Fire

Disclaimer: Would I really be writing this if I owned Kingdom Hearts? Well, at least the story is mine!

Chapter 1

"So Sora, do you think it'll actually work this time?"

"Hey Roxas! My plans always work! Remember the last time we got Ms. Daisy?"

"Yeah, actually that was pretty funny… but still… this prank is sooo old, she might not fall for it."

"Have some faith dude. Okay shush! Here she comes!"

Well if there is one thing I can tell all of you, it's that living in Ms. Daisy's orphanage can get really boring. So Sora and I like to play tricks on the unsuspecting victims that happen to come by (aka Ms. Daisy).

We watched as Ms. Daisy slowly opened the bathroom door only to have ice-cold water dumped all over her head.

"Haha! Told ya it would work, Roxas!"

"ROXAS AND SORA YOU BETTER CLEAN THIS MESS UP BEFORE YOU'RE STUCK IN YOUR ROOM FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT WITH NO FOOD!"

"What should we do Sora? Should we listen?"

"Nah Rox, its an empty threat. Watch… Ms. Daisy I don't know how that bucket got there! And besides, you're the one that made the mess. You should clean it up!"

***

Remind me to never listen to my older brother Sora ever again… because I am now really hungry and very bored.

"Man! I thought for sure I was gonna get away with that one… Sorry Rox."

I sighed. What really sucks is that Ms. Daisy locks all the doors on the outside so we can't even think of leaving the room. I guess I'll just take a nap.

WHAK!

"WAHHHHH, MS. DAISY!!! SEIFER HIT ME WIF DA WUBBER SNAKE!!!"

"WHAT!? NO I DIDN'T! MS. DAISY HAYNER'S JUST BEING A CHICKEN-WUSS!!"

Well with all the screaming outside I guess sleeping is out of the question. I really hate being locked in this room, even with Sora. Being in this room allows me to think about the things I've been trying to avoid. Things like my lack of parental units, or that fact that people don't like to adopt sixteen and seventeen year olds so me and Sora are probably stuck here until we get kicked out on the streets when we're eighteen. I wish I could even remember my parents. I don't like asking Sora about them because he always looks really upset when I bring it up. The last thing I can remember is the car crash.

"Dad! Drive faster we're gonna be late for Demyx's guitar recital!"

"Sora calm down! Even though there is traffic we're not going to be late it starts at four and its only 3:30!"

"Hey Mom, do you think we could take Demyx out for ice cream after the recital? I bet he would really like that!"

"That's very thoughtful of you Roxas but it's really up to Demyx's parents."

"Oooooo, please Mom can we get some ice cream after this?"

"Okay! Sora, hold your horses! We haven't even gotten to the main event yet!"

"WOAH! Look Sora! It's a real car chase!"

"Really where!?"

"Right outside the window dummy!"

"Honey, maybe we should try another route to get to the recital this could be dangerous."

"Well, I think we'll be okay the chase is on the other side going in the other direction."

"Wow! Did ya see that Roxas! Did ya see?! That car did a 360!"

"I wonder if that cop is really gonna catch him…"

The car swerved desperately into the other lane only to find two other cap cars blocking the road. As a last resort the car jerked to the right.

CRASH!

The car slammed into the front half of our car. Ultimately pushing us into another car. Before the world went black I saw a look of horror on my brothers face.

Dad died on impact. The slam from the other side got Mom. Sora fractured his arm in several places. And I hit my head on the side of the car. So unfair right? My parents lose their lives, my brother can barely use his arm, and all I get is a bonk on the head. It seemed that way for a while until I realized I couldn't remember one thing about my life before the crash.

Sora… is my brother…

That's it… everything else drew blanks.

It's quite upsetting, when you realize your life was erased.

"Roxas, do you know your favorite video game?"

"No…"

"Color?"

"No…"

"Does sea-salt ice cream ring any bells?"

"I…no…"

"C'mon Roxas what were you gonna say!?"

"I don't KNOW!"

"Well, do you remember anything?"

"Sora…"

"What"

"No… that's all I remember… Sora."

"What about me?"

"You're my big brother."

"Ok I'll take it!"

***

"You're thinking about it again." I break out of my reverie to see Sora looking straight at me.

"Huh?"

"The accident, stop thinking about it."

"Sorry" I can't help it sometimes…

"It's okay…"

It seems things have quieted down now. I look at the clock to see that its 10:30. Well, that makes sense. Ms. Daisy makes everyone go to bed at ten.

"Roxas?"

"Yeah Sora?"

"Things are gonna get better… I promise."

"You always say that Sora. I wanna believe you, and I do. But I feel like I'm running out of faith."

"Aww Roxas, just you wait. Tomorrow is a new day and… and…"

"Sora, Its okay… we've hit rock bottom… we can only go up from here."

"Dude! That's a fantastic philosophy!"

"What are you talking about Sora, its terrible!"

"No, your looking at it the wrong way! Think about the up motion and not the bottom part."

"You know Sora, that sounded really weird."

Sora snorted. "Goodnight, Rox."

"'Night, Sora."

***

Outside the Orphanage

"Luxord, I'm really bored…"

"Well, Larxene what do you want me to do about it?"

"I wanna start some shit! Do you have your lighter?"

"Yeah, but why in bloody hell would you need it!?"

"Let's set a building on fire! C'mon! It'll be fun!"

Luxord smirked, "Bitch, you are out of your mind!"

Larxene giggled maniacally, "You love it, darling. Now all we have to do is set that patch of grass over there on fire and run!"

Luxord paused his smirking for a second, "and what if someone dies?"

"Who the fuck cares! Its not like we know them! C'mon you know you wanna do it!"

"Alright, here…" Luxord handed the woman the lighter, " light it and let's go."

Larxene proceeded to set the patch of grass on fire and wait for it to burn for a couple of seconds.

"Let's go now." She said simply and Luxord simply followed.

Chapter 2

It started with the patch of grass. The fire quickly reached the corner of the house. And like a small sandcastle in high tide, it all came down from there. The fire infiltrated the kitchen located in the corner of the orphanage and soon spread to Ms. Daisy's alcohol stash that Seifer steals from frequently, thus escalating the fire. Ms. Daisy woke to the awful smell the fire was emanating. She walked towards the kitchen and saw the smoke. Ms. Daisy quickly opened the window near the fire exit and started waking the children up. She entered Seifer's room first, seeing as he was the oldest and would be able to help.

She roughly shook him "Seifer, wake up right now!"

"WHAT! THIS BETTER BE GOOD!"

"Seifer please listen to me, there is a fire in the house and we need to get everyone out now!"

Seifer paled "Okay I'll worry about the others, go call the fire department."

Daisy exited the room and went to the phone. She dialed 911.

"This is 911, what's your emergency."

"There is a fire in the orphanage at the center of Twilight town."

"Alright the fire department is on their way please try to evacuate all of the inhabitants of the house."

"Alright."

The fire was attacking the bottom floor now. Fortunately everyone's room is on the second floor. So every one could be evacuated safely.

"Alright Seifer, lets do a headcount. There should be 20 children including you."

"Ms. Daisy, did you wake up Sora and Roxas? I figured you would because they're basically the same age as me and would be able to help."

"No but they should have noticed the commotion and should have gotten…" Daisy adopted the most horror stricken face Seifer had ever seen in his life. "OH MY GOD! I LOCKED THEIR ROOM!" Daisy screamed.

***

"Sora? SORA WAKE UP!" I shook Sora violently.

"Huh? What, WHAT!?!" Sora looked around. "What's up, buddy!"

"Sora do you smell that? Something is very wrong!" I started to panic.

"Roxas what are you tal…" Sora paused. He looked out of the window to see smoke.

"Roxas we have to get out of here now!" Sora ran to the door.

"SORA, MS. DAISY LOCKED THE DOOR! THERE ARE BARS ON THE WINDOW! WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO! THERE IS NO WAY OUT!" I started to sob, "we're gonna die in this room…"

"Roxas, don't you freak out on me! I need you to stay calm! Just because there are bars on a window does not mean they won't open." Sora said. It was then that I realized Sora was really good at pulling his shit together.

"Roxas I need you to stuff the blankets in the doorway so smoke doesn't come in. After that, help me see if we can get this window open."

I took a few deep breaths as I grabbed the blanket, brought it to the door and shoved it in the crevice. I then ran over to my brother and waited for more directions.

"Okay Roxas, were gonna stick our hands through the bars and push upwards, there's a lock on the top, which means that this window at least used to open." We stuck our hands through the bars and started to push.

"It's a good thing we're not fat or we would have had a really big problem on our hands…"

"What?"

"Well, If we were fat we wouldn't be able to stick our arms through the bars would we?" Sora explained.

Only Sora would think of a joke like that at a time like this…

"Okay we'll heave a really good push on the count of three." Sora said.

"Okay. One" I began.

"Two."

"Three!"

We heaved.

***

"I have to get back in there!!" Ms. Daisy screeched. There was a tug on her nightgown.

"Look Ms. Daisy, da fiwermen and the powees are here!" Hayner yelled excitedly.

"Thank god, OFFICER!!"

"Yes ma'am, the fire department is beginning to stop the fire. Is there another problem?"

"Please, I was so panicked, there are still two kids locked in their room! There on the second floor on the left side."

"Alright ma'am, stay calm we will save them."

"What do I hear about two kids still up there, Riku?" A boisterous red head entered the conversation.

"Axel, please do your job and save these two kids that are on the second floor of the left side."

"Don't worry ma'am. We'll get them out of there! If we can't then my name isn't Axel Blaise! Which it totally is by the way, got it memorized?"

"I DON'T CARE! PLEASE SAVE MY KIDS!" Ms. Daisy wailed.

"I'm on it." Axel said as he moved towards the building.

"HELP!! WE'RE STUCK UP HERE"

"OH MY GOD! THAT'S THEM PLEASE SAVE THEM!!! PLEASE!!" Ms. Daisy screamed.

"Ms. Daisy calm down, the firemen will do their job, screaming like that isn't gonna help." Seifer said as he gave Ms. Daisy an awkward hug.

"HA HA HA HA!!! DAISY AND SEIFER SITTIN IN A TWEE K-I-S-S-I-N-G! " Hayner and Olette teased.

"SHUT UP YOU TWERPS! NOW IS NOT THE TIME!" Seifer snapped.

Olette and Hayner immediately ceased their teasing.

***

"They saw us Sora! That fireman is gonna save us! WE'RE NOT GONNA DIE!" I cheered.

"See Roxas, I told ya!" Sora boasted.

Then the coughing started.

"Damn, some of the smoke got in!" Sora cursed.

"Oh shit that means the fire is closer!" I ran to the door and touched it only to quickly retract my hand.

"Sora, I think the fire's on the other side of the door."

No response.

"Sora? SORA!! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!!" I started to panic again.

"HEY! HEY! YO SHORTIES! YELL SO I CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE Y'ALL ARE!" A fireman yelled.

I raised my voice again! "PLEASE HELP US! THE SMOKE GOT TO MY BROTHER! WE'RE IN THE ROOM WHERE THE DOOR IS LOCKED!" I coughed a bit.

"ALRIGHT KID, I'M HEADING YOUR WAY! DO YOU THINK YOU COULD BANG ON THE DOOR TO HELP ME FIND YOU!?" The fireman yelled again.

I quickly took my socks off and put them on my hands, hoping it would protect them from the heat.

"OK I'M GOING TO START BANGING ON THE DOOR!" I screamed as I started to hit the door.

Axel listened for the noise and headed towards the door. The fire was getting worse by the second. Axel would have to move quickly.

"ALRIGHT KID I NEED YOU TO BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR" Axel waited for a moment and kicked down the door.

"HEY AXEL, ARE THE KIDS OKAY?!" Another fireman yelled.

"OI MARLY, GLAD YOU DECIDED TO JOIN IN THE FUN! WE GOT ONE KID THAT'S OUT FROM SMOKE INHALATION! YOU TAKE HIM OUT FIRST!"

"ALRIGHT PASS HIM OVER!" Marluxia yelled over the roars of the flames. He took the kid from Axel and headed towards the fire exit.

"OKAY KIDDO, YOUR GONNA BE FINE. YOU CAN TAKE MY MASK I BET YOU'RE TIRED OF BREATHIN' THIS SMOKE!" Axel handed him the mask and pulled him in is arms.

Roxas was so relieved he passed out with the mask on his face.

***

Roxas woke to a hand petting his head.

"Glad to see you're awake bro!" Sora said.

"You jerk!" I yelled and grabbed him in a hug.

"After you went out Sora, I thought I was a goner!"

"Yeah sorry about that, I really didn't think I inhaled that much smoke!" Sora said as if he was talking about candy or something.

"Why do you sound so damn happy! We almost died you little shit!" I yelled.

"That's just it Roxas! We almost died! We're alive and I couldn't be happier!" Sora exclaimed.

If there was one person I wouldn't hesitate to punch in the face sometimes, it was Sora.

"SORA! ROXAS! I'M SO SORRY I WASN'T THINKING! I COMPLETELY FORGOT I LOCKED YOUR DOOR! I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON!" Ms. Daisy sobbed as she embraced us.

"It's okay! Me and Roxas forgive you! But I would love some ice-cream!" Sora said excitedly.

"Sora you idiot!" I grumbled.

"Well someone's in a sour mood!" A redheaded fireman said as he and an officer approached us.

The officer twitched "Axel, please don't harass the kids. You're scary enough."

"Riku you are one party pooper! I was just trying to cheer the kids up! I mean they were basically left in a fire to die…"

"Axel, SHUT UP!" Riku yelled over the redhead's rambling. "That was not the situation and you know it!"

"Well anyway! Are you kids alright? You were in the fire for quite a while." Axel asked.

"Hey! Stop callin' me kid okay! I frikkin sixteen years old!" I snapped.

"Oi Riku, I like this kid! He's got a bite to him!" Axel said.

"I'm not a kid, dammit!" I yelled

"I'm sorry about Axel, he's a little overbearing" Riku apologized.

"A little overbearing" I repeated.

"Yo, I'm standing right here!" Axel yelled.

"Hey, Mr. Axel fireman sir! Thanks for saving us!" My giddy brother said.

"Not a problem buddy! You guys are cool!"

I sighed. "Sora, shut up. Maybe if we stop talking to him, he'll go away"

"But… I like him!"

Sometimes I wonder if I'm really the younger brother.

***

"Ms. Daisy is it? I'm Riku Shinomori and I would like to talk about you're relocation. As you can see the orphanage it incapable of housing you and the children at the moment."

"Yes I would love it if you could tell me of a place we could stay temporarily, at least until we can get the orphanage fixed." Ms. Daisy said.

"Well there is a house on the west side of Twilight that is currently being inspected to make sure it is suitable for use." Riku explained.

"Alright. Did the fire department figure out where the fire came from?"

"There is a possibility that the fire was intentionally started. It started with a dry patch of grass and it escalated from there."

"That's… terrible!" Ms. Daisy mourned.

"Well we have the police department investigating the situation."

"If the fire was intentionally started ma'am, justice will be served." A man asserted.

"Chief!" Riku exclaimed. Officer and Chief Squall Leonhart stood before Riku and Daisy with a stoic look on his face.

"I just got the call from the other units. I was just affirmed that the new building is ready for use." Chief Leonhart said.

***

Soon we were all piled in the cop cars and brought to this new building.

"Hey Sora, what do you think this new house is gonna be like?" I asked.

"I really don't know but I'd like to think that its not gonna catch fire like the last one!" Sora joked.

"I don't think that was very funny." I mumbled.

"C'mon Roxas, you're such a pessimist! Think of all the new possibilities! Maybe we'll get adopted!"

"I really just don't wanna think about anything…" I sighed.

"Rox, cheer up! Hey, Mr. Officer Riku dude! You think we'll be adopted soon!?" Sora asked.

"I don't know kid, it's definitely a possibility." Riku said.

"You guys are not very enthused! What happened to Axel the fireman? He was cool!"

I guess he was kinda cool. I thought as I remembered the relief I felt when I was in his arms.