Disclaimer: I don't own KH or Disney.

A/N: It's been a while everyone. Sorry if I haven't been doing a great job with my updates. But, I want to thank all those that leave me feedback and let me know how much they like my writing. And more than anything, thanks for being patient everyone.

Shattered Reverie

Chapter 7

A Family

Everything seemed perfect once Sora and Riku made up, and the two were hoping to join their group of friends at the usual spot within the courtyard of the academy. But things didn't seem at all right the minute they stepped in what could no longer be called a circle, but a dilapidated ring split in half. Sora looked to one side as Riku looked towards the other. Larxene sat on one of the benches farthest away from everyone else, her finger twisting around one of the two fractions of hair that continued to defy the laws of gravity. Kairi sat on the ground several feet away from the blonde, her face devoid of that usual smile and sarcasm. Selphie and Hayner sat by the base of the tree, their hands intertwined as they talked amongst themselves, everyone completely oblivious to the fact that the two people they were all so worried about were standing there with confusion coursing through their faces.

"Hi," Sora said for lack of anything else to say. Immediately all four pairs of eyes flew up and met with his, softening at his sight and offering him a quick smile, that is, except one particular person. Kairi got up from her earthy seat on the ground and went up to the two boys. Sora was expecting a hug or something of the sort, but what came next was something nobody was expecting.

"CRACK!"

It stung. Sora couldn't help but take a step back following the powerful strike that would surely leave a mark against his cheek. Immediately there was a numbing, tingling sensation spreading across his reddening skin. The brunet could only watch his friend with wide eyes, surprised and completely shocked at what had just happened. But through that surprise he could see that Kairi was in tears, and there was a horrible feeling developing in the pit of his stomach.

Riku snatched Kairi by the wrist and jerked her every which way before yelling directly into her face.

"Have you lost it Kairi? What the fuck was that?"

Kairi winced at how firmly Riku was holding onto her wrist.

"Answer me!"

"Stop it!"

Larxene made her way over and struggled against Riku's large, domineering hand in hopes of releasing Kairi's wrist. Snarling at her, the silver haired teen let go and swept back to Sora's side, an arm encircling the brunet as he watched the two girls back away. Selphie and Hayner were already on their feet and carefully watching the burgundy haired girl's movements. In a much calmer tone, Riku voiced his stored anger.

"I don't understand you Kairi. How could you do something like that? More importantly, why?"

Kairi wiped drying tears from her face. She could feel Larxene's hand moving in circular motions across her lower back. It was soothing, and that's all that mattered.

"What I don't understand is how can you be so blind Riku?"

"Blind to what?" He responded with his voice rising momentarily.

Kairi's eyes moved from Riku to the person she had thought was her friend. She felt so stupid, so incredibly stupid for caring at all about him. All the time she spent worrying and wondering if he was okay, it was all for nothing and it was eating away at her. She wanted to deny that Sora could be capable of such a thing, but she knew better. But what was worse was the fact that Riku seemed oblivious. Kairi never would have thought the day would come when she would have to thank a particular blonde boy for confirming the suspicions that dwelled in her mind. Sora wasn't what he appeared to be.

"I said blind to what?" Riku repeated with a pause after every word.

"Kairi, no, leave it as it is."

Riku whirled towards the voice and found Selphie taking a step forward.

"Just apologize and leave it as it is. We should be glad to have them back. We need to go back to that group we used to be."

It started slowly at first, but it eventually escalated into a full-blown laugh. Everyone watched as Kairi kneeled with an arm around her side and the laughter continued.

"What is wrong with you?" Hayner asked, a bit alarmed with Kairi's sudden burst of unexpected laughter.

"Oh Selphie, you've got some high hopes, don't you? Don't you see," she said getting back up and wiping away tears, "that we can never go back to that same group we used to be? I mean, when I asked for your support, you backed out. All of you backed out and left me alone. What kind of friendship is that?"

Selphie shook her head. "Because we wouldn't support some crazy idea you mentioned? You were going against everything that IS friendship. How can you be standing there attacking us when you're the one with the messed up ideas?"

Kairi grit her teeth. "I told you before I was doing it because I CARED about them, I wanted both of them to not get hurt. But I was wrong!"

Selphie looked to Hayner, unsure of what she meant. Larxene had left Kairi's side and returned to the bench she was originally sitting at. The junior year girl took a step towards Sora, only to be blocked by Riku's outstretched arm.

"How can you continue protecting him, Riku?"

It didn't take him two seconds to respond to that question. "Because I love him."

Kairi didn't know how to retaliate against that. Instead, she let her head hang as she backed away. "I'm sorry Riku, but when you realize what he's doing, you'll never doubt me again."

Taking her bag in one hand, Kairi sped off, leaving the already broken ring in a worse state than it was before. Riku heaved a sigh and turned to Sora.

"You okay?" He asked, his expression softening and exuding kindness.

He brought a hand to his red cheek and touched it carefully. Sora flinched at the touch for a moment, but warmed into it. With his back turned to Larxene and the other two, Riku voiced what he was currently thinking.

"There's something you all know, and you're all going to tell me what it is."

It seemed that arguing back would do everyone, absolutely no good.

X

Kairi had never felt such a twisted mix of anger, sadness, and overall betrayal before. The halls around her echoed loudly with every step she took. Several passing students gazed at her with vague expressions, some almost wanting to ask if there was something wrong. But they remained quiet, allowing Kairi to brisk through the academy without being bothered. Yet, unbeknownst to them, she wished somebody would stop and ask how she was doing, ask what was on her mind. Or better yet, she wished there was someone who would take her side. A flittering image of Larxene passed through her mind and she found herself wanting to burst into a fresh batch of tears. With all her current thoughts distracting her, Kairi didn't notice the figure in front of her and ended up bumping against it and dropping her bag.

"Sorry," she said picking up her things and not bothering to see whom the unlucky person was.

"Hey, wait up."

Looking over her shoulder, Kairi saw the person she collided with holding something in his hand. "What is it?"

"This fell out of your bag, thought I should let you know."

Kairi took whatever was in his outstretched hand and thanked him before resuming her pace. She glanced down at the small photograph in her hand, a face she hadn't seen in quite a while looking up at her with a cool expression. He had an arm around Kairi, who at the time had pink highlights in her hair. She couldn't help but smile at the person in the photograph and realized how much she actually missed him.

"I can't call him, not now."

But with everything going the way it was, going back to that person didn't seem like such a farfetched idea. At least, perhaps, he would hear her out.

X

School was not the right setting for a serious conversation, so Selphie offered to have everyone over after classes in order to answer Riku's demands. Selphie and Hayner were already home by the time Riku and Sora had arrived, with the older boy in the driver's seat. Larxene sat in the back, quiet and rather melancholy. Knowing her wild and sarcastic nature, Riku felt a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach seeing the blonde senior so serious. Whatever they were hiding, the nature of it couldn't be good if Larxene was acting this way.

"Let's go in," Riku said getting out of the car.

They walked into the spacious house to see Selphie and Hayner sitting in the living room, a tray of drinks already lined up on the coffee table. Selphie followed their movements and pointed at the empty seats around her. Once everyone was situated, things became eerily quiet. Sora sat next to Riku, his fingers playing with one of the buttons on the end of his shirt. Riku had long since taken his tie off and a bit of his neck was exposed. Larxene sat the farthest away in a recliner, her hand cupping her chin in thought.

"So," Selphie began, unsure if it was all right for her to speak, "thanks for coming over Riku, Sora."

"Let's just get to it, I want to know why Kairi is acting the way she is, you all know why and I feel like you're just dangling it in front of my face," Riku said rather bluntly.

Selphie looked to Hayner, then to Larxene, and finally back to the two boys sitting in front of her. "Well…"

"I'll tell them Selphie."

The brunet girl looked at her blonde friend and nodded after a few seconds. "Okay."

Larxene took in a breath and prayed for the best. "This has to do with Marluxia."

Riku's face immediately darkened. "What?"

The blonde senior held up a hand. "Hear me out. You can yell at me after I'm done."

With no further protests from Riku or anybody else for that matter, Larxene continued.

"A while ago Kairi and I went out for dinner. We headed to Café Le Blanc and when we were there, we saw something that looked a little weird. I mean, I thought it was weird because it was during the time you guys weren't speaking with each other because of that party. And well…Kairi and I thought it didn't look to good seeing Sora and Marluxia there together."

Sora looked up following what Larxene had said. "You were there?"

Larxene nodded. "We weren't following you or anything, so don't feel like we were spying on you. After that, Kairi started suspecting…well, you know."

Sora, who appeared calm and quiet, did a complete reversal. "What? That I was cheating on Riku with Marluxia? Are you kidding me?"

"I told you, it didn't look good to see you guys together, it's kind of hard not to assume something like that," Larxene replied, feeling the bitter bite in Sora's words.

"Friend don't assume things like that Larxene, " Sora spat out, clearly angry by what she had revealed to him. "I have been faithful to Riku since we've been together, you have no idea of all the shit we went through last year. How can you think that I could do something like that? You're no better than Kairi."

Larxene's eyes quivered. "That's not fair Sora! If anything, I've tried to make her see how stupid her suspicions were. Selphie, Hayner, even me, we all know that you couldn't do something like that. When Kairi told us about her idea of spying on you, we were all against it. We knew it wasn't something we could do, not as your friends."

"She's right Sora," Hayner added in, "We told her that she was on her own. We weren't going to be a part of something that horrible."

Sora's sudden anger seemed to disappear, but the damage had been done. "So she thinks that I'm not being faithful to Riku…"

"Sora…" Selphie trailed off.

"I could care less what she thinks," Riku said after a minute of silence. "Let her think what she wants, I don't have to question Sora's fidelity."

He wrapped an arm around Sora's shorter form and brought him closer to his chest. Sora seemed to ease at his touch, the look on his face softened and peaceful.

"We're sorry it went this far," Selphie said folding her arms together. "It would have been better if we mentioned it the minute we learned about it. I hope you aren't angry with us."

Riku seemed pensive. "It's okay, you didn't do anything wrong. Thanks for clearing things up."

With that said, Riku got up and Sora followed. "We'll see you guys at school later."

Despite everything that was explained, there seemed to be a thick cloud of uneasiness hanging over everyone. Sora walked out into the streets, his eyes falling on Riku's house across the street. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, hoping that some of that uneasiness would leave with it.

"I think Kairi's completely lost it," Riku chimed in, interrupting Sora's train of thought. "It's so ridiculous it's almost painful to think about it. I've known Kairi for years and she's never acted this way."

Sora leaned up against Riku's car, his hands finding safety in his pockets. He should be angry, furious with Kairi, yet he found himself having mixed feelings. It was a normal reaction to get upset right after what Larxene had said. Who wouldn't be angry when they were being accused? But, he found reason in those same accusing thoughts. It just came to show that Kairi was protective, immensely at that. If only she could see that he wasn't what she thought he was. Bringing a hand up to the same cheek that had stung earlier, Sora let out a sigh.

"Maybe I should talk to her," the brunet directed at his silver-haired companion. "Let her know that I have nothing to do with Marluxia. I've only talked to him a couple of times, he's nothing more than a friend."

Riku bit his lip rather suddenly. He loved Sora, would do anything for him. But him calling Marluxia a 'friend' just didn't sit well with him. The guy was okay by anyone's means, but there was something in those amethyst eyes, something that made goosebumps travel up his arms. His eyes grew wide, the realization kicking in.

"Kairi wasn't afraid of Sora cheating on me. She knows him. She should know him as much as I do. Her suspicions, she was having a hard time trying to accept that Sora could be capable of something like that. But she couldn't. She couldn't because she knows him. What she's afraid of…"

"Riku?"

He shook his head, sending strands of silver across his face. "I think I understand why Kairi was so upset."

Sora tilted his head slightly, eagerly waiting for Riku's reply. "What is it?"

X

Kairi was beginning to have seconds thoughts as she stood outside the apartment complex. It was early evening, and the streetlights were just flickering into life as the night sky lost the last dwindling sunrays.

"What if he doesn't want to see me? Maybe he's completely forgotten about me and won't want to talk to me."

Her eyes popped up when she heard footsteps trailing down the series of stairs in front of her. She felt her stomach do a flip as soon as the figure came into the light. It had been quite a while since she last saw him, yet she knew he hadn't changed at all. He ended up looking in her direction and stopped whatever it was he was doing.

"Kairi?"

She couldn't help but smile at the sound of his voice. "It's been a while."

Seifer Almasy could see the smile on her face and returned the gesture. "Yeah, it has. How have you been?"

Nervously, Kairi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I've been good, going to the academy, the same old stuff."

The blonde college student folded his arms. "That's good to hear."

There wasn't a whole lot Kairi could think to say following the typical 'how are you' routine. Part of her felt stupid for even coming. She was the one that broke up with Seifer the previous summer and he had moved on. But, a different part of her was glad he did move on. It would have been nice if she could have as well.

"What brings you around here? I didn't think you had any friends in this area."

The burgundy haired girl concentrated on a box garden hanging from a first story window, the flowers moving gently in the evening breeze. "I don't know why I came around here myself, I've just been having a rough couple days."

Seifer had never disliked Kairi. Even after their breakup, he thought about her a lot. The scandal with his mother in Holly City had left him in shambles, so he understood why Kairi did what she thought was best. Just looking at her now he could tell that she was suffering from something. Maybe she had come to see if he could lend an ear.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked, a hand running through his short blonde hair.

Kairi wanted to shake her head 'no' but found herself nodding. "It's so stupid, I can hardly think you would be willing to hear me out on it."

Seifer leaned up against a near lamppost. "We're friends, right?"

And so Kairi went on to explain everything from right after their breakup, to what had been bothering her regarding Riku and Sora's relationship. The entire time her eyes were on the brim of tears, but she held them back, not wanting Seifer to see her cry. He simply stood there and listened, making sure no to interrupt. Once she was done, the chirping of the crickets was all that he could hear.

"I don't know what to think anymore. For all I know, I was completely wrong about everything."

They were both now sitting underneath the lamppost, the shadows at their feet stretching out into the darkness.

"I could have lost my friends because of my suspicions. I feel terrible," Kairi said bringing her knees to chest level. "I slapped Sora today and the minute I did, I knew I had done something wrong. But I couldn't let them know that, I couldn't let them know that I was wrong after all the crap I had said. I didn't know what I was thinking."

"You went on your gut instinct," Seifer offered, "That's what we all do when we aren't sure of a situation. Remember, I got kicked out of high school for fighting. I didn't know how to handle the situation there so I went with what my gut was telling me."

Seifer let out a laugh. "And even though I went with it and the worst happened, I don't regret it. I learned from it."

Kairi looked to the side, her gaze falling on the taller man's figure. "But what I did was beyond that. I betrayed their trust. Selphie, Hayner, Larxene, Riku, and Sora. Do you think they can forgive me for being such an idiot?"

The blonde turned to her and looked pensive for about a minute. "You made a mistake. You didn't commit some horrendous crime. Everyone makes mistakes Kairi, if they're your friends then they will be able to see that and forgive you."

Kairi found herself smiling into her knees. "You're right, I need to apologize to everyone. Especially those two."

A ringing came from Seifer's pocket and he swiftly reached in and took his phone out. He talked for a minute or so before hanging up and setting the phone back in its original place.

"Who was that?" Kairi asked curiously.

Seifer bit his lip slightly. "That was Leon."

Kairi's cheeks bristled with waves of heat. "Oh, your boyfriend, right?"

Seifer nodded. "Yeah, Leon and I have been together since last summer. He's been wanting me to move into his place for ages now, so I've been busily packing things up here and moving them over to his apartment."

Kairi smiled. "That's great Seifer, I'm really happy for you. I'm glad you were able to find someone that can really understand you."

"Hey," he said, "you'll find someone again. And when you do, we'll all hang out and go to dinner or something. Does that sound like a plan?"

She found herself leaning up against his shoulder. "Yeah, that sounds good."

X

Sora walked into his condo to find Figaro sprawled out on the living room floor. A massacred ball of string lay at his side, the aftermath of a busy day of playing. He smiled at the feline before setting his things by the door and then walking over to the kitchen. His eyes managed to catch the phone blinking red, letting him know that someone had left him a message.

"New message, 4:34 p.m."

Sora waited for the click and the voice that followed was someone he was never expecting.

"Sora, this is Brahne. I would have said 'your grandmother', but I don't think I'm entitled to that any longer. I'm sorry for everything that you have gone through this past year, and believe me when I say that I was just as surprised to know about everything that gone on. I need to keep this short, so I'll just go ahead. There's something very serious that I need to talk to you about, so I beg of you to come to Holly City. You have my number so don't be afraid to call. Please Sora, this is something you need to know."

There was another click, and the voice died away. It had left him standing rigid. He could think of absolutely no reasons as to why Brahne would contact him. It had been almost a year since he last saw her during the court ruling, so why did she all of a sudden demand he see her? He took a look at the calendar hanging on the refrigerator, an entire week circled in red marker.

"Spring break. I'll be going to Holly City to see Cid and then to Mt. Gagazet. I'll see what she wants then."

X

He knew it was a dream. He hated them. Absolutely hated them. It had taken him years to overcome them, overcome all the horrible things he had to go through. But he found himself back in that place, that one place he had worked so hard to escape from. He stood before it, the bleak and desolate building staring back at him. There were voices, voices so overwhelming he couldn't help but kneel in pain.

"You wretched little brat, look at this mess you've made!"

"Little boys don't wet their beds."

"You are a disgrace, you will never get out here the way you're going."

"Look around you! Everyone is being taken to a home except you."

"You will never be loved."

"Nobody will accept you."

"You will always be alone."

Marluxia woke up, his breathing ragged and heavy. His entire body was soaked in sweat, gleaming under the moonlight shining through his window. It took him a few minutes to calm down, realize that he was fine.

"It'll never end."

His phone began to ring and he grudgingly reached for the device sitting on his right side table.

"What is it?"

"I did it. It's ours."

"Speak clearly Zexion, it's 3 o'clock in the morning and I'm barely awake."

"I know it's late for you, but this was something I couldn't hold off on until morning. I've done it Marluxia, I managed to buy all the stocks in Dalmasca."

Marluxia's senses were suddenly very keen. "You better not be joking Zexion."

"I'm not! I'm serious here. It took a while, but they're ours. Which means, the Dalmasca branch of Cid Highwind's company is now ours."

To think that only moments ago he was suffering a dream he would rather disappear and never return. But now, everything had changed. A smile played itself across his lips. He had done it. The first step had been taken.

"So come home already Marly, you've been gone long enough."

Marluxia sat up against the headboard of his bed. "I told you already, and for the last time, I'm not coming back until I'm done here."

"But you are the owner of the Dalmasca branch now. It's only a matter of time before you become the head of it all, you know it Marluxia."

He wasn't quick to respond. Instead, he sat there looking out the window.

"Marly, Marluxia? You there?"

"Do you remember when we were little, we would sit outside on the roof and watch the skies hoping that they would darken."

"Yeah…I remember."

"We would always get into so much trouble afterwards, but I didn't care. I would take whatever lashings I got if I could continue staring at the skies."

"The other kids looked up to you Marly. We all thought you were the bravest kid. Nobody else had the nerve to stand up to them except you."

Marluxia's face saddened. "But they all got something I never did."

Zexion didn't need to ask what it was, he knew all to well. "Same here Marly, same here."

…A family.

tbc

Next Chapter: Riku and the rest of the senior class take their trip to Mt. Gagazet. Sora travels to Holly City to speak with Brahne, but something unexpected happens. It seems whatever secret she had might not see the light of day.