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: For those here from just the Kingdom Hearts fandom, "SPN" stands for "Supernatural". It's a TV show with disturbingly hot guys that's made of utter awesomeness. TLDR; GO WATCH IT RIGHT NOW. :D

Boring chapter is boring. =/

In other news, I think I'm addicted to my own fanfic. This is sad beyond all reason.

PHANTASMAGORIA
Chapter Two: High School Never Ends
By Senashenta

"Four years you think for sure,
That's all you've got to endure.
All the total dicks,
All the stuck up chicks,
So superficial, so immature."
-From "High School Never Ends" by Bowling For Soup

The twins woke early the next morning. Breakfast was pop-tarts they had picked up at the local 7-11 the night before, washed down by barely-warm motel room coffee leftover from the previous evening. Ven refused to drink the stuff, but Roxas gulped the caffeine down like his life depended on it. Even though they often rose before dawn on hunts, he still couldn't seem to get used to it. To say he wasn't a morning person was putting it lightly.

They both took their turns in the horror show that classed as a shower, then dressed in their newly-acquired school uniforms: a short-sleeved white dress shirt with plaid pants in a pale blue and a matching tie. The material was light, probably because of how warm the weather was there. Heavy, thick material would have been much too hot to be comfortable.

Ven had gone out last night and bought them book bags and supplies—which, unfortunately, had had to go on one of Cloud's credit cards—and so each of them tossed in their agendas and the medical paperwork they'd been given at the school along with everything else. It was all filled out, though completely full of false information, of course. The only thing that wasn't a lie was where Roxas had written in his obscure allergy to kiwi fruit. He had figured it didn't matter if they knew that much about him.

Standing beside the crooked table, Ven was pondering if he should bring his laptop with him or not. Across the room, Roxas was going through his duffel bag, weighing out his options. After a moment of consideration he tucked one of his pistols into the bottom of his book bag, along with a spare ammo clip and a container of salt. Then, as an afterthought, he threw in the remaining pack of pop-tarts.

"Ah… Roxas, I don't know if that's a good idea." Ven's tone was hesitant. "The gun, I mean. What if you get caught with it?"

"What if I get caught without it?" Roxas' meaning was obvious—if something happened and neither of them was armed at the time, then what? Ven understood, of course, but was just trying to be cautious. "Besides, you've got your knife. I saw you put it in your boot, just like always."

Truthfully, neither of them was particularly comfortable with going anywhere completely unarmed, anymore. Ven shifted from one foot to the other, considering whether or not to rethink the switchblade before deciding to keep it. As long as he was careful no one would know, and he just felt safer with it on his person.

"Just make sure no one finds out."

"Well obviously, Ven." Roxas rolled his eyes. "Who's going to be going through my bag, anyway?"

"Other students. Teachers. The janitor. I don't know." Ven made a face at him before going back to making sure he had everything he needed, right down to a calculator and a brand-new case full of pens and pencils. It was so apple-pie normal it was almost laughable. "You know how people are. Curious. Nosy. And we're gonna be The New Kids. We've got to be careful."

"Yeah, okay, I get the point. You know, you're a really fucking bad motivational speaker." And then, before Ven could even comment on his language, "—sorry. You are a really uninspired motivational speaker."

"Nice use of vocabulary, there."

Roxas had to grin at that. "I try." This was followed by a slight frown as blue eyes cast around the room, his right hand rubbing at the opposite wrist absently, almost uncomfortably. "Can't find my bracelet."

Ven glanced down at his own arm out of habit. "Check the bathroom?"

Neither of them carried good luck charms or even necessarily believed in them, though they had heard rumours that they existed. They didn't wear amulets or enchanted jewellery. But they did each wear a matching bracelet—black and white checkers, Roxas' with a black edge and Ven's with a white one. They had been gifts from a close friend of theirs back in their childhood home of Twilight Town, and they had been wearing them for so long that they felt rather naked without them.

"Found it!" Roxas' voice called from the washroom, echoing faintly in the enclosed space. He appeared in the doorway, already sliding the bracelet into place.

"Good," Finally deciding against bringing his computer with him, lest it get stolen or broken—or, God forbid, someone snooped into it and found his journals—Ven flipped his book bag closed and snapped the latch into place, "because if we don't leave now, we're going to be late for our first day of school in ten years."

o-o-o-o-o

Considering their day job, it was probably ridiculous that Ven—and, to a lesser extent, Roxas—found themselves kind of nervous once they reached the high school. But then, while they were good with monsters and demons and creatures of all kinds, neither of them was particularly used to social situations, especially with people their own age. For the most part they were used to keeping to themselves, outside of a select few others, mostly people they had known since they were small.

Now they stood on the front doorstep of Destiny Islands High School, dressed in matching uniforms and carrying matching bags, expected to fit in and behave like normal teenagers. Except they had no idea how to be normal. They had spent almost their entire lives training and hunting and very little of them being average.

"Come on, let's go." Roxas lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck, the gesture almost awkward.

The two of them had been standing just below the front steps of the school and now headed up them and across the front courtyard. A few kids were still milling around out there, but most were already inside, getting ready to head to their classes. Roxas and Ven, of course, still had to pick up their schedules and find their lockers, but at least they knew the way to the office, since they'd been there the day before.

"Everyone's staring at us."

"Of course they are."

"This is going to suck, I can already tell." Pausing at the front doors, Roxas pulled them open and waited for Ven to step past him into the building before following close behind.

The staring only got worse once they were inside. Ven hesitated just inside the doors, but Roxas got him moving again with a shove to the small of his back—Ven squawked indignantly at being pushed, shooting a look over his shoulder at his brother, whose lips were quirking into an amused smirk already. They fell into step together as they started down the hall, trying to ignore the way scrutinizing eyes followed their every movement.

School was going to be a stressful experience, Roxas could already tell.

"Hopefully we won't have to be here long."

"Depends on how long this hunt takes us."

"Yeah, but I don't know how much of this I can take."

"Oh, you'll be fine, you big baby. You're adaptable."

"Kind of have to be."

"Tell me about it."

Mrs. Turner wasn't there when they arrived at the office, but she had left everything with the secretary for them—their class schedules, locker assignments and even gym uniforms. They took everything and thanked the secretary, who had already gone back to her work before they even made it out of the room.

"How are we even supposed to find anything?" Ven frowned down at the schedule in his hands. His gym clothes were tucked under one arm as he studied the paper. Science, math, physical education, then lunch, followed by history, geography and finally English lit. Not that that meant anything to him, since he had no idea where any of those classrooms were. Or, for that matter, where locker number 249 was. "Maybe we should go back and ask if they can find someone to show us…"

Roxas' expression echoed his twin's, identical twisted lips and furrowed brows. "Well," He began, and looked up, eyes skimming over to the lockers across the hall from them. "Locker 221 is right there, so 249 shouldn't be too far from here. Just follow the numbers, right?"

As for himself, he was relegated to locker number 113, which really could have been all the way across the school for all he knew. But apart from that, he also wasn't sure how he felt about he and Ven having lockers at opposite ends of the building. Quick comparisons of their schedules assured him that they at least had most of their classes together, the exceptions being history right after lunch hour and English lit at the end of the day.

"We're going to be wandering around lost all freaking day."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad…"

They both looked up when the bell rang, watching for a moment as the other kids all began scrambling to their homerooms. The hallway emptied surprisingly quickly, given how crowded it had been only a couple of minutes before, leaving the two of them standing along in the corridor in no time.

"Okay, um," Ven shifted from one foot to the other and back again before chewing on his lip a little, thinking. "Lets' just go to homeroom and figure out the whole locker thing later. Right?" Shuffling his things around, he stuffed the gym clothes into his bag—they barely fit, but it worked—and tucked his schedule into his pants' pocket. "It says we're in science room three, so we just have to find the science hall."

"Okay, so how do we find the science hall?"

"I have no idea."

o-o-o-o-o

In the end they'd had to bite the bullet and ask for directions from the secretary. She had given them a vaguely annoyed look, one eyebrow raising slightly, but had told them how to get where they needed to go. It turned out that the science hall was two corridors down, their classroom on the left. Their other classes were easier to find, as they could just ask the teacher of the previous class how to get to the next one.

Classes, it turned out, were more difficult than they had anticipated. Sitting still and taking notes on subjects that were of no relevance to their lives aside, both their science and math teachers had insisted that they stand in front of the class and introduce themselves, though their gym teacher hadn't bothered, and if that was any indication, they still probably had three introductions to go. It was a stressful and uncomfortable experience for both of them, standing before their supposed peers and lying through their teeth.

Lunch hour couldn't come fast enough, and as soon as the bell rang to dismiss them from gym class Roxas and Ven both breathed a sigh of relief. This turned out to be premature, however, when they reached the cafeteria and every single eye in the place fixated on them. Roxas got the distinct feeling that new kids rarely transferred to Destiny Islands High School.

They were both quiet as they crossed the room to get in line for their lunches, still carrying their book bags. There hadn't had a chance to locate their lockers yet—they would do that after eating. It was ingrained in them to eat whenever food was offered—because they often went without for significant lengths of time. And as much as Roxas had packed himself some pop-tarts, something more substantial would be more than welcome.

"So what do you think so far?"

"I think I prefer hunting to listening to lectures on genetics."

They had to be careful what they said as they progressed along the line with their trays, collecting the various bits of their lunches: sloppy joes, apples, dishes of what looked like butterscotch pudding and cartons of milk. Classic school lunch material. With their food procured, they got out of the way of the still-moving line, standing off to the side while they attempted to figure out what to do next.

"Hey!"

A hand clapped against Roxas' back and practically made him jump out of his skin—in fact, he barely managed not to drop his tray, spin around and throw the hand's owner across the room into the wall. Instead he jumped and whirled, his food sliding across the tray in a half hazard way, almost tipping onto the ground. Ven caught the edge of the plate of sloppy-joe for him a scant second before it toppled.

"What the hell—"

The boy that was standing behind them was probably about their age, with spikey brown hair, wide blue eyes and the goofiest grin either of the blondes had ever seen. He tucked a hand behind his head, giving a sheepish look. "Aha! Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to startle you guys!"

They both stared, completely unused to being approached in such a friendly manner. Roxas adjusted his grip on his lunch. Ven shifted awkwardly before offering a tentative smile. "It's, uh… it's okay. Right, Roxas?"

Roxas frowned a bit, but finally nodded after only a short hesitation, forcing himself to relax again. "Yeah… it's okay."

"Oh good!" The brown-haired boy grinned once more, huge and toothy. "Hey, so, I'm Sora! I'm in your math class with Mr. Kripke. I sit by the window?" Lowering his arm, he made a wide, encompassing gesture. "I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Destiny High." Then he perked even more, if it was possible. "Ah, do you want to sit with me and my friends for lunch? I can introduce you!"

"Introduce…" Roxas began, then trailed off when he couldn't think of what to say.

Ven picked up where his brother left off, trying to keep things as normal-looking as possible. "Sure," He agreed, tone cheerful, "that'd be great since we don't know anyone here yet."

Sora, clearly the king of happiness, waved for them to follow him and lead them over to one of the crowded tables. "Guys, hey, look who I found!" He was still grinning and held one hand up to indicate Roxas and Ven. "This is Roxas and Ventus Sloan. They're new here starting today."

"We know that, Sora." A redheaded girl smiled from across the table, the expression fond. "It's not like we have new kids all the time, you know." Then she turned her attention to the blonde boys in front of her. "Sorry guys, but word spreads fast around here. We're a gossipy school. I'm Kairi."

"Plus they're in the same science class as me and Kairi." This came from a tall boy with silver hair and surprising green eyes. He was poking at his sloppy-joe, but paused to look up when he joined the conversation. "And I'm in their gym class, too. We played soccer today. They're pretty good." A slight smirk. "I'm better, though."

"Riku, don't be mean!" Sora frowned at his friend before plopping himself down in an empty seat in front of a tray of food that Roxas and Ven assumed was his. The frown disappeared quickly, though, replaced by yet another grin. "If they're good maybe they should try for the team." He picked up his milk and opened it, taking a drink. "So that's Riku and Kairi." Then he nodded toward the other side of the table. "And that's my brother, Vanitas."

Surprised, Roxas and Ven both blinked at the boy Sora had indicated—who was identical to his brother in every way but hair and eye color: while Sora's hair was a lighter brown, his eyes bright blue, Vanitas' hair was a dark almost-black chestnut and his eyes were gold. Fraternal twins, apparently, while Roxas and Ven were entirely identical. They must have been the other set of twins Mrs. Turner had mentioned the day before.

"Tidus is usually around, too, but he's off talking to the swim coach or something right now." Sora continued as Roxas and Ven finally situated themselves at the table to eat. When his brother reached across to swipe his dish of pudding, he flailed and snatched it back. "Van! Quit it!"

They were officially completely out of their element, but tried to roll with it. It was hard, though, pretending to just be normal high schoolers. Everything they'd learned and experienced in the years since they had first started training to be hunters had taught them not to trust people and to stay out of crowded places when and where possible. Sitting in the cafeteria was uncomfortable, made them both feel surrounded, but they tried their best to deal with it.

"So where are you guys from?" Kairi spoke up again, smiling and friendly. "Did you live in another part of the Islands?"

"No," Ven shook his head, picking up his fork. Roxas was already tucking into his own lunch, though it was clear to his brother that he was listening attentively—they needed to make sure their stories matched right down to the smallest detail. "We're from Junon originally." Taking a bite of sloppy-joe, he chewed and swallowed before continuing, "we moved here last month."

"City boys, then. And really good-looking. Not to mention you're apparently good at sports." Kairi tilted her head, smiling a little more. "You'll be popular around here. The other girls are already all in a tizzy over you both."

Both Roxas and Ven looked up, expressions identically blank.

"The other girls? And you're not?" This came from Riku, who was apparently finished with his sloppy-joe and had moved on to his pudding.

"Well they are cute." The redhead replied with a laugh.

Sora was scarfing down his lunch, but paused long enough to pipe up, "Kairi's way more level-headed than the other girls, though!"

"As if there's such a thing as a level-headed girl at all." Vanitas spoke up for the first time, voice low. He was sitting with his elbow on the table and his chin propped in his hand, a bored look on his face, clearly unimpressed with the entire conversation. "And why do we always have to be the ones to warm up to the new jerks?"

Sora frowned deeply at his brother. "You know, you could try being nice, Van."

"I'll put up with them if you give me your dessert." Van offered flatly. It was clearly the best they were going to get from him.

Sora narrowed his eyes, pouted, frowned, then pouted again. He was just reaching for his pudding when Kairi interrupted, laughing quietly, picked up her own pudding and reached to set it in front of Van. Van rolled his eyes, but seemed to accept the substitute and picked up his spoon to start eating. Sora gave Kairi a grateful look—apparently he was very fond of dessert. Or at least butterscotch pudding.

In general, while he was pretty sure he liked Sora and Kairi, Roxas didn't think he was all that fond of Van. As for Riku… well, he didn't seem to be all that talkative, but there had been a tint of cockiness in what he had said so far that irked him just a little.

Be nice anyway.

He had to stifle a sigh at Ven's comment.

I'll try, okay?

Try hard.

Yeah, yeah.

"Hey, so," Sora had perked back up again. He tilted his head curiously. "How come you moved to Destiny Islands, anyway?"

Roxas and Ven both hesitated, hedging for time by focussing on their food for a couple of long moments. They didn't really have a good excuse for why they might have moved there. And God forbid they should be asked where they were living—explaining that they were residing in a seedy motel downtown probably wouldn't go over so well. It would just raise more questions than answers.

"Well," Ven began, then swallowed a little.

"Our brother got transferred here for his work." Roxas supplied for him. "He's in construction, so he travels all over for different jobs, but the headquarters are here. Right now he's in Midgar."

"So you guys live on your own?" Sora seemed surprised.

Riku waved a hand lightly. "Well they're our age, right? Not like they're twelve or something."

"Eighteen last month." Roxas said, and picked up his apple. He twisted the stem off of it, dropped it onto his tray, then took a bite, muttering around it, "we're legal to live on our own."

"Maaaaaan, that must be nice!" Sora stretched his arms above his head, then let them fall back down. "Our parents are always on our case about chores and keeping our room clean and homework and all that kind of stuff, right Van?"

Van just uttered an inarticulate noise, not really an agreement but not a disagreement either.

Ven shrugged. "We do fine." Finished with his sloppy-joe, he moved on to his apple, picking up his pudding and holding it out toward Sora. "Here, Sora, you want it?"

Sora positively beamed.

"You fed him," Riku groaned and shook his head. "Now you'll be stuck with him for sure."

Somehow, Ven thought he would be fine with that. He liked Sora. It was really too bad they wouldn't be staying longer than a few days.

o-o-o-o-o

After lunch they had three more classes, two of them separate from each other—history and English lit. Neither of them were comfortable with the situation, but they dealt with it out of necessity. At least they still had their mental connection, a feeling of each other still there even when they were in opposite ends of the school.

During lunch hour, after they had eaten, Sora and Kairi had helped them find their respective lockers, which meant they didn't have to carry everything around with them. This made getting to-and-from classes and storing their bags during said classes much easier.

They had also very helpfully showed them where the library and computer labs were, which was important for the sake of their case research. Sometimes school histories were hard to find outside of the school itself. They would try Internet searches, of course, but books and tombs were often just as helpful, if not more so.

"I told you this would suck."

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad."

The walk from school back to the motel was relatively quiet. They were headed toward the wrong side of town, while most of the rest of the student body lived in the other direction.

"We didn't get anything done today, either." Roxas added with a slight twist of his lips.

"We got a lot done, actually." Ven corrected. "It was our first day, Roxas. We needed to get everything worked out and figure out where things were and that kind of thing. Now that we've got our bearings we can start nosing around tomorrow. And it'll be easier since we know Sora and his friends a little, so we can ask them some questions as long as we're careful. We can do some more research tonight as well."

Roxas snorted and cast a rueful look to his brother. "Oh yeah? Before or after our homework?"

"Homework first, Roxas." His twin chuckled. "We don't want to get in trouble on our second day of school, right?"

He rolled his eyes, but reluctantly agreed nonetheless. "Right."