"Why'd we have to move?"
"You're asking that now Roxas?"
The teen only stared apathetically at her mother from the back row of the car. She elected herself to be in the back, mostly so she could make sure nothing of her's would get crushed under whatever they packed in their four door hatchback. Sora sat up front with her headphones in her ear and bumping along to whatever song she was listening too.
"I didn't want to cause a fuss," was the expected reply from the passive aggressive teen. Her mother rolled her eyes before focusing back forward. "Mom?" Roxas persisted.
"I wanted a change of pace," she replied, she crossed into a less crowded lane of the road. "That house feels too big, and I wasn't making the payments. Also the money..."
"We're almost broke mom, we're poor as fuck." Roxas' voice cut through her mother's like a knife, making the older woman grimace.
"Don't call say that." Her voice was tired as she slowed down due to the lanes began to back up.
"What? Poor? Or fuck? Why can't I? It's the truth..." There was a strong bitter resentment tainting the girl's words. No one at that age should be able to muster such resentment in their words. "If you let me get a job to help out, maybe-"
"Roxas!" Her mother's voice rose as force was put behind her name. It was enough to subdue Roxas, making her bite her tongue to stop her from speaking anymore.
"Hey, is that the new house?" Sora's chipper voice broke through the lull of contempt that the two-headstrong woman gave off as she pointed forward. There in front of them was two story houses, though it seemed comparably tiny amongst the other homes. Pulling into the driveway of the home, the family of three exited the car. Each going a pace which parallel their feelings towards this avenue of their life.
Sora leapt out of the car without a care in the world, nearly slamming the car door shut on the wire of her head phones. Their mother followed suit, silently praising Gaia for the fact that she could finally stretch her legs after the near six-hour drive from Destiny Islands County to Twilight Town City. Roxas essentially slid out of the car as if she was boneless, making slow gaited steps towards the front door with a scowl and bitter air around her.
As the mother fumbled around with the keys, Sora bounced excitedly on her sneakers, eyes simply alight with what would be to come with their new home. Roxas saw that a pigeon had flown overhead and recently dropped its dropping on the car's windshield.
"Ah, here it is." Their mother found the key between some loose change before putting it in the lock and turning. With a click, the door fell open and Sora quickly slipped inside after kicking off her sneakers. The lights weren't even on when she rushed in, but the older twin didn't seem to care one bit.
"Sora! Be careful, they might not have cleaned this place as good as they s—"
-Crash-
"Whoops. My bad."
"Sora!" Their mother called in warning as the rest of the lights flickered on. Roxas finished unlacing her boots before stepping inside. The wood flooring beneath her feet chilled her through her socks. This house felt more hollow and cold, though most of that could attributed to the near "always summer" atmosphere of Destiny Islands County.
"I'll get her," Roxas tossed over her shoulder. Hands in her pockets, she began to make her way to where her sister had made that loud noise. He found in a hallway, a broken marble statue of some... woman on the floor. Amazingly it only broke in two parts, horrifyingly the part that snapped off was its head.
"Great move sis, probably the better of the two..." Sora just laughed as she rubbed the back of her head. "I hate this place already..."
-0-
Cloud Strife, she reverted back to her maiden even before the divorce and ensuing custody battles, sat down at their new dining table. Though "new" wouldn't be the right word to describe the oaken table, considering she could see the small chips and wear that peppered it just barely noticeable by the untrained eye.
"We got two bathrooms now!" Sora skated through the entry arch with a look of excitement on her face. She was taking the move with her usual jubilance.
"They're both smaller than what we had back at Destiny," Roxas grumbled as she stalked in. Her face was marred by the perpetual frown that dogged her face the moment she walked in.
"At least there's two," Cloud mumbled aloud as she saw her kids begin to help her unpack. They didn't really have much, a few boxes of clothes, some photo albums, Cloud's old uniform and tools, her kids' shinais, their new school uniforms. Speaking of school...
"I can handle the rest, you two go out and explore the city. School starts tomorrow so you should try and find the route to it."
"We passed it a while ago, didn't we? The big red and black buildings?" Roxas asked. Cloud nodded.
"Twilight Prep, one of the best schools in the country." Cloud smiled proudly, knowing her daughters qualified despite the school's difficult entrance exams. Sora and Roxas scored high enough and allowed them to apply for their honor students program, she ought to thank that Riku boy that Sora talks about and send Xion some city goods for helping Roxas. Maybe they'd like the Twilight Town
"Be back in a bit mom!" Sora shouted as she slipped on her sneakers and ran out the house. Roxas mutedly nodded as she laced up her boots and shouldered her jacket.
"Stay safe, and one of you bring a phone. Come back within the hour!"
"Yeah yeah." Roxas waved her mother off before following Sora out of the house, her phone in her skinny jean pocket while her jacket was tied around her waist. Sora was waiting for her outside, already marveling at the city's more grandeur structures. There aren't any humungous clock towers are tall steel buildings in Destiny, but at least in Destiny there wasn't much issue with the hustle and bustle of cars and people. Oh, look there was even a light rail of some kind, there wasn't anything like that in Destiny. That last comment was full of sarcasm from Roxas, knowing that there was a light rail in Destiny.
Roxas began to note that despite walking for something of thirty minutes, she and Sora had not seen the iconic red and black painted buildings of Twilight Prep. Instead they seemed to stray further and further from any sort of inner city buildings and more towards the cities outskirts. Roxas even recalled how they back tracked and looped around several of the same statues and landmarks. Which meant...
"Sora… Do you have any idea where you're going?"
The older of the two turned around, and with wide blue eyes sent her younger sister a wide smile.
"Nope."
Roxas blinked before walking up flicking Sora against her forehead.
"Ow!"
"If you're lost, at least say so. And bring you're phone next time for the map!" Sora smiled shyly before Roxas sighed and looked around. "Look, there's a park. I'm gonna see if I can find where we are using that."
"Kay!" Sora followed close behind, however Roxas turned once and saw that her sister got distracted once more. This time by several kids whom were playing with a blitzball. At least she'll be occupied.
"Hey kids, check this out!" The ball was passed to Sora before she began to juggle it, alternating her feet and passing it in front and behind her.
Roxas' phone rang, a familiar ring tone playing.
"I'm lost, so lost...will I be able to see the sky again?
Oh please, one more day
Wishing, praying...wont someone allow this shadow of a girl
To see one more day" *
"Hello you've reached the Pitt of Darkness Eternal, please leave me a message after screams of the damned."
"Hello to you too Roxas."
"Hey Xion." Roxas greeted her best friend of nearly twelve years, the one she left behind back at Destiny Islands.
The two were inseparable ever since they met at the local Destiny Island Kendo dojo. Initially they came to literal blows over some minor disagreement over a water bottle, it ended up not belonging to either of them and to Tidus. After the fight, both came out with red welts over their faces and hands. Their sensei forced them to apologize to each other, but instead of separating the two he had them partner up for all future exercises.
They ended up finding that they shared many of the same hobbies and interests; like kendo, the color black, and weird elusive icecream flavors. Years went by and they grew even closer, essentially Xion became Roxas' sister and cofindant. Sora may have had a lot of people surrounding her, Roxas was fine with Xion being by her side.
"So how's life in the big city?"
"Sora got lost the minute we went outside to look for the school, and I think she forgot her phone in the car."
"Wow she… She really isn't bothered by the move."
"It's Sora, the only thing she'll get shocked by is if someone said they were closing down Disneyland."
"That was good prank."
"Yeah… But Riku coming down on us wasn't worth it."
'I think it was."
"You didn't have him as your partner in PE."
"Hey Kairi and Riku wanted me to tell you that they tried calling Sora, but didn't get through to her."
"When did they do that?"
"Three hours ago."
Sora was napping around that time… Missed seeing the deers, deer? Doeses? Pack of deer? Run by.
"Hey there girlie, what's your name?"
"Sora!"
Oh for fucks sake.
"Xion, I'll call you back. There are two large guys around Sora."
"Oh Riku is gonna fli—"
Roxas closed her phone and stared ahead as Sora smiled blithely at the group of four who stood in front of her. Pocketing her phone, she began to stride up to them, noting that at least two of them were taller than they were. That makes things… Difficult. Normally there would be a seething Riku and an irate Kairi flanking her with Xion filming from behind, now it was just her. Her and her five-five feet and one thirty-pound self.
"Roxas, these guys know where our school is!" Sora shouted waving over to her sister.
Oh sis, please never change.
"Do they have names?" Roxas narrowed her eyes as she walked to them, subtly bringing her sister closer to her. At least two of them were guys and were tall, like Riku-level tall. The third was a short overcoated… Person whose face couldn't even be seen behind their layers of clothes.
"You can call me whatever you want, doll." The one tallest one with a beanie charmed. Roxas stared blankly at him.
"Alright idiot," she smirked. The guy's face immediately soured.
"Bitch…"
"Hey that's rude y'know!" The other tall guy stepped forward and tried to front her, puffing his chest out and making him seem bigger than he already was. Roxas wasn't amused. Bigger and more doucheyer people have tried the same stint on her and Sora before.
"Roxas…" Sora may be very slightly airheaded, but even she can tell Roxas was picking a fight with the wrong people. "Stop." She could see the tell tale signs that Roxas was going to make a desicion that would result in very bad consequences for the both of them; like the twitch in her mouth, or the clenching of her fist.
"Yeah Roxas, stop." The guy echoed condescendingly. "If you want, a big strong guy like me can show you around town… Even to some of it's more, secluded places." Something snapped in Roxas' mind and before she knew it, her booted foot rose up and between his legs. The sound of hard leather impacting straight to bone was heard before the life left the boy's eyes and he collapsed backwards, legs bent in with his mouth slack.
Everyone stared at wide eyes while Roxas still had her foot extended out. Even she was surprised with what she did, though she wasn't sorry about it, she didn't plan to do this… Yet.
"Seifer!" Two of the other three rushed to help the foaming at the mouth boy currently clutching his wounded manhood. Roxas on the other hand lowered her foot and grabbed Sora's hand.
"Time to leave!" She said before hauling Sora out of the park. While her sister apologized on her behalf, Roxas focused on getting as far as possible from the park.
"R-Roxas! Slow down!"
"Nope! We're not stopping until we can't see those them anymore!"
"We wouldn't have this problem if you didn't kick him!"
"Oh so now it's my fault that the asshoel thought I was an easy woman to f-"
"Roxas, they aren't behind us anymore!"
"Huh?"
Roxas stopped running and Sora nearly ran into her sister at the sudden stop. The younger one looked behind and saw indeed that there weren't any pursuers attempting to follow them. Instead she looked forward and saw that they were in a rather secluded area of Twilight Town, that is to say in a forested area with an ornate gated mansion in front of them.
The mansion itself looked a little rustic, with vines and flowers seeminly overtaking the white marble walls of the property. The walls and gate surrounding it however looked state of the art, with an automated gate and what looked like a black town car limousine resting outside the front of the mansion. It was something both Roxas and Sora had never seen in person due to their own family situation, the closest they saw came in the form of Kairi's home, since she was the Mayor's daughter.
"Uh… I think we're a little lost." Sora commented. Roxas gave her sister a glare to which she smiled easily at the common response for when Sora comments on her mistakes. "And this time it's not my fault.
"Shaddup..."
"Uh, excuse me, are you two lost?" Roxas and Sora both turn to see a voice had come the mansion. Beyond the gate and near a flower bed, a girl wearing a white sundress and flaxen blond hair stood. If not for the fact that she had a cellphone in her hand and a sketchbook in the other, Roxas would have thought she was seeing a ghost with how pale and ethereal this girl looked.
"Yup! My sister and I were running from some people and we ended up here!" Sora explained without hesitation. Roxas could feel her blood pressure rise. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are, do you?"
"You're at my house." The girl's voice sounded distant and apprehensive. She tentatively looked behind her before turning back forward.
"You okay? You seem a little nervous." At this point, Roxas just let herself go with the flow. Getting hit on in less than ten minutes after entering the city, getting lost, and winding up in front of a mansion in a forest with a girl who looked like a ghost; Roxas decided that if the universe was gonna put her through the wringer, she was going to just go with the punches.
"Yes, it's just… No one really comes out here." Her voice grew quiet and somber, while Roxas blinked.
"Yeah no shit, it's kinda in the middle of nowhere." Sora gave her sister a look of alarm, knowing that Roxas' mouth had often lead to fights just as well as her actions. Being rude to a random stranger wasn't the worst Roxas' has done before, but she still shouldn't do it.
However, to both their surprises, the girl giggled. Roxas stared wide eyed, while Sora wondered if she missed something. The girl's laughter was a light sound, soft and wouldn't even be heard if the wind picked up even more.
"Yes, it sorta is..."
"… You wouldn't happen to know how to get to Twilight Prep, do you?" Roxas asked. The girl smiled.
"Turn around and continue along the path you were on before. Look for several large sections of golden sidewalk, they're the school's pathing system to lead to the school."
"Follow the yellow brick road…" Roxas sighed as she pushed her hair out from over her eyes. The girl giggled once more. "I guess… Thanks. Come on Sora, let's go."
"Kay, bye!" Sora waved to the girl as the two turned around to walk back from where they came. The other girl smiled and waved back.
"See you later!" She shouted back, though her shout was barely above that of someone's normal voice. The message however was cryptic sounding to Roxas' ears. She doubted that they would come back, or maybe she would. The forest was a lot less loud than the city.
Eventually the two Strife girls made it back to familiar cement and brick structures of the urban areas of Twilight Town, and indeed there were areas in the sidewalk that had large sections of gold imprinted on it. Following these signs, the two eventually passed the familiar sight of their new home, they're mother waiting with a scowl on her face.
"Where the fuck where you two?" She tapped a finger against her arm as she leaned against the doorframe.
"Got lost."
In total, it had been more than two hours since they left. The school was meant to be at most a ten-minute walk. Cloud Strife tried calling Sora, to find her phone was wedged between an old Papou fruit and a stuffed Heartless. Then when she tried to call Roxas, who's meant to be the more responsible and at least level headed of the two, it didn't reach her. She had half a mind to get her gear out and scour the city to look for her kids.
"Dinner's cold," she settled with that phrase before she turned on her heel and went back into the home.
"… Why couldn't we stay at Destiny?" Roxas groaned and she and Sora entered their home, knowing that Cloud had a long lecture to give to her kids.
"I'm sure Twilight Town will just be as exciting as Destiny!" Sora smiled brightly.
"Dinner. Is. Cold." There mother's voice boomed from inside the house and both sisters paled. Yup, she was definately mad.
* = A refrence to the lyrical version of Xion's theme by Lizz Robinett's (Youtube Link: watch?v=QbLMOAOoqvk)