Ah, this is a short story that I promised WingBladeWeaver1357. Starring both Hikari and my own OC, Krystelle.
Disclaimer: I do not own Hikari. Or the Heart/Clover/Joker/Diamond no Kuni no Alice series. I do, however, own Krystelle and the plot of this short story.
Part One
"...ri! Hikari!"
With the effort and practice of someone who was used to being shaken awake, Hikari rolled onto her side and proceeded to ignore whoever had been sent to wake her up. Or at least give them the illusion that she was still asleep and that no amount of prodding from the other person would get her up; eventually they gave up and left her alone and she would be left to catch up on sleep prior to being interrupted. But for some reason, when she suddenly moved, pain flared on the entire side of her body she was putting weight on and the Keyblade wielder suddenly found herself wincing and sucking in air at the unexpected feeling. Instinctively she curled up into herself to try and lessen the agony, but that seemed to make things worse.
"Ooh..." A voice said from above her. "Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Soft, cool hands gently grabbed Hikari and forced her to uncurl herself. With what she knew was very little effort exercised by the other person, Hikari suddenly found herself on her back again with the pain that previously engulfed her side dying down to a dull throb since she was no longer lying on it.
"Most of your wounds are healed up, but I only applied potions and bandages on your side. It's still pretty delicate, so be careful otherwise you're just going to reopen it again."
"Ugh..." Hikari forced her eyes open only to close them shut again when she was blinded by shining white light. It wasn't as if she could sleep anyways. Not with how much pain she was in and how, now that she realized it, every other part of her body ached. "I... what happened?"
It wasn't everyday she woke up feeling like she had been punched through several boulders. She was used to getting injured (came with the job of being a Keyblade Wielder), particularly in a heavily infested Heartless world, it was usually minor wounds or breaks that could be healed through simple to semi-difficult healing spells. The times she was injured to the point of being bedridden were thankfully few and between.
Hikari slowly opened her eyes again, carefully gauging how safe it was to open them without being blinded again. Blinking several times to clear her fuzzy vision, she finally saw a dark haired girl with light brown skin kneeling by her side, a tired smile on her face as she waved at Hikari.
"Krystelle?" Hikari said when her brain whacked her memory back into order and she realized who was sitting right next to her.
Krystelle was one of the few friends that Hikari made in Wonderland and a fellow Outsider. The Keyblade wielder noticed that Krystelle's long black hair, that was usually tied up in an elaborate high ponytail with a braid was down, black locks touching the ground since the other Outsider was kneeling on the dirt. With wide eyes, Hikari also realized that Krystelle was also splattered in blood. Though most of it didn't seem to be hers- or maybe it was. She couldn't tell when Krystelle's clothes were ripped in various places as well, deep enough for the wounds to bleed.
"About time! Were you planning to sleep in, you lazy bum?" The other girl asked, the amusement in her voice easily derailing the scolding of her words. "I thought I would let you sleep in until you woke up by yourself Sleeping Beauty, but you were taking forever!"
"Hey!" Hikari pouted at her. "You can never get enough sleep!"
"Says you." The other teased. "You're the only one I know who can make have too much a sleep a bad thing."
There was a pause before Krystelle also added, "Well, you and Nightmare anyways. Maybe Blood too."
Hikari pouted again and instinctively turned on her side to sulk a little when she was reminded again why that was such a bad idea.
"Ow!" She flopped right onto her back with a grimace. "That really hurts!"
"No surprise there. Between what seemed like an endless army of Heartless and a large group of Faceless waiting to ambush us, it's hardly surprising that you're so worn down. Especially ever since the Heartless arrived in Wonderland... we haven't really gotten any proper rest."
Hikari blinked several times before adjusting the angle of her head to stare at the other girl, all joking and silliness cast aside. Heartless and Faceless? What in the world was she talking about?
She must have seen the confusion in Hikari's eyes because Krystelle smiled down at her again, though the latter noticed that it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Ah. You don't remember?"
Sick of being on her back and having to crane her neck just to look at Krystelle, Hikari didn't reply immediately. Using her elbows and arms as support, she pushed herself up into a sitting position so that she was on Krystelle's eye level. Or at least tried to. Her arms gave out underneath her, but before Hikari could fall down flat on her back, she felt someone catch her. A hand resting behind her, she was quickly positioned upright so that she was sitting up by herself and not lying down again.
"Eh heh." Hikari rubbed the back of her head with a nervous chuckle. "Thanks."
"Your welcome. Just ask for help next time, okay?"
"Right." Hikari dropped the arm rubbing the back of her head. "Um, about...?"
"About what I said earlier about being ambushed by the Heartless and Faceless?" It was Krystelle's turn to rub the back of her head as she tried to figure out how to explain what had happened before Hikari passed out. "Well, the Heartless encounter is pretty much explanatory... but it turns out that there were Faceless hanging around in the surroundings, waiting to exploit the Heartless encounters and battles to take us down along with them."
Hikari's eyes widened to the size of saucers as the Keyblade wielder started to remember what had happened and what led up to the events in the first place.
Lately traveling between the multiple territories of Wonderland had become dangerous ever since the Heartless began to appear in this Wonderland. Which in a world that was already full of guns, trigger happy people, and apathy and lack of respect towards life in general was really saying something. And while Hikari had years of experience in taking out the Heartless under her belt because of her duties as a Keyblade wielder, even she got worn down if she kept fighting continuously with just a few breaks and very little moments of rest here and there.
Crossing her arms, Hikari frowned as she tried to delve even further into her memories. "I remember the Heartless, but not so much the Faceless part."
"Well they attacked after we were done with the latest group of Heartless. Guess they were waiting for the right moment when we were worn down from fighting already." Krystelle sighed. "I knew that they were there, but I didn't really pay attention to them since I thought that they were a group running away from the Heartless. Though considering that the Heartless don't seem to be interested in the citizens of Wonderland..." Krystelle trailed off with a sigh.
That's right! The first thing that Hikari noticed after the Heartless started showing up was that the shadowy creatures pretty much ignored both Faceless and Roleholders alike. Instead they went straight for her, Krystelle and Alice. It puzzled the former two at first since it didn't take Hikari and Krystelle long to figure out that they were always the Heartless' targets no matter how crowded an area was with other people.
Hikari just figured that they were after her because of the Keyblade. The Heartless saw all Keyblade wielders as threats and were automatically drawn to the wielders to stop them at all costs. Krystelle on the other hand was probably just collateral damage since the latter insisted on fighting the Heartless rather than just standing by and doing nothing. Partly because she knew from personal experience that the Heartless were bad news, and partly because of the blood knight tendencies she had inherited from her dad's side of the family. Though she was the better fighter between the two of them thanks to her warrior blood and lineage, Krystelle was not a Keyblade wilder so the Heartless didn't register her being as threatening as Hikari.
But when they had attacked Alice during one of her outings while also ignoring pretty much everyone else in the vicinity, the two of them were forced to concede that something was really, really weird about the Heartless invasion in Wonderland. Hikari more so than Krystelle since she was familiar with how the Heartless usually operated.
Heartless were creatures of darkness born from the darkest aspect of a person's heart. The deeper the darkness within their hearts, the more powerful the Heartless born from the Original. Because they lacked hearts and therefore the capacity to feel, they were like animals and reacted to their surroundings on pure instinct. The Heartless did not discriminate when it came to their victims (unless the individual they were targeting was a Keyblade wielder), which was why both Hikari and Krystelle were puzzled when the three Outsiders were always singled out and mob rushed whenever the Heartless decided to show up.
It had been Alice, the first Outsider, who had come up with the theory that could explain the Heartless' animosity and targeted attacks towards the three Outsiders. A theory that was so simple in hindsight that Hikari had banged her several times against a brick wall for not coming up with it herself until Ace and Julius physically restrained her before she could cause any permanent brain damage.
The main goal of the Heartless (other than eliminate all Keyblade wielders) was to consume more hearts to create more creatures of darkness like them. The only time that they were capable of working together was when an individual with a strong enough will and devious intentions commanded them for some greater purpose- which usually tended to center around Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of All Worlds.
Alice's theory was that the reason the Heartless came after them with a vengeance was probably because out of everyone in all of Wonderland, they were the only ones with actual hearts. Everyone else was most likely seen as... incompatible to the purposes of Darkness due to the fact that they didn't hearts at all. To be more accurate, in place of where they should have had hearts, the citizens of Wonderland had clocks.
While Hikari didn't understand why exactly people in Wonderland had clocks instead of hearts, she got why the Heartless were targeting her and the two Outsiders even more than usual.
Citizens of Wonderland = incompatible hearts (er, clocks).
Outsiders (one of them who possessed a Keyblade) = very compatible hearts.
"So why were we attacked by Faceless?" Hikari asked once she realized that she had been day dreaming. "I remember my side exploding in pain, but that's it."
Everything after that was a complete blank.
"Right. You got shot in the side; while it was serious, it was thankfully not fatal." Krystelle paused and Hikari guessed she was trying to figure out what to say next. "They didn't out right tell me, but from the little they did say to me when they were trying to kill us is that... well..."
There was another pause.
"I don't think it was me that they were aiming for." Krystelle scratched the back of her head and gave Hikari a tentative smile. "The group seemed put out that I was here with you, but also figured that since I was pretty beat up that they could take me down with you. It went as well as expected."
In other words, they met brutal defeat and death at Krystelle's hands.
Hikari stared blankly at Krystelle before it hit her. "You mean they were trying to kill me?!"
Krystelle nodded. "From their words, I figured that were after you specifically. I just got in the way of their assassination attempt."
"Why me?!" Hikari gaped. "I mean- I don't think I did anything that would have anyone want to kill me, except for the working for the forces of evil!"
"Are you sure?" Krystelle asked.
"YES!"
Krystelle stared at her, head tilted to the side in an inquisitive way as she looked at Hikari with careful consideration. This made Hikari frown; she was telling the truth! The other girl then let out a long sigh and shrugged.
"Well, they were definitely after you. We'll probably never know why they decided to target you specifically, though, unless there are more of them out there."
Hikari thought back to her observation of Krystelle when she had just woken up; she had wondered earlier why the other Outsider was covered in blood but didn't dwell on it because of the more pressing matter of being flat on her back and in a lot of pain. A shiver ran down her spine as she realized that Krystelle had probably taken care of Hikari's would be assassins permanently.
Krystelle was a nice person; friendly, outgoing, charismatic and very, very energetic. With her optimistic outlook on life and casual carefree attitude, she was like a female version of her older brother, Sora. An older and wiser version of him, but the two of them were very similar. to one another.
There was, however, a very stark difference between the two of them. Unlike Sora, Hikari and their inner group of friends, however, Krystelle had no qualms about killing. She wasn't apathetic when it came to taking lives and usually killed as a last resort, but it was still a chilling fact to know that such a genuinely friendly and kind individual was capable of taking lives when it came down to it.
It was a fact that Hikari tended to forget a lot because of Krystelle's friendly demeanor, but there were times she was brutally reminded of that fact.
Like right now.
An awkward silence settled in as Hikari tried to figure out a way to steer out of waters she was uncomfortable with while Krystelle kept staring at her. As her brain worked overtime to try and come up with something she suddenly blurted out, "Wait! Weren't we supposed to be going to a meeting?!"
The two of them were supposed to attend a meeting with all of the Roleholders and some high ranking Faceless who worked under them. Despite the fact that the Heartless seemed to focus only on the Outsiders, the leaders of the territories seemed to find the presence of the dark creatures troublesome and actually arranged a meeting to discuss the issue. Since Hikari was a Keyblade wielder and the one with the most experience when it came to dealing with them, she was naturally expected to be there.
Though what the Keyblader would have said, she had no idea. She wasn't really someone who attended meetings, much less speak in them. Back when she had been in King Mickey's world with Sora, Riku, Kairi and the others, Hikari tended to skip out on meetings by taking a nap out in the gardens and sleeping through them. It wasn't like she was missing the meetings on purpose! But whenever she told Riku this, he never believed her and always doled out some cruel punishment on her! It wasn't fair!
"Yeah..." For some reason Krystelle was avoiding her gaze. "About that..."
Hikari let out a sigh of frustration as she slumped over. "We missed it, didn't we?"
"By about ten periods." Krystelle said with a small smile.
"They are never going to let us live this down, are they?" Hikari groaned, the urge to bang her head against something really strong but difficult to pull off due to the fact that she wasn't anywhere near something to hit it against.
"Not at all. Especially Blood; he's going to be holding this above our heads for as long as he can."
The atmosphere seemed a lot heavier as Krystelle and Hikari thought about what the Roleholders at the meeting were going to say to them once they finally arrived. Especially considering their poor track records when it came to a lot of things. Hikari had a tendency of oversleeping and either being late or completely missing times when she was supposed to meet someone while Krystelle had horrible memory that led to her forgetting pre-arranged meetings or outings entirely.
Krystelle opened her mouth to say something before her eyes widened and she snapped it shut. Moving so fast that Hikari wasn't able to realize it immediately, the other Outsider had already stood up, maneuvered around Hikari so that she was standing in front of her, and unsheathed her blade before she could even blink. Hikari was about to ask her friend what was wrong when she heard something rustle.
It was coming from a couple of bushes.
Ignoring the protests of her body, Hikari also stood up as she summoned her Keyblade in an action that had pretty much become second nature to her. She automatically moved into a defensive stance and braced herself for whoever had found them.
This was originally meant to be a one-shot, but the more I typed the more I found myself expanding the plot and before I knew it, I find myself splitting this up in parts. Depending on how much my always jumbled brain thinks up, there will be one or two more parts for this before I can mark it as complete.
Anyways, as you can read, there is a Heartless invasion going on in Wonderland but only the three Outsiders seem to be really inconvenienced over the whole thing- though it seems even the prideful Roleholders are getting concerned about the whole thing. Hence the meeting. That Hikari and Krystelle completely missed.
As you can tell this is a crossover with Kingdom Hearts, even if the only canon aspects of the series are the Heartless.
I hope to see you in the next update. And just so you know, reviews are likely to inspire me and get me to write more. So review because reviews are always appreciated.
Until then, over and out.