Chapter 1: If It's Not One Thing, It's Another

My morning started out normal as usual. I was sitting to the dining room table munching on a piece of toast. I was the only one in there which made the room beautifully quiet. But you know what they say; all good things must come to an end.

"Morning, Terrence." My little sister, Monica, came bouncing into the dining room, removing all hopes of a nice quiet morning. Pretending that I didn't hear her, I continued to feast on my toast, hoping that she would leave. But to my misfortune, she fixed herself a bowl of cereal in a rather loud manner.

"What's wrong Terry, you sick?" Why she always had to make conversation in the morning, I will never know. "Do you have a fever?" She was really starting to annoy me.

Sighing in defeat, I shook my head and said, "I'm fine, I just have something on my mind." I wasn't entirely lying. These past few weeks really have been weird, mainly for the extremely vivid dreams I had every night. They felt realistic in more ways than one. In one of them, I got a deep cut on the side of my face, and when I woke up, I had a bandage covering that same wound.

But lately, all of my dreams had been consisting of that strange old man telling me that it will soon be time for me to prove myself. I couldn't help but be overly conscious. What if I had to "prove myself" at home and something happened to my mom or sister. I had to keep focused on my surroundings.

"Hey, Terry, are you listening?" I had almost forgotten that the little ball of energy was sitting there.

Regaining my focus, I gave her my attention, saying, "Um, sorry, what were you saying?"

Rolling her eyes at me, she did a cute pose and said, "I was wondering if you like the outfit I was wearing." In all honesty, she did look cute, in a twelve year old girl kind of way. Her long dark brown hair reached the middle of her back. Her large doe eyes seemed to sparkle whenever she smiled. And her brown skin seemed to glow in the sunlight. And I know what you're thinking, my little sister has me whipped. But what can I say, even though she annoys me more than anything, she always my first priority.

Realizing that I still haven't given her an answer, I took a bite out of my toast before saying, "You look fine." in a half-heartedly way. What? I can still mess with her from time to time.

Frowning at my half-hearted answer, she sighed and sat back down. I laughed at her action and continued to eat my toast in silence.

After I finished it I grabbed my bag out of my room and walked towards the front door. I stopped at the door and kissed my mom on the cheek with her saying, "Have a good day, Terrence." I simply replied with a nod, something that she didn't seemed to be bothered with. As I walked the out the door and down the street I heard her shout, "Stay safe."

I couldn't help but notice that she has been doing that every day for the past few weeks. She wouldn't let me leave without kissing her on the cheek and she would tell me to stay safe. It almost made me feel that she had a type of expectation that something bad was going to happen. I had to admit that I had the same feeling. I just felt like that if I didn't stay aware, I would end up dead before I could even see my killer.

I sighed at my thoughts. Thinking things like that will only lead to me being paranoid. Lightly slapping myself on the face, I walked into my school and to my first period class just before the late bell rang. Slipping into a seat in the back, I noticed two students that I never seen before. The creepy part was that they looked like twins but seemed completely different at the same time.

They both had incredibly spiky hair that seemed to spike-out in nearly every direction possible. One of them had slightly tanned skin and large blue eyes. His wild hair was a dark caramel color. Though he wore the same uniform as everyone else, he made it look different in his own way. The top three buttons of his collared shirt were undone and the burgundy tie that went with was loosened greatly. He also had khaki pants that were really baggy. The black shoes he had on were also a very large and seemed like it didn't even fit him. All in all, he seemed kinda immature and lazy in my eyes.

The other one seemed much older. This one's spiky hair was jet black but in the same exact style as the other, his eyes were a golden color. His skin was also paler than his look alike and he had a more muscular build. He also wore the schools uniform in a way that would make teachers everywhere proud. His shirt was tucked in, his tie was tightened around his neck, and his pants were pressed and creased. I couldn't help but sense a bit of a sinister attitude under his mature appearance. Maybe I was just being paranoid.

At that point I felt someone tap my shoulder, looking over I saw my best friend Drake. What did he look like? Wavy blonde hair, bright green eyes, he basically had that typical teen idol look. He looked over at the new students and said, "You missed their introduction, you really should get to school earlier."

I rolled my eyes at my friend's comment, "You mind telling me their name?"

He chuckled and said, "The one with the brown hair is Sora Hikari. He seemed kinda bubbly when he introduced himself."

Looking over at the wild haired teen I said, "I thought as much. What about the other one."

"His name is Vanitas Mukou. He's sort of the dark type, y'know with the mysterious past and all." I wasn't too shocked about the quick description. I gotta say, I'm pretty good at reading people.

"I expected as much…"

"So you do know them…"

Now it was my turn to be confused, "What do you mean?"

"Those two were asking for you after their introduction, especially the black haired one."

Most people would've been freaked out about things like this. But for some reason, I felt kinda neutral about it, like I was kinda expecting something like this. Especially with the events of the following days, I can't really say that it surprised me that people were looking for me. Hell, I can summon a sword that looks like a bat wing. Why wouldn't mysterious students that I never seen before ask for me.

I unintentionally groaned at that point, getting the attention of my friend. He looked at me worriedly and said, "Something bothering you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. I just have something on my mind." Wanting to change the subject, I said, "So how was your weekend?"

My model like friend excitedly told me about his weekend. At that point, my day became pretty normal. But all that changed when my lunch period came.

I was walking to the lunch room by myself since me and Drake didn't have the same class the period before. I couldn't help but groan in annoyance when I saw the black haired new guy walking towards me. We both stopped when we were a few feet away from each other.

He grinned at me as he said, "Hello, Terrence. It's good to finally meet you."

I rolled my eyes at his words and replied, "I can't say I feel the same about you, um, Vanitas right?"

He nodded and said, "I can understand your feelings. It's not every day that someone gains a gift like yours." Before I could reply to his words he asked, "Is there a place where we can talk in private?"

Not entirely trusting this guy, I hesitantly nodded and said, "Yeah, we can go on the roof and talk. No one will bother us there."

With that I led the spiky haired boy to the stairwell that led to the roof. As we walked in silence I couldn't help but feel that his gold eyes were burning into the back of my head. It was like he was scarred that if he took his eyes off me for a second I would run away. In all honesty, I was thinking about doing so a few times. But I dismissed it as a bad idea, knowing that Vanitas would make me regret it.

As I opened the door that led to the roof I prayed that there would be someone up there, hoping that that would be enough to get this creepy new student away from me. But to my disappointment, no one could be found on the roof of the school building. Not even a couple dry humping in the corner.

I sighed at my bad luck and said, "Nope. No one is gonna bother us up here."

Even though he was behind, I sensed that he grinned at my words. He walked past me and said, "Good, I have something very important to discuss with you." He looked around the open space and said, "Is there any way to ensure that no one can walk in while we're up here. I don't like being interrupted." I don't know if it was just me, but that last quote sounded very wrong.

None the less I said, "Yeah I can do that." I hesitantly slid a cinderblock in front of the door, ensuring that we wouldn't be interrupted.

After I did this he looked at me with the creepiest smile I ever saw, causing me to visibly shiver. He must have seen me shiver because he suddenly chuckled darkly before saying, "We have been watching you Terrence. And we feel that its time you stepped and took your among those like you."

I tried to stop shivering as I said, "But why me? What's so special about me?"

To my surprise he bowed slightly to me as he said, "You my friend, you are the reincarnation of the lord of all darkness, Xe-…" He stopped suddenly when the roof was suddenly covered with a blinding light.

When the light cleared, five knights wearing a shining silver armor stood around Vanitas and I. I couldn't help but feel that the armor these people wore was all too familiar. I couldn't remember from where I saw that armor.

Suddenly, it all came rushing back in my head, the void, that sword, that armor. "That armor I've seen it before…" I said as though I was in a trance.

Vanitas looked back at me with confusion in his eyes before saying, "Really? How is that possible?"

I held out my hand as I said, "It was in a dream… I battled this knight of the light." A small black flame appeared in my hand before I continued, "I've defeated one before, and I can do it again." With that, the black flame in my hand grew. It twisted and turned fore finally settling in a shape of a bat's wing. The flame solidified and grabbed it form thin air.

Vanitas seemed overjoyed to see the weapon in my hand as he said, "My, my, that's a mighty fine weapon you have there."

Finally snapping out of my trance I looked down at wing shaped sword with annoyance. "Not this damn thing again…" Looking around I noticed the group of familiar knights I continued, "These things again? I can't tell you how much I hate these knights."

One of the knights, he seemed to be the leader, stepped forward at that point, he glared at Vanitas through his mask and said, "So you're still trying to corrupt the young and innocent, huh?"

Vanitas chuckled at the knight's words and looked at me eerily, "It's always a good idea to get them started as soon as possible." He licked his lips before continuing, "That way, they have the potential to become as strong as the Lord of Darkness."

Another knight stepped forward, but this one looked over at me, "You don't have to go with him son. You can still join the light."

I heard the black haired student swear under his breath before shouting to me "Don't listen to them Terrence. That weapon you're holding in your hand is proof that you are meant to control the darkness." A pale blue flame appeared in his hand as he said, "I can give you the power that you can truly control. The light will simply try to control you." He held out his hand, causing the small flame to stretch out and form into a strange sword. It was red and black and had what appeared to be gears placed at the blade and the guard of the sword. Imbedded into the guard was a light blue gem that appeared to be a demonic eye. I notice that my weapon held the same type of gem wear the guard was supposed to be.

All the knights withdrew their weapons. Some of them were using a sword, others using an axe or pike. Each of the weapons had a color scheme consisting of gold, silver, and red. They dropped into a ready stance, all of them focusing their attention on the black haired teen.

Vanitas looked back at me one more time and said, "Terrence, this is your last chance. If you join them, those bastards are gonna use you like a toy." I was really starting to get annoyed, why I was this supposed "chosen one", I have no idea. It's bad enough that I'm having these freakishly realistic dreams, but now I'm having some creepy foreign study looking for me.

I groaned out loud and said, "Why me?" With that, I swung my wing shaped sword at the black haired student, I frowned when he dodge my attack.

"What the hell are you doing? I'm on your side." He shouted with confusion, he must've been confident that I would join him.

Without answering I turned my attention to one of the knights and lunged at him, swinging my weapon wildly, hoping to land at least one solid strike. But to my dismay, he blocked one of attacks with his pike and pushed me back.

"What're you doing, boy? Choose a side!" I could really care less about the confusion I was causing between the two sides, I just wanted to get the hell out of there. Upon instinct I held out my left hand, and to my shock, black flames went shooting out of my outstretched hands, injuring all the knights in the area.

They slowly picked themselves off the ground using their respective weapons as a crutch. The one that I assumed to be the leader held out his hand creating a mass of light on the ground. The injured knights made their way to the mass of energy and jumped in, vanishing as they did so.

When the leader reached the portal, he looked over at me and said, "I can see that you need some time to think about such a big decision. Just remember that it's never too late to side with us." With that, he leaped into the mass of energy, vanishing in a flash of light.

I sighed in relief when the mass of energy vanished a few seconds later. That was one thing taken care of. All that was left was to get away from Vanitas. To my luck, he had his back turned to me. He seemed to be deep in thought, so I took the opportunity ad moved the cinderblock that blocked the door and went running down the stairwell.

My day was pretty basic after that, except the occasional glance that I would receive from Vanitas. What I didn't realize was that I would soon be running into a person that I later consider my soul mate.

I was walking down the street, on my way home. I was deep in thought about today's events, mainly what had happened before lunch. I was so deep in thought that I hadn't noticed the girl in front of me until I had bumped into her, causing her to fall on her butt.

She looked up at me angrily before saying, "Watch where you're going!" Well, now that I think about it, I think she may have shouted that. Causing passerby's to look at us with confused looks on their faces.

None the less, I offered my hand to the girl, which she gladly took. At that moment, I tried to make a quick escape, not wanting to talk to the girl any longer. She seemed like trouble. But to my dismay she called out to me, "Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"Home." I replied, not even looking back at her. Without another word I continued my stroll down the street, hoping to get away from her. She must've been the type that always had to get the last laugh, because I felt something hit the back of my head. I looked around, finding a balled up piece of paper on the ground. I picked it up, unraveled it and read the words that appeared to be hastily scribble onto it.

"I won't forget this!" the note had read, "Let keep in touch so you won't forget what you did." At the bottom was what I could only assume was the girls e-mail address with the words, "Message me tonight." scribbled next to it.

With a groan I slipped the paper into my pocket saying, "If it's not one thing it's another." I continued my stroll down the street pondering whether or not to message the girl. One thing was for sure though, my life is gonna be pretty hectic from here on out.