Me: Hey shadows, I'm here with another chapter of Days of a Heartless! Along with me today, I have Saix and Xemnas -
Saix: (cuts in) Lord Xemnas.
Me: Oh, right, Lord Xemnas - (Sorry about that) Are here to help! So, please can you two say the disclaimers?
Xemnas: Sure. Like always, Miss Oblivion J owns nothing of Kingdom Hearts by Square Enix and Disney.
Saix: All she owns is her plot and OC.
Me: With our disclaimer done, let the chapter begin!
Chapter 26 - Team Shade Part 1
No one knew the darkest darkness, coldness or the way it felt on your body. The coldness burned you like fire, freezing you to death, making you shiver and tremble.
Ashley and I felt just that long ago in the depths of Kingdom Hearts, when the door was finally closed, yet this place was different. The darkness wasn't like a blizzard here, instead the darkness here was less freezing and felt almost like Hollow Bastion, when I first visited.
However, I still found myself quivering lightly. The darkness wasn't EVEN cold here, yet my body was shaking, taken over by fear, once I laid my eyes on the structure that stood before us.
A castle, as huge as a skyscraper, pierced into the heavens. The castle was completely gray, with golden cone looking roofs up above. Down below, two small towers were built on each side of the entrance, with a giant, wooden doors in the center. From the entrance, a pair of stairs sat leading down to the courtyard, where several gargoyle statues sat on pillars scattered around us in a wide circle, while Ash and I stood in the middle of the castle's courtyard.
Where in heart are we!, I wondered, turning toward Ashley hoping that she knew something that I didn't. However, she just looked at me, the same confused look in her eyes.
"What happened? This ISN'T Traverse Town at all!," I screamed, what we were both thinking. "Why did we end up here?"
"Nico, I don't know," Ash responded, fixing her scarf. "I'd like to know that same question myself. I was positive the darkness I sensed certainly was Traverse Town, yet we're here instead. I either felt the wrong darkness - my bad if I did - or something is blocking us from reaching it."
Blocking us? How could that be? How could a world block us off? I didn't bother asking the questions, rapidly forming in my head. I mean Ashley might have been intelligent, yet she didn't have the answers to everything. Like me, there was only so much she knew.
Concentrating on the problem at hand, I tried to understand what was going on, until unexpectedly I felt my grip on my journal loosening. Quickly, I tightened my grip and decided to place Pal up to my body, tightening it around me" so it wouldn't get away.
I sigh deeply, "So, if we can't find the path to Traverse Town, we'll never find it at all."
"Precisely," She nodded.
I turn glum at the thought of that. My homeworld: Traverse Town - the place I started and lived was just gone? Surely that wasn't the case, because every world came back! Sora and Kairi are back on their world, even the other worlds I've been to before had come back. Maybe we just missed it and ended up here on accident. I put my antennas up trying to find the darkness of my home - yet nothing. No luck. The world's darkness had vanished -
I look around. Somewhere in a place unknown to both of us. I sigh deeply again, before a lightbulb come over my head. "Hey! Why not explore this place instead? We can't go to Traverse Town and this place is a new world, both of us haven't seen at all, so why not we explore around?"
"Nico, we're close to the darkness here, kind of like we were Hollow Bastion. Hunters are lurking around inside, weak and strong," She informed me. "And, a bright light is inside as well. We'll need to be careful."
"We will!" I put Pal back in my right side, then grab her hand with my free one, while holding Pal tighter as well, beginning to pull her toward the castle door. "Now, let's go exploring! The thirst for another adventure is upon us!" Ashley giggled in reply, letting me guide her.
Soon reaching the door, our hands broke apart as I plopped Pal on the ground and pushed the door. It didn't budge. I used all my strength and it only moved ONE inch! It's too heavy! I groaned, looking at Ash hopelessly. "I can't open it."
"Then let's do it together," She decided, putting her hands on the door. In seconds, we are both pushing the door open, creek by creek, moving forward as we open the door to a whole new world -
I grabbed Pal from the ground, while Ashley ventures ahead of me. Slowly, I trail behind, keeping Pal at my side and entering the darkness of the castle. I stopped next to Ashley, scanning around the room of what appeared to be a giant hall. The front was dark and eerie, wide enough to fill hundreds of people. There were pillars on each side, like daggers stabbing into the flooring. On both sides were doors that lead elsewhere, while straight ahead was a giant door on top of the grand staircase.
"This has more space than Hollow Bastion's castle," Ash awed.
"Hmm… with all this room, where should we start?," I asked her, looking everywhere. So, many places to explore and adventure to. I'm sure this will take a while than just one day.
Before she could answer, a high pitch scream echoed in the castle. Both of us exchanged looks, nodding at the other, before rushing after the cry. Clearly, they were in danger and something was going on! Rushing up the west hall stairs, we raced up the steps until we entered a wide hallway seeing a woman with brown hair, wearing a blue and white dress, carrying a broom that she aimlessly swatting a pack of Snapper Dogs, up ahead in the hallway. Next to her, a moving clock and candelabra knocked our fellows back along with the heavy power of the woman's broom.
The woman looks familiar to me… like I've met here before. But, I don't remember where or who she is? This woman has to be a princess of heart like Kairi as well, because of her pure light. Who is she? I can't recall her name.
"Food! Food! Food! Food!," the dogs barked in unison.
"Get back," She yelled. "Get back or I'll -"
"Mademoiselle, we need to go!," the candelabra said, with an accent?
"But -" "The master will alright with this crisis, Belle. He can handle himself, but right now you need to be in safety, so that you don't get hurt. The master would want you safe after losing our world and most importantly you. He'll be fine," the clock explained, cutting her off.
"I know," The woman said, sadly. She pushed another Snapper dog out of the way, then began to run with the clock and candle not far behind. Quickly, Ashley and I hide behind the knight armor, watching the three passed by with the Snapper dogs right on their tails.
Before the mutts could follow the trio, Ashley jumped out from hiding, blocking their path. "Oh no, you're not going after her. I think it's time you respect a woman's personal space, mutts." She summoned forth her magic, "Ice Chill!"
Within seconds the dogs froze - literally into ice statues that were stuck in place. Coming from behind the armor, I approached the Snapper dogs, staring into their eyes. They reminded me of Pluto, a very angry version of Pluto. In a way, I wonder if I'll see my doggy friend again. I hope he's okay.
"They'll be like this for an hour or so, but they're just one of many," She sighed, looking toward Belle in the distance, leaving the west hall.
"Then we'll just stay out of harm's way," I added, thinking about the woman. Belle… the princess from Hollow Bastion! This must be her world, but then where is the beast? I begin to descend toward the rest of the hall, trying to find answers. If Belle was worried about someone, maybe it was him. Maybe he's down this hallway! We should -
I stopped short of walking, suddenly feeling something come over me.
Dread. Worry. The feeling of being afraid washed over me in seconds. I couldn't move at all trying to understand what was happening. These emotions are so much more painful than my own emotions! Why would I feel this way at all!
With my free hand, I hold my head in pain. So many emotions going on! So, many questions to what was going on! I-I couldn't focus at all -
"N-Nico, watch out!"
I looked up trying to see what was happening, before something hit me. Not a blast of magic or any attack, however, it was enough to knock me to the ground and lose my grip on Pal.
There I laid now, staring up at the ceiling, the strange overwhelming emotions I felt waning in and out. I didn't know what happened or what was happening! Yet there was this feeling of weight upon me. The weight was small, light and was a warm presence.
My eyes looked down, landing upon a smaller Heartless, with a turquoise hat on. I tried to move, but the smaller Heartless wrapped their hands around me. They were shaking, whimpering - maybe on the verge of tears.
Suddenly a thick foggy aura formed around them causing me to see, the little Tornado Step was exactly the emotions that I had been feeling just now! My eyes widened, trying to understand what was going on. My fears deep inside me were rising, yet seeing them shaking more violently every second - suddenly my fear faded away, when I finally decided to wrap my arms around them. Weather it was the wrong or right thing to do toward a Hunter, I didn't know, instead right now they were frightened, trembling to death. I had to do something!
"Shh…. hey little one," I say, softly trying to calm them down. "What's wrong?" I asked, patting their head underneath their hat.
"T-They… in... t-trouble," the Tornado Step's young female voice cried. "P-Please… h-help us."
Ash rushed up quickly toward me.
"Don't worry." I said, beginning to get to my feet wrapping my hands around the Tornado Step, grabbing my journal, as I stood up. I felt Ashley look at me, weirdly, but kept my eyes focused on the small Heartless. "We'll help you I promise."
"Nico, are you -" "Yes, I'm sure about this." I looked at Ashley seriously, then down at the crying Hunter, my mind made up. "They need us, no matter what. So, let's save them."
It took a moment, yet finally she nodded in agreement. "Alright... but, stay behind me if we enter a battle," Ash ordered.
"Roger that," I looked down at the smaller Heartless. "Can you tell us where to go?"
Her eyes met mine, tears streaming down. "In the room down the hall," She said, between crying.
"Let's go," I said, rushing toward the room, with Ashley following behind.
Coming to a green door, my friend blasted it open, letting us rush into the dark room, coming upon the bloodshed battle.
Two Heartless, a darkling and shorter version of a fortune teller were fighting five Gargoyles and two Griffins, that had their feathers still white and gray, with black wings meaning they were younglings. The Darkling tried fighting the Gargoyles slicing them, while flying in the air taking them down, before one of them hit him sending him down. On the other side, a short Fortune Teller casted dark flames at the Griffins, yet they dodged the attack instead sending their feathers at her. The teller backflipped to get away, but upon her last jump a youngling headbutted her into the wall. She landed forcefully on the ground, hissing in pain.
"NO!," the Tornado Step cried. "Guys, move out the way! Hurry!"
Before I could move to rush in and help the teller, Ashley jumped in blowing all the attackers away and back toward the doors with aero. Knocking them back gave the teller enough time to get to her feet, about to cast a spell -
"HEY!," She shouted, quickly being pulled away by the Darkling rushing toward the door. The Darkling looked at her, then met my eyes, and finally met the Tornado Step's eyes as well. He slid to a stop turning back toward the battle, where Ashley readied a flame in her hand.
"Aeolus-Flame Wave!," Ashley shouted, blasting a powerful fire and air attack toward the enemies pinned at the wall. In an epic explosion, the room turned bright causing everyone to shield their eyes. Once the room was back to normal, I could see Ashley standing, with her scarf waving behind her. No more Hunters in sight.
It was awesome to see.
However, I felt a new aura - bitterness and rage. I could feel jealous - yet I didn't understand why or how. As quick as it came, slowly it vanished leaving me to wonder.
~ X ~ X ~ X ~
A few minutes later, in a private place known as the Parlor, we all sat upon the ruby red rug, quietly settled in. Ashley and I were close to one another, Pal in the middle of us, while on the other side, Fortune Teller sat crisscross holding the Tornado Step in her lap. The Darkling, on the other hand, sat in front of the fireplace, backlit by the dancing flames behind him lighting up the room.
Ashley was quiet, looking at me every twenty seconds telling me "This was a bad idea" with her eyes. I only nodded each time telling her I knew that, but that still didn't help her worries. I mean Ash was in a place full of people she didn't trust. I wanted to make her feel better, yet had no clue how to do so. While she is being more alert and cautious, I, on the other hand, am curious to speak with more Heartless like us (who don't want to kill us).
Turning from my friend to the Tornado Step, I noticed she was still scared, clinging to the teller like a child to their mother. And, the Fortune Teller was doing her best to calm her down. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling the little Heartless gave off earlier and even now, it left me wondering about her, especially her friends. The Fortune Teller appeared to be more calm and caring, while the Darkling seemed to be humorous with all the jokes he said on our way here.
Something about all three of them was… strange. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I felt like I knew them. Their darkness was somewhat familiar, but where do I know them from?
"First things first, it's nice to meet you two. I would like to say we're grateful for someone coming to aid us in our time of need," the Fortune Teller begun, breaking me from thought. "We're forever in your debt, shadows."
"Well… we were just doing what we thought was right," I said, looking at Ashley. She only nodded her head, yet keep her eyes stared at the teller. "I'm Nicholas Rider by the way. Just call me Nico, and this is my friend and partner, Ashley."
"Ashley, in that case I'll call you Lee," the Fortune Teller decided.
Ash broke from silence, "W-What! Why?"
"You look like a Lee," she responded.
"I- Why you -" "Calm down," I whispered to her, hoping to calm her down. Ashley gave me a death glare, crossing her arms as she looked away. I could feel Darkling's eyes watching us, but ignored it paying attention toward the teller.
"Anyways, thanks for the save my friends," the teller said, happily. "We're truly grateful indeed." She gasped, "Oh, I forgot to introduce ourselves." She pointed to the Darkling, "This is the Joker, he's been my friend for a while now." Her eyes went to the Tornado Step, "You already met little Iris, who is the youngest of our group." She paused, looking up. "As for me, my name is Mare, the leader of this group and a mage as well."
"Mare, huh. Must come from the word nightmare," I heard Ashley mutter. Quickly I hit her arm, causing her to look at me, but I already looked away. I could feel the Darkling - I mean Joker's eyes on us more. Why is he staring at us?
I ignore the glare again, beginning to speak. "It's nice to meet you all, but why are you here? Especially why were you being attacked?"
"Joker here provoked them." Her eyes darted to the Darkling. "We weren't trying to enter a fight at all as we explored the castle, but as you can see that changed very quickly," She explained, while Iris nodded along.
"As of lately we've been trying to get information about the worlds," Joker added, before summoning cards out of nowhere, shuffling them around. "We're here looking for clues upon our fellows and the ties to the chaos that's happened."
Ash and I widened our eyes. "Chaos?," We said in union.
"What chaos! What's been happening that we don't know about?," I asked urgently. If something had happened while we were watching the organization, we needed to know!
Mare sighed, "Two weeks ago, darkness started leaking into the worlds across the universe. We thought if we search worlds close to darkness and ones close to light as well, we'd find the answers we needed. That's one reason we ended up here."
"Darkness leaking? How?"
"A world of twilight fell to darkness," Iris said, sadly, as a tear rolled down her face. "Without that world, the Realm of Between broke and opened a void of darkness in space. Making us Heartless stronger, but this is bad since everything would be lost. The star: Traverse Town fell and never returned."
Ashley and I gasped.
"I see you know of the place," Joker announced, noticing our expressions.
"Not know, I lived there for SO long. I-I…" My words trailed off, as I felt my mind halt, my head bowing down. My home. The place I started at was gone and there was no way to get it back. That was why we ended up here, because there was no Traverse Town. There was no old home at all!
"I'm sorry about your lost," Iris apologized, causing me to meet her eyes.
"I-It's okay," I say, yet right now it's not okay. Not one spec of it is okay!
"The news was hard for all of us, when we found out. The day we discovered the star's vanishment, a void opened in the Realm of Between. We realized quickly it needs to be closed, yet without the world. It'll never shut properly," Mare explained. "That's why we're out here exploring, trying to close it by the means of a spell or find the ONE who can!"
I nod taking in the information, then turn to Ashley who seemed to be listening, yet had her head down and wouldn't dare look at me or anyone. She didn't like this being "nice" thing like I did, but soon she had to understand that not everyone in the Realm of Darkness is out to kill us. Before I could look at her more, she looked toward Mare.
"What have you found so far?," Ashley asked, her eyes narrowed. "Is there a way to stop this and bring back our world? Or are you guys just adventuring and are instead just all talk?"
"Why Lee -" "Ashley, that's my name," She snarled in annoyance.
"Not for me it isn't," Mare teased, laughing to herself.
Ashley growled more, "So, did you find anything or NOT!"
Before Mare could answer, Joker jumped into the girl's rambling, answering instead. "We've found something, but not enough to understand how to close it." He looked toward the fortune teller, "Mare had a vision, a type of foreseeing, that granted a prophecy and a way to save BOTH realms of light and darkness. One day, in a war against a group of villains, a hero will rise and will change the universe. They will be the one to close the void until the world comes back."
"That's correct, however -" "Mare, I'm tired," Iris interrupted, causing Mare to look down. They stared into each other's eyes like they were talking, and we didn't understand it since it was mute. In defend, Mare sighed.
"I say we call it a night and continue at dawn," She says, getting up from her criss cross position.
"We -" "Then let's spend the night together and sleep over with you. We still want to explore the castle and since you're here as well it'd be easier for all of us," I said, cutting my friend off.
"Yeah, let's form a team," Joker agreed.
"Team Shade!," Iris shouted.
"Righto kiddo," He grinned, putting away his card deck.
Everyone nodded in agreement - well almost everyone, but my friend. As everyone cheered in glee, I felt my friend took my arm. I looked toward her meeting her stern eyes.
"Nico, a word?," She groaned.
She dragged me a little away from the others, until she was sure there was enough space to talk without anyone hearing. Ash looked me more seriously than before. "This is the worst thing to do. We can't stay with them. How can we TRUST them!," my friend whispered, "What if they turn on us once our guard is down?"
"I know that, but they need help or Iris needs help. Out of all them, they could be helpful to us more than any other Hunters. Even an enemy can become a friend! I helped you when you were in a bind," I said, causing her seriousness to fade. "If they haven't killed us already then can't we call them trustworthy?"
"I wouldn't agree with -" "Sheesh, do you two ever get a room? Why do you and your boyfriend kept whispering so much," Joker yelled, across the room, causing us to look toward them.
Boyfriend?
"I - we-" Ashley completely turned pink. "H-He is n-not my boyfriend. W-We're j-just really good friends!"
"Sure Lee, sure you are," Mare said, playfully rolling her eyes.
"I - umm…" She looked at me and turned even pinker. Straightaway, Ash turned away, "L-Let's just go to sleep. I'll keep watch, then I'll pass it off. Sound good?"
Before I could answer Ashley walked off heading toward the door. I went over closer to the fireplace, I began to spot what the trio was doing. Mare sit in the lone chair left in the room and begin to curl up, with Iris in her arms. By the fireplace, Joker laid to himself back turned away from us. Stopping in spot I sat before, I began to lay down as well getting ready to go sleep, looking at Ashley.
Ash…. Trust me on this. I only want you to know who is our enemy and who is our allies, I thought, then felt warmth come near me. I look toward my side to see Iris, curling up next to me, she peered into my eyes - bashfully.
"C-Can I sleep next to you? I-Is that okay?," She asked.
I heard Ashley huff, before exiting the room to go out for night watch. I didn't know why she was mad at Iris suddenly - yet Ashley was full of many secrets untold to me and her. Perhaps this was one of those secrets, she'd never tell.
I look down at Iris, still waiting for my answer, "Sure, you can sleep next to me."
"Thank you," She said, snuggling up next to me and closing her eyes.
A feeling of comfort and joy washed over me. I didn't know what was going on, but these weren't my emotions at all. Instead maybe they were Iris' emotions and I could feel them somehow. I didn't have a clue or why, but accepted it until tomorrow when I could get some answers.
Looking at her doze off, my eyes began to fall, slowly. Soon everything became pitch black as I fall asleep, wondering what would happen in the days to come.
= Chapter End =
Xemnas: For beings incapable of a mind, the five of them seem to be capable of many things such as emotions. Why is that?
Me: Heartless don't have zero emotion, they just don't feel remorse. They're mindless after all, however, the ones that have killed and feel remorse… they tend to have more emotions than hate and rage. Nico and Ashley killed humans to live, even Mare and the others have harmed others. They feel emotion - yet the reason why Nico and the others aren't mindless… I'll explain in later chapters.
Saix: Can I ask you a question, Miss Oblivion J? (I nod) Why is it that Ashley hates the newcomers?
Me: Ashley doesn't really hate anyone, more like she's wary. She just doesn't know if Mare, Joker, and Iris are trustworthy.
Xemnas: I see.
Saix: Lord Xemnas, we have to get back to the castle.
(Xemnas nods)
Me: Well, since you both are about to leave, then we can end this chapter here. So, I hope everyone has a wonderful day or night! I'll see you guys later!