"I don't understand why I'm here."
Lifting his head, Sora stared out over the city with a sigh. He was standing on the Princess Marina's balcony, looking down upon the city streets. The ghost floated nearby, being her usual, mysterious self. She would say nothing to him no matter how he asked her. She would only ever say something about her brother.
But Sora knew he had only one sister, and the ghost was not her. Then who was the girl's brother? And where was he? Sora had thought about it often but didn't know what to do. How to convince the hard headed ghost that her brother was someone else, out there somewhere?
Sora felt bad for her, mostly. He glanced at her, and sighed again. She was lost, lonely, and confused, and had latched onto Sora for comfort.
"Why are you showing me all this stuff?" He asked.
Finally the girl looked up at him, an innocent, yet sad look on her face. "Because... we lived back then, remember?" So the ghost girl was from the Fallen Kingdom.
"You might have... but I didn't. I'm still alive." Sora tried to say.
The girl just shook her head. "I know your my brother. I know!" She insisted. "He never passed on! He's still here. I'm sure you'll remember soon!" She turned away, her mouth set in a determined frown.
Realization dawned on the teen. "That's why your showing me this stuff. You think... it'll help me remember something?" The girl nodded.
"You and I saw all this stuff happening. We tried to stop it. I know it'll help you remember." She said.
Somehow, Sora doubted it.
-=-=-
He made no sound as he walked into the dark throne room. But then, darkness never did make a sound, did it? The being grinned, fangs showing over his lips.
He stepped closer to the unconcious boy on the floor, kneeling beside him. The grin on his face was absolutely feral. Whatever his intentions were, they weren't nice. Slowly, his hand moved toward's Sora's sleeping face. It fluttered by his head, almost nervously, until suddenly the hand sped towards the boy's face and went into his skull. The darkness throbbed, and the sleeping face contorted in pain and let out a vicious scream.
-=-=-
"Brother! What's wrong? What's wrong!?"
Sora was kneeling on the floor, hands on his head, screaming his heart out in agony. The ghost didn't know what to do, panicking, and in doing so, she lost control of her illusion of the past. The castle, the city, and the princesses, everything faded away. The truth was revealed; Sora and the ghost were standing in the darkness on a tall pillar, with a stained glass motif on the floor. It was a picture of Kingdom Hearts, and the Fallen Kingdom from before its fall, in all its glory.
Sora's screams took a darker turn, as something, a liquid, began to drip from his face. The ghost, crying, turned to him, and saw a puddle of dark liquid gathering on his forehead. It grew, and grew, and Sora kept screaming, as the darkness stretched out and began to form into a being.
It withdrew from Sora and stood nearby, and the dark substance disappeared from Sora's head. The boy fell to the floor in a heap, unconcious immediately. The ghost screamed, confused, worried, and desperately scared.
The being didn't seem to notice. He stood for a moment, eyes closed, before he slowly opened them, taking in his surroundings. He stretched, cracked his neck, moved his arms a little. It had been a long time since he'd been free.
In truth he wasn't totally free yet. He had awakened in the underground of the ruins of the Fallen Kingdom, and had immediately sought Sora out. Once he found him, he entered his mind. Now that both those things were complete, the being was ready for the final task, which would truly free him - forever.
"This won't do." The being spoke. His voice rumbled like evil, masculine and resonant. "After waiting so long to see him, he's not even awake to greet me." It began sauntering towards Sora's form, and immediately the ghost flew inbetween them.
"Leave him alone!" She screeched, ready to throw her powerful magic at him. The being didn't stop walking; it didn't even blink. But in one second, one blink of an eye, the ghost was suddenly gone, disappeared, banished. Only Sora remained, alone - alone with him.
"What a weak creature. I'm done using you." The being said, though the ghost could not hear him. It didn't matter.
He - it - whatever it was approached Sora and lifted a hand out over his body. "Wake up." He ordered. Suddenly Sora's eyes sprang open, and a moment later, he was lifted to his feet by a hand grabbing his collar.
"What - what the hell?" Still confused and tired, Sora didn't understand what was going on as he was lifted and then thrown back.
"Come on boy. If you're going to die, die on your feet." The being cackled. Sora's eyes wouldn't focus, and he couldn't hear right. His mind was on fire. It hurt - everything hurt - and every step the being took towards him made him hurt more. The closer it got, the more the pain amplified. Sora shut his eyes.
"Look at me!" The thing demanded. Something suddenly collided with Sora's face, and it burned like fire, scorching his cheek raw. It hurt like hell. A foot met his abdomen and he was violently turned over, rolling a few feet. "I want my face to be the last thing you ever see."
Blood trickled through Sora's mouth as he tried to stand. The blows hurt so much, more than normal, as if each one was sucking the life out of him. He struggled to his feet, only to be knocked to the ground again as the creature grabbed his collar and tossed him over his shoulder, and Sora hit the ground on his back, hard. He screamed again.
"A wonderful sound, that." The thing laughed. Finally it relented, and Sora had a moment to compose himself.
What was it, and where had it come from? The pain of the injuries, as if some sort of blistering fire had punched him, made Sora think of the Heartless. But he'd never met a Heartless that spoke to him, save for Ansem. Was this thing like Ansem? A personified Heartless? Sora attempted to call the Keyblade but something stopped him.
"You can't use it." The being said. "I won't let you."
Sora spat blood and finally stood tall again. "And who're you to tell me what to do!?" He was pissed off, bleeding, and ready to smash some heads.
The being laughed again, and it sent another flash of rage through Sora. "Who am I? Why, I'm you." It laughed again but that didn't register to Sora as he stopped breathing. Finally, he looked up and saw the creature for what it was.
It was him. Covered in shadows, reeking of them, the darkness bubbling up at his feet. It laughed maniacally as Sora looked him over, confused and scared, and the creature continued to laugh. It looked almost perfectly like him, but for the yellow eyes and clothes of black pants, no shoes or shirt, and his crown necklace around the thing's neck.
It was his shadow, it was Anti - Sora, but it had a voice, and it was laughing, and there was something so terribly evil, anciently evil about it, that Sora felt absolutely helpless, and had never been so scared in his entire life.
-=-=-
The monk Miroku had been faced with many monsters and dangers in his lifetime. He'd even fought against his own friend once when he'd gone beserk, but he'd never been faced with a werewolf before. One bite, and the monk would have another curse to live with besides the wind tunnel in his hand.
Miroku knew on sight that it was a werewolf. Now he understood why Lupin had been left behind. If only they'd known the mangy mutt could swim. Also, he really regretted that he couldn't simply suck the beast into his wind tunnel, but he couldn't do that to the poor professor.
Backing away, the man's mind raced as he desperately searched for an answer. The wolf snarled, its glowing eyes trained on him, following him. At any moment the tension would break and the beast would attack, and then Miroku would be done for, one way or another.
They stood at an impasse, neither making a move. The door to the galley was all the way across the deck, and the wolf stood between it and Miroku. The monk cursed his luck.
Suddenly the beast lunged, and Miroku was frozen, heart racing, he couldn't make himself move, it was like he was trapped in quicksand -
As the beast flew through the air, it was suddenly hit in the side by something flying through the air, and thrown to the deck, hitting the wood with a thunderous crash. The top level of the ship was suddenly filled with the rest of the crew, all shouting Miroku's name and rushing to his aid.
Tifa came over to his side, fists raised, and glanced at him. "You all right?"
He nodded frantically. "Horribly shaken and in need of new pants, but I'm alive." Thank any and all gods for that!
He glanced back out over the deck; standing near the wolf was a tall, bat like thing, which looked frighteningly like a demon. It was red and gold, and very tall, with piercing eyes. Where in the world had it come from?
Everyone but Tifa seemed to be confused about the newcomer. "What... what is it?" Aime muttered, standing near the door with Riku, whose Keyblade was drawn.
"That's Vincent." Tifa said, shocking the group. They all turned to stare at the tall winged wonder as the creature growled at its werewolf foe. Tifa smirked proudly. "My boyfriend."
-=-=-
"What - What's going on?" Sora whispered, glancing around as if to look for a way out, or an answer. "What's happening?"
"Your death." The creature stated plainly. A shiver that made him visibly shake ran down Sora's spine. This thing was evil. And it was after him.
He finally noticed that the ghost girl was gone. "What'd you do to her?" Despite his fear and weakness, the idea of the girl being hurt renewed the fire in his veins.
"She's gone. No use to you. Locked away in her seal." The thing said with a nonchalant wave of it's arm. It's pupil-less eyes became trained on him again. "It's just you and me, together again, after all these years." It began moving closer, and Sora bravely held his ground. "In truth, I have nothing against you. Your death is simply a necessity. It's too bad you won't live to see my final glory."
"F - Final glory?" Sora's eyes narrowed. "And what's that?"
Suddenly the thing raised its arms in the air and laughed again, and the darkness swelled and spewed into the air like a geyser. "My... revenge!" It cackled, the darkness spiraling and dancing around him. It moved dangerously close to Sora, who quickly back away. The darkness covered almost the entire platform.
But even as Sora backed away, the darkness suddenly danced around him and surrounded him on all sides, and then moved in. Sora had no where to go, as the darkness formed a circle around him. It didn't touch him, but came darn close.
"After all these years I'll get to see everything I HATE... die." The cackles died down to little spasms of quiet laughter, which frankly was more creepy and evil sounding. Sora's sword arm quivered, but the Keyblade still wouldn't come to him. Suddenly the laughter died, and the thing was angry. "Stop! Trying!" It shouted. "No matter what you do that infernal thing won't come to you." Sora clenched his fists and frowned. "I'm part of you, and I can block off the part of you that's connected to it. It can't reach you, even if it wanted to."
"If you're part of me... what do you want revenge for? What'd I do to you?" Sora asked, searching for answers. But he was also stalling for time.
"Oh it wasn't you, little one, don't confuse yourself. It was THEM!" The creature spun around and thrust it's arms out, and in the murky darkness an image of the Fallen Kingdom appeared. The creature snarled and it truly sounded like a beast. "All of them! Those traitorous bastards!" The image danced and waved with his anger, and the darkness with it.
"The people of the Kingdom?" Sora asked. Now he was really confused. "But... I wasn't alive back then. What are you talking about?"
The creature, its back still turned to Sora, began to chuckle lightly. "Oh little one... so confused." It turned back to him. "Perhaps, as a thank you for donating your life to my cause, I shall enlighten you." It approached him slowly, like a tiger stalking prey, a light smile on its lips. "You were not alive then, no... but I was."
"Y - you?"
The thing nodded and smirked. "Perhaps it is more correct to say... that you are a part of me... not the other way around." The smirk grew into a beast's grin.
Suddenly tendrils of the darkness rose from the ground, and in a flash, flew at Sora. He opened his mouth to scream, raised his hands to his head, but couldn't stop them. The strings latched onto him, entered his mind, and dragged him into the world of memories.
-=-=-
In the throne room of the castle, the little crown sat on its satin pillow, and began to shake slightly. It shook more violently, until it looked like it was having a seizure. After a moment it began to glow, and in a flash, a spiritual form erupted from the crown.
"Finally!" The ghost girl chirped. She'd been accidentally or purposefully locked into her seal many times, but it had never taken her so long to escape. That stupid dark spirit... interrupting her and her brother's time! The spirit wanted to go fight with the dark one, but she knew she would lose. Plus, she could tell that Sora was safe, out of the reaches of the darkness.
The same could not be said for Sora's friends. The ghost could feel them fighting nearby, on the edge of the island. She knew that they already had their hands full, and they didn't know about the onslaught that was soon to come. Once the dark one had Sora out of the way, he would surely begin to open the door to Darkness again. The Heartless army would be free, and Sora's friends would be right in their way.
The ghost, though it was usually selfish and concerned little with the safety of the world, knew she had to do something.
She knew that the Heartless couldn't be allowed to leave the Fallen Kingdom. If they did, it would be that much harder to get rid of them for good. They had to be stopped right here, right now. If the warriors of light could keep them back long enough for the Keyblade bearer to open the Door to Light, which was buried deep beneath the castle, then the Heartless could finally be destroyed.
But the few people on the island weren't enough. More would have to come. And the only one who could bring them was her - the ghost.
It would take a lot of energy. But the ghost would do it, because she knew she had too. She couldn't let her brothers friends die, she couldn't let the worlds get destroyed. She would do whatever it took to keep her brother happy.
Knowing that, the girl closed her eyes, and began her spell.
-=-=-
For the second time, Sora found himself encompassed in the past. This time, he was alone, though the thing was narrating to him in his mind. The memories flashed through his mind so fast it was like he was living all of them in a millisecond, like he was a computer downloading the files. All the while, the thing explained to him the truth.
The Kingdom was a place full of the blind, the deaf, and the dumb. They pretended that what they could not see could not exist.
In this time there was no light. Outside the city limits was all darkness. The Kingdom was forever at risk of destruction.
Sora saw images of what was described - the city, living in peace and prosperity, while behind closed doors, the peace was kept with cruel, heartless means. A corrupted city living in ignorance of the evil at its heart. And, surrounded on all sides by darkness, which threatened to engulf it each day.
So, to protect the city, the elders created the Heart, which radiated light. The Heart was created by the greatest, most secret, most powerful magic. But it was fragile, and had to be watched over.
Seven girls, pure of heart, one from each district of the city, were chosen to watch over the Heart. Each girl devoted their very existence to it, living for no other reason than to give it the energy to survive.
At this point Sora saw from Cero's point of view; he saw the Prince watching the princesses in secret, watching their sad expressions, the dark bags beneath their eyes, the hopeless lives they lead. They were birds kept in cages, their feathers molting.
The hearts of the lonely girls were not enough to support the Heart. The darkness began to creep in. The town was in fear.
Now Sora could see as the shadows moved in; buildings would disappear overnight, people going out to town and never returning home. Slowly and surely the darkness was taking over the city, and the people were hysteric.
At that time, A man named Xehanort came from the darkness, the first to ever do so.
The similarity between the image Sora saw of Xehanort and the current Xemnas was very scary. Sora didn't even want to try and wrap his mind around how this Xemnas clone was related to the powerful leader of the Organization. Sora watched the Ansem person walk into the city, appearing out of thin air from the shadows, those around him watching in awe. He walked proudly, and was not intimidated by the revulsion and fear of those around him.
He was immediately taken to the King. Xehanort began to tell of monsters that lived in the darkness, that fed off of the light of people. If the people did not find a way to fight them off, they would invade the kingdom and kill everyone.
He revealed that he held knowledge from the darkness to create blades that could destroy the monsters. Immediately he was given permission to start.
Sora watched as Ansem set to work and spent months perfecting the weapons that were going to be used. He worked underground, in secret, away from the rest of the world.
But Ansem needed light to help with the making of the weapons. Of course, one of the princesses was offered up as a sacrifice. This princess would allow pieces of her heart, her light, to be placed within the blades to give them strength. The princess chosen was a girl named Marina.
A smiling girl, looking up at him with love - a teenage girl's heartfelt laughter - words spoken, hugs given - it ran through Sora's head and was very familiar to him. The emotions that Cero had felt and was sharing with Sora, the boy had already felt before, with Kairi. Cero had really been head over heels for the red headed princess.
Marina had been, for a long time, having a secret romance with the boy prince Cero. It was because of this that Marina was chosen. The princess chosen would likely die for the blades, and it was thought to be a fitting punishment for the traitor.
A single memory overpowered Sora for a moment.
"No! Don't do this, your majesty, please! Punish me!" Cero pleaded to the King. The bearded man slowly shook his head.
"No, Cero. You have done no wrong. The Princess must only serve the Heart. She must be punished."
Angered and feeling helpless, Cero clenched his fists and said no more.
The creation of the blades continued. Marina placed a piece of her heart in each one, and slowly, began to fade away. In the end, four blades were created.
These blades, which were shaped like large keys, were given to those who cared about the Princess Marina. It was believed that the pieces of Marina's heart would respond more to someone who the princess loved.
But there was a trick. Ansem had not been truthful. He had given three of the four "keyblade bearers" fakes. Only one was real. It had been a test to see if the blades without Marina's heart could work as well as the one with the heart piece. The only keyblade that worked was the one with Marina's heart. This was the blade that Cero had been given.
Because of his success, Cero was regarded as a hero. He was called the true Keyblade bearer, the chosen one, amongst other things.
The images showed the people celebrating Cero, cheering his name, while the other keyblade bearers faded into the background. One, in particular, seemed a little pissed off by the turn of events. Tier seemed to be very jealous, to the point of anger.
To everyone's surprise, Marina survived sharing her heart with the blades. Her love for Cero seemed to have made her strong enough. But, it was for this strong heart that the darkness began to target her. She was constantly in danger.
Tortured, painful feelings raced through Sora as he felt Cero's fear of losing Marina, and his need to protect her.
Cero and Tier both wanted to save Marina - but unlike Cero, Tier had figured out the truth. He knew that the keyblade he had been given was a fake, and he knew that Marina hadn't been stolen. Ansem had given her to the darkness.
So, one night, Tier took Cero into the secret chamber where the keyblades were made...
... "He lied to us! He never gave us the real ones at all!"
Slamming his fist into the ice, Tier didn't blink when it began to bleed. He was enraged. "What… what's going on, Tier?" Cero asked.
"The old man… he said that with our swords, we could save the world. But we never had the real ones at all! Did we?" Glancing up, Tier frowned. "Wait… that one in the middle is different. It doesn't look at all like yours…"
Cero frowned too. The one in the middle was small, much smaller than his. If it was true that Tier, Cero, and Marina's blades were fakes, then the flower blade was the real version of Marina's blade, and the black one with the wing was Tier's actual blade. But the one in the middle wasn't like Cero's at all. Frowning, Cero summoned his blade.
It was like the small one, but longer, with different colors. The handle was golden, not white.
As Cero looked over his blade, and then to the wall, in amazement, Tier glared, his fury rising. Why…
"Why did he give you the real one?" Tier muttered. Cero looked at him.
"What?"
"Why did Xehanort give you the Keyblade?" Tier growled, his voice rising. Cero looked at his friend in surprise. What was wrong?
"Tier… what are you talking about?"
"You've always been hopeless" Tier spat. "I may have been a slave, but I was better off than you! You, the foolish prince who tripped over his own feet, who didn't know the crown from a hat! Why you!?"
Roaring in anger, the boy swept everything off the desk by summoning his blade. Screaming, Tier destroyed the desk; in shock, Cero ran, ran down the hall in the back, scared for his life, and confused.
"Why!?"
Tier glanced down at the fake in his hands. He closed his eyes. Darkness began swirling around the fake blade, very weakly at first. Tier cursed his strength. The boy raced after Cero.
The two boys disappeared into darkness…
As you can see, Tier wasn't very happy when he found proof of Ansem's lies. And his jealousy finally destroyed him - destroyed us all.
The two boys disappeared into darkness…
Gasping for breath, the young boy slid to a halt at a dead end. "Dead end? No!" The only things in the room were a domed roof with lanterns and a large, strange well in the center. Behind it was a large mural, but Cero didn't pay it any mind.
"A well?" Thinking it his only hope, Cero climbed up the side and looked down. Darkness was thick in the well, but a strange blue light shone very far below in the bottom. It was a long fall, but maybe the only way to get out of Tier's way. It was bad to hang around when Tier got in a rage.
"Cero!"
Tier raced into the room, his face contorted in rage. Gasping in fright, Cero spun around, and to his shock saw tendrils of darkness wrapping around Tier's blade.
"No! Tier, you know what'll happen –"
"Shut up!" The boy was breathing hard, but maybe not because of the running. "It's the only way! If Xehanort won't help me, no one will!"
"But –"
"You're in the way!" Tier spat bitterly. His features became softer.
"I'm the only one who can save Marina."
Believing that he alone could protect Marina from the darkness, wanting desperately to be the Kingdom's hero, Tier struck his friend down in cold blood.
But Tier's hatred and anger opened the door for the shadows to get in. Through his heart, they entered the city, attacking Tier and Cero first...
"I'm the only one who can save Marina."
He raised the blade ahead of him. It was pointed at Cero.
"Tier - !"
Before he could finish his words, Cero felt a stabbing pain in his chest, just below his heart. Darkness surrounded the blade even more, as the tendrils reached out and impaled Cero's skin. It was going deeper, digging, burning into his skin, reaching up into his heart, burning everything away with darkness and hatred.
"Ah – ah – AHHHH! AHHHH!!"
It was like he was being burned alive from the inside – darkness growing, swelling inside of him. Then it just stopped. And almost, like slow motion, he fell, gracefully, broken; his dead body plummeted down into the darkness, disappeared into the blue light down in the well.
Tier let the blade fall, gasping, and looked at his right hand. It was singed, burned a dark red from holding the blade. It clattered to the floor.
"What – what?" Gasping, the boy felt pain growing in his own heart – a burning sensation – so painful – like he was being burned alive –
It was the end of everything. Cero's dying body fell into the well, and Tier was destroyed from the inside out.
But Cero was not quite dead, and the shadows were still on him. They infested him. But the place where his body lay was a place of light, far beneath the city. So the shadows could not take him. But they still grew within him, slowly destroying him, painfully ripping him apart.
It didn't end, even for centuries after the Kingdom's death. It kept tearing him apart, eating away at him slowly... and he could feel it all...
The very pain that the creature was describing, Sora was feeling. He was, in a matter of seconds, living through the eons of agony that Cero had lived through, and it was more than torturous. It was hell.
It destroyed him. Eventually, he opened what little was left of his heart to the darkness. He surrendered. And I was born.
Like surfacing from a body of water, Sora was suddenly back in the real world, free of the memories.
He didn't feel much better for it.
-=-=-
"Tier betrayed us." The thing slowly began to approach Sora, as if he were a predator. "They all did, leaving us to die, to suffer!" His anger flowed into the darkness, making it ripple and grow. It came closer to Sora every second. he still couldn't call the Keyblade, no matter how he tried.
"Even her. She..." For a moment the creature was distracted, his anger replaced by a forlorn sadness.
In that moment Sora did the one thing he could think of. Instead of allowing the ever threatening darkness to consume him, he turned and bravely leapt off the side of the platform. Too late the creature realized and snarled in anger. The tendrils of darkness chased him but were not fast enough, and the teen fell into the empty abyss.
-=-=-
There is a difference between darkness and a simple absence of substance. Darkness is deep, penetrating, frightening, pitch black. Nothingness is like floating in an ocean of water that you cannot see or feel, like drowning while still being able to breathe. The space into which Sora leapt was not part of the realm of Darkness or Light, but simply an empty space between them.
It seemed like it took years for Sora to plummet through the vast void, but in reality, seconds after he jumped Sora landed hard on his rear end in a pile of books. A few curses and grunts later, he was struggling to his feet, heart pounding.
That had been a close one, a real scrape. He'd almost been killed! Overtaken by the darkness! It was such a close call that it sent chills down Sora's spine. And he was pissed that he had been so helpless without the Keyblade. He hadn't been able to do a thing, and it irked him.
The boy glanced up at where he'd fallen from, and saw above a towering chasm that seemed to never end. He stared up at it for a few moments. Nothing followed after him, so he assumed he was safe - for the time being.
Frightened and frustrated, Sora attempted to call the Keyblade. no matter what he tried, his hand remained empty. Throwing his arms up in defeat, the boy sighed and sat down.
"What am I supposed to do now?" He huffed and hung his head.
"Well, to start, you could introduce yourself."
The boy jumped at the voice, standing again, only to trip on a book and fall. Flailing in the pile, Sora found a extended to him. He took it.
"Uh, thanks." He muttered. Once he came face to face with the man, his eyes grew wide. "Holy shit!"
The person who's hand he was holding blinked and glanced around. "Hmm?" He asked. "Is something wrong?"
The man was tall, slim, and broad shouldered, with short, messy silver hair and an angular face. Ragged, dirty, and ruffled, the poor man looked like he'd been thrown head first into a trash can, and smelled like it too. He seemed to know how he appeared, and flushed scarlet.
"Sorry, it's a rarity for me to have guests. I wasn't prepared." He chuckled nervously, holding up the tattered ends of his white scientist coat. Sora continued to gape like a fish, making the man very self conscious.
He wore glasses over his piercing green eyes, and though he looked a little anxious, he had a kind, disarming smile. He seemed genuine.
"You..." Sora stumbled backward, almost falling again. "You're Dr. Komyou. The scientist... from the Destiny Islands!" Sora gawked, shaking his head as if it were a dream.
The tall man across from him now looked shocked. "You... you know me?" The man gaped. It took Sora a moment to recover, but finally he responded.
The teen looked up and quietly stated, "I know your son."
-=-=-
More to come soon!