A/N: Goddammit! My dad took away the modem last night and this morning and I couldn't post my story. I had to write it in an old science notebook and type it up this morning. Grr... he didn't even let me play Kingdom Hearts last night either! It's all my stupid brother's fault! He ticked off my dad, which made him take the parts. (picks up scythe and calls her brother) Oh, Ian, come here! (runs after her brother, wielding a scythe in her hand, cackling evilly.) Oh, right... the story.
Disclaimer: ---- That should be self explanatory... you dis-claim it... but oh well. I don't own Kingdom Hearts. My character and her weapon are the only things I own. (which I am very proud of by the way. ^_^)
Chapter 5. Explanations and New Friends.
"Wake up. Come on, you can't sleep all day!" Yuffie told Sora.
As Yuffie aroused the unconscious brunette, Leon was in another room, waking up Herzophia. "Hey, get up, kid!" He shook her gently.
She groaned sofly and opened her eyes to glare at the person who woke her up from her peaceful – although painful – slumber. Recognizing Leon as the person who had attacked them – and sadly, beaten both of them – she attempted to jump to her feet. Excruciating pain shot through her side, making her whimper quietly and slouch back down against the wall.
"Don't try to get up just yet," Leon told her, "first, I would like to explain things a bit to you."
Seeing as she couldn't move, Herzophia nodded slowly. What was the use of trying to fight back, if every time you stood up your body was filled with unbearable pain?
Leon nodded back. "All right. First, do you know what it is that you use as a sword? How important it is to our universe's survival?"
Herzophia shook her head. She was confused again, and this wouldn't be the last time.
"That sword you wield is called the Heartblade," Leon explained, "the Heartblade gives the bearer the ability to see others' hearts, allows them to see what amount of the heart has been consumed the darkness, and how much was strong enough to stay light. Also, if the bearer is strong enough in their mind and has a good reason, the Heartblade may even restore someone's heart to them, if the one who had their heart stolen had a strong one, and if they died for a noble cause, like saving someone's life." Her paused here and looked at the silver-haired girl on the floor. "It seems, for no reason I could think of before, to have found its way to you. I do have a hunch now, however, that the Heartblade chose YOU because you became friends with the bearer of the Keyblade." He looked at her again to notice she looked as if she was dizzy, about to fall over. He walked over and gave her a Potion. "I need you to stay awake for this, kid."
Herzophia's head was spinning. What did this have to do with ANYTHING? She felt a bottle drop onto her lap. She looked down at it, realized it was a Potion, and drank the foul-tasting mix. Instantly, her dizziness was gone, and some of the pain in her side receded. She sat up straighter against the wall, it not being so painful anymore. She looked at Leon and spoke, her voice a hoarse whisper. "Keep going, this is making VERY little sense."
Leon sighed and put his head in his hand. "I thought that might be the case..." He removed his head from his hand and continued his story. "The Heartblade and the Keyblade were made by a half-demon mage, Yuri, who put her unusual magic into both of them. She's long dead by now, but her magic still lives on in both of her creations. She put her wisdom of the heart into the Heartblade, and made it so that only a girl with a strong will and an even stronger heart could wield it. In the Keyblade she put her strong sense of friendship, making it so that only a boy who held great compassion, and love, for his friends, and who would protect them at almost any cost, could wield it. The Keyblade has the power to unlock anything, and seal the Keyholes to the worlds." He paused for a few moments to let this long bit of information sink in.
'So... a demon's magic is infused in my sword?' thought Herzophia. She pondered Leon's words for a brief moment. "Keep going..." she said.
Leon continued. "Yuri, knowing the blades were powerful, scattered them, sent them to different ends of the universe. If those two blades were to find each other, they and the ones to wielded them would create a terrible force that could, in turn with saving the universe from the Heartless, could make it possible for the Heartless to completely overcome it. She didn't want the second thing to occur. The blades were not supposed to have found each other, and you and Sora should not have met. But, as my friends and I have found out, the strong and familiar magic in the blades caused them to find each other again, and caused you and Sora to meet. Now the blades will stick together. You and Sora are that terrible force that could destroy the Heartless or our universe. If you or Sora ever get lost from each other, the blades' magic will somehow make you find each other again. The blades are like brother and sister." He turned to Herzophia, who was very confused, very curious, and very surprised.
'So... a terrible force... the blades are like brother and sister? I suppose Sora and I are too, then... how... strange. Either save or destroy our universe, everything as we know it... hold on a minute, speaking of my sword, WHERE IS IT?!?' Coming on that last thought, she swiveled her head in every direction, searching for her weapon.
Leon, noticing the girl's frantic searching, tossed her a Hi-Potion to relieve all of her injuries. "Drink this and follow me, you'll get your Heartblade back."
Herzophia downed the vile substance in one gulp. All of her pain lifted away, and she stood up to follow Leon to the next room.
"Kairi? Who are you talking about?" They heard Yuffie say, perplexed. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie!"
So, Sora was awake! Herzophia saw him blink, and a slight haze left his eyes.
Yuffie heard Leon and Herzophia walk in. she turned to the man and stated, somewhat scoldingly, "I think you might've overdone it, Squall."
"That's Leon." He corrected, annoyed.
"Ah! I see the wielder of the Heartblade has also woken up." Yuffie said cheerfully.
Herzophia managed a slight laugh. Woken up, more like lectured... not that she didn't need to know that information.
"I suppose you'll be wanting your swords back now, huh?" Yuffie asked the pair of teenagers. Herzophia nodded, as did Sora. Sora's Keyblade was leaning against the doorframe, and Herzophia's Heartblade was next to it.
Sora gazed at his weapon. "The Keyblade..."
At the same time, Herzophia moved to pick up her weapon. Leon stepped out of the way and allowed her to grab it. Thinking about testing it out, she thought maybe she had to touch someone with it. She poked Leon and attempted to find out how much darkness was in his heart.
Annoyed at the teenager's strange behavior, Leon batted the sword away from him and gave her a death glare. She stopped poking him.
Yuffie spoke to Sora. "Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out, that's how they were tracking you."
"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them," added Leon. "But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you, of all people, are the chosen one." He picked up the Keyblade and held it out. It disappeared in a flash of light. Sora gasped, thinking it was gone. A split second later it appeared in his lap, and he grabbed the handle. "Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers."
"Why don't you start making some sense? What's going on here?!" Sora demanded.
Yuffie began to explain. "There are many other worlds out there, besides your worlds and this town. They're supposed to be secret from each other, and they have, until a little while ago, because they've never been connected. When the Heartless came, all that changed."
"The Heartless?" Asked Sora, in unison to Herzophia's thought.
"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" Asked Yuffie.
"Those without hearts." Leon explained.
"The darkness in people's hearts, that's what attracts them." Said Yuffie.
"And there is darkness within every heart."
"Hey," asked Yuffie, "have you heard of someone named Ansem?"
Sora shook his head, and Herzophia asked, "Who is Ansem?"
"He was studying the Heartless," Leon said, "he recorded his findings in a detailed report."
"Where is it?" Asked Sora.
"Its pages are scattered, all over, to many worlds." Yuffie said. "We think that King Mickey, a wise ruler of a world just to the west of here, has gone to find those reports. Recently, his knight and his mage have come here looking for him. But first, they need a 'key' their ruler spoke of. The Keyblade."
"So..." concluded Sora, "this is the key..."
"Exactly!"
"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade and Heartblade. They will continue to come after you, no matter what."
"Well, I didn't ask for this..." said Sora.
Herzophia shook her head. "Me neither."
"The blades choose their master. And they chose you!"
"So, tough luck." Leon said, and leaned on the door to the next room.
"How did all this happen?" Asked Sora, very confused. "I remember being in my room... wait a minute! What happened to my home, my island? Riku! Kairi..."
"You know what, I really don't know."
Sora stood up from the bed, and went to Herzophia. "Do you have any idea what's going on?" He inquired.
"Somewhat... but it's all kind of a blur. All I know is that the Keyblade can open any lock, the Heartblade allows you to see into someone's heart, and with these two blades, we are supposedly the most terrible force ever imagined." She raised an eyebrow. "But I don't think that's true, considering he just whooped our butts."
Sora chuckled. "I don't know, maybe we just aren't experienced enough?" Herzophia shrugged. "Maybe we should get out of here and look for the knight and the mage." Herzophia nodded. Sora walked up to Leon. About to say something, he was interrupted.
"The Heartless will stop at nothing. You'd best prepare yourself."
"Prepare?"
"For the worst. To fight for your life. Are you ready?"
Sora looked back at Herzophia, who nodded. He nodded back. "I guess so." He answered.
"Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors." Leon turned to Yuffie.
"Leon!!" Yuffie yelled. A soldier heartless appeared in the middle of the room.
"Yuffie! Go!" Leon waved an arm towards the other room.
Yuffie ran through the door, smashing a duck into the wall. "Yuffie?" Aerith asked.
The soldier heartless jumped through a window, smashing the glass. "Sora, let's go!" Leon began to follow the Heartless.
Sora and Herzophia ran into the Hotel hallway and out of the building. They saw Leon enter the alley, and followed.
Soldier heartless were everywhere. "Don't bother with the small fries," Leon commanded, "go for the leader!" And he ran off down the alley.
"Well, he went that way, let's look back in the Second and Third districts." Sora said. Herzophia nodded, and they walked back through the door to the Second District.
Heartless appeared all around them. Herzophia remembered Leon's instructions. "Sora, let's just run past these! Leon said not to bother with the small fries and go for their leader, remember?"
"Yeah."
"I think I know the way to the Third District," Herzophia said, remembering where she had woken up all those hours ago. "It doesn't look like their leader is here, anyway." She started running towards the alley she had walked down before she was attacked by Heartless. Sora followed.
Many Heartless appeared as they sprinted down the alley, but the pair of teenagers just dodged them and ran through the brightly lit Third District doors.
The Third District was all but empty, just a large square with a fountain in the shape of two dogs in one corner, and one or two houses around it. Herzophia walked down a flight of stairs leading to the square, Sora not far behind. They walked into the middle of the square, watching for Heartless.
All of a sudden, they heard someone cry out – it sounded like a duck! – and two figures dropped from a balcony above and landed on Sora, despite his attempts to move. Herzophia watched with slight amusement as they all recovered from the fall. One of the people was, indeed a duck. The other one... kind of looked like a dog. The duck and 'dog' shook their heads, and, upon seeing the Keyblade, exclaimed, "The Key!"
Then, the ground began to shake, making it difficult to stand. Many stone pillars rose from the ground, eventually blocking all means of escaping. Soldiers appeared on top of the pillars, and another line appeared in the plaza. These they couldn't run away from.
The three people sprawled on the ground jumped to their feet, ready for battle. Sora and Herzophia whipped out their weapons and charged the Soldiers.
"Hya!" Sora began to beat on a nearby Heartless. These weren't as easy to kill as Shadows. After destroying that one, he immediately turned to another.
Herzophia slashed her way quickly through the first of her enemies, it disappearing the same time Sora's did. She began to hack away at the rest of her enemies.
The duck was a magician. He casted a spell that created a fireball, and shot it at the nearest Soldier. The Soldier was instantly defeated. He continued to shoot down his enemies that way.
The 'dog' held his shield up in front of him and charged nearby Heartless, bashing his way through them. Then he turned around and went for another pass. Many of his enemies died. He turned around again and ran through them.
The four fighters continued to beat up Heartless this way, until none were left. But, unfortunately for them, they were not finished yet.
What appeared to be gigantic armor fell from nowhere. The pieces bounced off the floor of the square, spinning. Pieces that looked like large metal hands connected to the sides of a large cylinder like piece with a heartless symbol on the front of it, the body, in midair. Pieces that looked like feet spun and connected to the bottom of the body piece. The now complete body landed on the ground. A large sphere fell from the sky and landed in an empty spot. That was the head. The armor began to move, the arms spinning in midair, the feet stomping the ground.
The duck and the 'dog' immediately ran towards the armor and began to attack. Herzophia decided to keep her distance for now. Sora walked around at a safe distance from the armor, judging it.
The arms began to spin wildly around the body, injuring the two who were attacking it. Herzophia decided to help them at this point, because just two fighters couldn't take down this big of an enemy. She charged at the armor, and upon reaching the feet began to hack madly at them. The monster seemed to feel no pain. The foot she was attacking lifted up and crashed down, hitting its attacker.
At this point, Sora seemed to be done with his judging, and ran in. He began to slash at the arms, and when they began to spin he hit one, making both arms cease spinning.
All of a sudden, the armor fell to the ground and ceased attacking. Herzophia continued to hack away at the foot. The foot exploded, and many health balls appeared. The injured fighters picked up and healed themselves with the health balls. Sora continued to slash at one of the arms, and it exploded as well.
The remaining parts of the armor began to twitch, and it pulled what was left of itself back together and proceeded to attack its enemies. Herzophia jumped back from the remaining foot, which she had been attacking mercilessly, to take a few seconds rest, to promptly get stomped on. She almost screamed in pain, and began to attack the foot again, her attacks even wilder, but not as strong as before. Because of this, it took a longer time to defeat. When it finally exploded, she picked up the health balls and healed herself.
Sora continued his attack on the remaining arm, gaining a few scratches that way when it spun around the body. The arm spun again, and hurled him against a wall. He stood up and ran back to the armor, jumping in the air and hacking away at the arm. It exploded, and now they only had the body left to destroy.
The duck and the 'dog' had already been attacking the body, and they felt that it was nearly dead. The Keyblade and Heartblade wielders joined them in their attack. The body sank lower to the ground and began to spin like a top, bashing and scattering the four that were attacking it. The two teenagers got up first and began to hack and slash at the body, and shortly after the duck started shooting fireballs at it again. The 'dog' stood up and charged the armor, and a bright light appeared on the Heartless symbol.
A light pink heart rose out of the armor and into the sky. The armor exploded, and the battle was over.
After everyone had recovered, and a few things had been explained...
"So, you were looking for me?" Asked Sora.
"Uh-huh!" The duck and the 'dog' nodded.
"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade." Leon said. He and Yuffie had appeared behind them.
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" Asked the 'dog'. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel!"
"I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..." Sora thought out loud.
"Of course!" Quacked the duck.
"Are you sure?" The 'dog' leaned closer to the duck, speaking in a low voice.
"Who knows?" The duck replied, "but we need him to come with us to help us find the king."
"Sora, go with them." Advised Leon. "Especially if you want to find your friends."
"Yeah," said Sora sadly, "I guess..."
"But you can't come along looking like that, understand?" The duck said, surprising the 'dog'. "No frowning, no sad face, okay?"
"Hyeah, you gotta look funny, like us!" The 'dog' added cheerfully, grabbing the duck's shoulders. The duck shoved him off.
"This boat runs on happy faces!"
Herzophia was staring at the 'dog'. She still couldn't figure it out. WAS it a dog? Deciding to think on that later, she looked at Sora, noticing how sad he was at the thought of his lost friends.
"Happy?" Asked Sora.
"Go on, Sora! Give them a funny face." Herzophia encouraged him.
Sora kept his head down for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, he lifted his head. A stupid grin was plastered on his face, and he did something funny with his eyes. "CHEEeee...eese...?"
The duck and 'dog' stayed silent for a few moments, then erupted into laughter. "That's one funny face!" Said the 'dog' between laughs.
"Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys!" Sora said, happier.
Herzophia felt kind of left out. The duck and 'dog' had hardly noticed her, if at all.
"Donald Duck." The duck introduced himself, putting out his hand.
"Name's Goofy." Said the dog, putting his out as well.
"I'm Sora." Said Sora, and put his hand out. He turned to Herzophia to see her nervously shifting her weight from one foot to the other. He pointed to her. "That's my friend, Zophi." Then he thought, 'she must be feeling left out...' "Hey Donald, can she come along?" He asked, turning to the duck.
Donald frowned. "No. Our gummi ship only has room for three people. She can't come along."
"Hey, uh, Donald, couldn't we just put another seat in?" Asked Goofy.
Donald thought. "Well, it would be a tight squeeze..." He looked at Sora and Herzophia, seeing the girl nervously shifting around, and the boy looking at him pleadingly. "But, I think we could manage it."
Herzophia and Sora perked up. Herzophia walked over to their little hand circle and put hers in as well. "Count me in, then." She said, smiling.
***************************************
Wow, that took a long time to write. But now my brother's kicking me off the computer, and I have to leave. Tell me what you think, see you next time!