The Kingdom Fantasy – Chapter 1
Sora walked up the house at the end of the street. He clutched the small piece of paper in his hand before double checking the address scrawled on it with the number on the house.
"So, this is where she used to live?" he asked himself. Sora slowly walked up the small set of stone steps towards the door, all the while thoughts and doubts running through his head.
'This is a stupid idea, no one probably lives here anymore, it's been years, and if anyone even did live here once they probably moved a long while ago...' Sora hesitantly knocked on the door, feeling guilty that he was just gonna disturb somebody who probably had no idea who he was. Sora waited a bit, his stomach flip-flopping as he heard footsteps. He considered making a blind dash for it before the door swung open and a teenager version of himself with black hair stepped out, stopped and stared at him with his golden eyes. Sora could only stare at the kid that looked freakily like some kind of mirror image of himself, only older and with black hair. He was snapped out of his thoughts as the teen snapped at him.
"Who the fuck are you?" Startled, Sora quickly replied,
"I'm Sora, Sora Gainsborough, um, I was wondering, did a woman named Aerith used to live here? Like, a long time ago?" Sora smiled and sheepishly ran his fingers through his hair, embarrassment seeping into his skin. The teen just stood stock still and started to glare at him. Uncomfortable under his gaze Sora nervously continued, "W-well you see, I'm just asking because Aerith is my mother, like my biological mother, but I came here because I'm looking for my dad, I don't know who he is exactly, but-" Sora was cut off by the dark-haired teen suddenly moving forward, grabbing his clothes, spinning him around and slamming him into the brick wall of the house.
"Is this your idea of some kind of sick joke?" The teen angrily asks a very confused Sora.
"Huh? W-what?"
"Your Aerith's son, eh? I'm impressed, you got the maiden name right and everything. And you even got the looks down to a T! Brown spiky hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. What's next? Cloud Strife is your father and you're just trying to find him?" The teen spat in a whiny mocking voice as he glared right into Sora's blue eyes. Sora can only stare right back, confusion and fear tumbling around inside him, not sure how to respond to his accusations.
"I-I don't-"
"This is funny to you isn't it? We'll see how funny it is when I bash your fucking skull in!" Sora paled and grabbed at the teen's hands trying to free himself and run away. Suddenly a rock came out of nowhere and hit the dark-haired teen square in the back of the head. Hissing in pain as he grabbed the back of his skull, the teen dropped Sora. "What in the fuck!" Sora scrambled to his feet and ran down the stones steps only to come face to face with another pissed off looking teenager, only this teen had spiky blonde hair and was glaring at the black-haired teen and not him.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing Vanitas?" Vanitas turned to face him and spat back
"Me? What the fuck are you doing throwing fucking rocks at my fucking skull? Fucking Goddamnit Ventus!" Vanitas kept one hand on the back his now very painful head. Ventus turned to Sora,
"Hey kid, are you...okay...?" He finished slowly as he stared at a younger, brown-haired version of the asshole on the porch muttering 'Fuck' underneath his breath. Sora crossed his arms.
"I'm not a kid, I'm almost 15 years old." Ventus just blinked, then turned to Vanitas,
"Hey, I didn't know you had a little brother." Vanitas glared at Ventus.
"Oh you're in on it too? Why does that not surprise me, you fucking ass! Get the fuck out of my house, both of you!" Sora then shouted out,
"Wait! Could you please just tell me if she used to live here? I need to know, please!" Vanitas ground his teeth then quickly bent to pick up the rock that Ventus had thrown at him earlier, aimed at Sora then yelled out,
"You're pushing your luck asswipe, I said, get the fuck out!" Ventus grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him out of the path of the rock.
"Why are you being such a prick!" Vanitas just scoffed, turned around, went back into his house and slammed the door behind him. Ventus turned to Sora and then started walking away. "It doesn't look like he's in the mood to answer questions...ummm...?" Sora stood there for a second and then quickly answered,
"Oh! I'm Sora, Sora Gainsborough."
"Nice to meet you Sora, I'm Ventus Strife. So who's this girl you're looking for? Vanitas steal your girlfriend or something?"
"Oh, no. I was trying to ask him if a woman named Aerith used to live here a long time ago, she's my birth mother you see, but she died when I was really young and the only thing I know about her was that she lived here when she was alive." Ventus nodded,
"I don't know anything about that, Vanitas and his dad have lived there for as long as I can remember, maybe she lived there before they moved in?" Sora lowered his head,
"I see." Ventus saw his upset face and asked,
"So why was Vanitas about to bash your skull in?" Sora raised his head again and looked confused.
"He got mad at me for some reason, asking if 'this was my idea of a sick joke' or something." Sora suddenly stopped and looked at Ventus, "Wait! You said your last name was Strife?" Ventus stopped and nodded.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Uh well, you wouldn't happen to know who Cloud Strife is would you?" Ventus raised an eyebrow at him.
"Cloud Strife? Yeah he's my dad." Sora looked surprised now.
"Really!"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well, I guess Vanitas thought I was joking when I said Aerith was my mom, he said he was impressed I got her maiden name right, and that I got the looks right or something but then he said, 'What's next, Cloud Strife is your father?' or something." Sora just sighed. Ventus raised an eyebrow at Sora, then shrugged,
"That is weird, and so very unlike the Vanitas that I know." Ventus started walking again, Sora following. "So Sora, since you went and bugged Vanitas you're obviously new around here, but I didn't see any moving vans or anything recently. Where do you live?" Sora stopped, Ventus looked back to see Sora looking at the ground, sadness in his eyes.
"Sora?" Sora ran his hand through his hair sheepishly and smiled nervously at Ventus.
"Uhh, well, that's sort of why I was at his house in the first place. I lived with my grandparents until a while ago. My grandpa's dead and my grandmother has Alzheimer's, she's forgotten who I am. A week ago she locked me out of the house because she thought I was trying to rob her or something. I didn't have anywhere else to go except maybe try to find my dad. I was hoping maybe my dad still lived there, or even did live there once or something, but now that I think about it, that's not very likely is it? So, I don't really live anywhere I guess..." Ventus walked back over to Sora,
"Wait, so, where are you staying tonight then?" Sora shifted awkwardly on his feet.
"...dunno.." Ventus looked at him worriedly. This wasn't exactly the greatest neighbourhood after dark. Especially for a naive 15 year old kid from out of town who's probably gonna fall asleep in an alley way somewhere. Ventus stood there thinking for a bit before saying,
"Hey, how about this?" Sora looked up.
"Huh? What?" Ventus smiled and grinned,
"Just come home with me! I'll tell my parents you're sleeping over for the night and then we can figure out something else in the morning!" Sora brightened up,
"Really? You'd do that?"
"Yeah, no worries! Follow me." Sora happily skipped alongside Ventus before smiling and saying.
"Thank you so much Ventus! But, is it really okay? What will your parents think?" Ventus just waved his hand in the air.
"It's fine, I bring home friends all the time. I have a bunk bed from when me and brother were young and still shared a room and my mom never really cares if I have friends over, she trusts me." Sora brightened up even more at that and he excitedly walked in front of Ventus backwards.
"You have a bunk bed? That's so cool! Can I have the top bunk?" Ventus just laughed at the excited look on Sora's face.
"Sure!"