Whispers of the Heart, a kingdom hearts fanfic

A/N: Hello! This is basically a giant rewrite of an old story I made many moons ago combined with a bunch of new and fresher ideas. It was never well written, and a lot of my ideas for it back then were plain and just didn't flow well. Recently, I rediscovered my love for Kingdom Hearts, as it was a series that initially got me into writing to start with. I've always felt the plot is very malleable. This fic includes a variety of OC's and canon characters. I started writing this particular piece back in 2014, but I never got past a paragraph. I found inspiration and new ideas when Final Fantasy XV finally released last November. Some of these characters have never had a proper story written for them, that or it was never completed. If people really want, I will more than likely write something for those who we do not see an extensive back story from. For the most part, these characters and their stories will be summarized, and may even be broken down in one or two chapters. And for characters we are familiar with who may not have a full story behind them in Kingdom Hearts, one will be given to them.

I might as well also mention there will be some non Disney worlds in this fic.

To be frank, this is all purely self indulgent and a way for me to revisit my roots in a way! The time line may run a bit wonky by the way, not exact to the canon time line, and I will be certain to try and warn you beforehand and explain things in the notes at the end of each chapter. For starters, this story takes place five years before the events of Birth By Sleep.

Now, without further ado, let us begin our tale.

1. The Beginning

You do what you can for as long as you can, and when you finally can't, you do the next best thing. You back up but you don't give up.

Chuck Yeager

"Why are we running so fast, mama?"

Frantically, the woman pulls the child along with her as they race through corridors. Each time they turn a corner, an explosion follows and the woman's feet seem to move faster. 'Calm, calm! Stay calm!' her mind screams, and her hand tightens around the child's much smaller one as they make it outside of the quickly burning walls before the entire building can be engulfed in flames. This is horrifying, this is awful, so many people are dying and she can feel it through her veins and all the way through to her soul. It makes her chest ache, makes her entire body ache. But she cannot stop and grieve for the people she has considered her family since she was indicted as queen of this world. No, she must be strong. Not for just her people, but for the child she has now picked up and cradled to her chest as she runs. Someone is chasing them, trying to snuff her own life out. She is aware of what is happening to this world, as people sob on the streets and try to fight back and escape with their lives.

This world is doomed, though. Something has happened close to the heart of it. A shattering event that is making this world crumble, and crumble fast. She is unable to see what it exactly is that made this happen and part of her feels a gut wrenching guilt that she did not see it before it happened, something her people relied on her for.

Her husband is dead; killed trying to give her an opening to escape. 'Get away from here! Just go!' His death was something she could not foresee as well, and it troubled her.

Even now as she tried to see what lied ahead, all she could see was darkness. Pure, pitch black darkness. It's coming. No, not now. Not for sometime. But it was coming, and this was the start. This was where it would begin and make itself known.

It was present and it was going to become stronger.

"Don't watch." She murmurs breathlessly into her daughter's hair, running as fast as her feet can. The child clings to her, arms wrapped tightly around her neck for dear life.

A nod comes from the little girl, face buried in her mothers shoulder while her eyes squeeze shut.

They race to the edge of the city and her heart beats so fast in her chest that the woman thinks she'll go into cardiac arrest. Everything is falling apart, people lie in the streets unmoving and some even reach out to her as she races by. A pang of guilt washes over her for abandoning them, but this is her duty, her sole reason for living is to ensure that this child stays safe.

The queen does not foresee the attack that comes from behind and strikes her directly in the back. It knocks her down and she channels magic into her palms to put a barrier around the child so she does not crush her into the concrete.

"Escaping is useless. This world is falling apart as you and I face each other."

She swears she knows that face and those golden hues that belong to it. It's for a short moment, but a memory tries to surface. In this panicked state she is unable to bring it up fully.

He's an older man, bald with a beard that is white and gray. Dressed in a leather coat and boots that reach his knees. It startles her when she feels such a negative energy coming from him, and her soul practically shrivels as she tries to touch the depths of his mind. She yelps when she is quickly shut out from prying and she narrows her eyes.

"Who are you?"

"That is not important, your majesty. I've heard of you from the many places I have traveled to over the years. I can tell what they say is true; you can look into the thoughts of others, can you not?" She does not answer. It doesn't seem like he cares whether she does or doesn't seeing how continues on anyway. "See through into their hearts is what one person told me."

"That isn't true." She finally speaks, clutching her child closely to her as she feels her shaking now. "I'm a seer. I cannot do as you have been told."

The child.

It echoes so clearly into her own mind, and it is so vivid that it startles her. No, there was no way this child in her arms could do such a thing. Such a gift had never been heard of, at least in this world she lived in.

"If you help me, I can stop your kingdom from disappearing forever. I can fix the damage that has been done."

He lies.

He's here for the child.

A chord is struck in her. A clairvoyant could have many gifts, a few, or just a single one. Not one was the exact same. Anyone could be born with any sort of gift, but her child had not even unlocked such powers yet. She was too young still.

This man didn't know that this what he was seeking yet. Her child had not exhibited powers of any kind yet, so he could not know.

The future is unpredictable to her in this moment. Probabilities exist and there are chances that what one may see will not indeed come true. A solid fate came in a single vision to one that was more gifted in that area, much like she. It did not come in this moment when she needed it most; a gifted seer who had honed her skills for years.

It didn't matter though. She knew what needed to be done.

"Running will not help you. I thought I made that clear." She wonders if he can read her mind if he is able to predict that she plans to resist. He summons a key like sword and is prepared to strike her down. A barrier though is in place around her to give her time to perform accordingly. He curses loudly when he cannot break through, and she expands it so far that it shatters and sends him back a few feet so she can run.

Running was useless. She knew it was.

He'd catch up to her. The future told her what her fate was in this moment as she held her child to her tightly, cherishing that short moment to forget for just a second about what was to come.

"You will forget. You will forget this world and you will forget the faces of the people who loved you," the queen murmurs into her hair and tears spill from her eyes as she she sees more and more images, so many flickering before her eyes. "You will be happy, and meet many wonderful people who will love you just as I have always loved you from the moment you were in my womb. You won't forget me forever, my little darling."

The child looks up at her face finally, confused and afraid, as the queen begins to whisper words she cannot even begin to understand because she is too young. "But-!"

"Memories leave, memories hide, deep in this heart until the time is right. Sleep now to forget; forget and forget, but learn, and learn when the time is nigh."

"You will perish with this world, lady Cora!"

"I love you."

The child disappears in the blink of an eye, and as the man with the key shaped sword approaches her and pierces her from behind, she falls to her knees and smiles. As this occurs, golden chains erupt from her back and wind around the man; trapping him in place as the earth beneath them begins to violently shake. He tries to break them, break through and escape.

Cora won't allow it. "You will perish here as well."

The kingdom of Aryndusia falls, and with it, her queen and its citizens.

"C'mon! I swear I won't tell Cid if you teach me."

Blue eyes roll at the promise to keep it a secret. "For the last time, it's not something I can just teach ya. Besides, Cid would rip my throat out if he found out. You're just a kid still."

"I'm gonna be a man soon!"

"You're only 10." A voice says on his other side. Sky blue hues that glimmer with something that could be considered otherworldly narrow at the young boy.

"No he isn't, he's 9."

"Wait, really?"

"I'll be 10 in three months!"

"You've gotta be 13 to start training in the guard." The boy whines when she flicks his forehead, but he knows she's holding back brute strength she would not be afraid to exhibit to someone else. He'd snuck in to watch the sparring sessions before. It had mostly been to see the great general Sephiroth in all his glory, but it seemed like one of lord Ansem's apprentices always found him before it got good. "Plus the guard only accepts honest folks, not people who lie about their age."

He pouts, crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance while he kicks an abandoned can someone had neglectfully dropped here at some point in time. It clanks up ahead, hitting a brick wall and coming to a stop. The older two roll their eyes and shake their heads, the male running his fingers through his dark, ashen-brown hair.

"Don't you have some other people to go follow around, Zell?"

Zell looks up at her and huffs, standing and making himself appear much bigger than he initially even is. A scrawny little blonde boy with wild hair that always seemed to stick every which way and eyes that are a clear, greyish blue that reminds the young woman of stormy skies. His brow is wrinkled and he looks ready to stomp his foot like he tended to do when nothing went his way.

Similar to his uncle; he'd certainly inherited his temper from Cid, no doubt there.

He doesn't answer and the woman sighs, stopping and turning to kneel down in front of him. "Look, how about we go for a hot dog when we're done with our patrol?" She asks, smiling at him.

Zell's eyes light up. "Ya mean it?"

"'Course. Would I lie to you?" She winks at him and he fist bumps the air. "Nyx'll pay, of course."

Nyx narrows his eyes at her, arms crossed over his chest. "Hey wa-"

"Wahoo!" Zell cheers, running around them for a second before running back in the opposite direction. "Thanks, Cassie! You're the best!"

Cassie smiles, shaking her head and watching him until he rounds the corner that leads back into central town square and is gone from her view. She looks up at Nyx and his face is turned down into an irritated frown of sorts, making her smile more. "Oh, don't be like that." She teases, nudging him with her shoulder gently. "I'll pay you back tomorrow."

"You always say that though."

Nyx Ulric is a young man of 18 and has been in the guard from the moment he turned 13 years old. Many of the towns young girls thought him to be handsome and would always follow him around to try and get a date from him. Since his early childhood though, he had been training to one day become a soldier. He is a non native to the city of Radiant Garden, instead coming from a city called Galahd that is a 3 day journey on foot, one if you are lucky to have a chocobo. When Nyx was 11, his mother had decided to bring him and his sister along with her on a short business trip to Radiant Garden to gather some supplies that would be delayed longer than she initially wanted to wait. His mother was a seamstress, and business was booming. As a single parent, it was great that she was able to provide for her children and herself with her craft. It made sense to Nyx at the time that she didn't want to wait.

Now that he was older and able to reflect, he wished she had just been patient.

They were almost there when a pack of Nibel wolves attacked their cart. His mother was the first to die, trying to protect her two children; mauled to death. Somehow he was knocked down and unconscious in trying to get away with Katrina.

"Nyx, please don't let go!"

"I won't! I've got you, just hold on!"

"Nyx!"

He was almost dead when lord Ansem and his guards found him while returning home after trying to negotiate some deal with Nifelheim. They discovered the scene, and Ansem was quick to come to the young boy's aid. When Nyx came to consciousness, he could not remember all the details. All he could remember was holding Katrina's hand as they tried to run for ground that was higher up, that the wolves couldn't scale. No one ever could figure out what did happen, but it was speculated Katrina had been grabbed and dragged away from him before Nyx had a chance to do anything.

7 years later and he still had survivors guilt.

After the untimely death of his family, a man by the name of Cor Leonis took Nyx in. The rugged middle aged man was one of the guards top general's, and was often seen by Ansem's side, keeping watch over him. He'd been there the day they discovered Nyx in the wilderness, saving his life ultimately. Cor had gladly took him in and treated him like family, opening his home for Nyx and even taking the position as a mentor for the young man. With not having a father present in his life, Cor definitely filled that void for him in time. To Nyx, he owed his life to Ansem and Cor. When he was old enough to begin training in the guard, he joined as a way to repay his debts.

"Yeah, but I always come through. Eventually." Cassie grins, winking. It makes him rub the back of his neck sheepishly.

Nyx met Cassiopeia Mason not long after he began to live here in Radiant Garden. Her circumstances were far different than his own. Where Nyx had wanted to join as means to repay a debt to lord Ansem, Cassie joined to spite her father. Her family ran the Chocobo stables here in town and she with her six other siblings were expected to get work done.

Cassie hated shoveling chocobo manure, so she snuck off quite often to get out of it. You could always tell when she got stuck with doing it whenever she'd show up to play with disheveled hair and dirty clothes.

About a month after he'd arrived here, Nyx found her; some scrawny 10 year old little girl in the town square sitting atop some older boy and pulling at the front of his shirt with a fist raised threateningly. What caught his attention the most was the wild auburn hair and scraped up knees that were covered in bandages.

It was obviously a bad situation, but when she brought her fist down and clocked the older boy in the face, he was impressed and startled all at once.

"That's what you get for making my big sister cry!"

She became his first friend since had arrived here in Radiant Garden.

"So, what are we doing today?" Cassie looks up at him curiously while his own hands play with his Kukris. It was a little startling that he was able to do so many tricks with his pair of daggers without ever hurting himself. Cassie knew there had to be an instance where he'd a least nicked himself once or twice. If it happened, it's kept a secret nowadays.

"Patrolling outside of south gate." He replies. "General Sephiroth said there's been reports coming in about a Wyvern."

Cassie's brow arches. "This far up north?"

"That's what the report was." He shrugs his shoulders, also finding the report odd. Wyvern's tended to be further south where the mountains were. None of them every came close to town, like most monsters never seemed to as well.

"Bet it's some kid pulling a prank." Cassie scoffed

"Wouldn't doubt it." Nyx says. Kids were always pulling stunts these days, harmful or not. It was aggravating. The gate keepers for the day open the doors for them so they can exit and investigate. "Ready to kick some ass if we have to?"

She laughs, punching her fist into her open palm. "Hell yeah."

Cassie is, for the lack of a better word, special. She's been part of a special training regiment after being brought in for an experimental treatment called Mako. The substance was something created by two men named Hojo and Gast, and was designed as an enhancement drug. The stuff was finicky from what Nyx had heard; sometimes if your body couldn't withstand it, it could poison you badly enough you wouldn't even know what was happening. It wasn't impossible for it to kill someone either. The first person to ever receive it was a man named Sephiroth, their current general and the man who had taken Cassie under his wing after she showed promise and capability when her body didn't put up any resistance to it. She'd been chosen out of several candidates, and she was one of the few who held enough promise. She was nowhere near as strong as the silver haired man and it was likely that there never would be anyone strong like him.

Nyx was special as well. As a gift for his 12th birthday, Cor had gifted him with a pair of special daggers that had been passed down from generation to generation in a kingdom of old that he'd traveled to in his younger days. The daggers held a special type of magic in them that one could feel the moment their fingers connect with them. It's a bond, between man and weapon; one that you could feel in your soul if such a connection were to exist. The magic they held in them was called Glaive magic; a type of magic that allowed Nyx to teleport by throwing one to a specific location. So long as he held the other dagger, he could freely move wherever he so wished.

"Polished that thing recently?" He eyes his comrade's weapon of choice; a gunblade that had been a gift from him when she'd been promoted to the same rank as him. It's obvious to see how dull the metal looks from recent extensive use, most likely from training practice.

"Just yesterday! I'll have to do it again later I guess. Looks kinda icky. Don't want it to rust like captain Steiner's armor." She holds the blade up and whines when the sun doesn't reflect off of it as it normally does.

"Y'know, I don't think he's ever taken time to every properly clean it?" He laughs, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Next thing ya know they'll be calling you Rusty, too." He teases.

She opens her mouth to comment, but stops to focus her gaze on something on the ground up ahead by some boulders that had been knocked down from a recent landslide in the maw. Among the fallen rocks appears to be a small lump that does not resemble a rock. "Hey, do you see that?"

"Hm?"

"There. Up ahead." She points to what she is seeing, and he sees it too after a moment, brow furrowing. "Is that a kid?"

Their pace quickens to get a better look to confirm what they think they are seeing. And when they stop in front of it, they are both startled. Nyx is already looking around to see if maybe there were others nearby, but he sees no one. No indication that anyone has even come this way in some time. Cassie is on her knees beside the unconscious child, checking for signs of life. It is not unusual, for accidents to occur out here. It reminds Nyx of himself for a moment. The child looks a little younger than he was when his mother and sister died, probably around Zell's age, maybe a year younger.

"Someone just left her here?"

"I don't want to think that's the case, but it looks like it. This is the strangest place to just leave her though. We're not even five minutes outside of the gate. Why not just set her outside of the gate directly rather than go to this trouble? And look at these rocks. Looks like someone or something blew them up."

Nothing was adding up, but right now there wasn't time to think about it. Nyx knelt down after removing his coat, wrapping the girl up in it and holding her close to him. "We need to get her back to town now. She's been out here more than a couple of hours. I don't think we should risk it."

"Bad..."

The weak, soft voice startles them as she murmurs. Talking is a good sign. Nyx stares down at her, frowning. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Bad..." She murmurs again, her tiny fist gripping the fabric of Nyx's shirt. Her skin is a sickly pale color and cold to the touch. Neither teenagers can understand why she keeps uttering this word, and assume that she is delirious with illness from being outside and exposed to the elements for so long. She says no more, and it sets them in motion.

The two guard members scamper back to town, ignoring the gate keepers when they ask what the rush is, and the yells of frustration that come from citizens they nearly run over to try and get to the nearest clinic. Neither one answers, hearts beating erratically in an almost desperate manner to get this little girl help, because she is an innocent life.

Neither knows in this moment of time that this child has just come from the first world that has fallen to darkness.

References

As this occurs, golden chains erupt from her back and wind around the man; trapping him in place as the earth beneath them begins to violently shake.

-A pure Naruto reference from when Kushina Uzumaki tries to hold off the Kyuubi.

- Zell Dincht is a main character and party member in the game Final Fantasy VIII.

-Cassie is an OC that comes from an unfinished Final Fantasy VII work that I still have up on this site.

Nyx Ulric is a young man of 18 and has been in the guard from the moment he turned 13 years old. Many of the towns young girls thought him handsome and would always follow him around to try and get a date from him.

- Nyx Ulric is the main protag in the movie Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.

- Cor Leonis is a character that appears in Final Fantasy XV, sometimes helping Noctis and company. He plays a more crucial role in episode Gladiolus.

She's been part of a special training regiment after being brought in for an experimental treatment called Mako.

- Mako is a keyword in the game Final Fantasy VII. It's an energy source that is created by taking energy from the planet's life stream, and is also used in creating members for the SOLDIER program. The training regimen is in reference to SOLDIER

The substance was something created by two men named Hojo and Gast, and was designed as an enhancement drug.

-Professors Gast and Hojo are two notable characters from the Final Fantasy VII universe.

"Just yesterday! I'll have to do it again later I guess. Looks kinda icky. Don't want it to rust like captain Steiner's armor."

- Adelbert Steiner is captain of the Knights of Pluto in Final Fantasy IX. He is a main character and party member. The nickname of 'Rusty' is given to him by Zidane.