Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ If This Cat Could Talk... ❯ Hospital Visit ( Chapter 4 )

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 FIVE: Hospital Visit

 

“You're early today, Axel.” Aerith Gainsborough, my favorite nurse at Twilight Hospital, said as I walked into the lobby.

“I slept through my alarm, my old man called me in sick, and now I'm trying to avoid Cid's wrath.” I explained, trying not to think about the expression on Cid's face when I'd run into him on the way to the hospital.

Aerith giggled. “Alright. You know where Sora's room is.”

“Any change?” I asked, just like I had every day for the past ten years.

Her smile fell, as always. “I'm afraid not, sweetie.”

I nodded, having expected the answer but still experiencing that feeling of disappointment that never went away. I waved at her and walked to the elevator, then went up to Sora's floor (the sixth and top floor of the hospital).

“Oh! Hello, Axel.” Dr. Ansem T. Weiss, Sora's doctor, said as he exited Sora's room.

“Any change?” I asked, ignoring the fact that I had already asked Aerith the same question.

“Unfortunately, no.” Dr. Ansem said. “It is the strangest thing…none of our tests have shown any problems with him, even up here.” He tapped his head. “He is completely healed…should have woken up by now.”

I sighed and nodded acquiescently. “Yeah.”

Dr. Ansem gave me a sympathetic look and put a hand on my shoulder. “It will be alright, Axel. I am sure Sora will wake up soon.”

“You've been saying that for ten years, Doc.” I said. “If he was going to wake up, he would've done it a long time ago.”

His expression saddened all the more, and he squeezed my shoulder once before walking away.

“See you tomorrow.” I murmured, then took the last few strides to get to Sora's room.

Even though I knew he wasn't going to wake up, I was as quiet as possible as I entered his room.

“Hey, Sora.” I whispered, slipping into the seat next to his bed.

Sora, of course, said nothing from where he lay on the hospital bed. His skin was as white as the damn walls, seeming even paler against the deep mahogany tones of his hair, which they kept at shoulder length. It wasn't at all spiked or lively like it used to be, but instead lay limp and dead on the pillows, mirroring the rest of him perfectly. The only noise in the room besides our breathing was the steady beep of the machine in time with his heartbeat. I was always terrified that one day the beeping would stop—it was as much of a lifeline to me as it was to him.

“I got a pet yesterday—it's a kitten.” I pulled said kitten out of the oversized pocket of my coat and set him on the bed. “Zex thinks he'll help teach me I can take care of things, so maybe I'll start getting over what I did to you. I don't think he'll help. It is nice to have a pet, though, I guess. Pops never allowed us to have one before this.” I grinned. “But I dunno if he'll let me keep him. Nobody really likes him but me, because he has a tendency to hiss at everyone except me. I'll bet you'd have loved him though; he's really weird. Everyone calls him Cricket, but that isn't his real name. His real name is Roxas.”

I paused, watching as Roxas toddled up Sora's chest and nuzzled his chin.

“See? He likes you.” I said. “I had a dream about him last night. There was this woman's voice, and she asked him to help me. And then I asked him to help me, too, even though I don't know what he's supposed to help me with or why I asked. And he turned into a person! Like, an actual, walks-on-two-legs-and-talks-in-more-than-growls-and-stuff person! He had blonde hair with that funny cowlick thing he's got going on, and the biggest blue eyes I've seen since I damned you to that bed.”

I shook my head. “Kairi's doing okay.” I said after a moment of silence. “I'll never understand why you and Riku became friends with her, though. It's not like she's a whore or a bitch or anything, but…I dunno, she just rubs me the wrong way. She did even before the…the accident, and ever since then she's hated me. Not that I can blame her. I don't see how anyone could like me after I hurt you.” I shook my head. “I put out the sun, y'know? Just like Riku says.”

I leaned over the bed, my eyes misting. “I'm so sorry, Sora. If I had known, I…I wouldn't have said anything. Wouldn't have meddled. I just wanted to drive around some, y'know? I was young and stupid. But more than that…I really wanted you and Riku to get over your little fight and get together. Riku's loved you since forever, Sora, and I'm positive you felt the same for him. God, Sora, it's killing him for you to be like this. He still loves you, and he needs you. I'd do anything if you'd just wake up for him. He hates me for doing this to you.” I laughed bitterly as the tears began rolling down my cheeks, as they always did, and rested my crossed arms on the bed. “Hell, I hate me for doing this to you. Dr. Ansem says you're fine, Sora, why won't you wake up? Is this my punishment for hurting you? Because it isn't fair for everyone else to be punished along with me! It isn't fair at all! It was all my fault; why does Riku have to hurt, too? And everyone else…they miss you so much, Sora! We miss you!”

I buried my face in my arms, sobbing. “I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!”

An anxious meow sounded by my ear, a tiny, furry head butting up against mine. I looked up, immediately getting all but attacked by the little ball of fuzz that made up my kitten. He licked my cheeks almost frantically, alternating between doing that and rubbing his head against me, purring and mewling all the while. I laughed tearfully and scratched behind his ear, laying my head back down on the bed.

A few minutes later, Roxas' purring lulled me to sleep.

 

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“He's sorry.” The voice that had to be my cat's said as we once again appeared in the totally white room—me in the corner, him in the middle. This time, though, I could see the faint outline of another person lying immobile on the other side of the room. I wasn't crying this time, either; just sitting curled up in the corner.

“You didn't expect him to be?”

“I…I don't know.” Roxas' head dropped. “I don't know what I expected.”

“Will you help him?”

The kitten's head snapped up, and, as if in response to the anger burning in his eyes, he morphed into the blond-haired boy I had seen before.

“How am I supposed to help him? Outside of here I'm just a cat! What's a cat supposed to do to help a human, huh?”

“Will you help him?” The woman's voice asked again.

“Help me.” I said, uncurling from the fetal position I'd been in up to that point. “Please.”

The boy turned on me furiously. “I don't know how! How do I help you?” He demanded.

“Help him, Roxas.”

“But I don't know how, Goddammit!”

“Roxas, will you help him?”

“How? How do I help him?”

“Will you help?”

“How, dammit?”

“Will you?”

“HOW do I help him?”

“You aren't answering the question, Roxas. Will you help him?”

“How can I help him if no one will help me?”

“Oh, Roxas…” Somehow, I got the feeling that someone was shaking their head.

“I don't understand!”

A sigh. “We'll try again later.”

 

~*~ENDCHAPTERFIVE~*~