Disclaimer, warnings, ect, ect in chapter 1.
"I donno how you get yerself into these messes Cloud," the blonde bar tender from the 7th Heaven bar (Cid) said as he kneeled in front of the door, playing with the lock.
"Just lucky I suppose," Cloud replied from where he was scanning a menu for take out.
"You sure you guys want to stay here?" Leon asked for possibly the hundredth time since he had cleared the house.
"Leon, we do live here. We'd have to come back eventually," Sora reasoned from his spot on the couch.
He was actually sprawled across it and using my leg as a pillow. I was leaning backwards against the arm of the couch (which we flipped back over just in case you didn't catch that).
Leon made an annoyed noise as he pulled the table out of the wall (something he had been trying to do for the better part of an hour now), "But it's not safe now. You should have someone around to watch over you."
"I can take care of them," Cloud called from the kitchen, "I know you have you gunblade Leon, but I do still have my buster blade."
"There's not enough room to swing that blade in here!" Cid called, then cursed at something he was working on.
"Never said anything about swinging it," Cloud replied.
"You can't protect the boys," Leon commented, "the blade would slow you down."
"I have my Keyblade," Sora said from the couch, which caused me to look at him.
"You know how to use a Keyblade?"
He titled his head back to look at me, "Yeah, why?"
"I used to wield two of 'em."
Leon, Cloud, and Cid all turned to stare at me and I blinked at them, "What?"
"Two Keyblades?" Cloud repeated.
"Yeah…" I said slowly.
Leon crossed his arms, "Do you know how rare it is to be able to wield one, let alone two?"
"Uh… no?" I offered, looking confused.
Sora chuckled, "Riku's the only other person besides myself that's able to wield a Keyblade that is known about."
"Like, at all?" I asked.
He nodded and I just stared at him, "Is it really that hard?"
Cloud nodded, "Yeah, most can't even hold them."
"Oh," I said quietly and Cid laughed, turning back to the lock.
"Must run in your family," the blonde man said.
"Guess so," Cloud replied, turning back to the take out menu.
"Are you two any good?" Leon asked.
Sora gave a small shrug, "I guess so."
I shrugged as well, "It's been a few years since I tried last," I smiled, "but I can kick some serious ass in hand to hand combat."
Leon crossed his arms, "Maybe I should stay, just for tonight."
"Where?" I asked bluntly, "Sora and I are already rooming together and the house has been turned inside out."
He pointed at the couch that Sora and I were laying on and I sighed. Why was I surrounded by paranoid people?
Cloud walked out, "Alright, I got everything fried rice, sweet and sour pork, egg rolls, pot stickers, lemon chicken, kung pow, and cashew chicken with bamboo. Missing anything?"
Sora shook his head and I stared at them like they were insane, "Who the hell is going to eat all that?"
"We are?" Sora offered.
"You guys going to stay?" Cloud asked Cid and Leon, ignoring me.
"Sure," Cid replied, "sounds good to me."
Leon just looked at him and Cloud turned to go order the food. I shook my head at all of them; they were all insane.
"There you go Cloud, you're all set," Cid said, standing and closing the door, "that should keep out everyone, yourselves included."
Sora chuckled, "Comforting Cid."
"Thanks," Cloud said as he hung up the phone, "I don't think anyone else would have come out and changed our locks this time of night."
"Not likely," Cid agreed.
Cloud and Cid walked into the living room and sat with Leon on the other couch.
"What on earth are you two watching?" Cloud asked.
I shrugged; Sora was the one in charge of the remote.
Sora shrugged as well, "Donno, it just started. I think it's a vampire movie."
"What was your first clue?" Leon asked sarcastically as he gestured toward the screen where a woman was being drained of her blood.
Sora threw a pillow at him, which he caught. We watched the horribly cheesy movie in silence until the doorbell rang. Sora jumped a little and Cloud went to answer it. It turned out to be the take out guy. We spent a few minutes putting food on plates before moving back to the living room to finish the movie.
That movie was followed by three more movies (apparently the Sci-Fi channel was running some sort of marathon of horrible movies). Sora had fallen asleep during the third movie and I can't remember the end of the fourth. Both Cid and Leon ended up falling asleep on the other couch, while Cloud seemed to have gone to his room at some point during the night.
I had no idea how long I had been awake, nor did I have any idea what time it was. What I did know was that Sora was heavy and I couldn't feel the lower half of my body.
I also knew that the damn boy was impossible to wake up.
"Dammit Sora, get up!" I said, shifting a little in a pathetic attempt to let the blood go back to my lower half.
He mumbled a sleepy reply and shifted to make himself comfortable again. I sighed (loudly) and looked around for something or someone to free me. Leon and Cid were both asleep on the couch, but I had a feeling that waking them would be hazardous to my health. So I decided I had a few options: a) accept my fate and lay here until Sora wakes up (unlikely), b) hope that Cloud comes back downstairs soon and he can wake Sora, or c) wait for either Cid or Leon to wake up and hope one of them will help me.
I didn't like my options.
My reprieve came in the form of someone knocking on the door. This didn't wake Sora up, but it did wake Leon up.
Hey, I'll take what I can get.
Leon bypassed me and went to the door, peering out the peephole, "You know someone with spiky red hair and green eyes?"
"He have triangle tattoos under his eyes?" I asked.
"Yeah," Leon confirmed.
"Axel."
"Should I let him in?"
"Well I sure as hell can't," I replied, gesturing toward Sora who was using me as a pillow.
Leon snorted and opened the door. I could see Axel falter for a moment before he spotted me.
He laughed a little, "For a minute there I thought I had the wrong house."
I sighed, "Would someone please help me?"
Leon shut the door behind Axel and walked into the kitchen. I glared after him, then glared at Axel as he walked over smirking.
"You look stuck," he observed.
"Shut up," I replied.
He snickered, "That's no way to get me to help you, ya know."
I glared at him and he smirked before looking down at Sora, "Aw, he's so cute when he sleeps."
I'm pretty sure I growled since Axel gave me an odd look, but I really didn't care. He shook his head and lifted the sleeping Sora off of me (how on earth did his alarm clock wake him up?) and I swung my legs around. I went to stand, only to have my legs give out. I went crashing to the ground and Axel started cracking up. Leon appeared in the doorway of the kitchen and upon seeing that we were alright went back to whatever he was doing in there.
I know I snarled at him this time, but I doubted he heard me over his own laughter. Sora had woken up (whether from the laughter or me falling on my face was hard to say) and was staring at us, half awake.
"What is so funny?" he asked, sleepily.
"Don't choo kids know that mornin' means to be quiet?"
We looked over to see that Cid was awake and storming his way toward the kitchen. Axel was finally able to stop laughing and took a seat where I had been moments ago. I sat up and leaned against the couch.
"What are you doing here so early Axel?" Sora asked, looking much more awake.
"Early?" the red head repeated, "It's almost noon."
Sora blinked once before his eyes flew wide, "What?!"
"Yeah," Axel said, leaning back, "which is why I figured it would be a safe time to check up on you guys," he paused for a moment and then frowned, "Hey, why is your wrist in a cast and why is your arm in a sling?"
I blinked and then remembered that Axel hadn't been there, "Accident."
"Accident?" he repeated, "What do you mean?"
"I mean our car was hit by another car at a high speed," I elaborated a little.
His jaw dropped, "Wait, was that your car on the news?"
"On the news?" Sora and I asked in perfect unison.
"Yeah, hit and run, totaled the car and caused it to hit another car on the other side of the road," Axel said.
"That was us," Sora agreed.
"Holy shit," he whispered, "Are you guys alright?"
I gave him a deadpan look, "Yes, we just like to wear casts and slings. They make us look cool."
"Point," he replied, "They figure out who did it?"
I shook my head, "Nope, took off and no one got the plate number."
"Damn," Axel said quietly, "You guys think it was whoever is after you?"
Sora and I both nodded and he let out another low whistle, "You guys have so many issues…"
We nodded our agreement and he jerked his thumb toward the kitchen, "So, who are the rays of sunshine?"
"Leon and Cid," Sora said, "friends of Cloud's."
He nodded in understanding, "You guys under house arrest?"
"Not that I know of," I said, peering toward the kitchen, "but we probably would be if this place hadn't already been broken into."
Sora nodded, "Just as long as they don't give us babysitters or something…"
"Don't say that too loudly or they might," I half joked.
"Might what?"
We turned to see that Cloud had decided to pull himself out of bed. He blinked at Axel, clearly having no idea who he was.
"Cloud, this is Axel. Axel, this is my brother Cloud," Sora said.
Cloud gave a tired nod in acknowledgement, "Now, might what?"
"Have people follow us," I replied.
Cloud snorted, "Yeah right, like I'm letting you two go anywhere…"
With that he walked into the kitchen, ignoring our rather loud protests.
Axel was laughing again so I shoved him off the couch and took his seat, arms crossed and sulking.
"You win…. Again…" I said from my spot on my bed, completely bored out of my mind.
"You suck at this game Rox," Sora said from his bed.
Axel snickered, "It's Monopoly, how can you fail so badly at Monopoly?"
"Shut up," I replied.
Axel had hung out with us all day, and as the day had progressed we ran out of things to do. We'd played DDR quite a few times (which I kick ass at by the way), followed by Mario Kart, Bomberman, Mario Party, Super Smash Brothers, Wii Play, and Wii Sports. Then we watched a movie (which was once again lame – Stupid Sci-Fi channel), then resorted to pulling out board games. I think I know how they got their name.
"You look like you're being tortured," Sora observed.
"I don't think I've ever been inside for so long in my entire life time," I replied.
"Well, day after tomorrow we get to go back to school," Sora offered.
"Oh goody," I replied sarcastically.
There was a small ping from Sora's computer that was on his desk and he walked over to see what the computer wanted from him. I sighed and lay down on my bed. Axel looked down at me from his spot on Sora's bed.
"Well Mr. I'm-so-bored, what do you do for fun?"
I smirked at him, "Run from the cops."
He snickered, "I don't think that'll work here since they're actually protecting your ass."
I nodded my agreement, "Plus, they're outside. Wouldn't get very far trying to run from them in here."
"True enough," Axel said, nodding seriously.
"Guys?"
We both looked up at Sora, who was staring at something on his computer.
"What's wrong?" I asked, sitting up.
He pointed to a box that was on his screen. Axel and I both got to our feet and looked at it. It was an IM from someone who put their screen name as Private. Who the hell does that?
You got lucky Strife. I can't believe that you survived that crash. It doesn't matter though, you'll get yours in due time. Until then, enjoy some down time at home. Stop going to the police. They can't help you. Oh, and Roxas? Best be a good boy. Mommy and daddy are watching you.
The first thought that ran through my head was, They know we're here, followed quickly by, Oh shit.
"Sora, who has your screen name?" Axel asked.
"Kairi, Riku, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka," he said, then paused a second, "And Cloud."
It took my a moment to register what he said, "Did you just say Cloud?"
Sora nodded, "Yeah, why?"
I spun on my heel and headed into the office. The place was still a disaster area, but I was able to weave my way through the chaos and get to the computer. The screen saver was cheerfully bouncing around the screen and I tapped the mouse to get it to stop.
Cloud's Trillian program was open.
Cloud seemed to have edited the names that appear when the people sign on. Instead of it saying their screen name, it came up as their real names. I looked down the list (Aerith, Barret, Cid, Leon, Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie, Zack) and found Sora's name. I moved the mouse so that Sora's information would come up.
And there, in bold print, was his screen name, for anyone and everyone to see.
I cursed loudly, and turned when I heard footsteps.
"Something wrong?" Leon asked.
"They know we're here."
Leon had been staring at the message on the screen for a good hour now. I wasn't really sure what he expected it to do, but apparently it wasn't doing it. The brunette was scowling at the screen and had been the whole time.
I was starting to think that Leon was a little insane.
"What is he waiting for?" Sora whispered to Axel and me.
I shook my head a little and Axel shrugged. Vincent walked back into the room (he had been called by Leon shortly after he had read the message) and frowned at Leon.
"Nothing new?"
Leon shook his head, "No, and they didn't even use a real screen name, it's under a guest."
Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose (has anyone else noticed he does that a lot when we're around?), "Alright, we're assuming it's whoever broke into the house since they would have has access to Cloud's computer."
"Or whoever they're working with," Leon agreed.
"Searched the grounds, didn't find a sign of anyone," Vincent said, "but I want to station someone here to make sure."
Sora and I both groaned and Axel cracked up. Ha, ha, laugh it up.
"Also," Vincent continued, "I want someone to drive by each of their friends' houses to make sure that no one is camping out there with hopes of Sora or Roxas dropping by."
Axel's laughter abruptly stopped, which caused me to smirk and Sora to grin. Vincent looked at Axel.
"That means we're going to need the addresses of all your friends."
Sora nodded and Axel crossed his arms. I shook my head at him, still amused.
"Who are you going to station here?" Leon asked.
"Zack."
Zack Fair was like an older version of Sora. No, really. He seemed to always be smiling and laughing about something, usually at Cloud's expense as we quickly discovered. His hair reminded me of Axel's, only black and I swear, how many people have ridiculously bright blue eyes?
"Man, you look a lot like Cloud did when he was younger."
Oh, and he and Cloud were best friends. Somehow. I still wasn't really sure how that one worked.
"And if you were to dye your hair blonde I bet you could be a Cloud clone."
"Thanks?" Sora said, a little unsure.
Cloud sure knew how to pick them. I mean, we got stoic Leon, borderline emotionless Vincent, Tifa who seemed normal, Cid who is… well, I don't have a word to describe him, Yuffie who is like insane, and now Zack, happy go lucky guy.
I bet they were a sight to see back in high school.
We were eating leftovers from the night before (see? I told them that was too much food) and everyone else had gone home. We were watching another movie (on a different channel so it was actually a good movie) while Zack rambled about something or other. I had stopped listening to him a while ago and had the feeling that Cloud had as well.
"I heard you guys got in a car crash. You break or sprain your wrist, Sora?" Zack asked.
"Broke," Sora replied.
"What'd you do to your arm Roxas?"
I looked at him, having not really been listening to what he was saying, "Hm?'
"What happened to your arm?"
"Dislocated shoulder," I replied, looking back at the movie.
Zack made a face and mouthed 'ouch', "What about you Cloud?"
"Scrapes and bruises, they hit the passenger side," Cloud said without looking away from the movie.
Zack sighed quietly, "Man Cloud, your family has so many issues."
"Do you know how many times I've heard that the last few days?" Cloud sighed.
"I can imagine," Zack replied.
I opened my mouth to make some smart-ass comment, but snapped it shut as we were suddenly surrounded by darkness. Apparently the power had gone out. I felt Sora grab my arm and I could hear Cloud and Zack moving.
"Roxas, Sora, don't move," Cloud said quietly.
I had no intention of it, thank you very much. I didn't know my way around this house well enough to not send myself face first into the table that I knew was somewhere in front of me. I felt someone brush by me and really hoped it was either Cloud or Zack. Judging by the way Sora gripped my arm a little tighter so did he.
"I'm going to go check the circuit breaker, you three stay here," Zack said.
"Should I call?" Cloud's voice asked from right next to me, letting me know it was indeed he who brushed by us.
"That would be best," Zack agreed.
There was the sound of stumbling, a curse, then the door opening. Oddly enough it was lighter outside than inside. Let's hear it for streetlights.
"Cloud?" Sora asked quietly.
"Just don't move," Cloud said just as quietly.
We waited in silence for what seemed like forever. A thud from upstairs cut through our silence and I had the feeling that I wasn't the only one who was trying in vain to see through the ceiling.
"Please tell me that was Zack," Sora whispered.
"I don't think so," I whispered back.
I could hear beeping and knew that Cloud was dialing Vincent. There was a pause in which he was listening to the phone ring and I felt him brush us again.
"Give me your hand Sora. Roxas, grab his other hand," he said quietly.
Sora did as he was told and I felt myself being tugged to the door. Had we not been in a situation that could have gone real bad real fast I would have found it amusing that we were a train of people weaving our way through the house in the dark. The door opened and Cloud looked around before pulling us out. He silently shut the door behind us, never taking his eyes off our surroundings.
"Vincent? It's Cloud. Listen, our power was shut off so Zack went to check it out and he hasn't come back and there was someone upstairs."
He paused, scanning the area as he listened to Vincent on the other line. I frowned as I looked around as well; there was the circuit breaker, so where was Zack?
Sora let out a startled yelp, which caused me to jump and spin around. Zack gave us an apologetic look. I let out a shaky breath and looked at Cloud who was sending us a look for making so much noise.
"Yeah, we found Zack," Cloud said, then handed the phone to Zack.
"Vince? Yeah, no, it was definitely cut. Uh huh. I haven't yet. No, I wasn't. Alright," he hung up the phone and handed it back to Cloud.
"He says we should-"
He suddenly jerked out of the way as something small and fast came flying toward us. A moment later I registered the deafening bang that came with it and realized that we were just shot at.
Zack pulled out this huge blade (where the hell did he keep that thing?) and held it in front of us like a shield. Cloud pulled out his own (how did I never notice that thing laying around the house?) and mirrored Zack, creating a nice place to hide for the moment. The sound of bullets ricocheting was a little disturbing.
"What did Vincent say?" Cloud called to Zack.
"He's sending in Turks to check it out for us!" Zack called back.
Turks? What the hell was a Turk?
Cloud looked at Zack as though he was insane, "Turks? Most of them don't get along with AVALANCHE."
So, is anyone else as confused as I am? I looked at Sora and found that he was.
"He's sending Reno," Zack replied.
"Just Reno?"
"Well, Rude goes where Reno goes," Zack said.
Cloud let out a loud sigh, "Great."
The spray of bullets came to a halt and Zack shifted his sword a little to see where their attacker was. He blinked and started looking around in confusion. Cloud moved his sword as well and we could see that the street was empty. I blinked in confusion and turned so that my back was facing Cloud and Zack. Sora mirrored me and we all turned as we heard a bush move. A single shot went off from the opposite direction and Zack let out a cry of pain and went to his knees.
"Zack!" Cloud called, pulling up his big ass sword and swinging it to deflect the assault.
"Gottcha covered Cloud!"
We all turned to see a longhaired redhead running toward us with a metal pole looking thing. Cloud ran at the attacker with him, leaving myself and Sora with the now injured Zack.
"Come this way."
We turned to see a tall, bald man standing behind us. I got into a defensive position (as best I could with one arm in a sling anyway).
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Rude," Zack said quietly and the man leaned down, helping Zack back up to his feet.
"Where were you hit?" Rude asked Zack.
"Lower abdomen," Zack answered then looked at us, "Sora, Roxas, listen to Reno and Rude."
We nodded at him and Rude looked around, "Vincent will be here with the others soon. You two come with me. Cloud and Reno can handle themselves until the others get here."
"But-" Sora started and I grabbed his hand, following Rude.
I watched Cloud and Reno cover us as we made our way to a car that I assumed to belong to Reno and Rude. He opened the door and we quickly slid into the car. He got into the driver's seat and took off down the street. Sora and I both glanced back worriedly to see Vincent and the others arriving.
I heard Sora breathe a sigh of relief before he turned his attention back to Rude, "Where are we going?"
"Police station right now. A safe house after that," Rude replied.
"Safe house?" Sora squeaked, "Does that mean we can't go to school anymore?"
He received a shrug in response and I sighed quietly. How did our life become this?