Warning: Spoilers ahead for everyone
WORLD OF HEARTS
LINKED AS ONE
By Kingjustin1019
Act 0
Chapter 1
Fate
A boy with black hair woke up. He opened his green eyes. He got out of bed and stretched.
He looked at his hand and began to remember something.
'That strange dream I had… Why did it feel so real?' He thought. 'And why do I feel like I've done something like that before?'
Flashback
The boy found himself in a place with a stained glass floor. He looked at the floor. It looked like it depicted a boy with brown spiky hair that reminded him of his mother for some reason. He was holding what looked like a key, but immensely bigger. Next to the boy were four mini-portraits of two humans and seemingly two anthropomorphic animals, a dog, and a duck to be precise.
And the strange part was that he felt like he had seen these people before.
He saw three pedestals. There was a sword on one pedestal. To the left of the sword, going counterclockwise, was a shield. To the right of the sword, going clockwise, was a staff.
He then heard a voice call out to him, asking him to choose one weapon up and discard another.
He felt like he had done this before, but when did he do this before and how many times has he done this?
He went over to the shield and picked up the shield and discarded the sword, making it disappear.
He then finds himself surrounded by three people. They all began to ask him questions one would ask someone else on a survey relating to their daily lives. After he answered them, he was told that his adventure would start at midday.
But what did that even mean? His adventure? What did any of that even mean?
The next thing he knew, he was fighting monsters, unlike anything he had witnessed before. Yet at the same time, he felt like he has fought these monsters again and again. They all had pitch-black bodies similar to younger Grimm, but the eyes looked absolutely soulless. Not a single hint of emotion was there. Not even aggression or animosity.
Then there was a giant and… everything went black.
Present
He sighed, shaking his head.
'It was just a dream Kizuna… just a dream, nothing more…' the boy thought to himself.
He went into the bathroom and brushed his teeth and got his clothes on. He wore a simple vest hoodie with a shirt, pants, and shoes. He started making his way downstairs to find a woman in her 20s with brown, spiky hair with half of it going down to her neck, humming a tune as she's cooking breakfast. She was wearing a black jacket with stockings, long gloves without fingers, and a pair of red shoes. When she turned around her red, zipped-up corset was visible and it had black belts strapped to it.
"Ah, Kizuna!" The woman spoke. "You're up early!"
"Hi mom," Kizuna said.
He put his shoes by the entrance near the door. He then went back to sit down at the table. His mother puts an omelet on his plate. He began to eat his omelet as his mother sat down with a cup of coffee.
"You went to Anteiku again?" Kizuna asked.
"Now how did you know I did go there?" His mother asked.
"Well… I can remember the smell of their coffee and the coffee you're drinking had that smell." Kizuna told her.
She ruffled his hair.
"You are such a smart boy," She said cheerfully. "Oh, and Mama Ava will be back with the groceries for dinner tonight."
"Oh! What are you going to cook?" He asked.
"You're favorite, chicken cutlets!"
He giggled as he looked at his mom with a smile. The two eat their breakfast. A minute later, they finished eating. He got up and got his shoes on.
"I'll be going out now," Kizuna said.
"Don't forget to check the mail," His mother responded.
"Ok," Kizuna said before he walked out.
He got outside the perimeter of the house and opened the mailbox in the wall. He looked through the mail and then closed it. Kizuna was heading down the street. He was going to meet up with a girl he met on a dating app. The girl in question was a second-year middle school student, the same as him, only she's from Mitakihara. His two mothers went to Mitakihara at some point.
He kept walking down the street until he saw a somewhat transparent old man talking to a guy with dark brown hair with a pair of orange headphones on his head. He looked to be wearing an open school shirt, some green pants, and sandals.
He found this situation peculiar because Kizuna knew for a fact that only he could see the old man.
And that's basically because the old man had already died.
That's right. That old man was now a wandering spirit who has yet to move on to the Otherworld.
When he first met the old man, he thought he was seeing things. He then closed his eyes, counted to five and the man or ghost was still there. The old spirit was surprised that Kizuna could see and hear him. The old spirit asked if he was a shaman, to which Kizuna said no. The fact that he saw a spirit of the dead made him uneasy.
The possibility that there was another person who could see dead people was somewhat calming to him.
The boy who had been talking to the ghost then turned to see Kizuna. Kizuna approached the boy upon making eye contact with him. He asked, "you can see ghosts?"
The boy answered, "So you can see them too."
"Yeah," Kizuna responded.
The boy then turned to the old spirit.
"And you're sure he said he isn't a shaman?" The boy asked.
"That's exactly what he said when I first met him…" the old man spoke.
The boy looked at Kizuna. Kizuna smiled and offered a hand.
"The name's Kizuna," Kizuna said.
The boy stared at him for about three to five seconds before he smiled and shook his hand.
"Yoh Asakura," The boy said. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you," Kizuna reciprocated. "So what brings you out here?"
"Oh nothing of interest," Yoh said. "I just go where I want to go."
"Ok then, I gotta go, there's someone I have to meet over at Shibuya."
"Someone in Shibuya?" Yoh asked. "Mind if I tag along?"
"H-Huh? Why?" Kizuna asked.
"Well… I was hoping we'd get to know each other," Yoh said. "Plus, I got some important things to do in Shibuya as well."
"Ok then, follow me."
The two boys began to walk with each other.
"So uh… you don't know what a shaman is?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah. No clue."
"Well it's a good thing I'm here then," Yoh said. "Simply put, shamans are people who can speak to, listen to, and see spirits. They can interact with them too and it's not limited to just the dead."
"Whoa, really?" Kizuna asked.
"Yup," Yoh said. "… and I'm a Shaman too."
"Incredible…" Kizuna said, amazed. "So it's not just ghosts then?"
"Yup, spirits of nature, supernatural spirits, even the spirits of demons," Yoh said. "My family is a clan of Shamans."
"Wow…"
Yoh turned to Kizuna.
"Now what about you?" Yoh asked.
"M-Me?" Kizuna pointed to himself.
"Well you said you're not a shaman, so what are you exactly?" Yoh said.
Kizuna sighed.
"I'm just a normal human being," Kizuna said.
"Normal humans can't see dead people," Yoh reminded him.
"Yeah, but what I mean is that I have no superpowers or cool weapons," Kizuna said. "Human, quirkless, no esper abilities, no magic, no Aura, no semblance, haven't trained myself to become a martial artist or a ninja, and that's about it."
"Oh… my bad," Yoh said. "I thought you meant—"
"No no. That's ok. I'm used to living like this," Kizuna said. "My mom is a keyblade wielder, though."
"A Keyblade Wielder… no wonder you can see ghosts…"
"Yeah, but my mom says that I can't inherit her power because I haven't graduated from middle school yet," Kizuna said. "Until then, I'm just an ordinary human."
"Huh…" Yoh said. "So this person you're meeting at Shibuya…"
He smiled casually.
"Is it a girlfriend?"
Kizuna's logical thinking grinds to a halt immediately upon hearing that word. His cheeks turned red and his pupils dilated. He turned to Yoh at that moment.
"N-N-No! It's not like that! I'm not dating someone—!"
"That's ok, I'm already engaged, so I know how it would feel," Yoh said.
"E-Engaged?! How old are you?!" Kizuna asked.
Yoh was covering his ear from that.
"I'm 14, and please don't shout…" Yoh said.
"F-Fourteen? Wait a minute, that's too young—"
"Yeah… but by the time I reach adulthood, I'll be married, have a honeymoon, and then—"
"Ok! I get it!" Kizuna said. "She and I… met on a dating app…"
"Huh?"
Madoka was at the entrance to Shibuya station along with her friends Homura Akemi, Sayaka Miki, Kyoko Sakura, and Mami Tomoe. They had all gathered here for one particular day while they were on their summer break in Tokyo.
Madoka apparently met a guy on some dating app that Usagi Tsukino recommended to her and agreed to meet up with him.
And Sayaka, her best friend since childhood, upon overhearing the whole thing, decided to tell the other girls about it.
And that's what has put Madoka in a bit of a state of panic right now. She was wearing a pink dress with pink shoes with bow ties, and a white jacket left unbuttoned. She was glad she wasn't wearing makeup or she would look worse for wear.
"Geez Madoka, calm down," Sayaka said. "We haven't even seen the guy yet."
"Yeah, and how are we supposed to know if the guy's not worth it?" Kyoko asked. "For all we know, he's probably a pervert. And we know what happens to perverts anytime they try to flip Madoka's skirt."
Homura looked grumpy.
"And what if the guy's a total hottie? Ever thought about that?" Sayaka asked.
Homura frowned at the thought.
"Girls, can we not? Madoka is already nervous," Mami said. "At this point, I think she'll suffer a panic attack."
"Oh…" Madoka groaned. "Oh… this is Usagi's fault…"
"Oh come on, Madoka," Sayaka said. "Just be yourself."
Madoka turned to Sayaka.
"Be myself? I have to impress him or he'll think I'm not worth his time!" Madoka said. "What kind of garbage advice is that?!"
"Oh come on, we've been friends since we were kids," Sayaka said. "You got this! I believe in you!"
"Well I don't consent to this," Homura said.
"Then why are you—?"
"Forget it, you know how much of a big sister she acts like in front of Madoka," Sayaka said.
"Um… excuse me, ladies?"
They all turned to see a boy with dark skin, yellow eyes, and silver hair. They all just looked at him.
"Whoa… uh… um…" Sayaka struggled to get the words out.
"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," The boy said. "This 'guy' you speak of… does he have spiky brown hair?"
The girls just looked at each other and Madoka looked at Sayaka.
"Well… does he?" Sayaka asked.
"No… he sent me a photo of himself actually…" Madoka said, swiping on her phone.
She saw the boy's picture. He had green eyes and short black hair.
He looked kind of cute.
She gave it to Sayaka, who then looked pretty dumbstruck.
"Oh… my… god…" Sayaka said. "Madoka… why the hell didn't you just tell anyone what he looked like?!"
"I was afraid that Homura would—"
"I'm waiting for an answer—"
Sayaka turned and faced the phone towards the boy.
"Here, satisfied?"
The boy rubbed his chin as he looked at the photo.
"What is he to you anyway?" Kyoko asked.
The boy merely smiled. The girls felt a bit of an ominous feeling from him.
"You could say that he and I are… old friends." The boy said. "If you do see him, ask him about what he dreamt last night."
"Huh?" Madoka asked.
The boy then turned around and left.
"Weirdo," Kyoko said.
Madoka couldn't shake the ominous feeling off. She felt like something was off about that boy.
In another part of Shibuya...
Izuku held a villain with his Blackwhip Quirk.
He pulled the villain towards him.
'Detroit…!'
DETROIT
SMASH
He punched the villain in the face, slamming him into the ground.
'… SMASH!'
DETROIT SMASH
The villain went unconscious. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. That makes four villains today. He was on a roll today. He had been patrolling around Shibuya with Bakugou and Todoroki, who were with him.
"Well, that takes care of this place," Todoroki said.
"Yeah, no shit Icy-Hot," Bakugou said. "That makes this the fourth hideout we busted open. These guys are like fucking rats."
"Well, at least the people here will have their stuff back," Izuku said. "Wait... where's—"
Just before he got to finish, a man with blonde hair with blue eyes wearing a caped costume with the number 1,000,000 on the front with a visor on his face appeared seamlessly out of the ground.
"Alright, you three. That's some good work you did out here!" The young man said.
Izuku recognized him as Mirio Togata, a third-year student from UA High School, Japan's #1 ranked high school for heroics, and is considered to be the best Hero Academy in all of Japan. Mirio happens to be part of the "Big 3," a group of three individuals in UA who stand at the top of the entire student body in UA in terms of strength.
Izuku remembered working side by side with Mirio during their Hero Work Studies and during the Shie Hassaikai (Eight Precepts of Death) Raid a few months back.
"M—Lemillon! Don't surprise us like that!" Izuku said.
"Ah, Togata. We were wondering where you went off," Todoroki said.
"Yeah, Tin-Tin, where the hell did you go?" Bakugo asked.
"I was busy with the leader. Don't worry, I gave him the old Blinder Touch Eyeball Crush technique," Mirio said. "He won't be getting up until the police get here. By the time he wakes up, he'll be in cuffs."
Izuku sensed immediate danger and turned to find a villain holding a gun.
Only for the villain to suddenly fall over, almost like he lost consciousness.
Behind the man was a guy with silver hair, green eyes, wearing a jacket and holding a keyblade that looks like a car key.
'A Keyblader?' Izuku thought.
Keybladers, or Keyblade wielders, were not uncommon, given their rise in popularity thanks to the critical role they played in ending the Chaos Era 5 years ago. They became prominent after the Masters of Logos appeared and fought evil to the end until peace and order were reestablished. They could wield magic and are capable of eliminating monsters like the Grimm and are capable of fighting villains, magic users, espers, ninjas, martial artists, Devil Fruit users, and Ghouls as well as supernatural entities like the Heartless.
Most keyblade wielders come from Neo Bastion, a fortress city built to fend off major threats to Japan. Many other fortress cities exist of course, but none never had the most Keybladers than Tokyo's Neo Bastion.
"You left yourself open," The man said. "Keep your back covered at all times."
"Oi!" Bakugou yelled.
Todoroki immediately froze Bakugou's legs, immobilizing him.
"What the fuck Icy-Hot?!"
"Show us your ID please," Todoroki said.
"My ID?"
"What did you drop it or something!?" Bakugou exclaimed.
"Sorry, I don't have one," The man said.
Mirio Togota moved up and got beside Izuku.
"Don't have one?" Mirio asked. "You mean to tell me that you're an unlicensed keyblader who decided to knock out a guy coming out to ambush us and—"
They heard a phone ring. The man pulled out a smartphone and answered it.
"Yeah, what is it? Huh? Meet by the building with the sign in Shibuya Square? What for? Did you tell everyone else? Ok, I'll make my way there."
He hung up.
"Sorry, I gotta meet someone. I'll answer your questions after I take care of some personal matters."
"Now you hold it right there you Honda Civic Car Key Carrying—"
The key suddenly began to transmogrify itself.
It turned itself into a motorcycle.
"A Keyblade Glider!"
"But why a bike?" Todoroki asked.
The man rode on his motorcycle and drove off. Todoroki melts the ice on Bakugou's legs, freeing him. Bakugou looked very upset.
"YOU WANNA DIE ICY-HOT?!" He yelled.
"Not today, thanks," Todoroki said.
Izuku put his hand on his chin.
"Shibuya Square... sign..." Izuku muttered. "The 109 building?"
"Oi, Deku, what are you muttering about?" Bakugou asked.
"We should probably head over to Shibuya Square," Izuku said before he turned to Todoroki. "I got a feeling that something is going on there."
Ruby Rose was having the time of her life here in Japan with her sister Yang and her teammates Weiss and Blake. They all came to Japan, hoping to learn more about it. Weiss was more interested in Japan's history and culture. Yang came here for sightseeing. Blake came along because she wanted to eat some sushi. Ruby came here because she was excited about the whole trip.
But before they could, they needed to learn the language of Japan if they were ever going to go there. Thankfully, Blake had a book that was basically a guide in learning and understanding Japanese. Weiss also knew how to speak Japanese no thanks to being taught Japanese at an early age. The two taught Ruby and Yang how to speak, read, and write Japanese.
After getting off at the international airport and converting their Remnant Lien into Japanese Yen, they got to the heart of Tokyo itself. It was bustling with lots of people. Ruby stared in amazement. Yang merely whistled. Blake was looking at the map as Weiss had no reaction other than a disinterested stare.
"There are so many people in one place..." Ruby said.
"Yeah, look at them. Some of them are wearing fancy suits," Yang commented.
"Honestly, I was expecting more than this," Weiss said.
Weiss turned to Blake, who was staring at her map.
"Blake, are you not going to say anything?" Weiss asked.
Blake stopped staring and immediately looked at everyone.
"I hope there's a good sushi restaurant here!" Blake blurted out loud.
They looked at Blake before Yang sighed.
"Blakey, can't you just wait? It's not like they'll run out of sushi," Yang said. "Plus, we have fish at Vale."
"But have you ever eaten fish stacked on rice?" Blake asked.
"No, but—"
"Exactly," Blake said.
"Don't worry," Ruby said. "I'm sure we'll find a restaurant that sells seafood since you have the map with us."
"Just remember that we need to stick together," Weiss said. "This is no different from Vale, so we could get lost just as easily if we were in Vale—"
"Look Weiss, look! An arcade! Let's go there!" Ruby said with cheer.
"Ruby Rose, you are not—!"
Within a blink of an eye, Ruby turned into a cloud of red that whisked everyone away and dashed straight to a street where there was an arcade, leaving rose petals behind.
Nerima Station
Kizuna and Yoh both got on a train that would take them to Aoyama-Itchome Station. They got sat down as the doors closed and the train began to move.
"... so when we get to the station, we'll take platform three which will transfer us to the Hanzomon Line leading to Shibuya Station," Kizuna said. "The train will stop at one station just before it moves to Shibuya Station."
"And what about this line? The Oedo Line?" Yoh asked.
"Oh... um... yeah... there are 11 stops with Aoyama-Itchome Station being the last one, so I'd say it'll take 25 minutes for us to reach Aoyama-Itchome," Kizuna said. "Then we wait nine minutes until a train shows up to take us to Omote-Sando Station first, then to Shibuya Station, which will take a total of 4 minutes."
"Well, that should make for enough time for us to talk about a lot of things then," Yoh said.
"Yeah," Kizuna said. "Wait, what—"
"I mean, I got nothing else to do but talk, so let's talk," Yoh said. "So who's the girl you're going out with?"
Kizuna blushed on the subject. He took a deep breath.
"She's a second-year middle school student, like me," Kizuna said.
"A second-year middle school student?" Yoh asked. "How old are you two?"
"Roughly the same age," Kizuna said. "Probably fourteen at best."
"Hmm..." Yoh looked up before looking at Kizuna. "I'm sure everything will work out."
"Huh?! Y-You're not interested in hearing the rest?!" Kizuna asked.
"You two are the same age, I'm sure you'll figure it out."
"Easy for you to say!" Kizuna said. "If I make a bad impression on her, I'll feel like a total loser!"
"Well I wish I had advice for you, but I don't."
"But you said you were engaged!"
"Well... yes, but my fiancée... well... let's just say that she's practically trying to kill me."
Kizuna gave up on bickering with Yoh.
"So anyway..." Kizuna said. "She's from Mitakihara City."
"Hmm? The city that got hit by that typhoon a few months ago?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah," Kizuna said. "The news said that the city was hit with a typhoon that did way more damage than it was projected to do and some people believed that it wasn't a typhoon."
"Hmm..."
"No one really knows for certain except for her," Kizuna said. "I tried asking her that when we first met on the app and all she could say was that she didn't know."
"Wait, you talked to her?"
"Yeah," Kizuna said. "I asked her if she had any strange dreams."
That part grabbed Yoh's interest. He was looking at the ceiling before looking to Kizuna.
"Strange dreams?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah, but not like the kind where things look whacky or something," Kizuna said. "I mean the ones that feel too real, even if you had this dream for the first time in your life."
Kizuna looked at his hand.
"Almost like you had experienced this as someone else," Kizuna said.
"So what was yours like?" Yoh asked.
Kizuna began to explain one such dream to Yoh. It was still fresh in his mind. He explained everything that he had experienced in that dream.
"... so you're saying that you felt like you had this dream before; that you knew what happened in this dream even though it was only the first time you had it," Yoh said. "And that the only real explanation that made sense to you is that you had this experience in some past life."
"That or I've been brainwashed," Kizuna said.
"Wait, hold on a minute," Yoh asked. "You said you found yourself fighting monsters with pitch-black skin, a dark aura, and glowing, emotionless, golden eyes?"
"Yeah... almost like they were... Heartless." Kizuna said.
There was a silence between the two.
"So... uh... what did the girl tell you?"
Kizuna put his finger on his chin.
"Well... she said she had a dream where she witnessed her home being devastated by a powerful being that looked like a woman hanging upside down, wearing a dress, and had a cog for legs or something," Kizuna said.
Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro were just strolling around Shibuya until they caught Madoka and the girls at the station. Nagisa was wondering what those girls were doing.
"Hm..."
"What is it, Nagisa?" Honoka asked.
"I was wondering what they're doing over by the station," Nagisa said. "Better see what's up with them."
"If you insist,"
Nagisa and Honoka went over to the group.
"Hey girls," Nagisa said.
"Sup," Kyoko said.
"What are all of you doing here?" Honoka asked.
"Well—"
"We're waiting for Madoka's boyfriend to show up," Kyoko said.
"Kyoko!" Madoka said with a face that was redder than a tomato.
"What? They were gonna find out anyway," Kyoko said.
Nagisa and Honoka looked at each other for about thirty seconds before they looked at Madoka.
"Seriously?" Nagisa asked.
"Yes," Mami said with a nod.
"Wow. I never thought that you had a boyfriend," Honoka said.
"Actually, they just met on a dating app Usagi recommended," Sayaka said.
"Sayaka! Not you too!" Madoka said.
"On a dating app? That Usagi recommended?" Nagisa asked.
"Hey, at least it wasn't something Minako came up with this time or things would have gone downhill," Sayaka said. "And besides, at least Usagi has a boyfriend."
"Wait, don't you have a boyfriend too, Sayaka?" Nagisa asked.
"Yeah, but he's busy doing music at concerts. You know, being a violinist and all that," Sayaka said.
"That she totally didn't forget to invite him to Tokyo," Kyoko said.
Sayaka gave Kyoko an elbow jab to the belly.
"Anyways, where is he?"
"He won't be here until the next... 20 minutes," Homura said. "We've been here for about 10 minutes."
"20 minutes, Huh? That's good enough time for us, I think," Honoka said. "Besides, I would like to know this mystery boyfriend of hers before he gets here."
"Yeah, like what does he look like," Nagisa said.
"A total cutie," Sayaka said.
"He looked sweet," Mami said.
"A total nerd," Kyoko said.
"No comment," Homura said.
Madoka looked embarrassed again.
"Girls... please... I can't..."
"Oh lighten up," Nagisa said. "You'll do fine, Madoka."
"You just have to keep calm," Honoka said.
"I AM TRYING TO BE CALM!" Madoka exclaimed.
The two boys got off the train that stopped at Aoyama-Itchome and went to the station's third platform just as a train was pulling in.
"Now we just take this train straight to Shibuya," Kizuna said.
"And then we meet your girlfriend," Yoh said.
"H-Hey!" Kizuna looked embarrassed.
He pouted his face and looked away from Yoh.
But as he did, he saw a hooded figure with a pair of blue eyes with yellow sclera looking back at him. He froze as he looked at the figure, who raised a finger to where his mouth would be. Time just slowed down.
"Hey,"
Kizuna turned to Yoh, but then immediately looked back to find... nothing. The figure was gone. Kizuna looked at Yoh again.
"Are you ok?" Yoh asked.
"Yeah..." Kizuna said. "I just thought I saw someone just now..."
"Well come on," Yoh said. "The train isn't going to sit there forever."
Kizuna finally noticed the train had stopped and the doors were open. The two boys went inside. The train closed its doors and began to move. Kizuna took a seat with Yoh.
Kizuna couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. He didn't know why, but everything just felt off.
Almost like he felt that something is about to happen.