It's been a while since I last did a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Instead of a new story involving the main Kingdom Hearts setting and it's characters, I decided to create a story based around an original setting of my own, incorporating key (no pun intended) concepts from the game series itself. Thus, I give you, Awakening.
Chapter 1: Promise
As the man walked through the ruined village, he thought of the careless use of power that led to the village's destruction. Had it been light, or darkness? Or, perhaps, both? None of it mattered now, what was done was done. Before he could leave the ruins, however, a small boy ran up to him, tugging on the lower part of his trench coat.
"And who are you, little boy?" The man asked.
"You've got to help me, sir!" The boy yelled. "My mother... please!"
It seemed not all in the village was lifeless. The man sighed, both in relief and frustration, looking around before he gazed back down at the boy. "Take me to her."
The boy lead the man to a house whose roof had been torn off and whose walls had been blackened. Inside was a woman, who appeared to be badly injured.
"Who... who is this, Sathestrias...?" The woman said, weakly and quietly.
The boy ran to his mother, kneeling down and holding her. He looked up towards the man, his eyes filled with both hope and desperation. "Can... can you help her, sir?"
The man walked towards the boy and his mother slowly, kneeling down to inspect her wounds. He sighed once more, sadly this time. He did not know this boy or his mother, but he felt sorrow for them. "I am sorry, young one. I cannot save her."
The boy's hope turned to grief, as he cried, his head on his mother's shoulder.
The woman looked towards her son and hugged him, and then turned her eyes back towards the man.
"Take my son somewhere safe... please, I beg of you."
He was not one to meddle in the affairs of others, even if it would benefit them, but he couldn't help but feel this was a time of exception. He knelt down, looked towards the boy, and then towards his mother.
"I will help your son, but it is best if your last moments are spent with him in private." The man said as he stood back up and walked out of the destroyed house.
He inspected other houses as he waited, finding nothing but broken wood and charred bodies. In some way, the boy and his mother were both fortunate and unfortunate. He could not feel the pain of losing a loved one, as he had not had any loved ones in his life, but he could still feel sorry for them.
After what the man presumed was about half an hour, the boy came out of the house, tears still running down his cheeks.
"I am sorry, young one."
The boy walked up to the man, and looked up towards him. "You'll... you'll take me somewhere safe?"
The man nodded. "Wait outside the gate of this village. I will be with you shortly."
"Thank you, sir."
"You may call me Master Nemius, child." The man said as he turned to face the remains of the village once more.
"My name is Sathestrias." The boy said, running towards the gate seconds later.
The man went through his thoughts as he walked around the village once more. He had been wandering the world for years, now, with no real purpose but to see what there was to be seen. Only recently did he acquire a set home of his own, in mist-shrouded mountains that were hours away from this place. His thoughts soon centered around this boy. He showed... promise. Promise which the man had not seen in the countless men and women he had come across. After minutes of thinking, he decided.
He would take the boy as his own, and train him.