Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Okay...I honestly have no idea where this idea came from. I just have this insatiable urge to write it. Seriously, it's keeping me up at night.
So anyways, I hope you enjoy it. It's called Lucky 13
Here goes nothing...
Prologue
Roxas
The tour bus smells like cheap beer and old leather. The lights are bright and garish; the florescence is a bluish white, probably because this hunk of junk has been in service since before I was born.
The windshield is covered in smears, and the rain isn't doing much to help with the cleanliness—it's not like anyone ever washes the damn thing...
"Come on, Roxas, live a little." Larxene says, slurring her words a little as she holds out a red plastic cup. The strong odor of beer wafts up from it.
I don't even need to ask her where she got it from.
We're all members of the Twilight Town Tempests—our high school's basketball team. At least, all the boys are, the only girls present are Axel's wannabe-girlfriend Larxene, and my little sister, Xion. We've just come off a huge win at the State Championships and everyone's a little full of themselves at the moment.
And they should be, we buried the Radiant Garden Rebels 110-59.
Xemnas, our center, always carries some kind of alcohol in his duffel bag for 'celebratory purposes' and he broke it out tonight in light of our win.
Everyone's had a few cups of the stuff, except for Axel, Xion, and myself.
Axel's a firm believer that a healthy body is the best way to excel at sports, and Xion knows that if Mom and Dad don't kill her for doing something that stupid, I will.
And me?
"No." My answer is automatic. I just don't see the appeal of being so blitzed that I wake up on my bedroom floor the next morning and can't remember how I got there.
"Pussy." the fact that Larxene is so wasted that she can't speak properly takes the venom out of her jibe.
"Whatever." I don't see a need to waste my breath a insulting her.
"What about you, Xion? You're not a wimp like your big bro, are you?" Larxene snarks.
"Leave her alone." I growl. Larxene can say whatever she wants to me, but if she starts messing with Xion, the kid-gloves are off.
I honestly don't know what Axel sees in her.
I shake my head at Xion. Don't even think about it, kiddo. I can see it in her eyes that she wants to try it, wants to find out what all the fuss is about. And I can't blame her for it, I was curious at fifteen
too. But it's not gonna happen on my watch.
I stare Xion down out of the corner of my eye, trying to intimidate her with my big brother status. Come on, kid, be smart about this.
"I'll pass." Xion says after a long pause.
Larxene huffs, with just enough oomph in the action to make it clear that she doesn't approve of Xion's decision. "Suit yourself."
"Leave the kid be, Larxene." Axel intones, disgust evident in his voice as he runs a hand through his unruly mane of red spikes. "She's not even supposed to be here."
And he's right: Xion had begged and pleaded, and whined her way into tagging along to our final game of the season; and the only reason she was allowed to come was because Mom and Dad felt guilty about not being able to make it since they had to work.
Larxene looks a little stung by Axel's rejection—even though there's no way Axel would even consider going out with her unless her attitude changes, which isn't likely.
I have no sympathy for the self-centered bitch as she turns up her nose and stalks down the aisle of the swaying vehicle.
I'm beginning to worry about Xemnas' driving—out of the four bottles of booze he'd brought, Xemnas had drank a whole bottle on his own.
"Thanks," I say to Axel, genuinely grateful for his intervention.
"No prob." Axel replies flippantly, sitting down next to Xion and slinging an arm around her and pulling her close to mess up he black pixie-cut hair the same way I do. He gestures to the rest of the bus—all of them are completely plastered by this point. "You're not missing anything—that stuff tastes like piss anyway. When you're old enough, I'll take you out for a taste of the real stuff."
Xion giggles, her blue eyes sparkling. "Okay,"
I pull my phone out of my pocket and hold it out in front of me, leaning in and snapping a quick picture of the three of us—Xion will probably want one later, she loves to take pictures.
I almost drop my phone as the bus swerves again.
The bus is weaving back and forth over the road more than ever now, and considering the fact that there's a tree-covered slope to the left of us and concrete barrier to the right is making me more than a little nervous.
I nudge Axel and speak softly—no need to scare Xion. "Yo, should he even be driving? He had more booze than anyone. This thing is all over the damn road, man."
Axel nods once, sighing. "I'll go talk to him." He gets up and picks his way to the front, hanging onto the seats to keep his balance as the bus swerved.
Axel says something to Xemnas, which apparently he doesn't like—he jams his fist into Axel's nose and Axel staggers back to our seats at the back of the bus, and sits down, pressing his shirt against his nose to stem the bleeding.
"I take that as a no." his voice is nasally, and from the amount of blood gushing from his nose, I think it might be broken.
Axel nods.
"What a jerk," Xion comments, annoyed.
"What the hell were you tryin' 'a' pull Clarke? The Superior's a great driver!" Saïx says from the front seat, raising his cup to take another swig—he only succeeds in dumping most of it down the front of his jersey.
"Hell yeah!" Marluxia seconds, and I can't help but wondering how someone so obviously gay can have such a deep, masculine voice. The guy dyed his hair pink, and is obsessed with flowers. Need I say more?
"Damn straight." Zexion agrees sneering and trying to look cool behind his disgusting emo hair flip.
Epic fail.
"Huzzah!" Vexen says.
I think he's agreeing, but the guy's a wierdo. I mean, he dyed his hair white. And he's a complete nerd.
"Speak English you 'tard!" Xemnas roars—he's an angry drunk—turning to glare at Vexen.
And that's when it happens.
"Hang on!" Axel shouts in the same instant as Xemnas mutters:
"Oh, shit!"
And then the bus swerves violently to the left, smashing through the flimsy guardrail with a thunderous crash and a shriek of tortured metal.
The bus hangs in the air for a sickening, yawning eternity, just long enough for me to think: Hang on to what? And then I grab Xion and hold onto her, positioning her so that my body will cushion her from the worst of the impact...I hope.
And then the eternity—or is it a second?—passes and the bus plummets to the ground.
Everyone's screaming and crying and then the world flips and my back slams into a wall or a seat or a window.
Something snaps inside me, maybe a rib, and it's suddenly a hell of a lot harder to breathe, but I don't let go of Xion. Something slams into my skull, and it all goes dark.
I wake up to agony.
Unimaginable.
Indescribable.
Hell on earth.
My back is on fire; I must've landed on a broken window or something, because I can feel something hard and jagged slicing my back to ribbons. My mouth is full of blood, and I spit it out so I can scream, but I don't have the breath for that—it hurts too much to inhale. I'm covered in something warm and sticky, from the smell, I know it's blood.
Xion! I want to scream her name, so I can make sure she's okay, but I can't. I look around for her instead, trying to force my eyes to focus—all I can see is a blurry smear. My vision clears after a moment, and I immediately wish it hadn't, because I'll never be able to unsee this.
The inside of the bus is covered in blood, and most of the windows are shattered.
One of the players, Xaldin, has been impaled through the chest with a tree branch, blood dripping onto the walls from his wound.
Zexion, Marluxia, Lexaeus, Vexen, and Xigbar are all draped haphazardly over the bus, their bodies mangled beyond recognition. The only way I recognize them is from the numbers on their jerseys.
Xemnas and Luxord have both been ejected partially ejected from the vehicle, both of them hanging half out of the front windshield.
Larxene's twisted corpse is buried in the dashboard, which is smoking and sparking.
I still don't see Xion. Ot Axel.
And I can smell gasoline, which, coupled with the sparking of the dashboard, makes my situation that much more urgent.
I try to stand up, but there's something on top of me, pinning me down. That's when I remember Xion.
I look down frantically, praying that she's alright.
She's looking up at me, dazed.
"Hey, baby sister." I say softly. I have to keep it together for her. "You okay?" I try to smile, and then think better of it, knowing that my face must be a mess.
"It hurts, Roxas." Xion says weakly, and then she coughs, splattering my face with blood.
I'm fighting tears now. All I can think is She's only thirteen...Don't let her die like this."I know it does, babe. I know. But we're gonna get help. Just you wait and see."
"Will you sing to me Roxas? Like you used to, when I was little?" Xion asks. She looks so young and scared and vulnerable, tears streaming down her cheeks and mixing with the blood on her face and I don't have the heart to refuse her. Not now.
"Okay. But you have to promise me that you'll stay awake though, alright."
Xion smiles weakly. "I promise."
I start singing a little, my voice ragged and scratchy. "You're giving me...Too many things, lately. You're all I need," The tears are falling in earnest now, but I don't care. I look up through the broken window above me, catching what might be my last glimpse of the moon and stars...
And then a spiky red mane appears in the broken window.
"Oh, man, Roxas, you really need to take some singing lessons, bro."Axel says, grinning.
I've never been happier to see anyone in my entire life. "Axel!"
"There'll be time to chat later man. We've gotta get you out of here, there's gasoline all over the place. Quick, pass me Xion. There's an ambulance up the hill." I don't even have time to wonder how Axel managed to get out of this alive, let alone completely unhurt.
"Do you think you can reach Axel, sweetheart?" I ask her, trying to be encouraging. The window is three feet away, and I don't know if I can stand up to pass her to him without hurting her more.
"I think so..."Xion very slowly turns to reach for Axel's outstretched hand.. She's screaming and crying, and swearing and panting with the effort, but she manages to catch his fingertips.
" Gotcha!" Axel exclaims as he adjusts his grip. He hoists her through the window—that's when the screaming really starts. "Don't let go, Xion. I know it hurts, but you're almost done now. The hard part's over." Axel soothes.
Despite all her wailing, Xion manages to hang on long enough for Axel to pull her out.
"I did it, Roxas! I did it!" Xion's almost beaming now, at least until she coughs again, releasing another jet of blood from her mouth.
"Shit," Axel mutters. Normally, I'd be about to jump down his throat for swearing in front of Xion, but under the circumstances I can't really blame him. He gently, almost reverently sets Xion down and then reaches for me.
"Come on bro, now you." he says. I can tell he's trying not to panic, but it's not really working.
It hurts like a bitch to stand up, but I can do it. Unfortunately, that's about all I can do. My left arm is definitely broken, but my legs seem to be alright, except for a stabbing, shooting pain in my right ankle. I try take a deep breath against the pain—huge mistake—and I remember belatedly that at least a few of my ribs are broken, and one of my lungs might be punctured.
"No, take Xion up to the ambulance first. She's worse off than I am. I'll be alright 'til you get back." I have to make sure that Xion's okay before I can worry about myself. That's just how I'm wired.
I can see in his eyes that Axel wants nothing more than to call 'bullshit' and come in after me, but he won't do it now. Not when Xion's life is on the line.
"I'll be right back," Axel vows, and then he scoops up Xion and is gone. Xion's making all sorts of weird gurgling noises, that make it sound like she can't quite breathe right, and then there's some more wet, ragged coughing that sounds more like a dog barking than anything else.
And then, Axel's footsteps fade, and I'm alone again.
The smell of gasoline is much stronger now, and I can smell smoke too. I glance over at the dashboard—Larxene's hair is beginning to smolder. I have to get out of here!
It takes me forever, but I manage to climb out of the broken window, slicing my hands open for the trouble. The drop to the ground is too much though, and my right ankle gives way, dumping me face-first into a puddle, one that I barely have enough strength left to roll myself out of. Which, honestly, might not have been that helpful, because the rain's still a torrential fucking downpour.
I don't think I'm going to get out of here.
Not alive anyway.
But, as long a Xion's alright, I can't bring myself to care too much.
Axel's back, faster than I expected and he doesn't waste any time in cradling me in his arms. I'm not even embarrassed about it, although there's no doubt in my mind that I will be later.
"Is Xion alright?"
Axel's face twists, and I know that whatever comes out of his mouth next is going to be a lie. "She's fine. The medics are taking real good care of her."
I want to believe it so badly...and then the sound of crackling flames reaches my ears and Axel takes off running up the slope.
But not fast enough.
The bus explodes as the gasoline vapors ignite; the sound is incredible. There's fire everywhere and it's hot, so unbearably fucking hot that I can feel my skin tighten and Axel's screaming and there's this awful smell, like burning flesh.
Axel staggers forward I look up at him.
He's on fire.
Literally.
His jersey is burning, and his hair and his skin, and this horrible brownish smoke is coming off of him, and that's all I have time to see before I'm soaked by a spray of cold water and go sprawling to the ground.
A strong pair of arms rolls me over and I'm being strapped to something hard and stiff.
"No, let me up! I have to see my sister!" Her name is Xion, she's thrirteen. Have you seen her."
Someone's shining a light into my eyes. It's bright, and it hurts, and I can't see anything past it.
"We have to tell him, Riku." There's a feminine voice this time, somewhere behind the light.
"Your sister's dead, kid. I'm sorry," This voice is deep and masculine. The light dims and I see a young man with silver hair and teal eyes staring at me with something like pity.
I want nothing more than to get up and throttle him for his lie. She can't be dead. She just can't.
But, my limbs have decided to rebel against my brain and are refusing to work properly, so all I can do is lay there, burning in my anger.
"He's crashing," The masculine voice is panicked.
And then my vision starts fading, but not before I catch a glimpse of the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.
She has platinum blonde hair, and the most gorgeous blue eye in the world. Her skin is pale, but not in a sickly way, she just doesn't have much pigment.
Maybe, in another universe, in a reality where there isn't a ninety-percent chance of me dying tonight, I'd ask her out.
Yeah.
That'd be pretty cool.
I'll have to remember to thank her for saving my life if—when—I get out of here.
My world is fading fast, the color is bleeding away, leaving only her gorgeous blue eyes and blonde hair, and I'm overwhelmed by a desire to know her name.
"What's your name?" I ask.
And then she says something that starts with the letter 'N'. Maybe it's Natalie, or Natasha, or Naomi.
Everything goes black before I have a chance to tell her mine.
So...thoughts anyone? Like it? Hate it?
See that little blue button down there that says 'Review'?
Yeah.
I thought so.
Click it and let me know what you think! I'm going to decide whether I should continue or not from the level of response...
Peace, out.
~Script