Chapter 1

The first week of summer had been basically perfect. The weather had been amazing, I had happily stuffed myself with so much ice cream that I thought I would explode, and my parents hadn't pestered me to do chores the whole time. My best friend, Namine, and I had been attached at the hip and had biked around town for hours on end. But all good things must come to an end of course, seeing as she left for summer camp two days before.

Now here I was, sprawled on my bed with the book I had been reading laying across my stomach. The radio hummed quietly from across the room. It was a song about being in love and being damn happy about it. Then again, isn't that what most songs are about now?

I sat up with a groan and stretched. The sun was beating mercilessly into my eyes from the window next to my bed, once again reminding me that a summer should not be spent in your room. I glanced at my phone, debating whether I should text someone. The idea of hanging out with the people in my contacts was entirely unappealing to me though. I always felt like with each of those people I had to hide a part of myself. With Kairi, I had to bite my tongue to not swear or say anything that could come off as even remotely rude. With Yuffie I always had to act silly and crazy, pushing away the more reserved part of myself to some deep corner in my mind. I wanted to talk to someone that I could be myself with, like Namine.

"Xion! Make sure to have the laundry done by the time I get home!" There was a loud door slam following, indicating that my dad had gone to work. Mom had been gone since 6 am at her job as a manager of a local shop. Dad was into freelancing and I had long since stopped bothering to keep track of what job he was doing.

Stifling a yawn, I slowly got off of my bed. I had already showered and gotten ready out of pure boredom so I could go anywhere I wanted to. I lived in one of those suburbs that nothing ever happens in and there's virtually no crime besides the occasional robbery. Therefore my parents allowed me to ride my bike around town to wherever I pleased, as long as I was home for dinner. I grabbed my small, leather bound journal and a pen and stuffed them into the pocket of my oversized high school hoodie. "Go Tigers," I muttered sarcastically to myself as I shoved a piece of mint gum into my mouth. A lot of kids at my school drink and smoke pot. Me, I chew gum like it's nobody's business.

A few minutes later I was peddling down my street, the sun on my back. I didn't really even know where I was going. I just needed to feel the wind in my face and have my feet doing something besides stretching out in the hammock in my backyard. I turned down another small, residential street that wound through one of the nicer neighborhoods of town. The sound of kids splashing in a backyard pool came from the house to my right, while a loud radio blaring country music sat in the window of a house on my left. I gritted my teeth and started to peddle faster, trying to escape the horrible music.

My legs were beginning to ache as I slowed down after peddling at my top speed for about 8 minutes. I was in an area of town that I wasn't as familiar with as the other parts. The houses seemed to be smaller and less taken care of than the previous streets. It was then that I saw a small path jutting out between two houses. I slowed my bike down to a crawl and peered down it. The trail flowed into a forest area that I had never heard of or noticed before. Curious, I turned my bike and started to peddle down it.

The air was much cooler under the shade of the trees than out in the street. I could hear the shuffling and songs of birds in the trees all around me. The path was thin and windy, reminding me of a river. A light breeze was rustling the leaves of the trees above me. I was enjoying the sounds of everything when a new sound echoed through the forest.

"Ahhhhgg…" I heard someone moan nearby. It was obviously a male from the lower set of its voice. I looked around as I slowed my bike down, every sense in me alert. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement. I turned my head back to the path only to see a foot a few inches in front of my tire. I screeched the bike to a stop and jumped off, scrambling to the figure. He was hidden almost completely beneath a bush, the foot I almost ran over being the only part of him visible. Without stopping to think, I grabbed the left leg of the boy and dragged him out of the foliage so that he was sprawled over the trail. Sitting down on my knees beside him, I finally looked at his face.

I recognized him almost immediately. He was a boy in my grade at school. I vaguely remembered him being in my math class the year before. "Roxas," I whispered, brushing his matted blond hair from his face. His eyes were closed and he was breathing quietly.

"Get away from him!" A voice suddenly yelled behind me. I quickly took my hand away from his face and awkwardly stumbled to my feet. I turned around only to see an enraged looking boy with flaming red hair sprinting towards me. He had to be older than me by at least a year. I winced, expecting him to run right into me. Instead he fell to his knees beside Roxas. "Roxas, buddy, are you ok? Huh? Answer me!" He grabbed the boy's shoulders and lightly shook him. Taking his hands away from him, he ran a hand through his flaming hair and let out a growl.

Suddenly, he abruptly jumped up and pointed a finger in my face. He was over 6 feet tall, looming over me like a skyscraper. "Did you do this to him? Did you?" He yelled, his eyes blazing with fury. "I don't even care if you're a tiny little girl! I will throw you into tomorrow!"

"I…I didn't…I found him here…" I stuttered fearfully. He reminded me of an angry animal on one of those Discovery Channel shows. There was an intense burning look on his face, his whole body rigid. But behind the fury, I could see worry in his eyes. A lot of worry.

"Axel," said a voice to my left. I turned my head away from the strange boy to see another kid walking towards us. "If you had any eyes at all you would have seen her go biking down this path just a few feet before us. Stop being an asshole and lay off." This boy had spiky black hair that stuck up in all directions and intense brown eyes.

The boy with the flame hair, Axel, took a step back from me. "Whatever Vanitas. What happened to Roxas?" His voice wavered as he said my classmate's name, once again revealing his concern for him. "We have to get him help."

"Um, I have a cell phone if you need it," I said quietly, digging the small flip phone out of the pocket of my shorts. I held it out to Axel uncertainly.

"It's cool, I got it," Vanitas said. He took a blackberry out of the pocket of his skinny jeans and quickly dialed. I could tell by the amount of buttons he pushed that it wasn't 911 though. Who else could he possibly be calling at a time like this?

"Larxene. Get me Zexion," he commanded into the receiver. A loud female yell came out of the phone's speaker so loud that Vanitas had to hold the phone away from his ear. "I don't give a damn if this is your phone and not his! Get me Zexion." A moment of silence passed and I gathered the phone was being brought to this Zexion. I turned my attention back to Axel. He was kneeling on the ground next to Roxas, murmuring to himself.

"Zex, it's Vanitas. We've had an incident on the trail near 14th street. It's Roxas. Axel is having a full-blown panic attack like a baby so you might want to bring something to calm him down. We need you ASAP." He hit the end call button and swiftly tucked the phone back into his pocket. Turning around, he eyed me curiously. "Who are you?"

I cleared my throat and nervously stuck my clammy hands in my hoodie pocket. "I'm Xion. I'm in Roxas's grade. I was just biking down the path when I heard him cry out and then I saw his foot and…"

"He's waking up!" Axel shouted over his shoulder. I looked towards Roxas and saw that his eyelids were beginning to flutter open. After one last blink, they opened up fully. He tried to sit up but let out a pained noise and fell back down onto the pavement. "Take it easy there, kid," Axel said lightly. I gaped at him. It was as if the worried and angry boy from just a few seconds ago was replaced with someone entirely different.

"Axel?" Roxas questioned, looking up at the red head. "What am I doing on the trail?" His bright blue eyes took in the scene around him when they landed on me. "Why is Xion here?"

I blushed and awkwardly and shifted my weight from foot to foot. "It's kind of a weird story," I answered.

"What happened?" Vanitas questioned from behind me. He was leaning on a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. Unlike Axel and I, he seemed to be almost bored with the situation.

"I….I was…walking down this path when I heard Xigbar's voice coming from somewhere off the trail. I followed it and found Xigbar with a girl against a tree…and she was crying. I asked him what he was doing and he started to yell at me and called me a lot of mean things…then he yelled at the girl to get going and told me he would teach me a lesson for meddling in his business. It's kind of hazy from then on," he explained, tripping over his words at times. A tear then started to roll down his cheek. He quickly brushed it off and put on a more serious expression. "What about the girl, Axel? Did you see her?"

Axel shook his head sadly. "Xigbar that bastard. When I get my hands on him, I swear on my freaking grave that I'm going to…"

"Would someone please explain to me what happened?" Another tall boy was quickly striding up to us. Dark hair fell across one of his gray eyes and he carried a book under his arm. I recognized him as one of the smartest students in the grade above me, but now I could finally put a name to the face. Zexion.

Vanitas quickly briefed him on the events. He nodded in understanding, then began to bark out instructions. "You grab his upper body Vanitas, and Axel, grab his legs. Lexaeus has his van running at the end of the pathway." The boys quickly got into position to lift up Roxas. Zexion then looked at me. "You can leave, you are no longer needed," he quickly dismissed.

"N-no!" Roxas spoke up suddenly. "Xion comes with." His jaw was set in a firm line and his expression was hard. Clearly he wouldn't take no for an answer.

"What?" the other three boys said in unison, looking at Roxas as if he had a third arm growing out of his chest.

"I want Xion to come with. She's better company than you three numskulls." He smiled weakly at me from the ground.

"Well gee, Roxas," Axel said, "That hurt me deep man." He faked a puppy dog face as he took hold of his legs and hoisted him off the ground. Roxas laughed as the boys started to carry him down the path.

Zexion started to follow after them. "There's room in the back for your bike, Xion," he said over his shoulder.

I was worried that the longer I stood there, the more the weirdness of this situation would dawn on me so I briskly grabbed my bike from its place on the ground and rode after them. Won't this be something to tell Namine about when she gets back, I thought with a smirk as the van came into sight at the end of the path.

Author's Note: First off, thanks for reading my new story, it really means a lot. Second, this story will get more dark as it goes on so don't expect the characters to stay this way for long (especially Xion *wink wink*). I don't have a specific length of this story yet but I'm guessing it'll be at least 7-8 chapters. I greatly apologize for any grammatical errors, as I'm nowhere near the world's best editor. Reviews are greatly appreciated and I will give you a virtual cookie if you do :)