So I'm going to jump right into the story, for everyone who read Forever Is A Long Time. I hope you like this installment, and if you haven't read Forever, go read it now, because it's the first installment that is better than it's ever been.
This part of the story is going to cover Natalie's journey inside Castle Oblivion. Anyways, I'm picking up right after I ended. Hope you like it and onto the story!
Natalie, Sora, Donald and Goofy walked down the winding pathway, surrounded by lush green hills and fields. A tree dotted the horizon here and there, but not too many were even close to the group. They walked and walked until their feet hurt.
"Isn't there any end to this place?"
"I don't know, Sora, but we have to keep moving. We have to find Riku and the King, remember?" Donald said matter-of-factly. Natalie sat, holding her side. It was throbbing painfully with every movement she made.
"Uh, Natalie, are you okay? Is somethin' hurtin' ya?" Goofy asked her. She nodded.
"Yes, I'm hurt, but I'll be fine. We need to keep moving." She said solemnly, standing up straighter with some effort and continuing on.
Night fell and the group settled down for the night. They were exhausted and needed their rest. Natalie waited until everyone was asleep, then stood. She couldn't be a burden to Sora. She knew she would be fine on her own. She had to look for Riku on her own. It was the only way she felt anything would get done.
She started down the path, leaving Sora behind with only a small kiss to his cheek. Little did she know that Jiminy was up and watching her, watching where she went and knowing to inform the trio when they woke.
The path was dark and winding. There seemed no end. Another twist, another turn, another hill, but there was just no end in sight. Natalie shook her head and sighed every time she came to a hill and saw lots of ground ahead of her to cover. But she would still continue on. She would still continue forward, but it was only for the sole purpose of finding Riku, finding some lead to discovering where he'd gone and if he was okay.
Natalie's head started to swoon as she made her way down one of the hills. She reached the bottom staggering. She didn't understand what was happening to her. She felt her side, and pulled her hand back when she felt something wet and warm. She realized she was bleeding heavily. She was going to pass out from blood loss and there was no one there to help her. She dropped to the ground in a crawl, breathing labored and her vision out of focus. She needed to get her head together or else she wasn't going to make it.
But little did she know that as she passed out, two figures were watching her, one with concerned eyes, one with no feeling at all in her eyes. They both went and picked her up, carrying her into the distance.
'Natalie...'
"Voice? Is that you?"
'Yes...Natalie...what are you going to do now?'
"I've got...I've got to find Riku. I've got to make sure he's safe. I have to make sure he can get home and that nothing bad has happened to him."
'Why?'
"Because he's my best friend! He needs my help and I know I have to be there for him!"
'Yes...he's your friend...but...what if he doesn't want your help?'
"I...I don't know if he does. I have to find out if he's alright. That's the only thing I care about doing right now. Sora's safe and so is Kairi."
'Sora...your brother...may not be safe after all. You must find him and protect him.'
"Sora...what do you mean?"
'Wake up and find out. Meet your new partners for your journey, the ones that rescued you. They may be more familiar to you than you think...'
Natalie's eyes fluttered open and she quickly sat up, her eyes adjusting to the dim lighting of the room. When her eyes gained focus she looked around the room and nearly jumped out of her skin when someone sat on her bed.
"Well, hello there. I see you're finally awake." The girl said, and Natalie jumped, scared. The girl was maybe a year or two older than Natalie and had long red hair. She was shorter than Natalie by two inches at least and looked like her. But what had scared her was the girl's eyes. Her eyes were yellow with a black slit in the middle, like a cat's eyes. Her fingernails were long and finely manicured to sharp tips, like claws. She was poised and graceful. It was like she was a cat.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." The redhead said with an apologetic smile.
"Who...are you? What are you?" Natalie asked her aloud.
"Who? My name is Lana, Natalie. If you really want to know, I'm a Heartless. Your Heartless." She said like it was nothing. Natalie jumped out of her skin.
"What? But wait, aren't you formed when—" Lana cut her off.
"Yeah, I know. I'm formed from the darkness in your heart when your heart leaves your body. Yes, I'm supposed to disappear when your heart returns to your body. But for some reason, here I am. I'm here and I can stay here with you. I don't know...maybe it's just because you're special, Natalie. That is more believeable than 'I'm here just because.'" She smiled and giggled. She was really friendly, for a Heartless.
"I know I'm not your typical Heartless variety, but like I said, you're special, Natalie. I have my own heart and everything. Who knows what's happened? But I'm here and I'm happy!" She hugged Natalie lightly. Another girl entered the room.
"Lana...what did I tell you? She needs to get better and if you disturb her she won't recover as fast." The new girl said.
"Oh, Xentalia, calm down. She woke up all on her own. When I wake up I like to have someone there, so maybe she wanted that, too." The redhead protested. Natalie looked at them both.
"I wouldn't know. I don't know what you guys feel. I don't understand it, either." The girl, Xentalia, said.
She was about two inches taller than Natalie with long chestnut brown hair. Her skin was a very light milk chocolate color and her eyes were a soft gold. She had a permanent look of no expression on her face, though there seemed to be a trace of something angry or sinister in her face. But it was only slight.
"Why do you say that?" Natalie asked as Lana started changing her bandage.
"I'm a Nobody. That's what we are." The brunette said matter-of-factly.
"A what?" Natalie inquired.
"A Nobody. Haven't you heard of us before?" The brunette said, almost as if she were talking down to Natalie.
"No...I haven't. Never." Natalie admitted.
"Hmph. I'll be back later." She said, almost angry, gliding out of the room. Lana shook her head and sighed while finishing with the bandage.
"You've stopped bleeding and the wound is closing up. I think in a couple of days you will actually be all better and able to move around." Natalie nodded, then looked back at Lana after thinking for a couple of minutes.
"Lana...why was Xentalia upset that I didn't know what a Nobody was?" The redhead shook her head.
"Xentalia can't get upset, hun. She's a Nobody. They don't have feelings." Natalie cracked an eyebrow, inquisitive.
"But it seemed like she did." The redhead nodded and put a finger on her chin.
"Well...they understand feelings because they had them once. She was once a part of you. She retains some of the memories of being you inside of her, feeling those feelings you've felt before and stuff like that." The redhead said, gesturing with her hands to get Natalie to understand a little better. Still, though, Natalie wanted to know more.
"What is a Nobody?" She asked.
"A Nobody is a creature created from what's left over after the heart leaves the body. Most times the Nobodies don't have higher thinking capabilities and just become lesser Nobodies. But those Nobodies, like Xentalia, who have higher thinking capabilites can actually function all on their own. They can even band together and work like humans do. Most times they're created from stronger beings, too." Lana explained.
"Oh..." Natalie said, thinking she understood.
"Since they don't have hearts, Natalie, they can't feel anything, not really. I mean, they know what the feeling felt like when they were human, when they were part of you, but...they can't actually feel it like you can. Does that make sense?" Natalie nodded.
"...Kind of, I think. It helps me understand her a little better." The redhead smiled.
"Xentalia's really strong and smart, and is actually not half-bad. She's just...easily offended, I guess? They can't feel things like that, but...I guess they can know what right and wrong are, and understand it and abide by it." Natalie nodded again in coherence.
"Okay. I just feel bad for making her so unhappy." Lana shook her head with a smile.
"Nah, it's fine. She gets over it pretty quickly. Plus, I put her in charge of keeping watch." Natalie's eyebrow rose again.
"Keeping watch? For what?" Lana situated herself on the bed a little more, then responded.
"Well...you've gone off of the radar. Someone was watching you and now that you're gone, they're frantically trying to locate you. But we're keeping you well hidden until you get better." Natalie thought for a moment.
"Oh...so I'm in danger?" She said, completely surprised. What would anyone want with her?
"Well, sort of. After you heal you can defend yourself, and we'll help you out. I'm not going to abandon you and neither will Xentalia. We're parts of you and we'll stick by you."
"Why?" Natalie asked. She only knew of three people willing to do that for her.
"Because if you disappear, I disappear. Xentalia won't but...she doesn't have anyone else. I guess she wouldn't like it too much, being alone." Lana said. Natalie thought for a moment, then answered.
"Oh. Okay." Lana smiled, then put her hand on Natalie's.
"And then we can start looking for Riku. Does that sound good?" Natalie's eyes brightened, her heart falling into a faster rhythm at the mention of his name.
"Wait, you know about Riku?" She asked. Lana nodded, crossing her arms.
"Well, sort of. You were talking about it in your sleep...I gathered he was someone close to you. From what I could make out he's gone missing and you're trying to find him."
Natalie was silent for a few moments and laid back, thinking about all of the things that had happened on her previous journey, ignoring Lana's comment to her. Everything had happened so fast that she couldn't believe it had happened. One minute they were leaving to go to new worlds on a raft, the next...they were in a completely different world and traveling to new ones every other moment. Then the next minute Riku gave into the darkness, they fought, he was taken over, her heart was taken and then given back, and then they defeated Ansem and helped Riku close the Door to Darkness, the door to Kingdom Hearts, the door to the light. And now she was here. It was all a blazing memory that had gone by so fast that she didn't understand most of it. She was so confused as to what had happened and why it had to be them. She didn't understand about herself and Riku being halves of each other, containing half of each other's hearts inside of them. She didn't understand why she was so special and who 'lived' inside of her, like Maleficent had said. She didn't understand the Heartless or the Nobodies. She needed to figure it out, but she needed to find Riku first and know he was safe. Then she could find everything else out.
"Natalie, are you in there?" Natalie looked up.
"Huh?"
"You were daydreaming. Are you okay?" The blond nodded at the concerned redhead.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. I was just...taking everything in. Everything that's happened is kind of overwhelming for me." Lana put her hand on Natalie's in comfort.
"I understand. It's a lot to take in, especially when you're confused and don't know anything. We'll help you out, don't worry." This made Natalie smile.
"Thanks, Lana." The redhead smiled back even brighter.
"No problem! I think we'll become fast friends." She said, taking Natalie's hand in her own two. Xentalia walked into the room.
"Someone's here. I'm going to watch them and make sure they don't come too close."
"Do you know who it is?" Lana asked, standing.
"No, it's no one from the Organization and it's not an outsider I'm familiar with. I'll watch and wait." She said, before disappearing. Lana closed the door and turned the lock.
"Is she going to be alright?" Natalie asked, concern plain on her face.
"Xentalia's powerful. It would take a lot of power to take her down. Only the top members of the Organization could take her down." Lana said. Natalie just became more confused.
"The Organization? Who's that?" Lana sat down and drew her legs together on the bed. Natalie slipped a shirt over her head that was just a loose red t-shirt. She didn't have anything else. Her sweater was gone. The shirt had been given to her by Lana while she was changing the bandage.
"Organization XIII is their full name. They're made up of thirteen members, all Nobodies like Xentalia, very powerful. But Xentalia doesn't wish to be involved with them because she doesn't want to be involved in those politics and she doesn't like what they're doing. They keep trying to recruit her and have been trying to find her and capture her in order to brainwash her into working for them. Her power is really rare and could be useful to them. But they haven't figured out that the only way they can get Xentalia is by either sending their number one after her or catching her off guard. And Xentalia's never off of her guard." Lana said proudly and sternly.
"So then why don't they send their number one?" Natalie asked.
"Because they aren't sure whether or not she is stronger than him. If she is, then their leader is jeopardized." Natalie nodded.
"You'd think they'd send two or three." Lana nodded.
"They haven't tried that yet, but if she took on that many...her chances of winning are slim at best. Even Xentalia's not invincible." Lana said, smiling brightly. Her dainty kitty fangs showed in her cheesy smile, trying to make a joke out of the gloomy situation.
"So why don't you help her?" Natalie asked, concerned.
"My main job right now is to protect you and make sure you get better. We have stuff to do and without you we can't do it. You want to find Riku? You want to find out everything you don't understand? Well, you've got to get better first and be safe before that can happen." Lana said, standing to tuck Natalie in.
"Now then. You need to rest. Sleep heals you faster. It will help rest your mind, as well." Natalie nodded.
"I...hope she'll be okay." Natalie said. Lana shook her head.
"Don't sweat over it. Xentalia and I have everything under control. Just rest and trust us to take care of you." Natalie nodded again and turned over onto her uninjured side. She curled up into a ball, burying herself under the covers, and soon fell asleep.
Lana stood and walked outside to check on Xentalia. She was walking up the stairs to the building they were hiding in.
"They've found us. They sent their assassin after me." She said coldly. Lana looked at her, concerned.
"Who, Axel? Did they honestly think he could take you down?" Xentalia smirked ever so slightly.
"They were after Natalie. They know she's here." The girl said, brushing cinders and burnt pieces of her cloak off of her.
"He actually got to you. Didn't you use it?" Lana asked in a whisper. The brunette nodded.
"Yeah, I did. But he's really good. Hence, why he's the assassin." She said. Lana sighed.
"Yeah, but I thought your little thing was unstoppable." Xentalia crossed her arms.
"Just because the dagger is nearly unstoppable doesn't mean it's completely unstoppable. They're scared of it because it has a chance of dealing a single killing blow. It doesn't always work." Lana nodded.
"So the Killing Dagger isn't always what it really means."
"No. Now get back inside and watch over Natalie. They can't break my shield and enter through a dark portal, but I want you there to keep her safe. He's gone now and everything should be fine until they send someone else. I'll continue to keep watch." Lana nodded.
"Alright, alright. Just be careful and keep me updated." Lana said, shrugging her shoulders and walking back inside.
So that's the end of the first chapter! Hope you like it and don't forget to leave your comments and let me know what you thought. Here, have a cookie! I ran out of muffin mix, sorry guys.
