Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts series or any of its characters. I only own the man and Kina.
The man banged his fists on the desk, causing the numerous papers to shoot up in the air and slowly float back down onto the white surface of the table, becoming messier as ever than when they were arranged in mounting stacks. Furrowing his eyebrows, the man gritted his teeth in anger, his nails starting to dig his palm.
"Why did we fail?!" the man growled, staring at the messy sketches and notes written on the papers. "We did everything! Our calculations were supposed to be right! We researched everything!"
Outside his room, it was total chaos. Shadows and silhouettes ran here and there, back and forth. Moans of pain could be heard as whole hearts were transformed into half-pink and half-black figures. He could not bring himself to call them hearts, so he only called them figures, not having any appropriate word to name them.
He heard the shouts. He heard the moans. The man could not bring himself to go outside and tell the people to calm down. After all, it was because of being under his command that they were in this mess now, running to and fro, feeling as if their souls were being ripped into two as their hearts were being half-eaten by the darkness. Guilt filled his heart. And then he realized: Why did he even start the project?
Before the words left his mind, a black spiral appeared in front of him, above the table covered with papers. Purple sparks came out of the center of the void and spiraled once around the whole eclipse before returning back inside. It seemed to be a doorway to another world.
As the man stared, horrified, at what he was seeing, unknown yet familiar voices spoke in his mind.
"You have let the darkness confuse you…"
"We, the hearts of those whom you victimized for your evil deed…"
"…we curse your blood and give it up to the darkness…"
"…until the appropriate time when the Keyblade Master meets the Dark Keyblade Master…"
"…a child born from your line."
Then the man felt intense pain, first in his chest, then intensifying that it reached to his fingertips and toes. The pain was worst in his chest, feeling as if something was being taken out. Whether it was his heart or his soul, he was not sure; he felt both being torn apart. He felt as if he was being burned, was being pierced on all parts, was being broken in every part…every kind of pain…he was feeling it. He knew this was not death; it was something worse than death.
His eyes almost closed, he looked down upon his chest.
His heart was floating above him, revolving, as if it was hanging by a string in an exhibit.
His breathing stopped. His mind raced. He wanted to stand up, grab his heart, and run. But he couldn't move; he was frozen in his spot. His eyes were stuck watching his heart revolve above him.
Last he saw, darkness was conquering his room, reaching for his heart, turning it into the thing he called a figure…
The man jerked upwards, sitting up. He looked left and right, and was shocked to see that he was on an island. In his mind, he heard one last sentence from the hearts…
"Your fate rests in the hands of these people…"
I've been having these weird thoughts lately…
Like…is any of these real…or not?
Chapter 1: Destiny Islands – Kina
Riku's serious…about bringing me along…
A girl not older than fifteen was sitting at the sandy banks of one Destiny Island. Long, blond hair was blowing with the soft breeze that came in from the sea, while clear, blue eyes stared at the horizon. She was sitting with her crossed arms on top of her folded knees as she reflected upon one Riku's plan–for fun or for adventure, she didn't know. All she knew was he was planning to take her with him and their other friends who were up for the trip.
Right beside her was a younger boy who was lying on the sand, fast asleep. This one had spiked brown hair that defied gravity even without the help of any hair gel, so that it always bounced whenever he ran or jumped. Behind his bangs, hidden by closed eyelids, were eyes as blue as the eyes of the girl beside him. He had his crossed arms under his head and looked so comfortable in his sleep the girl didn't have the guts to wake him up to reality, when the two of them should be helping their other two friends right now.
The girl took one glance at the boy before returning her gaze to the horizon, leaning her head on top of her arms and sighing. I do want to go with them…but will this trip going to have any sense with me in it? All I can give them will be smiles, but not the friendship they deserve.
Her chest ached, making one of her eyebrows twitch a bit. "Tsk…" she muttered to herself.
Before she could reflect more, a familiar female voice hovered to her, calling, "Kina!"
Kina turned to her left and smiled, for the one waving at her, just a few feet away but walking towards her and the boy, was another girl, this one younger, who had the same blue eyes Kina and the boy both had. Short red hair followed the form of her head, not passing her shoulders, and a choker was wrapped around her neck. She was smiling and laughing at the same time, and Kina, ignoring the chest ache she felt, couldn't stop herself from doing so, too; this second girl had a contagious bright light.
When she finally reached the two, the girl stopped and bent over at the boy. "Sleeping?!" she whispered at Kina. "Now?!"
Kina silently laughed. "Yes, Kairi, he's been sleeping even before I arrived." Kairi grimaced, making her laugh again, and went back to surveying the boy's face. "He's supposed to be helping…and you, too!" she smiled exasperatedly.
Kina's smile faded a little. "I know…" she said. "But I don't think I should even be going along this trip."
"Nonsense," Kairi countered. "You're our friend! One very close to Riku, may I add," she winked, almost making Kina blush and making her chest ache more painfully, "And friends are always together, right?" She momentarily gave Kina a smile before going back to examining the sleeping boy's face. "Oh, he's waking up!"
A moment later, while Kina watched, the boy suddenly jumped up into a sitting position. "Whoah!" he exclaimed in shock, looking up at the said girl with wide eyes, and fell back on the sands.
Kairi giggled, her eyes sparkling. She was obviously having fun messing with the boy, in Kina's opinion. The boy, though, had a hint of slight sleepiness in his voice when he said, "Gimme a break, Kairi."
"Sora, you lazy bum. I knew I'd find you snoozing down here." That comment made Kina snort, letting the boy Sora realize that there were more than one girl currently in the place. Turning his attention to the older girl, Sora blinked and put on a worried frown. "Oh no, not you, too, Kina!"
"What?" Kina put on an innocent look. "I wasn't doing anything. Not unless you count the slight snort I gave just because you've been lolling about." She smirked, intentionally making her thought obvious.
"No! This huge, black thing swallowed me up! I couldn't breathe, I couldn't—" before he could continue, Sora gave a slight groan and held his head. Kina blinked and raised an eyebrow.
Kairi, on the other hand, bent over with her hands on her hips and mockingly said, "Are you still dreaming?" Kina lazily smiled; she liked watching Kairi scolding Sora.
Sora immediately regained his composure at hearing Kairi's remark. "It wasn't a dream!" he retorted. A slight pause, then he continued slowly, "Or was it…? I don't know… What was that place…?" Kina saw that her friend had gone into his own world. "So bizarre…" Even though she found this event slightly ridiculous, Kina wondered what place Sora was talking about. To be honest, she felt she had dreamt of whatever place he was talking about. She just wasn't sure…
Kairi, though, didn't see anything wrong; instead, she found it to be as funny as Kina did. "Yeah, sure…" the redhead said sarcastically.
"Well, whatever it was, Sora," Kina said. "I say you better forget about it. You still have some work to do, you know."
"You've been lounging about, too, you know!" Sora exclaimed. "And you're supposed to help, too!"
"Yeah, I know," Kina answered. "But who do you think would rescue you if you were washed away by the sea, huh?"
"Uh…erm…" Sora started, to Kina's triumph, but Kairi cut him off. "You two have been lounging about! No excuses! And you're supposed to be the big sister, Kina!" Kina laughed, and commented, "True, true!" Her laugh, though, was cut short by her chest aching. She grimaced and clutched her chest.
Kairi saw her actions and asked, "Is something wrong?" Sora wasn't that dumb to stay ignorant, either. "Kina, is your chest hurting?" he asked.
Kina immediately gathered her composure despite the fact that the very recent chest ache was one of the most painful. She didn't want any of her friends to know that something was wrong. "Huh? Nothing…" she smiled. "Nothing's wrong…"
"You sure?" Sora asked, "Because something seemed definitely wrong…"
"Yeah…" Kina answered, pasting a grin on her face. "I'm alright…Don't worry!"
Sora and Kairi only looked at each other meekly.
After that, silence overwhelmed them for a moment, with Kina returning to watching the sea waves crash into the shore and return back to the sea, dragging her eyes to the horizon yet again. The sound of crashing waves and blowing breeze once again covered her ears, taking her to her own world, letting her stare into space and think of her friends' plan.
It was a while before Kina noticed that Kairi and Sora had gone quiet, too. And, at that moment, Sora broke the building ice. "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"
Kina perked up her ears again; she liked listening to her friends' conversations, even if she didn't join in. "I've told you before, I don't remember," Kairi answered.
"Nothing at all?" Sora could be annoying at times…
"Nothing." Kina wondered how Kairi could remain so patient…
"You ever want to go back?"
"Well, I'm happy here…" Lucky for you, Kairi…
"Really…"
"But you know, I wouldn't mind going to see it." Yeah…I wonder what your world looks like…
"I'd like to see it, too. Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!"
"So, what're we waiting for?" Sorry, but I think I'll pass…
Unfortunately, someone else's voice floated to them. It was the one voice that had always unintentionally told Kina she'd be going with them whether she liked it or not. There was just something in that voice that could unknowingly make her do things she thought she would never be able to do. It had always encouraged her…and made her shiver. "Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?"
Kina stayed staring at the sea, her eyes widened a little bit at the voice. Only at the sound of it, her heart ached, as if telling her to ignore it. However, she sensed that Kairi and Sora had turned to look at the person, and that the person was walking toward them. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft."
Kina sensed movement, and a second later she saw Sora fall back to the ground, holding a log, at the corner of her eye, amusing her a little. But she stayed facing only the sea, listening to the conversation.
"And you're just as lazy as he is!" the newcomer continued.
Kairi giggled, "So you noticed. Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"
"Huh?" was the reply Sora, as clueless as ever, could only give.
"What? Are you kidding?" the other boy, on the other hand, answered confidently.
Kairi ignored the second boy's comment and said, "Ready?" There was a pause, and Kina heard, "Kina?"
The blond-haired girl blinked, and reluctantly turned around to look at her friends. All three were staring at her, waiting for her to move. "Huh?" she muttered.
"You are going with us, right?" the fourth member of the group asked, emphasizing the "are" word and frowning.
Kina blinked, finding it hard to say no. Unconsciously, her eyes darted downwards as her mouth spoke of the two-lettered word, followed by an "I'm sorry…" sentence and look that was aimed to the ground.
There was silence for a moment…
"Come on, Kina…I thought you wanted to come along?" the boy asked, his eyes wearing that familiar plea he had always worn several times already, and had already proven effective on her. Kina's mouth twitched, wanting to smile, but it was hindered by her chest giving one of its most painful aches. She's been having these worst aches lately…
The blond girl had no choice but to sigh and stand up. "Alright…" she smiled to lighten up the atmosphere. "Kairi, the countdown?" she asked, readying herself for the run.
Kairi giggled. "Okay!" She paused. "Ready?" She looked at each of them. "Go!"
And so they ran, racing each other. Kairi was giggling, and Riku and Sora kept smirking at each other. Kina was located in the distance created by the two boys and Kairi, ignoring the throbbing hurt of her chest.
Seeing as the three were quite busy taunting, teasing, and laughing with each other, she gently slowed, until Kairi had gotten past her, still occupied by the two bickering boys. She watched as the trio moved farther away, and smiled. Riku and Sora were competing with each other. Kairi was having fun. And Kina was a part of this happy group who clearly did not know why she always tried to distance herself from them.
Kina wished they could stay like this forever… But, things have an end…
…I'll be going now…
When she saw that the trio had noticed her absence, she immediately sped to the waterfall site.
Please read and review, guys…I'll really appreciate the help…