Willas: Hey everyone! Yes, I'm gonna try and run two fanfics at once…we'll just see how this goes…'. Yes, this one is yaoi as well, it's between Roxas and Axel. Once again, if you don't like this sorta thing, then don't read. Do not flame the yaoiness, for it is good. Now, I'll leave you to enjoy the fic, and I do hope you review!-
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters or places (T-T). I'm just a teenage, high school girl; not an executive at Square Enix, Disney, or any other company associated with KH. So don't sue, you'll get nothing of great value unless you worship duct tape.
Warnings: Yaoiness, AU, and slight OOC.
Chapter One: Heart Stopping
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"Oh, I'm so excited! This is our first school function for high school!" a redheaded girl gushed as she bounced around in her seat. Next to her, a blond boy agreed as whole-heartedly and as vocally while on the other side of him a blonde girl expressed her excitement in a much calmer manner. A brunet and his silver-haired friend smiled at their girlfriends from the middle seat of the van. They were all piled into the back of Tia Tenshi's van. Sora grinned at his brother in the backseat.
"I knew we shouldn't have put you next to Kairi back there. I just knew you'd both end up bouncing off the walls before we even got to the school," he said laughingly. Riku just rolled his eyes and gave a derisive snort.
"Poor Naminé, even she'd be driven crazy sitting between those two psychos," he joked, referring to her seemingly permanent calm demeanor. Roxas just smirked as he placed an arm around each of the girls.
"You're just jealous 'cause I get to sit with the ladies," he retorted smugly. Sora and Riku exchanged amused glances before erupting into laughter. Roxas just sniggered at them while the girls giggled behind their hands at the boys' foolishness. As the vehicle continued towards its destination, and the laughter came in fitful bursts, Sora didn't have to wonder if his brother's laughter was sincere or forced. Although it came just as fast and just as loud as the others' did, as his twin, Sora could detect the hollowness of it and how his heart didn't seem into it. His heart didn't seem to be into anything since four years ago…since the year they had come to live with their aunt Tia. The only thing Roxas put everything he had into was dancing, and that he did mostly in private. His twin's withdrawal had stung at first, and when he'd voiced his concerns, Roxas just laughed it off and had been making an effort to hide his pain and depression from his brother. That had hurt Sora even more, so he let it go for now, deciding Roxas would confide in him in his own time.
Sora continued to ponder on the changes in his twin until said twin started knocking on his forehead. "Snap outta it silly, we're here," he said with a knowing look on his face. Looking out the window, Sora saw that they were indeed in front of the high school. Different cliques and small throngs of students loitered outside the entrance, talking and laughing and waiting for the doors to let into the gymnasium for the dance. As they stepped out of the van, some of their fellow freshmen waved them over.
"Hey guys, you made it!" Olette said, letting go of the hand of her boyfriend, Pence, to embrace Kairi and Naminé.
"Of course we did! You didn't think we'd miss the first high school "party", did you?" Fuu and Selphie made themselves known and the five girls continued to chat while the boys formed their own group of discussion. Roxas watched them a moment before moving off to sit alone in the shadows of the marquee. Riku noticed Sora's gaze drifting repeatedly to his brother and read his mind.
"You're worried about him aren't you?" the platinum-haired teen asked. When Sora just nodded, Hayner shifted in his boyfriend, Seifer's, arms before he spoke.
"Is it just me, or does Roxas seem more withdrawn lately?" the brown-eyed blond voiced. Sora shook his head sadly.
"He's been withdrawing ever since we left Destiny Islands four years ago. I don't know what's wrong, he won't tell me, he keeps saying he's not ready yet, but that he would explain everything eventually." The brunet was exasperated. He wanted to know what had happened to his brother, what had happened to the carefree boy his twin used to be.
Before anyone could reply, Kairi rushed over excitedly. "The doors just opened, guys! Come on!" Seeing the excited redhead beckoning them to follow, Roxas got up and rejoined the group. They paid their entrance fee and entered the gymnasium where the upperclassmen were meshed together and mingled. Puzzled, they headed towards where other freshmen were gathering around the tables. There were folding tables set around the edge of the room, and the middle was cleared for the purpose of dancing, or moshing by the looks of it. Murmurs swept through the group all asking what was going on. Their questions were soon answered as the school's class president took the microphone from the DJ.
"Excuse me, may I have your attention, please? If you could all just quiet down for a moment…" The talking continued as Aeris's soft pleas for silence were ignored. Seeing Aeris become increasingly flustered, the DJ took back the mike and handled the situation with ease.
"WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP FOR A SEC!! AERIS HAS SOMETHING TO SAY!!" screamed Yuffie. Satisfied, when the room finally fell silent, Yuffie handed the mike back to Aeris.
"Yes, well, that worked, I guess. Anyway, I'm pleased to welcome everyone to the first coffeehouse of the school year. To all returning students, I hope you enjoy new bands as well as old favorites, and to all freshmen students, I hope you are encouraged to participate in all future coffeehouses. Feel free to enjoy the refreshments at the back table as well as tonight's entertainment." With that she handed the mike back to Yuffie who imparted a few -quieter- words of her own.
"And to those freshmen who don't know, I'm Yuffie, your DJ for all dances and the space filler while bands set up and move off stage during these events! So sit back with a cup of joe, or dance if you want! It doesn't matter as long as you have a good time!" Ending her speech, Yuffie started the turntable up, and let dance music blare through the speaker system as the first band set up on stage. Roxas scanned the larger crowd gathered on the dance floor as they swayed to the beat Yuffie provided. Making up his mind, he moved away from the freshmen group and leaned against a support closer to the stage. He remained there most of the night, except for the breaks between bands when he rejoined his friends to talk and dance.
"Hey Rox, how do you like the music so far?" Sora asked as his twin came towards them. He used his brother's nickname in an effort to cheer him up, and was rewarded with an appreciative grin.
"It's pretty good, the sound is great up front…and the view's not too bad, either," he said nonchalantly, knowing someone would pick up on his double-edged comment. As if confirming his assumption, Kairi giggled in response.
"Ooh, has someone developed an upperclassman crush?" she ribbed. Roxas just smirked.
"Nah, they're not bad looking, I just haven't seen, or heard, anyone who's made my heart pound, yet," he quipped. He laughed with the girls while the guys just rolled their eyes, but little did he know he'd spoken too soon. The music cut out and Roxas bid his friends farewell once more, and returned to his spot nearer the stage. He inspected the toe of his sneaker while the new band's bassist gave their introduction.
"Hey everyone, we're EmptyShelz, and we're gonna play one of our songs for you," the blonde girl said simply. Roxas glanced up and surmised they were a Goth or metal band; all wore black clothing adorned with chains or fishnet, some sort of dark kohl around their eyes, and some had multiple piercings. After the brief applause, the first guitar chord rang through the air followed by the drums.
Roxas let his body rock to the steady rhythm of song's intro, but soon became as still as a stone when the lead vocalist's voice pierced the air. Looking towards center stage and actually took a good look at the lead singer, Roxas felt his pace quicken when his eyes fell on the owner of the voice. "Oh, be still my beating heart," he thought dazedly.
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Willas: Ta-da! The first chapter of Save Me. Review and let me know what you think. Comments and flames are welcome, so long as the flames aren't burning the yaoiness. That's the only thing I refuse to put up with. Other than that, feel free to review all you'd like.
PS. Oh, and I lied. I do own one character, and that's Tia Tenshi, Sora's and Roxas's aunt for this story.