Chapter 1: Struggle under the azure sky
Roxas stared up at the azure sky, pondering over the day's events.
'It looks beautiful' he thought to himself, calmly watching the clouds pass below the blue sky. The wind caressed his face as he slowly drifted off. The grass below him swayed with the very wind that gently pushed against both the clouds and Roxas himself. The sun shone with the intensity that would be expected on an average summer's day in Twilight Town, giving Roxas a warm feeling. It was the perfect kind of day to do things outside. The bells of the station tower could be heard in the distance and annoyed the young blonde slightly, telling him that the time he has left to laze around on the grass was getting much shorter.
"Why is the sky blue" Roxas thought out loud. Before he even realized that he'd said it, the other blonde in his group of friends began pondering over Roxas' question.
"I dunno man. I heard it has something to do with the sea or something." Hayner pulled a confused face and looked towards Roxas' direction without moving his head.
"No, it's the other way around; the sea is blue because of the sky." Explained Pence, opening one eye to look up at the few clouds that were scattered around the sky. Olette, the only girl and seemingly only responsible member of the group laughed at these remarks.
"What's so funny?" Hayner and Pence asked in unison.
"That's what everyone says…" she began. "Everyone talks about how the either the sky or the oceans are blue because of reflections and all that, but I was told that it was something to do with the scattering of molecules in the air and some other sciency stuff like that." Olette smiled, feeling intellectually superior to the two boys. The three looked at each other and began laughing light-heartedly; entertaining each other's contribution to the question. When they stopped laughing, Pence and Olette returned to watching the sky and Hayner looked over to Roxas who still seemed confused as to what just happened.
"That's a weird question to ask anyway Roxas." Hayner said as he smirked at the embarrassed boy he called his friend. Roxas leaned his head back so that he could see Hayner, who was still staring at Roxas in a comical manner.
"I didn't mean to, I just, well, it kinda… just came out." Roxas explained as best he could, which got the other three to start laughing again.
"Hey, stop laughing!" Roxas exclaimed as he leaned forward so that he could turn to face them. The laughs slowed down and Hayner returned to his previous position where he laid on his back and watched the clouds. He paused momentarily to admire the vast blue sky that Roxas had just brought to his attention. The clouds were sparse, showing off the beauty of the Azure sea of air above Twilight Town.
"It was just a joke Roxas, it's not like any of us pay much attention to your crazy remarks anyway." Roxas threw Hayner a glare playfully but it was ignored. Hayner was too absorbed with looking up at the sky wandering around his thoughts inside of his brain. His face was so calm it was almost as if he had no emotions at all. Roxas shrugged off his glare and looked quizzically at Hayner's expressionless face for a moment before returning to lying on his back again, his eyes dotting from cloud to cloud this time. The group remained in silence for a long while, it wasn't an awkward silence as they were all relaxed and absorbed in their cloud watching session, but it was beginning to border the uneasiness that would soon be felt by all four of them. All of the friends (except for Roxas who was still pondering over his question) tried to think up some conversation starters, but to no prevail. Hayner seemed relaxed, but was aching to get a conversation going, Pence frowned a little, hating that he could sum up the courage to break the silence and Olette made a worried look that would be associated with a situation like being lost or coming across some sort of obstacle that no one knows how to get past. Hayner breathed out sharply and finally summoned up the courage to talk. Returning to his calm face, he looked straight at the sky above so as to look like he wasn't worried that he'd look like an idiot for breaking the silence.
"So Roxas, you hear about the upcoming struggle competition next week. I hear Seifer's gonna be signing up. Could be a chance to get some payback y'know." Hayner continued to look as calm as ever, but was killing himself inside, hoping that Roxas would answer soon.
"Oh, right I forgot!" Roxas exclaimed as Hayner wiped the sweat off his brow in relief. "What, do you mean by payback? Payback for what?" Roxas asked in a plight to receive answers from the still seemingly emotionless Hayner. Hayner wondered on a good answer to this and came across a sentence that nearly made him snigger and lose his cool face that he was working so hard to maintain.
"For his many years of douchebaggery." Hayner said as calmly as he could. Roxas pulled a face and leaned forward once more so that he could turn to face Hayner. There was a pause between the two, both not knowing what to say. Then Roxas laughed, and laughed some more. He returned to his original position and continued laughing, setting off his three friends. Even Hayner laughed, breaking his calm face to reveal a near sinister grin. The four laid in their cross shape laughing until Roxas stood up. They all faced him as he looked towards the station bell tower, where they normally sit at the end of the day. He looked above it, watching as the clouds passed over it.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Roxas asked in a demanding voice. He turned to face Hayner who was now giving Roxas a rather surprised look. "If we wanna take on Seifer, then let's sign up. We'll mop the floor with him and his entire gang if we have to!" Hayner's surprised look turned into a grin. He was going to enjoy this greatly. The gang agreed in unison and they all stood up. After giving Roxas smiles, grins and cheers, Hayner, Pence and Olette ran past him to reach the sandlot where the sign ups were taking place. Roxas however, stood his ground and turned to get a glimpse of the sky beyond the bell tower. There was a small patch that stood out from the rest of the sky, slightly turning a near light purple.
"Roxas!" a familiar voice called out. Roxas lowered his gaze to see Olette's emerald-green eyes staring back at him. She pulled a smile. "Aren't you coming with us? This was your Idea after all." Roxas paused for a moment, continuing to stare at Olette for a bit, making her blush slightly but feel a little uneasy also.
"Yeah, I'll catch up with you guys in a second." He replied. Olette nodded and ran over to the sandlot to catch up with the others. Roxas watched her run and after she was gone from his sight he returned to looking at the oddly coloured patch of sky. It blended in with the azure well and so was hard to make out, but it was definitely there. He shrugged and began walking slowly towards the sandlot.
'Wait a second.' He thought to himself. 'This was Hayner's idea.' He smirked at the thought of being praised for the idea that he only helped to put into action and continued to make his way down towards the sandlot.
When Roxas arrived, Hayner and the gang were already waiting. Hayner stood with a smirk on his face and called out for Roxas to hurry up. Roxas walked up to the board with the list of names on it. Hayner had already signed up. He reached into his pocket for a pen but found naught. He patted his pockets and looked around worriedly. Hayner shoved a pen in front of Roxas face and Roxas quickly brought his head back in reaction to this, turning to face Hayner who was giving his usual smirk. Roxas took the pen and began to write his name on the board. As soon as he had finished, he heard a voice which sound was enough to tick him off.
"Hey Roxie! You're not actually signing up for the struggle are you? What a joke!" Roxas turned around to see Seifer with his arms crossed, smiling so that his teeth were showing. "Y'know that you'll be beaten right? Why don't you leave the fighting to us adults?" Seifer commanded as he ruffled Roxas hair playfully. Roxas brought his right hand across his left and swung it backwards, narrowly missing Seifer's chest. Seifer recovered from his dodge backwards and laughed. "Looks like the little kid has some anger issues" He said attempting his best to wind Roxas up. "It looks like I'm gonna have to take disciplinary measures!" He exclaimed as he brought his left hand up to point at himself." He and Roxas stood facing each other for a few seconds before Roxas interrupted the silence.
"Well, are you gonna take those measures or are you too scared that this 'little kid' is gonna sweep the floor with you?" Roxas glared at Seifer.
"Oh, this is just priceless. You really can't wait until the struggle to get beaten up can you huh?" Seifer produced a struggle bat from some unknown location in his white trench coat and pointed it straight at his face. "So, what do you say Roxas? You wanna settle this here and now?" Roxas growled at Seifer and looked around for his own weapon. Spotting a struggle stick that had been carelessly left on the floor of the sandlot; Roxas dived for it and forward rolled with it in his hands. He turned to face Seifer, who had been tracking Roxas with his bat the entire time.
"You haven't got your gang to protect you this time!" Roxas shouted as he readied himself for the coming battle. The two glared at each other for nearly half a minute, checking each other for weak spots or openings in their stance. Mostly they were just staring at each other angrily. Seifer's bright blue eyes met Roxas' sapphire blue eyes; both were locked in a menacing glare. Roxas made the first move, running at full speed towards Seifer, who was still standing and aiming his bat at Roxas face. As soon as Roxas was close enough to take a swing, Seifer jumped out-of-the-way, sending Roxas into a wobbly halt where he had to dodge roll in order to stop himself from crashing into the ground. He turned in time to see Seifer swing at him. Roxas blocked two attacks before rolling over to the side and jumping backwards to give himself time to prepare.
Seifer stood his ground, staring at the spot that Roxas had just left and turned his head so that he could meet Roxas gaze once more. Roxas pulled off an angry look and prepared his stance. This time Seifer made his move, jumping to a near unbelievable height. Roxas looked up at him and was hit with intense sunlight. He could not see and automatically reacted by putting his arm in front of his eyes.
"Roxas look out!" shouted Olette as Seifer pounced on the young boy. Roxas barely dodged out-of-the-way and tried to recover too quickly, making him lose his balance. Seifer quickly swiped at Roxas who was struggling to keep up with his much stronger opponent. Seifer repeatedly swiped at Roxas from different directions, continually dealing on the pressure. Roxas recovered quickly and attacked Seifer's good arm. The older blonde easily brought his forearm up and twisted his hand backwards, blocking the attack. He then twirled the bat with Roxas' struggle bat still in contact. This threw Roxas off his balance and Seifer took this chance to knock Roxas' bat out of his hands. Seifer grinned, he was about to defeat the annoying squirt with one final blow. He brought his arm up, ready to strike down. Roxas took one step back and looked up at the bat, his mouth gaping.
"Roxas!" Hayner shouted, worried that his friend would be beaten. When Seifer brought his hand down however, all were surprised at the result. Roxas had caught the struggle bat in his hand! Roxas was looking down, his hand still raised, holding the bat tightly. He looked up and gave Seifer a menacing glare.
'Impossible!" Seifer thought to himself. "I used full force!" Seifer had barely any time to react before the boy before him snatched the bat and twirled it in a similar style to Seifer. Roxas caught the handle and swung horizontally, knocking Seifer over. Roxas panted, still in his stance from hitting Seifer. Hayner, Pence and Olette stared at their friend in near disbelief. Just as Roxas stood up straight, Seifer's gang ran into the Sandlot towards Seifer.
Fuu and Rai both stood in front of their downed leader and looked at the boy that defeated Seifer.
"Seifer's just not feeling himself today, y'know!" Rai said as Seifer got off of the ground. Fuu remained silent, but crossed her arms into an X shape. Seifer dusted himself off and gave Roxas a serious look.
"Just you wait for the struggle tournament Roxas. Just you wait…" Seifer gestured his gang to leave and the three walked out of the sand lot. Roxas stared at them as they exited and was startled when his three friends jumped him. They all pulled smiles and congratulated him on his win, complimenting him along their lines. Hayner stood in front of Roxas and smirked at him.
"Hmm, what's up?" Roxas asked. Hayner put out his hand in front of Roxas and continued to stare at him. Roxas looked over the hand before returning Hayner a confused look.
"Sea-salt ice-cream on the strong kid." Hayner explained.
"Awww, man!" Roxas complained as his friends laughed and made their way over to the ice cream store. Roxas trailed behind, slowly at first but picking up his pace as he thought about going to the bell tower with his friends.
As the four sat on the ledge of the bell tower, they thought about past times and joked about Roxas' win over Seifer from earlier that day. Roxas stared blankly at his ice-cream.
'I can't believe they made me pay for these.' He thought to himself. Looking at the slight orange shade that the ground below was caressed with, he turned his gaze to the sky. 'Orange. I wonder why the sky changes colour.' He mentally thanked himself for not saying this out loud and trailed off in thought. 'I wonder if that purple patch in the sky is still there.' Roxas thought about taking a peek around the side of the tower but decided against it.
"Roxas, you gonna eat that or what?" A very feminine voice asked. Roxas came to his senses and turned his head to see Olette smiling at him. He turned a little red but hid it. "Your ice-cream is melting." She explained, pointing at Roxas sea-salt ice-cream. Roxas turned back to his ice-cream. She was right, it was melting… all over his trousers.
"Ahh." Roxas said annoyed at the mess it was making on his trousers. He rubbed his trousers with his free hand and used the other to stick the ice-cream in his mouth. No sooner had he rubbed off the mess than he had received a brain freeze. He took the ice-cream out of his mouth and patted his head. By this time all three of his friends were watching. When he realized this, he stared back at them and they started to laugh. Roxas eventually joined in but secretly hated being laughed at. He knew they were only messing with him and using this moment as an excuse to make another happy memory out of, but he still resented it a little.
"So, you ready for the struggle competition next week." Hayner shouted over to Roxas. Before he could answer, Pence butted in and criticized Hayner's use of words.
"It's a tournament, not a competition!" Pence said as politely as he could.
"Same thing!" Hayner said, annoyed by the interruption.
"I think a tournament is a type of competition." Olette explained, giving her usual smile. The three started to laugh again.
'Same as always.' Roxas thought to himself as he stuck the sea-salt ice-cream back into his mouth. He looked up at the sky, towards the point where the azure blue was slowly getting swallowed by the ever-growing sea of orange. 'Same as always.' Roxas smiled.
Not bad for the first chapter of my first ever fanfic right (hopefully). More to come. R and R please.
P.S Please inform me of any spelling errors or missing words. That would be very much appreciated. :) (This includes such things as... writing 'he' when it should be 'she' misspellings that I have not managed to notice, missing words (for example- " is a cool guy." when it should be "Roxas is a cool guy." - You wouldn't believe how many times this has happened so far) and MAJOR grammar errors that make you go 'OMG WTF ROFL.' Minor grammar errors will be ignored as if I change all of my grammar errors I will practically have to rewrite the entire story.