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Disconnect
Stars begin to blink out above me, one by one.
My head hurts. I begin to wonder just how long I've been awake.
It takes me a minute to realize I'm not where I should be. Or, maybe I am, but it's not a place I'm exactly familiar with.
The name comes to me, out of nowhere. They call this place Traverse Town. I lay alone on the hard concrete behind a building forged of bricks, next to a wooden crate.
In my hand, as if a part of it, a giant key.
Keyblade.
Examine it. Such a strange weapon, and it's perhaps even stranger that I know what it is.
Suddenly, a deep growling catches my attention. Head snaps in the direction of it to face a yellow dog, lips drawn back to show it's sharp teeth. It doesn't like me, and I don't like it.
Slowly, I stand.
Easy, dog, I say.
Growling continues. He barks at me, and I take a step back, bumping into the wall. Bend, slightly. Suddenly, the dog lurches at me, teeth digging into my forearm, tearing the weak flesh. Without thinking, my throat utters a low cry, and my foot catches the mutt in the torso. Force arm to the back of its throat, and it lets go. Foot connects with its throat, and it falls to its side.
Raise the weapon, and bring it down on the dog's neck, severing it's head.
Trying to catch my breath. Heart pounding against my sternum.
The keyblade is gone, nowhere to be seen. Wipe the blood off my face, and make my way out from behind the building. Make my way through the door right in front of me, and into the second district.
The shadows begin to rise from the cement, and the keyblade has returned in my hand, as if it only appears when it's needed.
The weapon cuts through their dark figures, causing them to disperse in a cloud of black smoke, but they keep coming. Swinging wildly, destroying as many of the abstract figures as I can.
They don't stop. They won't stop. I know this, somewhere deep in the core of me.
I turn, making a break for it back to the first district.
"They'll keep coming, you know."
Who are you?
Turn towards the voice. Leather clad man, looks to be about twenty. Standing tall, with the most impractical weapon I've possibly ever seen resting in his hand, leaning against his shoulder. A large gun handle, with a sword at the end of it.
What a stupid fucking weapon. And this coming from someone wielding a giant key, that's gotta say something.
His head tilted downward, facing away from me. Eyes closed. As if he sensed my presence.
"They'll follow the keyblade wherever it goes. Give it to me."
Why the fuck do you want it, if it only attracts danger?
"Such foul language coming from such a small boy."
Fuck off.
"You really don't know what's going on here, do you?"
I don't need to know shit to know better than to hand over my only weapon to an asshole like you.
This strikes a chord with him.
"If that's how you want it, than fine. We'll play it your way."
Suddenly, he starts running towards me, weapon at the ready. Bring the keyblade up to guard myself, which, oddly enough, he strikes with the dull side of his weapon. The force of it knocks me back a bit. Duck in and slash against his chest. Slice his jacket, splitting his shirt open, I come close, but ultimately miss his flesh.
The handle of his weapon comes down on the back of my head, hard.
I fall.
Darkness..
Freefall.
I feel... cold.
Foot connects with my stomach. Can't breath. Vision blurred. The wet tickle of blood soaking my hair, running down the back of my neck.
Foot connects with my face, and I disconnect once again.
"Sora?"
You stand above me, on the beach. I look up at you, into those gorgeous eyes of yours. The sound of the waves rushing the shore, retreating. Seagulls in the distance.
Kairi...
You kneel down, straddling me. Face leaning in towards mine.
Our lips meet, and I feel your warmth entering my body. Like firecrackers, sparks flying, spreading out, coursing through my bloodstream. When you break it, I don't feel the same.
"Is this what you want, Sora?" You whisper in my ear, tongue gently grazing the side of it. "This is what I want."
I..
You sit up, slowly running your fingers down your chest, stopping at the hem of your shirt.
"Do you want me, Sora."
You slowly pull it up over your head, exposing your naked torso.
"Do you need me, Sora?"
Yes.
I need you, Kairi.
"What do you think we should do with him?"
"I don't know," the familiar voice says. "The king wants him dealt with."
Open my eyes, and I'm in someone's house. Laying on the floor. They face away from me, talking about me with their backs turned. Foolish.
Look just beyond them. There, my weapon, leaning against the door. Right in front of it. No way to get up and grab it without catching their attention.
I focus, hard, and it disappears unnoticed, reappearing in my hand.
"Does that mean we have to kill him?" The girl asks, scratching her short black hair and crossing her arms. "He's just a child!"
"Yes. He may be a child, but he's dangerous. I know it isn't right, but we have to do it for the good of the universe."
Quietly get up, making my way slowly towards them.
"Isn't there another way?" She asks.
"I wish there was," the man responds.
Me, too, I announce.
Before he can turn, I force the weapon into his midsection, just to the right of his spine. He screams out, and the woman just stands there, in shock. Twist the key, hard, and he spits up blood all over the white curtains, as I extract the weapon, taking his tangled intestines with it.
He falls, and I look her in the eye.
Am I going to have to kill you, too? I ask.
Lips quivering, mouth agape. Eyes filling up with tears.
I'll take that as a no, I say.
Open the curtains, and push open the window.
The shock of the landing works its way up through my feet.
Minor pain. I can hack it.
I have to find Riku and Kairi and get the fuck out of here.
Make my way down the alley, past the shadows that grow around me.
I end up in the third district calling your names.
Nothing. Nobody.
Turn to leave, but there at the exit awaits a knight and a sorcerer. How I know this is beyond me.
Sorcerer is short. A duck holding a staff. The knight is much taller, a dog, with nothing but a shield at his defense.
I have to find my friends, I say.
"You're not going anywhere," the duck sneers. "The king has very specific orders for what we should do with you."
I don't want any trouble, I plead. I just want to find my friends.
The knight starts to approach me.
"Just surrender your weapon and come with us, and there won't be any trouble," he says.
Not a chance, I say. I have to find my friends.
"You're only making this harder on yourself," the duck chimes in.
The knight is still coming.
Stay back, I tell him. I don't want to hurt you.
"It's us that doesn't want to hurt you, Sora. But we will if we have to."
How do you know my name?
"This has already happened. It's happening now, and at the same time, it's yet to occur. We're here to erase this painful era, and hopefully rethread time together," the duck says.
The knight stops in front of me. Stubborn dog.
I can't come with you, I say. I have to find my friends.
"Your friends are already gone," he replies, holding his hand out.
Without thinking, I raise my weapon and sever it at the elbow. It falls to the ground, his stump drenching me.
He screams, and smashes his shield against the side of my face.
Fucker.
I swing the weapon madly, him blocking each blow, moving slightly backwards with each loud instance of metal grinding against metal.
Finally, he becomes weak, and I knock the shield out of his hands with my key. Raise it, bring it down on his collarbone, disconnecting the right side of his neck from the rest of his body and crushing his clavicle.
Before I can pull out, fire and ice begins to rain down upon me.
Dodge roll to safety, towards the duck.
He manages to hit me in the face with a fireball. I close my eyes, feeling the heat of the fire scorching, melting the flesh on my face. Scarring.
Clench teeth, and fell backwards.
As I struggle to get up, he begins to walk closer to me.
"Are you ready to give up yet?"
I point my keyblade right at him, still a good distance away, and concentrate.
"What are you going to do with that from all the way over there?"
Dark energy surrounds him, and the smile is wiped from his face.
It closes in, turning his skin inside out, his organs falling to the ground before me.
Drained, I fall to my knees, supporting my weight on the handle of the blade.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
I just wanted to find my friends, I say.
In the bloody pile of his remains, I found a set of keys. Just outside the first district, I find a ship.
Riku and Kairi aren't here. I'm going to have to find them in another world.
Without knowing how, or why, for some reason, I can pilot the ship without any prior knowledge of its existence. It's as if fate led me here, and taught me everything I needed to know about how to use it to get me to the next world.
I push some buttons and pull some levers I don't understand, and the ship takes off. Stars blurring, flying past me.
Force of the speed pinning me to my seat. In the distance I see a new world. It comes at me faster than I can react, and it looks as though I'm about to
CRASH!