A/N: WOOT! story numba two! so, not sure how this turned out but I'm happy with it. When i gave this to my beta, the first thing she asked was does this have anything to do with Robert Frost and the answer is no. the title will make sense eventually. The school they go to is actually my sister's school so most of the layout is accurate, though some i have altered for my own nefarious purposes. *shifty eyes* The rating as of now is T but that may change, depends on what i feel like writing. well, that having been said... ONWARD!

Disclaimer: not mine... don't want to own it... this wouldn't be a fan-fiction then now would it?

Summary: Sora and Demyx are best friends enjoying their sophomore year at the University of Delaware along with their friends. But after a strange and mysterious happening, their world is turned upside down and nothing is as it seems. Pairings: AkuDemy, SoraxRiku, RoxasxZexion (maybe others)

enough lollygaging(sp?)... ENJOY!

"What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know. Wanna hang in the art wing?"

"Nah, too boring. How about the field house?"

"Sure. There's some cool stuff in there."

"Alright. Lets go."

"Do you think anyone is gonna show up?"

"I don't know; I sort of hope not. I feel bad when they do."

"Do you think we-"

"Stop it, all right. You think too much."

Cold, empty laughter echoes around them. "Yeah. I guess you're right"

"Of course I am."

Bright golden light filtered through the window into the bright room. The brunette boy sleeping in the blue covered bed blearily cracked his eyes open and stared up at his ceiling. Rubbing his eyes, Sora turned to his left to try and focus on the blonde boy sleeping in the bed across the room from him.

"Yo, Demyx! We have to wake up! We have to help the freshmen move in today."

Demyx grumbled and buried his head farther into his pillows. "Remind me again why we decided to be on the freshmen link crew?" he mumbled from somewhere beneath his bed sheets.

"Because Roxas is an incoming freshman this year and we have to help him. He's my baby brother!" Sora cried. He picked up one of his sky blue pillows and chucked it at his roommate and best friend. "Now hurry up and get dressed. We have to be at Rodney Hall in one hour!"

Demyx groaned loudly and threw the sheets off of him. "Fine! I'm up, I'm up. Now, are you going to let me shower first or do I have to go like I am?" He slouched out of bed and stumbled over to his closet and began rifling through his clothes to find something to wear on the hot summer day.

"You showered yesterday right? Like in the afternoon?" He heard a slight grunt of acknowledgement coming from the open closet. "Well, you are inevitably going to sweat having to haul all the freshmeats- I mean freshmen's stuff for them in the heat and humidity we've had all week, so why waste the soap and shower now if you can later?"

"But what about my hair?"

"What about it?"

Demyx pulled his head out of the closet and stared into Sora's eyes. "I have to style my hair! It's a part of who I am!"

"So just style it how you normally would," Sora said dryly hopping up from his bed and padding over to his own closet.

"That's easy for you to say! Your hair naturally looks good! I can't style my hair dirty!" For emphasis, Demyx ran his fingers through his dirty blonde hair that lay limp against his head. He attempted to get it to stay standing up but it fell down each time.

"Dem," his companion sighed, "that's only because there is no gel in your hair at the moment and who are you trying to impress. They're freshmen. And it's their first day. They're too scared to even think about stuff like that."

"You had better be right about this," Demyx grumbled.

"Aren't I always?" Sora asked cheekily. Demyx just huffed and grabbed his clothes and other necessities from the closet and stalked of down the hall to the bathroom the south wing of Smyth Hall shared.

Twenty minutes later, the two boys were climbing into Demyx's car and heading down Main Street toward the freshman dorms. The streets of Delaware were crowed with lost and confused freshmeat families desperately trying to find their way around Newark.

"Want to take the shortcut around those new dorms?"

"Sure. I hate driving around all these new people. I swear one if them is going to have an accident and my car is going to be the victim."

Sora laughed. " Kay. I think the turn is right here."

Upon arriving at Rodney Hall, Demyx and Sora exchanged a look and cracked up. A few volunteers were already there, helping the overly stressed out students find the registration table so they could get their room assignments. It was absolutely hilarious! Demyx pulled onto the small patch of grass across from the building used as overflow parking. Together, the friends walked to the registration table on the far side of the building to sign in and pick up their volunteer nametags.

"Watch out for those noobs this year guys," their mutual friend Larxene said. The blonde beauty was working with her boyfriend, Marluxia, at the table. "They seem even more stupid than you guys were last year."

"Thanks Larx. You make us feel so loved," Sora smirked.

She just smirked and shoed the two boys off as she had to help another freshman.

The boys walked back to the front of the building where they would guide the noobs to their rooms and help haul all their junk. They had been there for maybe a minute tops when a lovely blonde woman made her way over to them.

"Is that my Sora?! How are you sweetie? Come give mommy a hug." Without waiting for a response, the woman pulled Sora into her chest and proceeded to hug the life right out of him. Demyx could barely contain his laughter. Yup, that was Sora's mom aright. The brunette refused to believe he was anything like his mother, but everyone else saw that he was the spitting image.

"Mom! Boobs- can't- breathe! Help!" Sora managed to squeak out. Actually, he was turning an amusing shade of purple, whether from embarrassment or lack of oxygen Demyx could not decide.

"Mom, maybe you should let him go before he dies and you have to shove all that love and attention onto me. You know that would be the end of the world."

At the sound of the new voice, Sora's mom, Meagan, released her hold on her eldest son and turned.

"Now Roxas, why would it be the end of the world if I was to do… lets say… this!" As her final words left her mouth, she grabbed her middle child and hugged him hard to her chest as well, but adding a peck to his already red cheek.

"MOM!" he cried, struggling to get out of his grasp. "Please don't do that. I'm eighteen now, its just wrong!"

Meagan laughed as she released him and let him scowl and rub at his cheek to get all the mom germs off.

"Oh, hello Demyx! I didn't see you there," she said, finally turning and seeing Demyx, who she often referred to as a third son. Sora and Demyx had been best friends since preschool and they were rarely seen without each other. She ran towards him with open arms, ready to give him another one f her signature crushing hugs.

"Hi Meagan. Its good to see you too," he said as he hugged her back. Demyx didn't mind his embarrassing second mom. In fact, they often tag teamed to embarrass the rest of the Sinclair family. He had also been on a first name basis with both Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair for as long as he could remember. "It's been so long. What, a whole week and a half tomorrow?"

"Yes!" she cried, releasing him and throwing her hands in the air. She had always had a thing for dramatics, another thing she passed on to her eldest but he refused to accept. "I don't know how I will handle being away from my dear babies for a whole year!"

"Mom," Roxas said, clearly embarrassed by his mom's scene. "We live an hour and a half away. It's not all that far." He had just returned from his mom's car and set down an arms load of luggage. "Besides, shouldn't you be helping me unpack and then running over to Dickenson Hall to help Naminé get settled in?"

"Oh, you're right," she said, instantly brightening. "Your dad is over their with his car helping you sister unload her things. We only have a bit more here so I guess I'll finish up here then leave you with your brother." Her gaze fell back on said brother and best friend. "Well, what are you doing just standing there? Come do your job and help."

The boys laughed to themselves then raced to help. Within minutes, the large SUV was unloaded and Mrs. Sinclair was driving away towards Dickenson Hall.

Demyx turned to look at the large stack of boxes and large plastic containers in front of him. He was about to grab one when a sudden though popped into his brain.

"Why didn't they put you and Nam in the same Hall? You'd think that being twins they would put you near each other? For comfort if anything else."

"I dun know," he shrugged. "I guess they put me here 'cause of Sora and all. Naminé also has Kairi as her roommate so I don't think there will be any problems." Kairi was Naminé's best friend, much like Sora and Demyx. Though they hadn't been friends for nearly as long, their bond was just as strong.

"Really? I though she would have gone to college in another sate. Didn't she live in Delaware before she moved to Philly?" Demyx asked happily. He was quite fond of the quiet red haired girl. He was drawn to her, like she was a sad puppy in need of a home. Her family had moved from Wilmington, Delaware to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania when Kairi and Naminé had been freshmen in high school. She had never fully disclosed the reason for their move, but if you ever mentioned it, she would get a sad look in her eyes and would get very quiet.

Roxas shook his head. "I heard them talking when we were getting her things out of Dad's truck. She said that she had some things to deal with at this school and she felt she had to come here." He picked up a rather large duffle bag in one hand and his laptop bag and backpack in the other. So, you gonna tell me where my room is?"

Sora rolled his eyes and grabbed the duffle from his brother. "You have to check in remember? They should have told you at Freshmen Orientation."

Roxas stared at him blankly then scowled. "Fine. Where is it?"

"Just around the back of the building. If you see an evil blonde chick with antennas and a bitchy attitude, you know you have the right place," Demyx said with a laugh. Roxas scowled again and jogged off to find the table. Minutes later, Roxas returned with a key and a paper to help him find the room and another to take notes on the condition of the room.

Sora grabbed the first paper from his hands as Roxas bent to pick the duffle back up again. "Room 106? That's good; you're on the first floor. A bit noisy at times but easy to get to." He grabbed a clear container filled with other personal belongings and he gestured for Demyx to grab another. Together, the three made their way to the back door. Roxas opened it for the others using his I.D. cards magnetic trace. His room was down the hall, around the corner and on the right, two doors down from the common room.

"Well, lets open the door and see my new home for the year." Roxas took out his keys and put them in the lock. Sora and Demyx exchanged looks, trying not to laugh. They had been in Rodney last year and, well, lets just say Rodney isn't the nicest or the biggest dorms at the school.

Roxas pushed the door open and stood in the doorway. His face went through about five different emotions in a span of two seconds.

"Damn. I knew single rooms were supposed to be small but I think this takes the cake."

"Well, Rodney is one of the oldest dorms on campus. What were you expecting?" Demyx wedged his way into the room and dumped Roxas' bags in the middle of the room and sat on his bed. "You are going to want to put stuff under your bed to make the most of the space. You got bed risers right?"

Sora nodded and answered for his brother. "Yeah. I told Mom it would be a good idea since we were here last year. That one," he said, pointing at Roxas, "didn't see the reason to get them, or the over the desk shelf thingy. He said it was to girly for him." He glanced at his brother with a smug look. "I'll bet now you're glad for it."

"Shut up." Roxas dumped his stuff next to his other belongings. "Well, lets go get the rest."

After twenty minutes of hard labor and much stuffing to get everything into the tiny room (the thing didn't even have a closet! Just an armoire!), all of Roxas' things were inside.

"Do you need our help to unpack or put things together or get you connected to the Internet?"

"Thanks Dem, but Dad said he would come back once he was done helping Naminé. You guys go help other poor guys." He started to get his clothes out of a suitcase and proceeded to try and find a decent place to put them.

"Okay bro. We'll see you later." Sora tripped over to his brother and gave him a hug. Roxas hugged him back then pushed him away.

"Well, get going."

"See yah!" Demyx called and together the two best friends left the room.

"Did you know today was freshmen move in day?"

"Nope. I guess it's easy to lose track of time here."

"I wonder…"

"What. You don't think she actually came here do you?"

"I guess not. That would be kind of silly of her. But I can't help but-"

"Snap out of it. Wishing does us no good."

"Can we at least check? She may have come."

A gust of cold wind blew past, like the earth was releasing a sigh at the skies.

"I guess. Just promise me you wont freak out when I'm right."

"Deal. But, who says you'll be right."

"I think that's the last of it." Demyx sighed and collapsed on the grass in next to his car. Sora fell down next to him and threw an arm over his eyes.

"I think my arms are going to fall off. Why do freshmen have to bring so much stuff with them?"

"So, we brought just as much stuff. We just didn't have to haul five times as much stuff in one day."

"Can it Dem. If I want to rag of freshmen, let me rag on freshmen." He stood up and leaned down to help his friend up. "Hey, wanna meet up with Xigbar and Xaldin for some dinner. Or lunner, or whatever it is you call it in between lunch and dinner! They should have moved in by now."

Demyx took the hand offered to him and picked himself up. "Sure. Why don't you call them while we drive back to the dorm? I really need to shower."

"Fine," Sora grumbled. Demyx grinned and opened the car door. Sora got in the passenger side and pulled out his bright yellow cell phone. As Demyx wound his way back to Main Street, he could here Sora arguing with either of their two friends. Just as they were pulling up to their dorm, Sora grumbled and snapped his phone off.

"They can't make it," he grumbled. He opened his door and slammed the door shut, ignoring Demyx's indignant squawk that he was going to hurt his baby.

Demyx quickly locked the car and hurried to catch up with his angry friend. "Why? What're they doing?"

"Oh, something about a poker game with Luxord or something."

Demyx shrugged his shoulders as he opened the door to Smyth Hall. "Well, do you want to run and grab something then head over and check on Naminé and Kairi?" As they started down the hallway, the sound of newly moved in freshmen resounded through the hall as they reached their room.

Demyx looked Sora square in the eye. "I'm going to shower. You can do whatever but we are going to leave in an hour and a half. Got that?"

"Yup!" Sora chirped, back to his old chipper self. "I think I'm going to take a shower too." Demyx shrugged and together, the boys grabbed their shower necessities and walked down the hall.

An hour and twenty minutes later, Sora and Demyx traipsed out of their room and outside into the summer sun.

"Do you want to walk or drive?"

Sora ran a finger through his spiky chocolate colored hair, scrunching his face up as he thought. "Why don't we drive. We can go through the drive through of wherever we are going then we can head over to Dickenson."

"Okay, Stacey it is." Sora smiled as they walked over to Stacey, Demyx's car. Sora still couldn't believe that Demyx named all of his belongings, all of them having either ridiculous names, like Traffela Demetrius, or overly girly names like Amanda and Sophie or Clara.

They soon pulled out of the parking lot and headed off into Newark proper.

"Oh! Burger King! Can we go there Dem?" Sora was practically bouncing in his seat, eagerly pointing out the windshield to the Burger King down the street.

"Alright Sora, alright. Keep your pants on." Sora pulled his arm back but continued to bounce slightly in his seat. Demyx steered them into the drive through and they both placed their orders; each ordering a large sized Whopper and a Dr. Pepper.

"You spill any food in my car and I am dumping you out of the car while it's moving," Demyx said threateningly.

"Okay, don't worry. I wont spill any in your precious car."

Demyx grumbled about his friend's blatant disregard for the care of his car. They made their way over to Dickenson Hall, by way of Main Street. Conveniently, it was located not a five minutes walk from Rodney, so Sora was sure his brother would be fine if he ever needed his twin.

Sora looked over at Demyx with a mouth stuffed with fries. "Do you know where Nam's room is?"

Demyx stared blankly ahead for a minute and almost ran a stop sign. He looked at the short boy out of the corner of his eye as he slammed on the brakes. "Uh, I actually didn't think about that." He looked ahead then whipped his head around to look at his friend. "Hey! She's your sister. Why don't you know her room?"

"Well, you're as good as her brother," he countered. "You should know too."

"Why don't you just call her?"

"Why don't you?"

"Um, she's your blood sister and I'm driving you idiot!"

"Fine." While Demyx struggled to find a parking space, Sora was chatting happily to his youngest sibling. By the time Demyx found parking down the street, Sora was off the phone, mouthing a number over and over to himself.

"So where is she?"

Sora got out of the car and started to walk quickly down the street. "Room 325, building E."

Demyx smiled. "Alright, lets go check on our shared baby sister."

"Did you see her? Isn't she beautiful?"

"Yes, I saw her. I was there, remember?"

"Oh yeah. But I'm just so excited. I haven't seen her in so long."

"I know."

"I really miss everyone."

"I do too."

"Do you thin-"

"Stop it. Please stop. As much as you may believe someday we may get out of this, I don't think that's going to happen."

"Well, just because you wont, doesn't mean I can't wish."

"I wonder if the double rooms in Dickenson are any better than Rodney. They were built around the same time, right?"

"I guess. Only Vexen was here last year and he spent all his time in our dorm, remember," Demyx said as they climbed the stairs to Edison's third floor. "Well, we'll find out soon. Her room's right down the hall." The two ran down the last length of the hall and came to a skidding halt in front of their door, on which Sora knocked three times. Shuffling sounds came from inside and soon the door opened to show a delicately pretty platinum blonde girl with big blue eyes.

"Sora!" she cried in a soft voice. She ran forward into his arms and the siblings hugged each other hard. She looked up and caught sigh of Demyx behind her brother. "Demyx! You're here too!" She released Sora and walked by to hug Demyx.

He laughed as he picked her up and twirled her around. "Hey Nam! How are you?"

"I'm good. How about you? Sora hasn't been bugging you too much has he?"

"Nah, we bug each other. We're like yin and yang, like lucky charms and that funny leprechaun guy, Oreos and milk, Tom and Jerry!"

"I'm sure," she laughed softly. "Why don't you guys come in? Kairi should be back soon. She was just checking something with out RA."

"Don't mind if I do." Demyx grabbed Sora by the arm and floated into the room, towing the brunette behind him. The small room was made from the same painted white cinder blocks as those in Rodney Hall. However, the girls had warmed it up with pictures of friends and places from home and had draped a warm orange cloth over the window, bathing the room in a soft orange hue. Their twin beds on opposite sides of the room were made up with pink and orange bed sets with light yellow accents.

"Your room looks good Nam. Better than I can say for Rox. He's probably still setting stuff up and he most likely wont do anything to make his room look nice if his place back home is any indication. " Sora sat down on what he assumed was his sisters bed, judging from the small little lion stuffed animal that was occupying her pillow; she always kept with her. Demyx followed and sat down next to him, pulling Naminé down in between them. She wrapped an arm around each of their waists.

"So," she said, snuggling into her brother's shoulder, " why did you guys come over? Certainly you didn't come over just to say hi."

Demyx shrugged. "We were going to hang with Xigbar and Xaldin, but they had some deal with Luxord so we left them. So then we decided we would get something to eat and come over here." He paused and looked around his as-good-as sister to Sora. "Why don't we show them around the campus?" He looked back at Naminé. "That way you can know where everything is!"

"I don't know. I can ask when Kairi gets back. But that would be great. Thanks." She closed her arms and pulled them both into a hug.

"Okay. Well, when Kairi gets back we'll…Kairi!" Demyx jumped up and raced to the door. A petit dark redheaded girl was standing stunned in the doorway. She was stiff for a moment then melted into his embrace. "How are you? Liking college life so far?"

Kairi giggled quietly as she pulled back from his hug. "Well, seeing as I have only been living college life for a few hours, I can't really say much."

Sora stood as she snuck past Demyx and into the room. "Hey Kairi. How've you been?" He pulled her into a gentle embrace that she quickly returned. Some people thought it was strange that the Sora was such good friends with his little sister's friends, but to them, it was perfectly normal; them as well as Demyx, made an odd family of sorts. They all cared for each other infinitely.

"I've been okay. What are you guys doing here anyway?" she asked, easing out of Sora's embrace and walking over to sit on her bed.

"We were coming to see if you and Nam wanted a tour of the campus, well the close by stuff anyway."

"Yeah," Demyx added. "That way, you wont be lost when your first class comes."

Kairi cast a glance at her light blonde roommate. "I guess that would be okay. Great actually."

"All right then, lets roll!"

The four linked arms as the girls locked the door to their room and ran down the stairs.

"To Stacey!" Demyx cried, pointing his finger to the sky.

"To Stacey!" the other three laughed after him. Arm in arm, (in arm in arm), the friends laughed and ran back to Demyx's car.

"Well you saw her. Can we go now?"

"No! I have to make sure she is okay."

"There is nothing you can do!"

"Where does it say that?! I have her back! And I'm not giving her up again!"

A crackling empty void filled the space his friend previously occupied.

"Wait! Come back. Look. I know you want to help her, but there is nothing you can do. I know you can hear me."

A hollow whistle of wind signaled his return.

"That doesn't mean I'm not going to try."

"Wow. The campus is a lot more confusing than I thought it was, what with all the random pathways and shortcuts. Thanks so much guys." The four had finished their tour and were currently seated on a bench under a shade tree. Naminé had been ecstatic and chatty the whole time, commenting every so often on the buildings and what shortcuts she would have to remember. Kairi, well, she had kept quiet for the most part, but was looking around anxiously when they had entered the main mall.

"Yeah. It takes some time to get used to, but you end up loving it anyway." Sora sat next to his sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

Kairi sat down on his other side and Demyx sat down, ever so clumsily, on the ground at their feet.

"Why don't we all go get something to eat? There's a Chilies about twenty-five minutes away." Demyx was always hungry it seemed, and his growling stomach seemed to agree.

"What time is it anyways?" Sora asked, but not before his stomach could let out an enormous grumble of its own.

Kairi laughed and looked at her delicate silver watch. "Huh. It's around seven."

Naminé's blue eyes widened. "Wow. That tour must have been loner than we thought. Dinner sounds good." She shifted her gaze down to the blonde at her feet. "Demyx, what's the fastest way to get back to Stacey?"

"We can keep following this path around towards Anne Hall and then she's just parked along the street there. Shouldn't take that long."

"Great. Lets go."

The four stood and began the walk back to the car. A little ways down the tree-shaded walk, Demyx saw a small cross and headstone-like plaque in the bushes to the side.

"Hey, Sora. What's that?"

"I don't know. I never noticed it before."

Demyx jogged ahead of the group and knelt down to read the plaque. "Hey, its one of those 'in remembrance of' things that people put up, though this one looks like it was done professionally by the school board."

By now, the other three had caught up and were standing behind him.

"What's it say?" Sora inquired.

"It says, 'In honor of two young men who's lives were cruelly taken in a classroom shooting in 2004. Though the killer was never apprehended, the tragedy of these brave young men shall live forever in these walls and their memory, forever in our hearts.'"

"That's so sad," Naminé's quiet voice broke through. Does it have any names?"

"NO!"

All three looked at Kairi in shock. She was white as a sheet and silent tears were streaming down her face.

"Kai, what's wrong?" Naminé rushed to her friend's side and hugged her. The red head seemed to collapse in her arms.

Sora jerked his head around and looked at the plaque. There were no names.

"How did you know there wouldn't be any names?"

"We didn't want to announce to the world who they had been."

This shocked all three. We?

"Kairi, did you know them?" Naminé pushed the still sobbing girl away from her and looked her straight in the eyes. "Tell us. You can trust us."

Kairi seemed to shrink. Her eyes were filled with such immense pain none of them could even begin to comprehend. Her lips quivered as she struggled to hold back the tears threatening to fall over her shining eyes.

"Yes," she whispered, so quietly, the others could barely hear her. "They were both sophomores. One was named Riku. The other was Axel."

"Sweetie, I'm so sorry. How did you know them?" She brought her arms around the other girl again as she had started to sob again, this time harder.

"Ax- Axel was… Axel was my brother! My brother was murdered four years ago!" she screamed. Kairi fell to the ground, dragging Naminé with her. She was sobbing, her whole body shaking uncontrollably. Demyx and Sora quickly ran to comfort her, each wrapping their arms around the girl the two had both come to love as a sister.

"He was my brother, and now I'll never see him again!"

The three friends could only sit there helplessly as their friend fell apart at the seams. All they could do was hold her and try to pass all their love for her through their actions, hoping they could somehow try and piece back together a heart shattered beyond repair.

yay for chapter one! it is finished! well? what did yah think? being only my second fic published, i would love feedback to better my skills. Brownies to whoever reviews and flames will be used to bake them! XD