Chapter 1: The Family Heirloom
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters/creatures that are in the story, with the exception of my own original characters. All characters/creatures belong to their affiliated games and companies.
The year is 2017 and social media buzzes every minute of every hour with either negative comments about what the American President is doing or tweeting about or about another innocent life getting taken too soon. Krieger von Englestarke turned off the TV, annoyed with the news. Though the TV sat in the entertainment center, to the left of it was the fireplace, gas-powered, but it was what was above it that always caught everyone's attention. Hanging above it was a black and gold katana, about 2 ½ feet long. The saya, or scabbard, was made of wood but polished with a shiny black varnish; the tsuka, or hilt, was wrapped with samegawa. This samegawa was not only made of shark skin, but was also dyed black before it was wrapped. Within the samegawa was menuki, which were ornaments on the tsuka; these were small and had a golden tint to them.
Krieger looked up at the katana, always thinking of his grandfather, who first taught him sword techniques with boken, or wooden swords. He knew that the katana would eventually be bequeathed to him, seeing how at the moment he was the only current descendant who could properly wield it. He went into his room and got on his laptop to check his email and Facebook notifications. Most of his timeline was filled with people and articles discussing the upcoming solar eclipse, one that has not been seen for about 30 years. He posted a couple things on his friends' pages, shared a couple video game related images then opened up his media player and played some music.
On the day of the solar eclipse, Krieger stayed away from social media because that was the only thing people were talking about and nothing more. Fumbling through one of his drawers, he found the box of mementos he acquired from his grandfather's will. Most of it was pocket watches or pocket knives, the latter he collected for a hobby. As he rummaged through it, a piece of paper caught his eye. "Hm? What's this? I don't remember putting this paper in there." He opened it up and saw that it was a simple note, written in both English and Japanese. However, the whole thing was not correctly translated as the English words were more like notes rather than a complete sentence. He could tell it was his grandfather's writing though from the nearly perfect handwritten words, though they were all in a small print but in capital letters. Above his handwriting was the phrase "私の心の欲望を満たす" written in bold print. "That's definitely his writing, but it seems like he was trying to figure out what this phrase meant. I barely know Japanese, so I might have to research online what this means. All he figured out looks like it says 'my heart'. Huh, well that's weird." He then jumped online and started Googling through the symbols written on the note. After a bit of digging, and what seemed like an hour or so, he finally figured out that the phrase said "Grant the desires of my heart." He stared at the note, his writing underneath his grandfather's. "Now why would he want to know what this meant? Unless…" He focused back onto the computer screen as he went to the screen that showed him the translation. On the opposite side of the screen, underneath the kanji, was the Japanese wording but in English letters. As he took a breath and started to read, high above in the sky, the solar eclipse had reached its' totality. In the living room, the katana on the mantle started to glow and rattle…
"Watashi no kokoro no yokubō o mitasu," he spoke aloud.
Silence. He looks around the room and mumbled "Well that didn't do—" All of a sudden a loud crack sounded from the living room! "The fuck?" He scurried from his room to see in the living room now stood a portal in front of the fireplace, glowing blue and purple lighting strikes and swirls around it. In front of the portal though is what really caught Krieger's eye…it was the family heirloom, the black and gold katana hovering vertically, still sealed in its saya. A massive gust of wind started to blow from the portal and fearing that the katana was going to be sucked into the portal, he fought the wind and slowly worked his way to the katana. The wind was so strong however, it made the short distance feel like a mile, but that didn't stop his determination. With his left hand, he reached out for the katana and one of the lightning bolts struck his hand, but adrenaline had kicked in and didn't phase him. As he grasped the katana with his hand, the wind shifted and he felt like he was being pulled into the portal! Preparing for the worst, he held the katana close to his chest and braced for impact…
THUMP! He landed on a patch of grass, softly blown by a gentle breeze. Looking around, he mutters, "Where's the—Ow!" BONK! The katana fell on top of his head and landed next to him. "Uhh, fuck that hurt. It must have slipped out of my grasp when I landed. Wait…Where DID I land?" He stood up, and realized his clothes were different. He was wearing a dark grey trench coat underneath a black shirt, black jeans and dark grey/black steel-toed boots while a black cowboy hat covered short dark brown hair. "Huh, neat outfit." He fastened the katana to his right side, since he would usually wield bokens with his left hand.
Suddenly, he heard a strange sound behind him, like something rushing through the grass. He turned around to see a young male with short brown hair running towards him, wielding what looked to be a big revolver with a blade on the end of it! Like it was a reflex, Krieger immediately drew his katana and took a defensive stance as the attacker swung his blade above his head, striking the katana and pushing Krieger back a bit. Krieger took a good look at the young man's face and realized he had a scar above the bridge of his nose but between his eyes. And his eyes…they were completely black. The young man was also wearing a strange necklace over his white shirt and leather jacket. He blocked a few swings then went on the offensive, using what he had learned from his years of training. The young male hopped back a few feet and smirked at Krieger. It didn't take long for Krieger to realize who this guy was. "Wait a minute. Short brown hair, strange necklace, scar above his nose, and a sword that looks like a revolver? It…it can't be…a Gunblade! Hey! What's your name?" The young man cocked his head back, put his gunblade on his right shoulder and said "Squall. Squall Leonhart. And I'm going to defeat you!" "Oh for fuck's sake, it IS him! But…he's…a video game character! What's going on? Where the fuck am I?" Squall moved into an offensive stance, a stance Krieger knew all too well. "Shit, he's going into his Limit Break! I'm dead!"