Author's Notes: There's not a whole lot to say about this chapter. I'm still so glad that people are continuing to read, so stick with me, folks. The plot's getting thicker and thicker. The problem is, now I'm debating how fast or slow I want to move this. I don't want to slap you in the face (remembers when Riku did that, laughs), but I don't want to drag it out like the ending to the DaVinci Code movie, either. (God, from the time Teabing got his ass kicked to the end, I just wanted to know when...the...fuck...they'd...figure...out...where...Magdalene...WAS.)

Anyway, after this chapter, a slight change in perspective with some more new characters!

Chapter 14

"Repairs On Square One"

When Tidus said, "Leave it to me," and Roxas agreed, he figured Tidus had something absolutely fucking brilliant in mind. Something that would get them what they needed, soon. And Tidus had just that very thing in mind. Except…

Roxas was now stuck stalking Ansem's house for whenever he left for work at the newspaper place.

Keep an eye on him, he said. Make note of his schedule, he said. "Tidus, I don't think I can do this…"

"Oh, for God's sake, Roxas," crackled Tidus over their walkie-talkies, "All you have to do is watch him from the window. Besides, you're a master of faking sickness, and I only need maybe a few days."

Roxas frowned. "Yeah, but…what if Mom catches me?" This he did not believe, but still. His father was staying home from work this week, and there was always the possibility. Parents had a system. When one finds out, the other finds out.

"You're such a freshman! Don't be a baby. Just watch him, okay?"

Roxas peered through the blinds on his window, heating a thermometer over the flame of his lighter. He didn't smoke, but it came in handy for lighting candles. So he liked candles—he would maul anyone who mocked him for it.

"I guess so. But I'm gonna kill you for making me miss making smelly things in science class today."

"Oh, whatever. You're such a suck-up."

"Dude, I was failing that class. And I like making smelly science projects!"

"Again. Suck-up."

Roxas sighed and stuffed the thermometer in his mouth when he heard his mom coming up the stairs. "Fine, whatever," he growled, clicking off the walkie-talkie and stuffing it under the covers. He'd managed to make his face look flushed and sweaty, and he was still in his pajamas. He hid the lighter with the walkie-talkie as his mother walked in.

Terra Milan had long, sunny blond hair, just like her son, and Roxas' father, Locke, had given him his eyes. Terra was sweet, nurturing—firm, but still motherly. And the best part, which Roxas loved, was that she was easy to fool. Coddling her only son when in sickness, even if that sickness was never real.

"Okay, honey. Let me see your temperature."

Roxas made a couple of (excellent) fake coughs, and rubbed at his eyes before giving her the thermometer. Terra read it and her eyes widened.

"A hundred and three. Wow, sweetie, you're burning up!" She felt his forehead. Roxas didn't have to do anything to make her think it was hot. The senses feel what they want to feel, and now that his mother believed he had a temperature of 103, to her his forehead felt like a furnace. I love psychology, he thought to himself.

"All right, I'll call the school and let them know you're home sick with a fever. You stay in bed, and I'll go get you some leftover potato soup from last night, okay? I'll heat it up and bring it to you."

"Okay, Mom." said Roxas in a sickly voice. He gave her a weak smile. "Thanks."

Terra ruffled his hair and gave his cheek a quick kiss before taking the thermometer with her. Her fingers brushed over the part Roxas had heated, and she frowned, thinking it felt odd, but dismissed it because she had bought Roxas' sickness ploy. When she was out of the room, Roxas immediately sat up and peered out through his blinds again near his bed. He'd seen Riku go to the bus stop today, so he knew Ansem wouldn't be dropping him off at school. But his car had just pulled out of the driveway. Roxas checked his watch, then got a pad of paper and pencil from his bedside drawer and wrote down the date and time.

Thursday, August 23rd

Ansem MORNING: 8:53 A.M.

"Now, you freaky child-raping, friend-hurting, making-me-miss-smelly-lab-day man," Roxas murmured, "Let the stalking begin!"

12:10 P.M., on the first lunch shift. Sora gazed at Tidus in absolute awe. He shifted the weight of his backpack on his shoulders, blinking as he held his tray with one hand.

"You're…joking." Sora pointed at himself. "You want me…" now he gestured madly to Riku in a far corner of the cafeteria, "…to go sit with him?"

"Come on, I'll go with you," Tidus said gently. "Please, Sora? This is important. Riku needs some new friends."

"Hell, Tidus, he tried to kill me, and he almost succeeded with you!"

Tidus winced a little. "You can't tell me that you hate him…?"

Sora stopped. Silence. His eyes darted left and right in slight psychological jerks, thinking about a response. "…Well," he croaked, "I mean, no, not hate, but…"

"Then there's a chance that you'll let him try again, right?"

Sora squeaked when his voice caught in his throat, eyes wide. No, no way! How dare he! Tidus had just thrust him into a corner! Sora forgot to mention how it was against all morals in his little sixteen-year-old brain to hate people, unless they were truly deserving of it. And Riku wasn't entirely deserving of hate…well, not really…

"I—!" Sora blubbered over his words for several seconds. Tidus just stared at him, undeterred, and then tilted his head towards Riku as he began walking.

"Come on. Roxas is sick, anyway. Riku needs the company."

"You—!" Sora choked, pointing dubiously at Tidus as he walked across the cafeteria. After a minute, Sora's brain became a wreck trying to think of a way out of this, what with all his moralities, and he finally sulked with a brief scowl on his face.

"You tricked me," he grumbled.

Riku, as usual, found himself sitting alone in the cafeteria. His head down on the table, he took this opportunity to try and sleep, since so little of it he often received. Deprived of rest and still aching from the previous night, he was dressed in a pair of cargo jeans and a light-blue denim jacket, over a green t-shirt with the Chinese symbol for "Love" on it. How ironic, he mused, that the bastard would choose to give me a shirt with something I've never received.

He, too, is taunting you. Said the Voice of Survival. The one he most often listened to.

Imagine Riku's surprise when he heard the soft clatter of two trays on his table. He blinked, and peered up from behind his arm that his head had been resting on. Tidus stared back at him as a certain brunet dropped his backpack on the floor and sat down, avoiding eye contact.

"Hey, sleepy-head," teased Tidus. "Any room for two more?"

Riku sat up instantly and gave the sandy-haired blond a scowl. "I thought I told you to stay the fuck away from me," he snapped.

"Yeah, I guess you did." Tidus sat down, and Riku's eyes flickered to Sora. He narrowed his eyes to slits, glaring at him. Sora didn't see it, because he was focusing on his food. Smart. Because he was already treading thin ice by sitting at his table.

"So, stay the fuck away from me." Riku growled.

"Hmmm…let me think…" Tidus tapped his bottom lip, and Riku watched the gesture with the briefest of thoughts to take those lips and kiss them passing through his mind. They were suppressed almost instantly. He was Ansem's, and only Ansem's.

"No." Tidus said simply. Riku blinked, and leaned over the table a little, hissing.

"What part of 'stay the fuck away' do you not understand?"

"The 'away' part," Tidus responded, eating some potatoes, "Because the 'stay' part makes perfect sense to me." He paused. "Oh, and I guess the 'fuck' part would have to be omitted, you know that I'm straight." He gave him a flash of a smile, and Riku grit his teeth behind pursed lips.

Yes, I know God damn well you're straight, his mind boiled, but that didn't stop me from loving you four years ago.

No, spoke his Survival, Ansem did that for you.

"Look, my Mom doesn't want me getting near you, but I figure that nobody watches you close enough to notice. Besides, you're my best friend." Tidus swallowed another bite of food. Riku noticed that this whole time, Sora had been silent, and seemed intent on keeping it that way. Smart. Boundaries, after all.

"I wanna sit with you because I know if you wanted to, you could come and sit with me."

"I tried to kill you, Tidus!" Riku cried, grimacing and lowering his voice. "You should be afraid of me!"

Tidus locked eyes with him then, his gaze swirling with a calm, assertive power. "Should I be?" he asked him.

Riku, he snarled at himself. He couldn't…stop…staring…at…those…eyes. Those fucking eyes! He bit his lip, clenching one fist on the table as he suppressed a shudder of bliss. It was heaven in those eyes, and he was barred from it. Every time he wanted to reach for it, just stare into it and get lost, Ansem yanked him back down to earth, prolonging his suffering. Riku finally ripped their gazes apart and stared off into a distant corner.

You're killing me, Tidus.

But, God, he wanted it so bad. The symbol on his shirt. Just to feel worth something, to anyone. Someone other than Tidus, the only person who had ever shown him friendship.

Well, there had been another, but he was dead to her now.

"Um…Riku?"

The teen looked up with eyes jerked back to reality, and leered at Sora, who shifted a little uncomfortably under his hateful stare. That's right, be scared of me, bitch. I get sick just looking at you.

Taking Tidus' advice, which the blond had given to him when Riku looked away, Sora swallowed and thought of how to approach this matter without making the time bomb in front of them explode prematurely. Talk to him? Sora grumbled. Easier said than done.

"I…I…uh…"

Riku gave him an agitated hiss. "Look, you sniveling little bitch, if you have something to say, then say it. If you don't, then shut up."

Sora shrank, and Tidus did nothing to correct Riku's insult. Instead, he waited patiently as Sora swallowed hard again and thought of what to say. Well, now would be as good a time as any to ask Riku the question that had been bugging him.

"Um…"

"If a cat's got your tongue, I'm gonna rip both the cat and your tongue out of your throat. Talk."

Sora kept his eye contact with Riku, even though the hate in those eyes made him shiver. Finally, he spoke it, just as Riku was about to scold him again.

"What did I ever do to you?"

Riku had been ready to shout, "Say it before I tear out your throat, you little fucker!" But when Sora finally asked him the question that had been on the tip of his tongue, he stopped in mid-speak and it ended in a surprised croak. He, instead, stared at Sora while his mind reeled and suddenly began an emergency debate on how to respond to this new, utterly unexpected development.

What did he do to you? What did he do to you? He moved into the neighborhood and got you raped for Original Sin! This fucker's just like all the others that come and go—he's just the source of more pain!

No, that's Ansem, Ansem's the one who…!

And Sora triggered Ansem! It's his fault! His fault you got raped!

Riku bit his lip, still staring at Sora, not even noticing he was there anymore. He thought he saw Sora frowning at him, but he ignored it, caught in a deadlock between his growing rebellious fire and the Voice of Survival. That fire had been smothered for the past four years, and it had been so completely gone that the Voice was all Riku had left. He heard himself talking to that Voice, and he was shocked when he listened to what he was saying.

He's right.

No, he's not! He's done you harm! You hate him, remember? You despise him!

But what about all the other times before him?

The Voice froze. It had been the dominant presence for so long, it hadn't been expecting a logical retaliation. Riku could almost hear the sounds of a computer processing information, and then the fire in his soul sparked just high enough to cut the Voice.

For the first time since he'd written a message for help on Leon's stomach two years ago, Riku won the battle against his overzealous instincts to survive in his prison-home. But now another consideration crossed him. One that was more fitting to the traumatized mind of an abused child.

Ansem punishes me because I tried to get away.

It's not Sora's fault.

It's not Ansem's fault.

It's my fault.

Riku's system crashed and his eyes dulled. His anger sedated, he looked away and sighed, resting on the table again, pretending to be indifferent to the question. The Voice might be momentarily gone, but without it, his self-esteem plummeted sixty percent lower, and he was in a most vulnerable state.

"Nothing. That was a stupid thing to say."

Sora blinked. What just happened? A minute ago he was about to be screamed at, and now Riku was looking ready to go back to sleep. Wow, bipolar much?

"Nothing, as in…?"

"Nothing, you did nothing. Are you fucking deaf?" Riku turned his head away and moved to go back to Dreamland. "Now shut the fuck up. I don't wanna talk anymore."

Sora was stunned. He wasn't going to get slapped? Not even screamed at? He frowned, his brow creasing in thought as he cautiously ate a tater tot. Tidus had mentioned "another side of Riku." Was this anywhere close to it—or was it the side Tidus had talked about?

A loud beeping leapt out of Tidus' pants pocket and a voice crackled over a speaker.

"Hey, Tidus, is the food as shitty as ever?"

Tidus turned down the volume and clicked to speak, revealing the walkie-talkie.

"Why, is your mommy feeding you carrots and peas?"

"Not funny," grumbled Roxas. Sora blinked.

"Isn't he sick?" he asked. Tidus held up a finger to tell him, "One second."

"Good news, I'm doing my job. Bad news, Mom just got my work for the day faxed to the house. Now I'm stuck with homework!"

"Don't be such a baby. Do it over the weekend."

"Do you know what Dad's going to do if I put it off? I'm going to go to school, fa—I mean, sick or not." Tidus was glad Roxas caught himself, because if someone overheard he was faking and happened to be a teacher, they'd be busted.

"Whatever. Look, I'm sitting with Riku right now, and you're kind of cutting into our social time."

"Oh, well, excuse me." Roxas said in a haughty, mocking tone. "I'll just leave you be, then."

Tidus clicked the walkie-talkie off and stuffed it in his pocket. Sora glanced at him skeptically. "Tidus, why is Roxas talking to you over that thing? He didn't sound very sick."

"Ssshhh!" Tidus hissed. "Just don't rat on us. Roxas is doing something for me that needs him to stay home, that's all. Just keep it on the DL, okay?"

Sora blinked. " 'DL'?" he asked cluelessly. Tidus rolled his eyes.

"You live under a rock! DL, Down-Low. You know, keep it secret?"

"Oh," was all Sora replied with. They both heard a snort from the sleepy teenager across from them.

"Arrogant country hick."

Sora glared at him and his bottom lip thrust out in a bit of a pout, and he was about to retaliate, but Tidus patted his shoulder. He leaned over, whispering to him, "Just don't say anything. Trust me, this is as calm as he's ever been around a new neighbor before. By the end of a week or two, he won't even remember he hit you."

The brunet glanced between Tidus and Riku, and popped another tater tot in his mouth.

"I guess," he murmured. Tidus smiled at him.

"Congratulations," he said, "You've reached Square One with Riku."

Author's Notes: And, hopefully, I haven't turned Riku into a Gary-Stu with this chapter. It's getting harder and harder to keep him, like, traumatized and crazy, but not completely flat and Gary-Stu-like. I mean, he's hungry for attention that Ansem doesn't really give him, and he lost hope a long time ago, so I'm trying to portray that, and I'm trying to strengthen the meaning of what friendship represents for him. Makes sense?