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Hey everyone out there on the Internet! It's me Dan here again, with a Kingdom Hearts fic this time...it's my first Game Fic and my first Kingdom Hearts one so go easy on me please?
Right now there is no major pairing, but strong hints of Roxas x Sora and Roxas x Olette.
If you don't like it, don't read it, ya know the drill!
If the occasional word has some spelling mistakes like I dunno... Honor instead of honour...or an S instead of a Z that's cause its NEW ZEALAND English, so just go with it, they shouldn't be to story stopping.
Well enjoy!
This Fic was inspired by "Lay All Your Love On Me" by Abba from the Movie Mama Mia
Rated for Roxas' bad mouth really, in fact everyone gets a turn at dropping a few 'F-Bombs' and so forth.
Don't Go Wasting Your Emotions
The Arrival
8322 words without A/N.
The rain pelted the side of the car window as we travelled through the dead of night; mum and dad were playing some weird OLD people music…I was starting to feel like my trip to the airport was more a trip to the morgue, a sombre samba with a topping of lowly laments… and enough with the fancy metaphor thingies. The pelting of rain brought me back, three…or was it four years now? I'm not too sure actually... Well back to the back of that truck.
Moving trucks, if I had a dime for every teen love book that started in the back of a moving truck, the type that moves furniture I mean, not a moving truck as in moving from a to b…well yes moving from a to b but…well…I digress…back to my point, oh yes…I would have a dime, unless you could the start of those Pokémon games, then I would have TWO dimes…three if you counted Ruby and Sapphire as separate games Oh four if you count emerald as well…digressing again… those three Dimes I would have would be useless 'cause we don't use THOSE dollars here, well I think we don't… Fuck where are my manners, they were most likely in a box, right next to my Xbox; sorry I am bad at digressing! Hi I'm Roxas I'm sixteen and I am moving here to… hold on please *Checks note book* The Destiny Islands from my old home in Midgar. Well I have the lovely task of sitting in the back of the moving truck making sure our belongings don't fall out of their boxes. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure what the hell I would do if let's say…the fridge had a fight with Newton's laws and decided to come falling down on me, I'd be pretty messed up actually. Well yes, we are on our way to the Destiny Islands, my older brother Cloud moved out to these Islands a few months ago, nice place we hear the post cards are nice at least. Midgar is a land locked metropolis, the endless beaches here seemed to make a VERY nice change!
The truck slowed to a halt, the boxes around me jumped a little due to the change in speed, not 'cause we put animals in them…honest… my pocket buzzed soon after, I pulled out my Motorola Razor and flipped it open, OH a text from mum. This should be good! I checked it and sure enough it read exactly what I wanted to hear! Well what I wanted to READ really "We are here," I read the text out loud before one of the large rear doors opened up and my taller twenty one year old half brother Cloud was standing there smiling.
"Sup squirt," he asked with a pesky smile.
"Not my comfort level, I swear those vans get smaller and smaller!" I barked as I slid toward the exit and sat with my legs dangling over the edge. Funnily enough it had been raining a moment ago, yet everything was dry… oh well.
"Hey Cloud can ya give me a hand with this?" asked Quistis, oh I should tell you now before I continue with my retelling of this lovely part of my life, Quistis is my older cousin who is pretty much a sister to me though, she lives with us and all cause she's and orphan…ish. Cloud ran over to Quistis to help her with the things she had brought in her Nissan Micra. I kicked my legs out and jumped down off the back of the truck. I was tempted to purposely fall off, imagine how cool that would have been in school! "Hi I'm Roxas, I fell off the back of a truck," Oh well there is always next move… a lot of my cousins live in the Destiny Islands, I say this because this is when one of them came up to me. A girl two years older than me, called Rikku. Rikku was the most hyperactive girl you will ever meet, I am not kidding… but she came to help today, and she was smart, she brought her friends along too.
"Hey Roxas, it's been yonks!" smiled Rikku as she bounced towards me, oh I wish that had been an exaggeration, but no, she bounced over to me and hugged me. I cursed the fact I was a little shorter as I got nothing but boob… please don't hate me!
"Yeah, it's been 3 years." I smiled as I finally got my head back from Rikku's…embrace.
"OH yeah I came to help!" smiled Rikku as she started to bounce side to side on her feet. "And I brought FRIENDS," she smiled as she pointed her hand to the brunette behind her. "This is YUNIE!" she practically screamed.
"You can call me Yuna." she smiled as she bowed gently.
"Hey Yuna, and you are?" I looked over Yuna's shoulder to see a grey haired girl behind her.
"Doctor P!" Rikku jumped up and down smiling.
"PAINE" barked Paine as she stepped forward and waved her hand at me. "We're here to help" Paine folded her arms and looked at the truck.
"Oh sure thanks, um Mum can tell ya what to do. I just got out of the truck just now." I laughed nervously. Rikku's friends were HOT…hence my bad grammar
"Thanks Roxy! We'll go find Aunty J!" The girls quickly jogged off to the house to find Mum. I made a mental note to hurt Rikku later because no one calls me Roxy! NO ONE!
"OY ROXAS!" yelled Cloud from by the car. I made no delay in running over to my older brother.
"Yeah bro? What ya want?"
"Dad wants ya to run over to the store to grab some drinks for everyone. Ok?" he asked as he handed me a thirty Dollar bill. "A couple bottles of juice, some soft drink and an ice block for yourself if you want."
"Haha sure thing man." I smiled as I grabbed the thirty and turned around…and paused. I realised I had no fucking clue where I was going.
"Straight down the main road towards the beach" sighed Cloud with a laugh. With that I was off like a lightning bolt, sadly though I had left my head phones and MP3 player in my bag which was now sitting in the back of the truck, or somewhere. But oh well c'est la vie!
I enjoyed the rather long walk towards the dairy, two…maybe THREE Kilometres! But seriously, the clear sun was such a nice change to the smoggy blocked out one I was used to back in Midgar. I finally arrived at the local dairy (*) Outside was a group of kids around my age, all blond, like me…I almost thought I had discovered a small Aryan Neo Nazi group, when I noticed the two boys with brown hair come out of the store. It was hard not to notice one of them, he walked right into me, despite his friend calling "Hey Sora watch out!" there was no damage done, aside from my shirt had a little spill on it…no biggie.
"Shit I'm sorry," the boy apologised "I totally didn't see ya."
"It's all good, honestly." I smiled back as I wiped the excess Sprite off my white shirt.
"I'm Sora by the way." he smiled. I decided not to crush him and say I already knew his name. But that would have been a cool thing to do, cut him off, and say something like "Sora, I know…I know all about you Sora…"
"Roxas." I smiled as I held out my hand. Sora quickly swapped his Sprite into his left hand to shake my right.
"Excuse me" a tall blond boy walked over, must be Rikku's age, no DEFINITELY Rikku's age. "You're new here aren't you" he smiled.
"Yeah, I just got here…an hour ago, if my watch can be trusted." I laughed.
"Oh yeah, Yuna told me Rikku had friends moving in up the road." laughed the boy.
"You know Rikku?" Rikku never mentioned her friends much…sadly, that meant I had no idea who ANYONE was.
"Yeah, we go to school together, I'm Tidus" smiled the blond as he high fived me.
"I'm Zidane!" smiled the boy with the longest yellow hair and a blue sleeveless top, he practically JUMPED off the bike stake he had been squatting on.
"The names Vaan." smiled another, wearing an open Hawaiian shirt.
"And Squall." smiled the last boy, the other brown haired one.
"Nice to meet ya all." I smiled as I looked into the store. "Sorry but I'm on the clock
"Got it, we meet here about same time every day of the weekend. Come hang out if ya like." laughed Vaan as he ran his finger under his nose.
"Thanks, I'll keep it in mind." I laughed.
I wasn't long in the dairy; all I did was grab a couple of bottles of juice and soft drink… not like I had to find the karma sutra in a Christian library or anything! I walked out and miraculously the group of blonds had vanished, well almost, Sora was still there smiling like a dork, but I had figured out that was the type of person he was, a dork ha-ha.
"Oh hey Sora fancy meeting you here again." I laughed half sarcastically and half mockingly.
"Hey it's a small town." smiled Sora…again.
"Small town, long roads." I sighed.
"It's good exercise." Sora kept pulling that geeky smile that exposed his teeth when he smiled.
"I suppose, but its THREE Kilometres back to my place." I sighed, not whining, hell I'm no whiny bitch. At that moment I felt hands tugging on my shopping bags. It was Sora, he was either trying to mug me, or help me with the bags (There were four in total if you weren't wondering) "And you are doing what?" I asked.
"Helping." he smiled again, FUCKING HELL that FUCKING SMILE! It's like he was some Disney cartoon or something!
"Oh ok." I dropped a bag and Sora caught it quickly. "Nice reflexes." I nodded as we each held one bag in each hand.
"Thanks, I'm on the schools Struggle Team." he smiled. Once again with the freaking smiling…
"Struggle?" I asked as I put one foot in front of the other and began walking.
"You don't have struggle where you come from?" asked Sora with wide eyes.
"No…we have Blitz…Triple Triad…Festival of the Hunt… but no 'Struggle'." I replied scratching my head "What is Struggle?"
"OH yeah it's a sport we play here, kind of like…a giant mix of Fencing, Kung Fu, Gladiators and Kendo." Sora tried explained Struggle to me as we continued walking to my house. Apparently a few of their group were part of the Struggle team. There were a wide range of tournaments that happened all year round at the school, and on the mainland in a place called Garden its really big… kind of like their answer to college football.
"You should come to our game this week, its tomorrow actually." explained Sora with that smile…again. Is it just me or have you figured out Sora is one smiley son of a- oh where was I?
"Sure, why not." I smiled back; this Struggle seemed like a fun idea, nice way to blow of steam and meet new people.
"Cool." there was another smile before I stopped walking "Roxas?" asked Sora, mildly confused. "Oh are we here?" he asked.
"Yep, come in if ya like, my parents would love to know I've made a friend." I laughed as I walked through the gate and down our little path into the front door. "MUM I'M HOME!" I called out with a smile.
"Thanks Roxy, we're in the dining room." Mum called out back to me. Sora and I scuffed our shoes off and walked into the kitchen. "OH Roxas, who is your friend?"
"This is Sora," I smiled "I meet him out side the Dairy." We put the drinks down on the table and sat down. Cloud and everyone else walked in moments later looking rather thirsty from moving boxes, TV's and beds.
"Oh hey Sora." smiled Rikku as she walked in.
"Hi Sora." smiled Yuna her and Rikku sat down at the table with us.
"You know each other?" I asked raising an inquisitive eyebrow, totally Spock style I might add.
"Oh yeah, Yuna is my older sister." smiled Sora. Huh…I never would have guessed that…but now that he mentions it, their hair was pretty similar…colour wise. Yuna doesn't have gravity defying hair…at least on top. BAD ROXAS! Down!
The assembled family and friends all sat down to take a break together. Mum brought out some more substantial snacks as it was approaching dinner; it was about 5:30 in fact. It was nice really, we got to know Yuna and Sora a bit better, and they in turn got to know us.
"So Roxas, where are you guys from?" asked Sora as he turned to me and smiled.
"Midgar, we were living there for about…6 years?" I looked at Mum with a raised eye brow.
"That's right Roxas." she answered.
"Six years? Where were you living before that?" asked Yuna, making polite conversation.
"Balamb," Smiled Quistis. "They…we used to live with my mother." explained Quistis.
"Quistis is my cousin you see," I explained to Sora "After her parents passed away she became part of our family."
"Intense…" Sora looked at me in awe. What the hell it's not INTENSE…
"So Sora, where are you and Yuna from?" I had to ask, I felt a little weird being interrogated.
"Besaid, its one of the smaller Islands over here." explained Sora with his usual SMILE.
"I was born in Bevelle though" Yuna noted. "Sora it's getting a little late, I think we should head back. Mum and Dad will have dinner ready soon." smiled Yuna as she sat up checked her phone, before putting it back in her back pouch pocket.
"Sure thing Yunie" Sora stood up and finished off his coke. "It was nice meeting you all." smiled Sora as he waved to all of us and walked towards the door with Yuna.
"It was a pleasure, thank you" Yuna gave a little bow before leaving. I, being a good host walked Yuna and Sora to the door and gave the usual pleasantries.
"Thank you very much" Paine nodded and left with the two others. Oh sooo hot…
A little while after Yuna and Sora left my family sat down for our usual dinner time, playful insults were traded between Cloud and I. Quistis sighed at he zestful insults as usual and Rikku laughed. Some times I wondered about our family, was this what it was like to have a NORMAL family? Because ours wasn't really NORMAL; this was Dad's second marriage, Quistis was adopted by us after her family died, and did she ever FEEL like part of the family? Or did she think of us as outsiders, because loosing your real family is a big thing, and she wasn't that young when it happened. And Rikku, she is from my Dad's side of the family, yet so different from us all… Quistis is quiet, polite, and formal at times, she is destined to be a teacher. Cloud is silent and rough really, always has a temper when he isn't dealing with family, me? I'm quiet and reserved…not emo though… I keep to myself and just my circle of friends…which I need to get here. And then there is Rikku, who speaks her mind, loves everyone, and is loved by everyone and a total beach bum. We're all so different, well with the exception of me and Cloud, the hair gives it away doesn't it.
"Roxy, you and Sora seemed to be getting on pretty well." smiled Rikku with a knowing grin.
"Yeah, he's cool." I nodded as I continued to stab at my steak.
"He goes to the same school you will be going to." grinned Rikku. She and Sora shared the same stupid grin…a full on grin; ya could see ALL their teeth, even the teeny-weeny ones at the back.
"Oh that is great Roxas!" Mum beamed joy when she heard what Rikku had to say.
"Shesh Mum I make friends easily enough…" I sighed as I finished off my steak and sighed, I moved to my usual routine of pushing broad beans around my plate. Don't get me wrong here people, I do like vegetables (Some) but just not over cooked broad beans, they have absolutely NO taste.
"I know, it's just you don't seem to make the RIGHT ones…" explained mum, talk about patronising, I make good friends! They just don't last long.
"Remember… Oh what was his name…?" Quistis tried to remember one of my past friends who had ended up not being the best influence.
"WELL as much as I would love to indulge in this trip down memory lane BUT I am going to go unpack." at that point I got up and walked off to my room not really caring what they were saying.
You would think after moving we would have a ton of boxes every where and our rooms would be in a total mess. Well that wasn't really the case with us, we were smart, and sent most of our stuff head of us, like beds and cabinets and that…and went on vacation! That was a good vacation…and one full of revelation, but I won't get into that. Beg all you like I'm continuing on here. I walked into my room and over to my bed which had my suit cases sitting on top of it. A few boxes were sitting next to my bed with "ROXAS' DO NOT TOUCH!" written on them.
"Let's get this over with." I sighed in my head and walked over to my bed and opened my first box. I remember the feeling of euphoria as I lifted out…my Xbox360! I don't thin you could ever understand HOW much that console meant to me. I unpacked it and put it in its rightful place below my nice 34 inch Plasma TV, another thing you wont understand is how long I saved up for those two! Especially cause the Xbox is a limited edition CHECKERBOARD version. After I finished unpacking my books, games and the little things I had collected, mum walked into my room, it was now about 7:30pm and I was in the middle of putting up my posters.
"Hey Sweetie." Mum had one hand behind her back and I knew something was up. Hell I knew something was up at "Hey Sweetie."
"Hi mum…what can I do for you?" I asked as I leaned a little around her side, trying to get a peek of what was behind her back.
"We thought you could use this," Mum handed me a small orange packet, a cell phone SIM card. "To keep in touch"
"Thanks mum." I hugged my mum, as you do when she jus gives ya a present, unless your emo, which I am not, I'm just quiet and reserved.
..Shut up…
"Cloud had the man at the store load all our numbers on so you're ready to go," she smiled and I hugged her again. "Now don't stay up to late playing Halo or anything, you have school at 9 o'clock, so you better be up at 7:30 sharp."
"Okay Mum." I smiled as I put the card into my phone and put it on my desk, next to my laptop.
"Night Roxas." smiled mum as she left. Rikku entered right after mum left.
"Hey Roxy, I'm gonna be going soon." Rikku smiled as she looked around my room.
"Oh thanks for everything Rikku, but before you go can I ask ya something?" I twitched nervously, making sure mum was gone.
"What is it Roxy?" she asked as she walked over to book shelf and started browsing titles. "Nervous about tomorrow?" she asked
"It's not that, it's more that…I'm nervous 'cause I'm NOT nervous about it," I noted quietly as I sat down on the bed. "If that made any sense."
"Well its all ok Roxy, I'm sure you'll make a lot of good friends." she smiled as she walked over and patted me on the head. "A few of my friends have brothers and sisters you're age; I'll introduce ya if you promise to be nice."
"I'm always nice" I laughed back. "Thanks anyway Rikku." I smiled "Oh, do you know anything about a Struggle tournament?"
"Yeah, it's on after school between our Team Two and the Twilight Town Team Three" explained Rikku. "Yuna, Paine and I are all going. If ya meet me at the main gate at 3:10 and I'll take ya" Rikku kissed me on the head and then turned for the door. "Well I'll see ya later." she smiled.
"Later, and thanks Rikku." I smiled again.
I woke up early the next day, showered, brushed my teeth and had breakfast as I analysed the time table the school had mailed me. I brushed my teeth carefully while reading the time table over and over. When I got into my room I slipped on my black vest, white jacket and my baggy black pants. I grabbed my favourite messenger bag, a black bag with checkerboard design on the flap. I grabbed my checkerboard wrist band and my black and white rings. On my way out of my room I grabbed my phone, Mp3 and keys, keys for what I can't remember, I hadn't been given a house key yet, my car was still on its way from Midgar, and yeah nothing else I needed a key for. While I did my hair in the bathroom I had the list of school rules in front of me as well, I thought it would be a wise move to make sure I knew the rules so I didn't get expelled on my first day. As I walked back into the lounge after grabbing books, pens and that from my desk I was confronted by Rikku.
"Oh hey Rikku." I blinked as she stood there, orange sleeveless top and all.
"Hey Roxy, Aunty Jess asked me if I could take ya to school today, I'll show you you're classes." I smiled as she talked.
"Thanks Rikku. That'd be great." I laughed as I put my phone in my pocket and called out to mum, dad and cloud that I was leaving.
"Have fun at school Roxas." they called back, or words to that effect. Surprisingly I had no nerves as I got into Rikku's car which worried me a little, a bit because I wasn't nervous about my first day of a new school, but I was mostly nervous about getting into Rikku's car. Rikku was a good driver, just a reckless one, she had a way of making you value your life A LOT more after getting out of her car. We pulled out of my houses drive way and drove down the long long long long long road towards the school. The Destiny Islands were a lot bigger than I imagined, made up of over 10 larger islands with over 100 smaller islands, some of the larger Islands were called Besaid, Killika, Ridoranna, Balamb and Baaj. "Hey Rikku…how far away is the school?" I asked inquisitively.
"Lord Ansem High is about ten kilometres or so, there is a bus that can take ya. It's up on the water front though." explained Rikku as we took a corner at the speed limit +20KPH.
"Lord Ansem?" I asked, holding onto the side of my chair for dear life.
"Lord Ansem found these islands; you should ask your teachers for the details, I'm no good at history." explained Rikku as we accelerated across the coastal road. "I am good at SPEED." she smiled as we over took a black motor cycle. "Hey look its Payne." smiled Rikku as she waved in the black mirror.
We pulled into the schools parking lot relatively smoothly, let me emphasize the RELATIVE bit, by most people's standards we came in at some unearthly speed and angle, almost hitting the curb.
"Thanks again for the ride Rikku." I smiled as I got out and closed my door. My legs were shaking…only slightly, just a little.
"No problem Roxy." smiled Rikku as she pulled out a pair of large glasses and put em on her face. "Now we find your classes." Rikku grabbed her handbag/rucksack and walked over to my side of the car. She snatched my time table from me and bobbed from foot to foot. "Okay…first you have Theatre, then history, break, English, lunch, Science and then Music…" Rikku pushed her lips together and then made a 'humph' noise.
"Yeah and where are they?" I asked leaning forward towards her.
"Gosh Roxy you're taking such girly subjects." Rikku sighed as we set off for the main building; it was a copy of a Roman style building, the pantheon.
"Well there wasn't much else to take here." I retorted with a little bit of a snap.
"Well I suppose you're right." Rikku handed me back my time table, going quiet is how she admitted defeat, I had won this battle.
We walked around the entire school finding my classes before we arrived back at my Art room. "There you go Roxy." Rikku smiled at me and gave me a hug; "OH I almost forgot, we are going to have a going away party for Quistis and Cloud next Sunday," she smiled "keep it free"
"Will do," I nodded "see ya Rikku." with that Rikku was gone. I turned and walked into my class just as the bell went. I walked to find a seat, it was 3 weeks into the first term, I was lucky I could still catch up to everyone else in the class. The class filled with other kids, some noticed I was there, some didn't, one of the ones who didn't was that Zidane kid from the dairy, he tripped over my sling bag and almost fell face first onto the floor. Luckily he was able to stumble forward and get to his feet.
"Crap I'm so sorry!" I turned and looked over at him.
"Haha Chill man, it's ok." smiled Zidane as he turned around and sat down next to me on another stool, he dumped his back pack next to him. "Roxas wasn't it?" he asked politely.
"Yeah." I smiled as I extended him my hand.
"Zidane Tribal." Zidane gave a wide smile. "Ya don't look like the theatre type Roxas, if I can say so." he chuckled.
"I'm not really, you guys have more class slots than we did back in Midgar." I explained to him how in Midgar, high schools have a set class time table with only two extra options until your last year.
"Yeah this is a big shake up from Lindblum." he laughed as the teacher walked in.
"Morning class." the teacher walked straight for his desk and put his briefcase down. "Okay so we getting our scripts today and learning them before auditions." the teacher continued to talk as he fished out a stack of papers. "Has anyone read Oedipus Rex before?" asked the teacher with an almost snorty laugh. With out knowing I raised my hand and looked at him. "Oh you have Mr… You're new?" he asked pushing his glasses up his face, I only noticed then that this teacher looked like a pig almost.
"Roxas sir." I replied, struggling not to do my usual James Bond routine, or the truck one.
"Where do you come from Roxas? Go on introduce yourself." he smiled as he sat down behind his desk. I stood up and sighed.
"Hey everyone, I'm Roxas Erde. I've moved around most of my life, recently I was living in Midgar, before that I was living in Balamb where I was born. I like rock music, video games and anime." I finished before sitting down.
"Welcome Roxas. Ok everyone, come get your scripts. Zidane you've won the lucky draw of partnering with Roxas." explained.
"Thanks sir." everyone walked forward and grabbed a script. I know what you're thinking! Oedipus Rex at 6th form! Year 12! It' more a year 10 thing! Well Midgar was a BIG city, so it must just be the big city education.
Zidane and I walked out the large double doors and over to a large oak tree to start learning the lines "So what is this play about anyway?" asked Zidane, holding up all 50+ pages in his hand.
"It's a Greek tragedy, takes place in Thebes; basically a baby is destined to kill his father."
"Oh how original."
"Marry his mother, and have three children with her."
"Ok that is actually original…fucking sick but original," laughed Zidane as we started reading. "Is there a moral to it?"
"I'm not sure, I think its 'don't go against the gods' or something like that."
"Intense…" Zidane rolled his eyes. We continued reading in silence for the rest of the period. Oddly enough Zidane spent most of the time dangling upside down from a branch, you might consider it weird, but after knowing Rikky for 16 years, you become desensitised to it. Hell Zidane could have done the Funky Chicken in a tuxedo made of flaming monkeys and I most likely wouldn't be phased.
Ok I would be; I'd think it was fucking awesome!
Stop looking at me like that!!
Anyway the second period cam about pretty quick, I bit farewell to Zidane and got his number before heading to my history class, upon arriving at the class 5 minutes late I was greeted by the shocking site of an empty class room with only a teacher at the front.
"Oh you must be Roxas," she smiled as she stood up and walked over to me slowly. "I'm Xu, you're history teacher." she smiled as she walked over to me.
"Hey miss…" I looked around the room "um…" I looked at her oddly.
"OH you're wondering where the rest of the class is, aren't you." she smiled.
"Well…yeah." I laughed. Hell who wouldn't wonder. History was a core subject, there should have been at least 20 kids in the room.
"They have an essay due in tomorrow so I gave them the day off to work on it, and I thought you and I could have some Q&A time in the mean time. About papers we are doing this year and so forth." she smiled as she walked back to her desk and sat down.
"Thanks ma'am, I actually did have a few questions." I smiled and walked over to a chair in front of her desk.
"Oh?" she asked "You're from Midgar right Roxas?"
"Yeah, but I lived in Balamb for a bit when I was really young."
"Then you know the history of the Island?" she asked taking out a piece of refill from her draw and a pen.
"Actually that was a question I wanted to ask. My cousin Rikku was talking to me about this guy Ansem…"
"Oh the one the school is named after?" smile Xu.
"Yeah, I'm kinda interested, what is the deal with these islands and him?" I asked as I looked at Mrs Xu.
"WELL where to start," Xu rocked back in her chair and gave me a smile. I could tell she was moving into story mode "The Destiny Islands were first populated by humans about 2,000 years ago. They built the Pharos on Ridoranna Island, and the Temples on Baaj, Besaid and Killika. For some reason the people of the islands died off or left about 1,000 years ago. The Destiny Islands were rediscovered by Lord Ansem on an expedition from the United Kingdom about the 1500's" explained Xu.
"Mysterious!" I can remember being really amazed, these islands seemed so cool now, not just these backwater Islands in the western Pacific. Mrs Xu and I went on talking about the history of the Islands and what the myths were, it was some pretty interesting stuff if your ask me. But you didn't so I wont go into that.
I was sitting alone at break, under the same oak Zidane and I had been reading out lines under, I sat there, munching away on a heavily salted Salmon and Mayo sandwich, my favourite! Take that as note for my birthday; make me a Salmon and Mayo sandwich! With Pickles too! I contemplated finding Rikku and asking her about these people she promised to introduce me to…but break was only 20 minutes long…the hour long lunch time seemed like a better idea. There were no major events between break and the end of school. Well besides me totally loving my music class, they actually have a BAND! Of course I was one of the first to get an audition form! I am one HELL of a guitarist, and a singer to boot! I suppose I should indulge you with that story... I arrived at the music hall, funnily enough located in 'T' block. That struck me as a little ODD; I had Theatre in D block (D for Drama) History in H block, English in E block, Maths in M block, Science in S block. Apparently since M was taken for the Maths department, they called it T block, after Tunes…No I am not kidding you, TUNE block. But hey, nothing is perfect; I got over Tune block, slowly. The room I had music in was T3, it looked pretty average, a big room with desks and chairs, some instruments about the room. I was the first there for some weird reason; I hoped it wasn't like history with everyone away doing something. I walked in and dumped my bag on top of a desk and sat down. I started humming to myself as I watched the other kids file into the room. A few noticed I was new, none of them made any contact, except for a brown haired girl that came and sat next to me.
"Hi." she smiled brushing her hair behind her ear and smiling at me.
"Hey." I smiled sitting up in my chair.
"You're new right?" she asked.
"Yeah." I replied with a nod and a smile.
"I'm Olette." she winked.
"Roxas." I smiled back.
"So where'd ya come from?" she asked.
"Midgar." I could barely finish there r before she started talking.
"The big smokey plate?" she asked, I decided to nod, she seemed like the type who would cut me off in an instant… "I hear they have some great shopping there" she laughed "Don't you think so Roxas?"
"It was ok." I shuffled in my seat a bit, shopping wasn't really my deal, at least not the shopping I can imagine Olette being into.
"Not a big shopper?" she asked again, leaning her head down a little.
"When I have money to burn." I replied looking up.
"Oh I get ya." she smiled with a wink.
"Huh? What are you getting at?" I was so annoyed, I hate people jumping to conclusions and putting words in my mouth.
"Oh nothing honest." she blushed and smiled. "So you like music?" she asked again after a moment of awkward silence as people found their seats.
"Heck yeah, music is practically my girl friend." I laughed.
"Cool, music is my boy friend really." she laughed back. Click
"Do ya play anything Olette?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's a bit embarrassing though." she blushed as red as a rose blooming in blood. Creepy Metaphor I know, but some how romantic.......................................................................Oh go suck a rail road spike.
"What do ya play?" I asked leaning in a little and smirking.
"The drums, I sing to." she blushed and blinked. Double Click
"How's that embarrassing, it's awesome." I nodded.
"Girls don't really PLAY the drums." at that point I understood why she doesn't mention it.
"Oh Olette, I'll show you how to use a stick to hit things!" the speaker was some random kid who made hip thrusting motions.
"Dude I didn't know you were gay, only GUYS play the drums." laughed another guy.
"Now I see what ya meant." I hung my head.
"Its all right, they are just idiots." she smiled "What about yourself Roxas? Play any instruments?" she asked with a smile again, its true what they say, smile and the world smiles with you
"Yeah I play the bass, and I sing to sometimes." I added with a smile.
"Oh that's cool, everyone I know plays the guitar…no one does bass." Olette jumped in her seat a little. If my knowledge of girls is correct…she was formulating some weird plan in her head… once again the teacher walked in right in the middle of a good conversation, though in this case I think it might have been a saving grace, stopping me from hearing Olette's plan, assuming she was thinking of one…
Well I arrived at the front gate at 3:10. Olette and I had gone our separate ways after the class, she was going to find her friends and head to the Struggle tournament. I quickly scanned the area and found Rikku with Paine and Yuna. Paine was leaning against the wall while Rikku sat on the ground and Yuna was sitting on top of the wall. Talk about opposites, Pain was so reclusive, Rikku was so in your face, and Yuna, well she was the perfect blend of rock star and good little girl.
"Hey." I waved as I walked up to them.
"Hey Roxy." smiled Rikku as she got up.
"Oh hi." Yuna jumped off the wall smiling. It was then I decided they should have called these islands the 'Happy' Islands rather than the Destiny Islands.
"Rikku said this was you're first Struggle match." Paine stood up straight and pulled a black cloth from her bag.
"Yeah…" I looked at Paine oddly.
"So we all chipped in, it's kind of a welcome to Destiny Islands present.". explained Yuna with another smile. Paine then handed me the cloth, it was a jet black shirt that read "Struggle" and had a wooden sword and a wooden shield on the front.
"Awesome!" I smiled as held it close. "Thanks so much." I smiled.
"Not a problem Roxy! Well let's get moving shall we. We don't wanna miss a moment of it!" Rikku began pushing us in the direction of the field.
"Hey where is this tournament exactly?" I asked.
"A few minutes down the road at the sports grounds." explained Yuna as she began to walk hastily.
"We can cut across the field." added Paine.
"Race ya!" Rikku gently pushed us aside and began a made dash across the field, we all followed suit and arrived at the back gates of school. After that it was a ten minute walk up the road to the sports grounds, there was an Olympic swimming pool, a Blitz arena, Soccer, rugby, grid iron and ball courts. I followed the others o our seats in the Struggle arena, there was a familiar face waiting for us there.
"Cloud?" I asked as I walked and sat next to my brother.
"Oh hey Bro, looks like ya made it after all," he smiled at me "late though"
"My bad sorry," Rikku sat down next to me and put her arm around me "he was in class and I couldn't DARE to pull him away early" laughed Rikku, the lights suddenly dimmed and an aged man took the stage, he was in his late fifties and had a protruding belly, nothing to old though.
"Who's that?" I asked Cloud quietly.
"Cid Kramer, the Head Master of Balamb Garden and the President of the Grass Roots Struggle League." explained Cloud.
"Ladies and Gentleman, it is my pleasure once again to come before you all. Struggle is a sport that has become immeasurably popular on these Islands. Struggle is a test of agility; strength, endurance and skill! Now please join me in welcoming the teams onto the field!" Cid was a loud speaker and he paused occasionally to push up his glasses. "All the way Twilight Town, Twilight Team Three!" the team from Twilight Town slowly walked onto the field, they were all boys and girls either older or younger than me. The team were wearing pretty tight fitting pants and a sight singlet with an eclipse on the back and TT3 written on the back. I can only assume it meant Twilight Team Three…
"These guys beat us the last three years in a row." added Cloud. They were kinda like Ansem Highs rivals… I think.
"And now the home team!" yelled Cid. "Ansem Team Two!" the Ansem High guys all walked out, a totally male team, but it was then I noticed a black haired girl on the end. The Ansem guys were dressed in black vests and black shorts and has Team Two written on the back.
"This bit will confuse ya Roxy, see they are Struggle TEAMS but only ONE member takes part in the entire match, there are four matches though." explained Rikku. Out of the entire team all I could make out was Sora, the others were a bit of a blur, it could be they all had their head down and only Sora's hair stood out. A woman with long black hair brought out two small chests full of little balls, each chest had a different colour ball.
"We will now choose who will take part in the Struggle!" Cid reached in and grabbed two balls. There was a moment of silence and I could see people crossing their fingers and hoping for their player to be chosen.
"These types of raffles are only done at High School level, at Garden we choose who takes part really, and we only have one Struggle Team." explained Cloud with a smile. Obviously Struggle was a BIG thing here, a lot bigger than Blitz was back home…
"From Twilight Team Three, Mr Biggs!" a boy with shaggy black hair stood forward and bowed to Cid. "And from Ansem Team Two…Sora!" Sora jumped into the air and jogged over to Cid. Two attendants brought out wooden swords and a belt that each boy had to wear. The belts were lined with small orbs, it turns out that the players wore them on their upper arms, shins and waist. It also turns out I'm an idiot for not seeing the multiple belts in the attendants' hand. Each boy went to one side of the court and his team went to a set of benches. "Now get ready to Struggle!" Cid smiled as he walked off the court. "1, 2, 3," the entire crowd drew breath and yelled with Cid "STRUGGLE!" with those words Sora was off like a lightning bolt, he slid across the ground keeping his own orb off the ground and he drew his sword back and swiped, he was able to hit the Orb on Bigg's leg. Orb burst and sent water splashing out. Biggs brought his sword down on Sora who was just able to block it, the force cost Sora the orb on the back of his belt.
"GO BRO! You can do it!" yelled Yuna as the crowd burst to life. "Come on! Get up, show him what Ansem boys are made of!" yelled the crowd. Sora planted his foot on the waist of his opponent and forced them back, the orb popped. Sora was 1 for two! That lead was brought back to a stale mate when Biggs popped Sora's leg orb. "Come on Sora!" we all screamed again and again. Biggs tried to stab into Sora's front waist orb with his sword but Sora rolled away and jumped to his feet. Just so ya know these swords are foam padded and more like baseball bats than swords. Sora threw a couple of wide arched swings at Biggs. The black haired boy dodged them and was able to come around Sora and pop another of his waist orbs, Sora was now down by one. Sora flipped the sword in his hand so he was holding it backward, Sora slashed back and managed to get Bigg's orb the left side of Bigg's waist, Sora then faced him and twirled the sword, parrying a stab by Biggs, Sora popped the last orb on Biggs waist and in an excellent piece of sword play stabbed down into the last orb ob Biggs ankle, claiming victory for that round. Sora retired to the benches and threw off his vest and traded it for a cotton robe. I didn't really pay attention to the rest of the Struggle matches. All I could think about was how COOL that was.
As we exited the arena through the large gates, the cold air hit us, and reminded me of how hot it was in there. The cool salty air was nothing short of refreshing! I could barely contain myself after that, I could see WHY Struggle had caught on so well! During the intermission, I had run to the toilets and slipped off white shirt and put on the Struggle shirt.
"That ROCKED!" I yelled as we left the arena. I was jumping like Rikku out of pure excitement and the MEGA rush I had gotten.
"I can see the family resemblance." smirked Paine as she crossed her arms.
"I wonder where all that energy comes from." smiled Yuna s she put both hands behind her back and smiled.
"Hey Yunie! Are we going to go see Sora?" asked Rikku as she looked over at Yuna.
"Sure, the Champion's Gate will open soon." smiled Yuna as we set off to the west wing of the Arena. There were screaming girls from our school their, waiting to get a look of the champion team, some jocks from the grid iron team were there too, to pick up that 'Yuffie Girl' no doubt. These kids were all jumping up and down with signs saying "We love you *insert player/s name*" and thing like that, I half expected them to throw their underwear at the crowd. The gates did open eventually, and after 6 decibels worth of screaming Sora finally fought his way free from the crowd, looking rather worn for ware he immediately clung onto the side of Yuna in a brotherly way. "You look thrashed" sighed Yuna.
"If Sora won and feels this way, I wonder how Biggs is feeling." I smirked to myself, and everyone else.
"Hurt." nodded Paine. We all chatted around the Cloud and Yuna's cars about the match until Sora let out the king of all yawns, I swear his jaw bent 180degrees open…Haha, Sora had possibly the WHITEST teeth I had EVER seen. Not long after that we decided to go our separate ways, Rikku gave me a ride back to my place, being the nice cousin and all...Ok Mum would have walloped her one GOOD if she hadn't.
I walked into my no-more-unpacked-than-before room and threw my school bag on my chair and fell face first onto my bed. For a day with out PE, I felt totally shattered; I could only wonder how Rikku can be SO hyper ALL the time… I sat up and looked at my clock. 8:30 the other Struggles had lasted A LOT longer, Sora was a quick hitter, he had a reputation for having very short matches, regardless whether he won or not. I heard a buzzing noise from my bag, a familiar chime I had yet to get bored of…the William Tell Overture. I got up and grabbed my bag, riffled through it and found my phone, a message from an unknown number! I was shocked. But I flipped the phone over and read the message.
Hey Roxas
Its Sora here, hope ya enjoyed the Struggle today. It was one of my better matches. I hope to see ya at school tomorrow, I was only there for period one today, but Zidane mentioned you're in his theatre class, maybe I can watch you perform sometime.
Keep in touch.
Sora
I remember then it finally clicked, I had YET to get ANYONE'S number, sure I had Mum, Dad, Cloud and Rikku's numbers but no one else's. I quickly opened a reply message and then stopped before I could type something…what if he had sent it on dropped off to sleep? At that point I stopped listening to that voice and wrote a reply.
Hey Sora.
Not a problem dude, it was an awesome thing to watch! You totally OWNED that guy! Yeah I kind of like sitting under the oak outside the theatre department. Ya might be able to see me, if I get any parts. Acting isn't really my thing.
YOU better keep in touch!
RoXas
I didn't need to wait long for a reply. In fact I barely had time to undress and think about brushing my teeth before my phone buzzed again.
Oh yeah I will keep in touch. When you guys get your internet working, my MSN is . Well I have struggle practice at lunch, maybe ya can come watch lol. I just got home so I am off to have a shower and crash.
Night man!
I just sent a standard goodnight text back to him, I couldn't think of anything else to say so I went off and got ready for bed.
It had barely been two days since I came to the Destiny Islands from Midgar, words could not express how different the two were…Midgar was this large, dirty, noisy and smoggy City full of, crap really, crime, hookers and drunks in the slums, snobby big wigs and stuck up dicks in the 'good parts' of town. The Destiny Islands so far were small, clean, quiet, and tranquil. I missed Midgar a bit, sure I wasn't too popular there, and I did have an attitude problem. But man it was home, though I actually was born on Balamb Island here in the Destiny Islands, so does that make them home to? I was so deep in thought I forgot to coordinate the movements of my tooth brush and stabbed it right into my gums, if you have ever done that you'll understand why I let out a killer yell. "FUCK! HHHMMMM" I clenched my teeth together and stomped on the floor trying to send the pain away. "Shit bricks that HURT!" I yelled in my head. Nursing my sore gum I walked back into my room and got into my PJ's and climbed into bed. It was then I decided to let the coming weeks and months decide which I preferred more, because a long time ago I had come to the realisation that not everything is as perfect as it first seems...
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed my first Kingdom Hearts Fic! I know the First Chapter was INTENSELY long... But its gonna be shorter next time, the intro always deserves TIME in my opinion! ALOT of TIME!
I haven't finalised a MAIN Cast aside from Roxas, Olette, Sora and Naminé really, the Final Fantasy characters will be in there as main-ish characters though! More so than the legions of KH characters like Organisation 13 people, a nice woman like Xu fits in a lot easier than Xigbar would in a school. Not saying the KH guys won't appear in the story or have a major role to play, I've just played a lot more FF than KH *Considering there are 6x as many games for FF...*
I am getting help with this from a Beta Reader from my old Uni, mostly to do with my To and Too problem! And some other little grammar issues
Only 1 foot note this time! (BTW is it ok is these A/N's aren't spell checked?)
(*) a Dairy is a corner store, superette, convenience store, like a 7/11
Well please review and no KILLER Flames please? Be graceful and that. Thanks for reading, unless you skipped to the end to see my rambling...
Well please review