A Beautiful Life
They knew the roads, having traveled a million miles in a single lifetime or so it felt. They remembered the streets they past with happy people and smiling faces…yet none of the faces belonged to them. They thought they lost the ability to smile a long time ago. Reality had set in stone for the two and they simply chose to just walk. The only piece of luggage they had was a single black cart, the ones little old ladies push across the street. The elder had obtained it so long ago that he couldn't really recall where he had gotten it from.
They carried nothing of sentimental value on them at any point in time, there was no point. They only carried their memories of the road with them and their aching bodies.
The elder knew things where bad, the younger sitting in their cart. He smiled…always a smile on his face. The elder used to find hope in it: hope for a better tomorrow, a hope for maybe this to have been a terrible dream. But eventually the smile should just remind him of a painful fact: he was killing the younger.
The younger had only begun to follow him seeing he had no life to hold close to him. He had been born on the streets; the elder cared for him like a son…
The duo decided to head down a hill, the younger smiled a little more softly cheering 'Whee!' the whole way down. The elder smiled at this, the younger always managed to put a smile on his face when he did cute things like that. Once at the bottom of the hill the younger laughed until a horrible cough choked him up. The elder's smile left his face, the younger's cough always was a slap to the face that he could never ever be the perfect parent. The younger was sick, his cough got worse by the day it seemed. The elder sighed continuing to push the younger.
They had no destination in mind, it was simply walk until their feet were sore and they had to stop for the night. Hunger was no stranger either. Any food the elder got he gave to the younger, and any food the younger got was eaten by the younger. The elder would refuse the food and tell him to eat it.
As they continued down their road of choice happy families stopped to stare at them. They were an odd duo, never staying in a town too long so they didn't attract attention. The elder would always be trudging along pushing that little cart with the younger sitting in it.
"I'm hungry." The younger spoke up around midday. He never expected the elder to do much about it, he couldn't. They had no money. The elder sighed
"I know…" was all he said continuing to push the cart. He watched as food places passed his vision, the younger looking to the streets attempting not to look at the food. He didn't want to remind the elder of his hunger. They walked by a park after a while
"The swings look fun…" the younger whispered to himself. The elder stopped helping the younger out of the cart
"Then go swing for a while. I'll be back soon." He told him pushing the cart off in the opposite direction they had come. The younger smiled running to the swings, a little boy sat on one of the swings. The younger jumped onto one of the swings next to the boy; the boy looked at the younger
"I…" he seemed to bite his tongue. The younger looked over at the boy
"What?" he asked, the boy sighed
"I…Um…You're sitting on my friend." He stated. The younger quickly hopped off the swing
"Oh sorry! Who's your friend?" he asked not seeing anyone in particular
"He's a dragon! He's brown with brown eyes! He's huge, bigger than your house! He could…" the little boy's enthusiasm he had at the beginning of his statement faded "Ah…never mind." He muttered. The younger smiled
"He could what?" he asked
"Nothing…"
"If he's so big then why can't I see him…?" the younger watched the boy look up hearing a voice
"Zexion! Time to go honey!" a female called
"Coming Aerith!" he called back hopping off the swing. Running towards the voice Zexion stopped to look at the younger, he had to be the same age as him. Why was he so filthy and skinny? Zexion shook his head and ran off. The younger sighed hopping on a swing and swinging.
The elder look at the farmer's market, his stomach growling to the point of making him hunch over in pain from hunger. He hated this, but maybe…
The elder hid the cart somewhere and walked into the market looking at the food until he stopped a stand. The stand's cash register read 'Out to lunch. Be back at two.' In red bold letters. The elder tapped a nearby stranger's shoulder
"Excuse me?"
"Hm yes?"
"What time is it?" the stranger looked at his watch
"A little before one." The elder nodded
"Thank you." With that he walked off. The elder walked to the stand and looked over the food, various baked goods sat there. 'Too big.' He thought. He looked at various canned foods, until he came upon the simplest of foods. Apples. Grabbing two the elder stuff them into in coat pockets that had deep pockets, he stuffed his hands into his pockets as well and walked off. He got the cart and walked towards the park.
As the elder reached the edge of the park he smiled seeing the younger swinging away, walking towards him he waved. The younger smiled stopping the swing so he could run over to the elder, the elder held out one of the apples "Here." He offered. The younger smiled taking the apple
"Where did you find them?"
"…"
"Oh…" the younger's weakened
"You know I hate having to…"
"I know…but why do you do it then?"
"…" the younger could see the sadness in the elder's eyes and he smiled at him. He bit into the apple eating in front of the elder making sure to savor every bite until he was finished. The elder smiled weakly, as the two headed out a two men stopped them. The elder raised a brow "Yes?" he asked, one with dreadlocks and purple eyes looked at the elder
"Give them back." He ordered
"Give what back?"
"The apples."
"I don't know what you're talking about." The elder began to head off when the dreadlocked man grabbed his coat "Let go." The elder ordered. The dreadlocked man scowled
"You think I'm stupid? My brother here saw you take them!" the elder glanced at the other man with black and sliver hair that was kept in a low ponytail and one golden eye (the other was hidden by an eye patch)
"I've never seen him before in my life. I think I would remember a one eyed man." The elder stated. The eye patched man cracked a smile
"Then empty your pockets." He ordered. The elder shrugged turning out his pants pockets and coat pockets, nothing.
"See your claims are false. We'll be on our way now."
"Have the kid empty his pockets." The dreadlocked man pointed to the boy. The elder raised an eyebrow
"Why he has no pockets?" he questioned. The dreadlocked man roughly shoved the elder to the ground before grabbing the younger
"Oh really?" he asked before socking the boy in the stomach, the younger whined. The dreadlocked man went for another punch when a fist connected to his face. Dropping the boy the dreadlocked man looked at the elder, he was up and panting
"Don't…you…dare hit him!" he shouted throwing another punch. The punch missed having him get kneed in the stomach, the elder gasped nearly throwing up but he stopped himself. Hissing the elder stood up on shaking legs swinging again, he missed again
"You're not very good at fighting." The dreadlocked man laughed. The elder gasped and wheezed before managing to make a punch connected with the dreadlocked man's stomach, the dreadlocked man staggered back. The elder went for another hit when he heard a cry of pain, looking over the younger's head was trapped in the bottom of the cart. The cause, the one eyed man's foot resting on his head pressing his face down
"Aw! Isn't that sad? You're little friend is in pain!" he mocked pressing more weight onto the boy's head. The elder's eyes widened
"No! Leave him alone!" the one eyed man shrugged
"Well you took food from our stand. You won't fess up so someone has to pay. Since either of you will fess up then I guess you both pay." He told him. The elder bit his lip
"Get your boot off his head!" he shouted, reaching into the hood of his coat he tossed the other apple to the dreadlocked man "There! You got your fucking apple back. Now leave him alone!" he shouted. The one eyed man laughed getting his foot off the younger's head
"There was that so hard to admit that you stole an apple?" he asked. The elder frowned
"Get the fuck lost!" he shouted, the one eyed man looked at the dreadlocked man
"Xaldin I don't think he's learned his full lesson. Think we should teach him it?" he asked. Xaldin nodded the next thing the elder knew was pain. Both the men were punching him repeatedly, once he was kicked in the stomach then the face. The younger screamed trying to pull the two men off the elder, finally the two men left. The one eyed man smirked "You're such a loser. You would rather we beat the snot out of you than the shrimp over there." He laughed walking off next to Xaldin
"Xigbar…isn't that a bit much?" Xaldin asked. Xigbar just shrugged lighting a cigarette.
The younger ran over shaking the elder
"No! Are you okay?" he asked, the elder groaned sitting up. Bruises covered most of his face, a black ring was forming around one of his eyes, and blood was dripping from his nose. The younger sobbed "No! I'm so sorry!" he sobbed
"You okay?" the elder asked after spitting a little
"Y-yeah the worst is they cut my face a little. Well the cart but…" the elder ripped off part of his shirt to wet it down with his tongue. The cart had cut into the younger's face leaving a slight patch of lines that crisscrossed over one of his cheeks. Wiping the blood off his face the elder smiled
"There. All clean." He told him. The two left the park not wanting to attract anymore attention
"What were you going to do with the other apple?" the younger ask now seated back in the cart watching the walkway. The elder sighed
"I was going to give it to you later. You know for dinner or something like that."
"Why? Why do you never eat anything?" the elder gave a weak laugh
"I eat stuff silly."
"But only a fourth of it, then you give the rest to me." The younger pointed out. The elder didn't response.
As night fell the two ducked under a bridge nearby and the younger fell asleep under the warmth of the elder's coat. The elder looked up in the general direction of the sky, he wanted there to be a night where the two would fall asleep under the starry night sky not because they had to…because they wanted to.
Early the next day the younger's cough was what jerked the elder awake. He watched the boy cry afterwards because it hurt so bad, helping the boy into the cart he began to push him along. The elder walked by a school were young children studied long and hard, he glanced briefly at the younger. He deserved so much better than this…
Stopping once to sit and let the older rest the elder kept looking back towards the school, the younger deserved to go to school. To be a happy kid. To not have to worry if tomorrow there would be food, if they would be caught stealing food, to try and figure out where to go next. He…he deserved a life.
As the day went on the younger noticed the other's depressed mood, he tried once or twice to ask about it but nothing ever came out. Towards sunset the elder stopped helping the younger out of the cart, they had stopped in front of a building the younger never saw before. Walking to the steps that lead up to the door the elder gently pushed the younger towards the door "Go knock on the door." He ordered softly. The younger was confused but ran up the steps knocking on the door, an older man answered. His blond hair and beard having a few greys in them while his orange-red eyes looked at the little boy who was blond haired and blue eyed in confusion
"Are you lost little one?" he asked. The younger shook his head, the man looked around "Where are your parents?" he asked. The younger's eyes looked sad
"They died. But I have Marly!" he cheered up looking at the elder. The man looked at Marly; he didn't look old enough to be an adult
"How old is he? How old are you?" he asked looking at the younger again. The younger counted on his fingers quickly
"I'm twelve! Marly is like…." More counting "Seventeen! He's just weirdly tall for his age…I think" he announced. The man looked at Marly again: his body dirty and covered in dried blood and bruises, his mauve colored hair hanging limp against his head, his blue eyes watching the younger with the greatest of care
"What are you doing here?" he asked the younger
"Well Marly said to knock on the door. I have no idea why!" the younger admitted, the man sighed
"This is an orphanage. Do you have any family?" he asked. The younger shook his head
"I don't. I only have Marly." He stated.
After a moment the elder walked up to the door
"I'm guessing your Ansem?" he asked
"Yes." The man nodded, the younger looked at Marly
"How did you know that?" Marly gestured to the sign out front
"It's says Ansem the Wise's Orphanage on the sign." He told the younger. The younger looked at him confused
"Why did you bring us here?" he asked. Marly sniveled, tears beginning to drip from his eyes. He hugged the younger tightly, once he let go he kneeled in front of the small boy
"Roxas…do you remember the day that he slept in the movie theater after we hid in the attic of the theater for like three hours?" Roxas nodded "You remember how we raided the concession stand since no one was around and watched movies until we fell asleep?" he laughed a little at the memory. Roxas smiled
"Yeah you were so sick the next morning." He laughed. Marly smiled a little sadly
"Remember in that one movie where the mother left the baby on the front steps of the orphanage?"
"Oh 'Meet the Robinsons'! I remember that one." Marly swallowed, he hugged the boy again
"Well it's time for me to be the mom and leave you here Roxas." He spoke. His voice was starting to crack, Roxas looked at Marly confused
"Why? We go both just go in? You could get a family! Maybe we could get adopted together…"
"Roxas…I'm too old. Once your past the age of thirteen it's really hard to get a family, people want cute little kids like…you. I'm old and almost an adult, they would kick me out once I was eighteen anyways. But you…have so much potential; I don't want to see it get wasted on living on the streets." He sniffed. Roxas's eyes went huge "So this is good bye for me and you kiddo. Behave yourself; I don't want to find you on the streets because you did drugs or some crazy stupid thing like that." He laughed weakly hugging the boy again. Roxas shook his head
"No! Marluxia! You have to stay with me! You're my big brother! I love you!" Roxas cried gripping the older tightly sniffing back tears. Marluxia smiled
"No Roxas…I love you too but this is farewell for us. Because I can't know that everyday I'm killing you a little bit. Behave…I love you so much." He sniffed standing up; he looked at Ansem "Take care of me please?" he asked. Ansem nodded, with another nod Marluxia hugged for a long time once more before a soft kiss to his forehead. After that he sniffed back huge tears as he ran, he ran leaving Roxas calling after him from the front steps.
As he rounded a corner he pressed his back to a brick wall, peering around the corner he watched Ansem lead the blond inside. Smiling he let the tears roll down his cheeks, he slid his back against the wall before landing with a soft thud on the ground. He sniffed back a couple of tears as he looked to the sky smiling, shutting his eyes he leaned his head back on the wall 'If…If I were to die today…I could die happy…knowing that you will have a beautiful life.'
-A Moment From the Author's Life
KRKCxForever smiled, for a sad story this turned out pretty good. Sure the two main characters weren't obvious for the first…..six pages of the story but it was pretty good! While she would have loved a happily ever after the vote still read that they liked it the way it was. Posting the story KRKCxForever sighed before clicking open Maya (A 3D Modeling software) "I need to finish this project….I hate Maya."
-A Note from the Author
Okay two things: One….I'm really sorry about not updating much! My GPA is really bad and I already failed two assignments in the class I need to past to raise it by at least two points! So I might not be updating 'Worthy' 'Gifted' a lot. The 'Experiment and Freedom' series however I nearly have the second chapter done and Darxetta, I know I keep putting off 'In The Shadows' but I swear I will have the second chapter up soon….ish. I really need to bring up my GPA in college first then I can get back to work on it. Also I do plan on switching majors soon so I will probably free myself up a ton after this quarter….if I pass every class that it….
The other thing was about the vote: I posted this story up on my DeviantArt first to have people vote on what their opinion was. I only got one vote (From one of my buddies) and they say keep it like it is. So sorry if you expecting a happy story from me!
PS- Remember way back when I first started posting stories here and I did 'A Demon's Heart'? Well I've gone back and I'm writing the second chapter after I finish 'Experiments and Freedom' chapter.
Anyways sorry about the long here!
Much Love
KRKCxForever