K² ::Rise K to the Second Keyblade::
Once people prayed to Blue Sky for something.
The craving for power gave birth to the Heartless.
The Heartless drove people to the depths of ruin.
And then it has calmed down.
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Author's Notes: This whole chapter jumps around quite a lot (despite it's the real intro). Erm, and I can't believe this site doesn't allow asterisks on the pages anymore. (So now, the use of parentheses are a must, I guess now.)
Ah, and please pardon me for changing several of the Disney/FF characters' personalities around. It's the only way, I can do this story! (laa)
Dislcaimer: Thou shall not own anything, claim anything, and hug anything. Amen.
Quotation Key:
"text"-quote
'text'-thoughts
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Chapter 1: A Tale of Many Souls
A spiky brown haired 14 year old was sitting at small round table that contained an open umbrella sticking out from the middle of it. His head was resting on his hands. He was simply dazing out at the ocean which was neatly laid out in front of him. Well, almost. Separated by a few palm trees, a boardwalk, and sand; the view was still nice. He wasn't even distracted by all the people walking all around him. Everything looked like total paradise, or even picture perfect on a postcard. The clothing choice of his was perfect for this type of weather. A white simple shirt with thin blue stripes at the end of its two sleeves. Red puffy shorts that end right above his knee caps. The boy suddenly straightened up, stretched, and started gazing at the sky. What he didn't notice was a voice calling out his name in anger.
"Soraaa! Get your buttock back here in an instant! Ya' got Aggona juice to deliver!"
"Huh?", the boy turned around to see a big man, wearing a barrel for overalls, stomping toward him with a huge glare, "Oh… hi Boss!". The boy grinned and waved at the same time. This approach only made his 'boss' even redder.
"Don't 'hi' me!! Quit foolin' around! You've been daydreaming again, weren't you!? Now…. MOVE!"
"Not really…," the boy was about to defend his action innocently, but decided to move before he got into even deeper water. He ran all the way to a store that was in back of the many round tables, just like the one he was at. A blonde, his age, greeted him at the store's counter.
"Hey Sora! Looks like Boss is up with you again."
"No kidding", Sora smiled with an 'ah-haha' look in his eyes, "It's always me right?"
"Well, you're the one who loves this town the most among all of us."
"What? Really? You know. I've been thinking. Since you've been to other places, it seems you chose this place to live, right? So, how can you say you don't love this town!?"
"I didn't mean it that way. It's just…"
"AHEM," a voice just needed to interrupt. Both boys froze knowing who it was. In an instant, Sora was in his roller blades and goggles, complete with a satchel which obviously contains his delivery.
"I'm off!", he shouted as he zoomed out the doorway. The minute he was gone, the boss looked sideways at the counter boy only for a split second before heading toward a doorway marked: 'Kitchen. Staff Only.' The counter boy sighed in relief knowing the storm was over and went back to counting munny from the cash register (-Hey, what else could he do? Stare at a wall?).
'The name's Sora Akagi. I was born and raised here in Seaside Village, a town population of only 600 people. It's located at the corner of this big island that make up this whole chain of islands forming what is known as Destiny Islands. Phew! Too many islands! Anyways, I'm always curious about the people who come visit our town. Many come from far away places I've never heard of before. That's why, I'm mostly caught by Boss when I end up talking with tourists, or dreaming of those places when I'm alone. Unfortunately for me, I don't have enough munny to even travel out of this island. I'm still trying to pay back the munny, I owe the Boss! I don't mind that though. I love Seaside Village enough that I'd never want to part with it. So that's true as to what Tidus has said about me. Very very true.'
Sora was gliding along side winding streets and waving 'hi' to several people. Since this town was sort of small, he knew a certain amount of laborers, shop owners, and families. That's how much, he's connected with the village.
"Come on in. Please, make yourself at home," an elderly short thin man, with a mustache and a one-eye spectacle, was opening the door for the red hair girl to come in. When the two of them were inside, the girl began to take off her coat and scarf, slowly. They were in what looked like some kind living, or drawing, room. Two sofas placed in a ninety degree angle toward each other. A big table in the middle filled with papers. A fireplace on one side of the room and a cabinet on the other.
"You must be exhausted after traveling all this way," the old man spoke up again once he got his coat off and hanged on this old fashioned coat rack.
"Oh no. I'm as fit as a fiddle and ready to go!", the red head pumped up both of her arms trying to show herself in a strong mood once she got her boots off.
"….. HARHARHAR! You don't say.. Well, I'm going to go make some tea so I'll be right back. Oh, sit down dear! You've been standing there for quite some time. Didn't I say make yourself at home!?"
"Thank you," she said quietly with a smile as the old man walked out of the room. The girl hanged up all of her things properly before examining her surroundings carefully. She was still amazed that such a room could exist in an elegant building. Instead of sitting down, she ended up walking toward one of the stained glass windows. Peering out into the foggy surroundings of the place, she couldn't even believe it herself that she was walking in that environment only several minutes ago. Sighing, she was about to rest her head on the sill before something caught her eye. Something shining through the fog. It was moving too as if, someone was actually out there, walking. Was it possible? There was someone else here beside the old man? She kept staring at its glow until it faded deep within the fog.
"You see something out there, miss?", the elder was back with a full tea set on a tray.
"Ye-Yes," the girl's voice seemed to have echoed in a bit of a stutter, as she suddenly remembered where she was, "Yes, I do. Something shining in that fog. I'm not kidding either! There was definitely something---.", she got caught off by the old man's loud strange laughter again.
"HAR! I believe you. Don't worry. Your eyes weren't deceiving you or anything. I'll tell you about him after we have tea, ok…miss?"
"Ah, alright," the girl nodded in accordance but couldn't help to think in curiosity, 'He?', she walked over and squatted down on one of the sofas. The elder took the other sofa and started pouring tea.
"Oh yes. I guess, we didn't make any proper introductions. As you can guess, the name's Ohinakana Porter, the official caretaker of this entire place."
"And I'm Kairi Mikada."
"Kairi? A very pretty name indeed. So, what brings such a sweet girl to a dismal place like this? I've meant to ask you this from the beginning but you know old people. Sometimes, their heads can land in clouds and not know where they are the next. HARHARHAR!", he ended that cracking laugh with several sips from his tea.
"Oh, well, you see. I've come to help clean this place up."
"Really? Help a poor old man like me?", he gave her a toothy smile, "I guess, I do need an extra helping hand. As you've walked through here earlier, this kingdom use to be pack with people from all corners of the world. Festivals and markets would stream around here like crazy. Eventually, something happened which caused numerous people to flee. Sooner or later, this terrible fog that you see now is the result of no one wanting to come back here anymore. It's been like this for years. Such an unusual weather event that goes on day and night. I can barely even remember what the sunlight looks like now."
"I see. Don't worry, Mr. Porter. I may not look much, but I'll try my best no matter what!"
"Remarkable spirit, my dear. Remarkable. Take your time to adjust to everything here. This castle is extremely huge so one can get easily lost if you don't take heed of where you're going. You never know. You might even end up being in the dungeon", he winked as he took down to the very last drop of his tea. Kairi followed suit and began to feel more comfortable than ever before. Perhaps, it's because of the fireplace and the tea together that makes the whole room inviting.
"Wait! Before I forget. What's that light? I mean, who?", Kairi jumped out of her seat and jogged back to that same window.
"That's right. I almost forgot to tell you too. You might find Sora wandering around the castle at certain times. Strange fellow, eh? Always searching and never bother to stop, and act like his own age."
"Sora? Is he someone my age?"
"Oh no. Of course not! If he was, you'd probably see him helping me this instant," Mr. Porter grinned, "He's just a little boy. That light you see within the fog is his pendant shining bright. Something, I never quite figured it out, but I'm thankful about it at the same time. I don't need to go crazy searching for him in this fog. Excuse me," at that moment, Mr. Porter got up with the tray, and took it through a door, that seems to be the way to some sort of kitchen. Kairi sat very still with a serious look on her face. Her hand was about to reach for something in her pocket but she stopped half way.
He was gliding back toward the store using a private route when suddenly, he felt his heart jolt.
'Ah! No! Why did it have to be here?', he fell onto his knees and began to grab his white shirt in a grid tight lock. His breathing began to get heavy. Eyes were wide open staring at the ground, which was soon replaced by something else.
A girl. No. A red hair girl was smiling at him.
'Sora, will you…'
His head snapped. He felt his body becoming normal, but decided to sit still for a little while. In a few minutes, he started to get back onto his feet. It was that girl again. Who is she? He's been having these strange visions whenever he kept having these odd brief heart attacks. Sora sighed as he placed one foot out, and then, another in order to restart his skating. It seemed like he met her before. But where? And why?
"You're late Akagi!", the boss's voice was screaming into his ear by the time, he got through the shop's door, "The other guys are already done with their shifts. They're now out there on a break. Where have you been!?"
"Um… hehe, you see sir. I had this small heart attack which--," Sora was rubbing the back of his head with a sweatdrop pouring down his cheek.
"I don't even want to hear about it!! Now, in punishment, you're to take juice duty!", his boss thrust one index finger toward the kitchen.
"But Boss…"
"Nah ah. Kitchen! You heard me Akagi and I don't want to repeat it twice!"
"Yes sir!", Sora ran right through the kitchen door and instantly fetched an apron. The blender was out. Several different kinds of fruit were laid out excluding Paopu. The poor boy felt like resting his head against the machine and sing out a 'why me!?'. He started crushing a triangle size fruit into the blender when a new voice caught his attention.
"Ah! This place is perfect! I can't believe how thirsty I am right now. Uh. Excuse me!? Anyone here!?" Sora bended himself to the right in order to look through the kitchen window, which was facing the customer side of the store. A black haired girl, wearing a tied head band, was sitting herself down in one of the many round tables. What's strange about her, that caught Sora's attention, was that she was wearing an unusual outfit. Arm bands and a scarf around her neck. A traveler? He watched as his boss came out of the Staff door and head toward her.
"Yes miss. Welcome to 'Cid's 100 Juice Shack'. Are you interested in our Juice Special menu?"
"Juice Special menu!?", the girl's eyes were lit, "Well.. I'd like to have the best and finest juice, you have to offer."
"Very well miss. That'll be our Paopu fruit then as it's the local fruit around here," the boss bowed slightly before walking toward the kitchen. The girl began to dreamingly watch through the kitchen's window. Sora could only stare in surprise until he got pushed away by the boss.
"Move boy. I got an order to fulfill."
"Hey! I thought you wanted me on juice duty!?"
"For Paopu fruit though, that's the only juice you seem to have not mastered yet."
"Oh yeah. That's right," a creep of embarrassment blush went onto his cheeks. He watched helplessly as his boss grabbed one Paopu out of the kitchen's main refrigerator and place it on the cutting board. The girl started to drool the minute, she saw the fruit laid out.
"Ahhhhhh! I can't wait!", she raised her arms to her chest and squinted her eyes shut. Sora sneaked a blank look on her. He couldn't be more surprised at seeing someone totally excited just for juice.
'Definitely, a weird traveler.'
Sora's boss was working away like mad. He practically chopped all of the Paopu into neat even pieces, dragged the blender over, and threw them all in with only one shot. This scared Sora even more than when he gets into trouble. Once the blending was done and the juice was poured into a plastic cup, there was nothing left to do except to serve it. The boss gave one hard look at the boy before shoving a round tray into his arms.
"Make sure you don't slip yourself up on this one Akagi", he growled, gently placing the cup onto the tray. Sora shuddered as he felt himself being shoved into the customer area. He walked nimbly toward the girl and was about to hand her the cup, when suddenly, she grabbed it off the tray herself.
"Why thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!", she praised repeatedly to Sora who could only smile awkwardly.
"Aww. Gee. Um, miss? You don't have to…. "
He was interrupted by his boss entering the area and the girl hopping off her chair to go run toward him. Sora looked on in shock.
"Ah. Wait. Miss!"
"Most of all. I wanna thank you!", she began to give the boss a very huge hug. The boss didn't move a single muscle and looked pretty much, stern. Sora collapsed at the sight of this. Hearts were bouncing off tables, chairs, and his very own head just watching this event take place. Seconds later, the girl was back in her chair ready to make her first sip of Paopu. One could easily see her hands ready to take the drink apart. Unfortunately, that never happened due to another new voice that entered the store.
"THERE YOU ARE! Eating on the job, are you? Well, not for long are you going to regret even trying to run away from me," a brown haired girl, wearing a pink hair ribbon and very light colored apparel, was standing in the store's doorway. Her eyes were staring hard at the black hair girl who could only shrink back behind her seat.
"Ack. Aerith. Please! I can explain!"
"We don't have time for this. We need to get to our destination pronto! Sophie is waiting for us to be there."
"Can I just take one….?"
"NO!"
The black hair girl was suddenly pulled off her seat, by this so-called 'Aerith', and was dragged right out of the store. The voice of the wailing girl could be heard until it faded many blocks away. Sora was frozen watching the entire act. He somehow felt that this traveler wasn't just a weird customer. Waking from his trance, he began to panic as to what to do with the Paopu fruit. Finally, with a shrug, he grabbed the cup and jugged it down in several gulps. What he didn't notice was his boss, leaning against a wall next to the kitchen window, silently deep in thought.
"…….."
Somewhere, in an undisclosed location, was a dim lit hall. A silhouette of a person, sitting on a throne, could be seen shrouded in the shadows of tall velvet curtains that hang from the ceiling. A figure, carrying a long stick in the shape of a cobra, was bowing down to this person on the throne.
"My Lord. We've tried every single way to open the safe. From Trickster to one of the Titans. There is no other way."
"No. There has to be. If every powerful known heartless was used… Wait, Jafar. Have you ever heard about the legend of the keyblade master?"
"Keyblade master, my Lord? No, I have haven't heard such a particular thing."
"It's been said, that this legendary wielder brought destruction and chaos. Yet, there's another legend stating that the wielder brought peace and serenity to all the worlds. Now, adding on to the whole legend thing, it's been rumored that the keyblade wielder is the one who sealed Hikari in that safe. It could be possible that this 'key' is all we need in order to get her out."
"So, what you're saying is… we need that keyblade?"
"If it does truly exist, that is."
"And who told you this information, sire?"
"Why, who else. The one and only true source who knows it all. The Mouse." a small smile could easily be seen through the depth's of the darkened area of the room. Reflection from some of the randomly placed candle lights (their flicker) help radiate upon the silhouette's face feature just a tiny bit. Jafar knew instantly that his master was in a cunning mood that very night. As soon as he was dismissed from this ghastly room, he traveled down a dark hallway. On its end was a large spherical ball of water in which he entered into. The ball radiated one flash of light blue before disappearing into the air. Moments later, it reappeared in a very big room filled with black moving creatures with yellow eyes. Among them, there were only two that looked completely different. These two were special as they were standing on their two feet, wore dark blue clothing, and each had hats that resembled the tops of mushrooms.
The blue ball descended onto a platform that was at the far end of the room. Jafar walked right out of the ball being greeted by the two mushroom hat creatures.
"Sir. What did his eminency say about the safe?", inquired one of them.
"A keyblade," Jafar looked at the two with an evil grin, "that has the power to unlock doors.
You two must know what to do when the time comes."
"We do?", asked the other with a blink. He turned to his partner who only gave him a shrug back.
"You were born for this type of intervention after all," the sorcerer's eyes flickered, "The heartless are the ones who fear this special key. Do you two knuckleheads understand me at all?"
Apparently, the two mushroom heads were already in discussion of their new mission not caring what else Jafar had to say after he mentioned the word 'keyblade'.
"Do ya think it's a chocolate key, Sindac?"
"What!? Are you some kinda chocolate nut!? I say this key is made of pure gold. Sparkling with diamonds and…"
"JUST WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOLTS BABBLING ABOUT!?", Jafar looked like he was at his limit. His cobra staff was about to aim for their heads. The two shrooms straightened up their backs and saluted with sweatdrops hovering all over the place.
"No sir! Sorry sir! We're on a double lookout sir! You can count on us! We'll find you this key! No doubt about it sir!"
"Sighhh. I wonder why both of you were assigned to me in the first place. I bet, I can do this job even better without you two around me", Jafar began rubbing his temple as he walked down the steps that leads from the platform. The mushroom heads stared at his figure for another minute or so, before going back into their discussion of this 'key'. The black creatures that were all around him moved out of his way and formed a large bare walkway that led to a big gray box, the size of a little child. Upon reaching it, Jafar crouched down so his head was in front of its small hole window. A familiar long red hair girl could be seen floating inside the box, sleeping gently. She was wearing a long simple white nightgown, which flowed with the rhythm of the void that help keep the girl afloat.
'It's only a matter of time before this little one will awaken. Then, all of my world will be solid gold for the taking. Especially the Genie.'
In front of a large cathedral building, two figures were running right up a street that ended with a large beautiful cathedral. The sun's light was fading away therefore, a lot of shadows were forming all along the buildings.
"This must be the place."
"Wow… How come it had to be this village though? Wouldn't it be better if it was somewhere else? Like, you know.. Some big crowded over-populated ci--."
"HUSH! They could have spies guarding this place. You have to be careful Yuffie."
"I know. I know.", the second voice started to whisper, "Sorry."
Both of them went up the stairs and took each of side of its double door entrance. All of a sudden, something was ringing a strange melody which made the shorter girl face-fault toward the door.
"That almost scared me there.", Yuffie had tears streaming down her face trying to hold back a laugh.
"Hello. Vice-Commander?", Aerith took out a small cell phone, the size of a pocket.
"Yes, Aerith. Did you guys make it to the cathedral?", the third girl, Sophie, was standing on a tall building somewhere else in the village, holding up her own cell. Her elongated brown coat's tail end was moving around crazily with the wind. The large bag that can be seen slung over her shoulder was the only thing mysterious about her.
"Yup. We're about to barge in until you called up."
"You sure, you don't need any backup yet?"
"Nope. Perfectly fine. I think, it's not going to be so bad."
"Alright then. See you later!"
"See ya!"
Both girls hung up with just a simple press of their buttons.
"So, you ready to make the big catch?", Aerith made a sideways glance at her partner with a small smile.
"Ready whenever you are!"
"Ok. One.. Two… THREE!!", the taller girl managed to kick open both doors with full force making the noises of their arrival 100 hearable.
"What was that!?", one of the mushroom heads looked up.
"It seems, they found us much quicker than we thought. Boys, make our guests feel right at home. I'll be with you in a moment," Jafar walked quickly away from the room leaving the two shrooms scrambling toward the safe.
"Shadow Heartless arise! Seek and destroy the intruders! Make sure they don't come near the safe!", commanded one of the mushroom heads pointing in the opposite direction from where Jafar has left them. The small dark creatures, that were swarming the room, started to move toward that one specific large doorway.
"Some welcoming party. You'll think, it couldn't get any better than this," Yuffie couldn't help remark once she saw a large black parade heading toward them.
"Yuffie! You know the drill. Run until you see the gigantic box."
"Yeah. Yeah. Old stuff. You distract. I do the mission. End of story."
"What?"
"Nevermind," the ninja girl began to run like the wind trying to dodge several incoming heartless as much as she can. The whole way through, she's been making pretty cute and funny expressions while jumping out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Aerith took out from a satchel of her own, a large Arabian-like sword.
"This is for the trouble you put us through just to track you down for days. Ha!", she swung the sword in a semi-vertical cutting move. With that very swing, part of the building exploded sending windows crashing to the floor. The roof's tiling were swiftly raining down from the ceiling thus, it now has a nice large gap in it. The sound could pretty much wake up the entire town except, the cathedral is no where near the main village.
"Huh?", Sora sat right up instantly. He was resting on a small beach hill that was over-looking the ocean. Beyond a wide gap of water was the cathedral itself situated on an island all its own. His eyes widened as he saw smoke and some parts of light pouring out of the gap.
'I …..I remember now. It was just like this night that I saw that falling star,' he got right on his roller bladed feet and made a dash toward the island. As soon as the boy was on one of the bay's docks, he quickly unraveled a wooden boat's docking rope and hopped in with no second thoughts of regrets.
'I may have no idea why I'm doing this. Something, or someone, is calling me toward that place and I'm bound to find out why!', he's seen paddling along the bay's random current not realizing that another vision was about to hit him in a second .
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A.N.: (cracks her knuckles) Everything just got started. Mwehehe. It's such a fiasco. I'm trying to aim for this adventure action feeling yet, at the same time, make sure it's mysterious enough to create a lot of questions. Nori. Nori. Probably, it's not working. Hmm.. Iago isn't going to be partnered with Jafar. Oh noo. Hehe. I have a much more amusing plan for him. (super wide grin)
See ya next chapter!
--Tomogirl