Found: One Lost Boy

[sleeping_heart]

There's a new person in the Complex today, although you might not realize it at first. He's already made himself at home here, or at least he appears to have. He's laid out on the stairs, blocking them as he sleeps there. He's not homeless, he doesn't have that hobo look to him. He appears well fed and he smells sweet, like fresh flowers and newly cut grass. His blond hair is a messy bedhead style and wrapped around one wrist is a strange, green star-like charm. One shoulder bears an armor plating and the rest of his clothes appear normal, if a little big for him. Next to him is a note from the Complex.

Found: One Missing Boy
Please turn in to your local office

Care: Provide with food and shelter
Do not return to sender; do not kick out.

What a strange note. And what a strange boy.


{ooc; the newest resident of the Complex. He can't return "home" as it no longer exists. He also has no clue where he is, so have fun explaining it to him}

Comments

[sleeping_heart]

Ven gives him a curious look. How would he know that? Did he somehow know this man?

He shrugs, not wanting to elaborate. "I've been sleeping. How would you know if I aged or not, though?"

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"Sleeping, huh? What kind of sleep?"

Oh right. Ven may look the same. But Axel... he's grown up. He let his hair grow out, started styling it. Got his rad tatoos under his eyes. But he won't outright say who he is. Instead he grins.

"Not everyone has Peter Pan syndrome, kid. The rest of us have grown up in the past ten years. Don't tell me you forgot me?"

[sleeping_heart]

"The kind I never want to experience again." He replies honestly.

Ven tries to get a better look at him but he shakes his head. "I only remember one person with red hair but you're not him. He has short hair and no markings. And he followed his friend around like a puppy."

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"I did not!"

He looks offended. Even though he maybe did kind of do exactly that.

"You're memory is messed up, kid. You need to get it checked. And fixed."

[sleeping_heart]

Ven gave him a look. "Hi Lea." That was too easy.

"So, are you still following Isa's lead? And when did you change your name to something that sounds so fierce? It doesn't suit you at all." His tone is teasing and his grin is mischievous.

"And my memory's just fine, thanks. Maybe yours is the one that needs to be checked."

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"I never followed him in the first place. I was always in charge. And I happen to like my name."

He still looks offended. But also maybe a little amused.

Mostly offended though.

"Anyway, I never forget. My memory is perfect."

[sleeping_heart]

"Oh yes, perfect. Which is why you so easily mistook me for someone else, I take it?" Okay, so maybe he's still a little annoyed with Axel. In his defense, he was spooked into rolling down some stairs.

But then Ven sighs. Even if he's Axel now, at least Lea got to spend more time with his friends. That chance was stolen from him. What's worse is the not knowing what happened. "Hey, Ax." Yes, he did just give you a nickname. He moves fast like that. "Are you good at collecting information and stuff?"

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"You'd be amazed how much you look like him. Anyway, I mistook him for you when I first met him. So it's not like you need to take it personally."

Not that he called Roxas by Ven's name. But that first moment he saw him... yeah. He thought it was Ven.

"Depends. What kind?"

[sleeping_heart]

That makes him feel a little better and he relaxes. As long as it wasn't a one-way street.

"I want to find out what happened to some people. My friends…" He trails off. He's been gone ten years but his friends are still the most important thing to him. "Will you help me see if I can't find them?" He gives him a hopeful look.

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

He shrugs.

"Dunno. I don't really have a lot of free time to go looking for lost friends. I got a job that doesn't really allow much down time as it is."

And there's nothing really in it for him. He's kind of selfish that way. Most Organization members are.

"Anyway, my forte isn't finding people."

[sleeping_heart]

"Come on, please Ax? There's got to be some way you'll help me." He needs the help. He doesn't even know where to begin looking for information.

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"Look, there are probably plenty of people who can help with that kind of thing. Maybe even people who'd enjoy it. Hero types and things like that."

He rubs the back of his neck. Looks appologetic as he shrugs again.

"I'm just not right for the job. Trust me."

[sleeping_heart]

"But I don't know who else to ask for help!"

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"There's lots of people around here. Odds are someone can help you."

[sleeping_heart]

"I don't even know where 'here' is." Wow. As a guide, you suck Axel. And as a greeter. You push him down the stairs and then don't even tell him where he is. "Where is this place?"

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"I dunno. I ended up here when I was drunk. Some kind of appartment complex. Lots of people around. Any one of them would be more helpful than me. I can guarantee it."

Unless their a pervert. Or a psycho killer. But he's got enough on his plate without going on a quest to find people.

[sleeping_heart]

"You came here when you were drunk?" See that look, Axel? That look should be familiar. Saix gives you that same disapproving look all the time.

"Yes but I don't know any of them. You're the only one I know here, Lea--Axel." That name change is going to take some getting used to.

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

He knows that look. Saix is totaly allowed to give him that look because Saix puts up with him all the time. You have no idea why Saix gives him that look, Ven. You don't have to put up with him all the time.

"Yep. Totaly smashed."

He isn't ashamed.

"You don't even really know me that well. A brief meeting, ten whole years ago. I'm not the kid you met back then. I'm a stranger as much as anyone else here."

[sleeping_heart]

"You're the closest I'll ever come to my past." Ven replies quietly. "For me, that's enough, even if you are a stranger and your personality turned to sour grapes."

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"I'm not sour. Just not keen on wasting my precious time helping lost kids. I don't owe you anything so it's not like your going to make me feel guilty enough to help or anything."

You have a familiar face, Ven. And not just because he actualy does know you. You look like Roxas. It's a combination of good and bad memories that he doesn't even want to deal with right now.

[sleeping_heart]

Ven frowns. His brow furrows and he really frowns at Axel. And then, suddenly, it'll seem like he looks that much more like Roxas. Because while the first few moments that they met involved Ventus frowning, generally he was cheerful and smiling. Yet here he is and you've wiped that smile right off his face. And the look that replaces it is a haughty one.

"Kid? You're forgetting I'm as old as you are Lea. Maybe even older. I'm no kid, even if I have this body." The words are snapped out, holding a level of bitterness Ven had never even thought of carrying.

"As for guilt trips, that isn't what I was doing. If I wanted to guilt trip you, you'd know, Lea. I was merely trying to hold onto the one thing I had left. Everything was ripped away from me ten years ago. Everything. I doubt you'd know what that feels like." He turns heel and begins walking away.

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

He grabs his arm, tugs him back.

"Don't even go there. You don't know shit about my life. Don't assume your the only one with problems. Or the only one who lost something. I'm doing you a goddamn favor. Because there are people who'd love to get their hands on you."

That's not his full reasoning of course. Axel's a jerk. He's not ashamed of that fact. But like hell if he'll get Ven mixed up in the same stuff that he and Saix and Roxas have all gotten tangled in. And Xion... damn. Thats a whole other can of worms. But Ven has a keyblade and Axel knows Xemnas would love to get another keyblade weilder under his thumb.

He's not watching any more kids get screwed up by the Organization. He's just not.

"Get mad, hate me. I don't care. Just go find someone else to listen to your sob story, because I don't have the heart to give a damn."

He just can't keep his mouth shut.

[sleeping_heart]

His temper flares and he's trying to shake Axel off. "And you don't know anything about mine! I don't assume that I'm the only one with problems, you're the one doing that." He snaps angrily. His eyes flash and now he's wretch out of Axel's grip. People who'd like to get ahold of him? Oh, he knows that.

"I know. Believe me I know. After all, I'm the valuable weapon, that's all I'll ever be good for since I can never become a Keyblade Master." There's bitterness there but sadness and poignant longing. He had wanted that. He had so many dreams but both his mentors had betrayed him. How could he trust another to not try to take advantage of him? To not try to kill him?

"I don't hate you. I can't hate you. I don't even hate Master Xehanort and he treated me worse than anything you could ever do to me." But his eyes flash when Axel mentions not having the heart to care. He gets the meaning, even if Axel doesn't intend for him to fully understand. "Yeah? Then hey, guess what, you can hate me too because if it was an unversed that ripped it out, that was my fault." He had nothing to with the Heartless or with the making of any of the Nobodies but he doesn't know that. The pain, raw and very real, makes him look haunted and he grips his shirt above his heart, as if he's afraid it'll get ripped out as well. He turns, shadow hiding his face. "But don't worry, I'll take care of that again, even if it means I'll have to wait another ten years to deal with an ass like you."

[chronicbackstabdisorder]

"'I doubt you know what it feels like'!" he mocks Ventus' words back at him with a sneer. Temper like a warehouse full of firecrackers. Set it off and it's like a chain effect. Is he really fighting with a kid? Seriously?

"Yeah, sure, you're not assuming anything. Snot nosed little brat."

He settles just slightly after that. Still looking annoyed, but at least not snarking at Ven over the situation.

"Unversed haven't been around for years." he says instead, stepping back. Saix is going to give him hell if he catches wind of this. And people are stopping to watch. He's not giving anyone a show today.

"Anyway, I don't know why they hell I'm still arguing with you over this. It's all stupid."

[sleeping_heart]

"Egotistical jackass." Ventus shot back. You're acting just as bratty as he is, Axel. "'I'm doing you a goddamn favor.' Yeah right."

He relaxes a bit. "Yeah? Then that means I killed him." He doesn't sound happy about it. In fact, he sounds regretful. He hadn't wanted to kill him. He hadn't wanted things to turn out that way.

"I don't either." He turns to leave, fully believing that this time, Axel won't stop him. What else is there to say?