Hey there! This is my first Kingdom Hearts fanfic, so please review. It's based off another set of fanfictions by TerraKH called the Wanderer's Series. I really recommend you read them as well. They are very good. You don't have to read them in order to understand the story, but just be warned that the first ten chapters will be confusing otherwise.
I own nothing but my OC, Raphael. I do not own any elements from TerraKH's Wanderer's Series either, but I'll go into specifics when elements pop up.
At times, you'll see the name of a soundtrack in brackets like these [ ]. They are meant to be played while you read through it. Of course, it's optional.
Hope you enjoy!
Raphael stood dumbfounded in the courtroom, his ears resounding from the judgement the ten Grandmasters had put on him. They were the most powerful Keyblade Wielders in the entire Realm of Light, reigning peace for centuries from Radiant Garden. How could they not see the wisdom in what he did?
"For dabbling in Darkness, the most heinous crime in existence save worshipping Kingdom Hearts, we sentence you to exile in the Realm of Darkness." Grandmaster Astelik stood above Raphael as his strong voice echoed throughout the room, falling on the ears of the hundred or so Keyblade Masters who had chosen to attend Raphael's infamous hearing. He saw his former master, Alex, look at the ground with dark eyes deep with regret and sadness. Even worse, he saw his friend Caspar, who had just become a master a few weeks ago, staring at Raphael in hatred.
Raphael started to speak, but decided against it. His fate was already decided, and nothing he said would change their mind. Not even the truth. This was what confounded him most of all. The wisest and most powerful Keyblade Masters in the Realm of Light would not listen to the truth. If they wouldn't listen to the truth, then what would they listen to? The truth was something absolute. Something reliable that they could trust. How could they throw it away so casually?
His sentence was being executed swiftly. He was already being escorted to one of the many portals in Radiant Garden that was being set to the Realm of Darkness. A black cloak of Darkness was thrust into his arms, and as Raphael looked behind him he saw Alex staring at the ground in shame. That almost hurt as much as the Grandmasters rejecting the truth.
He had barely put on the cloak, which doubled as a scant form of protection and a flag of shame, before he was shoved into the portal and sent hurtling out into the Lanes Between.
"Rain must not come to this barren land."
The voices woke Raphael as he had been drifting through nothingness. Floating through iridescent clouds in a groggy state, the voices shot Raphael's body full of adrenalin. He floated up and looked around for the source of the voices.
And again the voices rang. Free us. Free us from this barren land.
He envisioned himself swimming towards the source, clawing his way to the mystifying source of sound that echoed through his aching head. He swam onwards and onwards, growing tired but never exhausted. And throughout the whole trial, the voices rang.
"Rain must not come to this barren land."
He awoke in a canyon. The rocks around him were brown and crumbling from dry silt, and the sound that woke him was the eerie howling that came as the wind rushed through the thin canyon. It was several metres wide, and impossibly tall. The sun seemed like a small crack in the rocks. He clambered up the dry, dusty rocks with the aid of the Darkness he had been exiled for. He didn't regret using Darkness, because he had researched it. He had even injected himself with it, and Darkness wasn't bad. It was the truth, and the absoluteness of the truth gave him strength and purpose.
Rain must not come. Must not come. It had become a mantra, and Raphael pulled himself up in time to this unearthly chant, and sprawled on top of the dry ground. His cloak was torn around his knees and elbows, and his knuckles were bleeding from the times he had scraped them against the rock. Nevertheless, his exhaustion was lost in his shock as he saw what awaited him on the surface.
Keyblades. Like the fine hairs on a pubescent's arm, they lined the surface of the earth smoothly and seamlessly, each one around twenty metres apart from the other. A yellow river ran through the middle, turned yellow by silt. The source was off in the distance among a set of mountains that was obscured by the glaring sun. Hesitantly, he walked forward and made to touch one when a flash of light blinded him, and a figure in Keyblade Armour appeared.
At first Raphael was stunned. Keyblade Armour, the artifact sought after by the thousands of apprentices. Keyblade Armour, only earned when one achieved the title of Keyblade Master. There were only four hundred Masters in the entire Realm of Light, and seeing one anywhere save Radiant Garden was as rare as seeing an army of Heartless. The voices rose in a crescendo, as if they were using this Keyblade Master to yell out.
Rain must not come to this barren land. Raphael stepped forward slowly, but scrambled out of the way as a rusty but powerful Keyblade sped past him. The voices grew from a whisper to a yell, and were now distracting, not letting him focus properly. He quickly summoned his Keyblade and parried the next few blows, but his arms shook from the strength of each strike, and he was only a few metres from the huge canyon he had just crawled out of. His whole body had exerted itself trying to climb up, and if he didn't pay attention, that rusty Keyblade could easily go through his head. Gritting his teeth, he tugged on the Darkness that he had cultivated, the Darkness that had gotten him exiled, and felt his body burn with power.
Raphael didn't know what he looked like when he drew on the Darkness. He didn't know that his transformation was exactly alike to the anti-form of Sora, greatest Hero of Light, as his entire body was coated in black leaving only two yellow lights as eyes. He didn't know that yellow veins ran from his eyes across his whole body, glowing with malevolent hatred. He only knew that he had a fire raging in him, and if he didn't release it he would explode. He summoned his Keyblade again, and it materialized as a Dark Lance, taller than he was. It appeared in a storm of Darkness, droplets of condensed Darkness falling to the ground and dissipating into the air.
He slithered into the ground, appearing behind the suit of armour and lunging forward. He scored a hit, and easily evaded the counterstrike. He had to end this quickly, or else the Darkness would devour his Heart. He condensed the lance into one point on his arm, so that it looked no larger than his finger, then dashed past the swinging Keyblade and unleashed his power into the chestplate of his foe. The armour shattered and stumbled backwards, and Raphael began to release the Darkness within him, letting it disappear into the air.
[Black Powder, Kingdom Heart BBS] "I am a guardian of rain"
Suddenly, he felt a huge surge of power and whirled around, drawing in the Darkness again as he did so. The suit of armour was still as broken as it had been, but it was glowing with more power. Flames engulfed it, and when they died down wings had sprouted from the back of the armour, and he now carried a whip instead of its Keyblade. "I am a guardian of rain, and rain shall not come by the likes of you"
Raphael dashed forward again, having compressed his lance into his arm, but the Keyblade Master had jumped into the air and struck Raphael from above with his whip. Raphael staggered under the pain and rolled out of the way as the whip struck again and again from above.
"We must protect- protect..." Raphael leapt up, but the Keyblade Master flew in and punched Raphael back down to earth with a fire infused gauntlet. They both crashed to the ground, and Raphael would have been crushed had he not slithered away again. He stabbed his Dark Lance at the Keyblade master, but it was met and repelled with the gauntlet. "Protect rain, for it must not come."
The gesture made it clear that Raphael had to pierce the chestplate or helm again, but he couldn't penetrate the fiery whip and the volcanic gauntlet at the same time. As the Keyblade Master advanced, trailing white fire in its wake, Raphael growled and dashed forward, this time infusing the Dark Lance into his legs. He barely dodged the whip, and swung as hard as he could at the gauntlet that rushed towards him. There was a small explosion, and the Keyblade Master staggered back slightly. It regained its footing quickly, but Raphael took advantage of this and dashed to the side and thrust his Dark Lance at the torso of the Keyblade Master.
The cracked plate shattered, and so did the rest of the armour around the chest. The armour crumbled to the ground, with a last whisper "Do not... bring rain... to this barren-" [End Black Powder]
Raphael writhed on the ground, wrestling with the Darkness. He had pushed himself too hard in that fight, let Darkness grab too large a foothold into his Heart. As he fought with the Darkness within him, he felt the voices physically and realised they were pushing at his Heart. "I'm sorry..." "I shouldn't have..." "Rain must be..." "It was my fault..." He swept them away violently, and pushed away the Darkness for the time being. He lay there, panting, as he had no choice but to listen to the sea of voices try to drown him under their collective weight.
"Raphael, don't do this." Caspar had walked in and had put a hand on Raphael's shoulder. "You can't dabble in Darkness."
"This is the truth," Raphael had replied fervently, "This is what is right. You can't deny the truth once I show you."
"You're a master candidate," Caspar had said, "I'm already a master. We can't go around playing like this for much longer."
"This isn't playing." Raphael started to walk out of his room towards his laboratory. "Trust me, you'll see what I mean when I'm done."
Only Caspar hadn't seen. No one had. He was now alone. Alone for advocating the truth. Everyone seemed oblivious and dull. How could they be so stupid as to rejected what was right? Raphael felt anger build up in him and he held onto it. It strengthened the Darkness inside him, and he would need it if he was going to live in this mysterious world with empty Keyblade Armour trying to attack him.
Raphael opened his eyes and breathed in the gritty wind. "Free us from this barren land."
Who was he to free? Who was calling him? Raphael saw several pillars raised in the distance and knew instinctively that his goal stood on one of those plateaus. He looked at the army of Keyblade Masters in front of him and stepped forward. It was going to be a long fight, but for the truth, he would fight for his entire lifetime.
TWO MONTHS LATER…
Raphael let the Darkness inside him build up as he grinned viciously. It was getting easier and easier to control the Darkness he had implanted in himself. Before his Heart had burned in pain whenever he turned into a Heartless-like monster and summoned his Dark Lance. Now he could change between both forms several times per day.
"We must protect rain." He did so now as yet another Remnant rush towards him. He called them Remnants because that was what they were: pathetic slivers of noble Keyblade Masters that had once been. Raphael summoned his Dark Lance and slithered behind the Keyblade Master, aiming for the back. His strike was parried by a standard Keyblade and Raphael jumped up, raining blows upon the Keyblade Master, chipping off small pieces of armour as he did so. He fought without hesitation and reserve, smashing Darkness upon this Remnant. After a few minutes, he breached the Remnant's defences and smashed the Remnant's helmet to smithereens.
"Rain must not come!" The headless Remnant let out a wave of power, and its Keyblade turned into a huge hammer. That was how things always went. It was as if the armour was holding back a Remnant's power and breaking it once unleashed that power. It rushed towards Raphael, who dodged the huge hammer blow. The weapon left a large crater in the ground, but it whirled around with surprising speed to fend off Raphael, who had tried to smash his back.
"Free us from this barren land!" This Remnant was a tough one. Raphael sucked in Darkness until his Heart screamed in protest and his eyes burnt heavily. His Dark Lance grew in size and power and he thrust his arm towards the Remnant. Darkness and a hammer clashed, and Rapahel pushed until the hammer broke. The momentum took his lance flying towards the Remnant and tore apart everything down to the metal feet.
Raphael let the Darkness in him leave, and he felt weary again. He felt cold and drained again as he stared up at the harsh sun. His brown hair had grown out and was now tangled around his head. He closed his eyes to stop the dust from getting into his eyes, and before he knew it his Heart and mind was sinking into unconsciousness.
"Rain must not come to this barren land."
It was like a battle cry that kept him moving and alive, no matter how much he wanted to fall. Raphael groaned and picked himself up before realizing he was in front of a wall. No, not a wall, a pillar of rock. He had made it. He had arrived. After months of toil and endless fighting, he had finally arrived at his goal, whatever it was. His entire body ached in pain, but he willed himself to climb up the rocky plateau.
"Free us from this barren land."
He hauled himself up slowly, muttering the phrase to himself again and again. His breath was coming in shorter gasps, and Raphael was coughing from inhaling so much dust. It seemed like he was climbing the canyon he had started out in, only this plateau seemed ten times as high. He climbed and climbed and climbed, and just as he felt his biceps start to give way, his arms scraped along the top.
"Free us from our endless slumber."
Raphael lay there gasping and sent Darkness running through his muscles to alleviate the burning pain in there. He instantly felt better and got to his feet steadily. He didn't know what he had been expecting, but it hadn't been another suit of armour. It seemed underwhelming at first, but that was before Raphael concentrated on the metal before him. This was a stationary suit of armour holding onto the hilt of its Keyblade that was stabbed into the ground.
Unlike the other Remnants, this Keyblade wasn't rusty or old. The blade was red with a black edge that glinted in the harsh sun that had peeled off Rapahel's skin more than once. The teeth were shaped like a bat's wing, and it emanated a presence of both Light and Darkness. The suit of armour drew the most attention. It was polished and looked brand-new, though it didn't shine. Raphael instantly recognized it as armour made from Darkness. It seemed to absorb all light and colour into its jet black exterior. It was plain and utilitarian without any decorations. Nothing gaudy or unnecessary, this suit of armour was perfect for fighting.
"Free us from this barren land!"
"Who are you?" Raphael asked eagerly, "Why did you call me here?"
There was a pause, then as if the Remnant was trying to move a mountain, he groaned, "I was Riku, and you must free us!"