The Other Side of the Heart

Author's note: Yes, well it was only a matter of time before this happened. I finally wrote a KH fanfic. This is Yaoi, for those of you who are wondering, so if you don't like yaoi or the pairings contained herein, why not save us both some time and go read something you DO like?

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of it's characters. I do own any original characters contained in the story, and also it's plot. Please do not use my character's without permission, that's all I ask. I promise I won't bite your heads off if you do want to use them, I only ask to remain informed. Other than that, go nuts!

Chapter 1: Memories of Nobody

The wind gusted across the long fields of blue-green grass, making it appear as an ocean. The blonde-haired boy stood at the edge of the field, where the grass sea ended and his city began, watching it with unfocused blue eyes.

Something strange was carried in on the wind that day. Something that made Roxas feel ill and uneasy. He lifted his eyes from the rippling grass to the sky above him. Normally it was a perfect azure blue, dotted by white puffy clouds. Today, it had a distinct green cast, and wall of dark storm clouds were making their way swiftly over the land, casting a shadow everywhere.

Roxas stared at those clouds, as if he was unable to look away from them. He felt their shadow drift over him, and as he did, he looked behind him. His own shadow had disappeared, blending into the shade around him. But it didn't seem like ordinary shade. It seemed darker, thicker...alive some how.

Roxas made a gasp of shock as what he assumed was only his imagination suddenly burst into being. The shadow was alive. Alive and angry. It became thick and gelatinous, and moved across his sneakers, climbing up his legs.

The boy moved frantically, trying to pull away from the goo. It continued to entwine itself with him, snaking up his legs and wrapping long black tendrils around his arms. The more Roxas struggled, the more it grew.

The blonde-haired boy threw his eyes upward again as the blackness slithered around his throat, and oozed across his face.

"SORA!!"

Sora let out a choking gasp as he sat bolt-upright in the bed, knocking pillows and his alarm clock to the floor in a simultaneous gesture. He sat there gasping, covered in a fine cold sweat, his unruly spikes of brown hair jutting up in even more bizarre patterns, and flattened against the sides of his face where he had laid on them.

He took big heaving breaths, as if he could not get enough air in his lungs. The blonde-boy's terrified blue eyes seemed to be seared into his vision. When he would close his eyes, even to blink, he would see them.

But slowly the dream gave way to reality. Sora was sitting in his room, with bay window across the room from his bed wide open, letting in the morning sea-breeze.

A warm arm slithered around his waist, and it's warm body pressed up against his. Riku blinked up sleepily at the tan boy, his eyes still full of sleep, and unfocused. "...you 'kay?" he mumbled.

Sora looked down at the silver-haired boy, as his dream began to slip away. "Yeah...just a bad dream, that's all." he answered.

"Another nightmare?" Riku asked, this time sounding less groggy and more himself. He looked at the decimated night stand and the tangle of sheets that Sora was entrapped in. He began to tug at the linens as Sora watched him. "That's the third this month, Sora. You're starting to worry me." he said.

Sora didn't answer, and instead fell into Riku's chest, pressing his face against the other boy's bare chest. Riku put his arms around him and kissed sweat-dampened hair. Sora did this whenever he would rather not talk about something.

"Do you feel better now, though?" he asked.

"Mmmph." Sora grunted against his boyfriend's skin.

Riku smirked and rolled his eyes. "That's not an answer."

"I'm fine." Sora mumbled.

"Good, cause you stink like sweat. You need a shower." Riku grinned, nipping his ear. Sora smacked him in the face with the remaining pillow. Rather than finish untangling himself, the tan boy simply climbed out of bed, sheets and all following after, leaving Riku sitting in his boxers on the lonely mattress.

"Can't you get out of bed like a normal person?" he grunted.

"Nope." Sora answered, dropping all the bedclothes on the floor and padding his way across the hard-wood floor off the bedroom to the bathroom. It crossed his mind that if his parents ever knew that this was what he meant by sleeping over at Riku's to study, they'd probably lock him up till he graduated.

His mother and father however, realized that Sora wasn't a little boy anymore, and they tried to give him as normal a life as they could, despite all that had transpired. They had no idea what had really happened to Sora in the two years he had disappeared from their lives. Sora never talked about it, one way or the other. A lot of families had been displaced after the hurricane, and they figured Sora felt more connected to Riku and Kairi, who had shared the terrifying experience of being "lost at sea."

The school counselor had advised them not to rush Sora into explaining things, or talking about his trauma.

But Sora knew he'd never be able to explain to his parent's what had really happened. So this was as good a reason as any.

Riku climbed out of bed as well, and began picking up the broken pieces of alarm clock, along with a broken water glass, and the picture frame. It had survived the fall better than it's companions, and Riku dusted it off, looking at the photograph inside. It seemed grotesquely old, the children in it being only six or seven, and that seemed like a life-time ago to Riku.

He placed it back on the night stand, and discarded the trash before picking up the sheets and heaving them into the hamper.

Then he heard a thunk against the window. He blinked and turned around. A moment later, another pebble soared up and smacked against the glass again. Riku walked over to the window and peered down.

"Riku!" a voice drifted up. The silver-haired boy peered down from the second story to see the red-head girl looking back at him, waving.

"Good morning, Kairi!" he called.

"Are you two coming down soon? I thought we were going surfing today!" she yelled.

"We'll be down in a minute." He answered. She nodded and took off sprinting down the beach. Riku grimaced at the awkward way she moved when she ran. Kairi, bless her heart, was such a ditz sometimes.

He padded his way down the stairs of the old beach front house and made his way into the kitchen. When they had been younger, this is where Sora and his family spent every summer. But after the hurricane, they visited less frequently. The other houses on the island had been in disrepair, and for some strange reason, none of the residents seemed eager to fix them.

But for Sora, Riku, and Kairi, the place was still a paradise, still their own private island in this world.

Riku made his way through the kitchen, where they had left their empty Chinese cartons and soda bottles from last night sitting out, and stepped out the kitchen door. Kairi was waiting on the stoop for him, already in her swim suit.

"You look like you had a rough night." She mused, looking up at him. Riku flopped down on the stoop beside her, looking out at the expanse of beach and waves beyond.

"Sora had another nightmare." he answered.

Kairi paused for a moment, taking that information in, "You think it's serious then?" she asked.

The silver-haired boy sighed. "I was hoping it would pass, but it doesn't seem like it's going to." he answered.

"Well have you talked to him about it?" she pressed.

"He doesn't want to talk about it, Kairi." Riku snapped slightly. She frowned at him. "Well you don't have to get pissy with me about it," she pouted.

"I'm not. But I don't think we should discuss this right now." he answered, still more harshly then he meant to.

"Fine." Kairi shrugged. She gave him a long side-glance. "So...boxers, huh?" she smirked.

"Shut up." Riku grunted.

Sora came down then, already dressed in his swimming trunks. "Hey Kairi!" he greeted, his usual cheerful self. He glanced down at his boyfriend. "Riku aren't you going to get dressed, geez." he scoffed.

Riku stood up smoothly. "Screw you guys." he grunted, heading back into the house.

"Love you!" Sora called after him. He looked back at Kairi. "He's cranky this morning, big baby."

She giggled at him. "You two are so cute."

"Whatever. Come on, I wanna get out there before Tidus and the others show up." he insisted, grabbing her hand.

The seasons never seemed to change on Destiny Island.

Though summer had passed months ago, the heat was still sweltering. While school and preparing for college entrance exams took up most of the young student's time and reminded them of the season, weekends were still like summer vacation.

Morning passed into the sweltering afternoon, and the Destiny Island gang sought shelter from the heat. While Wakka and Tidus were embroiled in their sudden-death volley-ball match, the girls were rooting through Sora's fridge for cold drinks and making an afternoon snack.

"This place is a mess!" Selphie exclaimed, stepping over an over-flowing trash bag that sat on the floor by the kitchen door. It was the third in the pile. "I guess Riku and Sora have been staying here a lot, huh?" she asked, flipping one of her brown pony-tails behind her shoulder.

"Neither one of them are home much." Kairi answered. "I think they've just been doing a lot of catching up." she nodded.

"I heard the counselor at school recommended they go to summer school so they could catch up on all the work they missed. Sora might not graduate if he doesn't get all his credit's in on time, but I don't know about Riku." she said, taking a pineapple slice from the fruit tray and munching on it.

"They're letting him take an equivalency test, since he missed all his senior exams last year." she replied. "It's all a major pain in the butt, but I think I've finally caught up on all the work I've missed." Unlike Sora and Riku, Kairi had been home for a whole year, and most of the fascination with her disappearance had passed. She had been living a more-or-less normal life, up until a few months ago, when she had disappeared again for several weeks.

Every one thought that she had run away. Her father deduced it was the stress of the situation and missing her old friends. Kairi gave a mirthless laugh at how little their parents knew.

That "hurricane" that they had been victims of was no hurricane at all. It was a monster, created from Heartless. It swept her, Sora, and Riku to worlds unknown and unimaginable to the simple-minded folk of Destiny Island.

"Yeah but you get better grades than Sora! He's such a goof ball!" Selphie interjected, oblivious to Kairi's inner thoughts. She nodded. "Speaking of which..." she mused then, looking around. "Where did they go?"

Sora made his way past the winding tree next to the waterfall, and pushed aside the over-grown ferns that hid the cave opening. He grunted, bent nearly double, making his way into the entrance. Somehow he remembered his secret spot being...bigger. Luckily the cave opened wider a few feet in, and Sora could stand easily, the cave ceiling just inches from the top of his head.

Sure enough he found Riku sitting on the cool cave floor, piece of chalk in hand, looking at the old drawings on the cave wall.

"I thought I'd find you here." Sora smiled.

"Yep, you found me." Riku said emotionlessly. Sora eased himself down next to him. "Still in a bad mood, I see."

"No." Riku answered. "Just thinking about things."

Sora nodded, drawing his knees up to his chin, enjoying the coolness of the cave. "How are you and your mom doing?"he asked off-handedly.

"Fine, I guess." Riku shrugged. "We haven't been close for awhile. She says I feel like a stranger to her, and some times she just doesn't know what to say to me." He didn't seem upset by this fact, so much as just accepting of it. He had changed after all. He'd been through more than his mother could understand, or would ever understand. "She does her best, being a foster mom and all." he added. He glanced at Sora. "How are you and your folks? That seems to be a touchy subject with you these days." he said.

Sora sunk his chin down behind his arms to rest on his knee caps. "I just...feel detached." he answered. "Like...I don't belong there anymore."

Riku nodded and his eyes wandered back to the cave wall.

Sora followed the other boy's eyes to the chalk drawings on the opposite wall. His eyes seemed fixed on the drawing that Sora had made of Kairi and himself sharing a Papu fruit.

"That seems like a lifetime ago, now." he sighed. "You really liked her back then, huh?" he asked.

Sora blushed slightly. "Well...I did, but...do you wanna know a secret?" he asked.

Riku leaned his head against his. "What?" he asked.

"That's not a picture of Kairi. That's you." Sora answered. He sounded very embarrassed. Riku laughed so suddenly it made him snort. Which made Sora nearly pee himself with laughter.

"Your art sucks." Riku laughed, kissing him.

Sora smiled against his lips and punched him lightly, when a rumbling from outside caught his attention. Both boys looked apprehensively back down the tunnel.

"What do you suppose...?" Riku asked.

"It sounds like..." Sora didn't finish his sentence. The next moment the two of them were sprinting out the cave, nearly giving themselves fatal head injuries as they did so, and burst back out onto the island.

Kairi and the others were all at a stand-still, their eyes fixed on the sky in the distance.

"Sora!" Kairi gasped, running to him. She grabbed Sora's arm, returning her eyes to the sky. Riku had one hand on Kairi's shoulder, and the other on Sora's.

Something was streaking through the air, leaving a long white streak behind itself as it descended. At the moment it was still too far away to see what it really was.

Still Sora was squinting at it as hard as he could. "It can't be..." he murmured out loud. He felt a familiar tingling feeling in the fingers of his right hand. He looked down, and then concentrated.

Nothing happened.

Sora blinked, and tried again. He stretched out his hand, waiting for the keyblade to take form within it. But still, nothing. He looked back at the sky. The object was continuing to fall, but far out of site from here.

"A rocket, I guess?" Sora heard Selphie say from down the beach.

"Yeah, I guess." Shrugged Tidus.

"Sora?" Riku asked suddenly, bringing him back to his friends beside him. Sora shook his head. He had felt so sure...but certainly if it was...really...he would have been able to summon the keyblade?

"A rocket, I guess." He repeated Selphie, although his voice was somewhat resigned. Only Riku and Kairi knew why.

The others returned to their activities, but Sora continued to stand there, staring off into the distance where the ship had disappeared. Why did he feel so empty?

The afternoon came and went. The sun was setting, sooner than usual as autumn overcame summer's long days. Everyone was heading back to the mainland to head home and rest for school the next day.

Sora was utterly detached for the rest of the day, and when they had said their goodbyes to their friends for the evening and began their walk home, Riku finally confronted him about it.

"You're disappointed, huh?" he asked as they walked in step down the side walk.

Sora blinked up at the taller boy. "What?"

"You're disappointed that it wasn't Donald and Goofy." he answered. The sour expression on his face made Sora's insides squirm.

"I never said that." the brunette answered. "And even if it's true, what's the big deal?"

Riku shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, Sora." he grunted.

Sora grabbed his hand and yanked him to a stop. "Don't be such a girl." the younger boy scolded. "I can get that kind of answer of Kairi. I expect you to give me a straight answer."

"I'm worried about you, that's all." Riku replied, not trying to break Sora's grip on him.

Sora sighed loudly and then put his arms around Riku's chest and hugged him hard. Riku laid his head on top of Sora's and pulled him a close as he could. Neither spoke for a long time, and when they broke apart, they continued the rest of their walk in silence, hand in hand.

Sora's house was first, and Riku left him at the mail-box, kissing his cheek. Sora stood there until he disappeared around the corner. The sky was purple and orange with sunset, and jewel-bright lights shone from windows of dusk-darkened houses.

He took a few steps towards his house, and as he did the world gave out from under his feet.

Roxas was walking alone down the lamp-lit streets of Twilight Town. The blonde hair boy traveled aimless, looking neither left nor right. He simply followed the curve of the brick pavement beneath his shoes until he found himself downtown, where the trolley was making it's rounds, dropping off and picking up busy shoppers. Roxas paused to watch it pass by. As it did, he looked at the faces in the window, and to his surprise found one looking back at him.

A young man with extreme spikes of ruby-red hair smiled at him through one of the windows and waved quickly. Roxas's mouth fell open. "Axel...?"

The young man in the trolley continued to look back at him even as the bus rounded the corner. Roxas shook off his shock and started to sprint after him. "Axel! AXEL!" he screamed.

Much to his surprise, he was able to catch up to the trolley and was running beside it, looking frantically up at the man in the window. "STOP! STOP THE TROLLEY! PLEASE!" Roxas screamed, beating his fist along side the moving vehicle.

Axel would only look down at him, still smiling, but looking sadly at him. He pressed his hand against the glass. Roxas slammed his fist against the side of the trolley again. "STOP! STOP!" he yelled, but to no avail.

Suddenly his foot collided with a jagged piece of pavement and down he went on both hands and knees. He looked frantically up, his skin stinging painfully from the pavement. But the trolley was already passing out of sight and Axel was gone.

"Wait...wait for me..." he panting weakly. His arms began to shake as he started to cry, hot tears pouring down his face. "Wait for me!"

"Sora?!" a man's voice called anxiously.

Sora's head snapped up and he realized he was on his hands and knees on the pavement, his face wet with tears. In front of him, his dad was kneeling, looking very worried indeed. "Sora, are you alright?"

Sora blinked several times, feeling very disoriented. "Yeah, I..." he said, sitting back on his knees, which ached suddenly.

"Tripped, I saw." His father finished, taking stock of Sora's scrapped hands and knees. "You can be so clumsy sometimes." he added, adjusting the glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Stings, doesn't it?" he added, reaching out a hand to brush a the tears on Sora's cheeks.

Sora shook his head, avoiding his father's touch and stood up. "No, not really."

Yoshi smiled a little and stood up as well. "Could have fooled me." he said with some mirth to his voice. He thought his son was just trying to save face. Together they headed into the house. Lyn, Sora's mother was sitting in the living room and the day's paper in her lap.

"Everything all right dear?" she asked without looking up.

"Yeah, just alittle tumble." Yoshi answered. "Nothing serious."

"That's good." she replied. This time she glanced over at her son. "Did you have a nice time, honey?"

"Fine, mom." Sora answered, depositing his shoes at the door and heading immediately towards his room.

"Don't you want any dinner?" Lyn called, but the only answer she got was Sora's door closing softly behind him.

Yoshi gave his wife and heavy look and sighed and then sat down beside her.

Sora fell on his bed, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket, scrolling immediately towards Riku's name. But then he paused. Riku was already worried about him, wouldn't telling him about this make it worse? He laid the phone on his night stand and just laid in his bed, looking out the window. He had a spectacular view of the beach and the island beyond from there. It was already dark outside, and the lights of the town around them were sparkling in the surf. Sora felt exhausted as he watched the waves. He closed his eyes, listening to the soft murmur of his parent's voices from the beyond the door and the sound of waves crashing on the shore...