Hi everyone! I was looking through my old files and stumbled across this twinverse I made as a joke a while back. I figured people might get a kick out of it, so cleaned them up and posted them. XP There's five chapters in total and I don't plan to do anything after that, but hey, if people like it, maybe I'll do it for fun. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
For those that don't know, this isn't technically an oc, but a real world au version of Sora I made. But hey, it works for the story, right?
It had been 8 hours since Sora had returned home, and Arias couldn't figure out what he was feeling.
He sat, alone in the night as he watched the sea shore. He was fully clothed in his dark tank, black pants, and sneakers as he sat on the sand. Both arms were wrapped around his knees, hunched over in the cold. The sand had long turned freezing from the ocean breeze, as well as his tanned skin. Yet despite the shivers and goosebumps, he couldn't bring himself to go home. Everyone was probably still awake and talking and happy- mom and dad would be so thrilled they would be spoiling him rotten and keeping him awake as long as they could. Arias had left after about the first three hours, trying to hear the full story, but unable to make himself stand it a minute longer. He'd gone to his room, and snuck out the window. He doubted they even noticed.
No, actually, he was sure they did, once they started talking about what had been happening at home after Sora left.
After…
He…
He hadn't even noticed his brother left. There was no worry, no search party, no questions. He was just… gone.
He had completely forgotten about him. They all had. Did that make them a terrible family?
Maybe if he had remembered him, things would have been easier. He would have at least known why he felt so scared, and lonely, and eventually: angry. Like everyone wanted to pick a fight with him. But instead he just felt this burgeoning rage he couldn't identify, this anger that kept cropping up he couldn't explain, not even to himself.
It made being friends with him really annoying. So eventually, they all just left.
It didn't matter to Arias. The truth was, he hadn't been able to have fun with them lately anyway.
He had already been terrible in school- average at best if he really tried to focus- but any chance of studying and actually trying anything went down the drain. He couldn't pay attention, he couldn't remember anything he learned- all his abilities, the few he had, just did a free fall straight into failure.
His parents tried punishments first. Grounding, stricter study times, the like. It just made him madder and got all of them into fights.
Eventually, he stopped coming home until late, staying out until after dinner, when everyone was too tired to argue or deal with him. Except that day he'd impulsively dyed his hair black and gotten an undercut. His father had a screaming fit, but he just screamed right back.
That wasn't even the worst thing of all of this. Because the memories came back, and Arias realized with a start why he was so angry.
He remembered now, the raft Riku had always been bragging about; the plans, the dreams of adventure that he'd dragged Sora and Kairi into. Arias hadn't paid it much mind. He hadn't thought how serious he was. He thought it was a game. He stayed with Tidus and Wakka and Selphie, hearing of the plans on the fringes but not really caring for it.
Now he wished he had been closer at the time, to know what was going on.
Well, at least now he knew what had happened to them. They were gone, lost at sea, probably sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Only Kairi made it back.
Kairi. Ha. Now he could see why she never looked at him. It was Sora she loved, not him.
Who was he kidding. It wasn't Sora that was the problem. She was the mayor's daughter. He was just a hopeless delinquent that had managed to alienate all their friends.
Realizing all this, one would think he and his parents would see the error of their ways, make up, and try to mend the rift and be a happy family again.
But the first few weeks after their memories returned, his parents couldn't even look at him. They looked at him with pain then turned away abruptly, trying to at least speak to him happily.
But Arias was still a problem child. Just because he realized the source of his pain, didn't mean it would just go away. And they'd fallen into such a routine, they didn't know how to break it. The source of his pain was dead. He couldn't take his anger out on it anyway.
He grew, and matured, into an angry, troubled teen, pulling away from everyone, and every thing. He fell in with other kids, trouble makers that skipped school and got into fights for a laugh, where he picked up habits he was sure would make his parents rage, if they found out.
Actually, it would only make his mother cry. For the guilt his parents felt was too crippling. How could they be hard on a child that had already lost his brother? And had to deal with their anger and lack of understanding?
And then Kairi went missing.
There was a knot of anxiety in him as the island fell into an uproar. The Mayor's daughter was missing- having vanished as suddenly as she had appeared so many years ago, and no one had any idea where she could have gone. They searched high and low for her, but she was nowhere to be found. After three days (and the mayor calling all the other islands to do the same) they concluded she had drowned, and was lost at sea. That was always what happened when someone went missing.
But Arias had a feeling she was reaching out to wherever Sora and Riku had gone.
Arias was fine with that. He was, until he thought more and more about it, and wondered if everyone was still alive.
Or if Kairi was in danger.
He was this close to stealing a boat and leaving. This close to going on there on his own and searching to horizon to find the answers he needed. He had done his own laundry without prompting for the first time in months, packed his bags and started making plans to search the wharf that night for a boat he'd be able to sneak out of port.
And then, of all things, Sora came back, Kairi in tow, and Riku not far behind. They split up to go to their respective homes, to face their parents. Everything was as it should be.
"Arias?"
The voice was normal volume, but it was loud in the silence of the night. So much so it actually startled him as he whirled to meet the speaker. His twin, his own face- save for the natural brown hair instead of his dyed black. He seemed as startled as him. Though to be fair, that was because of Arias' sudden reaction.
"Jeez, don't do that!" Sora complained, hand on his chest. "You gave me a heart attack."
Arias just frowned, facing the ocean again stubbornly. "What do you want?"
"To say hi?" He said as though it was obvious. "You never said anything. You even left before I could ask you what was happening."
"Mom an' dad told you, didn't they?" He countered. He glanced at him for a moment, but kept his face to the ocean. "I flunked school. What else do you need to know?"
He didn't say anything at first, unsure of how to handle this unexpected… anger at him, but tried to bring up a smile to crack a joke. "Well, I always was the smart one."
"Not funny, Sora."
"Ok, ok..." He sighed, and took a place beside him. "Jeez, what's with you? Did you have a bad day or something?"
"Try a bad year," He spat, finally turning to face him. "While you were gone, I was stuck here at home dealing with all the dogpoop you left behind!"
Sora flinched, stunned at the vitriol, and the swearing.
"Congratulations on your grand adventure!" He seethed, turning all the way around this time to glare him down. "Thanks for the postcards you sent, too! 'Hi guys, hope you're doing well! Don't worry, I'm not dead!'"
"I-I told you," he argued weakly, guilt making him lose his fight. "I was across the ocean! I couldn't send messages to you guys. If I could, I would have, I just-"
"Oh save it! It doesn't matter anymore." He turned away again. "You're back, everyone's happy, we can go back to being a nice, perfect family again."
Sora looked at the side of his head for a moment, his heart growing heavy as he realized that despite his excitement of finally coming home, his twin, for whatever reason, didn't seem to share the same enthusiasm.
"...I missed you guys…" He offered to him. "I thought about you everyday."
Of course, because his back was to him. Sora didn't see the tears that sprung to his brother's eyes, and how that heartfelt confession yanked his heartstrings in the worst way. Because he really, really wished he could say the same. But deep down, the only awful, traitorous thought that could come to mind was:
'We forgot you existed.'
He stood up abruptly, making Sora jump again, albeit in confusion. Arias refused to face him, hands tight fists at his sides.
"… Get ready for tomorrow. Everyone's gonna be hounding you at school." Was all he said, before he turned and marched his way back home.
By now he knew his parents would know he was gone, so he just came in through the front door. Whatever they had been talking about stopped abruptly, and his mother stood from her spot on the couch.
"Arias," she started. "Sora's clothes are very dirty. I want to wash them tonight. Can he borrow something to sleep in?"
"Just for a week," His father said quickly, also standing from his spot on the couch. "Just until payday. We'll take him shopping for his own clothes after that."
It wasn't an unreasonable request. Given the circumstances it was only fair for Arias to give up a few articles for Sora to borrow for a few days, so he didn't mind that part. It was the look on his parent's faces that bothered him. Scared, hesitant… hopeful. He hadn't seen these types of emotions from them in… a long time.
"...yeah, okay," he finally said as he trudged toward his- well, their- room. "I'll pick some stuff out."
He heard his mother's sigh of relief, and didn't look to see the way his dad shook her shoulders a little in happiness. He just made his way to the bathroom, starting his nighttime routine.
They lived in a small house- single bathroom, two bedroom. Sora spotted his parents still in the living room, where they told him he could borrow some of Arias' clothes for a bit, and to give her his clothes to wash in the mean time. He did so, going to knock on the bathroom door.
"Hey Arias?" He called. "Are you brushing your teeth? Let me in!" A moment of silence, a jiggle of the handle, but his brother ignored him, much to Sora's annoyance. "Hey, c'mon, it's just me-!"
The door opened, and Sora stepped back to give him berth. But Arias froze, eyes down on the maroon tee that Sora was wearing.
"The heck are you wearing?! That's my shirt!"
"Uh, yeah," Sora agreed cluelessly. "Mom an' dad said I could borrow it."
"Not that one!" Arias pointed at it. "I like that one!" He held his hand out. "Give it back!"
"Alright, alright!" Sora held his hands up to try to calm him, before begrudgingly pulling it off. "Jeez, it's just a shirt! Here."
But as he put it in his twin's palm, Arias' anger abated, staring in shock at his brother's torso. They were the same height and had the same bone structure of course- but although Sora was slim, his arms and chest were thick with muscle. The story he had told them of his adventures had sounded crazy at the time, but now Arias believed him wholeheartedly. He looked like he had been fighting. He looked like he could knock Arias flat with a single punch. Without even realizing it, Arias' shoulders and face lowered, losing a fire he didn't even know he had.
"Arias?" Sora tilted his head, wondering why the other boy was zoning out so bad. "Is something wrong?"
He looked back up at him, throat seizing as he pushed past him. "Nothing. I'll go pick something out."
'He really is better than me,' was all he thought as he went into their room.
He rifled through his drawers, trying to see what he was willing to give up for a week. He picked out a few of his lighter sleep shirts and shorts, tossing them on Sora's bed- the one that was neat, and tidy, and well made because no one had slept in it for months. He had been in the middle of changing when Sora opened the door- without knocking, mind- and as a result made Arias jump, hastily covering himself with his shirt.
"Hey!" He protested. "A little privacy here!"
"It's me, dummy." Sora rolled his eyes. "We're literally… the same..."
Whatever he was going to say went out the window when he saw him, eyes going wide with horror. Arias may have had the shirt to his chest, but Sora could still see the way his shoulder bones poked out, and his ribs stuck out from his sides. A stark contrast from his twin.
"Arias!" He gasped in horror as he lunged for his brother. Said brother stepped back quickly to stay out of his reach. "What happened?! Did you get sick or something?"
"No!" He hurried to try to slip on his shirt, to hide his frame. "I just… haven't been eating dinner for a few weeks!"
"That's it?" He asked, both confused and skeptical. Surely missing a meal wouldn't make him look like that. "Why? Aren't you hungry? Should we get you to a doctor?"
"No, I'm fine!" He seethed. "Jeez, you're worse than mom!"
"Mom!" He balked, like just now remembering. "She should know! MOM, DA-MMMM?"
Arias slapped his hand over the boy's mouth. "Quit shouting! They know already, alright?"
"HMMM?!" He asked in shock, his eyes clearly asking how that could be possible.
Arias faltered, stomach twisting into knots as his parents rushed for their room. "J-just don't tell 'em!" He whispered harshly.
"Sora, what's wrong?!" She asked.
Arias glowered at him in (scared) warning as he released the boy's mouth, and Sora debated with himself to figure out if sibling solidarity outweighed parental authority.
"… Arias picked out really ugly clothes for me."
"I did not!" He barked automatically, irritation quickly winning over relief. "Those are my clothes, they work just fine!"
"Then why can't I have the other ones?"
"Because I like those ones!"
"See!" He pointed. "You gave me the ugly ones on purpose!"
As the two bickered, they didn't see the way their mother tearfully sighed in relief, or the way their father let his head hang in his own relief. They just pulled away, closing the door behind them to give the pair some privacy.
Arias aggressively pointed to the bed. "Just hurry up and put a shirt on!"
Sora harrumphed, but did so- mostly because it was cold. He picked up the orange one and slipped it on, tossing the others on top of his old dresser and turning to slip into his bed- only to see Arias already settling under the covers.
"Uh..." he stared awkwardly, pointing at him. "That's my bed."
It was true, Sora had the bed that was under the window. He liked looking at the stars at night, so they allowed him to do so. Arias' bed was on the other side of the room, helping to divide their things in a way to keep it convenient.
But Arias seemed unimpressed. "Not anymore," Arias retorted, making no effort to move. He was turned toward the window, his back to the room. "You left. I get it now."
Normally, Sora might try to argue- or heck, even fight him on it. After all, one needed to protect one's things from their siblings, fighting tooth and nail to protect what was theirs. But he couldn't bring himself too, knowing what he did. All he could see was his brother's thin, bony frame peeking out at him from under his skin. That, and his fighting experience, made him worry he would legitimately hurt Arias if he tried anything.
Also… he was just tired. It was a long, long day.
So he let it go for now, pulling back the covers and slipping into the other bed, trying to settle for sleep. Something in him protested at it, not liking the unexpected change and difference. None of this was how he had imagined. The visual change in his brother was shocking enough, but this attitude? It was completely out of left field. Why was this happening?
"...You could try to be a little nicer, you know," he said in the quiet, a little accusingly. "You don't have to be such a jerk."
Arias rolled his eyes, but otherwise ignored him, not wanting to goad him into more fighting. Sora was behind on the news, but Arias was a jerk to everyone- family included. He wouldn't be getting any special treatment.
Sora fell asleep fast- Arias used to be that way too before everything happened- so despite his bumbled emotions, he drifted off relatively quickly. Arias was going to just leave it at that, and try to sleep too, but…
The sound of his brother's breathing started to bother him.
It wasn't too loud or anything, Sora didn't snore, but it still filled the silence of the room, alerting him there was someone else occupying it. Something in him started hurting, and something else felt angry, and they were twisting and wrestling inside of him as they tried to come to the surface.
After everything of that day, this seemed to be the final straw. Arias began to cry.
It wouldn't be the first time he cried himself to sleep. He had done it a lot the first few months of Sora's absence. But he had thought that time was over, all his tears spent. He couldn't stop the tears, or the tell-tale sniffles as an unexplained grief tried to make itself known. He brought the blankets up to his face to try to muffle his crying, hoping not to alert his brother.
"Arias? What's wrong?"
But apparently, his brother had turned into a light sleeper.
He sat up and quickly opened up the window, Sora also sitting up.
"Did I hurt your feelings?" He asked worriedly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!"
As an answer, Arias refused to look at him, instead jumping out the window- barefoot and all- to escape into the night.
Of course, Sora didn't go to school the next day. Neither, apparently, did Kairi or Riku. Arias figured that their parents' reason was the same as his parents: let the poor kids rest. His parents had, unexpectedly, invited him to stay home. He could catch up with Sora, they said. Hang out like they were kids, they said. Sora must have surely missed him and would be happy to be with him, they said.
Arias declined and went to school anyway, knowing he wouldn't be able to stomach all their "cheer" and "eagerness" and whatever else they would be feeling for their precious angel. It left him in this surreal state of "going through the motions" as it were. No one knew the three had returned yet. Things just progressed as normal. Because Arias sure as heck wasn't going to announce it. He only bothered to bring it up with his gang after school as they were hanging out on the fringes of downtown, because they asked.
"My brother's back," he answered around the white stick between his teeth, to answer why he seemed even more moody than usual. He looked at the cards in his hand, then at the boy across from him who held his own hand of cards. "He's been missing for like a year and a half."
"Man." Was all he said. "Got any queens?"
"Go fish."
But the next day, Sora came with him. He hadn't heard until he got home, but he had begged mom and dad to let him back to school as soon as possible for some reason. So they called the school to ask if that were possible, and let him go.
"He can just borrow your extra uniform, right? It'll take a few weeks for his to come in."
Yeah, sure, whatever. It wasn't like he could say "no," could he?
"This is gonna be great!" Sora chattered, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his briefcase. It was his old one, though it worked just as well. "Man, I can't wait to see everyone again. How're Tidus an' Wakka? An' Selphie?"
"I wouldn't know," he said plainly, eyes ahead. He draped his briefcase behind his shoulder lazily. "I haven't seen 'em in a while."
"O-oh..." he said, smile faltering for a minute, before he brought it right back up. "Well, I can't wait to meet your new friends! Oh man, we have new teachers, right? You're gonna have to show me the ropes now."
"Ask Kairi. She's the one that's been paying attention. I haven't really been doing much."
Sora knew something was wrong, but Mom and Dad had told him that Arias wasn't doing well in school, and been fighting with his friends. So he kept up his cheer, slinging an arm around his neck. "Perfect! That means we can catch up together-"
"Will you lay off?!" Arias snapped, elbowing his brother away. "Jeez, you're even more obnoxious than before!"
This time, when Sora's smile fell, he didn't bring it back up, instead his own anger started rising. "I'm trying to be nice!" He argued, but Arias ignored him to walk ahead. Sora scowled and hurried to fall back into step. "Didn't you miss me at all?"
Arias might've answered, if he hadn't spotted something ahead that startled him. He stopped. The shock on his face made Sora stop as well, and he turned to see what had stunned him. He brightened instantly, waving at his friend. "Hey, Riku!" And then he blinked, tilting his head. "Where's your uniform? Oh, do you need to order a new one too?"
"Hardly." He was dressed casually in a yellow vest and long blue pants, with a shaggy mane of silver that desperately needed a haircut. He was leaning against his own fence, arms and ankles crossed. "I'm not going to school. I just wanted to see this for myself. I can't believe you're actually trying to go to school a day after you get back."
"Well, what about you?" He put his free hand on his hip. "You should be going to school. What about all our friends? Don't you want to see them again?"
"I'm supposed to be in highschool now, Sora. I can't just 'go back'."
"High… OH!" He smacked his own forehead. "Graduation! The entrance exams! Agh, I completely forgot!"
"Now you remember."
"Hey, lay off!" He wagged his finger, as his brother stalked past him. "At least I'm trying… to..." He stared at his twin's back as the boy shuffled almost dazedly toward Riku. "Arias?"
Riku was staring at him too, though he could see the shock and wonderment on his face. It made sense, given how drastically different Riku looked compared to the last time he had seen him. But his fingers twitched, guilt and anxiety twisting inside of him as the twin of his best friend came up to gape at him like an attraction.
"Riku…?" He confirmed in a small voice.
He glanced down, finding it hard to look him in the eye. It was only knowing he couldn't run from his guilt forever that he finally met his gaze. "Yeah. It's me."
He decked him.