Hey guys~! So. This is my work in progress KH story. First time ever writing for KH so cut me a little slack please ;u;! It'll get better I promise! And yes it's OCxCanon, but it's REALLY slow. Cloud's not gonna start liking the OC for a WHILE. So try and give it a chance! But there might be a LITTLE fluff here and there. Might look more like friendship. But trust me, it'll get there. Starting a couple months before KH1, so Sora and Riku and Kairi are STILL on their little island~

Hopefully Laurla doesn't seem too Mary-sue. I don't think she does, but who knows.

No flames. Constructive criticism is welcome, but blantly screaming "MARY-SUE" isn't.

Hope you guys enjoy! Review and such! /confetti.

–Prologue –

Don't stop. Keep running. He has to be somewhere. He has to be somewhere. There's no way he could have just up and disappeared. Rocks fall off the tall structures they all once called monuments. People are screaming, in every direction, every corner of their great city. She should help them, but she can't even help herself. She doesn't know what to do. She doesn't know what's going on. She's so confused. She's so scared.

Black as night, the creatures form in front of her. Seething and wriggling, convulsing like someone having a seizure. She's seen what they can do. She's seen their power. They might be weak, but in numbers they are strong. They jump on you and hold you down. Pull out the thing they desire most. Watch it float away into the air and then watch you turn into one of them. A black, inky like creature. Evil. Tainted.

Heartless.

She won't let them take her. She won't become one of them. She refuses. There's only three in front of her, only three, she dodges their advances, wiggles through their dispersed position and takes off, not looking back to see if they're following. They probably are, unless they've discovered someone else, unless they've found another to satisfy their thirst.

She goes back to searching for him. Goes back to calling his name. Goes back to trying to hold back the tears that threaten to spill from her pale pink orbs. She won't allow them to break through the hold, remembering the elder's words about strength of the mind and strength of the heart. Emotions that are visible leave you vulnerable. She couldn't count how many times her older brother had drilled that saying into her mind when she was younger. She couldn't count how many times she'd deny it. It only hurt you more to hide what you were feeling, her mother had told her that, they're mother had told her that. But even so, as she grew older, she found that it was best at times to do that, and then over time she found that it was best to do it all the time. It was easier that way. It was safer. She'd be weak if it weren't for that. She hated the thought of being weak. Hated the thought of succumbing to someone else's strength. That's why she couldn't give into these dark creatures consuming her home world. That's why she couldn't hold back, why she couldn't give up.

She calls his name again and again. Her desperation growing and growing. She can't stop. She won't stop. But she knows. She knows he's gone. If he was here, he'd already have found her and took her to safety. She didn't want to believe that. She wanted to believe that he was still in the city somewhere, looking for her just as desperately as she was for him. And yet…

"Laurla! Laurla! Hey Laurla!"

Turning her top half a little to look behind her, her eyes catch a small figure bounding for her. His light blue and white fur is unmistakable, and his orange shawl just as equally unmistakable. Running on his four legs,—quite odd to see him running as such, since he walks on two legs most the time—Papogo, her talking cat, skids to a stop, narrowly bumping into her leg, but manages to steady himself. In his hand, she notices a backpack, a dull purple and dark violet color. She bends down to his level, but makes sure beforehand to give a glance around them to see if it's safe to just stand about. The creatures are nowhere in sight, and she supposes that she should count them both lucky, for now.

"What is it, Papogo? Found him?" She knows he hasn't, he'd have already told her. She's certain of that. But she can't help but wish it. Can't help hoping…

"E-Elder said we should go! Says the world won't last for long, and if anyone's going to escape this than it's us. Said that we shouldn't worry about them! That some keyblade bearer will deal with all this!" Papogo looks at her wearily, probably thinking that the old guy is crazy.

She shook her head, blinking. This isn't the time to question the Elders. But how does he expect them to do such a thing? They don't have any source of transportation. And why them? Why not the other much stronger village protectors? Taking the backpack from the cat, the girl stands up straight, and unbuttons the flap, throwing it open to reveal her family heirloom twin daggers, her pack of throwing dagger, and a strange shining object. She reaches for that, picking it up carefully, and pulling it out.

It's in the shape of a star, and shining even brighter now than it had been in containment. She hears Papogo question it, and feels his paw touch her leg.

But she doesn't have time to voice her own curiosity. Darkness surrounds them in an instant, and instead of the normal twitching, small fry creatures, soldier dressed predators appear, surrounding them easily. Laurla curses under her breath. They need an escape. A quick one. A safe one.

The soldiers descend onto them.

Only to be sent flying back by a shining white light.

When they recover, the two vulnerable prey they'd been about to attack are gone. Nothing left of them.

They don't dwell on their disappearance long, their one track minds are already rolling, and they are on to the next prey just along the broken rocky road.