Ashes: A Cinderella Tale.
Summary- A wicked stepmother. An evil stepbrother. An unlikely prince. And twin brothers, caught in a web of abuse, deceit, fear and hate. AU, Rated M for good reason. Not for the fainthearted.
Prologue- The Hearth Dying
AN- so I know the Cinderella thing has been done a million and one times, but... I couldn't help it. I really just wanted to write this story. So here it is. Its a little bit rougher, a little more violent than the old fairy tale your used to, though. I was inspired by a whole lot of Five Finger Death Punch. The American Capitalist album. If that tells you anything.
And I know what you're saying. "Quinn, are you crazy? Two chaptered fics at once? With a new job, too?" (at least, in my head, you guys ask me these things. I'm sure you probably don't care...) but to answer, well... the muse bit me. Hard. I cant resist. I've been writing like crazy.
Warnings- Violence, Rape, Drug and Alcohol Abuse, Yaoi, Yuri. Pretty much the works here, kiddies. This definitely ain't yo mammas bedtime tale.
Enjoy!
QuinntheEskimo
…...
For a very short time in my life, everything was perfect. My brothers and I were happy, our father was doing well in his career, and we wanted for nothing.
Even at eleven years old, I should have know that perfect doesn't last.
When Sephiroth adopted Cloud, Ventus and I, we were shocked. The three of us had been taken from our parents when Ven and I were a year and a half, and Cloud was three. Ven and I were too young to remember our birth parents, but Cloud could remember bits and pieces. All he would ever tell us is that we were better of in the foster care system than with them. For years, we were bounced around from home to home, separated at times, yet we always managed to be reunited. But we always figured that on the odd chance that one of was adopted, we wouldn't be kept together. It was a miracle we had stayed together this long, a miracle brought about by our amazing caseworker, Aerith, who really hated to see us parted. So naturally, when this stoic silver-haired man came to us, and told us we were going to live together, with him, from now on, we were ecstatic.
Sephiroth wasn't the easiest man to live with, mostly because, being a military man, he expected everything done neatly and precisely. It was tough getting used to that strict lifestyle. But he was a good man, and he cared a lot about the three of us. We had everything we could have asked for and more, and we had a stable home for the first time in our lives. Sephiroth easily became our father in all but blood.
And for three years, everything was right in my world.
But then things started to change. Dad started seeing a woman named Larxene. Cloud hated her and Ven and I weren't exactly her biggest fans either. She was polite enough, but she always seemed so cold, so uncaring. But Dad loved her. So we did our best to get along with her, if only for his sake. She also brought with her her own son, Vanitas. He was a year older than Ven and I, and very quiet, only ever deigning to speak to us when he had something rude to say, despite our efforts to get along with him. After a while, we just quit trying and ignored him, which seemed to suit him just fine.
Dad and Larxene were married shortly after Ven's and my eleventh birthday. We were dads groomsmen. We'd never seen our rather stoic dad smile so much in one day.
Larxene barely smiled, and when she did, it looked plastic. Vanitas didn't even come to the ceremony. I guess that should have told us something... but we never could have expected what was to come.
About three months after the wedding, Dad was called back into active duty. He was stationed halfway across the globe, and rarely got leave to come visit home.
It was then that we started to learn what Larxene and Vanitas was really like. She would go out constantly when dad wasn't around, sometimes wouldn't come back till the wee hours of the morning, sometimes not at all. She would go on shopping sprees, bringing home piles of clothes and shoes, go to salons regularly... which we didn't much care about. She could do what she wanted. It wasn't like dad didn't have the money.
But soon, she was ordering us about. She fired the maid that came over every week, fired the gardener. She wanted everything done for her, and she wanted all the money to herself. I guess the solution was easy for her.
Vanitas, on the other hand, became very... involved in what we did. He would follow us constantly, especially Ven. He constantly belittled Ven, his little barbs carefully crafted to take down his self confidence
Then dad died in the line of duty. His unit was in a skirmish, and he died saving some civilians caught in the crossfire. Ven and Cloud and I were torn to pieces. The one person who always loved us, had taken us in... was gone. He was given a heroes funeral, and a few medals.
But that didn't bring our dad back.
And while the three of us were falling apart... Larxene was reveling. Dad had taken out large life insurance policies to make sure we were cared for. So all of a sudden, she had all kinds of money, and no husband to be beholden to. She had ultimate freedom. And she took totally advantage of it.
She was gone even more often, and when she came back, she was usually drunk, or stoned, or a combination of the two. We didn't like it, but we could deal. But it was when she started bringing men over to the house on a regular basis that Cloud decided to confront her.
I remember all the screaming, my ear pressed to the wall in the next room, because Cloud had made Ven and I leave before he said a word. She told him that she was stuck with us, she was gonna do things her own way. We were nothing but a burden to her, and she could give us back to the state, she would in a second. But Dad's will specifically said that she was in charge of us. We were trapped here as much as she was, but she'd be damned if she had to suffer beside us. Cloud called her a stupid slut. She slapped him hard enough to leave a big angry bruise down the side of his face.
It was the first time she hit one of us... but not the last. After that night, being slapped around became a normal thing. Every time she was drunk, she would call one of us in for some abuse.
And for some reason, it was me she hated the most. None of us could figure it out. I guess its because of the three of us, I was the quietest, the one who was non-confrontational. None of us were terribly talkative, but I never really had much to say. Cloud and Ven would speak out against her, but even when she would hit me, I would say nothing. I think that angered her more than anything.
For the last five years, we've been living like this. Cloud was kicked out the minute he turned 18, so it was just me and Ven left here now, with Larxene and Vanitas. Larxene had, over the years, taken a special interest in making me absolutely miserable. As for Vanitas? He'd basically done the same with Ven. It was like it was his personal mission to torture my twin each and every day. And since Larxene had forbidden Cloud to contact us, he could do nothing.
We were seventeen now. If we could survive the last 7 months, we would be free of them forever.
But surviving was becoming harder and harder every day.
August 13th couldn't come fast enough.