Title: To Be Abandoned
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor its characters. I make no money from the online publication of this work.
Summary: Years after their father's death, Sora and Roxas have now lost their mother. Left in the care of a strange woman to whom their mother left everything in her will, they are constantly at odds with her in a battle of emotion.
Author's Notes: So I haven't updated my other stories, but I haven't had much inspiration for them, so I'm cranking out a new one in the hopes that it'll succeed. Love you, mean it!
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Chapter One - Her Last Will and Testament
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Standing side-by-side, the boys stood by their mother's casket. The young brunet dared not look into the open casket, not yet having the courage to face his mother's death.
"How could she...leave us?" The brunet, Sora, sobbed. The blond beside him, his brother, Roxas, said nothing.
A weak whimper by the head of the coffin caught his attention as he tried to console his brother, and he looked over. A girl in a simple black frock clutched the side of the casket, her knuckles white as a few tear drops dripped onto the back of her hands from her chin. Roxas didn't know her. He had never seen before.
In their lifetime, he and Sora had never met this girl, with her auburn hair and tearful, lavender eyes. Her face looked soft and young; she couldn't have been a cousin or a niece, or a sibling to their mother. They knew every friend and family member; had known every single, solitary living person whom their mother had met. No one else seemed to recognize her, either, for no one spoke to her.
Who was she?
Roxas turned away, thinking nothing of her as he rubbed comforting circles on his brother's back.
Family members and friends came to the two boys, uttering condolences. Their grandmother, their mother's kin, spoke quietly to the girl for only a moment before coming to them. This angered Roxas. How dare she comfort a girl who couldn't have known mother, if no one here even knew who she was?
He kept his rage inside. This was a solemn occasion. He couldn't be pitching a fit at his mother's wake.
- - -
At the funeral, some days later, there she was again. Her face was veiled, but he recognized that frock, and that hair. She was wept silently, alone. She distanced herself from the group, though grandma spoke to her once again before everyone left.
As grandma took them back to her house, both Roxas and Sora saw the girl remain behind, even as it started to rain.
At grandma's house, grandma made the boys some tea.
"Who was that girl?" Sora asked, beating Roxas to the punch as two hot cups of chai were placed in front of them.
"She was no one." grandma replied. "Just a nobody."
"Then why was she at the wake, and the funeral, crying?" Roxas demanded.
"Nothing. Just forget it." grandma ordered. "She is a nobody. You'll never see her again. She's nothing."
But Roxas knew she was hiding something. But grandma seemed to hate her. Everyone ignored her. Had she possibly done something to mother, a long time ago, and now felt remorse? Roxas didn't want to know. He didn't care. If she did, mother was dead anyway. And no matter how much anyone, especially that nobody wept, she wasn't coming back.
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A week passed since the funeral. The boys sat down to breakfast with their grandparents, quiet and somber.
"There is something important that we need to tell you." Grandma said as the two ate their cereal in silence. Both boys stopped, looking up at her expectantly.
"Put your spoons down, she said it's important." Grandpa ordered. The boy obeyed, straightening up to hear what their grandmother had to say.
"We went to the reading of your mother's will yesterday." she began, sipping her tea. The boys perked up a bit more, wondering what their mother had left to whom. "All of her money, all of your father's life insurance money, your house, and everything in it..." she put her tea down. The boys' thoughts raced. Where was it all going?
"Everything was left to some girl." grandpa finished gruffly. "Kairi, or somethin'. Some redheaded bimbo; I dun' even know who the hell she is." Grandma sent him a sharp look. Roxas and Sora looked at each other, then to Grandma.
"...We get...nothing?!" Roxas demanded. Grandma nodded. "No one gets anything, except for her?"
"Roxas, don't say something like that. I don't mind that we didn't get anything, but...is that the girl who was at the wake, and mom's funeral?" he asked. Grandma nodded once again. Roxas' nostrils flared as he let out an angry huff.
"What's more, is that she left you two...in her care." Grandma finished.
The boys only stared.
"...I don't want to go. I want to stay with you." Roxas said immediately. "Sora, we're staying."
"You have no choice, unless you want to become emancipated." Grandma replied.
"You're not even going to try to keep us?" Sora asked, distraught.
"I want to fulfill your mother's dying wishes. We're old, and won't be able to take care of you boys forever. Just do as your mother wanted, and leave it at that." Grandma replied calmly. "Now, when you're finished eating, go and start packing your things. You'll be back home on Friday."
"It's not home without mom." Roxas growled, getting up and leaving the kitchen to go upstairs. Sora looked to Grandma for a moment before shaking his head sorrowfully and getting up, following his brother.
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By Friday, they were packed. Their grandmother wasn't going to keep them, and no other family member wanted to deny the boys' mother's last requests.
Most of their belongings remained at home, while the few belongings they had brought here to Grandma's were packed easily in two boxes each. Once their rooms were once again guest rooms, they loaded their things into the trunk of Grandpa's car as he started the engine. They hesitantly got in the car, reluctantly buckling up and waited for Grandma to come out of the house before they shipped off.
It seemed like the longest car ride ever, even though their house was only a few streets over. Home wouldn't be the same anymore, under the guardianship of a stranger, without mom there to sing happily to them in the morning as she made breakfast, without her to call her sons into the foyer when she got home from work, just to give them hugs and kisses and tell them how much she missed them. Without her smell of musk and make-up, without her pretty blue eyes to reassure them, it just wouldn't be home.
Grandpa finally pulled into the driveway. The boys got out of the car and got their boxes, and Grandma accompanied them up to the door, ringing the bell. This enraged Roxas, and felt odd to Sora, that they had to ring the doorbell of their own home to be let in.
The girl, Kairi, opened the door, eyes and nose red from crying. Grandma shook her head, merely turning her back as she uttered a goodbye to the boys before getting in the car.
Was...was grandpa speeding away?
Kairi watched her go before opening the door fully to allow the boys entry, introducing herself.
"Umm, I'm Kairi Steele..." she said timidly, sniffling. Roxas walked right past her towards the stairs, heading for his bedroom. "Uh, I'm twenty-seven, for the record...?" she continued. "I...I hope I can..." Roxas ignored her, disappearing down the hall upstairs. There was a resounding slam, and she winced. "I hope I can make you guys comfortable..." she tried offering her words to Sora, who stared at her for a moment before following Roxas' example and passing her, heading up the stairs. She continued quickly, even as he disappeared down the hall as well, "I'm Sorry to intrude on your house and all, but I really hope you don't feel like I think I own this place - " she winced again as another slam sounded through the hall and down the stairs.
She trudged into the kitchen to make lunch.