Standard Disclaimer: Not mine…I cry
Author Notes: Ok…hello all! So this is a test. I'm working on this story and have been for a little bit, but it occurs to me that it's a little…odd…So I'm posting this prologue to see if I get any bites. If you like and want to see more…please review and let me know. Otherwise…I might let it go…
Step into XIII
Prologue: Who?
The Destiny Islands Youth Summer Adventure Camp, a place where kids could go to test themselves and test their limits. A place where memories were made and good times were found. A place…that was currently closed for business and crawling with flashing lights and rescue vehicles. This week, the camp had been rented by the Kingdom Hearts Children's Home, and while the children had enjoyed days fun and freedom in the hot summer sun and cool ocean waves, the last night ended with tragedy mere hours before the students were scheduled to head back to their home in the near-by city. Boats combed the water as on land, the worried campers whispered amongst each other seeking and offering comfort in turn; all except one who sat near a raging bonfire, wrapped in a blanket and refusing to sit with his other friends. A girl of 15 looked to her silent friend, eyes shining with worry for both her friend who was missing, and the other boy who was closing himself off from the rest of the group. Her father, the head of the Children's Home, was speaking with the authorities, and no one was paying her much attention, so she walked over to the silent boy, determined to get through to him.
"Riku, you have to stop this! You're not helping anyone by shutting down right now." He continued ignoring her never taking his eyes away from the crackling fire. "Riku, I know you can hear me and you are not getting rid of me that easily. I'm not going anywhere until you talk!"
"Leave it alone, Kairi." He said quietly. "This is my fault. He never would have been up there if I hadn't goaded him into it."
"Fine. You were both idiots for even thinking about climbing for paupu fruit in the middle of the night, but there's no way you could have know this would happen. I mean Sora's one of the best climbers we know, and you guys have been playing on those trees every summer for at least the past 5 years. What happened was a freak accident; nothing more. You can't keep blaming yourself." She kneeled in front of him looking the older boy in the eyes. "We have to focus on finding Sora, getting him back to us. We have to believe he's alright, or else we may never find him." The unshaken confidence in Kairi's eyes all but undid him. How could she be so sure?
"But, Kairi…" He was horrified to find that the words came out thick, trembling with emotion. "What if he's—" she put a hand to his lips halting the words.
"We have to believe, Riku." She told him with quiet faith. "Sora's gotta be ok. He'll come back to us. I know he will." The two teens looked to the flurry of movement in the waters as boats and divers searched for the body of a 15 year old boy with chestnut hair who had fallen from a tree, that was just a bit too close to the edge of a cliff, into the sea below. Kairi reached out and took Riku's hand with all the gravity of his fear and her faith, and silently, both prayed that no body would be found.
o-oOo-o
The sun was too bright. I really didn't appreciate the hot beams blazing through my closed eyelids, but the awareness of light brought with it an awareness of a number of other things that were rather…odd…
First of all, my head was aching fit to split. I couldn't remember ever waking with such a headache before and I sure didn't ever want to do it again. I'd have to figure out what I'd done to earn this level of 'ouch'. Secondly, I was asleep on the beach. I definitely didn't remember falling asleep on the beach last night…but then again, I couldn't really remember falling asleep at all last night. What had I been doing last night anyway? Thirdly, and not so much odd as urgent, I needed to use the bathroom, quite badly actually, and this is what finally spurred me into movement, something I regretted immediately. I made a mental note not to invest in a sand mattress anytime in the near future as my body made fairly pointed arguments against the idea, but not even protesting limbs could keep me from locating the nearest public resting facility as quickly as possible to handle the call of other, more persuasive, parts of my anatomy.
Beach bathrooms were sometimes gross and sometimes great. They were either big cement pins with open stalls and metal toilets that smelled of urine, or nice well-kept places that people might actually want to utilize from time to time. The one that I ran across luckily fell under the 'great' category. There were fresh towels stocked for use, enclosed stalls and showers, the toilet paper was two-ply even! I must've wandered into a richer part of town. I made use of all of these amenities as my night on the beach had left me feeling a bit grubby. Someone had left their shampoo in one of the stalls and I used it as both soap and well…shampoo. By the time I was done in the bathroom, despite my still damp clothes, I figured I could actually pass as human on the way home. Problem was, I couldn't quite remember where home was.
I stepped out of the bathroom, absently slipping into a pair of sandals that were outside the door and took a better look around my surroundings. Nothing really looked familiar. That was a problem. Looking around a little more, I decided that maybe if I walked around a little, I might see something that could help me find my way home. Shrugging, I set off towards the busiest looking area I could see, hair and clothes drying in the already warming day.
o-oOo-o
"What are we doing here?" Axel asked his blond friend desperately trying to understand why he was giving up his Saturday morning of sleep to go wading through throngs of 'others' at 8AM.
"Research, my good man." Came his roommate's reply. "The show's in 2 weeks and the boss man is gonna keep being nuts unless we can find that 'something' that he's looking for. I know Marluxia and Xigbar are working on something together, but I had a bit of inspiration myself."
"And this inspiration involves me because…?"
"Hey, you're a part of this production too. I need someone to share my vision." Demyx replied with a grin.
"I'd rather be sharing a vision with my bed," the redhead replied blandly.
"Oh stop complaining and—"
"And what? Try to absorb to power of the rising sun? Wake my inner muse to the cry of nature? Demyx? Hello?" Axel'd been pulling his best melodrama just now and his friend wasn't even paying attention.
"Dude, check it." Demyx said grabbing at Axel, eyes fixed on something ahead of him.
"What?" he asked, looking in confusion, then he saw what Demyx was looking at…or rather, who. There was a boy wandering the streets not far ahead of them, a slightly confused look on his face, eyes vaguely vacant, but the most amazing shade of blue that even from a distance was easily visible.
"That," Demyx said clutching his friend excitedly, "is the face of 'Nobody'" and before Axel could say anything, the smaller blond had dashed off towards the strange boy.
o-oOo-o
I hadn't been walking for that long, but it was becoming more and more apparent that it wasn't just the unfamiliar surroundings that were throwing off my ability to find my way home. I was finding that I was having a difficult time even remembering what home looked like, or where it was, or even who was there. There was definitely something bizarre going on here. I was just getting into the really confusing parts in my head when I suddenly found a bright face and a shiny smile leaning in front of me.
"Hi!" the face said brightly. "How's it going?" I wasn't quite sure how to deal with Mr. Bright and Shiny, and my brain wasn't working at its best capacity at the moment, so all I could manage was a vacant stare.
"Oh my god you're PERFECT!" the bright guy suddenly shouted, and I backed off slightly, wondering if Mr. Bright and Shiny wasn't actually Mr. Bright and Crazy.
"God, Demyx. What are you trying to do, freak the kid out?" Another unfamiliar voice added itself to the conversation and I looked up to find a taller man with jagged red hair to just above his shoulders leaning on the other man's shoulder. I noticed for the first time that the other man was blond, (no wonder he seemed so bright) the sides of his head saved short while a single band of hair remained longish, pulled into a short tail with a few wisps escaping to brush across his face.
"Hey, I'm Axel," the tall redhead said, "and this bone-head is Demyx." They both extended their hands and I shook them in turn. "We're students at the Twilight Academy of Design, and what this one was trying to say, if he had a brain, was that we'd like you consider modeling in our upcoming show." I stared at the two older men, not sure I understood what they were saying and I articulated my confusion in the most eloquent way I could.
"Huh?"
"See!" the blond leapt into action again. "That look! Right there! Can't you see that face and those eyes plastered all over campus?! He's a little short, but we can deal with that, and we've got more than enough clothes and tailors to do the adjusting and…" As the blond continued to ramble, Axel leaned down and spoke to me directly.
"Look, our school is just a few blocks down the way. I swear this is legit. He's a little crazy, but we're not psychos. Would you at least come talk to our superior and see what he thinks, hear what he has to say and then you can do whatever you need to make your decision?" I looked at Axel and at Demxy who was now scribbling into a small note pad as he spoke. They couldn't be more than a couple of years older than me, and they seemed nice enough. I found that I really wanted to get to know them better so…
"I guess you guys can't be too dangerous." I said, finally managing to string together a real sentence for them. It's not like I had anywhere to go anyway. Things still weren't quite making since in my head. "I'll go talk to your 'superior' or whatever. Why not, right? Everyone dreams of being a model at one point or another."
I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when I found myself being dragged excitedly along the busy streets, dragged past people and places that I didn't know, Demyx rambling all the way. Off I was whisked to the Twilight Academy of Design to meet a stranger who might want to put me, an unknown nobody, on a model's stage. It wasn't until I was in an elevator trying to figure out how I'd introduce myself to this stranger that I realized that I didn't even know my own name.
o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
A/N: So there you have it, the basic premise of the tale. Interested? Want more? You'll have to tell me, so review and I promise to get cracking on continuing this. Otherwise, I'll explore some other concept instead…I guess