Author's Note and Disclaimer: This is an original story that is about me and my friends while being set in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Kingdom Hearts is a product of Square-Enix and Disney and is thus copyrighted by them.
Kingdom Hearts: Corridors To The Heart
Chapter 1: Starlight Town
"I sometimes ask myself 'What is the difference between darkness and light?' From many stories I've heard or read, there's never really a definite comparison between the two. Darkness and light is usually defined by the triumphant of the two powers and how the story is told through that point. But that isn't always true from my stand point. Darkness is often times defined as 'evil' and Light being 'good.' But seriously, how do you find the difference between the two? How do we have the power to tell what's light and dark? Just because light appears to be 'good' it doesn't mean it's the rightful one. Same for darkness, just cuz it seems 'evil' doesn't mean it is. This is one of the many thoughts running through my mind. I think about this kinda stuff everyday. Although it seems pointless, it's good to question."
In the early morning, sitting on top the roof of a house, a young man with a pondering look upon his face. He is sitting while looking out towards the ocean, and to the sun that will soon rise. The wind of the cool morning is blowing his long black hair away from his face. He is wearing sleeveless black shirt with a grey neck, which also goes down to his chest in a sort of V shape, black fingerless gloves with a black and white wristband with tribal symbols on both arms, navy blue pants with light blue padding going down the side of his legs. Right next to him is a shinai, a boken, and a short sleeved navy blue jacket with the same light blue padding on the sleeves and shoulders, and on the back the word dragon is written while capitalized.
"I guess I have many questions about life going through my mind." The young man squints his eyes as the morning breeze blows slightly stronger in his direction, his hair flowing with the wind more fluently, "That probably accounts for a vast imagination as well. Maybe my heart is seeking something, but what exactly? If my heart is seeking a place to belong, then I begin to wonder if the world I live in is the rightful place for me." He turns his head slightly while shifting his eyes over from the ocean, to the beach, and back to the ocean as he notices the sun becoming more visible over the horizon, "If my heart truly is seeking a place to belong to, then where is that place?"
"HEY KEVIN!!!" A guy's voice shouted in a shortened distance. Kevin shakes his head and looks around for where the voice came from. He looks down around the house and sees two guys and girl, all who also have their own shinais, waving to get his attention.
"Hey over here!" The tall white boy in the middle calls out to Kevin.
"Heh hey." Kevin lets out a small grin as he sees them and stands up, "YOU'RE ALL LATE!!!!!" He screamed with a semi-annoyed tone in his voice, almost looking like
he's throwing a fit on the roof.
"He tells us to come here at five in the morning and complains?" The fat Asian boy with glasses said to the group in response to Kevin's outburst on the roof.
"Seriously!" The tall white boy replied.
"Hey!" The Asian girl spoke up to Kevin, "Since you got us here this early in the morning, can you get off your roof so we can start our practice!?" She raised her voice and ended up scolding him.
"Well…she's mad at me again." Kevin thought, putting his hands in his pockets while looking away, "Okay fine! My bad for making you guys come here this early!" He answered, looking back at everyone.
"Well that's how my friends are with my so called antics."
"Well. Hurry up boy!" The tall white boy called up.
"That guy right there is one of my best friends, Ian. I've known him for quite a while. He's a cool person to hang out with. Very down to earth and strong willed. I trust him very well and we have each other's backs."
Ian, who is standing in the middle of the group, is has very short light brown hair and is wearing a long sleeved black shirt and a white and red jacket that has a wide collar that also becomes a hood. Also on the back of his jacket is a black cross. The sleeves of his jacket and his shirt are both rolled up slightly below his elbows. He has on dark blue pants, and a second pant layer that is black, with the bottoms rolled up slightly.
"So can we get going now? I still have stuff to do!" The fat Asian boy with glasses said aloud.
"That guy right there is Isaiah. He's also my best friend. I've known him as long as I've known Ian. He has a wide imagination and takes his studies seriously. He's cool because we can talk about pretty much everything."
Isaiah, who is on the right of the group, has short black hair that's a little puffed out. He is wearing a grey shirt and has a dark green jacket with a grey hood and dark grey should straps which connect on his back. Underneath his jacket are two padded, belt-like weights crossing over each other. He is also wearing dark blue shorts with pads underneath the knees.
"And lastly, the girl standing there with the trio of scolders is Robin. She's also one of my best friends, one of the only girls at that. She's nice and very level headed. She, like Isaiah, is also very serious about her studies. She is certainly a great friend who cares for others."
Robin, the girl on the left of the group, has long black hair that's tied in a ponytail with bangs. She is wearing a red cap-sleeved shirt and a short sleeved jean jacket with a furry collar. On her arms she is also wearing thick bronze bangles and underneath her shirt are blue thermal-like sleeves that are tied around her chest above the neck of her shirt. She is
also wearing a dark blue side skirt with a white bottom and a loosely worn brown leather belt. Underneath her side skirt, she's wearing blue jeans with an extra layer of light blue ankles.
After the small quarrel between the group, Kevin gets ready to leave with them to practice. He ties his long black hair into a tail, while leaving his bangs down. He also picks up his jacket and puts it on, while dusting it off. He picks up both his boken and shinai, and jumps off the roof of his house and walks towards the group.
"Alright then!" Kevin said cheerily, "Let's get going!" They all turn around and start to leave Kevin's house, "So who gets first pick?"
"Since I'm a little anxious right now," Ian said as they started walking, "I'll take on Isaiah as a warm up."
They begin walking down a road that leads to the beach. In about ten to twenty minutes of walking time, they make it to the beach where they will practice fighting each other with their shinais. At the entrance to the beach there's a sign that reads Beach of Premonitions.
The Beach of Premonitions appears to be a quite and peaceful beach. The sound of the waves coming in from the ocean is very soothing and the soft sand brings comfort. There are some small beach houses up and down along the beach. The area behind the beach is a rather small, but inhabitable woodland. In the end of the woodland, where one of the entrances to the beach is, Kevin and his friends have a small shack where they keep some of their possessions.
Just as they arrive at beach, Robin walks off to sit on a log they left and takes out a book in the messenger bag that she's carrying. Kevin goes to their shack, drops off his boken, but brings out some extra equipment for their practice at the beach. Both Ian and Isaiah walk to the water and stand about seven feet from each other. They both get ready to begin their early morning practice.
"You can take the opening move if you wish!" Ian told Isaiah holding his right arm up as if he was baiting him to come at him.
"Oh no! I'm not falling for your bluffs!" Isaiah replied holding his shinai in a standard two handed stance.
Both Ian and Isaiah stare at each other with unflinching eyes. After a couple of seconds of staring off at each other, Ian lets off a small grin and Isaiah giving off a light smirk. Ian then pulls his left arm back while lifting up his right leg and gets ready to charge at Isaiah.
"Fine then!" Ian said and did a quick dash towards Isaiah, "Here I come!"
"Hmph!" Isaiah grunted at Ian's opening move, and turns is shinai to the right.
Ian swings his left arm at Isaiah, aiming for his right shoulder. In response to Ian's attack, Isaiah shifts into a defensive stance and blocks his attack into a sword lock. Ian tries to force Isaiah down by pressing down his shinai towards Isaiah. Not letting Ian over power him, Isaiah twists his hands, forces his hilt forward then pushes Ian off with a hard diagonal swing leading upwards. Taking this small advantage he has, Isaiah charges towards Ian and swings downwards. Ian reacts by blocking parallel to the ground.
"Good call!" Kevin mentioned walking up behind Robin and sits next to her on the log.
"Yeah it was." Robin replied looking up slightly at the battle while reading her book, "Though he could've parried it and take another shot."
"Good point." Kevin answered to Robin's suggestion.
Ian forces off Isaiah from his guarding position and switches his shinai from his left hand, to his right and begins to fight in a two handed style. He points his shinai at Isaiah and thrusts towards his chest. Isaiah pulls his arms up, steps to the left, and parries Ian's thrust. After parrying, Isaiah takes a chance and tries to hit Ian on the side. Ian jumps to his left to avoid getting hit by Isaiah's counter.
"Close one!" Ian commented on Isaiah's attack, "But it's time to kick up a bit!" He puts both hands on the hilt of his shinai and hold it to his side, ready to attack.
"Oh really?" Isaiah replied returning to a forward two handed stance.
Both Ian and Isaiah charge at each other and begin to swiftly strike at each other. The sound of the shinais hitting each other becomes louder and more frequent as they strike at each other harder and faster. As they continue their match, they occasionally have a short sword lock between attacks. They also begin to get more creative with their attacks using feint attacks, dodges, and parries.
"They fight pretty fast now don't you think?" Robin asked Kevin, looking up from her book after closing it.
"Yeah they do." Kevin answered, "So, you hear from Mary lately?" He asked turning his head to Robin.
"She was supposed to come back yesterday afternoon." Robin replied, taking off her messenger bag and her shinai that was strapped to her back. "And I'm not surprised that she's not here. After all you didn't tell her we had a practice this morning."
"Oh yeah…right." Kevin said while looking down.
"You two talking about me?" A girl said standing between them.
"Whoa!" Both Kevin and Robin jumped up from the log.
"Hi there!" The girl greeted them.
"Oh Mary you're here, even though we didn't tell you." Robin said settling down from Mary sneaking up on them.
"Yeah well, I saw guys walking down here." Mary told Robin, "Couldn't sleep last night."
"Well you're here now." Kevin mentioned, "Now you and Robin can practice next."
"Oh just cause you don't want fight me!" Robin reacted to Kevin's remark.
"Yeah well…" Kevin grumbled, scratching his head.
"Well. I'm ready to practice." Mary answered.
"Yeah, that girl is Mary. She's younger than the rest of us since she's a sophomore in high school. So I've pretty much known her for about year now. She's pretty cool, and like all my friends she has her own quirkiness. She's kinda hyper sometimes so she pretty much fits in to our circle of friends."
Mary, the youngest of the group, has medium length black hair that tied into a bun with chopsticks keeping them together. She's wearing a light blue and black sleeveless shirt with a pin and a floral-like design on the side, and black fingerless gloves and black armband on her right arm. She is wearing black shorts with a small pouch tied to her waist and high striped socks with black Japanese school-like shoes.
Just as Mary said she was ready to practice, Ian and Isaiah's practice match ended with a stalemate from Ian's offense and Isaiah's defense. Their match left them rather tired from their accelerated attacks.
"Oh wait! I forgot my shinai!" Mary mentioned with surprised look on her face.
"Wanna use one of ours?" Kevin told Mary, holding up his shinai while pointing at both Ian and Isaiah's.
"They're a little long compared to mine. But I'll use one." Mary replied, taking Kevin's shinai as she walked by him. Both Robin and Mary walk to the middle of the beach and get ready to practice with each other. Shortly, Robin and Mary begin to practice with each other. The both of them charge at each other and go into an early sword lock.
Throughout their practice they switch off between who fights who. After about an hour they finish switching between as well as doing various exercises with the practice equipment in their shack, they finish their early morning practice. With their practice over, they all head home to get ready to go to school. They go on through the day like any teenager in high school would.
Later in the day, about an hour before the sun sets, Kevin is back at the Beach of Premonitions, lying on the sand and listening to the waves. He occasionally takes a look at the sun setting, but is mainly staring at the sky, seeing the stars that never go away, even in broad daylight. From time to time, he would close his eyes and drift away into light sleep.
"The dominant feature in Starlight Town is the stars that never go out. During the day, the stars are visible in a faint, seemingly dark, light, which is very unique here. During the night, the stars are as white as the moon. It's a beautiful yet mysterious sky."
Kevin opens his eyes again and sees the sky getting dark. The stars in the sky begin to turn into to a white light. He stretches out a bit and relaxes his arms behind his head. Glancing down a bit he sees the sun halfway set into the ocean. Just as he looked back up at the sky, Kevin heard faint footsteps walking in the sandy beach, approaching him slowly.
"I thought I'd find you here!" Tilting his head back, Kevin sees Robin walking towards him. She went up right next to him and sits down, "Thinking about something on your mind?"
"Why do you think that?" Kevin asked as he turned his head towards Robin.
"Well you're always thinking about something, I know that much." Robin answered looking down at him, "And since you're always looking out into the distance, I figured that." Leaning back, she looks up to the stars, and Kevin does the same, "To tell you the truth. I've been wondering if there were other worlds out there besides this one."
"There could be." Kevin replied looking around at the stars. He felt his eyes closing, as if he was getting sleepy, he tries hard to force them open but they continue to close on him.
"I like looking at the stars." Robin spoke, "And sometimes I wonder if there really are other worlds like ours beyond the stars."
"Whether there is any or not, it's something to look forward to." Kevin told Robin while giving in to his closing eyes.
"Yes it is." Robin answers with a smile while she softly closes her eyes.
"Why am I so tired?" Kevin thought to himself, "So sleepy."
The sound of ocean waves and the soft wind in Kevin's ears seem to slowly fade. Even Robin's quiet breathing began to fade. Shortly after, Kevin doesn't feel like he is lying down on the sand of the beach. Kevin opens his eyes and sees only a light in the sky. He quickly jerks up and notices that he's no longer at the Beach of Premonitions.
"What the?" His voice echoed while quickly looking around in a black void, with only the light above him giving him sight, "Where am I?"
He stands up and the light above him lights up the area around him, revealing he is standing on a wide pillar. Looking down on the floor of the pillar, Kevin sees an image of himself sleeping and portraits of Ian, Isaiah, Robin and Mary on the sides.
"What is this?" Kevin wondered.
"Which path do you choose?" A voice whispered to Kevin.
"Huh?" He turned around quickly, looking behind him though nothing is there, "Who's there!?"
"Which path do you choose?" As the voice whispered again, three altars appeared around Kevin, "The Warrior, to fight for you and for others?" A well decorated katana appears on the first altar. "The Guardian, to defend the life others?" A decorated shield appears on the second alter. "Or the Mystic, to create and preserve life with unsurpassed knowledge?" A finely decorated staff appears on the last altar. "This path is yours to choose and yours alone."
"What is this about?" Kevin said aloud, "What does it matter which path I choose?"
"The answers you seek will be determined by your path." The voice replied, "Look deep within your heart and choose carefully!"
As the voice stopped speaking, Kevin looked around at the three altars. A bright light from above shines, making the pillar more visible than it was before. Shielding his eyes a bit from the sudden change in lighting, Kevin turns around to have a much clearer look at the altars.
"To find answers, I'll choose my own path huh?" He said to himself walking to the altar with the decorated katana. As he got closer to the altar he reached out his hand towards the decorated katana. Before he grabbed the decorated katana, a shadow jumped past his arm, causing him to retract his arm and take a big step back, "What the!?"
Kevin turned his head to the side to see what jumped past his arm and sees a small shadowy figure with glowing yellow eyes and antennas constantly moving around in one place. Upon seeing the shadowy figure, an array of clicking sounds reveal more shadowy figures scrambling around the pillar, all of which are staring at Kevin as the move around.
"What are these guys?" Kevin questioned himself looking at the shadowy figures. But just as he questioned himself, another one of the shadowy figures jumps at him but he reacts by ducking and stepping to the side, "Whoa! The hell!?" Before he could even react another shadow jumps at him from behind, pushing him over, "Ugh." He rolled over and recovered into a kneeling position.
Being almost completely surrounded by the shadows, Kevin constantly switched his attention from one shadow to the next. And one by one the shadows jumped at him, keeping him moving with almost no chance to rest every time. Seeing as how staying in place made him more likely to get hit, Kevin decides run in between a small opening in the group of shadows.
"I don't know how much longer I can take this!" Kevin thought to himself while running around, evading the shadows as effectively as a he could.
After evading the shadows for some time, Kevin found himself back in the center of the pillar almost completely surrounded. Looking around very cautiously, he was preparing himself for the next shadow to jump at him. If more than three shadows were attack him at that time, Kevin wouldn't be able dodge them.
Just as shadow directly in front him was about to jump at him, as well as two more from the side, Kevin sees the decorated katana in his field of vision. To avoid getting hit by the three shadows, he dives right underneath the shadow ahead of him and lands on top a group of shadows. Knowing that staying above them would be dangerous for him, Kevin then jumps off the shadows and dives for the decorated katana, barely rolling over the altar after grabbing the katana.
"Your path is set!" The voice from before whispered to Kevin as the altars disappeared, "You have chosen the path of the Warrior. The field of battle is where you'll find your answers."
"Right…whatever!" Kevin said, getting up from the ground. As he stood up he looked at the decorated katana and its scabbard, "Now this is a fine looking weapon!" As he said that he looked at all the shadows, who were all now staring him down, "Well then. You all want a piece of me eh?" He sheathed the katana and stood in a sword drawing position, "Then come at me!" He continues to stare at the shadows, ready to attack them in a moments notice.
To be continued…