Kokoro: Chapter 1
The deep cerulean sky was host to a bright sunas various seagulls flew through the air. My bare feet made the sand of the beach puff up in little clouds as I walked. I was searching for my friend. Finally I found him sitting on the paopu tree where we all hung out in the evenings. A yellow star-shaped fruit was in his hand, and he squeezed it as his silver hair danced on the wind.
"Riku!" I yelled, waving my hand to get his attention. I supposed he saw me, and he ran down the bridge but he didn't come to me. Instead he ran to my friend, Sora. He always seemed to be smiling. Sora had a bunch of logs in his hands, a couple dropped on the ground. Riku picked them up and ran to the raft where Kairi was. I scowled and followed him, having the four fish that were required for our trip.
"Oh, good, you got the fish!" said Kairi, relieving me of the weight. When I caught them, they were quite a bit bigger than I expected, and thus they were quite heavy.
"Yup," I answered. "What now?"
"Nothing..." she said, then thought for a moment. "Oh, wait! I need four mushrooms."
"I'll get them!" offered Sora, but Riku shook his head.
"No, we need to settle something," Riku said, swinging his wooden sword in a challenge. Sora smiled.
"Then Kokoro will get the mushrooms," demanded Kairi with a sigh.
"Fine," I said, sighing an overly dramatic sigh. I found the first in a small cave behind a rock, by the raft. The next two were in a shadowed place by the lookout tower. But with the fourth, I couldn't think of any more places where mushrooms were likely to grow. "Where's the next one?" I wondered out loud. Then I remembered that I saw some in the secret cave, so I ran over into it.
I grabbed the mushroom, and then looked around the cave. During the years, all the kids that had visited this island left a picture. Castles, monsters, everything that little kids dreamed of. By my foot, a dusty drawing caught my eye. I brushed away the dust, and a picture of well-drawn Sora and a scribble of a barely recognizable Kairi looking at each other was revealed. I frowned.
Secretly, I had a crush on Sora. I made the hair longer on Kairi to make it look like me,and then scribbled Sora's hand holding a paopu to me. There. As I wallowed in my triumphant glory, a voice interrupted my thoughts.
"I've come to see the door to this world..." it said, and I turned around, seeing a figure in a brown cloak arising by the shadows by the mysterious wooden door. "This world has been connected..." they continued.
"Okay, Riku, stop playing!" I said sternly, but I couldn't erase the fear from my voice. I put my hands on my hips and glared.
"Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed..." the figure continued despite my efforts at intimidation. "You do not yet know what lies beyond the door..."
I backed up a bit, and then asked, "What door?"
"There is so very much to learn and you understand so little..."
"I'll leave this island," I said, clutching my fists. "I've got to find my brother!"
"A meaningless effort," they finished, and when I blinked, they were gone. I sighed in relief.
"Finally, he's ---"
"KOKORO!" yelled Riku. He walked into the cave. Is it just me or are his eyes a little duller? Naw, I must still be freaked out my that person, I thought.
"Riku, what's the mat..." Some sort of shadowy substance appeared at my feet. Tendrils of darkness reached out and slowly climbed up my legs. "Riku, help!" I yelled, reaching out my hand for him to grab. He just smirked.
"Don't worry. I'll join you soon," he said.
"Riku, stop! Stop now!" screamed Kairi, as she ran into the cave.
"Kairi, would you like to join her?" asked Riku, looking at her though the corner of his eyes.
"Let her go!" Kairi yelled as the darkness twined up to my waist, and still climbed. Slowly I was starting to sink into the hole of shadow like quicksand.
"Sorry, Kairi, but I'll have to deal with you later," Riku said, and he disappeared.
"Kokoro, grab my hand!" Kairi said, straining her arm to reach me without touching the darkness. The substance started to cover my right arm, and my left was not far behind.
"Kairi..." I whispered... "But the darkness... it's... soothing..."
"No!" Kairi grabbed my arm, but it was to late. The darkness consumed me, and I was floating in nothingness. I tried to open my eyes, but it was so dark I couldn't tell if they were open or not. It seemed like hours, days, weeks passed, and finally I was left on solid ground. I was in a city. My black shirt with a light yellow stripe was a little torn, but other than the small scratches on me and my clothing I was fine.
The lights – even though they were probably very weak – blinded me, after being stuck in the total darkness for so long. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw the true city, and it was beautiful.
Soon I saw Sora fast asleep in a nearby alleyway, and I wanted to help him, but I was on the roof of a building. A dog licked his face, and finally Sora woke up. When he stood, a bunch of glitters surrounded his hand, and a giant key appeared in it. The handle was gold and the rest was silver.
"He has no clue what lies ahead," said a voice from behind me.
"Who's there!" I said as I turned around. "Riku! What's going on? Where are we? And why --" Riku put a hand over my mouth, muffling my words. Sora looked up, having heard me, but quickly excused it and walked on, into the city square.
"You talk to much," he said causually, as if this was all a big joke. I smacked him, and he released his hold on my head.
"Don't you dare touch me," I growled.
"Oh, but that hurt, Koko," he said in a babyish sarcastic voice.
"Don't call me that!" I yelled, and jumped onto the ground. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt. I ran towards some big double doors, but somehow Riku was right in front of me. "What do you want from me?"
"I don't want anything, but I want to give you something," he said, and dark glitters spiraled around his hand, and then tendrils of darkness formed into another giant key, but the handle was blood red and the blade was black compared to Sora's gold and silver. "It's a keyblade, called the Oblivion Zero. It has the ability to unlock people's hearts."
I slowly took the key into my hands, and marveled at its perfect weight and size. I looked strangely at Riku and asked, "Why are you giving this to me?"
"That is for me to know and you to find out," Riku said mysteriously as he walked into the shadows and disappeared.
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"Okay, that was weird." I started walking around the town, exploring the shops. I kept the key in hiding the whole time, not wanting to attract any attention. Finally I went though the double doors that before Riku had stopped me from going through. As soon as I took my first step in, a shadowy creature, a "Shadow" as I dubbed it, appeared in front of me. I expected it to attack, but it just looked at me with it's unblinking yellow eyes. It ran ahead, and beckoned to me, as if it wanted me to follow. I played along, and followed it.
The Shadow lead me to a brightly lit part of the town, with neon colors and bright laser-like lights adorning the walls. A huge set of armor laid in the middle of the area. At my approach it rose up, and I thought it would attack. I pulled out the keyblade, but instead of attacking, the armor lowered its hand, wanting me to get on.
I got on, and my little guide-Shadow followed me this time. The Shadow's antennae twitched a little bit, and the armor placed me on its shoulder and jumped up onto a rooftop. What a view there was from up there! I could see the whole town, and a little beyond, even though there wasn't anything out there.
I heard footsteps from the brightly lit area, and Sora ran into the square. Two creatures fell on them, not the shadowy ones, they had bright clothes on. One was extremely short, the other tall. Small armored Shadows appeared in the square, and Sora and the two fought them off. The armor jumped down from his hiding spot, and as Sora looked up to see it falling, time seemed to stop.
"It really is a shame," Riku said from behind me. "To waste such strength on lies and trickery." I looked at him.
"What?" I asked.
"You mean you haven't noticed?" he laughed. "Sora doesn't like you. He only has theeyes for Kairi. He never liked you." Riku's words hit me like a brick.
"Are you telling me the truth?" I said, sobs almost coming out on my voice and my eyes starting to water.
"He has new friends! Isn't that enough to be the truth?" Riku seemed angry for a moment, but then he regained his calm demeanor. "I know these things," he said calmly, putting his hand on my shoulder.
"H- how?" A sob slipped out as I tried to wipe the tears away.
"I know because I got this from the future." Riku held the Oblivion Zero in his hands. "I'm from the future." I backed away from him, but stopped when I almost fell off the armor.
"Where's the real Riku?" I demanded.
"I am real," said Riku.
"I mean the one I know!"
"He is still being... convinced into the same thing. Now destroy Sora!" Riku said as he disappeared once again, a million more questions in my head. Time started. I jumped into the awaiting hand of the armor and them onto the ground. Sora looked at me in shock.
"Kokoro, you're okay!" exclaimed Sora.
"Who is Kokoro?" asked the tall creature, a dog, I now realized. Sora didn't answer.
"Where've you been?" Sora asked.
"Shut up," I said angrily, summoning the Oblivion Zero into my hand. The short one – a duck – and the dog gaped at it.
"What's wrong?" asked Sora, concerned.
"I'm fine but you're not," I said, almost a yell.
"What?"
"Shut up and fight." I lunged at Sora, my key's blade facing him. He jumped out of the way and dodged my following attack. "Stay still," I growled, running towards him. He pivoted to the left but the Oblivion Zero hit his leg, right above his knee. He poured a green liquid on it and countered, his keyblade hitting my stomach. My key disappeared from my hand and I fell to the ground, clutching my stomach.
"It's over, Koko. I won," Sora said, and held out his hand to help me up, the way he always does when he wins.
"Don't call me that!" I smacked his hand away. I could get one of those green potions soon.
"Why are you doing this?" Sora asked, shocked.
"Because I have orders to destroy you, no matter what the cost," I said, getting up despite the pain.
"Who told you to do that?"
"It's none of your business!" I jumped back on to the armor's hand. Sora talked with his new friends as it lifted me back onto its shoulder. I jumped onto the nearby roof and the armor turned it's head towards me. "Hey, big guy, can you take care of him?" I asked the armor. It almost seemed to nod its head, and turned towards Sora. When I knew Sora was fully distracted, I fell onto my back. Uh, why does my stomach hurt so much? I asked myself in thought. His key looked so blunt. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.
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After a while I started dreaming. I was floating, again in the darkness. The sun shone in my eyes, and I closed them, then as I got used to the light once again, I saw that I was back in the Destiny Islands. A little girlwas lyingin a raft out in the water. When the raft hit the shore, a small boy with short silver hair walked over to her and woke her up. Suddenly I realized that the girl was me, when I came to the Destiny Islands, and the boy was Riku.
The sky turned red and ripples made the Destiny Islands disappear. A familiar palace stood where the Destiny Island picture was before. A blood red ball of magic formed in front of the palace, and a silhouette approached it. The silhouette raised their hands and the magic was hurled at the palace, shattering it. An evil-sounding deep laugh woke me up, and I sat up quickly, panting.
"That was a very strange dream," I said to myself. My stomach didn't hurt anymore. Another strange anomaly.
"Did you destroy him?" asked a voice from behind me.
"Hi, Riku," I laid back down with my hands behind my head. "And no, I didn't"
"To bad. Well, I have some friends in Hollow Bastion and they suspect Sora is going to be in Wonderland. We're going there too so I can teach you some new moves. Let's go," he said, walking to the top of the roof, where a dark portal was.
"Hey, wait for me!" I yelled, and I quickly followed Riku into the dark portal he summoned.