Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 12

Sora sat on the bench and watched the clowns go by with Riku. He was glad he didn't have to be out there, there were too many clowns. "Why are they smiling like that?" he asked Riku.

"Because that's what they're paid to do." Riku said, "Want some ice cream?"

"Uh huh." Sora nodded and scanned the crowds, maybe he could find Roxas and they could leave. He swung his legs back and forth while Riku went to get the ice cream, they'd been in this tent for an hour since Roxas went missing and they were getting bored. "Riku, there's nothing to do." he said, "I'm bored."

Riku returned with the ice cream and handed one to Sora, "My dad says to stay here." he said, "I bet they'll come back soon though, it doesn't take long for my dad to find people."

"But it's been a long time already and he hasn't found Roxas yet." Sora mumbled.

"Then we'll help him." Riku decided, "Come on, let's find Xion and go."

"But we're supposed to stay here." Sora reminded.

Riku rolled his eyes, "I thought you were bored? Do you want to find your brother or not?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"Then come on." Riku and Sora searched the tent for Xion, "Hey Xion! Come with us!"

"Why?" Xion asked.

"To find Roxas." Riku lead the two out of tent and into the crowd of people, "Sora take us to where he got lost."

"But I don't remember where it is." Sora said, "All the people are in the way." Riku paused and looked around.

"Of course, how about we go back to the tent then?" he suggested. Sora nodded and turned around, where did Xion go?

"Riku, we lost Xion!" he said. Riku looked around and didn't see her. He took Sora's hand and led him back to the tent they were in. "We have to look for her, Ventus will get mad if he comes back and she's not here."

"Who's not here?" Sora turned and saw Ventus staring down at them Riku bit his lip nervously and Sora looked away.

"We went out to find Roxas because you were taking to long and we lost Xion." Sora said.

"But we were really close to the tent so she can just come back here!" Riku said. Ventus stared blankly at them, Xion was lost too? He took a seat on one of the chairs and sighed. He was so screwed! "Ventus, just go look for her." Riku said, "You're being lazy."

"Hi TJ! We lost Roxas and Xion!" Ventus looked up and saw TJ walking into the tent.

"You lost Xion too?" he asked. He sighed, "I thought you left them here."

"I did, but they went out to find Roxas themselves..." Ventus sighed, "What are we going to do? This place is too crowded for anyone to find anyone!"

"I'll just call Vanitas." TJ said, "He'll know what to do." Ventus sighed, he was going to be a big trouble... wait, did he say call Vanitas?

"No! Don't call him! He's going to kill me!" Ventus stood up and took the phone from TJ, "We can't let him know."

"I already sent a text message." TJ said slowly. Ventus dropped the phone and sighed, Vanitas would call him back within the hour he was sure of it. And just as he thought that his phone rang, he slowly picked it up and looked at the caller ID, Vanitas. "Why can't we call him again?"

"He'll get mad and punch my face in." Ventus answered the phone, "Hello?"

"You lost my sister." Ventus shivered at the calmness in his voice, "You lost my sister in a crowded place filled with strangers and potential murderers?"

"Calm down Vanitas-

"I'm calm Ventus, for now at least. You better find her and bring her home as soon as you do." Vanitas said, "And by home I mean your house, she's not allowed at my house when I'm not there."

"Alright." Ventus sighed and hung up before Vanitas could say anything else, "He didn't sound upset, but I can tell he's only acting like that because he's at work."

"Actually, he's not at work. I dropped him off at some office." TJ said, "He wouldn't tell me what he needed to be there for. He was probably afraid that i'd tell you."

"Which you would." Ventus said, "I'm going to look for Xion, stay here please, and make sure they don't leave again."

0.o.0.o.0

"But the elephants are in there." Roxas said, "Will they burn too?"

"No, Elephants are big so they'll trample out and step on people!" Axel said. He shook the beer bottle a little, "How do we open this Demyx?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Demyx shrugged.

"How are we supposed to do this without beer? The fire won't get as big." Axel crossed his arms and glared at Demyx, "You ruined it!"

"We need to use the stuff inside?" Roxas asked, "Why don't we just throw it and break it?"

"You see Demyx, why couldn't you say that? Come on guys." Axel led the boys away from the tent, "The elephant tent is over there." he pointed to a large box that the elephants were being herded into.

"That don't look like a tent." Demyx said, "I think I saw that on a train toy before."

"Shut up, it's a tent." Axel said. Roxas didn't think it looked like a tent, all the tents he'd been to were pointy on top and that was just a box. But if Axel said it was a tent, it must've been a tent after all Axel was 8 years old. "We need to wait for the people to leave." Axel said, "I'll throw the bottle inside and then we'll throw a match in there."

"Why are we doing this?" Roxas asked, "Are we going to get in trouble?"

"Well I'm not going to get in trouble." Axel said, "And we're doing it because I want to." That really didn't seem like a good enough reason, but Axel wouldn't do it without a reason. They walked over to the tent and climbed inside.

"I figured there would be more people here." Demyx said, "You know to guard the elephants."

"Elephants guard themselves." Axel said, "look that's why they're so big." Roxas looked around at all the elephants, how did they get so many in one place.

"look Axel a baby!" he said, he pointed to a smaller elephant near the back of the tent, "It's a whole family!"

"Maybe we can make them sit on chairs like in the show." Demyx suggested, "Then we could get money."

"Yeah, we should take an elephant and have our circus. We can keep it my garage." Axel said, "We'll be rich." Axel walked further inside, "Demyx, keep watch." he walked over to one of the larger elephants.

"How come they're in cages?" Roxas asked, "Are they bad?"

"I bet this one is. His names going to be Big Bertha."

"That's a girl name!" Demyx called.

"No it's not!" Axel shot back, "Come on Roxas, come help me let him out." Roxas walked over to the large cage.

"How?" he asked. He couldn't see any kind of door, "How did it get in here?" he grabbed one of the bars and pulled, "Hey it's opening!" he said.

"What? They didn't lock it? They wanted us to have this one then." Axel helped Roxas pull the door open, "Why's it so heavy?" he asked as they finally got it open. They elephant didn't move, "Come on Bertha." axel moved away from the door, "We need to hurry." He took the bottle and threw it hard at the ground. "Get out Roxas it's time to go, let's go Bertha." Axel lit a match and threw it on the floor. The train car lit up in flames and Axel ran, Roxas followed behind shortly and turned to look at the elephants.

"The elephants aren't moving like you said they would." Roxas said, "They look scared."

"Come on before we get in trouble!" Axel pulled Roxas away from the car and back into the crowds, "Look Demyx! They're running out!" Roxas looked back and saw the elephants rushing from the train car. They were running fast... faster then they were.

"Axel, They're going to step on us!" Roxas shouted. The Elephants trampled out of the cart and towards the three young boys. Axel ran faster and Demyx was no where to be found. Roxas rab as fast as his legs could carry him but the elephants closed in on him. He glanced back and saw how close they were, they were going to crush him...

Someone scooped him up and took him away from the elephants. Roxas curled up against the person and closed his eyes. He heard people screaming and it sounded like people were running. The elephants were screaming too, they must've been scared of something. He briefly opened his eyes and glanced at the person holding him, he'd seen this person before. This man had been in Aqua's backyard two days ago and Vanitas had made his son cry. "Mr. Sephiroth?" he said unsurely.

The man glanced down briefly before continuing to look forward. The noise from the elephants died down after a few minutes and the man stopped running. He shouted a few orders and set Roxas down, "Stay here, I'll be back." he said. Roxas nodded and looked around. He could see the elephants being covered in nets, and people were still running around. He saw Axel and waved his arms frantically.

"Roxas! Wasn't that cool?" Axel walked over, "Too bad I didn't get to keep my elephant."

"What happened to Demyx? Did they step on him?" Roxas asked.

"Demyx? Um, he's over there." Axel pointed over to the parking lot, "He started crying and someone took him here."

Roxas nodded and searched for Ventus, he wanted to go home now. He couldn't find him anywhere, there was too much running around. "Axel!" Roxas heard Lea, and turned towards his voice. He saw the older boy run up and grab Axel, "Where have you been?"

"I took Roxas to the elephant tent, we started a fire!" Axel said.

"You did this?" Lea asked, "No way... You're in so much trouble, I'm telling mom when we get home."

"Huh? No! You can't!" Axel squirmed out of his brothers grip, "I don't want to get in trouble!" Axel ran off and Lea followed. Roxas watched them before turning away, was he going to get in trouble too? Ventus didn't know he helped Axel so maybe he wouldn't...

"Roxas!" Ventus ran over and took his hand, "Why'd you run off like that?"

"I went with Axel and we started a fire near the elephants and they started running!" he cried out. Ventus blinked and Roxas covered his mouth, he wasn't supposed to tell! "Never mind." he said sheepishly.

"You did this?" Ventus said slowly, "Oh my god! Aqua's going to kill me!"

"So I'm not in trouble?" Roxas asked hopefully.

"Oh you're in trouble." Ventus mumbled, "Come on." Roxas pouted and followed Ventus through the parking lot. "Stay here, I need to find Xion." Ventus pushed him towards their car and walked off. Roxas saw TJ and Sora sitting inside. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms over his chest. It wasn't fair, he didn't do anything wrong. It was Axel who started the fire, not him.

"Roxas!" Sora leaned out of the window, "Where'd you go?"

"I went to see the elephants with Axel." Roxas sniffled.

"Oh no! Were you around when they started running?" Sora asked, "TJ said people got stepped on!"

"Uh huh, but Mr Sephiroth saved me from them..." he mumbled.

"well get in the car." Sora pushed the door open and Roxas climbed in, "I can't wait to tell Aqua what we did today."

"No! No one tells aqua." TJ spoke up, "She can't know about this."

"But, I want to tell her about the elephants and the chairs, and how Vanitas has soft skin." Sora said.

"You can tell her about all that, but not about the elephant stampede." TJ said, "we'll all be in a lot of trouble if you tell her."

"But Ventus said I was already in trouble." Roxas said.

"Um, well we'll see when we get home." TJ said. Roxas nodded and smiled inwardly, he knew what he had to do. Ventus didn't want aqua to know so as long as he had this information, he wouldn't get in trouble. He just needed to make sure Ventus knew that.

0.o.0.o.0

Vanitas absently mixed the muffin batter in the bowl. How could Ventus lose her that fast? He'd barely been gone for 20 minutes! He should've just taken her home... no, that wouldn't work...

"Vanitas! You've been mixing since you got here, you don't think it's time to start baking?" someone asked. Vanitas looked up and nodded, he needed to focus. Ventus would find her, he didn't need to worry about that.

He wiped his hands on his apron and started to pour the batter into the pans. But he couldn't focus, he ended up spilling a lot of it onto the table. "Vanitas?"

"What?" He turned around, "Aqua? You aren't allowed back here..." he looked her over, "What do you want?"

"Well, it's been a while since i've come here. But since Ventus is off having fun I decided to do a little myself." Aqua said, "and then I saw you and I came back here."

"Don't you have work?" Vanitas asked. He began to look around for a towel, meanwhile Aqua leaned against the table and looked around.

"I'm on my break." she said, "I was really bored, usually I spend my breaks with the boys you see? But they're off at the circus having the time of their lives probably."

"Or getting lost among the crowd of weirdos." Vanitas muttered.

"Stop thinking like that. Ventus is very responsible when it comes to kids." Aqua said. Vanitas rolled his eyes and wiped up the spilled batter. "So how are you Vanitas? You know, I bet it's rough at home."

"Sure, I can handle it though." he shrugged and began to prepare more batter.

"Are you sure? I don't want you too stressed, I'm planning a big vacation for us." Aqua said, "To a water park."

"Us? You mean me too?" Vanitas asked, that didn't sound right... why would she take him?

"Well of course you too! We could all use a break, it's been stressful for all of us lately." Aqua said.

"Um, of course. I'll have to ask my mom." Vanitas said. Aqua frowned at that, and Vanitas felt a little awkward. He probably shouldn't have brought up his family. "I mean just so she knows I'll be gone. I don't want her to worry."

"Would she really worry about you?" Aqua asked after a minute. Vanitas paused in his work, why would she ask something like that? His mother cared about him, she did to some extent right?

"Yes she would." He said with a little more hostility then necessary.

"Well now, I have to go." Aqua stood up, "Will you be around for dinner?"

"Not tonight." Vanitas said, "I have to go home."

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow." she walked out of the kitchen unnoticed and Vanitas sighed. He didn't want to go home, but he didn't want to keep mooching off Ventus' family forever. He tried to clear his mind and focus on the muffins he should have been making but he couldn't. He suddenly felt really hot, maybe because he was in a room full of ovens. He stood up again and fell back against the table, something was wrong with him. His heart sped up and his phone rang.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Where are you? I told you to come home now." his father roared into the phone.

"Hmm... I'm at work." Vanitas mumbled, "I'll be there later."

"Bring Xion with you, got it? We need to talk."

"Dad... you better not hurt her." Vanitas said. He hung up the phone and it rang again. It was probably his dad again but he answered anyway. "Hullo?"

"Vanitas?" it was Ventus.

"Oh, uh... did you find her?" he asked.

"Yeah... are you alright?" Ventus asked, "You sound funny..."

"So do you." Vanitas said. He felt relieved, but that feeling was instantly smothered by a sick feeling rising in his chest. He rushed out of the kitchen and towards the bathroom. His co-workers called out behind him but he didn't stop, he was going to throw up and he didn't want anyone to see him. But with his luck... he didn't make it to the bathroom, in fact he threw up right in the candy isle in front of a group of kids. He fell to his knees and coughed, he was sick... just his luck...

"Vanitas?" someone came up behind him.

"Aqua, I thought you left..." he breathed.

"Yes, I left the kitchen..." Aqua helped him to his feet, "I'm going to take you home with me alright? I can take off the rest of the day."

"No, don't do that." he said. He was not about to have her taking care of him.

"Don't be silly." She pulled him back towards the bakery, "We'll tell them your leaving and then we'll go." Vanitas struggled weakly, no way was he leaving this store.

"Let go..." he sounded incredibly childish but he didn't care, he just wanted her to let go. "Come on I can't leave... My dad wants me to come home..." Aqua ignored him and told the cashier at the bakery they were leaving.

"I don't care what your father says." Aqua led him out of the store and into her car, "You don't have to be scared at him."

"Hold up, I'm not scared." Vanitas buckled his seat belt and closed his eyes, "I just don't want him to have a heart attack over me."

"A heart attack? I didn't know your dad had heart problems, I thought he was just bipolar." Aqua said thoughtfully.

"Who the hell told you that?" Vanitas opened his eyes, "Was it Ventus?" He knew he should have never told him, he couldn't be trusted... "He said he wouldn't tell anyone."

"I didn't hear it from Ventus, I heard it from someone at work." Aqua said.

"How would they know?" Vanitas asked. His mother didn't have friends, how did all these people know about their lives?

"It's not important how I know Vanitas," Aqua said, "I'll make you some soup when we get home." Vanitas leaned back and closed his eyes again. How many people knew about this already? How much did they know? He felt a headache coming on and he groaned quietly, he never usually got sick. "Do you like chicken Vanitas?"

"Yeah... I guess." he mumbled. Her voice was only making his headache worse, but he couldn't just tell her to shut up. He rubbed his temples and bit his lip, "How long until we get there?" he asked. The outside world seemed so loud all of a sudden. There were loud cars and horns every few seconds and it was really bright.

"Oh Vanitas, you look horrible."

"Well thank you..." he mumbled sarcastically.

"I didn't mean it like that Vanitas, You're pale and you're sweating. Maybe I should take you to the hospital." Aqua said. Vanitas glanced at her, she was looking at him. At him... and not the road...

"Don't look at me! Watch the road, if we crash..." he trailed off, if they crashed they'd both die or soemthing.

"Calm down Vanitas, we're at my house already." Aqua said, "The store is only down the street."

"Oh... I can't go to the hospital." Vanitas said, "I just need a nap okay? Just a nap before I go home."

"I'm sorry Vanitas but you're really sick, I'm going to call your father and tell him you won't be home today." Aqua pulled out his phone and began to look through it.

"Hey how'd you get my phone?" Vanitas asked.

"You dropped it when you threw up." Aqua said, she opened the door and stepped out of the car. Vanitas watched her on the phone, it seemed like she was yelling. His dad was probably mad, he was probably threatening to come to her house again. She was making things worse for him, he would be fine at home, his mom could take care of him. But he was tired and he really didn't care anymore. He just wanted to sleep. So he did or at least he tried to, he unbuckled his seat belt and curled up on the seat. He yawned and closed his eyes. Almost there... "Oh Vanitas! Don't sleep there!" Aqua opened the door and shook him, "Come on, you can sleep inside."

"Actually, I like it here." Vanitas said, "I'll sleep here."

"No you won't-

"Yes I will." Vanitas said. Aqua pulled his arm and suddenly he was out of the car. "Hey, you're really strong..."

"Come on, you're not stable right now." Aqua led him into the house and up into the guest room, "Here, let me wipe your mouth. You still have a little bit of throw up here." She wiped it away and pushed him towards the bed. Vanitas fell down and wrapped himself in the blanket. "I'll be back later, just sleep."

"Uh huh." Vanitas said, he closed his eyes and finally got to sleep.

0.o.0.o.0

"Now listen here, you can't tell anyone about what happened." Ventus said, "aqua will get mad at all of us."

"What if I decide I want to tell Aqua?" Roxas said. Ventus looked back and narrowed his eyes, "I won't tell if I don't get in trouble for starting that fire." Oh god, Roxas was blackmailing him... Who could've possibly taught him that?

"It doesn't matter, you'll still get in a lot more trouble than me." Ventus said.

"How come?" Roxas asked, "Aqua doesn't know about the fire."

"But I'll tell her if you tell on me." Ventus said, "And you won't get dessert for a long time."

"But that's not fair."

"You don't know what fair is Roxas." Ventus said, "You shouldn't have gone with Axel in the first place."

"But he said we were going to do something fun." Roxas said, "I didn't know he was going to scare all the elephants."

"Later Roxas, we'll talk about this later." Ventus said. He looked out of the window and sighed, it was so fun until they went outside... He should have known someone was going to get lost. After all, it was impossible not to lose children in a crowd like that. But then there was Axel, if this didn't prove Axel was a bad influence then he didn't know what did. The boy set a fire in a train car full of elephants, then he left Roxas alone to run from them. He was sure a lot of people were hurt and just hoped Sephiroth didn't tell Aqua.

"'m hungry." Sora said.

"We'll eat when we get home alright?" he promised. He suddenly thought about when they'd first started living with him. They were so robotic and the only emotion they showed seemed to be fear. Yet now... they were pretty normal. They laughed and smiled and cried and screamed, it was strange how they changed so fast. They didn't cling to him as much as before. When they were bored they found something to do on their own, he couldn't say he didn't like that. In the beginning, he barely had time to sleep, it was like taking care of newborn babies. They wouldn't sleep when he wanted them too, they wouldn't eat when he wanted them too and if he left them alone for one second, they freaked out. And they stayed up all night! All because they were afraid of the "Bookeyman".

He looked back again and they were asleep, "Hey TJ, do you think all this drama is affecting them?

"You mean from the circus? They seem pretty fine to me."

"No I mean, with Vanitas and everything. Would it make them turn into bad people?" Ventus asked.

"I don't think so, they seem pretty clueless when it comes to Vanitas' personal affairs. The only one to worry about is Xion." TJ said, "It has to be hard for her." Ventus nodded, she probably missed her mother more then anything. But her mom probably didn't care about her too much right? After all she abandoned her on someones doorstep. "I think they'll be fine, as long as you make sure they know someone loves them."

"Huh?"

"Like Vanitas, his parents loved him but they never showed it. So he became withdrawn and independent. If his mom hadn't ignored everything his father had been doing to him, he wouldn't be like this at all. He'd probably be a little like you." TJ said.

"Love? Really, you think that's all it takes?" Ventus said. That couldn't have been it, love... really?

"Yes, it's in all the movies. Plus I learned it in a child development class I took." TJ said, "Love is a big factor. It wouldn't matter if the family was dirt poor, as long as they loved each other, they would be okay."

"That sounds right." Ventus agreed. They pulled into the driveway and Ventus yawned, "Hey, Aqua's home." He got out of the car and opened the back door. He picked up Sora and headed for the door, "You should call Vanitas, let him know we're back." And as soon as he said that, he got worried. When he'd called Vanitas earlier, the boy had sounded weird. Then there was shouting and he hung up on him. He wasn't sure what had happened but he was really worried.

Ventus opened the door and set Sora on the couch. He noticed Vanitas' shoes near the door as he walked out to get Roxas. "He's not answering." TJ said. The two of them brought the remaining two children into the house and sat down on the floor. "I should get home." TJ said. But he didn't move, he instead leaned against the couch and yawned. "It's been a long day..."

"Tell me about it." Ventus rubbed his eyes and yawned as well. The next time he looked at TJ, he was asleep. He told himself to get up and get ready for bed but he was too tired. Why was he so tired, he'd been wide awake just before he walked inside.

After a few minutes of staring absently into space he finally fell asleep. And he dreamed of clowns and elephants.

0.o.0.o.0

(ಠ益ಠ) Tehe, it's a face. Sorry sorry sorry! I wanted to update, but my computer died on me. And it cleaned my hard drive... you know this chapter was ten times better the first time I wrote it. But I'm sorry for how long this took, next chapter will be up quicker.(I've said that before haven't I?) It's true this time! I swear!