Chapter I: Sora and Roxas Bucket
This is a story about two ordinary little boys named Sora and Roxas Bucket. They were not faster or stronger or more clever than other children. Their family was not rich or powerful or well-connected. These fraternal twin brothers, Sora and Roxas Bucket, were the luckiest boys in the entire world. They just didn't know it yet.
---
5 AM. Early birds rise at this hour, and the Bucket twins happened to be early risers, a trait inherited from their mother.
Sora and Roxas were fraternal twins, obvious to the fact that they had different hair color, and slightly different body shapes, although, they had the same height. Sora was the perky brunette who's too kind and generous for his own good. Roxas was the serious blonde who's rowdy and competitive with a short temper. This morning was beginning to be a drag, and Sora woke up on the wrong side of the bunk. "I'm tired..." Sora yawned, scratching his head. Roxas stared blankly at the chocolate brown spikes on his brother's head. "... What day is it?"
"Wednesday." Roxas immediately replied. Sora laughed, probably due to the reason that Roxas answered so promptly and sure, and that was something he didn't tend to do too often. The twins were twelve years old, a cute age, but tough schoolwork followed them, as they were 7th graders, after all.
Sora eyed the clock. 5:12 AM. He looked at Roxas, who was still staring blankly at the wall, something that he usually did when he was half-awake. Sora was more of the type that would wake up always happy, unless it was a bad day, like today, and he'd yawn, but recover quickly, ready to start the day. Sora waved his hand in front of Roxas's face, "Hey, you okay? Wake up, Roxy!!"
Roxas glared, "It's Roxas... not Roxy. I'm not a girl, and you know it." Sora snickered.
"I'm just playin' with you, Roxas." Sora said, and eyed the clock again. 5:14 AM. "Shouldn't we be getting dressed, Roxy?"
Sora swore he saw Roxas's eye twitch, and he gulped at the sight of it, as he slowly reached for the glass of ice-water on his nightstand. He took a sip, and placed it back down, before racing over to the closet, and pulling out his school uniform. A simple white jacket for cold winter days like this, and warm black pants, with a belt, and a silk black tie. Automatically, Sora pulled off his white PJ top, and buttoned up his white jacket.
Roxas sighed, and walked over to the closet to pull out his identical uniform matching Sora's. He fit his arms through the white jacket, and began buttoning it up with annoyance, while huffing to blow those irritating blonde strands that blocked his vision occassionally. He pulled on his satin black pants; they felt comfortable on his freezing cold legs. He merely glanced back at his bed to point out that the covers were ripped and dirty rags, the only thing they could afford, and were lucky to even have matching covers like that on Sora's bed, too.
Before Sora pulled on his black pants, he began fixing on his tie, where it dangled carelessly, and he neglected to tuck in his shirt as he pulled on the pants. Roxas looked at Sora with scrutinizing eyes, for attention to detail was his specialty, and Sora knew him for doing that a lot, so when he pointed out Sora's screwed up collar, he smirked. "Hey, little bro. Your collar's inside-out." Roxas said suddenly, for the first time today, it wasn't sarcastic or taken too seriously.
"Again...?" Sora groaned, "Do you have'ta always point out everything?"
Roxas got off his bed and walked over to his twin, "Yep." He smiled, and began fixing Sora's collar properly, enjoying the appalled expression on his little brother's face. Mittens, their friendly black and white cat with green eyes, hopped on Roxas's cold bed. Sora jumped suddenly at this motion, and Roxas rolled his eyes, to turn around and see the cat, and a broad smile formed on his face. "It's just the cat, you dimwit."
Sora put his hand to his chest, as if he was trying, or struggling, to calm down his racing heart. "Darn cat always gives me a heart attack when I'm staring at the bed and then BAM!"
"Yeah, I get what you mean." Roxas smiled. He wasn't the type to be frightened easily, and Sora was, in his opinion, a wimp.
The boys quickly tightened their belts, and locked them in position, also putting on their neatly polished shoes. Their family barely could afford education, let alone, the uniform, but somehow, they used their extra money, and were now in debt to the school. The twins were thankful they at least got to see, and feel, what it was like to be rich, since some young men, such as themselves, would wear these types of uniform on a daily basis. How much money were these kids willing to give in order to live a life like that?
"Sora, Roxas!" Their mom called from downstairs in a soft tone, since their top floor just happened to be the cheap, broken-down attic that resembled a hole in the roof... "Come downstairs for breakfast!"
"Coming, Mom." Sora and Roxas called back.
"It's kinda weird they can hear every conversation we have." Roxas sighed.
"It's not like we're hiding anything, right?" Sora smiled.
They climbed down the ladder, and Roxas noticed that it was missing another rung. "Hey, Mom." He called out at this discovery. "The ladder's missing four rungs instead of three."
"I know." Their mother, Aerith, said. As usual, she had her golden-red hair tied back with a pink bow, and it was twisted in a cool fashion. She wore a warm red coat, a pink dress, and a necklace, also she sported stockings and boots, the only clothing she could afford were these garments she wore now. She smiled as her sons came downstairs, her hand stirring the wooden spoon as she made some usual recipe, and the stove barely warmed it, due to the fact that it was also all they could afford. She inhaled the aroma of half-cooked vegetables and snow... Typical winter day for the poor.
"Hi, Mom!" Sora ran and hugged his mother, who received the hug, and embraced him tightly. Roxas felt like vomiting at the sight, as he was the type to dislike signs of affection.
"Hey, Mom..." Roxas merely waved.
Aerith frowned at this motion, placing both hands on her hips, and she was still kneeling as she did so, she teased Roxas, "Aren't you going to give your mother a hug before you go to school? Sora did it." Sora nodded with a silly grin on his face.
"Momma's boy." Roxas whispered, before hesitantly hugging his mother, except she wrapped her arms around him, but his arms dangled loosely, and carelessly, and Aerith noticed that. "Is that good...?" He asked after twenty seconds of silence, and Aerith's arms still wrapped around him.
Aerith opened her eyes, "Yup!"
Roxas sighed with relief, and dashed over to the fireplace, where Cloud was busily trying to start a fire. "Hey, Dad!" Sora and Roxas said, simultaneously.
"There you two are." Cloud said, placing both arms around them, rather than giving individual attention, the approach Aerith used. "Be good today, you hear?"
"Okaaaay..." the boys sighed, and Cloud gave a tiny smile, as he started the fire with some flint. He stood up, and walked over to Aerith, looking over her shoulder to see what she was cooking.
"Hey, Gramps." Sora said, heading over to Professor Gast, who lied in the mangled and twisted covers. They hugged briefly, and Gast fuzzed up Sora's spiky brown hair, making him giggle. Gast had a similar hairdo, except his hair was red, and dulling into silver. He was a long-retired scientist, and it was evident in his aging looks.
"Hello, Sora!" Gast hugged Sora shortly, before Sora headed over to his wife.
"Hey, Granny." Sora said, heading over to Ifalna, who was delicately lying like a wilting flower. She smiled, and ran a wrinkled hand down Sora's smooth face. Though old, Ifalna was very beautiful like Aerith, and her hair was curly, dark brown, yet it wasn't sprouting silver strands yet. She's the last surviving Ancient, and Aerith's a half-Ancient, therefore, making Sora and Roxas "quarter-Ancient".
"Sora..." Ifalna smiled again, "Good morning."
"Hey, Grandpa." Roxas said, heading over to Mr. Strife, Cloud's father. He had silver hair, apparently, he was the oldest, and dull eyes. He kissed Roxas, who, due to his hatred toward affection, wiped his face. "Nice." He said, and Mr. Strife laughed, knowing that was the boy's weakness.
"Hey, Grandma." Roxas said, hopping over the bed, and landing by Mrs. Strife, Cloud's mother. She had blonde hair, with lots of silver hairs, as well. She smiled, and shook Roxas's hand, because she didn't want to tease him, but Mr. Strife seemed to enjoy it.
"We're going to school." Sora announced, and Roxas followed behind, waving.
"Aren't you going to eat something?" Aerith asked.
"We can barely afford anything, and it's best you all eat." Sora blantly stated, and Roxas nodded silently.
"But you're children..." Aerith sighed, tapping the wooden spoon against the rim of the greasy pan.
"We'll be fine." Roxas assured them, as he and Sora took off, leaving the house.
"Why's school so far away?" Sora asked, and pointed to the tiny building about fifty blocks away. "It's practically at the other end of the city."
"First of all, we're not connected to the city, and our house is REALLY recognizable." Roxas laughed, "Our house looks like a bucket, hence, our last name."
"Okaaay..." Sora said, "It just gets annoying to walk so far each day."
"We'll survive." Roxas said. "Exercise is good for you."
"I know that, Mr. Health Expert." Sora stuck out his tongue, and the twins began racing over to the town, which they only ran four blocks, before tiring out. Forty-six to go...
-
1:50 PM. Distinctively after lunch hour, among the white building adorned with windows, and shrubberies decorating the environment and surroundings with trees, hedges, and bushes... Popularity is usually common in most schools, and unfortunately, this school also played the roles of classes in society. The cruel and bitter tone of this left unfair disadvantages to the Bucket twins. They were popular only because they were the only male twins in the 7th grade.
They were walking down the hallways to their next class, noticing there were five other classmates around, with their arms linked around each other. All the boys turned to stare in the general direction of them. "Uh, Roxas..." Sora whispered, "They're staring at us."
Roxas glanced over his shoulder, and rolled his eyes, "They're not staring at us..." He whispered back, "They're staring at the hottie behind us..."
The clip-clopping of high-heels, and blonde hair flowing behind her. A wolf whistle came from one of the twelve-year-olds, which made the twins gulp, realizing that they're not even in high-school, and already there's a popularity contest, and practically, DATING. Ew, gross, they were too young to date! Sora and Roxas weren't into girls... they still felt like children. It was middle school, though, so it sort of made sense that this stuff existed. "Hey, hottie..." one boy said to the girl behind. "What's your name?"
She stared at them. Her face was an angel's, and she was the prettiest girl in school, with golden hair draping over her right shoulder, and crystal blue eyes. "Namine..." She answered, fluttering her eyelashes. "I've got to go to a class now... okay?"
"Okaay..." the boy sighed, "Man, she's so hot." he said, after she disappeared around the corner.
"I'd love to go out with her..." the other boy said.
"Yuckies..." Sora whispered, plugging his nose.
Roxas nodded, "Agreed."
"But she really is the pride of our class." Sora said, and it was true. "She's the most beautiful 12-year-old."
"And practically the prettiest in the school..." Roxas added. The school only went from 5th to 8th grade, so the high-schoolers weren't here, so they couldn't compare her to the older and matured girls.
Sora and Roxas entered their classroom and took their seats. Sora began to fall asleep at his desk, while Roxas leaned against the wall, glaring out of the corner of his eye. He overheard a conversation between Namine and her twin sister, Kairi. "I'm so sleepy!" Namine yawned.
"Well, you were up really late last night." Kairi pointed out. She had her hip-length hair tied back in a ponytail, and it glimmered a brown-red in the sunlight. It was beautiful... Sora was drooling at the sight. She had blue eyes like Namine, after all, they were twins. The scary fact was that Kairi and Namine were also fraternal twins, except female, and perfect matches to Sora and Roxas, who were also brunette/blonde twin pair like their counterparts, Kairi and Namine. Sora seemed to like both girls, while Roxas wasn't interested. But Sora only liked the girls as FRIENDS, not as dating or girlfriend material.
"This is killing me..." Namine sighed, "Studies at night... School all day... I never get time for my beauty sleep!"
Kairi sighed, "Well, we have a job to do."
Namine smiled playfully, and began tugging on Kairi's shiny barbie-textured face. Kairi suddenly shouted, "My cheeks, Namine! Jeez! What the heck!?"
"You're agreeing with Mom and Dad, fatso." Namine said with half-slit eyes, because she was in the half-awake state. Suddenly, her head banged on her desk, causing many people to stare, and she fell asleep like that.
"Ah, she's too tired to think..." Kairi sighed.
Namine yawned, "I'm catching some Z's now. Shh!"
Kairi suddenly realized, "But we've got a class, dummy!" Kairi's cell-phone went off. "Hmm..." She pulled it out of her backpack, "It's my cell-phone."
Namine suddenly stood up on her desk, ripped the phone out of Kairi's hand, and threw it out the open window. Kairi's eye twitched, and Namine stared. Sora started laughing really hard, and Roxas turned at the wrong time, so he missed the action of the phone catching serious air.
Since Sora was laughing, Namine began laughing, too. "Okay, you're fetching it, or paying for the damage... Either one." Kairi smiled evilly, without snapping and losing her temper, like a good older sister. "I hope you didn't hurt my phone."
"I hope it's ok!" Namine laughed nervously, "Sorry, I was asleep."
"Your eyes were open." Sora joined the conversation.
"Oh yeah, huh..." Namine said, staring down at a speck of paper lying on the floor.
-
2:04 PM. School gets out early on Fridays. Sora and Roxas were holding hands, and walking down the school entrance steps, onto the snow-covered pavement. They saw Kairi and Namine walking together, too, except Kairi was leading the way, and Namine followed behind, yawning, instead of holding hands like the twin brothers did. As they were casually walking, Namine bent over and held up the phone, almost as if she knew it was there, "Got it." She said, loud enough for the twins to hear it from the distance of across the street.
"Thanks." Kairi said, looking at the phone. "No damage done... Thankfully it landed in the bushes."
Namine laughed, "Yeah, but you gotta admit, that was funny!"
"Yeah, it was..." Kairi agreed.
"Hey, Bucket boys!" Namine called out, not to offend them, but that was their actual name, and what the teachers called them.
"Yeah!?" Sora and Roxas replied in unison.
"Wanna join us?" Kairi asked, "We're going shopping!"
"No, thanks --" Roxas said, but was cut off when Sora said...
"Of course we wanna join you!" Sora interrupted. "Which place?"
"We're just going to the candy store..." Namine said. "Maybe get a Wonka bar."
"Okay, sounds good!" Sora said, and nudged Roxas. "Right, big bro?"
Roxas sighed exasperatingly, "Yeaaahh..."
"Alrighty!" Sora said, and crossed the street with Roxas, as they froliced over the icy terrain.
-
At the candy shop, the storekeeper was Cid, the friendly blonde man with a rowdy attitude. "Mornin', boys!" He said, as the Bucket twins were the first to enter, but he eyed the Ame twins, and greeted, "Mornin' to ya, too, ladies!"
"Morning, Cid!" the four said in unison.
"Hello, Namine." Cid eyed his favorite, which happened to be the adorable little angel, Namine. Kairi was pretty, too, but she looked more like their father. Their parents happened to be Vincent Valentine and Tifa Lockhart, although, Namine inherited blonde hair from her mother's side.
"Hey, Uncle Cid." Namine said, calling the man his nickname she gave him when she was five.
"Good times..." Cid smiled, putting a few chocolate bars into storage, the cabinet below the displayed chocolates and candies. "What may I get for ya guys?"
They all looked at Sora, who was silent, until he stuttered, "Uhhhh... Umm..."
Kairi finally decided, "We'll all get Nutty Crunch Surprise..."
"Um, I hate nuts." Roxas whispered.
"And a Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight." Kairi added with a smile.
Cid winked, and pulled out the four chocolate bars, "Here ya go."
"Are you sure it's ok you pay for us?" Sora asked Kairi in a whispering tone.
Kairi nodded, "We're rich, Sora. We can afford to throw twenty dollars into a lake for good luck rather than a penny."
The Bucket twins, Sora and Roxas, were among the poor, and lived with their parents and grandparents. They could barely afford anything, but however, the Ame twins, Kairi and Namine, were among the rich, and lived with luxury with their parents and a few cousins. They could afford anything, but Tifa disapproved of Sora and Roxas, saying that the poor must not be dealed with. Kairi liked her dad, especially since he said she was doing the right thing by helping out two unfortunate boys. Kairi wished she could do more, but Tifa only allowed Kairi to spend a hundred dollars a day, and not to go near the Bucket twins. Giving them candy was one of the simple acts she did; she would lend them clothes, but her and Namine weren't sporty or tomboy-ish, so they didn't have any boys clothes for them. They would lend them money, but doing that directly, Tifa would check Kairi and Namine's pockets, and ask why double money was missing from them both, eventually, she'd find out. Moms know everything.
"Have a good day!" Cid said, as they left.
-
The two sets of twins left the candy shop, and the girls eagerly began unwrapping their candy bars. Sora was rushing too, but not quite as fast; Roxas wasn't in any hurry, and unwrapped the chocolate bar, almost as if he did it daily, and wasn't short on time. Kairi was the first to take a bite of her chocolate bar, then Sora, then Namine, and then Roxas. "Mmm..." Kairi said, "Best quality chocolate bar in the world!" She said, licking the goods off her thin fingers.
"Whoever made this stuff is a genius!" Sora said, excitedly eating his, almost like he hadn't eaten for twenty years. Namine giggled at this sight, Kairi was too concentrated on her chocolate, and Roxas rolled his eyes.
"Don't you know who did?" Kairi asked, looking at Sora and Roxas. Namine looked over at them too, with an unattractive mouthful of chocolate. "It's Mr. Willy Wonka, don't you remember?"
"I thought he was a myth!" Sora said, out of the blue.
Roxas whacked his little brother on the head -- quite softly, actually -- with his thin workbook from school. "You dummy!" He laughed, "Mom used to talk about him all the time. How he was the best candymaker alive, remember?" Sora's eyes were confused and a little interested. "She said that last she heard of him was so long ago, that it SEEMS as though he was a myth! Not that it was so long ago, that it was a myth!"
"Oh!" Sora said, and then, "Wait, what?"
Kairi ignored this last comment and continued, "Willy Wonka is the world' best chocolatier. He makes candy for kids, and sells them all over the world. He made the very chocolate bars that we're eating... at this very moment... right now... with his own gloved hands." She couldn't really say 'bare hands', because it was true he always wore gloves, almost as if he was trying to protect himself from lethal infection.
"Really...?" Roxas said, after a while of silence, not including the correction he made to his brother just a second ago.
"Yeah!" Namine said, licking her chocolate bar and taking a huge bite out of it. She continued to talk with her mouth full, "This stuff's really good! I wonder how Mr. Wonka does it. He lives in that big chocolate factory up there, y'know."
"Oh!" Sora said.
Roxas looked up at it and said, "I've looked at that thing all my life." He saw the huge structure of the factory. It was a mere twenty blocks from the house, while the school did intend to go around the factory and beyond thirty more blocks. "It's amazing..."
"I always thought that was just there for decoration!" Sora said, even more idiotically, only to recieve a much-harder whack of the book from his twin. The female twins laughed as Roxas beat up his brunette male counterpart.
They were only halfway to the Bucket's house, meaning they arrived to the factory, and were looking up at it, respecting and admiring the building. They were walking as they looked up at it, and by this point, all of them had finished their delicious chocolate bars, and threw away the wrapping remains into the nearby trash bin. They were dazed, just looking up for a long period of time, when Kairi suddenly stopped, and thought. Thankfully, she was behind everybody, so nobody behind her crashed into her... after all, they were all looking up. Namine felt a vibe, and turned around, "What's wrong, Kairi?"
Roxas and Sora stopped fighting, turning around, and looking at the nervous brunette. She gulped, "Namine... I think I..."
Namine suddenly finished the sentence, "... Left your backpack at the school!?" They both knew the tiresome, long way to the school... they were twenty-five blocks away from it.
"Yeah." Kairi nodded. "Stop doing that, it's creepy when you finish my sentences."
"Well, we've gotta go!" Namine said, "We've gotta retrieve Kairi's backpack, y'know..."
"Ok, bye!" Sora waved as the girls left. Roxas was standing there, silent as usual... They disappeared around the corner of the chocolate factory; Roxas was staring blankly at them, and Sora stopped waving once they disappeared from sight. He looked at Roxas, and waved his hand in front of Roxas' face. Unresponsive, as usual... "Why are you so quiet?" Sora finally asked.
Roxas sighed, "Nothing really to say, I guess." Apparently, he didn't notice the waving hand at all, and was really spaced out. Sora giggled at this.
"Well, let's head home." Sora said, "The candy was all we ate today..."
"Yeah, I know." Roxas said, "Guess we'd better get some cabbage stew at home."
Sora and Roxas said exactly at the same time, "Even though we've been eating cabbage stew forever!" Then they laughed in agreement.
"I wonder if Gramps has any interesting story..." Roxas said. "Y'know, about that creepy chocolate factory." He pointed up; Sora nodded, and put his hands to his hips, just as his mother always would.
"He probably does." Sora smiled. "I hope so!"
"Let's get home and find out!!" Roxas said. "Race ya."
"It's on, white boy." Sora teased. Needless to say, they were tired after the first four blocks AGAIN. Twenty-one to go...
---
Coming up in the next chapter... Gramps's story of the Chocolate Factory.