Axel fled.

He fled like he had been the whole night; turning down any street he came across, running in any direction available to him. He would have to stop again soon. He knew it, and he hated it. He didn't want to stay in any one place longer than absolutely need be, his fear of discovery was too great.

Legs dropping like molten lead, Axel's foot caught on broken pavement, pulling him to the ground in an instant. Breathing heavily, he pushed himself back up slowly. He was in the suburbs now at least, perhaps he could spare a short rest. There was a van parked on the side of the street, just to his right. Not the best of cover, he admitted, yet under the circumstances it would have to do. His legs felt like fire.

The thought of fire brought a tired groan from Axel, leaning back with a loud thump against the cold metal exterior. He slid to his knees, the thoughts returning unbidden.

The building had been empty, he had known that from the very start, yet it changed nothing about what had happened there. He remembered it like it had only happened moments ago, seconds even. His companion ... no, his former companion had changed everything. Axel did not know why. They had grown up together, and had always been the closest of friends. Yet that had all changed two weeks ago when they moved here, to Pleasantview. None of it made any sense, but it had happened nonetheless, and Axel had ended up in the building. He could still hear his friend's voice.

"Power, Axel, Power! Do you not feel it? Do you not yearn for it? It's there, right inside you, waiting for you to reach out and grab it," his friend had spieled, the night's wind from the window making his blue hair flow unnaturally. "We can do this together, you and I, just like old times."

"No," Axel had cried, "I won't! I don't want this-"

Before he could even react he had been thrown to ground, the air knocked out of his lungs completely. Struggling to breathe, Axel tried to crawl backwards. The best friend he had ever known followed.

"Axel," his voice had been unnaturally calm, lacking any hint of emotion, "There are others. Like us. You will join me, Axel, or you will die here."

"Never!"

Next was the part that scared Axel the most. It terrified him completely. The dark and empty building lit up as a spiked monstrosity of a weapon leaped into existence, his friend swinging it at him with no emotion on his face whatsoever. Axel did not remember how he did it, but somehow a similarly spiked wheel had found its way into his hand, just in time to save him from the crushing blow. He had screamed as the weapons collided. He screamed, and the building around them erupted into flame.

Laughter echoed over the roar of the fire, yet everywhere he looked his friend was nowhere to be seen. Shielding his face from the searing heat, Axel had peered out the glassless window. He was on the second floor, yet as he turned away his eyes caught on a blonde haired man outside, staring directly up at him. His breathe caught, causing Axel to burst into a painful coughing fit, fleeing down the stairs as fast as he could. Once outside on the grass he looked back. The burning shell of a building lit up the night around him with a fiery glow, searing the air all around him. His eyes found the window he had been looking out and Axel froze. Inside the window was the man with blonde hair, looking left and right frantically. At the last moment he met Axel's eyes, right before the floor above him collapsed, covering the window with a screen of debris and fire.

Before Axel even had the chance to yell a voice had whispered, right in his ear.

"Well done."

With a manic scream he had fled; from his former friend, from the blonde man who had followed him, from the inferno he had somehow caused. That had been last night. A whole day had passed, yet Axel could still feel the tight lump of fear in his throat, even as he tapped his hand unconsciously against the rusted van. He understood none of what had happened, yet he knew with every ounce of his being that he was frightened, completely scared out of his wits that his friend would find him again.

Yet, despite his fear, Axel couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the blonde haired man. Had he been trying to save him? Perhaps he had been, but that only made the knot of guilt inside him tighten. Of course, it was possible that he had in fact made it out alive. Seriously injured perhaps, but he could have survived. A dim possibility, but far better than knowing that he had killed a man, and a man who looked incredibly familiar at that.

The van behind him yelped as Axel's head thudded back against it in thought. Was that a voice? No, probably just squeaking joints. Even so, Axel surmised it was about time to get going again. As he got to his feet he stared up at the night sky. The vast darkness was comforting, with the pinpricks of light shining down motionlessly. No matter how far he had run, they hadn't changed at all. Blonde hair ...

The wind whistled past him, making Axel shiver at the night's touch. It was entirely possible that Roxas had survived. Whether he had or not, surely there would be news of it, in the newspapers perhaps, or at the hospital. Finding out whether he had even survived would surely be the least Axel could do.

Even as Axel ran against the freezing cold wind, he began to sweat, mind reeling in a new wave of fear. How had he known the man's name?

"This is Sky to Land. Sky to Land, do you copy?"

Silence answered him. He tried whispering a little louder.

"This is Sky to Land-"

"Sora, those names are utterly ridiculous. Do we have to use them?" The static sounding voice spoke back. He had spent all night coming up with those names. Oh well.

"Kairi? Where's Riku?"

"He went to bed. He said it was boring."

"What? Oh come on! You believe me, don't you Kairi?"

"... Riku believes you more than I do, Sora."

"But I'm being serious! I'm totally freaked out here. When have I ever lied to you?"

"Half an hour ago, about the zombies."

"...Okay, that might not have been true, but this time I mean it!" Sora shifted around nervously in the otherwise empty van. He really did mean it this time. Something kept banging on the side of the van, yet when he had looked there was nothing there. He may or may not have squealed like a little girl the last time it happened, but Kairi most certainly did not have to know that bit. "Please Kairi?"

Kairi grunted in annoyance. "Fine, Sora, I'll come get you. But next time you want to spy on the neighbours do it on a night I'm not home."

"Thank you Kairi! You're the best!"

"Yeah yeah." The static cut out and Sora beamed out the van's window expectantly, waiting patiently in the darkness. The last time the banging sound had reached his ears Sora had had the brilliant idea of turning off the interior lights, so as to not be seen by whatever was out there. What he hadn't counted was just how much scarier it was sitting alone in a van at night with no lights on. That's when he had given up.

He smiled happily at the sight of a torchlight making its way across the front lawn, quickly exiting the vehicle and running back across the road to meet Kairi - one of his best friends and currently his flatmate. Matching him in height, she brushed a strand of her red hair out of her eyes as she shone the light across the van.

"As you can see, Sora, there's nothing there."

Sora crossed his arms, frowning seriously at her. "You really don't believe me, do you?"

Smiling at him mock sweetly, Kairi poked him sharply in the chest with the torch, plunging the night into darkness once more. "Not one bit." With that, she was walking back up the path. After a short second of frowning, Sora hurried after her. Being left alone outside at night was most definitely not on his To Do list. It was cold, and scary, and invisible things attacked your van. Clearly it was not where Soras were meant to be.

Once back inside he sighed a breath of relief, causing Kairi to shoot him a pitying look before wordlessly returning to her room. They had moved in, along with their mutual friend Riku, just a little over a month ago, but Sora still didn't trust the neighbourhood. There was this creepy old guy with an eye patch who wandered around late at night with no shirt on, and if that wasn't enough of an indication of a dodgy neighbourhood, Sora didn't know what was. True, that was the only sign, as there was amazingly next to no crime whatsoever, but he wasn't willing to take any chances. Kairi had told him he needed a hobby to keep his mind off his conspiracy theories, yet she had certainly not counted on him taking up spying on their neighbours as said hobby. Sora was this close to proving that eye patch man was actually a werewolf of some kind. All he needed now was proof.

Now that he was inside once more his excitement quickly faded, leaving Sora at a loss of what to do next. He watched the clock tick over midnight as he wandered to the kitchen, standing on the tiled floor and looking out the window in thought. He supposed it was getting late, yet being a jobless university student right in the middle of a lengthy period of holidays left him with nothing to actually wake up for in the mornings. He almost wished classes would start up again, just to give him something to do during the day. Almost.

It took him a moment to realise that the small enclosed back yard was currently host to a Riku, lying face up on the grass, staring up at the sky in the baggy grey shirt and pants he used as pyjamas. Peeking through the kitchen blinds, Sora could clearly make out the silver hair hanging down around his shoulders, with green eyes staring out of his pointed face. With a grand total of zero things to do at the moment, Sora carefully slid open the squeaking sliding door and joined him outside, creeping up just to Riku's left. Without even looking up, Riku spoke.

"Had enough spying for one night, Sora?"

Sora made a face in reply. "I thought you went to bed."

Riku shrugged, not taking his eyes from their heaven-ward gaze.

"I couldn't sleep."

His eyes following Riku's, Sora stared up at the sky. It really was beautiful, doming over head at some phenomenal distance above.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Sora spoke softly. He didn't hear Riku reply, but he didn't mind so much, taking in every last sparkle the sky had to offer. The moon itself was a huge glowing orb, a full circle of light in the dark sky around it. It was all so peaceful. Sora couldn't help but feel foolish for being scared out of his wits just moments before. Somehow, it seemed like nothing could go wrong under something as vast as the night sky.

Not wanting to break the silence, Sora's mind gently drifted to what he did best when he had absolutely nothing to do; he mused. First up on his musing list was what had been on his mind ever since he took a class in philosophy last semester. At first he had been rather unimpressed with the class as a whole, but after he had been forced to sit down revise for the exams by none other than Riku himself, Sora had been fascinated with it. He had to admit, it offered a lot more conversation points than his failed attempt at late night neighbourhood spying did.

"Hey, Riku?"

"Yeah?"

Just how would he phrase this? It was a little unordinary, he was sure, but wanted to voice his thoughts to someone at the very least.

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately..." Riku shuffled in the grass idly as Sora tried to put his thoughts into words, "like ... is any of this for real ... or not?" A short moment of silence followed Sora's question.

He was genuinely offended when Riku proceeded to burst into laughter.

"Heey, I was being serious."

"Oh come on, Sora. Since when are you ever serious?"

Crossing his arms, Sora shot Riku his very best angry face. It was more of a pout, to be fair, but Sora knew for a fact that his pouts could melt steel when they were directed at Riku. They weren't anywhere near as effective on Kairi, but he had Riku under his thumb when it came to facial expressions.

As expected, Riku's laughter died down to a bemused chuckle at the sight of Sora's face.

"Okay. Sorry Sora. What's up?"

With a grunt, Sora looked back up at the sky above, eyes sparkling in the dim light.

"I'll get back to you once I remember."

Riku snorted in laughter once more before falling quiet. He was not silent for long however, soon speaking up once more.

"Actually, Sora. There's something I've been thinking over too."

"Oh? What's that?"

Before Riku could answer, a tapping noise sounded from the window. Sora and Riku both looked up to see Kairi in her dressing gown, motioning for them to come inside and pointing up at the sky. True enough, when Sora glanced upwards there was a rather dark and menacing looking cloud hanging over head. How had he not noticed it before? He could've sworn the sky had been clear.

"It looks like your side quest might just have to wait Riku."

Riku smiled back at him humourlessly as they got to their feet. Of course, he and Riku were the gamers of the trio; it was something Sora could share just with Riku alone. Kairi was more of an internet queen, buzzing around art sites and starting up multi-tiered conversations left right and center. She claimed not to be any good at art herself, but Sora had seen her work and it was actually pretty darn good. Not that he could ever tell her that, since it was mostly of the yaoi variety, and it was probably safer just to avoid that topic altogether. He had printed out a few of her pictures on the side though, truthfully, because it was yaoi, and good yaoi at that.

As Kairi shut the door behind them she smiled at Sora.

"I found a website you might like. It's filled with crazy conspiracy stuff."

"Oh?" Sora perked up.

Riku glanced at Sora briefly before disappearing to his bedroom, completely unnoticed as Sora followed Kairi off to hers, chattering excitedly about possible werewolf sightings around Pleasantview. Hours later, when Sora would peek into Riku's room to see if he was awake, Riku would be nowhere to be seen.

Demyx Brine was not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen on his normal Monday evening. He sat, as he usually did, in his lounge, talking to strangers in other countries as he blasted them out of existence with his much practiced video game habits. Of course, this often landed Demyx in more virtual turmoil than even his faulty connection would warrant. He wasn't one for rules, nor did he find any perverse pleasure in simply fighting coded enemies, leaving him with the even more satisfying task of being completely non-serious and goofing off in any and every way possible. Sadly, few of the other players found his attempts to throw miscellaneous household items at them while dancing the Macarena even in the least bit amusing, leaving Demyx a very much avoided player in the rings of the ill-humoured teenage fanbases.

On this particular evening, Demyx was dropping his controller with disgust and rising from his well indented couch, having been banned from yet another server for the evening. Musing over how people took zombies far too seriously for their own good he flicked over to normal television for a brief moment, hovering indecisively between sitting back down and leaving the room. Apparently the news channel greatly wanted to remind him about the unsolved murder of Xion Roberson, found in her home with no clear cause of death nearly two weeks ago, asking him to call the hotline if he had any information about her mysterious death. Snorting dismissively, Demyx dropped the remote next to the controller and left the room.

Noting the late hour, he padded softly over the kitchen tiles to raid the cupboards of anything and everything sugary he could find. He shortly padded back with the fruits of his labour - a single juice box. He was vaguely disappointed with the distinct lack of anything chocolate flavoured as he plonked himself haphazardly down onto his computer chair, spinning around to face it lazily. He mused over writing a lengthy vent about this recent down turn of events on his online journal, leaving him to check back every few minutes just in case someone bothered to write half a sentence in reply. Oh yes, a busy night lay ahead of Demyx, he could already tell.

His intensely important schedule was, however, interrupted by a sudden ringing sound echoing down the hallway. Demyx glanced up at the fish shaped clock on the wall as he sipped the rest of his juice box dry. A visitor at 11:17pm. He wasn't about to lie, a visitor at anytime of the day was a rather incredible turn of events in the household of Demyx Brine. Unless, of course, it was a tipsy Xigbar inquiring as to whether Demyx had any spare alcohol again. Neighbours, oh how he could do without them.

The person he found when he tugged his heavy front door open was not the drunken surfer however. He instead found himself blinking down at one of the last people he had expected to turn up at his home unannounced; Zexion Green. Zexion had been a close friend of his in college a few years back, before they had each gone off in their separate career directions on opposite sides of town from each other. He looked just the same as ever, hardly having changed at all. His well tailored hair hung down sharply before his face, purple eyes reflecting the colour of the night sky. The most notable change would of course be the fact that he was wearing a long doctor's coat - shining white, thankfully. Demyx hated blood.

After revelling in the sight of his surprise guest Demyx realised this was quite possibly the right time to voice some sort of greeting. He cleared his throat softly and lowered the empty juice box from his lips.

"Uh, Hey there, Zexion?" Demyx's eyebrow shot up of its own will to accompany the pseudo-question.

"Yeah! I, uh ... Hi! Demyx."

The short guy was a strange sight indeed, bobbing up and down on his heels excitedly and smiling up at Demyx. He had dark rings under his eyes, Demyx noted, as if he hadn't slept in weeks. Being a doctor must really been more tiring work than television dramas made it out to be. Yet ... here? In the middle of the night? It was an effort to dismiss the thought that he may have brought chocolate with him.

"Uh, whatcha doin' here? I didn't know you were coming." Demyx ran through his memory for a brief moment, just in case he had actually known but had then forgotten, as usual. "I didn't miss an email or something did I?" he asked, unconsciously glancing down the hallway at his computer, as if all its secrets could be deciphered in a mere glance.

"Oh! I um ... Nope! Didn't email. I just thought I'd drop by," Zexion answered, with all too much enthusiasm, still rocking backwards and forwards on his heels and smiling eagerly. He frowned for a moment and shook his head.

"No, that wasn't it..."

Leaving it at that, he continued smiling at Demyx hopefully. Demyx fought the urge to raise his eyebrow yet again.

"Uh ... You okay Zex?"

The smiling Zexion nodded in rapid succession.

"Yes yes! Caffeine pills! You live aaages away, I hope you know. " Then he sneezed.

By his own judgement, Demyx was about as far from a doctor as one could get, yet he made a mental decision never to dispose of any caffeine he had in his possession; this was quite simply the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen. The smart and witty Zexion Green, turning up on his doorstep for the first time in years, twittering like some sort of psychotic land mammal. He had half a mind to just shut the door there and then, dismissing this whole encounter as some sort of sugar induced hallucination. It was tempting, very tempting, but the thought of letting Zexion drive anywhere else in such a state was even scarier than the thought of letting him come inside.

Apparently, he didn't have much choice in the matter. Demyx returned Zexion's smile suspiciously and gestured vaguely down the hall.

"Uh ... Wanna come in?" Please say no.

"Sure!"

Drat.

Demyx was left holding the door open as Zexion wobbled around the doorway, looking ready to collapse through the wall with every step. Rolling his eyes, Demyx stared out the doorway at the night sky. It sure was a beautiful night, even if it was as cold as anything. Shivering through his cotton pyjamas, Demyx went to shut the door, stopping abruptly as he caught sight of the street. There were two unfamiliar cars outside his house, a dilapidated old brown thing, and a new looking white van. He recognised the latter as Zexion's, yet where had the former come from? It would have escaped his notice completely if the interior lights hadn't turned off the exact moment Demyx had looked at it.

"Zexion, you didn't bring company did you?"

Zexion turned in mid step, eyes wide as tea cups.

"Nope!"

Nodding happily, Zexion fell against the wall as he turned back around, muttering a surprised "Woooah" as he righted himself. Shaking his head in disbelief, Demyx shut the front door firmly behind him. As an afterthought he leaned over and carefully peered through the glass panes of his door frame. The lights in the van were still turned off; it didn't look like anyone was inside. Perhaps he had just imagined it. He watched for just a little while longer, just in case, though nothing else out in the night seemed to want to attract his attention. You could never be too careful these days.

Quickly making off down the hallway, Demyx's mind returned to the problem of his surprise guest. In his experience, people who turned up at people's houses in the middle of the night were either looking for a party or a place to hide, and Zexion had never been one for parties. He opened his mouth to demand just what Zexion doing here, caffeine pills and all, yet upon entering his lounge he found the white cloaked form of Zexion lying peacefully on his couch, eyes shut and a placid grin on his face. Just how did anyone fall asleep that fast?

Demyx raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. It would just have to wait till morning, he supposed, and if Zexion was still here then he would have a lot to answer for. Glancing forlornly over at his computer Demyx wished he had one anywhere else but in the lounge at this moment. He very much did not want to wake anyone up who may or may not be able to go back to sleep due to a caffeine rush. Clicking his fingers to a beat only he could hear, Demyx made his way to his bedroom, idly trying to remember the last time he had gone to bed so early.