My Heart's a Battle Ground: A Kingdom Hearts Fan-Fiction
Prologue
I can remember those long summer days on Myno as if I were still living them. The image of the peaceful emerald meadow with that lazily meandering stream is forever imprinted in my mind. Those were the happier days before all this running and hiding business that I engage in now. I recall the three sets of laugher that would echo on the breeze: the laughter of my best friends and my own. I can still picture one of my friend's bright sienna eyes and his rumpled earthy brown hair as his rebellious laugh joyously rebounded between the boughs of the magnificent oaks, scattered few and far between on little hills. The shade of these trees was such a blessing on those scorching hot days. I never thought those days were as hot as they said, but then again, I've never minded the heat.
It was on one of those days where Rune, Mei, and I lay in the calm shade staring up at the blissful jade canopy as rays of sunlight streamed like ribbons through the leaves, disrupting the perfect shadows. We must have been young, perhaps twelve. Rune and Mei chatted as was their way and I listened to the infrequent breezes, picking up on snippets of conversation from upwind. Ever since I can remember, I've had the kind of ability to hear from far distances, which has since developed. On that particular day I managed to hear Mei's mother and my own talking.
"The clouds are gathering," I heard my mother mutter quietly, more to herself than the other woman. "The sky grows dark."
Mei's mother laughed. "It's silly getting yourself so worked up about a little summer storm, Hydlin. And besides, there isn't a cloud in the sky."
"No, I wasn't talking about a summer storm. It's something different. A tempest gathering at the farthest horizon, preparing to strike. A serious cause for fear. We are no longer protected by the veil of light."
Most of what my mother said I could not understand; however her tone caused panic to pump through my veins, in my very blood. Something bad was coming. I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran out from under the tree toward the quickly approaching storm clouds. I glanced past them to search for the tempest on the farthest edge of the foreboding clouds but all I saw were normal summer storm clouds. I didn't understand. My mother could see these things; how could she be wrong?
I heard footsteps stop next to me and I turned to face Rune. He stared worriedly at the storm clouds. "There's a storm rolling in. I don't think I'll be able to get back the orphanage in time. Do you think I'll be able to wait it out at your house?" I nodded wordlessly, still attempting to puzzle out my mother's words.
"Did you think she'd say no?" Mei asked haughtily, flipping her long red hair over her shoulder as she walked up to us. I glanced at her, puzzled by her arrogant tone. Lately, it had seemed that she was growing older and I was becoming childish in her eyes. She had already begun to fill out, and a gut feeling told me our friendship would be changing soon. "Why don't we all wait out the storm at Wynie's? It looks like I won't last long."
I reluctantly agreed. "Of course. Now, let's hurry up and make it in before the storm."
We sprinted across the speedily darkening fields with a sense of urgency, but at the same time some wild, untamed feeling. It scared me. It felt almost tribal. I glanced over at Rune and somehow he seemed different. My heart skipped a beat as he met my eyes. The same untamed feeling seemed to light up his brown eyes, glowing and setting a spark in mine.
We arrived at my family's cottage as my mother pulled the last of the sheets- which whipped about in the winds- off the line and shoved them into the basket. "Wynie, I'll be needin' you to help me with these sheets once we get inside, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am," I called over the howling wind and filed into the warm living area behind my two friends. Mei ran off to find my twin brother whom she had a crush on, leaving me alone with Rune.
"You seemed worried back in the meadow," he commented, a worried look in his eye. The strange instincts were gone, replaced with the brotherly love I had known since we first met.
"I heard something my mother was saying to Mei's mother."
"It scared you." It wasn't a question. Rune knew me as well as I knew myself. He drew closer and enveloped me in a comforting hug. My heart began to pound as I realized that I wanted it to be more than a friendly hug. But for now, I was contented to be in his arms.
"Wynie, you promised to help me with the wash," my mother called from the kitchen, disrupting the moment. I reluctantly left the shelter of Rune's arms and traveled toward the kitchen.
"Wynie?"
I turned my head back toward him. "What?"
He smiled comfortingly. "Everything is going to be fine. You'll see."
"Thanks." I pushed the door open and his softly smiling face disappeared from view. For the next five minutes, my mother and I slowly folded the slightly rumpled sheets in silence until she spoke.
"So, you heard what I said."
My expression changed to disbelief, then anger. "You eavesdropped on my conversation!"
"Because I was worried," she explained in her quiet voice. "It's probably nothing."
I nodded and pretended to accept her reassurance, but I knew she was lying to protect me. We continued to fold in silence until the basket was piled high with sheets. My mother shooed me off in a playful way, almost dissipating the strangling unease in the room. I laughed in my usual soft way, as I pushed on the door and I walked into a nightmare.
In the middle of the room, Rune had his arms wrapped around Mei and her fingers were hopelessly tangled in his hair. Their lips were pressed firmly against each other's. As Rune opened his eyes, I saw the tribal feeling stirring deep within them. Before I knew what was happening, tears ran down my cheeks like relentless rivers. I had been betrayed by my two best friends. A ripping gut feeling seemed to come from nowhere, messily breaking my heart in two. I felt as if millions of cuts had suddenly erupted into huge breeding gashes and agony enfolded my entire being. It stung as if I had been slapped.
I stood there, staring as if in a trance. A deafening crack seemed to bring us all back to reality as a huge tree branch shattered the large front window, whirling straight toward Mei and Rune who had disengaged in surprise. Grabbing Mei by the elbows, Rune spun her out of the way; but he was not as lucky. Some of the thicker branches tore his shirt and ripped at the skin. Once the branch lay against the far wall, Rune had numerous gashes cutting through the tanned muscles of his back.
Hearing the commotion, my father and twin brother, Wyein, burst into the room and began to survey the damage, eyeing the broken window warily. The cottage began to groan and sway violently as my mother ran into the main room from the kitchen, her face pallid and drawn. This was no ordinary storm and all of us were sure of that now.
"Don't worry," my father yelled above the wind, "the roof will hold." As if the roof heard his reassurances, it began to groan and I knew then what was about to happen. My father clutched my mother in his arms protectively and Rune did the same to Mei, trying to comfort them. Wyein and I exchanged knowing looks; we knew holding onto each other would help no one. With one final groan, the roof was torn from the walls and blew into a swirling dark vortex in the sky. I began to tremble as I stared, mesmerized by the gaping hole above me.
All these events seemed to numb me as I clutched at my twin brother, staring uncomprehendingly into the darkened abyss where the roof had previously been. The wind seemed to tear at our clothes and hair. By instinct, I tightened my grip on Wyein. Surprisingly, his face was blank and calm, his sapphire eyes emotionless, but he tightened his grip on me in response. Something was different about him, but I had no time to reflect on it as my parents were whipped into the air like autumn leaves, the winds quickly sweeping them away into the black hole in the sky. Next, Rune was ripped from Mei, until only her hands in his anchored him to the solid ground. Something flashed across her face for an instant and she withdrew her hands from his. Rune disappeared into the vortex in a matter of seconds. After he vanished, the winds died down and the vortex dissipated instantaneously. Then, the evil things truly started.
Little bipedal big-like creatures with beady yellow eyes rose from the shadows and a circle of emerald flames gave way to a pale long-faced woman wearing a black headdress with two curved horns rising from it and a black cloak with ragged edges. She surveyed us haughtily before parting her cruel lips to laugh. The shadow creatures encircled Mei, but she just stared listlessly at the woman.
"I have never sensed one with as much darkness in her heart as you," the woman stated, eyeing Mei calculatingly. "You seduce men only to lose interest soon after. You take men belonging to your friends. You want power and riches and are willing to do anything for them. Let's make a deal."
Mei smiled maliciously. "What did you have in mind?"
Suddenly, things began to click in my mind. Mei caused the sudden change in my brother by offering her love and cruelly swiping it away when he had accepted it. She had known that I had a crush on Rune and kissed him just to spite me. As her full lips formed those words, she planted the seed of hatred in my heart. Mei was my friend, but she also was my enemy, in so many ways. The rift that growing up had placed between us grew wider and I was contented to hate the girl who had stolen my first love and my brother's heart.
"You will receive all the riches and power your black heart desires and in return, you will serve me as a Heartless Boss." The woman glanced at me. "I will also destroy your rival."
"Don't touch her," Mei barked. "I want to be the one to defeat her."
The woman's thin lips drew into a smirk at this statement. "Very well, it will be fun to watch her suffer." She seized my arm in her cold steely grasp. Insurmountable pain like thousands of white-hot needles searing into my flesh resulted from her touch and a blood curling scream ripped past my lips. I seemed to have an out of body experience as I watched the woman burn my flesh with a fiery emerald hand. When she released her grip, a seal with cracked heart surrounding two crossed objects that looked like keys slowly materialized under a small spreading green ember. "This seal will protect your rival's heart from minor Heartless until you see fit to dispose of her. But be warned, if she meddles in our business, she will be taken down." Mei offered one more malevolent glance before disappearing into a portal of flame before the woman. The woman glanced triumphantly back at me. "Enjoy life while you can; your days are numbered." She then vanished into the flames leaving Wyein and I alone in the ruins of our home, betrayed and full of grief.