Sup, guys, it's been more than a year since I first wrote this story, and in a few more months, it'll have been more than a year since I updated.
Whenever I first wrote this, I was a complete train wreck as far as my writing ability went, so it wasn't really all that good. I'm going to be doing a complete re-write of this thing, and hopefully add a few new chapters to finish it up.
The room seemed dark. It was filled with brass and copper pipes, which seemed to be the only thing keeping the high ceiling from collapsing in on itself. A small whirring could be heard if you tried to hear it, though the people that currently occupied the space wouldn't be focused on it.
The who resided in the ruins were a tall, dog-like figure with a pair of scratched up goggles stretched over a cap that was starting to slip off its owners skinny head, a small white duck with a blue jacket that matched his beret that was seemingly made up completely of heavy-duty silver zippers, seven unconscious girls and a boy with a saddened look on his face.
The girls, six of which were in separated pods, wore attire that ranged from the most elegant and complex of ball gowns to simple dresses and aprons. The same with their hair, brunette, blonde and black, short and long. The one that wasn't caged was younger than the other, and wither a uniquely short-and-brushed-to-the-side darkened shade of red, though she was lying face up on an old stained patch of concrete.
Stained with what, though?
The boy, if you remembered him, was one of the only conscious of the bunch. His brunette hair was made up of multiple spikes, and his clothes looked a bit raged. He had on a loose red unitard that cut off at the knees, and over that a navy blue belt and a black jacket with white sleeves. The jacket also had a hood, but he had it against his back.
He also had a pair of bright yellow shoes that would have dwarfed any clown pair.
The boy was walking, well, stumbling towards the far side of the stained platform. He passed the red-headed girl, thinking to himself.
Just hold on, Kairi. Just a little bit longer.
The dog and duck, each splattered with cuts and bruises, ran up to the platform. "Wait, Sora! Hold on!" yelled the duck.
The boy, Sora, pretended not to notice. He squatted down and grasped a long key shaped sword. Well, roughly key shaped. Its crimson hilt pointed off in odd directions, like an electric guitar, and the actual length of it was just some sort of black metal. At the users opposing end, shards of the same metal jutted off, resulting in a sort of inverted heat shape that hung in the air.
As he took it, he felt a bit of a weight being put on his shoulders, like there was something that he felt he needed to do. Maybe a responsibility, or a temptation. He gave it a once over and turned it over in his hands.
His friends, the K-9 and water-foul, opproached him, but stopped in their tracks. The brunette was holding the weapon from the blade. He turned his face towards them and revealed a large grin. A shiver went through both of their backs.
He turned away once again, and his smile vanished.
The duck held out a feathered hand, silently begging for Sora not to do what he thought he might do.
Sora didn't see. He held up the object and plunged it into the center of his chest. Not a drop of blood fell, though. Instead, dozens upon dozens of small orbs of light began to drift from his torso. Six of them bobbed their down a flight of stairs, making their way to the pods that held the girls. Each one absorbed one of the lights and, after a second, seemed to breathe in a much shallower fashion. Another, stronger light oh-so-gently hovered down to Kairi, then faded away.
Her eyes fluttered open, welcoming large indigo irises into the world. She let her head follow gravity and saw the boy. His body was… dissolving. He was slowly floating to the ground, becoming transparent as each in passed. She picked herself up, ran to the ghost like projection, and held out her arms, trying to catch the apparition.
The cloth barely touched her fingers, and for just a tenth of a second, she could feel his pain and happiness, but as soon as the millisecond was over, Soras entire body to dissipated into more of the floating 100 watt bulbs.
The duck was trying to rush towards the remnants of the body, but was being held back by the dog. "Donald!" exclaimed the dog in a very unnatural sounding, serious tone.
Donald Duck looked up at the dog that towered over him with large watery eyes. "Goofy, we have to help Sora! We can still save him!" He stared back down at Donald, then nodded a 'no'. The hope for saving Sora instantly dropped out of him. He began angrily shaking his fist in the air, as if threatening the oxygen. "Sora! Come back, Sora!" he demanded, but to no avail.
He, Goofy, and the girl that was still on her knees trying to gather any fragment of Sora she could, were all choking back tears.
Meanwhile, Sora, in a sort of out of third person view, saw his own body plunging into an overflowing Darkness "What's happening to me? Falling… falling into Darkness." He didn't really think this. It was more a feeling than that. More absolute.
Kairi wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. "Sora," she said, "are you really…" She put on a brave tone, "No! It can't be! I won't let him go!"
Donald and Goofy, as she was saying this, were focused on the silver-haired man wearing a black jacket. When he spoke, he had a grin and a menacingly large, low voice. "so you have awakened at last, princess. The Keyhole is now complete. You've served your purpose, but now it is over." He began an agonizingly slow pace towards them.
"Don't make another move!" Donald yelled, pointing his tiny staff at the man. Goofy placed his shield in front of him and the duck, then let out a faint whisper.
"Uh, Donald, do you really think we can stop him all by ourselves?"
"I don't know."
The man halted and placed a hand on his chest. "I- Impossible!" A nearly transparent boy appeared in front of the tanned man with arms held out. He, in contrast to the dank and depressive room around him, radiated a small light.
"No!" He yelled, giving the elder a look of total determination, "You won't use me for this, Ansem!" Kairi's face brightened up as the voice made its way over to her.
"Riku!"
"You have to run! The Heartless are coming!" Like a dog to a whistle, black shadows began dancing on the floor, making a squeaking sound as they materialized. It made a shiver go up Goofy's back. Him, Donald and Kairi followed the boys orders, sprinting out of the room, though Kairi felt a twang of guilt, looking back at the gray-haired kids shrinking form. She sucked it up and went back to looking forward.
The shadows, known as Heartless, melted into the ground and went after the trio, though one, a bit smaller than the others, was left behind. It stumbled out of the room, eventually finding its way to the rest of the group.
The room that the three had retreated into had an enormous, circular design that reached to the roof. On the floor in the center stood a fountain, spouting water all around.
"Kairi, hurry! We need to get out of here!"
"No! I can't just leave Sora and Riku behind! Maybe we can save them!"
"Well we can't stay HERE!"
"Um, excuse me, you guys." Goofy said loudly, breaking through the fight between the girl and duck. "A Heartless is after us."
Donald huffed and puffed over to the Heartless and gave a good whack on the head with his staff. "Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will you?" He gave it another bash. But it didn't back off. Instead, it inched closer to Kairi.
A small sparked in her mind. "Sora!" she ran up to the incarnation of Darkness and gave it a closer examination. "Is that you?!" It gave no sign of recognition.
"Oh-no!" Goofy shouted, alerting Kairi to the threat of the surrounding Heartless. The wriggled their way closer to them, letting a sweat build up on their prey. Goofy ran out and slammed his shield into the first Shadows antennae, making it blow up in a puff of smoke. Donald followed the example and began destroying the enemies.
Kairi crouched down to match the Shadows eye height. "This time, Sora, I'll be the one to protect you." Several of the incarnations half crawled half walked around until they had the girl and fellow Shadow stuck in mush-pot of Darkness.
Kairi grasped the Sora-shadow into a bear hug with closed eyes, waiting for the pain and end to come. After a second, she looked around. She still felt Sora's form in her arms, and gave it a quick once over. She audibly gasped.
"Thank you, Kairi." Said an exact copy of the girl, taking in the tight embrace.
Well, there you go. The first of the re-writes. It took me a bit longer than expected to write it, but I think I came out pretty good.
I just want to thank you all again, for giving me the opporitunity to write what I love, and hopefully, for loving what I write.
So, until the next chapter, please keep being Radical.
RFPR