I'm afraid I'll have to apologize for the quality of work this time around; I'm half-asleep but the chapter's done anyway, so my loss is your gain, ladies and gentlemen.

Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me but what does hasn't quite appeared yet.

This is a bit of a teaser or filler chapter, but it does help set the tone for the ones to come, so please excuse it. Thank you and sleep well.

Part Thirteen: Pay Attention

"Hey, Dad?" I called out to the workshop but like always, there was only a muffled swear to answer back. Sounded like he hit his head on the bottom of the boat again.

I waited by the door for a few minutes while Dad managed to himself out from under the damn thing just enough to answer. "Yeah, Roxas, I'll be in there in a minute, don't come in yet!" He shouted before swearing viciously again as a second, much louder thunk reached me. I leaned back on the doorway. Uh huh, that would be him smacking his shoulder again.

After a few more seconds, I poked my head in through the doorway. Dad glared at me from his pinned position under the small rowboat and sighed before running his fingers through his greased-soaked brown hair. Taking that as permission to enter the man cave, I walked in and gave him a big grin.

"Got stuck again?" I asked innocently.

"Don't you sass me, boy," Dad snapped immediately, though it was more like he was just joking around rather than him being angry. After wiggling a bit and pulling more of his legs out, he sat up and held his hand out to me. "What are you doing here, anyway? Did you want your allowance?" He asked before looking around to see where something went, probably his glue gun.

He could never find that thing, not even if he had a map and three lanterns and it was right by his hand.

I shook my head. "Mom said to ask you permission to go out tonight," I shrugged before picking up the can of hot glue and handing it over. He snatched it out of my hand before I could burn myself and ducked back under the boat to start gluing the planks back together.

"She give you permission first?" Dad asked as he hammered and glued away. It shook hard under his careful treatment, preparing itself to be ready for the open water once again. I nodded once before remember, duh, he's under the boat and he can't see me.

"Yeah, I asked her and she said as long as I got your permission, I could go."

He stayed quiet for a few more seconds before sticking his head back out. His goggled eyes glared at me, obviously trying to tell if I was telling the truth or not. I stared back at him and folded my arms as I waited. He just rolled his eyes and lifted the lenses down slightly to reveal his eyes so he could give me the look of the Gods. You know, the look that basically warned you against anything you did before you even did it. That look. "If you lied to your mother, I'm going to make sure you wish you were never born," Dad warned me. I nodded patiently and crouched down beside him to hand him another hammer. "What are you doing anyway?" He asked next.

It never paid to lie to my dad; he could sniff out lies like a bloodhound sniffs out dead bodies.

"Ghost hunting," I said with a small wince. Even though I said it quietly, almost whispered it even, Dad froze and the boat stopped shaking. Aw, hell.

"Roxas Jessie Minami, I am going to pretend I didn't hear that," He said before pulling himself out completely and flipping the boat over with one arm. I gulped; oh no, he turned the boat around. He never does that unless he's really mad. He liked working on the bottom of the boat that way, he said it made the quality of the repair better. He only ever flipped it over when he was too upset to focus on doing a good job normally. Dad wiped his apron off as best as he could, getting rid of a few dried up glue chunks and sawdust before turning the radio on.

He was really mad.

As the song started playing, some love song that Dad used to sing to my brother in order to get him to sleep, I saw that his eyes got sadder and his shoulders sank, like a heavy weight had suddenly been dropped onto him. He shook his head once.

"We took you to that therapist so you could forget Sora," Dad finally said in this really disappointed voice that cut right to the soul. Like he had thought... I was better or something...

I scuffed my shoe against the dirt floor and stood perfectly still. "I know… I… just wanna try," I told him quietly. He straightened up and looked at me as he pulled his goggles off of his head and put them around his neck. Dad always listened, even if he never could do anything against my tyrant of a mom. "I… I don't remember Sora anymore. … I just… wanna see him again." I admitted quietly, feeling tears start falling from my eyes.

I didn't want to be such a baby, but dammit, I wanted to see my brother. I wanted… I wanted to let him know that… I loved him and that I was sorry that I couldn't remember his face anymore. It hurt, 'cause I knew he loved me. I wanted to let him know that I loved him back. This… this was my one chance.

"Roxas," Dad started to say.

'D…'

A burst of static came through the battered radio speakers, sending us both jumping as the machine started talking by itself.

'… S…s….s…t…o…p…. it….!'

"The fuck is wrong with this thing?" Dad asked out loud as he grabbed it by the handle and slammed it hard against the table. It immediately shut up and turned off with a loud thunking noise. He glanced over at me, his eyebrow raised. "… This thing musta picked up something on that friend of yours' radio show." He shrugged and put it back onto the table. "The damn thing's as old as your brother-"

I chuckled softly, remembering the story. "Yeah, I know, you bought it to drown him out." I laughed as Dad took a playful swipe at me, making me have to jump back to dodge his leather-gloved hand. "That's what Mom says!" I complained but Dad just threw his head back and laughed.

"Damn straight, your brother was one of the loudest babies I ever damn heard!" He laughed humorlessly. I shrank back at the noise; he didn't sound happy about it, he sounded absolutely miserable and angry about it. Dad missed my brother and sometimes, it felt like something in Dad had died inside along with him.

Maybe… that's why I ended up so obsessed over Sora. Because I wanted him to laugh and mean it. I wanted everything to go back to how it used to be.

"Da…" I hadn't used that name for him in a long time, not since I was a baby, and the sound of it makes him stop and look at me. For once, he looks me in the eyes instead of just focusing on what I was saying. I scuffed my shoe against the floor again. "So… can… can I go?" I asked finally, unable to take his laughter.

That broken, hurtful laughter… just… one more reason… to find my brother. To make this whole thing end. To give him – and my Dad and my Mom – a last good bye if he was really dead and to make our family whole if he wasn't, like I hoped.

He blinked at me before nodding once and turning back to the broken radio. "Take Axel and Xion with you, wait for me in the store when you're done," Dad said finally before opening up the back of the radio and pulling out the battery.

As he did so, the broken mechanism decided to let out one last strangled cry, one that made us both freeze.

'S… s… stop… it… no…!'

"That's…" Dad and I said in unison as we stared at the old D battery in the old man's hand. It was completely out of the radio, and the piece of junk hadn't even started talking until Dad finished pulling it out. But… we both knew what we had heard and we looked at each other to make sure the other heard it too.

Dad's face was uneasy as he asked the question quietly. "Hey," He murmured softly, putting his hand onto my shoulder as I started shaking like a leaf. "This... this is gonna sound a little funny but... Roxie… did… did you hear a… little kid?"