So, thanks for the reviews you guys! Decided to post this earlier than I first intended, but I was bored, so here you go!

In the last chapter I listened to Karsh Kale, Distance for the club scene. Awesome song... anywho, I'm probably about to change the story title and what not, so watch out for that!

Oh, and you'll find out why he killed the girl later :D Just be patient and all will be answered

Disclaimer- Wish it was... I'd be pretty rich, and I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if that was the case :D


The moon shone crimson that night. There were no stars in the sky, and the moon gave light the color of fresh blood, bathing the walkway red. The bricks behind him were covered in mildew and salt from the ocean, and it gave off a nasty smell that made his stomach roil unpleasantly. He could remember the way the ocean sounded loudly in his ears and that somehow that was important. He could remember that the man in front of him was family. That's what he remembered.

Oh, and he was going to die.

He watched, dread coursing through him. Beside him, another boy around his age stood, silent and equally scared, but neither talked. He remembered that it was bad to talk. Talking would mean death, just like the man in front of them. The man was bound and beaten, head bent down as he stared at the ground, waiting for the inevitable. Circling him, a man clad in a black robe made snide comments to the boys, teaching them.

"He's a traitor, this nobody…" Their teacher told them, flicking his wrist. A whip snapped across the man's back, and he groaned, falling onto his knees, head still bent. The boy beside him flinched, but Roxas didn't move. He knew it was bad to move. Movement meant being noticed, and being noticed was bad.

"And this is what we do to traitorous nobodies.." Teacher continued, suddenly kicking at the man's back, his hood falling back to reveal enraged features. As the man fell flat onto the dirty ground, he coughed, blood spattering their shoes, the same color as the moon. Beside Roxas, the boy recoiled at the substance, but Roxas continued to watch, arms attached to his sides. He wouldn't move.

"Traitors are taken care of, boys." Teacher's narrowed eyes tightened as the boy next to Roxas shuffled uncomfortably at the gruesome scene in front of them. "And is something wrong?" Roxas averted his eyes and looked down at the near dead man in front of them, trying to dispel the sick feeling in his stomach. Something said that this was wrong, but what was he to do? He wasn't powerful; he wasn't strong. All he could do is watch and reach a hand out to squeeze the hand next to his for reassurance. The boy returned the gesture, fingers trembling slightly.

"It's just… isn't it wrong to kill him?" The boy beside him was innocent and too kind. Wasn't he innocent though? Didn't it make him sick to his stomach to see this man's eyes glazed with the acceptance that he was about to die? Who wanted to see that? Who wanted to come to the understanding that life, in all of its depth and importance, could end so quickly? Could end so easily?

Was life really that meaningless?

"I'll show you why it's not wrong to kill him, dear child." Teacher's eyes began mocking them as he grabbed the defenseless man's hair and yanked his head up. The man's mouth was parted, his breath raspy as he struggled to live, eyes telling them that the effort was instinct, not coherent thought. The man was past lucid thought; his mind was receding to something a bit more animalistic. Roxas gave the boy's hand another squeeze, silently telling him to be strong.

"You see, he's not really a person." Teacher's wicked grin grew, and he let one finger glide alongside the man's cheek. "He's not a human… he's a nobody. A nobody, dear children, has no heart, and therefore, no soul." The boy beside Roxas gave a gasp of surprise at those words, but Roxas kept his lips pressed together. It was smart to stay quiet; it was smart not to move. He neither spoke, nor moved because of those facts. The boy beside him however was showing his unease and guilt blatantly. That was dangerous.

"A nobody isn't really a person, children. And when a nobody decides to betray a somebody, he must be disposed of." A blade was suddenly produced from the folds of teacher's cloak, and it flashed through the air, silvery crimson before it was embedded into the prisoner's chest. The boy beside Roxas began shaking harder, but Roxas kept staring, his horror well hidden, his disgust and nausea concealed beneath a blank face as he stared at the now dead man. He wanted to cry, he wanted to demand why, he wanted to protest, but he kept his mouth shut. That was the way to survive. Beside him, the boy let out a soft gasping sort of breathing, signaling an attempt at silent tears.

"It's not a sin to kill a nobody, children." Their father told them.


"And Roxas was just going to tell us how you get the molecular weight of 12 grams of NaCl… right, Roxas?" The boy in question jumped halfway out of his seat, his heartbeat jack hammering in his chest as he stared about the room with wide eyes. Taking slow, deliberate breaths as the classroom laughed at him being caught sleeping, Roxas eyed the teacher apprehensively, waiting for her to get onto him about passing out during her lesson. Lips pursed, she returned his bleary stare, an eyebrow raised as she waited for him to say something.

"Uh…" Came the ever eloquent reply. The laughter grew a little louder, and behind him, one of his best friends, Hayner, kicked his chair appreciatively. Mrs. Anna's stare became reproachful, and shaking her head she looked away from him, glancing around the classroom with a severe stare to make them shut up. As they quieted down, she looked down and reached into her desk, pulling out a pink slip of paper that she held between her thumb and forefinger like it was a revolting substance.

"Well, class, Roxas can show us something, alright." Grabbing her pen, she began filling the paper out, jaw tight with annoyance. As she finished the form, she walked over to Roxas's desk, settling the pink slip onto his AP Environmental Science book that lay closed. "He can show us the consequences of sleeping in my AP class… by kindly stepping into the hallway for the rest of it. You may sleep out there, and then report for detention tomorrow." As the class gave jeers of laughter with some sympathy mixed in, Roxas stared up at her blankly, mind still fuzzy from sleep. As she cleared her throat and make a shooing motion, he mechanically grabbed his book bag and books, standing up and stepping around the tall and imposing teacher, not bothering to answer. His mind was still muddled from the dream he'd just had, and he wasn't fully awake to protest yet.

As he walked past Olette, Roxas ignored her concerned look at his dazed expression. He would explain what was going on later. Walking through the doorway, Roxas closed the door softly before he dropped his books and slumped down against the wall, a sigh slipping past his lips.

His skin felt clammy, and he was overheated, like he was running a temperature. Running a hand through his unruly hair, Roxas closed his eyes and immediately his dream sprang to mind. The look of fear, the stench of death… it was so real. Dreams weren't like what he'd just seen. In dreams, you could scream and your lungs wouldn't feel tired, you could laugh but not feel the humor… dreams were a detachment of real emotions and feelings. And yet…

He'd felt every single moment.

He could remember the fear, he could remember holding that boy's-who was that boy?-hand as he trembled before their teacher- their father? A shiver ran down Roxas's back at the thought. His father? The man hadn't looked like his father. The man had a shock of silver hair and dark, tanned features. Roxas's father had thick, unruly hair like Roxas did, and bright green eyes. He was just a small time shop owner of the local ice cream parlor, not a sadistic and evil man who killed people-nobodies?-for a living.

What was a nobody anyway? The man seemed like somebody-a family member?-by the looks of it. He also had the same shock of silvery hair, but his features were pale instead of the darkened state their "father" had. Something said he was family though. Just because the guy seemed like a nobody doesn't mean he wasn't. Everybody is a somebody. A person. Someone who didn't deserve to die.

Which would explain why he felt sick to his stomach.

The dream just seemed a little too real, that's all. Roxas took a deep, steadying breath and opened his eyes again, leaning his head against the cement wall to stare up at the ceiling. Because of this realistic dream, he had just been kicked out of his AP class, meaning a phone call home would be made. And then he had to have detention the next day? Mrs. Anna must have been in a bad mood to resort to that.

The dead man's stare flashed before Roxas's eyes again, and with a disgusted face, Roxas pulled his I-pod out of his pocket, deciding to resort to music to calm his nerves. His body felt overheated, like he'd just run a mile or so at a dead sprint. His hands shook slightly, and his breath came a little short, so with a little more concentration than necessary, he put the ear buds in, resorting to something with a lot of noise to distract him from the nervous energy that was racing through his syste


"R… as…"

I'm so tired.

"Ro… x…"

Sorry, but it takes your energy to make this work.

"Da… Rox…!!"

What? Who is this…?

"ROXAS!" Roxas jerked awake, ear buds popping out of his ears as he blinked up rapidly at Hayner, annoyed that the jerk had resorted to yelling at him to wake him up. Hayner smiled down at him, raising an eyebrow and sticking a hand out to help his friend up. Glaring up at him, Roxas scrambled to his feet and grabbed his bag, slinging it over his shoulder and smacking Hayner in the same movement. Laughing, Hayner playfully shoved his friend before slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"About time you woke up, I've been standing there for five minutes!" Hayner exclaimed, making Pence and Olette laugh as Roxas made a face.

"I'm a heavy sleeper." Roxas defended himself, frowning and ducking underneath Hayner's arm. He hated it when people woke him up. He'd just been able to drift off without having nasty visuals about that dead man. Around them, students rushed towards lunch, eager to get away from class for an hour. Rubbing his eyes, Roxas followed a laughing Hayner and a smiling Pence, moving with the crowd to get food.

"You ok?" Olette asked curiously, linking arms with him, ever the dutiful girlfriend. Roxas let out a barely audible sigh, glancing down at her concerned face with a carefully guarded expression. Did he want to tell her about the dream that seemed more than a dream? It would freak her out that was for sure. She was nice though and would probably want to help.

"Just tired, nothing's wrong." Roxas forced a smile and grabbed her books from her hands, distracting her from her worry by being a gentleman. Nothing worked better than being so nice that it was almost a sin. Girls were just beside themselves in Twilight Town when guys were chivalrous.

Not all girls are like that. The voice came so suddenly that it made Roxas stop, eyes wide and heart unexplainably pounding.

"What?" He sudden stop caused someone to collide with him from behind and Roxas fell forward, landing on hands and knees, the person from behind half over him from the crash, cursing and swearing in annoyance.

"Watch where you're going!" Roxas snapped as he scrambled to his feet, annoyed and-though he wouldn't admit it-a little nervous. His palms were sweaty, and a cold, icy feeling settled over his stomach. What had he just heard? Who had he just heard? The voice had a distinctly feminine sound to it, high and clear like a bell. What the hell?

"You should check yourself, loser; you're the one randomly stopping in the middle of the hallway." Seifer snarled, shoving Roxas aside as he and his friends brushed past.

"Oh, grow up, Seifer." Olette snapped, pushing past him to catch Roxas's shoulder to steady him. Laughing humorlessly, Seifer rolled his eyes and continued walking, flipping them the bird casually over his shoulder. Roxas watched him through narrowed eyes, his heart slowing down slightly as he reached down to pick Olette's books up from the floor. As the hallways cleared and a bell rang, they were about to continue walking when it struck again.

Oops, sorry. The voice let out a soft giggle, making Roxas stop in his tracks, the color visibly draining from his face. Who the hell was that!? Looking around suspiciously, Roxas tried to pinpoint where the voice had come from, but he could see no one near enough to be heard in a soft whisper of a voice. Roxas felt his breath hitch as he realized that the voice had come from his head. Olette watched him, a frown taking over her face. What was wrong with him? He'd been acting weird since AP Environmental Science… was he sick?

"Roxas?" She asked, but he ignored her, panic settling in. Now he knew he wasn't imagining it. He was hearing voices. The hall was clear, save for Olette and him, but the girl that had spoken didn't have his girlfriend's voice. It was softer and higher pitched, too light and gentle to be Olette's. The voice had sounded in his head, not in his ears.

So he was hearing things!?

"Roxas, let's go to lunch." Olette grabbed his arm and began leading him down the stairs, her jaw set firm with concern. Dumbly, Roxas allowed himself to be led down the staircase, mind reeling.

You must not hear voices a lot. There it was again!

"Olette, did you hear that?!" Roxas froze, eyes darting around as he tried to see if anyone was with them, hoping that someone was just playing a sick, terrible joke on him. Olette gave him a strange look, glancing around the hallway slowly, an eyebrow raised.

"Hear what?" She asked slowly, the concern now for his mental health instead of his physical health.

"That voice… did you hear that voice?" His voice faded slightly as he finished that statement, realizing that he sounded crazy. Voices? Was he seriously asking about voices? Worriedly, he looked away from his surroundings and back to Olette, watching as her face changed from worry to disbelief and then mild, sarcastic humor.

"Yeah, I heard the voice Roxas; it says we should get to lunch." She laughed brightly and took his arm, leading him down the rest of the steps to enter into the lunch room. Roxas stared blankly at her, realizing that she was joking around with him. She didn't believe him, just like he didn't want to believe himself.

"Yeah…" He forced a laugh, hiding the fact that he was nervous beyond belief. What kind of people heard voices? What kind of people heard them repeatedly? Crazy people, that's who. People like that Vivi kid who'd been taken away from school because he kept hallucinating. As they dropped their books off at their table and went through the lunch line, Roxas tried to find the voice again.

Hello…? Um, voice in my head? He glanced around the lunch room, nodding to a few people who called out to him and waving when others waved. Look… I don't know who you are, but could you not do that again? It's… kind of freaky… Grabbing his lunch tray, he settled down in his chair next to Olette and across from Hayner.

"Man, I can't believe I've got so much homework!" Hayner complained angrily, picking at his food as if debating whether or not to eat it.

"That's what happens when you don't do anything in class." Olette laughed, shaking her head disapprovingly. Motioning to Hayner's notebook that lay next to his tray, she grabbed it and opened up the first page, displaying the lack of organization there.

"I do stuff in class; it's just not what I'm supposed to do." Grinning like mad, Hayner motioned to the notebook that was covered in comic-like doodles. Pence appreciatively gave a thumbs up as he looked at the pictures, making Roxas laugh and Olette give a disapproving noise in the back of her throat

"Oh, haha, really funny. I'm not going to help you if you fail." Olette informed him as she pushed the notebook away.

"I can ace it if I wanted." Hayner defended himself. "Right, Roxas?" Roxas looked up at his friend that had turned to him for a back-up.

"Uh…" Roxas looked between his two friends, Olette's piercing stare giving him a silently deadly warning that he should keep his mouth shut. Weakly, he pulled away from the two of them, not wanting to be caught in the cross-fire.

"Don't answer that." Pence advised through a mouthful of food. Roxas turned to him gratefully, nodding eagerly.

"So, what was that about in class? Mrs. Anna looked seriously mad." Pence shoveled food in his mouth as he asked, incidentally displaying the pizza he was devouring. Olette made a disgusted noise, and Hayner smacked the bottom of Pence's jaw to make him shut his mouth.

"That's gross…" Hayner laughed, shaking his head. "But he's right though; what was going on? You looked all spaced out man." Roxas shook his head, innocently eating his fries.

"I don't know… just a really weird dream." The words sprang from his lips, unbidden, and he wasn't altogether sure if he wanted them to. Olette glanced over for a moment before she shook her head.

"What was it about?" She asked curiously.

"It… there was… I don't remember…" Roxas lied, hating that he could remember the man's face so vividly. The smell, the scene, the fear… shuddering, Roxas took a drink from the carton, avoiding Hayner's look of disbelief. He wasn't sure if he wanted his friends to know about the dream. Hayner would just laugh and brush it off, Pence would dig into it with too much energy for Roxas's comfort, and Olette... Roxas glanced at her and shook his head. He didn't want her to know about the dream. She might really think there was a problem with him, and Olette was always trying to fix things that didn't necessarily want to be fixed.

"You don't remember but it freaked you out?" He asked, clarifying. Pence sent him a look of disbelief before shrugging and turning back to his food, hunger more important.

"Yeah, weird, right?" Roxas gave a convincing laugh, causing his friends to join in and thankfully steering the conversation away from the weird encounter.

Still, it didn't stop him from feeling like something bad was going to happen. Soon.


The rest of the day passed slowly. The classes were boring, the teachers were annoying, and the students were tired. It was getting towards the end of the year, and they were desperate for a break from the constant work and trouble. Roxas managed to stay awake for the rest of the day, but still his paranoia remained. He constantly waited for the girl's voice to come back, but it didn't. The worry made him tired and snappy, and when the bell rang for school to let out, Roxas avoided looking for his friends, jumping onto his skateboard so that he could report for work at 3:30

Roxas worked at his father's ice cream parlor, the best place for kids to hang out. He was one of the waiters there, but his pay was much better than the other workers, simply because he stayed after hours to help his dad with clean up and inventory. They had three different parlors around Twilight Town; one nearby the school, one on the beach, and one right off of the exit going towards Destiny Islands. As he skated around to the back, Roxas grabbed his uniform and apron, skirting the boxes and stacks of dishes so that he could change quickly.

Be careful going home. The voice was back, tone edged with worry. Roxas stopped, staring around the area in front of him, heart pounding once again as he tried to pinpoint the source of the voice. Was someone following him? Turning around slowly, Roxas peered around each box in the room, looking for the culprit of his sudden bout of craziness. He couldn't be hearing voices, that kind of thing was just unheard of. Still, he could see no one at all, and the echoes of the voice reverberated around his head.

Who is this? He thought to himself, hand to his chest as he tried to slow his beating heart.

The voice inside your head. The tone was light and carefree, but Roxas wasn't fooled. There was something in it that tone that had an edge to it. What was going on!?

Am I going crazy or something? He thought frantically, finally able to step forward and try to act like nothing was wrong. Walking through the double doors, Roxas managed a smile and a wave to his manager, Wakka, before escaping to the bathroom to change. Dropping his clothes on the counter, Roxas looked into the mirror, trying to see what was different with him. Why was a voice in his head? Wide blue eyes stared back at him, panicked and startled, like a deer in the headlights. His blond hair was in disarray, but that wasn't anything new. No matter what he did, his hair had a mind of its own. His skin looked paler than usual, like he'd seen a ghost. If only it were that easy. It would be nice to see something. Instead, he was stuck hearing something!

No, you're not crazy. A light laugh filled his mind. But you do need to act a bit more normal. Roxas let out a dry laugh at that, turning away from the sink and grabbing a stall to change in.

"Yes, act normal… because hearing voices is normal." He muttered to himself, pulling his t-shirt off and buttoning up his crisp, white waiter's shirt.

For some people, yes. Rolling his eyes, Roxas finished changing and then stepped out of the restroom, trying to push away the worry that he was quite possibly going crazy.

"Roxas, how've you been?" Wakka asked brightly, giving him an ordering pad to write on and a pen. Wakka was a strange person, Roxas had to admit. He kept his bright orange hair styled up with a lot of gel, creating a weird cone-like structure on top of his head. He kept it up with a thick, blue headband. The guy was usually seen on the beach near Twilight Town playing volleyball with his lucky ball, but when he was seen in town he kept mostly to himself, only really hanging out with people during work hours. He was nice, but just a little odd.

"Good, just can't wait for summer vacation." Roxas replied easily, grabbing a dish towel and draping it across his arm. Only three waiters were really necessary during each shift, so tables were pretty easy to divide between them. Roxas looked at the other two waiters and nodded in greetings as he waited for people to arrive.

"Today should be good tables… the beach is closed." Tidus walked past Roxas and grabbed a pen from the holder, clapping his co-worker on the back.

"Why was the beach closed?" Selphi asked curiously as she went and sat down on a stool at the counter. Roxas leaned back against the countertop, closing his eyes and relaxing as his two co-workers talked.

"They said some weird creature was in the water. But I overheard one of the town's defense committee members saying that it wasn't a weird creature… it was a person. Some guy in a big, black cloak was killing the animals in the water…" Tidus made a noise in the back of his throat and Roxas heard Selphi's gasp of surprise. Not really interested, Roxas began to doze a little as they waited for people to arrive. So what if there was some weirdo?

"Why was he killing the animals?" She whispered. Selphi was always one who loved animals and hated all kinds of violence. She was just overly nice like that. Roxas silently sympathized with her but he wasn't fazed by the news. Twilight Town was a small, knit together community where everyone knew everyone, and hardly anything of consequence happened. Every now and then, some weirdo would come along and would be apprehended and then escorted out of town, but other than that there was not a lot of action going on. Except for today… with my dream and that voice in my head… Roxas frowned as the thought sprang, unbidden in his mind, and he was suddenly very much interested with the story Tidus was in the middle of telling. Was it connected with his own problems?

"… said that he was just doing it for fun. When they tried to arrest him he just… vanished. They're searching the beach area for him right now, so it's closed." Selphi gave a small gasp of horror at the idea of the man running loose, but Roxas was more concerned with the idea that the man was in Twilight Town in the first place. Why would a nut job like that be in a town like Twilight Town? What would his motive be? Did it have to do with the voice in his head?

"How did he kill the animals? Was he shooting them?" Selphi asked quietly. Roxas listened attentively while he tried to appear like he couldn't care less. He didn't want to egg Tidus on because his co-worker was famous for fabricating the truth when he had an audience. Closing his eyes, Roxas tried to calm down a little, but now that he was thinking about it, he was starting to get a little nervous.

"That's the weird part… the guy was strangling them… with sea weed. He could control the plants." Tidus whispered, half excited and too full of himself to admit that the idea made him uneasy. Roxas shot up from his leaning position, staring at Tidus incredulously.

"He was controlling the plants?" He asked in disbelief, not able to help himself from asking. Surely his friend was kidding!? No one could actually control plants, could they? Tidus looked over at him solemnly, nodding slowly. Behind the counter, Wakka watched them with an unreadable expression on his face. Selphi's mouth was tight with nerves, and there were tears in her eyes for the deaths of the sea animals.

"Yeah, they were nervous to try and grab him. When they called out to him, he just turned towards them and laughed. Can you believe that? Must be one crazy-"

"Enough talk about that, Tidus, you're making Selphi frightened." Wakka suddenly interrupted, shaking his head. Roxas glanced over at Selphi and had to agree; she looked positively terrified. Wakka reached a calm, steady hand out and grasped her shoulder comfortingly, giving Tidus a look of exasperation. Realizing it was his fault, Tidus sheepishly ducked his head.

"Aw, don't worry Selphi, no weirdo like that will get in here. We'll take care of any guy like that, won't we, Roxas?" Roxas, who had been staring out of the window in a thoughtful daze, jerked out of his reverie and glanced back at Tidus. Nodding, he looked down slowly before looking back out of the window, absentmindedly trying to piece this new bit of news together.

"Yeah, Selphi, nothing's going to happen." Roxas reassured her quietly, frowning as he recalled what the voice in his head had told him earlier. He felt uneasy, like this was somehow connected to him, and it didn't comfort him one bit that the defense committee hadn't even been able to lay a hand on the man. What kind of power was that? Who was that guy? Roxas felt alone all of a sudden, like he wasn't sure what to do and the voice echoed her earlier words, the edge a little heavier in them like she knew firsthand what he feared.

Be careful going home.


"Have a good night, Roxas!"

"Yeah, you too. Good luck with your test tomorrow." Roxas replied, waving back to Tidus and Selphi who lived next door to each other on the other side of town.

"Thanks, I'll need it!" She gushed, smiling brightly. Roxas could see that her smile was a little forced and her laugh was a little too happy to be real. Nodding over to Tidus, he motioned that he should stay close to her. Though they weren't best friends or anything, it would be terrible for her to be so frightened about that man.

"Selphi, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little nervous about that man." She stopped looking so happy for a moment, and her face became a little uncertain as she glanced back to Tidus and then looked down. "Careful going home, ok, Roxas?"

"You too…" Roxas turned away from the ice cream parlor, book bag in hand and mood a little lighter than before. His tips had been really, really good during his work hours, and he'd be going home with over 800 munny, simply because the food rush had lasted all afternoon. Since the beach was closed, everyone who went there for ice cream and relaxation had decided to hit up the ice cream parlor in a steady flow. Their munny was loose to spend, and since Roxas was always on top of things, his customer's moods stayed bright and gracious.

As he walked down the street, Roxas watched as the sunset faded quickly behind one of the buildings, darkness slowly creeping around the edges of corners and alleyways. For ten minutes he just walked slowly, trying to relax from the day's worry and confusion. Dropping his skateboard onto the pavement, he jumped on and began to glide down the hill in front of him, picking up speed gradually as he went along, dodging random debris so that he didn't fall. It felt nice to just skate and not have to think about the stupid dream or the stupid voice, and for a moment Roxas could ignore it.

That is, until his skateboard suddenly stopped, flinging him onto the pavement roughly.

Roxas had the brief sensation of flying/ falling before he crash landed onto the ungiving pavement. He lay sprawled and dazed on the ground, shock settling into his bones. What had he tripped over? He was positive that he'd avoided the large rocks and random stick on the road since his wheels couldn't roll over some of them… so what was going on? His palms were grazed and scratched up badly, and he was sure he'd ripped his pants at the knees. Grumbling under his breath, Roxas turned around and was about to pull himself back up on his feet with as much dignity as possible, but he was shocked back onto his ass when he saw a man standing above him, skateboard under one arm.

There wasn't much to describe the man, except the aura he held around him. It was like a dark, menacing shadow was wrapped around him, the stench of death almost tangible. Roxas couldn't see his face, but he could almost imagine that the man was smirking beneath the hood pulled low over his face, happy that he'd caught his prey. A strange, black cloak wrapped around him like a tight robe, and thick black boots jutted out of the bottom. The silver zipper glinted in the bright moonlight that was steadily rising into the sky.

"Poor, poor Roxas… I do hope that you're not too terribly injured." The man purred in low, scornful tones, a tense edge twisting his words into something biting. Roxas stared up at him warily, unsure as to how he should act. Something told him that he should be on edge… something in the man's voice was deadly and poisonous, but the way he stood over him kept him rooted to the floor.

"Who are you?" He finally spat out, trying to put a menacing tone to his voice. He wasn't going to allow this lunatic to think he'd gotten the upper hand. There was no way that he was going to be intimidated.

"Oh… you don't remember me? That's a little disappointing, I have to admit. But, it does mean that he did the job right; I can't fault him that." The man let out a laugh that held no humor in it, making ice spread along Roxas's veins like a frozen wildfire. This man knew him!? Anger began to settle among his other emotions though as he realized that this guy was the reason why he'd fallen.

"What- what are you talking about? I don't know you." He snapped, pushing himself up onto his knees slowly, and then fully onto his feet. Pulling himself up to his-less than-impressive height of 5'4" he tried giving his best annoyed glare. What was this guy raving about? He had no idea who he was! Roxas was sure he'd have remembered if a random guy dressed head to toe in black had been running around with him in his past. Things like that a guy just couldn't forget.

Right?

"Oh, but you do, Roxas. In fact-"

"I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I have no idea who you are. Can you just give me back my board now?" Roxas impatiently stuck his hand out, waiting impatiently for the man to hand it over. As if debating whether to hand it over or not, the man held the board up, head tilted to the side.

"Can I? Yes. Will I? No. Maybe now you won't forget me as I will be the one in possession of your board, not you." The man's clipped words served to fuel Roxas's annoyance, making him clench his fists and try to reel in his all too famous temper. It wouldn't be good for him to snap on a total stranger; who knew what this random man could do? He could have a weapon underneath the folds of his cloak, a gun or a knife. Eyes glinting, Roxas studied the figure in front of him, trying to see whether or not he would be the type to have a concealed weapon.

"Look, just give me my damn skateboard back! I didn't do anything to you." Roxas snapped, hands clenched into fists at his sides. He was well aware that the longer he stayed, the later it would take him to get home. If he was late again, his parents would kill him. Still, he wasn't leaving without his board.

"What will you do to get it back, I wonder?" The man let out another low, humorless laugh. "Is this board really that important to fight for it?" He goaded. Suddenly, the bell tower began to chime, signaling that the time was 9:00. Roxas, anger mounting, gritted his teeth, glancing from the board to the clock tower. Should he get his board back, just to get in trouble with his parents for being late home from work? Was a skate board worth his mother's wrath? Giving the man one last withering glance, Roxas reluctantly turned around and began to walk away, ignoring the sound of derision the man behind him made.

"No, I guess it's not." Roxas replied without glancing back. Ignoring the stinging in his hands from his less than stellar crash from his board, Roxas kept his back straight, forcing his feet to continue moving away from the guy he wanted to pommel, not towards him.

He was doing a good job until his skateboard hit him square in the back.

Once again, Roxas fell flat onto the ground, the breath pushing out of him in one great whoosh. His skate board fell to one side of him, clattering noisily, but the sound was barely existent to Roxas. Instead, anger pounded in his veins, and with a wheezy growl he hauled himself to his feet, ignoring the way his chest heaved for oxygen from having it knocked out of him. Whirling around, he was unsurprised to see the man walking-sauntering, really-towards him, his shadow stretching to cover the entire area in front of him.

"It's not? Maybe that was, then." His attacker sneered. Angrily, Roxas charged at him, ready to show the guy exactly who he was messing with. Changing directions at the last minute, Roxas was just about to swing into a nice upper-cut punch when something suddenly grabbed him from behind and pulled him away from the strange man, tossing him unceremoniously onto the ground. Scrambling to his feet, Roxas turned his head to try to see what had grabbed him, but the only things nearby was a vine from the wall and his skateboard. Snapping his head back, Roxas waited to see the man's next move. Surprisingly, the man hadn't moved at all from his stance, folded arms and tilted head. Roxas ground his teeth in frustration.

"That's all you were going to do?" The man asked with contempt. Roxas, slightly taken aback, pulled back from his fighting stance, slightly confused. What did the guy think he was going to do? Nodding slowly, Roxas watched as the man moved his head down, his hood shaking slightly from side to side like he was annoyed or disappointed.

"Not awakened yet…" His sardonic voice was barely heard, but Roxas was sure that's what he said. Frowning, Roxas stepped back, hating how the atmosphere was changing around him. It was suffocating, like the guy was giving off waves of anger and frustration and directing it precisely at him. Stumbling back as the waves increased, Roxas felt his board touch the side of his shoe, and reaching down blindly he grabbed it, eyes still on the angry man in front of him. He seemed to be better now, the hood facing Roxas directly instead of the downwards motion it had been in previously.

"Well, that was informative. I thank you for that, at least." The man suddenly said in his annoyingly smug voice. Stepping back, he lifted a hand, making a strange twisting motion before crossing it over his torso and bending in an almost bow. Roxas would have laughed at the strange motion, but he was shocked as he could hardly stop himself when his arm reached up slowly and repeated the gesture, his torso bending into an almost bow as well. As if actually amused with Roxas's actions, the man let out a low, droll laugh. Jerking himself back in shock, Roxas stared uncomprehendingly at his arm and hand, bewildered. What had he just done? Why had his body reacted to that simple motion like it had already known what to do? Gripping his hand into a fist, Roxas looked back up to demand some answers when he was shocked once again.

The man was gone.

Confused, Roxas ran up the hill and peered into the alleyway and the doorway nearby, trying to see where the guy had gone. How could someone just disappear like that? There was no trace, almost like he'd disappeared into thin air. Frustrated, Roxas turned back around and slowly walked towards his board, senses on high alert as he waited for the guy to attack. Why would he leave randomly like that? Did he expect Roxas to pull a gun out or something? And what did he mean, 'not awakened yet'? Nothing the man had done made any sense, and it only served to aggravate Roxas more than he was earlier.

Feeling very much like he'd been used in some odd way, Roxas kicked his skateboard over and jumped onto it, ignoring the painful twinge in his back. He'd probably have a bruise there in the morning, but that didn't really concern him. All that concerned him was that his parents were going to be so mad when he finally got home.

It wasn't until that moment that he realized that the man who had cornered him and the man that had terrorized the beach were one in the same.


Hit or miss? Tell me in a reivew!

Roxas: Finally things get interesting... but I hope you're not trying to make me seem like I'm crazy.

Lias: 'Course not! I don't have to try to do that...

Roxas: What?!

Axel: Oh calm down, at least you were in this chapter! When am I popping back up?

Lias: You'll be back-

Roxas: Are you trying to say I'm crazy!?

Lias: No, of course-

Axel: And what if she is!?

Lias: But I'm-

Roxas: I'm not crazy!! Why would you think that?!

Lias: That's what I'm try-

Axel: Why wouldn't she!?

Lias: (sighs) ... how about a review?