Okay, so I just finished this today in my hotel room in Egypt, it went from 1000 words to 3000 at the speed of sound [not light, I wasn't that fast ;) ].
So here's Chapter 2. Thanks to all my reviewers :D
R&R
Darkness. Spreading like a plague. Swallowing worlds and engulfing the universe. Trapping people in a deep chasm of hate, rage and sinful lust where their very soul would fade and their hearts taken. Darkness. Attracted to the light only to snuff it out like a lit candle, cruel; manipulative; cunning but totally blind to the Universal Design. It rages in people's hearts and feeds on their fears and insecurities. Darkness; it's a growing power which must be stopped, no matter what.
-an extract from the recently discovered Secret Reports of HopeReincarnated the Wise
Yen Sid
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A storm was approaching, the skies were darkening and a dank, dreadful aura was growing. Stars were blinking out rapidly across the skies along with the hopes and dreams of children across the worlds. Darkness was invading the worlds and offsetting the balance.
So somewhere in a far away world, from the one we started in, Yen Sid stood in his strange – yet oddly majestic – tower and observed the twinkling sky, as star by star; night by night; week by week, the sky lost its shine. He saw how the nights grew darker as the days passed. He saw how evil conquered where good once prevailed, but most importantly he, saw two strong and shining bursts of light in the hearts of two children; who would soon learn of the truth of the universe and the roles they would have to play in order for it to survive.
But enough about that! Yen Sid had other things to tend to.
One of these bright bursts of light was on her way here at this very moment – courtesy of his old apprentice Mickey – and he had to prepare.
Meridian
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"Let me go; you little shrimp!" Meridian screamed as the small hooded man hauled her off his strange ship and onto the ground.
"Sorry for the bad treatment, but you're not really giving me a choice," he told her gently, hoping it would placate her. Unfortunately, it only served to enrage her further.
"I SAID LET GO YOU SON OF A BITCH!" she screamed, then after realizing that insults wouldn't work; she hissed; "Don't make me kick you in the nuts! If you're a male that is… cause you actually seem like a transvestite."
"Fuck this," she muttered when he didn't respond – except for giving a hearty chuckle. She then stopped struggling, much to his relief, and resorted to calling him names. One name in particular that actually managed to get a reaction was Mouthy Fraud. Well not really but it had the same initials.
Eventually Meridian looked up and saw that they were standing before the doors of huge and wacky tower. It was a golden, beige colour and the theme was obviously stars. She wouldn't be surprised if a jester lived here, it would definitely suit one.
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"I see you have finally arrived Miss Hart," some bearded old man – with freakishly big eyes and the fashion sense of a chimpanzee – said when Meridian came stumbling through the door. "I am the Sorcerer Yen Sid, and may I say it is an honour to make your acquaintance."
Meridian huffed. "Of course it is but what do you want from me? What is this place? If you're trying to get my money well FORGET IT! But I can hook you up with a new wardrobe if you want, I mean eww, what are you wearing? It looks like you have a beer belly with that ugly robe on."
The ol– sorry, Yen Sid, didn't even blink at her words. He merely gestured for her to take a seat by his desk, on a chair that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"WOAH! The hell?" she exclaimed. "How'd you do that!"
"Magic," Yen Sid replied dismissively, as if it was nothing. Meridian knew he called himself a sorcerer but she just passed him off as a crackpot. But now she had witnessed the miracle of magic and was standing before an actual sorcerer.
"So why am I here?" she asked after her brain started functioning again.
"You Miss Hart are here because you are the Keyblade Wielder of Hearts. Destiny has tasked you with saving the Worlds."
"Worlds?" Meridian interrupted, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean exactly what I said," he replied. "There are thousands of world's in the universe. One for every star in the night sky. Unfortunately, many worlds are falling to the threat of the heartless, even as we speak worlds upon worlds are being swallowed by the darkness – um, such as your world."
"Excuse me?" Meridian inquired, dread filling her being with each passing second. "Are you saying that those heartless things destroyed my home?"
Yen Sid nodded gravely, a flash of emotion passing over his hardened face. "I'm afraid so. And due to your resistance, your brother was left behind. It's hard for me to say this – but has probably fell into the darkness as well," Yen Sid finished as watched Meridian for a reaction. The poor girl seemed to be struggling with the information – not that he blamed her. Indeed, he was surprised she was still able to hold herself together, but such was the power of the Keyblade Wielders.
"The heartless," he said, when he felt that she was stable enough to handle it, "are beings created when someone surrenders their heart to darkness. Their primary goal is to collect hearts. And like people, each world has a heart."
"This is beginning to sound like a bad adventure novel," Meridian muttered quietly. Then she continued more loudly; "so let me guess; when a world's heart is taken its' inhabitants sink into darkness too and lose their hearts?" Yen Sid nodded – looking quite impressed. "So what happens to them then – to the body, I mean..."
"They turn into a heartless."
Meridian nodded before taking in one big gulp of air. This was all so overwhelming, her brother turning into a heartless; her home being destroyed; her dad; and them being kidnapped to some wacky tower that looks fit for a jester but actually belonged to a sorcerer with a bad fashion sense, a beer belly and an emo attitude. Wasn't life just wonderful? But... this was the girl who left two grown men infertile when they tried to mug her in an alley. This was the girl that threw a key lime pie on her principal in open sight and got away with only a warning. This was the girl who made her preschool teacher check into an asylum. This was the girl that, no matter what, would not cry and face this head on. This was the girl that would save her brother and go back home. This was also the girl that would trample on any fool stupid enough to get in her way or even attempt to delay her.
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So let me get this straight," Meridian said slowly trying to get her head around the facts. "I'm supposed to go to Traverse Town, find a boy who wields this key thingy – which I'm also able to wield - and tell him what you told me. Then he and I are supposed to go save the worlds."
Yen Sid nodded, before opening his mouth to speak. He looked quite hesitant. "Listen Meridian, there is something else you must know." Yen Sid took a deep breath. "You will have a strange yet meaningful connection with this boy. You will be something akin to his guardian, his protector. He is the door and you are the lock. He is the gate and you are the gatekeeper. It is important that you embrace this connection for it's something wonderful and beautiful! Together you two will be stronger and better than possible on your own."
Meridian stayed silent. She was going to be stuck with some random guy for who knows how long? Worse, she was his protector; the sidekick; she had to follow him around! Meridian felt herself grow increasingly bitter as the truth sink in a little. Before this was over she just knew she would go through at least three break downs.
"Now let me show you how to summon your Keyblade..."
Sora
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"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the heartless have spread," the tall, stoic man dubbed as Leon said warned in his cryptic voice. Sora could have sworn the man was made of stone. So far he didn't show any emotion at all except for a little trace of shock when he found out that Sora was the Keyblade Master.
Speaking of the Keyblade, Sora took a quick look at his right hand which not even 10 minutes ago was holding the Keyblade; a blunt weapon in the shape of a key that could really pack a punch – especially against those heartless things. Its hilt was golden and the actual blade, but really it was just the part of a key that goes into the lock, was silver. The grip was blue and the keychain was in the shape of a crown, identical to he wore on a necklace around his neck.
Shaking his head lightly, Sora tuned back into the conversation. At the moment, Aerith was handing him a pouch of munny and a potion.
"Good luck!" Yuffie exclaimed cheerfully. And Aerith carried on saying, "I hope you find your friends."
Leon also said something similar but Sora couldn't care less. He was way too excited about leaving that world and finding his friends. After a quick nod and thank you to the three adults for all their help, Sora turned to Donald, the fiery duck with the incomprehensible voice, and Goofy, the quirky dog/man who was little dim-witted at times but from what Sora could tell there was more to him than that and he seemed like a genuinely good person – Donald on the other hand was... uh...
Donald was about to speak when Sora heard a loud creaky of a rusty door. He turned around and saw that the entrance to the town was open and a girl wearing a baby blue blouse, with black jeans walked in. Well, Sora wasn't sure it could be classified as a walk, considering the fact that her hips were swinging from side to side and her head was held up high like a model – at that thought Sora recognised her walk as that of a model on a runway. She certainly looked like one what with the fair skin, long silky-looking brown hair with light and dark streaks; and let's not forget the heels, the tight and short purple jack and the black leather belt holding it all together.
To sum it all up she looked really pretty. In fact, might have even heard wolf whistling in background if he was a little more aware of his surroundings.
Knowing that he was staring – and how rude and inappropriate that was – the Keyblade Master looked away from the girl and back at Donald and Goofy, who were giving him knowing looks that he could only shrug at. Sora was just content to forget about the girl, knowing they'd never meet due to his quest and was about to start talking when a loud squeal came from the direction of the gate – and the girl – so he turned around and saw a small group of shadows surround Traverse Town's new arrival. Sora gasped and ran to help her but he found that he couldn't move from shock.
While the girl was panicked at first she quickly calmed herself down and stretched her arm out, then suddenly in flash of sparkling white light; a Keyblade appeared in her hands. It had a strange shape, looking nothing like his own. Instead, the part of the blade used for fighting had 6 strange looking spikes emerging from its' sides and they reminded Sora of curled and twisted blue branches. Then in between all those branch like thingies, there was a heptagonal ruby. Then the blade started to curve inwardly and was interrupted with a hollow maroon heart with floating yellow sapphires and rubies inside. The blade then continued, starting to curve outwardly and met with the hilt.
The hilt was purple and reminded Sora of an Arabian palace, in shape. The hilt also had a semi cage – with rounded bars identical in colour to the main frame of the hilt curving out from one side of the hilt to the other – kind of like a guard. The actual grip looked like a gem and Sora assumed it must have hurt like hell when she had to tighten her hold on it but he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't. Then finally the keychain was a min version of the larger heart in the middle of the blade.
Sora instinctively knew that his Keyblade was called 'Kingdom Key' and in the same way he knew that hers was called 'Frozen Heart'. He wondered how he knew the name of someone else's Keyblade. Maybe it was due to the strong pull he felt to her or the strange connection he seemed to have with her.
The girl took care of the heartless in mere moments, leaving Sora impressed by her skill. She seemed to be big on strategy from what he could see. When Sora fought the shadows he just repeated the same combo over and over but she waited until the jumped and unleashed a quick flurry of light blows that in reality shouldn't deal the same damage as his blunt but powerful strikes, but then again the fact that she was using a Keyblade may have had something to do with it. But despite all his admiration, he knew that she wasn't better than him. She had more technique but he had enough strength behind his blows to match her evenly. Still, even if they were matched in power Sora found himself wishing his Keyblade looked as cool as hers, but then he chuckled at the thought of him wielding a pink blade to save the world.
Moments later Sora frowned as a new trail of thought struck him. Wasn't he supposed to be the only Keyblade master? Leon, Yuffie and his two new companions hadn't said anything about there being another one. In fact, they sort of implied that he was the only one; what with the "Only you can save them" bit.
But he definitely wouldn't mind if he had a fighter like her in the group, it would save him a lot of work – and despite not finding girls that interesting back on the island, he wasn't stupid. He knew this girl was considered hot and even he had to admit, she was definitely easy on the eyes.
He just hoped she was nice.
Meridian
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Meridian sighed as she wiped out the last of those damned heartless and almost immediately she started looking over her Keyblade, thinking 'Where the hell did that come from?'
The brunette had never fought with a weapon in the 15 years of her existence (I realise I said she was 16 last chap, but I changed my mind.) So how in the name of Giorgio Armani did she go all Kung Fu master on those little shrimps? Eventually she shrugged, chalking it all up to the whole Keyblade Wielder thing, and looked at her nails – making sure she didn't have to ring her favourite salon for an appointment. But then she remembered that it was destroyed by the heartless moments after she was kidnapped. Damn it! The teen didn't even have her emergency make up stash.
Meridian resisted the urge to pout.
Upon her dreadful realisation she left her nails alone and looked around, taking in the sights before her. The place was pretty old fashioned from what she could tell. Like a medieval village that was actually clean and somehow managed to fast forward to the future in which electricity was discovered and people actually used colour.
Currently she was supposed to look for a duck with a staff, and a dog with a shield, and they would lead her to her charge, to the person she was supposed to protect. And looking around she saw her targets. There they were standing by the lamps in the middle of the plaza. The dog was wearing a green suit that she couldn't care less about and the duck... was it wearing pants?
Oh! Wait! Yes it was, they were just so short they were barely visible. Though, really, it was almost as bad as not wearing pants at all! Most importantly she was praying to god that the spiky haired dork in between them wasn't her fellow Keyblade Master and charge. Honestly, did he not have eyes! A red jumpsuit! She would rather go nude then wear that ugly thing.
Giving a long suffering sigh, Meridian strutted over to where they were standing, proudly knowing of the long lustful looks she was drawing from all the guys in the area – unfortunately, old men were included.
"Donald and Goofy?' she asked when she arrived.
"Hyuck! That's us!" The dog answered. Meridian took a wild guess and figured he was Goofy- judging by the name and all. The other one, the Duck, took out his staff – so now she was able to confirm who they were since Donald was supposed to be a mage – and smacked Goofy on the head.
"Shh! Don't tell her anything! She could be dangerous," he quacked loudly. Although he could have said "Dow tell her anybing! She cook bwe dayngekus," from the sound of it.
'My name is Meridian Hart and I've been sent here by the great Sorcerer Yen Sid – also known as the old man with a bad fashion sense and beer belly," she told them watching the duck, Donald, squawk indignantly at her mocking of their King's mentor. Yes, she had a lengthy conversation with Mickey after Yen Sid scolded him for being late when he came to my home and for his rough treatment. I found out that he was a King and that Donald, who she would now refer to as Double Dee, and Goofy were his subjects and friends.
"He told me you two could help me find the other Keyblade Wielder," she said.
After introducing themselves the 2 then told her that the Keyblade Master was standing right behind her. Dread filling her body, Meridian turned around only to face the dorky boy in the jumpsuit, wearing a cheesy smile that had her feel like she was in the presence of Monard Samson , president of her schools computer club back home and nerd extraordinaire.
"Damn it!" she screamed hysterically. "I cannot believe this! I'm supposed to go on an adventure with a dork like him!"
The smile on Sora's face fell immediately and his eyes filled with hurt, making Meridian feel incredibly guilty. Not! How did her charge end up looking like that? Was this karma? Did karma get mad at her for being more beautiful and decide to get revenge this way? Well if so then Meridian had a new philosophy. You know the phrase Life's a bitch and Karma's her sister? Well now it was Life's a bitch and Karma's an even bigger one that got knocked up by Irony.
As Meridian looked Sora up and down and confirmed he was as as much of an eye sore as she though, she sighed internally. This was going to be a long and painful adventure.
For her eyes.
Well what do you think? I'm no Swirly or footballer but I think I did pretty well :D
So, review replies:
Soccerstar7: Well I replied by PM so I don't really have anything to say except WHEN IS THE NEXT CHAPTER? I WANT MORE KIERRA!
Lele-the-wonderful-greek-geek: I am thrilled you like it! And your welcome for the shout out but it was nothing less than what you deserved! And to tell you the truth it was original, butwhen I wanted to write my KH fic, I rewrote the chapters I had of that story and viola CH 1 was born :D I probably should keep you on suspense but I will tell you that they are from that world. but nothing else.
SWIRL3Y: You should be! haha :D And yeah, I don't think there's many if any POV mistakes, but then again it's 3 am and I finished this after a day on the beach so forgive me if I have sand in my head ;) And as for Meridian I hope you like how she is in this chapter :D
