Disclaimer: You would be nuts to think I own Kingdom Hearts.
A/N: Well, here's a brand new fic from me to the masses out there. It makes me happy that I can contribute to the Kingdom Hearts fandom once more. Anyhoo, it came to me one night as a nagging plot bunny and refused to leave me alone until I got it down on paper. So, here's chapter one. Hopefully this goes somewhere in the not so distant future.
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"Hey, Rox! You going for b-ball training after school?" an energetic brunette called out from across the hallway just as Roxas was about to head into his next class.
Roxas whipped his head around to see Sora waving cheerily at him and intently expecting a reply to his bubbly question. "Training?" Roxas repeated blankly, not comprehending. He scrunched up his face in deliberation, as though it would help him decipher what Sora had meant.
The brunette in question tilted his head to one side, his spiky brown hair swaying at the motion. "Uh, yeah, training. It's Wednesday, ain't it? We have training every Wednesday afternoon, or have you already forgotten?" Sora teased, and then sobered up when he heard the bell go off, signalling that he really had to be off to attend Biology or get yelled at again by his teacher. "You going or what? Coach said there's gonna' be a friendly match between us and the Senior team as well, for the fun of it."
"Oh." Roxas had forgotten about that. He'd been so caught up in all his activities in the past week that he'd forgotten that it was the day for basketball practice. "Yeah," the blonde said slowly, nodding in confirmation. "It's not like I'd go home without you anyways."
Sora's eyes twinkled as he bounced on the spot in his overly-large sneakers. "Yeah, thanks bro!" The brunette waved again, "I'm off to class. Kai's waiting." He turned, and then added loudly, "And if you see any of the Senior members before the match, tell them we're so totally gonna' trash them this time!"
Roxas snorted, highly doubting that their Junior team stood any small chance when faced up against the taller, more limber guys in the Senior (and far more superior) team. "Yeah, sure thing," Roxas promised weakly with a half-shrug, not willing to crush his brother's wild and delicate dreams.
And Sora beamed happily again and finally, he was gone, tottering away and melting into the crowd of students swarming to get to class.
Roxas rolled his eyes and squared his shoulders as he resumed walking through the narrow doorway of his next class. The teacher hadn't arrived yet and some students were still milling about the entrance, chattering away with friends. Trust Sora to remind him of this afternoon's basketball session. It was true that he couldn't go home without his brother anyhow. They had, after all, signed up for the same after-school activities. If he arrived home without his twin brother, his parents would start to wonder if their little Roxie was skipping out on his after-school commitments.
Sora was his twin brother, sure. He didn't question why that was the case in this existence. He supposed it only made sense that his former Somebody was going to be as closely related to him as possible in this next life. Everything was just playing out naturally in this world, and in a way that wasn't as harsh as what it used to be. Sure, there weren't such things as Nobodies and Kingdom Hearts and Organization XIII, and no, Keyblades didn't exist. And if you claimed someone to be a Heartless, you were just going to be looked upon as a mental case. There was no such thing as magic and spells and stuff, and no one could just conjure up random Water Clones on a whim or spring a giant wall of fire up from the ground.
That was all in his past life. A life that him, and Sora, and just about everyone else previously involved seemed to remember and accept. But it wasn't important now. What was important was that in this life, they at least had the opportunity to start something new and start afresh.
And the plus side was, Roxas still had his best friends, both his Twilight Town gang and the Organization. They made it through with him to this 'next life'. And most of them attended the very school he was in right now. And the best part of it all, he saw them all almost every single day.
The young teenager shuffled his way over to a desk situated somewhere at a relatively safe distance from the front of the classroom and plopped down onto his seat. He glanced around, noting that his usual group of friends hadn't even arrived yet. That was before Olette, a petite brown-haired girl in an orange top and a pair of khakis, walked into the room and called out to him in a voice of astonishment.
"Oh! Roxas, you're already here! Wow, this is a first!" she exclaimed, tossing her wavy hair over a shoulder as she headed in his direction.
Roxas smiled at the approaching girl and scratched the back of his head, almost embarrassed. "Yeah, decided to be early for once." He quickly motioned for her to sit beside him at the desk to his right. "Didn't really pay off though, looks like Mr Xemnas figured that today would be a good day to be late."
Olette laughed brightly as she settled down in her seat. "I saw him on the way in. He's dealing with Seifer outside down the hall right now. Almasy had apparently been vandalizing locker doors or something."
"Yeah? Well, I hope Xemnas gives him a month's worth of detention."
"Now that's pretty harsh," Olette chided him, but not unsmilingly.
Roxas tapped a pen against his desk and looked around once more. The class was now almost fully assembled and was beginning to quiet down. "Where's Hayner and the rest?"
Olette frowned. "I think he's faking sick, just to get out of first period with Xemnas."
"Oh." Roxas frowned. Of course. Wouldn't put it past Hayner, of all people, to try something like that. He knew the boy hated their History teacher. Mind, Roxas didn't like Xemnas either, and Xemnas didn't really give a rat's ass about Roxas anyway (not that he ever did in their previous life either). All the old man liked to do was ramble on and on and on in that boring drone of his with big, complicated words in a very History Professor-like manner. Quite frankly, Roxas could relate to Hayner's desperation of getting out of classes on a Wednesday morning.
"How about Pence?"
"Pence? Oh, he's officially sick. He called the school this morning saying he wouldn't be attending classes today because of a doctor's appointment."
"Damn. And Nam?"
"She's being moved up a grade."
Roxas spluttered. "She's what?"
Just then, Xemnas walked in, a mildly annoyed expression gracing his haggard features. He stalked to the front desk and slammed his thick pile of textbooks and manuscripts down upon the wooden table, causing half the class to jump. Idle chitter-chatter died down instantly as all attention was suddenly focussed on the old geezer that stood, glaring daggers, before the class.
"In the course of today," Mr Xemnas boomed, "Mister Seifer Almasy will not be attending classes. Rather, he will spend the rest of the week and the whole of the following week in internal suspension within the Headmaster's office. Why is that, you ask? Let's just say he'll be repenting for his misdeed of spray painting the East Wing lockers a bright and sickly pink."
A fact. 'Pink?', 'I knew it! I knew he was fruity!', 'He's gay?', 'Hey! East Wing's where my locker is!'… 'Two weeks internal suspension? With Saïx?! Man, that's gotta' suck.''
"Damn! Seifer's reputation just went out the window, ya know?!" Rai blurted. Fuu, seated just behind the brawny boy, smacked him on the head with her textbook.
"Everyone! Textbooks. Out. Now." Xemnas barked, patience already worn thinner than a sheet of paper. "Page twenty-eight! Section thirteen!"
Roxas, meanwhile, was still mentally digesting the fact that Naminé was not going to be in his History class anymore. Ever. He frowned and twirled his pen between his fingers, glancing sideways at Olette.
"Olette?" he whispered, receiving a distracted 'hmm?' from the girl. "So she's really not going to be in this class anymore?"
"Yeah." Olette nodded. "You know how advanced she is in History."
Roxas chewed his lip thoughtfully. "Okay… So… She won't be joining us for History for the rest of the year?"
Olette nodded. "She's also just advanced in Art," she sighed softly, "So she's no longer in my Art class either."
"No surprises there," Roxas muttered. Art was always Naminé's niche. He felt, however, a little disgruntled that one of his close friends had changed classes. Why didn't she at least tell him beforehand? History was the one of the only class they had together apart from English and Physical Education.
"Well," he muttered, "least you've still got Kairi."
"Yeah, but I'll bet she's gonna' be real bummed out when she finds out about Nam."
"Then… uh," Roxas struggled for a moment, trying to wrap his head around how his pale, elfin friend managed to achieve such a feat. "So she's in Senior History and Art? I… I guess that probably means she'll be in some of Riku's classes. He takes those subjects too."
"Riku?" Olette questioned, confused.
Roxas shook his head. "He's one of my brother's best pals," he replied lowly, quickly glancing at Xemnas in case the man decided to throw him out of class for talking. "He usually hangs out at our place after school."
"Sora is best friends with someone in the Senior year?"
Roxas shrugged. "Hey, don't ask me. I'm best pals with most of the Senior year myself."
Olette smiled. "I know. Only because you've known them all your life, and more." There was something like sadness in her eyes – or maybe it was envy? Envy that she somehow missed out on some part of Roxas' life that she could never fathom? Roxas couldn't quite blame her for feeling the way she did towards his friends that he had made outside of a life she didn't know he had lived before. The girl sighed and gently smiled once more. "But, Roxas, you really have yet to let me, Hayner and Pence meet some of these friends of yours one day. I know Naminé hangs out with them quite a bit."
"Yeah… She does," he murmured, a tad reluctant. "I guess I could introduce you to the Organization. But I only really see most them during basketball practice." Where they usually own our Junior asses.
"The… Organization…" Olette echoed. "Is that what they call themselves?"
Roxas smiled. "It's an ironic thing. See, there're only five of them in Senior year. Axel, Demyx, Larxene, Zexion and Luxord. The others are… around the place." He unconsciously glanced at the man in front of the room. Mr Xemnas. He was currently delivering a speech on the history of a small sleepy little town of Twilight, something that both Roxas and Olette would have been interested in, if not for the fact that they knew quite a bit of the town already.
"So the five of them are in a group they call 'The Organization'?"
"Yeah… Well, Organization Five, really" Roxas corrected. "Organization Six, whenever I'm around."
Olette nodded understandingly.
"We used to be thirteen though. Before this life, I mean. I'm not sure but I think I told you about it befo -"
"Miss Olette and Mister Roxas!" Xemnas' loud voice sliced through the air and cut the blonde off in mid-sentence like a sharp whip.
Olette looked up guiltily. Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes. He was more irritated than apologetic.
"I would appreciate it," Xemnas went on warningly, "if you two didn't discuss issues of your life outside the classroom."
"But Mr Xemnas, sir," Roxas grounded out. He really didn't like calling this man 'sir', it was too much like Organization XIII all over again. "Um… We were talking about things relating to History."
Olette blinked. Xemnas raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know if your 'past life' has any historical value," Xemnas said coldly.
Roxas' eyes narrowed as he glared at the man in front of the classroom. "If I recall correctly, you valued my life back then."
Many students looked on in unhidden confusion at this exchange.
"And If I recall correctly, that was only before you decided to leave," Xemnas snapped, unperturbed that his class had no idea what he was wrangling with Roxas about.
"Yeah?" Roxas' voice hardened, temper flaring. A temper that Olette and his Twilight Town gang hardly ever experienced. "Well, you weren't exactly worth sticking around f -"
"Enough!" Xemnas snarled. "You're seeing me after class, young man."
Roxas crossed his arms and leant back in his chair in a huff, his blonde spikes falling into his eyes. Young man? Man, he really didn't like Xemnas at all, whether as his Superior or as a damn History teacher. It didn't help that Olette had sent him a reprimanding look that mothers usually reserved for their naughty kids. This day couldn't get any worse, surely.
And then, some kid in the front row shot up his hand and asked rather innocently: "Mr Xemnas, did Roxas use to be your son or something? Did he leave and run away from home?"
Roxas groaned. What… The Hell.
-
History ended late. It dragged on for another ten and a half minutes after the bell had long gone. As the class filed out, students rushing off to their next class fretfully, Roxas had to remain behind and explain himself to Mr Stick-Up-His-Ass Xemnas.
He ended up being lectured for another ten minutes about being more 'respectful of his elders', and if that wasn't enough, he was slapped in the face with a detention that afternoon with Mr Vexen.
"This has got to be a fucking joke." Roxas shook his head as he trudged out of classroom. The corridors were now empty, everyone was in class by now. Roxas' spirit was so dampened that he didn't really care. Detention meant that he couldn't attend basketball training that afternoon. Not attending basketball training that afternoon meant letting his brother and team down. It also meant he couldn't play against the Senior team. Damn. He was keen on playing against his Organization pals, even though he knew their worst player, Demyx, would probably still single-handedly hand their asses back to them on a plate.
He made his way slowly to his locker, not caring anymore that he'd be walking into his next class – English – extremely late. It didn't matter since Ms Lockhart doted on him anyways. As he rounded the corner to his locker wing, a voice called out to him (not for the first time that day) from behind.
"Yo, Rox!"
Roxas knew who it was before even turning around, and a smile replaced his frown immediately. "Skipping class again, huh?" The blonde turned in a half circle to smirkingly acknowledge his best friend from the grade above him. Axel. Best friends, no matter where they were or what they did.
"You know me, I ain't no goody two-shoes when it comes to education and being educated," Axel replied, closing the space between them in a few long strides and clapping the blonde on the shoulder good-naturedly. "Wagging class is second nature to me."
Roxas grinned at the redhead, "You never had any trouble following the rules way back when. What's the catch?"
"School bores me. Missions never did. Although that could've been due to the fact that I would've been eradicated if I didn't comply with the Orgy's silly, silly rules. In school, you say you're running a temp and they let you off the hook. They don't even bat an eyelid," he sang.
"I really should introduce you to Hayner," Roxas laughed, remembering what Olette had said before.
Axel frowned at that. "Y'mean that other hot-headed blonde kid you used to hang out… er… you still hang out with him, huh? Yeah, I've seen him around. Don't think he likes me very much. Although that might have to do with the fight between him and Seifer a few weeks back, the one which I quite stupidly tried to intervene." The redhead laughed. "He tried to have a go at me after that. They both did. Thank God I had backup. They're not exactly the scrawniest of kids."
"I was there," Roxas reminded him in amusement, recalling that he, Pence, Demyx and Luxord had to pry Hayner and Seifer off Axel, who lay face first in the dirt. Demyx received a black eye from that one incident and Axel, a broken nose. And then the Headmaster had appeared and yelled at them all as though he still had moments where he went totally ape-shit berserk.
"What about you, Roxie?" Axel was saying, gesturing to the blonde and his surroundings in one sweeping hand motion, "You skipping classes too or what? That would be a first!"
Roxas shook his head. "Stupid Xemnas singled me out in History and I got friggin' pissed at him. So he gave me a damn sermon after class, basically telling me that I should shut the hell up when he's talking to me, and then he slapped me with after-school detention today."
Axel blinked. "What? Do you realise what that bastard just deprived you of?"
"Yeah," Roxas muttered miserably. "Apart from my freedom and liberation, he totally ruined my chances of owning your ass in b-ball."
Axel's eyebrows shot up. "Huh," he muttered softly. Then he perked up and ruffled Roxas' hair affectionately. "Cheer up, shortie! You can own my ass anytime," the redhead chirruped brightly, not without a tone of underlying suggestiveness. "Just ask. I promise I'll say yes."
"Dude! We're in a school!" Roxas exclaimed, swatting Axel's hand away, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
"… 'Dude'?" Axel shook his head incredulously. "Man, oh man. I'm never gonna' to get used to you speaking to me in Kid Jargon. What happened to the non-preppy Roxie I used to know? The one who loved to bite back at whatever I say – literally – and still love my charm at the same time?"
"Not my fault you've never experienced High School life before."
Axel shrugged. "I think you've just been hanging with your baby gang for far too long."
"And just what do the guys in your circle of friends talk about, exactly? Adult stuff?"
Axel looked amused. "For one, we don't speak Preppy-Talk. 'Dude', 'chill out', 'wicked awesome', 'holy cow', and 'frickin' Jebus!' are words that do not exist in our vocab, kiddo."
"Uh… Excuse me? Demyx kinda' uses them all the damn time?" Roxas crossed his arms accusingly.
"Dude! That's 'cause he's like a frickin' kid stuck in an older dude's body!"
Roxas looked at Axel pointedly with an eyebrow raised. "Ax, just listen to yourself for a second and tell me you did not just say 'dude' twice."
Axel laughed. "Alright, alright. Yeah, we're all High Schoolers here. But seriously Rox, come spend some time with us too. I don't know why you think you still belong with the other kids in your grade. Sora and Kairi, I can understand. I can even understand you hanging with Nam. But the Twilights? Man, you belong with Org Five!"
Roxas glared. "No, you ass. I belong with the Almighty Gang of Keybladers," he snapped sarcastically, earning a blank stare from the redhead.
"You… made up your own gang with Sora and Riku?" the redhead said weakly, looking hurt.
"No!" Roxas threw up his hands exasperatedly, unable to believe how gullible Axel was. "My point is… Argh! Ax, you're categorizing us into different segregated cliques and act as if you have a problem with that! Why? I happen to really like Hayner and Olette and Pence, and they happen to really like me."
"Rox, does that not apply to us?"
"…" Roxas was speechless.
"Hah! Gotcha' there!"
"You can't just ask me to ditch my friends from my grade to go hang with -"
"You other friends? From another grade?"
Roxas scowled.
Axel sighed and spread his lanky arms out wide in defeat. "Okay, fine. Lunch today, get your little gang to come sit with us at the Organization table. Maybe we could afford to expand our circle a little."
Roxas looked startled at the sudden surprising gesture. "You sure?" His expression changed to that of doubt. "It isn't exactly normal for Juniors to join Seniors at a table. It's like, against some unwritten High School law or custom or something…"
"Well, we'd be the first to break that tradition, now, won't we?" Axel winked. "Besides, I think it's about time I got to know this Hayner guy a little more. And maybe get even with him for breaking my goddamn nose."
"Right, right. If this is just about the nose..."
"Relax, Roxie! Chill out!"
Roxas smacked the taller senior upside the head. "Watch your Preppy-Talk, idiot."
Axel grinned stupidly in response. "I really love your terms of endearment, you crazy kid, you."
"Bite me," Roxas growled warningly.
"Why Roxas! Was that an invitation of some sort?"
"No. It was the Preppy thing talking."
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A/N: Whee! Who didn't see Axel becoming a basketball player in high school? LOL. Leave a review and tell me if you like or hate it so far, yeah? And put it on Alert or whatever. CHEERS.