Inspired by the story Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman.
Crack pairing: SephirothDemyx. LOL. Don't worry, you'll see why later on in later chapters. It won't last, I promise. Lol.
Pairings: Mentions of CloudZack, future CloudLeon, future ZexionDemyx, AxelRoxas, RikuSora. WARNING. MPREG. BUT NOT IN THIS CHAPTER. LOL.
Disclaimer: lightofeilia does not own. Square does. Alice Hoffman, part of it, I suppose. Practical Magic is LOVE. Go read it!
Of Normalcy and Magic: Chapter 1
They grew up in a small town, Hollow Bastion was the name; tucked away somewhere in the big world, relatively peaceful with minor scuffles or crime. They kept to themselves mostly, the Strifes were never known for being friendly with the rest of the townspeople. Actually, it was the other way around; the rest of the townspeople were never known for being friendly with the Strifes.
In fact, if anything were to go wrong in that town, the blame was immediately put on the Strifes, with their wicked ways of witchcraft and magic, powers that only run in the blood of that family, never mind that there wasn't any definite proof.
The rumours had started long ago, so the current generation of the Strife family really could not seek vengeance or at least do something horrible to the people who had spread this - this propaganda of sorts - against their family who had done nothing wrong but produce male children with haunting, blue eyes, but really, the people were just too accusing and too speculative for their own good.
Not to mention very, very dumb.
Of course, the rumours of magic in their blood weren't entirely unfounded accusations...
Nevertheless, the Strifes kept to themselves as much as they could, ignoring the whispers behind their backs whenever they went out for a stroll, or to the market to buy groceries.
Although the Strifes seemed like a household name, in reality the only people living in the Strife mansion were Merlin, the senile old man whom the townspeople were deathly afraid of as he had been around since like forever, and two little boys sent to live with him after their parents had been killed. In fact, the only Strifes living now were these two little boys, Cloud and Demyx.
Cloud and Demyx had only each other to rely on for comfort, and though they played together as much as little boys do, very seldom fights would occur between the two brothers with blonde hair and fluorescent blue eyes yet with personalities like polar opposites. Night and day, they were called, and truly, they were. Demyx was perpetually energetic and playful, often dragging his older brother around by the hand, whereas Cloud was shy and quiet, and often showed his happy side with a quirky half-smile.
Most normal people would have stopped to look at the two boys and comment about how well-behaved they are, yet the people of Hollow Bastion would sooner castrate themselves than admit that.
The children of the other townspeople were often warned about playing with the Strifes. Despite trying to be friendly, Demyx was often shot down cruelly by many of the children; and apparently, bullying was okay if it was against the Strifes. Unspoken rule. Cloud would grit his teeth and protect his younger brother, not even flinching when he was hurt by the many stones that they threw at him. Most times he just shielded Demyx from the hurt. Sometimes he gained enough courage to throw them back. These children would later run back home crying with singed sleeves and pants, though neither of them could explain how except that Cloud had done it, one way or another.
Cloud endured it all, and he didn't need friends, not really, to him the concept of it seemed so ... so alien. Were friends those who immediately crossed to the other side of the street wherever they walked? Did friends throw stones at you or protect you? Cloud didn't know, at that young tender age, and he tried hard to fit in until the day he saw his own brother being treated in the same way, and he realised what a fool he'd been.
"Fuck them all," Cloud once said quietly to Demyx, two years younger than him. Demyx would stare at him adoringly, with sad blue eyes, and Cloud knew all he really wanted was a friend. And a brother who doesn't cuss and use magic openly, but he would never say that.
"You shouldn't have done that," said Demyx, biting his lip, worried, as he watched the children run down the street with burn marks on their clothes.
"Don't worry about it, Demyx."
"Don't you understand?" yelled Demyx. "You're just making them see that we CAN do magic! You're not helping at all!"
And Cloud would have yelled back, would have shouted that it doesn't matter whether or not they can do magic, or if they show it, nothing would change the fact that no one wants to befriend them; but Demyx was already storming back into the house, possibly to seek comfort and guidance from Merlin.
Merlin - the old man who wasn't related to them, yet took care of them - didn't know how to raise a child properly. In fact, there would be much debate on what constitutes the word 'properly'. He taught them, yes. He provided for them. He told them of magic and the power coursing through their veins. He told them how they were special. And how being special meant that people didn't understand, and people were afraid of what they didn't understand. But were there bedtime stories and goodnight hugs? No. Teachings of manners? Barely. Bedtime hours and homework? Merlin didn't particularly care.
But when Demyx woke up crying with damp sheets and a high fever, Merlin knew how to comfort him, as old a man as he may be, and his brewed potions could do better than any doctor in Hollow Bastion, ten times over. When Cloud came home with scratches and bruises, he reasoned with the boy and treated his wounds, skillfully directing the anger and sorrow away. And this is how Cloud and Demyx Strife grew up in the shoddy town of Hollow Bastion.
School was a pain, Cloud knew, and he threw a spectacular tantrum when it was time for Demyx to begin his schooling, because Demyx was still young and easily hurt; he had not grown up in the space of six years like Cloud had.
Still, education was education, and Demyx was sent to the only school in Hollow Bastion. Cloud figured that they might as well have just gone to hell directly, and back again, and again, but Merlin would not listen.
Cloud was mercilessly teased, often being called a 'witch', and when he pointed out haughtily that only witches were girls, the tauntings hadn't stopped and had escalated to a meaner level, finding girl's jewelry and cosmetics in his locker and table. Cloud took this with apparent ease, and he didn't seem to do anything about it unless the pranks went on too far (mostly when they concerned Demyx).
Demyx, however, suffered through his first year much the way he suffered previously before school started, except this time Cloud wasn't there to protect him.
He tried his best, really he did. But Demyx was never one to ignore people, and he didn't like being ignored either. So when people pranked him, he pranked back. Cloud could utilize most magic and seem to be comfortable with it, but Demyx always had an unusual affinity for water. He used this for revenge on some of his classmates. Most of the time when he went to the washroom, he made the taps spray forceful water at the faces of those mean bullies, and sometimes they got too scared to prank him for a week. He sat beneath a tree, alone, and flicked water bullets (harmless, of course) at people and managing to drench their entire being in a single shot.
And so, for the first six years of school they held on. Cloud had been too used to ignoring people, so it wasn't much surprise when he was soon ignored rather than being picked on. The more he aged, the mellower he grew, although on the inside something had broken and seemed like it would never be fixed, ever again. Loneliness was his company now, together with Demyx, and Merlin, and his only comfort was the other lessons Merlin had been teaching them, especially with the use of their magic. Cloud's quiet disposition made the teachers sometimes stop the bullying, but never once did the teachers stand up for him and punish the other kids for doing those things. Cloud never seemed to utter any more words except when it was to speak to Demyx.
Demyx never did make any friends, despite his many tries to fit in, and the more he aged, the more outrageous he grew, and although his temper wasn't as bad as Cloud's, he often lost it quickly enough. As quick as he was to blow up, however, he was even quicker to cool down. By the end of the first year, Demyx had all but given up when he'd finally realized things were never going to change. Fellow classmates tried to trip him and steal his things. Often he was the target of many paper balls (which he dodged easily enough) with crudely drawn art of a burning witch at a stake. He once found a dead rat in his locker, stabbed with some kind of sharp, pointy object, and a piece of paper stuck to it with the words WITCH and EVIL, and he thought he'd never laugh harder in his entire life. Witches were people hiding in human skins, quick to taunt and quick to laugh at children who've lost their parents. Witches were people afraid of so many things they never realised what they've broken when they condemn whatever the heck it is they're afraid of without even daring to question why.
Once, when he was young and someone had told him he had witches' blood, he took a knife and cut a small wound in his hand to see the blood that flowed within him. He knew how the blood of other people looked like, once Cloud's anger had gotten the better of him and a stone had hit directly on the forehead of some stupid boy, the jagged edge being sharp enough to cut. He saw the redness and the blood that trickled down.
So when he saw his own blood, he was confused and puzzled. (Cloud had had a screaming fit when he bandaged him up later, but that was to be expected).
Demyx knew he wasn't a witch, but he knew he wasn't all normal either. They wanted to be normal, of course, but they never could be, not when they were born into a family already so 'evil' and 'wicked'.
The brothers often sparred with each other in the backyard of their mansion, unseen by people as no one dared to come within ten feet of the mansion itself. Honing their skills, they enjoyed practicing their magic Merlin had taught them, and often Cloud would end up drenched in water and Demyx's clothes torn and singed in places where Cloud's fire had burned him.
It was only in Cloud's fourth year that he and Demyx became more feared than ignored. It was the day when three chocobos followed Cloud to school. Merlin was a breeder, that was how he earned the extra money as well, but because no one visited the Strife mansion no one ever knew. Chocobos were extremely rare, and only rich people seemed to have them, so it was not surprising that Cloud drew looks of resentment from the other kids when they finally figured out what those unusual-looking birds looked like.
"Go away," Cloud whispered to one, trying his hardest to ignore the stares and catcalling. It didn't help that the kids now know what a chocobo looked like, and new names were being called, "Chocobo Cloud, Chocobo Cloud, ride on his back, the Chocobo-Cloud" and he was furiously blinking back tears when his chocobos didn't listen to him, warking and cooing gently at the foot of his table.
"Get those birds outta here, Strife," barked the teacher angrily, upset at the disruption in his class.
The tauntings didn't stop. One boy decided he'd have a bit of fun with some matches and lit one of the tails on fire.
Something flashed in Cloud's eyes. The fire was put out in a second, no sweat, thanks to Cloud's magic abilities, but when he turned around and stopped the boy's laughing with a single stare, everyone gasped when they saw the boy go frigid and stop moving, his expression frozen into a mask of horror.
Later that day Cloud would tend to the chocobo's injured tail and ignore Demyx's words of comfort; later that day the boy's parents would shout and scream at Merlin outside the door of their house even after being given the antidote to an out-of-control Break spell, later that day Cloud would realise that really, death seemed a lot better than to live in a living hell that was for certain never going to change anytime soon...
..until the day Cloud began high school. Things changed so drastically that Demyx knew that normalcy would never come, ever.
So what do you think? I hope you liked it! It's very very familiar to the story of Practical Magic, except that this one doesn't really have that much of the witchcraft in like, Wicca, but more of the Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts magic in here.
I realize that Cloud and Demyx as brothers are UNIMAGINABLE but ... T.T bear with me? Please?
Please review!