Disclaimer: No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts... If I did, I would have my own Keyblade and go around hurting people.. Or something. Anyways...
Agony of Hearts
Chapter 1 - Unintentional Sacrifice
Why did it have to happen? What went wrong? I was doing so well... and then a curtain came crashing down, and I was gone, lost in the abyss of darkness with no hope of ever escaping. You're probably wondering what in the wonderful world of heck I'm talking about... I guess I'd better start from the beginning, then.
Before
As the island got nearer, I grew more excited. I rowed my boat faster, eager to reach it at last. Looking around at the deep blue sea, I sighed happily. Finally, I was free to do whatever I wanted, with no one to stop me. No one would tell me what to do anymore. Even so... I slowed, frowning slightly, wondering where I would be now if I hadn't done what I did. Probably still stuck at home, having to deal with their moaning and bickering at me to do this, do that, and repeat. No. My expression hardened. They had deserved what they got. And now I was finally FREE! But still... No! I shoved the thoughts of the past to the back of my mind and once again began to row to the island. I wasn't exactly sure where I was, but I knew for a fact that these were the Destiny Islands.
It was beautiful. That was the only thing I could think when I reached the island. As I was docking the boat, I heard loud voices approaching. Looking around rather uneasily, I finished tying the boat to the dock and climbed up the ladder to the wooden docks overhead.
I stood on top of the docks and looked around for where the voices were coming from. I suddenly and completely forgot what I was doing in about two seconds flat as I gaped at the ocean, marveling at the beauty of it. I heard a laugh behind me and whipped around to see six people staring at me. There were four boys and two girls. I stared at them, and they stared back for a while, then I finally came back to my sense and looked at each of them one by one. The first girl had brown hair and green eyes, and the other girl had red hair and blue eyes. The brown haired one looked kinda dopey to me, while the other one was eyeing me with curiosity.
Next, I looked to the four boys. One had orange hair in a blue bandana and brown eyes and was carrying some sort of blue ball, the next had brown hair and blue eyes and HUGE yellow shoes (which caused me to look at him like he was insane), the next had blonde hair and green eyes, and the last one had silver hair and aqua eyes. He just looked bored. I glared at him for what must have looked like no reason to the others, but I knew why. I hated being ignored.
Rolling my gray eyes, I looked past them at the rest of the island, familiarizing myself with it, waiting for someone to break the silence. I could swear I heard crickets chirping, but it must have been my imagination. Finally the red haired girl said, "Hi." My gaze shifted to her and I spoke softly, "Hi." "I'm Kairi," she said nicely, "Who are you?" "I'm Rhia...," I answered, looking at her with emotionless eyes. "Cool," Kairi replied, smiling. A moment passed of more silence, then Kairi nudged the boy and girl closest to her, urging them to talk to me. The guy with the ball finally spoke with an obvious accent, "Hey. I'm Wakka." "And I'm Selphie," said the brown haired girl. I nodded at them, then looked to the remaining guys that had not yet spoken.
The one with the HUGE yellow shoes stuck his hand out at me. "I'm Sora." I eyed his hand warily for a moment, then hesitantly shook it. "And I'M Tidus!" the littlest boy shouted loudly. Startled, I let go of Sora's hand, and blinked at the little guy who had yelled. "That's, ah... nice..." The silver haired guy snorted, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. He finally looked at me with a faintly amused expression, his aqua eyes meeting with my own gray ones, and he thrust out his hand. "Riku." I grabbed his hand with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, and we shook hands, our grips equally strong.
Obviously bored with me (that was very mean of them, now that I think about it), Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus all ran off at nearly the same time. Selphie sat on the end of the dock, ignoring us, Wakka, started chucking his ball into the air and catching it again near the water, and Tidus went to the little island connected to the main one with a wooden bridge and started battling imaginary enemies with his sword. Gratefully, I looked at the remaining three, thankful that they hadn't deserted me...yet.
Sighing, I sat on a random crate and looked from Riku, to Kairi, to Sora, and then at a tree. Breaking the silence, Riku asked, "So, where are you from?" I paused, hesitating, then answered evasively, "Somewhere." Immediately, Sora piped up, "Another world?" Smiling slightly, I replied, "You could call it that." a moment later, the smile turned to a grimace as I remembered... Taking no notice, Sora asked excitedly, "What's it like?" I looked at him coldly. "That's my business. He blinked, obviously rather startled at my behavior. "Oh... ok."
"Anyway... I've come a very long way, and I'm going to stay here, at this island. Anyone have a problem with that?" Kairi beamed brightly, clapping her hands a few times. "Great! You can stay at my house!" "No thanks...," I answered quickly, "I prefer being outside to inside." "Oh... well... ok," Kairi said, looking a bit disappointed. "Where are your folks, anyway?" Riku cut in. I frowned. "They're dead." "Ah...," he answered, "How?" I looked away, a gesture that probably seemed like grief to them, but it was actually so they wouldn't see my smirk. "I don't want to talk about it..." He nodded, then looked away too.
I glanced at them again, the smirk now gone. My eyes met Sora's, and I found that he had been staring at me with an unreadable expression, as if he had seen me before but couldn't quite place where or how. I tilted my head questioningly at him, but he just shook his head and looked away. 'Huh...,' I thought, 'Weird. Oh well.' Directing their attention back to me, I said, "I'm gonna go look around... Find a place to sleep. See you guys later." and walked off without giving them a chance to answer.
One week before
Sora opened his eyes to discover that he was under the water, sinking slowly. 'Huh...? What's going on?' he thought a bit hazily, closing his eyes again. He opened them suddenly, on land again, and saw Riku standing in the surf. Grinning, he started towards his best friend, then stopped, seeing water retreating from the beach. He looked up in panic to see Riku holding his hand out to him, the wave steadily building. With a silent gasp, Sora ran towards Riku, reaching out, the wave crashing over both of them. Sora tried desperately to grab Riku's hand but was blown back by the current. Surfacing, Sora frantically scanned the water for a moment, then gave up, seeing Kairi standing there waving at him from the beach. He grinned happily and started toward her, but stopped, a look of confusion on his face. Another girl was standing adjacent to Kairi, her gray eyes cold. She stood there for a moment, silver and black hair fluttering with the breeze, then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. It all happened in less than two seconds. Sora waded through the surf to Kairi and bent over, breathing hard, and looked around, trying to spot the other girl, with no luck. Glancing up at Kairi, he began to say something, but fell silent as he saw her look at something in the sky behind him. Following her gaze, he turned around and looked at the sky, seeing stars falling and... 'What is that?' he thought. Looking closer, he realized that he himself was falling from the sky. A moment later, he fell backwards, somehow into the sky and plummeted. He tilted his head and saw Kairi calling his name reaching for him. He lifted a hand slightly, then stopped as Kairi disappeared in a ripple. He fell into the water of the ocean and landed feet-first on the bottom, stood, and stood, looking around warily.
Doves flew all around him from under his feet and all over the ground, causing him to step back in shock. Taking a few steps forward, the glass shattered under him. He fell for a moment then landed on a platform with a door on it. He eyed it with wonder for a few seconds, then opened it, light shining through. The door vanished and the platform was being overrun by darkness. He sank into the purplish-black substance, a look of panic on his face, flailing madly. Looking up, he saw the same silver and black haired girl that was on the beach standing above him, holding a black and red sword-like thing with a half-heart shape cut into the bottom part of the black blade. She stood there, grasping the red handle and looking at him with a sad look mixed with an icy one. She vanished from sight as darkness covered Sora's face. A moment later, he appeared on another platform. Three objects were hovering above three stone platforms, a sword, a shield, and a staff. He went straight to the sword and grasped the handle, causing the platforms to crumble slightly and sink into the platform. Stained glass stairs appeared, leading to another platform above. He ran up them and to the other platform. Light was shining strongly from nowhere and his shadow stretched out behind him and rose up, becoming a huge black THING that looked about ready to squish him like a bug. Terrified, he ran, heedless of where he was going until the edge of the platform appeared, making him stop. Braking, he faced the monster as the sword appeared in his hand. (long story short, he battled it, won, and woke up on the beach of the island)
Three days after Rhia arrived
I stretched, yawning, and stood, walking out of the place I now called home: under a large tree. Blinking in the sunlight, I glanced around, guessing it was about ten in the morning. The others should be there by now. Spotting Riku, I grinned and trotted towards him, slowing as I got near. Over the days, I had become fast friends with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. It was what I considered a new record for me. I sidled quietly up behind him, then grabbed his shoulders and yelled, "BOO!" (I swear he jumped at least a foot in the air) He turned to stare bug-eyed at me. "Don't EVER do that again. You scared me to death!" I smirked, laughing evilly.
Bouts of laughter erupted from behind us and we turned around, Riku looking rather calm now and me still smirking smugly. Sora and Kairi walked up to us quickly, still laughing. "You two put her up to this, didn't you!" Riku said haughtily. Not giving them a chance to answer, I said, "Nah, they didn't.. It was all me." At this, Sora and Kairi burst into laughter again. I silenced them with a look. "You guys better watch your backs, too... It might be you next time." A moment of silence followed the threat, then Kairi said excitedly, "We should make a raft! You could go to other worlds!" I raised an eyebrow at her. "What would be the point of that?" Sora answered for her, "We've always wanted to see other worlds, ever since Kairi came here!" "And this is our chance," Riku finished for him. "Ah," I answered.
So, we made the raft and gathered food the next two days. I soon learned that Sora and Riku, though best friends, would compete with each other over anything. Riku had thought up a name for the raft, Sora disagreed, and the race was on. Me, being the competitive person that I was, raced against both of them at the same time, and, of course, won. (I'm just special that way)
I soon appointed the raft to be "Saborwind," smirking at the two disgruntled boys. Kairi wouldn't have had a problem either way and just looked amused at our antics.
Night fell and they all went back to their homes while I went back to my tree. Laying down on the ground, I sighed, deep in thought. I closed my eyes for a second, but I guess I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, wind was blowing hard, and the tree branches were whipping every which way. I jumped up, immediately wanting to see what was going on, and walked into the open. I froze, staring awestruck at the glowing thing in the sky. Out of nowhere, black bug-like things with glowing yellow eyes and a symbol of a crossed-out heart on them appeared and surrounded me. I looked around desperately for an escape route, but found none. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Riku and Sora standing on the connecting island, darkness overtaking them both. My distractions was just what the creatures needed, and they all attacked me at once, dragging me to the ground. A pool of darkness appeared under me, and before it totally covered me, I could swear that I saw a tiny shard of something pinkish red and glowing fly away from my body. Then I lost consciousness.
I woke up to Sora shaking me, calling frantically, "Rhia! Rhia, wake up!" I blinked my eyes open to see a worried and scared Sora. I groaned loudly and sat up. I stopped, feeling my hand wrapped around something cool and somewhat heavy and looked down to see a red and black sword thing with a half heart shape cut into it. "Ooooo," I breathed, eyeing it. Sora stood up, looking at me with that same unreadable expression that he had had on the first day. I jumped up, staring at him with a worried look. "What's wrong?" He answered slowly in a dazed fashion, "You're that girl in my dream..." and went on to tell me about the dreams he had been having before I arrived.
When he finished, I raised a brow. "Interesting... and weird...," I murmured to myself. "I know," He replied, though I wasn't exactly talking to him. He seemed to have lost his dazedness, too (thank Bob). Shaking my head, I asked, "Where're Riku and Kairi?" His gaze fell. "I dunno... They're gone." "Crap." I held up my weapon and gazed at the cut-off part. "You know... I think things are about to get much weirder." I snapped out of my reverie as the bug-like things appeared again and surrounded us, twitching like crazy things. I grinned rather savagely, readying my weapon as a silver and gold key-like weapon appeared in Sora's hands. I raised BOTH eyebrows at him this time. "You have one too, eh?" He nodded and went into a defensive crouch, not bothering to answer. I lunged at the nearest bug thing violently, swung my blade, and destroyed it in a poof of oily purple and black smoke. I blinked, pausing momentarily, obviously thinking, 'Ooooookkkkkk... DIE!' Sora andmy eyes met, our heads nodded simultaneously, and we lunged forward, vanquishing the evil little black things.
Grinning, I yelled to Sora, "Sure is easy to destroy these, isn't it?" He yelled back, "Yep!" Only one now remained and I jumped at it, swinging my blade maniacally as it started to disappear. I hit its torso, causing it to vanish in a poof of smoke. At the same time, the pinkish red shard flew away from it and towards me, disappearing into my chest. I perked up immediately, feeling my missing strength return (I hadn't even noticed it was gone, I was so intent on wreaking havoc and stuff, hah). "Muahahahaa!" I laughed insanely, bright twin flames seeming to burn in my gray eyes. "Kill them all!" Sora chuckled a little uneasily, eyeing me carefully.
I yelped in surprise as the island started to break apart, leaving us to stand on a small circle of it. A huge black thing rose up. Sora was gawking at it like a fool (the rolling of the eyes begins). "Oh dear..," I groaned. "That's that thing in my dreams!" Sora nearly shouted, struggling to be heard over the howling wind. I stared at the huge black thing with fascination for a moment, then made up my mind and jumped at it, swinging my blade at one of its hands. Sora finally joined me, cutting away at its other hand. I gasped, seeing the hand I was attacking raise up and swing at Sora. "SORA! Move!" I closed my eyes unwillingly as the green gem on my right wrist began to glow with a somewhat dull green light. The wind blew all around me, my hair fluttering madly. The gem flashed brightly, and I opened my eyes just in time to glance over my shoulder to see the hand coming at me with incredible speed and Sora staring at me, wide-eyed from where I had been standing a moment later. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as I stood there, hair flying everywhere, gazing at Sora with a both sad and cold expression. My lips suddenly moved, forming the silent words "Caluht lryhla." Then everything sped up once more and the hand hit me in the right side of my back. I flew a few yards away and lost consciousness as I hit the ground, falling into darkness.
Excellent... And if anyone wants to guess what "Caluht Iryhla" means, then message me with what you think it is, and if you get it right, I will give you... er... A picture of your favorite character! Yes. Oh, and if you want to see a picture of Rhia, again, message me and I'll send it to you. Sayonara, folks.
