Chapter 4
Sora has managed to avoid Roxas for the past week. It wasn't hard, seeing the blond didn't look like he wanted to talk Sora in any way or form. Which was fine with him and Sora have notice for the last three days it's been Ven who comes to school instead of Roxas. On the third day, Sora finally musters enough courage to talk to the crazy twin during lunchtime.
"So…where's Roxas?" Sora asked as the two sat under a tree near the PE area. They were far from the student body so no gossips will start about them. Which is a good thing; who knows what kind of rumors can spawn up and everybody knows Kairi makes the most 'believable' rumors. Emphasizes on the word believable.
"Sick," Ven sighed sadly. "That or he just really want to be alone for a while. He was really pissed off about something a couple days back." Sora looked like he got punched on the stomach but Ven didn't seem to notice. "Don't worry, I think it was the pain from his side injuries."
"It's better that way, I guess. He'll heal faster." Sora then frowns. "But he'll have to catch up for class." Ven snorted slightly and waved it off.
"Roxas is a smart guy," Ven began. "He could have been a prodigy if we didn't have all those accidents and events happening in his life…but he doesn't want any jealousy among peers too. Though I believe he'll be a cute distraction for the college classes especially among the girls." The blond snickers with amusement.
"I can imagine," Sora his frown turning slightly into a small smile.
"Plus, minors can't be hired for high paid jobs and Roxas can't own a house at the age of eleven," Ven added, taking a bite on his apple. "So what's the point?"
"…But you guys are living alone already," Sora pointed out.
"Oh. That's Zack's house," Ven rolled his eyes. Sora blinked.
"…Zack?"
"He's Roxas and mine's social service watcher," Ven smirked. "He's been watching on our case for a couple years now. He's a great guy to hang around with once you know him. He's very laid back and he's the one who managed to keep Roxas from getting expelled last week. He's been planning to adopt the both of us."
"That's a good thing…right?" Sora asked. "At least he won't be insane like your last guardians."
"You'll be surprise how many can crack under pressure," Ven smirked slyly. "Roxas will come back tomorrow. Let's go before we're late. Rumors have been going around saying one of the math teachers was found dead in an accident gas leak explosion. We're getting a new teacher tomorrow." Ven left, leaving Sora to wonder vaguely what kind teacher the school will be getting.
That thought was gone when the school burst into flames in the middle of the night. The fire burned down three-fourths of the campus and the thoughts about classes the next day were push back behind the mind of the students the next morning when they saw the black charred remains of their school. Nobody noticed the tall redhead with a black hook over his head smirking as he walks down sidewalk in the morning.
/--/
Walking down the park the next day felt like a refreshing experience for Sora. School was burned down to the ground from a 'mysterious' explosion and nobody has to go to school until further notice, which is great since nobody really wants to go to school anyways.
Plus, he didn't have a chance to finish Cloud's essay that's due today.
"Get out of the way, Sora!" Ven's voice cried, snapping the brunet out of his daydream. Sora didn't have time to move away when a certain blonde in black helplessly toppled him. Ven rush over to their side and immediately questions their welfare.
"Hey, are you guys all right?" Ven asked. Sora winced at the forming migraine in his mind. Roxas on the other hand, tended his right arm.
"Are you all right?" Sora asked, reaching out but Roxas pull back, almost afraid of the brunet's touch.
"I'm all right," Roxas said, getting up, still holding his bleeding arm. It looks like the blonde didn't scrape too deep to bleed too much but from his wrist to elbow Sora wondered how fast he went and how did the brunet survived that assault of speed.
"Ah! Sora," Ven cried out, surprised. "I'm so sorry! I was skating with Roxas here and we got too carried away with racing. It was my fault I goaled Roxas." The endless jabbering was giving Sora a headache.
"It's all right, Ven!" Sora cried as he tried to calm the other twin down. "My house isn't that far away from here so you guys can come over and clean Roxas's wound before it gets infected." Ven nodded vigorously.
"Lead the way!" Ven cried, carrying his brother and his' skateboards with one hand and the ever so grudging Roxas with the other. It took them about six or seven minutes till they reach Sora's home. Roxas refuses to enter leaving Ven and Sora to go and find the first aid kit alone. It was another three minutes till Ven emerges outside with Sora and a bottle in his hand. There's a sheepish grin on his face.
"There's no rubbing alcohol," Ven began. "But I found this instead." He raises the bottle for Roxas to read.
Alcohol. Real alcohol.
"Get that away from me," Roxas hissed. He tucks his bleeding arm away from his menacing twin. "Over my dead body."
"Suit yourself," Ven shrug. He made eye contact with Sora a brief moment and in that second, they both knew what to do. Sora, didn't know what came over him; in that short brief insanity the two of them pounces on the hissing teen, pinning Roxas down effectively. Roxas winced at weight and the suppress horror in his eyes when Ven unscrewing the bottle. "Don't worry," Ven reassures. "This will only hurt just a little…not." Then the teen pour the liquid onto Roxas's bleeding arm.
Sora thought the look on the blonde's face was priceless at that moment. Helping the crazy twin was so worth it for just this moment. Ten minutes after the hilarity, Ven finish bandaging up his twin's no longer bleeding and infection free arm. Though Roxas looks like he was just ready to kill someone the slowest and the most painful way as possible.
"Come on Roxas," Ven said cheerfully. "It wasn't that bad. Right, Sora?" Sora was still in a chuckling fit as he put away the first-aid kit with the bandages under his bed.
"That's because you two were enjoying my pain," Roxas reminded as he examines his brother's work. "It's too tight."
"Live with it," Ven blew a raspberry before turning to Sora. "So what should we do next?"
"Do what?"
"Anything," Ven responded, leaning on Sora's chair. "I mean what do you normally do once school's out?"
"Homework."
"…After that?"
"Studying."
"After that?"
"…Walking…?" Two pairs of blue eyes stares back at him.
"…We got to get you a new hobby." Ven declares blankly.
"What do you suggest?" Sora asked.
"Movies?" Roxas declares to the other two's surprise.
"They're like ten dollars for a ticket." Sora protested.
"Ever seen a movie?" Sora shook his head sadly, shocking Ven.
"You never seen a movie?!" he almost cried. Sora shook his head, indicating a no. "Even my usually silent, bipolar brother have seen at least ten of them!" Ven informed, ignoring Roxas's warning glare. Five seconds later, Ven grabs the brunet by the arm and began dragging him out of his bedroom and down the stairs. Roxas was following them close behind.
"Where are you taking me?!" Sora cried. Ven has a firm grip on his wrist.
"To the cinema, duh, and Roxas's paying."
"You cheapskate," Roxas glares at Ven. They exited the house and Sora swears Ven's going to leave a mark on his wrist. It wasn't long till Roxas decided to help his twin out and tug Sora's other arm.
"We could watch Prom Night," he suggested. "It's the only one that I think is decent enough to watch right now." Ven's eyes seem to gleam under the sun.
"Yeah!" Sora saw a gleam of evil and mischief in Roxas's eyes for the first time and shivered. Something tells him he's not going to enjoy the movie at all.
Twenty minutes later, Sora was right. The movie scared the life out of the boy.
/--/
"Give me my body back!" Kairi cried out from the mirror. It wasn't long when she woke up and found out she's in the mirror and Aquas isn't. She was even more furious when the ex-goddess didn't retreat back into her mind to 'sleep.' The goddess removes the cast from her leg, revealing no injuries. Aquas smirked. The perks of being a divine being is that they can heal faster than any normal being. Then her smirk was slowly replaced with a scowl. Curse Reimei all those years ago, trapping her and her sibling's soul in human hosts. If the universe hadn't created a fifth god, none of this crap would have happen.
The universe is second on her list to destroy.
"Be quiet, you brat," Aquas commands. "It's past your bed time and I've slept long enough to last for thousands of years." Kairi felt a huge pressure pushing her away and under.
"You –" Kairi didn't finish what she was about to say and vanish from the mirror, leaving Aquas to see her own. She looks perfect in her own taste but something about her hair isn't right. It's too red, reminding her too much of…
"Ardrlin," she hissed, turning to the newcomer sitting on her bed. A man looking in his twenties wearing a black leather coat over his black suit, his brilliant emerald eyes with red hair spiked upwards and a single tear-shaped tattoo printed under his right eye.
"It's been a long time, Sis," he greeted back with sarcasm. "But in this life, I'm Axel."
"So you were the one who set the school on fire," Aquas sounded very pleased.
"You expect me to have patience with a group of mortals for six hours a day?" Ardrlin questions. "You've gotten a bit dumber the last time I last saw you." A sphere of water formed just mere inches from his face. "And don't you dare throw that at me or I'll burn your house down in a heartbeat." The water slowly retreated back away slowly.
"Nice to know how things never change," Aquas grumbles bitterly.
"We have all the time in the universe to change," Ardrlin reminded.
"And yet we're mortals," Aquas reminds him with rage in her voice. "Damn our foolish brother. If it was just him back then, we wouldn't be in this position."
"But it's all going according to our little brother's words: we're overcoming the universe's hold, we will awake to our former glory soon, sister," he reassures.
"But before that happens, I want the dark-half of our brother dead," Kairi declares.
Ardrlin smirks. She wants to weaken their brother, with one half of their brother dead, they could hunt down the other with ease. That's fine with him.
"I like the way you think, sis."
/--/
"That movie sucks," Ven whined. "We should have left the moment we finished the first quarter of the movie, we could have gotten our money back." He turns to Sora. "So how did you like it?" Sora didn't respond, he was so pale, the twins were pretty sure the brunet turned into a walking-dead from the two-hour span. Roxas held onto Sora's hand just in case decides to stray away as they walk through the busy streets. Ven couldn't help but grin. "Hey Roxas, give the kid a kiss to wake him from the dead." He joked, Roxas glared but Sora seems to have snap out of his zombie mode and made a face to Ven.
"I'm never going to the movies with you two again," he vows. "I didn't enjoy it one bit."
"Aww…but you did enjoy hugging Roxas to death," Ven teased as he plots to drag Sora and Roxas into future horror movies. It was amusing to him watching the brunet burying his head into his brother's shirt, the perks of putting his bi-polar brother in the middle of the three.
They walk towards the park, where the sun has begun to set.
"The sunset is sure redder than usual," Ven comments. "I wonder if it's another omen."
"Omen for what?" Sora asks.
"A sign for something good or bad," Roxas responds as he too looks up at the sunset, watching it as it slowly sets behind the mountains. "Ven believes the school fire is another sign."
"A sign for an early vacation for you guys," Ven stuck his tongue out at Roxas. "You're lucky, I have to have home school still." Sora blinks.
"Exactly why do you have to be home schooled why Roxas goes to a public school?" he asks.
"It's complicated," Ven waved off. "We just want to let the know world Roxas is an only child."
"But that's not right…" Sora frowns deeply. "It's like being a shadow..."
"Or there is a possibility that a brother never existed in the first place and 'Ven' is merely an imagination of the boy named Roxas," a voice rang out. The trio turns around and meets face-to-face to the stranger. A man with red hair stood two or three yards away from them and the twins got defensive. "Reality works in a strange way, altering balance those who are living and those who aren't living, isn't that right… Roxas?"
"Do you know him?" Sora asks. He regretted that when he notices how the blonde's eyes became icy cold and serious.
"I never met him in my entire life," Roxas responds stepping forward between the newcomer and Sora. "I think he's a serial rapists looking for young targets. Who are you?" Axel raise and eyebrow.
"Of course you know who I am already, brother. Do you wish to know to know my mortal name as well?"
"So we could call 9-1-1 and warn them about an unregistered sex offender on the loose." Sora blinked, did Roxas just joke?
Dear god, the world is going to end.
Hmm, he should knock on wood just in case.
"Roxas…" Ven whisper warningly. Roxas nodded.
"It's Axel," Axel introduced. "Got it memorized in that big brain of yours?"
"Right, let's run," Roxas declares, grabbing Sora by the wrist and almost tripping the brunet. Roxas is very fast despite of the frail, pale look. Axel grinned from behind.
"Nice try," he raises an arm up, producing a ball of fire in his hand and releasing it at the trio. Ven caught a glimpse of the flames and react instinctively.
"Roxas! Sora!" Ven cried, jumping forward between the fireball that he took squarely on the chest and fell backwards.
"Ven!" Sora cried, rushing over to the blonde but Roxas held him back. "What are you doing, Roxas!? He's your own brother!"
"He…existed once," Roxas admitted. "But not in this lifetime." Sora didn't know what to say, thoughts were racing through his mind and he didn't know what to do.
Ven is dead, a random stranger killed him and Roxas is just standing there as if it was nothing.
Sora opens his mouth, about to protest but it was Axel's voice that cut him off.
"The illusion is broken," Axel said. "No more shall this false life interferes with reality anymore. Then again, Ven is just another 'what if?' of who you could have been, wasn't it." Roxas gritted his teeth.
"Ven…was me!" he cried, raising his hand, shadows swirled all around them, moving according to Roxas's order. Then they took form of sharp needles like Aquas' nights before and launch them towards Axel. Course, Axel being smart on his feet, dodged the incoming sharpies, dodging whatever he can and threw fire at Roxas when he finds himself an opening. Course, Roxas already has the shadows to neutralize the threat of flames before they reach their young master. Sora couldn't help but watch this in morbid fascination and horror.
"What are you guys?" Sora asked, breathless and scared. Roxas hesitated for a moment before turning to Sora with a cruel smirk on his face.
"Gods with nasty tempers," he responds. "And this city probably won't stand after today. You should get out of here…" he turns to Ven. "Get the boy out of here now, Ven."
A moan came from the corpse and Sora almost had a heart attack when Ven got up to a sitting position, irritation and annoyance can be seen across his face.
"Do I have to?" he asked. "I want to beat that asshole down." He said pointing at Axel.
"I'm not in the mood for a conversation," Roxas glares. "Get him out and keep him out of the way. That is an order," Ven stood up and gave Roxas a mock salute.
"Whatever the young god wishes, gets," Ven respond with sarcasm before glaring at Ardrlin who was still busy dodging the needles. "I'll get you back with a lovely hole on your body later on, you mother–" He became a mist of shadows around Sora before he could finish his sentence, courtesy of Roxas. Sora panicked as he desperately tries to swat away the mist with no luck(which was stupid in the first place since it's just mist).
"Roxas! Please, help me!" he cries out as he watch in horror his body sinking into the darkness. It feels so cold and dead. Was Roxas trying to kill him?
Then he finally realizes: the person in front of him isn't Roxas at all.
"Who are you?" he asks again.
He didn't hear Roxas's answer. The darkness numbed Sora's mind and the brunet drifted off to oblivion.
It was hours later Sora woke on the cold gravel just outside of town and with half the population unconscious. In front of him is the whole town was burned to the ground with nothing but ashes and black-unstable buildings. He already has a clear idea what had happened when he was out.
"Roxas! Ven!" he screams out, but receives no reply. "Roxas!"
Sora wanted answers but he couldn't find Roxas among those who survived and wonder if the blonde did ever survive the fire. He never got his answers. His mother was one of the unlucky ones and Sora was sent to the orphanage far from his town(what's left of it anyways).
Seven years has passed since then and Sora did not forget the face of the blonde and his pretend brother.
/--/
Author's ranting: I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! With Springline finally over, I have more time to write now! Whoot!
But I'm down from the championships the other day so yeah. I'm still not over the fact we lost to a school with 'Barbie Girl' as one of their songs, another school playing 'Beautiful Day' and another school that stole the idea of my school's drumline show from last year…and they got first place out of nowhere!! They killed U-2 and Aqua for me, thanks a lot a-holes!
-Sighs and breathes- Sorry, I need to really rant right about now about the championship and how unfair the judging was.
…Shutting up. Now.
Click the purple button on the bottom!!