Sora kicked his feet, sitting on the edge of the dock, watching the sunset with the faintest feeling of uneasiness. Something was different today, he had felt it from the time he had gotten up this morning. There was the most eerie feeling that maybe someone was… watching him.

He threw a glance over his shoulder and the feeling went away immediately. Huh. That's weird. It had truly felt like someone was…

A loud splash jerked Sora's attention back to the ocean, just in time to see the ripples in the water where someone or something had crashed into the waves from the large rocks that towered to his left, shadowed by the setting sun. Gasping, Sora stood, staring into the waters to see if there really was someone down there.

Then he saw the blonde hair.

Not thinking, Sora just went, diving into the water with shoes and all, feeling the salty sting as he plunged deep into the waves. He ignored the burning of his eyes as he kept them wide open, swimming towards the girl slowly sinking deeper into the shadows, his heart thrumming in his ears. He reached down to grab her and—

Her eyes suddenly snapped open, staring at him, dead and cold.

He gasped, forcing all of the air out of his lungs, and he blinked and her eyes were closed again and she sunk deeper. But now he was drowning too, his lungs closed off, but he couldn't give up. With the last of his strength, he took the girl by the arm and forced the two of them upwards to the surface and when he broke it, he gasped and coughed. He pulled the tiny girl close to him and swam against the waves to the shore and when he was there, he dropped her into the sand and collapsed next to her, coughing painfully against the water in his windpipe.

"You did well," a soft voice startled him.

He choked on more water and looked up at the girl who was standing above him, totally unaffected. She smiled coldly. Sora wheezed uneasily and took in the sight of her. She did not look at all wet or drowned but she was pale and she wore a short white dress and sported long blonde hair.

"As your reward, I will give you happiness."

Sora watched her step close to him. "Who are you?"

"Here," she said, ignoring his question. She took his arm and slipped a simple beaded bracelet unto his thin wrist. "You must never take this off," she said, her voice almost echoing, "or the most unfortunate events will befall you." She let him go and stood back.

Sora looked down at the little thing. "How will this bring me happiness?" he asked. He looked up at her, but she was gone.

"Sora!" a familiar voice called.

Shifting to turn to look behind him, Sora spotted his friend Axel racing down the beach towards him, his fire red hair distinct against the clouds that were forming. "What the hell was that?" He panted, slowly coming to a stop by Sora and reaching down to yank Sora up from where he was sitting in the sand. The sand clung to him stubbornly. "I was just on the way to your house and I just saw you just jump into the water…" Axel panted from running. "Just don't that okay?"

Sora grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry, I thought I saw a girl drowning down there and I went to save her… Guess I was just seeing things."

"You idiot," Axel said, punching his arm with a soft look in his eyes. "Look let's get back to your house, you need to warm up." He dropped a heavy arm along Sora's shoulders and steered him back to towards Sora's cottage home further up the beach. Axel was infinitely taller than Sora. "And here, this came for you today."

Sora looked over at him as his friend set a little white envelope in his hands. It did not have a return address but the handwriting that made up Sora's address was something he'd never forget. "Roxas!" Sora gasped.

He tore into the letter eagerly. When was the last time he'd spoken to his brother? A year ago just before Roxas had left? Roxas was like a phantom in Sora's life these days. Ever since their last relative, their great aunt, had died, his brother left, leaving Sora behind. Roxas had said he would find a job in the city and provide for them, but that was the last he had heard. He didn't know what Roxas was doing or how he was making the money, but he had sent it steadily like an allowance to pay for their house and anything else they needed.

Sora wasn't useless either. Being a young twenty year old, he too had a job but it didn't make quite as much as Roxas sent. He was a waiter and a cook at one of the local restaurants and that's how he'd met his new friend Axel.

Axel was frowning down at him, with his nose wrinkled as if disgusted. "Roxas? You mean your twin brother who basically left you for dead?"

"He did not leave me for dead," Sora corrected.

He turned his attention back onto the letter and pulled it out of the envelope and opened it and read:

Sora,

I'm coming home because I am about to murder someone and I need to get away from him. See you in a few days.

-Roxas

The note was short and told Sora absolutely nothing about what Roxas had been doing but Sora laughed in utter excitement, turning to Axel, causing his arm to fall off of Sora's shoulders. "Axel! Axel, you will not believe it! My brother is coming home!" He was practically crying with joy.

He grabbed Axel's hand and tugged him towards his cottage. "Come on! We have to get everything ready!"

Axel didn't protest as he dragged him away and Sora couldn't stop grinning. Maybe that bracelet would bring him happiness after all, he could feel the weight of it resting heavily against his wrist as he and Axel ran.

Roxas gripped his glass of water angrily and had to use every fiber of his being to keep the frown off his face. His brow ticked and the smile etched on his face wobbled with the effort. "You want what?"

Riku didn't even look at him from across the table, just glanced at his watch impatiently as if he wanted to be anywhere but with Roxas. Actually, this Roxas knew to be a fact. He knew it was true for the both of them. They absolutely despised each other.

Riku sighed. "My parents want us engaged, not just dating, so I'm asking you if you want to marry me."

Roxas switched his hand from his water glass to his wine glass and threw back the entire glass, choking it down in one gulp. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Why not? You need money and I need to marry someone, so what do you have to lose?" Riku asked, looking at him coldly as he watched Roxas set the empty glass back onto the table.

It was true. The money is the whole reason he'd agreed to this mess in the first place. Roxas had come to the city to look for work so he could support himself and his younger twin and as he was out checking for work, he'd run into the biggest ass he'd ever met, Riku. And they kept running into each other and hating each other a little bit more with each meeting… but that was a story for another time. The main point was that out of the blue, Riku had asked him if he could pay Roxas to date him.

Roxas probably wouldn't have accepted the job if it wasn't so hard to find anything in the city. And also… it was a lot of money. Like enough to pay for the house back home and everything else they would need. They had been left with a lot of debt when their great aunt died.

But… Roxas had thought that he would be done with this soon, maybe two or three more years to fully get them out of their dead family's debt. He certainly hadn't thought he would have to marry the bastard.

"This is bullshit, Riku," Roxas said, standing and leaning over the table to glare at him.

"Do you want the money or not?"

Roxas went still. This was a take it or leave it kind of situation, wasn't it?

"Don't you want to help your family?" Riku asked tauntingly.

"Don't talk about my family," Roxas snapped, leaning back, defeated. Riku had literally no idea, no clue about Roxas's family. He'd never asked or cared, even though Roxas knew everything about Riku's.

"Look," Riku said, looking up at him completely bored. "If you do this, you can still do whatever you want. You just have to act lovey dovey for my parents like normal. And I will even give you more money or whatever you want."

Roxas hesitated for only a second. "I want a restaurant."

Riku looked at him in surprise.

"And a house near here. For my family. I want to move them here and I know he—they would like to own a restaurant."

Riku no longer looked interested. "Done."

"And I want to go visit them for a few days."

"Fine, whatever. Just act like you normally do with my parents and just act excited about the wedding and you will have to wear this ring from now on." He slid a simple silver wedding band across the table and Roxas took it and put it on, trying not to hate the feeling of it on his hand.

Roxas sat back down at the table as Riku got up to go the doors, he opened it and told the butler, "Grab my parents. We're ready." He closed the door and rejoined Roxas. "Put a smile on, Roxas. My parents are coming."

Roxas forced a grin on his face again. He bore it graciously though because he knew he would see Sora soon.

Riku shrugged his overcoat off when he closed his door and he threw his tie onto the ground, kicking off his shoes. He collapsed into his bed. He hated that he had to pretend to be happy. He hated that he had to marry Roxas. But it had to be done.

Here's the thing: there's a curse on his family. His father and his mother claimed it was not real, but how do you explain five generations of the first wife dying mysteriously? The curse, from what Riku had researched, was that if the first born son married his beloved, she would die by the end of the wedding night. So he had done everything to prevent it from happening to him. One, he did not love Roxas, not even in the slightest. Two, Roxas was a boy. Riku was pretty sure that the curse did not apply to boys. And three, Riku made sure he knew nothing about Roxas. That way, nothing could trick him into endearing Roxas to him.

Right now, Riku could feel nothing but relief. Roxas was going away for a few days and Riku would not have to see him or pretend that he was in love for that entire time. Riku felt elated. So much so, that he laughed to himself genuinely for the first time in a long time.

Axel knew it as he stood there numbly, watching his little friend buzz around his house, shouting excitedly, doing a crappy job of putting things away, and doing his shitty cleaning: he liked Sora. He knew it from the way he even helped Sora clean, even though he hated house chores. He knew it from the way he laughed at Sora's shitty excuses for jokes.

He liked Sora.

He groaned, dropping his head into his hands from where he was currently dusting the living room, getting dust into his perfectly spiked hair. Sora bounced up to him and grinned at Axel shyly. "Hey, don't be mad, Axel! I will make you a killer meal for helping me out."

Axel was definitely not mad that he was helping Sora clean, but he went along with it and shoved a hand into Sora's chocolate brown hair and ruffling it mercilessly. His heart ceased for a second as he watched Sora's eyes scrunch up. "It better be the best meal you've ever made!"

Sora dodged out of his grip, still smiling. It was like Sora was always smiling. "You got it. You're the best for helping me, you know that?" Axel was practically glowing with the stupid, little compliment. "And you'll love Roxas, just you wait and see!"

"If he's anything like you, I know I will," Axel said fondly.

Another thing Axel knew from the way Sora laughed and punched him in the arm was this: Sora was an oblivious asshole. He probably could confess to Sora point blank and Sora would take it as a joke.

"Then you'll like him," Sora said, turning away, going back to his own dusting. "He's the best twin in the world!"

Axel glanced at the picture of Sora and his brother that stood proudly from coffee table. The two were identical. Brown hair, blue eyes, short as all hell.

Axel figured, it would be cool to meet Sora's brother, to see how different or similar they really were. But he would still have to give the asshole hell about leaving Sora alone for so long. Because seeing Sora sad? That was like the sun never rising.