A/N: Eek, I'm a writing spree today, methinks. I've already typed out two chapters, and now I'm starting on another one! I think I'll do the replies at the end, so I can give people some more time to review. (winkwink)

Next to Nothing:

Chapter Six:

"The End of the Beginning"

"Well, you two certainly spent a lot of time at Larissa's house!" Yuffie laughed slyly upon our return to Leon's house.

"Long enough." Axel said, just as sly, and caught my eye right as we both burst out in an uncontrollable fit of laughter.

Moving on completely, Yuffie asked, "So you're okay now, Larissa?"

I shrugged. "More or less, as usual. Being dead will do that to you." I glanced at Axel, who nodded his head in agreement. Finally, I had someone who really understood me. Who knew me. An old friend. I sat down at Leon and Yuffie's kitchen table, gesturing for Axel to sit across from me. He sat in the chair opposite mine, but something exploded in the back of my mind, as though someone had shoved a bomb in the back of my head while I wasn't paying attention. Something spread throughout my whole body, and I was suddenly reminded of Catássa's warning about uncontrollable flashbacks.

Axel's concerned face flashed before me, shifting and changing into someone I remembered. I saw—I saw Avery.

I sat patiently across from Avery, reading to myself as he poured his concentration into the Chemistry textbook before him. Well, at least, I had assumed that had been what he was concentrating on. But I was in his Chemistry class, and we didn't have any homework, nor was it like Avery to study. Hmpf. That would be something to work out later.

I was having trouble concentrating, but it was not because the book was boring. It was just a little something I was reading for pleasure, a mystery book, one of those murder-thrillers that keeps you hooked until the very last page. Well, supposedly. I was having trouble staying focused, and I strongly suspected that it had something to do with the red-haired guy, two years my senior, sitting across the table from me. But I pretended not to notice him and tried to absorb myself in my mystery book.

But still, I couldn't help but glance up every fifteen or so seconds, just to try and catch him staring at me, as I had before in said Chemistry class. I had never really been able to look him in the eye. It may sound stupid, but sometimes I wondered if he could read my mind, with such big, beautiful, green eyes. And I had never seen eyes like his. It was almost as if there had just been two big emeralds set into his face. I could have sworn he could read my thoughts just by looking in my eyes.

Tearing my thoughts away from Avery's eyes, I tried to shove my conscience back into the mystery book, in which the detective in question was interrogating the victim's mistress, but part of me, well, all I really want to do was stare at Avery, and hope that he could read my thoughts. Provided he even, well, assuming he even knew who I was.

But of course, of course he knew who I was. The whole school talked about us. 'Larissa and Avery, the kids with the marks.' That's how we were known, that's how we were associated with each other. By the marks under our eyes. Tiny little black triangles had somehow set us apart from anyone else in the entire high school. Mine, well, I had had mine since I was born. Birthmarks, I guess you could say. But I didn't know about his, or how he had gotten them. We had never really spoken about that.

We had made casual conversation in the past, as most people do, when coming to and from Chemistry, the one class we had in common. Well, I was a freshman and he was a junior, so I guess we weren't expected to have many classes in common. But still there was so much in common about us, once you stopped to think about it. Still, you couldn't really consider us as friends. Not at the time, at least. As I got to know his younger sister better, I began to learn more and more about him, and the more I realized that there was so much to learn.

I flashed back to the present, and as I looked into Axel's eyes, I could still see a little bit of Avery in there, deep inside. So complex, so mysterious, like a locked box without a key.

"Did you have a flashback?" Axel asked hesitantly, as if he were frightened. And just as well, he probably had every reason to be frightened. After all, who knows how long I had been zoned out, lost in the past?

"Yeah, I did."

"What did you remember?" He asked, just as hesitantly as before. But I smiled softly, shyly.

"You."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Avery, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah." I said, thinking to myself. "It's funny. In the library, y'know, at school, you always seemed to be working on Chemistry homework, even when we didn't have any."

Axel smiled, but looked down, lost in thought as well. "I never did my Chemistry homework. I failed that class. I actually had to retake it in summer school before my senior year. Do you know why I failed that class?"

Even though I thought I knew, I decided to play dumb, just for a moment. "Why?"

"I was always watching you. I found it so hard to concentrate, with you sitting right in front of me, when it took all my strength not to just reach out and touch your hair. And all that time I spent in the library, when I was supposed to be studying, I was watching you read. I just loved the look on your face as the story unfolded before you, and it was more than enough to draw me away from the world of chemistry, I'll tell you that."

"And I'm sure it wouldn't take much. You were never the best student, were you?"

"By no means was I."

We sighed, in unison. There was more silence, but it wasn't empty. Sometimes, I decided, sometimes you don't need words. Sometimes the silence is just enough. Without warning, Yuffie came rushing over.

"Sorry to interrupt this romantic reunion, but there's been news of Sora! Come here!" She gestured to where Aerith, Cloud and Leon were all crowded around a newspaper.

The Garden Times had a front page article about a sighting of Sora, Riku and Kairi.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but—" I paused, grimacing, "But where exactly where were they spotted?"

"It says," Aerith said, scanning the article, "Oh, oh my goodness."

Leon finished for her. "They've been spotted in the World that Never Was."

I looked at Axel, smiling mirthlessly. "Well, I guess that's right up our alley."

He returned the mirthless smile. "In more ways than one."

A/N: Well, chapter six, and I'm finally moving into something I might call a plot! Yeah! Go me! I'm on a roll. That's three chapters in two days. Whoooooo!