Chapter 1: Dive to the Heart
((A/N: The music in this chapter starts out with Walk on Water by Milk Inc. Also, underlined and italics is the "outside voice," while italics is what's in his own head. Oh, and this is rated Teen for some bad language.))
A boy stands on the edge of the dock on Destiny Islands. He has yellow brown hair, which seems to be in conflict over whether to be like Sora's hairdo or Roxas', and he holds a wooden sword in his left hand.
Unexpectedly, he whirls, and the scene dissolves into him facing another boy, this one with Brown-Black hair. The two boys are on the small island which Riku and Sora fought in Kingdom Hearts 1.
The boys charge at each other, wooden blades in hand. They parry, weave, and slash, but each time the other's stick is there, blocking their strike. It is an even match, until the original boy twists his blade out from under the others strike, driving the other on the defensive. Finally, he lands a hard smack to the Brown-Black haired boys' ribs. He jumps back and curls up into a handspring. The first boy sees his danger to late, and the other boys feet slam into his chest. The first boy is sent off the island, into the water below.
When he hits however, the scene changes again. He is standing in front of a gigantic door. He takes a step back and turns around, as if to run, but something stops him into his tracks. A girl with black hair, one he knows, is reaching out to him, a smile on her face. He takes her hand with wonder, and she changes into a blond haired girl in a white dress, and then an auburn haired girl in a pink dress. Finally, the auburn haired girl splits into three girls clothed in brilliant white, all surrounding him.
Afraid, he pushes away from them and runs straight into a Darkside heartless emerging from the door. He turns and runs in the opposite direction; the exact one in which the girls once stood, but are there no longer. As he runs, the ground begins to break up beneath him until it shatters, and he plunges into darkness.
He reappears on a round structure, one which seems to be made of stained glass. There are strange figures on it. One was a boy with a key, another was the auburn haired girl he saw before, along with the blond-haired girl, walking through a portal of light. He didn't focus on what it meant however. He just wanted out of this demented dream world.
In front of him were three pedestals. On top of them were a Shield, a Sword, and a Staff, beautiful in make but terrible as well.You have a choice a voice said in his head, Will you choose the power to protect your friends? A light shone on the shield. Or the power to destroy your enemies? A light now shone on the Sword's pedestal. Or perhaps you want unending wisdom?A light shone on the Staff's pedestal. Choose.The voice commanded, fading away. Choose. The boy closed his eyes for a moment, and made his choice. The other two pedestals disappeared, along with the item he was holding.
In its place was a enormous Key. Its hilt was gold, and he automatically had the thought in his mind, Keyblade He turned to face the pink door that had now appeared in the center, as it creaked open and light seeped through.
Keyblade…
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Pat stepped through the other side of the door... And nearly fell off the narrow staircase on the other side. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, barely catching himself. He looked down, and saw the spiral descending staircase went down so far that it was lost in darkness.
He looked at the brilliant path, which seemed to be made of more stained glass, and noticed several black things coming towards him. They may have looked small and cute, but evil oozed out of them like a foul stench, and his spine bristled...
Those without hearts... Heartless.
That voice was really beginning to annoy him. He raised his weapon and began to run at them, full speed. He wasn't strong enough to kill them with a single blow, but his awkward-but-heavy key batted them off into the darkness. He ran and ran down the staircase which went down and down in it's spiral path. After-minutes? hours? days?- he stopped to catch his breath, and noticed a shape off in the black. It was a brown haired boy, just floating in midair, with the same weapon Pat now held. Add to that he had three crown shaped cards in his other hand. He turned and grinned at Pat who smiled weakly back. Then the brunette's card-hand snapped, and three cards embedded themselves in Pat's torso. They didn't hurt, but they did make him stumble backwards. He couldn't catch himself, and fell over the edge, down into blackness.
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As he fell, he saw strange things on the stairs. He saw a Dog, a Duck, and the Brunette from before chasing after a mouse in black and a boy with silver hair in yellow and blue, but the real interesting hallucinations came from the dark outside.
He saw the silver haired boy as a giant figure, but in front his faded form were two of his freinds.
He saw the Auburn Haired girl standing in the distance, but in front of her were the three grils he had seen before.
He saw Himself standing in front of the brunette boy he had seen before, but then they disappeared into a boy with spiky blond hair, staring off into the distance.
Roxas...
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Pat awoke with every bone in his body groaning, but he was still alive, and the cards had done no harm that he could see. In fact, after the initial wave of soreness, he felt the best ever.
... Until he took in his surroundings.
Oh Freakin' Hell. He thought as he stared up at the Darkside above him. The very Peculiar Darkside without a hole in it's chest. Instead, there was a white thing, which he instantly found a name tag for as a Twilight Thorn, curled in a revolving ball.
Not my day! Pat thought, jumping to avoid a gigantic black hand. He struck out with the Keyblade and severed the offending appendage, nearly dancing with joy as it came off in one clean stroke... and the grew BACK!!!
Fu-His thoughts were cut off as lightning struck him from the Twilight Thorn Orb ((A/N: Now called TTO for short, and the Darkside is DS))
He whirled his Keyblade in a rapid defense his master, Auron, had shown him once for dispelling non-physical attacks. He whirled backwards... And fell off the sphereical platform they were on.
He began his slow descent into the black.
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Pat closed his eyes as he began his descent. It would be so easy to let go of the light and let the darkness take him. He felt his conscious self slipping away, and made his choice.
With new energy, he brought his Keyblade around with both hands and sunk it deep into the side of the Circular Tower. His arms felt as though they would be ripped out of his sockets but they held firm, and the Key locked in place. He cursed his stupidity when he realised he had no real way to get back up, and that he would eventually drop, leaving his weapong behind, when he looked up.
The strange DS stared back.
Pat let go as a reflex, beginning to fall back down, when the monster plunged over the gap as well. Being bigger, it fell faster, and narrowly missed hitting him.
And then gravity got all screwy as the side of the tower became the GROUND!
Pat rolled with his arrested fall, but in the end he still was battered and bruised.
As he got up, he realised his Keyblade had fallen and well... to be between him and the monster which had regained its feet. It raised one hand, and lightning streamed out. Pat rolled to the side, and was almost overwhelmed by the air pressure which preceded the lighning, which nipped at his heels but missed.
Before the DS could launch another attack, he ran foward and grabbed his Keyblade. As he did so, the DS morphed into a black substance floating around the released Twilight Thorn (TT). It shot more electricity at him, and Pat parried, jumped, dodged, and wove around the obstacles.
Not only that, but he had to stop to engage little creatures along the way. He was tired and hurt, but was slowly making his way towards the strange creature. When he got within 20 feet of it, the TT did a somersault in midair, and its huge hands smacked the Tower, spinning it rapidly.
Pat planted his Keyblade in the Tower's side, and found himself hanging by it coming aound the other. As he reached the other side he let go, and was flung above the battle field, the TT and Tower (still spinning) below.
He called his Keyblade to his hand out of pure determination, and as he fell, flung it at the head of the TT.
It stuck there, and a white light filled his eyes.
Gratefully, Pat passed out.