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[KH] The Thirteenth Changeling, ch. 2 (Stash ver.)

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The Thirteenth Changeling, a Kingdom Hearts fanfic by Raberba girl
The Second Day

Hands clenched around a smooth handle, the thwack of metal against thick shadows, arms straining to absorb the jolt of impact.  A sudden flare of pain; thrown into the air, sick with shock, almost too tired to land on his feet - death is close.

"Sora!"

"Here!"

A flood of healing warmth, the sound of rushing air.  New strength coursing through him, restoring his energy and his will to fight; a shield of wind swirling around him.  "Thanks, guys!"  Then back to work, slashing and hacking and stabbing until at last all the shadows in the area are gone.

Looking around at a strange place, a cold feeling in the bones, water surging upward around the gates of a damaged castle.  "What is this world, anyway?"

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Roxas jerked awake, breathing hard, his arms aching as if he really had been swinging a weapon around.  "Not again...."  He shook his head and peered blearily at the alarm clock, which read 5:22 a.m.  Roxas groaned and buried his head in the pillow again.  "If I'm going to have these stupid dreams, why can't they at least plague me for another couple of hours...?"

He knew he was not going to be able to go back to sleep, so after a few minutes, he got out of bed and stumbled down to the kitchen for a glass of milk.  Roxas, who lived alone and earned munny from doing odd jobs around town, could not afford a TV, so he dug out a book he needed to read for school and curled up with it on the battered easy chair in the living room.

The book was boring as heck, and he was already preoccupied.  Roxas soon found himself gazing idly out the living room window, where Twilight Town's perpetual sunset gave the illusion of sunrise at this hour of the morning.  'Man, what's gotten into Hayner...?'

In the next moment, Roxas screeched and jumped out of his chair.  A figure had materialized out of nowhere, right outside the window.

The man, who was shrouded in a long black coat just like the red-haired guy from earlier, lowered his hood to reveal a grin, his face a bit craggy and marked with a large scar.  Long black hair liberally streaked with silver was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and a black patch covered one eye.  "Hey, kiddo!  Invite me in, will ya?"  His voice was pleasantly rough, perfectly audible through the window pane.

"Not a chance!" Roxas yelled.  "Who are you?  What are you doing?  Where'd you come from?!"

The man theatrically crossed his arms and shook his head, tsking, "Roxas, Roxas, Roxas.  Why're you so surprised to see me?  I am your buddy, after all."

"What are you high on?" Roxas snapped.  "Get out of here!"

"Now, is that any way to talk to an old friend?"

"Cut it out," Roxas ground out through clenched teeth.  "I've never seen you in my life before."

The man sighed heavily.  "So that's the way you're gonna play it, eh?"  He adopted a thoughtful pose, and Roxas really did not like the look of the man's smirk.  "Guess the others were right, Axel and I were wrong."  He snapped his fingers as if he had decided something.  "Fine - I know just the thing."  His smirk grew.  "See ya at school tomorrow, kid."

Then he winked out of existence again, as if he had never even been there.

"Y...Yeah!  That's right, get out of here!" Roxas yelled, even though he was seriously weirded out.  He could feel the flesh of his back creeping.

He turned on all the lights in the house, then ran around getting ready for school and dashed out onto the streets.  Of course he arrived much earlier than his friends - barely anyone was there.  Roxas wandered around the nearly deserted campus, lonely and apprehensive, before he finally went out to the bleachers and sat there to watch the football team training.

He was lost in his thoughts and did not notice anyone approaching until the person was climbing over the seat behind in order to plop down next to Roxas.  Roxas yelped and jerked back.  "You!"

It was the red-haired guy from the night before, though he seemed younger now, with the lanky build of a teenager rather than a full-grown man.

Roxas jumped to his feet and backed away, growling.  "What do you people want?  Why do you keep following me?"

The guy studied him wordlessly for a while.  Right before Roxas had made up his mind to leave, the guy smiled, pulled a couple of items out of his book bag, and held one out to Roxas.

Roxas frowned.  "What the heck?"  It was an ice cream bar.

"I promise I haven't poisoned it," the guy said with a wink.  "It's still in the wrapping."

Roxas glared.  "Why should I eat ice cream with you?"

"Look, just take the bribe.  My name's Axel."

Roxas had the strong feeling he should walk away, but for some reason he did not want to.  There was not really anywhere to go, anyway.  Still glaring, he snatched the ice cream bar from Axel's hand, sat down on the edge of the bench a little farther away than he had been sitting before, and sullenly unwrapped the treat.  Axel, looking satisfied, unwrapped his own ice cream and bit into it as he gazed out at the football field.

"Hey," Roxas mumbled in surprise as he took the first bite.  "This is...sea-salt ice cream."

Axel eyed him.  "Problem with that?"

"No, it's...actually my favorite."  Frowning, Roxas licked at the salty-sweet ice, wondering why something about this situation felt so familiar.  Probably because he had eaten ice cream with Hayner and the others so often.

"Why's that?"

Roxas rolled his eyes.  "What do you mean, why?  It just is."

"It's my favorite, too."  Axel leaned back on the upper seats with one arm, looking quite comfortable sprawled across the benches like that.  "Guess the others were right.  You don't remember me at all, do you."

"Why should I?" Roxas snapped.  "Like I told that eyepatch guy, I've never seen you before in my life.  Except last night, when you were spying on me and Hayner."

Axel took another bite of ice cream, still looking off into the distance.  "Poor Roxas.  Your life is going to suck for the next few days...."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Roxas complained.  "I never asked for trouble."

Axel finally looked back at him, smiling a little.  "Kid, you are trouble."  He finished off his ice cream quickly, glanced at the stick, then smiled again and tossed it to Roxas.  "Congrats, Winner.  I'll see ya around."  He grabbed his book bag and hopped off the bleachers, then strode away toward the administration building.

Roxas watched him go, frowning, then looked down at the ice cream stick in his hand.  Sure enough, it had the word WINNER printed on it.  Combined with the other WINNER stick Pence had saved from a month or two ago, they would finally be able to treat Hayner and Olette to free ice cream.  That is, if Hayner was even still interested in anything not named Larxene....

"Stupid idiot," he grumbled.

The parking lot was slowly filling up, and he could see people moving around in the courtyard now, so Roxas decided to wait for his friends over there.  He picked up his backpack and made his way to the ground.

The football players had been running around the track, and were approaching after Roxas had only taken a few steps.  He glanced over at them idly, and did not realize for a few seconds that he had locked eyes with one of them - a huge, muscled guy Roxas had never seen before.  The other boy, though he did not seem out of breath or anything, was steadily dropping behind the others.  It looked very much as if he had timed it so that he came to an easy stop right when Roxas reached him.

"You're Roxas," the huge boy announced.

"Uh...."  Roxas could hear the football coach yelling in the distance, but the enormous boy paid no attention.

"You talked to Axel."

Roxas narrowed his eyes.  "Geez - you're one of Them, aren't you.  Whoever They are.  Who are You Guys, anyway?"

The boy frowned as if he, understandably, had little idea what Roxas was talking about.  "I am Lexaeus.  You have agreed, then?"

"Huh?  Agreed to what?  What are you talking about?"

Lexaeus did not say anything for a minute.  "Axel did not tell you," he realized.  Then he nodded to himself.  "Going with Zexion's strategy after all.  That's good.  Xigbar acted foolishly."

"Look, I have to go," Roxas said harshly.  "My friends are waiting."

"Your friends," Lexaeus echoed thoughtfully.

"Bye."  Roxas had to try very hard not to run as he turned his back on the other boy and continued on to the courtyard.

He found that he had to keep moving, since it seemed like everywhere he settled, he would feel his flesh creeping and then look up to find someone watching him.  First the goth-looking kid with the book, then a guy with bizarrely-dyed pink hair and an unpleasant smirk; then the football guy again, then Axel, and at one point Roxas even looked up to see Principal Xemnas gazing down at him from a window.

Roxas yanked his eyes away from the sight, only to see a gaunt-faced teacher he did not recognize sizing him up from another window.  It was maddening, as if the entire world was suddenly involved in a conspiracy against him.  By the time Roxas ran into his friends, it was literally, since his pace had increased every time he had caught himself being watched.

"Ow!  What's the rush, man?"  Hayner rubbed his head and glared at Roxas reproachfully.

"Hayner!  Oh...uh, sorry."  Roxas scrambled to pick up all their dropped books and stuff, accidentally bumping into Olette, who had bent down to help.

"Roxas, are you okay?" she asked in concern, and actually felt his forehead, as if his problem was merely a fever.  "Have you been sleeping badly again?"

"It's nothing," Roxas growled roughly, thrusting the last of the books into Hayner's arms.  "Here."

Olette gave him a skeptical look, but did not say anymore.  She was good about picking up on people's moods like that.

"Where's Pence?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, he texted me to say he's running late.  Apparently, a water pipe broke or something while he was getting ready for school."  Olette laughed sympathetically.  "He says it was a mess, I just hope their house didn't totally flood...."

Roxas turned to Hayner.  "And what about you?  How'd your date go?" he asked pointedly, still stung at being abandoned the night before.

Olette's eyes widened in surprise.  "Date?"

Hayner, amazingly, looked just as confused.  "Date?"  There was a pause.  "Oh!"  His face lit up.  "OH!"

"Shut up, man!" Roxas yelled, unaccountably furious.

"Larxene!" Hayner yelled back, ecstatic.  "Larxene!"

"Never mind, I don't want to hear it!"

"What are you guys talking about?" Olette cut in, bewildered and impatient.

"Larxene!" Hayner practically screamed at her in delight.  "I'm in love!"

"She's a freak, and you should stay away from her!" Roxas snarled, hearing himself and realizing that he sounded crazy.

Hayner punched him.  It was completely unexpected, and Roxas went down.  When Hayner jumped on him, he broke out of his shock and fought back, all his frustration and fear driving behind his fists.  Olette was standing over them yelling, and kids were suddenly flocking like a school of fish drawn to food.

"Fight!  Fight!  Fight!  Fight!"

For a minute, things were confused - Roxas struck out blindly, short of breath and aching whenever Hayner's hits connected.  His ears were full of the crowd's yelling.  "Hayner!" he shouted at one point, and there was a pause.  Roxas tried desperately to scramble away, and managed to roll shakily to his feet.  Hayner was looking at him with a strange expression, half furious and half dazed.

"Roxas...hey, man...lay off my girl."  The way he said it, it sounded almost like a question.

Roxas, who wanted nothing more than to yell at his friend to stay away from Larxene, swallowed down the words and said instead, "Hayner, I don't want to fight you.  Promise me you'll be careful?  Promise me?"

Hayner shook his head.  "Dude, you worry too much."

The crowd was just starting to get impatient when confused motion set in.  Realizing suddenly that a couple of adults were trying to make it close enough to break up the fight, Roxas instinctively melted back into the crowd, heading off in a random direction in the wake of a loudly chattering clump of kids.  He caught a glimpse of Olette's strained face as he passed, and he could hear Hayner protesting behind him as a teacher caught hold of him, but Roxas did not look back.

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Pence showed up halfway through first period, grinning from ear to ear for some reason.  "Sorry I'm late, my house was kind of flooded," he apologized to the teacher as he handed over his tardy slip.  Then he turned and came down the aisle to his seat between Roxas and Olette, still grinning.  Roxas raised his eyebrows ("What's up with you?"), but Pence apparently did not catch the hint, because he simply sat down and started taking notes on the history lesson.

They did not find out what the deal was until the passing period.  Pence stayed behind as usual to ask the teacher something, and his friends lingered, waiting for him.  As the three of them walked out the door together, Roxas had just opened his mouth to ask about Pence's cheerfulness, when the other boy's face lit up.  Eyes fixed on something down the hall, he raised his hand and waved.  "Over here, man!"

"Oh, is Hayner out of the principal's office?" Olette said in relief, but when they turned to look, it was not Hayner coming toward them.  Instead, a boy Roxas had never seen before was bounding down the hall, slipping like an eel through the thick crowd of students.

"Pence, buddy!" the kid yelled excitedly, coming to such a sudden stop that he nearly crashed into them.  He had green eyes and dingy blonde hair, styled in a mullet.  Roxas took an instant dislike to him.  "You really are at school!"

"Where else would I be?" Pence laughed.  Looking as if it was an afterthought, he turned to his friends (his real friends, Roxas thought resentfully).  "Guys, this is Demyx.  He just moved in next to me, and he helped us at the house this morning when one of the pipes burst."

Olette smiled and seemed as if she was about to say something, but Roxas abruptly spoke first.  "Great.  Thanks.  See you around, dude."  His hand moved with the vague intention of grabbing Pence's arm to haul him away, but then froze.

"Pence, our next class is together!  And we're, like, in the next hall!  Let's walk together!  Come on!"  Demyx seemed as excited as a puppy, with his eyes sparkling and his feet bouncing as if he could not keep still.  Yet there was something a little too intentional about his behavior, something about the way his eyes slid subtly to meet Roxas's in a triumphant way.

"Okay, cool.  Well, guys, I'll catch you later."  Pence gave a little wave, and then he was gone.

Roxas and Olette stared after him, he in disbelief, she in surprise.  "What...just happened?" Olette said uncertainly.

"Pence ditched us," Roxas murmured.  "He ditched us."  No, that wasn't it.  His friends were not ditching him...they were being stolen.  "Fine!" Roxas yelled down the hall, even though Pence was already out of sight.  "We didn't want to hang out with you, anyway!"

"Roxas?"  Olette gave him a strange look.

"Come on, we're gonna be late for second period," Roxas grumbled.

An odd-looking man in a lab coat was writing on the chalkboard when Roxas walked into science class.  Upon closer inspection, the guy turned out to be the one who had watched Roxas from a window that morning.  Roxas fought down the urge to either throw up or run away.

"Roxas, why'd you stop?" Olette asked from behind him.

"N...No reason."  Roxas slowly made his way to his desk, moving like a creaky old man.

The guy in the lab coat suddenly turned, his eyes piercing straight into Roxas's own.  Roxas shuddered a little.  The man really did have a creepy, hollow-cheeked face.  He looked like he would be more at home in a crypt than a classroom.

The tardy bell rang, even though the class seemed half empty.  Without pause, the lab coat guy flipped his long, greasy-looking pale hair back over his shoulder and announced, "I'm your new science teacher, whom you will address as Professor Vexen.  I will not tolerate any nonsense in this class."

He shot an annoyed look at the door.  "Also, there's been some re-arrangements.  You have new classmates to replace the ones who were transferred out this morning."  He raised his voice abruptly.  "Come in!"

The door opened, and a veritable parade of beautiful young men strolled in.  Roxas's mouth dropped open.  There was the eyepatch guy from this morning, except he was now much more youthful with the absence of patch, scar, and silver hair streaks.  There was also the guy with the ice cream - what's-his-name, Axel - and the huge football guy.  Not to mention the book boy, with his hair still covering most of his face; another huge boy with long black braids and a glower that could probably shatter rock; a boy with long dark hair and a polite, reserved expression; a blonde boy who was nonchalantly flipping a pack of cards between his hands with extreme dexterity; and the haughty-looking boy with glaringly pink hair.  Despite the uniform-optional policy, surely the administrators would have something to say about this extreme dye job?  Then again, now that the new principal sported long bleached locks himself....

"I've got to be dreaming again," Roxas whispered to himself.  "Only explanation."  He glanced over at Olette to see what she made of all this, and was horrified to find her staring at the group of bishounen as if she had discovered Enlightenment.  "Olette, not you, too!"  He gritted his teeth when he heard a couple of chuckles from the newcomers.

"Be quiet," Professor Vexen snapped at Roxas.  He returned his attention to the new students.  "You all, introduce yourselves."

No-longer-eyepatch-guy stepped forward first, with a smooth smile that sparked hearts in the eyes of several girls.  "Xigbar.  It's a pleasure."  The wink might have been for the benefit of the ladies, but the smirk was definitely directed at Roxas.

Next was the huge braided guy.  "Xaldin."

The football guy.  "I am Lexaeus.  It is good to meet you."

Book boy.  "Zexion.  I look forward to our time together."

Polite long-haired boy.  "I am Saïx.  I'm sure we will have a prosperous year."

"The name's Axel.  Got it memorized?"

Card-flipper.  "Luxord.  Let me know whenever you're up for a game of chance."

Pink hair.  "It's Marluxia.  If you annoy me, I'll kill you."  There was a scatter of laughter at that, instantly stilled when those deadly blue eyes pierced them.

Every single one of the new students had given Roxas a look, from Luxord's challenging grin to Lexaeus's thoughtful frown to Zexion's and Saïx's appraising glances.  Roxas felt like a worm under a microscope.

"All right, all right now."  Professor Vexen was making shooing motions with his hands.  "You people find your seats, and we'll get started.  Now, I'm going to pass out these evaluations, which you all have until the end of class to complete.  When you are finished, you will turn in your exam and then help me sort the new equipment."

"But we didn't know there was going to be a test!" someone protested.  "We didn't get to study."

"It's not for a grade," Vexen snapped, "I need to see what you already know.  Get to work!"  He slapped a stack of papers down on Saïx's desk.

The boy obligingly started passing them out.  At first, he just handed several tests to each person in the front seat.  However, for Roxas's row, he passed the tests out one by one to each student.  As Roxas had known he would, Saïx stopped at his desk.

Roxas looked up and met his gaze with a glare for several long moments.  Then he gasped.  For just a second, it looked like Saïx's face had changed - an X-shaped scar marred the fine features, which were suddenly more mature.  Then it was gone, and Saïx seemed like a handsome boy again.

Another few seconds crawled by.  Then Saïx closed his eyes and made a small "hmph" sound, moving on dismissively to complete his task.

Roxas felt strangely shaky, his skin clammy with sweat, as if he had just narrowly escaped something.  He scooted as far away from Saïx as he could when the other boy passed back down the aisle, then took a deep breath and looked over at Olette again.

She was practically glowing, her eyes riveted by Saïx's retreating figure.  "Isn't he amazing?" she whispered under her breath, apparently addressing Roxas.

"He makes me sick," Roxas hissed back.

Olette acted as if she had not even heard.

The test was hard.  Roxas did not know the answer to a single question - he was not even sure this was high school level material.  He ended up scribbling down random answers, then slouched low in his seat and doodled pictures in the margins, killing time so that he would not have to get out of his seat and be any closer to the creepy new students than he had to.  He could feel their eyes on him all the time, even though he determinedly did not look up, and it made his skin crawl.

The bell seemed to take hours to ring.  When it finally did, he snatched up his backpack, leaped out of his seat, and rushed to slap the paper down on the teacher's desk.  He thought that Vexen started to say something to him, so he quickly turned away and practically fled the class.

There was an uncertain moment while he hovered in the crowded hallway, wondering if he should wait for Olette.  Yet sure enough, she soon emerged next to Saïx, clutching her books to her chest and eyes sparkling with excitement as they talked, their attention wholly absorbed in each other.

'Olette,' Roxas thought, his heart sinking.  Then Saïx's eyes came up to meet his, and that was Roxas's cue to complete his escape.

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Unbelievable.  Un-be-freaking-lievable.  Not only was Hayner, who had returned from the principal's office, so captivated by Larxene's flirting that he did not so much as glance up when his best friend arrived, but...ALL THE OTHER CREEPS WERE THERE, TOO.

Right there in his math class, lounging in desks as if they owned the place, were Xigbar, Xaldin, Lexaeus, Zexion, Axel, Luxord, and Marluxia.  The only one missing was Saïx, who was no doubt keeping Olette company in her own third period class.  There was no telling how they had all gotten here without Roxas noticing them in the halls, but somehow they had managed it, and now Roxas was apparently in for yet another round of unrelenting stares and crawling flesh.

He did not hear a word of the lecture.  The marks on the chalkboard seemed to squirm into unrecognizable shapes, as if there was something wrong with his eyes.  Roxas toyed with the idea of saying he was sick and escaping to the nurse's office, but....

Hayner.  Something about seeing that oblivious idiot, that passionate and fiercely loyal friend, surrounded by all those prowling tigers...Roxas could not bring himself to abandon him.  Even if he was being a jerk at the moment.

There was no point in waiting for Hayner after class.  Roxas simply shoved his things into his backpack and walked out as soon as the bell rang, walking quickly to the art room.  This time he kept a close eye out, constantly craning his head to look for beautiful creeps in the halls, but he did not see anyone.

Which was why it was so strange that, when he got to fourth period, after he had taken a deep breath and screwed up his courage and peered into the classroom, there they were again, as if they were waiting for him.  All the weirdoes from math, now joined by Saïx and Demyx, gathered around Roxas's best friends and chatting them up as if they had any right to shove in and take over his life.

Roxas took one step back, then another.  The sensation of his flesh creeping was so familiar by now that he barely noticed it.  Carefully, he turned around and then walked toward the closest exit, his pace increasing the farther he got from the art room.  The tardy bell shrilled just as he reached the double doors.  Without hesitation, he shoved through, practically exploding out into the still afternoon.

"Ugh."  A slight breeze picked up, its warm touch a relief to his skin after the harsh air conditioning inside.  "What's happening to me...?" he mumbled, rubbing at his face.

After a while, he moved forward again, meandering aimlessly.  Eventually he reached a patch of grass behind the library where his energy seemed to give out.  He let his bag fall from his hands and slid down the brick wall to sit on the ground, his head hanging.  "Why is all this happening...?"

"Heh.  Because you have something we want."

Roxas's head snapped up, and then he scrambled frantically to his feet.

A boy was there, just across from him, regarding him with wicked golden eyes and a mischievous little smirk.  The boy was floating.  In midair, just - feet not even touching the ground, hovering with as much ease as if he was a cloud.

"Who are you?" Roxas choked out.

The boy tilted his head, then spread his hands a little.  His body lowered until he alighted on the ground, his stance as graceful as a dancer's.  He moved forward, the curious look on his face doing nothing to diminish the menace about his coiled muscles and beast-like eyes.

Yet something about his face, about the almost babyishly pretty features and the spiky dark hair, seemed familiar...though Roxas was too preoccupied at the moment to have any interest in vague déjà vu.  "Who ARE you?!"

"Hm.  How shall I answer that?"  The boy moved to circle around Roxas like a panther inspecting a potential meal.  Roxas whipped around to face him, hands clenched into fists.  "We fae don't like to give out our names, you know.  Then again...."  The smile on his face deepened into something truly frightening.  "I'm not a real fae, after all.  It'll do no harm to tell you:  Vanitas."  Then, grinning in amusement at Roxas's confusion, "My name.  It's Vanitas.  It means emptiness."

"Can't say it's a pleasure to meet you," Roxas ground out.  "Who are you people?  Why won't you leave me alone?"

"You're a slow one, aren't you.  I told you already.  You have something we want."  Thoughtfully, Vanitas raised his hand and caressed Roxas's neck ever so slightly with his fingertips.  Roxas shuddered with revulsion, seized by the overpowering conviction that those fingers wanted to seize his throat and wring the breath out of it.  He jerked back out of reach.

Vanitas's hands dropped back to his sides, though his smile never wavered.

"And...and what would that be?" Roxas managed, torn between the desire to run and the desire to figure out what was going on.

Maddeningly, Vanitas only shrugged.  "Can't tell you.  It would wreck the spell.  Not that I care, but Master will punish me if I do that."  He crossed his arms and looked sulky.

"What spell?" Roxas demanded.  "What are you talking about?"

"Hmph.  I can't play with you and I'm tired of talking to you.  Bye."  The dark boy turned away and...vanished.

"No!  Come BACK!  Tell me what's going on!"  Roxas slammed his fist against the wall in frustration.  "Ow!"  He sucked at the soon-to-be-bruise on his hand, growling in frustration.  "I can't take this anymore...."

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There was no point in skipping class if it just meant he would be dogged by weirdoes when he was by himself rather than surrounded by other normal human beings, no matter how oblivious.  Roxas plodded dutifully to the attendance office and then slunk late into art class, avoiding eye contact with anyone but the teacher.  "Sorry," he mumbled to her as he handed over his tardy slip.  Then he shuffled to his desk, placed his backpack down, looked up--

--and found ten pairs of eyes staring intently at him.  "What?" he yelled.  Thankfully, the class was involved in some sort of noisy, messy project involving paint, so his outburst only earned a few startled glances.

The new kids all exchanged looks, their expressions flickering through surprise, alarm, silent warnings, glowers, frowns, and anxious looks.

"Saïx?  What's wrong?" Olette asked.  Saïx turned his attention back to her with a small smile.  "Forgive me, Olette.  What were you saying about that crafts store?"

Larxene tossed her head and went back to making a fool out of Hayner, while Demyx emitted a high-pitched, almost strangled giggle before diving into a babble of conversation with the slightly overwhelmed Pence.  The others all kept looking at Roxas.

Zexion stood and moved close.  He closed his eyes and lowered his head, then inhaled.

Roxas, seriously creeped out, quickly backed away.  "What are you doing?!"

Ignoring him, Zexion turned to the others.  "The scent lingers.  He has met him."

"Crap," Luxord mumbled, slapping his pack of cards down on the tabletop.

"This does not bode well," Marluxia mused, though he looked almost bored as he said it.

"I do not trust the creature.  Who let it so close to our target?" Xaldin hissed under his breath.

Lexaeus shifted uneasily, though Xigbar just rolled his eyes.  Axel said nothing, merely tightening his lips and looking away.

Roxas stared at them all.  "Any chance that any of you are going to tell me what's going on?"

"As if," Xigbar snorted.  "You wanted to play the hard way, so here we are."

Roxas's breath came faster.  "V...Vanitas said - he said you wanted something from me."  This produced a flurry of frustrated movement and muttered curses.

"Someone ought to shut that replica's mouth for him," Marluxia remarked.

"But--"

"Just drop it, kid," Luxord sighed.  "You're not getting any answers, so just...play along, you know?"  He shuffled his cards between his hands as if that was supposed to mean something.

"Roxas!"  He jumped as the art teacher's voice boomed out above his head.  "Why isn't your smock on yet?  Your participation grade for today is suffering as it is!"

"S-Sorry...uh, what are we supposed to do?"

Fujioka-sensei made an exasperated sound and patted Zexion on the shoulder.  He glowered at her in annoyance through the gap in his hair.  "I'm sure our new friends can bring you up to speed.  Remember, don't be afraid to get creative!"  She moved away again, heading purposefully over to a table where a couple of kids were beginning to playfully throw paint at each other.

Roxas glared at his new 'friends.'  There was no way he was going to ask them for help, so he wordlessly grabbed a large sheet of blank paper, took it to a table all the way on the other side of the room, and began painting on it (Hayner, Pence, and Olette did not even seem to notice him leave).

It did turn out to be therapeutic, and for about twenty minutes Roxas actually forgot to be upset.  The tension drained out of his limbs as he became absorbed in the painting, carefully dipping his brush into mixes of blues and blacks and purples, wincing a little when a heart shape emerged at the top, but then deciding that the dark colors made it look more cool than girly after all.

Of course, that peace just had to be shattered at the end of class, as everyone was cleaning up.  Roxas began hearing whispers behind him before he identified the voices as those of the new students.

"It can't be--"

"It's...the Unseelie castle?"

"No way!"

"You don't think he remembers, do you?"

"I'm sure that at some subconscious level--"

Roxas whirled to face them, and they fell silent.  Zexion and Axel were frowning as they studied the painting.  Saïx was giving Roxas an appraising look, and Xigbar and Luxord were smirking at him.  Behind them, Roxas could see the others gathering up their things to leave.

"Leave me out of this!" he found himself shouting.  He hated that they were sullying something that had once seemed clean, their greedy hands grasping too close to his heart.  "Leave me out of this!"  Roxas grabbed his own still-wet painting and ripped it several times, crushing the pieces in his hands before flinging them into those too-pretty faces.  Then he shoved past them and grabbed his stuff, heading blindly for the door.

He was halfway to the cafeteria before a hand on his arm suddenly pulled him out of his swirling thoughts.  He whirled angrily, and the grip on his elbow tightened.

Roxas found himself staring into the narrowed green eyes of Axel.  "Hey," the other boy said seriously.  "You need to stay away from Vanitas.  You ever see him again, you run, got it memorized?"  For just a second, he hesitated, but then let go and stalked ahead without looking back.

"Thanks so much!" Roxas yelled after him.  "I hate you!"

Axel merely lifted his hand in response, his gait unaltered.

Roxas rubbed his hand over his face, then trudged slowly in the same direction.  By the time he reached the cafeteria, the lines were long and the best seats were taken.  To his surprise, he found, once he came out with his tray, that Hayner and the others had actually saved a seat for him.  As if they were still his best friends.  As if they hadn't been stolen away.

"Roxas!  What took you, man?" Hayner called, patting the seat beside him.

"It's like we haven't seen you all day," Pence laughed.  "Where've you been?"

Roxas gritted his teeth.  "I've been right here with you."  He glared at Saïx, who ignored him; Demyx, who gave him a cheeky little wave; and Larxene, who sniffed haughtily and turned away.  Thankfully, it seemed like the other creeps had cleared out for now.  Surely they had the same lunch period as him, but Roxas did not see them anywhere in the cafeteria.

Lunch was pretty exasperating, since Roxas's friends seemed to alternate between enthusiastically chatting with their new buddies and treating Roxas as if he was the one who had been ditching them, rather than the other way around.  Though at least it was better than eating alone outside and probably getting pounced on by more evil magic bishounen.

After lunch was literature, with Hayner and the obligatory gorgeous creeps; then computer class, where both Axel and Demyx managed to fry their computers and were sent to the office.  Zexion soon followed when the teacher discovered that he had hacked into the school's records and was apparently tampering with student data.  Seeing them get into trouble did a Roxas a world of good, though they were back again next period for P.E.

By the end of the day, Roxas was utterly exhausted.  He felt like he was enduring some sort of alien invasion where he was the only one who could see what was going on.  It was with great relief that he closed his locker and headed outside after the final dismissal bell had rung.

It was lonely, walking home without anyone to keep him company.  'How could things change so completely, so quickly?'

He abruptly stopped walking.  Someone was watching him, though not with an intense stare like the others at school, which was why it had taken him longer to notice it.  There was a girl, looking ethereally lovely as the sun touched her white dress and pale hair, standing on the sidewalk with her gaze resting on him.

Roxas gave her a tired look.  "Please don't do anything weird," he said dully.

The girl's eyes blinked once in surprise.  Then she smiled a beautiful smile, nodded politely, and slipped away.

The encounter, though odd, was strangely pleasant.  With a warm, somewhat soothed feeling, Roxas continued on home.

To be continued....
This is the Sta.sh version, which is properly formatted, but it was originally posted before I discovered Sta.sh.

My Kingdom Hearts fanfiction index: raberbagirl.deviantart.com/jou...
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