Crossroads

Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts isn’t mine, along with the poem used in here. It’s called Mother Told Me by an author unknown.

Summary: I lived a simple islander’s life, up until the car crash, that is. After that, my whole world turned upside down. Torn away from my hometown, I was forced into living with my seldom seen father and brother. But to ensure my downfall, I met Axel. AkuRoku. Bound to have side-pairings.

Warnings: The usual yaoi warning stuff. Boy loving. Cussing, maybe some blood and violence on the side. Probably some OOC too.

Character ages: Roxas 16, Axel 18, Sora 16, Riku 17, Demyx 17, Zexion 18, Hayner 16, Olette 16, Pence 16, Kairi 16, Naminé 16, and Seifer 17. If there’s more I’ll add ‘em.

Dedication: This is for my good friend . She’s inspired me so much when it comes to writing, not to mention she's a great friend. I hope you like this Lilo!

Oh, and thank you Lilo for helping me edit this.

Whole story will be in Roxas’ POV.

Ch. 1: The Life Changing Crash

Have you ever been one place, and then woke up in another? Traveling, probably. But what about being in a car one minute and, the next thing you know, you’re in a hospital?

Chances are, no, right?

Well… that’s what happened to me. Last thing I remembered was driving down to the docks, where my mom and I were going to get on the ferry. We had been planning a little vacation since last year to go to Traverse Town and have a little get together with our family. A vacation, basically.

Things, unfortunately, didn’t exactly go that way.

I woke with a massive headache, pains and aches going through my body. Feeling like I’d been hit by a truck would be an understatement. Let’s just put it this way; I felt like shit. Probably worse than shit. The constant beeping to the left of me didn’t exactly help, either. Everything around me was dull and white. From that observation alone, I knew I wasn’t at any of my friends’ houses, and I was positive I wasn’t at home. I looked around a bit more, spotting a TV above me and a pink curtain shut firmly next to me. Yeah…definitely wasn’t somewhere I knew.

It wasn’t until I saw a woman clad in a nurse’s outfit come in that I realized I was at a hospital. But what the hell for?

With a painful groan, I tried pulling myself up, but found it difficult, with all the wires hooked up and needles sticking in me, not to mention the almost unbearable pain I felt. The nurse from before was now beside me, reaching above her and changing what looked like a pouch of water. Oh… right… I had an IV hooked up to me too. “I wouldn’t push myself if I were you, Mister Korin.” The nurse stated firmly, her voice still surprisingly gentle. “You’re in no state to walk around. It’s good to finally see you up, though. You’ve been out of it for almost three days.” I couldn’t help but gape at her. Three days!? “Your father stopped by a little while ago; he said he’d be back in a couple hours or so. Just try to relax, ‘kay, Roxas?”

Oh, right. I should probably introduce myself. Name’s Roxas Korin. Not Corwin, like the nature guy, Korin. My hometown is Destiny Islands, though now I’m a resident of Twilight Town. I have blond hair, blue eyes, and am a little on the short side and a bit thin. Not anorexic thin. Just thin. And no… I’m not a midget; I’ve passed the magic number, thank you very much. I’m 5’6 if we’re talking exacts here. My favorite color, well… I don’t exactly have one. I like the checkered pattern, though. You’ll find that most of my clothes are based off of it. My hobbies are doodling, even though I have no skills in the art field whatsoever, and writing, as you can see. Oh, and skateboarding. And as far as animals go… Puppies, maybe kittens. And that’s pretty much all you need to know about me.

For the moment, at least.

Moving on.

Wait…Dad… what the hell is he doing here?! And what am I doing here?! “Wait…why am I here?” I decided to ask as she started walking away.

She stopped, like she was going to tell me, but didn’t. The nurse shook her head slowly, not bothering to look back to me. “It’s…not for me to say.” And with that, she left.

The hell?

Quite a few nurses came in and out of the room to check on me, along with the person who I was rooming with. I never once saw their face, all I could see of them was their big feet sticking out from the curtain when the nurses drew it back some. I figured that it was a guy, with those huge feet.

Each nurse that came in gave the same form of an answer the first nurse gave me as to why I was there: i.e. none.

The lack of reasons was starting to annoy me. What the hell were they being so secretive about? And where the hell was my mom?! I hadn’t seen her since… since she was driving us to the docks. And why the hell would she get dad to come there? Made zero sense to me. I saw dad, along with my brother, Sora, once every few years. Did he actually care that I was there…or was I missing a bigger, more important picture? I just huffed in frustration and went back to watching the news flashing above me.

A half hour of that, tops, and I was back to sleeping again. I woke with a sinking feeling below me, which got me up in a hurry. I thought the hospital was collapsing right under me. Thankfully, it turned out to be my bed sinking in from some new weight added to it. A big hand patted my head lightly. “Roxas, glad to finally see you awake, buddy. You had Sora and I worried there.” I quickly recognized the gruff, semi-deep voice, though it’d been almost three years since I’d heard it.

“Dad…what are you doing here, where’s mom?” He adjusted himself on the hospital bed some, until his butt was more comfortable. Nearly impossible task, what with the springs practically sticking out of it.

He let a small sigh out, then looked over his shoulder at me. “Roxas, do you know why you’re here?” he asked, with what I thought to be hesitance.

“No. Everybody refuses to tell me. What’s going on, dad?” I said it a bit more harshly than anticipated. Can you blame me, though? Here I was, lying in a hospital, and completely oblivious as to why I was there. Not to mention, my father, who I rarely saw, was there out of the blue. I had a right to snap at him. I wanted answers.

And he wasted no time at all giving one to me. “You and your mother were in a car accident, Roxas. A pretty bad one.” He gave me no preparation for that whatsoever. He just said it, like the straight-forward guy he was. I, unwillingly, inherited that lovely quality from him.

Those two sentences ran through my head a billion times over, and yet, all I could bring myself to do was stare wide-eyed at him. How was I in an accident? There’s little to no traffic at all on the roads in Destiny Islands. Car accidents were practically unheard of around there. Not to mention, mom was a great driver: always careful of her surroundings, never went over the speed limit. How was this even remotely possible? Then, a horrible thought went through my head.

Why wasn’t mom with me, in this room?

“And mom is-”

Dad shook his head, in a surprisingly remorseful manner. Mom and dad…never were on the best of terms.

His actions made my blood instantly run cold. “She’s dead, Roxas. She was killed instantly from the impact of the accident.”

My whole world turned upside down that Sunday night in mid November. My little islander’s life as I came to know it would be forever changed. I’d have no choice but to leave everything behind: my friends, my family, my home, and my mom… everything….

Amazing what one, single car-crash can do to a person.

I learned later, by chance, by getting a glimpse of the Destiny Island Times (the newspaper) at the hospital, just how extreme the accident really was. My father had gone into details almost right after he told me of my mom’s death. I didn’t hear him though, I was too shocked and fucked up at the time to let the information in. The newspaper told me all I needed to know, though.

It was a head-on collision. The left side of the car was smashed to smithereens by a four by four truck. I had been knocked unconscious instantly and was trapped inside until fire-fighters broke me out of the debris. I was left with three broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, a fractured arm, and a minor concussion. Along with cuts and bruises scattered throughout my body.

Mom, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky.

She was so badly distorted; she wasn’t even recognizable to anyone. I didn’t want to see her, not like that. It was then, learning of her appearance, that I decided the funeral would be closed casket. I didn’t want the last memory I had of her to be like that, to anyone, for that matter.

The accident was caused from the other driver; his breaks went out on him suddenly, causing him to have no control over his truck. And, I guess, by the time my mom spotted the truck, it was too late. The truck driver told me, though, that she swerved to the left some in, what he thought, an attempt to keep me out of harm’s way. She died saving me, and died accomplishing her goal. I was alive, not exactly well, but alive nonetheless.

It took no time at all to start blaming myself for her death, and wishing more and more that I would’ve died alongside her that day. At least I wouldn’t be suffering the way I was, and I’d be with her, the one person who really, truly mattered to me then. But, learning of my mom’s heroic action was just the beginning of my mental torment. I had a long road to recovery, as I’d quickly learn.

Two days after I was released from the hospital, my mom’s funeral took place. Almost all of Destiny Island’s population showed up. Not like that was saying much. The islands are very small, and not many people populate them. It’s a small world, as my brother’s best friend Riku describes it. And it’s true.

That didn’t stop me from wanting to live there, though.

Words can’t describe the utter and complete loss I felt that day. It was as if there was a gaping hole in my chest, and there was no one, or anything to fill it. I cried and grieved for her like a little boy, as I watched my grandparents weep uncontrollably beside me, thanking the Lord for sparing my life every few minutes or so. It took everything I had to not tell them that there wasn’t anything to be thankful for; to stop thanking god for “sparing” me. I should’ve died… I should’ve died along with her… But I didn’t. And I couldn’t for the life of me understand why.

My father stood beside me, never once shedding a tear. Anyone who looked at him, though, could see he was miserable. And my brother, who flew in the day before mom’s funeral, was standing next to my dad, having a much harder time keeping the tears from coming on. He wasn’t nearly fucked up as I was; it was obvious he was suffering, though. I knew if I were in his shoes, never seeing mom, I wouldn’t be nearly as upset either. Seeing each other as little as we had, I’m sure it felt like he was grieving for a distant cousin who he saw every decade or so. That’s how I would’ve felt, if it was dad who went. Of course, Sora, having the knowledge that it was his mother that was being buried, couldn’t help the remorse he felt. I’m sure he had regrets; regrets for not trying harder to visit mom. He knew she was a nice person.

Luckily for Sora, Riku was there with him, trying his best to comfort him. He knew a lot more about Sora than I ever did, or ever will for that matter. So, him being there helped Sora out a lot, and he actually knew how to make him be more at ease. My few close friends that I had were with me too. Unlike Riku, though, they didn’t have the slightest clue how to comfort me. I didn’t mind any; I knew it was awkward for them.

The worst part of the whole thing, was actually watching the casket being lowered into the ground. It really, truly, occurred to me then that my mom was gone forever. I’d never see her sweet, smiling face again. Never hear those corny, yet somehow anticipated jokes of hers anymore. Her comfort would be forever gone, and I’d have no one to turn to when I needed a mother’s advice. And I’d never, ever get another chance to hug and kiss her, to say how much she meant to me. How much I loved and appreciated her.

Never again…

Because mom was…gone.

I choked back a sob as I threw a bouquet of flowers on top of the golden casket six-feet below me, the engraving of a poem I found for her covered in the process.

You told me what you thought...

But let me think for myself.

You told me what you saw...

But let me look for myself.

You told me where you've been...

But encouraged me to go further.

You held me close to your heart...

But never too tight for me to grow.

You always were my mother...

But became my best friend

Most everybody who went to the funeral came to our house afterwards to show respect to mom’s family. Dad, Sora, and I, of course, were included in this bunch. I sat on the old rocking chair in the corner, mom’s favorite place to relax. For about an hour I stayed downstairs and watched, emotionally, at the reunion occurring before me. All I could seem to think of was my mother and how damn much I was missing her. All the pictures hanging around the house didn’t help to keep my mind off her, either.

When my eyes landed on a particular picture, one that was taken no more than three months earlier on the beach, I started crying again. I excused myself before going upstairs to wallow in my immense pain and misery. Eventually, I wound up crying myself to sleep.

No one bothered to get me for dinner, knowing that eating was the last thing on my mind. I slept the rest of the day away, which was probably the best thing I could have done. I was torturing myself staying awake and constantly thinking over my loss. The reality of it all just wouldn’t stop sinking in. Knowing that I was motherless from there on out was eating away at me, and the only way to ease the pain was by sleeping. So, I’d find myself doing that whenever possible.

When I woke, I was surprised to find both Sora and Riku sleeping on my floor. I could care less, honestly. I figured dad must’ve used the couch to sleep on. I sat in bed for a long while before I got up. During that time, I studied my brother’s appearance, noticing all the physical changes I’d missed out on while we were apart for so long. His hair, for example, was a lighter brown then it was before, and, surprisingly, he’d grown quite a bit too. If only I could’ve grown that much…. Yes, I was somewhat envious of our slight height difference. We were twins; we were supposed to be vertically equal. I’m not going to argue reality, though. He’s taller than me, sad but true.

I also noticed he’d lost a lot of baby fat he used to carry around. Turning into a teenager usually does that to ya. His arms and legs were skinny and his stomach was just as flat and un-toned as mine. At least we had that feature in common. As for Riku… if anything, he’d gotten more muscular, taller, and hotter. I admitted it then, and I’m admitting it now. Riku was a good looking guy. Sora said all the girls swooned over him, and I’m sure Sora did too.

With a somewhat degrading sigh, I stood from my bed and started getting ready. I had a lot to get done.

That day turned out to be full of emotions, too. It was the last day I’d get to stay on Destiny Islands, the last day of my old islander’s life. I would be moving to a city called Twilight Town, where my dad and brother were living; to start a city life. The change would take some getting used to and I didn’t really feel I had the stamina to adjust at the time. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice, or I would’ve continued staying on the islands with my grandparents. My father, along with my grandparents, thought it best that I stayed with him and Sora and got away from everything, at least for a while to get my mind off things. So, seeing no way out, I reluctantly agreed to leave.

Wednesday morning up until the afternoon was spent packing, and that was all the time I really needed to pack. Dad had already put most of our things into storage. He left my mom’s room and my own room for me to pick and choose what I wanted to take with me. And, if I wanted to, he said I could take all of it with me. Obviously, with that I option, I did.

The rest of the day I spent with my friends Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. We rowed out to the old play island across from Destiny’s main island. It was mostly vacant, save for a few kids here and there. The paopu tree was left for us to take up though. It was the last time I’d get to see the sunset from there for a long while. I greedily took in every bit of it, until the last ray disappeared behind the horizon. Only then, did I go back.

“You’ll come back to visit us again, right, Roxas?” Tidus asked while we were rowing the boat back to the small dock, his blonde hair glowing under the moonlight.

I looked up from the boat’s deck to him, taking some time to answer. I didn’t want to lie; once I left, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to come back. It would be so hard to bear the memories. But… I felt obligated to encourage my friends of my return. So with a nod, I quietly said, “Yeah.”

Sometime would pass before I actually fulfilled that pledge.

Before I knew it, I was in my room again, listening to Sora and Riku’s snores fill the quiet space. We were all laying on the floor this time, my bed already on its way to Twilight Town’s airport along with practically everything else that wasn’t in storage.

I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep. The thought that it was my last night to be there, to be in the one place I’d known my whole life as home, was utterly depressing. Even Sora had lived there up until the time my parents divorced. Still, this was our home; this was where I’d spent most of my life. Leaving it behind (leaving the island behind in general) sounded absolutely ludicrous.

But the physical and mental exhaustion from that day finally seemed to catch up with me. So, with heavy eyelids, and an aching heart and stomach, I finally let sleep take over me.

The next day my new life in the city would begin, and my old islander’s life would be a thing of the past.

I know I shouldn’t be writing another fic… But I am, so sue me. And don’t worry, if this is liked enough, Axel will be coming next chapter. More character interaction too. Reviews would be lovely!