Hello all! Thanks for reading my fic. :3 I'm not really sure if I'll ever get around to continuing this, and I have a Zelda fic I haven't updated in years that I should REALLY be working on, but I hope you like it nonetheless. There are some things in this chapter I planned on explaining later on, but, well...we'll see how far this goes.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I wouldn't be writing 'fan' fictions. oO

…e…

…..e….ea…

..L..…a…

…….L….e…..a…

...L…ea…

…Lea…

Lea.

Axel!

An emerald flash, surrounded by fire. A silver sky, filled with steely clouds. Cold, bitter winds. A dank, salty smell. Rushing water, wet sand.

Where am I…?

A gull cries overhead, and a tear falls from the sky.

No…not a tear. Rain. The beach…?

The sky cries again, and soon it's sobbing.

No…none of this makes sense…Where am I!?

Leaxel!

…I…w…ant…

Who…am I…?

…line…pieces up…

Why can't I move? I don't remember…

Yours…

I can't…re…ember…an…ing…

…and mine.

The day Riku left was atrociously unbearable. It was rotten, vulgar, shitty, terrible and unhealthy. The day Riku left, a fourteen-year-old girl got her foot bitten off by a shark while surfing and a little boy nearly drowned. The day Riku left, Tidus crashed his moped and Wakka broke two fingers playing blitzball. The day Riku left, Kairi developed an allergic reaction to a bee that stung her and Selphie got rejected from the designer school she applied for.

The day Riku left, Sora locked himself in his room and cried.

In Sora's mind, nothing could get worse. Never mind the fact that they were able to miraculously save the girl's foot and the boy only nearly drowned. Never mind the fact that Tidus' "crashed" (it was a fender bender. Sora still insists that Tidus could have been thrown off, landed on the windshield of the other car, "and like…died.") moped was under warranty and Wakka's fingers were really only sprained. Never mind the fact that Kairi's allergic reaction was mild and the swelling of her eyes was gone within a couple hours, and that there had been a mix-up at the designer college and Selphie got another letter saying that she had, in fact, been accepted.

Never mind that after a mere fifteen minutes of well deserved pining on Sora's part, his mother had dragged him out of his room, shoved twenty munny in his pocket, and locked him out of the house, telling him to "go be emo at the beach. And pick up some toilet paper on the way home."

And such brings us to the present. Sora took his mother's words to heart and was slouched in the corner-y-est chair of the corner-y-est table surrounding the very open ice cream vender. He sulkily slurped at his sea-salt ice cream, glowering at all the couples and kids enjoying the exuberant weather and warm ocean. He watched as his friends – Kairi, Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus – stepped out of Wakka's old truck, all laughs and shoves and tickles. All very much not Riku. But since his sea-salt ice cream was currently making its way to his lower intestines and he had to save the rest of his cash for his mother's precious T.P., Sora decided to join his friends.

Maybe they can help take my mind off Riku…

Riku…. Sora smiled as he made his way over the sand towards the large umbrella his friends were setting up. Riku was utter perfection. Long silver hair, (Sora used to tease Riku that he was adopted, since both his parents had black hair. He stopped when Riku found out he actually was.) aquamarine eyes that you could just stare at forever. Riku hated it when Sora did that though, so the brunette had to steal glances whenever the elder wasn't paying attention. They weren't quite green, not quite blue, but rather a perfect in-between. Sora sighed, raising a hand to catch the attention of his friends. Ah yes. Riku was most definitely—

THWOK.

A blue sky fluttered into view. Shouts and laughter could be heard, along with crashing waves and crying seagulls. Sora wasn't quite sure why he was staring at the cloudless sky until a sharp stab in his head jogged his memory.

Oh yeah…I was drooling over Riku…crap, why does my head hurt so badly?

"Shit! Hey kid, you okay?"

Bright emerald eyes and flaming rusty hair appeared in his view. Sora yelped and sat up, then moaned and grabbed his head. His squeezed his eyes shut, his toes curling; he could feel a hot, tender bump forming on his hairline.

Paaaaain…

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…take it easy, kid." A hand on his shoulder reminded him that some one else was there. Sora's eyes shot open.

I know that voice.

"You gave me a scare, falling so hard like that."

Sora slowly sat up straight as the man spoke. Something begged him not to turn, but he did anyways, never one to really listen to his conscience very closely.

The speaker was kneeling on one knee, his long, bony hand still on Sora's back. His rust-red hair was jagged and spiky and fell over his shoulders. The ends and all the tips of the spikes faded to blonde, giving it an unnatural flame-like appearance. Intensely green eyes watched him, smiling, with tiny black upside-down triangles tattooed under them, and Sora wanted to scream and run.

What the fuck…?

His smile faded and he grimaced when Sora's hand dropped from his head.

"Shit, I am so sorry about that." His voiced dropped to a concerned mutter. "Damn, you should put some ice on that thing." He looked past Sora and spoke clearly again. "Myde, go get ice."

Sora turned his head slowly, careful not to hurt himself again, just in time to see another man with a young face and dark brown hair styled in a tall Mohawk nod and stand. He glanced around nervously, as though looking for something, before running off.

The brunette turned back to the red-head, hoping he would either be gone or look different. He was disappointed when the man was still there, watching him with concern. Sora winced and gripped his head again, really just to avoid eye contact. He suddenly felt pressure on his back.

"Let's go sit somewhere cooler, huh?"

Blindly, Sora allowed himself to be lead back to the ice cream vender, where the red-head gently eased him into a chair in the shade. His head was spinning. He couldn't remember what happened to his head, but at the moment all he wanted to know was who this man was. He swallowed thickly.

"Who…are you?"

The red-head's eyebrows rose, as though he was surprised, before he sat next to Sora.

"Right, right. The name's Lee. I uh…" his green eyes glanced down at the ground in what appeared to be shame. "We got a little carried away with blitzball and it kinda…hit you in the head. Really hard. You were only out for a second, but, well…" He motion to Sora's head, which at that moment decided to throb painfully. The brunette leaned forward, his head in his hands, and groaned. He didn't look up when he heard two pairs of feet approach.

"What do you want?" a quiet, chilly voice hissed. Sora turned his head to peak through his hair at Lee, who was staring at the man who had spoken. His eyes suddenly narrowed and focused on something farther away.

"Ice, Myde, ice! Not Aïs, you asshat!"

"Oh! R-right!" Sora heard flip-flops scamper off, and then the same voice from before growled.

"He's not your gopher, Lee!"

Axel…

Sora groaned and squeezed his eyes shut again, his fingers gripping his hair. No…don't wake up…

"Be that as it may, my dear Aïs, your precious little Myde failed to catch the ball thrown to him, thus resulting in what we have here."

A…Axel!

This time Sora growled, bending over further. No, it's not him, just go back to sleep!

"Don't be so cocky, Lee. Perhaps if you knew how to properly throw a blitzball 'my' Myde would have been able to catch it."

Axel! You're alive!

The flip-flops returned, though Sora barely heard. "Ok, here's ice!"

This guy is way too cheerful… Sora flinched and moaned again, though it sounded suspiciously like a whine. Something was pounding on the walls of his mind, begging to be let out.

C'mon, lemme out! Please, just for a second, I just want to talk to him!

No! He is not Axel!

Lee laid his hand on Sora's back, startling the brunette. He lifted his head enough to see the red-head holding out a blue ice pack that most likely came out of a cooler.

"Here, put this on your head."

Slowly, Sora took it. At first he just stared at the block, as though unsure how to use it, despite just being told how. After a moment he gingerly placed it on the wound, wincing when it stung a bit. The icy man from before started arguing with Lee again, and Sora slouched back over.

Please…I just want to talk to him.

Drop it. He's not Axel, he doesn't know you. He doesn't know me! Besides, don't you think it would be just a tiny bit awkward if you suddenly appeared out of nowhere, all transparent-y and shit?

…C'mon, Sora…I miss him so mu—

"Shut up, Roxas!"

Sora's eyes flew open even as he spoke. He lifted his head slowly to see the three men staring at him. Lee seemed amused, though the one with the Mohawk look frightened and the other, who happened to have lavender-ish hair, yellow eyes, and a mean X shaped scare on his face, was glaring more than staring. Sora opened his mouth to explain, but couldn't seem to get his voice to work right.

"I-I…uh…I'm…er…"

"Wow, that ball musta hit you harder than I thought." Lee grinned. "Who's Roxas? Nice name…"

Sora straightened up, determined to ignore the insistent little voice in his head. Keeping the ice pack to his head—because that thing felt so fucking good at the moment—he cleared his throat and swallowed.

"He's, ah…no one. Thanks for the ice, I'm ok now." Slapping on his goofiest grin, Sora gave the three a reassuring thumbs-up.

The man with purple hair, Aïs, scoffed and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the Mohawked man's arm—Myde?—and dragged him away, leaving Sora alone with Lee.

After a few uncomfortably silent moments, Sora spoke,

"So…this is gonna sound weird, but…how do you spell your name?"

Lee watched him skeptically for a moment, as though trying to decide if he wanted to answer that or not. Finally he relaxed and smiled.

"L to the double E, kid. And yeah, that was a weird question. What gives?"

Sora looked down, silent. L-E-E…if he were Axel there would be an A in his name…right?

"Ah…nothing." He looked back up, a sad smile on his face. "Just thought we might have met before."

Lee laughed softly and looked out to the ocean.

"Nah…I'd have remembered some one as cute as you."

Sora blushed hotly and laughed nervously, looking away. No, no, no! Don't like me! Hate me! Despise me—

"So, how old are you?"

Crap…

Sora turned back to Lee, who now had a cigarette smoking in his mouth. Ok, just…be cool.

"I turned twenty a couple weeks ago." He grinned to himself. And now I get to know how old Axel was… "What about you?"

Smoke rings filled the air. "Thirty-one."

Sora sucked in a sharp breath. "Yikes…" he whispered teasingly. Fucking hell, Roxas! He's eleven years older than us!

…I don't have to explain myself to you…

"Hey now," Lee mock-scolded, shaking his cigarette accusingly at Sora. "I'm still young yet, you whippersnapper!" He grinned when Sora laughed and sat back, stretching. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Sora! Oh my god, are you okay?" Sora's head whipped around just in time to see kairi practically leap onto him, enveloping him in a tight squeeze. "We saw what happened but we didn't know it was you! Oh, are you hurt?"

After recovering from the initial shock of being glomped, Sora set the ice pack down to return his friends hug.

"Calm down, Kairi, I'm fine. Lee here got me an ice pack." He motioned to the red-head, who nodded at Kairi. "Which, by the way, worked wonders," he added to Lee. "It doesn't really hurt anymore."

Kairi smiled sweetly at Lee. "Thanks so much for helping him. He can be so helpless sometimes!" She giggled when Sora pouted.

"I resent that, Kairi!"

"Do you even know what that means?"

Sora pouted even harder when Lee laughed. The red-head dropped his cigarette and rubbed it out with the toe of his sandal before standing and stretching. "Well now that you're fine, Sora, I better find Aïs and make sure he's not molesting Myde." He winked at Sora before bowing dramatically to Kairi, ignoring her confused expression.

"Uh…right…." Sora said. He felt disappointed that Lee was leaving and he didn't know why.

It's because he's Axel and you know it. He sacrificed himself for you, for me, and now that you can properly thank him you look the other way!

Sora felt his eyes grow hot and his chest tighten. He drew in a shuddering breath, looking down and hoping Kairi and Lee wouldn't notice.

C'mon, Roxas…be realistic.

There's nothing realistic about any of this, Sora…

A tear fell from each eye and Sora quickly wiped them away. He sniffed a few times and rubbed his eyes hard, trying to ignore the sobs in his head. A hand on his should made him jump and look up into green eyes.

"You ok, Sora?"

The brunette swallowed, trying not to break down right there in front of Lee.

"…yeah, just got allergies all the sudden."

Lee didn't look convinced, but smiled anyways and nodded. He glanced quickly over his shoulders, then leaned forward to whisper in Sora's ear, his hand slipping into the younger man's back pocket.

"Don't be a stranger, Sora."

Sora's face burned. He held his breath as Lee quickly nuzzled his ear and pulled back, smirking. He didn't let it out until the man winked and walked away. His hand slowly slid into his pocket, feeling a slip of paper there. Nervously, he pulled it out and unfolded it.

555-0813

Call me! ;)

-Lee

Blue eyes scanned the note over and over. After a while, Sora slipped the paper back into his pocket and scanned the area for his friends, a soft smile on his face.

Alright, Roxas. I guess I'll try…for you.

Lol. That last thought sounded ghey. XD Sorry people, no Roxas/Sora...in THIS fic. Muahahaha...anyways, hope you like the first chapter, and reviews equals inspiration, so CHOP CHOP! Ilu guys!! - PCpencil