A/N: I'm keeping this note short and sweet. Just wanted to give a quick warning here.

Warnings: This particular story does contain character death, serious injury, and eventual boy-love. If any of these is offensive to you, I recommend hitting the back button now. That being said, if you're set on reading this, please drop a review for me and let me know if I need to improve anything.

Disclaimer: The cover image is courtesy of Noririn-Hayashi on deviantart. If I owned Kingdom Hearts, or any of these characters (including some FF characters), do you really think I'd be writing fanfiction about them? Didn't think so.

"You asshole," Roxas muttered as his redheaded best friend beat him at another round of Super Smash Brothers. Axel snorted.

"You're just upset because you can't beat me, but that doesn't make me an asshole."

"It does when you hit me and send the character flying off the screen every damn time," the blonde scowled at him.

"Okay fine, it makes me an asshole. What did you expect from me though?" Axel's trademark smirk was fixed on his face.

Sighing, Roxas said, "I don't know." He was being a sore loser. But it was hard not to be when Axel really did beat him every round, every time they played this game. He was about to say something else when he heard his phone blaring his sister's ringtone out of his pocket.

He pulled the phone from his pocket, swiping his thumb across the screen to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey Roxas! I was just letting you know that I'm on my way to come pick you up. I've got Ven already, and we're gonna go meet mom and dad for dinner. I'll be there in about five minutes, so make sure you're ready, okay?"

"Sounds good. I'll see you soon."

"Alright. I love you!"

"I love you too, Nam."

He quickly hung up the phone, searching for his shoes in the redhead's room.

"Was that Naminé?" Axel asked from his spot on the floor.

"Yea, she's gonna be here in a few minutes to pick me up. I gotta get my stuff together. Except I can't seem to find my other shoe." He bent down to search under the bed. He called a triumphant 'Aha!' when he pulled his other converse sneaker free from the clutches of the rabid dust-bunnies under Axel's bed.

"How did your shoe find its way under my bed?" Axel sounded just as confused as Roxas felt.

"I have no idea. But help me get my homework together, please?"

Axel did just that, grabbing all the loose papers from his desk and sorting out the ones that belonged to him. That was relatively easy, since his handwriting resembled chicken-scratch, while Roxas' looked similar to a girl's handwriting with how neat it was. He put the papers in the blonde's notebook folder as Roxas was finishing straightening up the books in his bag.

Axel handed him the three-subject notebook which was unceremoniously stuffed in his bag as neatly as it could be. Roxas zipped his bag closed, making sure he still had his wallet in his back pocket and cell phone in his right-side front pocket. He heard the sound of a car horn honking, letting him know that his sister had arrived.

The two teenage boys walked downstairs, where Roxas could hear Axel's mom in the kitchen with the redhead's older brother Reno. Sounded like they were making dinner.

"Are you leaving, Roxas?" She called.

"Yea, my sister's here with Ven in the car."

"Alright, well, be safe! See you tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Mrs. V!" Roxas smiled to the rather short woman.

"Now, Roxas, really. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Yuffie?" She smiled back at him.

"As many times as it takes, ma'am."

"Now you're just doing it to make me feel old," she playfully observed. Yuffie Valentine was still very youthful looking, despite the fact that both of her sons were fast approaching their twenties. Reno was on the cusp of it, being nineteen. Axel had just turned seventeen. "Whatever, I'll see you tomorrow, Roxas." And with that, she retreated back into the kitchen to finish making whatever dish.

Axel continued to lead his best friend to the front door, Roxas promising to text the redhead after he got back home from wherever he was meeting his parents. The redhead disappeared back inside as Roxas stepped off the porch, backpack strapped securely to him.

"Hey Ven, hey Nam," he said while casually putting his book bag in the backseat next to his ten year old brother. As he was doing so, his very pregnant sister got out of the driver's seat.

"Hi Rox. Do you think you could drive to the restaurant? My back started hurting from the way I had to sit while I drove, and I don't think I could make it that far if I drove from here." Naminé was about seven months pregnant with her current boyfriend's child and was rather large.

Roxas agreed and walked around the back of the vehicle while Naminé walked around the front, sliding into the passenger seat gingerly. Roxas was a little nervous – he didn't have his license yet, only a permit – but he wasn't going to let it show. He was a safe driver and knew better than to be distracted by anything, except maybe music. After adjusting the seat a little bit and fixing his mirrors where he could see behind him, he pulled out of the rock driveway of Axel's house, heading away from the dead-end and back out towards the highway. He hated that Axel lived so far out in the sticks, because he had to take a very specific route to get there.

Roxas made it to the highway and his posture became a little stiffer. He'd only driven on the highway two other times, and that had been with his dad teaching him. He heard Naminé laugh, and he assumed it was at how ridiculous he probably looked. He was about to say something when the phone in his sister's hands started ringing; it was most likely her boyfriend.

The pregnant blonde turned the radio down to answer.

"Hey Riku!" Roxas was right about the call being Naminé's boyfriend. Roxas was a little wary of the silver-haired man, but he never approved of anyone interested in his sister. He always thought she was too good for all her exes, but so far, Riku was in his good graces, despite getting his sister pregnant while she was studying to become a nurse.

He'd zoned out for part of the one-sided conversation.

"Yea, I'll come meet you after dinner. I've got Roxas and Ven with me now, so after I drop them off with my parents, I'll come over… No, Roxas is driving right now… My back started hurting… A back massage sounds great, actually… No, there's no backing out of it now; I'm holding you to it… Alright. I'll see you later. I love you, Riku… 'Kay, bye!" She hung up, going back to texting her best friend, Kairi.

Ven spoke up from the backseat, "You're not coming home for the night?"

"Sorry, Ven, but I told Riku I'd help him study for a big test he's got tomorrow."

"But you're gonna miss family game night!" The ten year old sounded like the world was going to end because his sister wasn't going to be home for their family's Thursday night tradition – after dinner, they always gathered together to play some kind of board game, like the Logo Quiz, or Would You Rather.

"I know, Ventus, I'm sorry. But Riku really needs my help tonight. The test he's taking is going to be worth a large part of his grade and I want him to do well so he can continue getting grants for school."

Ven huffed a pouty 'fine' and let the topic drop.

"Hey, cheer up! I'll be there for next week's game night; I'm sure missing one won't mess things up for you guys." Naminé turned around in her seat to face her youngest brother, ruffling his hair. "Now come on, put on a smile for me. Please?" At that, Ven gave a small smile and attempted to put his hair back how it was – not that that was hard to do anyway. His hair did the same thing as Roxas' did and swept itself to the right thanks to all the cowlicks the boys both had.

As Naminé turned back to face the right way, they started down a small, curving hill in the road. When they reached the bottom, Roxas became even more nervous. He could see, down the road a little ways that the car headed in the other direction of this two-lane road was apparently having difficulty staying straight.

"Uh, Nami," he sounded a little scared.

"I see them Roxas. But we're just going to have to pray they stay in their lane, because there's no shoulder for you to pull off on to let them pass. If they start crossing the lines, honk, okay?" She kept the slightly frazzled driver calm enough to answer with a small 'okay' from his seat.

In the other car, the driver happened to be one of Roxas' friends from middle school, Hayner. Now, Hayner had been driving long enough to be comfortable doing so – so unlike Roxas. Hayner was also notorious for being on his phone while he drove; he often joked that he was invincible, especially after having beat his old rival Seifer in a struggle match four summers ago, and every summer since. His girlfriend, also one of Roxas' old friends – Olette – was constantly telling him to keep his phone in the console of his car if he was driving, so he wouldn't be distracted. He never followed her advice.

From: Olette
6:59 PM

You're not driving now, are you?

He typed out a one-word reply, saying yes.

His phone buzzed again moments later.

From: Olette
7:00 PM

Hayner! Why don't you ever listen to me when I tell you not to text and drive?!

To: Olette
7:00 PM

ill b ok lette

As he was hitting the send button, his passenger, and longtime friend Pence shouted from his seat, "Dude! Look out," when he put his phone away, realizing that they'd crossed the double yellow lines into the other lane.

A second after Pence's outburst, Roxas laid on the horn, not realizing that it was too late. He tried to swerve the car further to the outside of his lane, just as the car crashed into his side, pointing him in the direction of a light pole, which Naminé's side of the car struck hard. The airbags immediately deployed from the impact, jarring the blonde siblings and knocking them unconscious momentarily. Ven, in his hurry to get away from the impending doom had removed his seat belt to sit in the seat behind his sister, being halfway across the bench when the collision happened, and hitting his head on the passenger side window, cracking the glass and falling unconscious as well.

In Hayner's car, the dirty blonde had tried to brake but was unable. When he hit the other vehicle, his seatbelt held him back, but his head snapped forward, hitting the steering wheel. His airbags didn't deploy. He and Pence were sprayed with the glass of the windshield, the chubby brunette guarding his face with his arms. His heart was pounding a mile a minute in his chest, adrenaline having kicked into overdrive. He was still breathing hard when the truck in the southbound lane came suddenly upon the accident, attempting to swerve onto the shoulder of the northbound lane, but instead not turning soon enough to do so – hitting Pence's side of the car head on. Pence screamed as his window broke against the force of the second collision and fell into the welcoming blackness of unconsciousness.

A/N: Hi guys! So, I know the last thing I need to be doing is starting yet another story when I still need to work on the others I have in progress, but I couldn't help it; this particular plot bunny wouldn't leave me alone.

So anyway, let me fill you in on what's been happening with my life! Right at the end of August, I was offered a second job, which I accepted because I wasn't getting enough hours at my first job. I was then called in for an interview for a third job (and offered the position), through my university to sell tickets to the sporting events, which I accepted as well. I was keeping very busy with those jobs, as well as school. I figured that after December, things would slow down some for me; NOT what happened. I was taking 15 credit hours of classes, and still working all three of my jobs. At the end of January/beginning of February, I got into a rather large fight with my mom about the relationship I was in at the time. So now I'm living with my grandparents. Classes are finally over (and I admit, I didn't do well at all...). I broke things off with my now ex-girlfriend and I'm still trying to mend the relationship enough to where we can be friends, but it's hard. I've never been very amicable with exes in the past. Anyway.

I've been offered a paid internship with the Division of Youth Services, starting for the summer. I have no idea how that's going to play out, as I'm still waiting to hear back about my background check. If everything comes back and I can start, I'm planning on quitting at least two of my jobs. That being said, I want you guys to know why I haven't been around all that much. I am still planning to finish my other stories, at some point in time. The only reason I've even been able to start this one is because I haven't worked since Sunday and I'm not working again until Thursday. So I had a bit of free time.

Anyway, please let me know what you think of this so far; it is going to be a chaptered story, and I'm going to start on chapter 2 immediately after this is posted.