- Chapter V
I want to know your secrets -

"Who's gonna drive you home?"

"I don't know...Where am I, exactly?"

"Who's gonna call you Sunday morning?"

"Why Sunday?"

"You told me over and over..."

"Where are you?"

"I'm your only friend."

"I can't see you!"

"Isn't this pure oblivion?"

"What are you saying?"

"You're all alone."

"No, you're here."

"No...Look, someone is coming."

"Who?"

"You know him."

"I can't see him."

"Because he's over you."

"Is he?"

"Yes."

"I still can't see him."

"Don't you understand?"

"Understand what?"

"What do you think all this blackness is?"

"I don't know."

"It is fear."

"Fear?"

"This is the shell you created that day. A shell of fear, an impenetrable fortress!."

"I never made a shell."

"You see that dot?"

"Yeah..."

"That's who you let inside and look what he's doing."

"He's growing!"

"Yes. He's breaking your shell."

"But it keeps me safe, does he want to harm me?"

"In every way he can think of."

"Why?"

"Because he can."

"Who is it?"

"I told you, he's right over you."

"I can't see anything!"

"Just wait till he breaks the shell enough, then you'll see everything clearly."

"Can't you just tell me?"

"I'll tell you when you'll stop fearing me."

"Why do I fear you?"

"Happy Birthday, Sora."

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Sora jumped from his bed in cold sweats and Riku was thrown off to the side of the bed, letting out a small yelp. The brunet franticly scanned the room with his eyes shifting from side to side. His hair was smoothly pulled back and his heart raced wildly.

"What the hell, Sora..." Riku sat up on the bed, trying to wake himself up.

"I had a...a..." Sora was trying to catch his breath. His mind was spinning with fear and confusion.

"A nightmare?" Riku finished, looking at the scared boy. Sora wore the same expression of fear when he first saw the boy running away from his house and Riku didn't like it. Hopefully the freak hasn't invaded his dreams too.

"No...A bad dream." Sora sighed and calmed down but still looked frightened and held himself in his arms.

"That's what a nightmare is." Riku smiled.

"No, it was just words..." The boy tried to explain.

"Just words?" The brunet nodded. "What did they tell you?"

"Something about a shell made of fear and someone hurting me." He looked into Riku's eyes expecting to see humor but saw only concern and more importantly, sleepiness. "But it didn't mean anything, let's go back to bed."

"No, it's alright... You just go back to sleep, I need something to drink." Riku got up and walked out half naked. Sora looked at him and thought.

Riku was over me...Wait, didn't I fall asleep on top of him?

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Down the hall, Riku grabbed a piece of paper and thought about what to write to Zexion. Laraxel told him not to send out any letters but he knew it'd be safe, Zexion wasn't part of the organization after all. He sat down in the kitchen and started writing the letter:

Hey, Zexion

I'm glad to hear everyone misses me and you all forgave me for abandoning the project and you guys. I heard you were gonna drop out of school. YOU BETTER NOT! One of us must become successful in life and we always knew it was gonna be you.

I heard Axel got caught, you guys better free him and make sure he's safe. I'd hate for him to rot in that place.

Don't tell anyone I wrote you this letter or they'll freak out. After all that has happened, I'm sure the cops are looking everything over carefully. ..

"Riku?" Riku's head snapped up to notice the small brunet standing in front of him. "What'cha writing?"

"Nothing. Didn't I tell you to go to sleep?" Riku folded the paper and walked over to Sora.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long." The boy pouted and put on a fake sad look. Riku smiled, taking him by the hand and dragging him back into the room.

"Sorry, let's go back to bed." Riku crawled under the sheets with Sora and wondered. "Isn't it odd that we happen to sleep in the same bed with his head on my arm?" Riku smiled at the thought and fell asleep quickly.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

The next morning, Riku opened his eyes and rubbed his left arm. It was numb and from sore from having Sora on it all night but he can't say he didn't enjoy the feeling of having the boy so close. He walked into the kitchen and sniffed the air. Sora was standing there, dripping wet with only his boxers on and was making scrambled eggs.

"Oh," He turned to see Riku. "Mornin' Riku. I was about to call you for breakfast." He turned back and kept scrambling the eggs.

"Thanks..." Riku rubbed his eyes and sat down to stare at the boy and enjoy the view. "Why are you wet?"

"Oh, I showered a few minutes ago." The boy turned to smile and went back to scrambling. Riku thought he was overdoing it but he wasn't going to complain for having such a cute thing to feed him.

"Towels mean anything to you?" He commented on the small puddle Sora is making near the stove.

"Oh, I dried myself off." Sora said but obviously the boy was in a rush for it didn't seem like it all. Even his hair was completly thick with water.

"You're welcome." Sora laid down Riku's eggs in front of him, beaming with delight. "Hope you like it."

Riku took a small bite and quickly regretted it. The eggs tasted like fish and were still in a semi-liquid state. He eyed the cook who seemed to be completely enjoying his meal. Riku made an effort and started swallowing it down fast.

"Wow, Riku. Is it really that good?" Sora remarked as his friend was devouring down his breakfast

"Yeah!" He put on a astonished face and went down for more.

If I eat it fast enough, I won't taste anything. He kept repeating those words in his head.

Sora smiled at himself and finished his eggs quickly too but he enjoyed them, unlike poor Riku who just wanted throw up.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Riku parted ways with Sora when the school bell rang. He sighed and started for his science class hoping Cid would yell at Squall for most of the time. His brain couldn't process any information at the moment and he felt like he was about to collapse.

"Memo: Never eat Sora's food again." He muttered down as he sat down next to Zell.

"What's that?" The small blond wondered what Riku just muttered.

"Nothing." He turned and looked at Squall and Quistis. Squall ignored him but Quistis smiled.

"You look dead, man." Zell commented while he got his books out from his backpack.

"Just a tad..." He noticed that Zell passed him a paper. "What's this?"

Riku started reading before Zell could answer. It was a printed copy of the front page of the newspaper at Hallow Bastion. There was the picture of a small boy that was being pushed into a police car. His name was Roxas and was apparently part of a group of young criminals who call themselves 'The Organization'. He was caught after him and his group tried to enter private lab looking for certain ingredients. Roxas hasn't said anything since he was caught.

"Where did you get this?" Riku asked quietly, starring at Roxas.

"Was looking for things about Hallow Bastion and found that, thought you might be interested in knowing that." Zell answered quietly while quickly finishing his homework.

"Why would I be?" Riku felt a bit of panic rise up but surpressed it.

"Dunno, sounds pretty big. It was even on the news here too." Zell mumbled before scribbling something down on his book.

"Thanks..." Riku folded it and put it in his backpack.

"Funny how that Rocksaz kid looks like Sora." Zell mispronounced Roxas name but he was right. Beside the hair color, there was barely any difference.

"Like they say, everyone has a double somewhere." Riku smirked and started catching up with the notes on the blackboard before Cid erased them and drew what he would do to Squall if he dozed off again.

What am I gonna do? I can't just let them screw everything up...

"Squall!" Cid yelled out...

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Sora and his friends were huddled together in a corner of their English class working on their new assignment. Selphie was madly giggling after inhaling too much glue and kairi was trying to figure out how to draw a car.

"I hate these kinds of project..." Sora muttered while prying the glue stick from Selphie.

"Yeah, we always do awful." Wakka agreed and managed to make a tree who was gonna turn into a forest. "That only took like...what, 10 minutes?"

"Yeah, you're pretty awful Wakka." Kairi giggled until Wakka pointed out her car. She frowned. "Naminé's help would be well appreciated." She smiled when she made her car have eyes and a mouth.

"I miss her." Selphie sighed and dropped to the floor but started giggling like a lunatic.

"Why don't we drop by before we go see Yuna? We haven't seen in her since a few weeks all together." Sora suggested.

"Yeah, good idea, man. But this time, let's not bum her out with our stories of the outside world, ya?" He muttered selphie's name between two coughs and everyone smiled.

"Off topic here, but, what is this?" Kairi asked as she looked at their project. "I thought this was supposed to be a perfect park not a prehistoric killer robot."

"What are you on? Looks like a pretty park, ya Sora?" Wakka looked at it trying to see what the red haired one sees.

"Umm...No..." Sora scooted over to where Kairi is. "Yep. Definitely a prehistoric killer robot." Everyone moved behind Sora and agreed. Selphie collapsed laughing hysterically trying to ask how they managed to do that. The teacher looked up but knew it was no use calming the girl so she just went back on complimenting the other groups.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

After classes, Riku walked down the hall with Zell by his side and the rest of the gang slightly behind them.

"You ready for the tryout? only two other people are going to show up but I'm sure you'll be our top pick." He smiled. "And by the sound of their voices on the phone..."

"Zell, be nice." Seifer smirked and pushed him away. " You better impress us cause we won't take any mediocre singer." He seemed to want to add something else but was interrupted by cinnamon hair.

"Riku!" Sora flew by Seifer's face and latched onto Riku. "Let's go!"

"Go where, Sora?" Riku looked behind him to see Wakka imitate a robotic zombie and Tidus stood there confused wondering what was so funny as everyone else was laughing.

"We're going to see Naminé at the hospital." Sora gazed over to the other group but they turned away their faces.

"He can't. He's going to audition for our band." Seifer snarled.

"Well, Naminé is more important then your band." Tidus got between Sora and Seifer.

"Not to us, he doesn't even know her. We aren't friends anymore, Tiidus. Things change." Seifer stepped up to Tidus.

"Naminé never got a chance to change!" Tidus yelled out. Seifer stopped advancing and everyone was looking at Tidus. "She stays in that hospital all day long and all of a sudden her friends stopped seeing her! Did you ever even go tell her what happened?" Tidus was yelling at Seifer.

Everyone fell silent and gazed at their shoes, averted their eyes from each other. Squall stared at Tidus and Riku was looking quickly at everyone's expressions, not knowing what to do.

"Well, in that case: Riku, you go visit Naminé but be sure to be back before the end of the day to audition. Let's go." Quistis started walking away but turned when no one followed. "I said: let's go!" She growled and this time everyone followed her slowly.

"Well that was a mood killer..." Sora muttered and started walking away.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Naminé was sitting on the beach behind the hospital, doodling in her drawing book. Today had been a long day. No one came to visit and she had no treatments but all her hospital friends did. She stayed out on the beach all day drawing palm trees and couples holding hands. She heard a shuffle behind her.

"Tidus?" She smiled, turning around to greet him.

"How'd ya know it was me?" He bent down to hug her.

"You always shuffle when you walk." She squeezed back.

"Hey, Naminé." Greetings shot behind Tidus and the blond girl giggled at the sight of her friends.

"Hey, guys!" She smiled and got up. "How was your trip, Sora?"

"You were right, snow is fun to play in." He squeezed her. "But it melted before I could bring some for you." He handed her a plastic bag of water.

"Snow water!" She giggled delighted at the gift. "How about you, Wakka? Excited for Yuna's concert?"

"You betcha!" He hugged her too. "I brought you her T-shirt."

"Thank you." She hugged Kairi and Selphie while exchanging news. It always amazed them how she could keep up with the world around her and know exactly what they all talk about. It's like she was always there during every event and they loved her for that. It made coming here so much easier and happy. "Who's this?" She asked, approaching the silver haired male. "Never saw you before."

"Hi, I'm Riku." He shook her hand. "I just moved in next door to Sora."

"Well, nice to meet you." She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug. "Now, who's up for a day at the beach?" Everyone answered happily.

O-0-O

Riku and Naminé sat together near the shore while the others were still playing in the water. The sun was still high up so they hid themselves under a palm tree and talked amiably about nothing.

"Sora told me he's very fond of you." She told him while drawing Sora holding a white flag upon a sand castle.

"Oh yeah? I sure hope so." He smiled when he found Sora in the water. "It seems like we've been together through a lot even though I've only been here two weeks."

"Through Sephiroth's attacks?" She stopped drawing and stared at him.

"Yeah, I've just happened to be there at the wrong time." He muttered, saddened by the thought.

"Hmm...That's how we all learned about him, well besides me." she gave a weak smile. "They were all out in the woods, after Aerith eloped, and they were playing hide and seek...Sora hid further into the woods then most of the others. Wakka found him when he was pinned down under Sephiroth. Wakka bashed him with a tree branch from behind but ever since then Sephiroth comes for Sora every now and then." She also seemed saddened but her bright smile still seemed to linger on her lips.

"He never told me that." Riku looked down in the sand, unhappy at the thought of Sora being pinned down under that man.

"He doesn't like talking about it." She commented.

"I've noticed. But I'm glad he tells me pretty much everything else." Silence.

"So, you said you're from Hallow Bastion, right?" Riku nodded. "That means you must know The Organization." He nodded again. "Zexion told me to expect you."

"What!" Riku glanced at her. Confused about how she knew about who he was and that Zexion told her about the members. Naminé giggled.

"Don't worry. Zexion is my half brother and he kept me informed about the project since he learned about it from you. He told me that you left for Destiny Islands and you were moving in to RoseBuds, so I figured you'd meet Sora." She smiled.

"Oh." He said flatly, soaking up all the information and relaxing. "Thought you knew to much for my own good...or yours." He smiled.

"You must be curious about what's happening, aren't you?"

"Of course, but can I ask you a favor?"

"What do you need?" She asked.

"Don't tell anyone I'm part of...was part of the project and deliver this to Zexion?" He took the letter out of his backpack and handed to the blond girl who agreed to do as he says. "Thank you."

"Now about what I know..." She started to tell her story but was abruptly interupted.

"Riku!" Sora charged at him and wrapped his arms around his neck. "You should go audition, so you don't miss Yuna Summer."

"Sora!" He pushed off the young boy. "You got my clothes wet and sandy." He growled.

"I'm sorry..." The boy's smile instantly vanished and seemed like he was about to cry.

"Don't worry." He sighed and picked up Sora into his arms. "I'll just throw you into the water."

"What?" Sora started squirming but Riku was strong and kept him tight. when he got into waist-high water, he threw Sora in it at everyones entertainment. The brunet came up to the surface spitting water and yelling at Riku but the silver haired boy was already on his way to Zell's house.

"Oh well." Naminé sighed. "I suppose it can wait." At that, she got back to drawing Sora but her thoughts were a lot less bright.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

Zell's house wasn't very big or fancy but it had a empty garage where he could set up all the bands equipment and keep it there to practice whenever they wanted. Riku walked in as a punk boy came rushing out, Seifer was throwing insults at him for being horrible.

"Simon, you're such an ass." Yuffie was mimicking Paula and he guessed Seifer was Simon from American Idol.

"Honestly, I strangled cat sounds better then him. Come on!" He laughed.

"Common, Simon, bro. You gotta give them some credit, dog." Zell chimed in as Randy.

"Finally, our last audition. Let's hope it won't be horrible." Seifer walked up and handed him the microphone.

"And what will you sing for us today, Riku Darkheim?" Yuffie asked.

"Umm..." He noticed Zell mouthing the song he should sing. "Alexithymia by Anberlin."

"Let's hear it." Yuffie smiled.

'Don't try to wake me up
Even if the sun really does come out tomorrow
Don't believe anything you say
Anymore, in the morn, in the morning

Bricks to this old house are breaking
Steel would have weathered but now forlorning
It's alarming how loud the silence screams
No warn, no warn, no warning

Addictions fill the table where the family used to sit
And conversate
Conversate to the sounds
To the sounds of a record player
With it's jumping needle and the lights that grow dim over time

"Stop right there. You're in." Seifer announced and everyone clapped at their new lead singer.

"Can I go now? Sora will be get mad if I don't show up in time for Yuna."

"I'll give you a lift, I'm going too." Quistis offered a ride and away they went after Zell told him to be here next Monday to check how his voice sounds with the music.

O-0-O-0-O-0-O

In front of the stage Sora and his friends were talking excitedly about how cool it is that they are goingg to see Yuna in real life.

"I got my own friends to see." Quistis informed Riku and was about to walk away but the boy stopped her.

"Wait a minute. Can I ask something about the band?"

"Well, I am the manager."

"Zell told me you had a very good lead singer and since he left all the singers that showed up were never right in the end."

"And?"

"Was he Cloud?" Quistis starred at his eyes and nodded as a booming voice echoed across the room.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GET READY FOR MISS YUNA SUMMER!"