-Chapter 5: Hello, My Name is Alex-

-Axel-

A name tag: 'Hello, My Name is—' Alex is filled in the blank space in scratchy red penned hand writing. I glance down at the tag, making sure to remember his name; I don't want to forget it. I have to keep it memorized, you know? 'I'm Alex by the way,' memorize that Axel, memorize that.

"So what's up with you?" he asks, red eyes gazing at me wearily.

I shrug; I've been shrugging a lot lately. It's a sign of maybe, of 'I'm not sure,' I'm not so sure of anything anymore. My life used to have things like foundations, barriers that kept me from falling forward into nothing…into an everlasting gray. But they have been shattered, broken by a single bullet. Now I've fallen forward into that nothing, into that darkness…into the gray.

"Huh, you're really making a statement for how articulate you young guys are starting to get, aren't you?" Alex grins, smug.

"Well, I try."

"I've noticed."

This conversation can only go so far, and I don't think I'm in any position to carry it any farther. "Listen, man, I should probably get back to my friends over there, they're probably waiting for me."

"Yeah…they're pretty short, looks like they need someone to look after them, someone like you." The words are like a blow to the chest. They make me want to turn heel and walk away; they make me want to cry out, to laugh hysterically. Me? Looking out for Roxas and Namine? What a laugh.

"I'm not Watch Dog material…I can barely take care of myself," I say, holding back the laughter that threatens to boil into me. Maybe it has something to do with the scent of coffee in the air…coffee and Tag Body Spray, most likely radiating off Alex. Maybe the bizarre combination is making me crazy, maybe I was just born crazy, maybe—

"Huh." Alex bites his lip, thoughtfully, a metallic piercing glowing as the light refracts off of it. "You seem like it…the Guardian type. Like me. I've never been the adventurous guy…the one who runs into the forest towards the scary noises…I've never been curious George. That was always my sister. I watch out for her. If I didn't…" at this he seems to have lost words, and instead shrugs. "If I didn't, then I'm not sure what would happen. I think you were meant for this too." He glances over my shoulder, where an elderly man waits impatiently for his order. "I'll only be a minute, sir," he calls out, before quickly grabbing me by the shoulder and pulling me close. "We're sort of alike…except one of us has lost our way, I don't know what's the matter with you, what your funk is. But you have to deal. You need to get back to what you're good at. I know I don't know you. But I feel like…I feel like we were supposed to meet here. I can't explain it." He releases my shoulder, and I stumble back, his words burning me. "Think about that," he says, with a wink, as the next customer rushes at the chance to finally place an order.

I try to signal Alex that our little talk isn't over, but he's far too wrapped up in this next customer, who is giving him a quiet lecture about work ethics, to which the boy is casually ignoring.

'I don't know what your funk is…'

Damn right, you don't.

'But you have to deal.'

Who are you to tell me…?

"Axel!" Namine calls out, motioning me over to our table. I walk quickly to give her our order, which I've been holding in a knuckle-white grip.

-Sakura-

We're all wrapped up in this stone cold silence, no one's moving, and it doesn't seam like anyone's in the process of breathing. Not Sora, not Kairi, not Ri—not my boyfriend. Not even me. I'm usually the socialite in these situations, the one who breaks the ice. But now, here, all I am is frozen.

Next best ice breaker, Kairi, slowly looks up, "One of us has to talk sometime and it might as well be me." She glances around the table, possibly searching for something to continue her opening with.

"And one of us needs to shut the hell up," Sora hisses, glancing up at her, his eyes narrow and watery.

"My god, Sora, you look like you're going to cry…but then, I always have been good at getting strong reactions out of you," at this Kairi winks, every ounce of her oozing with a malicious edge.

"Stop it, you two," Riku says, eyeing them from beneath perfect lashes. I stare at him. How beautiful he is…how undeserving I must be of such a thing, of such a person.

"Stop trying to be my dad, Riku," Sora's now eyeing him with a vehement glare.

"Maybe he wouldn't have to if you two weren't acting like stupid little children having a spat," I snap, finally drawn into this conversation. The room is suddenly hot, the walls pressing it with a thousand invisible fingers.

"So the town slut has something to say now?" Kairi asks with a twisted smirk.

"This coming from you…that's almost funny, in a morbid way."

"You really ARE campaigning for Bitch of the Year aren't you?"

"Well, I thought I'd ask the defending champion for a few pointers," I smirk back at her, my face feeling just as twisted. I'm slipping back into it, into that role of the enchantress, becoming that woman who manipulated everyone oh so easily.

"Enough." Riku whispers this, but it feels like a speech from Adolph Hitler. The tone is like ice, freezing me up, but not just me, all of us. "We're leaving," he says, now, getting up, just as a waitress approaches with our drinks.

Riku marches out of the shop, Kairi and Sora following carefully behind. Riku doesn't give us a single glance, not even when the waitress stares at us all with wide eyes. He doesn't pause when Sora calls out his name, or when Kairi tells Sora to shut up.

I'm still sitting down, staring after them all. The waitress pauses to set my drink in front of me. But I don't drink it. I get up and I leave. This time the woman calls out after me, but I don't listen. I follow my "friends" out side.
This situation officially sucks.

-Alex-

Axel. Alex. It feels like that's a sign, you know. Anagramming usual means stuff. Like, John Green's always talking about it. It means something, the letters. When you scramble it up, no matter how fucked it gets, it can always lead back to it…the source. Maybe Axel is something related to my source, something to help me find out exactly what I'm running towards.

That's a whole lot of maybe.

Taking orders behind a desk for minimum wage isn't exactly helping my thought process.

Had this job forever…me, some coffee, assorted snacks, a bunch of idiot tourists and the occasional boy. But then, those ones are rare too. Usually it's some old man, or some teacher wanting to stop by so he can drink some coffee to soothe the aching wounds that his students are constantly inflicting on his tortured soul.

This is the shit that I deal with everyday. Always. Without fail. Well, no, there's fail. Big fails…buckets full of failure and the worst part is that nobody realizes it but me. But lately, something's fucked with my system. All kinds of things are happening. Some kid has grabbed the bottle of root beer that is my life and given it a good shake. Suddenly the fist full of assholes that arrive at my store aren't so bad…and the boys appear more, and become more interesting. Like Axel. Sexy, by all accounts. He's got that whole Shield thing going for him, and the moment I saw him I felt some kind of connection. Which is good, cause' lately the only connection I've been feeling is when I'm all alone, if you know what I mean.

Then rewind a bit, two weeks ago, and suddenly little sister shows up in my town, which is never a good sign. The last time she showed up she'd gotten it in with some guy…a bad, bad, bad guy way back on the Island and dragged me all the way there just to get involved. I didn't mind, cause hey, it's protecting Angel.

Time before that, she came because she needed money, I went out to my car only for us to get jumped by an idiot in a black coat demanding my money. I went to hand it over, but Angel surprised me. Suddenly she was a force of fucking nature. And I was a part of it. She flew at them, knocked them out cold, giggling like a school girl the whole way. Until one was left standing she told him "Tell Marluxia that if he's going to take on me, he needs to send something besides a couple of boys playing at men." Poor guy ran the other way, screaming the whole way. His buddies followed after they got their overall consciousness back. I told her to call the police, but she said it wouldn't do much good. "They've got rich families," she'd tell me, "The kind of rich that buys you right out of prison."

And now she's here again, said she needed a ride to a university in a couple weeks. At first I was excited, cause' hey, Angel somehow achieved some kind of graduation, even though she's been transferred to so many schools. It's hard to pay for someone's intuition when you're two or so hours away from them. Dad's dead and Mom…she's not a factor.

The excitement was pouring out; until I found out that some serious shady business was paying for it. She wouldn't tell me who, but someone wanted her to hunt someone down, a lot of someones down.

Another order, I click it in, guy leaves, looking satisfied with his mini-meal. "Next."

"Can I have a…" I don't think you care about this part. All food with no taste makes me an average-at-best-cashier. I'm done with his order and he moves.

When his head is clear I catch a glimpse of Axel, way in the corner, who's staring at me in a…way. It looks a little dangerous, but in a good way. I see a little outside the window, a girl with long black hair and bright red eyes creeps in. Her body moves in that way, that liquid form that makes you wanna talk to her. I bet there's some sexual attraction there to, but seeing as I'm both gay, and her brother, that'd be a little weird.

When you factor in all those facts, then it's not hard to figure out that the word "weird", means dysfunctional in this situation.

She smiles my way, one of those energy flick smiles that she's so good at, there and gone in an instant. She sits down, a soda in her hand and casually flicks her gaze to Axel, who is momentarily distracted by his perky blond(e) friends.

That stare…it's all about the look…those predator eyes. She knows what she's looking for and she's found it. I was wrong, me and Axel aren't necessarily something. Not in this case, not now. It's Angel. She's the one whose got this connection.

Somehow, someway, Axel and Angel are part of it, this twisted web we're always weaving.

A/N I am so sorry for the wait, originally this chapter was a whole lot longer. But I decided to chop down my general idea because…well, it just wasn't working. It stalled me for so damn long, that part where Sakura's POV kicks in. So I steered it in a new direction. Hopefully this works.

Alex is gay. This was a decision I made spur of the moment for a plot thread that, although predictable, could lead to some hilarious situations, and ultimately, a pairing that would make everything a bit more, you know, diverse.

Sorry for the wait, my life's been kicked into high gear lately, and I'm struggling to get a foot hold under all these changes.

Next time: Chapter 6 "Pieces" kicks off with Angel and Axel being formally introduced, as well as some other stuff going down.