Chapter 1

Ventus tapped the table in front of him. He wasn't in the mood for anything like this. The last thing he wanted was a kid, after all, he was still a kid himself. But Aqua had insisted, this was apparently the best thing she could think of.

"Um, why are they behind this glass?" he asked.

"They're dangerous." The man, Vexen, said. Ventus raised his eyebrows and turned back to the them. They didn't look dangerous, just bored. They actually looked kind of cute… kind of. But then why would they be behind there? There must have been something evil about them.

"So why are you letting them out?" he asked.

"The project has been scrapped." Vexen said, "They aren't necessary anymore."

"Really?" Ventus frowned, how could he be so nonchalant about getting rid of them? "Where's the door?"

"There is no door, I didn't see think it was necessary." Vexen said.

"What? How do you feed them if there's no door?" he asked. Vexen pointed to a large network of tubes.

"They sit there and drink whatever comes out. It provides them with the nutrients they need and a supplement to regulate body weight." Vexen explained, "It's a revolutionary idea. To think that you could have one drink, and never have to eat anything at all for the rest of the day."

"Yeah, but…" he wrinkled his nose, "There isn't anything for them to do in there."

"What do they need to do?" Vexen asked, "They have paper, and they have a crayon."

"Just one crayon?" Ventus asked. He felt kid of angry, how could someone let kids live like that?

"I can have them ready by tomorrow." Vexen said, "Since they've never left the room, they'll need a lot immunizations. Come back at 4 o'clock exactly."

"Exactly? I can't be a little late?" Ventus asked.

"No. Come any later and I'll kill them." Vexen said. Ventus blinked, was he serious? His face looked pretty serious, but surely he wouldn't just say something like that… "Go and introduce yourself to them, I'll wait here."

Ventus pressed a button and walked away. A small panel slid away and a makeshift door appeared. Ventus rolled his eyes, "I thought he said there was no door." he mumbled as he stepped through. The two boys looked at him, but said nothing. "Um, hi." he said. They stayed silent, "My name is Ventus." he introduced himself.

The glass slid back into place and Ventus frowned, why was he being locked in here? "My name is Sora." one of them spoke up. Ventus found himself laughing quietly, the kid sounded like a robot. "I am 6."

"Nice to meet you Sora." he said. He looked at the boy. He had a lot of hair, it seemed like he'd never had a haircut before.

"This is my little brother." Sora pointed to the other boy, "He is 5."

"Yeah? What's your name?" Ventus asked.

"Roxas." The boy answered.

"Oh, nice to meet you." he said. They stood awkwardly for a moment before Ventus took another step closer, "So, what do you do in here?" He examined the room further. There was nothing but a single bed. On the floor was a few sheets of paper and one crayon.

"We draw until the lights go out." Sora said, "Then we sleep."

"Sometimes, we are given water." Roxas added. He pointed to the tubes, "But only sometimes." Ventus frowned. He couldn't imagine having to drink Vexen's miracle water everyday.

"What do you play?"

"Play?" Sora repeated, "We do not do that."

"We do not know how." Roxas said, "But we share the crayon." Roxas pointed to the little stub of the crayon. Ventus nodded, he didn't know why they took turns instead of breaking it in half and sharing it that way.

"Um, okay." he glanced at the tubes again, "So how about I give you some food?"

"What is that?" Roxas asked. Ventus laughed again.

"It's something that most people eat a lot." he explained. He dug through his pockets for the muffin he'd purchased at lunch, it was a banana nut muffin and it was the perfect thing to give them. "Here, eat this." He opened it up and broke it in half. He held his hands out and they boys took a piece.

He watched them taste it and was surprised that their faces stayed the same. If he'd never tasted food before, he was sure he would have been surprised. After all, muffins had a lot more taste then Vexen's weird water.

"I like this." Sora said, he finished his piece and liked the crumbs from his hand, "Can I have more?"

"I didn't bring more." he siad, "But when we leave tomorrow, I can get you more."

"Leave?" Sora repeated, "Why would we do that?"

"Because this place sucks." he muttered.

"What was that?" Roxas asked.

"A banana nut muffin." Ventus answered, "I'll bring more tomorrow."

"But when is that?" Roxas asked.

"Um… tomorrow…" he shrugged, he wasn't sure what time it was, "Maybe in… 24 hours?"

"Alright." Sora said.

Ventus nodded and turned away. He tapped the glass, which looked like a wall from this side and waited for the door to appear. He rushed out and found Vexen standing near the mirror. "You fed them." he noted as the glass slid back into place.

"Yeah, I did." Ventus nodded.

"I'm not sure how their bodies will react to that." Vexen handed him a thick manila folder, "Come back tomorrow at 4. Don't be late." Vexen pushed him out of the room and closed the door behind him. Ventus shook his head and left the building. Out of all the children for Aqua to choose, why did she choose those 2? They were pretty strange and nothing good could come out of bringing them home.

But he could tell that leaving them with Vexen would be even worse. He'd threatened to kill them and Ventus had a feeling that he wasn't joking.

He got into his car and drove away. It was actually Aqua's car, but he used it more then she did. It was a pretty nice car and he always made sure to take care of it. Sure, Aqua had enough money to buy 3 cars everyday, but he knew she would be disappointed in him if he so much as dented it.

All of Aqua's money came from her 3 restaurants. She insisted that he let her pay for everything, and he didn't really mind. He figured he would have to work at some point, but for now, Aqua was intent on paying for everything.

Aqua wasn't his mom, she wasn't related to him at all. They'd lived in the same orphanage and she's promised to take care of him no matter what. She was like that, he assumed she'd wanted to be a mother because she always took care of anyone younger. Or anyone she who she thought needed the care. Like his other friend, Terra.

When Aqua had become old enough, she'd made sure that he came with her when she moved out of the orphanage. She's purchased a tiny apartment and they had lived there for a few months before Aqua opened a small diner. It was successful, yet for some reason it had only made things worse. It wasn't long after Aqua getting a job that Terra decided to join the marines.

He offered no explanations, he just went. That was when Ventus had begun spending his nights alone. Terra was gone, and Aqua was always at work. But he could live with that, because they always came back. Until Ansem came…

Ansem was a big entrepreneur and he had his eye on Aqua's itty bitty diner. He wanted to expand and Aqua didn't say no. She accepted his offer and before he knew, she had 3 more diners in 3 different towns. She was gone more but… she still came back, There were large gaps in between but she always came back.

It wasn't until she came back from her recent trip that she suggested adopting kids. He understood why she wanted to, but considering that she was gone so much, why did she think it would work? And of course, she didn't pick a normal orphanage. She chose a lab with human experiments and creepy scientists who were dead serious when it came to killing kids. And she sent him to check it out without even asking what he thought about it.

But it didn't matter. He couldn't say no, she'd done too much for him to just refuse what she wanted. Nit that it mattered, he was sure she would adopt them anyway, even if he did say no.

He sighed as he finally arrived home. He felt sorry for them, but he couldn't adopt them. He wasn't ready to take care of kids. Not by a long shot. He had school, and he did things after school. How could he even get to them before 4? He'd have to skip school, even though he was sure Aqua wouldn't approve, he'd have to. Just in case Vexen was serious about killing them.

He got out of the car and grabbed the folder. He was tired, there was no way he was going to be able to read it. He would skip school tomorrow and read through it all before picking them up. He went to his room and sighed, the house wasn't big enough for more kids. They weren't ready and everything was happening to fast.

0.o.0.o.0

Sora stared at the wall, why had it moved for Ventus? He'd tried to get through himself, but it wouldn't move for him. He looked to Roxas and sighed, "Is it tomorrow?" he asked.

"No." Roxas answered, "It won't come until 24 hours." The lights shut off and Sora climbed into his bed. He wasn't ready to fall asleep yet, but the lights went out so that meant he had to. "How long is an hour?" Roxas asked.

"I do not know." Sora replied, "I think it is a long time."

"So we have to wait 24 of them for another muffin?" Roxas asked quietly.

"Maybe it will be 24 hours when the lights come back on." Sora said. Things went quiet and Sora found himself awake after a few more minutes. He was curious, he wanted to know what it was like outside of the room. What it was like to "play". What other types of foods there were.

"I can't sleep." Roxas said slowly.

"Me neither." Sora replied. It was going to be a long night.

0.o.0.o.0

EDIT: I redid the chapter. It should be a little better now.