Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its canon characters belong to Square-Enix and Disney. All original characters belong to me, unless otherwise stated. (Specificially, Figgie belongs to Figgie at deviantART, Raynie belongs to Deadly Pencil on here, and Adyn belongs to soramaniac at deviantART) And the title of each chapter belong to their original writers.
A/N: Hi-yo and welcome to the first chapter of Pieces of Heart! This is a sequel to my post-KH2 story, Kingdom Epilogue, and if you want to find out what happened to Sora, you'll find it out here. This story, unlike the prequel, features many original characters. Three of these don't belong to me, as referenced in the disclaimer.
Anywho, I hope you enjoy my story! And, hopefully, I'll be able to finish this year! Wish me luck!
P.S. Please take the 'horror' genre with a grain of salt! There are some things freaky, weird, etc. but that doesn't mean it's all will severely freak you out. It's not bad, I promise!
001 + ATLANTIC
It's funny what happens when you're frozen.
Falling. Deeper and deeper into black. Ice cold water grabbing my skin; its freezing arms dragging me closer and closer to the black bottom. Water was all around me. Strange thing was that I could breathe. But... why was I... asleep?
Then, it hit.
The lightning blazed. Seeping rain. It felt so real.
But, it had to be a dream!
A dark, clouded sky. A tall, lone skyscraper pointed upwards. Buildings gathered around. That lonely building reached up for a single thing:
A giant heart-shaped moon in the clouded night sky.
TWO DAYS.
"Hm?"
I turned around, hearing a voice booming in my mind. And let out a gasp.
My eyes were shut. I gasped for air. My heart pounded. I was suffocating! A black gloved hand thrown across my face. The darkness was trying to swallow me!
And, I could just hear you whisper in my ear.
That voice slid into my thoughts like a poison.
"I guess I'll give you a head start then..."
The hand disappeared. Yet, everything was black.
Was this a nightmare?
If darkness had teeth, would it swallow you whole?
The darkness wasn't just trying to swallow me.
It was trying to eat me alive.
As those teeth curled, I couldn't help but...
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
[center]--------[/center]
"Shizuka."
They never looked up, but the voice knew it was heard.
"It's here, isn't it?"
The black haired girl gave a small, barely noticeable nod; a frown curled on her pale face.
The figure over her also frowned.
"We better hurry, then..."
[center]--------[/center]
You could see their anxiety. The heavy breathing, the beads of sweat, and their lost and terrified expression.
A quick jolt can lead to so many things.
"AH!" a high-pitched scream hung over the dark, dusty alley, before quickly dissipating cautiously. A bare hand covered their mouth as a pair of deep blue eyes swept back and forth across the horizon.
Still alert and stiff, they lowered their hand from their mouth and gave a sigh of relief.
"...I hate it," a child-like spoke as she hugged her knees with her arms. She gave a sniffle.
Long, brown bangs covered over the young girl's face, especially the bunch pointing slightly outwards that covered over her left eye. Only one deep blue eye shimmered through the darkness, making the girl seem rather eerie if you were just walking past. She had a small frame and a round, child-like face. She looked like a ten-year-old, but that was an easy mistake: she was thirteen, not ten!
Her clothes were simple: a black t-shirt with a turtleneck, a black wristband, a pair of khaki cargo shorts, and a pair of black skater shoes. The only strange thing was the pair of goggles around her neck and the two twin yo-yos safely tucked away in her pockets.
Suddenly, the girl jumped to her feet; it was as if the sound of waves were a wake-up call.
With haste, she exited the alley and made a march down the sidewalk. The smell only made the growl grow louder.
This was the marketplace and bay side of the city. It was like the suburbs, only there was an ocean standing right next to it. People lived and worked in these shops, using the money from the sales to live and thrive.
The thought of what was coming next, though, made her feel very guilty... She hadn't done this before; she ran so many times, but this wasn't the same thing.
But, other people had to do this, too, right?
As footsteps came closer to her standing point, she quickly let out a yelp and twirled into a nearby alley, this one with a musty and mildew-y smell within it. The girl stood by one of the many shops, her nose and mouth tightly covered by her hand as she looked rather green and pondered what to do next.
The shop next door, though, was a bread shop...
She was having second thoughts about this. She could've just gone to that lady's shop, the one that was so nice to all of the refugees! But, she didn't want to be a burden; she had other people to worry about, too.
The girl started to ignore the guilt when she sniffed the air.
A sweet, dough-like smell eclipsed over the sour, musty odor of garbage and reeled the tomboy in. She carelessly stepped through the door and into a shower of the hypnotizing scent. Her stomach growled louder and louder with each step.
Finally, a voice snapped her out of the trance.
"Hi! What can I get you this morning?"
"...Um..."
She started playing with her grungy hands nervously, her eyes lit up as she stared. There were so many different things, even weird ones that no one could even imagine! Only one sparked her interest.
"Erm... one melon bread... please..." she spoke timidly as she put her hands on the top of the counter.
A moment later and the baker placed a tightly wrapped, round ball of baked dough on the counter. The girl snatched it into her grasp with haste.
"That'll be 20 munny, please!"
She froze. Her eyes grew wide.
That was the point of this, right? But, this guy had to be sixteen or seventeen and they had such a sweet smile. They looked so happy. She didn't want to shatter it! Just put it back on the counter and...
"HEY!!"
She slid out of the bakery with careless haste, while being chased by the young, but furious, baker. She felt horrible as she ran. She wouldn't stop. She couldn't stop. As much as she wanted to scream 'I'm sorry!' right in his face, she didn't.
Then she went tumbling after slamming into them.
"Ow!" she exclaimed. She sat on the sidewalk as she rubbed her nose.
"Caught ya, you stupid little brat!" the baker snarled. A hand curled into the girl's turtleneck collar. The victim merely gave a gulp.
She looked up at the figure towering desperately, her deep blue eyes wide with panic.
She whispered, "Help..."
"...This is amusing, to say the least..."
"Mind your own business! This kid stole from me!"
The figure raised a brow, their female voice querying, "Really. What they steal? Munny, gol--"
"Food! What else?"
The teenaged girl gave a pause. Then came a chuckle, "Are you serious? Food... of all things! You're going to lock up a kid because they snitched food?"
"Well..." the boy growled. His face was crimson, "I worked hard on those!"
The girl frowned, placed her hands in her pockets and leaned her head to the side. She tugged her beanie hat and glanced down. That girl was trying to wiggle herself out of the baker's grasp.
"It's not art, blonde... You can make more, right?"
He let out a growl, "So what? They're for customers, not punks!"
The girl shrunk out of sight after the boy unintentionally relinquished his grasp. She now hid behind the other girl.
"I didn't steal anything. I swear!" the tomboy exclaimed in a whisper, her arms hiding behind her back.
"...Look. You want me to pay you back?" the older girl queried. She shoved a hand in her pocket, "Or would like like to consider yourself delusional?"
"Shut up!" he snarled.
"The kid didn't steal anything. Screw off, idiot."
Finally, with some coaxing, the stupid teenaged boy stomped off in a huff, slamming the bakery's door behind him.
"...Thank you," the younger girl's face was red.
"Did you really steal that?" Her purple eyes were half open as she glanced down at the tomboy behind her back; she really looked like one of those 'popular' kids with sort of attitude and expression.
She glanced to the side nervously. "...No..."
Footsteps clicked.
The brown and white-haired girl gave a sigh, turning her gaze around to spot the tomboy sprinting off into some nearby alley.
Her feet followed with that same sort of click, though these were much slower in beat. Though these footsteps weren't nearly as fast, it still caught up. And curled a fist around the young girl's shirt.
Immediately, the tomboy let out a surprised yelp as she was drawn backwards towards the other brown haired girl. Yet, the yelp was rather muffled. This was due to the round, baked ball of bread that was now in mid-bite. The young girl stared up, with wide eyes, at her catcher.
The teenager merely raised a brow, a rather sour frown perched on her face. The tomboy gave a gulp and once again tried to pull herself away from being captured.
"...Such a liar."
The bit of food fell to the grimy ground when the child tried to open her mouth to speak. She gave a whimper while staring hopelessly at the ground.
"Not that he's going to care now..." the grip was now relinquished, cueing a chuckle from the teenaged girl. Shoving her hands into her wrinkled, tan capri pockets, she quickly turned her tail in the opposite direction.
"...You're cruel," the tomboy scowled. Without any other clue of what to do, she turned her gaze. A moment of standing there and she grumbled, turning to walk into the back of an alley.
But, she seemed to recoil back, letting out a small 'Ahh!' as the wind rushed past her. She saw that teen girl give a grin.
She was being dragged! A hand grasped her wrist and she was forced into a run down the sidewalk.
"Hey!" the thirteen-year-old exclaimed. She tried to get that hand to let go, "Lemme go!"
She struggled and struggled, pulling on the girl's fingers. No avail.
"Lemme go!"
The girl gave a chuckle, "No."
"Why not!?"
The girl started humming, ignoring the annoyed tomboy.
"Let me go--!"
Suddenly, they came to a stop. The brown and white haired girl smiled.
"Two sea-salts, please."
The young brown-haired girl simply blinked, standing there looking completely lost. She was soon holding a strange blue ice cream on a stick before being forced to sit on the edge of the sidewalk.
"So, what's your name?" the teen questioned, sitting down on the sidewalk as well.
"Umm..." Still staring at it. "...Rena," the brown-haired girl said. She was actually afraid to try this...
"Oh. My name's Figgie." she paused, glancing over at Rena, "...It doesn't bite."
Rena didn't say anything.
"And it'll melt if you stare at it all day..."
Finally, after a grumble, Rena pushed it towards her mouth and gave it a lick.
Weird... It tasted... salty and sweet. It was pretty good, actually. When it slid down her throat, it made her stomach growl more. Immediately, she started biting and gulping it down, even if it was terribly cold; she looked like she hadn't eaten a thing in weeks.
Figgie gave a smile and turned her gaze off to the side.
"Why me?" the young voice questioned. Figgie looked back at Rena, who was wiping melted ice cream off of her face with the back of her hand, and looked confused.
"Why you?" she shrugged, "I dunno..."
Rena frowned. Why was this 'Figgie' girl doing that? The whole 'being nice to her' thing. She met a random kid in the street, made her lose the only food that she had, and then dragged her off to get some strange ice cream. She was kind of thankful, but she didn't get it.
"I'm just trying to be nice, I guess." Figgie gazed off to nowhere. She started messing with a wrinkle on her tan capris, simply out of boredom. Rena actually noticed what Figgie looked like when she turned to look at her.
"But why me?"
"Well, I found you first."
Rena gave a grumble. Not really a straight answer...
The two became silent; Rena was perfectly content with that ice cream and Figgie looked rather... blank. The teen was staring down at the street, as if she was pensive.
"...Hey."
Rena perked up, glancing over with a bar of ice cream in her mouth.
"I have to go see a friend of mine..." Figgie was still staring at the ground, "You wanna come with?"
"...Why?"
Figgie wore a grin and turned her gaze, staring Rena straight in the eye; she almost looked like she was smirking.
"Well, if ya do, I can show you around the city..."
Rena nearly choked and sat up straight.
The city? For every single person in the slums, it was the one place they wanted to go, but the government wouldn't allow them in. Saying there were filth; they even went so far to put up a gigantic gate to separate both parts of the bay. However, if someone from the city came in with a friend...
"Really?" she looked ecstatic, but tried hard to not act like that; she still sat on the sidewalk, eating her ice cream as a hand wrap itself around her knee and she leaned forwards a bit.
Figgie straightened, now simply smiling; she placed her hands behind her as a popsicle stick sat on the concrete.
"Yeah, just as long as we see my friend first..."
"Umm..." It sounded boring, but if that was the only way to get to the city...
"Okay..."
Rena looked rather taken aback. Figgie had jumped up, grabbed her hand, and the two were off, though it was more like Figgie was dragging Rena along. Rena didn't look too happy about seeing that ice cream fall to the ground either.