Learning to Fall

by Kanika Meskhenet

AU. Thanks to Sora's impeccable driving he the the others crash land in our world. However things aren't always as simple as they seem when the Keyblade master is involved. The heartless show up soon after and take over. RxOC, SxOC, AkuRoku, MxOc, ZxOC

1. Chapter 1

This is a collaborative story written by RemindsMeOfAWestsideStory, MysticalManAsh, myself, and our friend Katie. None of us own Kingdom Hearts or Disney, they belong to their respective owners.

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Learning To Fall

The weekend had gone by too fast, the group knew Katie's parents wouldn't be home for days, but regardless, having the old gang together for one last summer before they all headed off to college was nice. Between, staying up all night, eating mashed potatoes, playing with M&Ms, the group had done nothing more then watch TV. An alien TV show had left everyone on edge, making them feel the need to wear bowls on their heads.

"This is silly!" Katie urged, trying to get her friends to remove her parents' cooking utensils from their heads. Taryn closed her DS and looked over the back of the chair, a colander swinging around as she spoke,

"NO! The aliens are coming for us!" She said, peering around suspiciously.

"Ashley wants an anal probe!" Alex announced to everyone.

"Hey! ...Yeah. I do." She admitted, everyone staring.

"I'm not gonna lie to you guys." She said, looking back at her own DS. The group was occupying themselves with playing Kingdom Hearts. Alex had the second game in the series up on the TV, Taryn and Ashley both padded away on their DSs, helping Roxas try to regain his memory. Katie sighed, defeated, and she looked at the TV as a man with large red hair screamed,

"I'M SO FLATTERED!" And all the females, minus herself, giggled giddily. All motion stopped as there was a loud crash outside, and the power flicked off.

A loud high pitched shriek followed shortly after the power cut off, it was a well-known fact among their group that Taryn was absolutely terrified of the dark; they could hear her ragged breathing as she desperately tried to keep herself from hyperventilating.

"Oh God! The aliens are here!" Alex jumped, turning to Katie, or at least she thought it was her blonde haired friend, though in fact it had been the metal arm of the futon.

Katie, always the voice of reason and logic, let out a long drawn out sigh at her dramatic friends, "Guys calm down, it's just a little power outage." And promptly crawled down the stairs to grab a couple flashlights from the kitchen drawers before coming back up the stairs.

"Oh Saïx just upped my rank!" Ashley exclaimed proudly, not at all bothered by the darkness of the house as she continued to play her DS.
Just as Katie handed out the flashlights to her friends the sound of glass shattering from downstairs was heard echoing through the silent and darkened house. Everyone froze, flashlights in hand, sending each other horrified grimaces.

Something out the window caught Taryn's eye and she moved forward to get a better look, all color draining from her already pale face.

"Guys…how come all the other houses still have power? This is really sketchy…" She bit her lip, nervously playing with her lip-ring.

"It's probably the cats that made all that noise downstairs…" Katie tried to reason, but found that she couldn't explain the lack of power throughout the house, "I think we're all just over reacting, we've all got flash-lights so let's go down and investigate."

Taryn and Alex exchanged glances, both shaking their heads in unison while Ash shrugged and turned off her DS to follow after Katie.

"Come on you two, stop being cowards!" She groaned, latching on to Alex's sleeve, who in turn grabbed on to Taryn's. If she was being forced to go down there then so was Taryn.

As everybody got to the doorway, they all froze, dismissing any realist attitudes any of them may have had. Being the most familiar with the area, Katie took a step outside and began to look around. She was followed by Ashley who gasped and stated obviously,

"Hey Karls, that gaping crater hasn't always been in your back yard!"

"What?!" Alex shrieked. Taryn whimpered and hid behind her.

Katie just shook her head and neared the wreckage with Ashley who had long ago taken off her "defense helmet", but was still armed with a rubber spatula which was tucked in her belt. She wasn't afraid to use it if she had to. Katie remained quiet, and Ashley again, exclaimed with a bluntness to her tone,

"Well damn!"

What they saw was what appeared to be a rocket, several feet in the ground of Katie's own back yard. It was honestly hard to tell because of the darkness, the rubble, and the fact that nobody here had perfect vision. Not even Katie who had already taken out her contacts for the night. Ashley stepped closer and squinted. When she was able to make out the vivid red and yellow colors of the craft, she turned around and said more seriously,

"Um, guys. I think you might want to see this."

She was always more serious when her sanity was on the line. She had to know if she was the only one seeing this or not.

Alex moved forward, and laughed nervously,

"That looks like the gummi ship from Kingdom Hearts. This is a weird dream…" She said, shifting her weight.

"That we're ALL having?!" Taryn cried, looking towards the dark. They looked at each other and pushed Alex forward,

"You're Prongs, you go investigate." She looked back at them flatly and she pulled the ladle from her pocket, holding it in front of her. She walked forward, when the door to the thing opened. She screamed, and fell backwards, causing whoever came out of the ship to scream in a more masculine tone and, and trip over the door, landing face first on top of her on the ground.

"PLEASE DON'T HURT ME!" She screamed, trying to cover her face, but she hit spiky hair.

"I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me!" Came a voice she knew very well.

"S-S-Sora?!" She gasped. Low and behold, the boy laying a top her was, in fact, an exact copy of the video games. She looked as someone pulled him up with a flat expression,

"Good job landing the ship." Said a silver haired, well muscled boy. The next thing she knew, Taryn was off the porch, and running towards the other.

"RIKUUUUUUUUUUUU!" She screamed, sounding more like a battle cry then a sound of affection. Before he knew what hit him, he was on his back. All eyes went to Ash and Katie as a large portal opened before them, and out stepped a pink haired man, who was also soon on his back, struggling for freedom. No sooner was he there, that there was YET ANOTHER portal and out stepped a red head and a little blond, Katie, calmly as she could, cocked her head to the side, and looked at the red head.

"I'm so flattered." She mumbled, staring at him. He raised an eyebrow, and he looked at the scene before him,

"What the hell happened here?"

Everyone seemed to be wondering the exact same thing, not a word was uttered in answer to the question posed. No one knew exactly what to say in this situation, it was all too surreal.

"What the hell? Get off me, woman!" Came the poisonous voice of the feathery pink haired man as he tried to pry the girl off of him, but to no avail. Ashley mumbled something unintelligible against the warm leather of his cloak, but it had sounded a lot like 'no!'

The spiky haired keyblade master tilted his head to the side in confusion, blinking stupidly at Alex who had a goofy grin tugging at the corners of her lips. She couldn't believe it! Sora was actually here, he was real!

"How...." He shook his head, still giving her his undivided attention, "how did you know my name? Have we met before?" If they had met then he unfortunately didn't remember her, he racked his brain for any memories that included this tiny brunette...but none came to mind.

"Nope, but my name is Alex!" She chirped.

The silver haired boy stared down at the vertically challenged girl, his turquoise eyes narrowing in bewilderment at the way she was affectionately clinging to him as if she knew him!

"I'm sorry...er..." He started, glancing around at the group for help.

Katie rolled her eyes, "Padfoot let the poor boy go, you too Wormtail."

"No!" Came the chorused voices of Taryn and Ashley who both clung to the boys even tighter.

"Eh, can't say that I didn't try." The blonde haired girl shrugged before addressing the group as a whole, "Alright, so mind telling me why there's a gaping hole in the middle of my backyard? You guys better clean this up, my parents are gonna be home in a few days and if they see this they're gonna flip!"

The tall red haired man laughed, "Wow, you idiots really did a number to her yard, didn't you? Oh, by the way, the name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

From her position latched around Riku's waist Taryn let out a small squeal at hearing the pyromaniac's famous catch phrase.

Being one of the few that were free to look around, Alex noticed that the smaller blonde who had emerged with Axel had not spoken once. In fact, it almost looked as though he were hiding behind the taller man, which gave them the idea that Axel was the only one around that the boy was comfortable with. Alex all at once came at Axel, much too quickly, startling the boy. She shrieked,

"Are you two lovers?!"

Axel let out a loud hardy laugh that made everybody squeal or giggle at least a little bit.

"This is Roxas. I like to think of him as my little zombie. I know what he's thinking at all times," Axel pointed out.

"How cute!" All of the girls, with the exception of Katie, fawned.

Everyone turned when they heard a clatter from the hole in the ground again. There was some shrill and unintelligent squabbling about leaving the controls to an idiot, and then another pair of strangers crawled out of the mess. Well, everyone thought they were strangers... but even Katie recognized them. She was so beside herself by now that her balance had taken a back seat to shock and fell backwards onto the ground and with a crack in her voice, she screeched,

"Donald and Goofy too?!"

Donald took some time to straighten some ruffled feathers, and not even taking time to look around at his new surroundings or the girls, he marched right over to Sora and started mouthing off about how this was his fault.

While this was going on, there was something off in the distance that had gotten Roxas' attention, so he tugged on Axel's sleeve and pointed to the roof of Katie's house.

"Hey look, there's something on the roof over there, guys," Axel translated casually. Everybody looked to see what it was, but all they could make out of it was a shadow, making them all even more nervous than they all had been that night, much to the expense of Riku and Marluxia who were only squeezed tighter. There was a frustrated shout, and the shadow had fallen off the roof with a thud. Everybody ran to its side with the theory that there's no way it could get any worse.

"Hey guys, it's Zexion! Katie, Zexion just fell off of your roof!" Alex shouted to Katie who was behind her.

"Who?" Katie asked, exasperated. She had already had enough!

"Get away from me, fools!" He shouted, getting back up on his feet.

"Oh boy! Now it's a party!" Taryn said, excited, "I know! I need my camera! Oh my God, this is so great!" And with that, Taryn bolted back in to the house, but it didn't take long until everyone heard a crash and a thud from inside.

Everyone entered the house warily, looking for Taryn, who had gone through the kitchen, and seemed hadn't been able to stop on her way towards the hallways leading to the rec room stairs. She laid on her back, and everyone simply stared for a moment, until Sora broke the silence,

"Is she dead?" He asked, looking around for someone to answer him. Riku stepped forward, and placed his index and middle finger on her neck. He rolled his eyes and shook his head,

"No, she just…knocked herself out." He picked her up, and Katie told him how to find the guest room. At this point they all decided to break for the night…and try to get some sleep before the noises from the house could wake the neighbors and cause more trouble, the last thing Katie needed was a crater in the back yard and a visit from the police.

"DIBS ON SORA, AXEL AND ROXAS!" Alex announced loudly. Everyone winced at the loudness of her voice but no one objected. They followed her to the rec room, and left the others standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"I'll take Marly! We can sleep in your parent's room! Oh my God it's like playing house! Babies!" Ash screamed, grabbing his arm and taking off up the stairs on the other side of the house. Katie blinked, and didn't really know what to say.

"I guess you guys can take the couches…or some come with me, I guess it doesn't matter." Zexion said nothing, but he followed her up the stairs, while Donald and Goofy took the couches in the den. Boy, they were all in for an exciting night.

As everyone went their separate ways with the Kingdom Hearts boys no one even thought to introduce themselves, it had completely slipped from their thoughts.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Riku carried the unconscious girl bridal style up the stairs to the guest bedroom, following the directions that the blonde had previously explained to him. He almost slipped on the slick wooden steps but caught himself, regaining balance rather quickly before making it up to the second floor of the house. The door was partially open so he took his leg and kicked it open all the way before entering, not even bothering to search for the light switch. She was out cold anyway (and from what he could tell the power seemed to be out anyway, so flicking the switch really wouldn't have made a difference anyhow) and wouldn't know the difference.

He gently laid her down on the bed, debating whether or not he should leave her on top of the covers or if he should tuck her in for good measure. Shaking his head he stepped closer to the bed, lifting her just enough so that he could pull the covers out from underneath her and help her get underneath. Riku ran a hand through his mess of shaggy silver locks, slipping off her shoes to reveal two mismatched socks; one black and grey striped one and the other a bright lime-green one. He couldn't help but to arch an eyebrow at her apparent stylish fashion sense, despite himself he felt his lips twitching at the corners. She may not have made the best first impression, but she sure was interesting.

The 19 year old boy pulled the covers up and over her before turning around to leave through the open door. He had taken not even 2 steps away from the bed when he felt a hand grasp at his wrist, Riku glanced over his shoulder to see the short brunette sitting up in the bed, staring at him with the most pathetic expression he had ever seen. She looked scared.

"Don't leave…please…?" She whimpered, tightening her grip around his wrist while staring down at the sheets scattered around her, bunching her other fist in to the fabric.

"I thought you were sleeping," He mused, "I should probably check on Sora, make sure he's not annoying everyone with his idiocy."

Taryn bit her lip, "I hit that wall pretty hard, I could have a concussion and pass out again as soon as you leave and no one would know that I was dead until you found my body in the morning! And then everyone would know that I was dead because you didn't stay with me for the night and instead opted to make fun of Sora. Then you'd have to live with the fact that you indirectly killed an innocent girl, though I wouldn't make it easy on you either, because I'd come back as a ghost and haunt you until your last day as well. There'd be no end my haunting, not even in death because you'd never get rid of me, ever!"

He stared at her for a minute.

Two minutes.

Three minutes. It was the longest silence she had ever endured, it felt like it lasted for an eternity to Taryn!

Before breaking out in to a wide grin and laughing, "You really are overdramatic, aren't you?"

Taryn wasn't sure whether to take offense to that comment or to view it as a compliment.

"Alright, I'll stay, I'm sure the others can keep an eye on Sora, make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid." He grinned, feeling her grip loosen before her hand dropped back to her lap.

"Thanks Riku…"

He flopped down on of the bed next to her, laying atop the covers with his arms folded behind his head casually, peering over at her with his dazzling turquoise eyes.

"So, what's your story? How do you know my name and I don't know yours?"

She ran a nervous hand through her choppy golden-brown hair, stopping at the back of her neck where she rested her hand there, glancing up at him through her side-swept bangs. Taryn wasn't sure what exactly she should tell him, how could she possibly answer that question so that she didn't have to tell him the truth but make whatever she was to say sound believable?

"You just…look like a Riku." She paused, "And my name is Taryn, by the way."

He stared blankly at her, blinking a few times, "You really expect me to buy that?"

She laughed sheepishly, "I guess not. Er…where do I start…?"

It took her less time to explain to him about the game and how she and her friends knew who he and his friends were than she had originally expected. He took it rather well, giving her his undivided attention as she spoke.

"—and that's the basic plot of Kingdom Hearts 1, 2, Chain of Memories, and 358/2 Days…any questions?"

"Well, considering the fact that what you've just told me is a completely accurate depiction of all of our lives I should say that no questions really need to be asked aside from the one; how the hell did anyone find out about us to be able to make not one but many games about our lives?" He tilted his head, repositioning himself sideways so that he was facing her.

A light tinge of pink dusted over her cheeks when she noticed him staring at her, Taryn nervously fidgeted with her lip-ring out of habit. He was still staring! It was unwavering, making her feel anxious and giddy at the same time.

"I..um…" She wasn't usually at a loss for words like she was now, but he made her feel absolutely flustered. He was devastatingly handsome and he was lying right next to her in the bed! She was tempted to jump his bones, but was way too shy about herself to actually follow through with it.

Riku, noticing how uneasy she looked, leaned towards her and smirked deviously, "Do I make you uncomfortable?"

She jumped at the sudden invasion of space, subconsciously backing away from him, "No, I---ahh!"

Taryn let out a startled cry as she fell backwards off the bed, the silver haired boy reached forward and latched on to her arm, only to be pulled down with her. They landed with a –thud—on the floor in a tangled mess of sheets and legs.

Riku's arms were on either side of Taryn's shoulders, holding his upper body up and keeping himself from completely crushing her underneath his weight. If someone had walked in at that precise moment it wouldn't have looked good for the two of them as their position was a rather compromising one. Taryn stared up at him with wide eyes, of course something like this would happen to her; she had the worst of luck. Not saying that this was necessarily a bad thing, no, she quite enjoyed the position she was in with Riku, but…gorgeous guys like him made her feel way too self-conscious about herself, it was ridiculous.

The keyblade wielder stared down at her, his gaze lingering on her soft pale lips, wondering what it'd be like to kiss someone with a lip-ring. He'd kissed plenty of girls in his lifetime, but never any with piercings, this would certainly be a new experience for him, and he was quite sure that it'd be an enjoyable one at that. He made up his mind, leaning down to her level, her eyes half-lidded and waiting for him to close the distance between them. He was a hairs length away from her lips when they heard a loud obnoxious squeaking from the other room, followed by what sounded suspiciously like the head-board of someone's bed banging against the wall.

"What was that?" Riku's head snapped up in the direction of the still opened door.

Taryn blanched as realization hit her, "That would be…Ash and Marluxia…"

Whatever intimacy they had been about to share was quickly killed by the two in the other room down the hall, making both Riku and Taryn feel awfully awkward. The noises increased, becoming louder and louder and more frequent, Riku rolled off of her and skillfully untangled himself from the sheets and her legs, stumbling over to the door and slamming it closed. That did little to muffle the action taking place in Katie's parents' room.

Taryn kicked at the sheets around her legs, only succeeding in tangling herself up even more. Riku leaned up against the door, arms crossed and an amused smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Having trouble there?"

Cocky bastard.

She bit her lip, her eyes roaming over the sheets and then over himself. Seeing her look so helpless, so…innocent made something stir within him, he just wanted to hold her. She was just too damn cute. Riku strode forwards, kneeling beside her and tugging at the sheets which effortlessly came away from her legs, he held the fabric in his hand with an arrogant grin directed towards her.

"Thanks…" She held out her hand to him expectantly, to which Riku promptly grabbed on to to help her to her feet. He had pulled her a little too aggressively, causing her to be flung in to his chest, they stayed like that for a moment; his arms wrapped loosely around her waist with her hands pressed gently against his shirt, she could feel just how toned his chest was through the thin fabric.

The noises from the other room subsided for a moment before picking back up, causing Taryn to blush profusely at the awkwardness of the situation.

Riku scrunched up his nose. "Is your friend always like this? I can't imagine anyone who'd want to fuck such an effeminate asshole like Marluxia."

She stifled a giggle, completely agreeing with him, "He's such a mega-fruit, but she finds him attractive, just like Alex is attracted to Sora. We've all got different tastes in guys."

"So one friend is attracted to the fruity flower guy and the other has the hots for the doofy idiot…what about you? What type of guy are you in to?" He leaned closer to her, bringing his face closer to hers so that his forehead was resting against hers, staring fixatedly in to her hazel eyes.

She hadn't been anticipating that question.

Taryn stared back in to his turquoise eyes defiantly before losing all courage and glancing away, she had always had issues with keeping eye contact with people, mostly with guys but it also happened with her girl friends as well. She had been told that it was because of her uncertainty in herself and with fact that her self confidence was barely even existent.

He was toying with her, of course he could tell that she was attracted to him, Riku was just being his cocky self with teasing her like that.

"The arrogant badass." She answered playfully.

Riku let out a bark of laughter, "I thought so. Now that that's out in the open, what say you to getting to know each other a bit more? You seem to know everything about me and my friends, but I don't know anything about you."

He steered her back over towards the bed where they both plopped down next to each other, turned on their sides so that they could see the other better.

"What do you want to know?" She asked him curiously.

"What's your favorite color?"

Taryn laughed, "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Just answer the question." He grinned.

She thought about it for a moment, "Well, I have a couple; blue, silver, lime green, purple and pink."

"Alright, what's your favorite season?"

"Winter and fall." She answered without hesitation.

"Really? Why?" Riku arched an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yeah, I love snow and cold weather. We don't get much of it down here in South Carolina…"

He nodded, "Fair enough. Hmm…what're you scared of?"

"Don't laugh at me, kay?" She paused, watching him make an 'x' over his heart as a promise, "Alright, well…zombies and volcanoes, oh! And the dark, I'm absolutely terrified of being alone in the dark."

"Those are rather silly, Taryn, with the exception of the darkness…is there anything else you're afraid of?"

Her tongue shot out at him indignantly for making fun of her fears. Her hazel eyes immediately saddened and he noticed her somber change. There was something else, something she didn't really like to talk about because she feared that if she did then it'd become a reality and come true.

"What is it…?" He moved closer to her, concerned.

"I…I'm scared of losing my friends." She mumbled quietly, "I'm afraid that after I move to New York they won't…they'll just forget all about me and all the amazing memories we've had together and then I'll just be…alone."

Riku frowned, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her towards him in a reassuring embrace, resting his head on top of her head which was snuggled in to the crook of his neck.

"That won't happen, trust me, your friends will always be there for you." The silver-haired boy told her confidently.

She wasn't so sure.

"How do you know?"

He chuckled, "Are you seriously asking me that question? You know all about what happened the first time I was tempted in to the darkness, being pulled away from my friends by the jealousy inside of me. After everything that had happened, all that I had done, after being worlds apart…Sora and Kairi never lost hope. They still believed in me after all I had done."

He had a point there, he and Sora and Kairi were still the best of friends, even after everything they had gone through.

"So that's how I know that your friends will never forget about you, you may be miles away, but you'll always be in their hearts and them in yours." He felt her relax in to him and knew that she was probably exhausted from the day's events.

"Thanks…Riku." She whispered tiredly, he could feel her warm breath on his skin, sending a shiver up his spine.

"Good night, Taryn." He mumbled in to her hair, taking in the flowery scent of whatever shampoo that she had used.

"Mm, night Riku."

That's how they slept, her practically on his lap cuddling in to his chest, while his back was up against the headboard of the bed, arms wrapped securely around her waist.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ash tugged the struggling Nobody up the stairs.

"Unhand me!" He cried, getting no response. She tugged him into the room at the top of the stairs, and slammed the door. She jerked his weapon from him, and tossed it into a wall with a loud clatter.

"Cloths, off with them." She said, heading towards a closet. She grabbed some men's ties belonging to Katie's father, and she threw them on the bed. She grabbed the zipper on his jacket, and yanked it off, exposing his pale chest to her. She licked her lips, and she pushed his guarded form onto the bed, and he landed with a bounce. She grabbed one of the ties and bound his arm, then grabbed the other and bound the others to the bedposts. She smiled as he struggled, but couldn't free himself. All those years in ROTC had taught her a few things, and knots were one of them.

"What are you doing!?" He cried, almost sounding…scared. He could feel the leather pants he wore gradually getting tighter at the dominance of this female, but he didn't even know her name.

"Before we do this…at least tell me who you are and what you are to me!" He demanded, struggling less and less. She spoke,

"My name is Ashley. You are my favorite character from a video game series that's popular here." She said nothing else, but that was fair enough, it's what he wanted to know. He watched her reach for her shirt, and tugged it over her head, tossing it to the floor. He smiled as his eyes flitted over her blue leopard print lacy bra and he looked back up at her face, he had to admit, she was hot. Long legs, big boobs, more than he expected when she removed her shirt. He struggled a bit more, and she smiled wider. She took her pants off, and dropped the cloths to the floor in a heap. She moved towards the bed, and she began to tug at his pants, exposing naked thighs. She leaned forward and she took the tip of him in her mouth, making him cry out, and jut his hips forward in a thrust. She swirled her tongue around him, and moved lower on him. He thrashed at his restraints, sending the bed clattering into the wall loudly. She pulled off him after a few more moments, and he seemed disappointed. She tugged his pants off the rest of the way, and she climbed on the bed further.

"Sit up." She told him, helping him get up the rest of the way. He leaned in a sitting position against the headboard as she began taking her bra off. He groaned, and he fought harder, the bed clanging harder against the wall then times past. They looked up as they hard a banging from the other side and Ashley rolled her eyes, ignoring her friend in the rec room.

Marluxia didn't know anything about these feelings. He'd felt lust before…or so he thought, maybe lust of some kind, but it was nothing close to this. This world was strange, here, he almost felt…. human. Vulnerable and pathetic. He zoned out while he was sitting there, staring and he then came back to reality, screaming as something engulfed him so completely he could do nothing else.

"Dear God!" He cried, arching off the headboard as the girl he barely knew rode him. She knew what she was doing, he would give her that, and he wanted to touch her, so he broke the restraints, sending shards of tie all over the bed. He grabbed her and flipped them, his long legs kicking the headboard yet again. The sound was louder than before, and the clattering continued. They both looked up with straining faces as a door slammed across the hallway, and they shrugged. He grabbed her hips, and he groaned when she shifted herself against him. He moved his hands up her body, and he gripped her chest, fondling her screaming form as he continued to thrust into her.

He knew neither of them could last much longer, and he felt her clench around him, and he leaned down, taking her neck in his mouth, biting down harshly, helping her along. She screamed even louder, wrapping her legs around him, and she spasmed, clenching tighter, and taking him with her this time. He grunted, and he bit hard enough to draw blood. He licked it off her neck as they both began to calm down, crawling up towards the head of the bed, panting. She fell on him, and was sleeping. He looked down at her, the large bruise on her neck, and he smiled, despite the awkwardness,

"Strange girl." He said, actually feeling tired and the need to sleep, which he wasn't used to.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Katie led the way upstairs, and went to retrieve a sleeping bag from the closest. She left the sleeping bag next to the door and she went to go get ready for bed. As she left, Zexion began to look around her room. He looked at picture, recognizing some of the girls he'd seen earlier, but not everyone. He looked into her desk drawers. He furrowed his brow as he found a giant penny, and he picked it up.

"This is huge…" He mumbled to himself, flipping it around in his hands. He placed it down, and he moved back around her room. He sat himself on her bed, and he laid back. How'd he end up here anyhow? He sighed, closed his eyes for a moment. He felt fatigue for the first time in…he didn't know how long, and he didn't like it one bit. He slowly opened his eyes and came face to face with a pair of large eyes above him. He furrowed his brow and he reached up, grabbing the large egg shaped pillow with eyes. He sat up and he held it up, spinning it around in his hands. Katie came back to see him playing with it.

"Do you like boobahs?" She asked. He looked up, his eyes imploring at her. She grinned,

"That thing is a boobah. Creepy, huh?" She said, looking at the sleeping bag.

"Who wants it?" She asked. They quietly stared at each other, neither saying anything. Katie shrugged, and went to climb into bed, figuring he would get the hint. He didn't. He just sat there. As she climbed into bed, he stood finally. He began to remove his jacket, and he heard screaming. He froze, and went to close the door. He undid his belt, and took off his boots. As his pale chest was exposed to her, Katie looked away, rolling onto her side. She waited to hear the noise of a sleeping bag…but she never did. She did however feel him climb into bed with her. She rolled over,

"What're you doing?"

"Going to sleep….what did you say your name was?" He asked suddenly, looking at her. They were in the same bed and hadn't met yet.

"Katie."

"Zexion."

"Pleasure to meet you?" He didn't say anything, he just closed his eyes. She rolled back over, and she jumped as she felt a hand on her back.

How was it that she was stuck with the quiet, socially awkward guy? Really, how fair was that? She didn't even know a thing about Kingdom Hearts and now…

Katie sighed, closing her eyes like he had and attempting to lull herself to sleep despite the fact that she felt undeniably uncomfortable with this strange boy sharing the bed with her. Not to mention she could hear suspicious noises coming from her parents' bedroom…she decided that she didn't even want to know what was going on behind that door.

"I smell the mixing of bodily fluids." Zexion murmured.

"Er…if you're implying that I smell, I'm sorry, I showered a few hours ago so I really shouldn't---"

"…" He turned to face her, "You smell absolutely fine, like cocoa butter."

She stared at him awkwardly, "Er…thanks?"

"I smell sex."

A small squeak escaped her parted lips, she obviously hadn't been expecting him to say something like that to her, it was just…odd! Everything about this boy was strange, granted, Katie did find him very attractive in an emo-bookworm kind of way, but the things that had come out of his mouth were just…they were peculiar.

"I'm very flattered and all Zexion, but I'm just not ready for that, I'm saving myself for marriage." She declared with a frown.

Zexion was quiet for a few minutes, his expression unreadable and blank, "That's really too bad, Katie."

They lapsed in to another awkward silence which Katie used to try and get to sleep; the sooner she was asleep the sooner she could drift away from such an uncomfortable situation as this. Zexion seemed oblivious to her discontentment and instead closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

She was glad for that, it gave her a little more time to think about the day's events, sorting through them as best as she possibly could. Logically thinking none of this was even possible! How had fictional characters such as the Kingdom Hearts boys even made it to reality, let alone crash landing in her back yard? Which brought up another question; how the hell was she going to get that hole filled in? Her parents would be home in a few days and there was a freakin' ROCKET SHIP –gummi ship, or whatever Ash and Alex had called it—in her backyard in the center of a giant crater! How was she to explain that? It would take a truck load of soil to fill it in at least, not to mention it'd look totally obvious that something had happened there with a fresh pile of dirt in the middle of the backyard and all…

A little while later Zexion began to mumble in his sleep, okay, so maybe 'mumbling' was an understatement, he was actually being rather loud, speaking incoherent thoughts and ramblings. Katie groaned, of course the quiet boy would be an avid sleep talker! She reached her hand over to grab his hand and squeezed it gently to get his attention, only it felt a little…it didn't feel like a hand. Katie glanced over to see what exactly it was that she was grabbing. Her face heated up, turning as red as a cherry as she flipped back over on her side, facing away from him and pretending to sleep as he woke up. She definitely hadn't touched his hand, she knew what she had touched and she felt awfully dirty about it too! Hopefully he wouldn't realize that she had inadvertently groped his erect penis in his sleep and think that it was only a dream.

It took her a while to get to sleep, but once she had she was out like a light.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Then that left Alex alone with none other than Sora, Axel and Roxas, and she just couldn't contain herself when she found herself in this situation. She busted into a fit of giggles and ran back towards the stairs calling out,

"There's only one thing left to do! Let's play Kingdom Hearts! Last one to the rec room is a rotten egg!"

Utterly bewildered, the stunned trio stared at her without moving wondering what in the world she was talking about. She stopped stomping up the stairs to lean over the railing at them and continued,

"Well come on!"

"Oh boy! It's game time!" Sora played along in all seriousness, flying up the stairs, leaving the still stunned Axel and Roxas at the bottom of the stairs. They couldn't figure if it were in their best interest to stay, or to follow. So they shrugged and decided to follow; for the sake of company.

Upstairs, Alex had already unplugged Katie's Nintendo Gamecube and replaced it with her own Play Station 2 that she had conveniently brought from home, to catch up in Kingdom Hearts, of course. She handed the controller to Sora who sat cross legged on the floor, much too close to the television while she and Axel took their seats on one of the couches. Roxas sat on his own in the arm chair, claiming his own personal space. Sora didn't know right away that he was playing the role of himself, all he gathered was,

"Wow! What a cool looking kid! Who's that?"

"That's you, silly!" Alex said with a laugh that followed, "This is the video game you come from! I play it all the time."

Sora had zoned out again, becoming a button-pushing zombie with his eyes glued to the screen. With the exception of the video game music and effects, it became quiet for a moment, probably because the Nobodies that we're currently playing a video game were trying to grasp what they had just heard, then Roxas chuckled, pointing at Sora,

"He's totally playing with himself!"

At this, Axel and Alex burst into laughter, much louder than Roxas had, and Sora had yet to pay them any attention since the first time he had sat down, other than occasionally yelping and asking Alex for her help to defeat the latest Heartless, something even she at times needed help with.

"No, Sora, don't go that way! Eek! You have to drop that on them first! ...No, not that!" As she rambled senseless directions only confusing him further, Alex felt a sudden sensation of falling and screeched when the futon she and Axel had been sitting on hit the floor.

"What the hell?!" She shrieked, still shocked. She looked over to see Axel leaning over the side of it. He decided to play with the bolts on its sides, and the whole thing had come apart.

"Haha, whoops," he just laughed it off.

"Oh, Axel. You break everything you touch," Roxas shook his head. At this, Axel took up a dangerous amount of the personal space Roxas had already claimed and declared,

"That's not what you said to me the other night."

This created a very uncomfortable Roxas and a very excited Alex, and in the midst of her squealing, she picked up on some noise of a different accord from the other room, which succeeded at making everyone fall quiet and uncomfortable. Alex took the initiative and began to pound on the wall and shouting as if it were routine,

"Shut the hell up, you nasty whore!"

Alex then turned back around with a giggle,

"Sorry about that!"

She was no more than blinked at by Axel and Roxas, but then she spotted Sora, still on the floor trying to suppress a large yawn and watched him curl up on the floor. Between crashing into a new world and saving a virtual one, he was exhausted. Alex was quick to grab one of the larger fluffier blankets and lay it on top of the drifting Sora, and she didn't hesitate to dive under the same one herself. She snuggled closer to him with a smile and whispered to him

"You get your rest, Sora."

He muttered something else, and with that, had fallen asleep.

Taking advantage of the situation, Axel decided to invite himself into Roxas' space once more, who squirmed,

"What?" The much smaller blonde questioned, seeming to shrink.

He didn't get a response, but he was instead picked up and thrown over Axel's shoulder, but only for a short time before he was dropped onto the other couch (the one that wasn't broken) next to the lamp shaped as a palm tree. What a strange light fixture.

"What are you doing?!" He demanded this time. Axel opened his mouth to speak, but Alex promptly shot up from off the floor, pointed at the pair, and said,

"No sex!", then doubled back to the floor and drifted back to sleep by the Keybearer.

Axel sighed and took the other blanket from the arm on the couch, a soft one that was red with a print of panda bears, and wrapped Roxas up underneath it.

"Nothing... just tucking you in. Good night, Roxas," he said, adding a kiss to the tired blonde's forehead.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Meanwhile, in the family room, Goofy and Donald were finding it hard to agree on what to do. Donald, cranky as always, just wanted to go to sleep. Goofy, however, was in a jolly mood and wanted to peruse the collection of DVDs located next to the TV so that he could decide which one to watch. Normally, the collection would have been smaller, but with Katie home, all her DVDs were now jumbled in piles next to her parents' neatly ordered DVD and CD collection. Goofy searched and searched through the piles while Donald complained bitterly about the light still being on. After a moment, Donald got up, stomped over to the light switch, and flipped it off. A moment later, Goofy flipped it back on, after realizing that "Gawrsh! I can't see in the dark!" Donald stomped over to it again and flipped it back off. Goofy said, "Oh, that's okay! I think I've found one. I dunno what it is but I'll just put it in!" There was a crash and the sound of broken glass as Goofy slipped on a DVD and broke the glass doors that encased the DVD player, VCR, and CD player. Fortunately, he managed somehow to get the DVD into the DVD player without breaking it and flipped on the TV as he returned clumsily to his couch. Donald exclaimed angrily as the TV flashed brightly, illuminating his formerly sleeping form.

"Goofy!"

Goofy grinned goofily as the movie began.

"Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, huh? Hmm, sounds interesting."

He watched as a pair of men trotted along on their horses and one of them stopped to pick up a coin. The man proceeded to flip the coin repeatedly while the other man watched. It always ended up on heads. Goofy's eyes followed the coin, fascinated. Donald, reluctantly watching it, grew frustrated finally with the coin flipping and yelled,

"This is stupid! Gimme that remote!"

Goofy held him off with one hand and held the remote in the other. Finally, the other man snatched the coin away. As the movie progressed, Donald struggled to ignore it and go to sleep. Unfortunately for him, Goofy was finding it hilarious and kept laughing.

"Ahyuck!"

The man who'd had the coin, whose name was evidently Rosencrantz while the other was Guildenstern (though Goofy kept getting them confused), was making animal sounds as well as other silly sounds now.

"Awhooooooooooga!"

Goofy laughed raucously.

Later, Rosencrantz lay in a box contemplating life. Goofy didn't understand everything of what he was saying about life and death but he followed the dialogue with interest anyway. Guildenstern turned to Rosencrantz at the end of it and said,

"I think I'm going to kill you."

A moment later, Rosencrantz stood behind Guildenstern trying to show him a clever paper airplane he'd made (that looked like a real airplane). Goofy giggled. After a moment, Guildenstern turned angrily and smushed the airplane. Goofy frowned.

"Well that wasn't very nice."

Then Rosencrantz tried to throw the airplane and it fell immediately. Goofy laughed.

"AHYUCK!"

Donald, unable to stand it anymore, sprang from his bed, snatched the remote from Goofy's hand, turned off the TV, and grabbed Goofy by the cuff of his shirt.

"GOOFY, I THINK I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

In the darkness, Goofy grinned a goofy smile and said,

"Hey Donald, did those two remind you of someone?"

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Alex awoke to the sounds of the television. She opened her eyes to see Sora watching a cut scene in a large room full of something Alex couldn't identify at this point. Then she heard male voices. She rolled back over, hiding her face in Sora's pants leg.

"I didn't know Axel....died." Sora said sadly. She looked up.

"He doesn't." She urged, sitting up, the blanket falling off her, and back onto her lap, exposing her tank top clad top half to Sora, who hadn't realized she looked as old as she did. She looked at the TV, and looked back at Sora, her brown eyes wide with panic.

"No! No no no no no! Axel CAN'T DIE! Who's gunna love Roxas if Axel's dead!?" Sora looked at her,

"Haven't you played this before?!" He sounded panicked as well.

"Not all the way through!" She looked around for signs of him, or Roxas and she found none.

"Where are they!?" She half shouted, Sora looked around, panicking further.

"I don't know!" He said, looking around. She screamed, and she tossed the blanket off of her legs and took off down the stairs, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was closely followed by Sora who was in a mild panic himself, though he wasn't sure why.

"AXEL'S DEAD!" Alex wailed as she stormed through the kitchen, startling Ashley and Marluxia who were eating breakfast, Zexion who was attempting to look at the paper, not that he understood much of what it was going on in it, but he did like the BC comic, it made him half smile. Alex kept running until she collided with a tall torso in the doorway leading to the den.

"Whose dead now?" Axel asked, holding her shoulders. She looked up at him with blood shot eyes.

"You are! You died!" She screamed, throwing her arms around his middle. He blinked and before he knew it, Taryn had attached herself to him too, also crying,

"Where the hell did you even come from?!" He said staring down at her.

"You can't die! You leave Roxas alone! I know he makes you feel like you have a heart and you have to hang on!" She wailed. Sora came down the stairs and attached himself to Axel as well, not saying anything. Ash got up from the table and declared,

"Group hug!"

"No!" Axel said, trying to shake the mob from him, but he couldn't. As the four smaller bodies clung to him, Riku and Roxas looked through a doorway from the den,

"What's all the racket?" Riku asked, Roxas nonchalantly spoke,

"Axel died and upset everyone." He leaned against a wall near the door, and Riku furrowed his brow,

"Sure...'cause it all makes sense now."

Axel groaned loudly, "Alright, well obviously I'm not dead or else I wouldn't be standing here, now please get off me."

Alex and Taryn both shook their heads and in unison made their voices light and airy like Ron Weasley from the Puppet Pals, "No!"

Katie was busy at the stove fixing up everyone's breakfasts when she couldn't take it anymore, they were being far too loud for it being so early in the morning. She turned around, spatula in hand with a menacing glare, "Everyone leave Axel alone or no breakfast for you!"

"Doesn't bother me, I hate pancakes!" Taryn retorted, snuggling back in to Axel's warm leather Organization XIII cloak, enjoying the enticing smell of cinnamon and smoke.

The blonde rolled her eyes, "But you like eggs and sausage so—"

"Bahaha! Eggs and sausage!" Ashley giggled, backing away from Axel and going to sit next to Marluxia at the table.

Taryn, Alex, and even Axel stifled their giggles at the sexual innuendo that Katie had unknowingly made. Roxas shook his head, but the smile twitching at the corners of his lips was evidence of his amusement. The rest of the occupants in the kitchen chose to ignore the immaturity being expressed, except for Sora, who didn't understand why everyone was snickering.

"Wha--? What'd I miss?" The spiky haired keyblade master tilted his head to the side like that of a curious puppy.

Alex immediately detached herself from Axel and squealed over Sora's cuteness, now latching on to the naïve vanquisher of darkness. Katie took that as a step up from before, but still eyed Taryn who was still attached to the red-haired pyromaniac's waist.

"Taryn…" She waved her spatula threateningly.

"Your cakes of pan are burning." The short brunette smirked, nodding her head towards the stove where the pancakes had begun to smolder and burn from being neglected for so long. Katie gasped, immediately turning back around the salvage what she could of the pancakes.

Riku arched a silver eyebrow, "Having fun over there, Taryn?"

She glanced back at him and then up at the chuckling Axel, realizing that she was the only one still clinging to him. She quickly averted her hazel eyes to the floor, blushing as red as his wild hair.

"What…is this mess on my plate?" Zexion stared down at the blob of food on his plate; it was of a strange consistency—goopy-like.

"That's grits!" Ashley supplied.

The blue-gray haired Nobody glanced over at Ash and stared at her blankly for a moment, "You and Marluxia had sex last night, I could smell it."

The entire kitchen was enveloped in silence.

Everyone looked absolutely horrified, despite the fact that they had all heard Ash and Marluxia going at it the night before. Taryn and Riku awkwardly glanced over at each other. Katie bit her lip, her face as red as a tomato. Roxas looked away. Axel snickered behind his hand, but was also disgusted at the same time. Sora didn't seem to understand at first, but then Alex whispered something in his ear and he scrunched up his nose.

"Marluxia stuck what in where?!"

Riku laughed as realization dawned on his idiotic friend.

"I don't see how it's any of your business." Ashley shot back, regaining her composure.

Alex cocked an eyebrow, "We didn't have to have Zexion's creepy sense of smell, you both were so damn loud, you whore."

"We slammed our door closed and we could STILL hear you two." Riku crossed his arms over his chest.

Marluxia smirked, "And what were you two doing behind that closed door, hm?"

Riku looked away, Taryn blushed and bowed her head.

"Ooh! They did something look how flustered they got!" Alex laughed, dancing around before pulling Taryn off to the side, "We all know what Ash and Marly did, but what about you and Riku? Did you bang him yet?"

"W-what? N-no! We just talked, that's it!"

"Riigghhtt! So! What was he like? I bet he'd be rough in bed, yeah?"

While the two girls were talking off to the side Katie broke the awkward silence by declaring that the rest of the pancakes, eggs, and sausages were done if anyone wanted any more, setting the food down on the middle of the table.

Alex and Taryn bounded back over to the table looking rather devious, both of them pulling out ornate looking sticks of wood, simultaneously pointing them at Zexion and screaming, "ERECTO!"

Katie's head was immediately filled with the memory of the night before and she hid her reddening face behind a veil of her hair.

Sora glanced away from the girls and he looked at Katie.

"You okay? You look a little red." Sora asked. Her head snapped up, and she shook her head,

"I'm fine!" She said. Her eyes flew to Zexion as he spoke,

"Are you feeling weird because we slept together?" He asked nonchalantly. Everyone's attention just went to him.

"You did what?! No one can give me grief if KATIE is sleeping with strange men she feels no attachment to. At least I'm beyond that!" Ash declared, slamming her tea down on the table. Alex rolled her eyes,

"Because I'm sure Marly here feels a lot towards you since he has NO HEART, and will betray people. Such a trustworthy guy there Ash." She said, over her drink.

"Oh Miss Axel Obsessor, you a fine one to talk. He doesn't have a heart either." She pointed out, Alex shot back,

"That may be, but he knows who's worth trusting." She said, motioning towards Roxas and Sora. Ash scoffed and laid her head on Marluxia's shoulder and began to whisper things in his ear that Taryn and Alex both assumed were dirty.

"I didn't SLEEP with him, he was in my bed! That's all!" Katie shouted finally. Everyone looked at her,

"Okay Katie." Taryn said with a giggle. Katie groaned, and the meal progressed quietly from there.

Later in the day, Katie decided to break out a movie. The group decided on Little Mermaid, and everyone was entrapped with the songs, Sora even sang along with a few. Half way through the movie, Taryn drifted off, leaning on Riku. He looked down at her, and he saw straight down her shirt, he looked around at the singing room members, or Ash and Marly who were sucking face, or Zexion who was still trying to make sense of the literature from this world and reading something called Calvin and Hobbs now. So, he glanced, and he slid his arm around her shoulders, she snuggled into him, and he slowly let his hand slide down her shirt and run across the top of her breasts. He ran his hand down into the cup and he ran his fingers over her, beginning to feel her up as discreetly as he could while his eyes never leaving the tv.

Taryn let out a quiet moan in her sleep, her hands subconsciously clutching tightly to his white vest-jacket, Riku glanced down at her and smirked, liking the reaction he was getting from her, awake or not, she enjoyed his touch.

Nearly everyone in the room turned to glare at Ashley and Marluxia, who were still aggressively sucking each other's faces off. Riku positioned himself so that no one else could see that his hand was currently roaming over Taryn's breasts, narrowing his eyes accusingly at the pair making out, mimicking the stares of the rest of the room.

"Really? The song says to 'Kiss the Girl' but really…you're eating her fucking face off!" Axel was rather irritable, he had been thoroughly enjoying the movie only for it to have been interrupted by moans coming from the traitor and his girl.

Ashley pulled apart from the pink haired man quickly, matching the room's glare with her own, "Shut the hell up, that wasn't even me!"

"Gawrsh guys, do you think she's tellin' the truth?" Goofy tilted his head to the side, not even bothering to look back at Ash from his embarrassment at the situation.

"I've met Ariel, ya'know!" Sora bragged to Alex who listened to him with rapt attention, staring starry-eyed at the handsome hero. She may not have liked the way the red-haired mermaid interacted with the keyblade master, but she'd never tire of listening to him and the stories he told. It was one thing to play the game but to hear of his adventures first hand was something else, it was exciting! The way Sora's face lit up when he described the battles he'd fought, the people he'd met, and the worlds he'd ventured to!

"Shh quiet, this is my favorite part!" Katie shushed everyone, ironic in the fact that she always blabbered on loudly during every movie she watched. The Kingdom Hearts boys had already found this out during the first half of the movie where Katie had provided sound effects and imitations of the characters in the movie.

Once everyone's attention had been glued back to the television Riku glanced down at the sleeping girl, massaging her tenderly, watching her peaceful expression change to a more….he wasn't quite sure how to describe it; but he enjoyed seeing her make that face that she made every time he sped up his fingers.

"Ri….ku…"

He panicked, thinking that she had woken up, but her posture clearly said otherwise. Taryn was still sleeping.

"Don't…don't leave…" She looked strained, as if she were having a nightmare.

Riku withdrew his hand and leaned down, brushing hair out of her face and whispering, "I'm still here, I'm not going anywhere." Before placing a tender kiss on her pale pink lips, wishing that he could kiss her while she was awake.

Katie frowned and tried hard to focus on the movie, even though she wasn't really that fond of it. King Triton had always upset her when she was little and she'd never really gotten past her memories of distaste for the movie from when she was little. She'd only put it on cause everyone had wanted her too. Focusing on it was much better than watching Ash and Marluxia (that was his name, yes? Ash just called him Marly) suck each others' faces off or watching Riku subtly stroking Taryn sexually, apparently convinced that no one had noticed. She was tempted to follow Zexion's example and get a book. She loved Calvin and Hobbes, which was what he was currently reading. She hoped he enjoyed it. She was still trying to get used to the idea that several characters from a video game she knew little about were crowded into her family room, along with her best friends. She was all nerves right now, stressing about how to handle the situation. Her parents would be home in a few days. Not only was there a huge hole in her backyard now, but her house was a complete mess. Food was strewn about, dishes had piled up...she got up quietly and went into the kitchen to work on those. Cleaning the kitchen would at least get her away from the constant face-sucking and sensual stroking. Several of her dad's ties were ruined, as well as a nice set of sheets in her parents' bedroom (how the hell was she supposed to explain that?!) and Goofy had managed to break the glass doors to the cabinet holding the DVD player, as well as her Rosencrantz and Guildenstern DVD (though, actually, she was convinced that was Donald's fault). Her friends might never be able to come over again if her parents found the house in such a state! She hadn't been able to take a shower yet this morning either because the bazillion people in her house had taken over both showers in the house and she'd had to cook breakfast.

As she worked on cleaning the dishes, she heard a shout from the family room.

"Karl, can you bring in some more chips? Sora just finished these."

"Hey, what happened to all the extra sound effects and jokes? I kinda liked those!"

Alex and Sora. Alex seemed to really have a thing for him. She had to admit, he was cute in a way. Kind of like a little kid, even though from what Alex had told her about him he'd had to deal with a lot of grown up responsibilities in the game. She knew Alex really cared about him. Video game character or not, he was real now. Katie thought that was sweet. She groaned at Sora's comment, thinking about her horrible tendency to talk through movies. It was nice to know someone besides herself had enjoyed them for a change. She wished she didn't have so much trouble keeping her mouth shut during films. Make an effort, Katie, make an effort! She walked over to the pantry and opened it up. Not much in the way of snacks left. She grabbed some Pringles and walked into the family room, handing them to Alex. She needed to go shopping, since they'd cleaned out a fair amount of the food. Mom and Dad hadn't left them too many snacks or anything like that, since they'd only expected there to be four girls in the house for a couple of weeks.

As she went back to washing the dishes, Zexion stepped inside, holding the Calvin and Hobbes book.

"This is really fun stuff actually. Different though. I've never read a book like this, mainly made up of pictures with text to go with it. Do you have any more?"

Wow. He'd read that fast. She gestured upstairs.

"If you go up to my room, there should be a whole pile of them sitting on the floor that I brought home from college. They're not all like Calvin and Hobbes though. Some of them are funny but a lot of them are kind of dark and serious. Feel free to take a look at the bookshelf in my room and the one in the office too. The office is the room to the right of my room...the one Taryn and Riku aren't staying in."

He thanked her and headed upstairs, fiddling with the bands holding the doors shut. She walked over and undid them for him.

"Sorry, those are for our cats. To keep them from going upstairs. Just make sure to put the band on the other side of the door back over the knobs after I shut the door, okay?"

He nodded and quietly slipped through the doors. She shut them and heard him fix the band, then step lightly up the stairs. She thought of the poor cats. They were terrified. Poor Scraps seemed quite taken aback by all these people, but at least she was still out in the open at times. Friendly had almost completely disappeared. Katie had been forced to spend a lot of time with her in order to get her to eat any food. That had only been because everyone was still asleep at the time that Katie had gotten up. She'd woken up around 4, troubled by all the nonsense that had occurred the previous night. What was she going to do about all this craziness?

"Who wants to play Quelf?!" Alex screamed. All the girls jumped up.

"ME!" They all screamed in unison. She stood up from Sora, who she hadn't noticed had intertwined their fingers. He looked up at her confused as she started to run. She pulled his hand,

"Wanna come?" She asked. He smiled, and he pushed himself up off the floor and took off with her,

"Everyone's pairing off." Roxas mused, looking at Riku and Taryn. Riku looked at him, and pulled Taryn closer, looking back at the TV. Axel started to speak when the other two came bounding back into the room, tossing a box to the floor. Alex set up the game as the movie ended. She hummed along with the songs, and pushed her short hair behind her ear, Sora watched her, and he looked back at the tv, so he wouldn't stare.

The rules were simple, one moved a cardboard piece around a colorful board. The colors led to cards, and each card had something randomly obscure on it one had to do. The first to draw was Riku, who had to find a body of water bigger then a bath tub or a puddle to jump in fully clothed. He chose the neighbor's pool. All stood outside and watched him as he hoped the fence with agility and made a belly flop off the driving board. Next, was Axel, who was sent running down the street in nothing but his boxers, screaming,

"THE BRITISH ARE COMING!" Everyone was clutching their sides with laughter as he came back up the stairs, pulling his coat back on. The game went on from there with Alex licking a battery, Marluxia and Sora swapping pants and then Roxas eating candy from Taryn's pants. Ash drew a card that was stated that when anyone's phone went off or we heard a door the entire group had to stand up and shout,

"PIZZA PARTY!" which continued for most of the night whenever a phone was heard. Taryn had to go outside into the same neighbor's yard and scrub herself in the bird bath while chirping like a bird. Katie had to strip for Donald, though Zexion didn't seem to mind the view either, though he did mind having to catch one of the cats and lick them. Donald had to feed Goofy pudding from behind his back and Sora had to belly dance. He was surprisingly good at it. She sort of felt bad for trashing the house, but she didn't really know what to do about it. If they were here now...they could help clean, or something bad could be happening, but she didn't wanna think that. She stood up, and she looked back as someone stood with her. Before she could speak to Sora, the phone went off and all automatically jumped up and screamed,

"PIZZA PARTY!" Even though no one was playing anymore. Katie picked up the phone, and she froze,

"Oh..Hi Mom..."

"Hi sweety! How's everything going?" asked Mom.

Katie hastily walked away from the awkward, giggling group of people cramped into her family room and headed for the rec room stairs.

"Oh...it's going alright."

"Yeah? You don't sound so sure."

Her mom laughed a little nervously.

"Well, see, the thing is...I need your advice on something."

"Yeah?"

"Well, some big...rock thing landed in our backyard last night kind of randomly. It was like...a meteorite."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yeah...so, I was wondering what to do about that. Should I call someone about getting it out of here?"

"I...oh goodness...well...No, go ahead and just leave it there. We'll take care of it when we get back. Anything else the matter?"

Katie thought of all the people and all the other problems in the house.

"Err...well, no, I guess not. Things are...a little messy in the house right now but that's okay, I-we'll take care of it. Also...uhhhh...well, I had an accident happen yesterday."

"What was that?"

"I...accidentally tripped and fell into the glass doors of the cabinet thing that we have under the TV...I broke them. I'm really sorry. Everything else was okay though."

"Oh gosh, Kate! Uhhh....I, I guess we'll have to call someone about that too when we get home."

"I'm REALLY sorry, Mom."

"I know, hon. It's just...you have to be more careful, okay?"

"Okay, Mom. I promise."

She flinched as she heard the sound of something else breaking in the background and heard Goofy yelp.

"Oh gawrrrsh!!!"

"What was that?" her mom asked.

"Err, I don't know. I think maybe the guys are watching some TV. Sounded like...uh..Disney maybe? I thought I heard Goofy."

"Oh. Well okay. You sound kind of upset, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. It's just, y'know, I feel bad about breaking the glass doors and, there's a meteorite in our backyard."

"Well, don't worry about it too much, Kate. It'll be okay. Well, I was just calling to let you know we're going to be later getting home actually. At least, assuming you don't mind. We're thinking we might stay a couple more weeks here, but only if it's okay with you. I don't want to make things hard on you if that's inconvenient. We don't mind coming home at the original time to be with you if you want us to."

"I...no, that's okay, Mom. Really. You guys go ahead and enjoy your time there. We're having a really nice time here. You don't mind if everyone stays here a bit longer while you're gone though, do you?"

"Weeeelll, I don't know, Kate. Are you sure you girls can keep a good handle on things that long?"

She laughed.

"After all, from what you said, it sounds like there's already a bit of cleaning to do. We don't want to come home to a house that looks like a tornado hit it."

Katie forced herself to laugh.

"Oh no, Mom. It'll be fine. Like I said, we'll straighten it up and it'll be fine."

Just then, Alex, Taryn, and Sora came screaming in the hallway next to her.

"Oh my god, he's on fire!"

"Ha ha, what an idiot!"

"I can't believe it! Someone get a wet towel!"

Katie felt herself stiffen and imagined herself with her hair standing on end.

"Kate, what was that?"

"Err, they're playing a game, Mom. No one's actually on fire. It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

She heard them run back to the kitchen.

"Ha ha, hold still, Donald!"

She could hear Donald shouting and banging stuff around in the kitchen. Oh god have mercy, she thought.

"Yeah, Mom. Everything's fine, really. I should probably go though. We kind of went through our snacks fast this week and now I have to go shopping. Plus I've got laundry to do too. I hope you guys have a good time."

"Okay, Kate. If you're sure it's alright for us to be gone a little longer..."

"It's fine. Really, Mom. Have a great time. I'll look forward to seeing you in...three weeks now, I guess?"

"Yep. That'd be about right."

"Alright. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you, Kate. And don't worry about the meteorite (or whatever it is) and the glass doors. We'll get them taken care of. It'll be fine."

"Thanks Mom. Bye."

"Bye, hon."

Maybe they could take care of that, but what about everything else?! Katie flung herself from the stairs and ran down into the kitchen.

"OH FUCK!"

The kitchen was an absolute mess. No, that was an understatement. It looked as if a tempest had blown through, followed by an angry tornado and a pack of hungry sumo-wrestlers, and then set aflame. Katie could see scorch marks on the countertops and the floor where Donald had apparently been in his flaming stupor. Dirty dishes that had once been piled in the sink now lay strewn across the floor, drawers were opened, utensils scattered all over the place….Katie felt as if her heart had stopped.

"Oh God, smite me now." She groaned, she knew that in the end she'd be the one to clean everything up, no matter what the others said they'd coincidentally forget to help.

"Such foul language coming from such a pretty girl." Axel leaned against the doorframe connecting the living room and the kitchen. His bright green eyes surveyed the kitchen and he made a face of disgust, "What the hell happened here?"

"That's exactly what I'd like to know." Katie didn't get angry very often, she was more or less a pacifier, but the destruction of her house had her at the end of her rope, she was pissed off and stressed out. She marched out in to the living room, brushing past the flame-haired man, and crossing her arms over her chest, eyeing the group on the floor with contempt.

Taryn and Alex we on their backs giggling at a very singed looking Donald Duck, said feathered mage wasn't looking quite as amused as the two girls were. In fact, he seemed about as angry as Katie was, but that went without saying as he had just been on fire.

"What the hell happened?! I was just on the phone with my parents, do you know how bad that sounded when you guys ran into the kitchen screaming about fire and then all the noise you made in there? Not to mention the mess you created, I hope you know that YOU'RE cleaning that because I refuse to!" The blonde screeched, her face red from anger.

Everyone looked absolutely terrified by her sudden outburst, especially Ash, Taryn, and Alex, they'd never seen Katie so angry before and it was a very horrifying sight to behold!

"Well gawrsh, I feel bad for wreckin' yer house Miss Katie, me an' Donald will help clean up!" Goofy scratched abashedly at the back of his head, volunteering himself and his friend who looked positively livid at having been unwillingly roped in to doing something.

Katie's blue eyes softened on the Disney characters, "You guys don't have to…that rant was mainly directed at those two." She nodded her head to a cowering Alex and Taryn, Ash had crawled back over to Marluxia after hearing that Katie wasn't mad at her.

"No no, it's not a problem at all! We'll all help since we did collectively make this mess." Sora grinned widely.

And so everyone set to work, splitting in to small groups and tackling the messy house together. Remarkably it didn't take as long as expected with everyone working together for the common goal of getting the house spic and span! It did take about an hour and a half before the entire house was clean, and by then everyone's stomachs were growling with hunger.

"I'm hungry, what's for dinner?" Ashley asked casually, opening up the fridge to inspect its contents; there was a bottle of soda that only had about a teaspoon of liquid left, and a couple oranges.

Katie frowned, hungry too, "Well, that's the problem; there's nothing really here so we're going to have to go shopping for more food."

"We can't exactly bring everyone with us dressed as they are…" Alex stroked her chin in concentration, "I know! Come with me!"

The tiny brunette grabbed on to Sora's hand, motioning for Taryn, Ash and the rest of the boys to follow, leaving Katie in the kitchen with Donald and Goofy.

Katie shrugged. They really didn't have to ALL come with her. Really, she could do the shopping by herself if they'd just tell her what they needed. She knew Taryn loved car rides but aside from her, she wasn't sure how everyone else would feel about strolling around Publix. She wasn't sure how Publix would feel about it either. Besides, how were they all going to fit in her car anyway? She supposed they had Alex's car too at least. Whatever. Her rage had subsided since they'd actually all pitched in to clean the house. It looked much better now and she felt a bit better. She was still a bit upset and her stress was definitely still higher than usual, but she was much more back to her normal, relatively laid-back self. She convinced herself they'd figure things out with time and reminded herself this was hardly the end of the world. At least she hoped not, though the presence of the video game characters made her somewhat suspicious they were all wrapped up in something bigger than your usual messed up household. She sat at the kitchen table making a list of things she needed to replace. She quickly came to the conclusion that they had better head to the Wal-Mart in TR instead of Publix.

Alex bound about upstairs, looking through Katie's father's cloths. She found some jeans that could have fit on some of the males...like Axel if he's legs weren't so damn long! She turned back and forth, and she looked at Taryn,

"Go get our suit cases from the other upstairs." Taryn nodded and ran off. Sora looked at her with a strange look, and Axel was nearly knocked over as he came up the stairs, closely followed by Riku and Roxas. Ash dragged Marly up there too, and they all crowded in the hallway. Alex led them into the guest room where Taryn and Riku had spent the night, figuring it was more sanitary then the Clarke's room, thank you Ashley. She started with Axel, pushing him down on the bed, and he looked at her with a glance.

"What're you doing?"

"We're going to Wal-mart and you can't go anywhere looking like you do, you look like a cult member." He raised his eyebrows, but before he could say anything, she had unzipped his jacket and was pulling it off of him. He blinked and he looked like he, for once in his existence, felt a bit awkward. Once Taryn got back, Alex fished through her stuff and couldn't find anything. She then pulled something out of Ash's stuff that Taryn had also brought. She tossed it at Axel's face and he slide the shirt over his head. As he looked down, he rose an eyebrow,

"Whose this?" He asked about a red headed kid in some sort of uniform.

"That's Ron Weasley from Harry Potter." Alex said, moving on through the bags. Riku was next, and he was dressed by Taryn. He was given a shirt that said, "My Crabs Can Beat Up Your Crabs." Most of the groups' pants were fine, but shirts were running thinner and thinner. Roxas was given a pink owl shirt from Ash, Sora wore a very feminine shirt he pulled from Alex's bag with "I Intercourse" written on it in large letters, though on his hip it said, "PA", not that he understood that. Marluxia wore a shirt with Halloweentown Sora on it, and he put a fuzzy vest of Ashley's over the top of it so no one could see anything, and Zexion was brought a shirt with a group of men on it, and it said NSYNC across it. He looked at them like they were crazy, but he changed regardless.

So, Axel, Roxas, Marluxia and Ashley crawled into the majorly overcrowded backseat of Alex's car while Sora rode shot gun. Zexion, Taryn, Katie and Riku were in the other car, while Donald and Goofy stayed behind. As they drove down the road, Sora continued to push button after button in the car. After pushing a little silver button on the dash, music started, loudly, and scared everyone, including Alex who swerved,

"IT'S RAINING MEN, HALLELUJAH! IT'S RAINING MEN! AMEN!" The music sang. Sora's eyes lit up, and he leaned over as he swayed with the music. He leaned on the armrest, opening his window by mistake, and panicked a bit, closing his shirt in the window.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Meanwhile, those riding in Katie's car were more subdued in behavior than the others, with the exception of Taryn who had her window rolled down and was sticking her head out of it similar to that of a dog.

Riku wasn't too excited about being stuck in the back seat with a former member of Organization 13, in his mind none of them were good news, ESPECIALLY those who had been at Castle Oblivion (namely Marluxia, Axel, and Zexion), the only problem he had with Roxas was that he had been beaten by him that time at Memory's Skyscraper. He had a feeling that Roxas held the same discontent towards him as well.

"Oh, let's put on some music, yeah?" Taryn brought her head back in to the car, he hair windblown all over the place. She began to dig through her purse and pulled out a mixed tape, taking it from its case and sticking it into the car's cd player.

"What's on that?" Katie eyed her friend warily, knowing that she was known for listening to strange music.

"A classic that everyone loves!" The brunette grinned, flipping to track 7 and giggling like a maniac.

Zexion gave off the air of a stereotypical emo kid, leaning up against the window behind the driver's seat, one leg planted firmly on the floor of the car while the other one was pulled up to his chest with an arm draped casually over it. His other elbow rested against the window with his face resting in the palm of his hand boredly. He didn't look too happy, his slate-grey eyes scanning over the surroundings that quickly passed by the window, occasionally glancing up at the sky where clouds were gathering quickly. A storm was on its way.

"Chocolate rain!" The deep voice burst through Katie's speakers and both girls instantly fell into fits of giggles.

Taryn sang along with the cd, "Some stay dry while others feel the pain! Chocolate rain!"

Riku arched a silver eyebrow at the girl dancing around in the seat infront of him, his lips twitched at the corners in amusement.

"Of course you'd have this on a cd." Katie laughed, "I thought you had forgotten about this song, we haven't heard you try to sing it in months!"

"Hahaha! You thought you were safe….but you're nottt!" Taryn giggled maniacally.

Katie shuddered, "That was actually really creepy, please don't do that again."

"What can I say, I've got a good evil laugh, hehe."

"I'll say." The blonde smirked, focusing on her driving more now than her friend in the next seat over.

The drive didn't take too long, much to the annoyance of Taryn, who enjoyed long car rides. Katie drove around the parking lot to find a parking spot closer to the front of the store for a few minutes before settling on one by the cart return. The four young adults jumped out of the car, slamming the doors shut while Katie locked it.

"Where to first? I say we should go get the icecream!" Taryn grinned.

Katie rolled her eyes, "If you get the icecream first then it'll melt during the time it takes for us to get the rest of the things we're buying."

"Well aren't you the bright one." Riku smirked down at the red-brown haired girl who pouted up at him.

"Shut up." She glanced away, crossing her arms over her chest while trailing behind Katie and Zexion who were already across the parking lot and closer to the entrance of the store, "Hey, wait up! Short legs here!"

Riku chuckled, easily catching up to her with about 3 long strides, "I never noticed before, but you really ARE short. What're you, like 4 foot 2?" he teased.

Taryn huffed, taking offense at the crack on her height, "No! For your information I'm 5 foot 2, genius."

"C'mon you two! I don't want to be here all day, so stay close!" Katie called out to them from the other side of the automatic sliding doors.

Once inside Katie and Zexion went to look at the meat while Taryn and Riku wandered off towards the fruits and vegetables.

Katie glanced around her, frowning, "Now, where did those two get off to? I thought I told them to stay here with us…"

Zexion lifted his head up, "They're still close, they're scents are strong over by the produce."

"Er…thanks."

He seemed nice enough, Katie decided, just the fact that his strange ability creeped her out a bit. You couldn't get anything by him; Zexion was on top of the game. She nervously ran a hand through her long blonde hair, sidling up next to the refrigerated case that the meat was stored in, deciding that they'd make baked ziti for dinner; Taryn had offered to help her seeing as she had never made that particular dish before.

Riku's turquoise eyes followed her as she bounced about the produce isle excitedly, unable to decide what types of fruit she wanted. He smiled as she stopped infront of the more exotic fruits, a small giggle escaping from her parted lips.

"I don't care if the others don't like star fruit, we're totally getting some!" She declared to herself, picking up a couple of the oddly shaped yellow fruits.

"Star fruit?" He asked curiously, coming to stand next to her.

She jumped, startled, and a light tinge of pink dusted over her cheeks.

"I..er, yeah." She picked up one of the fruits, "You see, I was always fascinated by the legend of the Paopu fruit from the game and when Star Fruit are cut they're in the shape of stars and look exactly like Paopu fruit so…I like to get them and pretend…" she looked away, far too embarrassed.

The silver haired boy wrapped an arm around her waist while using the other to gently lift her chin so that she was staring him in the eyes, "You like to pretend what?"

"Nothing, it's silly." She laughed nervously, averting her gaze, that's when something out of the ordinary caught her attention. Slithering across the floor she could have sworn that she saw a Shadow heartless, but it was gone so quick that she chocked it up to paranoid nerves due to the extreme closeness of Riku.

Katie couldn't find the type of hamburger meat that Taryn had recommended for the ziti and turned around, her eyes scanning the isles for an employee. Her bright blue eyes landed on a dark figure wearing a blue vest and she smiled to herself, walking over to the being. Suddenly Zexion tensed, his eyes narrowed and he reached out and grabbed on to her wrist.

"Don't."

"What? I'm just going to ask that worker if they have something that I need for dinner tonight." She was baffled as to why he was restraining her, his grip tightened and he pulled her back.

"That's no worker." He replied vaguely.

The lights began to flicker on and off.

"Dangerous things are about to happen, I need you to stay close by me, alright?" Zexion's tone held an air of urgency to it that Katie didn't dare object to.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Sora and Alex walked slowly through the isles. She was supposed to be looking for food, but they had gotten side tracked, and started to just talk and get to know each other a bit more. As they walked, he shyly reached out and intertwined their fingers. She blushed lightly, and she went closer to him as she was pulled. He looked around and spoke,

"Is there anything this store doesn't have?!"

"American workers." Alex commented mildly racistly. He laughed lightly, though she was sure he didn't get the extent of the joke. She looked at a worker. He didn't look like anyone she'd ever seen before. He was very round, and he had a little tiny head and piercing yellow eyes. His little blue vest hardly covered his shoulders. He looked at her and he began to move towards them. She was prepared to tell him they needed no help, but it registered with Sora faster than it did with her.

"Heartless!" He cried, pulling her away, running towards the end of the isle, where they ran into Axel and Roxas, who seemed to have the same idea they did. They all ran and eventually caught up with the group near the frozen foods where Zexion was fighting off some of them, he was soon joined by the other males who made a circle protecting the girls. Katie was in shock, Ash was watching Marluxia's ass, Taryn was panicking and Alex was wondering what worlds they would end up in. Sora looked over his shoulder and he saw them moving around lightly, and he turned around swiftly as a Heartless crawled into the center of them.

"We have to get out of here!" He said, as they all fled towards the door. They split and piled into the cars, and floored it towards home. The roads were clear, and it was eerie. As they reached the house, Donald and Goofy could be heard in the back yard, fighting stuff off. They all climbed abroad the Gummi ship and, despite the damage, took off without much trouble.

"I think I left the computer on!" Katie cried as they left, though Zexion held her still,

"When the heartless are done with your world, that won't matter anymore. Nothing will."