Disclaimer: You know; I don't own anything except for the story line. Enter cute, witty line here.

AN: Finals suck. I know! There's been no update for weeks, but updates will start coming faster. This one was hard to write, and I got major writer's block for a few weeks.

Riku's POV

I still can't believe Axel read that poem out loud. He just had to read the poem about Sora. How ironic. He's such a douche bag and he won't even admit it. He just walks around acting like an idiot, never feeling bad for it. Unless it has to do with Roxas or something serious. I sometimes wonder if he's mental.

School starts again soon. Hooray. Homework and studying to fill up my time. Plus sports and projects to do. But it's not so bad being a Junior. Or so I'm told by Sephiroth and every other one of his friends.

It's funny how happy and optimistic Sora is. I think that is what draws me to him. He is like the purest of angels that just reflects anything bad that happens, and makes it better. His smile is contagious; and so is his laugh. He makes me feel like a better person than I am. Man, am I thinking randomly today.

"Hey Riku," Sephiroth says as he walks into my room; interrupting my thoughts, "You took your painkillers right? Mom and Dad'll be mad if you didn't"

"Yeah. I already took it this morning; bright and early." I grumble.

"Bright and early? That doesn't really sound like you Mr. Grumps." He laughs at my childhood nickname. "Couldn't sleep? Wait a minute! Was that you yelling last night? I thought someone was being kidnapped or something! Nightmares came back so soon huh?" Seph talks too much. Sometimes I don't understand him at all, he talks so fast. He talks so randomly too. I wonder if he thinks in the same manner that he speaks in.

"Yeah, they're back again."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. You know that that wasn't your fault."

"Yeah sure."

"What are your plans for today? Do you want to come help me out at the restaurant?"

"I'm hanging out with Zexion, Axel, Roxas, and Demyx. Possibly Marluxia, although I think he's away for the weekend."

"All right, but no playing with fires, or anything dangerous. I wouldn't want there to be an accident." Seph says as he looks pointedly at me, like Mom does when she's worried about me.

I turn away and say: "Yeah, I promise we'll be safe ok?" Sometimes Seph acts too much like a parent. "We're actually just going painting, and it's not like anyone can really get hurt doing that except for allergic reactions to paint dyes." Mom and Dad tend to be really busy, so Seph used to step in as parent numeral tres. He needs to stop treating me like a five-year-old, and start treating me like a 16-year-old.

It's too early to be up. Nobody's going to be here until 11, and it is way too early to be up, I think I'll sleep until 10, and then I can shower and get ready and such. Three hours of sleep doesn't do what it used to do.

I'll set my alarm. It's seven in the morning for goodness sake. I need to sleep and get a good dream. Maybe I'll dream of rooftops…

Sora's POV

"Kairi, I'm kindof worried about Riku. He seems to be sincerely sad about something."

"You've never met Zexion have you?" Axel says as he strides into my kitchen, with Roxas dragging slowly behind him.

"Well yeah I have, but Zexion is more of an adulty smart sadness, like he knows we're all screwed. Riku's just sad."

"Early morning Roxas?" Kairi says, trying to break up the sadness.

"Shuzzed uppp Kairi. Itszz too early to be up anywaysszzz. I need somefingk to wake me upz." He suddenly perks up, and pulls his head out of his arms "Do either of you have any candy?"

"No Roxas, no sugar at eight in the morning." Axel says, smiling but pretending to act like a responsible parent.

"Screw you Axel. You're the one who got me up at seven freaking thirty." He says, burying his head in his arms again.

"Anyways, didn't mean to bug you guys on a beautiful day such as this, but I wanted to know if you were busy." Axel says excitedly, with a look on his face like its Christmas, "We're going painting!"

"I'm not really busy, what about you Kairi?"

"Nope, sounds fun to me."

"Alright! Me, Roxie here, Zexy, Dem, and Riku are all going to meet at Riku's house at 11. Shall I give you both a ride?"

"Yeah. My mom's out for the day; and she told me just to do whatever, so I'll leave her a note and we can go."

"Ok. You might want to change first."

"Why?"

"You're wearing the pajama bottoms with little key-sword thingies again." Roxas reminds me and beats Axel to the punch. I look down, and they are right. I can't help it that I love my key-blade pj's! Oh well, I suppose that I should change if we're painting.

"Be right back, I'll put on some jeans and a t-shirt." I suppose I should run a brush through my hair, and spray myself with some Axe too. Might as well just put a tux on like it's the prom, my brain nags me. A few minutes later, I dash down the stairs to find Axel smirking standing there, with Roxas fast asleep on my couch and Kairi just sitting there eating her breakfast.

"Come on guys! Let's go! We can't be late right?" I say, it's true, we shouldn't be late.

"You do realize we have two or three hours to kill at least before we even leave to drive to Riku's house," Axel says, with a stupid smile on his face, "someone's a little bit excited."

"So what do we do?" I know my face must be faltering at least a little bit.

"DDR of course! And Guitar Hero III! Come on Sora, you know you wanta!"

[[[[2 hours later

"DDR probably wasn't the greatest idea before we go painting huh guys? Now you're both all gross and sweaty." Kairi says cynically.

"Agggzel, stop sidtierink on me." Roxas says his voice muffled from the couch and pillow. Axel stands up, off of Roxas.

"Roxie I didn't even see you there! I thought you were a part of the couch; are you all right?" Axel says in such a sincere shock, that he must have not even realized the lump on the couch is Roxas.

"I am now that you are no longer using me as a chair."

"I'm sorry Roxie. Can I have a hug? Err actually no hugs yet, you haven't had your coffee."

"Nah, I got an ok awakening today. You can have a hug."

I walk out of the Living Room/Kitchen and walk into the "Game" Room. It should be called the "Whenever someone gets in trouble, Mom takes you here because it is the only soundproof room in the house" Room. At least the beanbag chairs are comfortable. I need to stop and think for a moment; and rest my eyes. I'll just sit here and think and rest my eyes for a moment…

"Sora!!!" Axel, Kairi, and Roxas all call out.

"Ahhh! What?" I jump from my rude awakening to find all of them standing in a close proximity to me. Kairi has a stupid, sappy grin on her face. Oh no, I must have been sleep talking again. Last time this happened, Kairi found out about me and Roxa's um "addiction".

"Come on Sora, it's time to go to Riku's house." Kairi says, putting emphasis on Riku's name.

"All right guys, what did I say?" Even Roxas is smirking. This must be really bad. But for once, Axel isn't laughing. He actually has a serious look on his face.

"Sora, honestly, how much do you like Riku?"

"Well, umm, kindof a lot." I stutter because I for one am shocked at Axel's seriousness.

"Ok that's good. Good luck faking an asthma attack, and getting him to do mouth-to-mouth. You might want to find an easier way to kiss him. Like just asking, it isn't that hard, see. Roxie, can I kiss you?"

"Sure." Roxas mutters before Axel gives him a peck on the lips.

"See, not so hard. You go from there, and wait for the right thing to happen."

"Haha guys. Not funny. Stop snooping in on my dreams please."

"It's not our fault that you tend to vocalize your dreams," Kairi giggles, "plus Sora, a dream is a wish your heart makes. Am I right?" Besides, you made it pretty clear to Riku that you liked him last week after he jumped off of that rooftop."

Axel laughs along while Kairi's talking until he hears the last part of what she says. After she finishes talking, he gets an Oh crap look on his face.

"Riku jumped off of a building? Where? When? Why? More importantly; why didn't you try to stop him?"

Roxas has a look of worry on his face.

"Wait a minute Axel," Kairi says, "Riku told us that wasn't a big deal."

"Really." Axel taps his foot as he draws out the word. "What did he say? Exactly?"

"Well at first he said something like: 'I wanted to feel alive. I was bored. I don't know. You decide.' Then he said something like: 'I was bored. That's it. Sometimes when I'm bored I try to find things that make me feel alive, sometimes it's just screaming, sometimes it's something stupid like jumping off a building or holding my breath underwater. It was mainly for entertainment.' But he was lying. At least somewhat. Finally he said something like this: 'My best friend Tidus has always had a dream to bungee jump. When we were 14, he injured his ankle during a track meet, and his doctors don't think he'll ever be able to jump off of an airplane. I'm deadly afraid of heights, and I want to go bungee jumping for him someday. So jumping off a one-story building was my way of practicing for when I'm older. It's stupid huh?' So we disregarded that he jumped off a building and I pretty much forgot about it." I say, worried that Axel is angry with me. He is a scary guy when he is mad.

Axel shakes his slowly and looks up at us. Then he starts to talk. Seriously.

"Tidus didn't injure his ankle in a track meet, and not a couple years ago. Riku and Tidus went to Parvus Locus, a restaurant his brother owns. Well Tidus got a few alcoholic drinks down, and this was the first time he had even tasted alcohol, so after one he was as drunk as a true alcoholic. He drank three or four drinks. Now Tidus isn't fat, take my word for it, but he is an extremely muscular guy. Real athletic, strong, and able to down a few drinks without thinking he's drunk. Riku decided to be the designated driver, because he is against drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes. Everything went okay until right on Riku's street when Tidus thought it would be funny to grab the wheel. Riku lost control, and they hit a tree. Thank God they were both wearing seat-belts and that Riku's car had airbags. Even so, Tidus got his ankle screwed up pretty bad. Riku feels like it was his fault what happened to Tidus's ankle. Riku does want to go bungee jumping for Tidus, but that isn't the whole story. I know for a fact that Riku still has nightmares about what happened. He doesn't get very many hours of sleep, maybe three to six each night, maybe even less. After the accident, he got really depressed. Now I have to say, Riku isn't suicidal, and he doesn't injure himself or anything like that. Every once in a while though, he jumps off of a bridge or a roof or something; I think it is because he wants to feel alive. Zexion agrees with me, and so do Marluxia and Wakka. Demyx, Tidus, Larxene, and Roxie feel that he wants to hurt his ankle so he'll be even with Tidus. He came out of the accident without a scratch on him. Just to let you know, Tidus doesn't blame him."

Wow. That's a lot to take in. I have a lot to think about.

"On a lighter note," Axel starts talking again, "We need to leave for Riku's house about right now."

[[[[15 minutes later

Ding-Dong.

"Hey guys! Demyx and Zexion are here already. Wakka decided to come to, but Marly couldn't make it." Riku says happily when he opens the door, "Sora! Kairi! So you're coming as well. Oh darn, now we'll have to be gentlemen because of the lady."

"Nah its ok, I hang out with Axel, Roxas and Sora. I've heard the worst of it." Kairi says then whispers to me, "Wowzers! Someone is a little bit more happy and hyper than I have ever seen them."

"Yeah, I know." I reply.

"Whoa! Nice house Riku!" Kairi yells.

"Want to see my room?" Riku says mischievously to Kairi and me, but mainly to me.

"How about we just head out to the studio. We wouldn't want to be late, would we?" Zexion questions all of us, with a happy but interested look on his face. I almost wonder how Demyx and he started going out. They are such polar opposites.

"Yeah, sounds good." Axel says, "Ok guys! Pile up! Time to go mini-van racing!"

Roxas looks like he is going to have a heart attack. Riku and Zexion are absolutely speechless, and Roxas starts coughing, trying to signal Riku and Zexion.

"Oh, um right! How about I drive, and Wakka has a big car, so I'll just drive his car." Riku says quickly.

"Aww, no racing? I guess that's all right, as long as I get shot-gun or I get to sit next to Roxy." Axel remarks, quickly taking away the hope that I'll get to sit near Riku.

"Well, Wakka gets motion sickness, so he gets shot-gun."

"Darn! Well I'm still sitting near Roxy."

[[[[30 minutes later

"Ok, does everyone like their seating arrangement?" Riku asks, wheezing.

"Yup!" We all reply.

It ends up that Riku is in the driver's seat, with Wakka next to him. In the second row is Axel to the left, Roxas in the middle, and Kairi to the right. In the last row are Demyx, Zexion, and me in that order.

As soon as Riku pulls the car out of the driveway, Zexion and Demyx start talking to me. So does Kairi. Roxas then decides he wants to join the conversation, and does. Axel must be feeling left out, so he just all of the sudden grabs Roxas and starts to make-out with him. Right in the middle of the conversation!

Yet somehow, I wish that was me with Riku. I desperately want Kairi or Wakka or someone responsible to take wheel and let me just kiss Riku in oblivion.

No such luck.

"Alright! Everybody out, we've arrived! Axel, Roxas separate now! We are going to paint; this wasn't a make-out party." Kairi squeals, obviously uncomfortable by the chaos going on around her. She starts to yank Roxas's body off of Axel, until Axel gives her a death glare that would send any serial killer crying home to his mommy.

"Everybody, um, let's just get out, ha-err um, Axel, Roxas we will meet you inside." Axel nods to Zexion and everyone gets out.

A few minutes after we've walked inside Petroglyph, the pottery painting store, Axel and Roxas walk inside, both with flushed faces and satisfied smiles.

I decide to paint a plate.

Time flies, and soon we're all done painting and it's time to leave.

Riku's POV

"Hey Riku! Mind if I drive?" I hear Axel yell at me as we're leaving Petroglyph.

"What the heck, Axel, take the wheel."

Everyone sits in their seats mainly, but now I'm next to Sora. He's tired and I can tell. Everyone else can as well. He doesn't put on his seatbelt so he can lean on me. Roxas bends over him from the left seat and looks at me with a very suggestive smile.

"Oh shit!" I hear Axel yell as I hear the screech of the brakes, and Sora's warmth leaves me.

As if by slow motion, Sora's body collides with the side window. Kairi screams. Axel panics and we hit a tree. I hear a crunch, and glass flies everywhere. Zexion grabs Demyx and Kairi and shelters them from the glass. Roxas ducks and I feel my head bang against the window that Sora hit. Sora isn't moving. Axel starts breathing rapidly and then passes out. Wakka tries to stay calm despite the crash.

The idiot who ran the red light and caused this runs over to the car.

I feel something wet trickles down to my arm, and I feel the back of my head, which is throbbing. Thick, red blood covers my hand. I feel sick at the sight of it. Nevertheless, I pull out my phone and pass it to Wakka.

"Call 911." I gasp loudly.

"Yeah." He says nervously.

He dials and talks to the operator jittery and frightened-like. He tells her where we are and our situation.

Then I feel weak and tired, and a dark cloud covers my eyes.

: Read and Review lovely readers. By the way, if any of you have stuck around this long to read this, I promise, it's gonna get good.