Immer: Here I go again. I have enough on my plate as it is. Here's to a new story. First attempt with Kingdom Hearts so bear with me, I haven't played the games since Birth By Sleep. I have yet to get my hands on a 3DS to play Dream Drop, and I refuse to watch cutscenes of the game (except for one short cutscene that someone showed me for spoilers so I sorta know what happens). So, for this story, disregard what you know of Dream Drop. Actually, disregard the opening of Kingdom Hearts II while you're at it.
I do not own Kingdom Hearts, anything from Disney, Final Fantasy related.
Chapter One Out of the Darkness Part I
SIMPLEandCLEAN
He had been wandering for some time now, always on the move, never settling in one world in fear of the Organization catching up to him. He often wondered how Axel fared, and that was when the guilt and regret flooded. He would then shake his head, reminding himself he was a Nobody, he wasn't supposed to have a heart. Therefore, he couldn't have emotions. At least, that was what he had been told, anyway.
I don't understand how I don't have a heart in the first place.
To distract himself from these strange thoughts that haunted him, he focused on the answers he sought. But no matter what new world he ventured, he found none. Instead he found himself feeling like he had been to some of these worlds, when he knew for a fact he had never stepped foot in them. For even fewer he realized Sora didn't even know these worlds existed. This bothered him, and for some reason he knew he was close to his goal.
He also noticed something else. The longer he ventured, the more depressed and angry he felt. He didn't understand why he felt these emotions so strongly over the others, but it was accompanied by painful headaches and episodes of crippling pain where he couldn't move. He didn't understand why this was happening, and a part of him was scared it was because of him not becoming one with Sora.
They figured out how to wake him up without me. I can continue existing. I don't need to complete Sora.
Then he came to Hollow Bastion, still transitioning to healing itself to a better world it once was.
He felt a strong pull to this world for some reason, when he avoided it since it was a hot spot for the Organization. However, the pull was too strong to ignore as he tried to distance himself more and more. And so eventually he allowed himself to have a peek into the world when it was too much for his mind to ignore the nagging in the back of his brain. It was similar to a bee buzzing around constantly. Plus, curiosity won him over in the end when he heard whispers of the Organization being eliminated.
So, he opened a portal to Hollow Bastion and stepped through, hood up and covering his face.
It was hard to recognize this world that had been different tones of blues and purples, giving it a depressing undertone as the world healed from some tragic event. Those colors were still prominent, but other colors joined in. Flowers decorated wherever they could. They were vibrant colors of white, yellow, pink and red. From his view in the canyons, the town expanded a bit, too. It was certainly bigger than the last time he saw it.
Or was it Sora who saw it last? It's hard to tell now that he's awake and wandering around.
Even so, Roxas began to wander around to find out why he felt such a strong pull here. He avoided the town altogether and started with the canyons. If memory served him right, there was an abandoned castle near the end. If anything was calling out to him somehow, it would be from there, he guessed. It was the only abnormality that stood out the most in this world. It was a good start to look.
The first set of enemies he met weren't Heartless. The smallest of the creatures were dark blue with beady yellow eyes. They moved quick and frantically, ready to strike at a moment's notice. The bigger ones came up to just above his waist. What had Roxas reeling was the eyes were red and in an odd shape that made the face give off an emotion of anger and pain mixed in. One of them came close to him and tilted its head. Roxas stood frozen, as a memory not his own or Sora's flashed through.
"It happened when you and I were split into two. The negativity took shape as these monsters. They are what I feel - a horde of fledghling emotions under my control."
Pain tore all through Roxas, knocking the breath out of him. He began to feel dizzy to the point Roxas had to kneel with one hand on the ground to keep himself in check with reality as strange images flooded his head so fast he couldn't process them. His other arm gripped at his side in a sad attempt to ease the pain.
Why am I having an episode in the worst possible of times!?
Roxas cried out in pain as the creatures closed in. He was in so much pain he almost vomited, but a gasp interrupted when he remembered what these creatures were. And suddenly the words that came to him somewhat made sense.
The Unversed...? They're born from negativity of a split heart...
Roxas blinked in shock, unsure how he knew what these creatures were. He was too in shock from having a memory that wasn't Sora's pop up in his mind to realize the Unversed weren't attacking him. They swarmed around him in close proximity, like a horde of bees surrounding the queen. Roxas came to notice this detail when suddenly someone called out.
"Hey! You okay, kid?" He recognized the voice through Sora's memory.
Cloud?
"Here, let me help." And without waiting for an answer a sword was swung to cut the Unversed down.
Roxas glanced over his shoulder to confirm that it was Cloud. He could just make out his spiked platinum blond hair and broadsword that was still wrapped up. He managed to cut his way through the horde with ease to reach Roxas. The Unversed grew angry and retaliated. Roxas shakily stood on weak legs. With more effort than usual, he brought forth his blades. Beside him, Cloud stared at the double Keyblade wielder in wonder.
"You can use the Keyblade? And two at the same instance... Never heard of that before."
"It just sort of happened?" Roxas knew there was an explanation, but he couldn't remember.
Whatever Cloud was about to say next was cut off when the horde attacked. The pair stood back to back as they fought the Unversed. Within a short amount of time the Unversed were defeated, although Roxas felt he didn't do as well as he should have due to fighting off an epsiode that had become more frequent.
"So, care to explain why an Organization XIII member can use a Keyblade?" Cloud was wary of him.
He didn't swing at me, at least. Not yet, anyway.
"Former member. I left them. They were trying to use me to collect hearts. And I refuse to be their puppet to throw away once the task was done. I won't allow that to be the reason why I exist." Venom was clear in his voice.
Cloud made a face at the word puppet, like a sour memory was brought forth. And a few seconds of consideration his weapon was lowered. Roxas sighed in relief in not having to fight the swordsman. While the pain had dulled, he still wasn't in his best shape. From Sora's memories, he wasn't interested in facing off with Cloud anytime soon.
"The name's Cloud. You got a name, kid?"
"...Roxas." He wasn't sure it was safe to tell him, but right now he would rather have Cloud's trust than fight him.
"And what brought you here, Roxas? There haven't been much Heartless activity as of late, just more of those weird monsters."
Weird, I haven't seen them in other worlds.
"The castle. I have to go inside. Something is pulling me there."
"You mean the one that used to be at the end of this path?" Cloud motioned down a pathway that Roxas planned to use.
"Yeah - wait, what do you mean 'used to be'?" Roxas felt panic set in.
How can an entire castle disappear?
"It's no longer there. It disappeared some time ago." Cloud stared at the cloaked figure, studying him. "How long has it been since you've been here? Or have you not been to any of the worlds Sora has been to?"
"Wherever the Organization went, I avoided." Roxas was kind of on the run from not only the Organization, but Riku, too. He knew the silver haired friend of Sora had it out for him.
"Can't fault you for that. But I think you don't have to worry about them, anymore. I haven't seen them in a while, either."
"So...they're really...gone?" Roxas felt a wave come over him. While he didn't care much for the others, he didn't get to know them that well, but there was one in particular he held much regret.
Axel is gone? How? When? I had hoped...to make things better.
Suddenly another episode overtook him. Roxas wasn't used to having two back to back, so he couldn't hold back his cry in pain as he fell to his knees. On the way down his hood came loose and fell off, revealing his face. Cloud was by his side, Roxas was sure he was speaking, but he couln't hear anything he said. Instead the dizziness was so overpowering he passed out and the next thing he knew was darkness.
He was somewhere dark. There was no light, nothing to light his way. Then, the floor below him lit up. Roxas stared as he stood on what appeared to be a circle of light. He looked up to see three doors. One of them was red, and it had veins of darkness all over it. He could sense pain, regret, and the need to make things right eminate from that door.
The second was a blue door. The color was dull, and he sensed nothing but calmness and peacefulness of a deep sleep. Lastly, there was the green door. There were chains wrapped all around it, and for some reason Roxas couldn't sense anything from beyond the vibrant green color with chains criss crossed all over.
Was this a dream?
Roxas always had strange dreams, but this was a new sort of strange. He didn't understand what these doors meant, or where they would lead. Or how he didn't know what emotions were held behind them, all he knew was that there was familiarity. He felt that he should know what secrets these doors held, but he couldn't remember.
Whenever he tried, his mind went fuzzy. Like when he was trapped in a fake world of Twilight Town.
After staring at each individual door, what drew him most was the red one. Despite the veins of darkness all over, the color was vibrant, reminding him of Axel. He was also drawn to nearly the same feelings he felt as of late. Kindred emotions were drawn together like magnets.
Roxas moved closer to the red door. Tentatively, he raised his hand to the surface. He could feel the darkness from the veins, throbbing with a faint life. Roxas froze, hesitating to open the door. He was debating whether he really should or not.
Why am I hesitating? I don't have Axel anymore. There's nothing left for me.
With renewed courage Roxas gripped the elegant handle and opened the door. He was met with a bright light, blinding him.
Roxas woke up, arm outstretched to the air. He blinked several times, at first confused on where he was. He groaned as he slowly sat up, a dull ache in the back of his head leftover from the episodes. He glanced around at his surroundings, noticing that he had no idea whose house he was in. He could hear hushed voices in another room.
Groggily, Roxas stood up from the bed. He took in the room he was in curiously. It was devoid of pictures, or anything personal. Only a bed, a dresser, and a closet was in sight. He then remembered he had met Cloud, and now he was starting to wonder if this was his room. It would suit him, he only seemed to carry anything personal inside his head rather than hold onto physical attachments.
Roxas made his way to the door, surprising a few people when he opened it. He stopped to stare as he recognized the faces of Tifa, Aerith, Leon and Yuffie surrounding a table. Cloud seemed to be in a debate with the majority of them, but all heads turned to see Roxas, who immediately wanted to crawl back into bed.
"Um...I should leave. I'm sorry." Roxas felt awkward, sensing the hositility in the air.
"Roxas, wait. I made them promise not to attack you. But, they do want answers. And honestly, I want answers, too." Cloud stood up, opening up his seat for him. Roxas bit his lip, not really liking being outnumbered.
"It's okay. I don't sense any ill intent from you. You'll be fine." Aerith saw right through him, and her words calmed the atmosphere enough that Roxas silently sat down.
"So, Roxas, was it? How long has it been since you've been a member of Organization XIII?" Leon was straight to the point.
"I'm not a member anymore. Haven't been for a while. And I was only with them for almost a year before I left."
"Why would one of their own leave? This sounds sketchy to me!" Yuffie whispered loudly.
"I left because they were using me. I can wield a Keyblade, so they were using me to collect hearts. When I found out, I left. They had plans to eliminate me once the job was done." Roxas felt the anger rising, and he bit the inside of his cheek from saying anything more.
"How can you wield a Keyblade? I thought Nobodies couldn't wield one, let alone two." Leon was still suspicious.
"I am a Nobody of a Keblade wielder. Somehow the power to wield one was transferred over to me." Roxas glared.
"Are you Sora's Nobody?" Aerith intercepted Leon's next question.
"... I have no memory before I woke up as a Nobody." It was partially true. He only had Sora's memories when he recognized something or someone that Sora knew. He wished he could go back to the days he didn't remember.
"Why didn't you help take down the Organization, if you really did leave them?" Leon wasn't letting up.
"Because I didn't want to take down my only friend." Roxas couldn't hide the fury in his voice now. He wasn't sure, but he could faintly hear a commotion outside in the distance. It was too far away to hear and understand what was going on.
"And who would that be?" Leon pressed, ignoring the worried looks from his friends.
"Does it matter? They're all gone." Roxas glared as he stood up, venom and pain in his voice and his hands formed into fists at his sides. He didn't know it, but everyone else noticed. In his fury his eyes changed from deep blues to bright yellow, as if showing how infuriated he felt.
Roxas didn't notice their surprise when suddenly the commotion outside was louder, panic of people rushing their direction. People were running away from something. Unable to ignore the screams any longer Tifa and Yuffie got up to check through the window. The girls gasped in perfect sync.
"Those weird monsters are gathering in the town square! They're merging into a bigger one!" Yuffie exclaimed.
Immediately Cloud and Leon bolted for the door. Roxas could only blink as they were out within seconds. He heard Tifa sigh before running after with Yuffie at her heels, leaving him and Aerith behind without a second thought. Feeling awkward and unsure what to do, Roxas glanced at her. To his surprise she was smiling at him.
"Well, aren't you going to show them wrong that you're not like the others?" She encouraged gently.
"Why should I prove myself to them in the first place?" He frowned. He didn't mind them, it was only Leon he had a problem with.
I don't have to prove anything to him.
"If you want to continue your search here, would you rather be hiding from everyone or walk about freely without concern of them attacking you on sight?"
Roxas opened his mouth to argue only to shut it a second later, the argument dying at his throat. She had a point. He was tired of looking over his shoulder constantly, and now that he knew the castle was gone, he had to rethink his strategy of what drew him here in the first place. It would be less time consuming if he weren't hiding from the protectors of this world.
With a silent nod Roxas made a run to the town square. If he had glanced back he would have seen Aerith's proud smile that lit up her eyes with endearment. As he drew near the sound of battle, Oblivion and Oathkeeper were in his hands. Roxas rounded a corner to see the four of them in a heated struggle against an Unversed.
It was huge, as tall as a building. Limbs were long and lanky, made of plant vines. Its face was identical to the flowers that grew in this world, but a thorned helmet covered it. Armor covered its chest, and all of its fingers had metal spikes easily twice his size. And like the other Unversed, its face held anguish and fury. Circled around it Cloud, Tifa, Leon and Yuffie seemed like mere ants in comparison to its massive height.
Gathering his courage, Roxas lept into the fight with a battle cry, swinging his blades.