Disclaimer: Don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Warning: Semi-AU, since I am not creative like the Authors of 'Wanderer', 'Heart & Soul', 'Eclipse of the Heart' and 'Two of Hearts'. Meaning canon scenes are non-existent unless specifically referred to.
Summary: "A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory… A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream… I wanna line the pieces up… Yours, and mine.."
His windswept, short spikes of golden blonde hair flowing as if there was a breeze running through it. Only, as more of the 12- to 13-year-old boy was revealed, it became apparent he was slowly falling headfirst. Cerulean blue eyes fluttered open, oddly calm.
The dark, very cloudy sky, crimson flashing through it like a lightning bolt.
Anyone watching from below would have seen the back of the boy as he fell through water, drowning. A light shined above him from the surface.
Back to him as he fell further down, bubbles leaving his lips. We zoomed into his face and his re-closed eyes popped open.
"Oh!" The calming music changed.
Suddenly he was no longer in the water, but standing on a sandy island.
Blondie looked around confusedly for a moment, then was bringing his hand up to block the Sun from his eyes.
In his place now stood a slightly older boy with a similar heart-shaped (but lightly tanned instead of peachy) face, his chocolate brown hair in bigger spikes different in style from before. He was lowering his hand (clad in a fingerless white glove).
Spiky looked forwards and saw a pale, slightly muscular boy about 15 years old standing knee-deep in the ocean, his shoulder-length silver hair fluttering from the breeze.
"Na, na, nah."
Recognition flashed in Spiky's light blue eyes before a smile lit his face. He took a step forward, but the water between them took him by surprise.
"You've given me–"
Spiky looked up in alarm, mouth dropping open. A giant wave was coming up behind his best male friend.
Silver turned around, fully aware of the wave clearly beginning to crest behind himself but not even trying to move away. His casual clothes had turned into a skin-tight dark bodysuit with a light hula-skirt.
"So many things. Lately,–"
Silver then extended his right hand, beckoning the brown-haired boy to come towards himself as a blurry image of another boy briefly overlapped his.
"You're all I need! (All I want)."
Spiky ran through the shallow water hurrying to meet his friend, hand outstretched. But the water overcame them first.
"You're part of me (an' smiled, an' smiled)."
Spiky backwards somersaulted through the water, finally coming to a stop.
"Don't get me wrong, I love you."
He lifted his head slightly, floating with Silver standing (for lack of a better word) in front of him.
The silver-haired teen still was offering his hand.
"But doesn' tha' mean I have to push you farther?"
Spiky tried swimming towards his friend but the current was too strong and he was pulled back.
Blackness before the sky at Sunset visible from below Spiky in the water, only this time he floated upwards.
"When we are rolling,
Understand what I meant when I said 'No,
I don't think life is quite that simple'."
Spiky spurted upwards from the water. He shook his head getting the water out of it, then examined his surroundings.
"When you walk away,"
His eyes landed on a girl with short, dark red hair. She was waving at the shore.
Red cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling something before she began to wave more.
"You don't hear me say
'Please! My best friend!
Don't go!'"
Spiky waved back, then made his way towards her. Red called out to him and then continued to wave. When he reached her, Spiky bent over resting with hands on his knees as he looked at his best female friend.
"Simple and clean
Is the way that you're making
Me feel tonight!"
Red was laughing, navy blue eyes sparkling in mirth and a hand near her mouth.
She sobered and looked up, smile fading as Red lowered her hand.
"It's hard to let it go!"
Spiky straightened in surprise, then halfway turned around to see what she was looking at.
"Ho-old me!"
The two looked up in shock as, with the shooting stars, a body enveloped in black and white smoke was falling from the evening sky.
"Whatever lies beyond this mourning
Is a little later on!
Regardless of warnings,"
The boy's body, then his face became easy to see.
Only for Spiky to realize that it was Blondie at around their age, wearing a couple small pieces of armour. He was the smoke-covered, falling star.
"The future doesn't scare me at ah-all!"
Blondie collided with Spiky's chest, vanishing in light forest green wisps.
"Nothing's like before!"
Red looked down at him in shock as Spiky began to fall through the sand as though it was water, mirroring his own shocked expression.
"Ho-old me!"
Spiky was falling through the Sunset sky now, arms flailing as he reached up for Red.
"Whatever lies beyond this mourning
Is a little later on!"
Before we saw that she was also reaching down for him.
Only, Red's image blurred as she changed to another girl (with snow-blonde hair, same eyes as Blondie and wearing casual clothes) while reaching down towards Spiky.
Snow's image then dulled in ripples and disappeared behind transparent water.
"Regardless of warnings
The future doesn't scare me at ah-all! "
Spiky closed his eyes, somewhat in peace before a bright light flashed just as he hit what looked like a dark gray ocean.
"Nothing's like before!"
Spiky was in the water again, which was a darker blue now.
Swerving downwards in the darkness until finally, after a very slow backflip, he landed on his feet. He looked around for a bit before taking a step forward. The platform underneath him dimly glowed.
Bird-like things flew up from it, rapidly revealing emerald stained-glass underneath; a mosaic of teen Blondie appeared to be sleeping with a pale, soot-black-haired, slightly older version of Spiky (in a bizarre outfit) sleeping opposite him with both holding a unique sword that vaguely resembled a key, laying in a manner very reminiscent of Yin and Yang.
Behind Blondie's head was a bright background of some tower against a pretty Sunrise/Sunset, Soot's far darker one consisting of some sort of wasteland with broken 'swords'.
The brunette boy then looked up and watched as the 'birds' soared away into darkness.
KINGDOM HEARTS: ESTRANGED SOULS
Episode 1. My Own Heart
She was falling headfirst. Falling… through an abyss of darkness.
"Where am I?" the youngster's soft voice questioned, but no answer came.
All was silent.
She slowly flipped backwards into a sprawled out position, and lifted her head. Cerulean blue eyes saw nothing above either. Just pitch-black darkness that felt almost like water but not quite.
The girl was descending onto a round platform of some sorts, though she could not see it with the lack of light. Finishing becoming upright as her pale blue and white sneaker hit the platform, she stood with bent knees and looked around. Trying to see something, anything!
Taking a step forward, the girl received a surprise. Shielding her round face with skinny, pale arms, she avoided being blinded by the sudden light as hundreds of bird-like things flew off the platform starting from where she stood.
The girl looked first around herself as the 'birds' vanished into the abyss one by one, then up ahead as if she would find answers there. The last dozen disappeared from sight.
Her gaze then lowered to the bright platform, and she saw a mosaic of a girl around her age. The picture's young teen appeared to be sleeping with her head slightly bowed, hands clutching a star-shaped item made of seashells to her chest. She was wearing a black choker, a lavender wristband next on her left upper arm near the shoulder, a silver teardrop pendant, a form-fitting white tank-top tipped with black, yellow armbands on each of her wrists, a lavender miniskirt with a slit on each side, matching minishorts underneath, a belt around her waist in a darker shade of lavender, and rather large white shoes tipped with lavender. Her messy mop of dark red hair reached beside her chin, almost glowing through the darkness. The background showed a tropical island.
Walking around the platform, the girl who had fallen looked at the image curiously. She noticed the edge of the circular platform was black, light coming from the whitish star-shaped object repeatedly etched throughout the black ring. And, starting near the mosaic girl's knees and ending at the rim of the platform, was a darker lavender circle. Inside it were four pale lavender circles containing a person's face and shoulders each – a boy with spiky, every-which-way hair; another boy with straight, shoulder-length hair; a young woman with messy, chin-length hair that had downward spikes at the back; and lastly…
"Me…" the girl whispered, puzzled. For the last person had her round face and her messy hair, the latter resting to the right shoulder most of the time as it was in real life. Only, the image-her was completely pale lavender like the other three.
She wandered closer. When the snow-blonde reached the middle of the platform, a pedestal of pale grey marble suddenly rose from the glass slightly behind her to the left. She whirled around to look at it in surprise, and saw from the corner of her eye another appear almost opposite the first pedestal. One more appeared behind her, seen because the girl looked over her shoulder.
As she gazed at the pedestals forming an imaginary triangle around herself, the young teen solemnly murmured: "A power sleeps within me…" She looked confused again. "Wait, what? Why would I say that?"
She walked towards the pedestal which had been first to appear. On it, floating, was a dark green armband with the steel blade of a broadsword sticking out of it. The girl took the armband and its attached sword, looking them over. She had a feeling that the sword would usually remain in hidden-mode, not brought out of the armband unless needed.
The power of the soldier… Brute strength… The sword for endurance…
The girl frowned. "How do I know that?"
With a shrug, she put the sword back. She went to the second pedestal, which had a thick, dark orange chopstick with a sharp black stone attached to one end floating on it. The snow-blonde took it in her hands, noticing a small dent that seemed to be a button of some sort. She had a hunch that pressing it would make the stone shoot off, while releasing it would call it back by a magnetic mechanism.
The power of the assassin… Cold-blooded accuracy… The wand to kill and heal…
The girl at once dropped the wand back to its pedestal, looking a little afraid. "That's… that's awful!"
She went to the final pedestal, on which a pair of toffee brown fingerless gloves with steel knuckles floated. The 14-year-old – yes, she was fourteen even though she looked a year or two younger – picked the final item up.
The power of the fighter… Graceful agility in battle… The gloves of precision…
"I don't know…" The girl put them back, and turned around looking at each option indecisively. Eventually, she nodded firmly.
Going over to the gloves, the girl picked them up and put them on. The gloves vanished in a sparkle of silvery lights. She turned around in surprise, seeing the other two items vanish in the same sparkle. Then each platform started to – for lack of a better word – melt into the glass. Very soon they were gone.
Fear filled the girl when she saw the glass rapidly begin to shatter from the edge until cracks appeared beneath her and she fell along with the breaking glass, through the hollow inside of the platform.
By some miracle not cutting herself, the girl had her mouth open but no screams came out as she fell; the bits of glass vanishing into darkness.
Her headfirst descend slowed when a second platform came to sight, and she gracefully landed on it. Standing in the middle, the blond looked around and saw it was just like the first Station. Only, this one showed a boy maybe a year younger than her.
He was gazing at what would have been the sky had the picture continued on, golden blonde hair in short, windswept spikes. His eyes matched hers! The boy was wearing grey fingerless gloves, a black T-shirt, an unzipped teal jean-vest, black and white trainers, and grey pants. This time, the black edge had an emerald star/flower object etched on it repeatedly, the background had a town during Sunset instead of tropical islands, the gigantic circle behind him was bright green, and the people in circles were coloured a much paler emerald. One was the young woman from the previous mosaic, another was a strong-looking young man, a little boy with messy hair (who she was certain was the spiky-haired boy from the earlier Station) and herself as a small child.
The male blond held something in one hand while the other rested on his knee. It was a short, thin-ish sword which resembled a skeleton-key, and he had it in a backhand hold.
Feeling something wet on her cheek, the girl brought up her hand and saw – to her surprise – that she was silently crying. For some reason, seeing the boy's face filled her with yearning to see him in real life and that in turn made her feel very alone.
She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, not understanding what was going on at all.
Abruptly, her shadow (behind her) became much more visible and grew until it was her exact size. It came out of the mosaic, now three-dimensional.
Feeling something about to attack her, the girl whirled around just in time to move her head out of the way of a lilac-tinted black fist. She jumped back, looking warily at the attacker. It looked identical to herself, but was completely black as if it had been made out of nothing but Darkness.
She ran away when Shadow attacked again, gritting her teeth when a follow-up kick connected with her side thus making her bend over with hands on her knees. That hurt! O.K., no more Miss Nice!
The gloves from before appeared on her hands in the same sparkle they had vanished in, and she rolled away from Shadow. The teen quickly got to her feet, and the fight was on.
Only, she was very clearly a novice. All her hits were weak compared to Shadow, and the blond had trouble avoiding being punched or kicked.
A very powerful one sent the girl skidding across part of the platform, until she came to a stop at the edge with her legs dangling over it. Panicking, she attempted to move forward but her movements caused the youngster to slip further off the platform. Now dangling from the edge with only her arms and upper body keeping her from falling completely into the darkness, the 14-year-old shut her eyes tight as she tried to pull herself back onto the platform. The light beige sketchbook strapped to her back wasn't exactly helping matters!
To her surprise, she suddenly felt something underneath her. Are those… stairs?
The young teen opened her eyes and looked down. She was kneeling on colourful glass stairs suspended in air. Turning her head, she saw Shadow approaching.
Without thinking, the girl got up and started running along the stairs descending in a wide arc. Her momentum kept her from slipping off and falling through the abyss again.
She soon came to one more platform. This one showed whom appeared to be an older version of the first spiky-haired boy from the lavender platform. He was 15 or 16, with his dark indigo, black and crimson skin-tight, spandex-like full-body suit showing how well-toned he was. He also had on a white hula-skirt(?) with its tips light indigo. The boy had his arms crossed, and head tilted to the side so his pale, heart-shaped face wasn't completely visible. His every-which-way, wild spiky hair was soot black, and the visible eye an unusual colour of molten gold. The background was a wasteland filled with broken swords(?) . The golden blonde from the previous platform (with a piece of armour visible on his shoulder), the little boy from said second Station, the shoulder-length-haired boy from the first Station and the girl's younger self were in the pale crimson circles inside the gigantic blood red one. A strangely familiar violet star had been etched repeatedly onto the expected black ring rimming the platform's edge.
The stairs vanished when the girl stepped onto the glass. She wandered around on the third Station, tense as she awaited an attack. None came.
Instead, she saw a very tiny speck of cyan and yellow light appear far away from her. Breath hitching, her pulse quickened at the sight of it. She clutched her yellow star pendant, which hung by a thin silver chain around her neck, slowly making her way towards the speck.
She reached out to touch it, and when she did so the speck grew into what appeared to be a glowing crystal ball that fit snugly into her gloved palm. It had gaps where shards of it were still broken, lost somewhere. But it had been healing.
Letting go of her good-luck charm, the girl cupped her palms and held the crystal ball. No, that wasn't quite right. It just seemed like a crystal ball, but definitely wasn't one. There even were wisps radiating from it a little!
"Mine…" As if in a trance, she pressed the strange entity to her chest.
Next thing the snow-blonde knew, everything went white.
A.N.: Whatcha think?
At first, the gloves were supposed to come first and the last item was going to be a silver staff or a katana, but I decided those are still too similar to Sora's choices. A bow would have been my next third item, but I figured the assassin's wand had a long-range use already so I'd rather not have another that's long range. Hence the Wolverine-style sword in place of the shield.
By the way, she picked the gloves because I always picked the sword when playing Kingdom Hearts a couple years ago. That, and chances are I'd have picked the gloves anyway. What would you readers have chosen?
P.S. Skeleton-keys are the kind that have teeth at one end, a part you hold onto at the other end and a tiny metal stick in the middle. And apologies for constantly referring to the main character as just 'the girl'. There is a good reason for that.
P.P.S. No, the spiky-haired guy in circles and the spiky-haired guy on a platform actually are NOT the same one. They just look identical when the same age.
Cyber cookie to anybody who figures out, by the time Ep15 is up, why I changed the first few Episodes' titles to the current ones they have. Hint, hint; compare 'em to each others' and think about what they all have in common with "anti-Yensid". (I mean that last bit literally but NOT in an against-Yensid-the-wizard way!)