Alternate Side: A Kingdom Hearts Story
Chapter One
A little to the left, almost out of his line of vision, a star winked out of existence. Which was all very interesting, considering that he had no idea what significance that had. All that he knew at the moment was that he way lying on a very hard and bumpy surface with his head up against something that smelled suspiciously of rotting banana peels. That, and his head felt like somebody was repeatedly banging it with an iron rod.
Moaning softly, he levered himself into a sitting position, wincing when the pain in his head intensified. Looking around, he could see that he was in a very dark and very narrow alleyway. The pungent odor was emanating from a dumpster, which had been conveniently placed behind him. Using it as a prop, he managed to get to his feet. Deep within his mind, something amidst the pain decided that standing in a dark alleyway was not a good idea and urged him to get out. He staggered to the edge of the alleyway, using the dumpster and the wall as support and looked out into the brightly lit street beyond.
He was looking into what was probably a town square, paved with cobblestones and brightly lit by streetlamps. Quaintly built shops lined the square on the opposite side. He could see some stairs leading to the left only a few yards ahead, but what was beyond them was out of his line of vision.
He gingerly tottered out of the alleyway, forsaking the support of the wall and praying that he wouldn't fall flat on his face. After a few shaky steps, he was able to find his center of balance, and managed to walk normally to the center of the square. Looking back, he could see that he had come out of the alleyway adjacent to another small shop, which shared a wall with an outdoor café. It was a friendly looking town, to be sure, but something bothered him about it. He stood for a moment in silence, chewing on his lip as he tried to figure out what was wrong. So lost in thought, he didn't notice the shadows gathering and twitching behind him.
Suddenly, the answer hit him.
"Where is everyone?" he mused. "With the lights on and so many shops, there should be at least one person outside. It's much too quiet…"
A clicking noise behind him drew his attention, and he managed to dive out of the way just before a black monster jumped him. He landed on his side with a thud, and another wave of pounding intensified in his head. He stared at the small, black creatures in awe, before rolling to the side to avoid another attack. Stumbling to his feet, he swerved from left to right to avoid another attack, before he backed into a lamppost. Heart and head pounding, he found himself surrounded. He searched desperately for an escape route as the strange creatures moved in for the kill. One sprung, claws reaching out eagerly…
…Only to be cut off as it vanished, screeching, in a puff of black smoke, cut in half by a large razor disc. He stared incredulously as the creatures turned their attention to the left, to where the disc was now returning. A girl caught the disc in her gloved hand, attaching it to her belt in the same fluid motion. She wore a red bandana with white patterns on it over her blonde hair, and a pink tank top over tan Capri's. She stared at him then made a face in disgust.
"Don't just stand there like a dumbass, dumbass!" She yelled, rolling her eyes. Startled, he just stood there gaping at her. Huffing under her breath, she ran forward, avoiding the monsters as she went, and grabbed his hand, pulling him behind her. He was too stunned by recent events to do anything but follow mutely behind her, trying not to trip as he was pulled along.
She yanked him into a shop, locking the door behind them to keep the monsters out. He collapsed with a sigh of relief, leaning against the door. Once he had regained his breath, he saw that they were in some kind of bar, dimly lit, and empty. His savoir had pulled out a chair from one of the nearby tables, and sat in it backwards, swearing softly.
"Damn Heartless, think they own the whole damn town…" She said softly, teeth bared in a slight grimace. She turned her gaze to him, and he flinched nervously. She grinned humorlessly.
"If you're worried about the Heartless, forget them. I won't let them get through." Her grin vanished. "Although it was pretty damn stupid of you to need rescuing in the first place."
"That's rather unfair," he said, pouting. "I've never seen anything like that before, so you can't really expect me to know how to react."
"You've never seen the heartless?" She asked incredulously, eyes opening wide in surprise. "Where the hell do you come from?"
He opened his mouth to answer her, then realized with a start that he had no answer. He had no idea where he had come from, and how he had gotten here, wherever here was. As he closed his eyes and tried to sort through the emptiness in his head for answers, she stared at him, one arm hanging loosely over the back of the chair.
"Stay like that and you're gonna end up swallowing a fly, or something," she drawled. He realized that his mouth was still open and shut it quickly. She chuckled, and adjusted her arms so that they were hugging the top of the chair, resting her chin in them. She then noticed the confused look on his face and frowned.
"Something wrong?"
He shook his head, panic rising.
"I-I don't know. I can't remember…everything from before is a complete blank…" He said, voice shaking. She got up from the chair and knelt down beside him, putting one hand on his shoulder to comfort him. She could feel him shaking.
"Now, I know I probably should say something like 'Don't be scared' or 'Everything's gonna be alright', but that probably won't mean shit. 'Cuz forgetting the big stuff is probably a major bitch, and if you have amnesia, well, things are probably gonna end up being a living hell." She said, trying to smile. He gave out a weak chuckle, but she could tell that he was still upset from his trembling.
"Now, what's the last thing you remember?"
He thought for a moment before answering.
"There was a huge darkness…I felt like I was being swallowed up…I couldn't move, couldn't breathe…And then, there was light and I was suddenly looking up at the stars. And it smelled like garbage too." He said, concentrating on what little was in his memory.
"The darkness smelled like garbage?" she asked, confused.
"No, the place I ended up in smelled like garbage. Of course, I was in an alleyway with a dumpster…" He corrected her. She nodded.
"It does sound like you have amnesia. Do you at least have a name or something?"
He concentrated for a moment, then shook his head in a negative.
"If I had a name, then I don't know it," he thought for another moment, then smiled. "The only thing I remember anyone calling me is dumbass." She looked sheepish for a moment, then began to laugh. He chuckled along with her, feeling somewhat better.
"Well," she said, removing her hand from his shoulder and plopping backwards into a sitting position, "I can't just keep calling you that. Unless, of course, you'd like that as a name…" she said, smiling devilishly. He quickly shook his head, a faint smile still tracing his lips.
"So, what do you want to be called?"
"Hmmm…" He thought for a moment, trying to come up with some ideas. "I'd ask you for suggestions, but I'm a little afraid of what I'd get."
"Hey!" She screeched, then attempted to look indignant. "I'm not that bad!"
"Psychotic comes to mind," he said, smiling innocently. She returned his smile with an equally innocent one, then lunged. He tried scrambling out of the way, but she caught him, and began to give him a big noogie.
"Do you give? Huh? Huh?" She yelled, laughing triumphantly.
"Yes, yes! I'm sorry!" He said, panting and out of breath, but laughing all the same. She waited a moment, then released him. Both of them flopped back into their sitting positions, laughing.
"Okay, then, do you have any good ideas?" he asked, hiccupping from laughing so hard. A thoughtful look drifted across her face, before she grinned.
"How about Scholtzenheimer Reinback III?"(1) He stared at her, then closed his eyes and shook his head slowly.
"Alright, alright, I'll be serious now…" she said, seeing his reaction. He shook his head, doubting her ability to be serious about anything.
"How about Rowan?" He opened his eyes and looked at her for any trace of mirth. Not seeing any, he considered her choice.
"Why Rowan?" he asked, curiosity rising.
"Well, Rowan is an awesome name! Did you know that rowan wood is used in all kinds of cool magic spells? Not to mention that there was once this cool character in a show whose name was Rowan!"(2) She said, smiling widely. He nodded.
"It's a nice name. I think I like it."
"Good!" She said, smiling and slapping him on the back companionably. She also nearly sent him flying across the bar floor. Regaining his balance, he sat up and smiled at her.
"Now that I know what to call myself, what should I call you?"
"Aw, shit, I haven't even told you my name yet? Damn, I get distracted easily." She said, laughing.
"Well, you were busy after all."
"Yeah. My ma would probably make some stuffy face and say 'Oh how rude of you', or something like that. Etiquette and all that jazz never really interested me."
"Oh, really?" he asked, attempting to look innocent. She caught the tone in his voice, however.
"Watch it Mr. Rowan, unless you want another noogie of doom."
"Threat noted and filed. Please continue, Miss I Still Don't Know Your Name."
"Heh. Smartass. You remind me of someone else I used to know."
"Really? I hope that's a good thing."
"Yeah, he was a good guy." She sighed and leaned back against the chair, putting her arms behind her head.
"I'm sorry, did I bring up something bad?" Rowan asked, seeing the subdued expression on her face.
"No, it's old news. I really shouldn't act so depressed about it." She sighed again and sat up. She forced a bright smile onto her face, which Rowan accepted, albeit reluctantly.
"Aw, crap, we keep going on and on, and I still haven't told you my name!"
"Well, then why don't you tell it to me?"
She glared at him.
"Well, we keep dancing around the topic…" he said, trying not to meet her eyes. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt, and shook her free fist dangerously close to his face.
"How would you like to see some real dancing?" she grinned evilly. He blinked, not sure whether she was serious or not.
"I'm afraid I'm not much of a dancer, as far as I can remember, Miss…"
"Tess," she said, absentmindedly, dropping him. He smiled.
"Now doesn't it feel good to get that off your chest?" He said, smiling brightly. She chuckled.
"I'm trying to decide whether you're being sarcastic or not. I will then decide whether to pound you into the ground or not."
"Oh, you're too kind." Tess smiled and stood up. Rowan watched her, then tried to get to his feet too. However, his leg had fallen asleep from his time on the floor, and he almost fell flat on his face. Which made Tess crack up.
Rowan almost began to smile too, when he saw something move in the back of the bar. When a pair of golden eyes flashed in the darkness, he panicked, thinking of the creatures outside.
"Tess, look out behind you," he yelled, hoping the monster wouldn't move before she did. She spun around, pulling out her weapon. She spotted the golden eyes, then laughed.
"What's so funny?" Rowan asked, confused.
"That's a mirror, you idiot."
"A-a mirror? But those eyes…" Tess began to laugh even harder.
"Those are YOUR eyes, moron. Haven't you ever seen yourself in a mirror before?" Rowan started in surprise, then began to move towards the eyes in the back. As he drew closer, a figure began to appear in the mirror. But because the bar was so dimly lit, he could only see a dark silhouette of the figure.
"Can't you turn on a light or something?" he asked, turning to face Tess. She nodded, eyes flicking across the wall, before she found the switch and flicked it upwards, flooding the bar with light. He turned back around to face the mirror.
He had to admit that he wasn't all that bad looking. His hair was a dark chocolate brown color, and looked like it had been spiky at one point, but had flattened out. His skin was a tan color, as if he had been out in the sun for a while. He was wearing a red and gold coat over a black turtleneck, with shorts to match the shirt. White gloves with metallic studs covered his hands, with black over the fingers. His most startling feature was his eyes, which were a golden yellow color. They had caught the dim light of the bar before Tess had turned the lights on, making them appear to glow. His attention was drawn to a movement in the mirror, as Tess walked up behind him.
"Better not love yourself too much," she drawled, smiling cheekily, "People have died that way."
"Really?" he asked, interest piqued.
"Yeah, some guy named Narcy or Naris drowned or something while looking at his reflection."(3)
"Poor guy…" Tess sniffed.
"Eh, the idiot probably deserved it. What kind of moron is self absorbed enough to drown while looking at himself? Nobody should be that distracted." Rowan coughed quietly and Tess glared at him.
"What? Even I'm not THAT bad!"
Rowan laughed, but as he was doing so, his attention was drawn to the door. He could see the shadows gathering and boiling at the doorstep. He gasped.
"Over by the door! This time it's for real!" He pointed to the leaping Heartless, who had come out of the shadows. Tess readied her weapon, which she hadn't put away since the last false alarm, and prepared to fight. She turned to him.
"If you can't fight, you better get ready to run. Things are about to get messy!"
Well that's the first chapter! I have this one all planned out already, so it should go well. It will cross over with a lot of video games, but will also include a lot of original characters. Reviews are appreciated. Oh, almost forgot.
Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its characters do not belong to me. They belong to Squaresoft. Also, any other games appearing in this do not belong to me, nor do their characters.
Author's Notes(1) Scholtzenheimer Reinback III—Ah, do I love Suikoden. Victor is a funny guy. If you don't know what I'm talking about, think of the fort scene in the first game.
(2) Rowan is from Ronin Warriors, a show I love. I also have heard of rowan wood being used in a lot of fantasy and magic books, so I'm not entirely off here.
(3) Narcissus was in Greek Legends. He fell in love with his own reflection in a pond or lake, and spent so much time looking at it that he fell in. Trust Tess to butcher his name.