I finally had enough attention span to get this out! God it seems to be getting harder to focus on anything lately.

Regardless of excuses and the long time span between chapters there's the next one.

Follow Me Down

Chapter 15: Great More Characters

Monday was a train wreck. Plain and simple. The group ended up staying up way too late. Even "Mama Bear" was enjoying herself too much to notice the time the night before. After a few showers, a lame breakfast, and more coffee than a normal person should have the five were on their way. Axel was wiped out and Roxas was sure he needed to catch up on sleep. He left a "kind" note letting his stalker know where they were and telling him what kind of colorful things would happen to him if he broke any of Hayner's stuff.

All Roxas was really hoping for was a normal day after all was how badly his vacation went. But Roxas rarely got what he wanted. Right near the end of his first class he was called down to the office. With students "ooohh"-ing and him glaring, Roxas stomped out of his class. Coffee woke him up but didn't improve his mood.

Good news for the ray of sunshine though, instead of it being the principal that greeted him, it was Mr. Harkness. The man was definitely imposing; large, beefy body, big hands, stern face, intense eyes. All in all not a cuddly teddy bear. None of that bothered Roxas though, now that he knew more about the man. Roxas nodded toward the gym teacher and waited for him to speak. "Let's go somewhere private." Xaldin said with a deep voice.

Behind the closed door of an empty office, Xaldin started again. "So I'm guessing by now you know who I am and what Hayner is, right?"

"What's your element?" Roxas was going to only nod in response but felt that that was a more important question.

Xaldin went to answer him but changed his gaze to the window behind Roxas. As he scowled, a large gust of wind blew past a tree outside, followed by a blur of red and a loud thud. With satisfaction and a smile, Xaldin nodded as the window slammed shut.

Roxas rolled his eyes as he responded to their antics, "Impressive. Also he is not subtle." Roxas quickly took out his phone to text the red head to get his shit together. "Tell him he's an idiot, too" Xaldin added. Roxas eyed him warily but did as he was told. "Not a fan of my stalker I'm guessing?"

"Stalker? What a loving thing to call your boyfriend."

"Just stating facts."

"Anyway, no not really. He thinks he can do anything he wants. Punk. But he's not important. As you know, I'm in charge of protecting and training Hayner. And as you can guess, not many people should know about his ability. I advised him against telling you and his other friends until he had more training, but what's done is done. What I need you to do is keep it a secret! You think you're in danger? Hunters may be able to sense our elements but they can practically taste a seer's power in the air! We may have come a long way the past few years but if you or your puny friends start running your mouths you might never see him again in one piece!" Xaldin's face was covered with anger and, strangely, fear. Roxas was about to bite Xaldin's head off but stopped when he saw all that emotion evident on Xaldin's face. Roxas waited for the teacher to calm down from his outburst before he spoke, "You care about him don't you?"

Silence.

"How much?" Xaldin on glared at him.

"Fine; listen up you blowhard." Xaldin's eyebrow twitched at the remark. "Oh I'm sorry where's my manners; Mister Blowhard. Just because you've been helping Hayner for the past couple years doesn't mean you can scream at me, insult our friends, or act like you're better than me so get off your high horse right now!" What few lights were on in the office quickly burst. Roxas tried to hold back his temper, he really did. "It's obvious you care about him, a lot, but you can't just replace his friends so just breathe for fucks sake."

Roxas quickly made for the door but stopped and gave Xaldin a smirk. "Oh, and you better get into Hayner's pants soon before Seifer beats you to it. They seem to be getting pretty buddy buddy lately ever since he beat Seifer in a few Struggle games." A swift burst of wind slammed the door behind Roxas as he walked out laughing at Xaldin's expense. Seems like Roxas and Axel had another thing in common now.

Road bump number two came during his last class: Physics. All it took was Mr. Brocton saying one sentence. "Roxas, I need you to stay after class." Roxas slammed his head on his desk, earning a few giggles from his classmates. Class ended quickly while Roxas stayed in his seat wondering what he did this time. As the last of the students left, Roxas and Mr. Brocton made direct eye contact, right before Mr. Brocton locked his classroom door. When he looked back, he saw Roxas eyeing the second floor window with his phone in his hand. Mr. Brocton cleared his throat and spoke up, "Calm yourself. I mean no harm, but with your innate ability to manipulate your element I have no doubt that you would be able to escape this room without harming yourself." Curiosity piqued and ego stroked, Roxas leaned back into his seat. He didn't really know where to start the conversation so he left that up to the teacher.

"Let me introduce myself properly. My full name is Vexen Brocton. I used to be part of The Organization and my element is ice." He held out his hand and slowly created a large diamond of ice, roughly the size of a fist. As it finished forming he casually tossed it out the open window.

"Ow! Roxie you're so mean!"

Vexen walked over to the window, then looked over to Roxas who was already typing on his phone. "So that's who you're always texting during class? Hmm, not surprising. You're really not that subtle."

"HA! KARMA!"

"No one asked you, you idiot!" Vexen yelled as he slammed the window shut. He looked over to Roxas to see him with his head on his desk again. Vexen did find it mildly amusing but cleared his throat again to get the teen's attention. "Regardless of whatever useless comments come out of his mouth I have a serious topic to talk to you about." Vexen leaned into his desk as he continued.

"So Xemnas has told me all about you. He really was impressed with your dexterity, but I had the feeling he didn't want to let you in on that." Vexen smiled inwardly as he saw Roxas' face light up with pride. "So with the information Xemnas has given me combined with my own knowledge about you I'd like to give you a serious offer. I understand how excited you are about the chance to seriously test your element and to learn new tricks, while also learning several self-defense tricks, but I don't want you to let your brain go to waste. You're a brilliant student! One of the brightest in all of my classes. And I want to see what else you could learn under my guidance. I'm offering my services as a tutor to help teach you the more advance topics of physics. And if you feel inclined to do so we can move onto other topics that interest you. On top of that I can give you the normal college level standard tests that go along with the topics of your choice so that if you pass them I can sign you up for college credits for the topics we cover. They should be applicable to most of the colleges in the extended area. Would that be ok with you?"

Roxas was soaking in the opportunity in front of him with a look of shock on his face. He was thinking about how he could potentially go to college on a physics major, but to have such a huge head start offered to him? It was hard to believe. All these thoughts were evident with the shock that Vexen saw which caused him to speak up again. "Give it a few days to think over. You're a brilliant student and whether you accept my offer or not I will continue to teach you to the best of my abilities." Roxas nodded and started to re-collect himself and his stuff. After he walked up to Vexen and offered his hand. "Thank you sir. I'll let you know by the end of the week" It was Vexen's turn to be shocked as he dumbly shook Roxas' hand. The skater punk had manners, he never would've guessed.

As Roxas closed the door to the classroom, he gave one last look back through the window of the door. Vexen, instead of his usual stern, serious self, was holding a picture and looking down on it sadly. He looked weary, maybe even a few years older, and close to tears. Roxas quickly left his teacher alone; it seemed like a private moment.

As Roxas walked out of the building his phone went off. Without even looking to see who it was he answered, "Where are you?"

The only response was Axel humming the jaws theme song. Roxas sighed and waited for Axel to pop up from where he was. All of a sudden there was a loud "POUNCE" and Axel jumped on top of Roxas. Roxas, instead of scowling and pushing him off just laughed quietly.

"I missed you Roxie."

"I missed you too Axe."

…

"But seriously get the fuck off of me."

"13 seconds new record!" Axel said as he did as he was told.

"So do you have any plans or a date or something set up now or are you up for just following me home so I can pass out?"

Axel looked over at his date curiously. "I'm guessing it's been a long day with all the introductions and stuff?"

Roxas nodded. "Sleep."

Axel laughed and scooped up Roxas onto his back and carried him home, piggyback style. Roxas tried to argue but he was just too damn tired. And comfy. But mostly tired.

I feel like I'll always miss some mistakes so if you point some out I'd be happy to fix them

Anyway I should be able to keep working on the next chapter. Fingers crossed.