Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ If This Cat Could Talk... ❯ Suggestions ( Chapter 1 )

If This Cat Could Talk…

By: Ellipsis the Great

DISCLAIMER: Kingdom Hearts and everything affiliated with it belongs to SquareEnix and Disney. All I own is the plot…

Summary: Axel's therapist suggests that he get a cat to help him get over an accident involving his little brother's best friend. It doesn't take him long to realize that strange things are afoot, however…

Rated: T just in case. May change later on.

Spoilers: None that I know of…

Warnings: Definite yaoi on the horizon, a little angst (obviously), and I suppose I should point out that this is AU…

 

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CHAPTER TWO: Suggestions

 

“Would you like to talk about Sora again, Axel?”

“No.”

It was a bad day.

On bad days, I didn't want to talk about anything. And every time I closed my eyes, I could see Sora crying to me with those innocent blue eyes of his as a pair of headlights creates a halo around his head. I held him in my arms and cried and cried and cried while sirens screeched in my muffled ears, and the paramedics tried to pry me off of him, and Dad screamed at me because I went and got myself shit-faced so I could forget what happened for a while. And then Riku found out and he yelled and yelled and yelled and I cried again because I didn't want to become the man my father had almost turned into, or the man who ran into us and died, damn him, before we could kill him ourselves for what he did to Sora, and I was stone-cold-sober once that last hangover was gone. Only then I needed another way to find release, and that razor reminded me that I really could feel the pain that I put Sora and Riku and our families through, and Riku walked in on me and screamed and screamed and screamed like I was actually dead, but I wasn't. I was fucking alive, and they sent me to this therapist, and Christ had it really only been ten years since I sent Sora to that damn hospital bed?

My therapist, Zexion Sei, sighed. He recognized my moods by now, and knew I wouldn't be able to talk about Sora.

“It isn't your fault, you know.” He said.

“How isn't it my fault? If I hadn't been meddling—”

“Axel, you didn't know what would happen.”

“Is that supposed to make it better?” I demanded. “Is that really supposed to fucking make it better? Because it fucking doesn't, okay, damn it? It doesn't do shit!”

He sighed again and rubbed the bridge of his nose beneath his reading glasses. He definitely knew my moods, then—when those sessions first started he kept pushing me until I went off on him. It was bad.

“I was thinking you should get a pet.” He said suddenly.

I blinked dumbly. “…Huh?”

“I've been thinking about it for a while, now, and I talked it over with your father. He thinks it's a good idea.”

“And this is supposed to do…what, exactly?”

“It's supposed to show you that you can take care of something.” He explained. “Part of your problem is that you've convinced yourself that you can't take care of anything or anyone because of what happened to Sora. I think getting a pet will help.”

“And if the pet dies and makes everything worse?” I asked cynically.

“Then we try something else.” He shrugged. “We've been at this for seven years now, Axel, and you've only made minimal progress, even with the different prescriptions we've tried. I want to try more than just talking to you for two hours twice a week or making you pop pills. I know it makes you uncomfortable.”

I nodded slowly.

“Are you willing to try it?”

Another nod, this one even slower than the first.

“Alright, then. Go to a shelter or something and find a pet. I want you to introduce him or her to me at our next session, and then I'll let you go early and give you two weeks off so you can get used to having a pet around. We'll see how you're doing after that, okay?”

I nodded yet again. “Does…that mean we're done?” I asked hesitantly.

“Yes. I'll see you on Friday.” He said as we both stood.

“See you.” He walked me to the door, waving a little as he turned to his next psycho—I mean patient, a homicidal maniac named Xaldin.

“Axel McKay Scáth!”

I jumped and turned at the same time, nearly bowling over my little brother's other childhood friend, Demyx. Not quite as close to our family as Sora, but nearly there all the same. And both boys were way too hyper for their own good. Or at least, Sora was hyper until…you know.

“Shit, Dem-Dem, don't scare me like that!” I swore, putting a hand on my chest.

“Sorry!” He chirped, obviously anything but apologetic. “How was therapy?”

I just shrugged. “What're you doing here?”

“We came to pick you up.” Riku said as he joined us, rolling his eyes at his friend's lack of tact. “Dad's working, and you know he doesn't like you walking around by yourself after therapy.”

“I'm twenty-fucking-five, for Chrissake.”

“Yeah, well, excuse us for not trusting you on your own.” He said with a pointed look at my arms, covered as they were by my black and red long-sleeved shirt.

“I haven't done anything in four years.” I said. They were way too fucking protective back then. Dad still wouldn't let me move out of the house.

“It's just `cause we care about you!” Demyx said, latching onto my arm. He's always been kinda clingy, especially for a guy.

“Whatever.” I grunted, stuffing my hands in my pockets and wishing I had a cigarette. They wouldn't let me keep any `bad habits' like that. Sadistic fuckers. “Where's the nearest animal shelter?”

They gave me an expression I had long since dubbed `The WTF Look.' It was the look they had always given me when they weren't quite sure if I was serious, or if they even wanted me to be.

“Zex said I should get a pet.” I said with a shrug.

“…Right.” Riku sighed. He had long since given up on figuring me out. “Demyx?”

“It's this way!” Demyx said.

“And you know this…how?” I asked.

“I volunteer there sometimes!” He replied.

“Oh.”

It amazed me how little I knew about the people I surrounded myself with. Then again, Demyx was surprisingly closed off about his life beyond us. It had taken us nearly five years to find out he was obsessed with music, and another year to convince him to play for us. It wasn't that he did it on purpose—once you knew, he wouldn't shut up about it. He just didn't like bringing it up himself. Weird kid, but that's why everyone loved him.

“C'mon!” Demyx said, dancing ahead of us excitably. We pretended not to know him when random passers-by gave us the `WTF Look.' “So, d'you want a cat or a dog? There are some other animals, but mostly we have cats and dogs.”

“Dad doesn't like dogs.” I said. “So a cat, I guess.”

“Oh, good!” Demyx said. “We just got a litter of kittens in yesterday, and they are sooo cute! But their mom was a stray, so we're going to have to put them down if they don't get adopted by the end of the week!”

“How many of them are there?”

“Only three. There was another one, but it died last night. They're really young, and we think they'd been separated from their mom for a little too long before they were found. They're kinda young to have been separated from their mom, too, but they'll survive if we can find them good homes.” He grinned. “And they're adorable, so I don't think we'll have any trouble getting people to take them! Two of them are calicos, but one of them is blonde with orange stripes! He's kind of weird, for a kitten. He doesn't like anyone at the shelter—not even me! And he won't go near his sisters for anything! Or any of the other cats, either.”

“Sounds like my kind of cat.” I snickered. I was joking, of course—despite everything, I was a pretty social person. Riku was always the icy one, especially after Sora…after that.

Riku, socialite that he was, rolled his eyes again.

“Hey, Demyx!” Someone I had never met, a cute girl with long blonde hair and big blue eyes, said as she waved at us.

“Hey, Naminé!” And Demyx was off, sweeping the girl off her feet and swinging her around as she laughed at his antics. “I've got a friend who wants to get a cat!”

“Oh, that's wonderful! We've got a very good selection right now.” She said, smiling at us as Demyx set her down. “Come on in.”

“I was thinking he could look at those kittens that got brought in last night.” Demyx said as he skipped into the building beside her.

Her face fell a little. “I don't think so, Dem. The two calicos were taken by some twin girls earlier today, and the littler one has been hissing at anyone who goes near it.”

“I want to see it.” I said.

“I don't think that's a good idea…” She said, worrying her bottom lip.

“There's no harm in just looking, right?” I asked, putting an arm around her shoulder.

“Just like there's no harm in a book.” Riku muttered with a smirk.

“I am not going to bring back a mummy by looking at a cat.” I said.

Naminé giggled.

“So lead on, doll.” I said. “Lead on.”

 

~*~ENDCHAPTERTWO~*~