A Twist of Fate By Lyrinia

Chapter 1: Ume

Once there was a young married couple. Their names were Kairi and Xyland. After a few years of wishing for a child, Kairi birthed two beautiful boy twins. They had celestial blue eyes that were clear as crystal. Their eyes seemed to be enough to gaze right through a person's soul. They named the blond Roxas Strife and the brunette Sora Strife.

When the twins both turned 16 a war started with the next kingdom. Knowing that boys who were the age of 15 and older were forced to sere in the King's army, the couple told them,"Roxas, Sora, we are sending you to your uncle, Cloud, in the capitol. You are both to pose as two girls and never tell anyone that you are boys. If they find out, they will send you into the battlefield. Be safe and we will try to go to the capitol as soon as the war stops." Their mother Kairi was a smart woman and she made two dresses for both of them. She made sure that they knew hide their voices in a female tone. She also made sure to make extra thick wigs for them to hold down the boys' natural wild spikes.

They were sent off with the other village girls to the capitol. All boys under 15 and girls in the outlying villages were to be sent to relatives closer in or to work in a manor closer inland. Sora and Roxas's relative Cloud worked in the King's castle as head healer. The number of kids dwindled as they got closer to the capitol, until it was just the two twins and a 12 year-old girl named Namine. She took a quite a shine to the two boys.

Namine left her 21 year-old sister, Larxene, to go to a safer place. She was looking for a place where she could work, until her sister came to get her. Sora and Roxas felt that they could trust the little girl and told her that they were actually boys in disguise and that she wasn't to tell anyone. She swore that she wouldn't tell. Seeing that she was telling the truth, they invited her to stay with them and their uncle Cloud at the castle. Her eyes sparkled with eagerness, as she asked if she really could. " Sure you can. I'm sure Cloud would not mind in the least. Last time we visited he told us that he loved children, mind that they are respectful of adults." Sora replied as he put his wig back on.

~Sora POV~

I sighed a breathe of fresh mountain air, relaxing into the cool morning. Namine was sleeping lightly between me and my brother, Roxas. I'm was pretty sure that she was tired seeing in how we pushed on through the night, trying to reach the castle. The castle, from what I remember Mom telling me, was a giant marble structure hidden in the mountains for protection. Then, suddenly, the cart driver announced,

"We are just one turn from the outer wall protecting the village, young ladies." I gave him a quick small smile and turned to wake my brother and Namine up. " Roane, Namine, we are almost there. Please, time to wake up." I used in a false sweet feminine version of my voice, shaking them lightly.

Roxas immediately woke up, while Namine rubbed her eyes and yawned. "Sorrel, what time is it?" Roxas asked in his feminine voice. I looked up to the sky to see the sun to be in the east just a bit farther down than the middle of the sky. I was happy to see that we had gotten used to responding and calling each other by our pseudonyms."Maybe around 11:30, Roane." I replied. "Good morning, Sorrel onee-sama. Good morning, Roane onee-sama." Namine greeted us. "Good morning, Namine." Roxas and I chimed in unison, making Namine giggle. We smiled at her fondly.

"You two are definitely twins. Are you sure that you are not in synch all the time?" Namine giggled again. "We are not always in synch, but we know when, where, and what the other is feeling or doing. Like we can feel each others emotions." Roxas explained. I nodded and kept smiling.

"Here we are, ladies. The capitol of Palo, Alkaa." the cart drier spoke up as we rolled through the gates. "We are in the village that surrounds the inner walls of the castle. I'm afraid I can't take you any farther than the tavern. If I may ask, where would you young ladies destination be? I don't want you young ones getting into trouble the first day that you are here." He spoke kindly asking.

"We are going to the castle to go find our uncle, Sir Cloud Strife, the head healer in the castle." I spoke out of respect to the old man, "This is my sister, Roane Strife, and I am Sorrel Strife. Namine is under our care, and will be with us working, hopefully, in the castle, near our uncle, kind sir."

"Well that is good. Anyways to get to the castle you will need to use these," he said giving each a castle pass, " Then just ask a guard to show you towards the apothecary in the castle." Roxas and I smiled at him and bowed at the same time, saying,"Thank you for everything, kind sir." He smiled at us and said," No trouble at all. It's hard to find such strong and respectful young ladies, such as, yourselves these days." We all bowed one more time getting off the cart and started to walk towards the castle.

We all enjoyed the bustling market and all of the new sights, as we walked to the castle bridge. When we got there, a guard stopped us,"Halt! State your names and business here." Roxas and I stepped up and bowed respectfully, and said at the same time, "We are Roane and Sorrel Strife, we come to live with our uncle,Sir Cloud Strife. We are from Rannikko. This is Namine Meer, and she is under our care." We all showed him our passes. "Ah, yes, Sir Cloud told us that he would have his nieces and a young girl under his care for quite sometime. You may pass. The apothecary is just through the gates and to left of the courtyard, and up the tower stairs on the second floor. The door has a big carving on it." The guard reported. All three of us quickly thanked him and rushed across the bridge in excitement.

"Race you to the apothecary!" I quickly shouted out. Running with my skirts hiked and laughing at my brother's and Namine's slow reactions. They took off behind me and were gaining on me. We were all laughing as the door came into sight. Namine and Roxas were now neck to neck with me, as we raced the last few feet.

All of a sudden, I tripped on my skirt and fell face forward. I prepared to hit he floor and it hurt, but something with strong arms caught me. It took me a moment to open one eye to look around. And what I saw took my breath away...

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. It took me just maybe an hour to write the first boring chapter,Blah,blah,blah... and all that fun stuff. Yes, I know it was confusing giving them different names, but those are their female-in-hiding names. I hope you liked the way I tried to at least make them similar to their real names. Please review!