"It hurts," I groaned as I grabbed my head and rubbed it slowly. The pounding pain in my head attacked me without mercy. I had to stay still for a number of minutes in order to help calm down that headache that seemed to be planning on destroying me. Once it didn't feel like someone was stabbing my brain anymore, I slowly opened my eyes. Looking around, I tried to make sense of where I was when the memories of the prior day came crashing down on me.
I shot to my feet in a swift move, suddenly with a bolt of energy. Unfortunately, that just made my headache worse. "Ah," I gasped as I rubbed my head once again while beganing to walk. Everything was so different from back home and I couldn't recognize anything. Seeing as I had a pretty good memory, if I do say so myself, I found that fact very strange.
It was then that a thought came to mind. A horrible, painful thought that where I was could possibly be another world.
In panic, I walked up to the first person who I could find. It happened to be a lady leaning on a wall. "Um," I fidgeted with my hands. Although I could be pretty outgiong when it came to my friends, I was a shy person when it came to strangers. "... Could I ask where I am?"
The woman stared down at me for a moment before she spoke, "People with noewhere else to turn come to this town."
"But I do have somwehre else to turn to," I argued, hoping that would be enough to get me back home. She only smiled sympathetically.
"You should go to the Accessory Shop for help, kid. If you go through those doors, you'll find it," she said and nodded to a pair of doors. I nodded and gave her the only smile I could muster.
"Thanks," I said before taking off to the building. I went through the doors she said and, once inside, looked around.
"Hey, how can I..." a rough voice caught my attention. I looked over to see a man standing there who, when spotting me, grimaced. "Great, another kid."
"Um, someone told me that I should come here," I explained as I walked closer where the man stood. "That you could tell me where I was."
"My Accessory Shop, what does it look like?" the guy grunted. It took every inch of my will not too roll my eyes.
"I'm talking about this world," I stated, causing him to frown.
"This here is Traverse Town," he explains and I found myself mirroring his frown. So this really was another world. Does that mean that the everyone else is here too? Sora, Riku, Kairi?
"Hm... You don't happ'n to be named Andy?" the man suddenly questioned while rubbing his chin. I stared at him for moment in surprise that he knew my name.
"What? How do you know that?" I questioned and eyed him suspiciously. A grin took his features though.
"Wait 'til Sora hears about this," he then said to himself, making me almost jump over the counter.
"Sora? Sora's here?!" I demanded as I pressed myself against the counter to ask him. Relief ran through me at that. If Sora was here, then everyone else must be there too, right?
"Yup. He's looking for you and your other two pals. Left a while ago," he explained to me. I immediately grinned after hearing that.
"Thanks, gramps! I'll be leaving now!" I called out behind me and quickly headed to the door in hopes of catching up with him. My mood had changed drastically now.
"The name's Cid! Not gramps!" Cid called behind me but I had already left the store by then.
I went around the store, up a few steps, to find myself staring at a pair of large doors with the number two on it. Shrugging, I decided to head over. I found myself in what I guessed was second district. Before I could take more than three steps, the creatures from before appeared from out of no where. My nerves spiked tremendously and I quickly looked around for a weapon. I didn't have the sword from before and I had no idea if I could call it again.
I found myself simply watching them close in one me. My arms shot up to protect myself when suddenly a hand wrapped itself around my wrist and pulled me with them. Stumbling to keep up with the pace, my eyes looked up at the young woman who was pulling me into a building.
"It's not safe being out today," she explained with a smile that matched her soft voice. "I'm Aerith. You can stay here until thigns calm down," she added. My only response was too nod meekly.
"I-I'm Andy," I introduced myself before looking over to the door. "What were those things?" I asked as she began to lead me through the hall.
"Oh, you're new," she observed while glancing back at me. "Don't worry, I'll explain everything in a minute."
We walked into a room that resembled a hotel room. In it, were a duck and a dog. Literally, a dog walking on two legs and duck right besides it. Both wearing cloths.
"Is this them?" the duck demanded and eyed me cautiously.
"No, I came across her being attacked outside," Aerith explained to them.
Although usually I would just remain quiet, seeing as I barely knew these people, but my impatience to find my friends was growing thin. "Could you explain what's going on?" I brought myself into the conversation. Aerith nodded and took a seat on the bed in the room before looking at the three of us.
"Okay, you know there are many other worlds out there besides your castle, this town, and your home, right?" she asked us.
"Yeah," the duck nodded. I followed his example by nodding as well even though I hadn't believed that fact since just a few minutes ago.
"But they're supposed to be a secret," the dog whispered with his hands over his mouth.
"They've been secret because they've never been connected. Until now. When the Heartless came, everything changed," she explained, closing her eyes in the process.
"The Heartless?" I found myself needing to ask.
"The ones who were attacking you. Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts — that's what attracts them. And there is darkness in every heart."
So those creatures had a name. Heartless, huh? It sounded strange but at the same time befitting.
"Have you heard of someone named Ansem?" I broke out of my thoughts at Aerith's question. I tried to think if I had ever heard the name before but my efforts came out fruitless.
It seemed I wasn't the only one because the dog also seemed confused in the matter. "Ansem?"
"He was studying the Heartless. He recorded all of his findings in a very detailed report," Aerith stated once she saw none of use knew who he was.
"Gawrsh, uh, can we see it?" the dog asked and held out his hand towards her.
Aerith shook her head. "Its pages are scattered everywhere."
"Scattered?" the duck demanded.
"To many worlds," Aerith simply stated.
"Oh, then maybe the king went to find 'em," the dog declared while placing his fist in his palm. I glanced at him with a confused gaze. King?
"Yes, those were my thoughts exactly," Aerith agreed. At that point, i felt like I was out of the loop.
"We've gotta find him quick!" the dog announced to his friend.
"Wait! First, we need that key!" the duck snapped back.
Aerith nodded. "That's right. The Keyblade. The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade."
"Uh, who has this Keyblade?" I questioned, dumbfounded at the whole conversation.
"The Keyblade chooses its master," she answered simply.
"And you have the key, don't you?" the duck asked her. His foot was tapping on the floor impatiently.
"Over here." She nodded at the door and got up from the bed. The duck began to head to the door first. Just as he was about to open it, it flew open and slammed him right against the wall. Pretty comical if anyone asked me. "Yuffie?" Aerith called out and ran after the young girl that had bared into the room.
Frowning, I looked at the animals and the direction the other two went. I shook my head after a while and ran out the door. I didn't care about other worlds or that keyblade they kept talking about, all I wanted was to find my friends.
So with that in mind, I took off on my own.