Disclaimer: I do not, in any way shape or form, own any part of Kingdom Hearts, it's characters, settings, or orriginal storyline. I claim only my OC, who's name shall be made known in the next chapter.
Thought I'd get that out of the way first thing. Other than that, the only thing left to be done is a much needed dedication to two very special people. They continue to be my light in the darkness and by far the most importnat things in my world. Haley. Katie. Thank you.
All was still. The night was dark and cold, its silence broken only by the whispering of the wind as it tumbled through the late spring leaves, just beginning to gain their summer fullness. High above, thin, wispy clouds drifted slowly across the pale half moon, it's dull silver light shining down upon the lonely stretch of north Georgia roadside. At three 'o clock in the morning, the small neighborhood street was completely deserted. That is, almost completely deserted.
There at the head of Raven St., on a corner bathed in the shadow of a tall, thick oak stood two figures, both dressed completely in black down to the gloves they wore and the hoods of their floor-length leather coats, drawn up to conceal their faces.
"Tonight is the night," The first figure said, a tall bone-thin wizard who dwarfed the tiny king standing beside him. "I can feel it, strongly. Tonight is the night we will find him," The old sorcerer spoke determinedly, though his voice was hushed and his eyes half closed with concentration as he focused the whole of his great powers on pinpointing the one he was feeling for.
The king gazed up at the man's shadowed face, hardly visible under his hood, and worried, as he often did when the two of them came to do this, about how much the effort was costing his old friend. He was glad that the elderly wizard had decided to return to a life of traveling again after this was all over; a year-long trip to who-knows-where would probably do him good.
"It sure has taken a long time," the king commented softly, thinking back to the fall when, nearly eight months before, they had first begun their search.
"It would not have been quite so long," the wizard said, "had his location not changed so suddenly since our last visit. If we hadn't started out a few hundred miles north of here we could have been there two nights ago, and the decision would have already been made. But now I'm afraid time is running out again. You know we can not risk getting stuck here, Your Majesty."
The king sighed. "Yes, I know," he replied, slightly sadly. "We were fortunate that the connection turned out to be so strong this time, but the gateway won't stay open forever, and we can't just assume our luck will hold out. I'll admit I'm worried about' bringing him back to the town right now, though. The threat is growin' quickly, and it's been worrying me some. It won't matter that he can't yet fight back; they'll hunt him relentlessly, just as they do me and the other three, simply because of the weapon he carries. It could prove to be quite dangerous for him."
The wizard tilted his head up to gaze briefly at the so distant-seeming stars above. He replied quietly, "Danger is something he will have to get used to, isn't it?" Privately, the king couldn't help but agree with him.
Turning their attention back to the darkened street in front of them, the two men started again down the edge of the gray asphalt, keeping to the shadows, intent on their destination once more. Less than a minute's time had past when the sorcerer's steps began to slow. The small king beside him slowed his own pace to match, gazing up into his companion's hood, but doing nothing that might break the old man's concentration. Finally, only couple hundred feet further, the wizard stopped, then slowly turned to face the building to his right.
It was a hansom house really, two stories, and done in a colonial style architecture more commonly found in states north of there. Wood-paneled walls, painted a deep blue, were complemented by a black wooden door and several wide, dark windows bordered by whitewashed shutters. A long lawn stretched down to the roadside, silver in the moonlight, bare but for the row of short, small leafed bushes that lined the driveway and the thin, pebbled sidewalk that connected it to the front stoop. Similar plants, but taller, encircled the house. A single, relatively young oak tree sat at the end of the yard, it's lowest branches, about ten feet up it's rough-barked trunk, overhanging the sidewalk. The dull orange light of a street lamp just down the road behind it sent long shadows drifting across the grass and pavement.
"This is it," The wizard said, voice once again low and eyes closed with the intensity of his focus. "You'll find him here. I'm sure of it." There was a pause, then the sorcerer's tone loosened as he finally let his concentration drop, looking down at the king at his side. "He's on the second level, to the left side of the building I'd be willing to guess, but that's as close as I can manage." The king reached up to place one gloved hand on the other man's arm.
"You've done more than enough," He assured him, his voice sincere. He knew that he never would have been able to reach this point without the old magician's help. He looked back to the dark house. "I'll see what I can figure out without goin' in. Might be able to see what he looks like at least. That way we'll already know who we should be paying attention to tomorrow."
"Yes," The wizard agreed, "see what you can find. I must admit, after looking for him for this many months I am quite curious as to just what he's really like. Just as the others are I'm sure. "
At this the king dropped his gaze with a small frown, made slightly uncomfortable by the reminder unintentionally brought on by the wizard's words. "The others shouldn' get their hopes up like they have," He murmured, "We shouldn't have let 'em. Even if this one was chosen, it dosen' mean we'll be able to take him. Dosen' mean it'd be right to. If he's too young, or not right type for this life. If he doesn't want this-"
The wizard laid a long, thin hand on the king's shoulder, stopping his anxious stream of words, and looked down into his face with kind, calming eyes. "You worry too much, my friend. First find him. Then, tomorrow, we shall see who he is. Everything else can be dealt with later, yes?"
The king only sighed. He looked back to the house, taking it in with a mixture of determination and lingering worry on his face. The old sorcerer dropped his hand, and with that, the king took one step forward, then another, before finally breaking into a run across the lawn, his steps quick and silent over the short, lush grass. He cut across the black pavement of the driveway, darting between the bushes on either side, before starting around the left corner of the house, sticking close to the hedge. About thirty feet farther along the building's side, the shrubbery stopped, replaced by a small garden that reached to the back corner of the building. Tiny green shoots were poking out of the freshly turned earth in neat rows, and a line of taller yellow flowers were planted up against the wall. It was there that the king found something along the lines of what he had been hoping for.
Along the rear of the house was a small patio, and sheltering it from the sun, a small, narrow strip of rooftop, which sloped up from both directions, and joined into a peak a few feet above the screened back door. Two windows overlooked it, one on each side.
Getting up onto the roof wasn't difficult; even though the distance to it's edge, which just barely overhung the side of the small garden, was nearly three times the tiny king's height, he made the jump easily, flipping once through the air to land on his feet. From there he continued quickly upward, not making a sound, until he stood just outside the window that led to the rear-most room on the left side of the house.
'But really,' The king thought doubtfully as he paused just outside the wide pane of sleek black glass, 'What are the odds…?' Still, as small as the chance seemed that this one window would lead him to the person he was looking for, the king stepped up to it anyway, his eyes critically scanning the darkened room before him.
And as his gaze finally rested on the sleeping figure, curled up under the blankets of a large bed against the far wall, it seemed that luck truly was with him that night.
It was less than twenty minutes later when the small king was once again running like a shadow across the long stretch of front lawn, back toward the sidewalk where the sorcerer still stood, a motionless black figure under the orange light of the streetlamp. The king stopped once he reached the edge of the grass, and the other man didn't have to ask to know that he had found, finally, the one they had so long been searching for. The mingling expressions of worry and deep thought playing across the king's face, visible even under his hood in the dull light, was enough.
"Well then?" the old magician asked, "What's he like?"
"Young," the king replied in a low voice, "She's young."
"She?" Slightly taken aback at first by the sudden revelation, the wizard quickly lapsed into a thoughtful silence as he considered the news. In truth, he wasn't quite sure why both he and his companion, and the others too really, had before always referred to the mysterious, unknown person as a 'him' whenever they discussed the topic. It wasn't exactly that they had thought it more likely that the person would end up being a man or a boy, it had just kind of been an automatic assumption; it was easier to picture him as male, probably because most of them were as well. But that didn't matter. It didn't matter in the least. Either way, they had been chosen. There were, however, some aspects which did matter in deciding whether or not they would be right for this life. That brought the sorcerer to his next important question.
"How young?" he asked the king. He knew they could never bring a mere child into the danger in which they had to live.
The king looked down, didn't reply.
"Your Majesty?"
He still didn't meet the sorcerer's eyes, but finally, in a soft voice he answered, "She looked to be about fourteen."
The old magician said nothing for a moment. When he spoke he sounded somewhat hesitant. Clearly the king had to have realized… "But Your Majesty… At fourteen… Even now that would only make the kids one or two years older than her…"
"But that's just it!" the king exclaimed, finally looking up with a torn expression. "It wasn' fair for them either! They never shoulda been brought into this so young."
"They don't regret it," the wizard said quietly.
"I know that. But they didn't have a choice. None of us did, but this one… this one does."
"Then let her make that choice," The king still looked uneasy. "Your Majesty. We'll watch her. Tomorrow we will see what she is like. And then, if we believe she is right for this, then tomorrow night you'll approach her, and she can decide," The wizard's voice softened. "It's her life," he said. "She must chose her own path."
For a long moment, the king could only gaze, searching, into the face of his old friend. Then he looked to the house behind him, it's dark shape looming out of the night. Finally, he turned his eyes upwards, to the stars.
And then he agreed.
Well, that's it for the prolog. It's written from a different point of view than my main character's, and for that reason is different than much of the rest of this story. I'm not sure how long it'll take me to put up the first real chapter. I have it, but wrote it a while ago and it very much needs to be rewritin. Still, I will work to finish with that as soon as possible. Anyway, reviews, of course, are extreemly appreciated, and constructive critisism warmly welcomed. Thanks for reading! :)