Hello, this is a redo of KH: Be Your True Heart. I hope you enjoy it as much as you enjoyed the old version, happy reading and please review.
00. The Fool
Innocence-Beginning-Simplicity-Fresh Start-Blind Faith-Journey
Those who possess this card will begin anew and those who start fresh will be bestowed with innocence and simplicity. But remember, the ray of innocence can be easily tainted by darkness. As time progresses, simplicity transmogrifies into something else. But do not be afraid, even if all things are forsaken, you still have your unwavering faith. A new journey has begun and it came to be known as the Fool's Journey.
On a dark, stormy, night, there was someone walking through the streets of a deserted town. Wet confetti and masquerade masks were lingering on the sides of the sidewalk. There was a festival being held on that day but the weather cut the celebration short. The being was shrouded in a black cloak walks inside of a small shop with a rickety sign that said, Fantasia. As she entered the shop, she removes her cloak and gazed upon her surroundings. The shelves were occupied with colorful bottles of potions and ethers and charms. She took a whiff of air and smelled an aroma of fresh herbs and mint that was coming from another room. The room's door was replaced with a blue velvet curtains and someone inside that room was expecting their client to review on her life. She walked over to the curtain and the sounds of thunder echoed the shop. Flashes of lightning appeared outside of the windows and but the noises of the train weren't loud like the thunder's roar and the clashing of lightning rods. She brushed away the curtain gently, fearing that she might rip the fabric, and was welcomed by lovely shades of blue.
The interior of the room was covered with blue-colored velvet and small glowing orbs of dull light that illuminated it. Beside the doors and along the walls were several picture frames; some of them held captured moments in time, while others are blank, waiting to be occupied. There was another set of shelves with bottles of potions and alcohol and small jars that had small orbs of light inside them. What little area that was unlined with blue velvet was taken up by dark wood that was elegantly carved.
An old man whose beard was long as his height and brushing the ground sat alone on a cushioned and comfortable-looking bench. His unique outfit consisted of a long blue cloak that reached down to the floor and a wizard-like hat that matched his attire. His eyes showed of wisdom and fantasy that are the evidence brightness in one's heart. In front of the man stood a small blue table and the crystal ball occupied it, set dead in the center.
On the right side of the blue room was a woman with red eyes that see through the light to the darkness in one's heart without a second thought. She kept her lengthy brown hair in elaborate braids and her lips were colored dark purple. The woman's outfit was different from the man's attire; she was wearing a low-cut fur-lined dress that showed more than enough skin. On the woman's lap was a stuffed moogle toy and she was holding it close to her body, obviously old and much loved.
The mystical man smiled softly at his visitor, who was grab a seat on the other side of the table and patiently waiting for what will happen to her in the upcoming events. He waved his hands and a cloud of blue smoke swirled inside the sphere of magic.
"How are you my dear? Have you forgotten me? My name is Yen Sid the Wise and I've been observing those who have the potential of those who can dive into their hearts. You see, you and a few others had experienced weird dreams which are actually an invitation to pursue a difficult task. But it seems you have entered a long sleep and you may have forgotten things of what have happened recently. But do not be alarmed, I promise you that you will awaken soon but first my assistant Lulu will reveal your identity. Once you grasp your true heart, I'll reveal your progress so far in my crystal ball. Episodes of happiness, sorrow, and comedy that will open your eyes once again."
The girl turned her head to Yen Sid's assistant whose red eyes gazed at her very own heart. She was very anxious, wanting to know more about herself and what has happened to her before she fell into a deep slumber.
Lulu held her moogle closely to her, "May I kindly ask your name?"
The girl whispered her name to the kind woman and she nods in her head lightly, "What a lovely name for yourself. But have you remembered your true name yet? It must be hard to remember your roots, but despite knowing nothing of your past, you live a normal life and made friends along with enemies. I also sense sweetness and energy, but you struggle on holding on to something dearly and fearing to lose those bonds by your actions. Do you understand yourself now?"
As she nodded her head, Lulu smiled at the young girl and Yen Sid took over and with slowly movements around the magic infused orb, a flash of light forms inside the ball and a cloud of blue smoke begin to fade away.
"Now let us begin the tales of you, young traveler, gaze upon the orb and watch your life envelope in front of you."
Yen Sid waved his hands around the orb that was emitting a bright blue light, a mischievous smile formed on his lips. The young girl gazed at the orb which was exposing a chain of memories inside her heart.
"It all began here..."
"Time to wake up!" A kind voice echoed in the dark.
A man around his late 30s opened the window to let in the fresh air inside of a dusty bedroom. The sunlight lit up the room which was furnished with a desk, a bookshelf, a twin sized bed, and pile over piles of books were covered every wall and corner. The mixture of the sunlight and dust tickling her node made the sleepy teen cringe. She sat up and gazed at the open window, where a flock of doves flew across the sunset colored sky. She was welcomed by the man's warm laughter and she smiled a bit. He had his long hair in a ponytail, wearing a light teal buttoned shirt, loose khaki pants, and sandals. Around his neck was a necklace with a dog tag and on his right ear was a small earring.
"Morning Desma." He greeted in a kindred tone.
"Morning Mr. Loire" She gave out a yawn and got out of bed.
"Sorry if I have to wake up early but Zell called and insisted me to wake you at this hour. Also, please do call me 'Uncle'; after all we're 'family'. "He insisted.
"Thanks for telling me this uncle and I should probably get ready for today's work. Since Zell has a thing for causing a ruckus in the book shop."
As she headed to the bathroom, Laguna nodded his head and cleaned off the dust lingering around Desma's workspace. After brushing her teeth and splashing her face with freezing water, she looked at her reflection. Blue eyes and short light brown hair that was sticking out all over the place. An hour later, Laguna was downstairs of his home which the walls were furnished with tall bookshelves filled with magic, adventures, romance, and other things that can make someone go out and have ventures for themselves. He heard someone coming down the long pleat of stairs and smiled warmly at his niece. Her hair brown hair riddled with cowlicks and wearing a frilly white top, a dark blue tie patterned with fun designs, along with black pants. Around her wrist was a simple silver wrist band and in her hand was a gray pea coat. Then she noticed a photograph of her uncle back in his younger days and beside it was a vase with a single white lily. She face palmed realizing today was a special day for her uncle and all she wanted to do was doze off.
"I forgot today was the day...You know I can ask for a day off today." Desma said nervously.
Laguna placed his hand on the girl's head and rubbed it in a fatherly way. He pulled his hand away and
"There's no need to do that. Come back when you finished working and have a good day." Laguna said with a smile and clean the dust off his desk.
Before she could protest, someone opens the door wide open and it was a rambunctious teen greeted everyone with a shining grin. A huge pile books was about to collapse and Desma tried to stop it but was buried among the books. The seventeen year old had light blonde hair that was uniquely styled and pale blue eyes, another thing that made him interesting was a tribal looking tattoo on the left side of his face. He wore a black shirt, a red hooded vest, long jean shorts, and black boots.
"Good morning Mr. Loire!" He greeted cheerfully.
"Morning Zell," Laguna said with a nervous smile, "Uhm...could you give Desma a hand?"
Zell notices a hand popping out from the mess of books he made and starts pulling out the books that were crushing on his friend. Desma got herself up and took the book off her head. She glared lightly at Zell who averted his eyes away from her darting glare. The two knew each other for a long time now and treated each other as brother and sister. Even if the two bicker about something or had a fight, the two will still remain as good buddies and will even help each other out. Suddenly, someone's cellphone started to ring and it was Zell's', as he get out his phone he exposed a black cuff like bracelet that had two orbs of dark blue. Before Desma could get a chance of eating a loaf of bread for breakfast, Zell grabbed her by the collar and the two ran out of the shop.
"See you later Mr. Loire!" Zell shouted cheerfully.
As the door slammed shut, two more piles of books crumbled onto the ground and Laguna sighed heavily at the new mess created by the energetic teen. He mentally noted on putting a sign that said, Do Not Slam Door, and returned to his cleaning. Then he gazed at the photograph and smiled, it was a photo of him along with seven children and three adults. After reminiscing the good old days, Laguna continued to his chores and waited for his niece's return from work. On the other side of town, Zell and Desma patrolled through the paved streets of the town's market. As they walked, the duo munched on donuts and drank milk from a nearby bakeshop. As an apology for almost killing her with books and almost choking her by pulling on her collar, Zell treated his friend with donuts who had to pay half of the amount of the bake goods.
"Sorry about that, didn't know my mom washed my uniform which had half of my munni in those pockets." Zell grinned as he finished his hot dog bun.
"Elena is going to kill you; we all made an agreement of following the uniform code. But what's today's job?" Desma asked in a curious tone.
"Right! Well the others said that they'll meet us later at the old mansion. The problem is that's not until noon, crap."
The two gave out a sigh and something loud caught their attention. The town's clock tower's bell echoed around the town signaling a brand new day and everyone to start their schedule for today. It's been a year since someone relinquished the heartless and the nobodies from the worlds, but they're were still a few cases of heartless trying to snatch away hearts and nobodies trying to regain their identity. Even though the light was brought back into the world, they were still a few minor cases of heartless or nobodies attacking the town. But thankfully, the town had a group of teenagers who will vanquish those creatures and do meaningless jobs for a few pieces of munni.
"So...What should we do?" Desma asked in a worried tone.
Zell rubs his chin and shrugged with a dumb look on his face, before she could respond to that gesture, a familiar presence made the two cringe a bit. It was none other than the, Twilight Disciplinary Committee, who caught their eyes on the two. The leader of the group was Seifer Alamsay, whose dad was a well-known politician around the town and wants to keep the town in his standards but most of the townspeople think of his antics as a typical nuisance. He is always seen with three of his close friends, a silent silver haired girl, Fuu, a brash and so called 'manly teen, Rai, and a little mysterious boy, Vivi.
"Punks." Fuu responded quietly.
"Seifer check this out, we got a couple of delinquents loitering y'know." Rai told his leader with a grin.
A cocky grin formed on the beanie wearing teen and began to judge them on their clothing or agenda.
"What are you two doing now? Don't tell me, you guys were reduced on cleaning windows and delivering postings rather than hunting down ghosts. Such a shame, I can always hire guys like you to pick up my trash..."
As he continued on his comment, the two were rambling about the trendy clothed group, right in front of their faces.
"Again with these guys, I could've sworn I lost them at the Sunset Terrance's train station..." Zell remarked to himself.
"These guys are like fungus, they'll just keep coming back." Desma replied with a grin.
"I heard that you little punk! How about we settle this with a 'struggle' match? 3 against two seem fair enough." Seifer said in a serious tone.
"Hold on a sec-"
Before anyone could protest, the duo was dragged to the arena for struggle matches, The Sandlot. The area had a billboard that was advertising on Struggle matches and job offers and small bushes were scattered on the outer arena. A few people walked through the place and glanced at the group of teenagers preparing for a match. At a bench, Zell practiced his punches, socking quickly in the air, while Desma held the struggle bat and just stared at it. It's been a while since she played a struggle match and it was after an incident that still plagued her mind till this day. A memory flashed through her mind and she gripped the blue foam of the bat.
"Is it still bothering you?" Zell asked in a concern tone.
"Not really, but yesterday's practice left me a little sore. So if we lose, I'm sorry." A soft look appeared on her face.
"We'll win for sure and don't be so hard on yourself. Besides like what my master told me, the first battle of the day is always the easiest to win."
Desma smiled and Zell continued with his cheerful words of encouragement and tips for fighting. This got herself psyched up to play with the disciplinary committee and even wins the match against them. Ten minutes later, the group met on the center of the arena on opposite sides and waited for Vivi to start the match. Even when this is not an official struggle match, there was tension in the air and both sides were determined to win. A confident smile appeared on Seifer's face; he can almost taste glory and believing he has the advantage on taking down the two.
"Rule is this, whoever gets on the ground loses and whoever is the last one standing wins. Once Vivi signals the flag, get ready for the beat down." Seifer explained in a cocky tone.
The little yellow eyed boy fixed his wizard hat and jumped high up in the air and waved a small flag.
"Go!" Vivi squeaked on landed on his bottom.
Seifer, Rai, and Fuu run to the duo, which surprised them by splitting up in different directions. Desma ran to the right side getting Fuu's attention and Zell ran to the opposite attracting Rai and Seifer. Rai tried to strike with the bat but Zell jumped over him and got him pinned onto the ground. One is out, two more are still on their tail, and Desma swung the blue bat as Fuu waited for her to make a mistake. She got into her running position and high tailed it away from the red eyed girl.
"Too slow." Fuu remarked.
Before she could hit her cowlick hair, Desma rolled away from Fuu's attack and swung her bat on her pants leg. Fuu was out and now it's the big guy himself, Seifer, then she gasped with shock. As Zell dodged Seifer's attacks, he made a grave mistake. He lost his footing and landed onto the ground, making Seifer and her are the only two remaining in the game.
"What's the matter punk...chicken?" Seifer said as he twirled his bat in front of her.
"Hold it!" A girl shouted at top of her lungs.
Seifer looked at his left and noticed a group of teens watching the match along with Vivi. Few seconds later, he felt something soft hitting his head and noticed a mischievous grin on his opponent's face. The group of teens applauded and Seifer's friends run to his aid, checking if he was injured or hurt.
"We want a rematch y'know!" Rai shouted.
"Cheater." Fuu remarked.
"Hasn't your teacher ever told you this? Keep an eye on your opponent. Since this is a Struggle match, you got to pay attention to your opponent and not the audience." Desma replied lightly.
The gang scoffed at her remark and walked off to recover the pride they had lost. She rubbed the back of her head and went over to Zell who was brushing the dust off his jean shorts. The group of teens walked over to the duo that seems to be wearing outfits that coordinate with theirs. Zell gave them a welcoming grin and Desma nodded with a smile. A young teen with spiky red hair, red marks on each side of his cheek, a set of goggles, and wearing a messy black suit smiled at the two.
"You guys played a struggle match and you didn't invite me yo?" He said with a fake sulk.
A cheeky grin formed on Reno's face but it soon changed into a face squinting in pain. A girl with honey brown eyes and short blond hair tugged on his ear. She wore a black, white and red plaited skirt, an unbuttoned suit jacket, a long sleeve buttoned shirt, a red tie which had floral ascents on it, on each of her wrists was bracelets, and her nails were very colorful and patterned with hearts. Not only her finger nails and bracelets were eye catching, her ring around her right index finger with small red orbs shimmered brilliantly. She let's go of Reno's ear and he rubbed the pain away. A tall tanned skin teen with clean shaved head fiddled with his sunglasses and nodded his head to the rookie, who returned the same gesture.
"Elena that stings!" Reno winced.
"You deserved it for getting making me and Rude wait at the train station. Also rookie, you're fighting stance is a little off, you need to practice more." Elena scolded the two in a Cissnei-motherly tone.
Reno and Desma look at each other and bowed to the 'hot-head' Elena for forgiveness. Even when she was little, she had the fiery personality that still burns till this day and even at high school, Elena was that she and the others went. A satisfied smile formed on her lips and went on about the job that the group was assigned to.
"Anyways about the 'case' we took- Zell how come you're not wearing your uniform?" Elena asked Zell who smiled nervously.
"I stained it with ketchup yesterday and my mom insisted on cleaning it. But I'll promise it won't happen again!"
"Whatever...Anyways Tseng won't be joining us on this job, since he's helping out with Rufus with something. But the weirdest thing about this case we took is that, we're not fighting heartless or nobodies."
The three arched their eyebrows at Elena's explanation, if they're not cleaning up heartless or nobodies, what are they going to do. Desma grumbled, not only this job she took was not only about hunting down a few heartless and nobodies for munni, they also do meaningless labor to get quick dough and a fast workout routine. If she has to push a huge crate of garbage into a garage again for the blacksmith or help carry a piano for the sweet old lady living across Market Street, she really wants to call it a day. Then her eyes shot up with fright, with all this emotion of irritation lingering in the air, it could only mean one thing.
"Let me guess we're fighting those Unversed dudes again..." Reno said with a groan.
"Not again, the last time we fought them, it was a complete disaster. Remember that time in school dude?" Zell groaned also.
"Come on guys suck it up. I was expecting you two to be happy about this but your guys are acting like sticks in the mud." Elena said in an irritated tone.
Suddenly, the group heard a scream from somewhere and noticed Seifer's group running away from shadow like beings. But it wasn't heartless, they had a different insignia and it looked to different from a regular Shadow. Suddenly, the group of creatures formed into a huge massive blob with eye markings that had the expression of irritation. It was none other than, a huge Unversed known as, Flood. The group dodged the Flood's attack as it tries to strike them with his claws. Once they landed safely on the ground, everyone's lips curved into smiles and grins, indicating that the party has begun. Zell raised his fist in the air and the small silver orbs glowed, he punched into the ground and a huge forced field surrounded the group and the enemy.
"Alright the shields are up!" Zell shouted.
Zell swung his fist at a small flock of Floods and Elena ring begins to glow. With snap of her fingers, a red handgun formed in her hand and she aimed her weapon at the large mass of negative emotions. A small bullet of fire pierced the Flood's dark violet body and the hole disappears. Small Unversed enemies begin to form out of the ground and Elena rolls away and throws a small orb of magic to Rude. Desma smacked a Flood away from Rude, giving him enough room to grab the orb that was about to land onto the ground.
"Hurry Rude!" Elena shouted as she shot away enemies.
Rude slid himself onto the ground and the orb lands safely on the palm of his hand. His lips curved into a small smile and crushed the orb in his hand, making his hands emit a light yellow glow. He runs to his enemies and struck him with a swift punches and kicks. A few of them dispersed into small black orbs and some of them dodged his attacks. The huge Flood swung its huge claws at Rude; he grits his teeth and grabbed something into his suit's pocket.
"Reno!"
As he grabbed a metal pipe on the ground, a huge grin was plastered on his face. Once the orb flew towards him, he struck the orb with a might swing. Once the ball of energy collided with the pole, it transforms itself into an electric baton and a bolt of electrifying lighting shocked the small enemies and making them disappear. The huge Flood was irritated by the group's display of killing its friends and swung his arms in fast motion. Reno pulled an orb from his pocket and threw it to Desma who was kicking away nearby enemies.
"Finish the job Desma!" Reno shouted.
She run to the blue orb that was about to fall into the ground and the Flood's claw was about to crush her body. As the group fought off the last remaining small creatures, they glance at the rookie, worried that she can't reach the materia orb. Before it landed on to the paved floor, she swiped the orb and the Flood's sharp claw slammed her. Few moments later, a bright light emitted from underneath the creature's hand. A silver blade went through its hand and the enemy pulled its injured hand away from the weapon. Covered in gravel and dirt, Desma jumped onto the Flood's wrist and run up to its face. The flood swings its other claw at her but Elena shot it with another round of fiery bullets. Five smaller floods formed in front of Desma's path but Rude and Zell jumped in and punched the living daylights out of the weaker enemies. Reno noticed the rookie almost reaching to the enemy's face and stick up his electromagnetic rod in the air. A flash of lighting surrounds the gun blade and Desma let out a cry. The electrical blade slashed its irritated expression and the enemy disperses into more tiny black orbs. The dark orbs of dark magic combined each other, creating a pale yellow orb of raw magic. As the force field around the area disappears, the weapons of the teens fade away as well. Elena picked up the orb and Reno frowned at their reward for winning the battle.
"An item materia, these enemies are getting cheap." Reno groaned with a disappointed look.
"Well at least we stopped this one from going inside the town." Elena said in relief.
Zell, Rude, and Desma walked over to the other two and looked at their prize for defeating a huge enemy that was actually a small fry. Thanks to Reno's lightning attack, Desma's hair is sticking out all over the place more than before. A snicker escaped from Reno's lips and a small giggle from Elena. The rookie gave out a sigh and tried to brush away the newly bloomed cowlicks which were caused from a huge amount of electricity.
"Are you going to be okay?" Rude asked.
"I'll be fine but I just got my coat tailored yesterday." She responded and took off her coat.
Elena took out her phone, "I'll inform Tseng about today's job. So rookie, will your uncle mind if we stay over at the bookshop?"
She twiddled her fingers, "About that...can we go to the bakery and the flower shop? There's something I need to do. "
At the bookshop, Laguna waved goodbye to his customers as they walked out of the door. The sun's light illuminated the bookshop and it gave the place a warm welcome to anyone who were buying a book or just looking around. The bell around the door handle rung and a familiar group of faces entered the shop. Laguna's lips curved into a smile and noticed those holding items that were used for a celebration. Then he noticed his niece holding a bouquet of lilies and held it out with a grin. Laguna slowly took the flowers off her hands and looked at the youngsters who have grown over the last eight years.
"This is our thanks for helping and taking care of all us at the orphanage. Happy Birthday Laguna!" Elena shouted with a smile.
"Happy Birthday and thank you." Desma responded in a kindred tone.
"Alright enough with a mushy stuff. Let's party guys!" Reno shouted in a cheerful matter.
The hours have passed and the coat rack beside the door was covered in suit jackets, a coat, and a red vest. The group sat around the table, eating, drinking, and talking about what they did over the weekend and such. While they talked, Laguna was in the kitchen making some evening tea and Desma was putting water in a vase for the lilies. As he placed the tea kettle, he walked to his niece and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"How you go celebrate with your friends? I'll take care of the lilies." Laguna said warmly.
"Are you sure? I mean it's your birthday and I can wait for your tea to boil."
"No need to do that. Now go on, have some fun."
Laguna lightly nudged her out of the kitchen and noticed Zell waving at her and Elena pointing at a chair that was saved for her. Desma grabbed the seat and was greeted with a plate of cake and a cup of orange soda.
"It's been a while hasn't it?" Reno said with a soft smile.
"Yup. Come to think of it, do you remember when we got these powers and started this business?" Elena asked curiously.
The group begins to reminiscence the days where they were in the orphanage and the day where their lives were bonded together.
Next chapter will have a flashback on the group and the main plot begins to appear. Please review and next chapter is coming soon.