DISCLAIMER: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor anything associated with the series… I'm just writing a story here using elements from the game, that's all, so no suing me… merci :-P
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For the best viewing possible (and to ease any eye-strain), I'd recommend using the adjustment tools on the upper right and using the biggest font size with a dark background and the spacing between lines as far as possible =)
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Author's Note: This is going to be a somewhat (well I don't know about that) dark, angsty-ish AU with some strong language, adult situations, and some yaoi a.k.a. homosexual elements in it, so turn back now if that's not how you roll or basically not your cup of tea. For now it's rated T, but it may go up very soon, so you may have to adjust your browsers to see higher ratings.
Also, some elements in this story have been fictionalized so don't go all crazy on me if you see something absurd or if it doesn't exist like places, things, etc.
Okay that's all =)
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Sixteen-year-old Roxas Strife drearily gazed out the window of the white Nissan Murano that his older brother, Cloud, was driving while listening to some All American Rejects on his iPod. With his elbow resting on the door ledge and his head resting on his hand, all that the little blond could see was the green countryside dotting the landscape. He had been in the SUV for days now, traveling from Los Angeles to…
"Where the hell are we exactly right now?" Roxas grunted out, irritability evident in his voice.
Cloud eyed his little brother from the corner of his right eye. "Damn, why are you still in such a pissy mood after all this time?"
Roxas didn't even bother to reply to his brother's comment, so Cloud decided to continue on anyways.
"You've been like this since we've left L.A., through the Rockies and Midwest, and at the Canadian border. Now you've done it through pretty much of Ontario. What's wrong?"
Of course Roxas could only annoying sigh. "Can you just answer my question already?"
Cloud sighed discontently, knowing there was no use in getting through his brother… well not at least until they get to their final destination. "We're in Quebec now," Cloud pointed at the little blue monument thingy with the words Bienvenue and Québec on it, complete with a lily flower and a flag that had a white cross with four flower-looking icons on each partition on the side of the highway.
"'Bi—… en—… ve—… nu— e…?" Roxas tried to pronounce the strange looking, not-so-English word.
"That's pronounced bee-unh-veh-new, thus bienvenue," Cloud chuckled, ruffling the spiky blonde hair of the angry teenager in the passenger seat. He was unperturbed when it was slapped away. "That means welcome."
"In what language?"
"French."
Roxas widened his eyes when he could've sworn his brother said French. "Wait! Uh—… you said French right?"
"Uh, yeah… so?"
"What the fuck? I thought they spoke English here in Canada!"
"They do, Rox," Cloud tried to calm the nerves of an incensed Roxas. "But Canada is officially bilingual and they speak French here too. Especially in the province of Quebec where French is the official language."
"Well excuse my 'French', but… what the hell dude?" Roxas glared at his older brother while accusingly pointing his finger towards him. "I don't speak a word of French! And your not even fluent, Cloud!"
"Well yeah, I know…" The older blonde adjusted his frame in the driver's seat, making sure his butt didn't fall asleep on him. "But I'm getting special language fluency training at the new job I've landed. You, on the other hand, have to take an immersion class at your new school."
"Great… just absolutely bloody great…" Roxas shifted his body so that he wouldn't be facing Cloud anymore.
Sure he couldn't put 100-percent of the blame on Cloud, since it was his older brother who made the sacrifice of moving the both of them out of the poor neighborhood they once lived in Los Angeles. In the old life, Roxas was getting into so much trouble with gangs, drugs, sex, prostitution, and other juvenile delinquency. Originally, the teenager was never involved in that sort of life as he was an above average student who had a decent amount of good friends and stayed out of trouble. That all turned around though with the sudden death of his parents in a fatal automobile accident on a stormy night near Topanga Canyon. Since then Cloud had to take care of the duty of raising his younger brother. Since the cost of living was astronomically high in Southern California and the lack of decent paying jobs for Cloud to obtain, the elder Strife deemed it necessary that it was time for a change...
…And landed a great job opportunity in Montreal, Quebec.
And so here were the two Strifes, making the long trek from the West Coast of the United States to all the way near the Eastern part of Canada.
"Awww, c'mon Rox," Cloud tried to pat Roxas' shoulder, but was once again denied when the younger Strife jerked away in vexation. "It'll be fun to live within a new culture and be able to speak another language. And besides… I hear that the ladies love a dude who speaks some français…"
"I'd rather cut my wrist with a big fat butcher knife then do that," Roxas solemnly replied.
Cloud just sighed at the notion, already used to his younger brother's emo-like remarks and tendencies. "Whatever…"
Silence dominated the car as Cloud continued to drive on the highway towards the Île de Montréal, or Island of Montréal, with Roxas attempting to read all of the French-labeled road signs along the way. After about an hour after they crossed the Ontario-Quebec border, signs of civilization become more and more apparent.
"Take Autoroute 20 East towards Dorval," the GPS commanded as Cloud complied, reading and following the overhead sign to Autoroute 20. They soon passed through the affluent suburbs of Baie d'Urfé, Beaurepaire, Beaconsfield, and Pointe-Claire before reaching their final exit about twenty minutes later.
"Take the Dorval Avenue exit and turn right," Cloud did just that and they found themselves right into the city of Dorval.
Roxas took a gaze around as they passed by a shopping centre, shops along the street, and some residential compounds. Aside from the French posted signs and universal pictogram road signs that he has never seen before, the Roxas had the impression the city was your run-of-the mill basic suburb of Montreal.
"Don't be intimidated with all of the French signs, Rox," Cloud tried to reassure his brother as he turned right onto Dawson Avenue. "I heard this city has a lot of English speaking people, so there's not much need to worry about."
"Whatever…" Roxas sighed as he continued his observation of the town. "Then what does that no parking sign with the words 'LUN au VEN: 15h à 17h' mean?"
"Don't have a clue aside from no parking…"
"Jeez, I'm not surprised…" Roxas folded his arms to his chest while Cloud just simply sighed in discontent.
Approximately in less than two minutes, they arrived at a small apartment building with a brick façade exterior, which would be the Strife's new residence. Yup, here is where Roxas would start his new Canadian life.
The two were greeted with the warm and somewhat humid air of an early summer's evening. Looking around as they made their way to the front of the building, the neighborhood seemed pretty quiet and peaceful with locals walking leisurely around the street and kids playing on the nearby playground, some shouting in English and others in French. Eventually, the two blondes made it to the landlord's unit.
"I'll be right back, Rox," Cloud opened the door to the interior hallway of the apartment complex. "I still need to fill out a few more things before getting the keys to our new place. Could you start taking out some of our bags from the back? And also take the airbeds since we don't have furniture." He tossed the keys towards Roxas, barely catching the clump of metal.
"Hmph…" was the only reply that came out of Roxas' mouth.
"Ugh, please Rox—"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do it. Just go already! Jesus…" Roxas muttered as he began to lethargically stroll towards back to the Nissan.
Cloud sighed, but just simply walked in so that he could get the keys to the place.
Meanwhile, Roxas just looked up to they sky, wishing that he had not gone on this new life adventure with his brother… like he had a choice anyways.
"Ugh... where is my life going these days? I don't get a say on what I want to do or where I want to go. Now I have to deal with being in a totally new culture with a new language and new pe— OOOMMMPPPHHH!"
A flash of brunette suddenly pushed down Roxas onto the grassy ground. The blonde was now looking up at a spiky-haired brunette with deep blue eyes that looked to be about the same age as him. For some reason, this boy reminded of himself… like some sort of reflection.
"Oh, désolé mon pote…" The brunet had a goofy smile on his face while he scratched the back of his head. "Je te vois pas ici."
The blonde, who was still trying to recover from the sudden impact, shook his head side to side for a few seconds before realizing that the dude was straddling on his hips. Talk about an awkward position to be in.
"Pardonne-moi, mais je pense pas que je t'aie jamais rencontré avant. T'es nouveau ici?" The spiky brunette gazed down on the blonde confusingly.
"Huh?" Roxas gazed back with bewilderment on his face, not knowing how to reply to this dude who probably knew only French.
I thought Dorval was supposed to have a lot of English speakers.
"Haha… Dude, I'm guessing you don't speak a word of French… am I right?"
Roxas widened his eyes even more. He could've sworn that he'd just heard the world's thickest French-Canadian accent… but now the dude on top of him spoke super perfect English, as if he was from the United States.
"Uh… no, I don't…"
"Eh, it's all good…" The brunette still remained on top of the blond. "My name is Sora Leonhart."
"Roxas Strife."
"Nice to meet you, Roxy. Welcome to our neighbourhood in Dorval!" Sora smiled wholeheartedly, energy present in his voice.
"Same here," Roxas replied, but of course he tried to hide his blush and hatred for being called Roxy, a nickname he totally despised from everyone he knew. Now was Sora going to pick up on that as well? "Uh Sora… could you do me one huge favor?"
Like now before I get like uh… boner…
"Yeah, what's up?"
"Um… Could you get off of me… 'cuz like… you know…" Roxas tried to find words to explain the awkward situation they were in, but failed miserably.
Sora, trying to figure out what Roxas was trying to tell him, finally figured it all out when he felt a slight… poke… on his bottom. "Crisse de tabarnak! My bad, Roxas!" Sora quickly got off of Roxas, trying to fight down a blush of crimson red seeking to seep onto his face, the blond as well doing the same.
"Sorry about that Sora…" Roxas lolled his head to the side for a bit.
Great… now he thinks I'm some horny ass dude wanting to get some from him…
"Nah, it's cool…" Sora extended his hand out to pick up Roxas from the ground. He also picked up the Frisbee he tried to catch as well. "So, where are you from?"
"Los Angeles," Roxas quickly replied.
"No way! L.A.?" Sora became ecstatic since this was the first time he's ever met someone from California. "So, you're from the States? California especially? Well, I guess welcome to Canada and Quebec as well, eh?"
"Uh… thanks?" Roxas awkwardly replied as Sora made him slap hands with each other.
Heh, looks like I've made a new friend?
"Sora?" A man's voice bellowed out from a nearby window in the apartment building. "Reviens ici maintenant!"
"Ugh…" Sora sighed. "J'y irai une minute." He then returned to look back at Roxas. "I gotta go… my older brother, Leon, just wants to bug me with stuff to do… So what are you up to right now?"
"I gotta unpack the stuff from my car," Roxas pointed towards the Murano.
"Oh okay, well I'll come back and help you if the shit I have to do doesn't take long."
"Oh no, it's okay. It's only a few things, anyways," the blond reassured the brunet.
"Okay, well we could chill later if you want. I can show you around and introduce you to my friends."
"Sounds cool, I guess…" Roxas shook his head, putting on a fake smile on his face.
"MAINTENANT SOOORRRAAAA!"
"Okay, okay! À plus, Roxas!" Sora began to run towards the apartment building. "Oh, that means like later, dude."
"Haha, gotcha… À plus to you as well," Roxas waved off as Sora went inside. He then proceeded to walk towards the car to retrieve some off the stuff.
Looks like this will be one hell of an adventure for me… Maybe it won't bring me happiness, but I sure as hell won't be bored… I guess…
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Post Author's Note: At the end of each chapter from the next one and so forth, there will be a section dedicated to the translations of certain French words or phrases that have not been translated within the story or if contextual guessing will not bring justice, so for all those Francophone-challenged readers, you will not be left out in the dark =)
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Yeah, yeah, you must be asking, "Where's the angsty-ness?" It'll be there soon, but for now, I'm just introducing everything to the story.
And don't jump to conclusions; I intend this story to be AkuRoku…
And to those who know French already: I am not the best in French, but if it looks like I am purposely misspelling stuff or leaving out important grammatical things, it's because I am trying to write out informal French instead of the things you learn in school. But if you see a super-duper error, just let me know.
Also if you are Canadian and/or from Quebec, I would greatly appreciate it if you can give me any suggestions about the culture, life, hang outs, etc. in and around Montreal? Thanks :D
DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!
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Quick French Pronunciation Lesson
- Words ending in -er like parler are pronounced like "ey" like in "hey"
- Words ending in -ere such as première are pronounced like "air"
- Words ending in -ai(s) such as Portugais are pronounced like "ey" as well
- Words ending in -eau such as Barbeau are pronounced like a long O, like "Oooooooohhhh"
- Words with the letter combo gn like Espagnol are pronounced like "ny" like in "canyon" (this is similar to the ñ sound in Spanish, like piñata)
- General rule of thumb: never pronounce the last letter in a word unless it has an accent (ex: é). Examples: marche sounds like "marsh", but marché sounds like "mar-shay"