Into Darkness

Disclaimers: All Kingdom Hearts characters aside from Natalie 'Nat' Rose are owned by Disney and Square Enix and are all copied without permission. I have made this story for fun and not profit.

Writer's Note: This was actually a role play I've been doing with one of my close friends.. I know what might come to your mind, but I assure you, I am only writing this however the RP had went.. So please don't be mean about how it's written.. (Rated for suspense)

Prologue

Thunder echoed high above as the torrential fell upon the empty streets of Twilight Town. Small rivers snaked down alone the sloping pathways, only to collect in many of the large, rippling puddles that obscured the walkways. Twenty-eight year old Natalie Rose hurried through the streets, her long light and dark brown hair was plastered to her head and neck from the driving rain. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a long shadow was moving toward her, causing her to freeze. The action caused her to skid on the rain-slicked surface. Natalie spun around as she saw dozens of the glowing yellow eyes surrounded by black shadow. She was surrounded on all side by "Shadows".. While they were smallest and weakest of all Heartless, in numbers.. They were terrifying! Natalie began to panic and was in desperate need of help as she saw shadows moved closer and closer...

"O-oh God.."

*THRAKKA-SHROOOOOOOOOOM!*

Natalie jumped back in shock as a fire rose into the air, sending the Shadow Heartless spiraling away from her. She turned her head to the right and was shocked to see a rather tall and slender young man with bright red hair that seemed to have been set into slicked back spikes jumped down from a nearby building. He was dressed in a black cloak.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Axel grinned as he twirled a Chakram on one hand.

"Looks like I'm...too hot to handle." he remarked.

It was then that the rain began to once again pour down heavily upon them. As the downpour continued, the Shadows began to rise up from the depths.

"Maaaaybe you and I should split." Axel mused aloud.

The girl looked up at him, taking notice of his rather tall stature compared to her own. When he looked at her, her honey brown eyes filled with shock as they met with his bright emerald ones.

"U-uh.."

Axel smiled warmly at her. He then ran toward her, quickly picking her up in his arms, and taking off in a surprisingly fast pace as the Heartless raced after them.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

"W-whoa!"

Natalie was taken by surprise as he sped past and lifted her up off her feet. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck to keep from falling.

"Let's get out of here!" he told her. "It's not safe out in this rain. I need to get them someplace DRIER. Just hold on tight!"

She looked behind them and could see the swirling and rippling mass of darkness trailing behind them.

"T-they're getting closer.." she muttered shakily.

"Don't worry, we're almost there!"

Natalie let out a yelp as her savior barreled into a nearby warehouse, racing to the end as the Heartless followed them inside. He soon set Natalie down carefully before turning around and with a wide grin, he thrust his hands forward.

*THRAKKA-SCHROOOOOM!*

Large walls of flame soon enveloped all of the heartless, burning them up on the spot. Natalie's eyes went wide in awe at the walls of flames that were so high, they reached the ceiling. She turned away as the fire became so intense it was becoming painful to look at.

Then, at long last, the Heartless were completely dissolved away. As the flames died down, the young man turned toward her. Smiling warmly, he tapped the side of his head.

"My name's Axel. Got it memorized?" he inquired.

Natalie looked up at him and couldn't help but smile a little.

"I'm Natalie."

With that she firmly shook his hand, keeping eye contact as she shook his hand.

"Thanks for the save back there.."

"No problem! Anything for a pretty lady." Axel said with a deep bow, smiling warmly back at her.

Natalie's cheeks flushed a soft rosy color at the thought of being called pretty.

"We should probably stay here, out of the rain, until it's daytime and safer to go out." Axel offered.

Natalie continued to look at him but soon nodded and sat down on one of the nearby crates.

"So.. H-how did you do that?" she asked after a while.

Axel blinked blankly, but soon rubbed the back of his neck.

"Oh, you mean how can I use the flames?" he asked as he chuckled a bit. "Hey! It's a kind of magic."

Natalie was amazed by the aspect of using fire magic. She soon stood up and went over to one of the windows of the building and noticed the rain was pounding against the ground and the buildings outside. She jumped back as a flash of lightning lit everything up. There was a loud crash of thunder that shook the entire building.

Axel smiled a bit, and patted her on the back, giving her a big smile as he held her closely to him.

"Hey, don't worry. I'm here. I'll keep you safe."

Natalie's face flushed a soft rosy color at the sudden intimacy as Axel's long and slender arms suddenly wrapped around her.

There was another thunderous crash outside. Natalie jumped as she heard a sudden clacking noise as something hit against the nearby window. Her eyes grew wide as she saw a crack forming in the glass. A chill ran through her as she saw the heavy drops of rain were now forming into hail.

Axel warmly smiled down at her as he led her away from the window. He then summoned up a small fire for the duo to sit in front of.

"We'll be nice and warm now!" he intoned

Natalie looked up at him in surprise, not used to being this close to someone.

"Hey, Axel?"

Axel tilted his head to the side.

"Yes, Nat?" he asked.

Natalie soon turned and looked at the fire as she spoke.

"Does it hurt when you control the fire? I mean.. Have you ever burned yourself?"

Axel grinned.

"Not at all! Watch." he said. "I just need to focus a bit." he held out his hand in the middle of the fire. "See?"

Natalie watched on in amazement. She was so mesmerized by the sight of the flickering flame she hadn't realize she had been reaching toward it until..

"OW!"

Natalie pulled back and gripped her hand in agony, mentally kicking herself at being so stupid.

Noting this, Axel looked over her hand, cringing a bit as he saw Natalie's hand was a beet red.

"Looks like you burnt it a bit." he remarked "Here, let me look in my pockets, see if I have a potion."

As he peered through his pockets, Axel soon pulled out a short glass bottle half-filled with a green sparkling liquid. Natalie held her horribly stinging hand as tears of pain and anger filled her eyes.

"God, I'm such a dumba$$.."

She froze as she realized what she had just said.

"Stupid.. Stupid.. Stupid.." she grumbled, hitting her forehead repeatedly in embarrassment.

"Here, just drink this." Axel said warmly. "It'll make you feel a lot better." he offered.

Natalie looked up at him and hesitated before carefully taking the bottle from him. She looked down at the bottle of sparkling liquid. She turned her gaze from the bottle to Axel then back again.

"Well.. H-here goes.."

She brought the glass bottle up to her lips and drank the entirety of the bottle. Natalie coughed and shivered a little, finding it had a slightly sour taste but was not too horrible. Natalie winced as she felt a warming sensation all along her hand and watched in shock and amazement as the burns seemed to dissolve away. Natalie stared at her once burned hand and then gave Axel a shocked and quizzical look.

"It's a Potion." Axel smiled. "They're well known for their healing abilities. Pretty basic stuff. Never had one?" he inquired as he tilted his head to the side.

"I've always thought you just pour them on the injuries you get." Natalie confessed, a bit sheepishly.

"You can, yes." Axel said. "But you can drink a potion too. They're not poisonous, after all..! Well, anyway... I can do tricks!"

He held one hand up, and then clenched it.

"Shaaaa-BAM!"

The fire rose up and turned into a burning person holding a sword up.

"A burning samurai!"

Natalie was shocked to see the being made of fire. She however, refrained from making the same mistake as before and only continued to stare at the unusual being. After a moment, Axel flicked his hand, and the burning samurai turned into a big glowing rose of pure fire. Natalie nodded in shock as she saw the massive rose of flickering flames. There was a suddenly loud bang as the main doors to the building were burst open by a large amount of wind and darkness blew out the rose of fire. Natalie jumped in shock and whirled around as she saw a figure dressed in black with a black face plate that concealed their identity. Natalie stared at the figure in shock and confusion.

Author's Note: I know what you might be thinking.. But I'm honestly writing this based on how the RP went.. I hope no one gets upset by this and I'll try to get more done soon..