Author's Notes: I have returned; I know, I know it's been ages and those who once read this probably gave up hope that I would continue it like many others who post tales here. But I assure you I had merely lost sight of this tale while working on others, it may interest you to know that I have spent some time working towards a goal where perhaps one day I can be on staff at Disney... Though there's no guarantee they'll even like my idea or hire me... Still I have to try something, if you only stay home and work dead end jobs there's really no flair in your life; especialy when you have the strong desire to give something to the children of the world... And to a lesser extent their parents.
Anyway I also stopped working on this because unfortunately I had no clear cut outline planned; now this works well for some stories, but it soon came to my attention that I was trying to squeeze too many characters and worlds into my tale. So instead I went back to the basic ideas surrounding Kingdom Hearts and chose thirteen settings for my characters' story to play out.
This has resulted in my story becoming a sort of AU for the Kingdom Hearts actual game, because near the end I intend to use the Hades cup from Olympus Colliseum and have Sora and his friends interact with Selphie and hers to end the threat of the leader of this conspiracy, which plays out at Hollow Bastion.
Now I haven't written too much more yet, but I am interested in pursuing this to actually end the story; for now I've gone ahead and edited the first bits of material I've had. This first chapter is now the actual length I originally intended; it also leaves off at the desired location; the second chapter I'll upload perhaps later tonight, or early tomorrow morning, will actually be composed of the rest of the old, only ending with something completely new, because that's where I intented to end the chapter. Then we'll see where the rest of the story will take us as we finish up with Notre Dame and prepare for the journey to the second world; and the first interaction between my conspirators; or at least one member, and our heroes.
And so without further ado and appology on my part; I repost the first chapter... Oh... And Disclaimer: I don't own any one thing about these characters, I merely borrowed them and threw them all together with a story idea of mine that I had back while playing the original game; and to a lesser extent have modified now that Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories is in my possession and a little bit known to me.
Foreword
The tale is well known of the destined Keyblade bearer who will open the door to the light, his adventures have been chronicled and reside in the library of Disney Castle with copies having been transcribed and sent to Hollow Bastion. (Please see index menu one through eight in the Disney Castle archives.)
But it is well known that there are countless worlds among the stars and that the bearer could not seal every last one; for some the Heartless infested their worlds and they were lost until the bearer came. For others, the One who will open the door arrived in time to seal their Keyholes.
This is truth and I will not deny it, nor do I make any claims that those records made by my very good friend Jiminy Cricket are false. Sora did in fact battle the forces of Maleficent and in the end defeated Ansem sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, but we do have some ground to go over… Or more specifically there is another adventure that has occurred during the time of the Keyblade bearer and his adventures.
My name is Doctor David Q. Dawson; I am a mouse, though not to be confused with the same species of mouse as his majesty King Mickey and her majesty Queen Minnie. I was chosen to chronicle the adventures of the other Keyblade bearer, the one that was unknown to Ansem and his ilk, the one that helped to seal those worlds Sora could not visit and in so doing save us all from a threat even greater than the Heartless.
This is her story, the story of the Keyblade bearer chosen by destiny to save the Forge master of the Keyblades and so our story begins on that most fateful evening Sora began his journey when the Heartless invaded his world…
Kingdom Hearts
Myths and Legends
The boy known as Wakka to his friends awoke with a jolt as the high-pitched screams of his parents broke through the thick fog surrounding his consciousness. Leaping from his bed and narrowly missing a stack of comic books sitting near the edge he glanced about wildly in confusion, had he been dreaming? Great claps of thunder and jagged streaks of lightning tore across the night sky and he shivered at the chill in the air, a rarity here on Destiny Islands to be sure.
Lightning tore across the night sky illuminating his darkened room, his thoughts were varied as he contemplated both storm and mothers' cries, what could have caused her to scream with such terror? Suddenly he felt something else in his room; he once again glanced about, yet saw nothing. Until a third bolt of lightning ripped the sky asunder and in that oh so brief flash he spotted it.
Quick as lightning it struck, but quicker still proved Wakka and his precious Blitzball, which came to his hand faster than even this strange creature could move. He hurled the makeshift weapon with all his might and struck the odd being down; but it did nothing more than stun the beast. Leaping backwards over his bed he flung his Blitzball a second time giving him the precious seconds he needed to kick the window open wide.
With one final throw to keep the creature preoccupied long enough he made his escape leaping from the second story window and landing semi-awkwardly on his feet twisting his ankle slightly even in the soft sand of the beach.
Glancing around he spotted the retreating form of a rowboat heading towards the Paopu fruit island where the children would wile away the days exploring, training and otherwise having great fun.
"Was that Sora or Riku?" He wondered; however he had no time to dwell on the matter for the strange creature had leapt out after him and was now oozing towards him, a pool of darkness with beady yellow orbs for eyes. Shuddering with disgust and trepidation he chose to flee hoping to find someone to help him, preferably one of the adults who had true weapons. Yet he recalled the cry of his mother and felt that it did not matter who he might come across, for their weapons would prove ineffective against these monsters.
Not far from the Disney Castle there lies the small hamlet of Duckburg where those who are not in immediate service to the king lived, worked and raised their young ones. Despite its odd choice of names not too many ducks actually lived here; it was a fairly quaint town with a small inn and tavern combination, a blacksmiths' shop, a few sparse houses and the McDuck mansion. A fountain rested near the town square and a small park had been commissioned during the early reign of the monarch so that children would have a place to play besides Queen Minnies' lush gardens. Standing on the outskirts of town was the great Foundry, a place held strictly off limits to everyone save for the few employees that worked for its' chosen master. It stood five stories high with no windows and was surrounded by a mystical barrier to prevent anyone without permission from entering; there were no doors save one small cleverly hidden one that blended in so seamlessly with the rest of the metallic structure it was impossible to make out unless you knew it was there.
It was very early in the morning, unbeknownst to the townspeople the King had gone off in search of a Key and the royal magician and captain of the guards had just recently gone off in search of him. So the only person within the Foundry at this moment was its' master; he was a rather old duck wearing a faded and tattered white jacket, which hung loosely upon his semi-portly frame reminiscent of the kind of jackets one might see a laboratory researcher wearing. He also had on a small pair of oval-framed glasses, which perched upon his beak and allowed him to see as he had in his youth. A few tufts of feathers were sticking out haphazardly due to the fact that this particular individual had been hard at work for many months now studying the numerous configurations of Gummi blocks and other oddities.
Plucking a tiny essence of Shell-G he slowly attempted to place it on the small upraised section beneath his specially crafted microscope, a device he had perfected through many years of painstaking research. A loud banging at the door brought him up short and his instrument tumbled to the floor smashing the glass lens with, which he would have seen through.
"Now I wonder who that could be." He grumbled whirling around on his stool and hopping down to go and answer the door for he believed no one without permission could gain entry. Before he could take a single step forward though the entranceway smashed open and the door crashed clear across the room in a crumpled heap, a tall and imposing shadow appeared dark energy crackling around the glove on his right hand.
"Well, well, well lookie what I've got here." A very familiar voice stated as the figure slowly stepped into the light revealing him to be the most notorious traitor within the land governed by Disney Castle.
"Pete." The duck gasped backing slowly away from the ex-minister of finance and visibly trembling as Pete burst out into a dark hearted belly laugh.
"Har, har, har… Mornin' Professor Von Drake; there's a couple o' friends o' mine who'd just love to make yer acquaintance." Pete stated with false cheer as he began to approach the aged inventor; Von Drake noted his odd style of dress. He was wearing a dark cloak that covered his entire body right down to the ankles, a pair of shiny black boots were on his feet and his hands were covered by odd black gloves that seemed to be glowing with an inner light, his hood was pulled back and inside the lining Professor Von Drake caught sight of strange wiring. Suddenly Pete froze as his gaze was torn from the Professor over to the far end of the work bench where a very special blade was resting.
"Oh no, you won't get it!" Von Drake cried half dashing half waddling up to a strange looking contraption hanging nearby. It was fashioned out of gummi blocks, with a squared off handle and trigger assembly. The majority of the device was cylindrical in nature and possessed a small hole in the center of the opposite end from the handle the Professor was holding. Petes' eyes narrowed if he didn't know any better he would have sworn it was a gun, but that was impossible no such devices existed here.
Taking careful aim the Professor fired, not at Pete, but at the blade resting on the table in a brief flash it vanished even as Pete tried to grasp its' hilt. Von Drakes eyes betrayed his obvious relief that his device had worked as intended and had not blown up in his face like so many others, Pete snarled and toppled the long work desk sending gummi blocks and weird half-finished inventions flying everywhere.
"Ha; you'll never get it now you kooky criminal you, my instant warping things from one place to another gun has sent it to where… Well even I don't know where it went, ha, ha." Von Drake bragged ending his little gloating speech with a shrug and his usual laugh. Pete glared at Von Drake momentarily and then adopted a thoughtful look rubbing his chin and smiling slightly.
"Real clever there Professor." He agreed nodding as his smile widened into a big grin. "But the way I figure it, my pals can just force ya ta make us more. Ones that can unlock them there Keyholes… Whoops almost said too much there." He added marching menacingly towards Von Drake, with a quick flick of his left wrist a long thin dart flew across the room and struck the Professor in the neck, he fell over instantly as the tranquilizer took effect. Pete plucked the elderly Professor up and left laughing manically into the night; little did he realize the grave error he'd just made concerning that little weapon.
Selphie stumbled exhausted from all the running; she knew she should flee, but her body was just too drained to continue another step. Tidus cursed under his breath and grabbed her by the shoulder forcing her onward; this was no time to lose sight of what was important, staying alive and finding help. Suddenly Wakka was flanking them from the other side of the short wooden fence that had been designed to keep the grass from being buried in sand. He waved his Blitzball to attract his friend's attention and Tidus nodded pushing Selphie over the fence to him and leaping across it with one mighty bound.
Tidus took a brief moment to catch his breath even as the wind began to pick up and the odd black hole that had appeared in the sky seemed to double in size, Selphie fell to her knees sobbing and muttering to herself about her parents.
"Hey man you know what's happening?" Wakka asked forcing Selphie back to her feet and continuing to flee from the odd creatures.
"No way, these… Things just showed up out of the blue, they got my folks even though mom used her sword…" Tidus replied trailing off as his chest began to hurt, Wakka nodded and glanced back at the strange shadow things they weren't very big, but they had sharp claws for hands and their facelessness, save for those twin beady yellow eyes, made everything more eerie.
Tidus smacked one aside with his wooden sword when it got too close and bounded over a medium sized rock in his path; the trio was heading for Kairis' place hoping someone was still there. Selphie continued to dwell on thoughts, visions of those horrible creatures plunging their talons into her parents' chests and bringing out strange crystalline representations of their hearts. She had seen them die and she knew without a shadow of doubt that none of them would survive; maybe not even their islands could survive this. Finally fed up with what was going on she stopped running, her legs were just too sore to continue and her lungs felt as if they were on fire. Letting herself fall backwards onto the ground she curled up into a fetal position and stayed there her body wracking uncontrollably as she began to cry.
"Oh no, not now." Tidus moaned coming up short as he almost tripped over the prone young girl, with a snarl of rage he grabbed her by the shoulders and began to shake her. "Snap out of it Selphie! We have to keep running, find help." He immediately regretted his words as she looked up at him with great pain and sadness in her tear stained face, Wakka shifted uncomfortably from left foot to right and glanced back to where the shadow things had been mere moments before. Something was wrong, they'd vanished he assumed a fighting stance; Blitzball raised high and would have said something, but Selphie beat him to it.
"Why?" She demanded. "What's the point of running any more, they'll just keep coming until we can't run any more and then kill us, just like my mom and dad." She blurted pushing Tidus away with such force that he was momentarily taken aback; he shared a look with Wakka only to realize that something was very wrong. With out any cries of warning or even a low growl most associated with animals on a hunt one of them attacked leaping onto Tidus' back and digging sharp claws down his back scrabbling for a purchase. Tidus shook it off quickly and bashed it away with his sword, but more erupted from the pools of blackness that had surrounded them.
Desperation took in and both boys began to beat and bash these strange monsters away automatically taking up stances to protect Selphie who had turned her back to them and was staring out across the ocean at the smaller Paopu Island. Was it her imagination or had she seen a strange flash near the smaller islet where Riku usually hung out?
"Come on Selphie you gotta get up." Tidus called with a grunt of pain as one of the creeps slashed at his leg. Selphie turned to her friends just as one of the unknown creatures leapt atop Wakka knocking the boy down, his eyes filled with terror and he opened his mouth to scream even as the thing plunged one of it's icy clawed hands into his chest and came out with a crystalline heart identical to the two removed from her parents. He vanished, his body being pulled down into a strange inky black pool that pulsated with an inner hunger of some kind. Tidus fought the urge to cry for his friend he had to be strong, had to get away nothing would prevent him from saving Selphie and anyone else who may have survived the initial attack. But even as he kept bashing the beasts aside more kept coming and soon he was engulfed, before his head was pulled under that writhing mass of bodies he glanced back at Selphie as if to say sorry. Even as his heart was taken he used his last conscious thought to wish and hope that somehow something would come along and save Selphie, as if called down from the heavens by his thoughts a great flash of light flared brilliantly on the spot he'd once stood and something appeared that shattered the pool of darkness and sent the creatures fleeing in pain.
She felt sharp claws rake across her back drawing blood as one of the creatures finally had a clear shot at her, she cried out toppling forward and rolling onto her back pinning the creature. Self-preservation finally kicked in and she lashed out with her left foot at another of the creatures as she shook the one from her back and climbed slowly to her feet. A third creature leapt at her knocking her back down, only now she had been flung closer to the strange object that had appeared from nowhere, she wished desperately she had her nunchuk with her. But that had been left carelessly on the stoop at home as she fled with Tidus, as the creatures began to rake her exposed legs dragging her towards inevitable oblivion her fingers reached out and fell upon the hilt. At first she thought she had merely grasped onto Tidus' wooden blade, but something about the weapon felt heavier. She didn't have time to worry about that now though; she had to fight them off… But once again she began to doubt, wondering why, she should just let them take her and be done with it.
Oddly enough as her doubts grew she felt strange warmth in the hilt of the sword and it spread throughout her entire body giving her greater courage and conviction; making her believe that she could get through this. With a great heave and what she hoped was an imposing battle cry she swung the weapon straight at the things clawing her legs, miraculously some of them fled while others vanished into a puff of red and black smoke. Whatever this thing was it had the power to hurt them, with a greater sense of the possibility of victory she climbed back to her feet and faced the others ready to end this. But even as she prepared to fight them the wind brought to her the sound of someone's' voice, it sounded like Sora, he was calling for somebody, Kairi? And then a great blinding white light erupted all around and she lost consciousness seeing and hearing no more.
The darkness of this place was unbearable, Pete thought he would never get used to it; the head honcho however liked to surround himself in darkness at all times. Save for the few small torches flickering in brackets near the entranceway nothing else was lit, yet Pete knew the whole gang was here. His nose detected their scents and darker shadows stood or sat nearby almost imperceptible to anyone without his keen sense of sight.
"Well, ah…" He began licking his lips nervously as he often did when he first opened his mouth in their presence. "I've got the duck ya wanted; he's down in the dungeons as we speak. So when do I get my munny?" He demanded his calm bravado returning as he began to believe that very soon now he'd be free of these people once and for all.
"And the blade?" An aged woman's voice inquired from somewhere to his left, it cracked like a whip for this woman was used to getting her way all the time.
"Well you see now that wasn't exactly my fault…" He began trailing off with a gulp as he sensed several angry glares being directed towards him. "The Prof, he sent it away with one o' his nutty inventions." He finished hastily, wiping his brow in the process, was it his imagination or was it getting hotter in here?
"You let it slip through your grasp!" A higher pitched male voice with the barest hint of a British accent demanded. "It could be on one of countless worlds now, and you expect me to dish out some of my gold for doing half the job?"
"It ain't like that, I mean… We got the Professor now don't we? Can't he just make another one?" Pete stammered beginning to back up in growing alarm and apprehension.
"Oh he can duplicate the abilities of the blade." A third voice agreed also sounding strongly British, though far deeper and more refined than the previous speaker. "But not the uniqueness of that particular blade, you see it is the original."
"And you let it slip through those oily fingers of yours!" A fourth voice accused, Pete couldn't place his accent or for that matter; locate his shadow amongst the shadows of the room so he must have been a newcomer.
"Aw now; don't go judging the lad too harshly there, after all he still has a chance." A fifth voice spoke up coming to Petes' defense, Pete bristled as he heard that voice though; he hated this particular member with a passion. "Providin' he can find that blade before the Heartless or Maleficents' bunch does." He added as a small, soft glow flared up where the right eye of this particular shadow was located.
"Of course, of course." Pete began turning now to address the center of the room where the darkness prevented even the barest hint of who might be sitting there from escaping. "I'll, ah, get right on that." He added with a chuckle before turning swiftly and practically racing from the room; the shadows remained silent for a time until the second person to address Pete broke the silence.
"I don't think this is going to work anymore, there are too many variables to consider now." He stated. "And far too many partners of this enterprise to share with the profits." He added under his breath thinking he hadn't been heard.
"Now don't be gettin' soft on us mate, you knew what you were gettin' into." The fifth member of the conspiracy to address Pete reminded as a warning his eye flared once again and the second shadow from his right shuddered.
"But if Maleficent finds out." He countered his voice trembling at the mere mention of the mistress of all evil.
"She will not." A new voice stated; this one was a deep baritone filled with malice, darkness and a lust for power if a voice could truly be filled with such a thing. The others in the room feared him more then even the Heartless for it was impossible to feel anything else in his presence, and when he spoke you either listened or paid the price.
"Now go, return to your worlds and verify that the blade did not end up on any of them, I shall personally speak with the duck." He ordered rising from his throne at the top of the stairs shrouded in darkness, the only way the others could tell he had begun to move was the slight shifting of his cloth robes. Once they could no longer hear his footfalls the others swiftly moved to obey his command, even if a few of the co-conspirators complained slightly under their breath.
To Be Continued