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Kaosu: You may not enjoy this story. Those who faint at the sight/mention/implication of blood, have problems with yaoi, and/or have great dislike of supernaturally themed stories, please, follow these instructions carefully: hit whatever back button is on your browser, open your history, and delete this page. NOW. Do not read beyond the separator line that follows this paragraph. Until you read beyond it, I am COMPLETELY liable for anything that happens. If you are allergic to precautions, I am completely responsible if you break out in a fever and grow an unusual fungus on you that threatens to steal your silverware while you read this text. In such an event, I will pay you any amount of compensation, and it won't even have to go to court, but the moment you read past the separator, it will be deemed your fault.
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Kaosu: See that? Good. Now, if you read past that line, even if you're not reading this text, I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE for what happens to you. If it turns out you faint, and post a bad review, and flame every story I own, you WILL be told to read the note below the second line. I will inform you that you were responsible for not clicking the back button.
Sora: K-Kaosu… I don't want to be in this… please? Just let me go home…
Kaosu: Look, Sora, please… You can do this, alright? Trust me. Riku, you be careful, too. A lot of things can go wrong, here. It must be PERFECT.
Riku: Right… perfect… I'll do my best…
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"Death deth
"Noun
the act of dying; the end of life; the total and permanent cessation of all the vital functions of an organism.
an instance of this: a death in the family; letters published after his death.
the state of being dead: to lie still in death.
extinction; destruction: It will mean the death of our hopes.
a method of dying: a hero's death.
(usually initial capital letter) the agent of death personified, usually represented as a man or a skeleton carrying a scythe.
Also called spiritual death. loss or absence of spiritual life.
Christian Science. the false belief that life comes to an end.
bloodshed or murder: Hitler was responsible for the death of millions.
a cause or occasion of death: You'll be the death of me yet!
Archaic. pestilence; plague."
The boy reading this closed his eyes and laughed to himself, smirking so that his fang was visible. "Stupid humans…" the demon muttered.
He had recently decided to look up the human's definition for "death." After being one of the several to ensure it for about two decades or so, he had never bothered to check. Now that he had, it was so amazing to him how smart they thought they were. Sure, a moderate number of them knew the real definition, but only because they had to accept that people must die, for people to be born, for the world to not implode upon itself and destroy everything, and so they wouldn't be allowed to intervene. It was a simple fact of life that a majority of the human world needed to be shielded from until they were on their deathbeds.
The brown-haired boy leaned back in his chair, allowing the computer to idle off to its screensaver ('at least they aren't TOTALLY stupid…' he reminded himself mentally), and returned to familiarizing himself with his new location.
The boy, Sora Skyhawk, was a demon. You already know that. You can probably also guess that he makes death happen. Well, to be more precise, he's there so that it CAN happen. A good percent of the time, people would die on their own, because in the world, accidents happen… or people decide to rob a bank… or set off a bomb… or commit suicide…
There's that remaining percentage, however, that might need something to trip over to complete the process. He's there to trip them. Or perhaps the moving company paid attention, and grabbed the rope that wouldn't break with that piano still high up in the air. He's there to fray the rope. The rocks that are supposed to tumble down and crush the mountain climber might have something supporting them so people are safe… including the ones who shouldn't be. He's there to set the rocks loose. Perhaps the parachute isn't stuck, and the skydiver would land perfectly unscathed. He's there to cut the pull string.
A number of things could go wrong. That's why the bright-blue eyed demon was there.
He leaned farther back, flipping himself off the chair, and, with great ease, onto his hands, completely avoiding a painful collision with the floor. Then he did a half-cartwheel, making him upright once again. He stood in front of his bedroom mirror, and recited his alias.
"Self: Sora Skyhawk, 15. Student, works at new candy store, also creates the chocolate-based candy there. June 2nd, 1994. Moved to Destiny Islands from Hollow Bastion last week due to more favorable location for family business. Mother: Natalia (Nay-tal-ee-uh) Skyhawk, AKA Nattie, 36. Owner of candy store, also creates fruit-based candy there. February 19th, 1972. Father: Jackson Skyhawk, AKA Jack, 38. Manages family candy store, also creates all taffy-based candy there." Then he realized he didn't figure out who made the gum. He then added "and gum-based candy. October 5th, 1970. Siblings: none. Family pet/s: cats: Beige, 'Taffy', orange, 'Gummi', dark-brown with white swirl-patterns, 'Vanilla-Chocolate', AKA 'Vanillate'."
His 'family' and 'pets' materialized into reality. Also, at a previous point in time, the re-modeling that would have needed to be done for this alias to work began. At exactly this point in time, the candy store was ready for business.
He turned off his light, made sure his fang was masked with an illusion, and got into his bed to pretend to sleep, ready to begin the day. It was no more than fifteen minutes later that, exactly on schedule, the newly-created Natalia Skyhawk "woke" him up.
He got out of bed, got dressed, and went down from the 3rd-floor of the candy-store/house he lived in to the 2nd, where breakfast was already being made. Jackson Skyhawk followed.
He reminded himself that because these people didn't exist, he would have to play by their rules until they began to catch up to the "existing point", since a family can't just fly out of nowhere. Not even fake ones.
"So, Sora, ready to go back to school?" his 'father' inquired, reaching down to pet Taffy, who, so it seemed, was attached more so to him than the rest of the family.
He shrugged. "It's not going to be too different from Hollow Bastion, I suppose."
"Probably not. Well, you'll do well here just like in Hollow bastion, I'm sure."
Sora picked up Vanillate, and she purred gleefully at the attention from her preferred member of the family. "I'm sure I'll be fine." He grinned.
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"Did you hear about the new candy store?" "I heard that the new student works there." "Doesn't his family own it?" "I wonder if he makes any of the candy…" "I heard he works with chocolate candy…" "Is that his cat?" "Why is it following him to school?" "It reminds me of vanilla and chocolate…" "Oh, don't be ridiculous, it probably just snuck in."
Words poured from the mouths of the other students at the school. Sora was hoping to go mostly unnoticed, but if your cat follows you to school on your shoulder, that's not very easy to do.
"No, she's mine," Sora responded to the last comment, facing a silver-haired boy who said it, smiling. He held up a note from the principal stating that Sora Skyhawk had permission to bring his pet with him to school, under terms that it wasn't sick, it was well-bathed, it stayed with him at all times, it's claws weren't sharp, and it didn't distract him or other students.
The heart that was somehow still in Sora's chest skipped a beat. He looked away from the boy quickly, facing the second-to-last person who made a comment.
He continued to answer the other questions, and statements, in reverse order, only skipping questions he'd already answered: "Yes, she does, her name is Vanilla-Chocolate, Vanillate for short. Yes, I do create chocolate-based candy, my family does own the candy store, and I do in fact, work there as needed besides making candy."
He walked off, and the hallway sparked back to life with comments and conversation.
The silver-haired boy, Riku, put on a mask of hatred or at least dislike. But inside he rather liked the sight of Sora… And quite certainly wanted him.
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Mr. Strife: the brilliance that was the art instructor. His class was first on Sora's list. In it, he also saw Riku, who had introduced himself between the "question-answer" period and now. The cat on his shoulder looked to Sora with a look that, to a person, would mean "Told you so."
Sora just stuck his tongue out at the feline for about a tenth of a second. Those who could witness and interpret the look the cat gave him giggled at the exchange. Others just looked at the two rather unusually. Mr. Strife was one of the few who were caught between both.
The bell rang.
"Alright, then," the blond-haired teacher began, "before we start, we have a new student. And a potential classroom assistant as well," he added, noting the cat's presence. "Would you like to introduce yourself, or rather, yourselves?"
"I am Sora Skyhawk, and this would be my cat, Vanillate. I'm from Hollow Bastion, and my parents own the new candy store," the demon-boy said cheerfully. Of course, no one knew that part. Yet.
"Very nice! We should arrange a trip down there sometime soon…" the teacher noted (the class, of course, was excitedly murmuring), writing something down on his notepad, then flipping to the front page for attendance, it seemed. I'll put you two… right next to Riku. How's that sound?" he said, to Riku, Sora, and his cat, implying that all three had a say in this decision.
The cat nodded in approval, surprising all those who hadn't already seen the cat interact with Sora, and a few that had.
"If my cat's fine with it, I have no objection," Sora stated simply.
Riku didn't argue with the arrangement either.
Sora took his seat, and Vanillate hopped onto the table and rubbed her head on Riku's arm. Sora leaned closer to Riku and said, softly enough to be heard, but not disrupt class, "She likes you."
He then leaned up to Riku's ear and whispered, "She only likes people I really like." Riku turned a little red, and Sora sat up straight again.
"… -you will be working with a partner…" Mr. Strife was saying, then suddenly looked at the three students at the back table and added, "Which means ONE partner, Axel, Roxas, and Demyx!"
The three looked at him innocently. The blond one said, smiling, "Yes, Mr. Strife."
The red-haired one added, with a smirk, "Of course, Mr. Strife."
The one with blue hair said, "Understood Mr. Strife," grinning like a pyromaniac with a flamethrower and a bad case of ADHD.
The instructor only gave them "The Look" all teachers use for misbehaving students, except his was accompanied with the universal sign for "I'm Watching You."
The class giggled at this.
"As I was saying, you will each be working with a partner to create a unique artwork." He grinned suddenly like a teacher who doesn't play by the book. "Or at least…. That's what you're SUPPOSED to do."
The whole class snapped to attention for the real assignment. Sora guessed this was standard for the class.
"Your real assignment," he said, pulling a pen from his desk, "to celebrate the new student, is to create a candy-based sculpture or artwork. Conveniently, this will go nicely with our homecoming dance, which, I will remind you all, is ALSO candy themed." He crossed something off of the notepad and wrote something else above or below it. Probably to make note of the change in the lesson plan.
The three boys from the back table rushed up to Mr. Strife, and, with what appeared to be much begging, whining, and promising, and perhaps three pairs of puppy-dog-eyes, managed to convince the teacher to allow all three to work together. Sora immediately grabbed Riku's arm and his cat sat on the boy's head, indicating that he was working with the spiky-haired boy, whether he wanted to or not.
The other students stayed put, stood up, and sat down as needed, and finally, everyone was discussing what to make… and out of what?
Sora already had out a notebook and pencils of several colors. His cat seemed to be very clever, because she picked one up with her tail, and began to assist Sora in drawing as he explained the idea.
"Ok, this works out perfectly. In more ways than one," he began.
Riku responded with a still half-dazed "Uh-huh…"
Sora continued gleefully, "I've just learned a few new tricks, you see, like making candy paper, or in my case, chocolate paper, and a few more fancy little things like that. So… My thought is to create…"
The sketch that the boy and cat were finishing looked very much like a scale model of a house…
"… A house," Sora finished. He looked up gleefully.
"Point for me." The boy giggled at this, and Riku continued. "So… What's the plan, then?"
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The plan had been this:
Riku would come over to Sora's house after school, and the two would work on the project in the little factory-room in the basement where all the candy was made.
What Riku DIDN'T realize, was that he wasn't supposed to make it there in one piece.
So, after the day ended, Riku waited outside for Sora and cat, which both showed up soon after he got outside.
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The only real part of Sora's cover-story was Vanillate. She wasn't an ordinary cat though.
/I'll bet he won't die. He'll notice, and you won't push him. /
Sora mentally sighed. \Look, enough out of you.\
/I'm telling you, he's not gonna die. You won't let him. /
\This'll make you be quiet: If you're right, I blow my cover to him. If you aren't right, you get to wear that pink bow you've been insisting I keep off of you.\
It worked.
Inside, Sora really wanted the cat to be right, though. He felt something for Riku, even though he wasn't supposed to…
The car that should rip Riku's body in half would be on its way down the road soon…
Riku walked into the street, not knowing the danger that would fly at him in a matter of seconds.
Suddenly, the vehicle raced at him, the driver busy looking through her purse, careful not to swerve, but not paying a lot of attention.
And Riku wouldn't be able to make it out of harm's way on his own.
Sora lunged at Riku, propelling them both form the car's path.
They got up, both a little shaken by the incident, to the other side of the street. Then, Sora's normally cold heart broke down, and he embraced Riku as if he would never see the other boy ever again. It had come very close.
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Kaosu: Well… I know for a fact the original wasn't quite like this….
Sora: … I can't believe I'm not cowering in fear….. I actually did well…
Riku: My leg still hurts from the whole pushed away from the car thing…