Chapter One

Begin Again

"Wake up… wake up… wake up… wake up…" the faint whispering shattered through Sora Strife's dreams. As his eyes fluttered open, he took a swing at the shadowy figure standing over him. "Ow, Sora, what the hell?!"

Sora sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at his father, "Why were you standing over me like a total creep trying to wake me up?"

"I dunno," his dad said, shrugging his broad shoulders. "It's your first day of school and I didn't want you to be late."

The brunette 17 year old rolled his eyes and scowled, "I'm not an idiot, Dad… my alarm was set to go off any minute now."

As if on cue, his phone started to play a bouncy little pop tune, vibrating itself nearly off of his bedside table. He fumbled to slide it off, cringing at the sudden volume.

Cloud backed out of his son's room with his hands up, giving him a sheepish smile, "Sorry, bud… Uh… I'll make breakfast! Your favorite."

"Wildberry PopTart and orange juice?" Sora asked, narrowing his eyes at his father suspiciously.

"Sure thing… just don't murder me," he joked, heading downstairs to the kitchen. "Bitch!" Sora could hear him yell as he tripped over one of the many unpacked boxes that still riddled the house from their move.

Sora just shook his head and chuckled, "Maybe you should put some of that crap away!"

"Maybe you should take a shower, you stink!" Cloud yelled back, picking up the stuff he'd knocked over.

Smelling himself, Sora quickly realized that his dad was right. He lifted himself out of bed, stretching a little before making his way over to his bathroom. Catching sight of himself in the mirror, he cringed. His dark brown locks of hair were a tangled mess, and he had a weird scruffy shadow growing on his face. He hated how he looked with facial hair… but he almost hated shaving even more.

While he was in the shower, Sora had a moment to truly distress about starting school. It was already a month into the school year, and he had never even gone to a real school before. Sora grew up on Destiny Island with his father, a nearly famous marine biologist. They had been the only residents that lived on the island year round, forcing Sora to be homeschooled.

That being said, it made it very difficult for Sora to socialize as well. Kids from the Mainland would come to the island, but they stayed on the main beach. Cloud and Sora's home was on the other side of the island with a private beach. As far back as Sora could remember, only one girl ever wandered onto their property. He would never be able to forget that girl… her eyes alone were as blue as the ocean, and her beautiful pink-red hair reflected the sun in the most gorgeous way. He'd never caught her name, or even said a word to her. Their eyes only locked for a brief moment before she realized that she was trespassing and ran off. But when his eyes met hers, his heart nearly stopped and his knees grew weak.

Sora had no idea what to expect at high school, but he figured that his junior year would likely be one to remember. He wondered if he might see the redhead at school… she was definitely a Mainland girl.

Stepping out of the shower, he immediately felt ten times better. Remembering that this girl might be at school made him more excited than scared to get there. He dried his hair and styled it in his usual spikey mess, then headed back to his bedroom to get dressed.

A typical outfit for Sora consisted of a red t-shirt, a dark blue zippered hoodie, a pair of dark wash blue jeans and a pair of unique yellow and blue Converse hightops. He rarely deviated from this outift, only changing the colors of his shirt and hoodie.

"Sora, come on! You're going to be late," Cloud called up the stairs, rushing the teen to come down and eat his breakfast.

Sora grabbed his bookbag and thudded down the stairs, nearly tripping over the same box his father had earlier. "Ugh… God Dad, we seriously need to unpack more of these boxes."

"I've been so busy with work, it's hard to even think about the house right now," Cloud said, taking a bite of his bagel.

Sitting down to his PopTart, Sora shrugged, "I don't even know how we have this much stuff. I mean, we didn't even take everything from the island."

"This house is also considerably smaller than our house on the island," Cloud pointed out, finishing his breakfast.

"Has work been going well?" Sora asked him, wondering how his father's new job was going.

Cloud stretched a little, smiling, "It's been great! I'm telling you, this lab… it's letting me do so much more than I've ever been able to do on my own. This move has been nothing but good for me and my career."

"I'm glad to hear it, Dad," Sora grinned, genuinely happy that his dad was enjoying his work.

"So you remember how to get to school?" Cloud asked him, standing up and pushing his chair in.

Sora scoffed, rolling his eyes, "You only drove me by there six times squawking directions like a damn GPS. I'll be fine, Dad. Get to work."

"You need to leave soon, you know," he warned his son, grabbing his keys.

"Dad, you're smothering me," Sora teased him, winking as he downed his juice and grabbed his own car keys.

Driving was one of the first things Sora had to learn when they moved to the Mainland. They had no use for cars on the island, just a little golf cart they used to get around. His dad had surprised him a week ago with his own truck. It was a beater of a pick-up, but it would get him from point A to point B painlessly enough.

Heading out to his truck, Sora took a few deep breaths as reality came crashing down on him. This was it. He was really about to start high school. His anxiety was through the roof… what if he was just the weird island boy who didn't know how to make friends? What if nobody talked to him at all?

It was time to find out.

x-x-x-x-x

"Sora… Strife? Take a seat wherever you'd like," his first teacher of the day told him, waving him towards the still half empty classroom. "You're caught up through your homeschooling, correct?"

"Yes Ma'am, we took an extra month to settle in before I started here, but I stayed current with my classes online," he told her, looking out over the available seats. He had no idea where he should sit.

The teacher nodded, "Perfect. Class starts in five minutes."

His eyes had glazed over while he tried to decide what desk to take when suddenly some girl was waving her arms like a lunatic and whispering to Sora, "Hey! Come sit with us!"

He shrugged and approached the black-haired girl, taking the seat in front of her. "Uh… thanks. I'm Sora," he introduced himself, extending his hand.

The weird girl stared at his hand, not recognizing the hand shake before she flipped her hair and clicked her tongue, "So I'm Xion… This is my sister Namine and my boyfriend Riku."

He studied them carefully, wondering if he'd ever met the girls before. "You two look so similar… are you twins?"

"Triplets, actually," the blonde girl to his right answered, "We have a third sister, Kairi."

"So I hear you're from the island! Was that a fun place to live?" Xion interupted Sora before he had a chance to respond to Namine.

Sora just sighed heavily, "Yeah… it really was. I miss it already. Wow, word travels fast around here, doesn't it?"

"Xion feels the need to know everything all the time," Riku interjected, seeming a little pissed off.

Namine rolled her eyes, "Also, our mom Aerith Gainsborough works with your dad at the marine biology lab. She told us to keep an eye out for you. Have you really never been to a real school?"

"Nope… it's always just been me and my dad," he told them, putting together the pieces of the puzzle in his mind. "So… I bet my dad told your mom that he was worried I wouldn't make friends, right?"

"Sort of," Xion admitted, flipping her hair again, "But like… we totally are okay with showing you around. I mean, I'd be like… terrified if I had to start school for the first time at 17 years old."

Sora stared at her for a moment, "Uh… thank you?"

"Oh, you're so welcome. Believe me, you're totally going to need us to survive this place. It's like… scary sometimes," she said, her voice lilting as she rambled.

"That's… reassuring…" Sora trailed off, turning towards the front of the classroom as the teacher started class. Well, people were talking to him. He just wasn't sure if he could stand much more of Xion's obnoxious voice.

x-x-x-x-x

Meanwhile, Roxas Fair was settling into his own desk as class drew near, his first year at Destiny High already about a month underway. He was finally coming out of the "new kid" phase and starting to fit in with his own strange group of friends.

"Hey, so guess what I heard today," his best friend Demyx said as he took his seat next to Roxas. "Youuu aren't the new kid anymore."

Roxas cocked an eyebrow, turning to face him, "Oh yeah? What kid was dumb enough to start school a month in?"

"Some guy named Sora. I heard from the Gainsborough triplets that he grew up on the island like a heathen."

"Oh come on… Don't you think you're overexaggerating just a little bit?" Roxas questioned him, rolling his eyes. It was typical of Demyx to blow things out of proportion.

Suddenly Demyx went quiet and swatted Roxas on the arm, "Dude, that creepy guy is staring at us again…"

Roxas slyly caught a glance of the accused "creepy guy" out of the corner of his eye, turning back to Demyx and sighing, "For the millionth time, Axel isn't that creepy. He's just quiet."

"Uhhh, sorry Roxas but you didn't grow up with him around. Axel is a freakin weirdo. He listens to heavy metal and has all these tattoos and piercings and shit. I think he worships the devil."

That just earned the dirty-blond musician a blank stare, "Demyx, I listen to heavy metal. It doesn't mean I worship the devil, and neither does Axel. So he dresses a little …darkly. So what? Have you ever even tried to talk to him before?"

"Hell no," Demyx shook his head, "I can't even bring myself to look him in the eye. Why does he keep staring at us like that? He never did that before."

Roxas glanced back at the strange redheaded man again, wondering for a moment why people seemed to hate him so much. He was eccentric, sure, but he seemed harmless. "I don't know, Dem… but don't spread rumors about him worshiping the devil. That's not fair to him."

"Whatever, man… he freaks me out," Demyx mumbled as class started. The two turned to face forward, but Roxas was finding it a little difficult to focus on the teacher. He could feel a set of eyes boring into the back of his head. Was Axel still staring at him?

About halfway through their first class, Roxas felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He knew who it was immediately and took it out under his desk, trying not to get caught.

Olette: Good morning darling! Hope you have a wonderful day.

Roxas smiled, finding the message from his long distance girlfriend comforting.

Roxas: You as well, doll. Anything happen over the weekend? Sorry I couldn't talk much. I've already got loads of homework.

Olette: Ohh, Hayner got into a fight with Seifer on Saturday! Kicked his ass too.

Roxas: Whoa… seriously? Way to go, Hayner! I wish I could have seen that.

Olette: It was amazing. I don't think Seifer is going to bother us anymore.

Roxas: Thank God. That guy was an ass.

Roxas: I wish I was there… I miss you guys a lot.

Olette: We miss you too, Rox.

The eyes Roxas felt on him now were the teacher's. He raised his eyebrow and Roxas quickly slid his phone back into his pocket, straightening up and paying more attention. The presence behind him was still staring holes into the back of his head, making him squirm uncomfortably in his chair.

Class ended shortly after, and as he gathered his books Roxas turned around to meet the most unbelievably gorgeous, heart stoppingly green eyes. Axel stayed motionless in his chair, but Roxas could almost feel the air being sucked from the room as the redhead gasped softly. The two of them locked eyes for a long moment before Demyx stepped in between them.

"Rox, come on. We're going to be late for chem."

The blond teenager blinked a few times, turning his gaze to his best friend. "Uh, yeah… sorry, I was thinking about something."

"Ooh, your girlie friend?" Demyx prodded as they headed into the hallway.

"Yeah… I really miss her," he lied, thoroughly confused by the events that had just taken place.

The mohawked boy just shook his head, "I still don't get why you're still with her. I mean, Twilight Town is like a billion miles from here. Will you actually ever see her again?"

"You just know how to make a guy feel great," Roxas mumbled, sulking into chem class.

x-x-x-x-x

"Sora! Sit with us!" a familiar, screeching voice sounded as Sora walked into the art room. Xion was again waving her arms around like a moron as if her voice wasn't notification enough of their location.

He took a seat by the peculiar sisters yet again, noticing the look of permanent disdain on Riku's face as his girlfriend finally settled back down. However, next to them was a new girl whose face he couldn't quite see under the hood of her hoodie. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"We're all in art together! Isn't this so exciting?" Xion exclaimed, prodding the hooded girl in the side, "Kairi take off that stupid hood and say hi to Sora!"

The girl leered at her sister, a glare Sora could feel even without seeing it. "Shut up, Xion… leave me alone," the girl snapped, yanking her hood even further over her face.

"Oh come onnn," Xion whined obnoxiously, trying to lift Kairi's hood up, "Just say hi… he's really nice!"

Riku slapped Xion's hands away, glaring at her as well. "Knock it off, Xi. Just leave her alone."

"Fine…" the annoying girl pouted, giving Riku a kiss that made Sora's stomach churn. "I'll stop bugging her… Sorry baby…"

As he resisted the urge to gag, he felt Namine tugging at his arm, "Can I talk to you for a second, Sora?"

He nodded, standing up and following her to a secluded corner of the room. "What's up, Namine?"

"So… I'm sure you've noticed that Kairi is a little weird," she started, seeming nervous.

"She seems okay to me, just a little shy," he said with a shrug.

Namine sighed softly, "She's autistic."

Sora looked over at the hooded girl, surprised by that. "But… she still goes to school?"

"It's a mild form… she can function enough to attend classes, but she only talks to Xion and I. And our mother, of course. Through our entire lives, I've never heard her speak a word to anybody else. Xion likes to push her… but I'm already aware that it isn't going to get her anywhere," Namine explained, seeming a bit sad talking about it. "Don't let her freak you out or anything… she's harmless."

"I'm aware that people with autism are harmless, Namine. I'll treat her like anybody else," he said with a shrug, turning to walk back to the table.

Namine caught him by the arm, "There's one more thing… she has an epilepsy disorder. She could have a seizure at any time. She's on medication, but it doesn't always help. Just… don't freak out if she ever has one, Xion and I know what to do."

"Noted," Sora said, saluting her as he approached their table again. He sat down in the seat across from Kairi, hoping to at least introduce himself. "Hi Kairi… I'm Sora. It's nice to meet you."

She lifted her head slightly to look at him, suddenly gasping and sitting straight up. Sora was met with shockingly blue eyes… eyes that he immediately recognized. "You're the boy from the island."

As she spoke, Kairi lowered her hood down to reveal that she was, in fact, the beautiful redhead that Sora hadn't been able to keep off of his mind. She shook her head a little, her gorgeous hair falling into place around her pale white face.

Sora was completely unaware of the shocked looks they were receiving from her sisters. "You're the girl… you came to our beach last summer."

"You rememeber me…?" she whispered, her big blue eyes going wide.

"Why is she talking to him? I don't understand… what are they talking about?" Xion's hushed whispers were louder than she thought.

"Of course I remember you," Sora let the rest of the world melt away, his eyes staying trained on hers. "How could I forget those amazing eyes?"

Kairi blushed deeply, her voice faltering a little in her throat, "Sora… it's nice to meet you too…" She extended a slim hand to him, a smile touching her lips.

Xion looked like her head was about to explode as the two shook hands. "I don't think Kairi has willingly let anybody touch her before…"

Sora looked over at Kairi's sisters, shrugging, "Apparently she lets me."

x-x-x-x-x

"Roxas, why is Axel sitting at our lunch table?" Demyx pulled his best friend aside right as he entered the lunchroom.

Huffing, Roxas yanked his arm away, "I don't fucking know, but there's nowhere else to sit."

"Oh hell no, Rox… I am not sitting with that freak," Demyx recoiled, sneering at the redhead who was sitting there quietly reading a book with his headphones in.

The blond rolled his eyes, marching over to the table and sitting down without a word. His friend scrambled after him looking terrified as he sat down as far away from Axel as he could.

"I don't like this, Roxas…" he whispered, holding his hand over his mouth so Axel couldn't see what he was saying.

This odd miscommunication was irritating Roxas, and it was going to stop. He leaned over the table and yanked Axel's earbuds out of his ears, giving him a stern look, "Hello. My name is Roxas. You're Axel, right?"

This certainly startled him, causing Axel to look up and meet Roxas' eyes again. "Yes."

"Do you mind if we sit here?" Roxas' words were short and to the point.

"Not at all," he said, actually seeming rather polite.

Roxas looked at Demyx, "Problem solved. Do I need to hold your hand in the lunch line too?"

A strange noise elicited from the other side of the table, and Roxas looked over to see Axel trying to hide a smirk. "I'll hold your seats while you're gone…" he mumbled, turning his attention back to his book.

When the pair returned to their seats with their trays, Roxas noticed that Axel had set his iPod aside and left his headphones off. Did he actually intend to talk to them?

"So, Axel… What were you listening to?" Roxas asked him, making the boy jump a little.

"Uh… Motionless in White…" he mumbled, a slight blush tinting his cheeks.

Roxas grinned, "If Devil's Night isn't your favorite song, Immaculate Misconception has to be."

This seemed to shock Axel down to the core. "I can't decide which I like better, actually. The last line of Immaculate Misconception always gets me."

"'I may not have built this kingdom, but I'll make fucking sure that I protect it from you,'" the two of them said in unison, causing Roxas to blush now.

"You really like them?" Axel asked in disbelief, giving Roxas an incredulous look.

Roxas just laughed, "Yeah, they're my favorite band."

"What about—"

"In This Moment?" Roxas cut him off, knowing exactly where he was going with it. "Maria is amazing."

Axel seemed impressed, "Wow… I misjudged you."

"I think there's been a lot of false judgement happening lately," Roxas said, glancing over at Demyx, who was staring back at him with a look of horror. "What?"

"I just have never seen anybody carry out a conversation with him," Demyx said, trying to play it off.

Roxas rolled his eyes, "He can hear you, dickhead."

"Oh God, don't hurt me!" Demyx squeaked, grabbing his tray and running away from the table.

"I am… terribly embarrassed by my friend's idiocy," Roxas said to Axel, "Please don't hold it against me."

Axel just shrugged, "I'm used to it…"

Feeling bad, Roxas scooted around the table to sit closer to him. "I don't get it… why are people so afraid of you?"

"Besides the fact that I'm covered in tattoos and have facial piercings? Probably that I wear all black and listen to Motionless in White. Oh, and I smoke too. That tends to send people running."

"You've never done anything …scary?"

Axel scoffed, laughing a little, "Roxas… the people at this school do nothing but judge. They already think you're gay just because you hang out with Demyx."

"Demyx is gay?" Roxas cocked an eyebrow, genuinely curious.

"Demyx has been gay since he could talk," Axel told him, enlightening him with the new information. "I assume you are not?"

Roxas chuckled, "No, I have a girlfriend. Wait, so he's really gay? Wow… there were no gay people at my old school."

"I think you'll find that quite a few people around here are, actually," he said cryptically before gathering his things. "Why do you think I've been staring at you?" he whispered as he brushed past Roxas to leave.

Roxas just sat there for a moment, his mouth hanging open for a moment as the bell for class rang. Had Axel just admitted an attraction to him? Was Axel actually gay? He was probably messing with him.

"Sooo what the ever-living fuck what that about?" Demyx caught him in the hallway.

"What? Axel is a nice guy," Roxas told him, shrugging as he approached his locker.

Demyx looked like he was ready to pass out, "He is not a nice guy, Roxas. He drinks and smokes and… and… pierces things that shouldn't be pierced!"

"Were you ever going to tell me that you're gay?" Roxas changed the subject abruptly.

The other teen stopped in his tracks, "Who told you that? Axel?"

"Well, is it true or not?"

"I mean… yeah," Demyx admitted, "I guess I just never… told you. I dunno, people can usually tell right away."

Roxas chuckled, "Well you are the first gay man I've ever seen, so I really had no way of knowing. I mean, you don't really act gay."

"Should I?" Demyx countered, seeming a little offended.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Roxas told him, closing his locker and heading for math class. "Look, I don't give two fucks if you're gay. I was just surprised to hear it."

Demyx huffed, following him on his heels. "Aren't you worried people will think you're gay?"

"According to Axel, it's a pretty common thing here. So no, I don't really care. Besides, I have a girlfriend," Roxas reminded him, turning into the classroom.

"Well… promise me you won't start hanging out with that guy," Demyx said as they took their seats. "He's bad news…"

Roxas just sighed, sinking further down into his chair. Axel seemed harmless, and Demyx was beginning to get annoying with all of his judgement.

x-x-x-x-x

"Mom… Mom, are you alive?" Roxas prodded his mother, who was laying on their couch at 3:40 in the afternoon either sleeping or passed out. When she elicited no response, he pried the bottle of vodka from her fingers and set it aside, covering her with a blanket. She was breathing… but she wouldn't be waking up any time soon.

Out of boredom, Roxas approached his step father in his office, "Hey Zack… how's it going?"

"Hey Roxas…" he mumbled, his nose stuck in a case file. "I've got the strangest case."

"Yeah? What's it about?"

Zack took his glasses off, looking up at his step son. "Ah, you wouldn't understand all my legal talk. How was school?"

"Fine… Mom is passed out again. Do you think she's going to wake up this time?"

Zack's jaw tightened and he cleared his throat, "She had a rough morning… the diner still won't hire her as a waitress."

"Good thing you make so much money," Roxas said sarcastically, truly wishing that his mother would find something, anything to do that would get her off of the couch. "I thought you said this move would help her."

"I really hoped that it would, but ever since we got here she's seemed even more depressed than usual. I would give up my entire law firm to see her happy again, but… is there really any point now?"

Zack Fair had moved his family to the Mainlands to open his own law firm, which was doing incredibly well. The only problem was that he had less and less free time to spend with his alcoholic wife, which meant she spent most days wasted watching soap operas on the TV.

"Don't give up on her, Zack… please," Roxas said, drifting out of the office and heading for his bedroom. Today had just been… exhausting. On top of that, he had piles of homework from classes he wasn't paying attention in.

x-x-x-x-x

"Sora! How was your first day?" Cloud attacked his son the minute he walked through the door.

"Dad, did you leave work early just to greet me?" Sora laughed, stepping inside and hanging his keys on the hook.

Cloud's eyes darted suspiciously from side to side, "No… I was… sick?" he tried, giving an awful fake cough.

"School was fine, Dad. I met the Gainsborough girls… they were really nice," he said, flopping down on the couch in the living room.

"Did you meet Kairi?" Cloud asked, sitting in his recliner. "Aerith told me about her… it's really a shame."

Sora's face scrunched up, "I don't understand why everyone pities her. She seemed fine to me."

"Sora, she's autistic… people like her can hardly ever function in society."

"Maybe she just needs the right person by her side to help her…" Sora mumbled, closing his eyes. "I think I'm going to take a nap. What's for dinner?"

Cloud thought for a long moment. "Chinese?"

"Sounds good to me. Make it so, pops."

His father stood up to go order, but Sora stopped him in his tracks.

"Hey Dad? Thanks for always being here for me. I really appreciate you trying to make this move as easy on me as possible."

"Of course, kiddo. I would have nothing without you."