CHAPTER TWO
As I wandered around in the void of nothing, the gypsy's words of wisdom played on repeat in my head.
Okay, so great adventure, I'll discover myself in an unexpected way, I'll find the key to my heart, and something about truth and destiny... whatever THAT means. How can I get any of that accomplished if I'm stuck here?
The sound of a child's laughter filled my ears.
"Hallie!" I gasped at the sound of my name. It belonged to a little boy. I looked around, but I was the only one here in this pit of nothing. "Hallie!"
This time the voice belonged to a little girl. They were both calling me. My feet took control and I slowly walked forward.
"Hallie!"
Why do those voices sound so familiar?
"Hallie!"
The voice that called me this time was of a teenage boy. I gasped.
"Where are you?" I called.
"Hallie!" He called again.
I transitioned from a walk to a sprint. The sound of children laughing and his voice calling my name occupied the space. I stopped and leaned over to catch my breath.
"I can't see you. Where are you?" I said. I could feel a lump in my throat, which meant that it was only a matter of time before I would start crying. "Someone get me out of here, please!"
Before my eyes, the outline of a door appeared and then it became whole. It was white with light detailing around the edges. A large keyhole shimmered in the center. Chaos Ripper appeared in my hand. I looked at it for a few moments before slowly raising it up to the door. Light collected at the tip of the Keyblade and shot a beam into the keyhole. There was a "click" and the door opened. The light chased away the darkness that was around me.
My name was called one last time, a mixture of the little boy, the little girl, and him. Their collected voices were coming from whatever was beyond this door. I saw a hand reach out from the light towards me: pale, feminine, tender, and covered by a tan fingerless glove. I reached out and took her hand, feeling the rough material. I floated forward into the light. It felt so warm, so comforting. I could feel my muscles relax and my eyelids droop.
"Who... are you?" I said.
I heard a light chuckle. Another hand appeared, holding a golden ribbon.
"An old friend." she said.
Our hands fell apart and I was bathed in light. However, I rather much preferred the endless light than the endless darkness.
I opened my eyes and gasped to see colors besides black and white. I was in a town. It was quiet with stone buildings and colored rooftops. In the distance I saw a colossal castle hanging above the town with strange pipes and construction swirling around it.
Where am I?
I stood up and walked along the streets of the town, passing by shops run by triplet ducklings and people quietly talking to each other. As I walked, I saw a girl with short black hair and dressed like a modern-day ninja run by.
"Excuse me." I said. "What is this place?"
"Why, this is Hollow Bastion!" the girl said. She walked closer to me and examined me. "A tourist that doesn't even know what world she's in? You don't see that everyday! Who are you?"
"World?" I said. "I'm Hallie, and I'm not really a tourist. I just arrived here and I have no idea what to do."
"Oh, my!" the girl said. "Well, I'm Yuffie. Nice to meet you!"
She reached her hand out. As I extended my arm, pools of darkness surrounded us. Heartless crawled from the pools and appeared out of the air. They charged for us. I summoned Chaos Ripper.
"Yuffie, take cover!" I cried.
Yuffie took a moment to gawk at my Keyblade before running to hide. A Shadow lunged at me. I slashed my Keyblade and it dissolved into darkness. A Soldier spun at me like a cyclone. I spun my Keyblade, knocking it away and leaving it staggering around. I lunged forward and stabbed it in the chest. It writhed and dissolved into the ground.
"Look out!" Yuffie called.
I turned my head as a Shadow emerged from the ground. It jumped and slashed its claws, striking me in the back. I winced in pain and jumped back and up into the air. I chucked my Keyblade. It charged toward the Heartless and cut through them like a hot knife through butter. I reached out and summoned Chaos Ripper back to my side and I slammed it into the ground, destroying the last Heartless. I remained on one knee as the rush of excitement that coursed through my veins began to subside. I took a deep breath and smirked. I didn't so much as break a sweat. Fighting felt so natural to me, like I've done this before. But when? I stood up and Yuffie came running over to me.
"That... was..." Yuffie said.
Great. I haven't even been here 10 minutes and already I'll be nicknamed the town freak.
"INCREDIBLE!" Yuffie cried. "I can't believe it! Another Keyblade wielder!"
I paused. "Another?"
"Yeah! Wow, this is amazing! You should meet him and the others!"
"Him? Others?" I said, but Yuffie was too busy chattering away, she didn't hear me. She grabbed my arm. "Come on!"
"Wait a minute, Yuffie." I said. I wrenched myself free from her grasp. "I don't know about this. I'm sure your friends are nice and all, but I have a schedule of mine I need to take care of."
"Are you sure?" Yuffie said, pouting her lip and looking at me with puppy eyes.
"Yuffie, I-" I said.
Go with her. Him again. I gasped and turned around. No one was there.
"Hallie?" Yuffie said. I looked at the ground and clenched my fists. I took a deep breath. I looked back at her with a feigned smile.
"All right then. I'll meet your friends." I said.
"Great! Come on!" Yuffie grabbed my hand and dragged me through the streets of Hollow Bastion. As we ran, I turned my gaze to the castle. A dull pain throbbed in my brain.
Yuffie brought me to a little house. She opened the door and pulled me inside.
"Hey, guys!" Yuffie said.
There were about 7 or 8 people in the room and they all turned and stared at me. I gulped, which was pointless because my throat felt like it was closing up. I figured that if I tried to open my mouth, a helpless squeak would be the only thing that would come out.
"This is Hallie. Hallie, meet the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee!" Yuffie turned to me with a big grin. She waved her hand slowly behind her, gesturing like a female assistant on "Wheel of Fortune".
My eyes found their way to a pair of blue irises that calmed my nerves. The familiarity that came was unusual. Connected to those eyes was a boy standing next to a dog and a duck. He was watching me thoughtfully with his arms crossed. I held my hands together behind me and looked at the ground nervously.
"Wait until you see the best part. Come on, Hallie, show them!" Yuffie said, nudging my side with her elbow.
"Huh?" I said, my voice crackling like the fire in my ears. I stretched out my hand in front of me and paused before summoning Chaos Ripper in my right hand.
Everyone stared at me in shock. I glanced at the boy with blue eyes. His raised his eyebrows and smiled. He reached out his hand and a Keyblade, Kingdom Key, appeared in his right hand.
"Another Keyblade wielder." Leon said. "Seems like just about anyone can get one these days."
"Leon, you know that's not the case." a girl wearing a pink dress and boots said.
My instincts told me to run. I slowly backed against the door and reached for the doorknob. The blue-eyed boy noticed. He dispelled his Keyblade and approached me.
"I'm Sora." the boy said. "Nice to meet you. That's Donald and Goofy over there."
"I'm Hallie..." I said. "but, um... you already knew that..."
Sora smiled and offered me his hand. I stared at it for a moment before reaching out and taking it. As we shook, I heard a clicking sound, like someone just unlocked a door in an echo-y room. I craned my head around.
"Did you hear that?" I said.
"No. Hear what?" Sora said.
"Um... never mind." I realized that our hands were still together. I yanked it away and stepped back. "So, what brings you to Hollow Bastion?"
"We're traveling to save the worlds!" Goofy exclaimed. I raised my eyebrow.
"This is great! Hallie could come with us!" Donald said.
My face flushed. "Excuse me?"
"Yes, I do believe Hallie would make an excellent addition to the team and to the Committee." an old man dressed in blue robes said. He stroked his long white beard.
"Team? What team? I don't-"
"Perfect! They won't know what hit 'em!" Yuffie cried, pumping her fist in the air.
A lump began to form in my throat and a cold sweat trickled down my back.
"Hallie?" Sora said. I flinched and reached for the doorknob. I yanked the door open and ran out. "Hallie, wait!"
I continued to run. As I ran, Heartless appeared around me, but I slashed my way through with ease. I ran up to the bailey's balcony and rested my forehead on the cold stone edge. I gulped in air and tried my best to ease my racing heart. I lifted my head and took in the view of the gigantic castle before me. I reached out in front of me and summoned Chaos Ripper. The castle blurred in the background.
"...the Keyblade. A mysterious yet powerful weapon capable of unlocking any link, any door, any heart... Someday soon you will receive a Keyblade. You will have the opportunity to become a Keyblade Master..."
"Absolutely not." I mumbled in reply to the voice speaking in my head. The voice sounded familiar, but again, no face matched it. In fact, there wasn't even a face that I could think of. My mind remained blank. I shook my head. "Fortune or no fortune, I won't do this."
But how will you keep your promise?
I tensed up and I looked around, but no one was there.
That sounded like... no. There's no way...
"The Keyblade... a truly marvelous weapon." a voice said. "Were it only in more... capable hands..."
I gasped and looked around as laughter filled the air.
"Who's there?!" I cried.
A portal of darkness opened above me, revealing a man dress in a black cloak. Slowly, he raised his arms and 5 more men appeared dress the same.
"Who... who are you?" I said, taking a step back.
"Organization XIII!" I jumped and turned to see Donald, Goofy, and Sora standing behind me with their weapons drawn.
"Good, now we can settle this!" Sora said, clenching his fist.
"Organization... XIII?" I said.
"What a shame..." the first cloaked man said with fake offense. "How could you have forgotten about me, Hallie? After everything we've been through!"
"What are you talking about? I don't know you!"
The group of men laughed as they disappeared into darkness. My heart rate picked up as I ran towards the steps. Another portal of darkness appeared and a cloaked man stood in front of me. I cried out and stumbled back, tripping and landing on my butt.
"Oopsy-daisy!" the man said. He chuckled. "I guess I underestimated you. I thought you'd charge at me head on with that Keyblade of yours, but here you are instead shaking in your boots like a little baby. I guess even with her magic, she couldn't cure your cowardice."
"What are you talking about?!" I said.
"Hey, move it!" Sora said.
The man turned to the three behind me.
"Now do you think that's polite, shutting me down like that?" he said.
"I said get out of the way!"
"As if! You can talk all you want, but that won't change a thing."
"Then we're gonna MAKE you move!" Donald said, readying his magic staff.
"See, that would work... if I was any old dude." the man said. "'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing "any old" about me."
"The Organization?" I said, slowly getting to my feet. Chaos Ripper appeared automatically in my hand.
"Guess you finally got your big girl pants on now." the man said. I could hear the smirk in his tone. "Why don't I remind you how tough the crowd you're dealing with really is?"
"Remind us?" Sora said. He glared at him and gripped his Keyblade tighter.
The man let out a hearty laugh. "That's RIGHT! He used to give me that same exact look!"
Why did I feel like I knew who he was talking about? My face felt hot and I reached up and covered my cheek with my hand. The man turned to me and his hidden smirk deepened.
"Oh, now I get what he was talking about." he said. "Boy, this is a doozy..."
"I guess you can psych us out by saying really random stuff!" Sora said.
"Believe me or not, what I say is true." the man said. "Catch'ya later, Hallie!"
The man saluted as he disappeared into a portal of darkness. My feet urged me to run.
"Hallie?" Sora said as I took a step forward. He walked over to me. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, yeah, definitely. I meet you complete strangers with no knowledge or memory of my life or self, yet you expect me to suddenly plunge myself into whatever danger you may have... But it looks like that's already been done!" I said. I chuckled bitterly, then I growled and stabbed Chaos Ripper into the ground. "OF COURSE I'M NOT OKAY!"
Sora stared at me with wide eyes. I looked down at my hands and traced the cords on my arm.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"It's... it's okay." Sora said.
I sighed and looked at Sora. He had that thoughtful look in his eye again.
"Why do you keep staring at me like that?"
"Because... you remind me of me." I chuckled. "No, really. You know, despite a few things. I was confused. And lost too." Sora chuckled at the memory and turned towards the castle. He gazed up at it and I watched him.
"But the biggest thing that I see is your potential." Sora continued. "We didn't mean to scare you off... but what lies ahead of us is big. You know, when we arrived at Hollow Bastion, I got this weird feeling. Like I would meet something who would be really important in my journey. Maybe it's you."
I chuckled, this time teemed with sarcasm and disbelief. Sora turned his eyes to me.
"I'm not forcing you to do anything. If you don't want to join us, it's fine. I won't be mad. But, I think if you come with us..."
"I'll go with you."
Sora looked shocked, but his eyes twinkled with excitement. "Really? You mean that?"
"Yes." I said. "I guess you convinced me. If you need me to help you, I will. Besides... this journey might be fun."
Sora grinned from ear to ear. Donald and Goofy jumped in the air, clearly showing signs that they were eavesdropping. I couldn't help but smile a little
And maybe, just maybe, I'll finally find him...
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Led to the Realm of Light by mysterious but familiar voices, as well as a stranger claiming to be "an old friend" of Hallie, the Keyblade wielder ends up in Hollow Bastion and meets Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee! As the offers of joining their quest overwhelms Hallie, she takes off, where she incidentally encounters members of Organization XIII! In the end, Hallie finally agrees to join Sora on his journey, but she is motivated by her own desires.
Who were the voices calling out her in the Realm of Darkness, and who was the "old friend" who personally guided her back to the Realm of Light? Why did two of the Organization members recognize Hallie? Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!