A/N: Collaboratively written. This the first official chapter for the fanfic, and we hope you like it. Reviews are very much appreciated and new chapters will be published as soon as we get them written.
Disclaimer: We do not own any of these characters.
Roxas was the last one to wake up that morning. He groaned as the incessant sound of birds flooded in through the window, and he was seriously tempted to throw something. That was the only thing he didn't like about mornings, the birds came all the way out just to bug him and his neighbors for a few hours. He rolled onto his side and checked the clock. In a little more than a week he'd have to wake up earlier then this for school. After another minute of lying in bed, the blonde began his morning routine.
He walked down the stairs towards the small kitchen where a woman stood, her brown hair held back with a red hair tie. She was chatting lightly, a phone pressed between her shoulder and her ear.
"Hey sweetie," She called to him, and he smiled lightly.
"Morning mom," He replied, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table. "Who are you on the phone with?" The woman looked over her shoulder.
"It's just your father; he had to get a few things from the store for breakfast. Pancakes are on the table, if you want any." She said, before walking into the other room to finish her phone call. Roxas nodded and put some on his plate, when his brother came down the stairs. He yawned and pushed his brown hair out of his face.
"Couldn't you have been a little quieter?" He groaned as he stumbled on a step. "I could have gotten at least another five minutes of sleep."
"Whatever Sora, just eat" The blonde sighed, rolling his eyes. Sora stuck his tongue out, and pulled out his own chair to sit down. The front door unlocked and a tall man with blonde hair, similar to Roxas' walked in, carrying bags.
"Aerith! I got the groceries!" He yelled from the door, and walked into the kitchen, greeting his sleepy sons. "Hey boys, it's nice to see you up." Sora looked up at his father, and nodded, face full of pancakes. The other two laughed.
"I've got a bunched planned for the four of us to do today, since it's the last day before I go back to work." Their father had planned to take the week off from work and spend some time with his wife and kids, but his company was calling him back sooner then he'd hoped. Still, quality family time wasn't exactly the two boy's idea of fun.
"What's in the box, Dad?" Roxas asked, halfway through of chewing. The older blonde chuckled, "A surprise. When you're all done eating, come in the living room, ok?" And with that, he walked away with a cheeky grin. Roxas merely shrugged in response, continuing to eat.
A few minutes later, Aerith rounded them all up in the living room where Cloud had set up a few DDR mats. The brothers' eyes widened, they certainly didn't expect something like this from their usually stern father. Their mother excused herself to go get drinks and snacks, while their father hopped onto one of the mats and exclaimed, "So, who's first?"
The thin brunette walked back into the room, setting down a tray of various foods on the table. She laughed and clapped lightly at the sight of her husband and youngest son flailing wildly on the mats. Sora simply sat back and grabbed a soda, chuckling to himself at how ridiculous they looked.
At first the boys were reluctant to join but eventually, they had all had a few turns and were feeling a bit exhausted, so they decided to watch a movie. Suddenly, the room started to shake gently. Knick knacks shook on the shelves, windows rattled, and a can of soda fell off the table. A few moments later, the entire house shook violently.
Aerith screamed when a large crack appeared in the wall. She quickly ran into the next room, while Cloud roughly grabbed his son's arms and ran up the stairs. The walls were starting to crumble badly and the roof was caving in. The three raced outside, panting. Cloud did a quick head count, and noticed Aerith wasn't there.
"Stay here, I'm going back in." He demanded running back into the collapsing house. The two brothers yelled for him to come back, insisting it wasn't safe, but he didn't listen. As soon as they lost sight of their father, the biggest shock wave yet ripped through the area, causing their house to completely collapse on itself.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The two brothers didn't want to leave the hospital or their parents. But Aerith and Clouds were no longer patients, they were dead, so there was no reason for two perfectly healthy teens to stay lurking around the emergency room. They spoke to Sora first. A woman in a dark skirt and jacket walked up, a badge with the label social services printed on in bold letters under her name and began to explain what was about to happen. Legally there was no reason to do anything but apologize for his loss. He was eighteen and he would be fine on his own. Roxas however was still a minor and if there were no plans, they needed to call social services. Sora panicked, which lead to some yelling and cursing from Sora and a formal request to take the argument outside, by hospital staff. Sora was ready to start again, but Roxas stood up calmly.
"We have an aunt you can call." He said, only half lying. Yuffie was close enough to their mother to be sister, but they weren't. They hadn't seen her in four years, since the family had left Destiny Island. And Roxas assumed they weren't there anymore either. Still his mother had the number programmed under emergency contacts in both boys' phones. "You can call her. I'm sure she'll take us for a day or two." Roxas continued, hoping his lie wouldn't fall through on him. Both of them hoped, actually. Sora might be legal, but he probably couldn't support himself, without help. The woman looked him over, her eyes lingering on his, looking for some trace of deception. His expression remained blank, even as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"I'll call then," She said, flipping up the boy's phone and after a few seconds of scrolling, copying down the woman's number. "You both should wait here; this shouldn't take more than a few minutes."
But like most things in a hospital, it took a lot longer than expected. The woman came back and told us that she was on her way from Radiant Gardens. She told the two they would need to move the front lobby of the hospital and wait with her there until Yuffie arrived, which was in about a two hours. She ran through the glass doors, her eyes red, and tackled Sora, who was closer to the door. She looked at Roxas, and motioned for him to come over. She wrapped both of them into a hug, her thin arms hardly getting around both boys.
Roxas felt numb, he couldn't believe how quickly the entire event happened, and that his parents were gone. Insecurity flooded his thoughts. Where would they live? How would they support themselves? What about school? He tried in vain to blink back tears.
"Oh…I'm so sorry about all this…" Yuffie sobbed softly, hugging the boys tightly. The social worker walked over, pulling Yuffie aside to talk. The boys' "aunt" convinced the social worker to let them go with her, and they walked silently to her car. Sora fell asleep rather quickly, exhausted from the stress and grief. Roxas, however, was still too wired from the adrenaline to sleep.
The car trip was uneventful, save for a few bouts of sobbing along the way. They arrived at Yuffie's apartment, still upset. She led them into the living room, and told them to sit down. Roxas moved towards the couch and sat down by himself, but Sora lurked around her sitting closer to her. She gave both of us a watery smile and began to cry again.
"I hate to put any more stress on you boys, but…" Yuffie choked, still sobbing, "But my flight leaves tomorrow afternoon and I don't know if the social worker would want you staying here by yourselves…" The brothers looked at each other worriedly. They had nowhere else to go. She looked at her phone for a minute and go up. "Be right back, I need to make a phone call" She said in a rather determined voice, and she excused herself from the room. When she returned much later, she looked stressed but had a small, sad smile on her face. "Well, I explained the situation to Riku, and he said he'd be happy to have you two live with him as long as you need to." Roxas sighed, relieved feeling that at least they had some sort of stability now. Sora, on the other hand, felt even sicker to his stomach than before. Yuffie insisted the two stay the night in her apartment, and that they'd go find some clothing for them along with anything that survived the earthquake tomorrow before they moved in with Riku.