Disclaimer: The amount of things that I own are very few. Thus being said, the rights to Kingdom Hearts and its characters is not in my possession.

That makes two

Hayner had no idea why he had been so mad at the creepy guy, no idea why he was so outraged when the dude had kidnapped Kairi. But he was. He was furious. If Hayner had had the means of going out to stage some dramatic rescue, he would've in a heartbeat- but not because of her.

Hayner had felt something when his eyes first landed on that mess of spiky red hair, an intense burning hatred for the man. No puns intended. Hayner was pretty sure that he'd never seen this freak before, so why then did he feel like he had just been reminded of some terrible loss when he gazed into the guy's face?

Hayner was so caught up in emotions that he charged ahead without a second thought, blinded by rage. But, of course, he was no match for the stranger… not even a threat. He could do no more than watch as Kairi was sucked away into the darkness.

And then, for no explainable reason he saw it. Just a glimpse, but he could definitely see it. He was standing in the sandlot in front of the Summer Struggle Tournament poster, and next to him was a boy he'd never seen before. No, he had seen him before, Hayner was sure of it. That mess of spiky blond hair seemed too familiar to him, but before Hayner could puzzle it over, the image was gone. Leaving only a trace of an image, a trace of a memory. And before he knew it, Hayner was crying. Sobbing his eyes out for the lost boy, bawling for not being able to protect Kairi, hitting his fists in anger towards the red-headed joker.

Olette and Pence must have sensed it too, or at least knew enough to stay out of Hayner's way for a while. They all felt miserable, and guilt ate at them for the rest of the day even after Sora had shown up and assured them that he would find her.

Hayner's dreams were of no consolation to him. He had seen that boy again, but this time they were in the Usual place, all sitting around lazily eating ice cream and laughing. Each one of them looked happy. Each one of them looked as if, at that moment, there was no other place that they'd rather be than there.

Hayner awoke with a jerk, and again began to cry.

Later that day trouble seemed to find the trio once again. Seifer had taken it upon himself to take advantage of Hayner's low spirits, and proceeded in relentless name- calling. Like always, the ensuing fight resulted with Hayner flat on his back, and Seifer laughing above him. The two of them gazed at each other, sensing something amiss. Seifer gave a quizzical look, tapped his struggle bat on his shoulder, and waited. The two of them stayed like that for a while… waiting.

"Hayner!"

There! Hayner's eyes widened. He had heard it, his name. It was very faint, but had definitely heard it. He strained his ears harder, trying to hear it again, but it was of no use. The voice was gone, just like Kairi… just like the boy.

The days that passed were no better, and Hayner was plagued by frequent nightmares, frequent visions of the blue-eyed stranger. Each time that Hayner encountered him, he felt as if he was getting a little bit closer. Felt like he was gaining a little more of something dear to him that was lost.

Hayner rounded up the gang in an attempt to find clues about where Kairi could be, determined that things would be different. He knew that he was no match for what ever evil force was out there, but the hatred from before found its way into him before any reasoning could take place. Hayner had a score to settle. Over what, he had no idea. But he promised himself that he wouldn't rest until he had found something useful, something that could bring him one step closer to what ever he had initially lost.

During this time, Hayner often felt a sudden feeling of melancholy swell up in his chest, a sudden sense of doom. Whenever that happened, the boy would be in front of him, giving Hayner a reassuring smile of a friend. Whenever Hayner came-to again he was suddenly instilled with a new energy, a new motive.

It wasn't long after that when the gang had been able to piece a big part of the puzzle together- the existence of an alternate Twilight Town. With nothing to loose Hayner and the gang charged towards the Haunted Mansion at once, it being the only place in town that they hadn't searched thoroughly. When they had arrived in view of the gates, Hayners blood began to boil. It was his déjà vu all over again, and as he ran he could see it, but unlike the other times this vision gave him no comfort.

Hayner and the rest of the gang were talking in the Usual spot, and from the doorway the blond boy walked up towards them, lifted his arm as if to touch Hayner on the shoulder, and watched with horror as his arm passed right through. Then, as if matters couldn't get any worse, Hayner himself was the first to turn around and run right through the boy. Time seemed to skip ahead in this vision, and suddenly Hayner could see the blue-eyed blonde in front of the mansion gates, jerking at the metal bars in panic as the strange white things surrounded him.

Hayner came-to into reality again, and saw that in the time that the vision had taken place, the strange white creatures had come to surround them too. Of course they were no match for the quirky enemies, and they soon fell un-conscious. This time, as Hayner was in the lull of his subconscious, the world seemed to crash down on him as scenes from all the visions he had seen came crashing together all at once. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing for order and sense to all that he was being showed. Right as the apex of the visions came into fruition, one image could be seen over all. It was the blue eyed angel, giving him that same small smile- but this time… he was sad. Tears were welled up in the corners of his eyes. The light that had been so vibrant in him before had gone out. Standing before Hayner now, he was no more than a phantom.

As Hayner could feel himself slowly drifting back into reality, he heard the one thing in the world that could make his heart break.

"Thank you, Hayner."

"Than…k….. You"

"Tha…--…ou,"

"Hayner…"

"…Ha…ner"

"Hayner!"

Hayner's eyes snapped open, and he gave a startled look as he gazed into a set of sea-blue eyes. For a moment, Hayner thought that the spiky-blonde was in front of him, but upon rubbing his eyes and clearing his head, he saw that it was only Sora.

Reality came crashing down again as he and the rest of the gang explained to Sora what they were tying to do.

Finally, they made it into the mansion and found an underground room full of high-tech gadgets and computer stuff. Pence, being the genius that he is, quickly hacked into the system and was able to upload a program that could send Sora into the alternate Twilight Town. The group exchanged their final farewells, and as Hayner watched Sora go, he couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment and a duty fulfilled.

"Goodbye, Sora. Good luck," Hayner said to himself, "Goodbye… Roxas…"

And then, just for a while, Hayner allowed himself to cry one last time.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

A/N- I took some liberties with the events that happened in the actual game, like Hayner rubbing his eyes after coming-to in front of the mansion. I hope it didn't distract too much and that I was able to keep him in character. If not, it was a valiant effort on my part.

I hope that you enjoyed!

Reviews are always appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to read this.