Chapter 4:

Jobs for the Beach

It had been a day since then. I remember Hayner walking up to us with the gang, asking about the photos.

"That's pretty weird, man!" He commented in that boyish way of his. The way that usually makes me want to sucker punch him for sounding the way he does; a complete know-it-all.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't punch him. That would have taken up to much energy.

Roxas and Hayner continued to debate over which picture and this and that as I continued to push myself deeper and deeper into my world of worthless, completely random thoughts.

What was that weird key? Who were the picture thieves? And why were they taking pictures from people?

I found it pretty weird that they attempted to steal such a trinket. You would thing they would go after jewelry or some ones munny.

I continued to ponder this as we delivered the pictures to their original owners.

I think Roxas is worried about me.

I seem to be spacing off a lot lately.

***

I was running through nothing but pitch black darkness.

A visible fog swirled around me, winding around my legs. I was half afraid it would become solid and trip me or worse: trap me there.

The scenery around me changed suddenly, catching me off guard. I was standing on a beach, surrounded by trees. Ahead of me were two little kids, running around and playing in the sea water. They looked about five or six years old.

One had slightly spiked brown hair, the other with straight silver/white hair.

The landscape around me swirled again. The two kids were older now, accompanied by a girl with red hair and violet-blue eyes. They were about ten or eleven, and they were leaning or sitting on a bent tree.

I walked closer, but only caught a glimpse of the brunette before everything around me swirled back into darkness and fog.

Two lights sliced through the darkness, illuminating an area not far from where I was. Two figures stood an arms length from each other, floating a few inches above the ground.

I was compelled to walk towards the light. No, I needed to walk towards it. Had to. It felt like life depended on it.

I ran forward, stepping into the light.

Tilting my head, I examined the two boys in front of me.

One was the brunette. I gasped. The other was Roxas.

Their eyes were closed, but it seemed like they were both breathing. So peaceful and lifelike.

Almost as if they were asleep.

The comparison between them was…well…amazing. They looked so alike. The same height, spiky hair, key blades…

Keyblades?

Yes!

Silver-bladed keys with gold handles and mouse head key chains. Exact replicas of the key thing I had seen in Roxass hand back when we were in the woods.

My vision swam suddenly, and I felt myself fall backwards.

Things went dark for a few long seconds, and then I felt the impact, like I was crashing into the ocean. I couldn't, wouldn't, open my eyes. I was sinking lower and lower.

The odd thing was, I had absolutely no trouble breathing.

Just like all the other weird dreams I had.

I forced my eyes to open, and found myself staring into the familiar blue eyes of one of my best friends.

Roxas looked back at me as we sank lower. I guess neither of us had registered who we were, but I wouldn't know what would happen, because I bolted upright in bed and hit it on the bunk above me.

"Ouch!" I yelped, falling back on my pillow, breathing hard.

"You okay?" Hayner asked, leaning down from the bunk above.

"See? That's why I didn't want a bunk bed. I end up hurting myself." I complained, rubbing my throbbing forehead, attempting to stabilize the pain and circulate my thoughts.

'It was only a dream. You're over reacting, Aquamarine, get a grip on reality! It was only a dream, only a dream…' I mentally told/scolded myself as I stood up and fixed my bed sheets.

"I'm gonna go change." Hayner announced, grabbing his clothes and heading for the bathroom.

After the door closed behind him, I changed into my clothes, and then sat on my bunk, slipping my fingerless gloves on, tying my shoelaces, and mentally berated myself.

"When you're done, come on! We have to go meet the others at the usual spot." Hayner called through the door.

"Be right there!" I shouted, tying the last loop.

"Today, we're gonna go to the beach!" Hayner said triumphantly.

"Uh, hate to rain on your parade," I started.

"But we have no munny." Roxas finished.

I shot him a smile. The whole finishing each others sentences thing saved me breath. Or it showed me and Roxas had a connection. I liked option 2 better.

"Which is why we should do odd jobs in town." Hayner said, scolding us.

"Where are we gonna look for odd jobs?" Olette asked

"The billboards." Hayner gave us all 'Nah-dip, how did that get past your heads?' looks.

I sighed. This had to be fun.

I let myself drift off into lala land while they discussed the issue on how much munny we had.

"How about you, Aqua?" Pence asked.

"Huh?" I snapped back.

"How much munny do you have?" Pence asked again.

"Oh. Uh…" I mentally calculated my summer savings.

"210." I said.

'And you, Roxas?" Pence turned to my blonde buddy.

"120. Sorry." Roxas whispered, looking down.

I nudged Roxas with my shoe. He looked up at me and gave me a tired smile. I could see in his eyes he was forcing himself to reassure me that he was okay. I gave him a look that said I wasn't buying.

He looked back down.

I was so gonna catch him later and see what was wrong.

"Okay. Lets check out the billboards and see what's out there." Hayner said, running towards the nearest board. We all gathered around. There where two job ads and an advertisement showing the struggle matches that were to be held in the next few days.

"You and I have to enter." Hayner said, turning to Roxas. "That way, no matter who wins, we all split the prize."

Roxas nodded, and they pressed their wrists together.

"It's a promise." He said. I smiled. He and my brother really were great friends. I sometimes found myself wondering who Roxas liked better. But I usually shoke the though off. We were all equal.

We split up to do odd jobs, and meet back up later.

We exchanged our prices. I had 476, Roxas had more than that. Way more.

"We put it all together and we get a grand total of 5,000 munny!" Olette exclaimed.

"Here." She handed Roxas the munny and we all ran for the station.

I was on the top step, first to last to go in when I turned and saw Roxas on the ground.

It was weird. It looked like he was being pulled up but I saw no one there. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, but Roxas was already walking up the steps.

I shrugged it off as an eye trick, but deep inside I knew it was much more.

We were inside the station when Hayner turned to Roxas.

"Hey Roxas! Hand the munny to him." He said.

Roxas reached into the front pocket of his jeans, then the back pockets.

"Its gone! The bag is gone!" He exclaimed.

'Uh-oh.' I thought.

"I don't under…." He paused. "That man...He must have taken it!" Roxas said.

I stepped forward and pressed my palm to his forehead.

"What man?" I asked.

"The one back there…" He trailed, looking down.

Hayner sighed.

"Oh well. Lets go get some ice-cream." Pence said as we walked out.

We were sitting on top of the tower, eating Sea Salt Ice-Cream and watching the sunset.

Well, Roxas wasn't, but we were.

Olette looked over at Roxas, examining his ice-cream.

"It's melting." She said.

"Sorry, guys." Roxas sighed.

"Hey, don't worry about it. No biggie." Hayner said.

Roxas sighed and stood up, but lost his balance.

"Roxas!!" I shouted, grabbing his hand before he fell off.

He regained his balance and sat down again, breathing hard.

"You okay?" I asked.

He nodded.

"Thanks." He said.

"No problem." I smiled.

"I'm gonna head home. It's my curfew." Pence said standing up. Olette nodded and followed his lead.

Hayner stood, too.

"Im getting tired, Aqua. Don't stay out to late, okay?" He said, walking away.

I nodded. This gave me the perfect chance to confront Roxas.

"Hey Buddy?" I said.

Roxas looked over at me.

"What?" He asked.

"Some pretty weird stuff is going on around here, huh?" I said.

He nodded. "Yeah. Like the thieves and me losing the munny."

I leaned closer. "I ment your actions and your distance. What's wrong, Roxas? I can tell something is bugging you, and it's killing me that you aren't telling me."

"Oh…That…" He trailed. "I've been having weird dreams lately. About a kid who looks like me. His name is Sora."

I paused to think.

He looked up at me.

"Do you think im crazy?" He asked.

I shoke my head.

"No Roxas. No matter how stupid you act, or how wild or quiet you are, you could never be crazy to me. You're my best friend. Besides, if you're crazy, that must mean that im nuts." I said, standing to walk away.

He turned to look at me as I walked off.

"What is that supposed to mean?" He shouted.

"You're the smart one! You'll figure it out." I waved before disappearing down the star case.

"Diz…" One cloaked figure said to the guy in front of the computer screens.

"I know. Get Namine to erase Roxass memory of his conversation with Aqua. She's not even supposed to be here. I still want to know how she got here."

The cloaked figure nodded, turning to walk through a door that leads to a white room.

Finally, I managed to update. Lol. Things have been hectic lately, what with my birthday less than a month away. I hope this chapter wasn't lacking, but I promise it will get better.

Disclaimer: Im not rich, therefore I don't own Kingdom Hearts.