HALT!
This is a sequel. If you have not read "A Heart for the Nobody", I would advise you to go back and read that series first so you don't ruin it for yourself. You can find the series under my list of works in my profile.
If you have already read it (or don't care), then welcome to the first chapter of the sequel.
This series has proved to be, and will continue to be a challenge. Mostly because I originally didn't plan to write a sequel. However, my precious readers have convinced me otherwise, and I will proceed with pleasure. I enjoy any and all comments/reviews, and take into account everything that is said to me (including some guest reviews I was unable to respond to).
It has taken me longer than intended to strike up the new series but I had to get the feel right. Don't want to let you guys down!
This sequel may have a different feel to it…at least at first. Considering the situation though, it had to.
Well, enjoy!
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How many day has it been now?
Icy white eyes tilted up to look at the sun, then back down to the horizon.
Four hundred….four hundred and twelve. That's how many days it has been since I was born.
The eyes swept around to look at the world behind her, silent as always. In this world, she was the only one who had no voice. She was different. She knew it since the day she was born. She wasn't one of them. She didn't belong anywhere she went. And yet, four hundred and twelve days later, she was still lost.
Behind her, people milled about, far away from her. She was undisturbed by it; she had long since become used to their instinct to shy away. She observed their expressions, and gauged the situation by those alone. She didn't understand why these facial messages dictated their actions, but they did. She had simply learned to react to them appropriately, as she was unable to decipher their reasoning.
Even after all of her wandering, knowing she didn't belong here, she found herself returning to this beach time after time. Is it because I was first born here? Why do I return here when there is nothing?
Her eyes moved across the dancing ocean, across the people who were laughing and making those strange expressions at each other. Often, one would call out a word, something that didn't make sense, and another person would answer. Fyer had watched this many times, but the word was never the same when she watched others. Did she have a name? If she did, what would they call her?
But she already knew. They had said it to her countless times, screamed it at her, wailed it as they ran.
Monster.
Her extraordinary hearing picked up movement nearby, and was surprised to hear it moving toward her. All she had to do was turn to face them, and they would run. Her attire, mixed with her bright burning eyes and intimidating physique always made them flee. They knew automatically there was something wrong with her.
She turned and faced those who were approaching. At the time, they hadn't been looking at her. They rounded the corner of a street near where she was standing and spotted her. She was already facing them, expecting them. The pair froze.
"You…you've gotta be kidding me. Is that…?" one said, glancing at the other. It was a pair of young men, no different than those that inhabited this coastal city. Except for one very important thing; they weren't running. She tilted her head very slightly, perplexed. The other young man stared at her.
"Yea. I couldn't ever forget…she's wearing a cloak of the Organization," he confirmed. This one had spiky hair and bright blue eyes. The other, the first one that had spoken, had straight silvery hair and the same bright blue in his eyes. Why were they still standing there, looking at her? Were they trying to read her expressions like she was reading theirs?
"That can't be possible, though…right? I thought they were all gone," the silver haired one pointed out, and she brought her attention to him. The mere movement of her eyes to him brought up an expression she had seen before. It was the one they had right before they ran. There was something about him that drew her attention, but she couldn't understand it.
"I didn't think it could be. But, there she is. I mean…look at her, she can't be human. She's probably a Nobody," the other one said, drawing her attention away. She regarded him with the same scrutiny, and his expression matched his companion's. Human? Nobody? Did he know what she was? She tilted her head again, waiting for him to call her name. She had to have one, and someone had to know.
"She's not attacking or running. She's not doing anything actually. Do you think she could really be one of them? I mean…every member of the Organization, and all of its Replicas were known about because of Namine mainly. We couldn't have missed her," silver hair said, trying to rationalize it.
"So then that can only mean she's new," the other said, watching her with a strange expression. "When did you join the Organization? What's your name?"
Icy white eyes stared intently at the interrogator, silent. She couldn't respond even if she had the answers. She had no voice; didn't they know that? Monsters had no voices. The quiet stretched between the three, the only noise disrupting them coming from the people across the beach. Her eyes slid to the young man with silver hair, who flinched when the cold eyes fell upon him.
"She's not acting like any Organization member I remember. What's wrong with her?" he asked in a hushed voice.
"I don't know. It's a little strange. Maybe we should ask Mickey what to do. She's not acting right, even as a member of the Organization. We should take her there. I don't know why she's here, but we shouldn't let her out of our sight. Not when she's wearing that cloak," the shorter boy said, eyes sweeping across her. All of their words were interesting and strange all at once. No one had ever looked at her for this long without running. What was different about them?
"Are you sure? Sora, stop! Wait a second!" the older guy exclaimed, reaching out to his companion. Sora shrugged him off.
"Riku, relax. Whether she's dangerous or not, we have to take her to King Mickey. How are we going to explain if she runs off and we did nothing? She's wearing an Organization coat!" Sora said to his friend, before turning to her. He took a few steps closer. She watched him intently, suddenly tensed. Why was he coming closer? There was only one reason humans ever came toward her. "Come with us. We need to find out who you are, and what you're doing with the Organization. We won't hurt you unless you try to hurt us."
The one called Sora reached out his hand. She took a quick step back, ensuring she stayed completely out of reach. She remained tense, eyes glowing brightly. Sora's companion blinked.
"She's gonna run," he pointed out. Her eyes darted from him to Sora. When her eyes came back to Sora, his expression changed. She knew that expression, and what reaction came with it.
Without sparing another second, she turned and sprinted away from them, off the beach and into the trees swifter than any of the people on the beach could comprehend. As she leapt through the trees, dodging them with ease, she could hear something behind her. They were chasing her, which was unexpected.
With a glance back, she realized they weren't far behind. No human could run this fast. What were they, if not human? Were they monsters too? She slowed at the thought. Were there truly others like her?
She reached up and grabbed a branch tight, using the momentum to propel herself up into the air. When she righted herself, she landed with ease on a wide branch far above the ground. She crouched, watching below as her pursuers came into sight. Just as expected, they knew where she was instantly.
"Riku, up there!" Sora pointed out, sliding to a stop. When the pair had stopped, they looked up at her in the tree, hesitating. She leaned forward, still holding onto the branch so she didn't fall off. Their expressions were still that which suggested violence, and she blinked slowly, deciding on her next move. She was curious as to what they were, if not human. Every way she looked at them, they were no different from the rest. How, then, could they move so quickly?
"Why are you running? Do you have something you're hiding from us? Tell us what you know!" Sora cried. Her eyes only blinked again, silently observing them. Riku stepped up beside his friend, then leapt to the side a second later when a bright shear of light blazed through his hand. It took the form of a giant key, appearing to be a formidable weapon. She straightened suddenly. She knew what weapons meant.
"Sora, what are you doing? She hasn't attacked us yet!" Riku exclaimed, moving up beside his friend again. Sora shook his head.
"She's running. She could be hiding something. We can't afford to let her get away. Do you really want a repeat of what we went through?" Sora retorted, teeth gritted. Riku fell silent, not agreeing or disagreeing.
She stood on the branch, looking down at the pair that had boldly approached her. She had at first been curious as to what they were, but they were no different after all. They were trying to destroy her, just like the rest. In an instant, she lost interest.
Darkness gathered like a cloud beneath her branch, and the pair backed away, shocked.
"What is that?!" Sora exclaimed, holding his weapon at the ready. Riku gasped in surprise.
"Isn't that…a dark corridor?" Riku realized, barely able to finish his sentence before she stepped back off the branch and fell silently into it. It closed a second later, sealing the world between them.
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This world she came into wasn't the quietest, but no one here bothered her. It was dark, and many strange figures inhabited the world. She could slip through the streets and the world with little notice. However, even these creatures here looked at her strangely when they saw her face. They never attacked, but they would slink away without a word, watching her with an expression she had learned to be of one the humans used when they didn't want her nearby. It was if they could tell what she was. Monster.
She moved across the courtyard and out the rusted metal gate, out of the town and into the fields beyond. Somewhere far off, something howled, and another thing wailed even closer. She continued on, ignoring it. As frightening as the creatures may appear in this world, they did not delve into violence like the humans did. She walked further out and crested a hill before going down. The bottom of the hill felt cool and a dense fog swirled about her ankles as she walked. She passed through a gate hanging open, unmoving in the absence of the breeze. She heard whispers all about her as she entered the poorly fenced hills, but she was unperturbed. There was no place in this world that was ever without noise, but it didn't bother her. She shut it out, and then all she heard was the noise of her light footsteps as she weaved her way through the stones thrusting through the earth.
She finally stopped as she reached a tomb entrance, cracked and aged, but still standing. With easy movements, she leapt from the top of a tombstone to the roof. She moved to the middle and eased herself down, looking up at the pitch black sky. Here, nothing ever changed. There were no seasons, no change in weather. It was as if this place was frozen in time. It reminded her of her own existence. Time meant nothing to her, because she found no meaning in anything. At times, something caught her interest, but it always faded. She found attachment to nothing and thus was endlessly wandering.
The nameless one lied back staring up at the dark sky. The moon was slowly rising on the horizon, casting a weak yellow glow across the fields. She lifted her hand and held it above her, observing it silently. If there was any such thing as boredom to her, she knew not how to name it. Instead, she would only remain still and listless, until she fell into darkness for a time. Her sleep was always short; she required very little. In these times, she did not dream. She didn't even know what dreams were.
But as she did lie there, she contemplated where she was from. Without a voice, the only noises from her were the powerful thoughts that swept through her mind, always centering back to the first moment she had opened her eyes. That was her moment of birth. She had breathed in her first breath and blinked for the first time there. Before that, there was nothing.
Why then, did those men speak of something far beyond what she knew? As if they knew her, but didn't. How could she have existed before her first memory?
She closed her eyes and delved back into the perfect clarity of her first memory, trying to push back further. But there was no going back further. This was her existence, and there had been nothing else.
Still, her dulled interest sparked to life again. She wanted to know what this Organization was, and why they thought she was part of it.
As she shifted slightly, the chain hanging from her coat slid off her shoulder and clattered as it hit the stone. She tilted her head and looked at it silently, observing its shiny coating and its engraved edges. It made noise when she ran, but she would not remove it. It had been the first thing she'd noticed as she woke into this world, and looking at it always brought a sense of utter silence about her, no matter how rampant her thoughts had become.
She reached over and picked it up, holding it above her. Her eyes glazed over, and her mind spiraled down into her memories, back to her first moment.
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When she woke for the first time, she was sitting on the ground, leaning awkwardly against a tree. Her body was slumped, and a hood was covering her head and part of her face. At the angle she was lying, when her eyes came into slow focus, they were looking straight at a glinting object resting on her chest. She took in a deep breath, staring fixedly at it. It was shaped smooth on one side, but jagged on the other. She had an immediate confusion. Why was it not smooth on both sides? Was it broken? Where was the other half?
More importantly, who was she?
She moved her arms to the side and pushed herself up until her back was resting straight against the tree behind her. Her eyes moved slowly about, taking it all in. She didn't know where she was, or why. After a few moments of trying to recall something, she discovered her mind was completely blank. Had anything ever been there at all?
She took in a deep breath, reveling at the sound. There were sounds everywhere, and she listened intently, trying to understand. The trees moved gently about, as if alive. A soft hiss sounded continuously nearby, and she felt a sense of certainty that she knew what it was even though she could not name it.
She carefully stood, using the tree as a support. When her hand touched the bark, she paused and slid her hand down it, temporarily mesmerized. This world, she vaguely understood, though she had no memories. But for some reason, when she was discovering the physical aspect of it, it was becoming increasingly foreign to her. It shouldn't be. She knew this was a tree, but touching it made her feel a sense of uncertainty.
It was the same with the continuous noise so close to her. She instinctively knew what it was, but at the same time, she didn't. She moved between the trees, looking up through the treetops as she walked. The wind was moving them, creating a soothing rustling noise. As she stepped past the final tree, she froze, blinking her glowing eyes.
She knew this place immediately. She understood what everything was in front of her. Yet, there was still a sense of emptiness. This place she knew, but why? It was completely blank. She tilted her head and moved her gaze to the ocean, watching its waves hiss onto the shore smoothly. She looked at the pile of driftwood, stacked so carelessly in the middle of the small cove-like beach area. There were no memories of this place, only a built-in knowledge of its existence. Still, her attention remained fixated on the driftwood for a long time, as though it would hold some sort of answer for her.
Her feet finally moved, carrying her across the soft sand and past the driftwood pile. She left it behind, alone under the moonlight. The memories that could have resided there did not reveal themselves; they stayed still and silent, as voiceless as she was.
As she moved down the beach, she heard something that did not match the calm music of the beach. Her head swiveled about until she found the disturbance. In the darkness, she picked out two figures, sitting down in the sand several strides away. The noises she was hearing were coming from them for sure. Her interest grew and she took a few steps closer, making absolutely no noise as she approached.
The pair continued to chatter softly, laughing a second later. The nameless one froze, blinking rapidly. The odd noise was foreign to her, but she knew its name. Just as she could understand every word they were saying, though she didn't know how. The act of speaking seemed alien to her because she did not know how.
"…long as we're the only two here for even a minute, it doesn't matter if I get in trouble for this. I just wanted to see you so much. I couldn't wait until the sun came up again," one voice said, deep and smooth. The other one tilted its head.
"You can be such a sap sometimes. But that's one of the things I love about you," the other said, voice higher and sweeter. Their heads turned toward the edge of the beach, observing the waves as the nameless one had done not long before. She tilted her head, able to make out their figures perfectly. They were ordinary, of no threat or importance. But their words had woken a desire to end the silence of her own world as they did in theirs. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but nothing came forth.
She blinked and tried again, but she was utterly voiceless. She couldn't speak at all. She looked up at the pair nearby. What was different in her and these two that they could utter such noises and she could not? They were humans; she instinctively knew that. But when she regarded herself, she had no name for herself or what she was. She looked away, deep in thought.
"Whoa-what the hell?" the young man suddenly exclaimed, and his companion turned to follow his gaze. They had spotted her standing a short distance away. To them, they only saw a hooded figure, standing silently in the darkness. When she turned and looked at them, the pair cried out in unison.
"Oh my g-….Leanord!" the girl exclaimed, reaching over and clutching her lover. The proclaimed 'Leonard' jumped to his feet, pulling her up with him.
"Run!" he yelled, pulling the girl with him. She watched them go, taking a few quick steps forward as though to pursue them. She barely comprehended the world around her, as though everything familiar had suddenly become foreign. The way she believed it was supposed to be, by some ingrained instinct, was completely wrong. It didn't make sense for her instincts to be wrong unless the world she knew had changed. Or she had.
But either way, that meant something different lay behind the darkness that was her wakening. She felt as though she had opened her eyes for the first time only minutes ago. Even then, she became suddenly very aware that there was something missing.
Her mind could barely comprehend it. She shook her head and lowered it, closing her eyes tight. She tracked back to her eyes opening and lighting on the silver half-heart pendant. She reached deep, searching for something more. All that came back to her was the silver charm that hung from her jacket. It was a slightly different color than the matching silver chains that hung from the collar. That meant it had been attached after the jacket had been created.
She stared at it, willing it to bring something back. Where had the charm come from? What did it mean?
Only silence greeted her. Her fists suddenly clenched, rousing her from her unfruitful thoughts. She felt the sudden urge to move, to leave and go elsewhere. She wasn't sure why the powerful urge overtook her, but she obeyed it without question.
She left the beach, stepping easily over a chain with a sign attached in the middle. She moved on, over stone streets and deeper into the city. She wandered between buildings, listening to the almost inaudible sound of her footsteps. The city was devoid of people, and she slowed, her restlessness remaining. She had not raced after the humans who had fled from her, and still she had eventually followed them here.
She found herself looking around carefully as she walked, growing more on edge. She was looking for anyone, as if she would gain a different result from interaction. When she thought about her inability to communicate with them, she felt herself grow more restless, unaccepting. She didn't understand why they made such odd expressions and ran from her.
Across the street, her attention focused as she saw something glinting. It had come to life only moments ago. Without hesitance, she approached quickly. With each step that brought her closer, the glint grew into a glow, growing larger at each moment. Her step faltered, moving slower as she realized she was approaching the glass window of a shop. The lights she had seen moved in unison with her, and her confusion grew. As she stopped only a stride away, she blinked and realized what it was.
It was her reflection. Her eyes were glowing an icy blue, visible from an incredible distance. That was all that seemed to exist in the darkness of the hood that covered her head. She reached out and touched the glass, staring into her own eyes intently. Had it been only her eyes that had made the humans flee from her? Their eyes certainly did not glow.
She reached her hands back and grasped the edge of her hood, hesitant to pull it off of her head and reveal the rest of her face to herself. As she began to move her arms back, her eyes flicked to the right as she caught movement reflected in the glass pane.
"Don't move! Stop right there!" a voice commanded, several paces away. She had been so lost in her own musings that she hadn't heard him approach. She listened to each step, very rapid and loud. She lowered her arms and the steps stopped. "Hey, I said don't move! Careful with your next move. Let's just stay calm, you stay right there, and we have a little chat, hmm? What are you doing out here, this late?"
She watched in the glass window as the figure approached more slowly, one arm held out to the side. He was dressed in a light blue, with a badge and lettering on his shirt. He wore an odd hat and had shiny black shoes on. She spotted a flashlight and something else hanging from his belt as her attention was drawn upward. She took in everything about his movements and the way his mouth was held in a flat, firm line. He was regarding her differently than the others, and that gave her hope. Forgetting his command, she turned around and faced him, struggling for her seemingly non-existent voice.
When she moved, the newcomer jumped in surprise that she had so blatantly disregarded his request. A second wave of shock flitted through him when the glowing eyes turned to pierce him. She watched his expressions change swiftly, growing more interested. The man took a step back, reaching both hands to his side as if he was grasping something there. His expression now matched those that she had encountered on the beach, and she waited for him to flee.
His entire body shook furiously, as if he was struggling to keep his legs from moving further back. His hands remained at his side, clutching something tight. She tilted her head, enraptured by this new person's reaction. She slid one foot forward, closing the distance. She wanted to get closer and observe his expressions more carefully. He matched her movement, though backwards. He kept the distance between them, opening his mouth again.
"What…the hell are you?" he whispered in terror, shivering. She perked up, listening. Even he did not know what she was; that meant she could not be the same as he. She opened her mouth and tried to speak, but no words left her. As she closed her mouth, the air from her lungs passed through her mouth, though not in silence. To her frustration, and his terror, it came out as a deep hiss.
Whatever was holding the man's panic in check snapped at the noise. His hands whipped around, drawing forth what she immediately recognized as a gun. He pointed it straight at her, though it wavered as he struggled to maintain control. She knew a gun meant danger, but she felt nothing as it was being pointed at her. She only tilted her head slightly, looking around the barrel to his face. His mouth was moving rapidly without noise coming forth. This caught her attention the most of all and she leaned forward, wondering if he had gone as voiceless as she was. Unable to contain her curiosity, she took another step forward.
A sound like thunder rang through the courtyard, and she retracted her step as something hit her hard in the shoulder. A small strangled sound came forth from her mouth. At the same instant, a pain lanced through her left side, stemming from the point of impact. She instinctively reached up and clutched it, trying to make it stop. To her confusion, her left leg buckled, and her knee slammed down hard onto the concrete. Her glowing eyes swiveled around to see red dripping down over her hand.
The police officer did not lower his gun. He had never intended to fire, but as the hooded figure had continued to advance on him with those glowing eyes, not speaking a word, he had panicked. Now he knew he had to get them to the hospital quick. Even as he thought this, the gun still remained aimed at the perpetrator. The mere presence of this person, with their strangely glowing eyes, raised the hair on the back of his neck. How could he approach them to give them aid? And what if…they weren't really a person after all?
He shook his head. It was late, and he was on edge at seeing them standing and gazing into the store in such strange clothing. It was probably some kid with strange contacts they had intended to frighten someone with. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to convince himself to lower the gun.
The blood suddenly stopped dripping. The pain ebbed away, and she lifted her hand carefully away from the wound. Her jacket sported a decent hole, exposing her flesh to the pale moonlight. As her hand pulled away, both she and the policeman witnessed something strange.
The wound was gone.
With the pain gone, she turned and focused on him again, unsure of her next move. The pain was undesirable, and she couldn't understand why he had caused something so terrible against her. She saw the expression on his face returning to the one that first made him attack, and she knew that's what it had to be. Their expressions then, controlled their actions?
The police officer stammered for a second as he began to back away. As she stood, still watching him with her blazing eyes, he spoke again.
"M-my God…you're a monster."
Then he emptied every bullet out of his gun.
This time she fell all the way to the ground as the police officer fumbled at his belt, searching frantically for his extra cartridge to reload his gun. Three more rounds had cut through her, while the other two had shattered the glass behind her. Her core had been struck, and she resisted the urge to curl up tight in the snowy powder of glass in the street. She rested, shivering, on her knees, watching as the blood spattered the concrete below her. She looked up slowly, regarding the police officer with a new found feeling. She no longer wanted to know of the humans. There was a wall between her and them; one that could only be breached by the humans as they reached across to strike her. It was a situation that would only bring about agony to her.
The restlessness had changed. This urge was more powerful; it was the strong desire to run and escape, like the humans before this one had done. Had they expected this pain from her? She wondered briefly if she was making a similar expression as those humans.
The officer found his bullets and shoved the clip into his gun, preparing to finish her off. The pain was still present, and she couldn't find the strength to stand and run. Instead she only stared up at the barrel, reaching out mentally for a way to escape.
As he pulled the trigger again, darkness took over her vision.
She felt a brief sense of falling, and she landed flat on her back, knocking the air from her lungs.
When she opened her eyes, it was still dark, and the pain had faded to a dull ache. She looked around slowly, and found she was no longer in the city. There was only darkness around her; one that even her shadow-unveiling eyes could not penetrate.
The pain faded completely and she sat up, unsure of what had made her fall. She stood slowly and blinked in the darkness, willing it to lift so that she could see where she was. As if in answer, she spotted a glimmer of light far ahead of her. She looked over her shoulder at the darkness, confused. If she was not in the city anymore, where was she? Did the police officer's actions have anything to do with where she was at now?
She moved carefully forward, well aware that her feet made absolutely no noise in this strange dark world. Even the soft glow from her eyes was swallowed by the impenetrable black around her. She moved boldly forward, not hesitating when the soft glow of the round doorway washed over her. She first reached a hand through, then followed with the rest of her body.
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She sat up suddenly, swiveling her head around quickly. She rolled over and peered over the edge of the tomb, spotting the source of the disturbance easily. A werewolf was moving through the hills outside of the cemetery, growling softly as he spoke to a specter she could not see. She turned over and repositioned herself in the middle of the tomb roof. She looked up at the dark sky again, mind returning to her earlier musings.
It had been this world that she had stepped into. By desire alone, she had been able to traverse worlds by a power she still did not quite understand. It had only further proven to her that she was very different from not only the humans, but every other creature she had encountered. She had walked forward into this realm, utterly confused, and the inhabitants had looked at her with a different expression, but the same measure of separation. No others could step between worlds like her; and no matter how many she walked between, none of them accepted her.
She had become accustomed to this, but had regarded it no differently. She had no capacity within her to show the same expressions as the others. Whatever inside them made them act in such a manner according to their expressions was missing from her. All that was left inside her was the dull curiosity that kept her walking between worlds without attachment. Even so, she seemed to always find herself back in the world she had first woken into, standing on the beach and gazing out at the sea. Something about the place was different than all of the other worlds she had entered.
Abruptly, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off, casting away her thoughts as easily as the wind could move the sand. Sleep was brief, and uneventful; she did not dream. She had no idea that dreaming even existed. But her short time of rest came once every day, keeping track of every day that slipped past her non-aging body.
A few hours later, the werewolf howled far in the distance, on a hill that held him in the glow of the moon that had risen. She opened her eyes and breathed in deep, every trace of weariness gone from her. She lifted herself into a sitting position and reached down. She picked up her pendant and held it out in front of herself. She locked her eyes on it, gazing at it as she had the very first time she had woken. It had become a strange habit for her to look upon it at each wakening, as if it could bring back something about her past with the new day. When nothing came, her thoughts circled around one thought.
Four hundred and thirteen. That's how many days it has been since I was born.