A rewrite of the failtastic beginning of "The Wanderer". Inspired by 's "Body and Soul", with a healthy addition of plot bunny. This is set in an alternate timeline where there's a different ending to BBS, Sora never wakes up, and Organization XIII succeeds in their mission.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR ANY OF ITS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES AND CHARACTERS!
I just own this story. Enjoy!
Chapter 0—Prologue
Where am I?
The woman stirred, groaning a bit. Her head was throbbing in pain.
Her eyes opened, revealing lapis irises. She brushed her blue bangs aside.
Who am I?
A surge of panic rushes through her.
I do not know my name!
The woman rolled over, getting her knees below her. She resisted the urge to vomit.
She got up, staggering a bit. There were several scratches and bruises across her body, and all of her muscles ached.
The woman looked down at her body and took note of her strange outfit. Grey metal boots with spikes on the outside of the ankles clad her feet, and black stockings extended up to the middle of her thighs.
She was wearing black shorts and a blue corset that stretched up into a choker around her neck. Pink leather straps intersected in an X shape on her chest. Two pieces of blue cloth hung from her hips like a dress that were secured by a white belt. White silk bell sleeves sheathed her arms and tan, fingerless gloves were on her hands.
The woman looked around, finding that she was in a garden of some sort. Over to the right a waterfall fell up to the sky. Stone walls, covered with ivy, encircled the area.
Without warning a blue-black swirl coalesced in front of her. The dark cloud thickened and contorted, forming a strange monster.
It snarled and snapped at her, leering with its glowing red eyes, before lashing out with its claws.
Out of reflex the woman flipped away. She looked at her hands, surprised.
How did I do that?
The monster took a step forward, and another step, and pounced.
The woman's mind raced. I'm going to die.
She raised a fist, knowing resistance was futile, but refusing to go down without a fight.
She swung. The monster suddenly stopped in midair, and moaned in pain.
A gigantic key, clenched in her hand, had impaled it. Without another sound the monster disintegrated into a black cloud; a small pink heart drifted off into the sky.
Rain Fall.
The name pulsed through the woman's mind.
Is that my name? No. It didn't sound quite right. It was familiar, but not her name.
Then is it this weapon's name?
That sounded more…right? So the weapon was called Rain Fall.
A warm hum enveloped her hand, and Rain Fall disappeared.
Alarmed, the woman raised her hand and willed it back. The key rematerialized with a flash of light and a shower of flower petals.
She mentally dismissed the weapon and it disappeared.
Now, to do some exploration.
She needed to know where she was and who she was. In fact, she realized, she had almost no memories. What had happened to her?
But as she strode towards the entrance of the waterfall garden, four more of the blue-black monsters, plus a massive, round version of the little bastards, showed up in those clouds.
First things first, the woman thought, summoning the Rain Fall sword.
The two more reckless of the smaller monsters jumped at her immediately. A single swiping arc of her key wiped them out.
The other two—she decided to dub them "Shadows" because they looked like nightmarish shadows—were more cautious after witnessing the deaths of their brethren. They sidled towards her, circling, trying to flank her. The big one just lumbered towards her.
The woman took the initiative and charged at the closer of the two Shadows. It returned her aggression, slashing at her with its claws. A claw scratched her arm, and she gasped in pain, but Rain Fall sliced through the little demon regardless.
The other Shadow leaped at her exposed back. Without even looking the woman snapped her arm around and decapitated the creature.
That left the big one.
"Come on," she taunted. "What's the matter? Are you too fat to run?"
It bellowed a battle cry and raised its fists, intent on smashing the impudent woman into the ground.
The woman took advantage of the momentary opening and darted under its arms. She hooked a hand around its massive shoulder, hoisting herself up.
The fat monster roared in anger and agony as Rain Fall slashed into its back again and again.
"Just die already!" the woman hissed, drawing back the key for one last strike.
The monster somehow managed to reach behind its back. Too late, the woman realized what it was trying to do.
She shrieked as she flew through the air, slamming into a wall. Trying to catch her breath, she could only watch as the fat monster stomped closer.
Without thinking the woman raised a hand and…what was she supposed to do now?
An idea just popped into her head. She didn't know how she thought of it, but she did.
"Fire," she gasped. "FIRE, dammit!"
A ball of fire exploded from her outstretched hand, catching the fat monster in the face. It keeled over with a truly epic thud and disintegrated.
Shaking, still trying to catch her breath, the woman stared at the hand that had fired the spell.
The question boomed in her mind again.
Who was she?
Xxx XXX xxX
The young child screamed as his father was consumed by a wreath of fire, the man's skin darkening to jet and sloughing off.
The mother screamed as bit by bit she was burned to pieces.
He screamed a wild laugh as he burned them…burned them…BURNED THEM!
Axel sat bolt upright on the bench, still shaking from his nightmare.
He winced at the novel experience of a nightmare, unable to shake the image of the family he had slaughtered, one of dozens.
The redhead groaned. Why had he done so?
But he was a Nobody then—he couldn't help it, he reminded himself. He'd had no emotions, no capacity for guilt or sorrow or disgust with himself.
Axel's new conscience tormented him every time he thought of the atrocities he had committed for fun.
He stood and stretched, yawning. There was no point dawdling in the past—it was there and always would be, and he had to find some way to alleviate his guilt by going forward.
The redhead shook out of his reverie when he noticed just how quiet it was. Hollow Bastion was never quiet; it was always filled with lively people going to and from.
Axel turned around, scanning the park around him, looking for any threats. His eyes widened as he saw a scene of carnage.
Dozens of Heartless were prowling around the place. Several dead bodies were being torn apart by the ravenous creatures.
Why hadn't they attacked him? Simple—he was apparently a Nobody, a fellow creature of darkness.
Axel was still pissed.
A chakram sliced through one of the tiny Shadows, turning it into a dark mist.
Its fellows snarled in outrage and fanned out to encircle him.
Axel just snorted. "You idiots actually think that's gonna work on me?" he said casually. "Burn, baby, BURN!"
One Shadow leaped and was cut down by a backhand blow. Distraction disposed of, the leather clad pyromaniac slammed both chakrams onto the ground, sending out an omnidirectional wave of ravenous flames.
Every Heartless stupid enough to stay in place—namely, all of them—was incinerated.
Axel turned away from the slaughtered monsters and scanned the devastated town. He shook his head, knowing that the possibility of any survivors who hadn't fled at this point was extremely low.
Still, there was a chance. He jogged into the main street, eyes and ears alert for any living humans.
The sound of metal clashing against the iron-hard skin of Heartless made him whirl around. Who could be fighting?
The redhead sprinted towards the brawl. If anybody was combating the creatures of darkness he had to assist.
A human figure was dueling with a pair of Soldiers. Even as he watched the warrior knocked back one of the Heartless with a well-timed Reflect, before striking it down with a Thunder.
As Axel drew closer he could see that the figure was a blue-haired woman armed with what appeared to be a blue-grey keyblade. His shock at seeing that weapon, however, was nothing compared to what he felt when the woman's face came into view.
She was beautiful, dazzling, stunning, not fighting, but rather dancing in battle with the remaining Soldier. Her lapis eyes effortlessly captured his own gaze, coercing him to keep eye contact with her. Her alluring face was clenched in determination as she acrobatically flipped away from a slashing claw.
Something caught in Axel's throat as the humanoid Heartless forced the woman back. He drew his chakrams, angered at the monster's brazen attack.
The woman recoiled again, startled, as a spinning grey-black disk cleaved straight through the Soldier. She turned to see a red-haired man in a long black coat stalking towards her.
"Are you okay?" he asked concernedly.
The wanderer smiled. "I'm fine, thank you," she replied. "May I ask who you are?"
Axel grinned. "My name's Axel," he declared, pointing a thumb at his chest. "Got it memorized?"
"Axel," the woman murmured. "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," he said. "Now, may I know who you are? Not everybody can wield a keyblade, you know."
"So this weapon is called a keyblade," she whispered. She straightened. "I-I don't know my name, actually," she admitted. "I woke up without any memories."
Axel flashed back to a petite blonde girl drawing in a sketchbook. "That must be terrible," he said, shuddering. "Waking up and not knowing who you are."
"It's not too bad once you get used to it," the woman answered. Changing the subject, she asked, "So where are you headed?"
Axel sighed and toed the stone street. "I'm…" he hesitated. "I'm looking for forgiveness."
His mind wandered again back to the immolated family, and he shuddered. How could he ever atone for that?
The woman only saw a chance to possibly gain a hint to her past.
"Can I join you?" she asked nervously. "I mean, if that's all right."
The redhead gave her another wide grin. "I'd love to have you along!" he exclaimed.
Xxx XXX xxX
Many worlds had evacuation protocols set up in case of Heartless attack. Hollow Bastion's particular method was an emergency fleet of Gummi ships.
The closest one to Axel and the woman was still a mile off. They trekked towards it, fighting off random clusters of Heartless along the way.
"So…umm…" Axel began.
The wanderer looked at him. "Yes?"
"Can I…umm…call you something?" the redhead asked uncertainly.
She smiled. "If that makes communication easier, then I'm fine with that."
"That's great!" Axel declared. "Now…can I call you Blue? I mean, with your hair, and your eyes, and your shirt…" he trailed off.
Blue shrugged. "That's fine with me," she said.
A brown haired boy smiled at her. He said something she could not hear…
Excruciating pain followed the image.
"Aq-, you really suck at cartwheels, you know that?" A blond boy, with spiky hair, rolled his eyes at her.
"Shut up, Ve-," she grumbled, getting to her feet and rubbing a welt on her leg.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" Blue screamed, clutching her head. "AAAGGGHHH!"
She collapsed to the floor and curled up, still holding her pounding head.
"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHH! AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!"
"Blue!" Axel shouted. He kneeled beside the agonized woman. "What's wrong? Talk to me!"
The woman didn't hear him. Pounding pain, like the rhythm of a drum, drowned out all other noises.
The last thing she saw was Axel bending over her, shaking her and yelling something incoherent.
Then all went dark.
Xxx XXX xxX
Yes, I made it pretty darn obvious who the amnesiac woman is. Aqua, anybody?
I know the plot's not too developed yet; in fact, you don't even have to read the prologue at all; it just introduces the first two members of the gang.
But enough of my talk.
Tell me your opinion on Ch. 0! Love it? Hate it?
REVIEW PLEASE! I love reviews!