Traces

A Kingdom Hearts Fanfic

A/N: Because I believe in traces.

I DO NOT own Kingdom Hearts.

June: Homework

Hayner stretched his arms high, yawning. It was summer, finally. Making a final face at his stocky English teacher he shoved his final paper into his bag and made for the door, slinging the pack onto his back hastily. In the hallway he joined in the shouts and whoops of joy made by his fellow classmates. He rolled his eyes when a teacher popped his head out of one of the doors, shushing the group. "Shut up! It's summer!" yelled a boy sporting a blue beanie. The teacher glared at the rebellious blonde. "Watch your language young man," He said sternly, pointing a long finger at the boy. "And you're still in school, take that hat off!"

"Hey! It's Seifer, you know?" A big dark-skinned boy interjected, glaring back at the teacher. "It is now summer. School rules no longer apply." Added a white-haired girl standing next to the two. The teacher mumbled something about the lack of respect and disappeared back into the classroom. Hayner laughed. Seifer and his gang had their days.

The stampede of students dragged Hayner to the lobby where he frantically sought out his friends. His grinned, spotting a girl with dark brown hair and a large black haired boy waving to him. "Pence! Olette!" He shouted, battling his way through the crowd. "Finally, we don't have to wear these stupid uniforms anymore!" He said, yanking off his tie when he reached the two. Olette giggled. "You don't like them, do you Hayner?" He scoffed, taking off his bag to stuff the tie inside. "Duh! Who does?" Pence joined the laughter. "Rai and Seifer must, they still have to wear theirs to summer school."

Hayner widened his eyes in disbelief. "Seifer has summer school?" Pence nodded. Hayner laughed. "Sucker. And he's the one who was bragging about not having to take finals!"

"Yeah, 'cause he has to take the whole class over again!" The two boys burst into laughter at Pence's comment. Olette put her hands on her hips. "You're one to talk, both of you almost failed Chemistry!"

Pence put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "True, but you helped us. That's why we passed."

Olette nodded. "Right. So no more teasing me okay?"

Hayner extended his hand. "Deal. But only if you promise to stop scolding me all the time."

Olette took her friend's hand. "Deal."

"Umm…have a good summer." The three friends turned to the source of the quiet voice to find a short boy wearing a large pointy hat.

Olette smiled. "You too Vivi!"

"Hey Vivi, you know you're welcome to hang with us. Instead of with that bozo." Hayner said, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah." Pence added. "You know where to find us, just pop in whenever."

Vivi shifted his hat uncomfortably. "Thanks." He said softly. "I'll keep that in mind."

"All right. Catch you later then!" Hayner said, waving as he led the way out of the building.

The sky was it's normal pink, orange hue and the sounds of the train could be heard faintly from the school. Hayner stretched again, turning to his friends. "We have to go to the beach this year."

Pence nodded. "Yup, I've been wanting pretzels all spring!" Hayner landed a playful slap on his friend's back. "Geez Pence, is food all you think of?"

Olette stopped walking, a look of confusion on her face. "Why didn't we go last year?"

The two boys stopped, pondering as well. "I dunno." Hayner said. "I can't remember. Actually, I can't remember anything about last summer. Do you?" He asked Pence. The boy shook his head. "Nope."

Olette shook her head. "Hmm, oh well, guess school shoved it out of our minds. C'mon, we still have time before the ice cream shop closes!"

"Great!" Pence said excitedly, running off. "I'll go get us some!"

"Thanks!" Hayner shouted after him. "We'll meet you at the Clock Tower!"

Olette and Hayner sat on the ledge, dangling their feet. "Isn't it bizarre that we can't remember what we did last summer?"

Hayner shielded his eyes from the Twilight sun. "Yeah, but like you said, we probably forgot because of school, no big deal."

"Yeah." Olette said uncertainly. "Hey look! Pence's here!"

Pence appeared around the corner of the clock, his hands gripping bars of Sea-Salt ice cream. "Ice cream delivery!" He said happily handing out the treats.

"Awesome!" Hayner said, taking one. "Hold on, why did you buy four?"

"Yeah," Olette piped, licking her Popsicle. "There's only three of us."

Pence looked down at the two bars still in his hand and shrugged. "Dunno. Guess I thought there was someone else… oh well, more for me!" He finished, grinning as he took the first big bite.

Hayner frowned, watching his two friends licking their ice creams and laughing. Something was wrong, he was sure of it. It was almost as if something was missing, a thought nagging at the back of his mind. He was jarred back to reality when Olette called his name. "Huh? Did you say something Olette?"

Olette rolled her eyes. "I said, your ice cream's melting."

Hayner looked at his hand to see sticky, blue goo oozing onto his hand from the Popsicle stick. "Eww!" He cried, transferring the bar to his other hand and trying to shake away the goo. Olette and Pence burst out laughing at his actions and Hayner's worries dissipated.

They were in the Usual Spot, as always. Pence was on the couch, Hayner throwing darts.

"She's late." Pence remarked, yawning.

"Yeah." Hayner replied. A dart went thunk on the board. "Wonder what happened?"

"Should we go look for her?"

"Nah." Thunk. "She's probably-" Thunk. "on her way." Thunk. "Dammit! Stupid darts!" Hayner yelled, throwing the darts down in frustration.

Pence laughed. "Maybe Olette's right." He said. "You need more patience."

"What am I right about?" The boys whirled to face Olette carrying a large stack of paper, books and a small laptop.

"What's all that for?" Hayner asked wearily, picking up the fallen darts and sticking them onto the board.

Olette didn't answer but lugged her load over to one of the tables in the corner and dumped it down. The boys watched her curiously as she carefully separated the papers into piles, opened the books and turned on the computer. Finished she put her hands on her hips. "There!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

Hayner and Pence were getting scared. "What?" Pence asked softly. Olette turned to face the two, hands still on her hips, a determined look on her face. Their fear increased twofold. "So, I've decided that this year, we're going to be responsible. This year when we give our report it'll be so brilliant that the teachers will give us an infinite amount of extra credit!" Olette raised her arms in the air triumphantly. The boys gave her a strange look. She sighed, lowering her arms. "Okay, okay, maybe not, but at least we'll have a good grade at the start of the year for once. I'm getting tired of having a B for the first quarter, aren't you?"

Pence was getting ready to say, no he didn't mind at all, in fact he was very happy having anything above an D when Hayner exploded. "I've got it!" He yelled excitedly. Olette and Pence looked at him curiously. "Got what?" Hayner looked like they should have read his mind. "The perfect idea for our summer project."

"Oh! You don't have to worry about that, I've got it all planned." Olette piped, going over to the table and pulling out a book. "We're going to research the history and origin of the Struggle tournament. I thought this would be interesting to you guys. We could start with the founder, general rules and then move to-"

"Boring." Hayner said in a sing-song voice. "C'mon Olette, where's the fun in that? Research is for old men in white lab coats. No, my idea is so much better."

Olette glared at her friend. "Okay Mr. I'm-too-good-for-research, what's your brilliant idea?"

"We're going to…" He paused for a dramatic effect. "capture the ghost of the Mansion!"

Olette smacked her head. Pence's eyes widened with excitement. "Wow Hayner, that's awesome!"

"No it's not! There's no ghosts in the Mansion, ghosts don't even exist!"

Hayner fixed an eye on the only female member of the group. "How do you know?" He said accusingly.

Olette's cheeks glowed a faint pink. "Well, I-"

"Did you research it?"

"I-no, but-"

"Has it been proven?"

"Of course not, but everyone knows-"

"It is a law of nature?"

"Ghosts do not exist!"

Hayner chuckled. "We shall see." He began strutting out of the nook, beckoning his comrades to follow.

Olette sighed as Pence hopped off the couch. "Sometimes I wonder why we follow him." Olette said to her friend.

Pence shrugged. "Isn't it because he's charismatic?"

Olette gigged. "I didn't know you had that vocabulary!"

Pence feigned being hurt. "I did pay attention in English you know…sometimes."

Olette laughed, Pence joined in and together they followed the path their charismatic leader had taken.

"Move aside freaks, we've got important business to attend to."

Pence and Olette turned the corner to the Sandlot to find Hayner confronting Seifer and his gang. Hayner and Seifer were face-to-face, Rai and Fuu were flanking the blonde bully on either side and Vivi stood cowering behind them. Olette and Pence quickly rushed to support Hayner, adding tension to the area.

"Not until you acknowledge we're the best." Seifer said, grinning mockingly.

Hayner scoffed. "Not on your life! Like anyone would ever do that."

Rai shook an angry fist at Hayner. "Seifer's the best, you know?"

"There is no life form that surpasses the one that is Seifer Almasy." Fuu's monotone voice made Olette shiver.

Seifer nodded approvingly. "That's right. Now say it, or you'll pay."

Pence and Olette shrunk back at Seifer's threat but Hayner only scoffed. "Sure, looks like the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee needs some discipline themselves!"

Seifer's face developed a red hue. "Why you-" Olette gasped as he raised his fist.

"Stop!"

The squeaked cry echoed through the Sandlot, stunning the six teens. It seemed impossible, but the outburst had most definitely come from behind the infamous Disciplinary Committee…

Vivi stepped out from behind Seifer, holding his hat firmly on his head, a determined look on his face. "Stop it." He said, his tiny voice quivering.

Seifer leaned forward menacingly. "What, did you say?"

Vivi began to lose his nerve. "Well, I-, I-" He glanced around for support, and found it in Olette's encouraging and eager face. Vivi squared his shoulders. "I-, I don't think this is the right time!" The quiver in his voice had increased significantly.

"Why?" Seifer's voice was piercing.

It was obvious that it was taking all of Vivi's strength to keep his confidence. "I think-, I think you should save it for the Struggle match!"

Silence followed. Hayner, Pence and Olette held their breath. Fuu and Rai looked expectantly at Seifer, while he continued to stare at the shaking Vivi. Eventually, a grin broke out on the bully's face. "That's right!" He exclaimed, making everyone jump, "The Struggle match will settle this!" The blonde turned and pointed a long finger at Hayner. "You better start prepping, I want this fight to be somewhat challenging."

Hayner clenched his fists and opened his mouth for a nasty comeback when he felt Pence's firm hand on his shoulder. He relaxed. "All right Almasy. Come August we'll see if you have that much confidence." With that, Hayner strode past the Disciplinary Committee, Pence and Olette quick on his trail. Seifer let them pass with a grunt and signaled Fuu and Rai. With everyone's backs turned, only Vivi saw Olette turn around and mouth "thank you."

"Stupid Seifer. Always making us look dumb. We'll show him. After August, we'll be the ones ruling the streets!" Hayner mumbled this as he stomped through the forest, Pence and Olette fighting to keep up with his angry strides.

"You have to be careful Hayner!" Said Olette, breathless as she finally reached Hayner's side, "Today could have gotten out of hand if Vivi hadn't helped us!"

"Yeah!" Shouted Pence from behind gasping for air, "Vivi's-" gasp "got a lot of-" gasp "nerve to be-" gasp "standin' up to Seifer-" gasp "you know?" Pence caught up as the other two slowed and stopped.

Hayner scoffed as Pence clutched his knees, panting. "Better slow down Pence, you're starting to sound like Rai."

The comment got the three friends laughing and they set off again at a more leisurely pace towards the mansion.

"Here we are! Twilight Mansion!" Hayner said, loud like a sports announcer, eagerly running towards the gate. Pence and Olette exchanged looks, smiles and shrugs and rushed after their friend. Sometimes when it came to Hayner, it was just best to play along.

The rusty gate was surprisingly unlocked. Hayner gave it a push and the three cringed at the shriek as the gate swung open. "C'mon!" Hayner whispered fiercely, excitement glinting in his eyes. Pence followed hesitantly while Olette shook her head in annoyance. "Hope he gets tired of this fast." She mumbled, walking after her male friends.

The mansion was dark; walls illuminated by the setting sun. Broken furniture lined the floor, cobwebs decorated the ceiling and dust had laid a thick blanket on the forgotten building. Pence sneezed violently as Hayner peeked into the various rooms on the first floor. Olette gazed in awe at the high ceiling and large window at the back of the house. Looking out she saw what must have been a beautiful garden, many years ago. The shuffle of feet and another sneeze alerted her to Pence's presence. "Can't believe we come here all the time but we've never come inside. It's so majestic, even with everything broken. Like the traces are here to tell us something."

"Yeah." Olette replied, eyes still on the ruined garden. "It feels a little nostalgic, doesn't it? In a mysterious way."

Pence was about to answer when Hayner's voice echoed through the house. "Well, nothing on the first floor, on to the second!" This was followed by the creak and thump of him running up the stairs. Olette and Pence exchanged exasperated looks, and then followed.

Their search was also in vain in the upper rooms. The bedrooms were devoid of any haunting spirits; though in Olette's opinion they weren't thoroughly searched, and the library, where Hayner thought for sure was a prime "ghost hang out" proved to be empty as well. The three stood in front of the last room, hopeful as Hayner put a hand on the doorknob. "Here it goes, either there's a ghost in here, or we suffer Olette's history extravaganza." A light punch from Olette, then the door was open.

The teens were assaulted by a blinding white light as the door swung open. Olette and Hayner were oblivious to everything but the light, but Pence's eyes showed him a white table and white walls lined with colorful pictures drawn with crayon. The image held for just a moment and then, the white light was gone and the three were greeted with a dull room filled with an old, dusty and chipped wooden table and nothing else. Pence rubbed his eyes. "I thought, I just saw more in here." He said quietly, confusion in his voice.

Hayner sighed, "It was probably the sunlight making you see things. C'mon, there's nothing here." He turned and left the room, avoiding Olette's look of "I told you so."

The three left the mansion, Hayner dejected, Olette smug and Pence, pondering. He could have sworn he saw something in that room, not just the table and the pictures, but a person. A boy, whose face he couldn't remember now, but in that moment had been so familiar…

He glanced back at the mansion, focusing on that room, the old, faded curtain swaying gently in the breeze. Suddenly, a memory, pulled from the depths of his self-conscious filled his mind. Standing there, pointing at that room, a boy next to him… A friend… Blonde hair… Blue eyes… His name was… R-

"Hey Pence, you coming?"

The shout shattered the picture within his mind. Pence shook his head to clear it, convinced he was imagining things and that he needed food and rest. "Yeah!" He shouted, trotting after his friends, throwing a quick look back at the mansion before disappearing into the woods…

bzzt DELETED DATA RESTORED. bzzt RESTORATION bzzt AT bzzt 35%. bzzt

A/N: Done! What did you think? I had a hard time writing this because of all the POV changes, would love some feedback on it! I was trying so hard to finish and post this chapter in June and it seems I just made it! Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are greatly appreciated! ^_^