Last chapter turned out much better than I would have expected – I honestly thought no one would care for this type of story. Even though it's not as much as most people would like, I'm just happy that people took the time to actually give this series a chance. So before I begin, I want to thank each and every person for your support and hope that you will continue to support me in the future. And remember, I'm still welcome to some criticism as long as it's not straight out flaming. Anything you say (or write) can only help me improve.
So, without further ado, the first world: Destiny Islands
Chapter One: Destined Beginnings, Part 1
First, there was darkness – everything around him was covered in black. And then he heard it: the sounds of the crashing waves and the chirping of the seagulls. He knew these sounds; he heard them every day at home.
Sora's eyes fluttered open slowly, wincing as the brightness that overtook his vision. Once his sight adjusted, he realized her was staring up at the clear blue skies, watching birds pass over the sparse cloud; small harmless birds, thankfully. It took him a moment to realize that he was lying down in the warm, grainy sand before he slowly sat up. Doing a quick look around, he was relieved to see that he was not trapped in that strange dark world with those weird platforms and the ghostly voice. He was on the island he had spent many years playing as a child. He was safe.
And, given that he was safe, he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't take a few more minutes to relax, especially after a weird dream like that. So, with a loud yawn, Sora fell back into his old position in the sand with his hands behind his head. His relaxation, however, was short lived when he saw the grinning face of one of his oldest friends.
"Whoa!" Sora screamed, shooting up. The girl standing over him giggled. "Give me a break, Kairi."
"Sora, you lazy bum," Kairi chastised him playfully. "I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."
"No! This huge, black bird THING swallowed me up!" sputtered Sora. "I couldn't breathe! I couldn't – OW!"
Kairi promptly slapped him over the head.
"Are you still dreaming?" said Kairi.
"It wasn't a dream!" said Sora firmly. Though, after a few seconds of thinking, his conviction slowly waned. "Or was it? I don't know…. What was that place? Who were those…people…those girls in the glass…they looked so familiar. It's so bizarre…."
"Yeah, sure," said Kairi, rolling her eyes while laughing.
Figures Kairi wouldn't believe him; even he didn't believe him. But that place…it reminded him of something. And even though he probably asked over a hundred times already, it couldn't hurt to ask again, right?
"Say, Kairi," said Sora. "What was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"
"I told you before," said Kairi lightly, "I don't remember."
"Nothing at all?" asked Sora curiously.
"Well…maybe…," said Kairi thoughtfully, tapping her chin. "Sometimes – very rarely – I think I remember something…or someone…. Sometimes, when I'm sleeping, I see a girl with white hair talking to me. I don't know what she says or who she is, but she feels familiar. I don't know if that's a memory or just something I made up in my head."
"You ever wanna go back there?" asked Sora. "Maybe to see that person again?"
"Hmm…well, I'm happy here," said Kairi.
"Really…" said Sora, sounding disappointed.
"But you know…," said Kairi thoughtfully, "I wouldn't mind going to see it."
"I'd like to see it too," said Sora eagerly. "Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!"
"So what are we waiting for?" said Kairi, smiling.
"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?"
Sora and Kairi both turned as the third member of their little party decided to join them, a think log underneath his arm.
"So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft," said Riku with a confident smirk. He threw the log on top of Sora, who had not been expecting it and took the wood to the face, then walked up to Kairi. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"
"So you noticed," said Kairi with a huge grin, scratching the back of her head. "Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you!"
"Huh?" said Sora.
"What, are you kidding me?" Riku complained.
"Ready…GO!" Kairi shouted.
At first, Sora didn't want to get up and start racing for no reason – he just woke up from a weird, and possibly deadly, dream, after all. But once glance at Riku and his competitive spirit was burning like a bonfire. In the split-second of time they looked at one another, Sora and Riku shot up and started rushing down the shoreline at full speed, laughing all the way with Kairi in the back just trying to keep up.
What neither of them noticed was that, hidden beneath the shadows of the island's tallest trees, a person in a black coat was watching them.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
***DESTINY ISLANDS***
**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**
After finishing their little race across the beach – Riku won, again – the silver-haired boy decided he would call it quits for the day, seeing as how he had been the one that built most of it. He said that there were only a few small things left to do and that they could handle it themselves. So, naturally, Sora and Kairi did a little team meeting near the door to the backside of the island. And by 'team', they meant he would do the work while Kairi 'supervised'.
"We're almost done with the raft," said Kairi. "So, can you grab the rest of the supplies? Sora, are you listening to me?"
"Yeah, I heard you," said Sora.
"Okay, here's what you need to find," said Kairi, pulling out a list she already made. "Two more logs for the body, one cloth for the sail, and one rope to tie the logs together. Once you have everything, we should be able to finish the raft by today."
"So where am I supposed to find these things," asked Sora, scratching his head.
"I think there was an old cloth hanging on the wall of the treehouse," said Kairi. "As for the other stuff, you might want to ask the others if they've seen them. I'm sure you'll find them quickly. I'm counting on you, Sora!"
And there it was again; that warm, fluttery feeling in his chest. Kairi was counting on him, so there was no way he was going to disappoint her.
Finding the first log was not as hard as he would have thought it would be – it was just down the shore from where they were talking; how did they miss that during the race? He picked up the log, though it strangely disappeared into his pocket like some kind of video game hammer space. Sora decided not to think too much of the subject; as long as he didn't have to carry it himself, he was just fine.
But the log wasn't the only thing he found on the shore. Tidus, one of the other kids that liked to play on the island, was just down a ways swinging his red metal pole around fighting an invisible opponent. No doubt he was training for his next match against Riku. The silver-haired boy had a reputation of being the strongest person on the islands, even stronger than most of the adults. All the other kids tried fighting him from time-to-time, sometimes even ganging up in groups, but Riku would always emerge victorious. And Tidus, being the ever competitive one, would train until he dropped if anyone let him just for the chance to say he went toe-to-toe with the toughest guy around.
Noticing the spiky-haired kid not too far, Tidus stopped his training and waved him over.
"Hey, Sora, feeling lucky today?" asked Tidus, looking very eager. "I've been itching to try out some new moves to use against Riku and I need a test dummy. Mind helping a guy out?"
"I don't know, Tidus, I'm kinda busy," said Sora uncertainly.
"Working on that raft again?" said Tidus. When Sora looked surprised, he laughed and said, "Man, everyone knows what you three've been up to. You guys don't exactly keep it a secret. Do you guys really think you'll be able to go to other worlds on a raft? I mean, don't you have to go through space or something?"
"We're…working out the details," said Sora hesitantly, suddenly realizing there was a fatal flaw in their plan. "But I'm sure everything will work out in the end. Riku and I will make sure of that."
"Well, I know you've been getting stronger lately," said Tidus. "But you're still no match for Riku. One time, Wakka, Selphie, and I took on Riku three-to-one. He even gave us a handicap; he fought us with both hands tied behind his back. But even with that, he still kicked our butts – literally. Well, at least Kairi can always count on him to keep her safe."
"Hey, I can keep Kairi safe, too!" Sora snapped angrily.
"Sure you can," said Tidus.
"You know what, if you wanna fight, let's fight!" Sora challenged.
Tidus grinned smugly at Sora and that was when he knew that he had been played; Sora cursed himself for falling for such an easy trick. As Tidus walked across the sand until they were a good distance apart, red pole tapping his shoulder, Sora pulled out his weapon from the unexplainable hammer space in his pocket. While Tidus preferred his pole, Selphie with her jump rope, and Wakka with his ball, Sora's preferred weapon was a polished length of wood that reached the same height as him; Riku said the technical term was a bo staff. Sora never really understood why he favor it so much – most boys would choose a sword over a piece of wood – but it just felt right in his hands; like it was a part of him.
Giving his bo staff a test swing, Sora turned to Tidus and said, "Ready whenever you are."
"Don't think I'm gonna go easy on you!" said Tidus eagerly.
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Sora.
Tidus was the first to attack, jumping straight into the fight with both hands of her metal rod and swinging it down with all his strength. Sora could have blocked it, but when clashing wood against metal, the wood rarely won. So Sora held the staff horizontally above his head to meet with Tidus's weapon and then tilted it sideways so that the pole would slide down the length. When the pole hit the sand, Sora took a step back from Tidus, spinning his weapon around his body, and then bringing it around to smack his opponent in the back of his head. Tidus moaned loudly, rubbing the sore spot on his skull.
"Ow! That smarts!" Tidus whined as he stood straight. "You couldn't do that before. Have you been practicing?"
"Not really," said Sora, equally curious how he managed to pull that trick off. "I just thought about and then I just…did it."
"Yeah? Well, don't be proud of that lucky shot," said Tidus, prepping himself up again. "I'm just getting warmed up!"
Tidus came out swinging again, this time using one hand to make his swipes faster. Sora was able to block the strikes from the sides using his staff as a guard while managing to get a quick tap on Tidus's kneecap. The other boy hissed slightly from the sharp sting, but it didn't dissuade him from the fight. Tidus jabbed his metal pole at Sora's chest, which he deflected to the side, but the other boy quickly followed up with a sharp round kick to Sora's side. The sudden attack caught Sora by surprise as he stumbled sideways by a few feet, leaving him wide open from behind. By the time Sora managed to recover and turn around, Tidus had already brought his pole around for a sharp swing at Sora's shoulder. The spiky-haired teen was thrown down into the sand face first, wincing from the flare of pain that was building up in his shoulder.
"Ooh, that looked really bad," said Tidus with a hiss, cringing at his own action. "Maybe we should stop and get some ice for that."
"No, no, I'm fine, see?" said Sora, jumping back up to his feet with surprising quickness. If he wasn't so eager to prove himself, Sora would stop for a moment to ponder why the pain had suddenly stopped after a few seconds. "C'mon, let's keep this going."
"If you say so," said Tidus, shrugging. "But don't blame me if you end up in the hospital."
Sora ignored the comment and stepped forward before Tidus had a chance to react. He had made the mistake of letting Tidus have the first two moves; he wasn't going to repeat it a third time. Sora brought his staff down over his opponent's head, which was blocked by the metal rod, but them he twirled the weapon around so that the other end to uppercut Tidus on the chin. Tidus took a step backwards, rubbing the red spot developing, but quickly moved back on defensive when Sora took a swipe at him from the side. The wooden staff bounced off the metal pole and Sora, using the momentum that carried, twirled around and snapped his weapon on Tidus's opposite side. And while his opponent was momentarily stunned holding his side, Sora spun the staff around over his head and then brought it down on top of the boy's skull, planting him face first into the sand.
Tidus lifted his head up, spitting out the sand that got in his mouth. When he looked back at Sora, he found the end of a wooden staff hovering threatening a few inches from his face with Sora smirking above him.
"Okay, okay, I give," Tidus conceded. Sora laughed and offered his hand for Tidus to take. "Man, that was something else. Where'd you learn those moves?"
"I…honestly don't know," said Sora, scratching the back of his head with a confused look. "It's like they just…popped into my head. Kinda felt like I've done them before, which is weird because I've never been that good."
"Yeah, whatever, man," said Tidus, grinning. "The way you are now, I bet you might actually stand a chance against Riku."
"I don't know about that," said Sora humbly. "Well, that was a good match, but I really gotta get back to finding stuff for the raft. Hey, do you know where I might find some rope and another log."
"The rope should be up on the deck near Wakka," said Tidus. "And I think I saw an extra log somewhere on the mini island across the bridge."
"Thanks for the help," said Sora appreciatively. "Talk to you later!"
"Don't lose to Riku next time, okay!" Tidus shouted as Sora took off. "It's embarrassing enough losing to you already!"
Ignoring the offhand comment, Sora thought it best to return to his job now that he knew here all the pieces were. His first stop would be the treehouse, where he knew the cloth was hanging on the wall. As he climbed the ladder to the highest platform, he recalled the many times he and his friends would spend the nights in the treehouse, having sleepovers and watching the stars. As far as they knew, the treehouse – and the rest of the wooden buildings on the island – had been built long before they were born, by someone girl that had left the islands ages ago. Sora wished he had met her; anyone who could come up with something like this would have to be cool.
Sora stepped inside the old house – man it was dusty – and found what he was looking for. The sheet was dirty and stained in many ways, but they weren't looking for perfect here. They needed a cloth to be the sail, so it was bound to be dirty anyway. Sora folded the cloth down and put it in his hammer space pocket.
"Two down, two to go," said Sora.
He turned to leave when –
"Hey, Sora!"
The spiky-haired boy did a jump, holding his chest to calm his beating heart. Man, Selphie had a way of sneaking up on people like nobody's business. It wasn't the first time he wondered if she might have been taking secret ninja lessons.
"Hey, Selphie, what's going on?" asked Sora.
"Oh, nothing really," said Selphie coyly. "Just taking a walk, getting some fresh air, thinking about the legend of the paopu fruit. No big deal."
"The legend of the paopu fruit," Sora repeated, brow raised. That was an oddly specific topic to think about.
"Oh yes, it's wonderful!" said Selphie excitedly, hands clasped and starry-eyed. "They say if two people share one, their souls are bound together forever! It's sooo romantic. I wish some boy would share a paopu fruit with me," she added, battering her eyes at Sora.
"Well, good luck with that," said Sora, walking away.
Selphie stared at the spot where Sora had been standing for a long few seconds, blinked, and then frowned. She followed him out of the treehouse, and just as he was climbing down the ladder, Selphie ripped a coconut from one of the hanging branches and dropped it on top of him.
"OW!" Sora cried.
So now nursing a swollen bump that, which he did not know why he deserved, Sora moved across the sandy road to the lookout deck and started climbing. Once at the top, he saw the rope in the corner where Tidus said it would be, but also found Wakka leaning against the railing. Sora groaned inwardly. If there was one thing that Tidus and Wakka both shared, it was their competitive spirit. Wakka no doubt saw the match from the lookout and would likely challenge Sora to a match with the rope as the prize. Resigning to his fate, Sora pulled out his bo staff and made his way over.
"Hey, what's happening, man?" said Wakka, sounding very easy-going. "Saw you match against Tidus. Very nice."
"Thanks," said Sora. "Listen, I'm gonna need that rope. Do you mind if – "
"Sorry, dude, can't let you have that," said Wakka.
"Let me guess, you won't let me have it without having a match with you first," said Sora, moving into a fighting position. "Okay, you're on. But I warn you, I've been getting a lot stronger lately!"
"What? No!" said Wakka, mouth agape. "I was going to say I can't let you use that rope because some seagulls have been picking at it lately. If you tie your raft with that thing, it'll break about before you're even out in open water. Here, take this one, its brand new," he added, handing Sora a roll of fresh rope.
"Oh," said Sora, suddenly feeling pretty stupid. "Sorry about that. I just thought I'd have to fight you to get it."
"What do you think this is, a video game?" said Wakka jokingly.
They both laughed at the ridiculous thought; as if they could ever be characters in a video game.
Now equipped with one log, the cloth, and the rope, that only left the final log to be collected, and if Tidus was right, then he would find it on the mini island just off the shore. Now there were two ways to get to the mini island: one was to swim to the ladder that was built on the side, and the other was through the seaside shack and over the wood bridge. Since he didn't feel like taking a dip today, he chose the scenic route.
A quick trip through the shack and a leisurely stroll across the bridge and he was on the miniature island that sprouted just off the shore of the main island. It wasn't much to look at; just a few sparse trees, one of which was bent at an odd angle that made it a perfect place to sit and watch the sunset. The log was under one of the trees just as Tidus had informed him, but he also found Riku sitting on the bended tree staring off into the distance. This wasn't too surprising; everyone said that Sora was the dreamer, but Riku was always the one lost in his little world. The silver-haired boy's attention was taken from his own thoughts, however, when the sand crunched under Sora's shoes and her turned his focus towards his best friend.
"Hey, Sora," said Riku casually. "You are here trying to skip off work again, are you?"
"I'll have you know I've been working very hard," said Sora defensively, crossing his arms. "I've already collected most of the supplies we need and just need to get this last log."
"I see," said Riku, chuckling lightly. "Well, good job then. You can work when you want to."
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence," said Sora sarcastically, grabbing the last long and somehow stuffing it in his pocket.
"I saw your match with Tidus earlier," said Riku, pointing over his shoulder. "You really surprised me, Sora. I've never seen you use moves like those before. You haven't been holding out on me, have you?"
"Maybe I have, maybe I haven't," said Sora in a challenging fashion. "Wanna find out?"
"You're seriously calling me out," said Riku, laughing while he jumped down. "You do know where the record stands, right? We've fought fifty-two times in the past four years and you've never beaten me once. Just because you beat Tidus, doesn't mean you're up to my level yet."
"Well, maybe today things change," said Sora, pulling out his bo staff.
"Whatever you say," said Riku, tightening the straps on his gloves. "Just don't cry when you lose."
Sora leered at his best friend; Riku just smirked with confidence.
The two friends walked a small circle around the mini island, keeping equal distance between them. When they finished the lap around, Riku suddenly jumped forward with his fist clenched at shoulder height and took a swing at Sora's face. The spiky-haired boy deflected the shot with his staff and pushed Riku away, causing him to slide backward in the sand. He charged at his best friend with his staff spinning at his side and took a swipe at Riku's head when he was within swinging distance. Riku ducked underneath the wooden pole, took a step forward, and shot back up with a strong uppercut to Sora's chin. He flipped backward onto his stomach, faceplanting into the sand for the second time that day.
"Ow…," Sora moaned.
"All those fancy moves leave you wide open," said Riku smugly. "How about a little less flash and a little more substance."
"You totally ripped that quote off," said Sora, crawling to his hands and knees.
"Maybe I did," said Riku, "but you're still not gonna beat me."
Glaring, Sora shot right back up and took another swing at Riku's head, which the silver-haired boy effortlessly dodged. He tried for two more horizontal swings and jabbed him with the end of his staff, but Riku was too fast and too skilled to be hit, ducked and weaving his way around every shot like he was playing with Sora. And in retrospect, he probably was. The frustration was starting to get to Sora. He let out a fierce war cry (or at least it sounded fierce to him), grabbed the end of his weapon with both hands and swung it down with all his strength. Unfortunately, Riku easily managed to sidestep the blow, letting the staff smack into the ground and send sand flying everywhere.
With a grimace, Sora tried to take his weapon back, but when he tugged at it, the staff wouldn't move. Riku's foot was planted firmly on the staff, keeping it locked in place; the boy himself stood over Sora, arms crossed and face broken into a grin.
"My turn," said Riku.
Riku kicked at Sora's hands and forced him to drop the weapon. Now with nothing left to defend himself with, Sora was left helpless as Riku brought his fist around and drilled his knuckles into Sora's stomach; Sora' resisted the urge to puke. Sora could only stumble pathetically holding his abdomen when Riku closed the distance between them again. A jab to the shoulder, a blow to the ribs, a kick to the shin, and a right hook across the face – Sora was little more than Riku's punching bag at this point. When Riku was finished throwing him around like a ragdoll, Sora could barely find the energy to stand; even the smallest breeze could knock him over.
Riku blew on him; he toppled over like a tree.
"Looks like I win again," said Riku, laughing.
"Aw man, I can't believe I lost," Sora moaned into his hands.
"Hey, you lasted a minute longer than you did last time," said Riku, offering his hand for his best friend to take. "That just shows you're getting better and better. Maybe one day you'll actually be a challenge for me."
"One day I swear I'm gonna beat you," said Sora, taking the hand and letting Riku pull him up. "Just you watch. I'm gonna be super strong the next time we fight."
"Whatever you say," said Riku nonchalantly, walking over to the bended tree and taking his seat again. "Anyway, you should probably head back to Kairi soon. She's probably worried you fell into the pond again."
"That was one time!" Sora moaned. "Let it go already!"
All Sora could hear was Riku boastful laughter when he walked along the bridge back toward the seaside shack, and once again when he walked under the bridge toward the spot where he was supposed to meet Kairi.
Sora and Kairi spent hours working on the finishing touches of the raft with Riku dropping in on them from time-to-time. It was coming along rather nicely; they had managed a good foundation and created a strong sail that wouldn't break against strong winds, though it was a little small for three people. Riku assured them that it was big enough to carry them. By the time they were finished, the blue sky had turned a mixture of orange, red, and purple as the sun started to crawl over the horizon. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie had already made their way back to the main island, but Sora and his best friends decided to hang around a little while longer.
The three of them met up at their favorite spot on the miniature island, Sora and Kairi seated comfortably on the bended tree while Riku leaned against it. For the longest time, everything was quiet; only the sound of the lapping waves and the chirping gulls breaking the silence. Then Sora chose to speak up:
"So…Kairi's home is out there, right?"
"Could be," said Riku, shrugging his shoulders. "We'll never know by staying here."
"But how far could a raft take us?" asked Sora. "I talked to Tidus earlier and he said something about other worlds being through space. Is it really possible to get anywhere by sailing there?"
"Who knows?" said Riku nonchalantly. "If we have to, we'll think of something else."
"So, suppose you get to another world," Kairi said to Riku. "What would you do there?"
"Hmm…well, I…never really thought about it," said Riku honestly. "It's just…I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds…. Then ours is just a small piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"
"I don't know," said Sora, leaning back on the tree lazily.
"Exactly," said Riku. "You remember the story about the girl who used to live on this island. Legend says she managed to find her way off the islands somehow. If she can do it, then so can we. Once we're out there, then we can find the answers we're looking for. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi said softly to Riku.
"Thanks to you," said Riku, turning to the girl. "If you hadn't come here, I probably never would've thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks."
"You're welcome," said Kairi, giggling shortly.
The sun was about to disappear over the ocean by the time they decided they should return to their homes. Kairi was the first to cross the bridge with Sora tagging along from behind when –
"Sora!" Riku called.
Sora turned around and held out his hands just in time to catch something flying towards him. He looked at it for a good moment. It was an odd yellow fruit shaped like a star.
"You wanted one, didn't you?" said Riku.
"A paopu fruit?" said Sora, sounding very confused.
"Legend has it that if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," said Riku, causally walking past his best friend. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. C'mon, I know you want to try it."
"What are talking – "
Sora stopped himself, suddenly realizing what Riku was implying and felt his entire face turn warm. This feeling must have been expressed on his face because Riku suddenly started laughing and took off after Kairi. Pouting irritably, Sora tossed the fruit over the bridge and chased after his best friend, intent of paying him back.
All the while, the person in the black coat continued to watch the children from the treetops, staring at their backs intently
^
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(ATLAS)
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U
Hundreds of worlds across the galaxy, far from the small world of the Destiny Islands, was the Kingdom of Atlas, so far known as the only surviving Kingdom of their former world, Remnant. It had been many years since that unspoken event took place and many still bared the scars of that day, but they tried to work through the pain and move forward. As they did before the catastrophe, Atlas continued to be a military power, focusing on increasing the strength of their soldiers and working towards creating new and more advanced technology. Very few people were left without work and hardly any went a day starved, even the Faunus. All in all, their newly created world was almost perfect in Ciel's opinion.
Commander Ciel Soleil, a dark-skinned woman that rarely parted with her favorite blue burette, was a hard working person even from her time in the Academy and her efforts were well rewarded. When she walked into the communication station that morning, everyone in attendance immediately straightened their backs and worked twice as hard as they did before she had entered. This pleased Ciel; she took pride in knowing she could whip even the laziest of men into form. The reason she was so feared was because she heavily scrutinized even the tiniest of details and punished those who made the slightest mistakes.
"Why are those communications relays not up yet?" shouted Ciel. "They should have been active 1.6 seconds ago!"
"I'm sorry, commander!"
"The communal timetables were also posted 0.5 seconds late!" Ciel continued. "This is unacceptable, people! The lives of every men and woman in Atlas are dependent on us!"
"I'll get them up faster next time, commander, I swear!"
"And there should have been a triple-chocolate mocha with cinnamon and whip cream in my hand exactly 1.1 seconds ago!" shouted Ciel irritably. A trembling Atlesian soldier trotted over, kneeling to his commander and presenting her with her caffeinated beverage. Ciel took a sip, humming for a moment. "Acceptable. But it better be on time tomorrow or you'll be searching for a new job."
"Yes, Commander!"
"Commander Soleil!" shouted an Atlesian soldier, running across the room and waving a sheet of paper in the air. "Commander Soleil, we just received an urgent message from the outside worlds."
"You know very well that I don't check any messages until 1208 hours," said Ciel, taking another sip of her coffee.
"But commander…it came in on a Beacon frequency."
All staff members turned in their seats and stared when a loud splash echoed in the room. The spilled remains of Commander Soleil's coffee was splattered all over the floor, soaking into the dark-skinned woman's shoes, but she did not seem to notice or care. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open, like she had seen a ghost. Without a word of warning, Ciel spun around on her heel and ripped the message from the soldier's hands. Her eyes raced back and forth through the lines, growing wider and wider with each sentence she read.
And then she stopped. The communication station was oddly quiet. And then….
"GENERAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLL!" Ciel screamed at the top of her lungs.
The work staff covered their ears at their commander's screech, but the dark-skinned woman was already out the door before anyone could question the sudden strangeness in her behavior.
In another room on the opposite side of the military base, Captain Sun Wukong – a blonde, monkey-tailed Faunus that never learned to close the front of his shirt – was locked in epic combat with his worthy opponent, the indomitable redheaded, freckled android known as Penny Polendina. Sun had managed to corner Penny into the wall and drew back his weapon for the finishing blow. But just as he was about to strike, Penny suddenly bounced off the wall and landed behind him. Sun didn't have a chance to defend himself as Penny's sword slashed her sword across the air, sending his head flying across the arena –
"GAME OVER – PENNY WINS!" said the game announcer.
"Son of a Grimm!" groaned Sun, falling on his back and throwing his controller aside. "How did you get so good at this? I'm supposed the best when it comes to fighting games!"
"It's all about calculations," said Penny, smiling as she set her controller down. "And since I'm a robot, making calculations is very easy for me."
"So, in other words, you cheated," Sun complained.
"I guess you could see it that way," said Penny casually.
Sun groaned louder, throwing his arms, legs, and tail out as if ready to throw a tantrum. But just before then, the door to their room slammed opened and Penny and Sun looked over, spying the panting and sweating Ciel. Sun's pout quickly shifted to a grin as he kicked back up to his feet and moved close to the commander, arms outstretched. He settled his hands on either side of the commander's waist and pulled her closer to him, smiling softly down at the shorter woman.
"Hey, babe, you're off work early," said Sun flirtatiously. "Not that I'm complaining; gives me an excuse to ditch work and hang out with my favorite girl."
"Honey, this is no time for – what are you two doing in here?" said Ciel, pushing away from the monkey faunus and spotting the gaming console. "Are you two playing video games during work hours again?"
"We were on break," said Penny happily. "The guys in the RT Department made a new game called Grimm Eclipse. It's a game where you can play all kinds of famous hunters and battle each other or the Grimm. Aaaand…those also made these really cute plushie toys," she added, pulling out four plushies from behind her back. "Look! It's Team RWBY!"
"You can't just spend military funding on – OH MY OUM, THIS IS SO CUTE!" Ciel said excitedly, grabbing and hugging the adorable Blake plushie. When she noticed Sun and Penny stare at her with smug grins, Ciel hid the Blake plushie behind her back and straightened herself; red powdered her face. "Anyway, have either of you seen the General? I need to give her an urgent message."
"I had a feeling you might. I could hear your screaming halfway across the base.
Sun, Ciel, and Penny turned in unison and suddenly jumped together in a straight line, presenting a salute to the woman that stepped in. It was the woman from Sora's dreams – the one asking the strange questions – though she was significantly older than she had appeared then. Her face was thin and rigid with very pronounced tear-troughs; her bangs that hangs on one side was now parted to frame her face, revealing the jagged scar that was cut above her left brow. Her regal suit was replaced by a formal uniform required by the Atlas military; the front was decorated in an assortment of medals and badges.
The woman walked across the room with her posture held perfectly: shoulders apart, back straight, and hands folded behind her back. She walked by each of her three underlings without sparing a glance, turned on her heels, and faced them with a firm stare.
"At ease," she commanded. The trio dropped their hands, but she not break formation. "Commander Soleil, what is the meaning of your outburst earlier this hour."
"General Schnee, we just received an urgent message from the outside worlds," said Ciel formally, presenting the paper to her commanding officer. "It was sent via the Beacon Frequency."
"That's impossible," said General Schnee, eyes narrowing. "Beacon Academy fell along with its headmaster ten years ago. There shouldn't be anyone capable of using that frequency."
"I had the message authenticated, ma'am," said Ciel. "Everything came back positive. It's real, ma'am."
Still not convinced, the general snatched the message from Ciel's hands and allowed her eyes to wander over it. Like Ciel, her eyes became wide and her mouth began to open in disbelief the more she read the note. When she reached the end, she lowered the paper with a stunned expression, turning to her subordinates as if expecting to tell her it was a prank
None of them did.
"This is…," said General Schnee softly, before turning to Ciel. "Commander Soleil, call an emergency assembly immediately. If what this message is saying is true, then we can only assume the worst."
That concludes the first real chapter of this series (not counting the prologue, of course). So we finally got some RWBY characters in here and I'm sure you're already starting to piece together what's happening if you have already played the Kingdom Hearts series. As you may have noticed, I'm making a rather crude attempt at humor here – I always thought there were plenty of spots where KH could have been funnier; this is my pitiful take on it. I also wasn't too fond of the fighting scenes – I thought they could have been better – but hopefully I'll be able to improve once the characters have real abilities to use; some helpful advice on the subject wouldn't hurt either.
The next chapter is the second part of the three part Destiny Islands Arc. For any of those wondering who the person in the black coat is, I can promise you it's not the story villain like in the original. The identity of this person plays a critical role to the series in general. Think you can figure it out. While you do, please read and review.
