i just wanna thank the people who have followed/reviewed/favorited and who just generally take the time to read this, you guys/gals make it all worth it

They got to work in the thick silence. He was hurt, Sora thought they'd killed him, but when they stepped out of the van he could see the man writhing and groaning on the concrete sidewalk. Tidus rifled through his pockets and Sora watched him coolly. The only thing he had was a lighter and when Tidus snatched it from his pocket the man looked up, his eyes clouded over in pain and confusion.

"Stop…"

Tidus tossed the lighter to Sora, who caught it in his hand and looked down at it, as if weighing its very history. Axel recognized them now, he could see the confusion turning to fury. But there was concern in his eyes as he looked at the lighter in the palm of Sora's hand.

"Sora…" he groaned and moved to stand before promptly falling back on the ground. Sora remembered his looks, his words, the calculated gestures of disdain and patronization. He was almost reminded of Riku, but he stifled the thought before it could blossom.

Sora tossed the lighter into the river and Axel watched it soar and descend with a distinct plop! into the river on that most silent of nights. His eyes clouded over in defeat. The two boys descended on the injured man. They hauled him into the back of the van. The thick orange cord went around his waist and secured him tightly to the stool. Tidus shut the doors and together they stood before Axel, who looked up at them drowsily, his head wavering from side to side.

"Where's Riku?" Sora asked and Axel's curved upwards in the smallest of smiles. "What did you do with him?"

"You're making a mistake," Axel murmured and Tidus smashed a fist across his face. The man's head flung back and now blood flowed freely from his split lip, trickling down his chin. Tidus moved into the front seat and started the van. They moved out across the borough, stopping only in an area under an overpass in Sunset Parks, secluded even deeper within the darkness of the night.

"We should get Kairi," Tidus murmured.

"No," Sora shook his head. "I don't want her in this."

Tidus looked at him smartly. "She's in this whether you like it or not."

Sora did not respond. "Let's just do this," he said.

"Your friend is dead," Axel called out from the back of the van and Sora had to stop himself from calling back: He's not my friend.

"C'mon," Tidus nodded towards the back and together they returned to Axel. He was regaining his bearings, coming to understand just what had happened.

"I think you assholes broke my leg," he mumbled distastefully, wincing in pain as he shuffled around in the stool.

"A lot more than that is going to break if you don't tell us what we wanna know," Tidus warned.

"And what would you like to know?" Axel retorted, the sarcasm oozing from his voice. Tidus whacked him upside the head and Axel was stopped from attempting to lunge at him only by his injured leg, which Sora now saw was bent at an extremely peculiar angle.

"I want to know everything," Tidus said, "Who you really work for, structure, hierarchy, where your headquarters is, your people in the school, everything."

"Oh," Axel half chuckled half coughed, "Such big words for a little tyke like you. Your mom still whoring it up on sixth?"

Tidus grabbed him forcefully by the head and pulled him close. "Don't you ever talk about my mother."

Sora eyed them nervously. Just outside he could hear someone hooting joyously and glass shattering in the distance. A car drove slowly nearby. Someone could come by, someone could hear them, this could get out of control.

Tidus slammed his fist into Axel's face again and the injured boy coughed and spluttered; blood ran from his nose and he wheezed.

"I'll never betray them in a million years. So you better just get on with it now because they're coming for you after this," he set his hardened gaze upon Sora and he grinned, "They know everything about you kid."

Sora looked on warily and said nothing.

"That's fine," Tidus offered a smirk of his own and he pulled something from his pocket. Sora stared at it, trying to discern what it was in the cramped darkness.

"You like fire, don't you?" Tidus questioned and Axel's eyes flashed. It was a cattle prod, Sora realized. A cattle prod. Sora reached out and grabbed Tidus by the arm.

"Outside."

Tidus cocked his head in confusion and flashed him an annoyed look. "What?"

"Need to talk to you," Sora said and motioned towards the back doors. Tidus grumbled but followed after delivering another punch to the restrained man.

Hands on his hips, Sora studied their surroundings, studied the damp darkness of the street, the stars peeking out beyond the overpass. Wondered what he could say, wondered if they had not made a mistake.

"What's the endgame here?" he asked and Tidus gripped his prod ever more tightly.

"I think you know," Tidus answered. Sora shook his head.

"He's right, though. This is only going to make things worse."

Tidus scowled. "Have you been living the same week I have?"

"He's not going to talk. He's not going to tell us anything useful."

"That's fine," Tidus hummed. "He's not going to tell them anything useful either."

"You can't seriously be thinking about…killing him."

"Oh, I am," Tidus waved the cattle prod around and Sora took notice of the ferocity of his movements. "This is called a show of force, Sora. We have to show them we're serious. That we're not going to lie down anymore."

"That you're not going to lie down anymore," Sora remarked and Tidus clenched his jaw.

"Why did you agree to this if you don't want to go through with it?" Tidus asked testily.

"You didn't say anything about murder."

"I figured it was implicit. You know Riku is dead."

"Maybe," Sora concurred, "But maybe there's a better way."

"This is the only way," Tidus held out his prod. "Bleed them dry."

"You're enjoying this," Sora noted.

"Aren't you?"

Sora kept silent and Tidus, seeing that he had no more questions to answer, opened up the van again. "When you're in it, you're in it. You can keep guard outside if you'd like," he said. Sora caught a glimpse of Axel, face bloodied and matching the color of his hair, leg painfully distorted, his eyes turning slowly up to meet his and as Sora looked into his vacant stare for the last time he felt for the briefest of moments something painful pierce the veil of his heart.

You're Nobody. You're Nothing.

The doors slammed shut.

The sun rises and she is restless. Kairi, head nestled comfortably in her pillow, watches the sky brightening just outside her window. Her chest thuds hard, almost painfully. She thinks of the previous day. Thinks of all the previous days. Excitement, fear, worry. She thinks of Riku and checks to ensure she remembers earlier days and better times. She does, thankfully.

Naminé is already awake, humming softly in the shower down the hall. Sometimes Kairi can hear her singing to herself when she thinks nobody is listening and wonders why she never joined drama. She doesn't like to see potential go to waste.

Kairi shakes herself of her musings. It's another day. Another day in the Gardens, another day in Brooklyn. She rises and stifles a yawn with her hand. She examines herself in the mirror, bending back a little. Curvy, she smiles tiredly.

Pushing the discussions of the day prior out of her mind, she gathers up her clothes. One foot in front of the other. Words to live by.

Kairi steps down the hall and knocks on the bathroom door.

"Nam, you almost done in there?"

No response.

"Naminé?" she calls again.

"Yeah?" her sister calls out over the roar of the showerhead.

"I said are you almost done?"

The shower goes silent and she can hear Naminé stepping out. "Yes, you can have it."

Shower. Makeup. Breakfast. The internal routine does not, cannot, change. External spoilers be damned. Mom and Dad don't have much to say. When do they ever? They eat in silence.

"You girls be careful now," their mother calls from somewhere. It's routine, almost ritualistic. The same goodbye mantra that has not changed for over a decade. If only she knew just how pertinent those words were now, Kairi thinks, and she takes a moment to breathe, to let out the lingering bitterness. It's time for school.

She sighs and together the two girls depart. They arrive at the corner bus stop and await their transportation. The brightening sky has reached its peak and now it lies hidden above darkened clouds. Kairi looks about them, attempting to conceal the anxiousness fighting to present itself on her face and sees nothing out of the ordinary. The bus arrives and they take their usual seats. There is hardly anybody aboard and Kairi watches the borough pass by in silence.

Bright smiles and cheery greetings make themselves known as they arrive at Brooklyn High. She smiles back and titters and feigns interest in the latest dramatic happenings among her peers. She stands on her toes, looks over the heads of the crowd in the halls in the vain hope that she might catch a glimpse of the one person she's looking for. She sighs and turns her attention back to Selphie when she cannot find him.

The day passes slowly. Kairi finds herself glancing at the clock more and more as her teachers drone on and on and on and she shuffles restlessly in her seat. A cold sweat has broken out upon her and she doodles on the margins of her notebook in hopes that time might just run a little faster. God, how she hates time.

Lunch is different. She sets herself down at their table where the others have already gathered. Naminé, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, Aqua. They sit, looking around at each other as if they have been roused from the longest sleep. There is a gaping hole where there shouldn't be. She catches Tidus's gaze and quickly looks away.

"Is Riku sick or something?" Selphie turns to Kairi, worrying her lip. "He's never absent."

Kairi wonders how difficult it might be to conjure up some outlandish story and then realizes it's just not worth it.

"I don't know," she deflates. "I haven't spoken to him since the party."

"Oh," Selphie puckers her lips. They say no more.

She scans the room. Tries to find him. He doesn't come to lunch much anymore, she knows that. Too much had happened in this room. It was funny, in a way. Shameful acts leave shameful victims. She looks to Roxas's table, where he sits munching on his lunch with his friends. Wonders just what had happened between him and his brother to turn their relationship into one of perpetual tension. She recalls that first day, as Sora lay splayed out across the floor along with the contents of his lunch. Foolish of her to think he might have taken refuge there, either then or now. There's enough shame to go around, Kairi thinks.

Something in the back of her mind bristles at the scene before her. That empty spot at the table where she had sat since their very first day as uncertain freshmen hot off the boat from Destiny Islands. She remembers Riku, how cool and confident he had been, leading her and Naminé through the cramped corridors with a hand on her back as the people around them stared and whispered. They were beautiful people. They were treated like royalty. There was no other alternative. He had just wanted to protect them and somewhere along the way things had gone awry. Maybe things had always been.

She turns to Aqua, staring down at the unappetizing food on her tray with a skeptical look and her eyes flicker down to the bruise on her arm. Kairi thinks of her own bruises. Her own scars. This was the price they paid for being who they were.

Vanitas saunters up to them and eyes their table. Cockily, he sits down in Riku's place and everyone turns their eyes to him.

"What's going on, team?" he asks and half grins at them all, tufts of spiky black hair waving in the air conditioned room, his gaze lingering particularly on Aqua. Nobody answers him.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongues?" he chews lazily at his own. His eyes roaming and coming to rest hungrily on Naminé. Kairi feels a chill. He looks so much like Sora and she hates it.

"What do you want?" Wakka asks.

Vanitas shrugs. "Just thought I'd stop by. Seems like you guys need a real morale booster, huh?" he laughs. "See you around," he gives them a mock salute and disappears deeper into the cafeteria.

They were vulnerable now. Yes, they were vulnerable.

Kairi looks forward to History. She hopes that he'll be there and in this hope she identifies something more primal. She has never truly appreciated just how much she looks forward to seeing him. She doesn't know what she'll say, but she just hopes to say something. She takes a seat and looks eagerly and with great interest towards the door whenever someone walks in.

The bell rings. He doesn't come.

School is over. The children file out of their classrooms and out towards the entrance. She knows something is wrong. She can feel it. She searches for her new target and finds him, grabs him and pulls him to the side. Tidus looks at her with surprised eyes.

"Where is he?" she demands.

"I don't know," he responds and in his eyes Kairi can see something that looks like hesitance.

"Yes you do," she states. Her eyes suddenly widen as a new thought crosses her mind, something more terrible than she had yet considered. "They didn't…?"

Tidus shakes his head furiously. "No. At least…not from when I last saw him."

"Which was when?"

"Last night."

She furrows her brows in confusion. "What were you doing last night?"

Tidus rubs his side nervously. "We did the thing…you know, that we said we were gonna do."

Kairi's eyes widen. "Oh." Then the realization hits her. "Why didn't you call me?!"

"Sora didn't want to," Tidus says and then shrugs. "Sorry."

Anger hits her in waves. She could have been there. Could have asked questions. "What happened?" she questions furiously.

"Nothing really," Tidus says. "He didn't give us anything at all."

"Who was it?" she asks.

"Nobody you know."

Now it's the turn of resignation to overwhelm her. "How did you…how did he…"

Tidus shakes his head. "Doesn't matter. He's gone now."

Kairi's eyes widen. "What do you mean gone?"

"Sora kept watch outside. I handled the rest," Tidus says simply. That was enough, she supposed.

"So…he's okay?" she asks and she can't help the relief that floods her voice.

Tidus gives her a knowing smile. "He's fine, as far as I know."

Kairi nods distractedly and turns to leave. "Thanks," she mumbles.

She approaches the projects and her breath catches in her throat, cold air filling her lungs and hovering there. She thinks back to all the times she'd been in his apartment and wonders why this time somehow feels different. She wonders what she expects to find there. She knows the stakes now, knows what he, and by extension her, have gotten themselves into. Their doorman gives her a friendly nod and she offers a small smile herself. She climbs the steps, knocks on the door, and waits.

Roxas opens the door and his eyes light up in bemused interest. "Hey Kairi," he greets.

"Hi," she nods. "Is – um – is Sora around?"

Roxas moves aside to let her in and shakes his head. "Nah, haven't seen him since yesterday actually. He wasn't in school?"

Kairi decides not to dwell on how much attention Roxas actually pays to his brother. She sees the bags under his eyes, much like the ones she herself has tried to paper over with makeup. Everyone's got something, she supposed.

"He wasn't," she affirms.

Roxas rubs his head. "Oh…well, that's weird." He leans against the wall. "He's not…in trouble, is he?" he asks.

Kairi feels her heart bursting in her chest. "N-No!" she stutters. "He's just…you know…Sora."

Roxas doesn't appear to catch on to her sudden display of nerves. He chuckles and palms the side of his head. "Yeah, I know," he says wistfully. They're quiet for a minute before he decides to speak again. "Sometimes…sometimes I wish…"

"What?" Kairi presses.

"I wish I'd handled things differently with him," he admits and she sees him bite his cheek hard. "Sometimes I feel like I don't take enough time to understand…where he's coming from. Y'know?"

Kairi nods.

"He may be only three months younger than me, but he's my baby brother," Roxas says. "I wish I could have given him something better than this."

"It's not your fault, Roxas," Kairi placates. "None of this is."

He gives her a weary smile. "Then why does it feel like it is?"

Sora sat on the pier, legs suspended before the blackness of the river separating him from the city. He sighed as he watched the urban skyline stretched out before him. A bustling city of millions. Women and men. Everyone living their own little life. He gazed down at the river and rubbed his hands together. As above, so below. Now someone else had disappeared under those impenetrable depths. Another one for the fire. Another one for the water.

Sora stood and dragged himself away from the pier. It was something of a comfort to him; a place where he could be reminded that there was something fresh, something whole and unblemished by the everydayness of ordinary lives, nay, something even enhanced by it; and it was just across the river. And yet, that safety net of a skyline has receded ever further from reach. Life wasn't so mundane anymore.

It wasn't long before he found himself haunting the old corners. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? The new year was steadily approaching. He twisted and turned through familiar streets, stepped along dusty sidewalks and squinted at graffiti-marked brick walls. Sounds and sights and all the sensation in the perceptual world could drive away all of the terrifying prospects that both past and future conspired to meld together into one awful present.

Sora heard the two girls before they saw him. Impassioned debate, heated argument, he strained to listen.

"-always there, he's never missed a day."

"Why don't you just ask Tidus?"

"I haven't seen him in days, Yuff. He probably doesn't know anything anyway."

"Look, I'm sure he'll turn up. So he's late one day, what does it even matter?"

"I'm telling you, he's never late. He…he promised he'd never leave me hanging like that."

"I think you're – oh, Sora?"

The girls turned in their seats on the stoop to look at him and Sora smiled and raised a hand.

"Xion. Yuffie," he greeted gently. "How are you?"

The girls didn't seem to know what to say. They blanched. He didn't expect his appearance to be that surprising but they quickly recovered and returned wary smiles.

"Hey Sora," Yuffie said, making a very conscious effort to maintain her usual flair. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah," Sora agreed and sat down on the armrest beside them. He stared out ahead at the empty streets, comfortable smile still gracing his face. The two girls flashed each other confused looks.

"What's up?" Yuffie asked and Xion rubbed her knees nervously.

Sora was silent, taking in the world around them and he breathed in deeply. "Well, I was wondering the same thing, honestly," he said. The girls looked at him warily.

"Neighborhood's really gone to shit, hasn't it?" he remarked.

"I think it's always been like this," Yuffie replied, though a smirk was dancing on her face.

"Yeah," Xion mumbled her assent. The three sat in a silence that grew more awkward each second. Xion studied Sora and seemed to arrive at a decision.

"Sora," she said and Sora turned to look at her. "Um…maybe I shouldn't be asking this, but…you've been working with the Organization, right?"

Sora was quiet, seemed to weigh his response, but inside the gears were already turning. He nodded. "I have been. So have you, right?"

Xion nodded and looked away, chewing on her lip. She really did look so much like Kairi, he noted for what surely was not the first time.

"It's different with us though…I mean…we don't…see them," she finished somewhat lamely. Sora considered her words.

"Are you sure?" he asked her and Xion's expression turned into something fearful.

"Well…that's kind of what I wanted to ask…" she murmured. "You've seen the one with red hair, right? His name is Axel?"

"Right…yeah, I've seen him," Sora let his face fall.

Xion became alarmed at the sudden change in demeanor. "What? What is it?"

Sora looked away. "Was he a friend of yours?"

Xion was quiet for a time. Yuffie pretended to pay attention to her shoes.

"He was my friend," Xion whispered. "He didn't show up to meet me today."

Sora remembered a time when the very same girl had told him that she had never seen other Organization members. He was a rookie back then. Out of his depth, uncertain. Maybe he still was. But he knew better now. Much better.

Affecting a powerful hesitance, he halted, looked at the sky, the two hung on his every exhalation.

"Something happened last night," he said at last and now Yuffie turned from her superficial distractions and they both stared at the boy on the stoop.

"What?" Xion asked and she was almost too afraid to go on. "What happened?"

"They caught him trying to leave, don't know where to," he snuck a glance at Xion and saw the horror filling her baby blue eyes, "they stuck him in a van."

Xion stood and grasped him by the shoulders. "What did they do to him?!"

"They shot him," Sora answered and Xion took a shuddering step back. "They dumped his body in the river. I'm sorry."

"No…" a tear trickled down her cheek and Sora turned his gaze back onto the trash-strewn street. "Why?" she whispered.

"They're animals," Sora responded. "I should go," he said and stood to leave.

"Wait," Xion called after him. "You're just going to let them get away with it?"

"What am I supposed to do?" he shrugged. "You said it yourself, we just work for them."

The grief, anger, and confusion working itself on Xion's face seemed to rival even that he had seen from Roxas. "I-"

"C'mon, Xi," Yuffie placed a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. "You heard him. Just – Just let it go."

"I can't," Xion growled and her jaw worked furiously. "I can't let it go. I'm sick of it. I'm so sick of it. Riku too. Did they-?"

Sora nodded. He wondered just what had occurred between Xion and Axel. He wondered if Axel hadn't in fact been at the street fair that day to see her. Their history. So many histories. Theirs was a sum over all possible paths that were now steadily converging. And he would be its midwife. He would see it through. He had to see it through.

It didn't matter now. All that mattered was what remained. The wreckage that he could pick up and piece together.

"We can do something about it," Sora spoke and the two girls looked up at him, eyes filled with fear and reticence and maybe hope.

He held out his hand to them. "Why don't you come with me?"