.

Axel was going as fast as he could without breaking into a run, pushing the doors of wing 3C open. A blue eye nurse rushed towards him, apparently panicked and in desperate search of the read headed doctor, she caught up to his pace, "Are we delivering or studying?" She asked quickly holding her clipboard under her arm.

"Delivering, my pager went off in the middle of the presentation; our sponsors know that he is ready now."

Concern crossed her face, she looking at him the entire time, but the doctor simply kept his eyes focused ahead, destination close, "But doctor, It might be more beneficial for the subject if we keep him in that tank a while longer, see what's really going on mentally."

"There is no reason we can't check his brain functions beforehand, but there is no more funds. He needs to come out now, our sponsors won't keep paying." The doctor stopped in front of a closed door. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going straight in to serialize, have the nurses at the desk write me in." He said motioning to an idle doctor nearby, who nodded and left. He pushed into a white room where he began to wash his hands after pulling back his hair, netting it, and then putting on latex groves, a facemask, and lab coat. He then pushed open the door and entered into a room where the doctor on staff was already there running tests and stabilizing the subject for bringing him out of the tank.

"Doctor," a shorter blue haired assistant approached him. She handed him the file and he read over the new data. He glanced at it, and then back at the figure in the tank and smirked. "There has been an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, and the body has produced glycine…" the nurse said quietly with a light smile.

"Well what do ya' know." The doctor chuckled. "He's dreaming"

A yellow bird watched from behind, bobbing his head and cocking it to the side. I turned to him and rose as he looked over his shoulder and flew off in a particular direction. The wind picked up, it was pulling me away from the water. I looked back, the fish still there watching. The purple of the mountains and the oncoming twilight was crisper, something was happening.

"We need a nurse to get a blanket for when we pull him out," Axel barked as he swiftly moved to the computer that operated the tank. It was like a makeshift womb. First he needed to check the subject to make sure he was stable. Next was to stop the flow of nutrients in the synthetic umbilical cord. It was risky. The operation had to be done quickly. Once the umbilical cord stopped preforming the subject would be temporarily out of oxygen and there was a chance of brain damage if left in too long. It began to shut down "We're ready to go in five, four, three- !"

I had to move forward, so I followed the wind. I knew where I was going. Through the forest, around each tree, I had to run it was getting dark. I emerged through the trees and I could see it. I had been here many times. The sun was about to be out of sight. The sky to the east was a light blue and ahead was an array of warm colors.

"Two!"

I began walking through the golden sea of wheat colored grasses. It went on for what seem like forever and centered in it was the tree. I had been here many times before. Twisted bark, scared as if many generations of lions had come to sharpen their claws. I approached him. I was ready. The tree seemed taller than normal, the branches were swaying, and the whole world was coming alive with movement.

"One!"

I placed my hand onto the bark, and opened my eyes.

The shrill beep of the machine was all that could be heard. The Doctor sprang from his seat, the complete and sudden stop of vital oxygen and nutrient cause the subject in the tank to awaken. The doctor had to quickly remove it. It was trashing and convulsing madly. The other doctor in the room was stationed at one of the many machines that measured vital signs and other various bodily functions. He was calling out each stat, hastening Axel pace. There really was no proper way to go about doing this. The doctor grabbed a scalpel on his way towards the tank and impaled the thick plastic on the surface and ran it down along the length of the false womb. The warm sticky amniotic fluid gushed from the sac like blood from a wound. "Nurse," the red-haired Doctor called. A nurse with a blanket stepped forward. The tank's drainage system started and the convulsing figure lay at the bottom. Axel reached in and pulled him out, smacking him much like a doctor would to a new born baby and forcing the subject to gasp in his first breath. The rush of air into his lungs and across his virgin vocal cords created a whining sound, much like an infant. The subject was handed off to a nurse who held him like a mother would to her child, the umbilical cord was cut.

҉

A week had passed. The subject was nothing more than an infant. His slender body tucked in fetal position in a crib. It wasn't until the end of the week that he shown activity. Mezorizing everyone with the opening of his eyes. It was all up from there and in a matter of days he was out of the crib and interacting with his environment. Doctor Ansem had been called away for both media work and to hold more presentations in hopes to rally more support for his facility and project. It was now that he was able see the fruits of his labor for the first was looking inthrough at glass at a makeshift nursery. The subject was making use of the toys scattered across the floor, Axel came up beside him. "The media was very pleased with how that turned out, it has made headlines again." The elder doctor said handing over a paper to the redheaded doctor who was looking through the door window into a makeshift nursery where the fifteen year old figure was playing on the floor with a toy donated by one of the nurses. Axel turned his attention from window to the paper where an image of Axel rushing down the aisle was large on the front page, headlines reading: God Answers the Prayer of Success for Multi-Billion Dollar Experiment? He chuckled and took the paper from the grinning elder. During a press conference on the progress of their latest experiment an important call was made to the assistant on scene that as they spoke the 'super baby' was ready to enter the world… Ansem smirked, "You're popular."

Axel rolled his eyes and huffed, "how many times do we have to tell the public that this is not a child?" He received no answer from the elder who was watching the boy in the room, smirking as he gave the nurses a blank doe-eyed stare. He was blonde with blue eyes the expected combination for the perfect human.

"I suppose they will continue on with the assumptions until they snap a picture of him." The doctor turned to his colleague and stroked his beard in thought, "I would imagine the public would feel much more comfortable with the idea of an artificially made infant, than a teenager. It's scary to think that we have been brewing him for years. Much easier to turn this work of science into a simple designer baby, don't you think?"

"Well…" Axel rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Yeah, I guess it is for the better but-… Hey! Ansem, where are you going?" The elder doctor was already turning away.

"It will keep the people at bay for now. Finish up the tests on him, I'll be back in an hour or so." He called back as he walked briskly away from the other. Axel watched and then sighed. He looked back into the room containing the result of the project he had been learning about and working on for the past 16 years.

"Doctor?" A younger nurse poked her head out of the door, "We are ready for you now." Axel nodded and she stepped aside and let him enter. The subject was sitting on the floor playing with an array of different colored blocks and shapes; it was like watching a two year old.

"How long has the subject been interacting with its environment like this?" Axel watched as the blue star was shoved into its matching cut out hole and a playful bell sounded. The nurse was flipping through her papers and began to read the notes.

"Subject fell asleep at 11:23 yesterday. Subject woke up at 8:45 this morning. Subject saw rapid increase in gross motor skills. Subject begins to make sounds and mimic the people around him."

"Hold on a minute…" the doctor was watching the boy on the floor. He in return was watching the doctor and trying to push himself up off the floor, then falling suddenly. He repeated it again and again watching the doctor watch him. He then stopped and sat there keeping eye contact. "Nurse, get one of the Psychologists to come in and preform an IQ test on him. I want them to use the Bayley scales of infant development on him. His development is off the charts, I'm impressed."

"Well that would be expected he has a fully developed fifteen year old brain."

"Yes but what he has learned in a matter of hours still should have taken years, get a Psychologist in here." Axel got down onto the floor with him. He grabbed his chart and began to examine the subject. Blonde hair, blue eyes, two eyes, a nose, all ten toes and finger… a hand reached for him and grabbed a fistful of hair and pulled, Axel startled and winced. He quickly raised his eyes from the paper to what was in front of him. The blue eyes of the younger figure scanned him as if he was reading Axel like an open book, stopping at his eyes and probing his mind. Axel was stunned by the confrontation of the memorizing Prussian blue and even more by the fact they glared at him. Clearly stating: I am NOT a child. The nurse and Psychologist entered and began their tests.

҉

"He's incredible. The way he looked at me was definitely not the way a child looks at someone. There is more going on in his brain than we can imagine and I truly believe that the schedule Doctor Xemnas put in place for him is under the boy's abilities. I can't say for sure so I had Even come in and perform an IQ test with him. In the mean time I would like time to prepare a schedule and present it. I believe that if we get him into physical therapy have a speech pathologist come in we will get him walking and talking in a matter of days."

"I think you will find that your assumptions about the subject's development are spot on and I fully agree with your decision to prepare a more advanced schedule for him. But I would like you to still consult with Xemnas. He too has a lot of good ideas and together I think you two can produce the right plan."

Axel smiled and leaned forward onto Ansem's desk. "There is another thing I would like to run by you."

Ansem was looking through one of the various files on his desk. Multitasking being one of his skills. "And what is that Axel?"

"I would like to create an environment for the boy to grow up in. Like a home in the facility, a room that is his very own with his own section of the hall. It's just that sometimes…" Axel paused; the elder doctor looked up at him from across the desk with a slight expression of concern. "He needs his own space that he can grow in and retreat to when the going gets rough. And area for peace is important for human development." The elder man leaned back in his leather chair and stroked his beard. It would sure cost the facility a bit of money to construct an area just for the subject the mental benefits he would receive would be worth it. Ansem nodded allowing Axel to sigh in relief. "It's just something that the programs have previously lacked, and I really find it to be necessary." The elder nodded again.

"I want you to determine the location for the subject and present the plans to me by tonight Axel. I need to hire a contractor to adjust where ever we put him. I also want a perfectly polished plan on my desk by eight tonight. I would like to hold a conference with the staff of this project tomorrow. I also forgot to mention that I have assigned nurses solely to this project. You know Aerith, Xion, and Aqua right?" Axel nodded, how he could not know them? The elder slid a piece of paper with their numbers on it. "Just in case you ever need them here is their contact information, and for now I have ordered a nurse to always be with him. But never the same nurse for more than three hours. We don't want their maternal instincts kicking in now." Ansem chuckled; he always worried about staff growing attached to projects. All in all the man was hypocritical since in the past he himself grew close to one particular project… "Good, now I look forward to seeing the results doctor. I will inform Xemnas that you will be compromising with him on a plan. I suggest you take the time to have most of it organized before taking it to him." Axel began to collect his things, nodding at what was being said, and then exiting the room. He needed to go back home if he wanted to think clearly. Axel had a home office rather than a personal one in the facility. He took the elevator back down to the ground floor and took hall B back out to the lobby where he signed out with the blonde woman at the desk. He went out to the private section of the parking lot and pulled out on to the busy road. Lucky for him the facility was right on the edge of the flourishing city allowing him to ease into the chaos of traffic, which depending on the condition would allow him to be home in fifteen minutes to a half an hour. But this was New York City, the big apple, and the government had only made a few amendments to traffic regulation. The largest impact New York saw in the past forty years was the introduction of the pods. They kept the traffic on ground light for the most part. Most people boarded the subways and pods, although platforms seemed like a hassle. They could only take you from building to building. A platform in the museum, one in a corporate building, shopping buildings, and condo complexes, if one needed to go home they would have to get a taxi or board the subway. Luckily traffic was pretty normal, it was a Sunday after all, and in minutes he was pulling up to a white brick tea shop that sparkled in the afternoon sun. He parked his car outside the establishment and walked in through the French doors. There were a few customers at the glass tables chatting, and a red headed girl in an apron serving them tea. She glanced up at him as he came in, smiled and waved.

"Hey there Axel. What are you doing back?"

"I needed to do a bit of planning for the project I'm on over at the facility," He said coolly, leaning on the counter.

"Oh that's nice. I hope you get it all finished," She chuckled, "Don't want the boss getting on your case." She came around the counter and leaned her whole upper body atop it, holding her head in her hands, and then letting out a sigh.

"Busy day?" Axel asked with a raise eyebrow.

"Incredibly slow day customer wise, but Riku is in the back replenishing the stock of peanut butter pie, Key lime pie, and lemon cookies."

Axel chuckled, "OH. Gottcha. Lots of shopping then?"

"You better believe it, "She laughed breathlessly. "I had to completely restock and reorganize the kitchen earlier because I put a knife out of place and he cut himself." He winced in response and she laughed again. "He was fine, but I wasn't, man did he chew me out. It doesn't help that he fired Pence too…"

"Really now?" Axel raised his eyebrows once again, "Why'd he do that?"

"Why do you think Axel? Riku put two and two together. When Pence worked food mysteriously disappeared. Didn't you see the help wanted sign in the window? I just hope he gets someone trust worthy. I can't do this all on my own" She sighed and flopped onto the counter, " and he doesn't need to be taken advantage of."

"I agree, if the facility didn't need me I would be down here in a heartbeat, but they do, which reminds me, "Alex stood back up and stretched, "I have a plan to write up so I'll catch you later Kai. Tell Riku I'm here and if he loves me he would bring me up some pie." He came around the counter as he said this and headed for the stairs.

"Don't be crazy, he'll make me bring it to you!" She chuckled as her voice became inaudible as Axel ascended the stairs. He came to a small platform were a beautiful evergreen door hung. He pulled out his keys, opened it, and went inside. The apartment opened right up into living area with tan walls and cherry hardwood floor. The apartment was neat and organized. It looked like it had been furnished by someone with expensive taste; it was a shock that two bachelors live here. There was a black leather sofa planted in the middle of the room facing the fire place with a flat screen mounted above it. The end tables were of the same kind of wood as the floor, a tiffany lamp and plants arranged on them with a bookcase along the wall behind the sofa and a set of beautiful glass French doors opening to a balcony to the right of it. The balcony over looked the crystal garden which was a garden of white sparkling granite gravel, trees that blossomed a delicate pink and white during the spring, a pond and patch of pine trees farther off. There were giant crystal rocks that had been airlifted from Africa about ten years ago that were in the center of the park, and smaller crystals were scattered throughout. In the winter the city hired people to hang crystal ordainments off the bare trees and decorated the buildings with white lights making the balcony view worth all the money in the world. To the left of the door was a black granite kitchen complete with a bar and stainless steel appliances. Axel walked past all of this and down a tiny hall to the back bedroom. It was technically the master bedroom, but Riku, his roommate gladly gave it up to allow Axel room for a home office. He had a desk and PC. His briefcase was stored underneath it. Axel picked up his briefcase sitting down into his chair and opening it. He shifted through the papers; pulling out the file on the subject's current schedule, reviewing it, and then leaning back to think of ways to improve it. The problem he saw with it was that it was very easy, and addressed dealing with the subject much like you would an infant for the next two years, and then cracking down on him and being very harsh allowing no room for creative development or growth as a person other than in knowledge. Axel felt it was very important for the subject to be able to intergrade in with the population if need ever be, thus felt developing social skill would be a primary focus at least in the beginning. For the next hour and a half Axel spent looking over school systems, looking into child development and considering the desires of the facility for the child and writing down everything he thought the subject would need to learn, organizing them in a schedule that was strict, yet still allow the subject to relax if he became to overwhelmed. He also spent time making calls to a Physical therapist and speech pathologist to hire. Axel was interrupted by a knock on the door. He swung around, startled by the intruder. His roommate, Riku, was standing in the door way holding a plate with some pie. "Jesus Riku, make some noise why don't you. I didn't even hear you coming." Axel said with a nervous chuckle.

"I did. I knocked." He responded matter-of-factly as he slowly and carefully walked over and placed a plate on the desk. He was blind in both eyes. He had congenital glaucoma; a rare genetic disorder that made it so fluid could not properly drain from his eyes, causing abnormally high pressure and leading to damage and possible blindness. In his case the condition was unknown and went untreated and he was blind because of it, but he had lived his whole life that way, and really didn't see it as a disadvantage. The only problem was that he couldn't tell the difference between a ten dollar bill and a one dollar bill, making it hard to run a business. But Riku trusted his employees, and Axel was always there for him. "How's it going?" The platinum haired man asked as he took a seat on the edge of the bed.

Axel who already was shoveling the pie down his throat, paused, "Well, it's going okay. I'm righting up a pretty much a life schedule for the kid we made at the facility."

"Tch, poor thing," Riku said rolling his eyes. Yes, he kept them open. It was natural and useful for displaying emotion. He turned his face away, some noise catching his attention.

"I sympathize with the kid. But it's okay, I talked to the boss and he is allowing the kid to have his own room and, well, wing of the facility."

"Oh really?" the other snapped, "About fucking time that man did something kind for someone other than himself." Axel winced and Riku abruptly got up. "Kairi needs me now, so I suppose I'll leave you to work."

"What? She does?" Axel was surprised. "How do you know?"

"I put a bell in downstairs for her to ring if she needs me, I tend to be all over the place and when I start baking I don't always hear customers come in."

"Well, I don't hear anything now."

The other chuckled as he headed to the door, guided by memory. "I see with my ears. You should know that. See you later Axel."

Axel leaned back in his seat, finishing off the rest of the pie as he stared out his bedroom window, which had the view of the street. He grabbed the paper he had been looking over his progress. It was pretty good but there needed to be a few changes. He still needed to find a location for the subject. Axel pulled out the floor plans of the entire facility. He looked through the floors stopping on the first one. It would be more convenient to place him here due to the café that sat in the lobby. It would be a pain to have to carry meals up and down stairs every day for the next twenty so years. Wing A had a section of the hall that extended out farther than any part of the building. It wasn't uniform with the rest of the facility, and only contained two offices and storage room. At the end of hall A2, before the hall opened up to a large area, was a stairwell to the right. Why not close off that section of the hall, gut the rooms and turn them into a bed room with a bathroom and gym? The unused section could serve as a recreation room where meals can be eaten and games can be played with staff. Axel highlighted this area and then checked his watch, four forty three. He hadn't yet received a message from Even so things must have been smooth. He needed to now present his plans to Doctor Xemnas. Axel collected his things and went across the city to the facility once more. Pulling into the parking lot of the white hill top building, he sat in the car and stared at it. This facility did more than experiment with DNA, it could help a couple with extreme disabilities make sure their children were healthy, it could help two men, or two women produce a biological child, it could help women with hysterectomies have something close to a pregnancy. This was the headquarters for the leading genetic facility in the world. Ansem stood at the top of all of this and Axel in his shadow helping lead one of the most revolutionary projects of the age. The sun cast an orange glow over the area, giving the white building a yellow gradient. Axel walked into the sleek lobby. "Will you have Even page me when he is finished with the subject, I will be in Xemnas' office." Axel asked the woman at the main desk as he signed in. She nodded and made a call as he began down the hall. He took the stairs to the third floor and proceeded to room 315 in Hall 3A2. He knocked on the door to the room, opening it slowly and finding the white haired man seated patiently at his desk.

"Ansem said you would be in to talk with me," Xemnas looked up from his work. "What do you have to show?" Axel came in, setting his brief case on the desk and opening it to remove the papers he had been working on. The man at the desk resembled someone of Arabic decent, with darkened skin and light brown eyes that sometime gleamed an amber color. His hair was a long silky white that hung over his shoulders, yet his face was young, skin firm, with a strong sharp jaw. He pushed his glasses up his nose and took the papers Axel handed from his brief case, reading over the information for a few moments in silence. "I like this idea," he said laying the facility floor plan down and tapping the highlighted area. "That always was a waste of space, it will be good to put it to use." He shifted to the schedule and began to look it over.

"I would like to get him into schooling as soon as possible. I met with him today. He is not an infant at all and I believe he will quickly pick up on language and walking, we need to be ready for that."

"But we weren't going to start that for about a year." Xemnas countered

"I am aware. But if the subject can move into it, why not start him soon then later. Ease him into it too. I feel like your program is far too strict and harsh. He's a boy and will need wiggle room in his schedule. We don't want to trap him into a life of learning and sleeping, there is more to life than that and he is the perfect human, not a robot or computer.

The elder nodded and looked through the information again. "The only change I would make would be in the terms of how do we get the subject to do what we want him to. He is human, and a teenager. There has to be some sort of punishment system." Axel winced

"Awe, you know I'll be no good at that." The elder chuckled at Axel's comment.

"True. I'll handle it then." Xemnas's leaned back as Axel gave a quick nod. Just then the pager in his pocket vibrated. He pulled it out and read a message from Even who was down the hall with the subject. "What is it Axel. Does Ansem need anything?"

"No, it's Even. He's done with the subject. I need to finish up the exam on him. I really didn't get very far with him earlier." Xemnas nodded. "I'll leave the papers with you. Make any changes you feel are suitable."

"There isn't much to correct, just some holes to fill." Axel grabbed his things waving as he left the man's office and headed down the hall.

҉

The blonde boy sat on the floor. He was growing quite bored with the idea of object permanence. Yes, he understood what the test was; he had heard the doctor explain it to the nurse. The man would give him a bear and then take it and put it behind his back. It was clearly behind his back. Was that supposed to be a mystery? And in all honesty the blonde was growing annoyed and beginning to dislike this man very much. He understood what people were saying to him and about him. They were always talking about him but he couldn't speak, which embarrassed him. He was afraid to make babbling noises to figure out how to form sounds and words because when trying it before one of the nurses laughed and called him cute. She even compared him to an infant, which he was not. Maybe when he got a moment to himself he could figure it all out. There was a knock at the door and the doctor paused for a moment and looking away from the boy. Axel was outside and a nurse went out to talk with him. In the moment of distraction the blond lunged forward and grabbed the bear from the psychologist and held onto if firmly so it would be taken away. The nurse and Axel stepped into the room. He handed her a clipboard with papers. "I want to be with him alone right now." The nurse nodded.

"Has anyone named him yet?"

"What?" Axel was a bit shocked with her question.

"He needs a name. Everyone needs one. So what's his?" Axel raised his eyebrows at this. He had over looked that. Name…name… how does one name an experiment. They couldn't just call him by a number or subject or 'it'. He was smart and he would catch on. "I've been calling him Roxas." The burnet nurse said softly. Axel turned his gaze back towards her and raised his eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Roxas?" The blonde on the floor looked up to the doctor who was paying no attention to him. "You have a thing for strange names, don't you?" The redhead answered with a chuckle.

"It's already caught on with the rest of the nursing staff, except Aqua of course. She keeps trying to call him Ven. But the boy needs a name Axel. You know it. So here it is, Roxas." The nurse smiled warmly at him. Axel, eyebrows still raised, looked down at the boy who was watching them and no longer cared about the test doctor Even was trying to perform. The Prussian blue caught Axel's green and it clicked, Roxas.

"Yeah, that's fine Aerith. I just need to inform Xemnas and Ansem about this." She smiled at him and wrote down on her clipboard the name of the subject, in pen. It was final. "Now if you two don't mind I need to fill out a basic health analysis of the-… For Roxas." Doctor Even, the man preforming the test, stood up abruptly.

"Good. It was rather foolish of you to have me preform such a test on him. He became very obviously bored and then refused to cooperate." Even huffed as he collected his things, "Just like a teenager I suppose." He left the room.

Nurse Aerith chuckled at that comment, "That man is always so bitter." Axel shook his head.

"Thanks for the help Aerith; I'll page you if I need you." She quickly collected her things and scurried out of their way, leaving the two alone. The room was a sterile white with a small light blue rug on the floor, a bed shoved against the wall. All together it took about six steps to get from one side of the room to the other but the team had not expected the subject to ever gain conciseness. They were unprepared. Roxas was nervous; his blue eyes darted up at the doctor then down at the floor continuing this pattern for a while. Axel was at the counter looking through the paperwork he had to fill out about the boy and what types of tests he would have to perform. He would be serving as the subject's primary doctor for checkups, blood work, and basic health. Anything more threatening than a cold would go to the medical team on staff and possibly even the hospital since the genetics facility only had specialized equipment. Axel wanted to avoid any blood work and invasive exams for today; those could be left to Xemnas. But sadly he realized that Roxas would need a variety of different boosters and vaccines to get him up to speed with modern health. It didn't help any that his immune system was more than likely similar to that of a baby's, weak. And unlike an infant he hadn't received antibodies from his mother while in the womb since he was never really in one. Axel turned to find the nervous Prussian eyes fixed upon him. It was truly heart wrenching and Axel softened and got down on to the floor, scooting towards him. "Hello," He said softly. "My name is Axel. I am your doctor." The blue eyes studied him from head to toe, showing no sign of comprehension. "Roxas?" the boy's attention was caught. "I need to do a check up and make sure you're healthy," again no response from the younger. In all honesty Axel wasn't sure why he was saying this. It was irrational to believe that a person who was only two days old could understand something complex like language, but the boy seemed like he was listening. Axel hung his head and chuckled at his attempt to communicate for a moment, then stood. He needed to get the boy onto the bed where it would be easier to perform tests. He reached down, grabbed the boy's hands and gently lifted him up, holding his arms above his head so he was putting only a little weight on his feet. In this sense he was just like an infant and was uncomfortable with the pressure of the cold floor pressed against his virgin feet, as well as the idea of being so high off the ground. Axel laughed at the clear discomfort in the boy's face. He was short and light weight. His body had not yet had the chance to develop toned muscles. He would be in need of physical therapy. Axel stepped back, pulling the boy forward in hopes he would take his first step. Roxas merely slid across the floor falling forward a bit but on the second step back Roxas lifted his foot and fell into a step, then another, another, and another. The back of Axel's leg bumped into the bed. He lifted the boy so his legs were dangling, kicking back and forth, and then set him on the edge of the bed. Axel walked to the other side of the room and grabbed his stethoscope and sphygmomanometer. He came back to the patient and put the stethoscope on, lifted the boy's shirt a bit and put the cold metal to his chest. He moved around and listened to his heart and lungs then pulled the boys shirt up a bit and moved it to his back. The boy shivered against the metal. He was uncomfortable and confused about what was going on. Axel finished what he was doing, removed his hands from the boy and recorded a few things onto his sheet, checking off boxes. Perfect. Everything sounded just how it should. He noticed the confusion in the boys face and chuckled. "Stethoscope," he stated handing it to the blonde. Roxas looked it over then his eyes went back to Axel. "It allows me to listen to your heart. Here, I'll show you…" Axel took the devise and lightly placed the plugs into the boy's ears. He gently grabbed the metal end of it and placed it under the boy's shirt over his heart. Roxas' face contracted in confusion. He looked up at the red-headed doctor questioningly. Roxas removed the piece from his shirt and reached forward placing it on Axel's chest. He was off so Axel gently slid his hand up so he could hear the heart better. The boy was still confused. The doctor chuckled and removed the stethoscope from Roxas' ears, "I will teach you more about that later." He lifted the sphygmomanometer from the floor opened the cuff and put it around the blonde's upper arm, making sure the velcro was snug. "This will be uncomfortable." Axel said. He put on the stethoscope, holding the metal end against the inside of the boys elbow, and began to pumped a few times listening to the blood flow. Once again health, Axel nodded and recorded the data putting both devises on the floor. He then gently pushed the blonde to lay him back on the bed and began to prod his fingers on the younger stomach checking to be sure every organ was where it should be and that nothing was amorally shaped. Normal once again, he wrote that down. There was nothing else for Axel to do at this moment. At some point a doctor would have to check his genitals but Axel really was uncomfortable doing that. He would leave that to Xemnas. "We are done for now Roxas." It was a bit odd feeling for him to be calling the subject by a name but both the boy and doctor had to get use to it. "I will be back to see you tomorrow." Axel started to peel back the blankets on the bed and lifted the boy so he could lie down and get under the covers. "Lay down now," Axel said, he gently pushed the boy down. Roxas was confused again, he lay in bed and watched the man collect his things and exit the room. As he stepped outside a woman came, looked inside at him, and then began to talk to the doctor. He was alone for the first time and the only sound was a soft ticking of the clock. He found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open and eventually fell asleep.

Axel walked down the hall. He was ready to present his plan to Ansem, and by now Xemnas should have been there discussing the schedule, what Axel had produced, and the changes he made. His watch read eight thirty seven, he was late and exhausted. Ansem's office was just up ahead. He turned into hall A and went three doors down, knocking gently and then opening the door. Xemnas sat in one of the black leather chairs in front of Ansem's desk. Ansem was playing idly with his beard watching the younger doctor step inside and take a seat next to his colleague. "Axel, how nice of you to join us, Doctor Xemnas was just telling me about the schedule and location you found for the subject's new environment."

Axel nodded taking a seat. "I was thinking about clearing out the offices in the end of hall A2 and giving him a room there. It's far enough from the lobby and the café is downstairs so the nurses won't have to carry food trays up and down. Another plus is that the facility's library is right there as well. Sure there are very important documents and files there but I think it would be beneficial to set up a mini area of the library for him. It can also serve as the location for primary learning in his literature, history, math, and science subjects. There will be an extra room in his portion of the hall that we can turn into a gym."

"As for keeping track of him and keeping him on task we will set up rewards and punishments for positive and negative behaviors. Going to unauthorized locations such as the lobby will bring about a punishment. Same goes for restricted sections of the library, he will only be allowed with written permission from a member of the staff" Xemnas stated calmly.

"Yes but how would you reward and punish him? Do you plan to give him personal possessions? Or are you going to take away a treat at meal time. I feel kind of bad, you know." Axel drooped at the suggestion.

"I imagine we could give him a selection of personal items, but educational items…" Ansem said stroking his beard. "A treat every now and then… and possibly free time, Axel do you have his schedule finished?"

Axel snapped to action, "Oh, um, yes I gave them to Xemnas to look over…" Xemnas was already leaned down and shifting through papers in his briefcase, pulling out on particular piece and handing it to Ansem. "Starting tomorrow I am having a speech pathologist and physical therapists come in and work with him. It's important to get him walking and talking as quick as possible. Until he can walk and speak properly we will be bringing h is meals to him. I have nurses lined up to feed him certain meals and aid in basic social skills. I'm not sure how long it will take for him to learn the basics but once that is done I have arranged a simple but flexible schedule." The schedule introduced four core classes History, Math, Science, and Literature that the subject was to study for three hours each morning from Monday to Thursday. The subjects that were not studied in the morning had hour time slots from 3 to 6. The program also included a daily physical education, and guidance period for the subject to reflect on the day and build character. Thursdays and Tuesdays replaced afternoon free time with art education. "The schedule is completely flexible and can be changed to fit the subject's needs." Axel paused, "Oh, and in addition his name is Roxas." He added sheepishly.

"You named the subject without consulting us?" Xemnas snapped in complete disbelief.

"Axel," Ansem shook his head, "I understand the reasoning but you should have consulted the rest of the team. We could have voted on it. Roxas is really an odd name," the doctor trailed off. It was funny to hear them express concerns for such a trivial thing.

"I understand but it really wasn't my doing. The nursing staff did it."

"Aerith," Ansem huffed looking off into the middle distance. "Should have known," he mumbled. "Ah, well good work today. I'll call in the doctors in offices in the end of hall A2 and have them pack up immediately and call in a crew to add a glass divider to that hall. Not to contain him," Ansem interjected as soon as Axel's mouth opened to say something, "but give him a sense of home." Xemnas nodded and took this as a cue to leave. Axel began collecting his things.

"So it's approved?"

"Yes, I am impressed Axel. You turned it out very quickly and it is good enough to put in place."

"Did you doubt my ability to take charge?" Axel asked playfully.

"Not really, but it's nice to see the work in action." Axel paused, he was a bit uncomfortable. "I want you to take off the morning. You will come in at eleven forty-five; I'll have Aerith follow your schedule exactly tomorrow. Xemnas and I will cover the staff meeting. And… you called Terra in right? As a physical therapist?"

"Wouldn't dream of anyone else," Axel chuckled, "He helps us out a lot I'm surprised he hasn't got a permanent job here sooner. But why am I getting the morning off?"

"I don't need you micro managing Terra's work. Besides you have earned it. When was your last day off anyways?" The men were quiet for a moment, then Ansem changed the subject. "As for the speech pathologist, I didn't recognize the name, why didn't you hire Joanne?"

"Sir, Joanne retired. Tifa studied under her and they worked together. Plus I got a good feeling from her; she was pretty cheerful, excited to help with a project like this. I'm pretty sure she would have done it for free. She also understands her responsibilities to record data on his learning process so I think we will be fine." The elder doctor nodded fiddling with his beard, thinking. "If you don't mind now Doctor, I will be leaving." Axel checked his watch, it was going on nine. The elder man waved his hand signaling that he could leave. Axel was about to close the door when he suddenly remembered Roxas' health file. "Oh. Ansem," he came back into the room and set the brief case on the desk, opening and pulling out the file. "I finished most of the tests. The boy needs his boosters and all his vaccinations. I did not check any of his sex organs either. I felt it would be to invasive for his first full day in the world." Ansem chuckled and nodded.

"Ah yes. Well we can have the shots done over the next couple days, and as for the tests… let's push those onto Xemnas." Axel smiled and nodded turning to take his leave again. He closed the door behind him, making his way down to the first floor and signing out in the lobby, making his way back home to a teashop in the crystal plaza of New York City.