Up, Up, and Away

[Reno]

Roxas paused in his pusruit when he heard not one but two screams of little girls. He rasied an eyebrow, stepping back onto the sand, curling his toes to warm them. He looked at Axel and Xio just in time to see them running for their lives from the 'killer' water.

Roxas hummed the tune of Jaws under his breath, rolling his eyes at his boyfriend and pet's idiocy. "one of these days i;m throwing you both into a pool." He didn;t mean it that was just his way. He said mean things all the time but never really went through with the threat. Besides Axel's phobia of large bodies of water was very very real.

Still it was horrendously funny sometimes.


Sora smiled fondly at his boyfriend, stepping into the room to give the other a kiss on the cheek. "See you then." he whispered, a fond smile over his face. "love you Ri." Once he got to the door, he cupped his hand to his palm, kissing it blowing the other one final kiss and with a grin and a soft click of the door shutting Sora was gone. The front door als could be heard being shut and locked.

Sora looked outwards, hearing the yells. He blinked blankly, looking towards the ocean.

[Rikugurl]

Axel and Xio were literally running for their LIVES! That wave could of eaten them! OR WORSE! It could of gotten them....... wet! Yes... Roxas actually had to force Axel to take a shower/bath once they got their hearts. He almost had to go in there and strap the poor guy down. A 3o minute bath turned into a 3 hour ordeal.

Finally he reached Roxas and leaned over, putting his hands on his knees. He gasped for air and Xio quickly got to his side, gasping too. "Ut... I....*pant* could have...*cough* Who... do you think I am?" He leaned up and took one last breath. "Demyx?"


Riku blinked as he got the kiss blow at him. He reached out and pretended that he caught it. When the door closed, he rolled his eyes. More and more he thought Sora was becoming a woman.

Oh well... he had more things to worry about... like resting.

[Reno]

And Sora was probably the only guy riku knew to put his hands on his hips when frustrated or smug - so yes Sora was a little feminine. He was GAY! Besides... didn;t Riku like, nto realize how long he spent on his own damn silver hair? He cared for it like it was his life. Sroa wasn;t the only girly one around.

Rxoas laughed, the tenor soft. "Thank god you aren;t. i wouldn;t be able to stand his stupid sitar for more then a week."

Sora jumped over the treehouse, landing onto the sand with expert ease. "come on my show and Tell items! We have to hurry!" He had already wasted enough time as it is, he had to get to class!

[Rikugurl]

Hey, Riku was fortunate to get silver hair from his mother and most men with it had very good.... looking reputations... he didn't want to spoil it for anyone.
He leaned in and started to rinse the suds away. This was all too familiar. If he would of known that he would needed to take a shower this morning, he wouldn't of bothered to take one last night. At least he could say he was clean for the act.

Ten minutes later, the man walked out with a towel around his waist. He got dressed in light wear as usual and went into the living room. A dark glare pushed onto his eyes as he saw all the sand and dirt tracked inside. Didn't they know how to wipe their feet? Did they know how hard it was to get dirt and sand out of a wooden house? He closed his eyes and growled as he went to get the broom.

Yes, he was a bit of a neat freak when it came to modernism and simplicity. He liked the house clean and masculine... pretty typical for a gay guy. There was nothing wrong with being tidy.


"Yea... it was pretty bad." Axel stopped in thought. "But hey, at least his tunes were pretty good huh?"
Xio cocked his head, not too sure who they were talking about.

He looked over at the in coming brunette. That smile was real familiar... but even is Roxas got it from this dope, he thought the blonde's was nicer.
He nodded and smiled happily, hard unable to wait to be in show and tell!

They walked to one of the boats that Riku and Sora (mostly Sora) used to get to the mainland. Since Roxas nor Axel nor Xio knew how to glide, they'd have to take it. Sora and Roxas went first of course, leaving the fraidy cats last. Axel swallowed and slowly got in, whimpering at every wobble the boat made. Xio was next and did the same performance.

The trip across wasn't very long, but Axel stayed quiet (which was nice for a change) and just looked at his reflection in the water.

[Reno]

When Sora and Roxas had gone across, Sora lazily rowing, the two shared stories. They were so excited to see each other after so long they couldn;t help it. Like the twins they were they began to share as many things as they could in the short span of minuters from one island to the next. but of course the only thing that came to the two boys minds was the night they had spent before with their lovers...

so of course they shared that.

Sora smiled softly over towards Axel, watching his uncomfortable gaze. He kenw of the other;s fear - it would have been better had Roxas had been here but the boy didn;t retain the knowledge on how to work a boat steadily enough. "Don;t worry." he said brightly.

And then finally Xio. This one wasn;t so hard. the little fire lion and stayed by his legs, cuddlign to him and he pet the other to reassure the animal.

Soon they were all across Axel looking relieved and Xio back to his hyper self. Sora slwoly tied up the boat to the post when he caught soemthing in the corner of his eyes. a glint of yellow. his head shot towards the right, and he gasped. There... in the water - two yellow orbs framed by a dark face. a heartless?!

"Sora?" Roxas asked concerned, putting his hand to the other;s shoulder. "You alright?"

The brunette jumped, and when he looked again it was gone.

"I-I'm fine."

[Rikugurl]

Axel blinked at the bright and cheery statement. That was easy for him to say! Being an.... ex? element of fire, of course he was going to hate and fear water. That's why he hated Demyx getting too close to him... that and he didn't want his lameness to rub off. Those would differ that it didn't sometimes.

Exotic shaped emeralds looked back up at the pyro in his reflection. His tattoos rippling in the water as the boat traveled along.
Once they got to the other side though, he didn't care how much the boat wobbled, he flew off of it. Once his feet were on the good old ground, he sighed happily.

Xio too jumped off the boat, making it sway in the water too. He yipped happily and bounced around, now smelling even more scents! There were more places to go!

Axel stretched and looked out at the town before looking back at Roxas's concerned voice. A frown ran over his face as he walked over and looked at the water. It was shallow.... but dark, very unlike the rest of the water where you could easily see the bottom.
"You sure, Sora?" Axel asked out of concern. What? He was like family too.


The front door opened, sand and dirt being swept out. Of course, that lion... thing tracked in the most of it. He sighed as he looked out, his still wet hair being blown a bit by the warm breeze. No one knew how happy he was that Sora took those two loonies.
He banged the broom out and--

"Riku."

His eyes widened as he heard his name called. His head turned to look back into the house... but no one was there. He knew damn well that no little kid could of snuck into the house... His eyes started to scan the house but there was nothing.
He closed his eyes and sighed. If something bad was going to happen, he knew the keyblade would form... and it didn't.

"Riku."

He gripped the broom and opened his eyes. Still nothing. "Show yourself!" But nothing happened. He growled before pulling his hand to his face and rubbing it. Damnit... I thought these nightmares went away. After their last battle, it took many nights of Sora's comfort to keep Riku's nightmares away and clean most of the active Darkness.

[Reno]

Sora frowned. "I don;t know." He answered finally. It couldn;t be. Darkness didn;t just... invade Destiny Islands. not after all this time. the keyhold to this land was sealed and -

The eyes - yellow, bright, demonic - he saw them again. his heart stopped in panic, the keyblade appeared and with a fast jab stuck down into the water. The blade connected, slicing through something's head. His heart was skipping and his breath was quick.

Roxas jumped at the sudden move, not seeing what either sora or Axel had seen. He didn;t understand. "sora what the hell are you doing?!"

[Rikugurl]

Axel too was a but surprised at the fierce jab into the water. He backed up a bit and blinked, looking at Roxas... but he seemed to be as stomped.

That when he heard sudden barks behind him. The red-head look back to see Xio growling at the water. That wasn't uncommon... but when black shadows started to surround him oddly, Axel knew what it was.
Heartless.
Axel hated them as a Nobody and hated them as a Somebody.
This was bound to happen again.

"Why can't people be happy and keep their damn hearts?"
When the shadows actually popped up around Xio as Shadows, that was when Axel flailed his hands to the side. Fire started to swirl at the ends until they formed his chakrams.


Riku closed the door and put the broom away. However, he was far from ease. He kpt looking over his shoulder. I have to be over react--. He stopped though when he saw the reflection of himself in the mirror. Instead of his beautiful ocean eyes, they were a golden color. Ansem's eyes.

The Way to Dawn suddenly appeared in his hand.

[Reno]

Sora was on his feet immedittely. "Because the world had emp people like riku running around." He joked faintly. He gripped the keyblade tightly before rushing forward slashing at the wave of heartless. If they were here...

Then they had to be invading the town.

A sick sense of fear pooled in his stomach. No... the kids, his parents, Kairi, his friends... RIKU! He grit his teeht. Why here? why now?! What was happening?!

Roxas felt Oathkeeper and Oblivion amterlize instinctively, even without having to call for them. sora was the one to make the first move though, anger in his sharp movements. then suddenly Roxas felt that anger too. Thsi was still his home world - this was wear he was created yet never known of it.

He would not let the heartless destroy everything he still needed to learn! He glanced at Axel concernedly. they had nearly lost each other the last time they were in the battle, the pain had been so frehs then so horrible so ehartbreaking.

He was afraid of enduring that again. He would fight side by side with his lover this time.

[Rikugurl]

Axel was kinda jealous. He was the only one without a keyblade. Oh well... his chakrams rocked too. He got into stance when he noticed that Sora seemed uneasy.
"Sora! Head into town! We'll cover the beach!" He rather stay away from the water but he didn't want to get lost in the town either.

Xio quickly got rid of the pest around him only to blink at a command.
"Xio! Go with Sora!"
He whimpered a bit... why was he always demanded to fight with someone else? He puffed his chest out proud though and dashed to the other keyblader.

Axel took note that Roxas was fairly close. Looked like they'd be fighting close again. He didn't mind... he actually found it fun... they were both ruthless fighters.
He lowered his head and put out his arms again, all the way. Letting go of the chakrams, they only floated then spun fast to form fire again.
"Burn, Baby, Burn!"

A ring of fire started to light around him and Roxas, getting rid of some Heartless in the act.



Golden eyes stared back at him in horror. Anger ran through his body bit no... he held it back. There was no way he was destroying him home AGAIN... besides, it was Sora's home too now.
He quickly turned around and left the house, jumping down to the sand. Looking out at the sun, the ocean had become dark... very different than what Roxas and Axel had seen this morning.

His golden eyes darkened as he ran to the coast, only to be met with Heartless.
"Get off our world!" He swung the keyblade violently at the Shadows that started to jump him.

[Reno]

Sora sent Axel a look of gratitude before he ran off, straight for town. He could hear Xio's paws following him, and though the moomba probably wasn;t happy with it, sora was glad for the company.

Moments later he could ehar screams. his heart twisted in anger and fear. No one on this uisland know who he was - no one knew of the heartless except him Kairi and Riku.

That was all about to change. Sora growled, slicing his keyblade through the ranks of darkness, when his ehad shot up at a familar voice.

"What the fuck are these things?!" he heard a brash voice cry, voice laden with a surfer's accent. A kendo stick smacked down onto a heartless' head. It was Tidus.

"Tidus!"

The blonde looked up. "The fuck is that your holding?!" He was panting hard - he hadn;t been training much since the blitzball league had rejected him, wasn;t used to all this exertion. But the terro stirking himw as sending adrenlin through his veins.

"It- watch out!" He cried, seeing a heartless jumping for his friend;s unprotected back.


As the fire dissaptaed around them, the blonde whirlwind known as Roxas charged into the ranks, slashing fiercely again and again. The symbols of the nobody surronded him, fueling his magic, and four spear like objects crashed down into the heartless. Both the spears and heartless disappeared.

He grinned fiercely.

[Rikugurl]

"YAAA!!"
A lead pipe hit the Heartless and it went flying, turning into smoke. A woman panted as he looked at her scared friend then passed him at Sora. It was Kairi and she looked unease.
Her red hair was a mess and she shook a bit.

"Sora! What are Heartless doing here!?" By the way Sora looked, it seemed like he didn't have an answer. She looked at the blonde and frowned. "Tidus, are you ok?"

Xio yipped as fireballs started to fly around, smacking Heartless here and there. His aim had to be good though, a lot of these houses were only made out of wood and stone, not like back at home. He didn't want to start a fire.

When he reached Sora, he stopped at his feet but didn't sit... he needed to jump into action if anything threatened the humans while talking.


Axel grinned as he started to do his awkward stance, his hips moving as his spun his weapons. It looked even more awkward because he was only in swim shorts and a black tank. He kinda.... wanted his jacket back.

None the less, he watched Roxas rip through the Heartless like he always did. A grin widened as his green eyes turned wild. "Roxas, Sheild!" A invisible orb surrounded the the blonde.
The good part about being a Somebody was the ability to learn White Majick.

Now that Roxas was protected, it was play time. The grin widened as the ring of fire pressed out, expanding until it was extinguished from the ocean. He jumped into the air as a group on Heartless came in for attack but only got pounded on as Axel forced one of his chakrams into the sand. The whole area that the ring had surrounded turned red then suddenly fire started to flame up everywhere. A good dozen Heartless turned into dust and with one more attack like that, a dozen more.

Axel jumped back and twirled his weapons, grinning wildly. "Had enough yet! Come on! I'm just getting started!"
Unfortunately, Axel never seemed to get rid of his Nobody-like taunts. More Heartless came from the water only to be hit quickly by the chaks.


Riku too was fighting unmercifully. He hadn't used majick in the longest time... and he wasn't going to bring out the Darkness to cast any either. The keyblade was good enough.
His golden eyes grew wild as he slashed the Heartless in half, quicker than they could blink.

When he had cleared a good patch, he could hear chaos coming from the other side. A quick glance and all he could see was fire and two crazy people jumping all over the place.
So... it wasn't just on the island...
Where was Sora?
His heart stopped at the thought. No... he would know if something happened to Sora.

A sudden pounce on his back brought him back to the fight. Reaching back, he threw the Heartless away violently.


Axel took note that Riku was on the other side, and it seemed like he was fighting the good fight too.
Damn... if there was Heartless... then there had to be new Nobodies. Unfortunately, he was no longer a Nobody.... so he couldn't order Assassins to aid the one on the island.

[Reno]

Sora's eyes widened at Kairi's sudden appearence and he eyed the pipe uneasily. He had to remember to never piss her off. He just shrugged at her question - he had no clue how it had happened. Usually he could feel the darkness invading a world - why couldn;t he this time? Where his keyblade sense that off?

Tidus grinned at Kairi almost in a shy way. "Aw i'm great! thanks for that!" That girl had some mad skills, why didn;t he ever notice that before? "so these are... heartless?" he looked around at the black monsters that were pausing in there pursuit, as if uneasy by Sora and Kairi's appearance.

Sora looked around, then his stomach filled with a new sense of terror - and he knew autotmatically it wasn;t his. "Riku." He whispered, but he didn;t look back. He was too far to see the island... but in his mind;s eye he could see his boyfriend. He was fighting - damn it this wasn;t good! Riku was all alone over there!

He grit his teeth. "I don;t know why this is happening but we have to get rid of them! all of them!"


Roxas laughed faintly At Axel's antics. The other just got too much enjoyment out of fighting sometimes. he spun the keyblades on his fingertips. He cut a path through the heartless, getting straight to the heart of them all.

They surronded him, but thta didn;t worry him - the sheidl was still there. he rasied both keyblades, knocking them together. White light surronded him, and then he slammed the keyblade into the ground. it created a strong shocvkwave that crashed itno each and every heartless on the beach destroying them all instantly. The hearts floated into the sky.

Roxas smirked, then looked out across the island. Riku weas gonna need help. He jumped onto the dock, stepping up next to Axel, catching his breath. "One of us needs to go back." He stated.

[Rikugurl]

She smiled softly at the blonde, surfer but looked back at Sora. She caught the whisper and frowned slightly. Honestly, she still wasn't all too happy with Riku's and Sora's relationship... but will all the crap he already got about it, she never brought it up.

She snapped out of it suddenly. That's right! Where was Riku? The two usually fought side by side... so.. where was he? She frowned as she watched the Heartless at bay, both at their appearance and the growls of the animal next to Sora. She wasn't going to ask... she had seen Sora's plush of an animal just like that... suppose it was something like a moogle.

At last she sighed but gripped the pipe. "Tidus and I will go look for people in hiding and bring them to safety. I've fought Heartless before and they're not the big ones... I'm sure we can handle it. Do what you have to do Sora." She nodded bravely.

She was getting ready for class when a pail of red paint spilled on the floor. She figured it was an early student and sighed, but when she went to clean it up, she was met with yellow eyes. Luckily, most of the kids were in school so her and the rest of the teachers struggled to get the kids into a safe haven in the school's basement.
She was going to stay there with them but... she knew that Sora would be out and about and possibly know something.


Axel was having a dandy time, not really paying all that much attention. When he was finally steered clear for a moment, his eyes widened, seeing a shockwave coming his way. "AH!" He yelped as he twisted his body, having the shocks barely missing him.
"HMPF! I put shield on you for a reason! Show off~" He taunted the other before watching the hearts float up to the sky.

And all this after all his hard work trying to bring Heartless and Nobodies together.

He sighed as his chakrams disappeared. When Roxas came to his side and stated the problem, the pyro frowned. One of us? Axel didn't like the idea of splinting either. No one knew what was going on... so no one knew what could happen.

Howeeeeeeeever, there was no way he was going to cross a body of water again!
"How exactly is that going to work??"


As the other two were having fun in the sun on the other side, Riku wasn't having much of a blast. He was the only one that didn't have a second support... which he wasn't all to use to anymore. It was usually always him and Mickey or him and Sora... unless of course there was one-on-one battles.

When hearts released from the Shadows flew into the sky, the Shadows became Neo Shadows. More and more appeared on the beach. Seeing that Axel and Roxas were a powerful team, they weren't going to bother them anymore.
The larger, more smarter Heartless started to gang around the keyblader. It took more than one swing to put these guys out.

Golden eyes narrowed as he looked around, seeing that he was now cornered.


On the other side, Axel growled. This wasn't good. If something happened to Riku, him and Roxas would get KILLED by Sora. "Shit, shit, shit!"

[Reno]

Sora looked towards Kairi silently for a few moments. She was offering him a way out - a way to get back to Riku and to help him. Riku's panic was beginning to mount and so was Sora's need to get back to him...

Tidus looked towards his friend. When he had discovered of Sora and Riku's little... fling he had been a bit - okay well a LOT disturbed. Come on riku - the hottie of the island? The one the girl;'s never SHUT UP about was gay? That was one thing But Sora? Happy-Go-Lucky Totally to in love with KAIRI Sora?!

How the fuck had that happened? It was like... the world had spun upside down and was squeezed to death until everything was upside down. Next people were gonna tell him Wakka wanted to join ballet!

And at first he hadn;t spoke with either. At first he wouldn;t even look at Sora in the halls. At first he was part of the groups that made fun of the 'fairies'.

And then he saw Riku punching one of the guy's lights out. then he saw Sora offering a girl who had forgotten her lunc his own and he realized - they were still Sora and Riku. They were still the pals that kicked his ass on the beach day in and day out.

Sure things were still hella uncomfortable but... but...

But Sora was still the same Sora now - and he wouldn;t leave his friends unless he was ultimately sure they;d be okay.

"Go save your boytoy." Tidus said, a grin on his face. "We'll be fine."

Sora looekd from one friend to the other. He grinned then. "Thank you." He pat Xio on the head, both thanking the Moomba and knowing he could not take the little fire-guy with him. "Give them a hand Xio." He turned on his heels and began to run, swinging his keyblade at the Shadows as he went. "I'll send reenforcements your way!" He yelled over his shoulder.

Tidus chuckled. "Spirited as always." he swung his Kendo stick outwards at the nearest heartless.


Roxas' heart twisted in fear for the other. As much as he and Riku butted heads he didn;t want the other to get killed! He liooked at the other as well... a friend.

He looked frantically over the ocean - From Axel's words he knew the other would never cross it. He would have to. He looked at the boat, swaying in the now turbulent waters. The coean was now violent - the darkness spurring on a storm.

Could he really paddle back all that way himself? He didn;t have the experience - though his muscles probably had Sora's memories still ingrained within.

Could he really...?

He didn;t have to answer though.

"Roxas' move your skinny ass!"

The blonde glanced back, then jumped aside just as a brunette blue sped past, sprint to the end of the dock. The moment his feet met the edge, he jumped into the air.

But like a normal person he did not fall to the rules of gravity. He stayed in the air, literally gliding across the water. Sora glanced back. "Go help Kairi and Tidus!" He ordered. "I'll be back with Riku soon!"

Roxas blinked, and Sora was nearly half-way back to the island by the time the words had registered.

Well that handled that problem.

"Come on!" Roxas said to Axel, before he was on his heels, racing back towards the town.

The minute his feet hit the sand he realized something. He didn;t have shoes on. Well brillant. He was fighting monsters that popped from the GROUND and he didn;t have any protection for his feet. Just dandy.


The neoshadow, hungry for the heart and half-soul in front of them, all jumped for the silver-haired warrior.

A split-second later, a keyblade was flung. A complete second later the heartless were dead, cut up by the swinging weapon of doom.

Sora landed on the beach, "Ri-" The water crashed into his ankles, the powerful pull sending him to his knees. "kuuuu!" He panted a bit, trying to catch his breath. The last time he recalled flying that fast was back in neverland when he Donald and Peter fought that clock-like heartless - and that time meter above Donald had run out, knocking the duck unconcious. He had to fly like crazy just to catch him.