The Reaper Of Kingdom Hearts
Chapter 1: A Regular Day In Kansas?
Our story begins in Southern Kansas, where a young boy and his younger twin sisters will embark on possibly their first and last journey.
"Hey, you stupid kids, get the hell away from my garden!! I'll come out there and slice you three in half with my scythe!!" A voice called angrily to three young children playing catch nearby. The eldest child, a young man with blue eyes and spiky brunette hair, looked up in his direction, accidentally letting the ball that was thrown hit him in the head.
"Ow!" He exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head.
"What's wrong?" One of the girls with blue eyes asked.
"Why didn't you catch it?" The other asked. The two youngest were twin girls, who greatly resembled the boy next to them. The boy suddenly heard angry footsteps approaching them and his eyes widened with fear.
"Uh oh... We have to get out of here!" The boy exclaimed.
"Why?" The twin with green eyes asked.
"Marluxia's-" The boy began. He was cut off when he heard a door slam open. There stood a man with long pink hair and a scythe of flowers in his hands, gripped tightly from his anger.
"M-Mr. Marluxia's!" The two girls said nervously.
"You three kids are gonna pay for wrecking my lovely garden! I put my heart and soul into making this garden perfect!" Mr. Marluxia exclaimed, ready to attack the three children.
"Run for it!!" The boy exclaimed to the younger girls, accidentally stepping on some of the beautiful roses planted in the garden.
"GET BACK HERE!" The man exclaimed, running after them in great neck speed and pointing his scythe at the three. Some dark, powerful flowers blasted at them.
"DUCK!" The youngest girl with green eyes shouted to the boy.
"Whoa!" The boy quickly ducked as the petals flew over his head. The three ran away.
The three children approached a small farmland, which consisted of everything that you could find on any farm, except for a much larger, more complex house.
"Hey guys!" A voice called. A boy with long silver hair approached the three, sweating from all the work he had been doing on the farm.
"Hey Riku!" The boy called backed. Riku smiled and then continued his work.
"You called that... fun? I call it nearly... getting us killed..." The girl with green eyes said between breaths.
"Don't blame me for nearly getting us killed, blame our older brother, you ball of swine crap..." The girl with cerulean eyes said to herself.
"Hey guys." A boy with messy spiky blond hair said, approaching the three with a large bucket in his arms.
"Hey Roxas. Cleaning the pigpen again, I see." The cerulean-eyed girl said bluntly.
"I see you've had a rough day." Roxas said angrily to the young girl.
"You have no idea, Roxas..." The green-eyed girl replied.
"Yeah, seeing as how someone nearly got us killed by Marluxia..." The boy replied.
"It wasn't my fault!" The cerulean-eyed girl said angrily.
"Sure..." The second girl replied.
"Well, sorry to hear that. I should probably get back to work before your uncle says something. I'll see you guys later, okay?" Roxas said, walking off. The three children walked around the area, searching for their uncle. There stood a man with his spiky blond hair falling casually in front of his cerulean colored eyes, feeding chickens.
"Uncle Cloud! Mr. Marluxia was trying to kill us with his scythe and-" One of the twins began, her bright blue eyes fumed with anger. Cloud placed a hand in the air, silencing the girl.
"Save it, Demitria." Cloud said angrily. "Sora, I thought that I told you once before to watch over Demi and Ali while the three of you were out! Not nearly get yourselves killed!" Cloud replied angrily, turning his attention to the oldest boy.
"I-I'm really sorry, Uncle Cloud... I honestly had no idea that Marluxia was gonna do something like that to us." Sora replied, putting his hands in the pockets of his small red baggy pants. Cloud couldn't afford to get him any bigger clothes with the little money that he had.
"Sora, I've warned you about this kind of thing. If you can't learn to take more responsibility for your sisters, I'll have no choice but to just send you back to live with your father on the Destiny Islands. Do you want that to happen?" Cloud said angrily. This immediately sent Sora into an angry phase. He shut his eyes, remembering what his mother had said to him about protecting the twins.
It was back when Sora was nearly nine years old and the twins were only six years old. He and his mother, Aerith were watching their favorite TV show while the twins were upstairs napping, when something had suddenly crossed Aerith's mind about the future.
"Sora, honey... Can I ask you something?" Aerith asked.
"Sure, mom. Anything." Sora said, a huge grin across his face.
"...If anything happens to me, can you do something for me?" Aerith said calmly, putting her hands on her son's shoulders.
"Of course!"
"If anything should to me before you and the twins get older and then grow up, can you watch over them both for me? Protect them." Aerith asked.
"Mother, please don't talk like that." Sora said, grabbing one of his mother's hands.
"Sora... Every life has a season, and you never know what can happen." Aerith said wisely. "Please Sora... Watch over Demi and Ali if something does happen to me. I want what's best for the three of you, and that includes proper protection. You're their older brother, and always know that they can only look to you when they have problems in their childhood. They can tell you anything and everything that happens in their lives."
"I'll protect Demi and Ali, mother. I promise. They're my little sisters and I'll always look out for them. I'll never let anything bad happen to them." Sora said, pulling his mother into a hug.
"Thank you, Sora..." Aerith said, kissing Sora on the cheek.
"No way I'm going there and you can't make me! You know what my dad would do if he even got a glimpse of me, Uncle Cloud!" Sora said angrily. Sora's father hated him dearly.
"Yeah, and that's what can happen if you don't wise up around here." Cloud replied.
"You can't make him go through that kind of thing ever again! He almost killed Sora back there! You just can't make Sora relive that again alone, Uncle Cloud... You just can't..." Ali replied, letting tears sting her face from those memories.
"Uncle Cloud, please don't blame Sora for any of this. It wasn't his fault that this happened. It was all my fault that we nearly got killed. I was just trying to have a little fun, but I didn't know that Mr. Marluxia would overreact like that." Demi replied in her brother's defense.
"You can't send him away because of us!" Ali replied angrily.
"Honestly, what am I gonna do with the three of you? I shouldn't have ever claimed you after Aerith was killed..." Cloud said to himself, walking away.
Sora could feel tears sliding down his face from hearing that come from his uncle. He hated that feeling. Watching his mother be killed by his uncle's worst enemy at such a young age and nearly dying himself. He had no idea how it happened or why, but he had to watch his mother's life come to an end nearly four years ago, when he was only eleven years old. And he had been so helpless to save her...
"Mom?" Eleven year old Sora called throughout his household. He knew that his mother hadn't gone anywhere that day, but he was curious to know. His younger sisters were right behind him as he searched the house.
"Sora, where's mommy?" Then eight year old Demi asked nervously, grasping her older brother's hand as she said that.
"Demi, we're all looking for her. How would Sora-kun know if we're all looking and can't find mommy anywhere?" Then eight year old Ali replied bluntly. Suddenly, the three heard a scream from their mother's room.
"Mom!" Sora exclaimed, racing up to their mother's room. "Stay down here, you two."
"Sora, wait a second! You don't even know what you're getting into!" Demi exclaimed. But Sora had already made it up to his mother's room.
"Mom?!" Sora called. He turned a little to see his mother being stabbed to death by a man with long silver hair and a masamune sword in his hands. "MOM!!" The man turned and Aerith fell to the ground, completely lifeless.
"I cannot involve innocent young people here, young man." The man said, pointing his sword at Sora. Sora's heart stopped beating and he froze. Suddenly, Sora felt his whole body going numb. The man heard more people approaching and he fled the scene.
"Sora?!" Came Demi's voice behind him. Sora managed to look up at her weakly, feeling much pain as he did so. "Sora! Sora, can you hear me?! I'm going to try and get you some help, okay? Please be okay." Sora couldn't really hear anything that she was saying to him because he was completely numb. Without another thing to be said, Sora had passed out.
With those horrible memories of his past filling his mind, Sora walked into the small house and shut the door behind him, racing up to his bedroom. Sora plopped down onto his bed and stared out of his window, hating his current environment. He had wished that he could go back home to Destiny Islands, but he never wanted to encounter his father until he was strong enough to kill him for doing almost everything horrible to him. Sora had nearly been killed by his father just for even talking to him about his issues and he hated his father. Sora nearly had committed suicide just to stay away from his father, but he knew that he couldn't leave Demi and Ali to face him out there alone.
And I never will tell anyone about my past life on Destiny Islands... It's much too dark and intense for anyone else to know. Not even Demi and Ali are gonna know about this... My life's a living nightmare out of hell...
He kept himself alive... To protect his little sisters. And here his uncle was saying that he didn't protect them. He never even mentioned to anyone that he wanted to take himself or his father out first. There was a knock at the front door and Sora looked down to see Marluxia standing there.
"Marluxia? Here? Oh no! Uncle's Cloud's gonna destroy me and the twins!" Sora exclaimed.
"SORA! DEMI! ALI! YOU THREE GET DOWNSTAIRS RIGHT NOW!" Sora heard Cloud's now furious voice call up to the three children.
"We're in trouble..." Sora said to himself, preparing to head downstairs. The three met up in the hallway, all of their faces slightly nervous at how Cloud would react.
"Yes, Uncle Cloud?" The three children said nervously in unison.
"Why did you three go into Mr. Marluxia's yard to play catch and wreck his beautiful flowers?" Cloud demanded. Sora heard Demi gulp.
"Uh... We didn't think he was home?" Ali said, a nervous smile spread across her face.
"Yeah, we thought that he was still back in the town." Demi said.
"Well, Cloud, it would seem that now I have custody over one of these three. As I've told you before, if any of these three had ever set foot in my garden, I claim them as my own." Marluxia said. His eyes darted to Demi and she gasped.
"I remember, sir..." Cloud said. Marluxia grabbed Demi's arm and nearly twisted it off.
"And I choose her. She'd make a very lovely assistant to my wonderful garden." Marluxia said. Demi began to scream and Sora immediately raced to her assistance.
"No! You can't have any of us! We stick together!" Sora said angrily. Marluxia just ignored him and then Sora suddenly kicked him in the shin. "Let her go!!"
"Sora!" Cloud said angrily. Sora just ignored him and continued to attack Marluxia to free his younger sister from his tight grip. Suddenly, Sora struck Marluxia in his leg one final time.
"Ow! You rotten little kid, I'm gonna-" Marluxia exclaimed angrily, releasing his tight grip on Demi to grab his leg. Demi immediately raced over to Sora, squeezing him into a tight hug. She began crying as she held onto him. Marluxia tried to grab Demi again.
"Leave her alone!!" Sora exclaimed, pushing Marluxia's hand away.
"You are not the boss of me!" Marluxia remarked angrily, trying to grab Demi's arm once again. Only this time, Demi bit Marluxia's hand as hard as she could. "AAAH!!"
"Maybe that'll teach you to learn not to mess with the three of us when we all stick together!" Ali said angrily, walking over to her two older siblings.
"You'll learn, Cloud! When those three are old enough to leave Kansas, I'm gonna find them and kill them all! And then they'll know not to perpetrate in my garden again! They'll all know their place in this world when they get older, but they won't live long enough to see another day!" Marluxia said angrily, walking out of the house. Cloud shut the door and turned towards Sora.
"How could you do something like that, Sora?" Cloud said angrily.
"Uncle Cloud, Marluxia was gonna take Demi away from here! If he did that, then I'd never be allowed to see her again! And I promised my mom that I'd protect the both of them, even after she died! I couldn't save mom back then and I wanted to fulfill my promise to her! I couldn't let him take her." Sora said angrily, letting tears sting his face.
"Your mother isn't here anymore, Sora! Get that thought through your head! She's dead, gone, never coming back! And you're on your own." Cloud said angrily. Sora's heart dropped from hearing that. It was true. His mother wasn't coming back. And he was on his own.
"How can you even say that, Uncle Cloud! He almost got himself killed trying to save mom! And here you are saying that he's on his own when he has us!" Demi demanded. Sora just took a few steps back and raced upstairs. "Sora!"
Sora reached the top floor of the house (Third floor), slamming his bedroom door behind him. He sat down on his bed and began sobbing, visions of his past filling his mind.
Sora awoke in a hospital bed, staring at the ceiling for some reason. He had a ton of bandages around his chest from where he was stabbed. He looked over and saw Demi and Ali, possibly waiting for him to wake up. Ali glanced over at him for a second, then smiled.
"Demi, he's awake!" Ali replied. Demi got up and walked over to his bed.
"Are you okay, Sora?" Demi asked.
"I'm fine... Where's mom?" Sora asked, sitting up a little. Demi was silent, not knowing what to say to her older brother. "Demi...? Oh no... Is she-"
"Uh huh... That's what the doctor told us... The man that stabbed you had stabbed her to death and... killed her." Ali said, letting tears fall from her eyes.
"No... This was all my fault..." Sora said to himself.
"It's not your fault, Sora. It wasn't any of our faults. We couldn't do anything to save her, Sora." Demi said, letting tears slide down from her face as well.
"But... I couldn't save her..." Sora said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "And she told me to watch over you if anything had ever happened to her."
"But now dad is our guardian. He's gonna be here any minute now." Ali said.
"Dad's coming?" Sora said nervously. He hadn't seen his father in years, but he never knew what to expect when they encountered.
Sora wiped the tears from his eyes and then let out a sigh. "Maybe I should go and talk to Kairi. She'd know what to do to help me feel better." Kairi was Sora's best friend and the first person that he met when he had moved to Kansas. They had been the best of friends ever since she showed him and the twins around the small place called Kansas... Not to mention that he also had a crush on her.
Sora took one look around the room and then leaped out of the third floor window, landing in the pig slop by mistake. "UGH! These are my only clothes!! I can't go see Kairi smelling like... a pig!" Sora said angrily. He walked to the river nearby and wiped his clothes and face off a little.
Demi and Ali really wanted to know how Sora was after what their uncle had said to him earlier. Out of the three of them, Sora took their mother's death the hardest. They went up to his room only to find that he was outside cleaning up a little.
"Sora!" Ali called. Sora looked up at them and then stood up. "Where are you going? We rarely ever see you clean up unless you're- You're about to find Kairi, aren't you?"
"May-be! You guys wanna come?" Sora called up.
"Sure!" Demi said happily, leaping out of the window. Ali sighed and followed suit, leaping out of the window as well. With that done, the three walked over to Kairi's house not too far from theirs, only about a mile.
