Chapter 1 Peace is here
A/N: opening notes by me, the author. Well, this is a continuation/ crossover/part romance Kaiora. If you have read one or two of my other works, you will recognize some or most of what is going on… or you will if you continue reading. And yes I'm aware neither of the stories that are continued here are finished. Also, note I am assuming they live in japan, even though it was never actually stated…)
Disclaimer: I do not Own Kingdom Hearts, its associated characters or worlds. Corben and Franky and and Isaiah are original characters, however.
Corben looked at the spiky haired blue eyed highschooler in front of him. Two chairs over and 2 back from him, was the blue hair. The red head was at the back of the room. Corben would glance about occasionally, then sit back to not take notes on Pre calc. he hated pre calc. if only they taught stats. He was good at stats. He reflected on the occurance, some 3 hours ago, when he had been introduced to the class.
"Class, we have a new student today. This is Corben Cypher." I bowed to the class, which got more than a few giggles. He grinned himself. "Now now class, be nice. Corben is a transfer student from…" and so it went. The teacher put me right behind Mr. Spiky hair blue eyes.
Lunch, and I sit alone, just outside the classroom window, and stare out at the Island just off the coast. I can see some of the students below me, and I can hear 6 voices from the roof.
"Hey wakka, wanna go to the Island today?"
"Sure man. Haven't been in a while, be good for us. You coming Sora? Riku?"
"Yes Kairi, you have to come, you can't leave me there with these… Boys." Laughs all around.
3 voices spoke at once. "We'll be there."
Next to me, legs hanging off the edge, watching the sun, is my friend Franky. She, yes she, was also a transfer student, and she had gotten quite a few looks from Sora, Riku, and Kairi upon her introduction. Seemed like she felt familiar. And now, it's just lunch, we've been here but a few hours, and the rumors are already going she's my girlfriend. I wanted really badly to squash those rumors, but this being day 1, had no clue how to go about doing it. We were, after all, just good friends. Both of us had our own, separate, interests somewhere out there, though neither of us knew where they were. But that isn't the story yet.
"So, what's the plan."
"Finish High School?"
"Funny."
"Well that IS the plan, just not the only plan."
"Ok, try a different plan."
"Wait at the beach." I take a sip of my juice, then down it in one go.
"Wait at the Beach? Your idol is sitting 1 story above us, all 3 of them, and you, the elevated fanboy as you put it, can only think of, 'Wait at the beach.'"
"Yes. So?" I looked at her pointedly. She shrugs. "Fine by me."
After school, Franky stays to study, she not having already taken Pre Calc… and me having more or less completed it… not finishing high school and then going back really makes for an interesting experience, while I head for the beach. Dressed in white slacks, light and comfortable even on this warm sunny day, I stare out to see, while my green shirt flutters in the breeze. I take out my favorite "toy" and toss the ornamented metal tube up and down, watching it twirl in the air and then catching it. I sat down on the sand.
*
Sora walked back to his house from school, thinking. The new transfer student had looked so tantalizingly familiar, but he was completely unable to place it. As for the guy, he'd paid an unusual amount of attention to him(Sora) and to Kairi and Riku. Today, something had decided not to sit well it seemed. He dropped off his bags and changed quickly, where a pair of blue baggy shorts and a white tee, with a sleeveless jacket of red over it. And of course his favorite crown necklace, which school did not permit him to wear. Something about gang signs or symbols.
As he rushed towards the docks he ran into Kairi. He slowed down and matched her pace. She didn't run as fast as he did. "hi," he said cheerfully, smiling at her.
She smiled back. "Hey. I'm excited, I haven't been to the island in what feels like forever."
"I know. Glad Wakka wanted to go."
"Oh come on, we'd have ended up going somehow. Your or Riku would have dragged us there."
"Yeah, which is why I'm glad Wakka wanted to go, this way, I'm not dragging anybody."
"not dragging anybody huh?" she replied with a smirk. She grabbed the back of his shirt, and said, "now drag me to the Docks."
Sora took a couple steps, then pretended to collapse. "oh, Kairi, you're just too heavy."
He felt a sudden teasing jab to his back and a release on his shirt. "Never call a girl heavy."
"Sure thing. Now could you lay off the ice cream some?"
"Oh you!" which resulted in her chasing him all the way to the docks, laughing happily the whole way as she threatened to strangle him. Riku, who had found both and chosen not to interfere, followed at a more leisurely pace.
*
I was interrupted in my musings by a voice behind me. "Hi. Your that new guy, right? Corben?"
I turned to look back and found myself looking into the face of Tidus.
"Yep, that's me."
"What are you doing here?"
"Staring out to sea. But mostly at that island."
"Destiny Island? Yeah, she is beautiful to look at. Say, want to go?"
I looked at him hard. "Seriously??"
"Sure, we're cool, you'll love it. Come on. And if she can get here in time, your girlfriend can come too."
At that, I grinned. "She's not my girlfriend. But I'll call Franky."
"Isn't that a guy's name?"
"Either way, don't mention it to her." Ah, how many times have I had to say that about one of the women in my life. Cause for a… ah, but I'm getting off track. Where was i?
"Hey, dude, you still there?"
"Hmmm? Oh, sorry, got distracted." I pulled out my phone and gave Franky a call. "She'll be here in about 2 minutes."
Tidus eyed me. "Right. Nobody is that fast."
"I know lots of people…"
"Say, what's that thing you have their?" he pointed at the object in my hand, my "toy."
"Something special to me. I like to carry it around." I clipped it to my belt. Walking to the dock, I hear shouting. Turning I saw 3 blurs about to collide.
*
Sora saw the docks come into sight, and put on a sudden burst of speed. He was just about there, Kairi in hot pursuit, when he collided with someone and fell atop them in a heap. Kairi crashed over them, creating a pileup.
All three lay there for a few seconds, then a voice he felt he should recognize spoke. "Um, are you gonna get off me?" He felt a weight leave his back and he struggled upright. Before he could move again, Kairi was already helping the girl up.
"sorry about that," Kairi smiled.
"No biggy, I should have been paying more attention."
"So, hey, you're…"
"The transfer student," Franky finished for her. "Call me Franky. Everybody else does. Speaking of everybody else," she turned towards the docks and shouted. "So Corben, my time?"
"Currently standing at 3m 32s and counting."
With a "Hmph" she turned her back to him.
A shout came back, "But if you hadn't been interrupted, 1m 49s is the estimate."
Once they reached the docks, both Sora and Kairi were slightly confused by the presence of Corben and Franky. Tidus quickly explained, and then, as Riku arrived, more formal introductions were made all around. "I mean, everybody needs to experience the Island. Don't you think so?"
"I think so," replied Riku.
"I guess," was Sora's.
"Sure, now let's get going. You can borrow my boat and I'll ride with Sora. That is, if you know how to row." Kairi looked inquisitively at the two.
"If you don't, I'm not taking you," stated Wakka with a mischievous grin, accompanied by a laughing agreement from Tidus.
"I can row, and I can probably beat all of you to the island too."
"OHHHHHHH we have a challenge. Alright, Ready, set, Babies are cute, The waves are calm, the day is young, GO!" Wakka dashed to his boat, while Tidus and Selphie went for theirs. Riku was already in his boat, while Sora was helping Kairi into his. Corben and Franky both slipped into the boat.
*
"Well, get rowing Mr. Bragger."
"Yeah yeah yeah, I'm rowing." I quickly reached the group, but found myself in third, behind both Wakka and Riku. Sora and Kairi were behind Tidus, who was just inches from being ahead of me, while Selphie was in last. I slowed up to a more measured pace, causing me to be passed by all but Selphie, who had already adopted a similar pace. The end result was that I came in second, behind Riku, while Sora and Kairi arrived last. All of those ahead of me save Riku had worn themselves out on a too fast pace at the start. I don't know if Sora really tried.
"That was some Fast rowing, mon. and with a passenger."
"Nah, Franky's as light as a feather, didn't really make a difference."
"Man, I wish Selphie was light as a feather sometimes, then I could just breath and she'd be blown away," Tidus joked until he felt the crack of a rope directly above his head.
"Watch it mister. Keep that up and I might not tuck you in tonight." She stood, hands on hips, glaring at him and smiling at the same time.
"You never tuck me in at night," Tidus countered, grinning.
"So?"
"Ok, ok, you win."
I laughed with the others, and quickly fell to exploring the island, to see how much of it matched what I saw in my mind, and memories. It seemed a perfect match.
"Hey Corben, how are you with a blade?" I heard a shout from below. Sora, Tidus, and Riku had all found their old swords, while Wakka of course had his ball. "Care to go a few?"
"Sure!" I said, and hopped down from the tree house. Franky sat down to watch with Kairi and Selphie. They fell to talking and giggling, and didn't pay much attention. Franky never had much time to just be a normal girl, not for a long time, or so it felt.
As I took the sword Sora offered me (he was the "champion and thus last to fight me) I examined it, twirled it around, made a few practice slashes with it, and then reversed it in my right hand. "Alright, let's go." I made a horizontal slash to start, then spun out of range of Tidus's next swing, followed by a sliding jab that switched to a block. I counterattacked from the block of unleashed a rapid Combo that ended in another jab, this one connecting, for the win.
"Dude, where'd you learn to fight like that?"
"A combination of watching lots of movies, playing lots of video games, lots of practice and self instruction, and then my teacher…" then I started laughing.
"Um, right," Tidus looked ever so slightly confused, then started laughing about a second or two after I did.
*
Sora looked on as Corben took up stance and prepared to face Riku. It was obvious Corben was pretty decent, but Sora knew Riku was better. It was Riku afterall. He was extremely shocked to find himself mistaken, though barely, it seemed.
This round was no easy victory, Corben got as good as he gave, but the reverse hold style unbalanced Riku's rhythm, and he just wasn't quite sure what to expect, which gave Corben that slight advantage he needed to come out on top.
The fight itself was interesting for one key thing, and that was that Corben never tried to knock Riku off his feet, almost as though he knew what Riku always did when that happened. Thus Riku never had to opportunity to do is jump back to his feet and stun Corben. Corben didn't use any kind of power attacks, but instead made lightning fast strikes after he blocked or feinted. Riku caught on quickly, but adjusting for a blade that came in different from the typical style himself, Sora, and Tidus used was just slightly too much to adopt mid battle.
As Sora took his stance, he thought, he's good, I've got to watch that pommel smash…, and that spinning strike finisher.
"go Sora, get him good!" cheered Kairi. This was quickly taken up by cheers from the others, even Riku. Sora smiled to himself and felt his confidence grow.
"Hey, where's my cheering section?" Corben inquired loudly.
Franky called back, "Since when have you needed a cheering section?"
"since Sora got one."
"Well go find somebody else." She smiled and all 3 girls fell to laughing again.
"Alright, shall we?" Corben asked.
Sore grinned. "Of course, let me show you why I'm the champion," and made a fast strike, which Corben barely blocked. Sora followed up by a combo of slashes, the last two blows got through. He tried to follow with another combo, but corben jumped back and gained some distance, before adopting a slightly different stance, and then charged in, baiting Sora to strike. He did, which allowed Corben to make a powerful counter, which he followed with a pommel smash. Sora saw it coming and dodged.
The fight continued in like manner for several more minutes, finally ending as both of them keeled over, exhausted, though Corben fell first by about 1 second.
While Kairi ran to Sora, who smiled to himself, thinking, "I won," Franky walked to Corben, who was using his sword for leverage while he tried first to stand, then to roll over onto his back when standing proved impossible.
"Good Fight," Sora said aloud, before thinking to himself, "I've fought across all those worlds, and beat thousands of heartless, and even if I didn't have my keyblade, still me barely beating him… who is this guy?"
He felt something digging into his side, and pulled out the small blue crystal, holding it up to admire it in the sunlight, Kairi now sitting next to him. For the briefest of moments, their silhouette was not that of Sora and Kairi, but of two other people, who, all the same, seemed so alike and so different to the two, but no one saw.
*
Franky crouched down next to me for a second, then took a seat and lied back parallel to me. "Not bad. Satisfied?"
"Mostly. You should get them to show you the obstacle course."
"I'm not a show off?"
"who was showing off?"
"you." I smiled.
"So I was. Doesn't mean you shouldn't have a go at the course."
"I suppose. What about the cave."
"Ise no Gatra mel," was my reply. Franky laughed lightly.
(A/N: This is complete gibberish. On occasion, Corben will make such statements, but they are not intended to mean anything in particular, though sometimes actual words or phrases from other languages may appear, they still are not intended to mean anything. At all.)
After having rested for a bit, I was bugged and congratulated by Tidus, Wakka, and Sora himself. Kairi did not smile at me. Riku just looked thoughtful. I stood and stretched. "I'm out of practice… WAY out of practice." I added as I fell back over
"So, you two, care to tell us a little bit more about yourself? We can sit over at the lookout and talk." Tidus led the way, while Wakka gave me a hand up. Franky started walking without me, which left me to ask Wakka a few things.
(A/N: ok, you know that wooden platform on the left side looking out to sea? Past the docks? That's what I mean by lookout… and also, the upcoming covers my explanation of how Sora explains what he Riku, and Kairi were all doing when they first went on their adventures. Though how Sora manages to get into Senior by missing what, 3 years of school? Is beyond me too, so go with it)
"That's a blitz ball right?"
"Aye, I prefer ranged strikes. You'd never have stood a chance."
"Probably not, fighting against somebody who can hit at any range was never my strong suit."
"Well, I'm not entirely surprised you lost to Sora, since he got back from living with relatives he's been even better than normal, him and Riku both."
"he lived with relatives for a while?"
"something about wanting to experience more of the world beyond are little shore town. Riku went with him, and Kairi left later on. Right about the time everybody suddenly started… but it's all cool now. We here man." I looked up. We were indeed there. Once everyone had seats, I began.
*
Sora looked at Corben as he started talking, mostly just talking about how he loved to play video games, he read lots of manga, and sharing his interests and hobbies. Apparently, he liked to write stories too. Franky was of a more athletic nature, track, cross country, basketball.
As the 8 of them travelled down the line of discussion, the obstacle course came up.
"We'd have to do it tomorrow, it's almost time to head back. And besides, tomorrow is Friday. We could camp out or something."
"We haven't done that in years. Let's do it."
"you two can come. But, that leaves me and Wakka as the odd men out…" Riku commented to Corben and Franky. They looked at each other and laughed.
"Actually, that would leave you…, Wakka, Corben, and Myself as … the odd ones out… which more or less balances out." Franky explained between fits of laughing.
"Oh," was the only response Riku could give, which left himself and Sora the only two not laughing. Sora wasn't sure exactly why it was only he and Riku hadn't been informed, or figured out, the truth of the relationship between the two of them, but somewhere during the day he'd missed the memo. That didn't make him happy, though Riku was soon chuckling despite himself.
Kairi started ribbing Sora, trying to get him to laugh, and saying, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't think you wouldn't guess."
"I'm not a girl Kairi, I can't figure this stuff out on my own."
"Yeah, well I'm no girl, man, but I never thought they was togetha to start."
"Finally, intelligence among men," laughed Franky, grinning. "I'd almost swear you were Italian."
"And why would I be Italian?" asked Wakka.
"Because everybody knows only Italians are smart," she joked.
*
Franky was of course, pure blooded Italian. Thankfully, everybody got the joke, or something to that effect.
We soon headed back, and I thanked everyone for inviting us. I knocked fists with Franky and headed back to where I was staying, not noticing the watcher in the shadows.
At school the next day, I worked my way through classes, turned down an invitation to sit with Sora and the others, given by Selphie this time, and sat in the same place as yesterday, next to Franky. So sue us, we liked the spot, and we wanted some slightly private discussion time.
After school the others met Franky at the docks, but I stayed behind to meet with the head of the kendo club. Neither Sora nor Riku nor Tidus had joined, but I didn't see why that should stop me. The plan was for me to meet them again for a practice match or 3 on Monday after school, at their regular meeting. I didn't know that I would actually be good at Kendo… I mean, I don't exactly fight in a traditional style and I also don't like being weighed down. I'd always relied on a combination of speed and, well... I hated armor regardless.
I arrived at the docks, and the others had gone ahead of me. I'd ask Franky to tell them not to wait. But they'd left me a boat. I rowed quickly in, only to be found by everyone just as they were about to head for the obstacle course. Apparently, they were still revved up for a challenge from the day before, and had gotten tired of waiting for me.
"so, you gonna show us all up again Corben?" Tidus asked, half serious.
"Not in the slightest. This one goes to Franky, hands down. I'm quite positive she'll fly through it."
I love being right.
Franky lined up against Riku, and prepared to dash. Her sandals were off, thus she was barefoot. The rules had already been explained to her.
"I'm not taking it easy on you," Riku calmly told her.
She grinned. "Good, then maybe you can finish in a decent margin."
"3. 2. 1. GO!" Kairi shouted, and off they went. Franky bolted to the lead and shot over the bridge and across the gap, not breaking stride even as she crossed empty air. Her foot touched the other side and she was still going perfectly, leaving Riku to deal with the one piece falling off and dropping him in the drink. He scrambled over the hedge, expecting to find Franky halfway up the tower or some such.
*
Sora could scarcely take his eyes of the spectacle as Franky lep up in one bound to lvl with the tree tops, and then shot across them in very short order, reaching the star in next to no time. Riku was on the beach, but he already had no chance of catching her.
"Is this real, or are we dreaming and we don't know it?" He asked aloud. Then, "Ow!" he turned to his left, and Kairi.
"Guess it's real," she stated, and resumed watching as Franky got back across the trees.
Sora gave Riku a pat on the back when he finally got back, panting and half kneeling. His eyes did not leave Franky. "Wow. Just wow."
"That was Incredible Franky! How did you get so fast?"
"Practice, lots of it. And probably a measure of talent thrown in somewhere." The girls, giggling, fell to talking amongst themselves for several minutes, while the boys grouped around me.
"Dude, I know you aren't, but still, where did you find this girl?" Tidus's mouth was still slightly agape after he finished speaking, so Wakka shut it for him.
"Trade secret."
"No way are we taking that for an answer, now spill. Or at least tell us if there are more like her."
"Yah man, spill."
"After school activities back home. I'm sure if you travelled around enough, you'd find one… but there's probably one right under your nose…"
"oh? Who?" aksed Riku and Wakka at the same time.
"I didn't say I knew who it was…"
"Then is she taken man?
Sora listened to the banter for a little bit, until as he glanced over at Franky, he noticed something he'd failed to note before. She had tattoos of wings on the outside of each foot, over the ankle. Now where had he seen those before…