A/N: So I've gotten a few reviews on another unrelated story of mine recently. They politely pointed out my flaws and I got a chance to fix my little story for the better. I like that. As always, if you catch any mistakes, please let me know.
How do you like the cover? This chapter's a little late because I spent a few days working on the cover instead ^^;
Since this is still the beginning of our tale, a lot of what's going on is setting down ground work for the future chapters. The next few chapters will be the big ones that kick everything into action, though it may be hard to tell at first. Please be patient with me.
Fun Fact: The plot Sora shares is actually the plot of an original story of mine.
Enjoy.

A bout of silver swam through the calm ocean waters effortlessly. The water was shockingly clear here, almost as though one were swimming through blue tinted glass. Fish darted here and there in their beautiful home. Up ahead, something else swam. The silver surfaced for air. From up ahead, the same voice caught between adolescence and childhood poured into the water and was carried down to the silver. It was calling cheerfully, playfully. That handsome voice from before fell into the water with a gentle splash and flowed against the current, flowing on up ahead as the silver returned to the ocean and swam in the same direction. Following the colors of that innocent voice and leaving a trail of breathy voice pouring into the water behind, the silver swam harder. Glimpses of chestnut were scattered between the clear blue waves and the ever flowing sharper voice. The silver grew nearer and nearer, until it surfaced beside the chestnut. Just as before, a breathy, mirth filled, adolescent laugh dripping with boyish charm and handsome features poured into the air to swirl and mix with a laugh filled with innocence and amusement before the mixture slipped down into the water.

Riku allowed himself to drift back to his mysterious dream from the previous night as he droned out the chemistry teacher's insistent lecture. Somewhere deep in his mind he attempted to figure the chances of this particular lecture being neglected by his government mandated textbook. The good student in him was currently being undermined by the analytical portion of his brain that was contemplating the recurring theme of his latest nighttime imaginings.
The voices are key.
Something inside of him knew the answer, but withheld it with smug confidence, the knowledge that a juicy bit of information he wanted was solely in it's possession. It resolved to dropping hints instead, something Riku was normally ok with, except this didn't involve Riku alone. The sea-foam eyed teen was positive the chestnut color in his dream was Sora. Never before had he seen such a color on anyone else.
"Pst, Riku," Zexion hissed a warning to the boy sitting across the aisle from him as their teacher glanced at the zoned-off silveret during his speech. The blond man, who resembled someone from back at Hallow Bastion, though Zexion couldn't quite place who, had narrowed his green eyes and was making his way towards them without missing a word.
It was the same voice, too, so Sora must've been in the last dream…
Marluxia glanced at the dazed teen with mild interest and made no attempt to warn him even though they were close enough for him to discreetly kick the silveret's desk.
I need more information…
Reno proved that a good kick wasn't enough to snap Riku out of it anyway as the bored redhead who sat behind the green-eyed boy decided to tap out a beat on the chair leg in front of him.
Will I have another one of these dreams?
"And so, once combined with hydrogen atoms, the resulting mixture is paying attention in my class. I'd appreciate it if my students could do so on their own, however, Mr…" The teacher trailed off to glance at his seating chart and rap on the desk with a yardstick. That seemed to do the trick, as Riku nearly leapt out of his skin and had to bite back a yell of surprise, "…Ricky," the teacher finished, looking up from his chart. "Care to inform us what scientific epiphany you've just reached?" Several students snickered at the silver haired boy who clearly hadn't the vaguest idea what had been discussed whilst he'd been locked away in his own head. He did know one thing, however.
"It's Riku, sir," he corrected gently.
"Hm?" the teacher blinked, glancing back at the chart. "Ah, you're correct. Either way, Mr. Riku, I'm sure the class would love to hear of your findings." Riku didn't have an answer. "No? Well then, until you're ready to teach, I suggest you listen to me when I do it. Maybe you'll learn a few pointers. Now, as I was saying…"

"Hey, wait please," a voice called out to Riku as he was about to leave the classroom and meet Marluxia and Zexion in the hallway. He halted and looked over his shoulder at the redhead who'd called out to him. She was a senior, he noted. She proved to be a little clumsy as she hurried after him, stumbling a bit as if she were new to the concept of legs. Her hair was redder than Kairi's, but not by much.
"Ricky, right?" she stated when she stood in front of him. They were about the same height.
"Riku," the silveret corrected, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice. This girl was too ditsy for him to really blame.
"Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Ariel," she said, extending a hand. Riku took it so as not to come off as cold, though he eyed her skeptically. He waited for her to continue, and eventually she got the hint.
"I was wondering, are you dating anyone right now?" she asked. Riku blinked. It'd been a little bit since he'd been asked out. Something caused him to hesitate as he was about to answer the senior before him.
"I'm…not really looking for a relationship right now…" Riku said, abiding to the mysterious wishes from some obscure part of himself. He didn't see why he should turn the nice girl down, but he decided it'd be best to trust his instincts.
"I see," Ariel said, seeming a bit let down. "Well, let me know if you change your mind," she said before leaving. Riku simply nodded, left with his conflicting thoughts.

"What was the hold up?" Marluxia asked as he, Riku, and Zexion walked down the hallway.
"That senior girl from our class,"
"The one with red hair?" Zexion interrupted curiously. Riku nodded and continued.
"She held me back to ask if I was in a relationship."
"Are you?" Zexion asked, raising an eyebrow at the somber tone the silver haired teen beside him had adopted.
"Haven't been for a while now," Riku answered, temporarily thinking back.
"So what happened?" Marluxia continued, his tone suggesting he was only half interested.
"I turned her down."
"May I ask why?" Zexion glanced sideways at Riku, reading him with those intelligent violet orbs of his.
"…I'm not sure," Riku shrugged. "See you," he added when they reached the intersection in the hallway where they split to go their separate ways.

Riku was addressed as Ricky seven more times that day before he finally made it to is free period. One of the lucky few who had fourth period, just before lunch, class free, Riku decided to put all his things into his locker rather than cart a heavy bag around for the next two hours.
"Riku," a voice called him by the right name for once as he pulled open the metal box.
"Yeah?" he answered without looking to see who it was.
"We're meeting up in the same place today for lunch," the person continued. Riku closed his locker and turned to find himself being addressed by Larxene.
"Okay?" Riku felt like she was trying to imply something. The blonde's eyes seemed to be imploring him to say something more. Apparently giving up, she sighed overdramatically at him.
"We need to plan out our film," she explained. Riku nodded, remembering what he'd gotten himself into. Larxene seemed satisfied and promptly walked away, finished with him. Riku sighed and wandered down the hall, debating on where he wanted to spend his free time. He didn't get far before he was stopped by someone else.
"Hello, Riku," a tall man with long silver hair greeted him. His green, cat-like eyes were focused coolly on Riku's face.
"Hello, Coach Sephiroth," Riku greeted back calmly.
"I take you'll be attending the tryouts this Saturday afternoon?" the black-clad coach asked him. Riku nodded once. "Good," was all he got before his fellow silveret turned and walked away. Riku tried not to shiver from how cold the tall man acted. Something about the tall coach always gave him the impression he was disliked. His parents insisted he be on the basketball team, though, so for now, Riku would just have to deal with it. With a sigh, he carried on his wandering.

"Where's Roxas?" Olette asked as she, Hayner, and Pence were the last ones to sit down in the grass with their lunches.
"He finally gave in and decided to stay home," Namine answered, glancing at the empty spot beside Axel. Roxas had progressively been growing paler and paler, if that were even possible, given his state on the first day.
"So, we're talking about the movie?" Sora asked Larxene. She blinked and turned her attention from Roxas's empty space to Sora.
"We need to decide what the story should be about," she informed them.
"Which one of us is going to write it?" Riku asked in a half interested tone. His mind was more focused on his recurring dreams and the tryouts at the moment.
"We'll get to that later. For starters, we need a plot to write about," she explained. Her tone suggested she was talking to third graders. Riku wondered how the others put up with living with her. She was already too motherly for his liking, and then she had her way of talking down to everyone.
"There should be adventure!" Sora cheered.
"What kind of an adventure?" Zexion asked, not looking up from that book of his. Riku vaguely wondered what could possibly be so interesting about a book that thick and old looking. Sure, Zexion might be into that stuff, but more than once he'd seen Demyx glance over Zexion's shoulder to read it as well.
"It has to have love in it too," Olette added in softly. Kairi nodded in agreement.
"We could…" Namine began but dropped off randomly and went back to her drawing.
"Do you have an idea?" Demyx asked her. Everyone stopped throwing out ideas for a moment to listen to the small blonde girl.
"W-well, I just thought, maybe, we could revamp a fairy tale, or something," she said softly, not looking up.
"I love fairy tales," Kairi said dreamily.
"What one should we do?" Pence wondered aloud.
"Well, what all ones are there?" Sora started.
"Cinderella," Kairi supplied instantly.
"Beauty and the Beast," Marluxia offered.
"That sounds too hard to do," Hayner pointed out. A muttered consensus of agreement flowed through their small circle.
"Sleeping Beauty," Axel brought up.
"Red Ridding Hood," Demyx added in.
"Oh, I had to write a remake on that once for a school paper!" Sora proclaimed, practically bouncing up and down.
"What'd you do with it?" Demyx asked.
"It's at home somewhere," Sora answered simply, taking a drink of his chocolate milk. Riku sipped from his own water bottle, not able to understand why anyone would drink the overly sweetened, watered down drink the school sold as milk. Sora's milk mustache argued his approval.
"I believe the intention behind that question was to receive information on the plot of your school paper, Sora," Zexion clarified. Sora blinked a couple of times, trying to work out what the slate haired teen was trying to say. Riku sighed when it became clear Sora was lost.
"He wants to know what you did to the fairy tale in your paper," he explained, stealing one of the brunet's fries as payment.
"Oh, well see there were different tribes of wolves and they were at war with the people. There were specially trained messenger girls who all wore red clothes with hoods, and the best had red hair, and they brought battle plans to the general codenamed Granny. One of the Red Hoods went through the enemy forest and nearly got killed, but a wolf general recognized her sent because it turned out she'd saved his pup a long time ago. Well, long for wolves, cause of dog years and all. Anyway, so he guides her through the forest but keeps trying to take her basket, where she hid her message."
"You wrote all that?" Hayner interrupted. Sora grinned sheepishly as the others stared at him.
"I like it," Namine said softly after a bit.
"Yeah! Alright, bring that paper next week and we'll look over it," Larxene said.

"Hey Kairi?" Sora turned to the redhead beside him as they were walking down the hall after fifth period.
"What is it, Sora?" Kairi asked him, waving to Selphie as they walked past her.
"Are you doing anything this weekend?" Sora asked, his cheeks turning a very light shade of pink. "'Cause I was wondering if you, maybe, wanted to come over and watch a movie with me…I can ask Riku too, if you want," he added hurriedly.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sora," Kairi said, turning to look him in the eyes. "Selphie, Olette, and I have our annual sleepover this weekend. We do it at the start of every school year."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that," Sora said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"I'm really sorry," Kairi insisted, stopping in front of the door to her classroom. "Maybe Riku can go," she added.
"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'm sure Riku can come over."

"I can't come over."
"What? Why not?" Sora asked his friend after sixth period.
"I'm sorry, Sora. Saturday's basketball tryouts. I'll be there all day, and I've got to work on my essay on Sunday."
"But Riku! I'll die of boredom!" Sora insisted.
"Ask Kairi to hang out with you," Riku shrugged.
"I did," Sora sighed. "She's got that sleepover thing she does every year."
"What a weird tradition," Riku mumbled. "You can ask one of the exchange kids to hang out with you. Or Hayner or someone," Riku shrugged.
"Yeah," Sora sighed. "I know, I'll ask Demyx!"

"How many people did you tell?" Sora gasped as he opened the front door for the third time in the past two minutes.
"Let's see, I told Roxas and Axel, but Roxas is sick, so he can't come, and Axel said he'd keep him company. Larxene's staying home to watch them. She won't let Namine go anywhere without her, either, so she's not gonna come. I told Zexy here and Marluxia there," Demyx said, gesturing to the short teen by his side on the couch and the tall pinket in the doorway. "I also told those other three, but Olette said she had a slumber party to go to, so she won't be coming. So that just leaves Hayner and Pence. It's not that many people…"
"Not that many? Aerith said I could have one or two friends over!" Sora panicked at the door.
"Oh, well, sorry man," Demyx said, sounding genuinely sorry even though the sentence itself wasn't that apologetic. Hayner and Pence arrived on the door step moments later. Sora sighed.
"Nothing we can do about it now, is there?" he asked no one in particular.
"That's my motto," Pence grinned as the two walked into the living room.
"So what are we watching, anyway?" Hayner added, throwing himself into the arm chair to the left.
"My sister rented Sherlock Holmes," Sora said, closing the front door and heading to the DVD player. He set the movie in and let it play the previews as he went off to make lots of popcorn. He'd made four bowls full before he decided he had enough and carried them out one by one. The hungry teenage boys devoured the popcorn long before the movie was over, throwing pieces into each other's mouths and just plain throwing pieces at one another, the movie all but forgotten.
"Well, this has been enjoyable," Zexion stated once the movie had ended. Sora looked at the popcorn on the floor and just laughed.
"Yeah, too bad I gotta clean up," he joked. The others chuckled and helped put the popcorn bowls away.
"What do ya say we make this a usual thing?" Demyx offered up. Sora nodded.
"Definitely."
"I have no objections," Zexion put in.
"I'm cool with that,"
"Yeah, sounds fun!" Pence added to Hayner's remark.
"It's settled then," Marluxia said as he left the house.
"Deal. Every Saturday," Sora grinned.