Prologue: Tip of Darkness
*For those of you who are unaware, the "Dark Margin" is the beach in the realm of darkness that Roxas talks to Ansem on in KH2, Riku and Sora end up at the end of KH2, and is the place where Aqua talks to Ansem in the secret ending of BBS. Just incase people were confused. I know I was when I first heard the name. ^^
The sands on the shore were grey, as a dismal tide lapped against them. There was nothing to be seen on this beach for miles. Nothing against the shadows of unkept abyss, or the craggy rocks which were fragments of fallen worlds left littering the landscape. Solitary silence, aside from the echo of the empty waves, permeated the air and most would have driven to madness by it. This place was dead, and it had always existed this way.
It was a harbor tipped in the very fading edges of darkness. A silver sea illuminated by the invisible reflection of the light of all worlds. A port of travel for those that had succumbed to the most untouchable desires of their hearts, and lost their minds to them. It was a place to cast away existence, with no hope of return, for every footstep walked along those sands, would eventually disappear.
However, it was also tied.
It was a place tied to different portals of light and darkness which littered the worlds that couldn't be seen from its starless sky.
Portals that could be reached just barely, by just the right being, if only the power and the connection existed.
All that was needed was a little help from the other side.
A shadow walked along the Dark Margin, leaving no footprints in the sands. Details portrayed him as male and adolescent, but the only color on his sillouhette was a pair of piercing golden eyes. Darkness dripped from his form and reeked off his aura. It was as if the evidence of his sins had been decaying around him for a very long time.
He stopped shortly, and watched the waves, his irises containing the glimmer of a smirk. He had wandered this realm for some time now, wasting the innumerable hours away, but somehow, he felt this was the right moment for a plan he'd been formulating for ages to take its first breath of life. Something was calling him, beckoning him to act, just like many of the other whispers he'd been hearing throughout the Realm of Darkness as of late.
He walked right past the water's edge and into the tranquil dark waves. He could feel the echoes of a presence drawing him in, it rung through out this entire realm. Something that had seemed so distant before, but now, was right within his grasp. He walked further and further, until he was completely engulfed within the sea, and then began diving even farther down of his own volition.
The water was cold and black as death, but the Shadow felt at ease and familiar within its depths. He had grown to be a part of it after all. The energy pulsing around him gave him a sense of power, and he closed his eyes, going into a zen like state that was supposed to connect him to the outside world. One world in particular.
He seemed to be in suspended animation, meditating within his darkness, using it as an extension of himself as he connected with his portal of choice. It was his eyes, his ears, his touch, his extra sense. It was laughable to think of the unexpected gift that Keyblade Master had given him that day, by binding him to the depths of the Realm of Darkness. If he ever got the chance, he might actually thank her, after he escaped of course.
The darkness made its way through time and space, and found its port of destination. A large wooden door with no handle, hiding in a cave of childish scribblings and promised secrecy. This door connected a tiny world of islands that was now resting in the calm of the hurricane known as Kingdom Hearts. However, it had been resting for far too long, at least if the Shadow had anything to say about it.
Tendrils of darkness reached slowly through the crevices of the tied door, and the Shadow now had a picture playing across his subconscious of the presence that had attracted him to this point.
There were two little children that could be no more than five years old. One was a fair haired boy sitting on a rock, looking timidly around at the cave drawings. The other was his companion, a pale little girl with long untamable waves and lively blue eyes that lit up with a spectrum of hues. She was hard at work carving her own identity into the worn out rock walls, her blonde friend hovering like a moth dutifully behind her. The boy knew they weren't even allowed on this part of the island, and that they shouldn't have run away from her parents; but the little girl had insisted they go exploring, and he couldn't let her go alone.
She had an aura that attracted people towards her. The Shadow knew this from his own experience, his own connections to the tiny girl through her dreams as a means of her birthright. He knew very well what she was capable of, what he could make her capable of. She just needed a little help, from the other side.
He felt so close to this island's door, to that little girl, he could practically taste it. Even though it had been almost 5 years since the last incident he'd caused there, the cave still reeked of tormented human emotion and energy. This, paired with the negative symbolism this place now held for inhabitants of this world, fueled him. The shadows creeping out from underneath the door started to morph into warped creatures of black emotions that hailed from a previous era of darkness. They started to crawl and form, willed by their master, the Shadow in the water who could not leave.
The little boy saw them first and screamed, tugging at his oblivious friend who still had her back turned to the door, carving patterns into the wall. She finally turned and began to scream as well, but the creatures began attacking the children, preventing them from escaping and blocking off the narrow exit of the cave chamber.
They headed for the little girl first as she curled up helplessly, but a bright light shown as soon as the creatures tried to touch her, and singed them as if a force field of fire had come into play. The Shadow in darkness winced, his vision fading if only for a moment by the power of the light protecting the child. He'd assumed she'd been enchanted, but not with this much potency. However, the little boy held no special aura, and the Shadow immediately willed the creatures to turn their sights upon him.
Despite the girl's protests, it didn't take the dark beings much to damage him, and the boy was soon overwhelmed by darkness and physical weakness. His heart was fading from the attack of the supernatural creatures, and he laid on the dirt floor like a puppet ,within an inch of his young life.
The girl had managed to crawl over to her friend's side amidst the attack of the creatures, and started shaking the blonde boy feverishly, begging him to get up. Her turmoil seemed to strengthen the shadowy beasts, and the Shadow sent more through the door from his dominion, pushing the little girl to her limits.
Suddenly, a faint light began to shine behind the wooden door, glowing like a beacon in a dark storm. As the girl begged and cried for the boy to awaken, she felt the presence of the light. Somehow, she knew it was there…and that it could be there to help her.
"Help me!" she wailed pathetically, but then suddenly starting to hyperventilate. "Please! S-some-bo-dy help!"
The girl started wheezing over her comatose friend, a restriction to her air flow coming on sharply.
The Shadow frowned. He hadn't expected her to die quite so soon, and it would surely inconvenience his plans if she did. He willed his creatures to stand by, but just as they halted, a great white light shown in the entire chamber, and even he could feel it.
It was searing, like a nuclear explosion, and whatever connection his darkness had with the door in that moment, was scorched away as he cried out in pain, his meditation broken and pushed back.
The sense of that power propelled his consciousness back to that sea of darkness. His zen was officially broken, and for a moment he sputtered and choked in the depths. He quickly rose to the surface, feeling as if he'd drown with the overwhelming discomfort the light had caused him.
He gathered himself for just a moment, drifting in the water, plotting and devising. The waves pushed him back, back to the shore of his imprisonment…but with them…came a whisper…another reassurance of things to come and change from deep within the realm.
The Shadow listened, and then smirked. The tides were shifting, he could already feel it.
"Perfect." he purred in satisfaction, knowing things were now in motion. "Now all I need…is a little outside help…"
Kairi searched the beaches feverishly. The sun was going down, and the children had disappeared some time ago. She knew them both well enough to figure out who the instigator had been. Sora may discourage against it, but regardless, punishment was going to be given as soon as she found them. Luckily, the couple knew this island like the back of their hands. The majority of it was cultivated, and there weren't many places to hide that they weren't already aware of. She was confident they would find the kids before anything dangerous could happen.
However, she suddenly froze in place. A sweeping sense of darkness, one she hadn't felt in a long time, seemed blast through the area. It was a silent but deadly whisper, caressing against Kairi's fragile senses. The peaceful aura of the setting sun and the island breeze became instantly morbid, and a cry rung through the air.
Her head turned sharply in the direction it seemed to originate, and realized that the awful scream was coming from the Secret Place.
"Aurora…no…" Kairi whispered in terror, but the minute she turned her body to follow the movement of her head, a searing pain suddenly erupted within the center of her chest.
Kairi couldn't register anything. One moment, she saw her husband's form hastily running towards her in the corner of her blurry vision. The next, she felt as if she was falling and floating all at the same time, like she was falling away from a piece of herself.
The pain in the center of her being was replaced by a numbing emptiness that was beginning to fill her entire body. She couldn't feel the darkness anymore…she couldn't feel…anything…
"Kairi? Kairi? What's wrong?" Sora asked worriedly, hovering behind her and taking her hand as he noticed her swaying.
She didn't respond, just taking one more dizzy wide eyed stare into space before the world blacked and she collapsed without warning onto the sandy ground.
Sora barely managed to grab her arm to support her, and then took her in his arms, his confusion and panic began overwhelming him with his greatest fear. He began pitifully shaking her in a desperate plea to get her to awaken.
"Kairi?! Kairi! Kairi! No, no…Kairi wake up! Please wake up!"
