Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.

Sonic Dawn

Lea

I was casually eating grapes, letting their sweet bursts be distractions when I heard the doorbell ring. I had been home from school for less than half an hour, man he was fast. I made my way over to the large white door and opened it with the slightest bit of reluctance. As expected, Pence was on the other side with a big smile as expected.

"Hey Pence," I quickly greeted. There was a certain relief in seeing him at my doorstep again by himself. I only saw him and thought only of the Pence I knew.

"Hey Roxas," he greeted cheerfully. I motioned for him to come in and he did with little apprehension. He kicked off his shoes and faced the stairwell as he waited for me to take the lead. I immediately made small talk and asked if he wanted food or drink as we made our way to my room. When we did reach it, I sat down on the bed and let my back fall as Pence sat on my desk's chair, ready to take a look at my computer. "What specifically is the problem again?" Pence asked, already ready to help.

"It's just whenever I try opening any kind of recording program, it either freezes up immediately or won't record sound," I explained. "I haven't done any decent solo writing because of it."

"Oh, planning on going solo?" Pence said with a smile as he began fiddling with my laptop.

I laughed at the thought; I always preferred being part of a group. I could handle being in charge, but felt being a true solo artist would get boring fast. "Just trying to write some stuff to get my thoughts cleared up."

"Oh…" Pence said simply as he stared at the screen and tried to diagnose the problem or problems. There was a pause before he continued, "Are you excited for tomorrow?"

"To play struggle you mean?" I almost forgot that I needed to really get practicing.

"Yeah. Hayner's been really excited too of course." Pence chuckled at the thought. "Olette's been a little jealous."

I couldn't help but laugh. It was typical Hayner to get so hyped up about something, but it was part of what made Hayner who he was. "Well I'm sure he'll do well tomorrow."

"Yep," was all Pence said as he clicked around, clearly finding a lead to the problem with my laptop. I didn't mind the silence; it gave me a chance to ponder. I missed this. Just hanging out. I knew why this didn't really happen anymore, but I just pushed it out of my head, something that I'd been doing for a while longer than I should have.

"After the tournament tomorrow, you should come over and we can play some video games," I suggested hopefully.

"Really?" Pence asked, barely slowing from his work. His voice was distracted, so it was kind of unreadable.

"Yeah, we can shoot each other and fight each other. In the games of course," I said in a mocking tone.

Pence laughed audibly as he continued to stare. "That would be sweet. Just give me a call." He seemed to be exiting out of some windows on my screen and turned to say, "Done." He had a grin on his face and it felt nostalgic. "What are you going to do now?"

I looked out the window at the nice day and answered, "I'm going over to Axel's place. I'm going to meet his cousin." I smiled at the thought; there was no way this wasn't going to turn out to be a lot of fun. "You?" I asked, drawing my attention back inside my own walls.

"I'm going to go hang out with Naminé," Pence said passively. "We're going to watch a movie."

I stared at the floor as I imagined the two just sort of lazing around one of their houses contently. "That should be cool…"

"Yeah. We haven't picked out a movie yet, but we will right now. Do you need a ride to Axel's?"

I looked up again and he still had a light smile on his face. I didn't feel like driving and Axel could probably give me a ride home. "Sure, thanks Pence." I looked over his shoulder at my laptop. "For everything."

His smile grew larger. "No problem Roxas! That's what friends are for." I couldn't stop my lips from reaching ear to ear.

*

"I really don't know that much about him, but from what I've heard, he'll probably be like Axel but younger," I said as I explained my assumptions about Lea.

"Oh no, two of him?!" Pence said in a tone that mocked being horrified.

I laughed as we turned onto Axel's street. "Holy crap, two of him?" I said in tone that was half-serious. Outside of his red brick house, I saw he and his cousin Lea tossing a Frisbee back and forth. What was crazy to me was that Lea looked exactly the same as him except much closer to my height and with shorter hair. Axel was in blue jeans and a red t-shirt while his cousin was wearing beige cargo pants and an orange t-shirt. I was glad they weren't wearing the same clothes. Otherwise, I'd be a bit freaked out.

Pence pulled up to the curb and Pence and I threw each other incredulous smiles. "Good luck," Pence said quietly.

"Thanks," I said between chuckles. I got out of the car and Pence drove away waving as I noticed Lea was giving me an incredibly strange look. I was too far to completely read his expression, but it looked shocked more than anything else. I walked towards the two at a slow pace, my eyes mostly on Lea.

"Roxas! What's up?" Axel called loudly. I turned to him to respond and saw that he had the Frisbee and his arm cocked. Before I said anything else, he yelled, "Catch!" He then flung the Frisbee directly at me and I caught it with ease. I looked at it and noticed that it had a picture of a flame with a face. I let out a chuckle as I stared at the cool design.

"Ven?" The voice sounded like Axel's, but it seemed to high.

I looked up, not hiding my confusion as I looked at Lea who seemed just as confused. "I'm sorry?"

"Ven? That's Roxas!" Axel said slapping his cousin's back. "Roxas, this is Lea. Lea, Roxas."

I shook Lea's hand as a smile overtook his face, but he still had a furrowed brow. "You look so much like someone I know," Lea stated.

"Someone named Ven? Possibly from Radiant Garden too?" I asked, connecting the dots.

Lea scoffed at the situation. "Yeah actually. He's a friend of mine; a really nice guy." I nodded with a smile, undeniably intrigued by the situation. "Of course Axel here says you're a nice guy too." I looked up at Axel and he simply shrugged with a smile.

"Well it's cool to meet you Lea. Axel was stoked when he found out you were coming." The three of us chuckled. I had a good feeling about Lea; maybe because he reminded me so much of Axel. At any rate, we clicked pretty easily. We got to know each other fast as the three of us tossed the Frisbee between us casually and enjoyed being outside. He actually played guitar too, which was a nice surprise.

"I actually wanted to do struggle, but I found out it was only open to Twilight Town residents," Lea explained as we got on the subject of the next days tournament.

"Do you play with your friends back in Radiant Garden?" I asked.

"Sometimes, not as much as Frisbee though. Your doppelganger back in the Garden is always up for stuff like struggle and Frisbee." Lea proceeded to catch the disc from Axel as he was looking at me and explaining. He was good. "My other friend Isa, not so much," Lea finished as he launched the disc at me perfectly. "He does enjoy a good sea-salt bar with me though and doesn't mind getting in trouble, so I can't complain."

I shot a look at Axel at the mention of sea-salt bars and he looked back at me with a look that said something like, 'He's cool isn't he?' I nodded, as I knew that he knew that I comprehended our little exchange. I thought of the three of us, and Xion, eating sea-salt ice cream to celebrate after the struggle tournament. I then remembered I still had to practice. I caught the disc and asked, "Do you guys mind practicing struggle? You've got a kit of stuff right Axel?"

The two looked at each other and shrugged, clearly open to the suggestion. "Let me grab the stuff then," Axel said as he immediately ran into his garage. He popped out with four struggle bats, two blue and two red, and depressible guards. He tossed sets of guards to Lea and I, and the three of us put them on our torsos. "I'll take this one," Axel stated as he grabbed one of the red bats. "You'll take this one I assume?" Axel asked as he threw the other red bat at Lea with conviction.

"Of course!" was Lea's response as he took the bat happily.

"Roxas, which one would you like?" Axel asked as he held the two blue in his left hand.

I eyed them and didn't really notice a difference. "I'll take both!" I said in a joking tone.

Axel simply gave a mildly surprised look and tossed both at me. "We should take you on two at once then!" Lea happily agreed to Axel's suggestion.

"If you want to lose together," I said, blatantly bluffing. They took me up on it as we walked over to Axel's backyard and made the boundaries clear. As soon as we did, both cousins came charging at me. I wasn't ready at all and desperately rolled out of the way. As the two missed, I stood up properly and held both bats at the ready.

The two charged me again, swinging without real direction and I was able to hit both of them, Axel to my left and Lea to my right, with shocking efficiency. They let out 'oofs' as I fell back; ready to take them on again. They charged again and I completely deflated their guards while mine was untouched. The two took off their guards and rubbed their stomachs in shock and slight pain.

Why was I so good with two? I had suspected I was ambidextrous for a while now. The battle only confirmed my suspicions.

"Jeez Roxas, you're tough," Lea commented, stretching out his back.

"No kidding, when did you get so good?" Axel asked, still rubbing his sore abdomen.

"No idea…" I said. I suddenly felt a lot more confident about the next day. I had an idea of what to do with that prize munny.

***

"Poor Axel and Lea," Xion said over the phone. Even on the phone, I could tell she was stifling laughter. "Three times?"

I let myself laugh as I stared out my window towards the full and large moon. "Yeah, they never touched me once. I think I can actually win tomorrow." I couldn't believe that had come out of my mouth. I was playing mostly to do something fun and physical with my friends. Now that I knew I could win, I wanted to.

"Of course you can! I'll be cheering for you the loudest!" Xion sounded so chipper. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks Xion. I really want the prize munny. I could use it on a nice gift."

"For me?" I could tell that Xion was smiling to herself on the other end.

"Yeah actually." I couldn't tell if she would guess if I was being serious or not correctly.

"A 100 count box of sea-salt bars?"

I chuckled at the thought. I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually possible. "Yeah, we can have them together."

"Sounds like a plan. I really, really hope you win tomorrow now." Again, I could tell she had a smile on the other end.

"Thanks for the support," I said teasingly. I looked at my computer and sighed. "I'm going to hit the sack; I want to be well-rested for tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good idea." There was a pause, as I knew she didn't want to have to say goodbye first.

"Good night Xion," I said peacefully and in a low voice.

"Good night Roxas," she said reluctantly.

*

That night, I had one of those weird moments where you're not really sure whether or not you're asleep. I just remembered turning to my side on my bed and looking at my laptop. In my sleepy stupor, I imagined Pence sitting there again. He had a smile on as I returned the smile.

While I was still smiling, he dissolved into thin air and was immediately replaced with Naminé. My smile stayed the same as she revealed her perfect teeth. She too then dissolved and was immediately replaced.

This time, it was Xion. She was smiling at me. What frightened me though, was that her smile just slowly and ominously dropped. Soon her eyebrows scrunched together and tears fell from her eyes. My heart stopped beating and I jolted up as I realized what I was seeing and feeling wasn't real.

I was scared again to think that I heard a voice that I wasn't sure was real. Specifically, it was my mother's voice. It was nothing but murmurs. I tried falling asleep again and once again fell into a state of mind where I didn't know what was real. There was someone else sitting on the chair now.

It wasn't a friend this time. He looked a lot like me, but much, much older. He smiled at me and tears fell from my eyes. Despite the tears though, I was smiling. The man stopped smiling and looked out the window. I followed his gaze. All I saw was a bright white light and my heart started beating erratically. I sat up once again, finding it was morning and that my face was wet with sweat and tears.

I want to immediately thank glos-peach, xforgottenmemories, Mr. Bean, Sato Tadashi, and poohbearlover95 for reviewing. You guys all inspired me so much that I wrote this all almost non-stop!

Since struggle involves orbs dropping, I had to edit it so that all you had to do was completely deflate an opponent's guard (think inflatable lasertag vest) to win. Being a guy, it was fun to write that part haha.

Did you guys like Lea? That part was a lot of fun to write. I plan on him being important and recurring while aiding a future plot point.

The dream sequence came together fluidly and quickly, I hope you guys like it!

After this next chapter, I'll be doing something different. What that is, you'll have to wait and see! I can promise it'll be revealing.

All reviews (or even kind words) are welcome.