Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ If This Cat Could Talk... ❯ Abuse-Axel's-Ear Day ( Chapter 5 )

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 SIX: Abuse-Axel's-Ear Day

 

Unlike with the first dream, I did not have a slow, peaceful awakening after this one ended, although Roxas was still hissing at someone. And that someone was the reason for my rough awakening—he/she was twisting my ear…hard.

“Axel McKay Scáth, what in heaven's name were you thinking, bringing an animal in here?! And falling asleep, too!” Came a sharp female voice from somewhere near my pained ear.

“OW!” I hissed, leaning into the pull in an attempt to lessen the pain, but the person just kept pulling harder. “Let go!”

“What would have happened if that thing had unplugged one of these machines? Sora could have died, you little idiot!”

And then I heard the most beautiful sound in the world—Roxas' angry yowl as I looked down just in time to see him throw himself onto Tifa Lockhart, one of the less-lenient nurses and my least favorite.

Tifa screeched, releasing my ear in favor of trying to dislodge Roxas' claws from her [abnormally large] chest. Finally she was able to get a good grasp on his tiny head, pushing him hard enough to send him sprawling to the floor.

“That thing is dangerous!” She screamed, hitting the red button to call the attendants into the room.

“Cricket isn't dangerous—you were attacking me, you crazy bitch!” I yelled, scooping the now trembling Roxas into my arms and cradling him protectively to my chest.

“I attacked you?!” She shrieked, her voice so high-pitched I was afraid she would break one (maybe even all) of Sora's monitors or machines.

“He's a kitten! What do you think it looked like to him?” I demanded furiously. No one, but no one, laid a hand on my Roxas. “You hurt him!”

“It's an animal, and it shouldn't have even been in here!”

“He is my pet, and also a part of my therapy according to my psychiatrist, so back the fuck off!”

“Everyone calm down!” Dr. Ansem bellowed from the doorway as he entered the room.

We immediately stopped yelling—even Roxas, who had continued growling at her throughout our exchange.

“Would one of you please explain to me what is going on?” Dr. Ansem asked. “We have patients here, you know!”

“He brought that thing in here—”

“She fucking attacked me—”

“—Fell asleep—”

“—Could've hurt Cricket—”

“—Pulled Sora's plug—”

“—I would not have pulled Sora's plug!” I snarled, hands balling into fists in an attempt to remember Pops' rule about not hitting girls (unless they hit you first, in which case they were fair game).

“Maybe you wouldn't, but that thing might!” She said, pointing an accusing finger at Roxas.

“He was sleeping on Sora's chest!” I said. “Nowhere near any of those damn cords!”

“How would you know?” She asked. “You fell asleep!”

“And your fucking screaming probably startled him into moving!” I retorted sharply. “Did you even stop to see what he was doing before you started your damn screaming? What if you'd scared him into doing something to hurt Sora?”

“Well that wouldn't be a problem if you followed hospital policy and kept that flea-bitten feline out of here!”

“Cricket is not flea-bitten!” I said. “And I already told you he's a new addition to my therapy! How's he supposed to help if he doesn't even know what my problem is?”

“It's a cat!”

“Both of you stop!” Dr. Ansem broke in again forcefully, both of us shutting up again. He glared at us for a moment before speaking. “Now, first of all: Tifa, did you attack Axel?”

“I just grabbed his ear.” She said. “He's being melodramatic.”

“You yelled, too.” I said sulkily.

She made a face at me.

“Tifa, violence of any sort is not allowed in this hospital.” Dr. Ansem said. “I do not care how long you have known his family.” Tifa and my parents had been friends in college.

She just snorted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You have already been warned once. The next time something like this happens I am going to have to suspend you.” He said before turning to me. “Now, Axel, why did you bring that cat here?”

“His name is Cricket.” I said. “Dr. Sei suggested that I get him as part of my therapy, and I thought…” I trailed off, suddenly feeling very childish. “I mean, since my damning Sora to this place is what really started fucking me up, I thought I should bring Cricket here. I didn't even really think about the no pets thing, and if Cricket had done anything I'd have taken him away.”

“How would you know if you were sleeping?” Tifa asked, jumping a little when Roxas spat at her from my arms.

“I'm a light sleeper.” I said. “Even you know that. If something had happened while I was asleep I would have woken up, hit the button and gotten Cricket as far away from anything important as possible.” I shot her a glare that I could feel was an awkward mix of melancholy and fury. “I would never put Sora in danger again.”

She flinched, her expression suddenly contrite. “Axel, I…” She trailed off, not knowing how to continue.

“Tifa was not thinking.” Dr. Ansem said. “But neither were you, Axel. Bringing any animal here is strictly forbidden because of allergies and the like. You know you are always welcome during visiting hours, but I am afraid I am going to have to ask you to leave for now. And do not bring your cat…Cricket…back. I am sorry to have to do it, and you know I would let you bring him if I could, but I cannot endanger the health of the rest of my patients.”

I nodded. “Okay. I'm…I'm sorry.” I glanced at Sora, allowing my hand to hover over his still form for a moment before it faltered and fell at my side. Not meeting anyone's gaze, I put Roxas up on my shoulder, stuffed my hands in my pockets, and left.

 

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“So that's Sora.” I muttered as I walked down the street towards my house, keeping my voice down so that people wouldn't start staring any more than usual. “He's the sweetest, kindest, most wonderful person in the whole world—even better than Mother Teresa. I'm not even kidding. He was…is…Riku's best friend, and Riku's always been in love with him. Even when they were little kids, you could tell. And I thought…I thought Sora felt the same way about Riku, so I tried to set them up ten years ago.” I snorted. “I was young and stupid. So fucking stupid. I took him driving on fucking New Year's Eve! What kind of dumbass does that? My age was no excuse; I knew better. And I wasn't even taking him driving to try and help—it was just an excuse so I could go fucking driving!” I laughed bitterly. “Now I can hardly even look at a car without hyperventilating. Idiocy knows no bounds, huh?”

Roxas mewled softly, though I couldn't tell if he was disagreeing with me or not.

“Yeah, well.” I shook my head. “Anyhow, we got hit by some goddamn drunk—he died, the bastard—and Sora ended up there. And nothing happened to me. Nothing. Sure I had a couple of scratches and bruises, but that's it. I mean, how could I come out scot-free while Sora—Sora—ended up in that fucking bed? I wish I could take his place. It's just not fucking fair, y'know? Sora was…Sora had everything waiting for him. He had so many people who loved him—who still love him—and so much stuff he could've done with his life! He really could've gone places.” I sighed. “And look at me—I just barely scraped up the grades to graduate from high school, probably couldn't have even gotten into community college if I'd tried, and I'm a fucking mechanic—I fix cars, for Chrissake. I'm not even good at it. The only reason I have the job is because Pops is friends with the head mechanic. God-fucking-dammit I suck.”

Roxas licked my cheek soothingly, beginning to purr softly.

“There you are!” For the second time that day (and in far too close succession for my liking) my ear was nearly wrenched from my head, this time by a much rougher and filthy hand. “Sick, eh? Yer old man's gonna get it from me, that's fer sure!”

“OW!” Was all I could say, trying to decide if I should try (futilely) to dislodge myself from Cid Highwind's grasp, or wait and see if Roxas would attack him, too. “Let go, you crazy old fart!”

“Ya sure don't look sick ta me!” Cid said, letting go almost as roughly as he'd grabbed me. “And what in the hell is that growing on yer neck?”

“That's my cat!” I said, rubbing my ear huffily. “And I'm not sick—I slept through my alarm and Pops didn't want to wake me up!”

“Slept through yer alarm?” Cid repeated incredulously. “Ain't heard of you doing that before.”

“Because I haven't done it since before the accident.” I snapped.

Cid stared at me for a moment, lips pursed into as thin a line as they could with that God-awful toothpick sticking out of one side.

“I'm sorry I didn't come in, but I figured since he'd already called you I'd try not to get anyone in trouble. Plus you'd have kept me late, which would've meant not seeing Sora. That's where I was up until a few minutes ago.”

Cid still didn't say anything at first, instead reaching up and putting a hand to my forehead. “You sure yer okay?”

“I'm fine, you old codger.” I sighed, pushing his hand away. Sometimes Cid surprised me with his random bouts of gruff worrying, especially since he was Sora's uncle. “Look, do you…do you need me to come in? I can, once I drop Cricket off at home.”

“…Cricket?” Cid repeated slowly.

“The cat.” I explained, pointing at the animal in question.

“Oh…Cricket?”

“Demyx.”

Cid rolled his eyes. “Right. Well, I ain't got a use for you, so just take the day off.”

I blinked at him. Cid never let people go this easily when he caught them skiving off of work.

“But you'd better be early tomorrow, and don't expect me to go easy on you!” He added gruffly, punching the shoulder Roxas wasn't on.

“Fine.” I said, rubbing my shoulder. Why was everyone I knew so violent? “Whatever.”

He just smirked at me, then turned and walked off, presumably toward the shop.

“Weird-ass old man.”

Roxas meowed in a way that made me think he was agreeing with me, and I grinned for a moment before checking my watch.

“Demyx should be out of class by now.” I said. Demyx only had one class on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “Let's go hit him up for my memory card, shall we?”

There was another mewled agreement, which made me laugh before I turned around (Demyx's house was on the opposite side of the hospital from ours) and began walking again.

A few more hours, another ear-pinch (Demyx's mom doesn't like me much, especially when I tease her `precious baby boy'), and far too many bowls of popcorn later found me passed out on my bed, Roxas curled up on my clavicle.

And thus began the dream that would change my life.

 

~*~ENDCHAPTERSIX~*~