An Extraordinary Household, a Kingdom Hearts fanwork: Mix and Match Challenge by XxCrimsonOblivionxX, written by Raberba girl
Chapter 2 (rough draft)
A/N: I censored out a single word because it was against my conscience to even spell it out in a public document. If you already know what it is, then you already know what it is; if you don't, God bless you.
o.o.o
There was a boy in the closet. A teenage stranger with spiky black hair, dressed as if he'd walked off the set of a period film.
He was tied up.
And unconscious, which was somewhat convenient, but also a little horrifying in its own way. His ankles were bound tightly with tape, as were his mouth and arms, and his wrists were shackled together behind him, a long chain linking his arms to the clothes rod. Aqua could feel herself trembling as she stared, re-assessing everything she had ever thought she'd known about this strange family. Was this kidnapping? Slavery? Some sort of [. . .] thing? How old was this guy, anyway? Even if he was over 18 and consenting, surely they wouldn't take it so far as to leave him alone like this for hours, while an outsider and a five-year-old were in the house...
Aqua stumbled back to the bathroom, feeling sick and nearly crying. Even the most forgiving explanation for this was still horrible. She didn't even want to think about the worst. 'I have to get Xion out of here. I have to- Oh God, Roxas, where is Roxas, what if they're doing something horrible to him even this very moment...?!'
"Aqua? Were you calling me?"
"Zack," Aqua gasped, clutching his arm.
They both stared at her. "You okay, Aqua?" Xion asked, looking like she'd forgotten about her own misery.
"You don't look so hot," Zack said nervously.
"Z-Zack, I have to sh-show you something... Xion, sweetie, just stay here, all right?" Aqua said desperately. "Stay here, stay right here, we'll be back in a minute..."
"Aqua, what's wrong?!" Xion cried.
Aqua wordlessly kissed her, then seized Zack and dragged him to Axel's room. "Don't yell," she hissed. "Don't scare Xion. Don't say a word, just look."
"Aqua?"
Aqua pressed a hand over his mouth before she let him look. His exclamation of shock was muffled against her palm, then they both just stood there and stared.
"...Help me," Aqua finally said.
Zack swallowed. "Okay...um, g-get, get some scissors."
When Aqua came back, Zack was crouched next to the captive, gently cradling his bound hands and studying the shackles. "I think I can get these off, but I'll need a few things. Try to cut off the tape and stuff, okay?"
Aqua did so, wincing when she had to rip tape off of bare skin, but the boy didn't even stir throughout the entire, painful-looking process. The sudden, sickening thought occurred to her that he might be dead, but when she desperately pressed a hand against his chest, she was finally able to detect a heartbeat. "He's still alive..."
Zack laughed hollowly as he worked at the shackles.
Aqua wadded up all the tape into a sticky ball and shoved it in a corner of the closet. Zack gave a little grunt, and the shackles finally fell away.
There was a tense pause.
The boy's eyes opened with no warning. Aqua was frozen as she and the boy stared at each other - his eyes were a strange, unsettling gold color, so intense that she felt like an animal of prey immobilized in a hunter's gaze.
Then the moment broke. The boy shut his eyes again and groaned softly, finally shifting.
"Easy now," Zack murmured, laying a steadying hand on the boy's back. He had not been in a position to see those strange eyes. "Everything's gonna be all right."
"Where am I?" the boy asked softly, opening his eyes again. Aqua was startled to see that they were now blue. Had she just imagined the gold?
"Uh, this is-" Zack started to say, but Aqua interrupted. She didn't want to say anything potentially traumatic until they knew more about the boy's condition.
"Don't worry, you're safe. It's just us here, the others aren't home. I'm Aqua, and this is Zack."
"Zack," the boy murmured. "Aqua."
Aqua shivered unexpectedly. 'My name, in his voice, sounds...' She uneasily remembered Saïx's warning about names, then tried to dismiss it. 'Saïx is a crazy monster who kidnaps teenagers-' She lost her breath for a moment. 'Maybe they've been meaning to do something to me.' She shuddered, imagining Axel or Saïx chaining her in a closet and doing terrible things to her. 'I should probably do the opposite of everything they told me.'
"Aqua?" Zack said in concern.
The boy was sitting up now. "Thank you for helping me," he said, still in that soft, slightly lost voice. He shivered and reached to rub his arm where the tape had left red marks on his skin. "It was so horrible...I didn't know if that nightmare was ever going to end..."
Aqua wanted to hug him. "It's all right. I'll call the police, and-"
"No!"
Aqua and Zack looked at him in surprise, and he gazed back beseechingly. "P-Please, don't. Don't. That would just make everything so much worse."
"...What's your name?" Aqua asked gently, and her heart ached for him again when he flinched.
"C...Can you...can you please...call me Sora?"
"Of course. Of course, Sora. Don't worry, we'll get you help."
His face slowly seemed to crumple, and he leaned against Aqua and began to weep quietly, clutching at her sleeve like a child seeking comfort from its mother, sobbing in relief, "Thank you...thank you so much..." Aqua and Zack managed to get Sora to his feet, supporting him between them as they slowly made their way to the door.
Xion was standing on the threshold, watching them. "It's okay, sweetie," Aqua said quickly. "Go out to the living room, all right?"
"He's a stranger," Xion murmured.
Aqua thought that Sora's weeping might have paused for a moment, but no, he just needed a gulp of air. "It's all right, Xion. Just go over and sit by the window, okay? Zack and I will take care of it."
They got Sora settled on the couch. Aqua wrapped a blanket around him and Zack brought him a soda and a leftover hamburger from dinner, then a glass of water and an apple when Sora winced away from the first offering.
"It was so horrible," Sora told Aqua miserably. "He...he took me one night, when I was walking home from practice...I don't know how long it's been, it feels like weeks...he tied me up...I was so scared...they kept hurting me over and over again...and I...and, I..." He couldn't speak anymore, overcome.
"It's all right," Aqua said helplessly, patting him and crying a little herself. "It's all right, we'll... If you won't let us call the police, at least- What about your family? Is there someone else I can call?"
"M-My...my mother...I haven't seen her in so long, but...I..."
"All right," she said soothingly, taking out her phone, "all right. What's the number?"
"I...I don't...it changed..."
Distressed, Aqua moved away a few steps and tried to call her own parents, but the first number she tried went to voicemail.
Xion had come over to look at Sora. "Xion," Aqua said distractedly, "go back over there, okay?"
"He smells like a long time ago," Xion said softly.
Sora watched as the little girl climbed onto the couch beside him. "Who are you?" he asked with a wan smile.
"My daddies say to never tell anyone even my pretend name unless I have to," Xion said seriously. "And I don't have to tell you."
"Man, Xion," Zack said with a helpless chuckle.
"Xion?" Sora whispered, reaching gently toward her hair, but coming short of actually touching her.
"Your eyes are like Daddy's," Xion said. "I think you're hiding them, like Daddy does when there's people around."
"Xion," Aqua said. It didn't sound like her mother was going to answer the phone, either...
Xion touched Sora's face. "No teardrops," she said critically, probably referring to her father's tattoos, since her fingertips were resting on the exact same places on Sora's own face. Aqua suddenly noticed that, despite all of Sora's earlier sobbing, his eyes were dry. "I bet you're a prince."
Sora grinned, and his arms encircled Xion. He stood up holding her, and the blanket around his shoulders slid to the floor. "Heh. You're pretty clever, for a human brat. Welcome back, princess." His tone of voice had entirely changed - arrogant, mischievous, dangerous. His eyes were burning gold again, looking more alien than ever.
"Xion!" Aqua cried, wrenching the phone away from her ear and suddenly realizing that she might have made a huge mistake.
Zack lunged to grab Xion - and Sora backhanded him across the room. Zack went crashing into a table and then fell to the floor, groaning.
"Zack!"
"Zack!" Xion cried in distress.
Aqua, concerned for her friend, had taken an automatic step in his direction, but now swerved and charged at Sora instead.
His grin chilled her blood. "Aqua," he said gleefully, "don't move."
And Aqua froze. She stared in horror as Sora leisurely raised his arm and opened what looked like a black hole right in the middle of the living room. Aqua tried to struggle, but she literally could not move, as if her body had chosen to obey this golden-eyed monster's command instead of her own desires.
Xion, completely ignoring the black hole, bared her teeth at Sora and hit him.
He snarled a curse, his eyes actually glowing a little. "Keep your hands to yourself, Xion."
"Don't have to," she said defiantly, "cuz that's not my real name, stupid." She hit him again, and he jerked her wrists into his fist to restrain her. "You should be nice to Zack and Aqua," she growled, "and me, too. But you're being bad, so my daddies will punish you when they come home."
"Hmph. You and I won't even be here," Sora retorted as he started to walk into the black portal.
Aqua's heart raged in her chest. Her mind seemed to go blank with horror and panic, and she threw her entire force of will in the direction of the creature that was taking away the child she'd sworn to protect. "Xion!" Aqua suddenly ripped free of - something. She wasn't sure what, and she didn't care; all she knew was that she could move again, and without hesitation, she leaped into the portal after them.
To be continued...
