Finally! My English teacher gave back my assignment. I got an A. ^-^. Though it was a 48/50 because I wrote it out on paper instead of typing it and my teacher said to write it pen instead of pencil. Still a pretty good score though. Just letting this one get published because I haven't been really updating that much and I thought that this story was pretty good.

So there are some changes to the story before I posted this, but the story-plot itself hasn't changed. Those changes will be said at the end of the story so it will make more sense. And if you're wondering what the assignment was, our class was reading some Edgar Allen Poe stories and so our teacher told us to make a Poe story of our own. So here is mine.
ENJOY!

Disclaimer: Once more I do not own Kingdom Hearts in any matter.

~Sora's POV~

BOOM! CRACK! The thunder roared across the small town as the dark, gloomy, clouds shrouded it into the night. Rain poured down, hitting the ground and dispersing into a million trickles of water. Most houses and and shops had fallen into the spell of slumber that night created onto their old, dilapidated buildings. But that didn't matter to me. I just kept running. Trying to escape this town from death itself. Gripping the only object of concern to me, I heaved from fatigue as the winds cold embrace tried to put me in the spell of hypothermia. The object that I had within my being was a slowly, wilting red rose. As I ran up the hill, I stepped into a pothole causing me to fall. Before falling onto the wet and dirty street, I thrusted my body to the side so my back would hit the ground and the rose I was holding wouldn't get damaged.

My back hit the ground. I could feel the pain slowly burn into my back a I coughed up spit from the whiplash. For a split second, my vision turned pale white before they refocused and I could see the the gray clouds illuminating the sky. I got up in a groggy fashion while holding my pulsating head trying to make the pain stop. Once the pain calmed down enough to bare with, I inhaled some moist air to catch my breathe. As I exhaled and a trail of white mist escaped my lips, I prepared myself to run again. I opened my legs in a running stance and gripped the rose, when a sudden sharp pain overcame my right arm.

I looked down and saw blood trickling down my gripping hand. I opened my fingers to reveal my palm, as well as the rose, bright red with my blood. I don't remember the thorns being there when I first received it. I slowly walked up the hill still looking at my palm as I watched the the rain hit the blood and carry it off the side of my hand. This made me reminisce the unfortunate events I had witnessed a few weeks back.

~x~
It first started with Riku.(1)

Thinking about it now, I can see why he was the first be killed. When he first received the rose from that mysterious man-he never did introduce himself- he threw it away just as soon as the man disappeared.

That's when it happened.

I knew it was bad the moment Kairi (2) called me. As soon as I reached Riku's house, I went to the only plausible place Riku would be. His room. Kairi had called me earlier telling me that she tried to get Riku and apologize for an argument that they had the day before, but he wouldn't open his door. Once I saw Kairi outside Riku's door, I kicked the door open. What we saw next was something that we weren't expecting.

Riku was on the ground with blood covering his surrounding body. His eyes laid closed as if he were sleeping. Though that gun shot wound through his head said otherwise. His clothes were badly soaked in blood and ripped so one can see the cut marks still oozing with fresh blood. But what really surprised us was what was sticking out of Riku's chest.

A rose.

It looked so grotesquely beautiful as it stuck out of Riku's body as if using him as it's nourishment. His fingertips were grasping said rose by it's thorns so he must've been trying to remove it before he died. Horrified at such a scene, I looked around to see if the killer left any clues. On Riku's desk laid a bright, white note. Even though it was just sitting there, it's whiteness seemed to call out for attention and looked as if a skylight was hitting it so it wouldn't be gone unnoticed. I walked toward the note without getting blood on my shoes and grabbed the note. On the front of the note it read," A Rose of Lust." As I opened the note, there was a message. It read:

"An elegant yet innocent rose tainted by a disgusting human-being like himself. For this he shall die an unruly death that could only be described as, acceptable. No more shall this thing full of lust torture any more roses such as the one sticking out of his chest. A deadly sin should no more be alive to breathe such air and hurt such delicate masterpieces. 1 rose down. Who will be next?"

I dropped the note and couldn't believe what I had just read. I knew me and Kairi were going to be next, but who, when, and how was a mystery.

~x~

Then it was Kairi. In a way I was sad yet relieved that she was chosen next. Selfish, but no less human. Though what makes it worse is that I saw that whole thing happen.

It happened a a few days after Riku's death. We were walking to an unknown destination that I couldn't recall. We didn't speak any words of interaction for we felt it wouldn't be right for Riku's sake. As we walked in silence, we could hear footsteps coming our way. Two rude individuals rushed past us as another individual was chasing after them with a knife. We should've been scared. We should've paid more attention to our surroundings. But that didn't matter to us at the moment. The man with the knife grabbed Kairi. I tried to assault the man, but the two men from people from before grabbed both of my arms and restrained me. I watched as Kairi screamed for help as I struggled to get out of the grip of the two men.

Then the man did the unthinkable.

Raising his arm with the knife, he put it to Kairi's throat and slit it, revealing a waterfall of blood trickling down her neck and to her clothes. At the sight, my legs gave out and I fell on my knees. I felt so useless and for the first time in a long time, I was crying. But the killer didn't stop. It was only the beginning. He laid Kairi down and sat on top of her. Then he kept stabbing her. Stabbing and ripping off flesh as blood bursted out of her body from the assault. I could hear him laugh maniacally as he smiled while killing her with his blood-lusted eyes. He was turning Kairi into a dead corpse of flesh scattered around the sidewalk. Once he was done, he got off of Kairi and told the two holding me to release me. I fell to the floor on my fours crying. As I looked at the ground I could see a shadow overcome the ground. I looked up to see the killer in front of me. I thought that was going to kill me; instead he gave me a note. He walked to Kairi's corpse and laid a rose on her once called chest and walked away. I looked at the note as my hands were shaking from watching such horrible acts. On the note it read, "A Rose of Envy." Once more I opened the note to read the message:

"Brought by the many flowers of this world, this rose is nothing more than a pawn of Envy. Such selfish needs for self-gratification will be fallen with the utmost punishment. This deadly sin has met it's match. 2 roses down. Will you be next?"

I was already scared beyond my wits from this note, but what made this different was that there was a signature. The Black Rose.

~x~
Now I walk up this hill looking at the raindrops wash my bloody palm clean, when Ibumped into someone warm and soft. I looked up to see a man with a black hood and I could see a red glint in his eyes. I knew I had run into the Black Rose himself. I gasped as I stepped back from his tall stature. I knew he was going to kill me at that very moment. I braced myself for any attack that he would unleash, when he handed me a white rose (3). I was confused at the gesture, but took the rose in a cautious matter.

I remembered hearing a story about the white rose. Just as the red rose represented the fiery passion of love, the white rose represented the calm, subtle beauty of innocence. Maybe the Black Rose thought that I was worthy of living.

I looked at him wanting to give him a jubilant smile, when he gave me a note. As I took the note from his hand, I read the front of it,"A Rose of Pride." I tried to open the note with my free hand so I wouldn't have to use my bloody palm that held the red and white rose. Once I had the note completely open, I read the note aloud:

"A rose such as yourself should not be considered a red rose, but a white rose. In such stories of a magnificent rose, you are the very essence of innocence. Or you should be. The sin of Pride has overcome your very being and dire consequences will ensue. Will you live or die? I shall decide your death.

P.S. Don't look in front of you."

Being the person I am, I couldn't help but look as humans call it reverse-psychology, The Black Rose stood in a fighting stance, gripping what looked like a metal pipe. Before I could react, He swung the said object toward my direction and from there everything went black.

~x~

There you go. I hope it was Poe-like just like it was intended to be.

And now for the changes:

Riku's name that I used for the actual assignment was Jenos.

Kairi's name for the assignment was Sephiria. Which by the way both those names came from Black Cat which I do not own either.

The white rose was originally the blue rose, but I changed it because it did not match the description I gave it. I only realized this after I turned in my assignment, but it was still fine. I got the idea of the blue rose from an episode of Full Metal Alchemist.

R&R and see you in another fanfic! ^-^

twilight-shadow13