Terra ForceXIII – I must say, I am very honored about the number of reviews I have already, and it's all because of you guys! I'm really happy you guys are enjoying this story, heck, even I'm having fun! XD
Note: There is a lot of talking involved here, so don't be discouraged about the length of the chapter, its mostly just talking and explaining. :)
Also if you haven't already guessed, I'll always be putting Full names and places in Italic format. I did this so when the story is talking about a place or somebody's name, you'll know what it is suggesting. Hope it's not too confusing…
The girl with the mix matched eyes didn't like it when he was around, especially when she can hear him walking behind her. Just hearing those calm, casual feet tapping the white tile floor coming closer to her. When she felt his gloved hands on her shoulders, she tensed, feeling as if he was ready to claw her to pieces.
She kept her hands together on her art book, her head tilted down as her blonde hair fell over her face hiding her miserable expression.
"Well… it seems that he has arrived…" He spoke in a deep tone, with a hint of cruelty.
The blonde girl directed her gaze on her shoulder, seeing his black gloved hand still casually placed on her pale skin. She did this to confirm she was listening.
"He's not the only one," She whispered.
"What?" The man questioned; his grip on the girl's shoulders slightly tensed.
The girl then swayed her unequal eyes on her picture, gazing at the three figures drawn over it. One was a dark figure with spiky brunette hair, his eyes dotted with orange. The other was bluish color, her eyes a light ocean blue. But the last figure was different, for it had colors of both.
All three of them held hands, with the new piece of the puzzle in the middle.
Writer: Terra ForceXIII
~*~ Hitomi no Tsubasa ~*~
Chapter Four: Calm Tide
The whole castle rumbled as the fight continued on; sounds of clashing metal, loud smashes of feet and hands breaking the ground, and the battle cries of the Unversed.
The armored monster was swinging its six arms wildly, the four Unversed jumping and dodging away as they circled the monster. Aqua slid on the ground with her frost covered boots, swiftly dodging the monster's feeble attempts to claw her.
While the monster was distracted with the blue maiden, he heard a loud roar and looked back, seeing a tall brunette lunging at him. Terra's hand was blazing a bright orange, smashing his fist on the monster's snake like head, causing the monster to stumble backwards.
Meanwhile, Xion sprinted towards the stumbling monster and she quickly sliced by one of its legs with her black rapier sword. Sparks flashed from the sliced area of the monster's leg, making the mechanical beast fall on its knees while two of its hands balanced itself on the ground.
Roxas was hesitant as he watched the fight, shaking his hands as he tried to gain some courage to fight with his friends. He soon remembered Xion's words when they decided to help the adults. 'Roxas, your powers are similar to mine, you can create weapons just by thinking about them. Concentrate on what you want, and it'll appear in your hands.'
"Concentrate…" Roxas whispered; closing his eyes as images flooded his conscious.
While he was thinking, a flash appeared before his hidden eyes. An image of something came to him, it was blurry but it felt familiar. In fact, he knew that it was a sword, but he couldn't make out the texture.
"What was this?" He thought.
But his thoughts quickly returned to their goal, as his hands flexed with flashes of sparks discharging in his fingers. He shot his yellow eyes open, the iris flashing with bright colors. He stretched his hand out, suddenly a blade materialized out of streaks of light, forming together until they faded away, revealing a plain cutlass sword. He summoned another one in his other hand, holding both by his sides.
The armored monster noticed the still target, getting back up on its hook-like feet and charging after the blonde. Roxas jumped when the monster swiped at him, landing on its shoulder while stabbing one of his blades into it. Sparks flashed out of the monster's shoulder, Roxas jumping back to safety while the six armed machine roared in false anger.
"Way to go, Roxas!" Xion cheered, making the blonde boy flush red from the flattery.
"It's not over yet," Aqua added, walking beside Roxas as she stared off at the enraged monster.
"We have to finish this quickly, or else this place will be flooded with HOC soldiers!" Xion warned.
They all gasped as they saw Terra sprint by them, the brunette charging the monster with full force. "Then let's take this thing down!" He yelled.
Terra skidded on the ground as he halted right under the monster's chest, the mechanical being adjusting its red eyes on the Unversed under it. Terra roared as he jumped at the monster's chest, his hand burning with a bright light. He fist colliding with the monster's metal chest and a loud clang echoed throughout the castle as the monster's armored chest dented from the punch. The metal beast screeched as it fell on its knees again, Terra jumping back as the others ran after the injured monster.
Aqua jumped over the monster while calling another Blizzard attack, aiming at the monster's claws. The many balls of ice shattered on the monster's metal palms, freezing them on the ground.
The monster's head looked up with a hiss, seeing two kids lunging at it with swords. Roxas and Xion shouted as they slammed their blades on the monster's head, slicing across its face as sparks flashed all around its head.
The Unversed regrouped back together in front of the monster, watching as the mechanical being twitched and shuttered until it collapsed with a rumble. The machine sparked and its red laser-like eyes faded into a dull grey.
The group of Unversed huffed and panted, Roxas and Xion falling on their bottoms while Terra kept his gaze on the defeated machine. His attention was shifted when he heard Aqua walking away, turning his head to see her walking in the direction of the cargo train center.
"We should get going, I've had enough of this place," Aqua spoke seriously.
"Right…" Terra sighed, joining her walk while the other two stumbled back on their feet.
Terra quickly became aware that something was wrong with Aqua, noticing that she wasn't even looking at him as they walked together. She also had an edgy look on her face as she tried to keep her gaze forward.
Terra placed his hand on her shoulder as he spoke. "Hey… Aqua… are you al-"
Terra's sentence was cut off by something he never expected, a slap to the face. His expression changing from worry to surprise, his cheek beginning to turn a shade of red. Aqua's gaze shot back towards Terra, her eyes narrowed while her lips curved down into a frown.
"You idiot!" She shouted, making Terra flinch. "I told you to leave me behind; you were supposed to leave with the kids and escape!"
Terra was shocked; he wasn't expecting this at all. Seeing her angry with him made his stomach turn uneasily, her ocean blue eyes narrowing him down into a puddle of confusion. But then he realized something, his shocked gaze turning into an equally upset expression as hers.
"Wait a second, is this how you treat someone who saved your life!" Terra barked back.
"I didn't ask for your help, and even if I did, you're still an idiot for charging after that thing without knowing anything about your powers!" Aqua argued.
Meanwhile, Roxas and Xion were watching with worried faces as the two adults continued to argue. Xion hesitantly lifting her hand to gain attention so she could stop the fight but finding no gap between Terra and Aqua's shouts.
"You're an Idiot!" Aqua finished, stomping away from Terra.
Terra growled as he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration, quickly following her down the steps while the kids timidly did the same. The whole walk down the steps was silent between the group, Aqua being in front while Terra gave her death looks from behind, Roxas and Xion staying side by side as they awaited another argument between the two.
When they made it to the train center, Aqua was the first to walk inside one of the doors and quickly slam it shut. Terra huffed in defiance and entered another doorway, waiting the kids to join him. They entered the dark metal train and closed the hatch. The train was smooth with shiny grey plating; the front of the train was smoothed out into an oval shape.
Inside the train, Terra sat on one of the seats while he looked back outside the circular window next to him, his body nudged a bit as the train began to move. Roxas and Xion sat across from him with their hands on their laps, watching Terra's every moment for a sign of another predictable outrage.
Terra's orange eyes narrowed as they watched the metal door, knowing full well that Aqua was in that unit of the train. He huffed again and looked away, his eyes noticing the two kids staring at him.
"What?' He huffed.
"Maybe you should talk to her," Xion suggested softly.
"For what!" He barked back. "She's the one having the attitude, not me!"
Roxas and Xion glanced at each other with a raised eyebrow, both noticing the denial in his words. The metal room became darker as the train entered a tunnel leaving the castle, dim lights passing by the windows every few seconds. Terra's pouting expression was still visible to the two teens as the dim lights passed by his shadowed body repeatedly.
"Even so, you should go talk to her. Clear this thing up now before we reach the next stop," Xion suggested again in a soft tone.
Terra didn't say anything, his eyes descended down with his eyebrows relaxing into sadness. He wanted to clear this argument up too; he didn't want her hating him for the whole ride out of Hollow Bastion. Even if it means losing a bit of his pride, he'll do it if it means having her okay with him again.
Terra gave a long sigh as he pushed himself back in his feet, walking down the metal train to the door. When he came near it, it swiftly slid open from his presence. The inside of the train was still a little dark, the passing faint lights guiding down the train from the windows.
Terra's eyes softened when he saw Aqua sitting on one of the seats, her arms crossed with one leg perched over the other. She was looking away from Terra's direction, not saying a word.
Terra walked closer and sat two seats away from her, figuring he start off by giving her the necessary space. The brunette took a better look on Aqua's face, expecting to see her still upset, but was greeted with a sorrowful look in her eyes.
She didn't look angry, her eyes were half closed while her expression was soft and relaxed. She was sad. Her star-shaped pendant swayed back and forth from the train's movement, the passing lights making it twinkle, while Terra's did the same.
"Aqua…" Terra spoke with a light voice, hunching over with his arms resting on his knees. "I'm sorry about what I did."
"No… you shouldn't apologize," Aqua whispered.
The blue maiden's arms unfolded and her palms rested on her lap, her head still turned away from the brunette. The train kept moving on through the tunnel, while the dark room felt quiet for the longest time, both Unversed trying to think of something to say to break the silence.
Aqua motioned her gloved hand to her face, brushing back a couple blue locks away from her gleaming eyes. "I was scared," She whispered, getting Terra's attention.
"What?"
"I was scared; I didn't want you to die because of me. I didn't want anyone dying because of me. That's why I fight alone, that's why the Blue Angel… doesn't have any friends."
Terra's eyes widened from her words, his heart suddenly being squeezed with guilt. He looked away from her, trying to find the best words to say, but he couldn't think of anything. He brought his hand to his orange pendant; the passing lights making it shine as always.
"You're not alone… Aqua," Terra whispered.
Aqua turned her head towards him, her expression shocked from those words. Terra's eyes directed to hers, their eyes faintly glowing in the dark.
"You're not alone anymore, you have me-" Terra stuttered. "Us… you have us now."
Suddenly, the train escaped from the dark tunnel. A bright beam of light shined through the windows of the train, Terra covering his eyes from the sudden alternation of light. When he opened them again, the morning light revealed to him something he couldn't describe. It made his orange eyes widened and the very image burned into his brain, making the tall brunette grin.
Aqua was smiling warmly at him, her blue hair waving with a slit of orange reflecting off her blue tresses from the sun's rays. She giggled as she brushed back her waving locks, her laughter making him even happier.
She looked down, trying to hide her overly excited smile. "Thank you, Terra."
"No problem." Terra sighed, looking out the window and into the grassy plains with the orange sun rising from the distance.
"You're still an idiot," Aqua mentioned.
Terra chuckled. "Yeah… I know."
The cargo train continued on through the grassy plains, passing by small farm lands while the morning sun shined warmly over the train's passengers. The four Unversed sat quietly across from each other, the two teens sleeping while Terra and Aqua stared casually through the windows. Xion was resting her head on Roxas's shoulder while he did the same on her head; the blue maiden noticed this and smiled for a second.
"So, tell me everything I need to know," Terra's voice broke through the silence. "About this world we live in, the places and people, I want to know it all."
"There's a lot to talk about," Aqua giggled. "But I guess we have time to discuss."
Aqua rested her shoulder on her seat while she looked out the window, her ocean eyes glistening a slit of orange light from the sun's rays.
"I should first tell you the three types of people who live in this world; the normal humans who have grey eyes, the Unversed with multicolored eyes, and the Nobodies with pale white eyes."
"Nobodies?" Terra questioned.
"Nobodies are people with no hearts. They've lost their hearts and emotions in their lives. They live with the humans in peace, but it wasn't always like that," Aqua explained casually.
"They have no hearts, no feelings?" Terra muttered, astonished.
"The Hollow Order Core is a branch of the human military that protects its people from nonhuman entities. Fifty years ago, the relationship between the humans and the Nobodies was in constant conflict. The HOC would round up Nobodies wherever they can and put them in confinement, while the Nobodies themselves regrouped together in a place they could be accepted, Sanctuary."
"What's Sanctuary?" Terra questioned again.
"Sanctuary is a place controlled by Nobodies who congregate their kind together in safety, while secretly fighting against the HOC. But fifty years ago, they both finally signed a treaty together, which brought noble rights to the Nobodies living in human society."
Terra's mind was practically exploding with confusion, people with no hearts fighting against the humans, but what does this have to do with Unversed.
"What about us, where do we fit in all of this?" Terra insisted.
Aqua's head rested on the seat, closing her eyes. "Unversed appeared randomly during these fifty years of peace, because we are considered nonhuman entities, the Nobodies aren't hostile towards us. But the humans and HOC see otherwise,"
Terra's eyes narrowed as irritation from the HOC's history made him clench his teeth. "Why do they hate us?"
Aqua looked at him with a blank expression, but then her eyebrows tilted upward as her face became sorrowful again. "There are a lot of rumors that go around about Unversed, mostly bad."
"Like what?"
Aqua closed her eyes and turned her head, the orange sun reflecting off her bare skin. "I don't know if this rumor is true or not, I've never seen it happen before."
Terra felt something twist in his stomach, anxiety and wonder built up in his chest as Aqua continued on.
"They say; Unversed can increase their powers by eating the hearts of living people."
DuhDuhDaahh! O_o
Didn't see that coming did yeh? Well I hope you guys enjoyed this emotional chapter, the next chapter will probably have more explaining too, maybe I'll figure a way to explain it while the story keeps moving forward.
So how do you like this world so far, the Unversed and Nobody idea and all? Don't worry, I'll show off some Nobody culture in the next chapter. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, original characters and story belongs to their original owners…