The key of Zero

By psychored1911

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Familiar of Zero

Chapter 2: The duel and the shadow

Louise, Saito and Ven slept soundly, tired of the events that happened earlier. Unbeknownst to them, an evil shadow was stepping out of the darkness of a certain person's heart.

"Finally, I'm free." The evil voice grinned before disappearing into the night.

The next day

Saito woke up early "Well, better do my chores…" he grumbled. He walked over to Louise's closet, and found them missing, with a note in their place. The note read- "Her uniform's on her bed. You should wake her up; she's going to be late for her class. Also, this place is a school, which explains why everyone's dressed so similarly. Also, if you or Louise need me, I'm probably out the window, washing her clothes and trying to figure out why her dirty clothes are covered in soot and dust. –Ven"

Saito looked out the window, and sure enough he was washing Louise's clothes. Ven noticed him and waved at him. Saito shrugged and proceeded to wake Louise up. "Hey, wake up," no response "Hey, Ojou-sama (young mistress in Japanese) wake up!" he shook Louise, waking her up.

"*Yawn* hmm… who are you?" Louise was still partially asleep "Oh yeah, you're one of the familiars I summoned."

"She doesn't remember? It was yesterday." Saito thought "Hey, you told me to wake you up. Now get dressed."

Louise stood up "Put my underwear on."

"You could at least do that yourself!" Saito shouted.

"A noble such as me should not get dressed by myself if there is a servant around." She declared. "And who would feed you if you don't listen?"

"Grr… fine." Saito gave in and started to dress her. While he was doing that, Ven came in through the window with the clean laundry.

"Hey guys, I'm finished with the laundry." Ven set down the clothing in the drawer, not really looking at the two "What do you need me to do-" he stared at Saito and Louise, getting the wrong idea. He quickly went to the door and said, "Sorry for interrupting, carry on; pretend I was never here!"

"Wait, this isn't what it looks like!" they both shouted.

Time skip to dining hall

"Oh founder Brimir, thanks for this meal." Louise prayed while eating her meal. Ven and Saito groaned, only getting a piece of stale bread. Well, in actuality, Ven really didn't feel hungry (even though he basically went 10 years without eating, he didn't feel that much at all) and handed his piece to Saito.

"Thanks…" Saito happily took Ven's piece and ate it "But shouldn't you eat too?"

"Don't worry, I ate something while I was out," Ven looked at Saito "and besides, what are friends for; we're friends right?"

"Yeah, we're friends." Saito gave Ven a high five. "We should get Louise to her class, shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, we should." The two walked up to Louise, who was just about done, and picked her up, dragging her to her classroom

At the classroom

"As you all know class, magic consists of four major aspects: fire, water, earth, wind, and the lost element of "Void" making five elements in total. Among them, the earth element involves important magic that governs the creation of all matter." Louise's teacher explained. "Do you understand Ms. Valliere?

"Ah, yes," Louise turned from Saito and Ven, who were trying to Ven's shoulder piece. "Umm… the basic magic of the earth element is "transmutation". Creation of metals, raising buildings, cutting stone, harvesting crops… all magic related to life is of earth."

"Very good," Her teacher looked at Ven and Saito, who were still trying to repair the shoulder piece "And I must say, those are two very unique familiars you have there."

"Did you really summon it?" one of her classmates asked.

"You mean those commoners over there?" another said.

"Yes I did summon them!" Louise shouted.

"Don't lie, "Louise the Zero"!" her classmates laughed

"I'm not lying!" she shouted.

"Yes you are," Saito joked, not even looking up from the shoulder piece.

"What are they even talking about?" Ven asked.

"I don't know but they're probably lying." Saito shrugged.

"Now class, please be quiet!" the teacher shouted "The next person who makes an outburst will get a face full of clay."

"Try using a thunder spell, it gets the point across easier, and it's pretty hard to deflect, trust me." Ven pointed out. Everyone stopped and looked at him. "What?"

"Class, here's a question for you, how does this guy, a guy who's a commoner, looks nothing like a student and is a familiar, knows more than Louise?"

"That doesn't prove anything!" she said quickly.

"Anyways class," the teacher started to get the class' attention again "To demonstrate earth magic, I will cast a transmutation spell on this rock." She proceeded to the rock on her desk, cast a little spell, and the color turned a golden-like color.

"Is that real gold?" Kirche exclaimed.

"No, actually it is brass, an alloy of iron and zinc." The teacher explained. "Those who can transmute gold can harness 4 elements, they are called square mages. And I don't mean to brag, but I myself am a triangle mage. Hence, I am able to transmute brass. Now Louise, do you mind demonstrating to the class?"

"Professor, please don't make her do it!" Kirche shouted "Louise is-"

"My, Miss Zerbst. You're going to say she's a "Zero" again, aren't you?" the teacher interrupted.

"No, that's not it, she's terrible in magic."

"Please, even though she is named "the Zero", she should be able to do it. Now Miss Valliere, please demonstrate to the class."

"Um, yes professor." Louise stood up and walked over to the desk. As she went over, the rest of the students went under their desks or under the chairs.

"I suggest hiding under a desk or chair," Kirche advised "You guys will know why she is called Louise the Zero." Saito grew worried and ducked under a chair. Ven, on the other hand, walked in front of the desk.

"Is he committing suicide?" The class thought.

"Hey, get back over here!" someone urged him to hide under the desk. But either way, Ven ignored them.

"I want a get a closer look at it." Ven said, looking as Louise started to perform the spell.

As Louise chanted the spell, Ven's expression turned darker and darker. As Louise finished chanting, Ven quickly shouted "REFLECT!"

*BOOM!*

As the smoke cleared, everyone peeked out of their hiding place. Everything in the room was blown away. But to everyone's surprise, Ven was the only thing not covered in dust. In fact, the dust parted at a small perimeter around his feet.

"Um, I think you did that spell wrong." Ven looked at the rock, which shattered in the explosion.

"W- What was that spell?" Louise was left almost speechless.

"A reflect spell," Ven replied. The class was speechless; they never heard of a spell so short and powerful, and even if there was, it would be terribly difficult to master. Ven walked up to the teacher and said "I think she's unconscious." As soon as he said that, the bell rung "Guess class is over," he quickly set the chairs and desks back in order, picked up Louise and Saito, and walked out the door.

In old Osmond's Office

"What was that explosion?" Old Osmond asked.

"I'm guessing it was Miss Valliere again," his secretary, Longueville guessed. Suddenly, Colbert burst into the room, panting.

"Old Osmond, look at this!" Colbert showed the old man the inscriptions, and paled.

"Miss Longueville, do you mind leaving the room? I have to talk with Colbert in private."

"Yes sir," and with that, Longueville left the room.

"Are you sure of this?" Old Osmond asked as soon as she left "Is one of Miss Valliere's familiars the legendary Gandalfr (left hand of god)?"

"Yes, I am sure; but the other one's runes make me more curious," Colbert's expression darkened.

"Why, what's the problem?"

"The other one's runes say he is kingdomsonirum (the heart of god) (A/N: I just made that up, it probably doesn't mean that)." Colbert said. As they were talking, they did not notice someone listening in on his conversation.

Meanwhile, in the hallway

"That was amazing!" Saito exclaimed "How did you do that?"

"I learned it after I learned the thunder spell." Ven replied.

"Anyways," Saito continued "Louise the Zero, what a hilarious nickname! No wonder they call you that!" he started laughing, not realizing that Louise was getting madder and madder after each laugh.

"Um, Saito, I think you should stop," Ven noticed Louise get more infuriated

Saito ignored him, still laughing "Just think, a magician who can't even use magic!"

"Dude, I really think you should stop!" Ven saw Louise's glare turned even darker.

"Wow, Louise the Zero is a hopeless case, but it's alright, because she's a girl!" Saito laughed even harder.

"Dude, you should-" Ven saw a demonic aura coming from Louise "Oh no…"

"You two, commoners and familiar, insult your master," Louise boomed "That's it, no food for either you!"

"Why not just hit us with a thunder spell?" Ven joked, infuriating Louise even more.

"You lecherous dog…" she aimed her wand at Ven, who responded with a "REFLECT!"

A few minutes later…

"Whoops, sorry about that," Ven sweatdropped. When he casted the reflect spell, the explosion bounced off him and hit Saito.

"I… it's alright…" Saito was on the ground, barely able to breathe. "S…so hungry… c…can't move."

"Hold on, I'll go get some help." Ven left Saito for a second, and came back with a black-haired maid.

"Is something the matter with him?" the maid asked.

"Y… you came back with an angel?" Saito moaned, making the maid blush "T…thanks Ven, when I die, I'll go to heaven. You really are someone I can call a friend…" and with that, he passed out.

A few minutes later, in the employee's kitchen

"This is amazing!" Saito finally came to in the kitchen, eating the meal in front of him. The maid and Ven sat across from him.

"I'm sorry; we only had staff meals on us." The maid said.

"No, this is good." Saito wolfed down the meal in front of him.

"Jeez, were you really that hungry?" Ven saw how fast Saito wolfed down the meal.

"Yeah, just because I called that girl "Louise the Zero"." Saito stopped eating and turned towards them.

"That girl got mad at me because I made a thunder joke and that I knew more about magic that the rest of the class." Ven muttered.

"That's so brave of you; standing up to nobles." The maid beamed.

"Thanks, uh…" Neither Ven nor Saito knew her name.

"Oh sorry, my name's Siesta." the maid introduced herself.

"Thanks, Siesta." Saito happily replied "I guess we should pay you back." The two stood up. "Is there anything we could do to help?"

"Well I do need to take the cakes out to the dining hall," Siesta replied, walking into the kitchen.

"Sure we can do that," both Ven and Saito followed her into the kitchen

Time skip to the dining hall

Ven and Saito started distributing the cakes to all the nobles. When Saito was distributing the cakes, he saw Guiche flirting with Montmorency.

"But I am pretty sure I saw you with a first-year," Montmorency complained.

"Now, now Montmorency," Guiche tried calming her down "I was not flirting with that first year."

"Oh I get it now!" Saito understood the situation from the night before while serving the two their dessert "The capes represent the year they are in; the brown capes are first year students and black capes are second years."

"What is the commoner talking about?" Montmorency asked. Guiche panicked, remembering Saito from the night before "You waiter, go back to your duties." He ordered.

"Sorry," Saito replied "I'm not really a waiter; well I'll be seeing ya." And with that, he left the two alone.

Meanwhile, back with Ven, as he was serving desserts, he saw the same first year that Guiche was with the night before wandering around. He approached the girl and said "If you're looking for that blonde kid from the night before, he's over there with that girl over there." The girl thanked him and went towards Guiche. Guiche, who panicked when he realized the girl was approaching, he grabbed Montmorency and started to make a run for it, not realizing he dropped a stack of letters. Ven took notice of the letters and picked it up "Hoi, playboy; you dropped your stack of letters," he took a closer look at the letters "Hey, are all these love letters, aren't they? They sure look like it; they're all in rose-printed envelopes."

"Guiche, you're so mean!" the young girl screamed, slapping him.

"I can't believe you kept up this two-timing!" Montmorency shouted, also slapping him.

Guiche lay motionless on the floor. Meanwhile, Saito and Ven were laughing their butts off. "You totally deserved that, you two-timing jerk!" Saito laughed.

"You there…" Guiche boomed, picking himself up from the floor "To act so rude to a noble as myself from a commoner like you is just begging for trouble."

"Saito, Ven, please apologize now!" Siesta's voice was full of fright "if you anger a noble, it will cause serious trouble!"

"There's nothing to apologize for," Saito stated.

"Yeah," Ven agreed "He was the one who decided to two-time the two girls."

"You'll," she bolted away from the two "You'll get yourself killed!"

"Siesta?" Saito saw her run away from the two.

"The maid was right to run away when she had the chance," Guiche laughed, angering both Ven and Saito. "If you were also smart, you would also run away."

"Coming from a two-timer like you, that sounds pretty sad," Ven joked, causing everyone inside the dining hall to start laughing, much to Guiche's embarrassment.

"That's it; I challenge you to a duel!" he declared, pointing at Saito.

"Hey, what about me; I was the one who made fun of you!" Ven complained, slightly jealous. Guiche flinched, remembering what he did to the wall last night. Ven realized what he did last night and got himself an idea "How about this; I put a handicap on myself, can I fight if I do that?"

"I accept those conditions," Guiche smirked, knowing he has a chance "It is a 2-on-1 duel then. We will duel at Vestri court then." He laughed like he was sure to win. Ven on the other hand, just smirked.

"Why did you do that?" Saito asked.

"He doesn't know the handicap I put on myself," Ven answered "All I did to handicap myself was to stop using Zantetsuken; he said nothing about anything else."

"Dude, you are a genius." Saito laughed as the two made it to Vestri court. Little did Ven notice an evil shadow sneak into the heart of a certain friend.

A/N: finally finished this chapter. Also, if I make any mistakes or misinterpretations, please let me know so I can correct it. Please review.