Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
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Roxas was Sora's brother, but if he hadn't told them, nobody would have known that they were twins.
True, they had similar physique, and their radiant, azure eyes were identical. But that was it as far as the similarity went. Despite having been born from the same pair of parents, he sported blonde hair, while Sora's was brown with an ever so slight tinge of caramel to it. Genetics, they once said—one trait being dominant over the other. Seeing that his father and mother both had brown hair, it was a no-brainer that he was the one with the recessive genes. In fact, he was the carbon copy of their elder brother, Ventus, who had also been recessive.
Sadly, the boy—he had been affectionately referred to by his twin little siblings as Ven—was no longer with them. He had passed away due to heart failure at the tender age of nineteen. At that time Roxas and Sora, being eight years old, had been old enough to understand the pain of loss; considering their age and the sheer amount of time for them to get over the sudden loss, to say that they had been totally devastated back then was a massive understatement.
Enough of the past; let's get back to the here and now.
All those things aside, the differences between Roxas and Sora weren't limited to the physical sense. Twins they might be, but nothing could be further from the truth: their personalities and way of life differed by a great deal, too.
Sora was the kind of person whom practically everyone in the world liked and loved. He had lots of friends, and it didn't seem he needed much effort to make new ones. It was as though he was a magnet to which people would just flock even when he least wanted it. Because of that, he had wonderful social life; it was enough to make up for his poor grades at school.
On the other hand, Roxas was known to people as an almost abnormally quiet person. The manner his emotions and heart worked was just enigmatic, so much to the point that almost nobody except his own twin brother could reach out to him. Even though he was the smartest in his class, he was very sensitive, too, as the slightest provocation would upset him. When it happened, he would cast aside his logic and reservation, lash out, and verbally assault his perceived 'agitator'. Those were the reasons why aside from his classmate, Xion, and senior, Lea, he had so few friends; people would rather shy away from him.
However, if there was one thing that he enjoyed doing with his brother, it was sports. They loved skateboarding, a passion which might have been acquired from Ven. Roxas was the slightly more skilful of the two, and he was capable of performing more difficult tricks than Sora.
As suggested by their parents, they practiced kendo as well, and had been doing that since they were little. Thanks to that, they could randomly go around armed with sufficiently long wooden stick and everyone would be enthralled by their finesse and display of skill. They had become famous, so much to the point that whenever any of them decided to compete in the National Kendo Championship, he would make his way to the top with just nice effort.
If there was one thing Roxas was better at than Sora, it was music, and just that. Having studied the piano since the age of four, he played exceptionally well, and the sight of him playing accompanied by Ven with his guitar had always been able to bring warmth into everyone's hearts. Sometimes, in his school's music room, he would play together with Xion just to chill out. Roxas was certainly more than able to sight-read music scores as well, and he had even made his own compositions although he had never thought of publishing them.
But that was about all. In almost all other respects, Roxas was exactly the polar opposite of Sora.
He really regretted the way everything had turned to be, although he knew there was absolutely nothing he could have done about it. Despite being fully aware of the negativity he had been accumulating because of it, he could only bury everything deep down in his heart, keeping it all to himself. That didn't make his problems with life any better.
Sora would sometimes come to him and ask if there was anything he could do to help, to which he always responded "Nothing's wrong." He knew that it wasn't the case, though; perhaps thanks to this 'twin telepathy' thing, he always knew what Roxas was feeling—it worked the other way around, too, but Roxas had never once intruded into Sora's feelings. It was because of this combined with Sora's persistence, although he had good intentions, that the blonde distanced himself—albeit rather unwillingly—from his brother.
In truth, what Roxas had been feeling was envy. He used to envy his own brother with a passion for making his life miserable. Everybody had always been comparing him to Sora; Sora this, Sora that, Sora everything. He believed he would always be trapped in his brother's shadow, and would never step out of it. No, he was very sure that he didn't have a chance of living as his own self.
Yes, he used to envy him that much. Used to.
A few days ago, everything changed.
Roxas hadn't thought it was possible, but there he was, the ugly truth spread on the table before his eyes. He just didn't understand, just why? He might envy him all this time, but neither one of them deserved to undergo this trying predicament! He couldn't even hate him if the fate of the world depended on it. He was his brother, and who in Kingdom Hearts' name wanted his own sibling to suffer like this?
Yes, there was nothing Roxas could do as history threatened to repeat itself. Sora caught the very same coronary disease that had claimed Ven's life six years ago, and the only thing he could do was watch helplessly as his younger twin brother had his life drained away by the accursed disease.
It was then that he thought about the late Ven, the big brother who had always been there in their times of need. The big brother who had always known what it was that troubled them. The big brother who had always succeeded in bringing them back to laughter and happiness after even the most depressing sadness assaulted them. The big brother around whom they had always been comfortable to be. And, of course… the big brother who would always be missed and remembered dear, deep in their hearts.
He knew for certain that Ven would be able to comfort them. He needed not do anything; just by being there, he would have done wonders for the distraught boys. Although Roxas never showed his emotions quite as readily as Sora always did, he always was open to big brother and would come to him first whenever troubles seized him. But Ven was no longer here… he was just at loss, not knowing what to do.
One night, he broke down in tears, unsure of his own feelings. How he longed to apologise, or for time to rewind itself to the point when he started hating Sora for shadowing his accomplishments. However, there was no denying the fact that he would be leaving for good.
He didn't want that, not one bit. Roxas wanted to apologise from the bottom of his heart, wipe the slate clean, and still walk the path of life together with his younger brother, so that Ven's wish wouldn't go unfulfilled. Sora had been having a blast through his life, and he deserved to live on. Alas, everybody knew it couldn't be done…
Reality had yet again reared its ugly head as though he had very high tolerance to emotional pain. He could almost picture reality smirking at him, taunting him with a smug voice. It was his turn to make his move, but right now, he could think of almost nothing: none, nil, naught.
That said, Roxas had never been one to believe in fate. He was very certain that nothing in this world had been written on the book, and one would be able to assert full control of his own—even others'—life if he tried hard enough.
And that was when it dawned on him. Apprehensive at first at the decision he was about to make, he figured there was only one other way to get through the entire ordeal, and it was to live in regret for not doing what he knew he could actually do. No, he would rather die than miss this chance.
After all, his life had been dull and boring, so wouldn't he be better off giving it to someone who surely would benefit more from it? He wanted to at least make one thing right, and this was his opportunity to do so—his one and only opportunity.
Asking Ven for the strength to carry on, he made his decision firm and final. Life could shout and sneer at him for being a coward for all he cared; Roxas would just pay no attention to it. As long as he could ensure his brother's survival, he was glad.
No, he simply didn't care. If there was anyone among the two of them who deserved to live on, it was Sora.
Post-note: This chapter can be treated as a prologue. I hope you like it and the story is worth continuing! Stay cool!