BLANKET DISCLAIMER: I do not own, am affiliated, or by any means am related to Kingdom Hearts. Squarenix has that glorious honor and I'm just a humble (and poor) college student attempting to entertain herself. Please don't sue me…all you'll get is about ten dollars and some cat food (the cat stays with me!).

Okay, now that's done, hello all! Considering how much I love KH and have devoured so many stories in this fandom, it surprised me that it took three years for me to write a story in the fandom…let's hope it turns out well, ne? It's a little different and I hope something you all haven't seen before, but if not I at least hope you enjoy it. Now, the ever so important list of pairings and summary…

Rating: M

Pairings: Akuroku (my new love in life), Soriku, Cleon, Zemyx…others but those are the main ones

Warnings: AU (kinda), spoilers for KH and KHII (you'll see), potty mouths, violence, pesky bad folk, sex, BOYsex (the best kind), dreams, and did I mention yaoi?

Summary: Roxas Ohami didn't want anything to do with the Heartless or his family's obsession with hunting them; too bad things don't always turn out how we want, especially when a cocky red-head starts getting him into trouble…like falling in love and all the trouble that comes with it.

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Light up the Sky

Chapter One: Scattered Memories and Broken Dreams

It was raining, harsh pellets falling on his hooded body, sticking to his shoes and clouding his vision into one hazy and watery blob. He was walking, maybe running, away from something…and maybe someone…not that it mattered. The buildings around him were lit eerily, casting a morbid glow around the desolate city and outlining his rain-soaked body in their yellow light. He hated this city, pausing in his trek to look around at the tall skyscrapers and broken street signs. It's trying to keep him trapped…keep him from discovering what's missing…just like everything else.

Movement to his left catches his eye and he looks back down, scowling underneath his cloak at the massing, black shapes surrounding him. He knows they won't be a problem, just a nuisance, but they could slow him down and allow them to catch up with him. He calls his weapons to his hands, calls the Keyblades. One light and one dark…he doesn't know why those ones are what come when he calls. In a fluid motion, he attacks, slashing and whirling about his enemies in a graceful but dangerous dance that he's always known how to do. Another memory he doesn't have.

They, the Heartless, aren't a challenge against him, just like he knew they wouldn't be, but there are so many of them and he doesn't have this kind of time. Before he can consider what to do next, a figure atop the tallest skyscraper makes that decision for him. He looks up and stares at the figure, a boy, dressed in the same black he wears with a blindfold around his eyes. The wind and rain are whipping the boy's silver hair around his face…he looks almost like an angel.

He hates him. He doesn't know why, but he does. Leaping away from the Heartless, he hurtles up the building and towards the boy, destroying any Heartless unlucky enough to get in his way. He can see the boy smirk and jump off, falling towards him. He throws one of his blades, Oblivion, at the boy, but he catches it in midair and continues his descent to the ground. Growling in anger that he shouldn't feel and cannot explain, he whirls around and heads back towards the ground, intent on defeating the silver-haired boy. Somehow, he knew the boy was here for him…they were always here for him. He wasn't going to go though…he had to know why he couldn't remember…why the Keyblade chose him.

He reaches back down quickly enough and soon both are locked in combat, fighting with all they have, intent on winning. The boy is good, there's no denying that, but he isn't a match for him. He's stronger, always has been, even though he doesn't know how he knows that. Their blades meet again and again, until he knocks the boy to the ground and levels Oathkeeper at his blind-folded face. He wants to just slash him away and be done with it, but something holds him back…why isn't he moving?

"Why? Why do you have the Keyblade?!"

He freezes…how does he know what the Keyblades are? And…and why does he ask as if they don't belong to him? Fear fills him, empowering his anger, and he levels Oathkeeper back down, close enough to graze the boy's nose.

"Shut up!"

He swings up the Keyblade again, this time intent on sweeping the boy out of his sight…but the chance never comes. Instead, the boy disappears in an overwhelming cloud of black and he feels the air prickle with new, powerful energy. When the black clears, the boy isn't there anymore…but a man is…with piercing yellow eyes he knows all too well. He raises his Keyblade, calling the other back into his hand, but this new adversary has a weapon too…another Keyblade. He takes a step back, anything to get some sort of space between him and the darkness, but it's no use…the blade comes down in a swift arc and knocks him away. He feels those eyes on him as he tries to push himself up; he can't be taken, he has to know! All of his wants amounted to nothing as the blade swung down again…somehow, he isn't surprised; perhaps just a little regretful.

He's falling now…falling…falling…

…

…

"Flight 2304, Twilight Town to Radiant Garden, we are now boarding rows fifteen thru fifty. I repeat, rows fifteen thru fifty, we are now boarding you, thank you."

Roxas Ohami awoke with a start, the stewardess' overly-perky voice chiming in his ears as he jerked out of his all too vivid dream. He wiped a hand over his face, attempting to calm his breathing to a pace that wouldn't frighten children, and glanced down quickly at his ticket. Row fifty-one.

Well wasn't that just perfect.

He heaved a sigh, breathing resembling normalcy, and rested his head back against his chair. He tried to relax, but the adrenaline his dream left behind wouldn't leave so with a weary glance upwards, Roxas sat up and stretched his sore and stiff muscles. He reached up, arching his back with a satisfied grunt when he heard something pop, and glanced around at who remained to still be seated. It really was ridiculous, not allowing the twenty or so people catching the red-eye flight to just board all at once, but airports were strict apparently. All that was left was some old guy by the windows and an irritable looking blond man tinkering with something vaguely robotic.

Personally, Roxas thought the guys was playing with Legos, but who was he to judge?

Roxas sank back into his seat, waiting not-so-patiently for the flight attendant to okay him and the other two men left to board. He glanced down at his ticket again, tracing the shiny letters with his thumb and a frown settling across his face. If he had a choice, he would have preferred a flight that wasn't the red-eye, or one that cost him more than he liked to think about. Hell, if he had his choice he wouldn't even be waiting for this flight. But that wasn't the case and here he was. If someone had told him six hours ago he'd be getting on a plane for the one place he swore he'd never go back to, he wouldn't have dignified said person with a reply. But, then again, six hours ago he hadn't known his father had been killed.

"Attention Flight 2304, Twilight Town to Radiant Garden, we are now boarding all remaining passengers, I repeat--"

Roxas didn't wait to hear her repeat herself, shouldering his back pack and slinging on his duffel bag, heading towards the stewardess, boarding pass all perfectly organized and ready. The friendly woman smiled at him and told him to have a pleasant flight as he walked into the plane, heedless of the blank look she received in reply. Roxas didn't feel bad, she probably got those looks all the time; she had immunity to apathy as far as he was concerned. Glancing at his ticket, Roxas sidled his way through the narrow aisles and to his seat, not bothering to put any of his bags in the overhead compartments. If someone really wanted to sit next to him, even with all the not-happy feelings he was emitting, well then he wouldn't stop the brave soul. Just glare.

Once he was as comfortable as one could be in an airplane seat, Roxas leaned his head against his oval window and stared at his tired reflection. He could see his hair sticking up more so than usual, and there were bags underneath his vividly blue eyes. He looked almost as bad as he felt, he mused, watching his lips quirk into a half smirk in the window. Then again, he was functioning on limited amount of sleep and hadn't really paused to make himself look presentable after he got the call from his brother that afternoon.

He pulled away as the plane started to move and eventually take off; all the fast movement made his stomach squirm rebelliously. He thought he saw a flash of something cross his vision as the plane pulled off the ground, a flash of smirking fire, but he shook his head and rid himself of the image. He was getting sick of them, the stupid dreams; not that he'd ever been without them, but ever since he left they'd been getting worse and more frequent. They happened even when he was awake. The dream he had before in the airport didn't even shock him anymore…he'd had that one more times than he could count. That one and another, full of fire and watching something fade into the dark…one that always made him shaky and feverish when he woke up.

They hadn't usually bothered him so much, the dreams, but that was back when he had Sora to talk to whenever he wanted, only a door and a knock away. Sora had the dreams too, not just the strange feelings like Cloud had.

Roxas felt a smile tug at his lips at thinking about his twin. Him, along with their older brother Cloud and a few friends, they were the only things he really missed about Radiant Garden. Sora, the only one out of his broken family who had understood his need to get away from Radiant Garden and had walked him to the bus station (the most direct way to get to the airport without a car) after the 'incident' with their dad. Sora, the one who had called their Aunt Aerith and let her know Roxas needed to be picked up from the airport. Sora, the practical antithesis to Roxas.

True, Sora was blessed with the same gravity-defying hair and eyes so blue they looked electric as his slightly younger twin (as Sora was so fond of reminding Roxas), but it was there the similarities ended. Sora was the bright, amiable, dense, and adorable one…Roxas was the crabby, too clever for his own good, irritable and logical one. Polar opposites, half and half, whatever else you liked to call it; they were utterly and completely different. The difference was good though, in Roxas' opinion; they balanced each other out. He missed his brother's goofy antics and infectious grin…it just wasn't the same over the phone.

He couldn't wait to see Sora again, not just talk to him on the phone and listen to Riku try to molest him in the background. He just wished…he just wished it was under better circumstances. But then again, he swore he wouldn't go back under normal circumstances; still, he hadn't ever wished for this to happen. He hadn't ever wanted his dad to…well, get bit back by what he hunted so obsessively for most of his life. Hearing Sora's broken and choppy voice on the phone that afternoon at their aunt's house…he hadn't wanted this to happen.

Even when he screamed it at his father two years ago when he stormed out of the house, he hadn't and still didn't want for this to happen.

His father, Yune Strife, was dead…and nothing, no amount of wishing or hoping was going to change that fact. Nothing was going to change the fact that his and Roxas' last words to each other had been in anger, resulting in one screaming for his child to leave and never come back and the other yelling that he would. All over a school…all because Roxas wanted to transfer to Twilight Academy his junior year after his application was received and he was granted admission. All because Roxas would have to leave the city…leave the relentless war his father waged every night and had raised his sons to do. All because Roxas wanted nothing to do with the mess that killed his mother and told him he was…

Roxas shook his head, trying to clear out memories he'd rather forget.

The blond heaved a sigh and tried to focus his thoughts on happier times, when his family hadn't really been the mess it was now and the Heartless were only monsters in stories his mother used to tell to him and Sora. Sure, he saw them, along with Sora, and he knew his father fought them from time to time, taking Cloud with him when he was older, but they weren't real to him then…just figments he and Sora could see as far back as they could remember. Just storybook monsters their mother would tell them about, fighting against brave warriors and trying to smother the world in darkness.

Not literal darkness, as Roxas found out as he grew older, but rather a deep-seated darkness that every living person hosted within, one that could take over if said person let it.

Roxas blinked his eyes a few times, and gave a yawn, wishing the plane wouldn't keep their overhead lights on the entire trip. Radiant Garden wasn't to far off, but he still didn't want the bright yellow lights in his face at two in the morning. He shifted in his seat and rested his head against the glass once more, trying to draw up images of his family at the park, or during Halloween, or at school…but all he kept seeing was his father's frowning face being swallowed by shadows. He hadn't asked Sora the details of what happened, but he could guess enough from that fact their dad had been on a hunt.

Roxas hated that word, always had. Even when he was younger and their mother had still been alive, he hated it when his father talked about how it was their responsibility to hunt the Heartless. They could see them, not everyone could, and they had to protect the lazy and inconsiderate people of Radiant Garden, no matter the cost to their family. They were special and as Roxas grew older he wanted nothing more than to be normal. Somehow, hunting crawling black creatures in the wee hours of the morning and late hours at night didn't fit into his 'normal' parameters.

It was because of hunting their lives had always been so caught up in things bigger than they were. It was because of hunting that Roxas and Sora never had many friends growing up, most children thinking they were making up the 'black monsters' they'd see every day. It was because of hunting that their mother had died. And now, hunting had claimed their father too…Roxas could see the ironic injustice, that what had finally taken Yune down were the very things he'd been so strong against for so many years, but every time that thought popped into Roxas' head, he felt sick with himself.

Roxas tore his eyes away from the fog-covered window and pulled his backpack into his lap, searching through its contents haphazardly, until he fished out his small, cell phone. He scrolled through the numbers and called one, deciding that even if they weren't allowed to use electronic yet (Roxas could have very well missed the announcement in his morbid musings), he was going to call anyway. He'd take angry flight attendants over his mother-henish twin and sometimes psychotic older brother any day. Despite it being quite early in Radiant Garden, Sora answered on the first ring; Roxas could only surmise his twin had been sleeping next to his phone.

"Roxas?" Sora's voice was muffled and thick, something that could be from tiredness or speaking with a pillow in front of his face. "Roxas, are you here?! I thought you wouldn't be here until morning! Okay, hold on, I'll go get Cloud and we'll come get you. Don't talk to strangers! And don't take a taxi, you know how crazy they drive! Where are my shoes??!! I know I left them over—OMPH!"

Roxas winced has he heard his brother go down, no doubt tripping over the very thing he had been looking for. He let a small smile flit across his face when he heard a pained "ow ow ow," emit from the earpiece; sometimes his brother's clumsiness amazed him. "Sora, did you find your shoes?"

"Well, I guess I did, if tripping over them is the same as finding them."

"Good, now put them down. I'm not in Radiant yet, just calling from the plane like you and Cloud demanded I do."

"What? Oh right…hehe, thanks Rox!"

"Sure," Roxas replied. He could practically see the sheepish expression on his brother's face. Sometimes his brother's poor excuse for a memory surprised him too. "The plane was on time so I should be there in about four hours. And if you and Cloud don't want me to take a taxi then DON'T be an hour late."

"We've never been an hour late! Maybe forty-five or so, if traffic's bad and don't you dare take a taxi Roxas Strife-Ohami! I am not going to be the one stuck in the car with a growling Cloud because YOU didn't have just an ounce of patience!"

Roxas grinned, ignoring his twin's insistence on using their father's surname as well as their mother's, and laughed into the mouthpiece. "All right, Sora, you win. I'll wait, but no more than twenty minutes or I'm just going to walk my ass home."

"Yeah, yeah." Sora yawned and didn't say anything for a few minutes. It didn't make Roxas uncomfortable, nor did he think it made Sora feel that way…sometimes they just communicated through silence. A weird twin thing, Sora's friend Kairi was always apt to interject. "So, your flight busy?"

"It's the red-eye, Sora," Roxas said distractedly through a yawn, trying to find his Game-boy in his black-hole of a backpack. Why didn't he use the extra, separate compartments, why? "I'm practically the only one for at least five rows."

"Oh…have you gotten any sleep?"

"Can't. My mind won't calm down. You?"

"Not really. I mean, I was just dozing when you called but…I haven't really been able to relax either. I just…it's hard to sleep when all I keep thinking about is that they're both gone now. Were orphans, Roxas: you, me, and Cloud…and I…I miss them. Dad, but Mom again too. Losing him was like losing her all over again."

Sora didn't sound as upset as he did earlier, but Roxas caught the tremor in his brother's usually jovial voice. He took a breath, a little too shaky for his liking, and murmured back, "I know."

"Are you still mad at him?"

Roxas didn't have to ask his brother who he was talking about, but he didn't want to answer the question. It was still too…too raw. He didn't know how to say that he was, that he still was so angry with their father and he was even angrier at him for dying before they had a chance to cool their equally hot-tempered heads. So, he didn't, opting for a neutral shift instead and hoping his brother would drop the subject. "Is Cloud still as pissed at me as he was the last time I talked to him?"

Roxas heard Sora sigh into the phone and it was silent for a few moments. "No, he's not, but I still think you should talk to him. I mean, he and Dad never knew ALL the reasons why you didn't want to hunt anymore or why you wanted to leave Radiant so badly. I think he'd understand you better if you just told him. He's not going to judge you or anything…he loves you too much, you know."

"Yeah." Roxas had this conversation with Sora before, but telling Cloud meant reexamining things about himself that he wanted nothing to do with. It was great that Cloud accepted hunting so easily and that Sora had no problem using his strange talents to help, but Roxas' made him feel…not wrong but definitely not right; almost like he wasn't himself. Maybe Sora felt that way too, but Sora dealt with light…not darkness. "How's everyone? Still with that moronic excuse of a Barbie-doll?"

"Roxas, Riku is NOT a Barbie doll and yes, I am still with him, thank you very much. You really should try to get along with him…he feels weird around you enough as it is; he doesn't need to feel like you're about to castrate him if he touches me inappropriately. He gets that enough from Cloud. As for everyone else, they're all fine. Kairi was excited you're coming home last time I talked to her! I haven't seen too much of her lately; apparently she has some cousins moving here and they're staying with her while they get settled. I want you to meet Leon…I think you'll get along great, both being moody and grouchy all the time!"

Roxas didn't reply, scowling at Sora's comment of being a grouch. Sure, he was irritable sometimes but that didn't constitute as being a grouch…he was definitely not Scrooge-like or anything. Roxas fell into silence as Sora began to regale to him the happenings of his former town in the week they hadn't talked. He smiled at times during his twin's narrative, but the more he heard, the more he started to feel…detached. He could feel it starting again, the stupid images, and he couldn't help but wonder what was causing them this time.

Strange images kept cropping into his head though, images of black coats, swaying white bodies, and flaming red-hair. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his free hand and tried to control his breathing, tried to keep the images from coming. He kept creeping into his mind, smiles, smirks, frowns, glares…green, cat-like eyes. It wasn't until he heard his brother's concerned voice through the phone that he was able to refocus on where he was. He made a decision then, before he could change his mind and lose his nerve. He had to know if Sora was having the increase in dreams too or if it was just him, and if that was the case, why now?

"Sora," he began quietly, his voice uncharacteristically vulnerable and low. "Do you…are you dreaming?"

"Um, like the weird ones? Sure. We've always had those dreams since we were kids, Roxas."

"I know, but have they…what do you dream about?"

"Uhm…I don't know. Lots of stuff. I see lots of really strange places that are familiar but I can't explain why. Sometimes I see you or Cloud…Riku too, and ever since I met him, Leon. They're kind of fuzzy though, all blended together in a montage of something I feel I should know but don't really remember. Why?"

Roxas took a deep breath before he answered. Sora's dreams didn't change, and they sure didn't sound like they were happening during the day either. "Well…mine are different, have been ever since I left but they've gotten worse the past few weeks now. I keep having the same dreams over and over again and...they're so real Sora. It's almost like I'm there. And I keep…I keep seeing this person. The image is never to clear so I never see the face but…he just keeps showing up every where. I feel like I…"

"Like you what, Roxas?" Sora didn't sound freaked out or worried…more like investigative.

"…like I should know him"

Sora didn't respond for a few minutes and when he did, the tone of his voice sounded less worried and more…hopeful? "Roxas, I think this may actually be a good thing. I mean, I don't know yet but…but I think we should talk about this when you get here. Your dreams, they're happening during the day, right?"

"How did you--?"

"Yeah, you are…otherwise you wouldn't sound so dumbstruck! Listen, I think I should let you go. You really need to try and get some kind of sleep, I know you've been stressed out with all your entrance exams and stuff and this whole mess isn't helping. Cloud and I will be there to get you, don't worry! Promise me you'll wait?"

"Sure, I promise?" Roxas was a little confused. Since when did his twin start keeping things from him and changing the subject? He was the open one out of the two, secretive and mysterious was Roxas' gig. "Sora? Do you know something I don't?"

"I'll talk to you more about it when you get here, baby brother!" Sora replied, a contemplative cast to his voice. "Try to get some sleep?"

"I'll try. I'll see you in a bit."

"I love you, Twilight." Roxas paused…Sora hardly ever called him that anymore. He smiled at the old nickname. It was one of their mother's nicknames for them, names that neither of them ever really grasped. Still didn't, for that matter.

"Love you too, Dawn."

Roxas slid his phone shut when he heard the dial-tone on the other end, feeling a little less anxious after talking with Sora. The bouncy brunet just had that effect on people. He slipped his phone back in his bag, along with the Game-boy he hadn't even played, and let his eyes slip shut. It was more out of habit to help him focus rather than to go to sleep, his mind still too full of bouncing thoughts to ever let him slip into slumber. Now he had his brother's strange and almost secretive behavior to think about in addition to everything else. God…why couldn't his family be normal? For that matter, why couldn't he be normal? He was pretty sure dreaming about some random guy ALL the time was not normal.

Well, it could be normal, given a change in content, but that was beside the point.

So caught up in his thoughts, Roxas didn't notice that his surroundings began to shift, morphing from the dark blankness of his closed eye-lids to something else…something that one normally didn't see behind closed eye-lids. It really couldn't be defined as anything in specific, juts swirling bunches of color punctuated by strangely swaying things. For a moment, Roxas swore he saw a flash of hair that could only belong to his twin, but it was gone and instead he saw a red grin, one with two green teardrops above it.

"…-ee Roxas…he was the only one I liked. He made me feel…"

A sudden jolt as tires hit the ground awoke Roxas, his eyes wide and breathing once again uneven and jagged. He wiped a hand over his face, closing his eyes and trying to ignore the tear streaking down his cheek. It didn't work and he wiped the offending wetness away, hand settling over his chest and feeling the pulse beneath his fingertips. It felt strange to him, feeling the steady thump-thump-thump of his heart, almost feeling like it didn't belong. An unexplainable panic filled him for a fleeting second, over before it really even became anything, and the strangeness of his heartbeat left.

Roxas hated that dream…it was the one that always made him feel…incomplete.

He rubbed a hand over his eyes, hoping the bags underneath hadn't worsened, and unhurriedly slung back on his back-pack and duffel, glancing up and through his window at the familiar skyline of Radiant Garden. The tall skyscrapers were outlined by the rising sun, casting the city in an other-worldly glow that Roxas didn't think suited the city at all. The plane had rolled to a stop and was now unloading its grumbling and tired passengers, but Roxas didn't move, staring fixedly out his window, his thoughts whirling through his head too fast to think through. With one last sigh, Roxas rose from his seat and made his way off the plane, hoping that this visit didn't throw his newly constructed life off kilter for good.

Chances were though, he thought with a mirthless smile and spark in his depthless blue eyes, that wasn't going to happen.

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I hope you all enjoyed part one of my new brain-child! I know the 'next life' fic isn't different or unique, but trust me, I have some tricks up my sleeve. I promise to make this a bit different than other next life fics. Also, the following chapters should be longer after this, so don't worry about shortness. I can't write short chapters, lucky for you. Please do me the favor and review! They feed the muses and make me feel oh so wonderful! Until next time!

Osco