Gone Chapter I – The Kid who's Name Begins With an "R"

Summary: They knew something was missing, or more accurately someone. A person they could only half remember. And it was driving Hayner nuts that he couldn't even remember his blonde-haired blue- eyed best friend.

A/N: …Don't ask…just don't. I have no idea where on earth this came from. I was playing Final Fantasy X-2 and suddenly this popped into my head.

DISCLAIMER:

Oh yes. I totally own Kingdom Hearts. That's why I'm a high school student who writes fanfiction.

Hayner was fuming. He couldn't believe they were being framed for something like this! He had an attitude problem, he'd admit that readily, but he was not a thief! He couldn't believe that the town thought he, R-, Olette, and Pence - R-? Who the heck is that? - had stolen their photos! -Wait…when had that happened!- He was so mad it took R- awhile to calm him down, and once they had started looking for the picture thief, their own photo had been stolen too (he wasn't quite so mad about the word)! It turned out Seifer hadn't done it either, but he had one of his photos stolen as well.

He deserved it as far as Hayner was concerned.

But R- being R- didn't think so.

They we're about to set off when all of a sudden Pence's camera was stolen and R- took off after what he thought had taken it (although no one else could see it). When they caught up to R- he had a weird look on his face and was standing there staring at the photos that were laying scattered on the ground in front of the Old Mansion.

Oh yeah, they could say photo again.

He was ranting about how the four -Four? There are only three of us, right? - of them hadn't gone to the beach all summer. Olette and Pence, he could tell, were paying some attention to him, while R- just spaced out; he was starting to worry about his best friend. Ever since the picture thief incident he'd been spacing out a lot more. At some point in his spiel however, it seemed that his friend had snapped out of it and reminded him that they were broke. So, naturally, Hayner said he had it covered.

By that he meant he and his friends were getting odd jobs around Twilight Town.

R- stuck closer to their Usual Spot than the rest of them, delivering mail and helping some guy move his stuff into a garage up the hill. Together the four –Three, some part of his mind shouted- made 5,000 munny. They were about to go into the station when R- tripped. They waited for him, but when Hayner ordered the tickets and turned to R- expectantly, he came up empty handed.

"That guy must have stolen it!"

"What guy?" Had R- lost it?

"That guy that was by me when I tripped!"

"But, R-," started Olette, obviously concerned for the mental stability of their spiky haired friend. "Nobody was there." (1) By that point, R- looked very confused and worried.

Hayner's worry for his best friend spiked.

Later, they were all on the clock tower eating sea-salt ice-cream. Hayner had suggested it since they had missed they're trip to the beach. He knew sea-salt was R-'s favorite flavor. He had hoped it would cheer him up, but instead he spaced out again. He never knew R-'s cerulean blue eyes could look so distant.

That was when he muttered the oddest sentence ever.

"Can you feel Sora?"

That fact that he was talking to himself pushed the worry meter high enough to really concern Hayner.

Hayner sat up in bed with a start. He furrowed his eyebrows and stared out his window. 'What was with those dreams?' That one thought brought the blonde-haired boy from his dreams to the forefront of his mind in no time at all. He was absolutely positive that he had never seen the boy before. 'Although, he does look a lot like Sora… Maybe they're related?' Somehow he knew that wasn't it. Hayner was a lot of things, and he knew he wasn't exactly the brightest guy around, but he knew something was definitely wrong.

It was time consult Olette and Pence…

The three of them met at the Usual Spot first thing, just like every day. Everything was exactly as they had left it the previous day-the dartboard, couch, chairs, posters-yet no one could shake the hair raising feeling that something was missing-or, more accurately, someone. If his dreams meant anything, Hayner knew exactly who it was; that blonde-haired Sora-lookalike whose name began with an 'R'.

He stared at his two closest friends and some part of his mind noted they had the same subdued air he did. Hayner wasn't exactly sure as to where to start. Luckily for him, however, he didn't have to.

"Did anyone else have any weird dreams last night?" Hayner nearly felt like kissing his technology-inclined friend.

"Yeah," Olette answered, while Hayner nodded.

"They were about some kid whose name began with an 'R'." Olette and Pence nodded in agreement at Hayner's statement.

Olette decided to throw in her own two cents, "He looked a lot like Sora."

"Except, he's blonde-and awesome at Struggle," Hayner started when the words left his mouth. How did he know that?

"How did you know that, Hayner?" Hayner could only shake his head at Pence. He really didn't know, but he felt that it was important.

Not knowing who this kid was who had appeared in their dreams, drove Hayner up the wall. He didn't know who the heck the kid was, but he also couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the kid and that the kid knew him, too. Hayner wasn't one for deep philosophical thoughts, Olette and Pence could attest to that, but he felt that there was something important missing in his small group of friends. He'd known Pence and Olette all his life and he was almost positive there'd never been a fourth person in their group. Vivi had come close, but for whatever reason, he had decided he liked Sefier and his gang more.

But this kid…

Call him crazy, but right then and there, Hayner decided he was going to figure out who this kid was. On some weird unconscious level that Olette would swear was his heart, (he didn't do sappy stuff like that) he knew this blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid was important.

He just knew it.

End.

1 - I had used the manga to refernce this part because my PS2 was being held captive at the time I wrote this scene.

"Because on some weird unconscious level that Olette would swear was his heart (he didn't do sappy stuff like that) he knew this blonde-haired blue-eyed kid was important." My Beta and I want to know what you think of the part of the sentence in parenthesis. We really couldn't agree on wording, so give us some friendly advice! :)