Shadows of the Past

Chapter Two – Fall

A groan escaped Venus's lips as he heard a loud cry. He tiredly rubbed his eyes and rolled out of bed, wandering out of his room and down the hall. He could hear one of his brothers crying, but that wasn't surprising since his room was only two away.

He yawned widely as he reached the room where the twins were kept. He knew the one crying his lungs out was probably Sora. Out of the two boys, Ventus would have to say that Roxas was his favorite. It was easy to tell the two boys apart, because Roxas was rather calm for a baby, where Sora liked to cry and seemed to need constant attention.

That was when something odd struck Ventus. Why was Sora still crying? Usually, at night, his mother could calm the boy back to sleep after maybe 20 minutes, but now he was still sobbing.

Turning the doorknob, Ventus looked into the room, a confused look passing over his features. Neither of his parents was in the room. Actually, no one was around. Even a maid would have come in to stop the baby from crying by now.

Ventus moved towards the cribs after shutting the door behind him. He wasn't sure why, but something just told him to keep it shut, no matter what. It was storming fiercely out, and with the castle so quite, Ventus got the chills. He glanced at Roxas, who was awake, but not crying. His cerulean eyes were darting around the room, and, for a six-month old baby, he looked nervous.

He leaned over Sora's crib and his eyes met the tear filled ones of Sora. The second the baby saw his older brother; he stopped shrieking and instead let out small sobs.

"What's wrong?" Ventus whispered as he carefully picked up his brother. His mother had shown him how to handle the babies over the past few months, since she said that she didn't want him to feel left out. His father was always busy with the King, so he was never around to help, and it was too difficult for his mother to take care of two babies at once on her own.

Ventus rocked his brother, who sobbed and gripped his shirt with his tiny, chubby hands.

That's when it happened. There was a loud bang on the window behind Ventus. Sora, who could see over Ventus's shoulder, looked up and let out what Ventus could only say was a terrified cry. He was only six months old, but somehow he knew danger when he saw it.

Ventus whirled around and gasped. Outside the window, there was this…thing staring at them. It stood on two legs, which were as thin as bone. Its feet were long and it's toenails looked razor sharp. Its arms were just as skinny, but its hands were huge with sharp claws. Its head was what startled Ventus more than anything. It never stayed on specific shape. It moved, almost as if it was on fire, which piercing yellow eyes and teeth sharper than any knife that he had seen before. Aside from its eyes, all its features were black.

Sora let out another cry as it started scratching on the window, slowly starting to break the glass. Panic shot through Ventus as he quickly rushed to the door to throw it open while he still had one free arm. Then, he rushed back to Roxas' crib and somehow managed to hold onto both of his brothers tightly. As the window finally shattered, Ventus ran.

He didn't know where he was going; all he wanted to do was get away from the creatures with his brothers. He could hear whatever it was scamper into the hall, and it didn't sound like it was alone.

Ventus managed to kick open one of the large doors leading to the staircase, before kicking it shut behind him. He rushed out it, thankful that both of his brothers were being so silent. He went through the archway at the bottom of the steps and towards the next set of stairs that led to the entrance hall, but stopped.

Those creatures, or other things that looked extremely similar to them, were everywhere. People were trying to fight them off, but these things were fast and flexible.

Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed him and yanked him backwards. He was about to yell, but he stopped when he saw that it was his mother who had pulled him away from the balcony that overlooked the entrance hall.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked, looking harassed and fearful. "And with the babies?"

"Those things are upstairs mom," he replied, and she let out a small sob. She took Sora out of his arms so that he could get a better grip on Roxas.

"Come on we have to—" She never finished her sentence. A pillar from above them fell and smashed into the balcony. Ventus let out a yell and held Roxas close as he backed up, away from the splintering marble. He shielded the baby's body with his own before looking over. His mother was all right, and so was Sora. She looked over and let out a quick scream. "Ven behind you!"

He whipped around and saw several of the creatures advancing towards him. He did the only thing he could: run. He dodged passed them and back up the staircase he had come down. He was running down the hall with Roxas grasped tightly in his arms until he got to his own room.

"Please Roxas, don't cry," Ventus said as he looked around the room with a horrified look on his face. He had no clue where to go.

"Hey!"

He jumped and turned around. Much to his surprise, his bookshelf had been pushed aside, and there stood a boy with brown hair and aqua eyes. Ventus recognized him. He was one of the knights in training.

"Come on," he urged while hoisting his oddly shaped weapon over his shoulder. It looked kind of like a key. "You've got to get out of here."

Ventus stared at him and the weapon for a split second before nodding and rushing into the secret passage. The brown haired boy quickly closed the entrance before looking at the prince and saying, "Follow me."

Ventus nodded and the two started rushing down the empty, quite hall. The only noise was the tiny whimpers coming from Roxas.

VVVVVVVVV

Ayame Hikari let out a sob as she rushed through the wreckage that was once her magnificent home. She didn't know what to do or where to go. These things were everywhere! She couldn't find her father, nor her mother, and her husband was nowhere in sight. She had lost her other sons, and now she only had Sora with her.

A scream escaped her lips as one of the creatures jumped out in front of her, smirking as she backed away from it. She turned to run, but there were several of the creatures behind her as well.

She hugged Sora tightly to her chest as the creatures advanced from both directions. He was crying again.

"Don't worry baby, I won't let them get you," she whispered as she quickly flung herself to the ground, keeping him close so that nothing would hurt him.

"Get away from her!" a loud voice yelled. A large sword slashed through one of the creatures, slicing it in two. The rest of them turned to face Raiden, who had come to his wife's defense.

She pushed herself up and watched with horror as the creatures all attacked her husband at once. She let out a scream and stood up, but that proved to be a mistake. One of the creatures lunged itself at her and she fell to the ground. Then the creature brought it's sharp claws down to slice out her heart, but it didn't get there, because she still had Sora with her.

The child's scream was loud as the claws of the creature slash the baby's back. Ayame let out a scream and pulled her baby close to her and rolling out of the way before the creature could attempt to hurt him again.

Desperately, she ripped a part of her dress and pressed it to her baby's back to stop the bleeding.

Raiden looked up in time to see what had happened. He let out a loud yell as he rushed forward again. Only to be met half ways by the claws of one of the creatures.

VVVVVVVVV

Ventus followed the young knight-in-training, his eyes locked on the odd weapon. There was something so familiar about it, but he wasn't quite sure what.

They stopped walking down the cold, damp corridor before Ventus asked, "What is that?"

"Keyblade," he answered automatically.

Ventus didn't ask anymore questions, but he did hold Roxas a little closer to him as he began to shiver.

Rather abruptly, the cold, stone corridor came to a halt. The blond boy stared at the wall with confusion as the brunet pushed it open slightly, peering out.

"Coast is clear," he whispered as he pushed it open the rest of the way. "I'll get you out of the castle, and then you and your brother need to hide."

"What's your name?"

Aqua eyes glanced at him curiously before he said, "Terra."

"I'm Ventus."

"I know. Come on, we have to hurry."

They both started rushing down the corridor, when Roxas let out a loud wail. Ventus stopped running and stared at his baby brother with wide eyes, not comprehending what was wrong with him. It was almost like a wail of pain, but nothing was wrong with him. He didn't stop screaming either. He wouldn't know until many, many years later that it was because he was feeling the pain that his twin was in.

"Shh Roxas, please be quite."

It was too late, the windows by them exploded as several of the creatures appeared in the room with them. Terra held up his Keyblade defensively before saying, "Stay behind me." Then the creatures attacked.

"That's going to be a little hard!" Ventus yelled as one of the creatures twisted itself around Terra, it's sharp claws reaching for the blond boy and his brunet brother. Ventus tried to back away from it, but one of the creatures slashed at his back from behind. He let out a yell of pain and fell to the ground.

What happened next was all a blur. He could feel himself being dragged in one direction, and he could feel Roxas being yanked out of his arms, causing the baby to shriek louder. He heard Terra yelling, trying to get to them, and then he heard it. He heard his baby brother's scream of pain followed by silence.

And honest to god, it was the silence that scared him the most.

"Roxas!" he yelled out as he tried to turn around. He could see the baby a few feet away, and he could see a lot of blood. "No! No Roxas!"

There was a bright flash of light before the creatures were thrown off of him. Ventus jumped to his feet, slashing at the creatures before him with the object that had appeared in his hand. An object that looked strongly like an oversized key.

He stabbed the creatures, he sliced them in two, and he brutally destroyed them while panting heavily and falling to his knees. The remaining creatures ran off to wreck havoc somewhere else.

"Ventus…"

He turned around and felt his stomach vanish. "No." He rushed over to where Terra was, and gently picked up Roxas into his arms. "Roxas. No. No please." He tried to listen, but the baby was not breathing.

Tears broke out of his eyes as he kept saying 'no' over and over again. This couldn't be happening. He was supposed to protect both of his brothers. He wasn't supposed to let them die. But here was little Roxas, only six-months-old, attacked and killed by those creatures.

"I'm sorry," he heard Terra say. The knight sounded awkward, but it was understandable. Terra had never had such a thing happen to him before. He was an orphan, and he didn't make friends easily, so he never had anything to lose.

"Not all is lost young one." The warm, feminine voice startled them. They turned around and saw a pale woman with light blond hair and the palest blue eyes that they had ever seen staring at them.

"Who are you?" Ventus demanded from where he knelt. "Were you the one who sent these creatures?"

"No, I was not," she replied with a sad sigh. "Darkness sent the Endless."

"Who are you?" Terra asked as he stood protectively in front of Ventus. After all, it was his job (or what he was training for) to protect the royal family.

"I am a Metaphor for Destiny," she whispered. "And I have come to help. The tides of darkness are becoming much too strong, and this little one will be needed in the future to help balance the light."

"What can we do?" Ventus asked sadly. "He's…he's d-de-dead."

"Yes and no. His soul still resides in him, but the body is un-repairable. However, at this exact moment, your other bother too is slowly fading away. There is still time to save him."

"What can we do?" Terra asked.

"Place Roxas' soul into Sora's body. The extra strength will heal Sora so that he does not die, and Roxas' soul will still be in tact, waiting for the day it can be unleashed. To get his soul to Sora's body, however, I first must place it inside of you Ventus."

Ventus stared at his still brother, running a hand through his brown hair before nodding and saying, "Okay, then what?"

"Then you shall touch your other brother and the young soul will go inside of him, because it's as destiny wishes it to be. However, he will not look the exact same when his soul is unleashed years from now. Your soul is much stronger, so Roxas will obtain your looks in the very least."

"It doesn't matter, as long as I can save them," Ventus said.

"It will be years before Roxas gets the chance to even awaken, but do not lose hope young one."

She placed her hand over the baby's heart, and a pale blue light surrounded his body. She lifted her hand upward, a blue sphere in her palm. Turning to Ventus, she held out her hand, and the sphere went into his body.

"Find your brother, and destiny will fall into place." Then she was gone, and so was the body of his baby brother.

Ventus wiped a tear out of his eye as he pushed himself off of the floor and glanced at Terra, who, in turn, stared at the Keyblade in Ventus's hand.

"Come on, lets find your brother, and after all this is over, I'm going to teach you how to use that properly."

"Thanks," Ventus said in a sad voice before they both started running down the hall.

VVVVVVVVV

Ayame let out a sob as she rushed towards the sands of the beach. She didn't know why her father had told her to go there, but she had a strong suspicion that he was going to stop the horror once and for all. There was no doubt about it: their home was destroyed.

"My daughter!"

She turned around and let out a small sob as she saw her mother coming towards her. She rushed over to her, still cradling Sora in her arms. "Mother. Mother, Raiden is dead, and I fear for Ventus and Roxas since I lost them. And poor Sora, his life is fading as we speak."

She sobbed while staring at her son, who skin grew paler by the minute as his breathing slowly got softer.

"Princess! You're highness" a voice cried out. They both turned as a woman, probably around the same age as Ayame, hurried over with a silver haired boy in her arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching the world fade," she replied sadly. "What are these creatures mother, and why did they attack us?"

"I don't know," the Queen answered sadly.

"Mom!"

Eyes widening, Ayame turned yet again as her eyes locked onto familiar, spiky blond hair. A sob of happiness escaped her lips. "Ventus!"

Ventus rushed over with another boy not far behind. He was not smiling though. Instead he had a frown on his features and tears in his eyes. Ayame didn't have to question the location of her other son to know what happened. She hugged Ventus tightly with one arm while still hugging Sora to her with the other. She didn't notice it, the only ones that did were Terra and the Queen, but Ventus, for only a moment, had a blue glow to him before it transferred to Sora. Ventus listened carefully, and breathed a sigh of relief as his brother's breathing became stronger.

There were sudden gasps and yells. Everyone looked up and saw a beam of light flash from the heart shaped moon that was always above their city, day and night. It rushed towards the castle, where a crystal counterpart to it was. Although, very few people knew that.

There was a flash of light, and Ayame held both of her sons close to her as the intense light blinded all of them.

When she opened them again, she found herself staring at a beautiful calm ocean, the city and the castle gone from view.

"Oh my god," she whispered.

"What happened?" the boy that she knew what a knight asked.

"He separated them," the Queen said with a shaky voice. "My husband. He separated Twilight's Destiny."

"So where are we now?" the woman with the silver-haired boy asked in an almost fearful tone.

Ayame looked around and nodded to herself, but not without tears, as she said, "Our new home, Destiny Islands."

VVVVVVVVV

Author's Note

You know, this is probably the hardest story I ever had to write? Probably because there's not much Disney in it, and there's no Sora/Kairi. Oh well…

Shire Folk – Finding Nemo quote. Random. Of course I had to make Ventus like Roxas more. It adds a bit more tragedy to Roxas dying at such a young age. Then there's also the fact that we know Ventus is going to die in this fic as well. Apparently as a baby I liked sleeping for about 13 hours at a time, and since my mom was in high school, she loved me for it. Sora's older by exactly 13 minutes and 7 seconds. Yeah I just threw that number out there.

Anonymous with a name – Who is Ventus in the real Kingdom Hearts? Not a clue. Who is he in my story? We'll he did call Sora and Roxas his 'brothers' in both the past chapter as well as in Shadows of Reality. Er…sure…you can transform yourself into something insignificant if you want….

Iaveina – I hated my French exam in grade 12. Probably because I had the same teacher for grade 9, 11 and 12 and I learned the EXACT SAME THING in 9, 11 and 12…and in grade 10 all we did was watch French movies, but when no one paid attention to them she just played English movies and let us all play cards….AHHHH WORD ERROR!!!!! Must go change 'to' to 'too'. Don't worry, you'll be seeing a lot of little Sora in this. How could I not? Sora, as a toddler? I grin at the thought!

DAN88 – Yeah I was confused about the login thing too because I couldn't get on either. LMAO rarg but interesting? What does that mean? Boring? If so, I'm inclined to agree. Surprisingly one extra chapter has been added to my plotline for this so far…even though I only wanted it short. Oh well.

Zacheria – We all have our moments of insanity. Lol. So was your 'fake 6th sense' right? This happening at least sometime in the first few chapters should have been obvious.

Thank you for the reviews and sorry for the slower updates. I'm still trying to work out some kinks and stuff for the later chapters.

Krystal Lily Potter