Author's Note: Well, welcome back, welcome back. Again, I have to say that this story was inspired by The Unknowing Herald's 'Normalcy? Extremely Overrated' and recommend a read. It's well worth it. I have his permission to go forward with this, and I will say that there are and will likely be similarities between our stories. But I am not copying his story at all. Say what you will, my plot is my own, as are my OCs and my version of Herald's AU. Thanks for reading this, so let's get to what you really came here for!
Disclaimer: Not what you came here for, but I have to report that sadly, I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, or any other things that actually exist and are referenced in this tale. Please don't hate me for this. Instead, enjoy the images my words should paint on your brains.
Noah, take it away!
Chapter 2: The Test To Begin All, and Hopefully Less Life Threatening, Tests
POV: Noah Crossguard
Fine, fine. I'll start. Yeah, it's me again. You know, that guy who lived on an asteroid for ten years, shows nothing of his appearance, hates blonde women on sight, and yes, I will be downplaying my emotional responses DRASTICALLY...anyways. Yeah, it's that guy. Noah Crossguard, NOT Noah Crossing-guard. Don't make me engrave it on your heart. So, onto the story you're here for.
Dunno exactly how long we were out. About ten hours is my best guess. I do know however that when we landed I was the second to awake; Cloud's sleep was apparently voluntary.
After immediately after I woke I was on my feet, heading down the ramp, and staring around at all the other people hanging around the massive space. I didn't know what it was called, but I was standing in SeeD Institute's main hangar. You'll learn about the Institute a bit more soon enough, but it isn't so important right now.
After a few minutes I spotted someone walking around and breaking up about half of the groups, directing them to join others.
I spotted a few that were heading my way; a guy with red hair, spiked back, wearing a red shirt and jeans, a guy slightly taller than me with mid-length silver hair in a sleeveless yellow shirt and black pants, and beside him a girl slightly shorter than me with shoulder length black hair, a black top and navy blue shorts on.
"Yo, rags. Where's the rest of the crew?" the red-head called out once he was within earshot. I noted that the other two perked up a bit as they approached after he finished speaking.
"Inside. They had a lot longer flight than I did, so they're still waking up. Master Sylph's spell-work is quite powerful." I kept my arms tensed, sensing someone approaching from behind my line of sight.
"Wait, as in Keyblade Mast, Lady Sylph of the Elves? That Master Sylph?" the silver-haired guy asked.
"Yes, boy, I am she." And there she was. "It is an honor to know my reputation has preceded me so greatly." I took note of a tail clenched in her left first. Pulling it, she dragged a blond guy with bright blue pants, a puffy shirt, and yes, a monkey tail into view. "And you. Only I was given permission by my apprentice to see his face, and that was merely for medical purposes. Do NOT try to take his mask again. Am I understood?"
"Y-Yes ma'am!" He jumped to his feet as soon as she released his tail, scratching the back of his head out of embarrassment and shame. Whether it was over his attempt to take my mask or because he got caught, I may never know. I really still don't. I've asked. He never gives me a straight answer. "I'm really sorry; I'm just a bit of a curious guy by nature. Name's Zidane Tribal, you?" A hand shot out and grabbed one of mine, surprising me with his speed.
"Noah, Noah Crossguard." I shook it until he let go. This was about thirty seconds later.
It was then that Sora and the rest came stumbling out of the Gummi ship. Or rather, Sora stumbled, the rest just walked.
"Your last name is crossing guard?" Sora asked. Insert groans and universal face palm here. Except for Kairi, poor, poor Kairi. I kind of pity her, since she was already beyond hope. She had repressed a giggle. Not much, but it was the first sprout of the seed Tifa had planted and...someone else...would cultivate.
"Crossguard not crossing guard." I had to stress the difference, even though I had a feeling that he wasn't going to get it right for a long, long time.
"Let's just move in with introductions then, shall we? Guess I'll go next. Name's Lea Sid. Go it memorized?"
"I'm Xion Valentine! Nice to meet ya!" the shorter girl with the black hair bounced up and down on her feet oh so very energetically, causing the silver-haired boy to chuckle.
"And I'm Riku Haydn. It's a pleasure." (No, that isn't a typo.)
"Um...excuse me. Sorry we're late; we got a bit held up by some guys..." It was a blonde girl in a sleeveless red dress with flowery white tights and a purple cloak on, whose feet didn't seem to touch the ground. With her was a girl with long black hair, a puffy white shirt like Zidane's, and an orange sleeveless jumpsuit.
After the final round of introductions, in which I assessed Terra Branford and "Dagger", no last name given, a massive screen on the other side of the room turned on. Guess who was on it. Bet you can't. Well, it was Master Chief.
"All right, listen up. You've been divided up into groups of twelve. Some don't have exactly twelve, but ignore that. These are the predetermined groups you will be sharing a dorm with for freshman year, more if you like them."
'How exactly did they pick these dorms?' was all I could think at the time. But, Master Chief continued on talking, so my thoughts didn't wander very far.
"Some of you must be wondering how we picked the dorms. Well, unfortunately, that process is far above my pay grade. Yes, I do get paid to do this, for those of you who think they're funny or relatively sarcastic." That comment almost seemed to be directed at Lea, who had his mouth half open like he was about to say something to the effect of a joke. His reaction of shutting his jaw further reinforced my hunch that he somehow knew the SPARTAN.
"Now, as for why I'm telling you this now, it's because you'll be taking the first part of the exam with your dorm. The rest is just a matter of how close you all are in intelligence and combat potential."
"The exam, which determines if you're cut out for combat or for desk work, will decide your future kids, so take it seriously or you'll really regret it like a certain ex-royal. Now, there are three parts to the exam. First is a written exam. Second is the combat potential exam. You can only take the third part if you pass this test."
"The third bit is to go through a simulation of a mission from last year's graduation exam with one partner. Depending on the overall skill level and psychoanalysis of you and your partner, you will have one of two objectives. One is to take out a few human guards however you see fit. Don't worry about killing anyone since its only code this time." This, in turn, made me wonder whether it would always be code, of course…and in hindsight that probably didn't sit as well with the other observant SeeD hopefuls in the room…hangar…place. Whatever!
"The other possibility is that you will have to work with your partner to disable an automated weapon that nearly tore the valedictorian a new one during the retreat once the mission was over. We only give this to those teams who we believe have a chance at getting out with both members intact. Don't worry about actually succeeding."
"If you can live more than five minutes, that's impressive enough. Those who do fight it and succeed…don't let it go to your heads. I took on stuff like it for breakfast when I was your age. And sometimes I actually ate them too, if they were edible and I had some firewood handy."
"Now, your college-level peers from last year's graduating class will lead you to where you'll take the first part of the exam. Don't bother asking questions; anyone wants to talk about it on the way, will." The screen went dark. Silence was as thick as a cheese wheel. Sue me, I'm hungry.
"C'mon." Cloud started walking away, towards an open set of doors on the other side of the room. His normally nigh inaudible voice somehow shattered the silence hanging over the rest of my future classmates, apparently in awe at Master Chief.
By the way, since you may not realize it from how I'm telling you all this, I had absolutely no idea why he was so famous nor how truly deadly he was in combat. So, I didn't really understand all the hype. That's the general thing to keep in mind about me going forward; I didn't know anything.
"Hurry up guys! Don't want you all to be late," Tifa…well, she shouted that really loudly and ushered us forward.
As we crossed the hangar and entered through the open doors Zidane did something very stupid that resulted in two of the girls present beating on him. Dagger and Tifa. The stupid monkey tried to cop a feel on a worlds famous martial artist. What did he expect?
I ended up helping him limp to the classroom we'd been assigned though, and judging by the sounds of doors opening and closing behind us and the footsteps still heading out way, I knew that the majority of the students from the hangar weren't too far behind us. Everyone was really quiet though, and that was a bit eerie. Odd thing to have thought wasn't it, considering I lived alone on an asteroid with several laws of physics failing to apply to it for ten years of my life?
Eventually we got to our classroom. It was a stereotypical classroom, just everything was pure white: the walls, the floors, the ceiling, the desks, the chairs, everything. If it were visible, I wouldn't have been surprised if the air was white too, to be honest. There was just one splash of green sitting behind the desk. Yes, you probably guessed it by now, but Master Chief was sitting behind the desk.
Why him again, you may be wondering. Well, I have no idea. Never thought to ask him before. Sorry. Maybe he just thought we were a great bunch of kids. Or maybe, just maybe, he drew the short straw and had to keep an eye on the dorm judged to have 'the most potential for trouble'.
"Take a test paper, a pencil, sit down and fill it out. Give it back to me when you're done." Ladies and Gentlemen, Master Chief!
…Okay, yeah, I know that wasn't really what you've come to expect from me is it? Sorry. I wanted to try my hand at standard comedy. It doesn't really work, does it? My bad…anyways, more important things await.
So, you may or may not have realized something. I am, or rather, was at that time fourteen years of age. 14 for those of you who can't read numbers unless it's spelled out for you. Now, as I've mentioned repeatedly, I spent the ten years prior to entering SeeD Institute living alone on an asteroid that doesn't follow the universal laws of physics and was covered in flowers. Even had a lake, but that was actually something extremely important. You'll learn why eventually, if you don't already know. I've left clues, as has Kairi. I think.
My point is this: what is fourteen minus ten? 14 – 10 = 4. Yes, I was living on an asteroid, alone, since age four. When that happens, and when you have nothing to read or write with for so long…even what little you knew you forget entirely in favor of the necessities of survival.
So, while I possessed reflexes no normal human should have, muscles that I shouldn't have had at that age, and perfect motor control, amongst a multitude of other things I'll only talk about when necessary (I say that a lot, don't I?), I did not possess the capability to take the written exam. I didn't even know how to spell my name. Well, my last name. Noah is way too easy to spell.
So, once Sora, Kairi, Riku, Xion, Naminé, Lea, Dagger, Zidane, Terra, and Roxas had all sat down with their papers, I approached Master Chief to pick up mine. I could see my mask and rags reflected in his visor. The only two people in the room whose physical appearances were complete mysteries to everyone else around them, and both let a silent understanding pass between them. Me and him, I mean.
I handed the exam to the SPARTAN and waited for the inevitable, yet apparently necessary (I do say that a lot) comment that all humans tend to make on such events.
"You can't read or write, can you? Pity." Master Chief just dropped the exam onto the desk and took a red pen in hand before finishing it off with a big red circle. A zero.
"WHAT?! Crossing guard can't read OR write?!" Sora shouted. As expected by the two who hid their faces; again, Master Chief and myself. Chief seemed to get some kind of kick out of provoking this, but no one else seemed aware of it.
"Usually the two aren't exclusive Spikes," Lea joked, though I felt it was a situation where…how did it go again? There was a kettle and a pot, and some sort of color mentioned? Blue? I can't remember.
"Living on an asteroid, alone, for ten years tends to result in certain knowledge deficiencies. Now, everyone shut up and get back to your own exams," the green armor-clad SPARTAN commanded. "Crossguard, go out into the hall. Master Sylph'll show you to the simulation room."
And so I left.
"Master Sylph?" So, there I was, minding my own business in the hall, looking for my new mentor/apparent legal guardian. All I found was a, well, the only term to describe it would be cute, but saying that would be unmanly…okay, whatever, a cute little golden-furred kitten. "Let me guess. I'm supposed to follow you, right?"
"Nya!" The kitten turned about and began…padding (I think that's the right word) down the hall and left me to merely follow and pray I was right and not just a bit crazy for thinking that a kitten would know its way around.
We silently passed a number of rooms as I observed the strange kitten. She, and this was just me assuming here, seemed to be far more intelligent than one would expect such a small, young animal to be. And despite her size, the tiny muscles that my eyes were picking out from one of my better combat-related habits were considerably more toned than any kitten I could recall seeing prior to…what happened when I was four.
What, thought it would be easy to get me to reminisce? You're strangers, I'm not telling you about that just yet.
Anyways, the number of halls I was led through and the rooms I walked past following this little golden kitten were beginning to worry me. I knew that this was supposed to be a massive school, but when everything looks identical and you can't read the signs on the walls or the maps that popped up every so often…you start to panic. At least, I did. Still do sometimes. Believe it or not, but no one ever thought to teach me to read and write. It's been attempted, but something always gets in the way.
Wow, still getting off track. Let's move on to the voice that brought me out of my slightly fear-driven thoughts to focus on the matter at hand, shall we?
"Ah, there you are my troublesome new apprentice." Yeah, Master Sylph pulled that whole 'suddenly being there' thing on me. "Come, the room of simulation you seek is this way."
More silence came along as I scooped up the golden kitten and held her (and at this point was fairly certain it was a girl, but I couldn't exactly get up the courage to check and risk incurring Master Sylph's wrath; I wasn't entirely sure how she'd react to that kind of thing) in the crook of my rag-covered left arm. She seemed happy, considering she purred and curled up into a little ball.
Master Sylph seemed amused by my choice to carry the kitten, or at least pleased in some way, from the way she had this tiny little smile on her face; I almost missed it.
A set of automatic doors came into view as we turned right at the first intersection of halls we reached. One moment later, they opened and revealed the most ridiculous being I have ever laid my eyes on. Strong? Sure. Skilled? Definitely. Deadly? That should be obvious. But normal? By no means was this…entity normal.
If you want a description, all I have to say on the matter is that I can't even begin to properly describe the red-clad atrocity before my eyes. I hope you'll understand when I convey his first words to me.
"Tis I, the honorable and exemplary purveyor of rare blades, the hero of the Rift, the worlds' most talented treasure hunter…GILGAMESH!" shouted the ridiculous…man(?) in a ridiculous pose.
"This…person is the exam proctor for this portion." I had a feeling that there were a lot more things Master Sylph wanted to call him, but 'person' was likely the most polite.
"Tis true, young warrior. You must be a formidable genius to have come here so swiftly!" Whilst caring for a helpless kitten no less!" Gilgamesh declared, and believe me, that is the only word that describes how he talks accurately. I can't remember more than a handful of times he's spoken normally.
I, of course, had the intense desire to burst his bubble. As you'll see, it didn't work out the way I'd thought.
"I can't read or write. I have a zero on the written test." And I waited. But Gilgamesh didn't explode, nor did his head start to spark or spew smoke from the ears, nose, and mouth. This confirmed the hunch that he was a living being – not something that was entirely comforting.
"Hoho! So then, you are a man of action?! Wonderful! Come, young warrior-"
"Noah Crossguard," I interrupted.
"-and join me in the wondrous room of simulatory illusion." I was fairly certain some of what he said didn't qualify as words. Unfortunately, I couldn't be sure at the time due to my lack of knowledge in the realm of words.
Master Sylph just sighed and motioned for me to go on in before turning and leaving me there. Alone. With Gilgamesh. This…isn't much better than the asteroid.
"Come, come! We shall begin, posthaste!" Gilgamesh grabbed my right arm and yanked me through the doors, which sealed shut behind me.
I managed to tune out his useless babble after a few seconds, turning to get a better look at the room. It was about twelve feet in diameter, with the same pure white theme as everything else I had seen thus far. The only difference was a mirror making up the far wall.
Suddenly a blue flash of light blinded me for a moment and the room became a wasteland. Gilgamesh and I were standing at a crossroads. In all four directions, excluding the road, the dirt was covered in barrels of ranged weapons, ammunition crates, ancient tomes on pedestals, and every type of blade imaginable and then some stuck in the ground.
"Now, young Noah, choose swiftly! Think not on what you are choosing; only think on why you are choosing to fight and what you wish to be able to do in a fight! You must hurry, as I cannot control the enemies once they appear. Nor shall I defend you. Come, Noah, choose a weapon!"
My only solace in this ramble was that he seemed to be very good-natured and knew how to use whatever magic they use in the simulation rooms to help the students find what they're best with. And that he did actually hear my name, which I considered the pros and cons of in a split second of distraction before summoning a Keyblade to my right hand. There was a kitten in the crook of the left, remember?
"I have no need to choose, as you can see. My weapon has already chosen me long ago. My Messenger of Light!" The Keyblade in question was pure white, like everything of SeeD Institute I had seen thus far; the crown-shaped teeth, the skeleton key shaft, the guard and the rainguard, even the keychain, which had a small pure white heart on the end. Basically, a pure white version of the Kingdom Key, if you've ever seen a picture of that.
"Ah! So, you are one of the heroic Key Bearers, hm? Most wondrous! You must have proven yourself in combat time and again by now, surely. Up the enemy level! Send in a few Manikins!"
"Manikins?" Several humanoid crystal beings sprouted from the ground around me, holding crystalline swords, staves, and even an ax. "Oh, Manikins. That's new." I readied the Messenger of Light, holding it loosely in my right hand down at my side, closing my eyes and listening, sure that despite lacking muscles and clothes, these Manikins would make some sort of sound when they moved.
(Cue: Clash on the Big Bridge, Gilgamesh's Theme)
"Ho? An interesting stance, young Key Bearer." That irked me. It seemed like the guy forgot my name every two seconds.
My irritation wasn't enough to throw me off my game though. The first Manikin charged in. They're still going easy on me. Can't say I blame them though. As it charged, it's weapons – eight daggers held between its fingers – and the two strands of antenna-like crystal trailing from its head to behind it as it leaned forward in an all-or-nothing rush reminded me of someone. Someone who I really hated since almost before I could remember.
"YOU!" My eyes took in the appearance as they shot open and my right arm tensed – the rest of my body did not. This was just practice, practice for the moment I'd been training all my life for. Gilgamesh, I vaguely noticed, seemed confused by my shout. The sudden white blur as the Manikin got close enough to stab me, something I knew the real deal wouldn't both with, decapitated it, then ruthlessly chopped off its limbs.
"HO! Most impressive, young Noah; such speed is quite difficult to attain at your age." I ignored the man as the ax wielder charged from my right. It didn't look like anyone I recognized, but it took on a more human appearance as it drew nearer. It feinted to the right and then brought the ax up in a diagonal slash. Though this was clearly a more concerted effort to attack me, from a blind spot no less, I parried it with the Messenger, jumping up and landing a solid roundhouse kick in the Manikin's face, ducking to the ground in time to avoid the massive claymore swinging horizontally at my chest.
The ax wielder was cleaved in two.
I managed to roll away and jump to my feet, not minding the fresh dirt on my rags. The kitten was still in my left arm, still curled up. Suddenly, it leapt down and scurried off to hide amongst the weapons littering the ground, letting me take a better look at my enemies without worrying about keeping the kitten unharmed.
One of the remaining ones resembled Cloud, what with that claymore I mentioned before. Another looked to be a knight in huge armor with a normal sword. A third seemed to be based on a woman with long hair, simulated with crystal of course, who wielded a staff. And the last one remaining had dragon-like armor and a spear. All, I knew, were merely a small, insignificant fraction of the real deal's power.
This made them slightly easier pickings for me. After thinking over a strategy to deal with them, I settled on taking out the knight and the Cloud look-alike first. Mimicking the first Manikin, you know, the one I brutally destroyed, I bent forward and sprinted at the Cloud-like one. At the last second the muscles in my left leg tensed up and I pivoted on my toes, barely missing being bisected by the vertical slash of the claymore.
Taking advantage of the moment of confusion and the cloud of dust kicked up by the attack, I ran at the knight, which raised its sword to meet me. Again, I spun around the Manikin, ducking my head as the Cloud Manikin predictably sliced it in two with the claymore. You see, when you try to use the same weapon as another without the same level of skill, you're going to be carried away by the weaknesses of the weapon.
Claymore? They have too much momentum to by stopped or properly wielded by anyone without enough physical strength. An unidentifiable black blur later, and the Cloud Manikin had a hole in its chest. I finished the job with an upwards diagonal slash of the Messenger and hid my left hand from Gilgamesh's view as the shadows around it vanished.
No, I will not tell you what it was. Especially since at that moment the staff wielder and the spear wielder came at me in unison. The spear guy jumped up, and the staff wielder didn't seem to be based on someone all that agile, probably more of a mage than a melee fighter, so I just rolled forward, coming to a rest just in front of it as it charged me and sweep-kicked its legs out from under it, propping it up on my right foot and kicking it skyward just enough to roll out of the way and use it to take the falling spear for me.
As the spear wielder tried to remove the weapon from the disintegrating staff wielder, I mercilessly cut its head off in a single swipe of the Messenger of Light. I paused a moment until the blue flash occurred again, returning the room to normal.
Then I dismissed the Messenger and permitted myself to mourn the fact that such strong fighters had to put up with such mockeries of themselves existing. Even the staff wielder had a scary amount of potential for improvement in its movements. Manikins would not be an enemy to take lightly, that much I could understand from that controlled encounter.
"Splendiferously done, young warrior of the Keyblade! Stupendous skill, you have!" Oh, great, I forgot he broke into Yoda speak every once in a while.
"Yeah…whatever…can I go now?" The kitten pranced, and I mean PRANCED, around the room like it had won the lottery. She seemed very happy about my skill with the blade. It was all I had at my disposal, honestly. Not being good with the Keyblade would be a crime in my book. Which explains something I'll do about a month later in this story.
"Yes, my apprentice, you may depart. The young feline shall lead you to your next destination. It's time to get you out of those horribly rank old rags, wouldn't you say?" Way to go Master Sylph, calling what I had worn for ten years 'horribly rank' was so very appropriate at the moment. No, really. That was a bit of a sore point, until well…what happened after. You'll see. I just remembered, she pulled that whole 'suddenly appearing in the room' thing again. Forgot to mention that.
So, I followed the kitten out and into the halls again, ignoring the mountains of praise Gilgamesh seemed to be intent on spewing about my blade work. I honestly hoped he was just really impressed, but as I would later learn, he spoke like that to everyone.
In a few minutes, we arrived at the worn wooden door, whose brown broke the monotonous white, and behind it was the only place I had ever received open and pure kindness directed at me until that moment. It was, quite literally, the first time in ten years I felt like I had someone to lean on. I know, I know, I had just gotten a beautiful elven Keyblade Master as a surrogate parent, but come on, does Master Sylph seem like a very good parent to you?
As I opened the door, I heard Zidane in the distance shouting "YOU CALL THIS A NORMAL TEST?! GET THIS FREAK AWAY FROM ME! SAVE ME! SOMEONE! HEEEEEEEELP!" I suddenly realized that Gilgamesh truly did act like that for everyone. And I could fully understand why he would be terrifying to some. I'd just been through far worse and wasn't really phased I suppose.
And then I opened to door and entered the colorful room of Flora, Fauna, and Meriwether, the three Fairy Godmothers.
Author's Note: So, how was that for you all? Noah's going to stay the focus for the time being, since he is the main character here. After the exam, I'll start to show more of the other characters and do some more with the individual groups within the dorm. As you've already read, please review before you go. It'll be much appreciated!
Next Time:
'…broke down into tears and curled up into a little ball for half-an-hour to forty-five minutes…'
'-and so I said 'Dad, seriously: why did you give me The Talk when you've never even walked The Walk?'
'Name's Shin Verus, nice to meet you…?'
'Well, he didn't exactly do things single-handedly. I helped. A lot.'
Chapter 3: The End is Nigh. No, Wait…It's a Giant Mechanical Spider of Death.
