Start All Over

16th Century Rome

Sora sits on the back porch of his father's mansion. He sighs, staring out towards the forest, wanting filling his body. If only I could explore. He sighs, knowing his father forbids venturing into the forest, especially this close to dusk. Sora never understood the fear of the dark and of the forest the village deems cursed. Cursed. The word is quite foreign to Sora, such a happy, free child, a word like "cursed" is lost on him.

"What's so cursed about a dumb forest?" he props his chin on his palm, elbow resting on his knee. His eyes watch the treeline, hoping for something interesting to come from it. If it's so cursed, I want proof.

Sora gasps as words reach his ears, a voice lost in the wind: "Are you sure that's what you want, child?"

The brunet gasps and looks around, but there's no one near him that could have said those words. He finds his gaze returning to the forest, and he swears he sees a flash of silver in the tree line. He stands, tilting his head, "Father says never to go into the forest.."

The whispered words run through his mind again, "Are you sure that's what you want, child?" Sora swallows and, looking back once, he heads into the forest. By the time he reaches just inside the treeline, darkness falls over the forest, making the trees appear black, the branches gnarled and dangerous. He swallows his fear, pushing back the thought that the trees are reaching to grab him. Instead, he focuses on the path in front of him. He stares at the dark earth and smiles, seeing there's footprints, human footprints, following the path.

Sora follows the path, hugging himself against the chill of the wind. He walks the path until it's too dark to see anything in front of him. He stops walking and looks around. The black trees seem to be moving towards him. His eyes widen when he realizing the roots are moving. He opens his mouth to scream, but someone clamps a hand over the young boy's mouth.

A harsh whisper rings in Sora's ear: "What are you doing here?"

Sora shivers, the hand over his mouth sends chills through him. There is no warmth in that hand.

"Well?" the voice demands.

Sora moves to turn around, and surprisingly, there is no resistance. Sora stares at the boy before him. The boy is no older than he is. Piercing aquamarine eyes bear into him, silver hair is blown around a perfectly sculpted pale face. Sora's breath leaves with the wind. The boy before him is inhumanly beautiful. The boy's eyes narrow, "I asked you a question."

Sora's eyes widen more as he realizes the boy's voice is the same he heard outside his house. The flash of silver. Sora speaks softly, "It's you.. You spoke to me.. You were outside the forest. I saw you."

The boy frowns and Sora steps towards him, "What's your name?"

Present Day

"Riku!"

The silver-haired teen turns at the sound of his name. He frowns, seeing Aqua coming towards him. He stands from where he was crouched before a gravestone. The name read: Sora Valdez. Aqua frowns, crossing her arms, "It's almost dawn. Come on."

She looks past him and growls, baring fangs, "Every time we come back here, you go to this stupid grave site. That human you befriended died. Quit moping, he's never coming back."

Riku's eyes flash dangerously, "He would be if you had let me turn him."

"You know why we don't turn humans anymore." Aqua replies.

Riku looks back at the grave, his eyes filling with grief and longing. You were so much more than just a friend. Aqua hisses as the sunlight starts over the sky. Riku turns and vanishes just after she does.

The blaring of Sora's alarm clock assaults his ears, waking him from his dream. He groans and smacks the stupid clock, "Who made school so early? I want to punch them in the face."

He gets up, dragging himself across his room. His room is littered with boxes. He tosses a smaller box on the floor, opening the bigger box underneath, "Stupid having to move, making all my stuff hard to find."

He closes the box and opens another. He finds a a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and a plain pair of blue jeans. He quickly changes and heads downstairs. The mansion his family just moved into is old, and had belonged to his great-great-great-great (plus a few more greats) grandfather. The house needs repairs, but Sora finds nothing really wrong with it. For being so old, he finds it quite homey. Sora walks into the kitchen, welcomed by the bickering of his two younger siblings Selphie and Tidus.

"You're stupid! Pink is a much better color!" Selphie crosses her arms.

"Says the eleven-year-old." Tidus snorts.

"You're only a year older than me!" Selphie whines.

Sora laughs, "You two! I swear, it's a new fight every day!"

"Tell her, red is way better, isn't it?!" Tidus turns to Sora.

"Nuh-uh!" Selphie gasps, "Sora!"

The sixteen-year-old boy continues laughing, grabbing a poptart from a box on the counter, "Figure that out yourselves, I have to finish getting ready for school!"

Sora passes his mother on the way back up the stairs.

"Sora, no running!" his mother calls up to him.

He waves at her and continues running back to his room. He shoves his tennishoes on without socks and grabs his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. Just as he's about to leave the room, he sees something shiny in a small silver box under his bed. He tilts his head and pulls the box out, pulling the lid all the way off so he can look inside. The shiny thing that caught his eyes is an old silver band with black vines etched all around it. Sora moves to pick it up, and when he touches the ring, everything goes dark.