Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts characters and concepts belong to Disney and Squarenix. Various Final Fantasy characters and concepts belong to Squarenix. Supernatural characters and concepts belong to WB, etc. This fic belongs to its' author.

Notes: So I've got a million notes on this project and I've decided to share some of them, so I've set up a tumblr – khspn – and I'll post notes and info on the various creatures, weapons, characters and whatnot as the story progresses. Probably one or two entries per chapter. (This tumblr is about 50% to help me keep everything organized for myself, too, haha.)

PHANTASMAGORIA
Chapter One: Ready To Die
By Senashenta

"We shoot without a gun,
We'll take on anyone,
It's really nothing new,
It's just a thing we like to do."
-From "Ready To Die" by Andrew W.K.

It had taken nearly ten hours of unconsciousness, two cups of morning coffee and sneaking a potion while Ven had been in the shower, but Roxas was finally starting to feel more-or-less human again. He was, of course, still tired, but that was hardly something new. He was always tired nowadays—they both were.

"Way more than seven."

Roxas, who was in the middle of pouring a third cup of coffee—strong and black with no sugar—looked over toward the bathroom door at his brother's voice calling out, just in time for Ven to open the door. The other blonde had a dingy towel wrapped around his waist and a disturbed look on his face. Steam billowed in the bathroom behind him and the built-in ceiling fan squeaked and sputtered as it tried to vent it.

"Come again?"

"Cockroaches, Roxas." Ven shuddered slightly and cast a borderline-fearful look back over his shoulder before flicking the light off and moving into the main room, over to dig through his bags for a reasonably clean set of clothes. "There are way. More. Than seven."

"I said six. I killed one, remember?"

"Well there are way more than six, then. They're everywhere. Did you wash that mug before you used it?"

Roxas blinked down at the cup in his hand. "It seemed clean." Still, he dumped the coffee into the sink and pulled another cup from the rack, washing it quickly before pouring himself a refill. "There's enough for another cup if you want some."

"No thanks."

Ven almost never drank coffee—he didn't like the taste and by the time he added enough milk and sugar to make it palatable there was pretty much no point in drinking it anymore. He much preferred tea or hot chocolate. Unfortunately for him, most motels didn't supply either of those, which left him with whatever he and Roxas happened to have brought with them. Usually just water. He occasionally considered carrying a box of tea in his bag, but then again even that small amount of space could be used for something more useful—salt or heartless ash or ammo, or any number of other things.

"I'm going out to get something to eat in a sec anyway." Dressed now, Ven sat on the edge of the bed to pull his boots on, then slid his switchblade into the right one, snug against his ankle. Once he stood, he nicked his pistol from the nightstand—it got tucked into the waistband of his pants, nestled against the small of his back under his shirt. Last was a small packet of salt, a few ounces at best, that went into his jacket pocket. "There's a diner down the street, I spotted it on our way past yesterday." He grabbed his wallet and headed for the door, pulling it open and then glancing back toward his brother. "I'll bring you something. Pancakes or eggs?"

Roxas was leaning against the counter next to the mini-fridge. He glanced over the rim of his coffee cup toward Ven, eyebrows lifting. "Can't I have both?"

"Greedy."

Blue eyes rolled. Roxas pushed away from the counter, moving across the room to sit at the rickety table by the window, the chair creaking under his weight. "Give me a break, Ven, we haven't had a decent meal in days and you know it."

"Right, right. Big breakfast it is." Ven chuckled. "Back in a bit."

Stifling a yawn, Roxas waved a hand as his brother left, door clicking shut behind him, then took another swig of his coffee before setting the mug down and sweeping his gaze across the table in front of himself. Ven's laptop was across from him, open and facing the other way, and he knew even without looking that dozens of tabs were pulled up, websites and charts and anything else his twin could find relating to their new case. The rest of the table was littered with newspaper clippings, most of which Cloud had sent to them while they had been in Balamb Gardens, before the jorogumo hunt. The rest they had found themselves over the previous couple of days after they had left Dalmasca.

Someone—or, more likely, something—was killing local high school kids.

And Roxas and Ven were there to figure out what.

o-o-o-o-o

When Ven said "big breakfast", he really meant it. Half an hour after he left he arrived back at the motel carrying three takeout containers and a tray with two large cups of tea and one additional cup of coffee. Two of the takeout containers were for Roxas—three pancakes, two eggs, bacon, sausage and three slices of toast; maple syrup, butter and strawberry jam on the side. Ven himself has an omelette and a couple slices of toast. It might have seemed kind of uneven, really, but Roxas had always had more of an appetite than his brother, particularly post-hunt.

Setting everything on the counter by the sink, Ven pulled his gun from his waistband and placed it alongside, then dug in the bag for the plastic cutlery, selecting a spoon and then setting about adding sugar and milk to one of the cups of tea.

"Thirty-five bucks." He said without looking up from what he was doing. Having stirred in two packets of sugar and a couple creamers worth of milk, he took a testing sip of his tea before reaching for another sugar pack. "It was the last of my money, by the way. I dunno what you've got left, but we'll have to figure something out soon. We can't put everything on Cloud's credit cards, it just makes things harder for him in the long run."

Their brother kept a handful of credit cards at any given time, and both Roxas and Ven had duplicate cards for the accounts. Cloud tried to help them out in any way he could, but neither of them liked to put charges on the cards unless they had no choice. They preferred to make their own way—which meant that they had gotten very good at hustling pool, and Ven had long ago figured out how to hack atm machines for cash. Not the most honest—or legal—ways to go, but it kept them fed and clothed and armed, and gave them a roof over their heads—most of the time, anyway: they occasionally spent the night out in the elements despite all that.

"Here. Breakfast."

Ven gestured toward the containers, picking up his portion and then walking the short distance to take a seat at the table opposite his twin. Roxas was hunched over, engrossed in newspaper clippings, a pen in his hand and taking notes as he read. Pushing his computer out of the way, Ven leaned to peer at his brother's scribbled notes, then settled again and flipped the takeout container open. He was already eating before Roxas looked up, pushed the notepad toward him and stood to retrieve his own food.

"So, it looks like everything here started a couple months back." Roxas informed him, and Ven nodded, chewing. Roxas opened the first of the boxes of food designated as his—pancakes—and then dug in the bag for the syrup and butter. He slathered both over the cakes, then cut them into pieces and carried the container back to the table, dropping down into his previous seat again. "At least, that's as far as Cloud tracked it before he sent us the info." Stabbing at the pancakes with his plastic fork, he scooped up a bite and stuffed it into his mouth, making a pleased sound in his throat. They were sweet and fluffy and delicious. "Mm."

"You couldn't trace it back farther?"

"Nope. Not yet anyway." Roxas had a bad habit of talking with his mouth full—something that Ven harped at him about all the time—and now was no exception. He took another bite of pancake before continuing, slightly muffled. He got a look from Ven, but his brother chose not to comment this time. "Seems the first death was this girl—" He dug through the newspaper clippings, then pushed one toward the other boy. "—Sadie Barrowman. Sixteen years old. Kind of a loner, but not a bad kid. Average. Nothing that really stands out."

"Mmhm." Ven continued to eat as he skimmed the article, then swallowed before stating, "they… didn't find all of her, though. I read through some of these last night before I went to bed."

"Just her torso and head. All her limbs were missing."

"Nice." Ven made a face, but Roxas only shrugged. Very little bothered either of them anymore.

"Anyway, no sign of her arms or legs."

"Yeah, and they still haven't found them, right?" Poking at his omelette a little, Ven sighed, wrinkling his nose before taking another bite. He chewed thoughtfully, then reached for his knife to spread jam on one of his slices of toast. Just jam, though, no butter—he didn't really like butter.

"Exactly. Same with the next victim, three weeks later. A guy this time. Sixteen again."

"Haru Watsumi."

"Yep, Haru Watsumi, seventeen this time. Same deal. Found his torso and head, and one arm this time. The other arm and both legs were missing."

"Third victim?"

"A week after Haru's body turned up, another girl went missing. Seventeen-year-old Joanna Milner. Her body was found two days after that." Roxas frowned a little, but continued eating as they went over everything. "This time her limbs were all there, but something'd cut her open—most of her ribs and half her spine were gone."

"And there was one more after that."

"Right." Roxas agreed, and took another bite of pancake before standing to retrieve the coffee Ven had left by the sink for him. "Just last week, a third girl; Velvet Redding. This time they found everything—except her head. She was decapitated."

It occurred to Ven that it was probably a bad sign when neither of them even flinched at the word decapitated. But they had both heard worse things in their short lives—and seen worse things, too. A decapitation was pretty much par for the course, as far as the twins were concerned.

Over in the kitchenette, Roxas opened the coffee and took a long drink of it. It was actually pretty good, especially for diner coffee—better than what the motel had provided, anyway. Not that he was all that picky—he would basically drink anything so long as it was at least lukewarm and vaguely coffee-flavored. Ven was a tad more picky with his tea, preferring earl grey or English breakfast if he could get them. He also sometimes drank green tea, which Roxas really didn't understand because he'd tasted the stuff, and it just reminded him of green beans.

"Well, from what I can tell none of them hung out in the same circles or had the same hobbies. Haru and Velvet were both on the same softball team, but the other two weren't." Ven, finished with his eggs, pushed the container away and drew his laptop closer again, the half-eaten piece of toast dangling from his lips. He lowered it a moment later as he continued, "and like you said, two of them were sixteen and two were seventeen."

"So the only thing connecting them is the missing body parts."

"Well, that and this…"

Roxas was just opening the takeout box containing the rest of his breakfast, and he picked it up and wandered closer, leaning to peer at the computer screen when Ven turned it toward him. "Huh."

Ven grinned a little around another bite of toast. "They all went to the same high school."

"Right, well." Roxas started in on his bacon and eggs, "we'll go there tomorrow."

o-o-o-o-o

Destiny Islands High School was one of three high schools on the Islands and the only one that required all of its' students to wear uniforms. It had a boys' soccer team that had won the championships four years in a row now, a girls' basketball team that almost always made it to the finals and a swim team that was known to be the best around. And its' academics were just as impressive: the chess team was top-notch, the debate club won all their meets and the overall grades throughout the school itself were some of the highest in the country.

But despite all of that, the students who attended Destiny Islands High were just normal, average kids for the most part. Kids with high grades and good sports skills, but kids nonetheless, fond of music and movies, and worrying about dates and dances and how much PDA they could sneak in the school hallways between classes.

"This is a really stupid idea."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is."

"Roxas, it's the best way to get intel and you know it. And stop fiddling with your tie, you're wrinkling it."

"Yes, mother."

Ven sighed heavily and reached to swat his brother's hands away, then straightened the other boy's tie, tightening it and smoothing at the fabric briefly before returning his own hands to his lap. "Now don't touch it again." Roxas didn't reply, instead just rolling his eyes silently.

While neither of them were particularly fond of uniforms or ties, Ven had always been more willing to wear them than his brother. Roxas was very uncomfortable in formal clothes and always had been—he probably always would be, as well. Which was likely why he always fidgeted when forced to wear them. His twin could at least be trusted to sit still and look relatively composed.

"You know when I said we'd come here, I didn't mean like this. We're never going to fit in, you know."

"Sure we will. We're both good at pretending to be normal."

"Ven, we haven't gone to public school since we were twelve!"

"Your point being?"

"This isn't like trying to be club kids at a rave."

"I know."

"There's a strict hierarchy here. Serious social rules. And we don't know any of them."

"We're fast learners."

"Ventus, would you listen to me?"

"I am listening, Roxas. You're worried—what? That they'll figure out we're Hunters?" Ven's lips quirked lightly. "They don't even know Hunters exist. At worst, they just think we're weird and don't talk to us, and we have to think of another plan. You just don't want to have to go to school again."

"What I remember of it was pretty shitty." Roxas grumped, frowning deeply.

"Roxas—"

"I mean what I remember sucked."

"Better."

"It's just that we never really fit in with the other kids or anything, you know?"

"I know." Ven nodded. "But we're just going to have to try. We need the information and—oh. Here she comes."

They had been waiting in the office of the school for some time now, while the vice-principal checked their records and spoke to their brother. They had called Cloud the night before and explained the basics of their plan—so that the call from the principal wouldn't be a complete shock to him. He had, somewhat surprisingly, answered his cell phone for the first time in a while. It had been a relief to both of them to hear his voice, even if the call had been brief and to the point.

They had also faxed their files to Destiny Islands High "from their previous school", which really just meant they had borrowed the fax machine at the library down the street from their motel. The phone number for said "school" of course lead back to one of their contacts—someone they knew in Traverse Town, the older sister of a good friend, who always filled in for them when they needed a person to pretend to be school administration.

The vice-principal, Mrs. Turner, had welcomed them when they had arrived the following morning, dressed presentably and trying to make a good impression, and had had them take a seat in the office while she went over their records and called their contacts. That had been nearly an hour ago, which, along with the tie, was part of why Roxas had been getting so impatient.

"Well, boys," She was smiling when she finally came out of her office, hands full of papers and notebooks. "It's a little last-minute, but everything's worked out. It's too bad your brother couldn't be here in person, though."

"Sorry," The tone to Ven's voice was apologetic, "but he works abroad and he's very busy." It was even technically true.

"Yes, he explained all that." Mrs. Turner nodded knowingly as she paused in front of them. "But while your family situation is unique, that doesn't mean you aren't welcome here. I'm sure you'll fit in in no time."

Roxas had to stifle a snort at that. He managed, which was good because if he had snorted Ven would have elbowed him in the ribs. Hard. Either that or stomped on his foot—he had done it once before in a similar situation and actually broken one of Roxas' toes. He had apologised over it for months after the fact.

"Well, in any case," Mrs. Turner continued, smiling again, "we're working on class schedules for the both of you, but it'll probably take the rest of the day to get everything squared away, so you'll be starting here tomorrow morning."

Ven returned her smile, charming as ever. He was good at it. "That's great. Thanks Mrs. Turner."

"You're welcome, sweetie." Her smile widened for a moment, and then she seemed to remember that her hands were full of papers. "Ah, yes, these are for you. The admission forms were faxed along with your school records, but we also need you to fill out our medical forms in case of an emergency. They list any allergies or health conditions and emergency contacts, that sort of thing."

She handed them over. They each took one—and they would fill them out, of course, though pretty much all of the information would be fake.

"We also have agendas for you. Here." She held out two thick booklets, one for each of them. Again, they would keep them on hand for the time being… but in the end they knew the books would get thrown out, and probably within just a few days. "They have our school rules and the lyrics to our school song, that kind of thing. They also have day-to-day calendars for keeping track of homework, tests, due dates, after-school activities…"

"Thank you." It was the first thing Roxas had said to her since they'd first arrived and introduced themselves. Mrs. Turner beamed at him. She seemed like a very nice woman, Ven thought.

Don't get too attached.

Ven almost startled at his brother's silent comment. I know. I won't.

Despite his reassurance, he would probably get attached to everything here, anyway, at least to a certain extent. He always did. Roxas seemed to have an easier time detaching himself from things than his twin.

"Do you boys have any interest in extracurricular activities?"

"Extracurricular… activities?"

"Yes. You know, sports or clubs?"

"Oh… um." Ven hesitated, unsure how to respond.

"I like sports." Roxas spoke up, making Ven blink in surprise. "I played baseball at Traverse High." He glanced sideways. "And my brother likes computers and literature, if you have anything to do with either of those."

"We have a drama club," Mrs. Turner supplied, "and they're performing A Midsummer Night's Dream at the end of the semester, if you like Shakespeare, Roxas?"

"Ah, actually, I'm Ven."

The woman flushed a little, clearly embarrassed by her mistake. "Oh dear. I'm sorry, you just look so much alike…"

"We're twins, it comes with the territory."

"Oh yes, I know. We have another pair of twins attending here already." She smiled again. "I'm sure you'll meet them. They're very popular around school."

Another pair of twins? That could be interesting. They had never met other twins before, even in all of their travels and with their unorthodox upbringing. For a moment Ven wondered if their relationship was similar to the one he had with Roxas—sharing everything, including their thoughts and emotions.

"Well." Shifting a little, Mrs. Turner crossed her arms, the gesture clearly absent in nature. "I'd love to chat with you boys some more, but I've got to get back to work. You can find your way out from here, or do you need someone to show you?"

Roxas shook his head and stood. "We can find out own way."

Ven stood as well, brushing at his pants a bit without even thinking about what he was doing. He gave an appreciative smile. "Thanks for everything, Mrs. Turner. We'll be seeing you."

"Not too often, I hope." She gave a little wink before turning to head back to her office.

Roxas was already halfway to the door and Ven had to scramble to catch up, snatching his brother's forms from the chair beside the one Roxas had occupied. He always forgot the little things like that. Once they were out in the corridor and the door was closed behind them, he handed the papers over and then fell into step beside his twin. Curiously, he opened the agenda and began flipping through it.

"So what do you think, Roxas?"

"I already told you I don't think this will work."

"Yeah, I know, but…"

Sighing, Roxas lifted a hand to run his fingers through his hair. "But you're right, we need more information. And there's always gossip and rumors where there are high school kids."

"True." Ven agreed. Then he smiled slightly, closing the agenda and looking sideways at Roxas. "I think it'll be interesting, one way or another."

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Always fascinated by normality."

Ven's lips quirked. "Everyone's fascinated by what they don't have."