Summary: Such is life - you wake up to a "new day", do your thing, go to sleep. Up, thing, sleep, repeat. Life isn't perfect, it's just another stop on the way to death. There are highs and lows to life. Different people have different highs and lows.
Hope is a science geek, preparing for college - more to get away from his miserable life than for fun. Vanille is the new student from Australia, and she hides a big secret. Sora has tough times in high school and thinks it might be time to change them. Riku sees them all for what they are - human beings, very unlike his poster boy behavior. Life isn't perfect. It's a lesson to be learned. And Hope, Vanille, Sora and Riku will now see what it means to be perfect, to be human, and what's the difference between the two. Also, science isn't as fun as Hope says it is.
A/N: I don't think warnings are in place because I have very set things I always do so.
Now, before you get down on me - this is just the prologue, and besides. I wrote this years ago. What is written here isn't what I believe in. This is an AU, after all. Also, everything the characters think is their thoughts, nothing else. I don't believe in what Light claims here, say. But that's what she sees from her perspective. So don't kill me. Also, a very dark story...
And to sort out familial ties and others:
* Nora Estheim is Light and Serah's mother's sister. Riku is Hope's older brother. And Nora isn't dead, she has depression, which I don't really understand but I'll try to get it as right as possible. Riku and Hope also have an older sister, Alyssa (yes, Zaidelle, and let's say it's Nora's maiden name), who's in college and changed her last name because of parental issues. I'll reveal them further in the story.
* Sora and Roxas are Cloud's kids from Aerith. After divorce, Cloud met Squall, who had his own child, Ventus (Ven's mother is unknown). Ven is younger than Sorox. Aerith's (infic) sister has a son, Vanitas, who is admitted to a rehab/mental institute for multiple suicide attempts. He's okay though. Vanitas also has two younger siblings, twins Hayner and Namine.
* Kairi and Axel are two of five kids, the other three being Reno (who won't be making an appearance until I get to know him better), Yuffie and Yuna. Yep, quite the game mix, but it works. Their parents are always present (and are OC) which is why there will be a lot of interventions in the story.
* Vanille and Fang are cousins. Vanille was raised in Brazil, but when she was twelve her parents got in contact with Fang's and they took her in, taught her to speak English, healthcare, everything. They are also related, albeit distantly, to Caius and not-so-distantly (second cousins) to Noel.
And that covers everything up. Enjoy.
No one ever got it. Life isn't that simple. You have to be perfect at everything - sports, school, social life. Hope just couldn't do it. He wasn't perfect at anything. He quit soccer after twisting his leg, game after game, until being tackled by a player on the other team and then needing surgery and having his bones pinned back; He tried his best in school, still is trying his best, but it's nothing personal, he just sucks; And he is anti-social. His whole life he's been best friends with just one person, and that was his cousin Claire. No one liked him. They thought he was stupid. They hurt him, mentally and physically. Well, at least he's not sorry he's not perfect like Riku. Hope knows his place in this world - an ADD and socially awkward kid who can't do a thing for his own damned good. Then again, it's not his fault he's not Riku. Not his fault he never had a girlfriend yet. Not his fault he's Hope Estheim, not perfect.
Society expects you to be girly, to wear dresses and makeup and be ditzy and blond with big boobs and no brains. They expect you to fit the sexist model of girl men want around them. Girls don't go to the army. Girls must be nice and pretty and shut up. Claire isn't girly. She doesn't wear dresses and makeup. She's no man's dream woman. Her whole life she's been told she's doing the wrong thing, but who cares. Claire is no longer Claire. She's now Lightning. Strikes bright, then fades away. She can't be perfect. Her best friend is her cousin, who's seven years younger than her; She's no super-model, she's a soldier; If Hope isn't perfect, than neither is she. She can't be anything but herself, either Claire or Lightning. A soldier, a cousin, an older sister. Nothing else to her. She's not sorry she can't be perfect. No one is perfect.
No one should live in poverty, they say. No one should be sick or poor. But they do nothing about it. Vanille still lived in poverty. She's a girl, alright. She's not very smart, she's pretty, she's nice. But she's still poor. Brazilian favelas are terrible, and they're full of criminals and rapists. No one minds at all. She does. She's from a Brazilian favela. Vanille isn't sorry she's not perfect, but maybe she does. She likes Hope, who's perfect. He's smart and funny and nice and good-looking. And rich. That defines perfect in so many minds. Not in hers. In Vanille's mind, he's perfect because he cares. He's the only one who knows she's not okay. Not perfect. One slip and she's doomed. Vanille Dia Oerba lives in poverty, and no one knows. It's fine. She's a girl, alright. She's not very smart, she's pretty, she's nice. And she's just not perfect.
Society loves bubbly women, not men. Men are quiet, smart, collected. Women are jumpy and loud. But so is Sora. He's jumpy and loud and bubbly, and not very smart. He's hyperactive and optimistic. Underneath it he's just as sad as anyone else. Quiet and collected. But he tries to be optimistic, at least that. Men are attracted to women and vice versa. Sora loves Riku. He can't seem to like anyone else but Riku. He's not perfect. He tries not to be sorry for it, but he is. He's sorry for it because he can't be a man. He's dumb, hyperactive, loud and a flaming homosexual. But it's okay. He's used to being bullied. He's not his brothers. Sora's just a jumpy, stupid teen. And he's sorry he can't be perfect.
Women tend to be victims of bullying, not the opposite. They're raped and hit and called names, no matter what. But Kairi isn't that. She's been hurt so much she's the bully now. She knows no other way. Before everything happened, Kairi was friends with Sora and Ventus and Namine and basically everyone. Now her friends are only cheerleaders, and even then it's fake. She's also scared of saying she's bisexual, so she's getting to people who aren't heterosexual. That includes Sora, and Ventus, and Namine, and even her brother Axel. It also gets to Riku. Her boyfriend. They came out to each other as bisexuals, so she knows. But it still hurts her to know she hurts someone dear to her. All that is dear to her. She knows it's a shitty behavior, but she can't stop. She's just not perfect. She's not even trying.
In human nature men are quiet, collected, perfect in everything. They do well, have fine wives. Live perfect lives. According to these standards, Riku is a perfect man. He's sorry he's perfect. He's sorry he can't be his brother, who just tries for the sake of knowledge that he wants to acquire. He's sorry he can't be Sora, bubbly and fun and sweet and optimistic. Hope and Sora aren't perfect. Riku is. He's sorry for being perfect. For not having to acquire knowledge because he wants to, just for the sake of it. For being unable to smile 24/7 and just be cheerful and not worry about a thing. He sometimes wishes he'd be Hope for a day, even if most people would rather deny their connection to each other. He wishes he'd be his brother for just a day. Anti-social and nerdy and just unique. No one will mind him. He won't be perfect anymore. He's sorry he's perfect.