The Transience of Memory

Author’s notes: Typical disclaimer I own nothing of Kingdom Hearts.
Sadly, italics and bold words have been cleared of their formatting on here, and I do not know how to fix it. This story is on Media Miner as well, in it's proper form.


Chapter 2:

“I don’t believe it,” he said in a flat voice, sounding as if life itself had utterly failed him. “I can’t accept this.”

“Hayner, you lost.” Roxas said again, this time with annoyance.

“He cheated somehow!” He resumed pacing, muttering to himself as he rubbed his chin, “I never saw him skate like that before…. He was holding stuff back… that one trick was awesome… but it isn’t fair , I didn’t think to hold anything back- how could I know he’d use that against me…must’ve planned it from the beginning, that jerkof-“

“HAYNER!” Roxas finally exploded.

Hayner was startled into stillness. He’d stopped mid-pace, foot still hanging in the air, shoulders tensed as if expecting a blow. He stood there like that, immobile, for the span of a held breath, before he lowering his foot to the floor and shoving his hands into his pockets.

When he finally looked up, there was a difficult mixture of betrayal, anger, and sadness swimming in his eyes.

Roxas felt a surge of guilt and self loathing pour through him. He was overreacting to his own confusion, and taking it out on his friend. Was this the sort of worthless person he was becoming? To react like this after Hayner had been so understanding earlier?

He’d been feeling off ever since the skate park. His stomach clenched when he thought of that. His attention span was worse than usual, and he was jumping at shadows. But, he could’ve sworn he caught a glimpse of something, or someone moving in the darkness.

It wasn’t Hayner’s fault that he didn’t know. Roxas hadn’t told him. “Hayner- “ Roxas stammered, “I’m… sorry, I- “

“Leave it,” he said harshly.

Roxas opened his mouth to protest, but Hayner threw him a look that dried the words on his tongue. He tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Why was everything going so wrong lately?

Hayner’s expression softened slightly, taking on more of a pained look. He turned, and shook his head in a sharp one sided movement.

“See you tomorrow,” he said, and kicked the doorframe on his way out.


Hayner walked home, scuffing his feet angrily and cursing himself.

He had every right to be mad at Roxas, but somehow he felt that he had been the one to do something wrong. He’d almost apologized when Roxas bit his lip, eyes too glassy, looking like the sky had fallen in on him.

But what was he supposed to do? Best friend, or no, he wouldn’t let anyone speak to him like that. Roxas should know this by now….


Hayner kicked open his door. He was home.



*********************************************


The room felt enormously dark and empty once Hayner left.

Roxas sat staring at the doorway, resting his chin on his knees. He wondered if he’d soon drive his last friend away. Pence and Olette were fun to hang around with, but he just didn’t feel like they understood him at all. He often caught the weird looks they sent his way. They were only there because Hayner was there. After all, before Roxas came around, it had only been the three of them. He was the outsider. He closed his eyes, fighting the clenched feeling that was constricting his chest.

“Maybe it’s for the best,” he mumbled. “Hayner would be better off without a friend like me.” He suddenly felt exhausted. The walk home would be entirely too long; long, and COLD. He had felt the temperature dropping earlier, and wasn’t keen on going out into it now. What was the point in going home anyway? It wasn’t like anyone would be there waiting for him. “Guess I could sleep here,” he yawned.

“You could do that, but what’s to stop some weirdo from attacking you in your sleep?” a voice asked playfully.

Roxas’ jaw snapped shut, making him bite his tongue. “Ow!” He covered his mouth with his hand, wincing. He whipped his gaze from side to side. “Whuvse bvere!”

The voice laughed at him, amused. “Ah, you haven’t changed a bit,” it said fondly.

Roxas tried for a more dignified response, removing his hand from his mouth. Damn that hurt! His tongue was still throbbing. “What do you want?” He still couldn’t see anyone in the room with him, it was creeping him out. “And where are you?” he added for good measure.

Something dark moved in the east corner of the room. A shadow peeled itself free, shifting, and forming a tall cloaked figure. “I’m right here.” This was unbelievably familiar, but why? Roxas squinted at the willowy figure. “I’m surprised you’re actually alone. It makes things so much easier. They always notice when someone freezes time.” It sighed, stepping steadily closer as it spoke. “I bet you don’t even remember me.”

Something seemed familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For each step it took forward, Roxas took a step back. Funny, now the room felt so small it was claustrophobic. It was getting hard to breathe around the sick pounding of his heart. “Look, buddy, I don’t want any trouble,” he addressed the sinister figure in black shakily, as he inched closer to the door. “I’m just gonna leave, and you can take whatever you want.” And with that, he made a break for it.

He made it halfway there before a black blur phased into being directly in his path. He couldn’t stop. Roxas pivoted, trying to dodge around him, but found his momentum forcibly altered by the black-gloved hand that clamped down on his arm.

“Ughn!” the breath was knocked from him as his back hit the wall. He cracked open an eye, watching the black-robed wacko pacing furiously.

It stopped, turning to face him. “Why are you running away from me?” it asked desperately. He couldn’t tell if it sounded more angry, or hurt.

“Because you’re scaring me,” he said quietly. God, was he going to die here, like this?

“No, Roxas,” it said mournfully as it swept up to him. In a moment, he’d be able to see under that hood… He held his breath, afraid to look. “Have you really forgotten me?” Its voice sounded so hollow now. Roxas risked a glance. Catlike aqua eyes filled his vision. They were intense, and anguish seemed to swim in their depths. His breath caught at the nearness of the robed person, muscles tensing. They were face-to-face, maybe a foot apart. The air between them seemed to feel heavier, and thicker than normal. His eyes flitted over the face, which was still in partial shadow. It was so unusual. There was a small tattoo beneath each of his eyes that reminded Roxas of an inverted teardrop. It gave him a slightly wild look. A hand on his chin tilted his face upwards, and lips pressed to his.

Roxas’ eyes went wide, his mind humming with confusion. This boy, only a few years older than himself by the looks of it, seemed to think that they knew each other quite well. So why couldn’t he remember?

He felt himself being released, and he leaned against the wall for support. He found himself staring into those expressive eyes, as if they held all the answers he sought. They narrowed as his mouth stretched into a jester-like smile. That smile, where had he seen that before? The tattooed boy turned then, and walked towards the door, vanishing before he stepped through it.

*********************************************


“Uh… Roxas?” Hayner crouched down peering at his friend where he lay on the floor. He poked him lightly. “Are you dead?”

“Hnnn?” Roxas groaned. Hayner was towering over him with a worried look on his face. Why did his back hurt so badly? He sat up groggily. “What time is it?”

“Around 9:30 in the morning. Did you stay here all night?” He felt guilty. Had Roxas stayed here because he was upset about their fight?

“Oh.” Yesterday was coming back to him. “Yeah, guess I did.” Was Hayner still mad? Were they supposed to be ignoring each other?

“Well, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Hayner said quietly. “I just came to get my board.”

Roxas felt the oppressive weight of yesterday sink its claws back into him. “Sorry to interrupt,” he muttered, stumbling to his feet. He felt kind of woozy. He put a hand to his head. When was the last time he ate?

Hayner watched his best friend, a dull ache in his chest. How long were they going to be like this? How long were they supposed to not talk to each other like normal, and avoid hanging out? How long was he supposed to wait to forgive Roxas? Dammit.

“Have you eaten breakfast yet?” Hayner asked hesitantly. Roxas looked over at him, uncertainty in his eyes. Hayner clasped his hands behind his head, looking away. “If I know you, you probably haven’t had anything since that ice cream yesterday afternoon. Why don’t you grab a sandwich at Rosalie’s? I was headed down there anyway.” He snuck a look at his friend. Roxas looked shell-shocked. Slowly, a grateful, watery smile tugged at his lips. He wiped at his eyes quickly before agreeing, and Hayner pretended not to notice.

They walked in silence on the way there, both of them not sure how to break the remaining tension. They ordered their food, and Hayner paid for both of them. “Did you know that Pence and Olette hooked up?” Hayner asked once they were seated, before taking a huge bite out of his breakfast sandwich. That seemed to snap Roxas out of his gloomy brooding, he snickered inwardly.

“What? When did this happen? Where the hell was I?” he asked incredulously.

“I dunno, I just found out yesterday. Are you really surprised? I figured it was bound to happen.”

“Hmn.” Roxas took a bite of his waffle, chewing thoughtfully, and swallowing. “No, I guess that makes sense. I mean, once we started hanging out a lot, they were left alone together.”

“Well, by that logic,” someone said brashly, “wouldn’t you two be next to hookup?”

Hayner sighed deeply, looking put-upon. He shot Seifer a baleful look. “So enters the miscreant,” he muttered.

Seifer grabbed a chair, spinning its back to the table, and sat down, draping his arms across the top of it. He looked at the solitary receipt crumpled on the table. “Man, did you pay again?”

Roxas was mildly amused. He really appreciated what Hayner had done. He knew that inviting him out for breakfast was his way of trying to make up. The fact that he paid just clinched it, and perhaps indicated a slight feeling of guilt. “What brings you out here so early, Seifer?”

The gang leader smiled. “I have a debt to collect.” At this, the smile was directed at Hayner, who groaned and buried his face in his arms.

“…care to elaborate?” Roxas realized Hayner probably would have mentioned this to him last night if he hadn’t been such an ass to him. Judging by his current reaction, it was probably why he’d been ranting.

“You mean, he didn’t tell you?” Seifer laughed. “He agreed to be my gofer for an entire week. Meaning,” he said with relish, “he’ll be doing whatever menial task I think of to give him for the next 168 hours.”

“Hayner, you agreed to that?” Roxas was shocked.

“I didn’t think I’d lose,” he moaned into his arms.

“I bet I won’t see you all week.”

“But if I won, I’d have free ice cream for a whole MONTH!”

“He’ll probably make you tote their skateboards around, and clean their hangout and stuff. Not worth it,” Roxas declared.

“I know,” Hayner suddenly perked up, “What if you help me?” He gave Roxas his biggest, cutest puppy dog eyes. It was hard to say no to that face.

“Hey, a deal’s a deal, shrimp.” Seifer stood, and hauled Hayner out of his seat by the back of his jacket. “You’ve got work to do.” The brown-eyed boy swung his arms, looking like a kitten who’d been dunked in water by the scruff of its neck.

“Awww! Come on!” Hayner whined. Seifer kept a hand on the back of his neck, and steered him towards the door.

“Later, Roxas.”

“Later, Seif.” He was strangely laid-back about the abduction of his friend, he thought, as he bit into his waffle.


*********************************************


“This is cruel and unusual punishment,” Hayner declared with distaste.

“You made the bet.” The delinquent smacked Hayner’s chest with the back of his hand. “Suck it up.”

“But, this place is a MESS!”

“Which is exactly why I wanted help cleaning it.”

Hayner scowled. He hated cleaning. Really, really hated it.

Seifer looked at him appraisingly, raising an eyebrow. “You don’t think about the consequences of your actions much, do you?”

“Che,” Hayner snorted. “What’s the point? Then you just get bogged down with all the things that might go wrong.” He threw some soda cans into a trash bin. “I don’t wanna live like that.”

Seifer was sort of impressed. He hadn’t expected the boy had a philosophy behind his erratic behavior. He figured Hayner just never thought things through. Interesting.

“You guys are a bunch of slobs,” Hayner said petulantly 20 minutes later.

“Yeah. Thanks for helping out.” He didn’t look up from the sports magazine he was reading.

“I thought there were only four of you! This place has the collected filth of a high school locker room!” Seifer smirked behind his magazine. That tone of his was kind of cute.

Hayner made himself do the rest in silence. Seifer was ignoring him now anyway, so his comments were tragically wasted. Didn’t the punk realize it was his way of amusing himself? He looked at his watch. He felt like he’d been slaving away for hours, when in fact, it had only been about 45 minutes. What did that leave him… about 147 hours, and 15 minutes? He’d die.

He glanced surreptitiously at the slave driver. Was he going to make him work the entire day? What about food… and sleep… and fun? He could see it now, Seifer starving him to death, not letting him sleep until he became a mindless drooling zombie, and making him work on top of that. What if his arms fell off? Or his eyes shriveled in his head, and he couldn’t even see what he was supposed to be doing?

“I’m hungry,” he stared down at Seifer, his arms crossed over his chest. Now was the moment of truth, he’d know for sure how horribly he was going to be abused this coming week. Maybe Roxas would have a heart, and come save him if it was really bad.

“Okay,” Seifer replied without looking up, “what do you want?”

“I- “ Hayner stopped, mouth hanging open, his finger pointed at the ceiling in preparation of his forthcoming tirade. “What?” He deflated. He’d been so ready for a fight, that now he was totally thrown off his game.

Seifer glanced up. “Food,” he said. “what kind do you want?”

“Uh- I get a choice?” Hayner was perplexed.

“Yeah. Why not?”

“I sorta thought you were gonna let me starve. Or I’d have to eat only once a day, when I go home to sleep…” he trailed off. Seifer was giving him a look as if he were completely mental.

Seifer scoffed at him. “You’re completely mental.” He stood up, failing to entirely hide his amusement at the other boy as he tossed the magazine he’d been reading on a nearby table. “C’mon, shrimp.” He ambled past Hayner. “You can figure out what you want on the way.”


Hayner calculated how much money he had with him, against the odds of needing it to last him a day or two, in case he wasn’t allowed to go home tonight, and figured he could afford about 1 1/2 burritos. Bleh. That meant he didn’t even have enough for a soda, even if he forewent the 1/2 burrito. Not that they even let you buy half burritos, but, you know, if they did. Or, if he got a soda, he’d have enough for a small taco, or a thing of nachos. Oh, how depressing, there was no way that would fill him up. Maybe he should get the 1 ½ burritos after all.

“You’ve been standing there for 5 minutes. You want Mexican, or not?”

Hayner was startled out of his reverie, to find himself loitering in front of Chico’s, a passable Mexican joint. The best thing on their menu, sadly, was the pizza. “Hmmn,” he said.

“How about burgers, then?”

Burgers! He loved burgers! His face lit up for a brief moment, before he realized he wouldn’t have enough. “Oh. Um. You know, I’m really not that hungry, I think a burrito would do me fine.”

“Burgers, it is,” Seifer said, and began walking. Hayner watched the sway of his white trench coat for a moment or two. Yup, he was getting left behind.

“H-Hey- wait! I said I wanted a burrito, dammit!” Hayner had to jog a bit to catch up to him. Seifer had a long stride. He also looked like he was skulking when he moved, only it was a graceful and dangerous kind of skulking. And the skully he wore kept an almost constant shadow over the tops of his eyes. Yeah, he looked like a complete thug; but, a thug with really cool boots.


Seifer perused the menu, stroking his chin with his hand. He either didn’t notice, or didn’t mind the slightly terrified looks most of the patrons were sending his way. The waiter crept up to the table, and asked them if they were ready to order.

“I’ll have the double cheese burger, fries, and a coke.” Seifer paused. “The runt will have the same, but no pickles.”

“Very good, sir,” the man replied before scuttling away.

Hayner fidgeted. He debated. He shifted in his seat, then went back to fidgeting. He leaned forward. “I don’t have enough money for all that,” he hissed.

“I know. That’s why I’m paying.”

Hayner chewed on that a moment.

“Here you are, then.” The waiter slid the cokes onto the table with a little too much force. They glided 2/3rds of the way across the slick surface. If he wasn’t careful, one might assume he didn’t want to wait on them. Or maybe he was just afraid to stick around for more than absolutely necessary. Either way, that wouldn’t get him raking in the big bucks.

“How did you know? And why did you order me no pickles?” The younger boy demanded.

“You were counting on your fingers and muttering under your breath.” Seifer lounged back in the booth and took a long pull on his soda. “You’re also a horrible liar.”

“And?” Hayner prodded. How the hell could he have known about the damn pickles?

Seifer smirked infuriatingly at him “I just figured you for the type that would frivolously hate something like that.”

Hayner glared mightily, and Seifer knew he’d guessed right. Why was it so fun to get under the boy’s skin? He basked in the warm glow of Hayner’s irritation. Said boy proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the meal, but Seifer didn’t mind.


***********

“Grab our boards, runt.”

They were back at the gang’s hideout. Hayner gave Seifer a look that could peel paint. “Excuse me?”

Seifer strode over to him, cutting a more than imposing figure as he looked down his nose, head tilted in a thuggish way. “I said, Get. Our. Boards. RUNT.” Hayner felt the slightest quiver of…. something… snake through him. Probably, it was fear. A healthy dose of fear. This was Seifer, after all, the most influential and terrifying gang leader in the entire city.

He looked up into those icy eyes, heart beating in his throat. “Y-yes, sir.”


“Where are we going?” Hayner asked as they walked down the street, having recovered from his embarrassing lack of composure.

“To the skate park.”

It was funny that not only he and Roxas, but Seifer as well, referred to the little strip by its misleading nickname. “Why can’t you carry your own damn board?” Hayner complained, steeling himself for another frightening stare-down.

Seifer laughed. “When Roxas made that suggestion earlier, it sounded like a good idea.”

When they reached the crossroads, Hayner saw that the rest of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee was already waiting for them. Seifer snagged his board from him, and strode over to his minions, greeting them heartily.

Hayner leaned against the brick wall of a building, arms crossed against his chest. He settled in for a long bout of boredom. Watching these bozos was not his idea of fun. He let his mind wander a bit, and he found himself thinking again of the skate battle he so recently lost. He hadn’t been kidding when he said Seifer had pulled out some tricks he’d never even seen before, not just that he’d never seen the other boy do them. The one that had really blown his mind was a complicated aerial combo done off one of the higher walls. The board was kicked up so it rolled sinuously around his left leg, then he did something with his feet that caused the board to do a wicked 360-spin in a traveling roll around his ankle, ending up parallel to the ground right before he landed. To top that, it wasn’t even sketchy. He did it smoothly, without ever compromising his balance to pull it off. It was impressive. There’d been no way he could even try contest the loss, after seeing something like that. Seifer was obviously a street skater of a much higher caliber. It was really annoying.

"What the hell are you doing?" Seifer called out to Hayner in a mildly annoyed voice, causing him to jump. "Get your scrawny ass over here." He was standing with his skateboard kicked up, as if interrupted mid-trick, his cronies surrounding him. They were all staring at him. Hayner glared evilly at them all, berating himself for thinking, for even a moment, that the thug was sort of cool.

He trudged up to them while they laughed. Seifer could practically see the storm cloud forming over his head. He couldn't resist messing with the kid, though. He whined, and carried on a bit, but as soon as he felt his pride threatened, he was like a different creature. His movements were tighter, and more controlled, while his body language became exaggeratedly open. A scowl planted itself on his face, his eyes gleamed fiercely. It was priceless.

Hayner bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. “Yes?”

Seifer had his arms crossed over his chest, an unreadable expression on his face. “I want you to race Raijin.” He gestured vaguely at one of his lackeys with a tilt of his chin.

“…ok?”

“If you win, I’ll teach you that trick that had your mouth gaping open last time.”

“Really?!” Oh, sweet!

“Best two out of three. GO!” Hayner scrambled. Damn Seifer, he hadn’t been ready yet! Now this Raijin kid was going to have a lead on him.


“Not bad,” Seifer said sometime later, the corner of his mouth quirked up in a half smile. “I didn’t think you’d come back from that slow start.”

Hayner leaned on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “Yeah... thanks… for that…. jerk,” he panted. “Now… teach me.” He demanded.

Seifer tipped his board into his hand. “Alright. You begin with a nollie nose slide so you need some concrete to grind, but at the right height. The height is important. After that, it’s a modified calf wrap, which shifts into an ollie impossible right before you land.”

Hayner stared at him like he was speaking French. Backwards.

“Don’t worry about the terminology just yet, I’ll show you.” He paused, looking like he was searching for the best way to explain it. “First of all, you need to catch a lot of air to have time to pull it off. That wall over there” he pointed, “works just fine.” He lifted his board into the air, preparing to demonstrate the movements the board would make for the duration of the stunt. “Now, when you come off the wall…”


Hayner was vexed. That trick was DAMN hard! Seifer was an unexpectedly good teacher though. He understood the mechanics of it; now he just had to get his coordination down and timing right. He’d have it if he just practiced incessantly.

Four hours of skating seemed to be everyone’s limit, and at some unspoken signal, they all grabbed their boards and headed back to their hangout. Hayner followed suit automatically.

“Hey, runt.” Seifer called to him. Hayner turned to see that he wasn’t following the others, but was hanging back. He stopped and waited for the miscreant to catch up. “Go home. Sleep. Come back at 10 tomorrow.”

“I get to go home?" He asked incredulously.

"Why, did you want to wait on me hand and foot all night?"

"..." Hayner flushed a little. Gah! It had been a simple question. Why did Seifer always have to make fun of him like that?

Seifer waved him off dismissively. "Go on, get out of here."


Seifer watched him leave. Entertaining as it was, this gofer thing was taking a lot of time away from his duties. He’d be up for a while yet. After all, he couldn’t afford to be lax, and lose face. He grinned as he cracked his knuckles. Time to get to work.


TBC


Author’s notes:
Hayner seems to think and act more off the wall and weirdo when around Seifer, than when he’s around Roxas. I think this is because he tends to worry about his friend, which has a bit of a sobering affect on him. Plus, Hayner is a dramatic sort of person, and Seifer plays on that intentionally.
The skateboarding is based on real stuff, but would be less flashy in real life. Creative license, yo. I’d love to see someone spin a board like helicopter blades while defying gravity. Laws of physics, pshaw.