-Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, I never will, and I never could anyways. It's far too epic for me. And I don't own the song, Last Night Good Night by Livetune either.
Le: Hey peeps! Okay, so this is the first chapter of what I hope will be a good fan fiction. Chapters 1-5 are already done, so I'll edit them and post them up later. Right now, please enjoy chapter 1!
Update: Sorry! This story has been waiting on the account for some time and I just now got to publish it! Gomen!
Chapter 1
I wake up and find my mouth full of sand. My body is soaked and my clothes are in no better condition. I hear waves and feel water swish over my back. I open my eyes to investigate my surroundings.
I am apparently on an island, and at the moment the sun is going down, the tip just touching the watery horizon. I blink, trying to piece together where I am. Maybe if I see what else is around me, then I'll know. I lift up my head and look around. The island is covered with many wooden apparatuses, and there is heavy foliage around it.
I sit up and a heavy pain hits my head at full force. I put my right hand against it, and brace myself with my left hand. My fingers close around wet sand. I try to stand up. My head hurts, but I'm able to stand without toppling over. Taking a few steps is agonizing. My feet give out and I collapse. Then someone nearby moans loudly. I turn to face the sound.
In the sand, about fifty feet from where I washed ashore, is a boy that looks about twenty. His face is buried in the sand. I try to reach him by walking, but am reduced to a crawl. When I reach the boy, I roll him over onto his back, and do my best to clean the sand from his face.
"Theo?" I say. The name forms on my lips before I can think. Is that his name? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it is. And I'm almost certain he washed ashore with me. "Theo?" I ask again, and this time he responds.
"Luna?" he moans. Luna? Is that my name? I don't remember that, either.
"Are you Theo?" I ask. He makes a move that is probably a nod. He opens his eyes to look at me, and I am taken aback by how piercing of a green they are. "And I'm…Luna?" He nods again. He puts his hand to his forehead.
"Where are we?" he asks. I shake my head, which causes my head to throb again. No clue where we are, and really who we are. Or at least who I am. I look at the sunset, as if it might have the answers. The sun has begun its descent into the sea. My mind tells me to look around more, see if I recognize anything that I didn't see first, to find a possible landmark. As my gaze sweeps over the island, I feel like I know the name of this place, but that I've never been here before.
Like a miracle, something in my mind clicks. I suddenly remember things about myself. My name is Luna. I am twenty years old. My favorite color is a light, lavender purple. My appearance… It comes to me in shards, so I crawl over to the water to see if I can check my reflection.
Lavender eyes. Stick straight black hair. A tan complexion. My reflection ignites my memory even more. I can see vague images of what might be my family; the same black hair and tan skin, and their warm smiles. I turn back towards Theo, who is now sitting up and trying to get himself together. Theo… he has dark, reddish hair and those piercing green eyes. He can't be related to me, can he? He's wearing a white tank top with a black vest and running gloves. His pants are simple capris and he's wearing silver belts with it. His shoes are black combat boots. His appearance makes me wonder what I'm wearing, so I look at my own clothes.
A magenta half top and a half top-like vest, black shorts, black combat boots. I am dressed like I am ready for a long journey, but from my time in the water, I am now freezing. I pull my arms around my body. "Theo?" I call over to him. He turns in my direction.
"Yeah?" he calls back. I remember his last name; Theo Smith. A wind blows, and I draw my arms around me tighter.
"I'm cold." My voice shakes ever so slightly. But I think Theo can tell. He gets up, wincing, and sits next to me. He wraps his arms around my shoulders. I am comforted by this gesture, and lean close to him. "So you still don't know where we are?" I whisper. He feels like someone close to me, so I let myself close my eyes and lean on his shoulder.
"No, but I'd guess that we're definitely not where we come from." Theo lets out a sigh. "Do you remember anything, Luna? Who we are and where we're from?"
I shake my head in reply. He sighs again. "Well, if you mean like our names and how old we are, stuff like that, then I do know," I say, trying to keep him in a good mood. The sun is now halfway sunk below the skyline. In my mind, I try and recall if I've seen a sunset like this, maybe find a piece of memory that will help me. The only thing that comes is that I've never seen a sunset like this, and that isn't exactly helpful. I reach out to the sunset and a verse from a song I know comes into my head.
Sutekina? Asa wo mou ichido
Kimito sugosetara
Chiisana sonna kibou sae
Omou dake no kiseki
I hum the tune of the song and Theo looks at me as though I've just done something strange. "What?" I say defensively.
"How can you remember that song if you can't remember who we are?" he asks, suspicion hanging in his voice. I realize that he's only worried that I'm hiding information from him, and so I shrug.
"I'm not hiding anything from you," is all I say. "Wait, you know that song too?" He nods like it's the most obvious thing in the world, and I'm suddenly very worried that maybe I've lost my mind too, not just my memories. Of course, this is probably stupid for me to worry over. For all I know I've just contracted amnesia, and that opens up a different door full of worries and problems.
Theo can tell that I'm worried about something, so he gets up slowly and tells me that we need to find a place to sleep. The sun is slowly, slowly disappearing completely, and so I get up and follow him off the sand inland. We are nearing a wooden structure that seems good enough for shelter when we hear shouts from behind us, from the water. I turn around quickly and immediately wish I hadn't. My head is racked with throbbing, and I have to clutch it to stop any movement. When my vision clears, I see four, five, six figures coming at us, running, with their arms reaching out to grab me and Theo. I try to run and trip over the wooden floor below me. By accident, I grab Theo and pull him down with me, even though I only meant for him to try and stable me. But together we crash to the ground, and the pain from my head wins the fight for consciousness. Any connection between my eyes and my brain is lost, and I gasp as I fall unconscious. Theo crushes my arm as he falls, and from the loud thud I hear before blacking out means he's out too. It registers that I am now at the mercy of six strangers that are angry with me, and with that happy thought, my mind floats off, somewhere away from my body.
The room I wake up in is almost as painful to look at as my headache was…no, still is. My head still throbs and my arm is sore. I remember Theo falling on top of my arm before I blacked out, so that explains the arm pain. I still haven't quite figured out why my head is hurting like I've just been hit with a baseball bat.
Anyways, the room I am in is a bright, illuminating, painful white. I have to squint to see anything. I can barely see an easel in the corner of the room by the window, and a vanity stands by the door. I'm in a bed that is pure white, from the sheets to the headboards. The walls and closets and door are all so white I can barely see them.
The door. Even through my agonizing headache, my mind screams that the door might be unlocked, that I still might be able to escape my captors' grasp. I swing my legs slowly over the side of the bed, and, wary of my condition, I slowly start to walk to the door. As the sheets fall away, I see that I am dressed in a simple white tank-top and some black sweats. My clothes are folded neatly together in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadows so I couldn't see them. I reach for them and slowly shed the clothes I am wearing. Slipping on my old clothes is no simple task, but eventually all I have left to put on are my boots. I slide my feet into them and this time I go for the door.
The hallway outside the room is empty. I look down it and see that there are two other rooms down the way. Theo! His name enters my head and I am suddenly sure that behind one of those doors he is waiting, worrying about me as much as I am now worried about him. I creep down the hallway, hoping the floorboards don't creak and alert my captors I am loose.
As I reach the first door, I hear voices from down the hallway. I silently scream and throw myself inside the room, trying to close the door as quickly and as silently as I can. I scan the room quickly, and there is nobody apart from myself in here. The room is a hot pink, with a plush floor and pink curtained windows. One lamp sits in the corner, still on from the last time someone used it. No Theo.
The voices never get any louder, or closer, and so I renter the hallway. I try to move quickly now, but my head makes that harder than getting a baby to stop growing. The last room must hold Theo. If not, then I'll have no clue where to find him, or even look for him at that.
When the door swings open, I peer my head inside. There, lying on the plain, black bed is Theo. At first I think he is asleep, but when he turns his head towards the door and smiles weakly, I feel my heart practically sigh with relief. "Luna," he whispers to me. I close the door behind me and walk to the bed.
"Yes?" I whisper back. What a relief to know that he's still here. And it must be the same for him, since we could be the key to each other's' pasts.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know. But we need to get out of here. Come on." I impatiently tug his arm, and he yelps with pain. "Oh! Sorry!" I exclaim. He shakes his head, but still grimaces.
He's still in his old clothes, which makes me curious as to why mine were changed. As I look around and compare the room to the one I woke up in (and the pink one), I see the walls are a comforting gray, and the dresser and bed are all a dark brown wood. No unnatural colors, or unnaturally bright colors, just nice, dark tones.
"Is your head okay?" asks Theo. I snap out of my thoughts. How did he know, if I never said anything? Maybe he has some kind of connection to me that I don't really know about, or maybe it was because he feels the same too. I shake my head. He pats my shoulder. "Then you'll be more determined to leave; I can tell."
He's right. I want to leave far more than I probably would have because I feel more rushed than ever. A voice speaks in my head:
"You're too strong-willed for your own good, Luna! Sometime soon, you'll cost yourself something valuable for it!"
I think the voice is right; that just seems me somehow. I wonder who that was when Theo shakes my shoulder.
"We need to leave," he tells me. I nod and get up, reaching for the door handle. Theo gets to it first and he opens it more stealthily than I could have. He ushers me out into the hall and tells me to wait for him. I don't and walk ahead. He catches up and flicks my arm in irritation. I stick out my tongue in response. As we round the corner, I can see a living room in front of a door that is clearly our only escape. All the windows we have seen are too small to climb out of, and we haven't seen any other doors in the house. Finding them would use all of my energy and that would be a problem. So the living room door is our only hope.
In my stupidity, I make a run for the door. I hear Theo make a strangled noise from behind me and immediately know I'm in deep crap. I look into the living room, and six faces wide with shock are staring me down. But that's not what gets to me.
What gets to me is the boy directly in my sight, with blond, windswept hair and deep blue cerulean eyes. His face is warm but sad at the same time. As I look at him, time seems to slow down, and when my gaze floats off of him, it returns to normal. I slip on the rug in front of the door, and curse myself for letting my ignorance overpower my reason. I've fallen back into the hands of my captors. I thud against the ground, waiting to be taken captive again. My headache activates again, as if on cue. But nothing happens. I look up at the six other figures in the room.
Now that I'm not rushing away, I can clearly see the five other people. A blond girl wearing white, a red-head dressed in hot-pink, a silver-haired boy dressed in a mix of yellow, silver and blue, a brunette boy wearing a mingle of colors, and a raven-haired girl wearing black. And then there's the boy with the blond hair and blue eyes. They gaze upon me with a mix of confusion and something I can't describe. Then the boy with the brown, spiky hair speaks:
"Where are you going?"
I pull my arms and legs around me. "Away. Why do you ask?" These people-are they captors or not?
"Well, you don't exactly seem to know where you're going. I mean, if you were from around here, you'd know to stay off that island." The brunette folds his arms.
"Sora!" exclaims the girl with red hair. "That's really impolite. The island isn't just for us to use; other people can go there too."
"Well, what's it to you?" I stand up suddenly. "It's not my fault that Theo and I washed up on the shore with no memory or idea of who we even are!"
"Theo?" says the girl with black hair. "You mean the boy that washed ashore with you?"
I roll my eyes. "Yes, unless I just imagined him." I beckon to Theo, who is still hidden from view. He glares at me, and when he doesn't come out of hiding, I go and grab him myself. The group in the living room turns toward him.
"This is Theo?" asks the boy with silver hair. "Wasn't he in Xion's room?" He motions to the black-haired girl. "And weren't you in Namine's room?" He points to me.
"We were going to esca-leave, but apparently there are some questions to answer." I sigh and sit down on the carpet. When Theo still stands, I yank his leg out from under him and he plops to the ground beside me. The blond haired girl and the red-head flinch.
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" asks the blond. I shake my head.
"He'll deal with it." I can tell.
"So." My body goes rigid when the blond boy speaks. His voice is a warm melody of summer, and there are hints of sadness and song in it. I snap out of it. What am I thinking?
"So what?" I say.
"What are your names?" asks the black-haired girl that must be Xion.
"He's Theo and I'm Luna." I speak before Theo can open his mouth. I get a glare from him and smirk. "What are your names?"
"I'm Namine," says the blond. So she had the painful white room. I wonder if she's an artist.
"I'm Kairi!" squeals the red-head. Apparently she's into herself, from the way she says her own name. And that pink room. The memory makes me want to gag.
"You know me; I'm Xion," says the raven haired girl. Her smile is warm and friendly; I find myself smiling back.
"I'm Sora, and that's Riku." The brunette points to himself and then the silver-haired boy. So far we have Namine, Kairi, Xion, Riku, and Sora. I hold my breath as I wait for the last boy to say his name.
"Roxas," is all he says. Roxas. I close my eyes and burn the name into my memory.
"You all have nice names," I say. Maybe I should try to make friends instead of enemies. "Where are we?" I ask.
"You're at Destiny Islands, at Kairi's house," says Riku. "That island you washed ashore on is a place we've been visiting since we were kids." I nod. So that's why Sora had been so personal about the island. "Where are you from?" he adds.
"We don't know," says Theo. The other six look startled to hear him speak.
"Well, how old are you then?" asks Kairi.
"Twenty."
"Twenty-one." I remember now that Theo is a year older than me. "You?" Theo seems to be enjoying this game of I'll-tell-you-and-you-tell-me.
"Namine and I are twenty. Xion's twenty-one." Kairi closes her eyes as she speaks.
"Riku's twenty-three and Roxas and I are twenty-two. We're twins." Sora stands up and stretches. Twins? They don't look like it. They do have the same deep blue eyes, though Sora's are full of happiness and joy, while Roxas has sadness and compassion.
"How long were we out?" I ask.
"About ten hours; you hit your head pretty hard and it was a bit of an issue to get you onto the boat," answers Xion.
"Okay then." I yawn. "Any other stuff you need to know?"
"Er, do you remember anything else about who you are yet?" asks Roxas. I think he can tell that there's a slim chance, and he's right. I shake my head and Theo looks down.
"Okay, how about where you'll be staying?" asks Namine. "There's no point in running off if you don't know where you're going." My mouth falls open. I didn't even think.
"Well, if you're from the city, like Twilight City, then you'll need some help working your way around here. This is a small town; it takes some time to get used to here." Roxas stands up and walks over to me. My face feels warm. "Care to check around?" He extends his hand. I reach out and take it, my mind in awe. He holds my hand as we walk out the door of Kairi's house into the streets of the Destiny Islands. Is my face…flushing?
As we walk along the streets, Sora and Kairi guide me and Theo through them, telling us the directions to the airport or where the best places to eat are. While I'm sure Theo is listening, I have my gaze fixed on my hand in Roxas's. When we come to a stop in front of a small shop, I let go of his hand and stare at the contents inside the display window. "Oh," I say in a small voice.
Inside the window are many beautiful cakes swathed in frosting and decorations that I probably wouldn't even think of putting on a cake. My mouth waters at the sight, and suddenly my mind remembers something, a memory, I think.
"Luna, your birthday is on the fifth of November, isn't it? I guess we'll have to pick out your cake soon."
I honestly wish I knew who is speaking in all these memories.
"Never had one, have you?" asks Riku, and my mind comes back to the present. I nod sheepishly. My stomach growls, and I blush. This gains some laughter from the others, and I hide my face from view to cover up my embarrassment.
"Let's keep moving," I tell them, and so we do. As we continue on, I actually pay attention as Sora tells me where his house is, and then Riku's. He shows me the local high school, Destiny High, and starts talking with Roxas about how awkward it was when they were in school. As the conversation draws everyone but me in, I try to remember what high school was like for me. If I went to high school.
"Wait!" exclaims Theo, and as soon as the words leave his mouth, I'm grabbing onto the collar of his shirt. He looks shocked, but not from my actions.
"What? You just remembered something, didn't you?" I clench my fist tighter around his shirt. "You did! I can tell! What did you remember?" I ask excitedly, elation rising in my chest.
"High school-we went to high school together," he breathes, his voice showing hints of excitement. My hopes begin to drop until he says, "It was called something-Garden High, but I can't remember the full name."
"Do any of you know a place like that?" I whip around to face the others. Kairi raises her hand a bit.
"I used to live in a place called Radiant Garden City, so it might have been there. But for all I know, there are hundreds of other places called that." She hangs her head. "Sorry, Luna."
"Oh. It's fine, Kairi. You tried to help, and that's all that matters." I try not to let my disappointment show. But Xion takes my shoulders and looks into my eyes.
"This is a sign that maybe some things here can trigger your memories!" she says. I blink; I never thought of that.
"You really think so?" Theo walks next to me. I smile. A new lead; possibly.
"Xion could be onto something," says Riku, and Xion blushes. I smile again.
"So we can try to use stuff from here to try and jump-start some memories, but until we get them back, where do we stay?" The question is asked by Theo, and my heart falls. Even with all the hotels Sora has prescribed to us, there's no way we'd be able to pay for a night in them.
"You can stay with one of us." Roxas speaks and I turn to him. "Kairi, Namine, and Xion all live together, so Kairi's house is booked. Riku could take Theo. And you could board with me and Sora," he continues.
"If that's fine with Theo, then I'm in! I really want my mind back." I make a movement of mock despair, and put my hand to my forehead. I realize my headaches gone, and I make a silent cheer of victory. Theo mimics me and we all laugh together.
"That's the first we've seen you smile, Luna," says Namine, once our laughter ebbs. I smile again, sort of a thank you smile.
"You have a beautiful smile," says Sora. I blush; is really that much to be complimented over?
"No, it's not beautiful, it's amazing," says Roxas, and if it's possible, I blush harder.
"It's nothing special, really," I tell them. But they shake their heads and tell me it really is.
"Aw, Luna, they're complimenting you!" says Theo playfully. "Take it; it may be your only chance!" I smack his arm. We all start laughing again.
Soon, Kairi insists on taking me shopping for some more clothes-"All expenses on me; I've got plenty to spare!"-and Theo goes with Riku and the twins to get himself some stuff. As we separate into our different groups, I smile inwardly. In a matter of hours, I've gone from washing ashore as an amnesiac to a girl with her friends, shopping for clothes. What a difference.
End of Chapter 1
Le: So I hope you all liked it! This chapter got pretty good reviews from the people who've already read it, so please review this chapter! I need to know how it's going. Peace out!