Author Note: Hey guys. This is my first time trying to do a long project in a really long time. I'm not sure if this is going to go far too slow at some points, and too quickly at others, but if you give this a chance bare(bear?) with me! This first chapter is definitely slower than the others. Also, sorry, I'm doing some chapter re-arrangement. The first chapter seems to be a bit long.

There's never been a worse moment in the past year for Sora than remembering what he could have been doing with his life and what he's actually doing. It was nice for him to pretend that what he was doing was something worthwhile, and he'd have some kind of life altering epiphany after all of this. But he was starting to think that wasn't going to happen.

Sunglasses on, leaning out the window with dirt pasting Sora's face as Roxas speeds unwaveringly down the road. They drove in silence, which has become a typical custom. Roxas drives into oblivion and Sora doesn't question his intuition, because Sora couldn't drive. Loud rock music drowns out potential conversation and they pretend that it occupies their minds, leaving no spare room for a second thought. The summer breathed onto Sora like a sweaty old pervert in the park.

The problem has been that none of this is as glamourous or enlightening as they had assumed it'd be.

Roxas and Sora always said that we should travel, go places, see the world, because they were too young to be wasting their lives failing out of school and shabbily skating down Peter's Avenue for the next few years. So instead of just musing on it and talking about it with lofty pipe dreams like normal people, they actually decided to steal money from Sora's parents and sell their worldly possessions and just go. Because, Sora mused, fulfilling petty whims makes up for the spit-worthy act of stealing from the only people who ever gave a shit about him; except Roxas, obviously. Sora knew he should have felt guilty for thinking this because it's too late now, but he didn't care; he missed his x-box. He missed his cellphone. He even missed his boring, busy parents.

The gravel traveled too quickly below the legs of this car for Sora to get a good picture of them. He tried to photograph them for further inspection, though, only to be graced with biting inertia. He didn't like to look up because the slimy anxiety that is slowly writhing down his esophagus over the course of the past two months only travels faster when he has no idea where they were and the neighborhoods were empty and melancholy.

Sora thought about the past. Do you want a sandwich, his mother asks. No, you horrible bitch, how dare you offer me food and shelter, he replies. I'm going to run away because that sounds rational. Because you don't understand my need to be free, or something, he rebelliously exclaims.

Sora sweltered, noting that the rides were so lackluster these days that hitting a bump was a highlight. He was a slave to this car, and to whatever caught Roxas's eye. Or if he needed to eat, sleep, or piss. Sora preferred to adjust his biology to his just so he didn't have to talk anymore, because he knew if he did, he was going to end up saying something Roxas didn't want to hear. And Sora knew he didn't want to hear how ridiculous they both know this is. Or how they were running out of money, fast.

But Roxas never had parents that cared, and he'd never been attached to anything, so Sora guessed once they'd been spent, they'd either figure out what to do or starve.

"Hey, there's a gas station. I need to get gas and pee." Roxas says to Sora. Sora didn't have to go, but he would so he didn't have to bring anything up to him later. Sora had given up on being polite like Roxas though, so he just unzipped himself and pissed on the side, because he'd already gotten used to the broiling heat of the black leather seat and blistering sun, and didn't feel like re-situating himself. Whatever.

"Yo, back." Well, yeah. Obviously he was, Sora thought to himself. "Uh, did you go? It's free now."

"I just went here." Sora shrugged.

"Eh, don't touch me with your hands then. Covered in dick." He laughs. Sora chuckled. And then there was that familiar sound again. Louder than the laughs or the words. The silence. Sora resumed position. A sigh that wasn't meant for Sora to take a cue from erupts from Roxas. Sora could see that he knew exactly what Sora was talking about- the silence is boring and cliché by this point.

That gas station was the last sign of human life they'd seen for miles. There's no cars, no stragglers waiting for drug money on the side of the road- no one. Just woods around them, with no animals going about their business- they don't want anything to do with them either. Sora started to wonder if this was it; perhaps he and Roxas had entered a parallel dimension and are now paying for their sins by traveling on a never ending hell passage.

But as Sora glanced over, he noticed the slightest tremor in Roxas's brow. A look of great concentration or concern overtook his face; he couldn't tell, but Sora knew something was awry, and he knew he was far too apprehensive about confronting him. But something was wrong and Sora could feel it from him, he knew that Roxas was debating bringing it up to him.

"Sora..." his voice winded like raspy old violin strings, and for some reason Sora knew his suspicions were manifesting into a reality. "Are you sick of me?" Sora shook his head no, because Sora could never be sick of him. He was sick of this. "Because I'm really starting to hate this..."

And for a flighty moment Sora believed, yes, finally, we're turning around, we're done with this. But then Roxas spoke. "The only thing really keeping me going is that I don't wanna fuck you over. But if you're just done then so am I. With everything."

A part of Sora's brain knew what Roxas meant immediately, and the other part was still trying to contemplate the meaning of that. And as usual, Sora didn't say anything. he didn't nod, or squeak or reach out for the wheel, because before he knew it they were traveling at bullet speed into the woodsy crater to their left.

As the panic struck, Roxas finally realized the gravity of what he had done and tried to get the car under control, dodging trees with a reflex that Sora would have been impressed with if his life hadn't been in approaching end. His foot jamming against the breaks in vein, they were rolling down hill at unstoppable momentum. This was always a crappy car.

Still Sora didn't scream or try to help himself because he could only grip the car armrests desperately and keep looking ahead like he was playing an arcade racing game.

Sound of screeching metal. Sora's head plunged against the window.