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Chapter 3

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"Oh, my god… They're like a freakin' cult!"

Hayner slammed his locker door shut for emphasis and Roxas jumped from the loud noise. Olette and Pence both rolled their eyes in mutual exasperation.

Roxas had been debating whether or not to rehash his unusual experience at Axel's lunch table yesterday, but his friends left him with no choice — they were all beyond curious to hear all about the fiery-haired stranger who swept him away before any of them could get a word in edgewise. So Roxas warily racked his brain to recite as many details as he could recall — including a horrifically failed attempt at remembering all the bizarre names of the other table occupants. Hayner, however, was still fixated on Roxas' vague description of the emblem that they all wore.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that cults are usually only tied to religious affiliations," Pence supplied helpfully.

"We don't know anything about them, P-Man," Hayner turned around slowly to face his friends, his expression dark and dramatic like it usually was whenever his mind started concocting one of his harebrained theories. "For all we know, that weird emblem could be some kind of ancient tribal symbol used for summoning Hades — no — Satan. Right this very second they could be plotting to lure our Roxas into their clutches and drag him down to the demonic underworld with them! Don't drink the Kool-Aid, Roxas, don't drink it!"

Caught up in his bout of passion, Hayner lunged forward and desperately grabbed Roxas by the front of his shirt to plead with him, but the blond pushed his friend away haughtily. "Would you cut it out? They're not a cult."

"Hayner kind of has a point, Roxas," Olette spoke up, causing the other three to stop and stare at her with intrigue. "I mean, we really don't know much about them at all. Axel seems to be nice, but… I've seen some of them walking through the halls before. You just need to be careful."

Roxas shook his head defeatedly. "Look, if you guys are actually that concerned, then I'll just stop hanging around them."

"No!" Hayner exclaimed, startling his friends and a few innocent passersby with his sudden outburst. "Are you kidding me? This is perfect. You gotta keep this up, man. Penetrate from the inside —"

"… I think you mean infiltrate."

"—And figure out their true motives. It'll be like a real life episode of Criminal Minds!"

Pence nudged Olette. "I thought we weren't supposed to let him watch that show anymore," and the girl shrugged helplessly.

"You want me to spy?" Roxas questioned with a lifted brow.

"Spy? Did I say anything about spying?" Hayner draped an arm over Roxas' shoulder and leaned in close to speak conspiratorially. "How many times in our lives are we gonna get this opportunity? The opportunity to demystify one of Destiny High's biggest secrets? We'll all go down in history. It's not every day that one of us gets adopted by a group of seniors. You gotta find out what they want with you and then report back."

Roxas wore a blank stare. "So… spying."

Hayner retracted his arm with a huff and flung his hand into the air. "Alright, fine. I want you to go all James Bond on their pretentious asses!"

"Don't you think that's a little unethical?" Olette cut in. "These are Roxas' new friends so he should get the final say."

"Ethics, shmethics," Hayner dismissed the logic entirely. "This plan is gonna make this semester way less boring!"

Clapping Roxas on the back in camaraderie, Hayner took off down the hall with newfound pep in his step. The others watched on, bemused, until the boy was lost among the crowd of students.

Pence looked over at Roxas contritely. "Don't worry. He'll forget all about this by next period when he's already planning out our next big scheme."

"You know how Hayner can be," Olette added with a meaningful sigh. Despite the frequent migraines that his friends' antics have been known to cause, Roxas couldn't suppress a chuckle. If nothing else, it provided him with an endless supply of entertainment.

A swarm of darkness caught Roxas' attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head just in time to watch the two black-clad seniors glide gracefully down the hallway. The surrounding students seemed to wordlessly part the way for them, as if it were universally understood that direct contact should be kept to a minimum. The two seniors walked shoulder to shoulder in matching strides, and Roxas vaguely remembered them from Axel's lunch table. One wore an eyepatch and the other had vibrantly pink hair.

There was a peculiar urge that bubbled up in Roxas' chest — the urge to follow. Although they were most likely on their way to class like everyone else, he couldn't seem to shake Hayner's words that echoed relentlessly in his head: 'how many times in our lives are we gonna get this opportunity?' Roxas made a mental note to blame his friend later as he began backing away slowly down the hall, earning him suspicious glances from Pence and Olette.

"So I'll… catch you guys later, then?" He dismissed them flightily. After a knowing chuckle from Olette and a wave from Pence, Roxas took off after the Organization members.

It didn't take him long to catch up to them, though he made sure to keep a fair distance just in case. He watched them saunter down the hallway like ominous rain clouds. Every now and then Roxas would see one of them turn his head toward the other, lips moving at such a quickened pace that the blond had to wonder if they were actually producing words. He knew there was only one way to find out. Roxas gained a bit of speed as he navigated the hall, silently creeping forward until he could almost reach out and touch the pink-haired boy's black messenger bag that was hanging off his shoulder.

"… tonight. Axel will be there with Saix," said one of the boys. Roxas could barely make out his low whisper. "Just make sure you're on time…"

"… I'll be sure to bring what I've got…"

In his strained attempt at eavesdropping, Roxas failed to notice the oncoming herd of students who were too busy giggling and chatting to acknowledge his presence. Two shoulders collided roughly and knocked one of the stranger's armful of books to the tiled floor with a loud thunk.

"Hey, watch where you're going, man," the stranger sneered at Roxas, but the blond boy hardly heard. He could already feel the hot whips of panic bubbling within his chest as the Organization members began turning around to investigate the noisy disruption. Roxas immediately retreated into the nearest doorway to avoid being seen.

He promptly shut the door behind him, sealing himself away into safety. Roxas didn't dare to peek out the tiny window on the door to see if his getaway had been successful. Instead, he ducked below it and released a large exhale, suddenly realizing that he'd been holding his breath for a while.

"Hello?"

Roxas jumped — still skittish from his spying debacle — and spun around to face the classroom. It was empty, much to his relief, except for a lone girl sitting in the back. He'd found his way into the art studio judging by the paintings hanging from the walls and the line of pottery assignments drying on a shelf to his left. The girl with sunshine hair and big blue eyes looked entirely too familiar to Roxas, but, even so, it took him an embarrassingly delayed moment for his mind to kick back into gear. It was Namine.

Shit.

Admittedly, all of Roxas' previous encounters with his longtime crush had been brief. And agonizingly awkward. The blond boy had an ungainly tendency to clam up whenever it came to striking up conversation with the most hauntingly angelic creature at Destiny High. Roxas had never been one to consider himself a stellar conversationalist anyway, but there was something about Namine that never failed to render him a foolish, blubbering mess of a human being.

"H-Hi," he stammered.

The pretty blonde offered a small smile as she returned to the project before her. "I didn't know that you take art."

"Oh, uh, yeah — I mean — no," Roxas shook his head. "I mean… I was just stopping by. To admire."

Namine was still smiling, but out of genuine kindness or pity, Roxas wasn't quite sure. "I didn't know that you're an admirer of art, either."

"Sure, yeah, I'm a big fan," he lied.

Unfortunately for Roxas, Namine found his declaration interesting enough to peel her attention away from her drawing. She looked up with those doe-like eyes and the most adorable grin that the boy had ever seen. "Really? Do you have a favorite artist?"

Roxas froze. He hadn't thought that far in advance. In fact, he hadn't thought at all. The words seemed to be spilling from his mouth before he could even process what he was saying, and now it was much too late to backtrack. Namine was waiting expectantly for an answer, eyes still twinkling with the excitement of a common interest.

"I, uh, can't choose," he muttered. "There are just so many… good ones."

A brief pause lingered between them as Roxas' response sat lamely in the air. Namine's delicate eyebrows furrowed above her crystal eyes a bit skeptically and Roxas mentally chided himself for his lack of a more creative reply. Still, the girl nodded politely and returned her attention back to her work.

"So…" Roxas mused as he began wandering the room aimlessly, apparently under the false belief that constant motion would help him to gather his bearings. He meandered toward a wall of paintings. "Are any of these yours?"

Namine peeked over her shoulder. "A few. The one on the right is about a week old."

His eyes found the painting in question and, undoubtedly, it was stunning. The canvas was covered in a watercolor depiction of a tall lighthouse standing proudly in the midst of the shimmering ocean. Roxas perked up with recognition.

"Hey, is this —"

"Destiny's Light. Yes, it is."

The lighthouse, fondly named Destiny's Light by the natives, was a famous landmark off the coast of the Island. The old legend told the tale of a group of fishermen who had gotten lost at sea without any means of survival. Just as they were about to give up hope, they noticed a lone lighthouse in the dark and dismal distance. They were guided to the Island, which had yet to be discovered, and the fishermen believed that the light had lead them to their destiny. Roxas knew the story well, as it was one that his father used to tell whenever they went fishing off the Island.

"If you're ever lost, Rox, just look for your light. It'll take you to where you need to be."

Roxas studied the way the blues melted into the greens, the reds into the yellows of the sunset. "It's incredible."

"Oh," Namine squeaked. "Well, thank you."

The boy suddenly found himself loitering beside her, mere inches from her sweet-smelling hair, but he willed himself not to panic. Instead, he distracted himself by moving his gaze toward the half-painted canvas on the table.

"What's this one —" he pointed a finger at her latest creation, but, apparently, his nerves were affecting his depth perception because his hand bumped into a nearby pencil holder, knocking the contents to the floor. "Shit, I'm sorry!"

Namine and Roxas both dropped to the floor at the same time, collecting the scattered pencils and tiny paint brushes that had fallen. "It's okay, really," she insisted kindly, but Roxas was still flustered as he reached for the last drawing utensil.

"I'm not normally such a spaz, I swear, I'm just —"

"Distracted by the art?"

His fumbling hands came to a halt as his gaze lifted to discover that Namine was watching him with a gentle, yet knowing grin.

"Yeah," he swallowed thickly around a lump in his throat. "You could say that."

With a soft chuckle, she gathered up the remaining pencils and stood to her feet. Roxas followed suit, but with far less grace. "I'm glad you stopped by, Roxas," she said.

"Me, too," he croaked, his heart leaping inside his chest at the way his name sounded coming from her pink lips.

Namine returned to her seat and began working as if she'd never been interrupted. Roxas turned on his heel and took one step toward the door before whipping around again.

"Do you wanna get coffee?"

The question was so abrupt and unexpected that Roxas didn't even recognize his own voice. Namine glanced up, looking just as startled as he did, and tucked a loose strand of golden hair behind her ear.

"Maybe? If you want?" He added quickly.

Much to his surprise, Namine began giggling. And it was the single most delightful noise he'd ever heard. "That would be nice," she answered. "Are you free after school?"

"Yeah, of course!" He nodded like an enthusiastic bobble-head. "I'll meet you on the front steps?"

Namine smiled. "I'll be waiting."

She'll be waiting. Roxas couldn't remember much of their conversation after that, but he found himself floating out of the classroom and back into the bustling hallway. And for the first time in forever, he wore a grin as he hurried off to Calculus.


Sora was scowling shamelessly. He wasn't normally a scowler — in fact, it was a rare moment, indeed, when the boy was caught without some kind of a smile on his face — but Kairi had just broken the news to Riku about their plans to attend the debutante ball together and his best friend's initial reaction had been to nearly spew coffee out of his nose from laughter.

It was certainly a legitimate reason to scowl.

"Okay, okay, are you done?" Sora grumbled. "It's not that funny. It's not like I've never been to a party before."

Riku had finally found the strength to swallow his mouthful of americano without any of it leaving his body. The final vestiges of laughter fell past his lips, but he still wore a wide grin as he looked over at Sora. "This isn't a party. It's a ball. Meaning, you have to wear a tux and use more than one kind of fork at dinner. And do you even know how to dance?"

Sora opened his mouth to protest.

"The macarena doesn't count," Kairi was quick to include.

His mouth closed defeatedly.

"Honestly, I don't even care about all that," Kairi went on, hands wrapped around her warm cup of coffee. "The whole point is to prove to my parents that I'm not going to play by their silly rules anymore," she turned to Riku and beamed with delight. "You should've seen my mom's face when I told her that Sora is my date. You would've thought I'd just set fire to her designer wardrobe!"

The three friends broke into a round of hearty laughter. They sat inside Island Java, a popular after-school hangout for the students of Destiny High. With their constantly conflicting schedules, sometimes a quick cup of coffee was all the time they could spare outside of class. It wasn't a trip to the beach, but it was better than nothing.

The tiny bell above the door chimed sweetly to signal someone else's entrance into the coffee shop. It caught the attention of a few pairs of curious eyes that glanced toward the front of the shop, but then promptly returned to their previous conversations. Riku, however, allowed his gaze to linger a little bit longer than most while Kairi and Sora continued to chat excitedly about their upcoming event.

A boy with stylishly unkempt blond hair had just walked in with Namine — rather, Riku thought it was Namine. He wasn't used to seeing her in broad daylight instead of shrouded in darkness on their rooftops. She smiled appreciatively as the blond boy opened the door for her. Then he muttered something that must've been charmingly witty because Namine began giggling as they stepped up to the counter. The boy flushed pink.

"… I think we lost him," Sora's voice managed to recapture Riku's attention. The silver-haired athlete blinked his eyes before taking in his friends' wary expressions.

"What's up? You're not usually so spacey," Kairi commented with a pensive sip of her latte.

"It's nothing," Riku assured them hurriedly. When they appeared unconvinced, he gave a subtle head nod toward the front of the shop and lowered his voice. "I think I know that girl over there."

Sora and Kairi both peeked over their coffee cups to sneak a look. "The blonde one?" Kairi wondered quietly. "I know her, too. We're in the same art class. She's crazy talented."

"She lives next door to me," Riku added. "I didn't even know her name until the other night."

Sora smirked brightly. "But I'll bet she already knew yours —"

"Track superstar Riku Gaines!" He and Kairi chirped in their best fangirl impressions, followed by their whooping laughter.

Even Riku cracked a smile at his own expense. "You're both full of it."

Another soft ringing noise filled the air, but it wasn't coming from the front door. Riku perked up and pulled his phone out of his pocket to find a text message from his father, sighing before he even had the chance to read it. The boy slowly stood from the table and reached for his bag. "Gotta go. Dad's up."

"You need a hand with dinner tonight?" Sora offered, but his expression turned sour when a vivid memory came to mind. "I know that I technically almost scorched your curtains with the toaster last time, but I could —"

"Don't worry about it," said Riku. As much as he appreciated his friends' help when it came to daily upkeep around the Gaines household, he didn't feel much like having company. "I think I'll just order out tonight."

Kairi waved. "Then I guess we'll just see you tomorrow."

They watched as their friend shouldered his bag and made his way to the door. But they failed to notice the way his subtle eyes shifted back to Namine and Roxas as he passed by. The young blonde could practically feel his piercing gaze, but when she looked up, there was nobody there.


Axel leaned back against the brick wall surrounding the front courtyard outside Destiny High. He held his lighter out in front of him, absentmindedly sliding his thumb over the spark wheel to ignite the tiny flame, watching it dance and flicker in place. He repeated the gesture a few more times before Saix walked up to join him.

"Pyro," the blue-haired senior accused, offering his pack of cigarettes.

Axel smirked and took one. "Problem?"

"Of course not," Saix replied. He, too, leaned back against the wall as they lit their cigarettes in silence. The redhead watched his glow for a moment before taking a much-needed drag.

Classes had been dismissed for quite some time, but a few of the older and more experienced students knew that it was best to wait rather than get caught up in the parking lot traffic. The cars had dwindled down to only a few, but Axel wasn't in any rush. He'd much rather loiter around school property and get his daily dose of nicotine before calling it a day.

"Xemnas isn't happy, you know," Saix finally spoke up, staring intensely at the boy beside him.

"Tell me something I don't know," Axel scoffed as he blew a stream of smoke from his nostrils and watched it drift away into the sky. "That guy's always pissed off about something. Do you even need to bore me with the details?"

Saix held his cigarette stiffly between two fingers. "It's your new friend, Axel. He doesn't want him creating any problems for us."

"Gimme a break!" Axel pushed himself off the wall, stepping forward with arms crossed and his cigarette hanging loosely from his mouth. "So, what, we're not allowed to talk to anyone else now? Why doesn't he just start regulating what we eat, too? Or how about our oxygen intake? I'm sure that'd make him happy —"

"Axel," Saix warned.

The redhead glanced over his shoulder to glower dangerously at the fellow Organization member. "You might not mind having your leash pulled so tight, but I'm not just gonna sit on my ass this time. Got it memorized?"

"Fine," Saix dropped his cigarette to the ground and stepped it out. "You can inform Xemnas of this yourself."

Axel huffed loudly and took a moment to stare out over the vacant parking lot. As hot-headed as he might be, he knew better than to seek out a confrontation with Xemnas. He put out his own cigarette and shrugged coolly. "Besides, it's just one teensy friendship. What kinda harm could it do, huh?"

Saix sighed. "I'll never understand your strange fixation on sad, pathetic types."

"What can I say? I'm just such a bleeding heart," said Axel, clutching a dramatic hand to the center of his chest.

"No, you're just an idiot," Saix rolled his eyes as he started making his way toward his car, which was now stranded alone in the empty lot. He paused to look over his shoulder. "Are you coming with me?"

"Yeah, I'll meet you at your place," Axel called out, hauling his bag over his shoulder and starting toward his own car. "There's no way I'm going home tonight."

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to be continued

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A/N: Oh, Hayner. You're the real star of this story. :P