Wow, I'm really must be in a writer's mood at the moment.
Demyx: You're welcome~!
Zexion: She didn't even say "thank you", why are you saying that?
Sora: Because she's been watching our shows on YouTube.
I own nothing.
They got to Riku's house and Terra drove around to the back at Riku's direction "Either Axel forgot to close the garage door or Cloud's working on his bike." Riku noted as they pulled into the driveway, stopping just in front of the door opening.
Cloud walked into the garage wearing a black tank top and grease stained jeans just as the teens got out of the car "Hey Riku. Is this Terra?" he said when he saw them.
"Yeah. I'm Terra Lockhart, Leon's cousin." Terra said shaking the blonde's hand.
"Nice to meet you. Riku told you what are major rule was, right?"
"I can't tell anyone where you all live."
"Exactly. Anything else you may need to know Ven or I can fill you in. Meanwhile, Riku show him where Ven's room is okay."
Riku led Terra in through the kitchen and into the living room where Axel and Demyx were watching T.V. drinking soda and eating candy bars. Demyx looked at them when they passed "Hey Terra! I didn't know you were coming over." He exclaimed happily.
"Yeah, I'm gonna tutor Ven 'til he's able to go back to school." The brunette explained.
"I can tell ya dude, your brother did a number on him. The way he looks it's a miracle he's alive." Axel commented then received a slap in the back of his head from Riku "Ow! What the hell man?"
"Don't make the guy feel guilty for something that isn't his fault. That attitude of yours is probably why you can't get Roxas to cast you a second glance when you pass him in the hall at school." Riku said making the redhead go quiet.
The silverette lead Terra to one of three doors on a wall by some stairs and was about to knock when he heard someone coming down and Yuffie appeared "Ooh~! Who's this cutie?" she asked.
"Yuffie this is Terra, Terra meet Yuffie." Riku introduced.
"Nice to meet you. Hey how old are you exactly?" Yuffie said.
"No thank you." Terra said making the other three boys laugh.
"Omigawd! That right there is a first! Nice one Terra!" Demyx said between breaths as he continued to laugh.
"Oh shut up! All of you! Where is Cloud?" Yuffie scoffed and she went towards the kitchen.
Riku caught his breath and knocked on the door like he intended in the first place "Ven, you in there?" he called.
The door opened and Ventus stuck his head out, "Hey Riku. How was school?"
"Full of surprises. Terra's here; let him in and I'll bring you guys something in a few minutes." His brother said going towards his room.
Ventus opened his door enough to let Terra in then closed in once the brunette was inside "How are you Terra?" he asked.
"I'm doing alright. What about you? Are you still in any pain from yesterday?" Terra responded studying the younger blonde. Ventus had a few bandages on his arms and probably more on the rest of his body, but his face was fine which meant he knew to protect it throughout the whole incident.
"Not as bad now, thanks for asking… Terra don't feel guilty okay?" Ventus said.
"What makes you think I'm feeling guilty?" the brunette asked.
"I can see it in your eyes. You know it wasn't your fault but you still feel the guilt because it was your brother who did this to me."
"I thought I was here to help you be able to do your homework?"
"That can wait a few minutes. Terra why don't you tell me why you feel whatever Vanitus does is souly your fault."
Terra bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut "It's a long story." He whispered.
Ventus took Terra's and led his to sit on his bed, not relinquishing his hold, "We have all weekend. Please Terra; I want to know why you make pain that isn't truly yours, yours when it shouldn't be."
Terra looked deeply into those oceanic blue eyes and returned the hold on his hand "I'll just say this, it's my fault Vanitus is the way he is. I didn't encourage him to be as social as Sora, and the next thing I know I hear he was beaten up for being a loner. If I had known what had been going on…" he trailed off biting his lip again and on the verge of tears.
Ventus released his hold and wrapped his arms the brunette's neck trying to comfort him of the pain that began to surface "I tried to help him get over all the pain he suffered but… I still feel haunted by his words." Terra said.
"What did he say?" Ventus asked.
"He said… It was too late. You don't know how much it hurt to hear my own brother say that. I felt like I had been torn apart from the inside out, I wanted to die! I locked myself in my room for days and it worried all of them, but I wasn't thinking about them I was thinking about how I could end myself quickly and painlessly… Just so I wouldn't hear those words echoing."
"What made you change your mind?" Ventus questioned.
"Sora… Aqua… Roxas… My parents, before they divorced… The possibility that Van could change for the better… And this gut feeling that there would be someone else could need me in the future….. Ya know thinking that now I get the feeling that you're the one who needs me." Terra said placing a hand on Ventus's shoulder "Bet that sounds stupid."
Ventus shook his head and buried his face in Terra's neck, "No, it doesn't." Then he felt Terra hug him around his waist and they remained like that for a few moments longer.
Riku was sitting at table doing his homework, we was at his brother's room before to give him and Terra some snacks but he didn't have the heart to ruin the moment he had witnessed so he decided to wait a bit or get someone else to give them the treats.
"So, you gonna tell me what happened at school or what?" Cloud asked upon entering the kitchen from the garage, going to the refrigerator for a water bottle.
"I saw Reiku." Riku answered.
"Reiku? Your twin? I thought he was in Twilight Town with your dad?"
"He was up until two years ago. My dad died and now he's living with one of the schools teachers, Mr. Vexen. He says he wants to see you again too."
"Is that so? Well I don't see why not, we can go tomorrow." Cloud said.
"That's what Rei said. The only problem is we don't know where he lives and he doesn't know where we live. And if we just ask Yuffie to get that information it'll seem creepy." Riku responded.
"Hey what's going on now?" Axel asked from the doorway.
"Did I ever tell you I had another stepbrother?" Cloud said.
"You do? Who's the guy?"
"My twin brother Reiku." Riku said.
"You have a twin brother?" Axel exclaimed.
"Yes, and Mr. Vexen takes care of him."
"I wanna meet this dude! Let's all head over to his place tomorrow!" Axel suggested.
"We are not going to ask Yuffie to get his address!" Cloud snapped.
"No, it's a class requirement to have the teacher's number so we can contact him if we miss a class. I thought it was creepy at first but now I'm glad of it." Axel pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the one he was looking for. He pushed the call button and waited.
"Who dares call me while I'm in the middle of a very important experiment?" an angry voice shrieked loud enough to make Axel hold the phone away from his ear and to make Cloud and Riku cover theirs.
"Jeez Mr. V. don't get your underwear in a knot. It's Axel Ryder." Axel said once the other end was quiet.
"Ryder? Why are you calling me? You were in class today there for you shouldn't have any questions!" Vexen exclaimed.
"No! You don't talk like that to people!" another voice in the background scolded.
"Reiku! You're not supposed to be in here right now! Get out!" Vexen said.
"Oh shut up! It's only the kitchen! Give me the phone! Hello?"
"Uh… yeah. Who am I talking to now?" Axel inquired.
"This is Reiku; may I ask who I'm speaking too?"
"Reiku? Awesome! I know your brother Riku."
"You know Bro- Bro? I wanna talk to him! Lemme talk to him right now!" Reiku demanded.
"Okay, okay." He held to phone out to Riku "Bro- Bro? What the hell kind of nickname is that?" he snickered.
"Shut it Axel. Know what go make yourself useful and take those snacks to Ven's room. I find out you took anything and I'll kill you with your own fire." Riku said taking the phone "Rei?"
"Bro-Bro! OMG I can't believe I didn't think about what I said earlier when you don't even know where the hell I live and I didn't give you my cell. I'm so sorry!" Rieku said.
"Yeah, thank Axel and Vexen or else we wouldn't be able to figure this out. So about tomorrow? Cloud says he's for it and all so how about we meet up at the park across from my school? You can meet Ven too."
"Excellent idea! Um… Do you mind if I bring someone with me?"
"No. So at noon okay?"
"Okay. Bye Bro-Bro!" Reiku said and he hung up.
Riku closed Axel's phone and set it on the table so he could get back to his math, "Noon tomorrow. Cloud what kind of a car do you think I should get?"
"Why the change of subject? First we're talking about going to see our brother that we haven't seen in… years and now you want my advice on the kind of car you should get? Is there something you want to talk to me about kid?" Cloud asked.
Riku hesitated before nodding slowly as he scribbled his answers on his paper "C'mon, spit it out. What's nagging you?" Cloud asked.
"Why did you choose to be an assassin? I chose it so I could stay with you after Mom and Dad died; you never told me your reason."
"My reason… Ya know I made the decision so long ago I forgot what it was. I know I made the choice back in middle school, after we met, after Dad told me he was going to marry Mom. I can't remember the exact reason though." Cloud answered.
"Have there been times when you regretted it?" Riku asked.
"Not until I met Leon." Cloud said.
"Why?"
"Because he's… He's a… Okay I want you to understand, I really like this guy. Don't go ballistic, but he's a Death's Demon."
"Cloud are you out of your mind?" Riku exclaimed.
"Shh. I got enough of that from Yuffie already! He doesn't know I'm and Angel of Death okay, so as long as we have that in our favor everything should be alright."
Riku took a moment to think, to allow all this information to sink in. He thought about the last time Cloud had been involved with anyone and that was a guy named Sephiroth his freshman year in high school, that end badly and quickly. Then Cloud met Zack not a month after the relationship ended.
The two never got any deeper than friends because one, Cloud was afraid of getting hurt again, and two, he didn't know if that was the game Zack played. Eventually Cloud let himself fall for his friend but he never said anything, and he regretted that at a high level especially after they graduated, Zack had practically disappeared off the face of the Earth!
As worried as he was, Riku loved Cloud like the brother he was and deeply thought that after all he had gone through to make sure he and Ventus were happy, he deserved to be happy himself. He placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder "Look Niisan, I won't stop you from seeing him if you want. I just want you to be careful around him." He said.
Cloud smiled and tussled Riku's hair "I never leave this house unarmed Riku, I can assure you that. Don't worry so much about me. Now, how about before you go back to school we go scope out your first car?" he said.
Ventus fell back on his bed letting out a loud sigh, "We finally got it all done!"
"And it didn't even take that long. How do you like that?" Terra said with a smile as he leaned back on the floor.
"Just fine. I hope your mom doesn't get mad because you stayed for so long."
"Nah, I sent her a text earlier. She said she'd be working late tonight so it's fine."
"What about Sora? Isn't he home alone?"
"Nah, he's at our friend Zexion's house with Roxas for their game night. He's hoping to be Dance Dance Revolution champion when he goes home tonight."
"I love that game! What else do they play over there?"
"Uh… Halo, Super Smash Brothers, Soul Caliber, pretty much every game that has multiplayer."
"Sounds awesome. I'm starving, let's go get dinner huh?"
"Good idea! Those snacks couldn't hold us forever."
They gathered up the trash and dishes from the food Axel had brought them earlier and left the room for the kitchen finding everyone else gather around the table grabbing at whatever had occupied the surface "Hey guys! Just in time, Cloud got pizza!" Demyx cheered as he ran past them to the living room with four slices of pizza on one plate.
"Hey Ven, Terra. What kind do you guys want? We have meat lovers, vegetarian, barbeque chicken, pineapple, mushroom, olive, and plain cheese." Cloud said.
"Gimme a meat lovers and an olive right now!" Ventus demanded.
"Ven!" Cloud said in a warning tone.
"C'mon! When was the last time we had pizza?" the younger blonde cried.
Cloud rolled his eyes and put the requested slices on a plate for his brother then watched as he practically skipped out with his food once it was handed to him. He turned to asked Terra what he wanted when "No way! The crust has cheese in it!" Demyx cheered.
"Uh… I'll just have a barbeque chicken and a mushroom please." Terra said. He was given the food and went to find Ventus on the living room floor looking like he was in a totally different world as he ate his pizza "Must be a big deal in this house." He commented sitting down next to him.
"Are you kidding? The last time we had pizza in this house was Riku's birthday, last spring!" Demyx said between bites of his own food.
"Why so long? It's twice a month at the least at our house." Terra said.
"Yuffie's a huge heath nut, that's why. She said since she's the only female in this house she should be entitled to at least one major decision and that was that the main meals of the day can't always be fatty foods." Riku said sitting by Demyx.
Terra took a bite of his pizza and his eyes widened, "Jeez! Where the hell did you get this pizza from? It's awesome!"
"Ya know that genuine Italian shop in the main shopping district?" Ventus answered.
"You're kidding. That place is freaking expensive! One slice is like 1000 munny!" Terra said.
"We know. That's why whenever we get pizza, it's from there." Axel said coming into the living room.
Terra took another bite of his pizza, 'Ven wasn't kidding when he said they did just fine.' His phone rang and he saw Sora's name on the caller ID, a text message saying *Come and get me!* He sent a reply "I'm gonna have to eat and run guys. Sora's telling me to pick him up." He said.
"Screw your brother; hang out with cool people for tonight!" Axel said only to get a slap in the back of the head from Yuffie.
"And where is he gonna find people like that? Not here." She said making everyone else laugh.
After Terra and Ventus finished their food and washed their dishes they went back to Ventus's room so Terra could get his things together "Be careful out there Terra. It's Friday so that means there will be party goers out there too." The blonde said.
"I'll be fine Ven. I've been going through the same routine for as long as I could drive. I'll see you later." Terra said bringing the younger into a gentle embrace.
Ventus felt the heat rising in his face and his heart pounded like a hammer against his ribcage, but it made him feel warm, safe, free. Both of them knew they wished they could do more but at the moment, this hug was enough for both of them. Terra slowly and reluctantly released the hold, the blush clear on his face, "Bye Ven."
"Bye Terra, thanks for your help today." The blonde responded shyly.
Sorry guys, I know I can be such a tease when I want.
Terra: Would you shut up!
Ya know I think I must want to make this as long as possible. Usually I'm nearing the main plot or end of the story at this point.
Demyx: So? No one cares, the fans of this site just wanna read.
