A/N: I want you all to know, I severely chipped two of my nails this morning. It has nothing to do with typing or this story but it makes me mad. I wake up and deal with demon spawn and this is the reward I get…All right so I may be a little over dramatic. And the demon spawn are only my niece and nephews, but whatever.

I hope you enjoy this. While I'm off at school getting killed by nazi teachers I will keep in mind that someone who enjoys this story is reading, and then I will cry.

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I find it kind of funny. Yes, I find it kind of sad, that the dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had- Mad World by Gary Jules

Sora opened the door to Roxas' house calling out, "Hey!" and then slamming the door shut behind him. "Hey, Roxas!" He called again as he ran through the apartment at full speed.

"Sora! Keep down that racket. I don't get up till noon on weekends!" Phoenix, Roxas' mom, yelled from her room next to the kitchen. He giggled, close to a maniacal fashion, while he ran into her room, and jumped on her bed, scaring the heart and soul out of her.

"Phoenix! Let's have breakfast."

She groaned, pulling a pillow over her head--making her pale, thin hands and her sweet, long strawberry-blonde hair the only things visible. "Okay," she murmured, "you make breakfast."

He shook her, "You know I can't cook anything except popcorn."

"We'll have popcorn for breakfast."

"Waffles!" The brunette said exuberantly, "With eggs and a little bacon."

She groaned, making fake sobs in the bed. "What time is it?" She whimpered. Phoenix peeked her eye out from under a corner to look at her practically adopted son, whom she was secretly making plans to maim, later.

He turned around to look at her grandfather clock. "Ten." He said with a shrug.

She glared at him with her one eye. "You are a demon child."

"You're lucky, you can send me home." He said, pulling on her now limp arm. Phoenix allowed her body to be tugged out of the bed, straightening her pretty nightgown as she almost literally rolled onto the floor.

Sora kind of felt bad for pulling her out of bed before she was supposed to be. She worked two jobs to keep her and Roxas afloat. Ever since two years ago, the two of them had had some rough luck. They had been rudely uplifted from the life that Phoenix had carefully pieced together; their insurance wouldn't cover anything; so they had nothing. Roxas' father hadn't sent any support checks since Roxas turned thirteen, plus Phoenix was too proud to get help. Therefore, she worked as a secretary while they went to school and as a bartender during the nights, leaving the afternoon to her and her son.

She fumbled around the kitchen searching for her waffle iron, her skillet, and all her ingredients, whatever. Sora, however, made himself a great, big nuisance by hopping up on the counter in the middle of everything she was doing. She smiled at him sweetly.

"Go wake up my son." She demanded, yanking him off the counter unexpectedly.

Sora rubbed his knees. "You're like the evil Witch of the West." He grumbled.

"You must represent the Lollipop Guild." She shot back, adding as an afterthought. "Munchkin."

He chuckled humorlessly, before sneaking off to Roxas' room, located through a door close to the living room.

"Roxas?" He whispered into the dirty room. "Roxas, wake up. We're going to have breakfast." Inching closer to the bed, he saw his dear friend curled up on his right side, arms folded around his head so his left side was exposed. He walked closer, watching the giant scar come into better focus.

Roxas didn't know he knew about his scar. If he did, he would probably be mortified, as he was horribly ashamed of the flaw that curled over his shoulder and crawled down his chest, ribs, and side, finally fading off below the rim of his boxers. Sora thought it was remarkable, even beautiful.

Absently, he reached to touch the raised scar, flinching back immediately when Roxas began to stir. He smirked at the oddities of his friend. One of them being that if he was watched too long in his sleep, he would start to wake. Talk about being paranoid! Sora snorted, backing out of the room and pulling the door in front of him, so Roxas wouldn't suspect Sora watching him while he was sleeping. So that he wouldn't know that Sora had seen him without a shirt.

Once properly hidden behind the door, out of sight, and well, throwing range, he grinned evilly. "Roxas! Xemnas!"

He heard shuffling, a loud thud! Then, "Where!"

The brunette took off around the house as a now shirted Roxas stormed out of his room screaming, "I'm gonna kill you, you overgrown snake!"

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"Riku?" The door opened quietly, revealing Sephiroth still in his light green pajama bottoms. Riku didn't stir to the voice. If anything, he sank further into his blankets, soaking up all the warmth he could, mumbling under his breath about a dream had. Sephiroth sighed, aggravated. "Riku!" He demanded. "Get up!"

Riku picked his head up immediately, unused to the direct tone of his brother waking him. He looked around, unsure of where he was, as well as what he was doing. Once he had his bearings, he turned over on his bed to see who had intruded his room at such and ungodly hour (He wasn't sure what time it was, but it wasn't wake-up time.). "Seph?"

"Get up. I want to practice."

Riku rubbed his eyes, tiredly. 7:30 in the morning…Riku was considering suicide, regardless he stumbled out of his bed. "Seph, it's too early." He mumbled, following his brother down the stairs. Five and a half hours of sleep? His brother was going to kill him. "Can't you wait till noon?"

"Nope. I'm on a vendetta to show you how to fight." The older said confidently. "I haven't stomped you for a while. I think it's time you remember."

Riku glanced at his brother's retreating form. "Remember what?" He asked rhetorically. "How to cancel out combos right before I kill you? I can't fucking wait!" He grumbled, still too asleep to be doing anything other than pressing the snooze on his alarm, then retreating to his room to change into his sparing gear.

Once he had changed, and had his Keyblade, he came back out, planning to wait on his brother. As he was passing the kitchen, however, he noticed that his brother was all ready waiting for him. Sephiroth was leaned over the table, katana beside him, writing something on a piece of paper. Riku inched closer to the note, barely recognizing the shaky scribble that was coming from his brother's normally steady hand.

"Seph, what are you doing?" he asked, his brows creasing in confusion. He tried to read the messy scribbles, which he was beginning to doubt were even words.

"I'm leaving a note for mom."

Riku snapped his gaze up to his older brother. "Seph…" He stopped, unsure of what to do. His mouth opened and closed, like a fish out of water, while his brother continued to scribble. "Seph, don't."

"Riku, if she wakes up and we aren't here she'll freak!"

"No, she won't."

He stopped writing and skeptically looked up at Riku. "How do you figure?"

"Seph…Seph, please." He looked into his brother's eyes, beseechingly. His brother was having another attack. Moreover, if Riku did something wrong, it could send Sephiroth into a fit.

"Do you want to give mom a heart attack?"

"It won't matter."

Sephiroth creased his eyebrows, confusion written all over his face. "What do you mean it won't matter? You know how mom is. She-"

"Was." Riku cut in quickly.

"What?" He whispered, his eyes becoming hazy with confusion.

"How she was, Seph. How mom was." He took a deep breath. "Mom died a year and a half ago."

Sephiroth watched him carefully, his eyes clouding with disbelief. "Riku, no, she didn't. She's asleep in her room."

"Sephiroth, no one's been in mom's room for the past year. The only thing in her room is dust."

He laughed nervously, backing out of the room. "Riku, you've surely lost your mind." He backed out of the kitchen, and began running down the hall to the master bedroom on the other end of the house. "She's just in here!"

Riku followed him, trying to catch him before he threw the door to the room open. However, as he rounded to the corner of the kitchen into the hall, he saw clearly that it was too late. The door to his mother's old room lay wide open to the world, his older brother standing in shock as he realized his mother wasn't in her bed. Riku grabbed a tranquilizer from the fridge, hoping against fate that Sephiroth wouldn't recover from his shock too quickly. With his needle in this pale hand, he snuck up behind Sephiroth.

"Seph?" He asked, worry more than evident in his eyes as he reached for his brother's arm. He pulled the appendage out, stretching it to where he could see his brother's veins.

"Where is she?" He asked quietly. "I talked to her yesterday."

"No, Seph. You didn't." He pulled the cap off the needle with his teeth, easing it slowly to the muscled arm before him.

"Riku, what are you doing?"

Riku slid the needle into the vein with practiced ease, "Just calm down."

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Axel leaned against his bedroom wall…upside down, contemplating a way to escape without his mom and dad knowing. He wasn't in their good graces since the field house had mysteriously caught on fire. They had no proof it was him who had done it, but the still principal, ZitNose, had called to express his concern for the tall redhead.

The worst part was he actually hadn't done it this time. He hadn't had his lighter since Hollywood had kicked it under the bookshelf in the library cataloging room. However, his father would have none of it. Ansem was dead set on the idea that Axel had done it, if only for the fact that he had done it every other time and seeing as that was the case, Ansem had full-heartedly agreed that Axel should serve detention every morning before school for the rest of his senior year.

He sighed, angrily thumping his head against the floor, causing a slight headache as the blood was sloshed around in his head. His blood thumped harshly against his eardrums, and he was sure he looked like a tomato, but he didn't care. This year was going to hell!

"Little brother! Get out here this moment! I want to go to the mall!"

Axel toppled over, his balance completely cut off when he had nearly jumped out of his skin. His blood flowed back to the rest of his body too quickly, and he got a head rush, while trying to stand. When he was standing without the risk of falling over, he realized the Larxene was standing in the doorway.

She smiled evilly. "Were you trying to find a center in you again, little brother?"

"More like I was trying to find a wall that would eat me." He answered. "So far my wall seems to think I need more salt."

She smirked. "I always thought you needed more sugar."

Axel gave her a sideways glance, grabbing his over-sized black jacket from his floor. "How often do you go around trying to eat me?"

Larxene shrugged. "You just look like one of those bitter foods."

He chuckled, letting her grab his arm and lead him down the stairs. "Here are the keys, you have you're license, right?" Larxene asked thrusting the shiny metal things into his hand.

Larxene used to have her license, but after having three DUI's in a row, they had revoked it until she was 25, forcing Axel to be her personal chauffer. However, he didn't have his own car, so they always had to beg their parents when either of the two were home, and then promise, usually Ansem, that they wouldn't wreck, drink, do drugs, or be home later than eleven.

Axel pocketed the keys. "Yeah. It's in my wallet."

"Where's your wallet?"

"Back pocket." He said, patting his jeans for emphasis.

Larxene nodded, opening the door and stepping through. Axel had almost completely shut the door when he heard Ruxy's piercing scream. "Stop!"

The door reluctantly escaped Axel's hand while the doorway revealed a bleach-blond, her blue eyes blazing with fury. "Where are you going?" She screeched.

Larxene stepped in front of Axel, as if to shield him with her minute size. "We're going to the mall." She paused. "Like you said we could."

She looked between them. "I didn't know you were going to take Axel!"

Larxene let out a short laugh of incredulity. "How'd you think I was getting there?" She asked. "I'm not walking."

Ruxy glared at her daughter. "I thought one of your dates was going to take you." She said. "I didn't think you would take him!" She jerked her head rudely up to Axel.

"That's what you get for thinking."

"You can't go if you're taking Axel. He's grounded."

"Dad said nothing about him being grounded. Only that he had to go to detentions in the morning. Besides," she said defensively. "He didn't do it. He told you that."

"His word against the principal's doesn't hold!" Ruxy yelled.

Axel put his hand on Larxene's shoulder before she could start again. "I'll stay." He said, pushing her aside so he could head back in.

"No!" Larxene gasped his hand harshly, almost enough to make him wince. "You won't. You're going to take me to the mall. We're going to shop, have lunch, shop some more…" She looked at her mother defiantly. "And then, I think we should go see Demyx and Roxas."

"Larxene…" Her mother warned.

"And I'll talk to dad when we get home." She soothed, tucking his long red hair behind his ear.

"You are not going to go behind my back on this!"

"I'm not." Larxene smirked, more than furious with her mother. "I'm going in front of your back." She jerked the door out Ruxy's hand. She turned back to her brother, saying as if the entire altercation hadn't happen. "Let's go!"

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"He thought your mother was still alive?" Aerith asked.

"Yeah. He was leaving a note for her and everything!" Riku yelped, having been asked that exact same question by her at least four times before.

"That's unusual behavior, even for him." She sighed tiredly. She hadn't been able to get any sleep after her double shift before Riku had called her. "Does Xemnas know?"

"Yes. He said he would come over to sign whatever paper he needed to as soon as he could." Riku sat on the couch, stone faced, and cold. He hadn't moved the entire time Aerith had been there. When asked if he had had anything to eat that day, he merely shook his head. To top it all off, he was unusually patient today.

Aerith sat beside the young man, trying to comfort him with her mere presence. "Are you okay with all this?"

Riku snapped his attention to her, his entire face hidden behind a well-constructed mask. "I don't care anymore. She's dead. He's not too far behind. There are some facts you just can't hide from."

Aerith winced at his empty voice. "Riku…"

"I'm going to go take a nap. Wake me up when my uncle gets here."

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Larxene watched her brother adoringly, as he walked around the shop, looking at the random devices around the electronics store. He ran his long fingers over the glass counter lightly, leaning over to inspect a new attachment for his iPod. He shook his head trying to get his 'bangs' out of his face, only serving to shake more of his hair in front of him. She smiled. "You have such beautiful hair. Just like your mother."

He looked over at her, smiling weakly. Against all the odds, Larxene remembered his mother, Lenore, vividly. Their parents didn't know this; Ansem was trying to keep the illusion that they were all one big happy family, no matter what Ruxy or Larxene did. But Larxene remembered Lenore like she had only died yesterday, instead of sixteen years ago.

"What did she look like?" He asked like he did every time she brought up his mother.

"She had the most beautiful blue eyes." Larxene smiled. "I swear they were almost silver."

'I like silver,' he thought.

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Sora walked into his own house, smiling as he heard his father, Cid, yelling at whatever football team was on the screen.

"Actually make a goal, you good for nothing slob!"

From his spot in the kitchen he heard his mother, Acylone, tell his father, "They can't hear you, honey!"

"They might if I yell loud enough!" He said aggressively.

Acylone laughed, "Okay."

Sora shrugged off his bag, leaving it by the door like he always did. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He yelled, walking leisurely towards the living room.

"Sora! The Twilight Trackers are down by seven! Come watch the game with me." Cid yelled, waving his son to the chair beside him.

Sora grinned as he sat in the seat next to his father, though his smile fell when he saw commercials coming on the screen. "That bites!" He complained, throwing himself against the back of the recliner.

'You've all been waiting for it!' An announcer said through the television. 'You've all wanted it! And now, here it is! The dating game…for gays?'

"Ugh! How disgraceful!" His mother immediately stood up, a look of disgust on her face. "Can't they find something better to do that put faggots on the screen? What the hell are they trying to do? Corrupt the rest of the world too?" She quickly stomped out of the living room, as if watching the said television commercial would rot her mind. She completely missed the look on her son's face, or the worried glance that Cid passed him.

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A/N: Oh, how'd you like it? I'm getting all into personal life and I think I like it. Not sure, but I think I do.

It may start taking me longer to get chapters out!! I'll probably start making chapters longer, and if I do that means it'll take longer for me to get them out. I'm sorry. Please don't beat…

But leave a review if you must.

InnocentGuilt