Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or anything that's going on in this story.
Chapter 1: All I wanted was you.
I sat on his porch, waiting for him to come outside. I never went inside Lea's house. He had issues with his mother. She blamed everything on him, all because his father walked out on her, and she wasn't ready for the relationship to end. She constantly told him that he would never amount to anything that his father was, but I tend to disagree. Although, I'm probably biased; Lea was all I had. It wasn't that I was afraid of her, oh no, that wasn't the case at all. It was Lea who'd asked me never to come in. He didn't want me to see him in a different way then I knew him. It was meaningless however. I could still hear them screaming.
"Shut-up mom, just leave me alone!" Lea stormed out of the house. His reddish-brown hair was in the usual spiked fury, and he was wearing his favorite purple zip up hoody. Blue jeans and sneakers moved swiftly as he bounded down the steps toward me. I stood, preparing to match his stride with my own, knowing what was coming. Once we were far enough away from the house, Lea would unleash a fury of emotions like a burning flame, untamed and destructive, and I was there to lick his wounds.
We'd done this almost every night for about 2 years now. Lea, my best friend, my everything walked with me beneath the moonlight, despite the way I acted beneath its peculiar pull on me. He was one of the only boys my age unafraid of me. You could say I was "a bit of a lunatic." I walked right next to him, waiting to turn the corner, and for him to let loose. I never minded though. Just having him there was enough, although he could stand to toughen up a little bit. But, I'd rather have him, emotions and all than none at all.
"It just isn't fair." He finally said. Much calmer tonight than I expected. "I never chose to look like my father. I'm not her punching bag. What does she want from me?" He looked pointedly at the floor. My heart ached as I looked at him. The minute he moved his eyes, he'd probably cry.
"We go through this all the time, and I tell you every single time that you're free to split an apartment with me. " I say, trying to do anything to loosen his burden.
"And every time I tell you no. I wouldn't-"
"Want to burden you like that." I finished his sentence. "Lea, you're getting predictable." I said. We both laughed a little. "But in all seriousness, you don't need to go through this every day. We both have jobs, and the longer you stay in that house the closer you get to a tumor. I think I can see one growing!" I say pretending to examine his head.
"Shut-up!" Lea exclaimed, slapping away my hand. He laughed a little though; mission accomplished. "Besides, sometimes I wonder if my mom didn't have me to kick in the nuts, what she would do to herself…"
"Get a dog, and then kick it in the nuts. Maybe if we're lucky it'll be a girl, and then they can bitch each other out." I say, in a matter-of-fact tone. He laughed a little more. We made our way to the park. We played in this park when we were much younger, and it hasn't really changed much. We just don't swing on the swings anymore. We sit on top of the picnic tables, climb the trees, and draw on anything we can. But tonight Lea had something different in mind. He sat, flat on the ground, and then laid down on his back. I sat next to him.
"Can you find the north star?" Lea asked. I laid down to get the view. I instinctively looked for the brightest star, the first one I saw, and pointed to it. Leah curled and craned his body until he could see where my finger was pointing. "Uhh…nope. That's definitely Venus." He said.
"Tcht whatever. Where is it then Mr. Astronomer?" I asked.
"It'd be right there." He took my hand, and pointed in the direction of the star. I left my hand in mid air for a split second to find it, and then lowered my hand slowly, the traces of Lea's warmth still there.
"Oh…" I say. I started to twitch a little. I looked up to the sky, only to notice the clouds were parting from the moon slightly. I twitched a little more. I always got twitchy when the moon came out. Very twitchy and very warm.
"Are you gonna be alright?" Lea asked.
"Yeah, tonight isn't a full moon. This is nothing. You should know this by now." I said.
"Believe me, I do. But you're fidgeting a little more than usual." As he said that, I looked at my skin. It was almost bubbling. I called it an allergy, it was the only possible explanation. It wasn't like I could go get diagnosed for this or anything. What were they going to ask me? "Have you experienced any sexual encounters with gigantic rabid wolf-men lately?" I laughed a little at the thought. My response would easily have been "I wish."
"What are you thinking about?" Lea asked me.
"Nothing," I say looking back up to the stars, deliberately averting my eyes from Lea's.
"You're a terrible liar. You had that wicked grin on your face, you know, like the one you get right before-"Lea began before something began to rustle in the grass. We both sat up, anxious. It wasn't often that the police came by, but when they did we usually got in trouble. We looked around, but nothing was there.
But then we heard it again.
"You hear that too?" Lea asked.
"Yes," I said, still trying to figure out where it was. We stood back to back searching around. Maybe it was some filthy rodent.
"Hey, look!" Lea said. I turned in his direction. He was looking directly into the trees on the outskirts of the park. We walked a little closer, until we could clearly make out a pair of yellow eyes.
"Oh, it's just a cat." I say, brushing it off. But then another pair appeared right next to it. And then two more…they were growing exponentially!
"Sai…I don't think those are cats…!" Lea said. One of the creatures came out. It was black, with yellow eyes. It looked like a gigantic insect; like a cricket the size of a dog. It squirmed a little, and then it began to come forward, only much faster. Then it hit a sprinting pace. "Shit!" Lea exclaimed. We both turned heel, running. I made the crucial mistake of looking back, only to see a pool of yellow eyes chasing after us!
"Lea the monkey bars!" I exclaimed. We climbed to the very top, as quickly as we could. Slowly but surely we were surrounded by the yellow eyed creatures. I hoped silently that there was a God, and that these things couldn't climb.
Silly me, it must've slipped my mind that I have only been to church three times; once for a wedding, and twice for funerals. Even if there was a God, to him, I was a nobody.
The creatures squirmed their way right up the monkey bars. I swore, as Lea and I panicked. They inched closer to us. We kicked, but it did no good; they absorbed our blows without pain.
"We have to jump!" Lea screamed! He jumped off of the monkey bars and landed within the pool of creatures. I tried to follow suit, but one of them grabbed at my leg before I could. I hit my leg on the bar, feeling my bone snap beneath the pressure of my weight and the collision. I dropped to the ground in pain, hitting 3 bars on the way down. The dark creatures crowded me. The last thing I could hear was Lea, screaming my name. And then, there was nothingness.
I couldn't see anything, I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't even breathe. All I felt, was an awkward feeling in my stomach. I felt like I was being poisoned. I cringed and tightened, but then it all circulated into my chest. I gasped, as I felt my body float in the air. My chest burned with agony for about 15 seconds, and then my body hit the ground, limp and relieved of the pain. But it wasn't worth the feeling of emptiness that came with it. It was cold. I'd never known anything to be colder than the winters up north, but this was absolute zero.
I lay there, until I could fully control my body again. I opened my eyes, slowly and saw the same scenery of the dark sky. A few minutes later, and my eyes moved to find the north star, but it wasn't there. I did notice that the dark creatures were now gone. I sat up slowly, still slightly in pain, but the worst feeling was that of the emptiness. Then from what I could see, was Lea, or what was left of him. He hadn't surfaced yet. He was lying on the ground, limp and cold.
And he was naked.
…And so was I.