Kingdom Hearts: Destiny Unleashed

This chapter was... interesting to write. I am trying to follow the storyline of kingdom hearts, but because I'm not following Roxas, figuring out what to do in the 6 days is confusing...

Chapter 2: Day two

Today was a rather slow going. The air conditioning unit still hadn't been fixed, and while today wasn't as hot as yesterday, the inside of the station was like the inside of an oven. I actually envied the people boarding the nice air-conditioned trains, but I continued on with my work.

It was a particularly torturous day because I was in charge of cleaning the clock tower, today. And not just sweeping and moping the floors, oh no, I had clear the spider webs, shine up the railing, and I even had to clean the clock face, too. I would have been a little less reluctant if I were allowed to help with the monthly maintenance on the clock's gears.

When I was finished, the manager gave me my pay for the week and I headed out. I didn't get too far from the station before I heard some people talking about a fight a little further down the road. I frowned before going to check out what was going on. When I got there, I found myself faced with a rather large crowd formed around the alleged fight, some chanting "Fight!" and some yelping in sympathy at certain times.

"That is IT, Seifer! I can't take this anymore! You're dead!"

That was… Hayner's voice!

"Ha! What're you going to do about it?"

I frowned deeply and tried to peer above the heads of the others, trying to find a way to the center before someone spoke up from behind me

"Hmph, Is that kid really someone Roxas used to hang out with?"

My eyes went wide when I heard Roxas' name, and I whirled around just to catch a glimpse of a red-head in a black cloak walk out of sight.

I must have been just hearing things… right?

I shook my head to clear it before I pushed my way through the crowd. I finally managed to stumble to the center, and when I got there, it wasn't a good sight to see. It was indeed Hayner, and it looked like he'd gotten into another fight with Seifer, but this one was bad. What looked to be a brawl with the struggle match 'swords' turned into an all out fist-fight. I was honestly glad that Ollete and Pence weren't there to see that, and hoped that they wouldn't. Hayner had bruise marks all up his arms from the struggle swords, and it looked like he now had a black eye and a broken nose. Seifer wasn't in very good shape, either; he had a rather large bruise on his stomach that had shown in the area that wasn't covered by his shirt, and his hat had been pulled off, showing the large scar that he'd already had from a fight that no one knows about. His cheek looked really badly injured, and he had a split, fat lip… And now Hayner gave him a black eye to match his own.

I looked around, but couldn't see Fuu or Rai anywhere, though I wasn't complaining, since Hayner would probably be in even worse shape if they'd tag-teamed him. I frowned, calling out to them,

"Hayner, stop this! Hayner! Seifer!"

"Stay out of this, Bailey! This doesn't concern you!" Hayner called

I frowned before running in and grabbing Hayner away, kicking Seifer in the gut to push him back. I kept a tight grip on Hayner as he struggled to get at Seifer, and I frowned, looking at him,

"Hayner, this is going too far! Stop! Do you want to end up in the hospital?"

He just wouldn't listen. I growled before making Hayner sit down, and when Seifer got up and readied an attack on Hayner, I whirled around and decked him square in the face. The 'audience' gasped at this, and some of them cheered a bit. I glared at Seifer before throwing a death glare at Hayner as he tried to get up. This made him think twice about moving, and he stayed in place. I gave a final passing glance to Seifer telling him to back off, before dragging Hayner by his hair off to the usual spot where he and the others hang out. After throwing him onto the couch, I glared at him,

"Just WHAT, in Gaia's name, has gotten into you?"

He looked off to the side with a stubborn look on his face,

"He started it…"

I let out an aggravated sigh as I got out the medical kit that Ollete keeps here, starting to take care of his injuries,

"Hayner, he always starts it. But what the hell did he do that drove you to the point of trying to punch him to death?"

Hayner looked down and away, frowning deeply. When he spoke, it was very quiet,

"He… He insulted Roxas…"

I blinked, letting my arms drop to my sides as he continued to explain

"Tsk, hey, Blondie, don't wimp out on the competition on Thursday!"

Hayner scoffed, frowning at the older boy, Seifer. After a moment of remembering something, he smirked, laughing

"Speak for yourself, Seifer. Don't you remember last year before the tournament? You and Roxas only had a little spar. When he beat you, you chickened out and dropped out of the running, even though Roxas didn't even enter!"

Seifer growled before turning and smirking,

"Ha, well at least I'm not the loser who ran out on his friends."

Hayner jumped before gritting his teeth,

"What did you just say?"

"Hmph, I'll bet he's just a lowly coward. I mean come on! The idiot didn't even tell anyone where he was going! Oh, I know, maybe someone kidnapped him, and he was too much of a wuss to fight back!"

Hayner growled, trembling as he tried hard to control his anger. This was really starting to push him off the edge, though… How could he sit back as this idiot was bad-mouthing Roxas like this? He trembled as he spoke,

"You need to shut your mouth, Seifer, or you'll regret it…"

Seifer scoffed, sneering at the fuming blonde,

"Why should I? I'm telling the truth, you know. All he is; is a pathetic loser, and he'll stay a pathetic loser."

"And… That's when I lunged at him…"

I sighed a bit, shaking my head as I began to treat his wounds, although I grew gentler after hearing that.

"Hayner… I know what he said was terrible… But you can't keep doing this to yourself. One of these days you're going to end up in a hospital, in jail, or dead… You don't really want that, do you?"

He didn't answer for a long moment. After I managed to wrap up his bloody knuckles, he spoke up, even quieter than before,

"… Don't tell Ollete… or Pence… Please."

I looked up at him, frowning,

"Hayne-"

"Please, Bailey…"

I stared at him before sighing and looking down, continuing to fix him up,

"… Alright, I won't. But promise me you won't do this again."

He nodded a bit, and I left the subject alone as I placed a bandage on his forehead.

When Ollete and Pence got back, Hayner and I told them that he'd slipped on the stairs to the clock tower, and somehow they actually believed us.

I stayed around until it got dark to make sure Hayner was okay, before heading back to my apartment. By the time I got there, it was already late.

I stared at the ground as I sat on my bed, holding the controller to my game console. The starter menu chimed in its opening theme, but was blocked out by my wandering thoughts,

"… Now that I think about it… He's gotten hurt quite a few times and said it was because he'd fallen down the stairs, or got hit by some boxes that'd fallen down… Could it be that he's gotten into fights with Seifer like this, before…?"

I sighed a bit, pinching the bridge of my nose,

"Hayner… First Roxas worries the hell out of me, and now you…?"

I looked out the window out the moon, thinking. I know why Hayner lied to them, especially Ollete. Those two worry enough as it is about Hayner and other things. Adding this would just make it worse. And, the fact that Hayner likes Ollete makes it even harder to tell the truth to her…

I sighed loudly and got up, getting ready for bed before I flopped over on my pillow, pulling the covers over my head. After a while, I soon found myself asleep.

I woke up in a panic in the middle of the night, having had the same nightmare as before. I sagged when I figured out I was awake and looked over at my desk. I frowned before standing up and grabbing my notebook and started writing down the details of the dream, not wanting to forget this time.

I ended up falling asleep right at the end, making my pencil draw a scewed line. When I woke up again, I blinked, the paper sticking to my face from having fallen asleep at my desk. I yawned before looking down at the notebook,

"... Let's find out what this means."