Chapter 1

"Mom, I'm home!"

Sora closed the front door behind him and dropped his backpack at the foot of the stairs. He cycled through the day's mail he brought in until he found the envelope he was looking for;

To: Sora Fair

From: Shinra Academy

Sora grinned as he excitedly ripped open the letter. His eyes scanned the print as he walked into the kitchen and got a soda out of the fridge. As he opened the can and took a sip, he immidiately spit it out when he read the section of the letter that was most important.

"WHAT?"

Sora dropped the letter onto the counter and grabbed the phone, quickly dialing a number and took a swig from his drink as he waited for the other line to pick up. He heard a cough and a weak attempt to fake a congested voice.

Sorry Sora, I'm too sick for you to bring me the assignments I missed. I don't want you to be infected.

"Riku, I know your faking it," deadpanned Sora.

Sora heard his best friend laugh from the other end.

I can't get anything past you can I?

"Only because I've known you since we were in diapers," Sora chuckled. "Who is she?"

Her name's Lulu, she's 25 years old, and she has the nicest pair of-

"Whoa, whoa," Sora interupted. "Did I hear that right? 25 years old?"

A fake ID and good looks do me wonders my friend.

Sora rolled his eyes. "You're such a slut, Riku.

Jealous, are we?

Sora let out an annoyed sigh. Yes, he was jealous. He was jealous that Riku excelled ahead of him in every class at school, especially sports, without actually having to try. He was jealous that Riku was able to successfuly bed any young woman he wanted while he couldn't gather the courage to even talk to a girl without screwing up. But he would never admit this. Riku was practically a brother to Sora, and he wouldn't let his own insecurities ruin a friendship that lasted for years.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," said Sora.

Well, I have pictures if you want to see what helps me sleep at night-

"Ugh, not what I meant!" Sora exclaimed quickly. "Listen, do you mind if I come over to your place?"

Sure man, Roxas is coming over too. Let me just take out the trash real quick.

Sora groaned and hung up the phone. He hated it when Riku or any other guy talked about women like that. To him, they deserve to be treated with respect, not as objects.

As he finished the rest of his drink, he noticed a note on the counter.

Working late tonight, leftovers in the fridge.

-Mom

Sora ran a hand through his spiky brown hair. At least he didn't have to tell his mom the news anytime soon.

As he got into his car and drove to Riku's house, he couldn't help but worry about how Riku will react to the situation. Their whole plan was botched. They worked their whole lives to try and get into the same program and now, they were gonna get separated.

He parked the car on Riku's driveway, being sure to make room for Roxas when he gets there. Sora walked up to the door and was about to knock, when he heard a voice on the intercom above the doorbell.

"Door's open!"

Sora pulled down on the handle and walked through the hallway and into the kitchen, where he found his silver haired playboy friend sitting at the table, in a bathrobe, reading the play Loveless and sipping from a Coke can. He looked up from his reading and greeted his friend with a warm smile.

"Sora! Help yourself to anything you want. Roxas should be here in a few minutes."

Sora smirked as he grabbed a Dr. Pepper and a leftover slice of pizza from the fridge as he joined Riku at the table.

"Since when were you into plays?" Sora asked.

"Since Mr. Rhasphodos practically jammed this one into our skulls in English class," replied Riku as he held up his copy of Loveless for Sora to see. "It's actually pretty good, except it has no ending."

"What do you mean no ending?" Sora questioned as he opened the can of Dr. Pepper.

"The fourth act is missing," Riku sighed. "I guess the publisher lost it or something."

"Yet that play still sells millions of copies," Sora concluded.

"Yeah. Hey, did you get your letter from Shinra back yet?"

"Yeah. You?"

"I don't know, I think my mail is on the counter. I'll check right now."

Riku got up and walked over to the counter and started to sort through his mail.

"So, what did your letter say? Did you make it into SOLDIER?"

"...No".

Riku suddenly dropped the mail. He scattered to find his Shinra letter in the pile and once he found it, he made his way back to the table with a shocked expression.

"No? What do you mean no?"

"No, as in I was accepted into Shinra, but rejected from SOLDIER," Sora sighed.

"But..." Riku hesitated. "But we were supposed to get into SOLDIER together."

"Gee, I had no freaking clue that was our plan for the past seven years of middle and high school," Sora replied sarcastically. "Apparently, my results from the personality quiz didn't fit the qualifications of being a SOLDIER."

"Then, what did you get placed in?"

"SeeD," muttered Sora.

"You mean the mercenary group?" asked Riku.

"The very same," sighed Sora.

"Well that's not so bad," assured Riku. "SeeD still gets to do some pretty badass stuff."

"Yeah, but the plan was to get into SOLDIER together. Me being placed in a program that can be hired to fight against SOLDIER kind of defeats the purpose. Plus, my father was in SOLDIER. I feel like, if I can't follow his footsteps, I insult his memory."

"Sora, I'm sure your father would have been proud of you no matter what," said Riku as he opened his letter. "I'm positive you would make a great mercenary."

"But-"

"Don't worry about me," Riku interjected. "Just try to make the best of your situation."

Sora lookked down at the table and grinned. "Yeah, you're right Riku. I mean, I'm glad that out of the both of us, at least you got recruited in SOLDIER."

He looked up to see his friend reading his letter with a bewildered expression on his face. Sora's grin faded and was replaced with a concerned look.

"Riku?"

"I'm not in SOLDIER either."

"What?"

Riku looked up at Sora. "I got put in with the Turks."

"The Turks?"

"The black ops/espionage group," Riku groaned.

"Oh."

There was an akward pause in the air. Sora's eyes shifted as he tried to find the best thing to say to the downtrodded Riku.

"Well... espionage is cool. Working behind the scenes, orchestrating assasinations..."

"But I wanted to be in the front lines," interupted Riku. "I wanted to be regarded as a hero, and how is that supposed to happen if you have to stay in the shadows? In SOLDIER, everything you do is followed by the public, the people admire you for your deeds. But with the Turks, everything's classified. I mean, yeah, the Turks still get recognition, but only from those working with Shinra like teachers and officials. You can't share details of your exploits with friends and family, and no one thinks of the Turks as heroes like they do with SOLDIER. I doubt most people even know what a Turk is."

"What happened to trying to make the best of your situation?" asked Sora with a raised brow.

"That's easy for you to say! You're with the best mercenary organization in the world, at least you still get to be regarded by the public! My identity pretty much dies when I join the Turks! I'll become a nobody, another suit that can't be told apart from the others!"

Just then, Sora and Riku heard a knock at the door. Riku reached over towards the intercom button.

"Door's open!"

A spiky blond haired boy ran into the kitchen with a panicked expression etched into his features. He dropped a piece of paper onto the table between Sora and Riku.

"I got put in SOLDIER," Roxas stated in a frightened voice.

"Well at least that makes one of us," Riku grunted.

"Wh-what?" stuttered Roxas. "But you guys are practically bred for SOLDIER!"

"Apparently Shinra thinks otherwise," sighed Sora. "I got placed in SeeD."

"I'm a Turk," Riku said in a dead tone.

"Are you kidding me?" Roxas panicked. "I can't go into SOLDIER alone! I won't last a day without you guys there with me! Do you know what kind of tests they put you through the day you join?!"

"Okay, you know what?" exclaimed Sora. "We're all making too big of a deal about this! I mean, why don't we just give all these groups a try before we start complaining. Who knows? We might end up liking what we got placed in more than what we aspired to be in."

Roxas and Riku looked at eachother, then at Sora.

"You're right man," conceeded Riku. "I mean, we have the whole summer to prepare for this, don't we?"

"Yeah," agreed Roxas. "I could probably use this time to get into top condition. Though the screening process for SOLDIER still scares the hell out of me."

"That's the spirit," smiled Sora as he took a sip from his drink. "Too bad I didn't know I was gonna be in SeeD beforehand, otherwise I would have offered my services to people getting bullied as practice."

"Yeah," said Riku. "Good thing I have practice for spying from middle school, all the times I peeked into the girl's locker room."

The three friends laughed. This was either the start of something awesome, or something bound for mass chaos.

A/N: I got this idea while walking to my car from school, and I figured I'd just roll with it. Basically, the story's about Sora, Roxas, and Riku's various misadventures in their respective organizations, eventually joining together to fight a common enemy. As I introduce more characters, I am open to suggestions as to who to put in which group. Unti then, just read and review.