Ebony Fragments
Prologue
Everything up until now had been a blur after I stopped working with my brother… going on to deal with a sister that despises me I felt no reason to bother with anything else in my life…that is... Until I joined the organization…following in my older sister's footsteps… I think we both did the same before my younger sister Xenia's ever unending hatred for me she told me she was going to join another organization. There in those halls of the organization was my home everything I could have ever wanted was inside those comforting castle walls… at least that's what I thought…until that day… I was trapped inside my own love of being a drone even though I was one of the higher members… until that day…
Chapter One
Night Fall
Sitting on the chair closest to the balcony I looked out my window at the golden color of the moon against the purple sky of a young night.
"What a beautiful night why don't you go out for a while." Cort my blue and purple eyed cat walked out of the shadows from under my bed he stretched his paws out as if he had just finished sleeping.
"Cort…" He looked at me as if I had spoken some foolish nonsense. All I say was a flash of a snow colored white and next thing I knew he was sitting on my lap.
"Don't Cort me Erin… you've been locked up in this castle for weeks when was the last time you even went outside to even stand by the ocean side?" His eyes were locked on me… he was waiting for what type of answer I was going to give him.
"Well you're right it has been awhile but…even if I did go somewhere it wouldn't make much of a difference if I went by myself. It will just be the same as being here…I mean that's the way I see it." I couldn't help but to look at his eyes… what cat you know other than mine to have purple and blue eyes… After staring at me for a couple of minutes finally deciding that nothing that he said would change my mind he jumped off of me and hopped into my bed. I herd him mumble something along the lines of 'selfish child' apparently he wanted me gone so that he could have the whole room for himself.
I got up and walked to my door looking at him almost half asleep he raised an ear as I opened the door I walked out unto the velvet red carpeted floors and closed the door. Walking down the almost endless hallway this girl looked at me but I ignored her and kept on walking. Then she followed me into the foyer and stared at me while I took a seat in one of the chairs.
"Hey, you girl, what are you doing here, I've never seen you here before…who are you." She looked at me as if she was ready to kill. I felt like I was in a zoo she was staring at me so hard
"Can I help you," Keeping my poise I continued to look forward at the wall
"I am Zexonim and what are you doing here in our Organization Xenia" She looked at me as if I was not supposed to be here in the organization. Immediately I took offense to her calling me Xenia; I looked nothing like her…even if she was my sister she wanted to have nothing to do with me, so I will disown her. Zexonim drew her sword and held it at my throat….I kept my composure and continued to look forward, hoping that she could tell that I was irritated.
"Now I will ask you one more time…what are you doing here…?" She brought the sword closed to my throat… I flinched slightly but I don't think that she noticed…with out a seconds hesitation I quickly disappeared and was behind her, I took the hand with her sword and twisted it behind her back…She screamed in pain as I continued to hold her arm back…
"Now let's get one thing straight…. Don't ever confuse me with that no good ingrate of a sister of mine, second of all if you ever…" I pulled back on her arm harder making her scream louder… "EVER do that again… more than your arm will be hurting…" I let her go and then I pushed her in the chair…. She looked at me like she was somewhat upset at what had happened…
"Let's try that again…."
I noticed that she really didn't like what I had to say…
"Well if you're not Xenia then who are you???"
I smiled politely… "I'm Erin I was here right when the organization started., funny because I've never seen you around here anyway… "
"If you've been in the organization for so long how come I haven't seen you??" This was the last question that I would want to answer then all I saw was bright red rose petals fall from the sky… Akxsad was back he smiled at us both.
"Well, well, well, you guys are looking lively….Haven't seen you in awhile Erinys where have you been…" I smiled curtly at his question… I just simply nodded my head and replied.
" You know I was never one to be a people person…" They were both shocked by my reply… I mean what else was I supposed to say this is all that I've been doing except for the occasional outing late at night…
She looked at me and smiled at me… it looked like a forced smile but I'm not one to complain… Akxsad looked at the both of us…
"Ok what's going on…" We both stared at him for a second and then we looked at each other… Zexonim got out of the chair and smiled at him…
" Oh… we were just having a friendly conversation. Nothing more nothing less…" He looked at us and smiled..
"What's really going on here." He looked at us like we were hiding something from him… Which apparently infuriated him.
Seeing that there was little that could be done to calm him down I smiled politely…
"Well we just had a little confusion…nothing to worry about we straightened things out and everything is ok now…"
He smiled at me, walked over and patted me on the back…
"I like you Erin… you know how to handle a situation…"
I forced a smile on my face and I looked at Zexonim, she was trying to do the same…then he started to walk away… I stood there for a little while wondering weather or not if I should go out tonight…. Well if I went out I would be able to clear my head of all this other nonsense in my head and if I stayed in I would have to listen to Cort rambling on again about how I've been locked up in here for weeks… So after standing there for a few seconds I looked at Zexonim and smiled…
"Hey since no one else is around and I really don't want to stay here…Do you want to go to the coliseum in Olympus with me… "
She looked at me and gave me a crooked smile…
"Are we going there to watch or to actually get our hands dirty?"
I let out a long laugh…
"You really think that I would invite you to go to the coliseum just so that we could sit there and watch…that would just be cruel of me."
She smiled and stood up from her chair….
"Yeah let's go…it's way too boring around here anyway…What was your name again?"
As I opened a portal I looked at her and gave her a curt smile…
"The name's Erin, and what was yours again.."
"Zexonim… I hope you're a good fighter.."
She smiled at me as we both walked through the portal to Olympus with me… Hmm things were starting to get better in my life I guess but who am I to judge right now… I'm still alone… I have no one to talk to that's human to talk to… All I have is a cat, but sometimes I wonder if he even listens to me…Now I think I am actually making a friend in the organization, could this day get any better. Well we've arrived at Olympus but we decided to take a little detour, down into the city below.
" And why are we down here again?" I was looking around an alley with Zexonim…
I don't think she herd me because she was too busy looking for someone…
"Huh…oh I'm looking for someone… Wait I think I see him…" She started walking up to a guy. I was wondering what was about to happen within the next couple of hours. She was looking for a guy and all I had came here for was some pure tournament fighting to clear my head. He looked at her, walked up to her and hugged her, then he turned around looked at me and waved politely. He was very tall, his blonde hair stood out up against his green eyes.
"Oh yeah right Erin this is Seda… he's my boyfriend…" I looked at her weird… Did she forget our limitations… I smiled at her…
"Zexonim can I talk to you for a second…" She looked at me very awkwardly and walked over to the corner where I had moved to. I
" What… how can you love… I can't feel anything…. I just don't know what to say…"
I was depressed, confused, and unable to understand why she was `able' to do all of these things…
She smiled at me and hugged me…
" Erin you don't need to worry about that type of stuff… when you find the right person…it's almost like you'll learn to feel…" I think she noticed that I was about to cry and she whispered something along the lines of everything was going to be all right… and for some strange reason I found myself believing her. It was just a hunch but I feel like that she had a point in saying that… Seda looked over concerned for the both of us and said something along the lines of is everything okay?? I looked at him and automatically regained my composure…
"Yea everything's fine….just…I…it's nothing… So I'll meet you guys later at the coliseum." I walked off felling like a real idiot…. I really wanted to feel that bad that… I would be willing to go that far… I kept on walking thinking the same thing in my head over and over again….
About a mile off I herd someone scream for help but it sounded so distant that I though it was my imagination but then as I got further and further down the alley it kept becoming louder and louder. I noticed myself starting to run as the sound got louder and louder… Then I saw someone in the distance…. It looked like a guy… he had brown hair and he was trying to fend something off near the distance….. All of a sudden it felt like I just had to help him so I started to run faster and I winded up standing next to him he looked at me awkwardly.
" So are you going to help anytime soon…" I looked at him and I took out my treasured sword given to me by my father… Aburrnite.
"What would I doing here if I didn't want to help…." All of a sudden I herd a loud growl and I saw a shadow materialize in front of us… I took a step back… and I started to brace myself… He looked strongly back into my bluish gray eyes as if I was going to run away but his expression changed when I suddenly took a leap at the creature…
Ever herd the saying look before you leap…well I learned why when the monster took my sword and threw me too the ground… I think I let out a little squeal but it didn't bother me too much… I looked at the creature and it smirked wickedly; I sensed something abnormal about this creature, maybe it was just me but this wasn't you average shadow in the alley that randomly attacks people out of nowhere…but most of you think that's not normal anyway… Realizing that if I didn't get up soon that something strange was going to happen I forced myself up only to notice that I herd a strange voice; It sounded like it was saying: "We have come for your predecessor and you MUST NOT interfere unless you plan to act in our favor…" I lost myself for a minute, then I started to black out. While all of that was going on…while I still had some sense of what was going on around me I noticed that he shadow had disappeared and the guy was running over to me… He sounded like he was screaming am I ok but I by then I was on the ground unconscious.
…………………………………….. Zexonim POV …………………………………………………………
I was holding on to him tight… It just felt right… Seda looked at me with a strong gaze, being extremely concerned…
"Hey Zexonim what happened to your friend…Erin?" I looked up at him and I tried to fake him a reassuring smile….
"She'll be ok she just needs sometime to get her thoughts together… She'll meet us at the coliseum I promise." We were walking down the alley… I just wanted to get him off of the subject. When she asked me about it she sounded a little pissed off about it so she's just trying to cool off I guess… She was really hurt in a sense so I'm hoping that this is just a little… period in time for her… Then I noticed Seda looked at me…
"What's wrong you look like your mad? Did I do something wrong? Or are you just worried about your friend?" I smiled at him but deep down even I knew that I was worried about Erin; Even for the short time that I had known her it's not like her to go off for that long and at least not check in.
"Well, ya I am a little concerned, it's not like her to do something like this and be gone for this amount of time." Seda looked at me.
"Well maybe we should go after her…If that's what you want to do." He knew that he was going to have this one won… I smiled at him and nodded my head in agreement… We looked at each other, and ran off looking for Erin…
______________End of Zexonim POV______________
I felt like I had gone through a meat grinder and then someone had put me in a printing press. I woke up slowly, I noticed that I was in someone's apartment, then I tried to sit up I was stopped by a hand up against my chest… I looked to see where the hand had came from and I noticed that it was that guy from earlier he looked at me with his green eyes and smiled at me…
" Don't get up so fast. You've been out for a day now… Are you okay now??" When he would look at me with his green eyes it felt like all time would stop…
"Yeah…thanks… hey I've been wondering…what's your name??" He smiled at me and took the wet towel from off of my forehead
"My name…is Erin. Say did you see what that thing was?" I looked at him and I had a slight memory cross my mind… it was one of how I felt when I was around my brother. This strong sense of being fulfilled...
"No, I don't." He sighed. "This has been happening for weeks on end… I don't know exactly what is going on it was right after the time I had left the organization…" I looked at him questionably. I slowly got up and walked towards the mirror. He looked at me strangely but I shrugged it off.
"Hey, what did you say your name was again?" I fiddled with my ponytail getting it back to its gelled messiness.
"I didn't. But Its Jake." He smiled at me and tied my ponytail with my pink ribbon after watching me clumsily try to finish. "So what is such a pretty girl like you doing all the way out down in this small little town?" He was very laid back for a guy who just got hunted down by a shadow…
"Actually a friend and I were about to go to Olympus to fight in Hercules Cup tournament… Awww, crap I totally left Zexonim and Seda." He smiled at me and put on his gray jacket.
"Hey no worries; look I'll help you find them alright." He smiled at me and took a small piece of wood out of his desk drawer. I looked at him with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"And what are you planning to do with that?" He looked at me and smiled. He was actually being serious. He held it out in front of him and it elongated slightly into a small, well you could it was the equivalent of what I called to be a tree branch. " And what exactly are you going to kill with that?" He looked at me and became slightly discouraged.
"Its worked before…" He gave me puppy dog eyes. I walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder…
"Here try this instead." I held out my hand and a small crystal dagger appeared. He took it from my hand and waved it around and got a feel for it.
"Wow its perfect…" He smiled at me and attempted to take a proper stance with it.
"The sword has a spell cast on It to make it adjust it's self for optimum performance for its user. " I gently grabbed his hand and adjusted him so that he was in the proper stance. He started getting a feel for it and he set it in its sheath and tied it onto his waste.
"Thanks a lot Erin," He slipped me a kiss on my cheek and opened the door for me. We walked outside only to be greeted by Maleficent.
"Well you're a sight for sore eyes." I looked into Maleficent's yellow eyes. I noticed a curt smile appear on her face and she gave me a slightly respective bow.
"It has been awhile but we don't have time for small talk," Her eyes became stern they narrowed a slight bit. "There is something I need you to do for me, that boy, Sora, he's going to be defending his title at the Hercules cup. I need you to enter and make sure that you get to the final round. This should be of some assistance." She opened up her green hands and a small green flame appeared… I found myself in a trance the flame and I felt myself becoming stronger every time the flame cracked. Jake stared at me wondering what was going on and then looked at Maleficent.
"What are you doing to her; and what do you want with Sora?" She smiled at him wickedly and then shook her head.
"You're his…Hmmm. He and I have a personal score to settle. All I have to say to you is don't interfere with this Erin's Job…" As Maleficent spoke she stopped the flame and I slowly felt myself become weak at the knees and drop down and Jake caught me.
"Are you alright?" His voice was very hushed but it had a strong seriousness to it. I nodded and his attention immediately reverted back to Maleficent.
"Take this as well." She threw a new set of spell cards, a sword, and black ribbons. "You should know what the ribbons are for. The sword is the Sabre Fatalle. That is all, I shall check in with you later." Maleficent slowly turned around and disappeared into a portal. Jake looked at me and his reflected apprehensive mood.
"Are you sure you're alright." I looked up at him slowly. I was still struggling on finding a way to channel all of the energy that was passed to me. "You need to rest come on; we'll find your friends tomorrow."
"NO!" I screamed, slightly losing myself. "No," regaining some composure. " I have to enter into that tournament today… I have a good feeling that they are there anyway." I slowly forced myself to get up, I stumbled a bit but I stood and I opened a portal. "Are you coming to Olympus Coliseum with me or are you staying behind?" He was shocked by my words and he got up and kept his eyes locked on me. I couldn't tell if he was more shocked by me getting up or how I was forcing myself to go to the tournament.
"Alright, but I don't like this." He and I walked through the portal together. On the other side we saw the huge coliseum gates and we walked through together. Phil looked at us and still kept about his business.
"Whadda'ya want?" The fawn went about dusting and checking entries to make sure that they all were matched. Jake looked at me and I nodded.
"I'm here to enter in the Hercules cup." Phil turned around and saw me.
"You look like one of those tribe people, what makes you think YOU'RE good enough to participate in my tournament?" Before I had a chance to reply he continued. "Why am I asking better yet SHOW ME. " He pointed outside to where a group of heartless appeared. I smirked and pulled about Aburrnite.
"I'll be right back…" I ran out side and stood within the small mass of heartless that started to surround me. I stood strongly but suddenly fell to the floor. I don't know if it was because I wasn't finished processing that energy properly or something else. I heard Jake running towards me and screaming my name. I suddenly felt my senses come about me. Only with a strong recoil I stood up and a small shockwave, well not really small, formed taking out all of the heartless and leaving me standing there feeling a lot more powerful than what I was two seconds ago.
"Erin you okay?" Jake ran over to me half out of breath, half out of mind, but he suddenly stopped when he got a few feet away from me. "You've…gotten stronger? "
"Yes," I scowled slightly at the love of my newly awakened power. "Yes I do believe I have." I turned around and quickly changed that scowl into a smile. "Now, lets go back and talk to Phil." I extended out my arm "Shall we?" He took my arm and we walked back inside. Phil looked at me with shock in his eyes.
"You're in. Start getting ready, the tourney starts tomorrow." He turned around and walked away from us. I looked at Jake and he smiled back at me.
" Alright then lets go find your friends now." As soon as he said that Zexonim and Seda ran up to them and Zexonim gave me a big hug.
"Where the hell have you been? " She slapped me in the face and I dryly smiled. Although I was being a nice person I was slightly convinced that I did deserve that. "And who is he?" She looked at Jake and he politely smiled. I looked at her and I hugged her back.
"I just had to clear my head out," After breaking out of the hug I walked next to Jake and introduced him. "And this is Jake, he was being attacked by this really big heartless." Jake smiled and ruffled my Black hair a bit.
"And then after she was attacked I was the one to take care of her." He smiled and shook hands with Seda. Zexonim looked at him and then looked at me teasingly. She started to make a heart gesture with her fingers but I ignored her.
"And this is Seda, Zexonim's boyfriend." Seda smiled courteously and nodded. I looked at the group in front of me and I never expected something as special as what was going to happen between us. All of a sudden the doors opened leading to the underworld and three figures appeared through the light. I flinched at the intensity of the light at first but then I found my eyes narrowing after realizing who the figures were. They were no other than Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
"Something wrong Erin?" Jake looked at me and then he looked at the slowly approaching. His eyes became void. He staggered in his standing and I looked at him. I however felt myself becoming more concerned with my mission. Sora stopped in front of me and smiled.
" Are you here to enter in the tournament?" He smiled at me with his blue eyes and I cunningly replied.
"Yes, I do believe I am. You're the defending champion correct? I look foreword to seeing you within the rounds." I continued to keep a cunning look on my face and Jake dropped on the floor and I continued to be locked on Sora.
" Ah great, I'll see you then." He Donald, and Goofy walked into the coliseum and Maleficent's Raven landed on my shoulder. Turned around and looked forward. I kept my voice in a very hushed, but stern tone.
" You all should go." My eyes narrowed, my voice stayed in a monotone. I dropped a map back to Jakes apartment. " I'll meet you back there…I have to handle this." Zexonim nodded and took the map; Seda carried Jake and they went through a portal back to town. Maleficent appeared through a portal and walked up behind me.
"To say that your mission is to get rid of him…you were quite kind, I hope that your fools play won't get in the way of your mission. " Maleficent stood behind me and pointed at Hercules. "My first question to you would be how you are going to get past him." Looking at the demigod running around the courtyard I could only imagine how Sora managed to get past him.
"I'll figure out a way." I replied sneeringly. Maleficent looked at me and scowled evilly. She patted me on the back and I felt myself become a bit weak afterwards.
" I see my gift to you earlier has set in… Good it will be of some use to you. During the first break of the tournament come to my castle…we have some things to discuss." She locked her eyes on me temporarily. I nodded and I recovered myself from the slight moment of pain.
" I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but I think I have a pretty good handle on the situation." I knew what I was doing and I didn't need the wicked witch of the southeast to bother me, unless her assistance was needed. She smiled at me and she started to walk into a portal. "Thank God." I mumbled under my breath inaudibly. I saw her look back at me but I pretended to ignore it. When she finally disappeared Phil walked outside and handed me a small scroll.
"That's the tournament schedule… Keep to it…It starts tomorrow." I looked at the small fawn and I looked back up at Hercules.
"This is where the fun begins." I made a small portal and walked inside of it back to my room within Castle Oblivion. There was so much to do, and so little time to do it. I'd have to go back and check up on Jake tomorrow…There were some serious things that needed my attention.