Author's Note: This story is being co-written by me (Mystics Apprentice) and my good friend, Fictionalcharacterwish. The plot will be following the basic time-line of Kingdom Hearts 1, and each of us will be taking over the point of view as either Sora or Riku. We hope to bring you more chapters promptly, but due to work and academics, our updates might be sometimes delayed. This here is a prologue, derived from one of the scenes from the prelude game Birth By Sleep that we thought seemed to reflect upon the plot of Kingdom Hearts rather well.
Secondly, we would love to hear from you. Please don't be shy and drop us a line and tell us what you thought! Reviews do wonders for writers, and in the long run really helps us to improve :D
Anyway, that's all for now. I hope that you enjoy our story!
-Mystics Apprentice and Fictionalcharacterwish
Disclaimer: I haven't, and still do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. All rights belong to Square Enix, Tetsuya Nomura, Disney, and any others who helped develop the game. (though I sure wish that I did so that I could make a film out of it! :P)
Ten Years Ago…
A young woman walked along the sandy beaches, as she observed her surroundings carefully. She didn't seem altogether certain where she was, or perhaps she hadn't even meant to come there at all. The sun began to slowly fade below the horizon, casting an orange glow upon the calm ocean waves below her. The woman, whose hair was of a steel-blue, stopped as she approached trees with odd fruit growing from them. She squinted, unable to believe her eyes. Star-shaped fruit, could this island possibly be -?
She smiled to herself at the recollection of the day in which she told others about an island that grew star-shaped fruit, and upon this, withdrew her good-luck charm of which resembled the star-shaped fruit that hung above her head. Long ago she had made two others – one for each of her best friends, though at this point, she had no idea what had become of them, and doubted that her charms held any luck at all.
The woman gazed upon it fondly, as her fingers slid across the smooth, cold stone of the charm.
"Terra… Ven –" she said to herself, her brows furrowing with sadness as she gazed upon the stone with remorse. "I hope we're ready for the storm that's coming –"
Her thoughts were soon broken by laughter that rang through the islands, though unlike the laughter of irony that she'd grown accustomed to hearing throughout her journey, this was the laughter of young, happy children. Withdrawing her attention from her charm, the young woman looked around to find the source of the laughter and saw two children racing down the sandy beach together, both struggling to outrun the other.
"Hey! Wait up!" the shorter of the two boys exclaimed, his sandy-brown hair blowing around fervently as wind rushed through his hair.
The taller boy with long locks of silver hair grinned over at him, as he taunted, "Too slow, Sora! See ya at the finish line!"
The brunette boy, Sora, who appeared to be no older than about four, put his head down low and ran as fast as his short legs could carry him, pumping his arms wildly in hopes of reaching a faster speed. Alas, the two boys stopped, and in the end the elder of the them won.
Sora bent over as he fought to catch his breath, the other boy watching him with a slight smirk.
"One more time! You just got lucky," Sora protested, straightening himself as he attempted to convince his friend for a rematch. His friend offered him a slight smile and as though he were about to accept, until he glanced up, noticing the woman above for the first time. Sora eyed him curiously, before glancing over to see what his friend was gawking at.
The young woman smiled at the two boys as she approached them from above, warmed by their wide-eyes as innocent expressions. She tilted her head slightly, her steel bangs shifting to the side as she jumped down from her position on the bridge. She landed on one knee directly in front of the brunette boy, who jumped back in alarm.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed in surprise, amazed that the woman could jump from such a height and land successfully without hurting herself – not even his dad would dare to make such a move, and that said something!
The young woman brought her pale-blue eyes up to meet his bright cerulean ones, as he laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. She laughed too, as she then stole a glance at the other boy standing alongside Sora, whose expression wore a bit more seriousness than that of his friend.
"This boy looks so sincere –"she thought to herself, as she studied his turquoise-blue eyes carefully, "just like Terra."
Her gaze then traveled over to his friend, who grinned shyly in response as he scratched the back of his head again, something of which he seemed to do when nervous, not unlike another boy that she knew. "And this one – he's a spitting image of Ven."
She laughed, and the two boys grinned over at one another – they liked it when people thought they were cute, and assumed that must've been what she was thinking of them just then. She continued to remain knelt on one knee before the children, while considering them for a moment.
"One of you might be special enough," the young woman muttered under her breath, while the two boys turned back to face her. "Hey, you two mind telling me your names?"
"I'm Sora!" the bouncy brunette replied enthusiastically, raising his hand as high as he could towards the sky, and lifting his heels off the ground in the process. Even though he didn't know whom this strangely dressed woman was, he could tell that she was kind, and he liked her already.
She then turned to Riku, who continued to watch her with a serious expression. "And you?
He looked thoughtful for a moment, until he finally replied, "Riku."
The woman's eyes widened as she surveyed the boy more carefully, sensing power within the boy that could've only been passed on by a Keyblade wielder… Could it have possibly been her long-lost friend, Terra?
The two boys, Sora and Riku, exchanged grins as the young woman spoke again in a gentle voice, "Sora, do you like Riku?"
The silver-haired boy watched Sora intently, as he awaited to see what his friend's response would be.
"Of course I like him," Sora said, shooting a glance over at Riku and smiling. "He's my best friend!"
"Good," she replied thoughtfully, smiling warmly upon the two of them. "So then, if something happens, and Riku is about to get lost – or say, he starts wandering down a dark path alone –"
The two boys' gazes remained fixated upon her, eyes wide with curiosity. "You make sure and keep him safe."
Sora and Riku look at each other, bewilderment clouding their expressions as they watched one another seriously.
"It's your job, Sora," the young woman added, "and I'm counting on you to do it, okay?"
They both turned to face her in unison, and she tousled their hair affectionately, causing them both to laugh and grin, forgetting all about the seriousness from the moment just prior.
The young woman stood up, smiling at the two of them fondly. Sora smiled in response, and then the two of them began to walk away, leaving almost as abruptly as they had come. She sadly watched them leave, as they walked along the beach's coastline to their row-boat that was awaiting them.
"One Keyblade is enough…" she muttered to herself, as she turned her gaze towards the horizon and the gleaming sunset, which shone brightly upon the sea, "for any friendship. I learned it the hard way. I wouldn't want our lives on those children."