Family
A Kingdom Hearts Story
By: Rasei
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom Hearts nor do I own any Disney characters.
A/N: First of all, this is a semi-AU fic. I know Sora doesn't have a little brother that died. This takes place in Kingdom Hearts 2. This started out on how Sora would find out about Max. For those who don't know who Max is, Max is Goofy's son in the official Disney canon. His mother is mostly unknown and doesn't really show up. Some say Daisy Cow is his mother.
Cough... Cough... Sneeze... Cough.
I'm thinking I'm falling sick. It was a bad idea to go to the cold Halloween Town to warm Atlantica so soon after each other. We had been trying to get Jack agree not to try to take over Christmas again when we somehow got a message from King Triton about Ariel disappearing. It turns out that she had been turn into a human for a while. Everything is fine now though.
My eyes grew heavy as the gummi ship flew through space. Maybe some sleep would help... NO! Getting sick when you are trying to save the worlds and looking for your friend is not an option. I struggle to keep my eyes open when a furry hand touched my forehead.
"Gosh Sora, you have a fever. It feels kind of high to me." My eyes drift over to the seat next to me to see Goofy staring at me. Goofy gives his trademark smile.
"I'm fine." I whisper then I start coughing again. Today it is cold in the ship as I started to shiver. Goofy shakes his head. "Cannot get sick... Riku..." Goofy gives a sigh as he turn to Donald.
"Okay, Sora. Hey Donald, go to Hollow Bastion." Donald looks over and nodded. My eyes shut and next thing I dimly knew is someone force feeding me a potion. After that my shut again. Goofy woke me by picking me up. I let out a slight moan as he moved me.
"Is he okay?" quacked Donald. Is someone hurt? Maybe I should go help them...
"His fever is higher. That potion didn't help much," answered Goofy. My eyes slowly open to see the familiar market at Hollow Bastion. I start drifting again when Yuffie's loud voice interrupted.
"Hey Donald, Goofy! Where is So... What's wrong with him?" Her voice had turn from her hyper voice to a soft scared voice. My eyes snap open. I need to go help whoever she is talking about.
"Wha?" That was my response to her question. From nearby, there were two sighs. Yuffie peeks at me.
"Sora, do you think you can stand?" I nod my head but almost groan. My head is killing me. Maybe some kind of mini-sized heartless are eating my brains. Goofy careful put me down as Yuffie got closer, with a frown on her face.
"You look sick... Stay away from me, cootie-face." I blink slowly as she jumps away from me.
"N't sick. Cann't g't sick." I mumble to her before I starting coughing. The coughing last a minute then two then three then to the point I thought I never was going to breathe again. Finally the coughing stops. I'm dimly aware I'm on my knees, one hand on my mouth, and tears making their way out of my eyes.
"Sora, are you okay?" asked Aerith's soft voice in my ear. I shook my head. Or maybe I didn't... I'm not too sure. The world is spinning around now. Why is it so cold? There is a soft touch on my forehead.
"It's higher. We should go to Merlin's house." said Goofy. I struggle to my feet. Never would I let myself get in the way of my mission.
"I'm fine." I tried to speak but it came out almost in a creak. The coughing must have done something to my vocal cords. I touch my throat, wide-eyed. Goofy, or maybe it was Donald, reach down and turned me around to face the right direction to Merlin's house. What is going on? Everything is so blurry. Maybe this isn't Hollow Bastion but some wacky blurry version of it.
"Sora, do you think you can make it to Merlin's?" Why are we going to Merlin's anyway? We need to stop the heartless and nobodies. Plus finding Riku... Have to find Riku. I cannot lose him. I shouldn't think because I started feeling really dizzy and everything is out of focus. My eyes want to shut. "Sora?" As I open my mouth, another coughing fit hits. For the second time within a ten minutes span I start coughing. The coughing lasted until I could breath. I was going to die from coughing. Mom, help me. My eyes start watering even more and the world start going black. A pair with furry arms picks me up, so I panic.
"Calm down, Sora. Shhh... Everything will be alright." came a voice, a nice calming voice. It sounds like my father. To the right of me, a woman's voice whisper,
"Sleep." My eyes shut against my will.
"...ot eating enough. Don't you guys ever take a day off or a break? He is just a kid." Cid's voice is annoyed and cold. A kid after everything that has happened? A kid after the darkness came and destroyed my island? A kid after locking up my best friend in a realm that was full of dark things knowing most likely I would never see him again? A kid after unlocking my own heart? A kid after causing my little brother's death? Am I really a kid? Well I have an answer to that.
"Not kid." That was my great answer. A tiny, almost broken mumble. I felt a hand on my forehead. I open my eyes to a blurry form above me.
"Sora, how are you feeling?" ask Goofy in a fatherly way.
"Terrible. Sick. But I am not a kid." I answer while my throat hurt. It hurts everywhere in my body.
"Yes, you are a kid." Cid's voice was nearby. I thought back to the day my little brother disappeared. The way he begged and pleaded me to go out with him. The way I snapped at him. The way he ran out of the house and never returned. The whole reason I truly wanted to see the worlds out there was to bring him home. A reason only Riku really knew and understand. No, I'm not kid. I haven't been a kid since before I met Kairi.
"I haven't been a kid... a truly innocent, pure real kid..." I cough, fighting to talk to him. If I did get this out, I might burst.
"Since you became a keyblade user?"
I manage to laugh, though laughing hurt. "No, since my little brother died." My eyes shut, thinking of the small tiny boy with a huge grin. It has been over a decade since he died but still it hurts. A silence washes over the room. It was slowly drowning me as my eyes shut. "I was five... Roxy was my twin. He wanted to go out and play but both Riku and I had the flu. He sneaked out even after Mom forbidden him from going out. Afterward he never came back. No one found him." I start coughing my lungs out for a minute. A hand stokes my hair. "About two weeks, later Mom started crying. She told us that she knew Roxy was died. But they couldn't find his body." I felt the tears pouring out of my eyes as someone with ever soft hands brush them away.
"Maybe he is still alive," comes a quack. I shook my heads remembering my mother's words. 'I know in my heart that Roxy is dead.'
"That was why I was building the raft with Kairi and Riku. But know I learn so many things. He is truly dead." I felt drain and start slipping away to the realm of sleep. 'Sora, remember. Your brother's heart lives inside you. So don't cry, my son. Roxas wouldn't want you too.' "Roxy is truly dead."
"Sora?" Another quack asks. "How ca..." I slip into sleep.
For a long time I was trapped in a desert without water then suddenly I'm trapped without a fire in a world of ice. Finally, I found my way out of both and awoke. I felt weak but better. Like the time I got the chicken pox from Kairi in the fourth grade. What is going on? Last thing I remember was Ariel as a human. I dimly remember Goofy saying something about Hollow Bastion but why can't I remember anything.
Sniffing, I smell some wonderful chicken noddle soup. Chicken... I cannot eat chicken anymore. I love chicken but it was like eating Donald. I can't eat Donald.
"Sora?" came a voice. I open my sleepy eyes to see Goofy's hand placing a cloth on my head. "What are you thinking about?"
"Eating Donald..." Goofy got an alarmed look on his face. "I decide I'm not going eat birds anymore. After all, it would be like eating Donald. I'm not going eat dogs either. Not that I ever eaten a dog before but this guy a couple of islands over loves making Dog Stew." Goofy felt my forehead to check for a fever. I let out a slight cough.
"Well your fever is almost gone." I sat up and looked around. I didn't see Donald anywhere. Thank Kingdom Hearts that he wasn't around. By the way, Goofy was freaking out about that comment. I hate being sick. I never can keep my tongue.
"So what was wrong with me, Goofy?"
"Strep Throat, exhaustion, and lung congestion." He stood up and went to the steaming pot. A pot that was steaming without being on a stove. When did we get to Merlin's house?
"Ummm... How long was I out for?" He was messing with the pot. The pot with the chicken smelling soup.
"About five days." I sigh. Another five days wasted. Maybe it's fate that we never will win nor met Riku. I sighed, thinking about it.
"Sora!" I snap out of my thoughts to see Goofy holding out a mug. I took it and peep into it. It was broth only, no chicken. I took a sip and it was very different then the chicken noddle soup my mom makes. "Donald and I talked and decided that we should go more slowly then we have been. Make time to relax and eat." I was about to reject the idea but a faint memory of Cid scolding them. We have been going really fast but... I notice the concerned look on Goofy's face. I guess all of us have been working really hard. Who knows, maybe that's why I fell asleep for a year.
"Sure. I agree. Ummm..." I remember something about fish and glue. "Did I say anything weird like fish and gluing some on Merlin's head?" Goofy laughs at that. "I tend to speak my mind when I'm sick and then not remember it. Where is Donald anyway?"
"He is helping Leon out with a magic book with Merlin. Yuffie found it and got turn into a frog when she opened it." I laugh softly at that. Yuffie the frog would be cute, but mostly likely she is red in anger. Well, maybe green in anger. "Yes, you talked a lot. Once in a while... You don't really want to eat Donald do you?"
My eyes widen and I shook my head. "Of course not. Donald is a good friend. He is the reason why I'm giving up chickens and geese." Goofy sat next to me as my broth went into my mouth. I took a closer look at him and notice how tired he was. Goofy has that tired and worry like my father after I got sick or injured. Goofy as a father. I can see it. He makes sure me and Donald weren't injured after battles. He tries to make sure we ate most of the time.
"What are you thinking of now, Sora?"
"How good of a father you will be once you have kids." I gave him a smile. He let out a laugh.
"I wish Max thought the same."
"Max?"
"My son. He is about... hmmm... twenty-two now." Goofy has a son? I open my mouth, when he interrupts me.
"He is a good boy but even before I left to find the King I didn't see him. He is... well was going to school to be a royal musician." He has the proud face when talking about Max. "Sora, what about your family?"
"I'm the middle child of three. My parents own a small cafe, but since I was clumsily, they didn't make me work in there unless it was the holidays. My older brother left for a special school when he was about six, shortly before I was born. I have never met him. Roxy..." I stop to think about my little brother. "Roxy was my little twin brother but... he dead in an accident when we were five." Goofy rub my head. I smile softly at him.
"That must be hard, Sora. Maybe someday we will find answers about his death." What a weird thing to say. I smile at Goofy. "Anyway, I'm glad that nasty fever is gone. The fever almost killed you. So go back to sleep for now." I lie down and shut my eyes.
We will stop the Organization, save the worlds, and get Riku back. We will. Maybe one day, I will find out what happen to Roxy.
A/N: About Roxy, yes he is dead and he will stay dead in this universe. This story when I planned it out was going to lead into a bigger story but I'm putting on the bigger story back burner for a while. Roxy is not the Nobody Roxas. Though I gave a hint on how his mother knows that he is dead. About the unnamed older brother... well... now that's a secret. (Well unless you figure it out.) What kind of accident killed Roxy? Just say that the heartless experiments didn't start with Xehanort in this universe. That is all I going to say except this line from the very, very rough draft of the sequel.
'The papers state something so horrible Leon almost throws up. Leon looked at the body on the cot. Experiment 154, Scientist Even.
'It's now known that children have no true hearts. Experiment 154 was a child from the world known as Destiny Islands. Son of a chef. When experimenting on the child, we found no heart.'
So that is all I am going to say. Even is the person that Vexen was originally.