Chapter 2: A lost wanderer
Atlas-
Hey ' o. guys. Well, here's chapter 2 of the story. Wrote it even though I should be studying for finals. =0 shh! You guys won't tell though right? Heha, hope you like it.
... why do people hurt? How come the world isn't perfect and happy?... its because there is darkness to cloud the light. However even in the darkest abyss there is always a glimmer, and the glimmer can be the door to a better place. A bit hope, even in the endless fields hurt, pain, and sadness, is all that some need to be saved. Just a small ray of light, of hope can change the future. And that is what the heartless look for.
Excerpt from torn page notes.
Riku felt a swoosh of wind when the door finally opened. A man dressed in black with bangs, had a gun/sword propped against his shoulder looked down at him. The creases on the mans face showed stress, but an air of serene calmness surrounded him. Riku was almost taken aback by the mans presence.
"I'm searching for someone named Sora, is he here?"
..."Sora... keyblade master?"
"Yes, he wields a keyblade, do you know him?" Riku suddenly felt a jump of hope come from within him. Perhaps these people had a clue of his friends whereabouts? All this wandering had made him extremely weary. If he finally had a clue...
"The last we heard of him, he found a girl he had been looking for and then went off to look for a king of some realm".
The small glimmer of hope stirring in Riku's heart suddenly warped into confusion and a feeling of hopelessness. He had remembered helping Sora close the door. And after that... the king, could that be Mickey? The mouse he had traveled with? Wait, what had happened? He remembered closing the door to Kingdom hearts, the heartless surrounding him, being teleported away... And then...
Searing hot pain suddenly rushed into Riku's temples. Bright flashes of purple blinded his vision. He squeezed his eyes together tightly to try to force the pain out but this time it had hurt too much, his knees were wobbling, his strength quickly being drained. First he fell on one knee, then the other. He brought his hands to his head and tried to suppress the pain.
...Loss....
Then he felt and saw the ground rush up to his face. The pain stopped, his body refused to move, and then there was darkness. Horrible darkness, pools of darkness, rising around in his head, as if consuming him. Then he couldn't feel anything anymore... except for a little feeling that someone had grab his heart, and wrenched it away. A huge emptiness...
The sun shined bright that day. The other children had gotten up and were playing tag. They were all so very happy. But... no... not her. Whenever she woke up, she wanted to be waking up next to him, next to Sora... But no such luck, and this is why she never wanted to wake up in the mornings. Because the world would be so perfect if only he was here, and since he never was, there was no world for her at all. It was so unreal, never to see his smile, never to see his cocky grin and lazy cute baby face. Like something had been taken away, and would never be returned. Something you couldn't touch, something from the heart.
But there was something in here that forced her on, day and day through, something that kept her going through all the pain, the notion that perhaps he was still out there. Perhaps both of them were out there, on their way back... Just a little bit of hope, that could keep her through another day. What else could she do? Hope and cry. She wished and prayed every day that the moment could go back to when they still held hands, she would have jumped over, or pulled him back. She really tried not to think these thoughts, because they don't do anything but make things hurt more. Kairi though, felt like she needed to hurt, almost guilty if she didn't. But it wasn't a problem, no, she hurt everyday, regardless, hurt like there was no tomorrow, but the twisted world always made a tomorrow... always did, and each morning, she would not wake up next to him, and feel the emptiness.
Kairi daintily walked outside onto the beach. The warm sun was a bit comforting, and she felt like going for a walk. She went into the seaside shack, and walked up the steps to the bridge that was above the shack. The stairs were starting to creak, she reminded herself vaguely that she might have to replace some of the wooden boards. As she opened the door to the bridge, she felt a cool breeze blow her hair to the left. Kairi slowly crossed the bridge onto the small circular island, she could remember sitting on the tree branch with Sora, and talking to Riku about leaving the island. Little did they know that night, that they would... Anyhow, she jumped up and sat down on the branch staring out into the wide ocean, and wondering where Sora was...
The laughter of the other children could be heard, and she felt a small glimmer of happiness inside her. The first she felt ever since Sora left, that the world could perhaps be a happier place... just perhaps.
Cloud's calm exterior was slowly breaking as he looked at the small group of people who were gathered around the boy. There was him, the old airship pilot Cid, The ever so quiet Leon, a perky ninja thief named Yuffie... and Aerith. His love. But right now, there was no time to stare at Aerith, what concerned the group was of this boy who had just showed up and collapsed. Leon had brought him in unconscious, and had alerted everyone in Hollow Bastion to come and help. Aerith had immideatly taken the boys pulse and checked up on him. She said there was nothing wrong, he had passed out, from what she thought was being overworked, too much stress.
What truly disturbed the group was the piece of paper that fell out of the boy's pocket when he had collapsed. It was a page from a book, a book that everyone had thought been destroyed... The library of Hollow Bastion was great, probably the largest of all worlds he had seen, and it was also protected by switches, traps and tricks. The library was created by Ansem, who had brought books back from his world traveling, and he even wrote books of his own. And he wrote one certain book about his studies on the heartless. When the heartless had taken over Hollow Bastion, Ansem, who decided he had worked to hard of the book to just destroy, had scattered the pages across the worlds. Now supposedly, they were only 10 pages... but this boy somehow had another page... Was there more to the small book Ansem had wrote?...
There was a groaning noise and everyone in the rooms attention suddenly snapped back to the boy. He seemed almost possessed, and started groping at the air, and then his eyes opened, he groggily sat up, then as if by instinct, jumped off the bed and magically summoned a sword into his hand.
"ALLRIGHT, WHERE AM I?! WHATS GOING ON?!"
Aerith was the first to respond. "calm down calm down. Your in Hollow Bastion, we found you unconscious outside, and we put you here to rest and to make sure you were ok. We're your friends, we're not here to hurt you or anything, please calm down".
The boys eyes blazed emotion, but they started to calm down, and the blade from his hand mysteriously disappeared in a short flash of light. He went and sat down on the bed and for a few minutes, did not do anything. Another few minutes past and he asked slowly, "who are you people? How come I am here?".
Cloud, seeing that the situation could quickly shift from just curious to dangerous decided to go first.
" I'm Cloud Strife, this is Leon, the perky ninja girl is Yuffie, The old man is Cid, and the beautiful lady is Aerith"... And as if by instinct, Aerith blushed, Cid started going "who you calling old man!?" and Yuffie started to insist she was not perky. But the boy smiled and everyone had an understanding that the situation was now friendly.
"I'm Riku, I'm searching for my friend Sora,..."
Old memories stirred in the eyes of Cloud's companions, and they all either made a nod or had a confused look. Seeing that the people knew his friend, Riku pressed further.
"I'm trying to find him, so I can bring him back home to our world, Destiny Islands. I know of what happened with Ansem, and the heartless, and I had gotten myself involved. In the end I had been with Sora at the End of the World. We had sealed the entrance of Kingdom Hearts, and since then I haven't seen him. But I'm obligated to bring him back to our world. He has a promise to keep, and I'm going to help him keep it"...
Cloud could almost feel the boy's pain. He too had spent an eternity wandering and searching for his love. And in the end they had found each other. He knew the pain of searching, and never finding, of wandering and feeling lost. Oh, he knew the feeling too well, and no one else should have to feel the pain he did. If there was one emotion that hurt the most... it was to be alone, without anyone with you. The feeling could bring down the strongest men, the most courageous of people. For it had brought him down as well... Sort of unsure how to help the boy, he offered the only thing the people of Hollow Bastion really could, their hospitality.
" I also know the pain of searching for someone dear to you. Someone you have lost..." and as if now by instinct, his hand reached over to Aerith's, and their fingers intertwined and clasped tightly. "Your welcome to stay here until you need to keep on searching. We can show you where the things are, and if anytime you need a place to rest, your welcome to come back here". And suddenly he remembered the sheet of paper "oh, but we would like to ask you a few questions if that is ok with you..."
Riku had not had friends in so long. His tough outer self that he had built up so long, almost collapsed before him. He was so thankful for people who could understand him, thankful for friends... Riku was never a person of many words, but he really tried to say something friendly. "That would be great, thank you. And you can ask ahead".
"Well, we're wondering where you found that piece of paper. You see..."- ...........................
Kairi had started crying again. She tried not to, really she did... but it didn't help at all... She was sitting on the pier. The one she and Sora had sat on, on that day the heartless came. She had said to him, "lets just run away with this raft, the 2 of us, together"... It was the first time she had enough courage to tell him how much she liked him. He was clueless though, he put on his cute puzzled face and started asking if she was ok or something. That day..., oh that day. If only she had said something more, or maybe if she hadn't said anything at all. Things would be different now...
But he had promised. She gave him her favorite key chain, one she made out of flower petals. She gave it to him as a gift, a little token. But she told him that she wanted him to return it to her later. She made him promise... But what she really wanted wasn't her charm back. She just wanted to make sure that he would come back. She gave it to him as a little hint, to come back to her some day. So that they could be together again. She wondered if he still had the charm... it wasn't important to her, what mattered was that he came back... but what if he still had it? If nothing at all, it would remind him of her. Oh how she wish he were back here on the island with her... Or if only she could run away...
~loneliness~...
She felt so alone... as if there would be no one for her when she needed them. All she really wanted now was for someone to hold her. For Sora to hold her... She remembered how he was the one who had her heart. Riku had been searching for her heart, for her, but all the time it was with Sora...
She wondered... Was the reason why Sora wasn't coming back because... no... she didn't have... did she?... It couldn't be...
To be continued...
Ok I promise in the next chapter, I'll actually make something happen =D.
Atlas-
Hey ' o. guys. Well, here's chapter 2 of the story. Wrote it even though I should be studying for finals. =0 shh! You guys won't tell though right? Heha, hope you like it.
... why do people hurt? How come the world isn't perfect and happy?... its because there is darkness to cloud the light. However even in the darkest abyss there is always a glimmer, and the glimmer can be the door to a better place. A bit hope, even in the endless fields hurt, pain, and sadness, is all that some need to be saved. Just a small ray of light, of hope can change the future. And that is what the heartless look for.
Excerpt from torn page notes.
Riku felt a swoosh of wind when the door finally opened. A man dressed in black with bangs, had a gun/sword propped against his shoulder looked down at him. The creases on the mans face showed stress, but an air of serene calmness surrounded him. Riku was almost taken aback by the mans presence.
"I'm searching for someone named Sora, is he here?"
..."Sora... keyblade master?"
"Yes, he wields a keyblade, do you know him?" Riku suddenly felt a jump of hope come from within him. Perhaps these people had a clue of his friends whereabouts? All this wandering had made him extremely weary. If he finally had a clue...
"The last we heard of him, he found a girl he had been looking for and then went off to look for a king of some realm".
The small glimmer of hope stirring in Riku's heart suddenly warped into confusion and a feeling of hopelessness. He had remembered helping Sora close the door. And after that... the king, could that be Mickey? The mouse he had traveled with? Wait, what had happened? He remembered closing the door to Kingdom hearts, the heartless surrounding him, being teleported away... And then...
Searing hot pain suddenly rushed into Riku's temples. Bright flashes of purple blinded his vision. He squeezed his eyes together tightly to try to force the pain out but this time it had hurt too much, his knees were wobbling, his strength quickly being drained. First he fell on one knee, then the other. He brought his hands to his head and tried to suppress the pain.
...Loss....
Then he felt and saw the ground rush up to his face. The pain stopped, his body refused to move, and then there was darkness. Horrible darkness, pools of darkness, rising around in his head, as if consuming him. Then he couldn't feel anything anymore... except for a little feeling that someone had grab his heart, and wrenched it away. A huge emptiness...
The sun shined bright that day. The other children had gotten up and were playing tag. They were all so very happy. But... no... not her. Whenever she woke up, she wanted to be waking up next to him, next to Sora... But no such luck, and this is why she never wanted to wake up in the mornings. Because the world would be so perfect if only he was here, and since he never was, there was no world for her at all. It was so unreal, never to see his smile, never to see his cocky grin and lazy cute baby face. Like something had been taken away, and would never be returned. Something you couldn't touch, something from the heart.
But there was something in here that forced her on, day and day through, something that kept her going through all the pain, the notion that perhaps he was still out there. Perhaps both of them were out there, on their way back... Just a little bit of hope, that could keep her through another day. What else could she do? Hope and cry. She wished and prayed every day that the moment could go back to when they still held hands, she would have jumped over, or pulled him back. She really tried not to think these thoughts, because they don't do anything but make things hurt more. Kairi though, felt like she needed to hurt, almost guilty if she didn't. But it wasn't a problem, no, she hurt everyday, regardless, hurt like there was no tomorrow, but the twisted world always made a tomorrow... always did, and each morning, she would not wake up next to him, and feel the emptiness.
Kairi daintily walked outside onto the beach. The warm sun was a bit comforting, and she felt like going for a walk. She went into the seaside shack, and walked up the steps to the bridge that was above the shack. The stairs were starting to creak, she reminded herself vaguely that she might have to replace some of the wooden boards. As she opened the door to the bridge, she felt a cool breeze blow her hair to the left. Kairi slowly crossed the bridge onto the small circular island, she could remember sitting on the tree branch with Sora, and talking to Riku about leaving the island. Little did they know that night, that they would... Anyhow, she jumped up and sat down on the branch staring out into the wide ocean, and wondering where Sora was...
The laughter of the other children could be heard, and she felt a small glimmer of happiness inside her. The first she felt ever since Sora left, that the world could perhaps be a happier place... just perhaps.
Cloud's calm exterior was slowly breaking as he looked at the small group of people who were gathered around the boy. There was him, the old airship pilot Cid, The ever so quiet Leon, a perky ninja thief named Yuffie... and Aerith. His love. But right now, there was no time to stare at Aerith, what concerned the group was of this boy who had just showed up and collapsed. Leon had brought him in unconscious, and had alerted everyone in Hollow Bastion to come and help. Aerith had immideatly taken the boys pulse and checked up on him. She said there was nothing wrong, he had passed out, from what she thought was being overworked, too much stress.
What truly disturbed the group was the piece of paper that fell out of the boy's pocket when he had collapsed. It was a page from a book, a book that everyone had thought been destroyed... The library of Hollow Bastion was great, probably the largest of all worlds he had seen, and it was also protected by switches, traps and tricks. The library was created by Ansem, who had brought books back from his world traveling, and he even wrote books of his own. And he wrote one certain book about his studies on the heartless. When the heartless had taken over Hollow Bastion, Ansem, who decided he had worked to hard of the book to just destroy, had scattered the pages across the worlds. Now supposedly, they were only 10 pages... but this boy somehow had another page... Was there more to the small book Ansem had wrote?...
There was a groaning noise and everyone in the rooms attention suddenly snapped back to the boy. He seemed almost possessed, and started groping at the air, and then his eyes opened, he groggily sat up, then as if by instinct, jumped off the bed and magically summoned a sword into his hand.
"ALLRIGHT, WHERE AM I?! WHATS GOING ON?!"
Aerith was the first to respond. "calm down calm down. Your in Hollow Bastion, we found you unconscious outside, and we put you here to rest and to make sure you were ok. We're your friends, we're not here to hurt you or anything, please calm down".
The boys eyes blazed emotion, but they started to calm down, and the blade from his hand mysteriously disappeared in a short flash of light. He went and sat down on the bed and for a few minutes, did not do anything. Another few minutes past and he asked slowly, "who are you people? How come I am here?".
Cloud, seeing that the situation could quickly shift from just curious to dangerous decided to go first.
" I'm Cloud Strife, this is Leon, the perky ninja girl is Yuffie, The old man is Cid, and the beautiful lady is Aerith"... And as if by instinct, Aerith blushed, Cid started going "who you calling old man!?" and Yuffie started to insist she was not perky. But the boy smiled and everyone had an understanding that the situation was now friendly.
"I'm Riku, I'm searching for my friend Sora,..."
Old memories stirred in the eyes of Cloud's companions, and they all either made a nod or had a confused look. Seeing that the people knew his friend, Riku pressed further.
"I'm trying to find him, so I can bring him back home to our world, Destiny Islands. I know of what happened with Ansem, and the heartless, and I had gotten myself involved. In the end I had been with Sora at the End of the World. We had sealed the entrance of Kingdom Hearts, and since then I haven't seen him. But I'm obligated to bring him back to our world. He has a promise to keep, and I'm going to help him keep it"...
Cloud could almost feel the boy's pain. He too had spent an eternity wandering and searching for his love. And in the end they had found each other. He knew the pain of searching, and never finding, of wandering and feeling lost. Oh, he knew the feeling too well, and no one else should have to feel the pain he did. If there was one emotion that hurt the most... it was to be alone, without anyone with you. The feeling could bring down the strongest men, the most courageous of people. For it had brought him down as well... Sort of unsure how to help the boy, he offered the only thing the people of Hollow Bastion really could, their hospitality.
" I also know the pain of searching for someone dear to you. Someone you have lost..." and as if now by instinct, his hand reached over to Aerith's, and their fingers intertwined and clasped tightly. "Your welcome to stay here until you need to keep on searching. We can show you where the things are, and if anytime you need a place to rest, your welcome to come back here". And suddenly he remembered the sheet of paper "oh, but we would like to ask you a few questions if that is ok with you..."
Riku had not had friends in so long. His tough outer self that he had built up so long, almost collapsed before him. He was so thankful for people who could understand him, thankful for friends... Riku was never a person of many words, but he really tried to say something friendly. "That would be great, thank you. And you can ask ahead".
"Well, we're wondering where you found that piece of paper. You see..."- ...........................
Kairi had started crying again. She tried not to, really she did... but it didn't help at all... She was sitting on the pier. The one she and Sora had sat on, on that day the heartless came. She had said to him, "lets just run away with this raft, the 2 of us, together"... It was the first time she had enough courage to tell him how much she liked him. He was clueless though, he put on his cute puzzled face and started asking if she was ok or something. That day..., oh that day. If only she had said something more, or maybe if she hadn't said anything at all. Things would be different now...
But he had promised. She gave him her favorite key chain, one she made out of flower petals. She gave it to him as a gift, a little token. But she told him that she wanted him to return it to her later. She made him promise... But what she really wanted wasn't her charm back. She just wanted to make sure that he would come back. She gave it to him as a little hint, to come back to her some day. So that they could be together again. She wondered if he still had the charm... it wasn't important to her, what mattered was that he came back... but what if he still had it? If nothing at all, it would remind him of her. Oh how she wish he were back here on the island with her... Or if only she could run away...
~loneliness~...
She felt so alone... as if there would be no one for her when she needed them. All she really wanted now was for someone to hold her. For Sora to hold her... She remembered how he was the one who had her heart. Riku had been searching for her heart, for her, but all the time it was with Sora...
She wondered... Was the reason why Sora wasn't coming back because... no... she didn't have... did she?... It couldn't be...
To be continued...
Ok I promise in the next chapter, I'll actually make something happen =D.