Roxas woke slowly, his mind foggy. As his vision cleared he realized he wasn't in his bed. He looked around and jumped as he saw Sora sitting in a chair besides the hospital bed, his head lying in Roxas' lap sound asleep. His mom was over in a corner of the room, dozing quietly, a book lying open in her hands.
Roxas shook Sora. "Hey, get off."
Sora stirred and nuzzled against Roxas.
Roxas blushed and scowled, hitting Sora on the back of the head.
"Stop that you idiot!"
Sora looked blearily up at Roxas, and then he seemed to realize where he'd fallen asleep and sat bolt upright.
"S-sorry," he stammered, rubbing the back of his head.
Roxas smiled. "It's okay."
"Are you feeling alright?"
Roxas touched his chest where he'd been cut, there was no sign he'd even been injured.
"The doctor took the stitches out during the night once the magic set in." Sora explained.
Roxas nodded. "What were those things?"
"I do—"
"What were what things?"
They jumped, and looked to see Tara staring at them expectantly.
"Roxas, what happened?"
Neither boy said anything; they didn't look at one another as Tara closed her book.
"The doctor thinks it was a wild animal that attacked the two of you, and the conductor says that there was no one around when he found the two of you."
She ran her hand through her hair, throwing it back over her shoulder as she sighed.
"I suppose neither of you is going to tell me anything are you?"
"Honest Mom, we didn't see anything." Roxas answered.
Tara looked anything but convinced. "Is it the other kids?"
"Aunt Tara, you don't really think Seifer would go that far do you? Besides we'd tell you!" Sora proclaimed.
"I'm not so sure about that." She said worriedly, about which part she didn't specify. "You boys know that I love you both don't you?"
"Of course Mom," Roxas said.
Sora nodded too, he didn't say anything though. Tara's smile flickered and she stood, walking over to both of them and kneeling besides the bed as she wrapped her arms around both of them.
"If I could bring your mother back Sora, believe me I would give every piece of my heart for it; but I've never been happier than with my four sons."
Her tone was soft and gentle, and there was an obvious feeling of pride emanating from her words. Sora for his part shivered quietly for a moment before wrapping his own arms around Tara, shutting his eyes against tears. Roxas did his best to hug both of them from his position on the bed.
Tara released both of them, standing and ruffling their hair. "I'm going to check Roxas out; I'll be back once I've spoken with the doctor."
She left, and Roxas climbed out of the bed. "That was close."
"Do you really think we shouldn't tell her?" Sora inquired.
Roxas frowned. "I don't know…but it's like the swords right? What could we tell her that wouldn't make her think we'd lost our minds?"
Sora nodded, thinking for a moment before smirking. "Want help getting dressed?"
Roxas glared at him, taking an exaggerated step away from Sora and hugging his hospital gown tight around his body.
"You stay away from me."
They both started laughing. Outside the room, Tara smiled sadly; at least they trusted one another.
"Happy birthday boys, blow out the candles!"
Sora and Roxas blew out the candles on their cake, they got all of them. Their birthdays were at opposite ends of the same month, so when Sora and Leon had first come to live with Roxas' family, it had been decided to celebrate both birthdays in the middle of the month rather than have two separate parties. It made sense since both had the same friends, and neither boy really cared, it had simply been something else that Roxas and Sora had grown to share.
Hayner looped an arm around Roxas' neck and grinned at him. "Hey, I know you want to let me have the first slice."
"No way Hayner," Ollette smiled. "Besides, if you eat anything else you're probably going to burst."
Hayner frowned. "Just because I'm the only one with a healthy appetite doesn't mean I shouldn't be allowed to have cake."
Sora smiled mischievously. "Ladies first," he handed the first slice to Ollette who kissed Sora on the cheek and elbowed Hayner.
"Thank you Sora, at least someone around here is a gentleman."
Hayner eyed Sora. "What? Those two cuties in Hollow Bastion aren't enough for you? Leave some for the rest of us!"
Sora flushed, ever since he'd fist gotten the picture of the twins in the mail and shown it to the others he'd been teased constantly by Hayner who seemed to think that he'd all but married Kairi.
"Lay off him Hayner." Roxas smiled, pushing Hayner off and handing him a slice of his own.
The bribe worked and Hayner took a seat and began to scarf down the cake as he had the rest of the food that had crossed his path.
"Sora, Roxas!"
They boys looked up to see Allen come in with an envelope. "Here boys, it's from your brothers."
Sora snatched it from his uncle's grasp and opened it, Roxas crowded close to read the letter.
Happy birthday guys! Hope you're having a good time whatever you're up to. We figured that we'd send this so it'd get here between your actual birthdays just like we always celebrate. You know that we've finished training, it wasn't all that hard actually, and we had one hell of an instructor. Granted she beat the crap out of both of us! You wouldn't know it to look at her, but she can throw Cloud and I around like rag dolls. The good news is that she recommended us for the Elites; we're with the best now. Can you believe that we only answer to our Captain and the King? I know which one is scarier too. We've made some friends up; Cloud thought you'd like to see some of them. Don't worry; I got some shots of Kairi and Namine for you too Sora so it won't all be strangers.
Hope you have a great party, sorry we can't be there Leon & Cloud.
PS—we had the girls all autograph the pictures so you know who's who.
Roxas shook the envelope and a packet of photos fell out. He picked them up and undid the band holding them together. The first shot was of Cloud and a dark haired girl who seemed to be the same age, they both had the same black uniforms with silver lining and Cloud had a massive sword on his back. He looked uncomfortable with the girl leaning on him with an arm around his shoulder as she smiled at the camera. The name next to her said 'Tifa'. Roxas flipped the photo over and snorted; Sora looked and laughed as well.
This girl is an amazing fighter, but Cloud's scared of her. She wants to have his kids I think.
The next shot showed the same girl, only there were two others standing next to her. All of them were smiling at the camera and the smallest of the three was waving avidly towards the photographer, behind them were a man and a woman, both with dark hair, smiling indulgently at the camera. The signed names said: 'Julia, Laguna, Tifa, Rinoa, and Yuffie'. Again on the back there was a notation.
These are Tifa's sisters and parents; Leon's been dating the middle sister, Rinoa since we got here. Yuffie just…well she clings to the rest of us like glue. She's always swiping things from our barracks, drives Tifa nuts.
"Hey who are those three? They look nice!" Hayner leaned over their shoulders, Roxas and Sora shoved him off.
"Aw come on, no fair hogging all the cuties."
Pence and Ollette joined the gathering; the boys relented and laid the photos out on the table.
Ollette picked one up and giggled. "Hey, he's cute, they make a nice couple."
The others looked, a brunette was standing to another man in the same black and silver uniform the names were 'Zack and Aerith'
She flipped it over and read aloud. "Zack's our squad leader; there are four of us, Zack, Tifa, Cloud and myself. Aerith is his girlfriend; the two are inseparable when he's not on duty."
She smiled. "There's more, it's from Aerith: Dear Sora and Roxas, Leon and Cloud have told us a lot about you, I hope you can come visit soon. I'd love to meet you."
Hayner groaned. "Why? Why are all the girls looking forward to meeting them and I don't get anything?"
"Probably because you don't have any older brothers in the military, you just can't compete." Pence said with a smile.
He picked up another picture, this time it showed Aerith with two other girls, another brunette and a blonde, the blonde was wearing practically nothing and was leaning forwards giving a peace sign to the camera. There was also a grumpy looking older, blonde man standing behind the three girls.
"The brunette is Aerith's little sister, Yuna, the blonde is their cousin, Rikku."
Sora coughed and snatched the picture from Pence and stared at the blonde in bewilderment.
Roxas leaned over and smirked. "Your friend got a sex change?"
Sora didn't say anything; he looked very confused as he handed the picture back to Pence who finished reading.
"The old man is Cid; he's a crackpot mechanic who works for the King, Rikku's his daughter. The three girls all live in the city with him."
"Must be a happy old man," Hayner teased
"I don't know," said Pence. "He looks pretty annoyed in the picture."
Hayner picked up the next photo and grinned at Sora. "Hey, it's your cuties."
He began to read, but Sora snatched the picture out of his hands and held onto it, Hayner scowled.
"Aw come on, don't be so touchy."
"This is one scary family
They all looked at the one that Ollette was holding. Riku, Sora's Riku, was standing in a group shot with five other people.
Hayner leaned in close. "They all have silver hair, what the heck?"
Sora cut in. "That must be his aunt and uncle."
Ollette read off the back. "The big scary guy in the back with the long hair is Sephiroth, captain of the Elites, the woman next to him is Paine, his wife and our trainer. The three boys in uniform are their sons from left to right: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz."
"Jeez, you see a family resemblance?" Hayner muttered.
"Huh," Roxas mused. "He's found one heck of a family. Looks like their all in the military except for him."
Sora nodded, a frown crossing his face. Kairi and Namine had been writing to him since they'd found out where he lived, Roxas and Namine had also been exchanging letters, but he'd never gotten anything from Riku. Looking at the picture made him wonder what he was doing, if he was alright.
"Hey," said Pence, holding up yet another picture. "This one has all of them."
They all crowded close to get a look at the newest photo. Indeed it had everyone, Cloud and Leon were in the front, Tifa was leaning on Cloud, who looked less than happy about the fact, while Leon had his arm around Rinoa's waist. To their left were Yuffie, Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz and on their right were Aerith, Zack, Yuna, and the blonde Rikku, with Cid. Sora's Riku, Namine and Kaira were in front of Cid. Sephiroth and Paine stood on the far left and to the back with Laguna and Julia besides them. Everyone in the picture was smiling, or in some cases managing something akin to a smile. Above them, in big scrawling letters was written:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM HOLLOW BASTION!
Sora and Roxas couldn't help but smile at the picture; they wondered how their brothers had convinced so many people to pose for a picture for them when most of the people in the photo didn't even know Sora or Roxas. Leon and Cloud must have done something to warrant all this, where they that successful in the military? Pence put the picture down, and the five of them began sorting through the remaining shots. Hayner kept drooling over a particular profile shot of Tifa as she winked at the camera, much to Ollette's disgust.