Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I only own my OC and her family. Crystle belongs to my friend, KV20224

Warning: Implied and mild child abuse.

I'm sorry this took so long guys. I admit I'm a bit of a procrastinator. That's why it took me like 2 or 3 months to write this.

Violet: It's about fricking time!

GAH! I'm sorry, please don't hurt me!

Violet: Now, get to working on chapter 3, lazy ass!

Y-yes ma'am! *whispers* Crystle help me.

Crystle: NOPE! You're alone in this one.

Dang it!

Shoutouts:

Duzell: I didn't think it was that good honestly but thank you :)!

Keiner of Consequence: Why thank you :). Yes, he'll become an even douchier and douchier nozzle throughout the story. So I'm guessing I'm going to have to make this story good or else you'll force me to read lemons. *shudders* A-alright then. Challenge accepted.

Chapter 1: Separated

Hikari's POV:

Four years passed since then and my life and I were never the same. My life started to go downhill. It was as if mom's death started a chain of unfortunate events that would keep going on and on forever. It had gotten to the point where all the hope and happiness in my life faded away and I was left with nothing but scars and a dark heart. The past was too painful for me. Every time I looked in the mirror, I saw my dead mother. The older I got the more I looked like her. I didn't want to be reminded of her, so I dyed my hair a dark purple and brushed my hair over my right eye.

Everyone, including my "father," was very merciless and unkind towards me. At school, I was often called demon by kids my age or older. Why, you may be asking? Well, I wasn't like kids my age. I had a very strange power. Every time I would get angry, and I mean REALLY angry, these flames would erupt around me. My flames used to be very small and they'd only form at the tips of my fingers, but they grew with my aging body. Due to the fact that I could accidentally burn someone with my powers, I often tried to calm myself down every time I got angry. But, there was that one day where I just lost it.

Flashback: (A/N: This is four years earlier. Hikari and Kage are six years old.)

It was during the school day and it was currently reading time. Of course, the teacher and I were the only one's actually reading. My classmates were conversing loudly with each other and throwing paper airplanes. I rolled my eyes as my brother ran around the desk with a book on his head and his arms spread out to the sides yelling: "Look at me! I'm a pretty little butterfly!" Once in a while he'd either run into something or trip over his own feet. Her eye twitching in annoyance, my teacher tried ignoring them. She knew she couldn't get them to listen to her anyways. From the fact that she was always scowling at all of us, I could tell she didn't like her job. Either that or she just really hated kids. Either way, I wouldn't blame her.

I was sitting at my desk minding by own business when one of my troublesome classmates threw a crumpled up ball of paper at the back of my head. I ignored the person even after they kept throwing more of them at me.

"Hey, nerd! It's rude to ignore people when they're trying to get your attention, ya know!" a male voice yelled somewhere behind me.

"You know she won't respond to that. Here, let me try," a female voice offered. "Hey, you demon freak!" my blood boiled when she called me a demon. I took in a deep breath and let it out so that I could keep myself from lashing out on her. When I heard someone slam their hands onto my desk, I flinched. The book I was reading was harshly yanked from my hands and thrown aside. I glared at the girl standing in front of my desk. She wasn't intimidated by my glare in the slightest.

"What do you want?" I growled. The girl grinned at the anger in my voice.

"Oops. Looks like I made the thing mad. What are you going to do, burn me to death? Oh wait, you can't. You're too much of a wimp to," she insulted me.

"Why do all of you like to bully me around?!" I yelled.

"Because you're freak. You're different from the rest of us and we don't need a monster like you walking around our school. Why don't you save us the trouble and kill yourself? " she answered smugly. I clenched my hands into fists until my knuckles turned white and my nails dug into the palms of hands. I stood up abruptly from my seat and glared at the girl. She was slightly taller than me, but the height difference didn't scare me at all. Kage must have heard what she said because he ran over to stand beside me. His face held the same angry expression as mine.

"Don't talk to Ari-Chan that way! She has much of a right to be here as you!" he spat.

"But don't you agree? Her powers could end up killing someone if she isn't careful. She's a danger to us all," the girl asked my brother.

"I don't deny her powers are dangerous, but that doesn't give you the right to push her around! It's not her fault she was born this way!" Kage yelled. The girl crossed her arms and frowned.

"Pft. Whatever. As far as I'm concerned, you're just as much of demon as your sister! So you can kill yourself too!" she directed her anger towards Kage. What she said angered me to no end.

'That's it!' I yelled inside my mind. Enraged, I roughly pushed the girl away from my desk. The girl (thankfully) ended up landing right on her ass.

"Hikari!" my brother yelled in alarm. I went to punch her while she was on the ground, but Kage stopped me by hooking his arms under my armpits. I attempted to wiggle out of his grasp but failed to do so.

"Stop! Violence isn't the answer!" my brother ordered. I ignored Kage's words completely and continued thrashing around in his grip. I let out a growl and glared down at the girl's cowering form.

"You don't you ever say that to my brother, you damn brat!" I roared at her. All of a sudden I saw a bright light appear out of the corner of my eye and I heard screams coming from most of my classmates. Confused, I looked over towards the source of the light. My eyes widened when I saw that someone's desk erupted into crimson red flames. I looked down at myself to see an aura of flames surrounding me. I looked back over towards the desk to see the boy who was also trying to get my attention earlier. He was clutching his reddened and slightly burnt arm while crying. The boy looked at me with a mixture of fear and pure anger in his eyes. I could see his small, frail body tremble.

"Demon! S-stay away from me! Get away!" he fearfully yelled at me. When I looked at everybody else in the room, including the teacher, they all were just as fearful of me as him.

"Go on! Get out of here before I call an exorcist to take care of you!" the teacher venomously threatened. I flinched at her harsh words. Even if they didn't bother to notice, the look in all of their eyes and their hateful words cut into me like a knife. Why would they have noticed? They all hated me and they all wanted me dead. Everyone wanted me dead, except my brother. I looked down at my feet with a hurtful expression on my face. My flames went out due to my anger being replaced with sadness. Kage noticed my sorrowful expression and laid a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Don't listen to-" I interrupted him by roughly shrugging off his hand and running out of the classroom with tears in my eyes.

"Hikari!" I heard him yell after me. I ignored him and kept running.

Time skip:

I ran back home and sneaked up to Kage and I's bedroom so that my "father" wouldn't have noticed that I came home early from school. He wouldn't have noticed anyways since he was always cooped up in his room doing who knows what. Kage once jokingly said that he probably trapped live children in his room so that he could experiment on them. I did not doubt it. Our "father" was a very creepy and secretive man after all.

I plopped down on my bed and hugged my knees to my chest. I stared out my window at the almost perpetual twilight that this world was named after. The sky started at a dark blue color that soon faded into shades of red, orange, and yellow. The white clouds were painted pink and red. Out of all the buildings in town, the station clock tower stood out the most due to it's height. I'd sometimes see the silhouette of a small group of people sitting on top of it. I wondered who'd actually be dumb enough to sit up there.

I fingered my dark silver shield on my pendant and looked down at it with shameful, teary eyes. Mother had given me this particular necklace for my sixth birthday. She gave Kage a pair of light blue goggles to which he always wore proudly on top of his head.

"There. Now you two are my little knight and my little blacksmith. Remember to keep these with you at all times. Okay?" I remembered her saying that after she gave these to us. I glared at the shield shape pendant and gripped it tightly within my grasp.

'I'm not a knight.' I bitterly thought. 'I can't protect people. I can only burn them. I don't deserve to wear this!' with one hard tug, I yanked the necklace off of me and threw it to the floor. I bowed my head and sobbed into my knees. The door to my room creaked open and I heard footsteps coming towards me. I felt the space in front of me sag under the weight of another person. I didn't look up to see who the person was.

"Ari…" I heard Kage say in a sad voice.

"Get out. Don't come near me." I warned in a shaky voice.

"Come on. Don't be like that," my brother coaxed.

"Why shouldn't I be like that? I'm a monster! The only thing I can do is hurt people!" I yelled at him.

"Those bullies that called you that were wrong. The only reason they do stuff like that to you is so that they can make you feel lower than them. You shouldn't let them get to you. You aren't a monster and you're definitely not a demon." he assured.

"No, they were right! Didn't you see the fear in all of their eyes?! I caused that! Nobody will come near me because everybody's scared of me!" I argued.

"I'm not scared of you, Ari-Chan," Kage said in a sincere voice.

"Why?! Why aren't you?!" I asked.

"Because your my sister and I'd never think of you as a monster. Even if the world turned against you, I'd still be with you," he answered. "You are no monster. It's not like you burned that guy intentionally. You did it by accident because you can't control your powers. All we need to do is find a way for you to control them."

"What if there isn't one?! What if I have to spend the rest of my life alone because I can't control them?!" I questioned.

"Trust me. We will find a way," he assured in a determined voice.

"And why are you so certain we will?!"

"I'm like you. I have strange powers too, but I can control them," my brother revealed. I lifted my head off my arms and looked my brother in surprise.

"You do?" I asked. My brother smiled at me and held his hand out in front of him. A small flame formed in the palm of his hand but unlike mine it was a bright blue color. Along with it, his dark indigo eyes turned into more of a bright cobalt blue. I stared into the fire in awe; the flame's light reflecting in my eyes. I reached my hand out to touch it. When the flames touched my skin, all I could feel was its pleasant warmth. Not only could we summon fire, there were other abilities that came with it. We were immune to fire and we could see perfectly fine in the dark. If this all wasn't strange enough, I'd have dreams about a blue haired girl's life. If I remembered correctly, her name was Crystle.

They started when I was six. The last one I had was Crystle's twelveth birthday. The most prominent dreams were those of Crystle's birthdays. For some reason unknown to me, I felt like I had some sort of connection to her like maybe she was a relative of mine. According to these dreams, this so-called Crystle was two years older than me. She always dressed in sweatshirts, sweatpants, and sneakers. Never did she wear dresses or skirts in My dreams, which suggested that she was most likely a tomboy. She lived with her father, Xavier and her mother, Riza. .Like any normal kid, she went to school and had friends. In truth, I was envious of her normal life.

I retracted my hand as Kage's flame diminished.

"I can control, so there must be a way you can too," he said.

"I guess you're right." I finally agreed. Kage smirked at me.

"Maybe it has something to do with that hot-headedness of your's," he joked. I playfully rolled my eyes at him and smiled a tiny smile.

"Oh, ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

Kage laughed and I soon joined in with him. Once our laughter ceased, Kage noticed something was missing from around my neck and frowned in displeasure.

"Hikari, where's your necklace?" he asked.

"On the floor," I answered vaguely. Kage walked over to where the necklace was lying on the floor and gingerly picked it up as if it would break into a million pieces. He dusted it off a little with his hand before meeting my eyes with pain showing in his.

"Why did you take it off? You know mom told us to keep these with us."

"I just got upset with myself and threw it," I explained. Kage held out the necklace to me; the amethyst in the middle of it sparkling in the sunlight.

"Please, be careful with it. After all these-" Kage trailed off; his eyes turning sorrowful. "-these are the only things we have left of mom and we need to treasure them." My heart ached immensely at the mention of our deceased mother. Tears pricked my eyes, but I blinked them away.

"I know. I'm sorry," I apologized; taking my necklace back. Just as my hand touched the necklace, I became engulfed in a blinding white light; causing both Kage and I to cover our eyes. After the light faded, my body was concealed in pitch black armor. A shield that matched that of the pendant on my necklace had appeared in my hand. I study the suit of armor in wonder. As did my brother. Kage threw his hands up in the air in excitement.

"WOAH! Your necklace turns into Keyblade armor! That's wicked!"

"No wonder mom told us to keep these with us!"

"I wonder if my goggles do that too!" just as Kage reached up to grab them, my father's booming voice resounded throughout the house.

"HIKARI! I DEMAND YOU COME DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Kage jumped and fearfully hid behind me at the sound of him yelling.

"L-looks like d-dad's home," he whimpered.

"I'll see what he wants," I said with an exasperated sigh.

"Wait, you're not scared of him?"

"I'm terrified," I admitted "I just don't show it."

"D-do you want me to c-come with you?"

"No. Stay here. I don't want you getting in trouble, too."

"But what if he hurts-"

"I'll be fine, Kage. Please, just stay here." I repeated in a stern voice. Kage opened his mouth to say more but quickly shut it. He gave me a look of worry and reluctantly nodded.

When I got downstairs, my father was standing in the living room with his arms crossed over his chest and the black house phone in his hand. He tapped his foot impatiently on the wooden floor. His corrupted yellow eyes narrowed when he saw me come down the stairs. His lips were pulled down in a disapproving glower. I stood in front of him, his insanely tall figure towering over me like a giant. I stood stiffly under his gaze but kept my face as poker-faced as possible to hide the fact that I was internally quaking.

"What is it that you want, father?" I asked, spitting out the word father like it was venom.

"Don't play dense with me! You know EXACTLY why I called you down here, little girl!" he spat; pointing his finger accusingly at me. "Your school called, they told me about your "little incident" at school!" I let out a nervous chuckle. I then smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of my head.

"Yeah... About that..." My father's face turned bright red.

"I don't want to hear your excuses! I told you to keep those powers of yours in check! Since you didn't heed my words, I have no choice but to remove you from school!" he furiously cut me off.

"Like I wanted to go to a school with a bunch of a-holes anyway," I mumbled.

"You did not let me finish!" father ordered. "You are going to move out of your brother's bedroom and move into the guest bedroom-"

"What?! No, I'm not! I refuse to! It's freezing in that room! Not to mention, Kage would be all by himself!"

"That's the idea. I kept that room at a low temperature in case something like this would happen. It will be enough to make sure you're too cold to use your powers. I will lock you in that room and not allow you to leave unless it's for important reasons," the black-haired man explained.

"So you intend to cage me in like an animal?! Hell, no! You're dumb if you think you can make me move into that r-" before I could finish, he raised his hand back and threw his hand forward across my face. His hand slapped me across the face. The contact of it made a loud cracking sound that bounced off the walls and echoed throughout the living room. Both my cheek and his hand were bright red from the hard impact. I held My stinging cheek with watering eyes. I was about to open my mouth again until my father raised his hand again in a threatening manner. I kept my mouth shut and bowed my head. My father roughly grabbed me by the arm; his nails digging into my skin.

"LOOK AT ME!" I flinched at his voice and raised my head to meet his eyes. "I am your father and you will listen to me! You will pack up your things and move them to the other room! If you dare disobey me again, I will do much worse! Did I make myself clear?!"

"Yes... father," I murmured.

"SPEAK UP!"

"Yes, father," I repeated much louder this time.

"Good." I clenched my hands into fists.

'One day, father. One day.'

Kage's POV: (A/N: Present day.)

I lightly knocked on Hikari's door. Sobbing could be heard from the other side of it. Father had given her one of his brutal punishments again. New scars and bruises were added to the countless ones that had accumulated over the span of four years. Even if they weren't mine, I could practically feel each one of them as if they were my own. Hikari hid what father was doing to her from me. She wore clothes that covered every inch of her skin to hide the evidence and to keep herself from catching a cold in that freezer of a room. What sucked was that the both of us were more sensitive to cold weather than humans. That's why mother wouldn't let us go outside during the winter. She'd also bundle us up in layers upon layers of clothes. I felt like mother was a little too protective of us.

Hikari did everything she could to make sure I wouldn't worry about her, even if it meant faking a smile. She wasn't fooling me, though. I could feel and see the suffering she was going through and it wasn't healthy. Hikari never went outside, so she was white as a ghost. Dark circles formed under her eyes from the constant nightmares that would wake her up every night. She'd constantly get sick from how cold the guest room was. She never laughed, she never sang, and she never played with me anymore.

Our once lively and happy household was now a lonely and silent one. The both of us had to grow up early and had to fend for ourselves. Hikari taught herself how to cook and clean from the thousands of books she read. The only times she came out of her room were for cooking, cleaning, going to the bathroom, and shopping. She took care of me like she was a second mother. Hikari did everything for me while I was too gutless to do anything for her. I felt so useless and shameful. I was putting an end to that right then.

"Ari-Chan? Can I help you fix your wounds?"

"N-no-" I heard her voice crack. She cleared her throat and spoke again. "No, I'm alright, Kage-Kun," she'd say this a lot.

"You can't just leave them be. They'll get infected," I said in a concerned voice.

"They'll be fine," she assured.

"But A-"

"They'll be fine!" she repeated. I leaned my head against the door and stared at it with sad eyes.

"Ari-Chan... don't do this to yourself," I begged. "Please, let me in. I only want to help you."

"I SAID NO AND I MEANT IT! NOW, GO AWAY!" she commanded. I flinched at the harshness in her voice. I turned around and pressed my back to the door. I slid down it with watery eyes until I was sitting down. I laid my head back on her door and let the tear slide down my cheeks.

"Please... I'm so alone... And I know you are too..." I whimpered inaudibly.

'Father made you like this. He broke you. But I don't understand, why is he doing all of this to you? You used to play with me all the time when mom was around. We'd play hero with wooden swords and put that bowl thing with the holes on it on our heads to use as helmets. A lot of times you'd win against me, but I swore next time I would win. We'd paint and draw together, and I'd always be slightly better at it than you. We'd also talk about our childish dreams and laugh together. You grew up too fast and now you'll barely even speak to me. I need you back, Imouto, (A/N: The Japanese word for little sister. Yes, Kage is older than her by a few minutes.) or else I'll break, too.'

"What have I told you about going near your sister's room?!" speak of the devil. Startled, I jumped up from my spot on the floor. One look at him and my body started to tremble out of fear. But I attempted to calm myself down and appear as brave as possible; just like Hikari. I stood tall and puffed my chest out. I ended up failing miserably.

"I-I d-don't have to l-listen to you! If y-your here to h-hurt her again, g-go away!" I yelled; my voice wavering.

"I can do whatever I please with her and I can MAKE you listen to me! It's not like a little runt like you is going to stop me anyways. If my master allowed it, I'd kill you on the spot. But, I am not here to have some petty argument with you." my father then gave me a smirk and explained: "We are going to take a little trip somewhere."

"T-trip? But, w-what about Hikari?" I asked.

"She will not be coming with us. In fact, she'll be going somewhere herself as well," he answered.

"Y-you're trying to s-separate us! I am n-not leaving without her, especially if y-you're alone w-with her!"

"I'd knew you'd say that. You children are so IRRITATINGLY STUBBORN!" father summoned his Keyblade and tapped the blade of it on his hand threateningly. I slowly backed away from the black-haired man.

"W-what do you plan on d-doing with that?" I stuttered out in fright. Father's smirk grew.

"Let's just say you're going to take a little nap for me, okay?" he vaguely said. Before I could say anything else, the man hit me over the head with his Keyblade. My legs gave out beneath me before my vision went completely black. The last thing I saw was that villainous and satisfied grin on his face.

Hikari's POV:

I felt guilty for yelling at Kage like that, but I needed to keep him from intervening in the conflict going on between my father and I. I know it hurt him, but at least this way I was keeping him safe. For now.

As usual, I sat quietly on my bed with an open book in my hand and a bag of plain potato chips beside me. Other people daydreamed or did others things to cope with their lives. I read books and, once in a while, drew and wrote. I know it sounds depressing but, books were my only escape from the crappy life I lived. Each book took me to a different world with their words. Picturing those worlds inside my head made me forget reality. Even if it was for a little bit, I was still grateful. Not to mention, I learned how to survive on my own while taking care of my brother from these books.

My eyes quickly scanned the neatly printed black words on the pages. (A/N: I'm not writing what she's reading because who wants to read a book inside of a book? Violet reads mostly horror, mystery, and fantasy. She occasionally reads romance books when nobody's around. If you really want to, you can imagine what she's reading.) I turned the page over before grabbing another chip out of the bag. I raised the chip to my lips and bit in half; the chip making crunching as I chewed. I turned the page again and ate the rest of the chip. I was about to finish the page I was on until...

TAP! TAP! TAP!

I heard the sounds of pebbles hitting my window. I let a growl of annoyance and laid my book down. I looked out the window to see kids from my school- well ex-school-laughing and throwing rocks at my window. I glared at them and stuck up my middle finger.

"Piss off before I burn all your butts!" I threatened. With terrified looks, the three boys ran off. Just as they did, I heard the sound of jingling keys and heavy footsteps approach my room.

'Oh, boy. Here comes father.'

As my door opened, I jumped up from my bed and rushed over to it. Father's menacing yellow eyes looked down on me; his face just as emotionless as mine. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"What is it now, father?" I asked; my loathing for him obvious in my voice.

"I am aware that a Keyblade has chosen you, correct?" he guessed; dismissing the sarcastic way I said father.

"Indeed. Why are you asking?" I got my Keyblade a few months ago. I was even surprised it chose me considering I was just a weak, very small and frail little girl. I just barely could stand up against my father. I'd rebel against him, but I'd just get punished afterwards. My father smiled in fulfillment. He touched his fingers together.

"Excellent. You are finally ready to start your training." I eyed him suspiciously.

"Uh... training? What training?" I inquired. My father rolled his eyes.

"Your Keyblade training, you stupid girl!" He angrily answered. "Your grandfather shall be your master. I will be taking you to him now as ordered of me."

"N-now?! But-" I stopped when I noticed- or felt- that something off. I couldn't sense Kage's presence anywhere inside the house. I scowled at the man in front. "Where's Kage!? What did you do with him, you old fart?!" my father smiled widely.

"Oh, don't worry about him. He's somewhere safe."

"Safe, my ass! You killed him, didn't you?! I am not leaving with you until I know what happened to him!" I spat.

"I sent him to another Keyblade master so that he wouldn't obstruct your training," he explained. "Now, if you're done worrying about that little defect, we must be leaving." my father grabbed my wrist, but I instantly yanked it out of his grip.

"No! I need to see-" my father roughly slapped a hand over my mouth.

"You WILL be obedient and follow me or else do you want me to knock you out and drag you there like I did with your brother?!" he threatened. I shook my head fearfully. Father removed his hand from my mouth. "And you will not treat your grandfather this way either. Am I clear?"

"Yes, father." I answered; bowing my head. With a flick of his hand, my father created a portal of darkness in front of the both of us. The darkness looked like black and dark purple flames dancing about.

"We shall now take our leave." with that my father entered the portal with me following close behind him.

Father stepped out the portal with me coming to stand beside him. The portal disappeared behind us without my father having to get rid of it himself. I surveyed the scenery around me. Grey clouds covering the skies, barren and cracked ground, lifeless Keyblades sticking up from the ground, and giant plateaus. This place was the world that mom had described in her story: the Keyblade Graveyard. In front of us stood a smirking old man who was slightly hunched over and had his arms behind his back. He had no hair on his head, really tan skin, pointed ears, a gray goatee, and the same golden eyes as my father. He wore a long black coat, with inside being red, over a white button-up shirt, black pants, black boots, and white gloves. I shivered and grimaced once I noticed he was staring directly at me. The old man just screamed malevolent and overly intelligent. The man greeted me in a hoarse voice:

"I've been expecting you for a long time, my granddaughter. I haven't seen you since you were just a mere baby. My name is Xehanort. I'll be instructing you on how to use your Keyblade to your fullest potential. From now on, you'll be referring to me as Master Xehanort."