Sorry for the extra-long wait. I had a severe writer's block with this and I was busy with other stories. So, after this several month wait, here's the first chapter of what happened during the summer of Ven's freshman year going on to his sophomore year of high school.

-miano53

The New Neighbor

June 28th, 4 p.m., 10 days after school let out for summer vacation…

Ven, who was sitting at his computer, sat and chatted with Luneth. Luneth, Tifa and Cloud moved to Balamb Garden five days before and Ven missed chatting with one of his best friends. The two chatted on Google with Yuffie (who went back to Wutai for the summer), Firion, Zack and Isa. The six talked about the going-ons of Radiant Garden and what was happening in other places.

Ven started off by saying, "Well, we have a new neighbor 'cause the Palomas left three months ago. Dad said something about 'filing for bankruptcy'."

"So, who's the new neighbor?" Yuffie asked.

"I dunno. All I know is that I saw the moving truck come in with stuff. It wasn't much, so I guess the guy moves around a lot," Ven said.

"Maybe your dad and you guys should go and see who it is," Firion said.

"Well, if Dad says so…I don't want to walk into something like 'Saw'," Ven said.

"You haven't even met the guy," Zack said.

"Yeah, but he could be a creeper!" Ven yelled.

"And you're making assumptions," Isa said.

"I can't help it!" Ven yelled.

"Just meet with your new neighbor first. Oh, I gotta go. I have violin lessons in ten minutes," Luneth said.

The others said their goodbyes and logged off. After doing so, Ven left his room to see that Roxas was watching TV. He didn't notice his twin's presence and he attempted to prank Roxas.

Leaning over, Ven took a deep breath and…

"Ven if you prank me, I'll hit ya," Roxas said.

Ven became sullen and saw that Terra entered the home. He was carrying what looked like groceries and headed for the kitchen. After putting the food away, the young man entered and said, "Why didn't you to go outside?"

"It's too hot…" Ven complained.

"Yeah, it's like 100 degrees out!" Roxas said.

"It's only 85…" Terra said.

Noticing that Aqua wasn't home, Ven asked, "Where's Aqua?"

Terra immediately snickered and said, "I never knew it would happen. She's…on a date."

"What?" the twins yelled.

Terra nodded and smiled widely. "With who?" Ven yelled.

"I'm the perfect matchmaker…" Terra said, still smiling due to success.

"Who she with?" Ven yelled.

"She's with…Angeal," Terra said, looking proud.

"WHAT?" the twins yelled.

"I thought she hated him!" Ven yelled.

"Yeah. Last time we mentioned his name, she threatened to kill us!" Roxas yelled.

"Well, she always had a crush on the guy, even though she would give him death glares. He actually helped her several times in high school. He helped her more than pull pranks on her," Terra explained.

"Well, Dad did say that you had to stop most of it," Ven said.

Terra nodded and saw that Eraqus had entered. He looked at the boys and said, "Where's Aqua?"

"On a date," Terra said.

Eraqus looked confused and said, "What? With who?"

"Angeal," Terra said.

"I thought she hated him…" Eraqus said.

"We did too, but Terra said she always had a crush on Zack's cousin," Roxas said.

Eraqus then shrugged and the four ate dinner.

That night, 11 p.m.…

After surprisingly having a good time with Angeal, Aqua came back home to find that everyone but Eraqus went to sleep. He looked at his adoptive daughter and said, "So, Terra tells me that you went out on a date with Angeal Hewley."

Aqua nodded and a small smile was on her lips. "You had a good time?" Eraqus asked.

The young woman nodded again and said, "I know he was a jerk in high school, but he seems…nice."

Eraqus looked pleased and said, "As long as you're happy, I'm fine. Terra said the same."

Aqua hugged her father and quickly headed to her room. Once she was there, she changed for sleep and plopped onto her bed. The young woman then went to sleep.

About two hours later, she woke up as she heard cackling coming from next door. She looked at the window that faced east and was confused. 'The heck…?' she thought.

The cackling was accompanied by the sound of a chainsaw buzzing. Those made her heart skip a beat. 'Oh god…What is that?' she thought.

The maniacal laughter became louder and the sound of a nearby tree fell. Since the tree was close to her room, Aqua jumped out of bed and rushed for Eraqus's room. She ran into the room, only to find out that Ven, Roxas and Terra were in the room.

The three were hugging Eraqus for dear life and Aqua joined in. The four children of the man trembled in fear as they heard the sound of what seemed like a serial killer outside of the house.

"What is THAT?" Terra yelled, nearly crying.

"I don't know!" Roxas screamed.

"Can't we call the police?" Ven asked.

"No. The person isn't on our property," Eraqus said calmly.

"But I don't wanna hear that sound anymore…" Terra cried.

"That thing out there's gonna kill us…" Aqua muttered, trembling in fear.

The sound of the cackling stopped and Eraqus ordered for the four to head back to bed. Sadly, none of them went to sleep that night…

The next day, Zack's house, 9 a.m.…

After losing sleep and getting kicked out of the house and into the blinding sunshine, Roxas and Ventus headed for Zack's house. There, they saw a rather happy Angeal leaving for work. Zack greeted them as his cousin left and saw the bags in their eyes.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Crazy guy…Cackled like a madman…" was all Roxas could say.

"He's gonna kill us…" Ven said.

"Who?" Zack asked.

"Our new neighbor," Ven told him.

"They can't be that bad," Zack said.

"Oh yeah? Try living next door to a guy that cackles while holding a chainsaw!" Roxas yelled.

"He revved a chainsaw?" Zack asked.

The twins nodded and Zack felt sorry for them. So, he called the Fair's Fourteen (minus Luneth). When he did, the only ones who could make it were Isa, Shuyin, Tidus, Lea, Vivi and Yuna. When Zack noticed, he remembered that the others had either left for the summer or had other things to do like sports practice.

The group met in the living room and Zack started the meeting. "Well, Ven and Roxas have a problem," Zack said.

"What kind of problem?" Isa asked.

"A new neighbor problem," Zack replied.

"What? Your neighbor keeps throwing parties until 3 a.m.?" Lea asked.

"No," Ven said.

"The new neighbor has a lot of dogs? I don't like dogs," Vivi asked.

"No, that's not it either," Ven said.

"Your neighbor has a cat problem, like Isa's does?" Lea asked.

Isa glared at Lea and Roxas said, "No…We heard him cackling and…revving a chainsaw…"

The group went silent as all they could think about was a serial killer named Jason from many horror films. Zack noticed this and said, "That is why we're doing recon, today!"

"What?" the group yelled.

"I don't wanna get killed!" Vivi yelled.

"Me neither! I want to live!" Yuna yelled.

"If we go in there, they'll never find our bodies!" Tidus yelled.

"And I'm too handsome to die!" Shuyin screamed.

Before Ven could put in his input, he received a call. He answered and said, "Hello? Oh hey Dad…What? What? WHAT? No! No! No! I don't wanna! We'll get killed! Oh…Okay…'Bye…"

He hung up and told Roxas what happened. His twin's face paled and he said, "I can't go inside a murder house."

"What?" Zack asked.

"No! Ven, you two can't go inside a murder house!" Yuna yelled.

"We're not going inside a murder house," Ven said, trying to stay calm.

"YOU GUYS CAN'T GO INSIDE A MURDER HOUSE!" Tidus screamed, rocking back and forth.

"WE'RE NOT GOING INSIDE A MURDER HOUSE!" Roxas yelled.

"We'll hide out here," Ven said.

"Oh…Well, you can't. Angeal said something about having relatives come over today. Sorry," Zack said.

'I'm gonna die…' Ven thought.

After chatting more and getting more pleas on not going inside a murder house, Zack decided that Ven and Roxas were to take as much information as they could for recon. The twins sighed, fearing that they would never see their friends again. After talking more with their friends, the two left for home.

4 p.m., Pellegrino household…

After convincing Terra and Aqua to join him in greeting the new neighbor, Eraqus left the home with all four of his children, holding items such as baskets full of jam and the local newspaper. The man knocked on the door and heard someone rushing towards it. Ven and Roxas felt a pit in the bottom of their stomachs and thought that Death was coming to greet them.

Instead, it was a woman with long, brown hair. She wore a blue summer dress and had brown eyes. She looked at the five and said, "Oh. You must be the neighbors. I'm Lucrecia Crescent-Valentine. My husband and I just moved here from Balamb."

Eraqus, hearing that name before, said, "Aren't you the famed genetics professor from Balamb State University?"

"Yes and you are?" Lucrecia asked.

"Eraqus Pellegrino, professor of Engineering at Radiant Garden University," Eraqus replied.

"Oh! I read your thesis on the uses of hydrogen cells in hybrid engines. Oh, but where are my manners? Come in! Come!" Lucrecia said, inviting the family in.

The twins looked around and saw that the home had nothing out of the ordinary. There was a welcome mat at the door and boxes strewn along the walls. The walls were colored beige and the floors were made of hardwood. Lucrecia saw their wonder and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. We haven't finished putting everything away, but try to make yourselves at home."

She led them to the finished living room and took the baskets of jam from them with thanks. After that, the woman headed into the kitchen. The family looked at each other and Terra was the first to say something.

"Seems normal," he said.

"Yeah, I think we were just hearing things," Aqua added.

"You actually think that we all hallucinated at the same time?" Roxas asked.

"Never heard that happen before," Ven said.

Eraqus was about to say something when Lucrecia reentered with a man that had…red eyes. Terra, Aqua, Ven and Roxas's faces turned pale as they had never seen such a thing in Radiant Garden.

'Oh my god…' Terra thought.

'Is he a vampire?' Aqua thought.

'He's gonna suck our blood! And we'll all DIE!' Ven thought.

'He's gonna murder us…' Roxas thought.

Seeing that the four were staring at him, the man said to Lucrecia, "Who are they?"

"Oh, these are the Pellegrinos from next door. Well, this is my husband, Vincent," Lucrecia said.

The four kept staring and Eraqus cleared his throat. "Well, on behalf of my family that refuses to stop staring, I welcome you to Radiant Garden. I trust that you all have started adjusting to life here," Eraqus said.

"Yes. I am to teach genetics at the university while Vincent is to teach History at the high school," Lucrecia said.

"WHAT?" the twins screamed.

"Is there a problem?" Eraqus asked his sons, wondering why they were currently embarrassing themselves.

"He wants to…!" Ven yelled when Roxas slapped his mouth shut.

"Wants to what?" Lucrecia asked.

"Oh nothing…We're just still reeling after the nervous breakdown of Professor Merlin Prim, the old head of the History department," Roxas said, remembering what happened less than two weeks ago.

After the introductions, the family left and headed back home. Once inside, Eraqus yelled, "What was that?"

"What? He wants to murder us! Did you see it in his eyes?" Ven screamed.

"Yeah! His eyes looked like something from those vampire movies like Twilight," Aqua said.

"Aqua, Twilight doesn't count. Those movies are a disgrace to the profession," Terra said.

"What?" she asked, confused at her older brother.

"I would say that he looks more like Alucard from the Hellsing anime. That is a proper vampire," Roxas said.

"Yeah! He's got the long, black hair, the red eyes, the pale skin and wore red and black just like Alucard!" Ven added.

"Okay, how did we get from talking about our neighbor to talking about Alucard?" Aqua asked.

Terra and Eraqus shrugged. 'Well, at least we know who the neighbors are. But what's with the crazy laughter from yesterday,' Terra thought.

So, the Pellegrinos have new neighbors. But what was with that crazy laughing. Find out next chapter!