Chapter 1: Awakening
Her eyes feel heavy… as if her eternal slumber would never come to an end. As her eyes open she finds herself in an unfamiliar place, only Darkness surrounds her. Where was she before here? Was she even anywhere before this dark place? No memories of before, she finds herself scared… terrified even… surrounded by nothing but the substance that haunts her waking nightmare… nothingness.
She looks around at her surroundings, to try and get her bearings, but, nothing about this place looks familiar at all.
She sits down, arms round her knees, "Am I here for a reason…? Do I need to learn something here…? Or is this some kind of punishment for some crime I may have committed…?"
Moment upon moment passed and she sunk into a farther state of nothingness. Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to glow, braking apart from the Darkness, as a stain-glass floor of some kind came into existence, illuminated by a strong Light. This Light blossomed new hope in her. Her gaze picked up many images and scenarios depicted in the glass, but none of which were familiar to her. As if this wasn't her place to be from the start. So why? What would bring her to someone else's nothingness, and where was hers?
She stands up and dusts off the white slip dress she wore, one that felt so light and delicate, which was just as unfamiliar as everything else that surrounds her.
One foot in front of the other, she pushes forward across the glass surface, feeling how truly cold it was here beneath her feet.
As her hope to find a way out of the nightmarish place begins to dwindle, before her, on the other side of the shining surface a path of white materialized. Was this Light? A Door appeared at the top of the spiralling path.
"A Door? But where would it take me?" fear causing her to look around once more, "Well it can't be worse than here."
Her mind resolved, she starts for the Door to her possible escape.
Her movements slow and precise, as if not wanting to disturb the nothingness, she continues walking until something came to her attention. She felt this feeling of foreshadowing… almost as if she could smell something Dark approaching her.
She panics. If she had any powers she had no idea how to use them. Not a weapon in sight to protect herself from the Darkness she felt. She was like a sitting duck waiting to be roasted in the open. Her choices were clear: fight or flee.
Mind racing, her pace quickens, something WAS coming and it didn't feel friendly at all.
Her footsteps were the only thing she could hear echoing through the nothingness, as she ran across the glass. Her heart pounding in her chest she was trying to talk herself through her fear.
"If I can get through that Door I'll be safe"
Before she even reached the path of Light, the looming Darkness she felt showed its face. Neo Shadows and Shadow Heartless appeared, surrounding her, stopping her from reaching her goal of safety. They relentlessly attack the vulnerable victim that fell into their grasp.
She felt pain which was unusual for her newly awaked form. She knew she had to get away from these creatures, get away from the pain they caused. Desperately she pushed passed them; running knowing her life depends on it. A metallic smell fills the emptiness. Her mind takes this as a warning sign; she was hurt, was she bleeding? That fact didn't matter; the only thing that mattered to her right this moment was reaching that Door.
Her feet flew across the Light as if she was flying, she felt her freedom approaching. Inches away from the Door that her whole existence seemed revolving around, she finally had the feeling it was nearly over. The end seemed to get closer and closer.
Something wasn't right; her heart skips a beat as she falls, crashing to the ground, moments away from salvation. Pulled down but the Heartless… her chances of escape lessening the longer she remains at the Heartless' mercy.
The unbearable pain returned, she irrationally tried freeing herself from their grasp but it was too late. This was where she would die… right here, right now.
A fitting place for those Unseen to perish, neither in the land of Light nor Darkness… simple nothingness…
Tears spill from her eyes as she thinks about the end. She doesn't want to die, her existence being as short as it already was; she wanted to experience what living was like. Have a taste of what it has to offer. But the chances of that seemed to be quickly fluttering away like a flock of birds, beyond her reach… never to return to her.
Just as she thought everything was about to end, that every Light was about to go out and leave her in complete darkness again, something happened.
Someone came to rescue her from this fate…
A leather donned figure appeared, his hood concealing anything that would give her an idea of who it might me… her mysterious saviour.
Almost as if he didn't even notice her presence he made to vanquish the Heartless that surrounds her.
She realised this was her perfect opportunity to get away. Not wanting to miss her chance, she ran. Fleeing towards the Door took every ounce of strength she had left, losing her footing she would stumble, but never lost sight of the freedom she now craved with everything inside her. Hand on the knob, she found it wouldn't open. Locked. And she had no key. Panic returned to her, stronger than before. She was stuck and would never escape this never ending nightmare.
Cowering against the Door that shattered her whole world was all she could manage…
Riku had no idea what brought him to this place. Something called to him. Something in his heart brought him to this nothingness… his nothingness…
He wasn't afraid, accepting the fact that he walks a different path along time ago. He would face whatever was behind this door. He opened it to see an unusual sight. The Heartless were attacking something, that something was making Riku uneasy. Stepping through, the door closed shut behind him.
"No matter," he thought to himself.
He'd stop the Heartless then unlock the door again.
Summoning his Way To The Dawn he prepared to take the Heartless down. They weren't particularly strong Heartless so it would be a quick, clean job. He tore through their numbers confidently, not stopping until every one of them was gone.
Something caught his attention. He forgot about the "something" the Heatless tried to destroy. To his amazement a small, frightened figure waited by the door.
Only one thought was running through her mind: this is all over, I'm going to die.
She realised silence fell, but it was too quiet for her to calm down. Was this how death took you? In darkness and silence?
A voice reached her ears, "Are you alright?" he tried to be gentle knowing she was freaked out.
Looking up, she saw her saviour kneeled before her; with his hand on her shoulder. Riku pulled his hood back so she had no need to be afraid of him. She found him to be the first familiar thing she had come across since she woke up, even though she has never seen this boy before in her existence.
In a soft, almost inaudible whispered voice; that still managed to echo through the nothingness, "I-I'm alight…"
This wasn't a lie, or at least it was half true. She was alive and still breathing. That always counts as a plus in her eyes.
Riku couldn't help but smile at this not so true response he got. She just looked at him with big, innocent eyes. He raised his Keyblade at the door, she wanted freedom from this hellish nothingness more than her eyes could express. A light emitted from it, unlocking the door.
He looked down at her, "Now go… this is no place for you…"
Riku disappeared into the darkness, leaving her by herself. A feeling she had never felt before, even when she first woke up shook through her. Loneliness was the strongest, second only to fear, that she had ever felt.
Carefully she walked through the door and into its light. She had no idea where it leads but anywhere was better than here…