Okay, this chapter is also kinda short, but the ones after will be longer. This one focuses mainly on Zexion, Axel, and Riku.

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"Come on, Zex, you gotta get out."

Zexion sighed, blowing a strand of his slate-colored hair out of his only showing eye. He closed his book and set in on the small table beside the light lavender chair he was sitting in. It was obvious he wasn't going to get any more reading done.

"Zexion! Hey! Earth to Zex!"

"What?" Zexion ground out, glaring up at the redhead standing in front of him. "What on earth could you possibly want, Axel?"

"What do I always want?" Axel grinned, the two black upside-down teardrop tattoos under his eyes moving slightly as his expression changed. "You getting outside and down to the beach. Come on, you can bring your book."

"Quit bothering him," a silver-haired teenager said from his place across from Zexion. "He's not gonna listen because he never listens."

"Shut up, Riku," Zexion snapped, glaring at his friend.

"Want us to shut up?" Axel asked, still grinning. "Come to the beach."

Zexion took a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he grabbed his book and stood up. "Just to get you to shut up," he muttered. He couldn't let his friends know that he read at the beach every chance he could get. It was better they didn't know that just yet.

"Maybe Riku will find his secret boyfriend today," Axel teased as the three of them headed out of the castle and toward the beach just outside.

"Shut up," Riku muttered, a light blush covering his cheeks. "He's not my secret boyfriend."

"Yeah, he's just the person you fell in love with when you were 7," Axel continued, shrugging. "Same difference."

"Explain to me again what happened because as ridiculous as it sounds, it interests me," Zexion asked.

"I've told you guys about a million times," Riku explained, crossing his arms. "When I was 7, I went swimming but I wasn't that good yet. I got caught up in the tide and freaked out because I realized I was drowning. I kinda passed out and when I woke up, I was lying on the beach and someone was looking at me with a smile on his face. I shook my head to get my head clear and to wake myself up more and when I sat up, he was gone and all I saw was something with spiky brown hair, human down to the waist, and a red tail disappearing into the water."

"Not more merpeople crap," Zexion muttered, shaking his head. "They're not real."

"They are, too!" Riku argued, kicking at a rock in his path.

"Keep arguing and someone is getting pushed into the ocean," Axel threatened with a grin, stepping in between the two.

Zexion shook his head, heading for the large rock that overlooked the ocean he always sat on when he came. He pulled out his book and started to read again when Axel pulled it out of his hands with a grin. "I thought you said I could read," he sighed, glaring up at the redhead.

"Yeah, but this is so much more fun," Axel grinned, flipping through the book in his hands. "What is this anyway?" He looked at the title page. "The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod? Great, you're turning all vampire on us, buddy."

"Shut up," Zexion growled, blushing slightly as he snatched his books back. "It's good."

Axel and Riku laughed as they all sat on the rock, looking out at the ocean. Zexion took a deep breath of the air around them, breathing in the salt and scent of the water with a small grin that disappeared whenever either of his friends turned to look at him. He thought he saw something behind the rocks several feet from the edge of the water, something that had spiky blonde hair and teal eyes, but he blamed it on lack of sleep and reading without his glasses again as he looked away.

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Okay, this is the end of the shortish chapters and we're gonna get into a lot longer ones. I just made the first two short to kinda ease into the story with both sides. And I chose The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod for the book Zexion was reading because it seemed like something he would read and I wrote this just after finishing the 4th one and sulked for a bit after it ended at a really bad part. Oh, well.

Please tell me what you think! And if you favorite or story alert, please try to review because I want every last bit of input you guys have for me. : )