Midnight
Disclaimer- If I owned Kingdom Hearts, would I be posting fanfiction about it?
Chapter 1- Welcome to the Aether
The centre of the city of Hollow Bastion is alive with noise. If you would take a walk through there on any given date, you would see the elite upper classes throwing lavish parties, dancing and drinking the night away. However during the day, the houses are dark, the only sound being that of the servants clearing the mess from the previous night. They mutter to each other as they hang out washing, and swap tips on how to get stains out of the clothes and floors. After all- blood is so hard to get rid of.
The further away from the parties that you would go however, the quieter (and more run down) the city it would get, until you found yourself in a whole different part of the city. The 'Old Quarters'. A fairly ironic name given that the buildings at the centre of Hollow Bastion are far older than the ones that ring it. At night, no light escapes from the windows of these run-down houses, and the streets are deserted. You might meet a solitary person scuttling along in the shadows, desperately trying to get home quickly before the curfew bell sounds, and something happens. Something bad. During the day, there isn't much difference. What little light the clouds allow through, barely penetrates the gloom of the city, and the streets remain deserted while the people of the Old Quarters are herded like cattle into buildings where they are forced to work. But they go without complaint- after all, it's better to be herded like cattle than be slaughtered like them.
Welcome to the future- but not as you know it. This is a world where creatures of the night have become far more powerful than the human race. The Vampirri have enslaved the human race through a vicious centuries long campaign of terror, violence and bloodshed. The humans now live under the rule of a supreme monarchy, each city being run by a special handpicked vampiric overseer. Anyone trying to plot to overthrow the overseer is quickly disposed of via public arrest and a private 'execution'- although the remains are still displayed for everyone to see.
The humans are used as cheap manual labour, working in bloodbanks, the labs or the abattoirs. Only a very select few work in the administrative section of the city, that job being mostly reserved for the loyal followers of the elites. At night, they go to their ramshackle homes, or to certain bars where they drink to forget.
If you were to visit the Old Quarter bars in order, the thirteenth bar would be where this story takes place. This bar is the one where the nightly patrons appear like clockwork, arriving at the same time every night, ordering the same drinks and sitting at the same tables.
This bar is small- barely enough room to fit all the people in. the walls are covered with dusty photographs and small tables fill most of the space in the room. The drink is kept behind the bar that runs along the length of the back wall, along with a sign that hangs in-front of said bar which politely tells drinkers 'No Smoking In The Bar'. This sign has to be pointed out every night to one particular customer. A small silver cross is nailed above the door- a small act of defiance against the elites and the only protection that the bar can afford.
Every evening, one of the barkeeps (the small blonde one who has a temper like a rottweiler) will open the bar at quarter to eight. At eight o'clock sharp, the patrons begin to arrive.
The table in the corner belongs to a young man who works in bloodbank. His hair falls over one of his eyes, and he comes here to try to forget one particular face amongst all of the other banks 'donors'. He arrives first- always at eight sharp. He will always have a book with him, but it will most likely lie on the table, unread as the man downs drink after drink. He is usually the last to leave as well.
Next to put in an appearance is a group of three friends. They work as couriers between the buildings. They take the middle table and talk about their day- where they went, who was ordering them around today, anything to take their minds off their house, and what awaits them when they go there.
After a period of quietness, a tall thin man will creep through the door, flaming red hair hidden under a hood. Standing out in a crowd is something that nobody wants to do now. He will make a beeline for the bar, pulling out a cigarette and the blonde bartender will be forced to point out the sign to him. Again. Of all of the drinkers, this man is the only one who doesn't go to the bar to try to forget something. He goes there to remember.
The third table is taken by a man with silver hair, and luminescent green eyes. He ignores the people around him, and nurses his drinks for a long time. He stays for as long as possible, because his boss knows where he lives, and more importantly he know how to break into the house. That's something the young man doesn't want a repeat of, so he spends as much time as he can away from the place that he lives (he refuses to consider it a home. If it were a home, it wouldn't stink of fear all the time).
The fourth and fifth table are filled almost simultaneously. A group of men take one table and a young blonde girl in white takes the other. The men are gruff, and don't speak much. They only have one drink before leaving- they meet there for the company (although they'd never publicly admit to that).
The blonde spends all her time drawing. She'll admit that they aren't very good, but they let her mind wander away from the hell that she's forced to work in every day. She works in the labs, mixing chemicals and finding new ways to kill people. She tries to make the drugs work as quickly as she can, but it's the times when they go wrong and she has to watch her test subjects die slowly, that she really wishes that she could just…make it all stop.
Although these people turn up every night, each is locked in their own little world- never talking to each other, never looking at each other, never knowing each others stories.
But they are unaware of the fact that in the very near future, their lives are gong to change- in small ways at first. But as we all know- one small action can have large consequences, and their lives will never be the same again.