Quick Authoress Notes: Sorry for the delays guys. My muses have a seriously bad case of ADD…and Devil Summoner III was being released so :lets out a breath: just read the chapter…oh and promise to post ages and other quickie stats next chapter—sorry! (T0T)
DISCLAIMER: Why must you keep reminding me that I don't own it:runs off to cry:
Never Forget:
Thoughts
Just to avoid confusion…
Keep Tryin'!
+--Who
knew?--+
a.k.a.
Act V: What do you do when your new friends meet your old…
Riku gulped, frozen in place. Roxas took this time to pull out the shiny, black, gun out of one of his side pockets.
Then he begged whatever higher being that he hadn't somehow offended, for mercy.
Roxas just watched his expressions with a wicked hell-spawn approved smile, in fact he let out a burst of old-time-villain-approved maniacal cackling: " Muwahahaha! Its no use…no one will save you now!"
Riku opened his mouth to say something, but Roxas twirled the gun in his hand with glee, pushing the cold barrel to his chest.
"Roxas, don't kill him—you're supposed to be a civilian yourself now." Riku sent the older blond behind his captor looks of pure gratitude.
Demyx raised a brow and for safety measures, made sure to scoot closer to his little silver-haired lover.
Zexion just ignored him, as Selphie pulled out popcorn from what appeared to be thin air, to his left. Grabbing handfuls as they all watched in anticipation.
"You're right Demyx, I don't have to kill him," Riku didn't even have the chance to let relief full hit him when he noticed the gun drift lower and lower until it was between his legs. He wouldn't—
Riku almost squeaked in fear (almost, but since he was such a macho guy, it came out as a yelp.)
He would!
"Wait, I thought you won't—"
"Oh, I won't, but you don't need your little friend here to survive. Just think about all the free time you'll have instead of trying to get into my little brother's pants."
Life without sex, when he'd just found his wet-dream come true.
No, please God…no!
Riku turned his head to the heavens and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Riku sat up so fast, he knocked smack into a hanging mobile of the planets.
"Shit," he hissed, rubbing at his forehead, he immediately looked up to glare at the offending object. Sheesh, never did that before—wait, he didn't have anything that hung from the ceiling in his room …then whose room was this? It looked a lot like Sor—
"Are you alright?" Riku spun so fast his neck cracked, at the offending sound Yuna gave a weak smile, "well, you seem energetic enough…"
"What happened?" Riku said softly, more to himself than to the spirit, "one minute I'm in some weird bookstore about to get shot at by Roxas—"
"It was just a BB gun, you prissy little pansy." The later of the conversation walked casually closer as he shut the door behind him, he nodded at Yuna, who gave him a smile back, phasing out quickly and quietly, upon reaching Riku he frowned, "you're such a wimp. I don't know what Sora sees in you—"
That's right…Sora…
Riku recounted briefly the other boy dashing away from him desperately.
"Where is he?"
Roxas crossed his arms, sky blue eyes narrowing. He looked like he wanted to say something but, just scowled further.
"He's fine, he's in the study with everyone else. They're doing research with the books we got from Demyx and Zexion," he begrudgingly reported, "he's worried about you," frowning further at something or other he murmured almost bored, "he was angry about what happened."
He was worried?
Did that mean—
"Look, listen up cause I'm asking this once," Riku put his thoughts on hold for a minute as the blonde gave him a piercing stare, "Even though we've only been here for less than a week, not even a week…my brother seems to have some weird inkling with you. I don't know, maybe its cause he's just naturally the type to trust easily…" there was something nostalgic in Roxas's voice but Riku knew well enough not to push it, the other trudged onwards:
"Still, he's a bit shaken up. Contrary to mis-conceptions and the universal stereo-type, I'm not dumb. It's pretty blindingly obvious that you like my brother. Someone you don't even know very well. Hell, we don't even know you guys either. But for some strange reason, Sora's willing to wave that all aside, willing to overlook the fact that logically we probably know the spirits more than we know you all, totally ignoring the fact that this could be all one big set-up to totally trust you with our secret. The only thing that's stopping him, is that he's afraid for you. Someone who he met almost a week ago, he's afraid you're going to get hurt. So, I'll ask this now, and be truthful cause I really want to know." His expression became unreadable:
"Are you prepared?"
Riku blinked.
"Excuse me?" he asked, more than slightly confused.
Roxas gave a -why me?- look upwards.
"You did not just ask me to repeat myself."
That was a strict command, not a question.
"Why would I need to be 'prepared'?" Riku continued, crossing his arms as he fixed Roxas with a judging stare of his own, "what is going on?"
"I can't tell you until you answer me," Roxas's eyes shown with the fervor and intensity of a martyr with a new found cause, "do you like my brother enough—even if the ending result was that you end up as friends—that you would risk the lives of everyone around you and even your own?" Roxas swallowed hard, weird he was taking this a lot harder than Riku was, " or…will you leave now and forever stay away from my brother—away from all of us? Cause I'm not kidding, you and/or them can/probably will be killed if they found us."
Again with the mysterious they…why did always go back to that?
Riku turned away, he honestly didn't know what to say.
Sure, he felt attracted to Sora, but it this didn't feel like the typical type of attraction Riku was used to. He liked Sora's looks well enough, but over the course of those past days, lately he'd been hoping for more. He just felt calm by the other boy's presence alone. There was just something so blindingly bright about him, something Riku hadn't seen in anyone else. He could honestly profess that Sora felt like the One. His soul mate. Just this comfort and warmth of the boy was enough to soothe him…nevertheless…
He knew nothing about Sora, when he really thought about it. Sure he knew that he liked sweets and other such mannerisms, but he didn't know Sora. He had no idea why it was just him and his siblings, he'd only really talked to their cousin or any of the other people there besides the spirits less than occasionally, and he knew nothing about Sora, that Sora (or Naminé) didn't already alert to everyone.
Plus, there was also the chance that everyone around them could get hurt. He had already been there once when Kairi lost her family, he didn't want to see her like that again—he swore he would never see it again.
And what about the guys?
Wakka and Tidus had both impressed some hotshot recruiter from the Besaid Aurochs, they'd been so excited at the prospect of playing Blitzball professionally on the same team that they spent over two hours explaining to Tidus's Uncle Auron over the phone. They were following their dreams, right?
Zidane was in his last year and every Ivy college and its slightly more affordable cousins had been after him for his theatrical skills. He had spent all morning mulling over choosing one or going off to do something on Broadway. His brother Blank had been so proud of him.
And what about ViVi?
He was finally getting adjusted to the group's quirks and dynamics. His brother Quina, and their grandfather were all so nice and welcoming (even if slightly possessive when it came to eating). And despite the teasing, he was warming up to Zidane's advances, a couple of more week and they would've probably ended up together.
Wait…
Had?
Been?
Were?
Would've?
Why were they all in the past tense?
His friends weren't dead, they were just two rooms down for God's sake!
Why was he suddenly referring to them as if they were!
He wanted them to be safe! He wouldn't be able to handle it if one of them got hurt in his stead.
Except, something about Sora's plight called to him—
"I don't know," he realized, straightening and looking frantically back at Roxas, "I don't know what to do, how can you just ask something like that from me! It's like you're asking me to decide my friends' lives or something!"
"In a sense…I am." There he went again with that detached tone, what was his deal, "can you decide?"
Riku felt his insides prick in anger, how can he just ask him something like this with such a stoic demeanor!
"I can't! I-it's not fair, to me, or them, or Sora! It's their lives not mine, I can't just make decision based on what I want!" he could feel the anger swallowing him whole, if this was a joke, Roxas was dead—Sora's brother or not, "how dare you think I'm that shallow! I can't just make such a decision that quick!"
Roxas just continued to stare at him with a mask-like coolness.
The only sound now was Riku gasping for breath, temporarily winded by his sudden screaming session.
"So for now you're undecided," he glared pure death at such a ill-timed remark, Roxas didn't notice (or really care), instead he looked almost, relieved, he gave Riku something close to a weak smile, "that's good then. That means you're really considering it," opening the door, he paused and called over his shoulder, "when you do you make your decision tell my brother first. Till then expect a lot of Sora-free time."
The door clicked forebodingly behind Roxas, leaving Riku with his thoughts swirling at frappe.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Roxas didn't say anything when he saw Sora huddled next to the door. Sora had brought his knees to his chest and had wrapped his arms around his head.
It was as close to rolling up into a ball that he could get.
"Sora—"
As predicted the other didn't respond, just tried to squeeze himself tighter.
Sighing, Roxas easily sat next to him, resting his back on the wall.
"It had to be done."
Still nothing.
Roxas shifted and slowly placed a hand on Sora's shoulder. Childishly he began to move his shoulder up and down to get rid of it, Roxas just clucked his tongue and reaches over with a firmer grip to wrap his other arm around his brother.
"Sora, listen to me, eventually things would've gotten out of hand, he either has to know or he has to leave," he could feel the numbing from the back of his head that signaled painful memories were about to make themselves known, "it was alright in Twilight Town because they weren't even aware of what happened. But to have it come out like this to—look, truth is we don't even know these people, how can we put them in danger like this?"
"I trust you, why don't you trust me?" Sora's reply had been muffled though it was obvious he was crying, "these people are all nice. They're all really cool, I wanna be friends with them." He raised his head and gave his brother an imploring look, "I really do Roxas! It'd be so nice, y'know. Just something about all of them—it makes me feel like everything's gonna be alright. Everything was going so well—we're all living together. We can see Aerith and Red XIII anytime we want now! And Caith Sith! And Tifa! Even Sephiroth!"
Roxas just rested his head on Sora's shoulder.
"I know, I know," he uttered trance-like, eyes misting over with controlled emotion, "it was, wasn't it? And now…" he stopped, unable to finish the sentence.
"In Twilight Town, even though they were there. I still felt safe, every day was like one big adventure," Sora babbled on, just letting his mind go on auto-pilot, "why did we leave anyway? Was it really just Yuffie selling our house?"
Roxas grew silent, he closed his eyes, feeling the weight of guilt pushing in on him. He swallowed hard and murmered slightly: "You'll understand, it's not entirely her fault..."
Sora slowly placed his head slightly atop Roxas's. Despite the earlier gloom he gave a small laugh.
Roxas wouldn't move.
"What?"
"Nothing, ya big ol' softie…" Roxas just rolled his eyes once more and pinched his brother's cheek.
"Ow, Roxas! I take it back, you're just a stubborn old man in a fifteen year-old's body!"
"Sora…"
"Ouchies!—that one actually hurt! Roxas—Quit it!"
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Naminé tapped her chin thoughtful as she poured through another dusty volume that her brothers had delivered.
Now that wasn't right…
Her lips twisting to her left, she clucked her tongue and re-read the same chapter again.
Once sure of it, she spoke up: "This…doesn't make any sense…"
Closing the book with one hand, she easily picked it up and walked a ways to the make-shift circle on the other side of the Oak-paneled room.
Kairi, herself was getting frustrated as she tossed another book down with about as much care as one would to a dead festering rodent. A very pronounced grimace on her face.
"There's nothing here at all!" she almost whined—almost but she was the fearless leader of a troupe of bishie men, she never whined…unless to punish someone, with the same cross look as a spurned lover, she shifted at Naminé's footsteps.
"I take it you had no luck also." Naminé stooped to place her book back as well as rescue Kairi's, tucking stray strands behind her ear, she responded equally agitated about her discoveries…or lack thereof, "there's almost nothing mentioned about the Braska family. Only a sentence or two…"
"My father didn't really spend a lot of time in town," Yuna piped in, a miserable look on her face, she felt awful that she couldn't really help them more, "he was always away…it was usually just me, Rikku, and my Uncle Cid."
Naminé blinked.
"Cid?" she repeated, tone vague and almost hidden, "what was he like?"
"I really can't say, he was Rikku's father not mine, you should ask her," Yuna dutifully reported, then she paused as she considered something carefully, "why do you ask that?"
"Oh, nothing." There she went again, sometimes, Kairi wondered if the blonde girl was constantly wearing a mask, there were a lot of times she was uncertain of just what was going through the other girl's head…it was almost eerie, the way Naminé could hide her thoughts so well.
"I don't think that your mechanic and my Uncle are the same though," Yuna suddenly blurted, un-aware she had just hit the nail on the head, "they're similar…but somehow different…like I said, I wish I was of more help—"
"Don't worry about it, maybe if someone would let us try and get his past memories from him—" Zidane sent a venomous glance to Kairi's left.
"For the last time, I am not going to let you hit me on the head with a baseball bat till I 'remember', its just an excuse for you to hit me," Tidus summed up, with a matter-of-factly voice, "besides, we're not even sure remember….just cause I supposedly look like the guy—"
Yuna's crestfallen air was enough justification for Kairi and Zidane to both smack the usually upbeat blitzball player in the back of the head.
"Ya gotta be mo' careful with you' words, man!" Wakka lectured, with a stern growl.
"Sheesh, guys! I think you all just gave me brain damage—"
"Tidus, you already had that to begin with—"
"Shut up, Pedophile!"
"Is that the only insult you've got? Such a childish—"
"You would know all about children huh?"
"Listen, you little—"
"Um, excuse me—"
"Not now ViVi—tell us about your abuse by this pervert later—"
"Don't talk to ViVi that way!"
"If I could just—"
"In a minute dearest—How dare you, Tidus! Don't get bitchy on me cause you are no help whatsoever!—"
"Hey! Whose the re-incarnation here!"
"Really, it's somethin—"
"Just a second, ViVi, it's for your honor that—"
"Honor? Please! I'm surprised you even know what that means!"
"You son of a—"
"GUYS!"
Heads snapped over to the youngest member of the groups so fast, that all their necks cracked in sync.
"Ew…"
Vivi glowered at the group and shoved his findings, a huge book that looked as big as him forward: "I found it! An article that mentioned the murder in this house, those involved, and even a list of clues from the crime scene!"
It took a few seconds to sink in…but when it did, Zidane was the first up to congratulate the usually-shy boy.
"ViVi, you're so smart! I love you!" he declared and was about to with equal enthusiasm, kiss the boy soundly…were it not for the fact he was soon separated as others rushed forward to also thank 'his boyfriend'.
"Damn it, Tidus! Don't get to close to my ViVi!"
"Someone shut the Pedo up alrea'y, ya!"
"Kairi!"
"Zidane—shut up."
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Sephiroth twitched, sent pure waves of venom from the intruder. The other walked by unfazed.
Legs crossed elegantly, dressed in a fine polo shirt with Italian leather loafers, Sephiroth looked the epitome of the fine country-club gentleman…too bad he was currently reading the obituaries…which off set that image rather quickly.
"You didn't eat your breakfast."
I can't see you. I can't hear you. You're not really here right now.
Unfortunately, Leon was unaffected by the ex-general's mantra as he sat across from him at the rickety wooden kitchen table. Arms crossed, he watched him with the same intent of a scientist and a still-in-training lab animal.
Sighing, he decided he would just have to get rid of the nosey man first.
"Can I help you?" he asked, with a raise of a perfectly plucked eyebrow (for someone who worked in a bar, he had great emphasis on always looking steps ahead better than the customers).
"Just something about you still freaks me out still," Leon admitted, not breaking his gaze, "we didn't exactly meet on favorable terms if you'd recall."
Now, at this Sephiroth favored the slightly taller of the two with a scathing glance, Leon just stared back, unaffected.
"If you can also recall, Cloud and myself both met you at the same time," Sephiroth remarked, returning back to his paper, "yet, you honor me with this treatment…really, should I be flattered?"
"Cloud didn't go insane and try to kill everyone in 100 meter radius," Leon interjected, still looking at him, as if trying to bore holes through Sephiroth's paper shield, "he didn't—"
"Yes, he didn't do anything at all. He was hardly conscious at that point," Sephiroth mocked his(Leon's) casual tone, placing down the paper with a swift motion, "something that you very well took advantage of."
It is said that in the wild, animals can sense natural enemies by just a simple whiff—Sephiroth's pricey after-shave was practically a billboard the way it seemed to emanate to the space around him. Like some weird Calvin-Kline-approved aura.
Leon felt the hairs on the back of his neck rising—but one whose previous occupation had been that of a mercenary could hardly be scared of a 'reformed' psychopath…however, he did make sure that the table was firmly in the way. Those were just survival instincts after all…
"I took advantage of him? He was barely functioning on his own," he returned tartly, "and his friend tried to stab him with a bay—"
Sephiroth's hands moved to the table, ready to turn it over and launch himself at the cad before him—how dare he even try to justify—
Leon sensed the fighting atmosphere about to erupt. He was just about as ready as the stupid prissy before him, at least this way he'd be able to take out some frustration.
And of course, the phone rang.
"You gonna get that?"
Sephiroth sent him a level gaze before sweeping up and not-so-gracefully-yanking the phone from the cradle.
He grunted in greeting.
"Araa! Sephiroth-kun!" Sephiroth winced at the endearment but reminded himself it was Zack's ex-girlfriend he was talking to, Aerith continued on unfazed (in fact, she seemed almost empowered now), "I forgot to mention earlier, some of the triplet's friends are coming over—Yuffie just reminded me a few minutes ago when she dropped off lunch."
"Since when?" Sephiroth had a sinking feeling Aerith was plotting something once more, honestly sometimes it felt like that woman was channeling his friend's spirit just to mess with his newly stable mind, who knew what that woman was hiding behind her 'serene' smile?
"Don't worry they're only going to be here for a short while, we have enough room—" that wasn't exactly why he was apprehensive—it would've been appreciated heavily if she had given him a warning at least this morning or something, "nothing you and Leon couldn't handle."
Ok, now he knew that Aerith was somehow possessed by Zack.
"They should be arriving any minute now—" the twinkling of the doorbell was heard as soon as she finished that statement, knowingly she continued in the same strain as a mother to a child, "business here at the flower shop is going rather slow today so, when Cloud gets back from the last delivery we'll be on our way. And try not to keep fighting with Leon, it's very distressing to watch…"
Sephiroth just rubbed at his temples…this woman…really…sometimes he wondered where her God-like perceptiveness came from…then decided he probably didn't want to know…
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
"I'll get…it!" Rikku swung the door wide open. She had a fresh smile on her face, as she prepared to scare the wits out of Yuffie, holding her bed sheet close she tilted her head and gurgled: "Who dares enter my domain?! I will eat your souls! Muwahahaha!" Her green eyes glowed a deadly ivy.
Hayner, Pence, Seifer, Fuu, and Olette stared.
Hayner pulled off the bed sheet, and the five continued staring.
Rikku blinked, oh, wait, who were—
WHAM
Hayner hit the floor, out cold.
Seifer turned to look down at him. Then returned to the whole perpetrator of the incident.
Staring continued.
Rikku sighed and slapped her forehead, honestly, why did this always happen to her.
Of course, while she'd been pondering this, she had yet to notice that her hand had gone clear through her forehead and was hover in her head….the teens before her took notice though and…
THUD
Pence almost landed on Hayner, barely missing…
So much for a nice, normal visit…
-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Cloud groaned as he pulled back into the flower shop's parking lot. That could've gone a lot better—leave it to Yuffie to switch the orders—it didn't matter how briefly she visited something was always goofed as soon as she so much even neared 100 meters of the vicinity.
He pondered over how she could've possibly gotten those two orders mixed up—so preoccupied, he didn't notice that Aerith wasn't alone as he entered the shop with a wary: "Aerith, you aren't going to belief what just happened to m—"
"Onii-san!"
Cloud went to a complete stop, he willed himself still.
There was no possible way…no…it usually took him days to find—
"Hey there Cloud," another voice joined in, Axel swaggered over a smug smirk on his face, noticing his stiff demeanor, he grinned further, "it really wasn't so hard to find you guys, you know? Should've covered your tracks more…good thing I had such a good little helper—"
"I'm not little!" came the protest, as another slightly smaller figure launched himself at Cloud, "and stop touching Onii-san! He's mine!"
Connections were taking place his mind with lightning speed, yet all he could do was send Aerith looks of pure desperation.
She shrugged and gave him a weak smile: "At least we've got more room…"
-TBC-
Okies, longest chapter…evah! I'm sorry for the delay, I just felt really burnt out with this. I was trying to cram as much as I could and given the circumstances, it really didn't work out as much as I hoped. Never mind though, cause I've gotten the timeline all sorted out and things back on track.Gots to finish my South Park—so see ya'lls later!