A/N alright, here we go with chapter 2. Just so you all know, the actual story won't start for a few chapters, but once it does, it won't be stopping for a long time.
It had been a week since Asher met Ailey. Asher was sitting at a table with two other people on his sides. There was an older teenage boy sitting on his left. The boy had the same brown hair as Asher, only it was longer and his green eyes reflected a more serious nature. On Asher's right was a small girl. The girl had two pigtails, and she had blue eyes instead of green. On the other side of the table was an older woman. She had long brown hair and the same green eyes that Asher and the other boy had. Asher sat holding his head in his hand as he shoved some cereal into his mouth. "Asher, get your elbow off the table," the older woman said.
Asher sighed and took his elbow off. "Then give me some coffee so that I'm not so tired, Mom."
"We learned our lesson about giving you coffee, Asher," the other boy said.
"Oh come on, Donovan, I was hyper for only fifteen minutes!" Asher exclaimed.
"Yeah, but those fifteen minutes felt like hours as we ran around the house trying to catch you," Donovan said as he put some cereal in his own mouth.
"I thought it was funny," the little girl said.
"That's because you weren't helping us catch him, Meg..."
"All right now, enough talking. You need to hurry up and eat and get to school," their mom said.
"Speaking of school, still falling asleep in class, Asher?" Donovan asked.
"Only once or twice so far...why do we have to study so much history this year?" Asher asked.
"Because it's important to know about the events that happened in the past. You know the old saying: 'Those that don't know about the past are doomed to repeat it,'" their mom explained.
"Yeah, but Heartless and Nobodies aren't going to be dumb enough to attack here. There are so many Keyblades here that they would get slaughtered..." Asher pointed out.
"Well, you're studying Sora's Journey, correct, that's an important one for you to learn about after all..."
"I know, I know, I'm almost a direct descendant of Sora, but I've had so much of Sora's story told to me throughout the years that I could tell you all about it in my sleep."
"Well then, this year ought to be easy for you if you know the story that well."
"Ha, school, easy for Asher? Yeah right, he'll still fall asleep in the middle of the test," Donovan said, chuckling a bit.
Asher slammed his head on the table. "That was one time Donovan."
"I'm sorry, I've heard of people falling asleep during class but never in the middle of a test..."
"I was up all night long studying, okay? It's not really my fault that I suck at math...and that learning math is totally useless."
"You know, I think math is kind of fun," Meg said suddenly.
"Yeah, that's cause you're still in addition and subtraction. Just wait until you're in Algebra and you have figure out what X, Y, and Z all represent in the most round-about way possible," Asher explained. Suddenly, a knock at the door caught Asher's attention. "That's probably Landon," he said as he got up.
"Don't forget Asher, when you get home from school we're going to go over to the new neighbor's house and welcome them since they're done unpacking."
"Can I ask why we waited a week before welcoming them?" Asher asked as he picked his backpack up from beside the door and put it on his back.
"Because they were busy unpacking and I wanted them to settle into their house before we said hello. Remember when we first moved here and tried to unpack?"
Asher groaned. "How can I forget? I heard 'welcome to the neighborhood, have this casserole' so many times...please don't tell me you made a casserole for them..."
"Don't worry, I've made them a pie," his mom said.
Asher's mouth opened up a little bit. "Uh, Asher, you're drooling a little bit," Meg pointed out.
Asher shook his head and wiped his mouth. "Lucky neighbors..." he grumbled. Asher opened the door. "Hey there Lan...oh, hey there, Ailey!" Asher said, surprised.
Ailey stood in the doorway and nodded her head. "Hey there Asher, I saw that we lived close to each other so I figured we could walk to school together," she explained, smiling.
Asher thought about what she said for a moment. "Wait a minute...did you just move in down the street?"
Ailey nodded her head. "Yup, that was us."
Asher turned his head. "Hey Mom, I've already met at least one of the new neighbors, do I still have to come with you tonight?"
"Yes, Asher, you have to be polite!" his mom shouted. His mom then started to walk towards Ailey. "Hello there, my name is Heather Lane. It's nice to meet you..."
"Ailey, Ailey Cole," Ailey said as she held her hand up and gave the older lady a warm smile.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you Ailey."
Donovan then walked into the living room with Meg following him. "Well, well, what do you know, a girl actually came to pick Asher up...There goes my theory about Asher and Landon..."
Asher's face reddened and Ailey's face also turned red as she realized what Asher's brother had just said. "Will you shut up for once in your life, Donovan!"
Donovan shrugged his shoulders. "Can you really blame me for thinking that you were..."
Heather smacked her son upside the head. Donovan was about to protest when he saw his mom pointing at Meg. Meg had her head tilted to the side with a curious expression on her face. "The last thing I want to explain to Meg is what you were about to imply about your brother."
"What was big brother about to say?" Meg asked innocently.
Donovan started to laugh and only laughed harder when he saw his mom glaring at him. "Hey, this is all your fault; you can't blame this one on me."
"All right Ailey, I think we had better hurry up now."
Ailey nodded her head several times. "Yeah...this is getting a little awkward now."
The two of them continued to walk in silence on the way to school until Asher spoke up. "So...where did you live before you moved here?"
"I used to live in Radiant Garden. My dad heard about a job opening here and also heard how there was a really good school for people with Keyblades so he moved us here."
"What does you dad do?"
"He helps build gummi ships. Pretty boring job really from what I've heard."
"Hey, I don't think there's anything boring about it..." Asher said.
Ailey looked at him in confusion. "What, is that what you're planning on doing?"
Asher nodded his head. "Yeah, I mean, it's not like I can really do much else here since this place is primarily military. Since I don't have a Keyblade, that kind of limits a lot of options for me..."
Ailey looked down in disappointment. "Yeah, that has to be hard, not having a Keyblade and all."
"Meh, it's not like I'm blind, deaf, or anything like that. I mean, I can still cast magic so I'm not totally useless if Heartless attack, but I can't really do much to protect my family..."
Ailey looked down and they continued their trip in silence. When they reached the school they saw Landon already waiting for them outside. "Wow Ailey, you managed to pull a miracle and get Asher here somewhat early."
"You know Landon, most of the time you're the one who comes to get me late so you should only blame yourself for me being almost late."
"You also forget though that I've had to wake you up a few times and another few times you weren't even close to ready yet and also..."
"You know Landon...you can just shut up..."
"Oh, is that really the best you can come up with at this time of morning?"
Asher growled slightly. "Yes, as a matter of fact it is..."
Landon laughed. "You really are useless in the morning, aren't you?"
"Well, isn't just about anybody useless in the morning?" Ailey asked.
"Not me, I'm up and beating Asher right now, that's a pretty rare thing..."
"Just wait until later on in the day...I'll get you back for this somehow..."
Landon laughed. "You know Asher, I would love to see you try."
Suddenly, the bell rang and the three of them headed inside quickly. All three of them sat down and waited for Professor Hodges to arrive. Professor Hodges arrived just a few moments later and read the roll quickly. "Today we're going to start off with a bit of magic control practice. If you would all follow me outside." The whole class got up at the same time and walked out of the school. The lined up outside in the middle of a wide open field. "Now this test is simple, all of you have an element that you are naturally good with. You should also know what element that is since you were tested last year. All you have to do is summon that element and keep it summoned for the longest period of time. Simple, no?"
All the students looked at each other in confusion at how simple the assignment was. Finally, one student raised their hand. "Are you going to be doing anything while we're doing this?"
Professor Hodge's eyes widened. "Why yes, I will. I shall be using my own magic to attempt to distract you while you keep your magic going. Now, all of you summon your elements, and we'll begin."
Ailey looked over at Asher and Landon. "So what elements do you guys control? I myself use ice."
"I use lightning," Landon explained.
"Fire," Asher said simply.
Professor Hodges suddenly spoke up again. "All right, everyone has their elements summoned, so let's begin." As soon as he said begin a light rain started to fall.
"Oh, great..." Asher complained.
Ailey looked at her friend and laughed. "Rain puts you at a disadvantage, doesn't it?"
"Yeah, fire and water don't really mix that well...you're lucky, the water just freezes and makes your element grow larger."
"Yeah, but the larger it becomes, the harder it becomes to control it. What about Landon, his element is lightning so wouldn't the water become charged and shock him?"
"Do you really think I'm going to be hurt that much by my own element?" Landon asked.
Ailey jumped slightly, causing her element to shift a tiny bit. "Oh geez, I forgot you were there."
Landon rolled his head dramatically. "You seem to do that a lot when you're talking to Asher."
Asher looked over at his friend. "What, are you jealous now that I have another friend besides you?"
"No, because if that was the case, then you would be jealous that I have another friend besides you too."
Asher seemed to think about that for a moment. "I...suppose that makes sense..."
"Hey, can you keep it down there you idiot?" a boy asked from next to Asher. The boy was clearly having trouble controlling his element which was earth.
"Sorry, looks like I'm not really the idiot, you're the one having trouble controlling your element. I'm doing just fine, and my element is fire...and it's raining."
The boy next to Asher growled and ball of mud above his hand started to shudder slightly. Soon all the mud fell and covered his hand. "You keyless idiot, look what you made me do!"
Asher shrugged his shoulders. "Hey, it's not my fault you can't control your element when someone is talking to you."
"That's it," the boy said as he started to walk towards Asher.
"That's quite enough, only I can provide a distraction," Professor Hodges said calmly.
"But Professor, he distracted me!"
"No, all I did was talk to you; I would hardly call that a distraction. Heck, I've talked to Ailey here a few times and I don't hear her complaining."
"Actually, I kind of welcome it, this is pretty boring," Ailey explained.
"See, so if talking is a distraction, Ailey would have complained about it."
The boy growled and kicked the dirt. There were still a good fifteen students left; however, as time passed the number was quickly cut down to seven. "Getting harder over there, Asher?" Landon asked innocently.
"You know...you can shut up any time now, Landon," Asher growled. He had a look of concentration in his eyes as he stared intently at the fireball over his hand. The fire was very slowly losing power and flickered a tiny bit.
"Asher, maybe you should stop..." Ailey said concerned.
Asher started to pant slightly. "Hehe, thanks for the concern Ailey, but I can handle this..."
"No Asher, you can't. You passed your limit a long time ago considering the rain. Just let the fire die," Landon said.
Asher sighed and let the fire in his hands die down. He then collapsed to the ground panting lightly. "Are you okay?" Ailey asked.
"Yeah...just give me a second..."
Ailey looked over at Landon. "What's wrong with him?"
"Well, as you know, Keyblades let people control their magic better. Since Asher and I don't have Keyblades, our magic control isn't really the best..."
"But you're still here, and you seem to be doing fine."
"There's two things about that, though. Number one, my element isn't in direct opposition with rain, and number two, I've always been better at magic then Asher was. Remember when Asher fought Caleb last week and how I brought up the fact that the last time he and I fought, I won?" When Ailey nodded her head Landon continued. "Well, the only reason I won is because I'm better at magic then he is. In a contest of fists, Asher beats me hands down; in a contest of magic, I beat him."
"I see, I wonder where I would fit in then..." Ailey said as she put her finger on her chin.
"I don't know, I would say you could join us for a fight, but there's no way Asher would fight you."
"Why not, just because I'm a girl?"
Landon nodded his head. "Yeah, honor code for him."
"Well, what if me and him somehow happened to have to spar against each other during Keyblade control?"
Landon shook his head. "No, remember, me and Asher can't use Keyblades so instead we are forced to fight each other...it get really boring sometimes."
"All right, I think that's quite enough," Professor Hodges said as the rain stopped. The professor walked over to Landon. "I must say, I've heard it from your previous teachers, but even though you can't use a Keyblade, your ability to control magic is remarkable."
Landon nodded his head once. "Thank you, Professor, that means a lot."
-|LUNCH TIME|-
"Oh lunch time, why can't you be a class?" Asher asked as he sat down at the table.
"Because it would make no sense," Landon pointed out.
"What are you talking about? It could make sense..."
"How Asher, how would lunch time being a class make any sort of sense?"
"Simple, we all have to cook our own lunches. Whoever doesn't manage to burn down the school gets an A."
"And what about the person who does burn down the school…"
"Well then, they would manage to fail the easiest class of all time, and they would also get a huge pat on the back from me."
"I think they would get a pat on the back from almost the entire school," Ailey said as she sat down next to Asher.
Asher's eyes suddenly widened and Landon gained a concerned look on his face. "Asher...what are you thinking?"
Asher started to laugh slightly and his laugh slowly became louder. "Asher...I don't like that laugh very much."
"Don't you guys see? I could cause an accident anytime I wanted to..."
Landon smacked his forehead with his palm. "I knew you were a pyromaniac, I just knew it..."
"Asher...you wouldn't actually do that, would you?"
"You haven't seen him, Ailey. I swear I've heard him laughing at an explosion before..."
Asher smirked at the two of them. "Oh come on now, do you really think I would be that stupid? No, no, no. I would wait for the perfect opportunity to strike...then watch this whole place burn down."
"You see, right there, when you say things like that it makes me think you're a pyromaniac," Landon said pointing a finger at his friend. "And I could just see your face now; you would be watching this place burn down with a weird, large grin on your face. I mean, heck, look at you now, just thinking about it and you have a crazy smile on your face."
Ailey looked at her friend and jerked away suddenly. "Asher....that smile does not look good on you..."
Asher shook his head. "Oh come on, do you really think I would do that?"
"Yes!" Landon shouted. "And that smile you just had on your face proved it!"
Asher shook his head. "You've known me for most of my life and yet you still have so little faith in me...You pain me, my good friend."
Ailey looked at Landon in confusion. "You know, he pulled this with me last week, talking like that. What's up with that?"
Landon sighed and shook his head. "I have no idea. My current running theory is that he gets into modes like this to make him seem smart..."
"Hey, I don't have to seem smart if I am smart," Asher protested.
"All right then, prove it. If you remember, we have a quiz today for history. If you can score a hundred on it, then I'll start to believe you..."
Asher smacked his head. "Oh come on, you know that smarts don't come just from books..."
"Hey, you're the one who said you were smart, I'm just giving you the opportunity to prove it."
"Fine, I'll do it," Asher said as he smacked his fist on his chest. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go study..."
Ailey looked at Landon who was smirking. "There's no way he'll get a hundred...is there?"
"Nope, history has never been his strong point..."
-|AFTER SCHOOL|-
"I still can't believe this..." Landon said in disbelief. Landon was looking at a piece of paper in his hands.
Asher was walking along with a huge grin on his face. "I told you I was smart."
"B…But, you've always have been horrible at history, where did this come from?"
Asher waved his finger. "Landon...you're forgetting something; I've been told stories about Sora since I was a little kid. The only reason I've been sleeping in that class this year is because I already knew all that stuff."
Landon growled slightly under his breath and shoved the paper underneath Asher's nose. "You win this round..."
Ailey walked out of the front door and found a laughing Asher and a fuming Landon and chuckled to herself. "Your plan didn't go quite the way you thought it would, Landon?" she asked.
Landon grumbled to himself. "I'm going to go home to escape this. I'll see you tomorrow at the normal time, all right Asher?"
Asher nodded his head. "Yeah, sounds good, I'll see you tomorrow then."
Landon started to walk away and raised his arm and waved goodbye. Asher also raised his hand and waved goodbye to his friend. Ailey looked at her friend in confusion. "What's going on between the two of you?"
"Oh, me and Landon meet every Saturday at my house and just hang out. We've been doing it for a long time now. Hey, how about you join us tomorrow?"
Ailey shook her head. "No, it sounds like this is important to the two of you."
"Oh, come on, you're our friend, I'm sure he won't mind."
Ailey thought about it for a moment more and nodded her head. "All right, what time should I come over?"
"Be over at my place at ten in the morning. Also...you're bringing the chips. Wait a minute, do you know where I live?"
Ailey nodded her head. "Yeah, I saw you head home..."
Asher looked at her in confusion. "Wow, I don't think I've ever had a stalker before..."
Asher let out a cry of pain and held the back of his head. Ailey glared daggers at her friend while massaging her now slightly red hand. "I didn't stalk you. You live just up the street from me. I didn't have time to come up and say hi because I was too busy."
Asher whimpered a little bit. "Okay, okay, I get it...there was no reason to hit me."
Ailey smiled and stuck her tongue out at her friend. "I know, I just felt like it, and it was appropriate. All right, I'll see you tomorrow, Asher," she said as she turned around and started a light jog.
Asher sighed and started to walk in the same direction that Ailey had just taken off in. "I'm going to have to figure out a way to get Donovan out of the house. I can deal with Mom and Meg, but him...he could cause problems..."
A/N this was a...somewhat...hard chapter to do simply because I had to rewrite a lot of the chapter because I didn't like the way I was going, I made Asher OOC for a bit in only the second chapter (a new record I swear) but I think this way turned out much better.