Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. All I own is Aldrick.

"Speaking"

/Thinking\

Writing

Another day of school is over, and I'm glad it is. True, my friends try to support me, but it sometimes isn't enough. I'm tired of being a social outcast. But...I am who I am. Whether or not people accept me is their problem.

The teenager sighed as he closed his journal, leaning back into his chair. His gray eyes stared at the ceiling. His sand-colored hair, wet from his shower, stuck to the top of his head as he heaved a sigh. He picked at his white t-shirt as it slightly stuck to his wet spots, and lifted up the leg of his jeans with his bare foot, scratching an itch. He looked back down to the cover of his journal, the green cover silently staring back at him.

/Even as one of my last escapes, it still seems like a dead end...\

After running his hand over his hair, the teenager, Aldrick, got up from his desk and walked over to the corner of his room, where a television sat. The black box soon sparked to life as Aldrick pressed the power button on the remote control, and the high school senior peered into a nearby cardboard box.

This was the teen's final escape, and part of the reason he was ostracized by his peers. The box was filled to the brim with video games, ranging from Super Nintendo games, to those for the Playstation 2 and Gamecube. As the teen sifted through the games, he thought about what to play.

"Soul Calibur 2? No, don't feel like playing it. Valkyrie Profile? Beat it yesterday. Baten Kaitos? Disc two doesn't work, and I don't feel like starting over. Kingdom Hearts...It has been a while...sure, why not?"

After reaching behind the PS2 and flicking the switch, Aldrick put the game in the open slot and closed it, grabbing the controller as he sat in his gaming chair. The appearance of the Squaresoft logo made the teen sigh and smile. At the main menu screen, he pressed the down button on the controller and selected the load option. He had beaten this game five times, and each data was saved at the final save point. There was one, though, that was saved in a different spot.

"Oh yeah. That was before fighting Maleficent. I guess beating her again won't be too hard." A smirk played across his face, which was quickly covered by a grin at the sound of a faint ding. "The muffins!" he exclaimed as he jumped out of his chair. This was one of Aldrick's many quirks, and part of the other reason he was a social outcast. He was just plain weird.

As Aldrick headed out to the kitchen, he turned off his light and closed the door, leaving the game and television running. His mother had left some muffins in the oven before she left, and asked her son to take them out when they were done. If there would be any left, that all depended on whether or not he was hungry.

The muffins weren't done just quite yet, so he placed them back in the oven and waited, the sound of thunder coming from outside. The teen stepped over to a nearby window, watching as a tree, illuminated by the faint moonlight and a nearby street light, swayed dangerously in the strong wind. "Looks like it's going to storm. As long as it doesn't bother me and my game, it can do whatever it wants." The teen smiled as the oven dinged again, and this time the muffins were ready for consumption.

As Aldrick now walked back down the hallway, the lights in the kitchen being turned off for the night, he happily munched on one of the three blueberry muffins he carried with him. Between bites, he managed to say "I've got to get mom to make these more often." Reaching his room, he entered and closed the door, his game where he left it.

He got ready to bite into his second muffin, when he noticed that his alarm clock had shut off. "Did I trip over the cord at one point?" Aldrick asked aloud, not expecting an answer from the room. After placing the two leftover muffins on his nightstand, he went over to the outlet and found the clock still plugged in, and the rain coming down as if trying to flood the world in a matter of minutes. "Must be a power outage...wait..." The teen looked back to his TV, seeing it still on, and wondered what the hell was going on.

The room seemed to darken a little, and thunder boomed outside. But, where's the lightning? Aldrick thought as he ran to the window, opening the creme-colored blinds only to find nothing but pitch black. "What the...?"

The room seemed to darken a little, but the senior couldn't tell if it was because it actually was getting darker, or if it was because his eyes seemed to be creeping closed. He felt so tired for no reason, and it scared him. He reached to grab the nearest thing to him to stop from falling, only to grab his journal. /Damn...\ was thought as he closed his eyes and held his journal, the room black around him, as he seemed to fall. He seemed to fall past the floor, and then, he was no longer conscious.

Aldrick seemed to stir a little, but lacked the energy to open his eyes. His head hurt, and it felt like his limbs were made of lead. He could feel stone beneath him, smooth like a floor or street. /Am I in a city?\

Soon, voices could be heard.

"Is he okay? Is he alive? Can I poke him?" A female's, young and energetic.

"No. Don't add any more injury." A male's, cold and stern.

"We should get him to a bed." Another female's, this one wise and soft.

"Fine, I'll take the kid. I have a spare bed anyway." Another male's, gruff sounding.

/...Where did I end up?\ was thought before the teen seemed to fall back asleep, failing to notice the sudden movement beneath him.

When Aldrick started to come to again, he could feel a breeze. He could also feel himself moving faintly up and down, as well as being held against something warm. He snuggled against it, and felt the breeze and movements stop. A thought flashed into his mind. /Am I being...carried? Then, I just...!\ The teen's eyes opened, only to find himself in the arms of a blonde man.

"Hey, I'm not a teddy bear kid." The blonde man's gruff voice came quietly, as if trying not to scare Aldrick. That didn't go as well as the man hoped.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I didn't...I mean..." In an attempt to get away, the teen fell out of the man's arms, landing square on his tailbone onto the pavement beneath him. "Ow..."

"You shouldn't 'ave moved, kid." The blonde man smirked, and Aldrick blushed out of embarrassment. "Besides, it's not like I planned on hurting you."

"As if that's for sure! And stop calling me 'kid'. I'm almost eighteen." The senior didn't know the man's intentions, but couldn't stand being called a kid. What normal teenager did?

"Well then, what should I call you? Your name isn't exactly printed on your forehead." The man chomped away on a toothpick, and Aldrick blushed again.

"...Aldrick..." he said, scanning over the man. The man had blonde, in fact yellow, hair, with goggles that seemed to hold it up and back. His white shirt accentuated his muscles, but wasn't tight enough to look like it was cutting off circulation. His pants were slightly baggy, and he wore some kind of large waistband. His blue eyes were clear, and the teen's face seemed to go from faint pink to bright crimson. The man, although they never actually met, felt familiar to the seventeen year old.

"Aldrick? Not exactly common, but I ain't complainin'. I'm Cid Highwind." Cid thumbed his nose and smiled, and Aldrick's jaw hit the floor, literally.

In an attempt to get away, he stood up, only to start falling back to the ground. He almost caught himself, but all functions stopped at the sound of the man's name, and his chin came into contact with the ground. "Ow! Cid? That isn't possible. Cid Highwind isn't real. He's a fictional character in a game."

"Game? Sorry, ki...Aldrick, but I'm 'bout as real as they come." Cid knelt down, picking up Aldrick again, and heading towards a building. "Besides, how did you hear of me? I doubt I'm that popular in other worlds."

"...Other worlds...?" The high school student took a moment to think, and looked around at the scenery. A shop and a café were nearby, along with a pair of lampposts, and two big gates. There was even a mailbox. Wait a minute... "That's it! This is Traverse Town!"

"How'd ya guess? I didn't think it was that common a place for other worlds to know about it." The man looked down at Aldrick, and the teen couldn't say anything right away. It was a moment, then something came out of his mouth.

"I read a book about it." Damn, that's not believable...

"Sure ya did, but, I don't really care. Thought I'd just ask. Here we are." Cid had stopped in front of a shop, and Aldrick took a second to stop staring daggers into the man carrying him to realize that they were in front of the accessory shop.

As the man opened the door and stepped in, the warmth from the fireplace washed over the teen, and a small smile spread across his lips. Cid placed Aldrick on the couch in the back of the shop, and the latter couldn't help but sit up and look around the place as the former headed behind the counter.

The room was bigger than Aldrick remembered. But, then again, I'm not looking through a television screen... He peered in the glass showcase in the center of the room, and saw that each accessory was detailed, ornate, and expensive-looking.

"I made those myself." Cid spoke from behind the counter, a rag in his hand as he wiped it clean.

"You must be quite skilled with your hands..." Aldrick said quietly, looking over the decorations.

"My fingers may be rough, but I can work delicately with fragile things every now and then. Being a mechanic helps." Cid had gone quiet, too, and stopped cleaning for a moment before reaching behind himself and into his waistband, pulling out a familiar green book. "You had this with you when you appeared."

"My journal!" The excited teen got up and grabbed it, not feeling as faint as before. "But...it's almost filled..."

Cid scratched his stubble and thought for a moment, then went back to cleaning as Aldrick headed for the door. "I should warn you, it's not safe to go too far into the city. There are heartless running around."

Holding his journal tight, the teen nodded as he reached for the door to step out and explore his surroundings, only to have the door swing into his face.

The blow knocked him back and onto his ass again, his hands immediately going up to his nose. "Ow...that hurt..."

"Oh, I'm sorry." It was a young boy's voice, and Aldrick looked up, his gray eyes meeting sapphire ones.

"...You!"

To be continued...

Byne: I have to say I'm pretty proud of this. It probably isn't the best, but one of my friends read it ahead of time and said it was okay...so...yeah...Reviews would nice.