LockePhilote Productions is glad… well not really glad considering the content, but whatever, to present to you the Fall of Radiant Garden. Kingdom Hearts, Star Wars, and Chrono Trigger/Cross are not mine, though they would make a great addition to my collection of copyrights, which is currently empty. Anyway, enjoy the show!!
Starfall
It is a funny thing, the fall of a world. It can take years, centuries, millennia even. Or it can happen in the course of a single, fateful triad of days. Such as with the case of the Fall of Radiant Garden to the Heartless.
Radiant Garden was a beautiful world, from the crystal mountains around its capital to the snow blanketed forests of its southern cities to the splendor of the ice flows among its southern islands. From the sky fell glowing phantasms of light, pure magic from Kingdom Hearts itself. Every one of its cities, no matter what the location, had a public garden of some sort, hence the name Radiant Garden. Of course, the most glorious of these gardens was located in the capital city of Eminence.
This world, however, hid a dark, dangerous secret: the secret of how the Heartless came to be. Deep within the depths of the castle of the world's leader Ansem there lay a room in which six people sacrificed their hearts to study the darkness, giving birth to the first of the Heartless, as well as the first of the Nobodies.
And thus the first intentional Heartless were born. Before that, the occasional one would appear by accident in some situations, like if somebody's heart got consumed by darkness almost completely. Afterwards, however, something… changed. Heartless began appearing in huge numbers, all over the place. It seemed as if the heart had become much more vulnerable to the Heartless, as if the slightest push could send it over the edge. And no more was it only darkness doing the deed. A small shove towards the light could have the same effect as one towards the darkness. All that was needed was a lack of balance.
Yet, there had to be some reason for this sudden change in the nature of the universe, in the nature of the human heart. Something had to have fundamentally altered how things worked.
However, there was little time to investigate that matter, as one of the changes that was wrought is that the Heartless were now very organized and on the war path. Five worlds quickly fell to the Heartless, with many more coming under heavy attack.
However, these changes also helped the various worlds. Nobodies were created along with the Heartless. The Nobodies quickly attempted to repel the attacks, and in many cases were successful. Along with the Nobodies, it has been discovered that the Keyblade was extremely effective against the Heartless.
Though many of these first attacks were beaten off, the Nobodies and Keyblade wielders suffered heavy casualties for their victories. The battles went on like this for a while, with the Heartless making sudden attacks on worlds and the Nobodies scrambling to the world being attacked.
Eventually, however, the allied forces of the Nobodies and those with Keyblades began to stem the tide and counterattack, retaking worlds from the Heartless one by one. Eventually, they came to a stalemate of sorts, where one side would strike and take a world, and the other would retaliate by taking a world.
Over time, the Nobodies and the Keyblade wielders grew to have outposts on many worlds and main bases on five of the Seven Sisters. Eight years after the spawn of the Heartless, however, the unthinkable happened. Radiant Garden fell to the Heartless.
This is the story of how a planet can fall, of how anything can fall. Eventually, even the stars succumb to the whispers of the dark.
It was a cold, stormy night in the capital city of Eminence on Radiant Garden. The Espers, the armed forces for the world, along with the Nobodies, the Keyblade wielders, and their assorted allies were on guard, alert for any sign of the Heartless. The traders in the massive town square closed shop for the night, all except for the Moogles, who could feel an electric charge of events to come in the air, like the tense calm before a storm breaks and wrecks all hell on an area. They got their personal weapons out and settled in for a long, eventful night.
In the hangars of the Aerodrome outside the city, lines of people were waiting for Gummi ships to carry them away from the world. Many of them were Nobodies reassigned to different worlds, though a good deal of them were people who could also feel the power abuzz in the air. They knew what happened to people on planets that fell to the Heartless, and very few people want to experience that first hand.
Among them was a twelve year old girl named Kairi, along with her parents. They were going to the Destiny Islands, where they had lived for about ten years. They had moved to Radiant Garden about a year before in order to be with Kairi's uncle who had just been stationed there. He was one of the Keyblade wielders, using a keyblade known as the Kingdom Key, which was one of the more usual patterns for the Keyblade.
However, her uncle had warned them off an impending attack, which of course will surely be defeated, but on the very very slim chance that the attack should succeed, that they should flee back to Destiny Islands. And so there they were, standing on a line of thousands of people, in an Aerodrome that smelled of sweat and tears and other human body fluids.
Kairi was lost in thought, thinking about the Destiny Islands and her two best friends, Sora and Riku. She couldn't wait to see them again, no matter if the only reason was because she and her family were fleeing for their lives. The patter of the rain outside reminded her of that one day when she was playing with Riku and Sora and it started to rain really heavily. They had noticed a hole in the face of a wall near them before and so they ran to it and crawled in.
It went back quite a ways until they reached a rather large cave with stone spires sticking out from the floor. In the back of the cave stood a door with no handle. The cave had an air about it, an air of mystery, of power, of… destiny. Thus, they called it the Destiny Place.
They spent a good deal of their time in that cave from that point on, drawing with chalk on the walls, laughing and playing, etc. Eventually, that cave became a second home to them.
About three hundred feet away from them stood Kairi's uncle, whose name happened to be Wedge. Due to the massive amount of people who had suddenly decided that right now may be a good time to check up on distant relatives who just happened to live on worlds that were quite a distance away, it was decided that they needed people to guard the aerodromes. Due to his rather low rank and inexperience in the ways of battle, Wedge had been assigned to the duty.
He stood there on guard, wondering at why all these people were fleeing. I mean, the world's defenses were impenetrable, right? Surely, the Heartless didn't stand a chance. After all, that is what his superiors told him, though they seemed to have been using a lot of mouthwash lately, as they had the smell of alcohol about them.
In the command center for the defenses stood Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. He was glancing through the latest report on the strength of the force that the Heartless had arrayed against them. Things were not looking good.
Apparently, they had a force of approximately Three billion shadows, half that many soldiers and their equivelents, one hundred million assorted medium strength Heartless like Big Bodies and the like, and about ten million assorted elite Heartless, such as Invisibles, Angels, Behemoths, etc.
And against them, he had a force of two billion human Espers, ten million Keyblade wielders, and one billion assorted types of Nobodies. They were outnumbered, not severely, but they were outnumbered.
Whether they were out gunned or not is an entirely different story, however. Considering that the average keyblade wielder could take down about five hundred Heartless before passing out from sheer exhaustion, and that the average Nobody will go on destroying Heartless till it itself is killed, and that the defense system for Radiant Garden contains some heavy weaponry that they totally did not borrow from one of the Star Wars worlds… well, they have a total shitload of firepower packed away, ready to use.
So basically, the battle will basically be a classic larger force attacking a smaller force defending a position with more firepower sort.
A flash of light filled the sky, and in the distance the boom of thunder could be heard. And then the sky was full of ships. Not the ships of the Nobodies or their allies, but the ships of the Heartless.
From hidden spots within the city as well as the obvious gun batteries, a torrent of laser fire shot up into the air, taking out ships with every fiery blast of pure energy. However, it seemed as if for every craft they shot down, two more took its place.
Eventually, despite the massive lattice of defensive fire, Heartless ships made landfall and began to disgorge their troops, turning the battle to one on the ground. The ships landed wherever they could in the capital, thus there was no one mass of Heartless. Instead, they were split into multiple groups, each with its own mission. The groups varied in size from no more than one hundred Heartless to about one million in a group outside the city itself.
The Nobodies were the first to engage the heartless on the ground, attempting to encircle the many groups as to give the Espers enough time to evacuate as many civilians as they possibly could. With every group of Espers were two keyblade wielders. The keyblade wielders were also used to guard the gun batteries and the command posts.
About fifty thousand Heartless were landed in and near the Aerodrome with the intent to destroy the massive batteries of guns, as well as to prevent any civilians from escaping. The Aerodrome had a garrison of ten thousand keyblade wielders and Espers, as well as the Nobodies manning the guns.
The fighting there turned instantly fierce, with the keyblade wielders and the Espers forming a defensive line around the crowds and the Heartless using all of their power and skill to attempt to smash through their lines. Kairi watched this ferocious battling with keen interest unusual for a twelve year old girl, often shouting words of advice that saved an Esper or ten's life
The fight for the rest of the capital started off with small battles raging all over the place. Nearly every street was a battleground, every house being fought over and gained and regained by each side once, twice, three times. The air was still full of Heartless ships attempting to land and bolts of pure destruction lancing upward to shatter those dreams like as window that had just had a body thrown through it. Though the rain impeded their aim, it also made it a lot harder for the Heartless pilots to pilot their craft, especially in the art of dodging.
The main goal of these guns changed from preventing the Heartless from landing to clearing a path for the ships full of refugees to escape from. This they also had great success with, clearing a decent sized corridor for the refugees to travel through.
The Nobodies and their allies were actually beginning to turn back the assault when a small flare of light appeared in the stormy sky. It slowly grew larger, until it was about the size of a bowling ball.
"Sensors, get me a reading on that strange light up there in quadrant 36." Ordered Xemnas.
"Sir… you might want to see this." Said the Esper manning the sensor station.
"… what in the sweet name of Kingdom Hearts is that thing!!" exclaimed Xemnas, gazing at the sensor reading.
"It appears to be a creature from the worlds of Chrono Trigger and Cross. A creature known there as Lavos." Said the corporal, a sick dread in his voice.
They had all heard the legends about it. Lavos. The parasite of worlds, he crashed into a planet and changed the course of evolution to suit his needs, causing intelligent life to form on a planet for him to leach energy off of. After millions of years of this, it will erupt from the planet's surface, destroying nearly all intelligent life and spawn its children, which will then launch from the planet to new worlds and repeat the process. Basically, it is a meteor form of Jenova on steroids, lots and lots of steroids.
"Wait… isn't Lavos destroyed in both of the timelines of those games?" (it is a very complicated series with loads of interdimensional and time travel) asked Xemnas.
"Fanfiction." Replied the Esper sensor operator.
"Crap. Ok, Communications, send out a general alert. All units, disengage. Start a fighting retreat to Ansem's Castle and all other locations that have any flyable vehicle. If you find any civilians remaining in the city, be sure to take them with you. No heroic last stands. We are abandoning the world." Xemnas dictated.
A collective gasp went up around the room, with even the Nobodies, who are normally not able to experience emotions, feigning shock.
"Got that. Transmitting the message now." The communications officer said.
All across the city of Eminence, the Nobodies and their allies were starting a fighting retreat. Which basically meant that anyone with firearms sent out a huge wave of fire over the heads of the ducking melee fighters as they disengaged from the enemy, then formed a defensive line were the gunners just were. The gunners ran back a few hundred feet while reloading, and the process repeated itself.
A good deal of these groups were heading towards the Aerodrome which despite suffering a heavy assault was still in friendly hands. Ships were launching from there at very fast speed, as soon as the ship was filled it launched into the air.
By this time, most of the civilians had already been evacuated, though Kairi and her family still remained in line. A huge swarm of Nobodies and their allies had arrived and bolstered the defensive forces for the Aerodrome. However, more and more Heartless were also attacking, and that mysterious red glimmer in the sky was looming larger with every passing minute.
Within a few hours of the order to retreat, most of the surviving forces within the city had fled. Nearly all the surviving civilians were gone as well, excluding some of those at the Aerodrome who had given up their spots for wounded soldiers. Kairi and her family were among those that had done so.
The last transport at the Aerodrome was a massive cargo tanker, able to carry all the remaining troops and civilians with ease. It was quickly filling up.
Just as Kairi and her family were about to board, however, a group of Invisibles broke through the lines and charged, their swords gleaming with dark power.
They quickly mowed down a group of Espers and keyblade wielders, including Kairi's Uncle Wedge, who was split in half by a massive swipe of a sword.
"Uncle Wedge!!!" Kairi cried out, slipping from her father's grasp and running towards her fallen Uncle.
"Kairi!! NO!!!" Her parents cried out, running after her. An Invisible had popped up behind her and was about to cleave her in two. Her parents quickly sprinted towards the Heartless and leapt, crashing into it and diverting its strike so that it missed Kairi by the width of a hair.
"Not my daughter, you Heartless piece of refuse!! You want to know why you can turn Invisible!! Its because you're so ass ugly that not even the other Heartless want to look at you!!!" Kairi's dad bravely shouted at the imposing black creature, which had turned to look at them.
It suddenly disappeared and appeared behind them, cleaving them in twain with a single broad stroke of its sword.
"NOOOOOO!!!!!!" cried Kairi, tears appearing in her eyes. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a keyblade appeared in her hands.
Acting on instinct, Kairi ran forward and jumped, swinging the keyblade. Her emotional slash cut the Heartless from its hip to its opposite shoulder, causing it to disappear into darkness.
"Little girl!! Quickly, get on the ship!!! Hurry!!" a voice from the transport called out. Kairi ran towards the ship and jumped on, reaching the boarding ramp just as it was closing. She collapsed onto the cold metal floor of the ship, sobbing. Her parents had died for her. Because of her, they were dead.
Xemnas and his command staff had managed to flee as well, all except for Aerith, who had chosen to stay behind and try and cast Holy, the only spell that could possibly stop Lavos. She was stabbed from behind by an Invisible just as she completed the spell. She died with a smile on her lips.
About half of the allied forces had perished in this battle, though they had taken out about three quarters of the Heartless force with them. Though the world of Radiant Garden had fallen to the Heartless, it had gone down with a fight.
A good deal of civilians, about half of the population, had perished in the fighting, unfortunately, with many being transformed into Heartless.
Kairi's transport eventually reached the Destiny Island's, where she stayed with the mayor of her town. Her friends Sora and Riku visited her everyday to cheer her up. For that, she was thankful. She never revealed her keyblade, which she later found out to be called the Destiny Place, to her friends until three years later when their town was sacked and destroyed by the Heartless.
Xemnas and his command staff made it back to the World that Never Was and prepared for an attack that never came. The Heartless were too weak after their assault on Radiant Garden to even consider attacking another world.
Eventually, all stars will fall, even the brightest and most radiant of them. In fact, the brighter they are, the more likely they are to fall. The lies of the light can be just as deadly as the whispers of the darkness.
For, you see, light lies. The gentle light of summer days conceal the cold vacuum of space, for day is an illusion. Night is the true reality. It always has been, and always will be.
Well, that was how Radiant Garden fell. If I had had more time, this would have been a lot longer and a lot better. Think of a Star Wars movie, except Kingdom Hearts. Maybe I will rewrite and repost this over the summer, when I don't have homework out the wazoo.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this rather dark piece. Please exit the theater and throw out all your trash on your way out. Anybody (including Nobodies) who leaves trash will be executed by a man named Shirley. He looks like Mr. T, but with a pink Mohawk. Any questions? Good.
Please review. Oh, and to answer any questions about why the Nobody's didn't just corridor away from the world, they put up a barrier around the capital city to prevent the Heartless from doing the same. That barrier was destroyed when the world fell.
Finally, I should have the next chapter for my main story done sometime tonight. I was so busy working on this I didn't have time to get anything done on the new chapter. My bad.