"Get up you lazy bum!" a young girl shouted. Her hair was jet-black and short, with bangs on the left side of her head.

"Hope, you idiot, we're gonna be late to school! On our first day!" A boy with silver hair looked up at her, looking like he didn't sleep at all.

"Xion, can you go without me? I just wanna sleep…"

Xion growled, "Well, I'll just go get big brother!" She darted out the door, "Axel, Hope won't get up!"

A red-head with spiky hair walked in, looking pissed off, "Damnit, Hope! Get up, you're gonna go to school whether you want to or not!"

Hope's eyes widened, "Oh, no, no, no, no—"The sheets were pulled from beneath him, and he went flying. Xion shuddered at the sound of a loud crash.

Another silver-haired boy came in, "Ugh, Damnit, Axel! That's the 5th table this year; you need to stop getting him up that way!"

"Don't talk to me that way, I'm 9 years older than you, respect your elders, got it memorized?"

Hope mumbled as he left the room, "I'm up, happy? Ow, that really hurt…"

Hope, Riku, Xion, and Axel had moved to Destiny Islands over the summer, not long after being orphaned. They were lucky that Axel was 25, and became their legal guardian. They didn't like the thought of living in an orphanage, separated from each other. Axel wasn't home often, though. He had a girlfriend a girl named Shannon. Xion and Hope were just glad that he didn't date Larxene, who was constantly flirting with Axel, even the day after his parents died. Shannon had been sympathetic, being so kind to them and even trying to help. Xion, Riku, and Hope were glad to see Axel so happy. A month after being orphaned, they moved and started acting lively again, but Hope wasn't the same. They didn't know anyone in their new town, and Xion was exited to try the paopu fruit when she finally got a boyfriend. They were siblings, but they barely looked alike. Axel and Xion knew that they took after their grandparents, Rukia and Renji, who, strangely, have no records of ever existing. Riku and Hope took after their mom, Nora.

"Oh, by the way, Snow's gonna take you three to school."

Snow. Oh crap. Snow was like a brother to them, but he was a pain sometimes. In 3rd grade, Hope had liked a girl named Marlene, but one day, Snow ran in screaming "Hey Hope, your mom aid not to forget your floaties in swimming lessons, and she said don't talk to strangers, and don't forget to eat your vegetables!" Until 4th grade, people were calling him a "momma's boy". He wanted to strangle Snow then. In 6th grade, he liked a girl named Raquel. Then Snow came in, yelling "Hope, I've got more band-aids for you, we really need to keep you away from knives!" Hope was called an "emo cutter", and classmates gave him razors for Christmas, and an actual emo, named Ulquiorra, who was in 7th grade, was pissed, because they gave him razors, too! Hope was so pissed off then, he wanted to mutilate Snow! Yup, Snow was like his embarrassing older brother. Looks like he'll embarrass Hope again today. Oh joy.

A woman with strawberry blond hair stood, looking frustrated, by a door. She kicked it again. "Damnit! Those brats…" She elbowed the door.

"Hey, Cloud, they barricaded the door with the dresser! A hand, please?" A blond man who looked a little like her came over and sighed.

"They really hate school, huh, Lightning?"

They looked at each other and body-slammed the door, opening it. In the room lied 4 bunk beds, and 4 sleeping teens.

Lightning became furious "Sora! Roxas! Vanitas! Ventus! You lazy bums, the #$% are you doing in bed! Get up before I #$%ing kill you! I'll throw you four out the window in a heartbeat, you know I will!"

A brunette with blue eyes sat up, "Light, what kind of thing is that to say to your brothers? I am so hurt…"

"Quit acting like a little girl, you moron!" replied a boy who looked just like Sora, except had black hair and yellow eyes.

"Oh really? You're not a nice sibling, either, Vanitas!" shot the blonde boy, Ventus, who the only difference between him and Roxas was that his wristband had white edges.

"Stop complaining, I'm getting up. I advise you do the same," said Roxas.

"Good. At least one of you is acting mature. Even Serah left already," said Cloud.

Lightning grinned. "Hey guys, I know what'll get you up, cousins Edward and Alphonse sent us a letter from their trip," she held up a letter. Sora, Vanitas, and Ventus' eyes widened. They admired their cousins, who were famous alchemists, which was amazing. Ed and Al were the only ones in their family who could perform any alchemy. Sora and his brothers ran into the bathroom to get ready, eager to read the letter.

Cloud sighed. They'd have to read the letter while walking, otherwise they'd be late. Sora and his brothers were 15, 10th graders, so they're in high school. Lightning and Cloud were in college, which was right next to the high school, conveniently. The brothers came out and they all left for school.

Hope was shocked. He couldn't believe what was happening. Snow was…Snow was quiet. He wasn't saying anything. He wasn't embarrassing Hope, or telling stupid jokes, he was silent. Something had to be wrong. Xion broke the silence.

"Snow, you're…you're not talking."

Snow grinned. "Xion, Riku, Hope…I'm in love."

The trio gasped, and in unison, yelled "WHO!"

Snow grinned again. "A girl named Serah. She's so pretty and sweet…but her older sister's a freaking psycho, but she's not important. I'm gonna marry Serah one day…"

"Oh, how sweet! True love, I wanna experience that one day~" Xion said happily. Hope and Riku rolled their eyes.

"Hey, Snow. What's the high school like? What're the teachers like?" asked Hope.

"Well, kiddo, they aren't mean…they're a little…crazy."

"Crazy?"

"Yeah…crazy. But in a good way, don't worry. The only ones to worry about are Dr. Vexen and Professor Hojo. They are sick and twisted. They still haunt me in my nightmares."

The trio shivered. They prayed they didn't get either of those teachers.

They were crossing the tracks as the train started coming. They ran across to the other side as the bars went down, when Xion's eyes widened. "Where's Hope?"

They turned around. Hope's shoe was stuck to the track, and the train was fast approaching.

"No!" screamed Snow.

The train passed by, fear etched to Riku and Xion's faces. There was no time for them to get anywhere near him! There was no way he could've gotten away! The train was gone. And so was Hope…

… He was off the tracks, a few feet away from them, with a strawberry blonde woman holding him in her arms.

"Hope!" Xion yelled as she ran over and hugged him, tears in her eyes.

Snow looked shocked. "Lightning? How'd you save him so fast?"

Xion looked at Snow, "You know her?"

"Yeah, she's Serah's psycho sister!" *try saying that 5 times fast*

Lightning walked over to him and punched him in the face, "'Psycho' am I? I'll show you psycho!" she growled as she as she punched him again and again.

Hope was just staring at her, Lightning, the girl who saved his life. He felt his heart pounding. Who is she? Why is my heart beating faster? Why'd she save me? He knew why his heart was pounding, but found it ridiculous. He…he fell for her in that moment. But why? Thoughts filled his head, confusing him even more.

Xion looked at him. No freaking way. This is so unfair! He's love-struck!

"Um…thanks…Lightning…" Hope began.

"Call me Light." She replied.

Light? Light and Hope! It makes too much sense, if you give up "hope", you lose your "light" and fall to the darkness! It's meant to be! Xion smiled, and she really creeped Riku out with her sudden grin.

"YOU IDIOT!" Xion screamed as she and Hope desperately ran into the 10th grade half of the building, late for class.

"How was I supposed to know that we had to go here! I was lost, and I followed Riku. I didn't know!"

"If we're late, it's your fault!" Xion wailed as they ran.

Xion and Hope had been relieved to see that they had all their classes together. Riku, being an 11th grader, was at the other half of the school. Hope and Xion had unfortunately gotten desperately lost. Even worse news…their 1st period teacher was Mr. Hojo. They were terrified.

…

They finally got to their class, after 10 minutes of running through the halls at full speed, they were exhausted! They ran into class as fast as their tired legs would carry them, fearing the wrath of Mr. Hojo.

"Sorry we're late!" screamed Xion and Hope.

"How dare you interrupt my class? Sit down over there right now you insignificant worms!" yelled the teacher, an old, ugly man with a voice so annoying that it was a nightmare!

Xion and Hope sat near 2 identical blond boys, a brunette who resembled them, a boy with black hair who resembled the brunette, a blond girl, and a girl with auburn hair. Then Mr. Hojo gave them a group project.

Hope looked at the people in his group, and introduced himself and Xion.

"Hi! I'm Sora! This is Vanitas, that's Ventus, and he's Roxas. They're my brothers. That's Naminé. And over here is my princess, my light, Kairi."

Kairi blushed and giggled, cuddling next to Sora as she did. Xion couldn't take her eyes off of Roxas. There was something special about him…But what?

Roxas looked at the 2 who had just stormed into the room. He couldn't stop staring at the black-haired girl. And it wasn't because of how much she looked like the "Thalassa twins", Kairi and Naminé (a name they'd earned at the last Paopu Festival) . There was something special about her. But what?

Vanitas smirked, "Heh heh heh…looks like Roxy's got a girlfriend!"

Roxas looked at him, "It is so on! I will kick your ass!"

Vanitas grinned again, "We'll see about that."

He didn't know about Roxas' "secret weapon". But Ventus did, and couldn't resist laughing a little. Soon, he'd have some revenge against Vanitas for what he did to Aqua.

It had been 3 years ago, that Vanitas pranked Aqua, but it had been more than just a prank. It was on the school camping trip. Aqua was taking a shower, and Vanitas stole all her clothes and all the towels, and brought all the boys outside the bathroom, and they all saw Aqua naked. Aqua was so embarrassed that she hid from everyone for days, and she even avoided Terra and Ventus, her two best friends. Ven was so pissed off at Vanitas, he hadn't forgiven him. Terra hadn't, either. And Aqua was 1 year older than Ven and Vanitas, and Vanitas took all the boys there, well over 100 boys saw her! Aqua was still embarrassed, 3 years later. Ven was dying to avenge her! And, hopefully, earn her love. Ven had loved Aqua for a few years, but chickened out whenever he tried to admit he loved her. He figured that he'd have to wait for her to feel the same.

He had a feeling that Hope and Roxas may help in his revenge. Roxas and Terra were already in on it. Maybe Hope would help, too.

Riku calmly walked into class, on time and in a good mood. Hope and Xion acting like idiots was pretty funny, and seeing Hope go gaga over Lightning…priceless! He took a seat next to a buff man named Terra and a blue-haired girl named Aqua. Aqua and Terra were tall for their age. Next to him were also a quiet guy named Zexion, a guy with blue hair who shouldn't be messed with named Grimmjow, a guy with a mullet named Demyx, and a green haired girl wearing a skull hat on her head named Neliel, and Ulquiorra he recognized right away as the emo that several girls were staring at (Ulqui's hot). A very strange group of people, that's for sure! Their teacher's name was Mr. Fair, who seemed really young for a teacher, he must be new. Neliel said to call him Zack, like everyone else does. He was really loose and he made math class really fun, especially the way he made the problems.

"The soldier killed 169 monsters in 13 minutes. 3 minutes later, he'd killed 208 monsters. What is the unit rate of the amount of monsters he's killing per minute?" was written on the board. Riku just stared.

This is how he teaches math! Seriously! And he doesn't get in trouble for it? Math may not be so bad this year.

Riku was seriously confused as to why a girl who resembled Lightning was sitting in the back of the room. Was she there for college credit or something? She was obviously older than the other students in there.

"Sephiroth is making 0 witty remarks a minute and is killing 8 citizens per minute, if the number of times I stab him is (x+1) how many times can I stab him? Answer in units of pwnage." Was the first question on the ditto. Riku stared at the problem in shock. Good thing it's a double period!

Why did I save that boy? Who was he, anyway? Was he the 'little buddy' that Snow talked about with Serah?

Lightning was seriously confused. She hadn't even thought about saving that boy…she just did. She was a college student, and she planned on being a teacher. So, she had to spend a lot of time in the high school. So did Serah. The bell was about to ring for 2nd period, so she was heading to ELA, where the teacher was….Damnit! I forgot who it is!

She walked into the room. Where was the teacher?

Hey….isn't that the boy from this morning? And there's his sister and…Damnit! My brothers are here! And Kairi and Naminé, too. Shit!

The silver-haired boy looked in shock as Sora and the others waved madly at her.

"Big sis! Big sis! Hi! Sit here! Sit here!" yelled Sora and his siblings.

"Shut your damn mouths, I'll sit there if you shut up. Happy now?"

Hope stared straight ahead. He was shocked, not by Sora and company acting like morons, or the lack of a teacher. But that Light had walked into the room! The girl who saved his life and made his heart skip a beat was right there.

And she's their sister! Holy—

"All right! Students, sit your asses down! I am Ms. Riza Hawkeye, but please call me Lt. Hawkeye."

Sora sat up, "You're Lt. Hawkeye! You know my cousins, Ed and Al! You work with Colonel Mustang, the Flame Alchemist! Awesome!"

Lt. Hawkeye looked straight at him. "You're related to Edward and Alphonse? Well then, I hope you're as smart as them. They're child prodigies! But don't think you'll get any favoritism."

"Don't worry, we didn't want any favoritism!"

"And for the record, these morons aren't even half as smart as our cousins!" grinned Vanitas.

Now Ventus really wanted revenge.

These guys are related to the Elric brothers! No freaking way! Hope and Xion thought at the same moment.

The day went by fast. After a double of ELA, they headed to math with Mr. Fair, who had Riku, Aqua, Terra, Zexion, Neliel, Demyx, and Grimmjow earlier. Then they had history with Mr. Auron, who was awesome! He had scars and weird dark clothes, he was too awesome! And then they heard about an afterschool club with Mr. Vincent Valentine, you learn how to shoot that starts on October 7th. Hope, Xion, and the others signed up for it. It's good to know that for self defense. Then lunch rolled around.

The group just stared at the remodeled cafeteria. It had booths like you see in nice restaurants like Vincent's and Olive Garden. The café where you got the food was clean and fancy, with a marble service. Being served today was chicken legs with carrots and rice on the side. For vegetarians, like Naminé, there was spaghetti with vegetables, it smelled so good! And at the dessert bar was vanilla cake, triple chocolate cake, sea-salt ice cream, pumpkin pie, lemon ice pops, sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and all kinds of chips. At the "veggie bar" was every kind of fruit and vegetable you can name, and then some! They even had star fruit and pomegranates! And everything was so clean!

Xion, Hope, Naminé, Kairi, Sora, Ventus, Vanitas, and Roxas sat with Terra, Aqua, Riku, Demyx, Zexion, Neliel, Serah, and Lightning. Neliel was really kind and pretty, and although she was gentle, she seemed like she could kick ass when angered, the scar across her face made it obvious. Zexion was very quiet and shy, but he looked like he could really hurt someone. Maybe he'd beat them up with that giant book he carries! Demyx was a complete idiot, but he was very friendly and funny, and a good listener, someone you could share your problems with. They noticed that Ulquiorra was at the table next to them, alone, with a book that contained all the works of Edgar Allan Poe (he has good taste in poetry). The food was so delicious, and Aqua, Terra, and Ven were relieved when Vanitas left to sit with Grimmjow, Yammy, D-Roy, Ilfort, Edorad, and the others in Grimmjow's group. They were definitely not people to mess with. After that, Ventus turned to Hope.

"Listen, Hope, do you know what Vanitas did to Aqua?" he asked and explained what Vanitas did.

Hope looked shocked, "He really did that! That's terrible, how could he!"

Xion gasped, "That monster! That was heartless!"

"I know, and Aqua was really hurt, wanna help me get revenge? I can't forgive him, I can never forgive him!"

"Yeah, that sick son of a #$%&, he's gotta pay!" said Terra. He also liked Aqua, but he never told Ven, fearing it could ruin their friendship.

Hope and Xion looked at each other. "We'll gladly help get payback!" they said in unison.

Terra, Ven, and Roxas grinned in reply.

"Hey, I'm back. Hey Ven, here's a pomegranate. I know you like them, so here," said Aqua, who had just returned from the veggie bar.

Ven looked at it. "You had the money for it with you? You were getting so many fruits for yourself, and pomegranates are pretty expensive…"

Aqua smiled. "I know you like them, and you're too important to me-forget I just said that!" Her face turned bright red and she shoved a strawberry in her mouth.

Ven's face turned red as well. "Did she…just say what I think she said?"

Xion knew that Aqua was embarrassed, and made a quick save, "No, she didn't! She said she cares about her friends, right?"

"Oh…y-yeah!" Aqua stuttered. She could not believe she let that slip! In front of so many people…Thank you, Xion. I owe you one!

Xion grinned. You owe me big.

The look on his sister's face creeped Hope out. What' going on in her mind!

After lunch, the 10th graders headed toward art with Ms. Gainsborough, who had a locket with her and Mr. Zack Fair's names engraved on it. She was obviously trying to hide it, but everyone saw it when they walked in and saw her looking at a photo of Zack in the locket! Everyone was immediately assigned a sketchbook, and they had to draw a symbol to use as their 'logo' and go over it to later carve into a stamp to use on future art. Hope used a boomerang, Sora drew a crown, Roxas drew a shuriken, Xion drew a thalassa shell, Kairi drew a thalassa shell lucky charm, Ven drew the Wayfinder that Aqua had given him years ago, Naminé drew a star for some reason, Vanitas drew a weird looking heart, and their classmates drew other things. Selphie drew nun-chucks, Tidus drew a sword, Wakka drew a blitz ball, Emmaline (pronounced Emma-lean) drew the Naruto leaf sign, Vanessa drew GIR from Invader Zim, and…Raquel was there (how'd she get there!)drawing a pentagram (they're used to ward off evil, so she often draws them). There are other classmates, but they're not important right now. Art was an hour long, which was good, since art is fun. Then was P.E., which was mixed grades, with Coach Lexaeus and Eraqus-sensei. For half of class, the coach has them jog around the track (girls having uniforms that consisted of very short shorts and a tight tank top, and Aqua explained that Mr. Xigbar, a well-known pervert who owned many guns and had an eye-patch, designed all the uniforms for the school district) and the other half was spent learning sword-fighting with Eraqus-sensei. Then was foreign language with Ms. Fang (who freaked out Naminé with the tattoos) and she decided to start with Italian. They unfortunately didn't live close enough to all walk home together. But Riku, Xion, and Hope decided to go to Sora's house, and Terra, Aqua, Kairi, and Naminé did the same. To their surprise, they met up with Serah and Snow on the way there.

Riku looked at Serah. "Aren't you the girl who was in my math class? In the back of the room?"

Serah looked at him. "1st period, right? You were the kid who asked Mr. Fair how he got away with how he taught math!" she laughed. Snow laughed along with her. They were clearly in love; the way they acted proved it.

At Sora's house, they met Cloud, their older brother. Roxas and Ven looked a lot like him with the spiky hair…how did they keep their hair naturally spiky! It defies gravity and logic! Lightning soon arrived, shocked and a little irritated.

"What are you doing here? How did you get here?" she said, giving off her famous death-glare, which would scare Medusa to death! Medusa! The snake-lady who turned people to stone!

"W-well, um, Hope and-and Xion and Riku, they wanted to hang out more, so I-I invited them-them over and—"

"You didn't ask first! Is it so hard! Cloud, go scold them!"

"O-okay…" Cloud replied, and grabbed his brothers, Snow, Serah, and Riku and pulled them into the next room.

Xion turned to Lightning, terrified "You're not gonna kill us, are you!"

Lightning looked at her, a little bit calmer. "No, I won't kill you if you make me some coffee!"

"Yes, m'am! Hazelnut!"

"Of course, now get it before you suffer Snow's daily fate; a punch in the face and push down the stairs every few hours!"

"Be right back with the coffee!" She'll really kill me! Was Xion's response as she darted out the room.

"Uh…"

Lightning turned to the sudden noise beside her. How long has he been there? I never realized he was here. His name's "Hope", right?

"Uh…thank you for saving me earlier, Light. I-I'm sorry if I bothered you…"

"It' okay, but how long have you been there? I didn't notice you, and I always notice when people are near me. Was that you're sister? You two are so different, in appearance and personality."

"The other silver-haired boy is also my brother, but I'm the odd one of the bunch. Do you know Axel?"

"Axel? I've seen him around, he works with me at my part time job, he's a psychotic pyro!"

"He's my brother, too."

WTF! "You're related to him! I see it in the eyes, but…why aren't you a pyro? Older siblings usually influence those who come after."

"Well…he became a pyro when he blew up a guy. It was self-defense, so he got away with it, but he hasn't been the same since."

"Oh…sorry, I didn't know."

"Its okay, Axel is crazy, he throw me on coffee tables hard enough to break them to wake me up, like he did this morning!"

"How are you're limbs not broken!"

"Well…my family and I are some of the few lucky people in this world able to use magic. I just heal myself. Axel's really good with fire magic, he can heal really well, but he can't seem to use other magic. Oh, and when Xion told texted him that we were here, he decided to pay a visit. He'll be here soon."

"VANITAS! Hide the flammable items now!"

"Fine, why do I do everything? Can't you do it yourself? Lazy bums…" he said as he got to work.

Oh no! No, no, no! I know they seem meant to be, but Light's too angry to think straight, she'll kill Hope! Where's Axel, he can save him!

Xion ran in to the living room, expecting to see blood, but she was not prepared for what she saw. Hope and Lightning were calmly sitting next to each other, holding a nice conversation with some Three Days Grace songs coming from the ipod's speakers.

"He-here's your coffee…" she said, her shock plain as day.

"Thank you, and sorry about the rough start," Lightning replied as a knock was heard. Knowing it was Axel, she opened the door. "Have some coffee, Xion made it."

"It's you! I'm surprised they know you, but I don't really care how they do. Good to see you outside of work. I see you're more laid back," Axel replied, the last part had a sarcastic tone to it. And as he spoke, the others were leaving the room after their scolding. "Oh, yeah, I have ice-cream!" was all Axel said before the others cheered up. They all sat together in the living room, eating their sea-salt ice cream peacefully. Axel, Roxas, and Xion were talking with each other the entire time, as if Roxas had always been their friend. Sora, Riku, and Kairi formed a trio of their own. Ven, Terra, and Aqua had their trio. Serah and Snow sat with Naminé as she drew cute pictures of them, her drawings were amazing! Vanitas was in his room, plotting evil things that no one wanted to imagine. Hope and Light were talking a little, Hope having finished his ice cream and Light done with her delicious coffee (Xion makes good coffee). They had a good time, but it was time to leave before them knew it.

"Your parents must be worried; you've been here for so long." Serah said at 9:00.

Snow ,Xion, Axel, Riku, and Hope sadly looked down. "We…we don't have parents. We were orphaned at the beginning of Summer Vacation," Hope said quietly.

Everyone was saddened at this. "I'm sorry, I didn't know…" said Serah.

" Pretty recent. How'd it happen?" Vanitas asked as he came down from his room.

That little brat! I'll strangle him later. How could he ask them a question like that! I'm not even cold enough to ask how someone how something like that happened! Lightning angrily thought.

Memories of what happened flashed through Hope's head. Tears began to fill his eyes.

"I'll explain, it's not a happy memory for us," said Snow. He then explained what happened.

It had just been one of the days of the camping trip that the Estheim family went on every year, and every year Snow would tag along, being such a close friend of the family. How could it have gone so wrong?

"Wow, the week's almost over! I can't believe it's the last day of our vacation already!" said Nora Estheim, as she looked at the sun through the cabin window. The cabins of other campers were all around, making seeing the sun over all the roofs a challenge. Hope was standing next to her, a big smile on his face. Hope had always been a "momma's boy", even if he didn't admit it.

"Time flies by when you're having fun!" Bartholomew Estheim replied. Riku stood next to his dad, proud to have grown so much over the week. Snow stood next to Riku, showing how he was still taller than Riku.

Xion and Axel were still fast asleep, Hope and Riku had tried everything to wake them, but to no avail. Axel was 25 years old already, but he spent as much time possible with his family. Xion was a lot like her older brother, Axel. They would always get up around the same time, and they would always have ice cream together. She was part of the reason Axel still joined the camping trips. He wouldn't leave his "lil' buddy" behind!

"Today's activity is hiking up the mountain. Make sure to pack snacks and water to keep you energized! That mountain trail is no joke!" said the counselor, a man named Marluxia (who looked too much like a woman to be straight).

"I'm willing to bet 20 chips that something will go wrong! Anyone to take me up on that bet?" asked a camper named Luxord.

"Me, me, me! I'll bet against you, won't we, Kenny!" said Yachiru, a sweet little girl with pink hair and rosy cheeks, to Kenpachi, a tall, buff man with bells tied on the ends of his spiky hair, who preferred that name to "Ken-Chan".

"Yeah, I have enough chips to pay, considering how many times Ikkaku lost the bets he made. Poor, sucker. He should have never doubted your abilities, Yachiru."

"Yay~! I love making bets!" she squealed. She honestly confused Hope. That little girl could be so scary at times; it's amazing how bad her temper is!

"I'll wake up Axel and Xion. In the meantime, Hope, please pack our backpacks, we don't want to go unprepared," said Snow.

"I was already on it. Snow, where's your backpack?" Hope replied.

"Under my bed."

"Nice place to hide it!"

"If it was in plain sight, Axel would've destroyed it by now for waking him up every day!" Snow said as Hope got the bags. "All, right," Snow said, about to wake up Axel and Xion. Please don't kill me for this! Snow punched Axel in the gut, and seeing Snow's muscles, you know that hurts! And, it woke both Axel and Xion right up.

"What was that noise! Why'd you punch Axel?" Xion asked groggily.

"Snow, I hope you realize, this means war!" Axel said, angry about being punched in the gut for a stupid reason.

"What can you do to me! You're thin as a toothpick; you're not muscular, like me!" Snow said with pride.

"Who said it'd be a fight of strength or fairness?" Axel smirked. "Hey, mom! Do you know what Snow's hiding under the bed? A whole lot of po—" he was cut off by a hand over his mouth.

"Axel, you know it's not true, and you wouldn't dare say that, would you? I mean, c'mon, we're friends, right?"Snow asked, afraid of what happens when Nora gets angry.

"Axel! Xion! I packed your bags, please go get dressed, the hike starts in 15 minutes," Hope said, returning with his arms full of bags.

"You made my brother pack and carry all those bags! But he actually wakes up on time!" Axel said, looking at the 7 packed bags filling Hope's arms. "You know Hope can't carry all that!" no sooner did he speak, Hope tripped over his shoelace and fell face-first onto the cold, hard floor, with the bag falling on top of him one-by-one."See!" Axel yelled.

"Hope, you okay? Need some help?" Xion asked as Hope groaned about his developing headache. Xion pulled the bags off of him and took him for some fresh air. She'd gotten dressed while Axel and Snow were arguing.

"Hey, Xion," Hope asked as they got outside. "Do you ever get the feeling something bad is about to happen?"

"You feel it, too? Good to know I'm not imagining it." Xion replied grimly.

"We should be careful. We'll stick together, maybe that'll help."

"Okay!" Xion replied as she hugged her twin brother. They laughed as they went back to the cabin for their bags and went to the mess hall where Nora, Bartholomew, and Riku were already waiting for them.

"Axel and Snow will be here soon. They're having an argument right now," Hope said as he and Xion sat down. Axel and Snow almost immediately ran in, still arguing. "And there goes the peace," Hope finished.

Finally, it was time for the hike. But Xion and Hope still had a bad feeling, not that they'd admit it. They'd hate to spoil the mood or make others worry. But Axel wasn't stupid; he just didn't say anything about it. Maybe things would've been different if they told the others. Maybe they wouldn't have been there when things went wrong. That was all that Hope and Xion could think about afterward.

"So far, Yachiru's winning the bet, Luxord," Grinned Kenpachi as Yachiru chased a butterfly.

"Don't get your hopes up. You never know what the cards will say. It only takes one to lose. The thing about gambling is that you never know," Luxord replied.

"Shut up, Brit! You and your cards ain't helping with recovering from my gambling addiction!" said Rygdea, another camper.

"Stop your yelling, I need to relax *yawn* I'm tired of hell, I'm gonna stop for a nap—"began Stark.

"You ain't gonna nap on my watch! You'll go through with the hike whether you wanna or not!" screamed Lillinette, Stark's little sister.

"Why don't all of you shut up and stop bothering the peace, you disgraces?" Yaag Rosch said, he was always a jerk, he always would be. He always said mean things. He was so self-centered and ignorant, Xion hated the way he treated her family and friends—especially Hope and Snow, he treated them like dirt.

"Honestly, it's like they don't care about the normal people. How selfish," said Jihl Nabaat, who always agreed with Yaag.

"I freaking hate that #$%&!" Axel mumbled.

"Axel! Watch your mouth young man, even if it's true!" Nora replied, earning muffled laughter from Snow and the others. Axel just grinned.

An hour or so into the hike, Yachiru had followed a bear cub into the forest, so Kenpachi followed. Maybe if Kenpachi had stayed, things would've been safer.

It had been an hour since Kenpachi and Yachiru had left. Yaag and Jihl were annoying Axel about his hair.

"Look at your hair, it's unruly, the people must be quite bothered by your hair! Is your hair more important than the hair of the people!" Yaag yelled as Axel desperately tried to walk away.

"Would you shut up! Some people think my hair is awesome, and cousin Reno has hair just like this! And the girls love him! And they love me, too. Ah, high school. So much fun, I had more love letters than Snow did!"

"Pwned!" yelled Vanessa, a random camper.

"Hey, Xion, did you see the new episode of Total Drama World Tour?" asked Hope. "I saw it at Hayner's house while he, Pence, Olette, and I worked on that project. That "cell rap" project was so hard, I know we'll bomb it!"

"Yeah, it was so funny! And Maria, Vanille, Yuna, and I had no problem doing that cell rap! Easy-peasy!" she giggled.

"You were in a group of honors students, me and Olette were the only honors students in my group, you had an advantage!"

"Yeah, whatever—"she was cut off by a gunshot.

Everyone turned around to see who was shot. Good news, it was Yaag. Bad news: RUN! Whoever the one with the gun was had his face covered by a hockey mask, causing Axel to yell "Holy crap, its Jason's brother! I never thought there would be a time as perfect as this to joke about that movie—get back!"

Another bullet flew by, impaling itself into Jihl's head! Vanessa yelled "Pwnage, now we run!" Everyone began running as fast as they could. They'd been running for a while when they were too high on the mountain to even try escaping.

That was when it happened. Nora tripped. Snow was near her, but he was too slow. There was a bullet in Nora's gut.

"MOM!" Hope screamed. He ran toward the killer. "YOU!"

"Hope, no!" Bartholomew yelled. He grabbed Hope and held him when the next bullets fired. Hope felt something warm trickling down his head and shoulders. He slowly looked up. A bullet was impaled in his father's head. It was the killer's last bullet. "DAD!"

Axel glared. His parents…they were…

For the first time in years, he did something no one ever saw him do. He began to cry. "You…you son of a #$%&!" he screamed as he summoned fire around him. Magic! He looked up at the killer. "Burn, baby!" he said as he enveloped the killer in flames.

Xion, Hope, Riku, and Snow stared. Fire magic! But that wasn't a big deal. Their parents…They were dead. And the blood was all over Hope.

"Mommy! Dad! No! No! NO!" Hope cried. "No…no…why?" he was sitting by their corpses, covered in blood, and crying for the parents he'd never see again. Riku was calling the police on his cell phone, trying to hide his sobs. Xion and Axel were sitting together; crying together. Snow had entered shock and just stood there, unable to believe his eyes, begging to wake up from the nightmare.

"Xion…" Roxas said sadly as he turned to his friend. He had just met her, and yet he felt sad just by seeing her crying.

"Hope…"Light said as she put her arm over his shoulder.

"I'm sorry…" Serah said, feeling guilty about bringing up the memory.

The sorrow and pain were mutual. They saw them get murdered…Aqua thought, tightening her hold on Ven, trying to resist crying in front of them.

"Wow, you actually saw that? I only see stuff like that in movies, how does it feel to live the movie?" Vanitas asked monotonously, completely devoid of emotion.

Light slapped her brother across the face. "Don't say things like that! Especially knowing about what happened to Cloud…"

Cloud looked down sadly.

"What happened to you?" asked Axel.

"I was in the car…and…there was this drunk driver…mom and dad were in the car…I was the only one who got out of the crash alive…" he said.

"Well, see ya tomorrow!" Axel said. He had tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't work out so well. He drove his siblings, Snow, Aqua, Terra, Kairi, and Naminé all home. It had taken a long time to get them all to their homes, it's not like walking the streets alone at night is safe!

Aqua sat in her room, looking at a picture of her parents. They were on a business trip, and she missed them. But after hearing about Xion's parents, she was just worried about them. I feel so bad for them…seeing their parents killed like that…She picked up the phone to call her parents, but she got the answering machine. "Hey mom, hey dad; call me in the morning, okay?" she said before she turned off the phone. They hadn't picked up the phone since they went on the trip last week. They had always been distant. They had always seemed to ignore her.

Terra sat on his bed. Next to his table was a photo he had taken with his parents when he was a kid. His parents were visiting his sick uncle. Uncle Ansem had gotten pretty sick, though Terra didn't remember what he had. His parents were rarely ever home, anyway. He wondered why. He barely even knew them, his own parents.

Sora, Roxas, Ven, and Van were all sitting on their beds. Roxas, Sora, and Ventus were giving Vanitas the "death glare" (Lightning had taught it to them). They couldn't believe that Van would ask something so heartless! Van couldn't see the problem. He was more focused on planning his next evil scheme. He'd already allowed the boys into the girl's shower room twice and blamed Tidus, blew up some stuff in Hojo's classroom, stole all the girl's tampons and hid them in Terra's locker (that was awesome), filled the band instruments with jell-o, filled Mr. Fair's room with cats (which ended up making Zack very happy), and other things. He had an evil scheme in mind, much worse than the prank he played on Aqua three years ago. This was even more evil, he'd need the help of Mansex, which was the codename for Xemnas (which everyone knew). He doubted that his plan could possibly fail.

Kairi and Naminé were sitting on their beds. Naminé's bad had light blue sheets and her drawings covered the wall. Kairi's sheets were lavender, her walls were covered with posters of "Linkin Park", "Paramore", "Three Days Grace", "Pink", "Nickelback", "Naruto", "30 Seconds to Mars" ect., exactly what you'd expect a girl's room to look like. They were looking at a picture of their parents, Ichigo and Orihime, who they couldn't wait to see. Their parents were on a cruise to Hawaii, it was their anniversary present. Their parents were so strong and wise, and also so in love. They loved their kids and would never let anything bad happen to them. But, the thought of what happened to Mr. and Mrs. Estheim in front of their kids and friends terrified Kairi and Naminé.

Serah sat in her room, hugging her photo of Snow, thinking of what he'd seen. He said that he was always like a brother to Axel and his siblings, and like a son to Nora and Bartholomew. He saw them die. It was a terrible thought, and she felt his pain.

Cloud sat in his room. It was plane besides a few photos of his girlfriend, Tifa, and some photo of friends, like Baret, Vincent, Yuffie, Reno, Rude, Zack, and Aerith. They also saw those they love die in front of them. They have to carry the terrible memory at such a young age, and so suddenly. He rolled over and his phone went off. Tifa had texted him "I hear you made some new friends. Aerith told me. You have to introduce me sometime! See you tomorrow!"He smiled at the text. "Come over tomorrow, they'll be here," Cloud looked up at the ceiling. He thought about the one thing that made him and his sibling become orphaned seem so strange—him, Lightning, and Serah were only their half-sibling. They had the same dad, but the parent that still lived—Sora's mom—had never shown. Cloud couldn't help but wonder who she was, and why she never tried to take care of the kids.

Lightning sat on the chair in her room. It was pretty empty besides some photos, a laptop, and some things she needed, like an HD TV. To think that Axel was a pyro because of that, that Hope was so quiet and shy…Cloud was 17 and was never close to his parents. Their death was still horrifying, but Hope and his siblings loved their parents, and the blood was all over poor Hope. It had been much worse for Hope's family. She turned to the door. Maybe a trip to our game room tomorrow will be fun.

Hope and Xion were sitting next to each other. They'd always shared a room together no matter where they went, ever since they were little. Their room had light blue walls, the walls were decorated with posters (the same as in Kairi and Namine's room) and they had a flat screen TV hanging on the wall. Under Xion's bed was an enormous box of seashells. Under Hope's was a boomerang. They sat in silence, Hope trying to chase away the memory of his parents' deaths, as Xion thought of how Roxas seemed so understanding to the pain. He was as sad as her. How did he looks so sad?

Axel was in the living room, talking on the phone with Shannon. She'd already heard of his parents' deaths, so he spoke of the new friends. But he kept trying to remember where he heard the name "Lightning Farron" before. He knew that the name was familiar.

Riku sat in his room. His shelves lined the walls, he had soccer trophies, baseball trophies, karate and martial arts photos (he has a black belt in karate), and blitzball trophies. He could never forget what happened. He knew that there was nothing he could have done back then. He just wanted to be able to protect the family he had left. He was wondering about something else. If Sora's family had no parents, how did they afford all the stuff they have! They must be rich! How! Riku thought. Axel barely got enough for them to scrape by!