Chapter 10: The Clan

Fearing dislike rather than being eaten? I'm surprised no one's called the local asylum…

Lightning looked at Naminé again, but then her eyes flashed to me as if reading my face would tell her everything she needed to know to make a decision. In a sense, the moment reminded me of my diagnosis—something that would inevitably change my fate. The only difference was that this event wasn't the grand proclamation of my death. It was only the determinate of whether or not I would spend the last months of my life trapped in boredom or enjoying once last adventure.

"If he is willing…," Lightning finally spoke as her eyes returned to Naminé, "then I will teach him."

I released a breath I hadn't known I was holding and looked to Lightning ardently. "Whenever you're ready!" Lightning laughed at my quick response, but Naminé only managed to roll her eyes.

"I like him. He's got some fire in him," Lightning noted with an amused smile.

"Hmm…," Naminé grumbled under her breath, "maybe a little too much."

Lightning shook her head at Naminé's remark before commenting with a smug smile. "Well, I think he's a perfect fit for—" From the corner of my eye, I could see Naminé shoot Lightning a warning look. Strange. I didn't think anyone but me was on the receiving end of that look, let alone a woman like Lightning.

For a moment, I waited to see if the pink haired woman would stubbornly disobey my friend, but she didn't. Her moth quickly closed and it made me curious to know what Lightning was about to say. What was so secret that Naminé had to quickly silence her?

"For what?" I asked with an arched eyebrow, "A perfect fit for what?"

"Nothing," Naminé said dismissively. She avoided my eyes for a brief moment as if collecting the pieces to whatever façade of cool she had on, and I couldn't help but feel frustrated that she never let me in on anything unless it involved some cackling, sleeve-stealing freak.

I snorted under my breath. "Of course it is."

Blatantly ignoring me, Naminé turned from me to face Lightning. There were still flecks of annoyance hidden in her eyes, but she seemed to quickly shake it off as a satisfied smile lightly etched itself onto her lips. "So, when do you plan on beginning his training? The Dark King is probably targeting him as we speak and plus, the sooner he learns to defend himself, the sooner I won't be stuck babysitting every second of the day."

"Hey!" I protested with an indignant glare, "I told you I didn't need your constant patrolling! And…And I'm not a child!"

"Tomorrow," Lightning answered, as if I hadn't spoken and the only other person in the room was Naminé. "I'll train him tomorrow morning so he'll have a chance to better acquaint himself with the clan tonight."

"Very well. I think it would be of his best interest to spend a night meeting with the clan as well," Naminé agreed as her eyes suddenly shifted back to me expectantly.

I rubbed the back of my head nervously. "That's fine with me. I mean, as long as I get home before ten that is." When I saw Lightning's raised eyebrow, I quickly amended. "I promised my parents I would be home before then."

"How old is he?" Lightning asked Naminé with a smirk. It was clear she thought I was a goody-two shoes child who did whatever my parents said, but I really wasn't. I had snuck out into the forest last night, stayed out well past midnight and hadn't even told my parents about the new bruises I had gotten. Yeah, I was the picture perfect child.

"Sixteen," We both responded at the same time, making Lightning's smirk grow wider.

"But I'm not a kid," I added with a defiant tone, "I just don't want my parents to worry about me." 'Especially, not now when I'm dying.'

"I suppose I have to respect that," Lightning conceded with a gentler look, "Family…is very important."

"Yeah…it is," I quietly agreed, trying to ignore the small stabs of guilt assaulting my heart as I thought about the blatant lies I had told to my parents lately. I knew I couldn't tell them about all of this, but…it didn't make things any easier on my conscience.

Naminé cast me a worried glance but I only smiled at her reassuringly. I didn't want to worry anyone else.

KHKHKHKH

"So…," I began hesitantly, "I'll be meeting your 'clan' tonight, right?" We were walking along the stretch of the cave interior that led to 'the colony.' I was a little surprised to find that the colony itself didn't reside in the mountain itself, but Naminé explained that it was merely the gateway into the colony—a method of protection.

Naminé arched an eyebrow, but nodded. "That is the plan—unless you've already decided to run home?"

The condescending quirk of her lips elicited a faint growl from me as I glared at her overly confident form. "Of course I'm staying," I snapped, "I didn't get mauled yesterday for nothing!"

"You shouldn't have been there in the first place," Naminé hissed underneath her breath angrily. Clearly, she was still irritated by my 'accidental' discovery last night.

I opened my mouth to offer another retort, but shut it. I probably shouldn't try her patience more than usual. The way her shoulders were tensed, her jaw clenched…She was under a lot of stress right now.

"Not everyone will…hate me though, will they?" I asked, a lump of fear suddenly caught in my throat.

It's probably a little sad that I'm more scared of embarrassing myself in front of a bunch of wolves than the idea that they could easily kill me, but I couldn't help myself. For whatever twisted reason, I wanted them to like me. I wanted to a part of this bizarre world for as long as I could.

Naminé snorted. "You're worried about that? You humans are so strange."

"What's so strange about wanting to be liked?" I retorted, "Isn't that normal?"

Naminé didn't respond at first, her eyes focused ahead of us—toward the mouth of the cavern that would inevitably empty us into the colony's territory. "Tidus," Naminé stated abruptly.

I squinted my eyes, but was unable to see anything until his figure emerged from the shadows. He was dressed only in a pair of ratty jeans, leaving his chest and feet exposed to the elements. The intimidating flash of his eyes only served as a reminder to me that I was not welcome. Naminé seemed to notice this too as she murmured his name again in a low growl.

Tidus bowed his head submissively. "My Queen."

"Brother," Naminé addressed him coolly, "the colony is ready for our entrance, yes?"

I felt Tidus' gaze flick in my direction, causing me to fidget uncomfortably. "They are, but are you sure about this? A human mingling with our kind—"

"He's been targeted by the Dark King," Naminé stated, disregarding her brother's skepticism, "and I won't allow him to be harmed."

A deafening silence hung in the air until Tidus finally spoke again, his voice resigned.

"Come along then."

We started walking further into the cave, the light finally fading until I could barely see my own hand. Naminé and Tidus (wherever they were) weren't fazed by this, but I ascribed that to their night vision.

"I can't see anything," I complained, nearly stumbling over what I suspected was a rock. Tidus didn't answer, but Naminé's luminescent eyes looked back at me amused. I flushed under her gaze, huffing angrily. "Don't just look at me like that. I—"

Her hand, cool as stone, wrapped around my own, but the patronizing look never left her eyes. "Better?"

Thank God it was as dark as it was. I was afraid she would see an unmanly blush taint my hallowed cheeks.

"Y-Yeah."

"Good."

KHKHKHKHKH

Circling a newcomer was probably considered normal for lycans—they were half beast after all—but for me, the socially inept skeleton, it was nothing less than intimidating.

Regardless of their familiar forms, I didn't dare breathe too loudly lest I incur the wrath of another silver clawed wolf.

The blue haired woman, Aqua, stopped her inspection first and gave me a weary smile. "So, you're the Queen's new…friend?" I nodded, but offered no verbal response, fearing that my voice would quake. The others kept circling. There were only a few of them close to me, but illuminated by the fire, I could see numerous shape shifters, both human and non-human, lining the colony's surrounding forest with curious but skeptical eyes. "And he'll be staying here…with us?"

Naminé, who had been standing close by me, shook her head. "He's not becoming a part of the clan in that sense…" Her eyes followed one of the females circling me closely and released a low growl. The girl backed away quickly, and I was relieved since, believe it or not, I don't think I could have fought her off myself (though for the sake of my masculinity, I would never admit to something like that). "As you've been informed, Roxas here has been targeted by the Dark King and—"

"He must be protected," Aqua finished solemnly.

"Yes," Naminé agreed, "and while he won't be living with us, he will receiving training here for the next few months."

Terra voiced his doubt sharply, "Lightning agreed to this?"

I remained silent as Naminé answered the bronze haired man stiffly. "Of course. I requested her, didn't I?"

"…You are the Queen…"

"Exactly. Now, if you would all be so kind as to formally introduce yourselves…"

There was a low murmur that passed amongst the shape shifters before a swift silence descended again. No one made a single move towards me, and I fidgeted nervously, feeling like that one kid who no one wanted on their kickball team.

"Well?" Naminé finally prompted.

Aqua breathed in deeply, but sent me a cordial smile that stretched across her face like tightly pulled saran wrap. "It's good to meet you Roxas. I'm Aqua and this is my mate Terra." She gestured towards the bronze haired man brooding behind her, and I nodded in an attempt not to wince from his cold stare.

"Yuna," the brunette I'd seen clinging to Tidus introduced with a gentle smile, "and I'm sure you already know my mate Tidus?"

I shrugged. "Sort of…"

Tidus grunted in response, but offered a verbal reply once he saw his sister's icy glare fixed on him. "We've met."

"Aww quit being such a grouch Tidus," a girl with sun kissed skin chided with a giggle. She then fixed her jade eyes on me and beamed brightly. "I'm Rikku, and these are my friends Paine, Fuu, and…"Rikku giggled again as she pointed towards the silver haired boy I had seen earlier. "Riku."

The other two girls rolled their ruby eyes, and the lavender haired one, Fuu, added under her breath. "…Really?"

"Uh…Nice to meet you all," I said, extending my hand. No one took it, and I quickly retracted it, scratching my head awkwardly.

Seeming to sense my anxiety, Naminé questioned the shape shifters present. "Where are Eraqus and the others? I told them to meet us here—"

"Sorry your majesty!" A familiar, peppy voice apologized, "We were just securing the perimeters and—"

"Kairi!?" I sputtered. I knew I had seen her at that meeting, but it still just seemed so crazy. Sora's Kairi.

Her violet eyes practically bulged out of their sockets, and she gasped loudly. "R-Roxas!? W-What are you d-doing h-here!?"

"You two," Naminé gestured between us, suspicion lacing her voice, "know each other?"

Kairi's gaze snapped back to Naminé, and she quickly explained. "His brother. I-I know him because he's my mate's brother. N-Nothing else."

I looked at Kairi oddly. Nothing else? What was that supposed to mean. Wait… "M-Mate!?" I blurted and Kairi's face became almost as red as her hair. "W-What do you mean mate!?"

When Kairi refused to say anything, I prompted Naminé who only arched an eyebrow and laughed. "What do you think it means?"

"B-But that's so…," I shook my head, flabbergasted. "Um…wow."

Kairi laughed uneasily after a moment. "Yeah, but…what are you doing here anyway? Wait." Kairi paused before exclaiming, "No!?"

It was a single syllable, but the meaning behind it seemed deeper than what I could only assume because Naminé gave Kairi a hard look and the red head shut up instantly.

"No what?"

"Nothing." Both females responded simultaneously.

I sulked, but decided that the chances of someone offering answers up on a silver plate were slim. "So, who else is supposed to be here?"

"Eraqus, Snow, and Serah," Naminé answered offhandedly, as her eyes pierced through the foliage of the trees.

"What about Rinoa and Leon?" Kairi asked.

"After what Leon did last night, I asked him to stay away for a little a while and Rinoa—"

Kairi finished. "Is staying with him."

"It would seem so," Naminé observed. She glanced back at me then and her lips curved in amusement. "Holding up?"

I rolled my eyes. "You're enjoying this too much."

"Am I?" Naminé bantered, "Though, with how you've been acting, it's not hard to enjoy."

"Haha, you're so funny. Is a Queen your only occupation or are you a comedian now too?" I retorted, unaware of the nervous chatter surrounding me.

Naminé shrugged, but her eyes gleamed. "What can I say? I'm multi-faceted."

"Uh-huh," I said with an audible snort, "I'm sure you—"

"Queen Naminé," Eraqus' deep voice interrupted with a low bow.

"Eraqus," Naminé bowed her head in recognition. "You have the others with you?"

"I'm afraid not. Serah just went into labor, so Snow and the others are attending to her." Eraqus explained.

Naminé's lips curved into an excited smile and she clasped her hands together. "Finally, another pup! It's been at least a decade since we've expanded our brood, hasn't it?"

"I believe you were the last pup born before the war started your majesty."

"Yes...," Naminé agreed with a pensive smile quickly replacing her excitement. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but then she looked back to me as if suddenly remembering my presence. "Oh, and this is Roxas, the meddlesome human I've been telling you about."

"Hey!" I exclaimed angrily, but she ignored me with a subtle smirk playing at the corners of her mouth. Women…

Eraqus only chuckled at our interaction. "Of course. We've heard much about you Mr. Strife, your…friendship with the Queen is the talk of the town so to speak."

"Wait." I paused, a small bud of hope growing in my chest. "Is that all they're talking about? Our friendship?" Because if they were, that would be nice. I'd hate to be known as the 'meddlesome human' to every shape shifter I met here.

"Oh no," Eraqus amended with a wave of his hands, "everyone knows about your many mishaps as well, especially your integration into our military forces."

I sighed. "That's great."

"What did you expect? Word travels fast. Not as fast as our high school, but fast enough." Naminé stated, her crossed arms covering part of her exposed stomach.

"It does indeed," Eraqus concurred before his voice took on a strange tone that made my heart drop. "Though…I am surprised that Lightning would take him on as her pupil. He smells weaker than most humans."

His last words echoed in my head; a pin that's dropped in an empty room, filling a silent void.

'Weaker than most humans…'

That didn't mean he knew, right? It just meant I needed to work out more, right?

"Well," Naminé shrugged indifferently, "he is a bit lankier than most humans."

Lanky. Yeah, good euphemism there. Better than her knowing the truth I suppose…

"Hmm," Eraqus studied me intently for a moment, and I stiffened in response, my breath catching in my throat. "I suppose that would…explain things."

I exhaled with relief.

KHKHKHKHKHKH

When we had finished talking with the clan, Naminé led me into a clearing. It wasn't huge, a medium sized oval encompassed by evergreen trees, but it was able to hold a small lily pond in the center. I picked up a stone lying in the grass and skipped it across the clear surface of the water.

Naminé simply fell back, her arms outstretched as she gently tugged tendrils of grass from the ground. The sun had already fallen behind its celestial veil leaving trails of moonlight to dance around and illuminate the clearing.

"You know," I broke the silence hanging over us, sitting on the grass beside Naminé with my knees drawn to my chest. "It makes sense."

Naminé rolled onto her side, elbow propped so that she could face me. "What does?"

Her hair was tousled, and without realizing it, I tucked back a loose strand behind her ear. "Why you aren't so concerned with high school. I mean you have a whole colony that depends on you; it's not just about grades and popularity."

A faint pink crept into her cheeks—one that I hadn't recognized was my own doing—and her eyes became darker like an ocean bracing itself for a storm. "Yes…" Naminé hesitated as a weary smile slipped across her lips, "It's certainly more important to me than trivial affairs such as that, but sometimes…" Naminé paused again, flicking her eyes to mine again before confiding in a nearly inaudible whisper. "Sometimes, I wish Tidus was King. He would be…so much better than me, and then I could be free like the others. No military strategies, no pressure…I would only be responsible for myself." When I didn't say anything for a moment, Naminé shook her head apologetically. "I'm sorry. I probably sound so selfish, and if any of the others heard me talking like this—"

"It's fine," I interrupted gently and placed a hand on one of hers, unaware of the intimate connotations behind my actions. "I can only imagine the stress you're put under. I know I couldn't handle it."

"Still," Naminé murmured, "It's not like I'm that great of a queen anyway. I mean Tidus is older, but since this is a matriarchy, the eldest female always assumes the throne so I only became queen because of a stipulation not qualification."

"For someone so confident, you're really hard on yourself. I think you're a great queen." I remarked quietly, feeling Naminé's fingers curl around mine before fleeing back to a patch of nearby grass.

Her phosphorescent eyes narrowed slightly as she snorted. "How do you know I'm good? I could be blood thirsty tyrant for all you know."

"But you're not." I said simply. "I know you Naminé. You're not like that. The way your people respect and care for you proves it."

"Hmm…you humans," Naminé muttered under her breath, but I could tell my words had meant something as her eyes softened again.

"So," I said abruptly standing up. Naminé looked to me curiously. "How do you feel about masquerade parties?"

KHKHKHKH

"He wrangled you in too huh?" Kairi asked with a smirk. It was nearly nine o'clock now, but me, Naminé, and Kairi were all sitting around a fire roasting marshmallows (apparently the shape-shifters still enjoyed human food products).

Naminé twirled her iron stick absentmindedly, a slow caramel brown creeping on the marshmallow's now gooey surface. "I've never been to a human gathering before, so why not?"

Kairi balked jokingly. "Why not? This is you we're talking about Naminé. You're the Queen. You never associate with large groups of humans unless you have to, and besides, what will you wear? It's a costume party you know?"

"I'm aware," Naminé sniffed, "and I am capable of coming up with something. In fact, I'll find one of those costume shops this week."

"Well, alrighty then," Kairi responded before plucking an oozing marshmallow off and tossing it into her mouth.

I yawned but smiled. "It'll be fun. I don't usually like parties, but I think this one will be okay."

Naminé agreed, but then commented as she saw me rubbing my eyes. "You ready to go home?"

Feeling like a small child, I nodded sleepily and yawned again.

KHKHKHKHKH

"Here we are!" Naminé announced, and I lifted my head lazily.

"Here we…," I yawned, "are…"

"I'll come by tomorrow afternoon for you training. Lightning doesn't tolerate tardiness, so no falling into quick sand or pits that only clumsy humans such as yourself could manage to find."If I had more energy, I would have come back with a smart retort. Instead, I just mumbled an incoherent 'yes.' Naminé eyed me wearily for a moment, my behavior seeming to unnerve her, but then her eyes darted to the trees and she ordered softly. "Get inside. I'll continue to patrol your house for awhile…"

"More Dark King trouble?" I asked and covered my mouth to stifle another yawn.

"I'm not sure."

"Well, see you tomorrow then." I gave a halfhearted wave before stumbling into my house. Naminé waved back, but her human form was quickly enveloped in a harsh light, leaving a white wolf in its wake.

'She'd better keep her word about not eavesdropping…I can't have her knowing anything. Not yet.'

I slipped off my shoes, and wandered into the living room. My parents were sitting on the love seat together, eyes glued to the glowing TV screen that suddenly emitted a piercing scream as the lead female discovered a decaying corpse propped up against the wall of a closet. The movie looked cheesy, but it was nice to see my parents happy. The only thing that was missing from the scene was…

"Where's Sora?"

Both my parents' heads snapped in my direction, and my mother nearly leapt up as she embraced me in a smothering hug. "He said he just wanted to watch some TV upstairs," Mom explained, eliciting instant guilt. Though, the guilt was quickly replaced by pain when my mother's arms wrapped around my frame tighter. I winced loudly, nearly gasping from my broken ribs. I could ignore the pain for the most part, but Mom's hugs were almost lethal.

She quickly pulled away, and Dad frowned asking what was wrong. "N-Nothing, "I stuttered, "I fell yesterday, and um…well you know how easily I bruise now."

"Do we need to take you to the doctor's?" Mom asked as her hands hovered close to me, almost touching but clearly worried that she would cause more damage.

"No! I mean, I think I'll be alright. We can go in a few days if I don't feel better." I quickly amended.

Dad, however, wasn't satisfied. "Can we at least see the bruising?"

"We probably should," Mom murmured in agreement.

I swallowed. What was I supposed to do? "Can it wait until tomorrow? I'm really tired."

"You did have a long day…," Dad said reluctantly.

Mom added with a worn-out smile, "You have fun?"

I nodded and began to edge for the stairs. "Yeah, it was nice to hang out with a friend."

"That's good," Mom bit her lip, and looked to Dad.

Dad sighed and wiped a hand over his face jadedly. "We'll just… talk about things tomorrow."

KHKHKHKH

Entering my room, I flipped on the lights. My alarm clock, poised on my nightstand, read 10:10pm. I felt lame feeling so tired already, especially since I usually didn't go to bed until at least midnight, but my disease, as always, defeated my teenage rebellion with a swift shot of pain. My legs buckled, and I was tempted to just sleep on the floor (if that didn't look so painfully incriminating). Instead, however, I shakily shimmied out of my jeans, leaving them in a heap on my floor and fell onto my bed.

My back landed on a rectangular object that I pulled out. My cell phone. Of course I would forget to bring that with. I was lucky my parents hadn't tried calling me eight million times.

Then I noticed a new text message. Hayner.

'Hey u still coming to the skateboard tournament tomorrow?'

My fingers hovered over the key pad for a moment before typing in a simple 'no.' I had training tomorrow, and besides, it's not like I would be able to skateboard with them. All it would really be is a reminder of what I would be eternally giving up in a few months.

KHKHKH

A/N: Hello everyone. Here is the long delayed chapter 10. I'm sorry things have been so sporadic in terms of updates. College sucks up life like you wouldn't believe and I'm in the midst of midterms. Also, I've decided no official hiatus for this story. Updates won't be quick, but I enjoy this story too much to stop for too long.

But thank you as always for reading, reviewing, alerting, and favorite-ing this story! It always gives me the warm and fuzzies when I see that you all are enjoying my work!:D

As for the story, things are going to be getting interesting future chapters with Roxas' training, the Dark King, and some other surprises…

Also, if anyone would be willing, I would love, Love, LOVE to have some cover art for the story!:D

Review Replies:

Victoria: Glad you found that part funny, I was hoping it was. You'll have to see about that, and actually it's Lightning from FF:) Thanks for the review:)

Hiddensecret564: I love Lightning even though I haven't played her game, and you will just have to stay tuned to find out:)

X-blade025: Aww, you're so sweet. No worries. I don't want a hiatus. I love writing in this style too much. Also, I take no offense. I love Half Alive, but this is more of my writing preference due to the supernatural elements. I also read mostly supernatural/fantasy. I understand that. I'm always fascinated with those kinds of stories myself, and good to hear you like Namine's portrayal. I always try to deviate from the normal in order to explore new sides of familiar characters. I'm super happy to hear that it's expanded your thinking, and hopefully I'll squeeze out another chapter sooner rather than later.