Disclaimer: I kind of figure I sacrificed all claim I may have once had on Sora when I spent almost a whole year lazing about instead of writing this. I DO LOVE YOU, SORA. REALLY.

Author’s Notes: No. It’s not a joke. This is seriously an update. After about eleven months, a thousand swing-and-misses, and maybe three sobbing fits, the next chapter is completed. That, however, is the least of it. Why? Because the whole fic has been revised. All of it. I bring you SGW ver.2, in all its stupid, stupid glory. I…well, to be honest, I think it would be best if all y’all went and reread the whole thing, but I know that’s pretty unlikely, and more than this dumb thing deserves, so I’ll just…summarize. The basic plot remains the same: you still have idiot boys messing with other idiot boys and making complete and total fools of themselves in the process. But plenty has changed, and I’m not talking only about spelling and grammatical issues. I’ve tweaked quite a bit of characterization, edited and half-deleted entire scenes, and…well, messed with quite a bit of the interaction between characters. All of them, actually. I would like to say “just reread this or that chapter, and you’ll get the gist of it,” but so much has been changed throughout the course of the entire re-write that it’s impossible. You could very well continue reading and still understand everything that’s going on - the events are still largely intact, and in the same order that they were. But to fully understand everything - the motivations behind characters, the why, as well as the what and how - I think a reread would be best. Of course, that might just be pride talking, but hey. So I’ll just say that while a reread is not necessary in order to understand what’s happening (except maybe in Sephiroth’s case), I would recommend it, if only to get a better feel for the way I’ve tried to mold and shape these characters.

I’m not sure if these three hundred and twenty pages of editing has accomplished much, but…well, I’m happy with it. Proud of it, in an odd way. SGW is still horribly imperfect. It’ll never be anywhere close to perfect. But I think I’ve improved it. I think I’ve come closer to the vision I had when I began. And I hope that, if any of you do decide to reread, you enjoy it just as much or - crossing my fingers here - more than you did when you first stumbled across Surgeon General’s Warning.

Now that that’s out of the way, I’d like to present you with the seventeenth chapter of Surgeon General’s Warning! Much love, and I hope you enjoy!

Dedication: TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU. I don’t know how many of you have stuck around since the last update. For all I know, no one’s still reading this thing anymore, haha. But to all of you that still are, you have my eternal thanks. Thank you so much, for all the support, and all the encouragement. I love you all.

And, of course, to Aindel S. Druida, who beta’d so much of this story for me. Thank you so, so much dear. You have no idea how grateful I am.

Surgeon General’s Warning

AKA

Don’t Choke My Chocobo!

Chapter Seventeen: all comes-

Kairi was a proper young lady. She knitted, she sang, she played the piano and did the laundry and washed the floors, all with a smile and a song. She also liked hollering ballads at people’s windows at disreputable hours of the morning and ripping the hem of her skirts on broken seashells, but that was neither here nor there. The point of the matter is, Kairi was a proper young lady. Respectable, kind, committed to community service and environmental policy.

This explains why she spent every Monday afternoon at Crazy Old Maleficent’s house, helping her with her experiments. The poor old lady was batshit insane, after all: if she wanted to mix peroxide and bar soap together and call them grand experiments, it was only right that Kairi stay by her side to make sure she didn’t unintentionally harm herself.

Today was a gardening day. Maleficent, for all that she was slightly off the proverbial rocker, was quite a talented gardener. She loved plants. Sure, the only ones she really owned were poisonous and angry and quite possibly in possession of brains, but again, that wasn’t the point. Anyway, the plants liked Kairi. If they were at all mobile, it would not be an exaggeration to say that they’d probably spend every Monday afternoon following her around like little puppy dogs.

Just between you and me, it’s only because they thought she’d taste go well with the blood and guts Maleficent fed them every day at midnight, but we’ll let Kairi entertain her pretensions towards grand gardening skills for now.

On this particular Monday afternoon, Maleficent was sitting at her ornate lawn chair, a cell phone cradled gently in her hand. She was more animated than usual. Just the sight of her pasty purple lips turned up in a grin brought a smile to Kairi’s face. Such a sweet old thing; Kairi had no idea what Roxas meant every time he called her a dirty, perverted hag.

She putted happily around the garden, carefully watering each of the plants and ducking under the tentacles they waved at her. Behind her, Maleficent laughed, saying something about gambling and bets and gathering round for another game tonight.

Kairi smiled. Old ladies did love their Bingo.

Finally, she finished watering the last of the myriad plants littering Maleficent’s huge greenhouse, and dusted her hands off.

“I’m done, Aunt Maleficent,” she said, shouldering her purse. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do?”

Maleficent murmured something to her friend on the phone, and then covered the receiver. “Not a thing, dear,” she smiled. “You’ve done more than enough.”

“Great,” Kairi said, smiling back. She turned to walk out the door, when Maleficent suddenly called for her.

“Oh, goodness. Dear?”

Kairi paused, turning back. “Yes, ma’am?”

Maleficent’s smile widened, and she extended a closed hand towards the small redhead. “You left your cell phone on the counter,” she said, opening her hand and proffering the small black cellular. “Wouldn’t want you to forget it, would we?”

Kairi gave a relieved laugh, and walked forward, taking the offered phone from Maleficent’s thin hand. “Thanks, Aunt Maleficent. I never would have noticed.”

“Of course, dear,” Maleficent said. She lifted the phone back to her ear, then paused.

“Oh, and Kairi? Do say hello to your friends for me.”

Cloud loved Zack and Aerith. Cloud loved Zack and Aerith very much. He was quite sure he’d never have put up with them otherwise. A guy half drowns you in a baby pool at the tender age of three, his little girlfriend giggling fit to burst beside him, and you’re still vegging out on the couch together twenty years later? It had to be love.

We here join Cloud, Zack, and Aerith, as they veg out on the couch.

And by ‘veg,’ I actually mean ‘sit around awkwardly, because half-proposals and the bitter memory of last night’s food fight at the classiest restaurant this side of Lumiere’s Kitchen sort of kills all sense of comfort between friends, especially when one of those friends is the older cousin of the assholes who started said food fight in the first place.’

“So,” Cloud said, twiddling his thumbs together. “Any reason you’re here?”

To his right, Zack laughed. The sound cracked a glass somewhere. “What, a guy needs an excuse to hang out with his best buddy?”

“Yes,” Cloud said. “Yes, he does.”

“I just wanted to hang.”

“And by I,” Aerith said stiffly, “Zachary means we.”

“Cloud,” Zack said, grin still in place. “Would you please tell Aerith that I decided to visit my best friend all on my lonesome, and she tagged along just to make sure we weren’t talking about her behind her back?”

“She’s right there,” Cloud muttered, pointing to his left. “You can tell her yourself.”

“Cloud,” Aerith responded, ignoring him completely and smiling like a serial killer. “Would you mind telling Zachary that the only reason I decided to come here was to visit my closest friend in his time of need, and not because, as he so quaintly puts it, in a misguided attempt to ensure your loyalty to me.”

“I’m actually pretty cool,” Cloud said. “I’m not feeling particularly needful.”

“Nonsense.”

“Yeah, right.”

Aerith and Zack decidedly did not glare at each other. They did, however, wish horrible things upon each other’s persons.

“I don’t even know why you guys are mad at each other,” Cloud muttered.

“Mad?” Zack asked, face frozen in a grin. “Who said we were mad?”

“Honestly, Cloud,” Aerith said, her smile so wide it sort of looked less like a smile and more like an expanse of vicious shark teeth. “Where do you get these ideas?”

Cloud stared at the ground in front of him, and decided not to argue. “I don’t know.”

“You’re quite right,” Aerith said primly. “Now. How have you and Leon been, Cloud? We haven’t seen you in ages.”

Zack snorted under his breath. “That’s because you were so busy flower shopping for The Wedding That Will Never Occur-”

“I’ve been fine,” Cloud interrupted, just a little hysterically. “Fine! Leon is fine. I’m fine. We’re fine.”

“That’s good,” Aerith said kindly, a vicious tic spasming her right eye. “We’ve all been pulling for you from the beginning. He’s such a good man, that one.”

Cloud blinked, and looked down. “Yeah,” he said. “He is. He…” He paused, eyebrows furrowing. On his lap, his fingers pulled at the fabric of his slacks, somehow both relaxed and filled with an odd sort of soberness.

“He’s been great,” he murmured. “These last few months. He’s…weird, you know? I’m so used to everyone always pushing me. I’m so used to everyone always shoving me along this road, trying to herd me to where I want to go, you know? And…he doesn’t. He doesn’t expect anything more from me than what I give him. He just…likes me for me, huh? That’s…that’s special.”

He shook his head then, hunching over slightly. “But…I mean, I wouldn’t mind if he pushed me a bit, you know? If…if no one pushes you, how can you ever expect to change? I never…I never would have gotten to this place in my life without my friends pushing me, right? Do you think he should be? Should he be pushing me?” He bit his lip.

“But I like it that he doesn’t always. I mean…it’s like, he’s leading me by the hand or something. Which is a sissy way to put it, but it’s like he’s making me move without actually pushing. Like he asks me for what he knows I can give, but no more. It’s comfortable. It’s…exciting,” he whispered. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.

“I think I might want to-”

“THAT’S IT. I CAN’T TAKE THIS ANYMORE.”

Cloud jerked, turning to stare at Zack, who had shot to his feet and was now pointing a furious finger at his girlfriend. The finger quivered, and Zack shouted.

“JUST MARRY ME ALREADY, YOU SILLY LITTLE WOMAN.”

Aerith stared calmly at the floor, face stony. “You’re the one who started blaming me last night for what happened. I was perfectly ready to accept your proposal, wonton-covered coif aside.”

Zack roared. “IT WAS YOUR FAULT! IF YOU’D JUST AGREED TO HAVE DINNER AT LUMIERE’S LIKE I ASKED-”

“I hate French food! I told you on our first date!”

“I was pouring my heart out,” Cloud said miserably, drawing curly patterns on the couch cushions. “I was just going to admit I wanted into his pants.”

“IT’S HALF AS EXPENSIVE.”

“That’s a big deal for me,” Cloud continued. “I haven’t slept with anyone in, like, forever.”

“It was going to be our engagement night and you were worried about munny?!”

“I AM A POOR GRADUATE STUDENT YOU RIDICULOUS GIRL-”

“I want a float,” Cloud decided. “That’s what I want. I want a vanilla float. Ben and Jerry have always been there for me. Even when my two best friends betray me and start wrestling their lives away on my living room couch, if there’s one thing I can count on, it’s vanilla floats. Is that okay with you two?”

Zack and Aerith, who were busy wrestling their lives away on Cloud’s living room couch, did not answer. Cloud sighed, stood, and walked into the kitchen.

He rifled through the (predictably) empty cabinets, looting around for any bowls that hadn’t yet fallen victim to the Strife-Leonhart war, and sighed. Perfect. Even his kitchen was turning against him. His life was a black abyss. Sullenly, he grabbed a dirty bowl of the table (and vowed never to take Demyx for granted again, because without him, the house was turning into a sty), and walked to the sink. He grabbed a sponge and turned on the spray, absentmindedly staring out the open window situated above the basin.

On his front porch fifty feet away, Leon sat, playing with a Dalmatian.

Cloud smiled. Well. Speak of the devil.

He poured a dollop of soap onto the sponge, slowly running it over the bowl, still staring idly out the window.

He hadn’t been exaggerating about what he’d said earlier.

The past few months had been a study in wonder. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever felt exhilarated just stepping out the door. He couldn’t remember the last time seeing someone’s face was all it took to make his lips turn up.

Well, he could, but that was in the past now. And slowly, slowly-

Leon took the puppy within his hands and tossed it up, catching the yipping little thing as it fell back into his arms and grinning. Cloud felt his lips pulling up in sympathetic emotion.

He was such a mystery. Cloud couldn’t place him. He could so easily disregard everything and everyone one second. The next, he’d be cradling a puppy to his chest, feeding it kibble and letting it slobber all over his leather jacket. He’d be solemn and uncaring as the grave one moment. The next, he’d be smirking at him, dragging him to Hollow Bastion just to play at sword fighting like two little kids.

He was distant. He was kind. He was eager, and patient, and willing. He was…so much. Cloud wasn’t sure how to handle it, and wasn’t sure he could afford not to.

Cloud was pretty sure he was falling in love with him.

And the gravity of that thought struck him like a blow to the chest. He want stumbling back, dropping the bowl into the sink and half tripping over his feet. The crash echoed through the open window, and Leon looked up.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, Cloud wanted to turn away. No. He didn’t want to see him right now. Not after-

But then Leon was climbing to his feet, walking towards him, and the confusion melted away like snow on a spring‘s day. He tried to force a frown. They’d once felt so comfortable to him. Instead, his mouth was quirking in involuntary pleasure, and he couldn’t summon up the effort to feel nervous.

This wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t so bad.

Leon came to a stop before him, and rested his forearms on the window sill, bending at the waist to look inside. Cloud took a half-unconscious step forward, pressing as far forward as he could, hardly noticing the way the edge of the sink dug into his stomach. Leon smiled.

“Hey.”

Cloud’s mouth quirked. “Hey.”

Leon raised an amused eyebrow, as if in response to the oddly pleased way Cloud’s mouth was twitching. He leaned forward further onto his elbows, smiling slightly. “How have you been holding up?”

Cloud shrugged, and let his fingers splay across the kitchen counter, happily ignoring the pile of dishes. “It’s been alright. Rinoa quit one of her jobs. Roxas and Sora have been holed up in their room since yesterday. I think my cousin and your brother have eloped.”

“Tifa’s distraught,” Leon said seriously. “She’s wondering why they couldn’t have just had the wedding at home.”

“They were probably afraid she’d try to pick out a dress,” Cloud muttered.

“Smart, that. I have it on good authority she’s been eyeing bridal magazines for years now.”

“Good authority?”

“They’re hidden under the bed,” Leon said sagely.

Cloud snorted, rolling his eyes. He glanced down at the faucet, grabbing the sponge and soaking it in water and liquid soap. “And you?” he asked, scrubbing at the grease on a pan. “How’s your side?”

Leon frowned, and did not immediately answer. He pushed off the windowsill and turned, leaning back against the jut of the wood. The soft wind fluttered his hair around his ears, and he looked so much like a sculpture at that moment Cloud kind of wanted to stop breathing.

“Your hair’s messy,” Cloud said, suddenly uncomfortable and awkward and desperately wanting to dispel the quiet that had settled over them. He outstretched a hand, trying to smooth the tangled strands. “It’s. Look, I’ll get you a comb, just-”

“It’s fine,” Leon said, his voice muffled. He shrugged, leaning his head back cautiously further into Cloud’s hands. “Don’t bother.”

They stood there for a moment, quiet, before Leon sighed.

“There’s something seriously wrong with Riku.”

Cloud tried for a quirk of the lips, and failed miserably. “You mean outside of the usual teenage angst?”

Leon chuckled dryly. “Yes, outside of the usual teenage angst.”

He settled back into silence for a moment, and Cloud very carefully did not pull on the hair threaded through his fingers. Leon’s shoulders looked tense, he realized idly. He wondered if it wouldn’t be terribly forward if here to invite him in for a massage.

“You said Sora and Riku have been locked in their rooms since yesterday?”

Cloud blinked, realizing only belatedly that the question had been directed at him. “Oh. Yeah. They were fine in the morning, before I left for work. But when I came back, they were…different. Dinner’s been bad enough since Demyx disappeared. Now we’ve got to worry about them biting our heads off on top of purple sentient cinnamon rolls.”

“That bad?”

“Terrible. I was throwing up all night.”

Leon grinned. “I meant the boys.”

“Oh,” Cloud said, flushing lightly. “Yeah. It’s been bad. They were up half the night just arguing. Their door was locked. Leon, lean back a little, it’s hard to reach you over the sink.”

Leon slanted back, quiet. Then: “Riku blew up at Tifa yesterday.”

Cloud’s hands froze on a knot. “He what?”

The other man shifted uncomfortably, his back tensing even further. She’s been worried. She tries not to show it much, because he’s a grown boy, and she wants him to have the freedom to make his own choices. But she thought things were starting to get too serious, so she asked him to make up with your cousins.”

Cloud laughed once, almost bitterly. “I bet he didn’t like that.”

Leon shrugged uncomfortably. “He started laughing. Then screaming. He hasn’t done that since the very beginning. Tifa was…upset.”

“She would be,” Cloud said quietly.

Silence descended upon them, before Leon grunted, tilting his head further back into Cloud’s hands. “Whatever. Don’t talk to me about them. They’re all dumbasses.”

“You’re the one who started it,” Cloud said idly.

“I did not.”

“How are you holding up,” Cloud said, biting back a smile. “There’s something seriously wrong with Riku. Admit it. You like sharing your feelings.”

“You take that back!” Leon yelped, turning around. Cloud laughed once, leaning forward onto his elbows.

“Geez, Leon. I should have known all the leather and fur was indicative. Confess: you’re a diva.”

“And you’re dead,” Leon growled. He took a hold of one blond spike and tugged, ignoring Cloud’s half-pained half-ridiculously-amused yelps. He frowned in faux-irritation, trying to mask the way his breath sped at the distance (or lack thereof) between them.

Cloud’s eyes hooded, and he glanced down at Leon’s lips. “What,” he whispered, wetting his mouth with a quick, nervous tongue. “You’re going to kill me with a kiss? That’s very Shakespearean of you.”

“You’re going to shut up now,” Leon said, and sealed their lips together.

Immediately, Cloud’s mouth was open, his tongue sweeping out to tease Leon’s into his mouth. He tugged Leon’s lower lip between his teeth and bit at it gently, his crotch tightening at the hoarse moan Leon released.

The fingers that had been clutching his hair loosened, coming around to press Cloud’s face closer, dragging him as close as the counter and window would allow. Cloud groaned breathily, grinding his hips against the kitchen counter as Leon sucked on his tongue as if he would die without it in his mouth. God, he was going crazy, and his cock was pressing against the seams of the counter and Leon was kissing him like he was the first thing he’d tasted in years and he was going to come right there, right in the middle of the kitchen with his pants still on and Leon’s tongue down his throat and-

Crash. “Oh God, Aerith!”

-and his two best friends quite possibly having sex not twenty feet away.

Leon closed his eyes, taking a step back and rubbing at his temple. “Of course there’s a crash. There’s always a crash. Why would I even bother to think I might get lucky this time?”

“Because we’re both secretly optimists,” Cloud muttered, surreptitiously adjusting his pants and waving a sorrowful farewell to his flagging erection. “Come inside. There’s no way in hell I’m letting them break my couch, and I’m sure as fuck not going in there alone.”

Leon mumbled something under his breath, but heaved himself into the window, carefully doing his best not to accidentally break any of the dishes overflowing the sink. He hopped down off the counter, and dusted himself off. Cloud lifted an eyebrow.

“I meant through the door.”

“Your door is through the living room,” Leon muttered. “Which is where I’m assuming Zack and Aerith are screwing like bunnies. I’m not braving that by myself, either.”

“Point,” Cloud said, and dragged him into the living room.

To their credit, Zack and Aerith still had their clothes on. And if all hands were maybe unaccounted for…well. They are a young couple very much in love, and should be forgiven.

Cloud, of course, thought no such thing.

“You two are leaving now,” he said.

“Come now, Spike,” Zack said, laughing nervously and furtively buttoning up his jeans. “Is that any way to talk to your best friend?”

“Yes,” Cloud answered. “And if I have to wash those cushions, I’m not going to your wedding.”

“Which will be in June, by the way,” Aerith said. The smile on her face was very much at odds with the way she was adjusting her bra strap. “We’ll go shopping for tuxedoes next weekend.”

“Oh God,” Cloud said, staring at his couch in horror. “That’s a stain.”

“Wrong,” Zack said, climbing to his feet and offering a gentlemanly hand to Aerith. “The word you’re looking for is congratulations.”

“Congratulations,” Cloud said. “That’s a stain, and I’m not coming to your reception.”

“I thought it was the whole wedding,” Leon muttered. Everyone present ignored him.

“We’ll see you next weekend, Cloud,” Aerith smiled, her pretty face still flushed. “I’ll call you!”

And with that, they walked out the door, hand and hand and whistling a happy tune.

Behind them, Cloud stared forlornly at his couch. “I’m going to have to give that away now.”

“Tifa will love it,” Leon said.

A choke. “That’s disgusting.”

“She won’t mind,” Leon said. Paused. “Much. If I don’t tell her.”

“She’ll find out.”

“She won’t.”

“It’s Tifa.”

Leon thought about that for a minute. Then he nodded decisively. “Alright. You can keep the couch.”

“Gee, thanks,” Cloud muttered.

They fell quiet for a moment, each still staring at the questionably virtuous sofa. Then Cloud coughed awkwardly.

“Hey.”

Leon shifted, just as awkward. “Hey.”

“So.”

Another cough. “So?”

Cloud ran a carefully calm hand through his hair, and decidedly did not meet Leon’s eyes. “It really is a nice couch.”

“I like how big it is,” Leon said, staring at the wall. “You could probably throw a party on it.”

Silence.

And then Cloud groaned, shoved Leon onto the couch, and crawled in after him.

Riku sat on his bed, carefully sorting his laundry by colors and whites. On the small desk lying between the bed and the wall, a small radio played some rock song or another. Bitter guitar riffs drifted through the air, and he gnawed at his lower lip in time with the beats.

His door opened quietly, and Axel stepped in. He knocked belatedly, and nodded. “Hey.”

“Oh,” Riku said, sparing half a glance up at his best friend. “Hey. What’s up?”

Axel shrugged, leaning against the wall and staring at Riku with narrowed eyes. “The sky.”

“Funny,” Riku said, laughing humorlessly. “Shut up or get out.”

“Not likely,” Axel drawled. He swung a leg over Riku’s desk chair, leaning forward against the back of it. “We need to talk.”

Riku laughed again, and placed a blue sock with the whites. He didn’t notice. “About what?”

“About how you’re screwing up your laundry,” Axel sneered, jerking his head out the door. “About what happened yesterday, dumbass. Drop the act. It’s not cute.”

The smile fell off Riku’s face so quickly it was easy to wonder if it had ever been there in the first place. “There’s nothing to talk about,” Riku said, voice cold. Axel scoffed, tossing his hair over one shoulder and crossing his arms.

“Like hell there’s not. Someone’s screwing with us, and I want to know who.”

Another laugh. This one couldn’t even be mistaken for a sincere one, so vicious did it sound. “Tell me when you find out,” Riku said, grinning. “I’m going to kill them.”

“I’m not telling you jack shit,” Axel said. “We’re doing it together.”

“Sure,” Riku said, grin widening savagely. “Whatever. We’ll find out, I’ll cut them open, and then we can go back to living our lives. Sure. Tell me when you want to go investigating. Hell, we can do it right now if you want. Let’s go, Axel. Let’s find out right now.”

Axel stared at him, eyes the slightest bit wider than they should have been. “You’re drunk.”

Riku laughed at that, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “You need to be drinking to be drunk, bastard,” he grinned. “I’m not drunk. I just want to kill someone.”

Axel shrugged nonchalantly, but his eyes were thin as slits in his face. “And then?”

The younger boy scoffed. His fingers twisted in cotton. The socks were all one big pile now. “Then what? I told you. We go back to living our lives. What’s so hard to understand about that?”

“I don’t know,” Axel said casually. “I guess I don’t understand where Sora fits into that.”

Riku froze. Socks went tumbling out of his hands. Slowly, he bent to pick them up. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about,” Axel hissed. “It’s a simple equation. You’re in love with a kid who hates your guts. We’re going to go out and find the people who ruined this for us. Then you get to go back and make nice, and he forgives you, and we get to go on with our lives.”

Riku laughed, long and hard. Just as quickly as they began, the sounds stopped, and Riku lifted his head, staring Axel in the face for the first time since he’d walked into the door. His eyes were bloodshot, the pupils tiny pinpricks in a sea of green. His face was utterly devoid of color. He looked like a ghost. Or like the dead.

“Sora,” he whispered finally, the words falling from his lips like poisoned flower petals, “is never going to forgive me.”

Axel very carefully did not clench his fists, for fear of them trembling. “Of course he will,” he said. “The kid’s reasonable. If we show him, he’ll understand.”

“Roxas,” Riku continued, as if he hadn’t heard a word Axel had said, “is never going to forgive you.”

Axel climbed to his feet, his face twisting. “Riku. Shut up.”

“And you know what?” Riku said, voice light and breathy and sounding so close to hysteria Axel almost wanted to freeze. “You know what?

“I don’t fucking care.”

Axel felt something in the pit of his stomach curl. It took the effort of giants, it seemed, to raise an eyebrow in something that was more worry than derision. “Oh?”

“Oh,” Riku snarled, that strange headiness gone to be replaced only by carefully reined-in anger. “Oh. Fucking oh. I don’t care. I don’t care anymore. I give up. I fucking give up.”

Axel closed his eyes, if only to gain a second to think. Then he opened them, and sneered. “I don’t believe you.”

And just like that, the dam holding in Riku’s anger broke.

“I don’t fucking care!” he screamed, the sound blasting off the windows. He swept a furious hand outward, throwing the clothes littering his bed onto the floor in crumpled piles. “I don’t fucking care anymore! Sora can just go ahead and-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Axel shouted, suddenly as irate as Riku. He strode forward and took his best friend’s shoulders between his hands, shaking him angrily. “You’re really going to throw all of this away? Like fuck, asshole! We’ve come too far to let this go! I have come too fucking far to give him up now!”

Riku shoved him back, sending Axel stumbling. He didn’t give him a chance to fall to the floor, before his fist was tightening in Axel’s shirt and pulling him closer.

“Then you can go ahead and go,” he hissed. “Go chase your Roxas like the pussy you‘ve always been. But you can count me out. I give up. I quit. I’m tired of this. Just get the fuck away from me. I don’t want to see any of you again.”

Axel’s eyes widened, before they narrowed into slits. “You don’t know what you’re saying, bastard.”

“Oh, I know fucking well what I’m saying,” Riku spat. “I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not loving him anymore. I’m not going to waste another second of my life on this shit. I hate this. I hate you. I hate him.”

Axel sneered, and leant forward until only the barest centimeters separated his lips from Riku‘s ear.

“Liar.”

Riku’s eyes widened. Then he shot to his feet, pressed his hands to the sides of his head, and screamed.

“Shut up!” he roared. “Shut the fuck up!” He shoved Axel backward, and the redhead tumbled back to hit the door. “Get out! Get the hell out!”

Axel stood there for a moment, back rimrod straight and eyes cold. Before him, Riku stood panting, face contorted with anger and furious tears building in his eyes. His hands clenched fitfully, the knuckles white and tense, veins wrapping around the thin, pale flesh. He looked like a wild thing.

And in that moment, Axel was sure he’d never pitied a person more.

“Fine, bastard,” Axel said, voice somehow both horribly mocking and more serious than he’d ever heard it. “Just go ahead and run. It’s not my ass that’ll regret it later.”

And with that, he swept out of the house, leaving Riku standing there in the middle of his room, back bowed and utterly alone.

“Fifteen hours later.”

Zexion rubbed at his forehead, and resisted his urge to jump out the car and plant his lips upon the glorious concrete of the Strife driveway. “Yes. I was aware. You’ve been informing me how much time passed every hour, on the hour.”

“Fifteen. Hours”

“Really,” Zexion muttered, “it’s closer to sixteen, but who’s counting?”

“I am. I’m counting.”

“Ah,” Zexion said. “Then you should get your numbers straight.”

“I don’t like you very much right now,” Demyx said, but he was smiling as he tumbled out of the car and onto his lawn. He grinned, throwing himself onto the warm grass and spreading his arms comfortably across the ground.

“Finally,” he moaned. “We’re home.”

“And you’re quite possibly laying in chocobo refuse,” Zexion said. “I hope you’re not expecting any form of physical affection until you’ve thoroughly bathed.”

Demyx grinned, took Zexion’s ankle in one hand, and pulled. Zexion tumbled down onto him with a squawk, and Demyx immediately wrapped his arms around him, nuzzling their noses together.

“There,” he whispered. “Now we can be dirty together.”

Zexion gulped, his eyes hooding. “Did you just make a pass at me?”

Demyx grinned, and pressed their lips together.

It lasted about as long as could be expected. Behind them, someone coughed, and Demyx groaned, rolling onto his back and squinting against the glare of the sun.

Sora smiled. “Hey guys. How was the wedding?”

Demyx climbed to his feet, and took a step forward. “I am going to kill you,” he said matter-of-factly.

Zexion stood, and carefully slid himself between his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s two brothers, sure that if any mortalities occurred with him in a five mile radius, he’d be the one taking the blame. “There was no wedding,” Zexion said. “We were lost.”

Roxas and Sora glanced at each other.

“For fifteen hours.”

“Yes.”

“Fifteen.”

“Yes.”

“Hours.”

“I think you two are trying for a point,” Zexion said. “I’m just not sure what it is.”

Roxas and Sora grinned like twin Cheshire cats, and turned slitted eyes towards their eldest brother.

“Demyx.”

“Oh no,” Demyx said.

“We always knew you’d become a man one day,” Sora said happily.

“Oh no.”

“If you two weren’t safe, Mom’ll kill you.”

“Oh no,” Demyx moaned.

Roxas and Sora perked up like kids in a candy store. “You weren’t safe?”

“I get the feeling you two should sound a lot less excited about that than you do,” Zexion muttered.

“It doesn’t matter,” Demyx wailed. “Because nothing happened. Zexy, back me up!”

Zexion opened his mouth. Then closed it. “Well, to be fair, quite a lot did happen.”

“I hate you,” Demyx said. “We’re breaking up.”

“We love you,” Sora said, in awe. “You’re never breaking up.”

“You should listen to him, Demyx,” Roxas said. “This is pretty much the only person who’ll ever think you’re cool. If you break up, you’ll probably never find anyone willing to put up with you ever again.”

“It’s really nice to know you guys love me so much,” Demyx muttered. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. “Whatever. I don’t even care. I’m going home to my nice warm bed, and I’m spending the next day asleep.”

Roxas and Sora snorted. “I don’t think you want to do that,” Roxas muttered.

Demyx frowned. “Why not?”

“They’re having sex,” Sora said.

Zexion and Demyx froze. They stared at each other, mouths open.

“Leon and Cloud are?”

“Yup,” Sora said, with far more relish than he probably should have used.

“On the couch.”

“The noise was awful.”

“We had to shimmy down the drainpipe.”

“Did you know that your brother could stick his legs behind his head?”

“No,” Zexion said. “I did not. And I really think I could have been happy not knowing that. My life would have been full.”

“Sucks to be you,” Roxas said, and shoved past him. Demyx frowned suddenly, glancing at his two brothers. He realized only belatedly that they were both holding twin plastic bags, overflowing with tiny scraps of paper.

“Hey, you guys,” he said, pointing at the bags. “What are those?”

Just like that, the good cheer drained from both boys, and in simultaneous motions they pressed the bags to their chests, cradled almost protectively.

“You don’t have to worry about that,” Roxas whispered. “It’s not your problem.”

Demyx glanced at Zexion. The older man’s face was like stone. “If it involves your war with my brother,” he said coldly, “then I believe it is my problem.”

“It’s not,” Sora said quietly. “Not at all. Please stay out of it.”

“Sora,” Demyx began, but Roxas shook his head, interrupting him with a wave of the hand.

“It’s only one more,” he said softly. “Just one more time. I promise.” He shouldered the bag , and bowed his head. Demyx couldn’t see his eyes through the fall of thick bangs, but something in the line of his shoulders sent shivers up his spine.

“With this, we’ll end it.”

Axel shoved out of the house, cursing to himself.

That hadn’t gone as planned.

The plan had been simple. After Riku’s total mental breakdown yesterday, he’d given him space. Pushing the kid wasn’t going to help any. Riku had needed a long night’s sleep, and time with himself. So that’s what Axel had done. He’d given him his space. He’d given him his sleep.

But they didn’t have the time to waste. They needed to act, and soon. If there was anything they’d learned about the Strife’s over the last long months, it was that they fought back, and quickly. They needed to do something. Anything.

He closed his eyes, and brought a hand to his eyes.

He hadn’t…expected this. He’d known Riku was still pretty fucked, but…he hadn’t expected this.

It was standing there, pensive and quiet and utterly somber, that he realized he was being followed by a short fat man.

It took exactly three seconds to reach into the bushes where the man was hiding, pull him out, and lift him to his eye level. This is probably because the guy was doing a terrible job of both trailing and hiding. The red cap did not go well with the greenery, for the record. To his credit, however, the man did not go quietly.

“P-p-put me down, you great big lummox! If the Captain hears about this, he’ll have your guts for linens!”

Axel blinked. “I think you mean garters.”

“And I think an ugly giant like you should refrain from correcting his elders! Put me down! Ohhh, when Maleficent finds out about this, she’ll-”

“Stop.”

The short fat man stopped. Axel brought him closer, and lifted one delicate eyebrow.

“I’ll let you go,” he said. “I won’t even push you around any. Does that sound fair?”

“Indubitably,” the little man said, adjusting his short blue pants over his large bellyl. “So go ahead and-”

“But.”

The man fell limp, looking up at Axel with great big eyes. “But?”

Axel grinned. The expression was not very nice. “But first you have to answer a few of my questions. Truthfully. Or I’ll throw you into a concrete barrel and roll you into the pier. Capiche?”

The man gulped, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “C-capiche.”

“Good,” Axel said. “Now. First:

“Who the hell are you?”

An hour later, a very pale-faced Axel set Bartholomew Quigley Smeethington down on shaky legs, reached into his pocket, and withdrew a cell phone. Slowly, he punched in one of the few numbers he knew by memory, and paused.

Three rings later, the phone clicked, and a melodic voice echoed through the speaker.

“Axel? What do you-”

“Shut up, Kairi, and listen,” Axel said, voice trembling. “I need you to tell me everything you know about Maleficent.”

Roxas and Sora were walking down the street, quiet. Between them hung a single scrap of paper. Sora glanced down at it. His fingers curled around it, shaking.

“You think we’re doing the right thing?”

Roxas shrugged beside him, his face uncharacteristically white. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters.”

“It doesn’t,” Roxas said. “Not if we end this. We can make up for it all later. Alright?”

Sora didn’t get a chance to answer, as small arms grabbed hold of his shoulders and spun him around.

Kairi stood there, her cheeks as red as her hair, and her forehead shiny with sweat. She was very clearly not happy.

“You,” Kairi said, her pretty face a snarl. “You. We…we need to talk.”

The two brothers glanced at each other, then averted their gaze. “There’s nothing to talk about, Kairi,” Sora said, carefully avoiding her eyes. “We’re just walking home.”

Kairi lifted a surprisingly strong hand and shoved it against his chest, stopping the step away he had been beginning to take. “No,” she whispered. “I think there’s plenty to talk about.” She took a deep breath.

“What on earth have you done to my brother and Riku?”

Roxas and Sora tensed. In a voice painstakingly devoid of emotion, Roxas spoke.

“Nothing,” he said. “Nothing they didn’t do to us first.”

“Oh, stop it,” Kairi said. “Stop it. From the very beginning, they’ve done nothing but try for you. And I know you guys have a point. Of course you do. They’re idiots. But they’re not cruel idiots, and they don’t deserve the way you’ve been treating them.”

For a long moment, they were quiet. Then, Sora shifted.

“No, Kairi,” he whispered. “I think we do understand. Maybe they’re idiots. Maybe they don’t mean any of this. But that gives them no excuse. They don’t have an excuse for the way they acted. He doesn’t…” he paused, wiping at his eyes.

“He has no excuse for the way he acted with me.”

Kairi shook her head wildly, stepping forward and taking his shirt in her hands. She fisted the fabric, her small fingers squeezing and releasing spasmodically. “No,“ she said, desperately. “No, Sora, you don’t understand-”

“But I do, Kairi,” he cried. “I tried to be friends, I tried to forgive, I tried to just…stop everything. I did! I tried to believe he maybe liked me for me, and not just for…” he trailed off, shaking his head furiously. “And it’s like no matter what I do, and no matter how I try, the whole universe has it out for me! The whole universe up and decided he was in the wrong!”

Kairi scoffed, but her voice was trembling. “Hah. Only if the whole universe also goes by Crazy Old Maleficent.”

Sora blinked. On the seat behind him, Roxas sat a little straighter. “Wait. What?”

“You heard me,” Kairi said, her breath coming quickly now. She opened her hands, relaxing her hold on his shirt, and took a step backward. She smoothed her hands over her arms self-consciously. “All of this - the misunderstandings and the idiocy and the growing of mutant muskrats - it’s all because of Maleficent.”

Roxas and Sora stared. And then they frowned solemnly.

“That’s a very mean thing to say,” Roxas said gravely.

“She might be crazy, but she’s not the devil,” Sora added, just as somber. “By extension, therefore, ‘Maleficent made me do it’ does not stand as a reasonable excuse.”

Kairi shouted, tossing her head back in anger. “You two aren’t even trying to pay attention!”

“Why should we?” Roxas said suddenly, taking an infuriated step forward. “You just keep saying the same thing over and over again, and I don’t know why. I thought you were our friend, Kairi!”

Kairi looked at him then for a moment, her eyes wide and wet and hurt. Then her slim shoulders slumped, and she let her head bow forward on her suddenly aching neck.

“I am,” she whispered. “I am your friend. You’re my best friends.”

“Then-”

“But, guys,” she continued, voice quiet. “Riku’s my friend, too. And I could no more betray him than I could the either of you. Not when he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“Fuck he hasn’t done anything wrong! He-”

“Did you ever bother to wonder, Sora,” Kairi interrupted, turning to stare at the boy in question, “why the hell a past conversation was suddenly broadcast to the entire neighborhood, just as the four of you had finally decided to settle your differences?”

Sora opened his mouth indignantly. Then it snapped shut. “Uh.”

Kairi blinked. “No. You’re lying.”

“W-well,” Sora laughed nervously. “You see, Kairi. You have to understand-”

“No,” Kairi said, holding up a hand. The other one massaged her temple. “I don’t want to hear it. I’m busy pretending my best friends have brains, thank you kindly. Don’t bother me, please.”

“It’s not like we didn’t have other things to worry about, you know,” Roxas said tightly, still staring at the ground. “The why doesn’t matter.”

Kairi glanced up at him, her entire face tightening with suppressed emotion - anger, or frustration, or something too terrifying to dwell on, because if there was one thing no Strife was good at, it was dealing with sobbing women. Then, finally:

“This isn’t like you two.”

Roxas and Sora did not answer, and Kairi pressed on. “You’re going too far. This is ridiculous. I don’t even know what to say to the two of you. You’re acting like a pair of…of jilted lovers!”

Sora jerked. “What-”

“Whatever!” Kairi interrupted, shaking her head wildly. “That’s not even the point. The point, you pair of absolute dumbasses, is that someone is messing with all of you, and we don’t know why. We don’t know how. Maleficent may not even be a part of it! But someone is playing the four of you against each other like chess pieces, and it’s not right!” Kairi paused for breath, her small chest heaving with the effort it took not to cry. She sighed, and wiped a weary hand over her eyes.

“This is not their fault.”

Roxas stood for a second, quiet. Then he tossed his head bitterly, back still bowed. “They still said those things,” Roxas hissed. “They’ve still spent the last three months treating us like toys.”

“When have they ever treated you like toys?” Kairi cried. “From the very beginning, they’ve played this game like equals, and rivals. They’ve never looked down upon you! You’re the ones who’ve been looking down on them!”

Sora jerked, his mouth twisting into a pained grimace. “It’s not like that, Kairi! We never-”

“Never what, Sora?” Kairi asked fervently. “Never what? If not that, then why? Why are you doing this? For revenge? Because they injured your pride? They’re not perfect, Sora!” Kairi sobbed for breath. Her voice was close to breaking now. “They make mistakes! That doesn’t change what’s in their hearts! It doesn’t change the fact that they care about you!”

Roxas hissed, forcing the sound out between clenched teeth. “People who care about each other don’t say things like that. They wouldn’t say-”

“Roxas,” Kairi moaned. “You of all people should know how badly things taken out of context can sound.”

“What kind of context-”

“A thousand kinds,” Kairi said, voice cracking. “People say things sometimes. Things they don’t mean. Things they don’t believe. But even if they did, Roxas. Even if they did. What’s so wrong about wanting a person you like?”

“Dammit!” Roxas roared, slamming his firsts angrily against his thighs and half screaming in anger. “He does not care about-”

“Shut up!” Kairi shouted. She crossed the distance between them and shoved him back, suddenly as desperately furious as he was. “Shut up! You know he does! You know! You just won’t admit it, because if you do then suddenly you’re the bad guy! Suddenly you’re the one who’s been callously hurting a person who cares about you! Worse, because you’ve been dragging Sora and Riku into this, when all either of them ever wanted was to be left in peace, away from you!”

Roxas went white.

Beside him, Sora shook, mouth open as if he wanted desperately to refute the words, and did not know how. The silence did more than any agreement or disavowal could have.

“D-don’t,” Roxas began, licking his suddenly desert-dry lips. “Don’t talk to me about Riku.”

Kairi shook her head slowly, face a frozen mask. “No, Roxas,” she whispered. “I’m going to talk to you about Riku.” She pressed the palms of her hands to her eyes, until reds and blues exploded on the lids like little fireworks.

“Because he’s a good person,” she said, voice trembling. “He’s so dumb sometimes, and he’s so proud, and he’s the most arrogant jerk you’ll ever meet, but he’s good. And if he messes up so much, it’s only because he’s scared, alright? Because he’ll deny it till the day he dies, but he has an inferiority complex the size of Hollow Bastion.”

Roxas scoffed shakily. “That jerk thinks he’s God’s gift to mankind. He doesn’t-”

“He does,” Kairi said. “Of course he does. Because when you’ve been thrown away your whole life, and you’ve been unwanted your whole life, then suddenly you’re thrust into a family where every single member is either freakishly powerful or freakishly intelligent or both, and when everything you do is done better by the only people in the world who care about you, and when you live every single day of your life with this tiny, unceasing fear in the pit of your stomach that one day everyone will see how pathetic you are…that they’ll see how much less you…”

She trailed off, shaking and looking suddenly as lost as a babe in the woods. She closed her eyes, and breathed. Roxas and Sora could think of nothing to say.

“When you live like that,” she continued, the words whispering from her lips, “you can’t help but overcompensate. It’s either that, or turn into a pale caricature of a person, and Riku is too strong and desperate and…and dazzling to do that. But because of the life he has led, and because he was thrown away at an age too old to forget and too young to not care, and because after a decade of being all alone in a place where no one cared about him, he suddenly found himself with a mother who would do anything for him, and a father how learned to love him like a son, and a brother who learned to view him as a friend…because of all that…”

Her mouth opened and closed for a moment, but no words emerged. Roxas and Sora couldn’t bring themselves to interrupt, or help, or do anything but watch her struggle for breath and wring her hands desperately.

“He doesn’t care about people easily,” she whispered finally. “I can count the number of people he loves on my hands and still have fingers left over. But when he does care about a person, he does it with all his heart. The fact that he hasn’t given up on friendship after three months of being hated by you and scorned by you should prove that.” She laughed once, almost bitterly. “You would both know that by now if you weren’t so preoccupied with your brother complexes and injured pride to see.”

Roxas flushed, his ears blazing. Beside him, Sora flinched as if struck, his fists clenching. Whether it was in bone-wearying humiliation or terrible fury, Kairi couldn’t tell.

“This,” she repeated, once again quiet, “was not their fault. And it wasn’t yours, either. I can’t blame you for taking offense at them. They’re idiots. You’re idiots. You’re all big fat idiots, but even so, it was no one’s fault. It was just one dumb coincidence after another, and somewhere along the line, for some reason that may or may not have to do with munny and gambling pools, people started interfering. But, please,” she said, and now her hands were clenched in supplication. Her eyelids fluttered rapidly, trying to blink away the half-infuriated, half-sorrowful tears threatening to pour over.

“Please don’t doubt them. I’m not asking you to like them back. I’m not even asking you to be friends. No one can ask that. But please. Roxas. Sora. Please. Axel’s spent the last day pacing around the house like a caged animal, planning and planning and getting absolutely no where. Riku’s not answering his calls, but I know him, and his room is probably a wreck, and he’s probably standing in the middle of it, alone and not knowing what to do and…” She wiped at her eyes with the back of one small fist, shaking.

“I love you all so much,” she whispered. “You know I would follow you anywhere, and I’d do anything for each and every one of you. Please. Trust me. Forgive them. They did nothing wrong.”

Then silence, for what seemed to last an eternity. Kairi stood there, hunched in on herself as if terrified. Roxas sat, his head bowed, heavy bangs hiding whatever expression he was making. Then finally, Sora sighed. The sound rasped from his lips as if through a block, and he closed his eyes.

“I’m so tired,” he murmured.

Kairi bit her lip. “Sora?”

He laughed suddenly, but the sound seemed more weary than anything else. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes, and shrugged, the gesture small and so much weaker than it should have been on Sora. “I’m just tired,” he whispered. “Of being mad all the time. Of feeling like this all the time. I don’t like it. It’s not fun anymore.” His trembling smile widened, and he rubbed at his eyes.

“Kairi,” he said, the words quaking. “Can you take me to Riku?”

Roxas blanched and choked back a cry. “Sora-”

“Roxas!” Sora barked. He shoved his bangs out of his eyes, the movement jerky and angry. “Stop. This has gone far enough. I don’t have it in me to be mad at a person who did nothing wrong, and even if he did, he’s sorry about it. I’m not like you.”

Roxas jerked back as if the words were a physical blow. “Sora-”

Sora waved a hand shakily through the air, cutting him off. “I-I’ll fight you on this if I have to, Roxas. I know we’re brothers, but I can’t…I can’t let you continue this. Not anymore. It’s wrong.”

“Sora-”

“Stop.”

The words were not Sora’s. Kairi stood there, her eyes red. She swept a hand over her face, and sighed.

“There’s one more thing I have to tell you.”

Roxas laughed bitterly. “What more could you possibly say?”

Kairi met his eyes. They did not waver.

“I wasn’t joking about what I said about Maleficent.”

Sora laughed uneasily, shifting from one foot to the other. “There’s no way batty old Maleficent could have done that. She’s crazy.”

“Maybe,” Kairi said. “She’s also at the head of one of the largest gambling rings in the city. Hades, and the Queen, and Oogie Boogie, and Jafar, and Ursula, and a dozen others I can’t remember. You have to have heard of them.”

Sora hunched over, eyes suddenly wary. “No. Maleficent can’t possibly be with them. She couldn’t really-”

“She is,” Kairi said. “She’s practically their leader. She…she’d always ask me for gossip. She’d always ask me if anything interesting had happened. She said she liked placing wagers on the outcome. She told me.” She closed her eyes, and breathed.

“And what do you think Maleficent has displayed interest in now?”

Sora and Roxas were quiet for a moment. Then, simultaneously, they looked up. “They wouldn’t-”

“They would,” Kairi hissed. “They have. Sora. Roxas. The most powerful people in the city are up to their eyeballs in bets as to who will win this war. And Riku and Axel were about to end it. Some of these people have staked half their fortunes on the outcome of this stupid, stupid fight. Do you really think they’d let it die just like that?”

Sora shook his head slowly. “No. They couldn’t have. It’s impossible. They can’t have-”

“It makes sense.”

All heads turned to spin towards the person who’d spoken. Axel stood there, face oddly drawn. To Kairi’s right, Roxas tensed. She ignored him.

“You okay?” she asked. “You look pale.”

“I’m fine,” he answered, and decidedly did not take his eyes away from Roxas’s. “I ran over here.” He smoothed a vexed hand through his hair, and sighed. “How much has she told you?”

“Everything,” Kairi said. “I told them everything.”

“You haven’t told us anything,” Roxas said unsteadily. “You haven’t even…how do you even know this?”

Axel stepped forward. His eyes did not waver. “I found one of her guys following me. I caught him and pushed him around a bit, until he answered my questions.”

“Then he called me, and I put things together,” Kairi said shakily. “I’ve been hearing Maleficent talk about gambling on the phone to her friends for the last three months. I thought they were talking about Bingo.”

“Bingo,” Roxas said, suddenly sounding hysterical. “You…you had her under your nose for months, and you thought she was talking about Bingo?”

“I didn’t know!” Kairi cried. “I thought she was harmless!”

“The woman breeds killer plants! Of course she’s not harmless!”

“Stop!” Sora cried suddenly. He jerked his head at the street plaque, then turned to stare at Kairi. “What time is it?”

“Why?” Kairi asked. “What does that have to do with-”

“You don’t understand,” Sora said. He turned to Roxas, face a rictus of desperation. “If they’re right, we need to stop it. Do you have her number?”

“No,” Roxas said, shaking his head. His face was pale. “N-no, I threw it away. I thought we wouldn’t need it anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” Axel asked furiously. “What’s wrong?”

Sora spun towards him, frantic. “It was supposed to be the last prank. The last one. We were going to end this, once and for all. B-but if you guys are right, then we have to-”

“I-it’s too late,” Roxas whispered unsteadily. He lifted a hand. On his wrist, the face of the large watch affixed to it said five oh eight. “Look. It’s already five o’clock.”

Kairi and Axel glanced at each other worriedly, then back at Roxas. “Why? What happens at five o’clock?”

“Oh no,” Sora whispered, and took off down the street.

Roxas made to follow him, but Axel caught him around the shoulders and spun him hard, until they were standing face to face.

“Don’t run,” he snarled. “And tell me: what happens at five o’clock.”

Roxas fidgeted, his eyes following Sora’s retreating form down the street. “I…I need to-”

“Roxas!”

Roxas jerked in surprise, and bowed his head. “W-we…we called someone,” he said, his voice trembling. “We asked her to do us a favor.”

Kairi blanched. “You weren’t going to hurt Riku. You weren’t.”

“We weren’t,” Roxas stuttered. “It wasn’t that. She’s not the sort you’d ask to hurt someone physically. No one was going to lay a hand on him.”

“Then what!?” Axel cried furiously, shaking Roxas like a doll. “If not that, then what!?”

Roxas looked for a moment as if he would fight back. Then he closed his eyes, and went limp.

“She was just going to say things. She’s…really good at saying things. She’s crazy. Of course she’s good.”

Kairi fisted her hands in her skirt, and trembled. “Roxas,” she whispered slowly. “What were you going to have her say?”

“Things!” Roxas cried, squeezing his eyes shut. “Just things! They weren’t that bad, we just wanted to tell him…we just wanted to end this, and-”

“Roxas,” Axel said, voice so venomously quiet it hurt to hear. “What on earth were you going to have someone say that could possibly end this?”

Roxas told him.

Kairi went still. Her face turned white. Roxas closed his eyes tighter against the sight of it.

“That’s not so bad,” Axel muttered, but he didn’t sound like he believed the words. “Anybody could say that.”

“My God,” Kairi whispered. “My God. You didn’t.”

“It’s not so bad!” Roxas cried, in some combination of anger and fear. “You heard him! It’s not that bad!”

“It’s Riku!” Kairi screamed. She twisted her hands in her hair and tugged. “You…do you have any idea what you’ve done!?”

“We just wanted to end this!” Roxas shouted. “We thought they’d…after what they’d said yesterday-”

“Roxas!” Kairi half-sobbed, her pretty eyes wide and wild. “Nothing he could have said could possibly hurt more than what you told that person to tell him. Nothing.”

She stood there for a moment, shaking. Then finally: “Who was it?”

Roxas took a step back, flinching. “What?”

“You heard me,” Kairi rasped. “Who did you ask?”

Roxas was quiet for a very long moment. Then he spoke, in a quiet, quiet voice.

“Maleficent.”

Sora sprinted down the street. His lungs felt like they were about to burst, and there was a stitch in his side that threatened to double him over every time he took a breath, but he didn’t stop. Not when he was so close. Not when it was five sixteen, and Riku’s house was just around the corner.

Maybe Maleficent hadn’t called. Maybe she’d forgotten about it. The woman was crazy. Who knew how her mind worked. She was probably off playing Bingo with her friends right now. She was probably feeding live mice to her killer flytraps. She…she could be doing anything, but she couldn’t be doing this.

Not now.

Sora was going to knock on the door, and Riku was going to come down, and Sora was going to forgive him. Once and for all and forever. Sora was going to say that he’d acted like the hugest asshole, and that he’d overreacted for everything, and that Riku had deserved none of it. Some of it. No where near what he’d dished out, anyway.

They were going to be friends. Sora was going to ask him to be friends. He was going to drop to his knees and beg, if he had to. After all this…

They both deserved apologies. Huge ones. Massive ones. The difference was, Riku had given his. Again and again and again. Sora couldn’t even remember if the word sorry had ever crossed his own lips.

They were going to be friends. They would be. Because Maleficent hadn’t made the call. Maleficent was in her creepy old house, feeding her creepy old plants, and hadn’t called.

She hadn’t called.

Sora was still telling himself this when he rounded the corner, and slammed straight into Riku.

He tumbled backwards a few paces, tripping on his feet, feeling them slide out from underneath himself. He winced in expectation of the way the ground would feel as it slammed into his body, and closed his eyes.

Then a large hand wrapped around his wrist and pulled him upright, and Sora fell into Riku’s chest.

Sora pushed himself away almost immediately, bending over and clasping his knees. He closed his eyes, gasping for breath.

“I ran here,” he said finally, through his wheezes. “I needed to say something. I had to say something. I-”

“No,” Riku whispered. The sound was venomous, and it set something in the pit of Sora’s stomach freezing. Slowly, Sora looked up.

Riku stood there, quiet and solemn as the grave. His face was deathly white. His eyes were red. Something in the lines of them turned Sora’s heart to ash, and he took an involuntary step backward. He bit his lip, and pressed his hands to his chest. “Riku?”

Riku looked at him, and did not smile. “No,” he said again finally, quietly. In his right hand was a cell phone; In his right hand was a cell phone, in his left, a piece of paper. The words were written in black, and they arced across the page like a spell. Sora didn’t know what they said.

He was pretty sure he’d give half his life to not know what they said.

“No,” Riku repeated, the words so quiet Sora had to stop breathing if only to hear them. They whispered through the air like venomous butterflies, and for one heart-stopping moment, Sora wanted to die.

“No,” Riku repeated, one last time.

“I think you’ve said quite enough.”