Greetings to everyone!

Hi! My name is NightRaven13 for those of you who've never read any of my other stories… This is my first official attempt at writing a story for the Kingdom Hearts fandom so please be nice! I usually concentrate more in the Yu-Gi-Oh universe when it comes to my fanfics, so I apologize in advance if you are not a particular fan of the series. Anyway, I hope all of you give this story a chance and read to your heart's content! To those who have been anticipating a new chapter for Shinning Light from a Distant Past, I apologize as of now. I'm sorry no new chapters have been written up for that one, but I promise to get one out soon! For now, enjoy this newest little piece!

Please do read and review!

Love,

-NightRaven13

DISCLAIMER: (Insert witty remark here) I don't own kingdom Hearts or any of the characters associated with the story! All I own is my Roxas plushy…

The night welcomed him with its soft symphony of noises.

Soft sounds could be heard in the distance, the sounds of ocean waves increasing in strength every second or so. The wind whipped fiercely around him, bringing forth the smell the ocean emitted in the breeze. As the wind carried the scent along, a soft chill permeated the air as well as his body.

Something was not right.

He moved forward in the darkness, guided only by the soft glow of the moon than hung high above the sky. He walked down what seemed a narrow walkway, his feet making light noises against the wood with each step.

He was not meant to be here.

He walked on anyway, despite the feeling of foreboding he felt in his gut. Something told him that he was not meant to be in his present location, but other senses told him otherwise. The feeling of danger and doom was in the air, and it urged him forward all the more.

A light fog began to roll in as he walked on down the wooden path, obscuring the soft glow the moon emitted. He continued on anyway, only stopping when a distressing sound caught his attention.

Somewhere, not too far ahead away, a scream interrupted the darkness.

Without a seconds hesitation, he shifted off into a dead run down the walkway and into the darkness ahead of him, stopping only once he reached the end of the path.

"Stay away…"

He turned around, noticing a figure standing across from him not to far away.

"What have you done?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"You should've stayed away…kept to what was expected of you…"

He clenched his fists, anger slightly clouding his senses.

"What have you done!" he yelled. "Show yourself you bloody coward!"

Out of the shadows the figure stepped forward, clearly not alone. Against his left arm he held a pale and frightened captive, and with his right a gun glinted lightly against the pale light.

"No! Let her go!"

The figure laughed, pulling the captive ever closer to him. He shifted the gun higher and against the temple of the frightened victim.

"Or else what? I clearly have all the cards dealt in my favor…why deal out now?"

The victim blinked, clearly trying to fight back the rush of tears that had welled up in her eyes. A slight plea could be seen conjured up in her features, a silent scream for help directed at him.

"I'll ask you again, let her go!"

A smile broke against the figure's face, laughter dancing around his eyes.

"Never…"

He shifted the gun, then lightly pulled against the trigger.

"No!"

He darted forward, the victim pulling against her captor at the same moment and breaking away. She ran towards him at the last minute and collided into his embrace before the horrid sound echoed around him.

He looked down, the girl still caught in his embrace and slowly pulling him down with her. They slid to the floor, her grasp never weakening from his own.

"NO!"

He held her close, a slight pool of blood quickly forming beneath her and against his hands. She pulled forward until her head dropped against his shoulder, a final labored sentence escaping her lips.

"I…forgive you…"

A shadow loomed above him, dark and foreboding. He turned his attention towards the silhouette, only to be met with the glinting gun.

"I warned you once, now death to you both!"

He held the girl tightly in his arms as the shot echoed around him, followed closely by the sound of a scream.

A name rang along with the scream, a name so distantly forgotten.

Then nothing but darkness followed.

"Roxas…"

The darkness held him close, his arms trying their best to break free from its embrace.

"Roxas…WAKE UP MAN!"

He pulled away, followed closely by the feeling of falling, then crashed heavily against the floor. Arms grabbed hold of his shoulders and shook him violently about.

"Wake up man! You were yelling in your freggin' sleep again! I though you stopped doing that ages ago!"

Roxas dragged his lead heavy eyes open, only to be greeted by the sight of flame red hair and contrasting emerald green eyes. The eyes held a look of worry in them, a look not too unfamiliar to Roxas' own clear blue ones.

He groaned, then croaked out his first sentence of the day.

"Axel? How the hell did you get in my house?"

Axel smiled, then got up and sat on Roxas' now empty bed.

"You know a 'Good Morning' would've been nice."

Roxas rubbed the bruise that was quickly forming against his head, then shot a look at Axel.

"Answer the question."

He smirked, then held up a silver key to his line of vision.

"You know, you really got to stop hiding these under the welcome mat…no one does that anymore unless they're planning to get robbed."

Roxas couldn't help but glare, he really was not feeling that sort of patronizing comment so early in the morning. Rather than argue the point, however, he instead opted to get up and pick up his bed sheets along with him. Axel meanwhile could not help but stare at him.

Roxas stopped, then turned and glared at his friend on the bed.

"What?"

"Nothing…"

"Yeah right…there must be something…you didn't break into my house just to wake me up did you?"

"Yes and no…I've been trying to call you all morning…I even yelled at you through your bedroom window," Axel sat back, clearly making himself comfortable with his surroundings. "But when no one answered I decided to let myself in and check on you…then I find you flailing around your bed yelling bloody murder at the top of your freggin' lungs!"

Roxas looked away, his face reddening at the cheeks.

"A huh…so why the urgency then?"

Axel smirked, clearly getting the hint.

"No reason, just wanted to check up on you."

"Right…what for?"

Axel rolled his eyes, clearly not amused with Roxas' refusal to bring the topic up on his own.

"Come on man…don't play stupid with me. Everyone knows what happened already…get over it."

Roxas walked over to his closet and grabbed the nearest pair of clean clothes he could find, busying himself as best he could to avoid the topic in question. Axel, on the other hand, was not one to back down so easily.

"Dude…it wasn't that bad…it happens to everybody…"

Roxas turned, a deathly glare aimed at Axel.

"Yeah…then I suppose there's a shitload of guys out there who've gotten screwed over by their best friends too huh?"

Axel shrugged. "Yeah…maybe"

Roxas fumed, "Well when you find them, do me a favor and point them out to me will you?"

"Will do…until then, just forget about the girl and get a life! You been mopping around your apartment for two weeks already…people are starting to come up to me on the street and asking if you're dead or something…it's weird."

Roxas threw his sheets back onto the bed. "Yeah, well maybe I am."

Axel couldn't help but roll his eyes again, "Dude…quit the emo act and grow up! So the girl you've liked since middle school likes your best friend instead…so what? It ain't anything new."

"Yeah…but how many like the girl back?"

Axel shrugged, "Guess bros before hoes don't mean shit to your friend Blondie huh?"

Roxas glared, partially glad that Axel was doing him the favor by not mentioning Hayner's name out loud for once, but still irked at the fact that the topic was brought up. Hayner's name had not been spoken aloud since the last day of class before summer vacation, instead replaced with much more obscene words over the course of the last two following weeks. The change suited Roxas just fine, on account that Hayner was as good as dead in Roxas' eyes anyway.

As far as he was concern, his friendship with Hayner died the minute Olette came into the picture.

"Come on man! Lighten up…you make the manic depressives look like a ray of sunshine next to you!"

Roxas merely grabbed his pillow and hurled into Axels' face as a response. He, of course, successfully dodged it away at the last minute.

"Ok…so maybe not…"

"I'm fine Axel…now if you excuse me…I haven't had any breakfast yet and I'd like to get that done before I die of starvation."

Axel shrugged and proceeded to get up, knowing full well how cranky Roxas could get without his daily food intake.

"Fine fine…just one more thing I wanted to ask you…"

Roxas turned back to look at Axel, his hands lightly grasping his other pillow incase he needed to hurl it at him again.

"And that would be what exactly?"

"Well…I'm going to be gone for the rest of the summer and I wanted to know if you were going to be ok by yourself for the next two months."

Roxas blinked, gone for the whole summer? As if things couldn't get any worse, his second best friend was abandoning him too. Well, at least it wasn't for the girl than he had been infatuated with since the 6th grade.

"Gone? Where are you going?"

Axel smiled, "Get this! I got the coolest job ever!"

"Where? Busing tables at the skin bar down the street?"

Axel laughed, Roxas knew him too well.

"Ha! I wish…but close enough though! I'm heading down to Destiny Islands on a cruise ship and I'll be working as a waiter on board the whole summer!"

Roxas blinked again, trying his hardest not to get jealous at the luck Axel always seemed to have.

"That's great man, have a great summer then…"

Axel tipped his head to the side, a very questioning look lightly gracing his features.

"So that's it? So long, goodbye, have a nice trip? Aren't you going to miss me at all?"

Roxas snorted, "You? No."

Axel smirked, "Well that's too bad, 'cause I was going to ask you if you wanted to come along…but since you're not going to miss me at all then I'll just have to find someone else to give the job to."

Roxas couldn't help but perk his head up at the response. A chance to earn some cash, and to get away from everyone seemed like a dream come true.

"What? You're kidding me right?"

"Nope…my friend at the cruise company needed a few extra hands for the summer season and asked if I knew anyone that wanted to help out. The pay is pretty good, but it's all the other benefits that really take the cake."

Roxas smiled, for once things were looking up in his favor for a change.

"Well! I was wondering when I was going to see you smile again! Welcome back Roxas!"

He hurled the other pillow in his hand at Axel, this time actually succeeding in knocking him square in the face.

Roxas laughed and walked out the door, a smile clearly plastered across his face as he walked by Axel.

"Shut up Axel…"

Ok…so this is it for the first chapter! I hope anyone that's reading will give this story a chance and stick with it. Please review if you can, and keep the Flames out of my mail box! I don't appreciate those…

-NightRaven13