Chapter One: Transfer Student

Hands slamming down on the computer console, angry shouting coming out of his mouth. "No! No! No!"

"Sora!" the voice is familiar, but he can't place it. Hands are grabbing him around the waist and pulling him backwards. "Sora stop! If you damage the machine, you'll never save her!"'

He relaxes, leaning against the hard chest behind him. He says a name, one belonging to a girl, someone very important to him—but he forgets it as soon as it's finished coming out of his mouth.

"We have to go get her."

"-, it's a trap!" Another name that vanishes as soon as he's said it.

A warm, familiar chuckle. "Yeah. It is." He's gently deposited back onto his feet. "Since when has that ever stopped you?"

"Will you come with me?"

"As if you have to ask. Come on Sora."

"Sora! Come on Sora!"

He opened his eyes. "Morning Roxas."

For a moment, he looked around the room and had no idea where he was. The room, the furniture, the view out the window—none of it was familiar. Then, he remembered that they'd just moved. They moved away from their old home, and moved in with their cousin Cloud, here in Peninsula Nemo.

His twin brother hit his arm and grinned. "Cloud says you have to wake up. School bus will be here in twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes?!" he shouted, sitting bolt upright and nearly head-butting his brother in the face. "I won't even have time to eat breakfast!" He jumped up from his bed, tugging off his pyjamas and rushing towards the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, he was crashing into the kitchen, dressed in the new school uniform. Roxas handed him a toasted sandwich and herded him out of house. He scarfed it down and sat on the grass. "Roxas, I don't want to start a new school."

Matching sky-blue eyes rolled. "What are you even worried about? You'll have ten new friends by lunchtime."

"That's not what I'm worried about," he complained. "I don't know where any of the good napping spots are!"

Roxas laughed, leaning forward and ruffling Sora's hair. "You'll be fine."

He grinned up at his twin, before the bright yellow bus pulled onto the curb. The doors squeaked open and the driver gave them a bored look. The Strife twins climbed in.

Sora knew his twin was anxious about the intense looks they were suddenly fixed with. So he nudged his brother's arm and smiled, pointing at a pair of empty seats. "Let's go there."

They sat down. He expected the bus to pull away quickly, but instead the driver leaned on his horn once.

The gate to the house next door to theirs opened, and out stepped a guy in a black hoodie. The hood was pulled up, but as he walked up to the bus, Sora caught sight of his face. His features were delicate, and refined; silver hair hung in his eyes.

Roxas' elbow dug into his side.

"What?"

"Stop staring."

Sora huffed and slumped down into his seat. "I wasn't staring."

"You so were."

He leaned down, settling his school bag in between his feet.

"Dawn!" a voice called from the back of this bus. "Come sit here!"

The bus powered back up, and turned onto the street. Sora straightened up, but the hoodie guy was already past them.

Roxas nudged him again. "We've got about half an hour. Why don't you nap until we get there?"

Usually, Sora would jump at the chance to get more sleep. But he this time didn't. He shook his head. "I'm fine. I'm oddly buzzed actually."

"Cloud didn't give you coffee, did he?" Roxas asked suspiciously.

Sora grinned. "Not today."

He ended up making a friend on the bus. A blond kid named Hayner, who invited them both to sit with him and his friends at lunch. Then spent the rest of the trip telling Roxas about some competition called Struggle.

Sora's knee jumped up and down. He sat tapping his fingers on the windowsill. His eyes took in the scenery. Cloud had moved to Peninsula Nemo two years ago, after high school. They'd never come to visit before, so everything was new.

Eventually, they pulled up outside the school, parked behind a fleet of sunny yellow buses.

They went to administration first, and then the Vice Principal showed them the way to their home room.

Their teacher was a young brunet, with a stoic expression and a scar on his face. "Everybody quiet down," Mr Leonhart commanded. "New students—Sora and Roxas Strife." He paused after reading their last name, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Hi! I'm Sora," he announced brightly. "This is Don—" His brain whited out for a second. When it cleared, Mr Leonhart was pointing to a pair of empty seats in the middle of the classroom.

"I won't make you introduce yourself to the class." Roxas nearly slumped in relief hearing that. "You can talk for the rest of home room, but keep it to a manageable level."

"You okay Sora?" Roxas asked, his voice a concerned whisper.

He nodded. "Lost my train of thought. What class do you have first?"

"Chemistry," Roxas said, pulling a face. "You?"

"Literature," Sora answered, pulling the exact same expression.

They made new friends—or rather Sora made some for them both—who were happy to show them to their next classrooms. They separated, promising to regroup at lunchtime so they could find Hayner.

Demyx, one of Sora's new friends, was on his way to music. But their classrooms were in the same direction and he was happy to show Sora where to go.

Before class started, Sora introduced himself to the teacher and collected his booklist for the semester. It took longer than necessary to actually find the right bit of paper amongst the scraps.

By the time that was finished, everyone had taken their seats. "Everybody settle down," Mr Merlin instructed. "This is our new student- Sora Strife. I hope you'll all make him feel welcome."

Most of the students only gave him a passing interest. But at the back of the room, blue-green eyes widened behind dark-framed glasses. The guy didn't notice his pencil dropping out of his fingers.

"Mr Strife, there's an empty seat up the back there next to Mr Dawn."

Sora headed down the aisle. 'Mr Dawn' was glasses guy—who turned out to be their next door neighbour. He moved his little stack of books off the desk in front of the spare seat, before bowing his head and letting a curtain of smooth, shiny, silver hair hide his face.

Sora paid attention as best as he could—but since he hadn't actually read the book Mr Merlin was nattering on about, mostly he just tuned it out.

His neighbour had the novel open on the right page beside him, but he spent most of the lesson sketching, neatly lining, and shading a key in the margin of his notebook.

When the bell rang, he hurriedly collected up his books and fled the classroom before Sora had even closed his own notebook. He blinked in the other's wake.

One of the other students showed him to his classroom. They didn't talk much, just showed him the way and wished him a good day. Another introduction to the teacher, then the class, then he was handed a textbook and then given the empty seat.

"Next to Mr Dawn."

The tables were separated this time, so he wasn't squashed up next to his neighbour. Still, he gave the silver-haired guy a smile.

Riku looked more surprised by that. His mouth quirked up, and he lifted a hand up in a sort of wave.

Sora paid more attention, mathematics was easy. When he glanced over at his neighbour, the problems were half-solved, but his focus was on the strange star shape he was sketching in his book. Between glances, it grew depth. Maybe a starfish?

But then the top arm had a little stalk, and some of the other arms had leaves. It wasn't a starfish then. It was—

"A paopu fruit!"

All heads in the room twisted around to look at him. Behind polished lenses, blue-green eyes widened.

"Mr Strife," Mr Gabbiani said flatly. "Do you have something to share with the class?"

Sora grinned awkwardly. "No sir!"

"Then please continue to work on your problem sets in silence." With a final bored glare, Mr Gabianni went back to reading his magazine.

Riku was giving him a curious look. But he stayed quiet for the rest of the lesson.

Pence, one of Hayner's friends, took him off to Chemistry before going on to his own class.

Dr Vexen had him read the safety rules of the lab in the hallway before he let him into the lab. "We've got limited spaces. You'll have to pair up with Mr Dawn." He pointed to a desk at the back of the classroom. "Congratulations, Mr Dawn. Meet your new lab partner, Mr Strife."

An add smile quirked across the delicate, refined lips. Sora grinned and sat next to him. "Hi again."

It was a theory lesson, no playing with dangerous chemicals for them that day. Class finished, and his neighbour slowly packed up his things. Sora watched him carefully, matching his pace.

"Hey Riku," he said. The other' eyebrows lifted and his mouth gaped open. "…it is Riku, isn't it? Riku Dawn?"

"Well. Yeah. But nobody really calls me that."

"Oh. I could… call you Dawn if you—"

"Riku is fine," the other said quickly.

Sora smiled. "Okay! You can call me Sora."

"Sora." Riku's mouth quirked up in a little smile as he said it. "How's your first day at Nemo Boys School, Sora?"

"It's great," he said brightly, "I've made heaps of new friends."

Riku chuckled at that. "Of course you have." He stood up off the stool. "You'll be meeting them in the cafeteria for lunch, right?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah."

"Do you need someone to show you the way?" Riku asked.

"Please!" he said, relieved that he hadn't had to ask.

Riku chuckled. "Come on. Do you have a locker yet?" He asked, leading the way out of the classroom.

"Not yet," he said quietly. "Admin said there was a shortage. Might not get one until the senior class graduates."

"You can stash your stuff in mine. If you want. Save yourself the trouble of lugging your bag around the cafeteria." Riku bowed his head, hair falling in front of his face.

"That's be great!" Sora said. "Thanks, Riku!"

"It's no problem." He led Sora through the hallways.

"I have Study Hall next, by the way," Sora said. "In case you wanted to know where I need to get to."

Riku blinked. "Gym after that?"

"Yeah!" Sora said brightly. "How'd you know?"

"We're on the same class schedule," Riku replied, sounding surprised.

"That's great!" Sora said eagerly. "That way I have a friend in every class."

Riku didn't seem to know what to say in reply to that. When he stopped in front of one of the lockers, he said: "this is mine." He grabbed the padlock and flickered through the digits quickly. After he opened it, he paused with just an inch or so open. "Uh, it's a bit of a mess. Give me your books, I'll find a place for them. The cafeteria's just down that way."

Sora handed over his whole bag. "I can wait. I promise I won't peek at your secret shame."

Riku chuckled, standing in a way with the locker open enough to put stuff in, but not letting him see what was inside. "You got lunch in here?"

"Roxas has our money for the cafeteria," he answered, shaking his head.

"Who's Roxas?" Riku asked, taking a brown paper bag out of the locker for himself.

"Huh? Oh!" He was used to people already knowing them as a pair. "Roxas is my other."

"…your other?"

"My twin brother."

Riku gave him a curious frown. "Weird way of describing it." He closed the locker and spun it to a random digit. "Cafeteria is this way." The hallway had thinned out—half of them in lunch block, the other half in classes. They made it there easily. "Here we are," he announced. "Cafeteria. Good luck with the bought food. Try and get packaged stuff where you can."

"Sora!" Roxas' voice called over the noise.

"That's Roxas?" Riku asked.

"Yeah! How'd you guess?" He teased.

Riku norted a laugh, then reached up to cover his mouth. "Just a hunch."

"Are you coming in?" Sora asked.

"No," Riku answered. "I eat outside. Get one of your friends to take you to Study Hall. I'll bring your bag there."

"Sora! Over here!"

"Your other is waiting," Riku said, turning away. "I'll see you after lunch."