By: Atlas.
Chapter one
There was no sound at all, not even a whisper, but when he entered, the world was aware of his arrival. The rain was pounding hard that night, no one was outside, too afraid to anyway. He walked nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong. The black hood covered his eyes, only strands of hair showing underneath gave any sign of his actual appearance. His steps echoed throughout the night, despite the heavy falling of the rain. He looked up and saw neon lights blaring around him.
It has changed... he thought to himself. True, it had been a while, an eternity to him, but in reality, not too long. But for this boy, it had been long enough.
As if my a 6th sense or instinct, his body suddenly tensed up. Suddenly around him, pools of dark obsidian black formed, and out of these pools rose figures. They were humanoid shaped, except that they were completely black, had glowing eyes of yellow and they seemed to all act as one. But no where near human. The hooded figure quickly turned, and as if forming the sword out of pure nothingness, drew a keyblade. The weapon of the chosen, and by some miracle, he drew another. He could feel his power mounting. He had power, no doubt, so much, he could control worlds. The dark clouds hovering over the sky, suddenly parted away, the rain around him coming to an end. Violet blazing lights flew through the sky as if a signal appeared that the hooded boy had arrived.
"Where is Sora?"
The heartless creatures could not understand, but somehow knew that the name held importance. But still, there was no answer. The man knew he could wait, oh he had waited so long for many things, but knew that there would be no answer. He stepped up and-
The girl woke up. It was more of a startle than anything. She had dreamed the same dream again. The dream that haunted her sleep, for many nights already. Looking outside she could see the bright moon hanging in the sky, and the water glimmering under its light. It was summer, the temperature should be ok, and decided that maybe a walk outside wouldn't be bad. Maybe even good. Quietly, she slipped out of her bed and walked down the wooden ramps keeping her house up in the trees. She slowly climbed down a ladder, and gingerly hopped onto the beach, sand filling up already between her toes. She slowly walked toward the edge of the beach. She was right, it was a warm night, but for some reason, she felt so cold... so alone... She knew the feeling, in fact it haunted her everyday. She would try to think over it, but no matter how hard she tried to get over it, there are just some things in life no one can change. Then all of a sudden she actually felt cold, real physical cold. She looked down at her feet and saw the beach edge washing up and down, splashing at her feet. Half jumping back, more in the cold than real surprise, she could once again remember standing here.
Kairi!!!...
Sora!!!...
She could almost feel the beach slip apart like it had before. The feelings were overwhelming her, the dizziness quickly taking over. She fell to her knees and could feel tears in her eyes, but she wanted to hold them in. The memory that kept haunting her, even after all these months. She hated to remember, she loved to remember, she hurt to remember this. But she knew it was unstoppable. The droplets of water started to slowly form at her eyes. Her long hair had fallen to the front of her face, blocking the light from the moon. The feeling of being alone swept over her. The memory started to creep back in.
Kairi! Remember what you said before?...
Yes... she remembered. Remembered the promise they had for each other.
I'll come back for you, I promise!
She thought to herself. "I know you did, I know you did"... but where was he now? Lost to the reaches of space and who knows, maybe even time. She knew she could trust him. But was it even possible anymore for him to come back? He was off on an other world, if he was still alive at all. Gone somewhere far off in the stars. Beyond her reach...
I know you will...
Her last words to him before their hand let go. He slowly floated away off. Waving at her, she could tell that he meant well with his promise. His cocky smile and tilt of his head reassured her that everything would be ok. She always felt torn between reality and dreams. She knew that he would come back for her. But could he at all? Could he possibly still do anything?... The tears were now streaming down her face onto the sand, as the waves washed up and down, the sand became soaked in water. She couldn't tell anymore if it was the ocean, or her tears. She thought again how impossible it was. Just like the entire ocean and her tear. It was lost among the waves, not that anyone could tell a difference anymore. The pain was unbearable...
... you said you would come back... where are you now?...
The heartless had taken over. The keyblade master had failed apparently. Sure, he had defeated Ansem, the seeker of the heartless, he had even managed to reach the hollow bastion and seal the keyhole. Still, it was not enough. The heartless had started arriving into the worlds by raining from the sky. They had evolved, become stronger, more versatile and agile. And all around, just harder to kill. Oh yes, he had remembered, he had remembered sleeping, and hearing the walls of hollow bastion almost thrown wide open. Leon had been awoken by a scared Yuffie, she was jabbering that the heartless had somehow come to Hollow Bastion and were going to break through in any second. He remembered quickly standing up, and joining Cloud at the front of the ancient mansion. Cloud had been garbed in his full gear. Cape and buster sword equipped, and his miraculous and scary one demon wing extended upwards. The door had been broken open, and a small horde of heartless had bursted into the room, but quickly slain. The feel of battle & adrenaline once lost had been pounding into his veins. The heartless seemed to be confused, driven by some pointless urge to fight back. As if they didn't truly want to fight...
The battle had ended and the door sealed and barricaded with several spells. Since then there had been no more invasions. But much worry.
"SQUALL!!!" yelled a small jumpy voice suddenly awoke him from trance. He could tell by some 6th sense that it had been Yuffie who yelled. What did she want this time?
"... its Leon... get it right..."
" well, whatever, there's a guy at the entrance of Hollow Bastion!"
"... what?"...
Leon started to run, managing to grab his gunblade on the way, he shouldered it and kept on running. The world barriers were up again. There was no way of traveling worlds. But it didn't matter anyway, if the person was there, they were there. Just how to deal with him was Leon's main concern.
He had wandered to the points of no return. He had searched and looked and kept on going. Never stopping, never letting anything affect him, he had only one sole goal. To find his friend again. Sora and Kairi had always had something between the two. Even when they couldn't tell it, it was as if fate had always kept them together. And now he was obligated to bring them back together. Sure, he had always loved Kairi just as much, but there was just nothing between them.
~Anger...~
But still he loved her, and he knew that Sora loved her too, and so he was obligated to bring them back together. When the girl you love for is in love with your best friend, that's about the only thing you can really do... But it wasn't fair for him... no it wasn't, it was never fair for him. He wandered worlds, searched, and for something that might not even be there anymore...
~hatred~...
No he musn't think like that. Or else the darkness would consume him. It was fortunate that his powers had lasted even after the defeat of Maleficent. These were some amazing abilities that he had been granted, and perhaps sometimes he took them for granted, but if he didn't have them, he wouldn't be able to continue searching. Might not even be able to live. But that wasn't important, all that's important right now, was to find out if Sora was in this old deserted structure. It looked so sophisticated and old at the same time, he was sure that he had seen it before. Like he had been here at one point.
~I can give you so much power~!!!
His eyes suddenly flashed a quick purple and remembered. Back when the darkness had consumed him, when he had been controlled by another being, he was here...
~Sora ran towards him the keyblade and swung~
Riku's eyes flashed again, memories flooding back to him. He had been here yes, he was here when he was serving maleficent, when he had fought his friend, twice actually. One time he was controlled by the horrid man Ansem. Ironically Ansem had been the one who had built this... "Hollow Bastion" (as Riku could remember). And now maybe here he could find a clue to Sora's whereabouts.
...Yes, everything is born from darkness...it grows within it, and consumes it. But there is always a light. For some reason, something always to hold darkness back. The dark and the light both come from hearts. Always checked and kept in balance, but what happens when the dark completely consumes the light? The person becomes a "heartless". These heartless creatures, all they really want to do is find the light and find their own hearts. All it takes for them is a small bit of light to become a person again. Whether they turned to darkness because of a lost of a loved one, a tragedy, their own greed, whatever it may be, if it could be stopped, the person would come back. But as these heartless wander the worlds to remind themselves of their past days, maybe something would invoke a glimmer of hope and restore light back to their hearts. So thus, because these creatures wander aimlessly for just a small bit of hope, shows us that there is always some hope, some small chance of light to return.
Excerpt from scrawled notes found in Hollow Bastion library...
So, how was the prologue people? Comments ideas, gladly accepted.
Chapter one
There was no sound at all, not even a whisper, but when he entered, the world was aware of his arrival. The rain was pounding hard that night, no one was outside, too afraid to anyway. He walked nonchalantly as if nothing was wrong. The black hood covered his eyes, only strands of hair showing underneath gave any sign of his actual appearance. His steps echoed throughout the night, despite the heavy falling of the rain. He looked up and saw neon lights blaring around him.
It has changed... he thought to himself. True, it had been a while, an eternity to him, but in reality, not too long. But for this boy, it had been long enough.
As if my a 6th sense or instinct, his body suddenly tensed up. Suddenly around him, pools of dark obsidian black formed, and out of these pools rose figures. They were humanoid shaped, except that they were completely black, had glowing eyes of yellow and they seemed to all act as one. But no where near human. The hooded figure quickly turned, and as if forming the sword out of pure nothingness, drew a keyblade. The weapon of the chosen, and by some miracle, he drew another. He could feel his power mounting. He had power, no doubt, so much, he could control worlds. The dark clouds hovering over the sky, suddenly parted away, the rain around him coming to an end. Violet blazing lights flew through the sky as if a signal appeared that the hooded boy had arrived.
"Where is Sora?"
The heartless creatures could not understand, but somehow knew that the name held importance. But still, there was no answer. The man knew he could wait, oh he had waited so long for many things, but knew that there would be no answer. He stepped up and-
The girl woke up. It was more of a startle than anything. She had dreamed the same dream again. The dream that haunted her sleep, for many nights already. Looking outside she could see the bright moon hanging in the sky, and the water glimmering under its light. It was summer, the temperature should be ok, and decided that maybe a walk outside wouldn't be bad. Maybe even good. Quietly, she slipped out of her bed and walked down the wooden ramps keeping her house up in the trees. She slowly climbed down a ladder, and gingerly hopped onto the beach, sand filling up already between her toes. She slowly walked toward the edge of the beach. She was right, it was a warm night, but for some reason, she felt so cold... so alone... She knew the feeling, in fact it haunted her everyday. She would try to think over it, but no matter how hard she tried to get over it, there are just some things in life no one can change. Then all of a sudden she actually felt cold, real physical cold. She looked down at her feet and saw the beach edge washing up and down, splashing at her feet. Half jumping back, more in the cold than real surprise, she could once again remember standing here.
Kairi!!!...
Sora!!!...
She could almost feel the beach slip apart like it had before. The feelings were overwhelming her, the dizziness quickly taking over. She fell to her knees and could feel tears in her eyes, but she wanted to hold them in. The memory that kept haunting her, even after all these months. She hated to remember, she loved to remember, she hurt to remember this. But she knew it was unstoppable. The droplets of water started to slowly form at her eyes. Her long hair had fallen to the front of her face, blocking the light from the moon. The feeling of being alone swept over her. The memory started to creep back in.
Kairi! Remember what you said before?...
Yes... she remembered. Remembered the promise they had for each other.
I'll come back for you, I promise!
She thought to herself. "I know you did, I know you did"... but where was he now? Lost to the reaches of space and who knows, maybe even time. She knew she could trust him. But was it even possible anymore for him to come back? He was off on an other world, if he was still alive at all. Gone somewhere far off in the stars. Beyond her reach...
I know you will...
Her last words to him before their hand let go. He slowly floated away off. Waving at her, she could tell that he meant well with his promise. His cocky smile and tilt of his head reassured her that everything would be ok. She always felt torn between reality and dreams. She knew that he would come back for her. But could he at all? Could he possibly still do anything?... The tears were now streaming down her face onto the sand, as the waves washed up and down, the sand became soaked in water. She couldn't tell anymore if it was the ocean, or her tears. She thought again how impossible it was. Just like the entire ocean and her tear. It was lost among the waves, not that anyone could tell a difference anymore. The pain was unbearable...
... you said you would come back... where are you now?...
The heartless had taken over. The keyblade master had failed apparently. Sure, he had defeated Ansem, the seeker of the heartless, he had even managed to reach the hollow bastion and seal the keyhole. Still, it was not enough. The heartless had started arriving into the worlds by raining from the sky. They had evolved, become stronger, more versatile and agile. And all around, just harder to kill. Oh yes, he had remembered, he had remembered sleeping, and hearing the walls of hollow bastion almost thrown wide open. Leon had been awoken by a scared Yuffie, she was jabbering that the heartless had somehow come to Hollow Bastion and were going to break through in any second. He remembered quickly standing up, and joining Cloud at the front of the ancient mansion. Cloud had been garbed in his full gear. Cape and buster sword equipped, and his miraculous and scary one demon wing extended upwards. The door had been broken open, and a small horde of heartless had bursted into the room, but quickly slain. The feel of battle & adrenaline once lost had been pounding into his veins. The heartless seemed to be confused, driven by some pointless urge to fight back. As if they didn't truly want to fight...
The battle had ended and the door sealed and barricaded with several spells. Since then there had been no more invasions. But much worry.
"SQUALL!!!" yelled a small jumpy voice suddenly awoke him from trance. He could tell by some 6th sense that it had been Yuffie who yelled. What did she want this time?
"... its Leon... get it right..."
" well, whatever, there's a guy at the entrance of Hollow Bastion!"
"... what?"...
Leon started to run, managing to grab his gunblade on the way, he shouldered it and kept on running. The world barriers were up again. There was no way of traveling worlds. But it didn't matter anyway, if the person was there, they were there. Just how to deal with him was Leon's main concern.
He had wandered to the points of no return. He had searched and looked and kept on going. Never stopping, never letting anything affect him, he had only one sole goal. To find his friend again. Sora and Kairi had always had something between the two. Even when they couldn't tell it, it was as if fate had always kept them together. And now he was obligated to bring them back together. Sure, he had always loved Kairi just as much, but there was just nothing between them.
~Anger...~
But still he loved her, and he knew that Sora loved her too, and so he was obligated to bring them back together. When the girl you love for is in love with your best friend, that's about the only thing you can really do... But it wasn't fair for him... no it wasn't, it was never fair for him. He wandered worlds, searched, and for something that might not even be there anymore...
~hatred~...
No he musn't think like that. Or else the darkness would consume him. It was fortunate that his powers had lasted even after the defeat of Maleficent. These were some amazing abilities that he had been granted, and perhaps sometimes he took them for granted, but if he didn't have them, he wouldn't be able to continue searching. Might not even be able to live. But that wasn't important, all that's important right now, was to find out if Sora was in this old deserted structure. It looked so sophisticated and old at the same time, he was sure that he had seen it before. Like he had been here at one point.
~I can give you so much power~!!!
His eyes suddenly flashed a quick purple and remembered. Back when the darkness had consumed him, when he had been controlled by another being, he was here...
~Sora ran towards him the keyblade and swung~
Riku's eyes flashed again, memories flooding back to him. He had been here yes, he was here when he was serving maleficent, when he had fought his friend, twice actually. One time he was controlled by the horrid man Ansem. Ironically Ansem had been the one who had built this... "Hollow Bastion" (as Riku could remember). And now maybe here he could find a clue to Sora's whereabouts.
...Yes, everything is born from darkness...it grows within it, and consumes it. But there is always a light. For some reason, something always to hold darkness back. The dark and the light both come from hearts. Always checked and kept in balance, but what happens when the dark completely consumes the light? The person becomes a "heartless". These heartless creatures, all they really want to do is find the light and find their own hearts. All it takes for them is a small bit of light to become a person again. Whether they turned to darkness because of a lost of a loved one, a tragedy, their own greed, whatever it may be, if it could be stopped, the person would come back. But as these heartless wander the worlds to remind themselves of their past days, maybe something would invoke a glimmer of hope and restore light back to their hearts. So thus, because these creatures wander aimlessly for just a small bit of hope, shows us that there is always some hope, some small chance of light to return.
Excerpt from scrawled notes found in Hollow Bastion library...
So, how was the prologue people? Comments ideas, gladly accepted.