A Kingdom Hearts Story
Yellow Eyes
World of Darkness
Aqua walked along a seemingly endless shore in the World of Darkness. She had no idea how long she had been walking. The sky never changed, time seemed to be at a standstill. For her it had felt like years since she had fallen into the World of Darkness after finding Terra. She couldn't remember it very well anymore, the faces of her friends where still clear but everything else was a blur.
Life in the World of Darkness wasn't really living at all. She didn't need to eat and only occasionally did she sleep, not that she seemed to really need it. At first glance the World of Darkness had seemed empty and barren but Aqua had quickly discovered that was not true, there was life in this endless dark abyss.
Strange black shadowy creatures with bright yellow eyes stalked her wherever she went, Heartless. She only knew the name through book she had been given by Master Eraqus back when she was still a student.
"What did Master Eraqus look like again?" she thought to herself as she walked. She didn't like thinking about her past very much, it was dangerous.
Aqua had always been a strong person, never allowing her emotions to get the better of her. Even the realisation that she might never escape from this dark and terrible place hadn't broken her, yet.
But day after day she felt her legs begin to tire and her body begging for her to take a break but she refused and kept moving. She didn't know where she was going, everything looked the same in this world to her.
The World of Darkness was so huge that Aqua wasn't even sure it ever ended.
For a brief moment Aqua stopped and stared out into the ocean in front of her. It was illuminated by a bright moon and glowed a dull blue. She allowed herself to sit down for a moment though her eyes were always primed for searching for Heartless. She couldn't remember the last time she had any decent amount of rest before they showed up.
She could fight them easily, despite their appearance they were weak on their own. It was only in large groups they posed a serious problem. She looked away from the sea and towards the land around her. Even for the World of Darkness it looked unfamiliar to her. The usual glowing blue luminance in the rocks she had become so used too was faded and dull.
Instead there seemed to be a large concentration of red plant like objects scarred around the ground. Aqua frowned as she stared at them, in all her time in the World of Darkness she had never seen anything that looked like plants.
She stood up and went to examine them. As she got closer she was hit with a peculiar smell. Something about it smelt very familiar, a fresh scent had filled her nose after smelling almost nothing at all in this featureless world.
Aqua reached out and touched on of the plants. Its trunk was wet and when she pulled her away it was stained red, the colure of blood. Suddenly Aqua felt very uncomfortable and started to walk away, she had an incredibly bad feeling about this place.
Then she heard the sound of sound kind of commotion. There the snap of branches and sand being kicked up as something crashed through the blood red forest in front of her. Aqua knew better than to be caught out in the open so she did the best thing she could, hide.
She ran to a large rock and quickly took cover behind it. She waited for her breath to quieten before she peered over the rock to have a look.
At first glance she creatures she could see looked like Heartless but there was something very different about them. Instead of black skin this kind's was dark red, the same color as the trees. They also seemed to be unstable, as if they're bodies where barely able to stay together. They constantly dripped small droplets to ground around them, staining it if they stayed still for too long.
They were tall and quite thin, instead of yellow eyes there's where simply white. Their arms where lean and ended in four narrow fingers each ended in a long sharp looking nail. They had long straight antennae that started from the back of their head and pointed down towards the ground, stopping just above the hip. Despite their unstable look they stood up straight and the way they walked was disturbingly very human.
As Aqua continued to watch she saw something else emerge from the forest, something much larger than the other red Heartless like creatures. At first glance it looked vaguely reptilian and its build was similar to that of a crocodile.
Its skin was dark red and covered with lump like grooves especially on its head. At the back of its head where three large crests that pointed upwards. Its tail was long and ended in a flat looking blade that looked just as useful for attacking as it did swimming. The creature's large head looked from left to right and Aqua held her breath.
Despite being far away she didn't want to risk this creature discovering her, it looked strong and there was something about it she didn't like. Not one bit.
The creature crawled across the ground on all fours towards the edge of the shore, the smaller red creatures following after it like lost children. In the moonlight Aqua noticed that unlike its brethren this creature had yellow eyes, glowing just like the other Heartless she had encountered.
The creature stopped moving and turned around sharply, looking straight at her. Aqua remained still and stared it down, hoping that it would ignore her and move on. Instead the creature remained absolutely still, it's glowing yellow eyes staring her down.
Then she heard a voice in her head.
"Who are you? I don't recognise you. You must be new" the voice sounded like that of a young girl and it left Aqua paralysed with fear.
The creature was talking, it was talking to her.
"You seem afraid. I understand that, most people are when they see us. They don't like us, they don't understand us. That's why we ran away and hid in this place, to keep away from everyone else. You're not from here are you? You came from the other side didn't you?" it said as Aqua remained fixed to the ground, unable to move.
"Why?! Why can't I move?! What's going on? What…is…this thing?!" she shouted in her head as the smaller creatures around it all stopped moving and stared at her as well. They almost seemed to melt into the larger animal which made its appearance all the more frightening.
"You can't move because I've seized your mind silly. Don't be alarmed, I'm not going to kill you without giving you a fighting chance. I just simply want to talk, I don't many opportunity's to talk anymore. Not since my father went away. He used to speak to me all the time, always told me about how we were going to change everything. Then the other's came and hurt us, many of us didn't survive. I ran away, I ran so far and ended up in this place. I thought we'd be welcome, you've seen them haven't you? The others? They look so much like us and yet they're not us, so we kill them" it said as it started to walk closer to Aqua, its glowing yellow eyes never leaving her.
Aqua could feel herself shaking.
"What are you?" she said in her mind, desperate to buy any time she could as it advanced towards her.
"I have no name. At least not in the way you humans name yourselves. I was never given the chance to receive my true name, but the other one called me Dinocroc. I don't think it's a particularly dignified name, wouldn't you say…why don't you tell me your name instead?" said the creature, Dinocroc, as Aqua tried to move her hands. If only she could summon her Keyblade.
"My name is Master Aqua. I come from a place called the Land of Departure. What about you, where do you come from?" she said as the creature stopped moving and seemed to relax. It lay down, like how a dog would, with one arm over the other staring her down.
"Hello…Aqua. It is nice to speak to someone with a name. You seem very kind, nobody ever tells me their name when I talked to them. They mostly just scream. The other one isn't like you, he's cruel. He attacked me, because he was frightened of me. What about you Aqua, are you frightened by me?" said Dinocroc before it hissed and opened its mouth widely. Inside Aqua could see rows of dagger like teeth, it could easily kill her with one bite alone.
"Yes! Yes I 'am scared of you!" she screamed inside her head as the creature moved closer to her ,it's mouth still open. The smaller red Heartless broke away from Dinocroc and began to circle her.
"That's alright, I would have said you were lying if you had said no. But it's all right, I understand. My father told me that a lot of people would be scared of me but it didn't matter because all I had to was eat them and then they would go away. Are you scared of being eaten Aqua? It seems to me you're scared of a lot of things. I've read your mind and you seem to fear so much!" it said as the world around them seemed to warp and twist.
She saw flashes of her journey through the various worlds. She saw seven dwarfs gathered around a casket with a women inside, locked in an endless sleep. There was a small group of mice, carrying a giant key desperately trying to help their friend meet the love of her life.
She was fighting a giant dragon with a knight in armour, fighting to rescuing his sleeping beauty. She saw a handsome young man with dark spiky hair fighting in a coliseum. A small blue creature crawling along the wall of a spaceship. There was a young man in green fighting pirates and young boys dressed like animals looking for treasure.
Then there were those blue monsters that terrorised the worlds and the boy in the mask who gave them life. Finally she found herself staring into a graveyard of Keyblades with her two best friends, Ventus and Terra.
"Countless Keyblade wielders gave up their lives. All in search of one ultimate key and it will soon belong to me. x-blade!" said the voice of Master Xehanort, the man responsible for everything that had happened to Aqua and her friends.
"No! Please stop!" Aqua shouted in her head as more images from her battle with Xehanort flashed by. She saw her fight with Ventus after he had become possessed and her fight with Xehanort in Terra's body in Radiant Garden. That particular memory seemed to stir something in Dinocroc for the images stopped flashing momentarily.
"I see. You've been this place too, this where I was born. It looked a lot different than how you probably remember, it was dark and full of terror. That's where I lost my way after my encounter with him. It seems so long ago now" it said as more memories flashed passed, hissing quietly when Master Xehanorts face flashed by.
Suddenly the images faded away and Aqua saw the red Heartless like creatures moved backwards sharply. When she looked up she saw Dinocroc rearing up one all fours looking as though it was ready to pounce any minute.
"You must feel pretty horrible don't you. About what happened to Ventus and Terra? They trusted you and now look where they are. One a lifeless shell in a castle knows about and the other a man trapped in another's body with which he has committed terrible crimes. No wonder you don't want to return to your own world. You couldn't deal with the consequences of your actions. Well you don't need to worry, our conversation has grown rather dull unfortunately. Know the only left to do…" it said before roaring loudly and standing up on it's back legs.
Aqua felt her body's energy return as she moved to summon her Keyblade, the one previously owned by Master Eraqus.
"DIE!" Dinocroc shouted before charging towards Aqua with blinding speed. The smaller red Heartless leapt into the air and darted towards her as she raised her hand.
"Shield!" she shouted as a glowing sphere formed around her body. Both red Heartless where sent flying back but Dinocroc crashed through it like it was nothing. Aqua gasped in surprised before she was hit in the chest by Dinocroc's snout, sending her flying.
Aqua crashed into the ground with a cry of pain. She tried to pick herself up only to be smacked in the stomach by something else, Dinocroc's tail, knocking the air out of her. Aqua could feel her head spinning as she crashed into the sand for a second time.
When she opened her eyes she could see Dinocroc charging towards her. Gritting her teeth she ignored the pain in her stomach and aimed her Keyblade at Dinocroc.
"Blizzaga!" she shouted as a large ball of ice was sent flying from the tip of her Keyblade towards Dinocroc. The creature roared towards doing a helix twist to dodge the attack. The ball of ice suddenly expanded and shot out several smaller shards of ice that speared into Dinocroc's side.
The beast fell to its side, growling in frustration as it tried to get back on four legs. The two red Heartless like creatures raced towards her while their companion tried to recover. Aqua dodged a slash from one before raiser her Keyblade above her head to block the other's attempted aerial attack.
"Take that!" she shouted as she gathered energy inside her body and released a small explosion around her body. One of the red Heartless dissolved instantly while the other was forced back with considerable damage to its already unstable body.
Instead of trying to attack her again the red Heartless collapsed into the ground as a shadow and raced towards Dinocroc. It seemed to melt into Dinocroc causing its body to briefly glow as it pulled itself back onto its feet.
Dinocroc rushed towards Aqua who quickly managed to cartwheel out of the way. Dinocroc spun round quickly in an attempt to slam her with its tail but she once again raised her shied, this time with enough power to force it back slightly.
"Try this! Thundaga!" she shouted as a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky towards Dinocroc. For a moment Dinocroc screeched in pain before its body started to glow and crackle with electricity. Instead of being damaged it had seemed to absorb the lightning instead and now its entire body was covered in it.
"Uh oh!" shouted Aqua as Dinocroc almost seemed to laugh at her before slamming it's front arms into the ground causing massive shockwaves. Aqua leapt high into the air to avoid the blasts but was then caught by Dinocroc's tail as she attempted to land.
She felt surges of electricity numbing her body as she flew through the air. Her body was paralysed and when she landed she felt her Keyblade dematerialise, she could barely move.
She groaned in pain and tried to push herself up but her muscles gave out and she felt the ground rumble as Dinocroc crawled towards her.
"I probably should have mentioned earlier that I absorb electricity. Oh well. Don't feel too bad, he made the same mistake" it said before lunging forward and grabbing Aqua with its jaw.
Aqua cried out in pain as Dinocroc thrashed around its head wildly with her still in its mouth, she could feel its teeth breaking through her clothes and into her flesh. Aqua tried to wriggle free but the pain was too much and she could feel herself about to pass out.
"I can't do this! If I don't do something I'm finished! But what!? What do I do?! Terra! Ven! Please help!" she screamed in her mind as she sight started to fade, any minute know it would all be over.
Dinocroc felt her body give up and threw her high into the air before prepping its tail up like a scorpion ready to impale her when she landed.
"It's the end for you now! The endless darkness awaits!" it shouted as Aqua felt herself being enveloped by a warm light.
When she opened her eyes she saw that was no longer in the World of Darkness but rather the Land of Departure, her home.
"Aqua" a pair of voice said and when she turned there they were, Terra and Ventus, her best friends.
"Terra! Ven!" she said her voice sounding close to tears as she rushed forwards to embrace her friends. When she did however she simply fell straight through them, as if nothing was there.
"What?! But how?...I see, none of this is real, is it?" she said she looked back in confusion. She laughed slightly to herself as she thought of her foolishness, as if they would return to her that easily.
"Come on Aqua. You've got to pull it together" said Terra with a kind smile as Ventus grinned.
"Yeah! Come on, as if you're going to let that ugly monster beat you. Your better than that Aqua, I know it!" he said with his signature grin as Aqua smiled sadly at her two best friends.
"I don't know if this is real or not but there is something I want to say while we're all together. No matter what happens the two of you will always be my best friends and no matter what happens to me I will always make sure to watch over you both and take care of you. I want things to go back to the way they were and they will one day, but until then I need to keep fighting. Will you stay with me?" she said as she held out her hands to her friends.
"Always. We'll always be by your side Aqua" they said in unison before grabbing her hands and then vanishing.
"Ok then" Aqua said smiling before closing her eyes. She felt herself falling, she was in the World of Darkness once again. She could see Dinocroc below waiting for her to fall.
She held out her hand and summoned her Keyblade back to her before forward flipping and diving down towards Dinocroc. She dodged his tail and slammed her Keyblade into in it back before back flipping away and slashing it several times as it absorbed the shock of her attack.
It tried to slash her with one of its charged claws but she dodged with a flip and felt her Keyblade become enveloped with fire.
"Firaga!" she shouted before a large fireball was launched from her Keyblade towards Dinocroc. It slashed at the ball with its tail only to be engulfed with smoke and ash as the ball dissipated.
It swung around blindly as Aqua held her Keyblade high.
"Curaga!" she shouted as she felt her body become refined and healed. She twirled her Keyblade round in her hands as she channelled her inner power.
"Spellweaver!" she shouted as she body began to glow. Dinocroc snarled at her and launched forward with a combo of slashed with its forward arms and tail. Aqua dodged each and then attack with her own combo which caught Dinocroc off guard.
"Dinocroc! Farewell!" she shouted before she flushed the rest of her energy into her Keyblade and began to spin around like a drill. She launched herself into the air and then propelled herself down to Dinocroc like a spear.
Dinocroc could only brace itself with the attack, putting all of its energy into blocking the attack with a shield of energy made up from the electricity had absorbed earlier. Aqau's attack broke straight through and pierced its body. It roared in pain and anguish as it stood up on its back legs and flailed around wildly.
She landed gracefully as light and darkness enveloped Dinocroc. Its yellow eye's made contact with her blue one's before it exploded into a cloud of glowing particles. They remained floating for a moment before fading away into nothing.
Aqua took a deep breath before dismissing her Keyblade and falling back onto the sand, her body completely tired out.
"Terra. Ven. Thank you. I promise I'll find you both, one day. Just let me rest for a little bit" she said to herself as she drifted away into sleep.
Author's Note: No idea why I wrote this but whatever, not like I ever post anything on this place anymore anyway. Funny how it's been nearly three years since I finished my first story, Resonance of the Soul, which you should NOT read because it will give you aids. But that was the only story I ever actually finished so that kinda sucks balls but oh well.
Though I highly doubt it will happen this story may lead into something more than just a one off, after all Dinocroc kept mentioning someone so who that is would be examined in any future chapters. Again it's not something likely to happen, fanfiction was just something to keep me entertained when I was in a dark place but now I'm no longer there I'm not really itching to do any more stories. This one was just something easy to write and I only did it in a day so that's probably why the writing is a bit shaky.
Anyway thank you to anyone who reads this, cheers and take care.
Next time:
"Aqua. Are you ok?"