Everyone: "(reads story)"
Sora: "Pretty good so far. It's emotional and has a good deal of angst."
Kairi: "Wow. That really made me feel something in the beginning."
Riku: "Amazing, the first real emotions I've had in a while."
Acronos: "Yeah, well try living it!"
Maioko: "Geez, painful. Oh, thanks for the cameo!"
No problem. Hold up, I've gotta do the disclaimer. So, I don't own any video games or concepts from them. I do own my own concepts, and those that are more thought out versions of those in games. This chapter is quite angsty in the beginning, gory in the middle, and philosophical at the end. If you don't like either, then don't read. If you do, then why are you still reading this babble? If you couldn't care less, then just read it anyway, please? Oh yeah, thank you to the one person who reviewed, you not only made my day, but you made me continue!
A storm was brewing. The thunderclouds were already covering most of the sky. This was a sign of the world getting ready to die. Fog crept up and covered the ground, creating shadows, illusions, to distract and confuse all but those truly focused on what they were doing. Thunder rumbled in the distance, the storm would be fully upon them in only a small amount of time.
Eventually it became night, but not fully so. Those without hearts were wielding all darkness, and the storm was taking effect, so the night seemed lit by an unearthly light, destined to fade, never to die. This mattered not to one soul at the moment. His name is Acronos, and all he was thinking of was strategies for battle, and how to save the world from these heartless.
Unfortunately, this could never be accomplished, for those without a strong heart were now fighting against him. Those few that had strong enough hearts, and those hiding, might survive, but, it would not be on Earth… Those with strong hearts always looked for an outlet for their strength, and it came well to them. This again didn't matter to Acronos. Fatigue didn't matter to him, as he wasn't subject to it.
All he did was swing his knife through heartless after heartless, making sure none could pass. The seeker of darkness, who began to think that he might have to come down, watched this. He merely directed all the heartless towards Acronos and prepared to descend. This was mostly in a haze for Acronos, all things were. The fog seeped into his senses, blurring his mind, yet focusing it to the point where no heartless stood in his way for more than a second.
It would be pointless to go into detail of the battle, for not one person could truly understand or see it. Acronos because of the fog, his parents also, the seeker too, and the heartless were without minds, so the battle shall remain unknown. That is, until several events happened within, to change Acronos' life forever. Even though his life was changed significantly, it was about to be shattered as had he known it. Soon, nothing would be the same.
Acronos' thoughts: What's going on anyway? Who am I fighting? The heartless! Oh, why then? They're trying to kill you and take away your world! That's a good reason. Why is there so much obscurity to my thoughts? It's because you embody tonight for the moment only. Who are you? I am Gaia, or Earth. How can you be speaking to me while I do this deadly dance? I will die soon. My last wish is to speak with thee. Then speak, good spirit, show me what you have come for. Life isn't a meaningless effort. Even when you weren't aloud to win, you have not failed. Just remember that. Are those your words, good spirit? Yes. This battle won't continue for much longer. The door has been opened. What?! Then I must close it! There is no way. You must defend your parents now. Is there anyone but them left? No. . . . Thank you. I begin to tire, when may I rest? You may rest in one hour. Will I die then? You will cease to be as you are now long before then, but you will not die. Yet, you will never be able to win. Then shouldn't everyone flee? How? . . . You have a point. Why do I fight then? For justice. Is this what I always fight for? Yes, and at one point, love. Thank you.
A few heartless who were coming up saw Acronos' parents, and decided to go for easier prey. They were cut down instantly, but more came. They died, but still more came. They came and came and came, until Acronos couldn't move to stop them. He tried his best with magic, but he had his limits, and this is one of them.
Acronos: "Mom, Dad! Dammit, out of my f***ing way you damn heartless!!"
Acronos' parents had strong hearts and wills, and decent skills with a sword to go with it, but numbers can conquer nearly everyone. An air soldier took his mother's heart, a wizard took his father's. Tears forming in his eyes, he absorbed their hearts, so they wouldn't become heartless. Their bodies disappeared, and their energy went to Acronos, healing him as their final act of love for their son. It began to rain.
The rain came down hard, the droplets hitting Acronos hard, almost cutting. It didn't matter to him. He fell to his knees and closed his eyes as his tears flowed, obscured by the rain. Even now, no one could truly say he was crying for sure, but he was. The heartless moved away from him, and surrounded him, preparing to kill him.
He cried, sobbing a bit, if not only for his parents, then for his world, his race, his life, the reason he'd just been fighting for, all gone. Three lightning bolts flashed down around him, and Jath Dev and Leona appeared, weapons drawn. He didn't notice, he just continued to cry. The heartless stood little to no chance against Acronos, so what chance did they have against semi – deities like them. At one point, Acronos just stopped crying.
Acronos: "You." His defenders looked at each other. "You, the heartless." The defenders left. "You are the cause of all my pain. You have destroyed my life. You slaughtered those on this Earth. You will not live!!! (Eyes open, stands up rapidly, sheathing knife.)" Power blazed around him as he lifted both hands above his head, as if clutching a sword, preparing to attack. He slashed down to a resting position and his keyblade tore forward in a flurry of light and rage. The curve and sharpness of his dream sword's, the handle of the blade in his dream, the hand guard being of the standard keyblade shape, (Sora's), except that it made a V going upwards, with the point being a circle large enough to hold one's hand in, and having V and ^ shapes creating spikes on it. The blade looked normal, aside from being unbreakable, until you reached the symbol, which was a broken heart with a cone-like spike being driven through the middle. One half of the heart was like Sora's ultima weapon's, the other was in the style of Riku's dark keyblade, except with zigzags to show the break on both hearts. The spike had points on both ends of the keyblade. The end of the blade was a broadsword point. He held it like Sora, and with its curve like a katana, but the symbol pointed out from there. The key chain was the pointy crown in the Kingdom Hearts symbol. It rained harder.
Now, I have to explain something about Acronos. His ancestors fought demons. The sub-gods, or deities, decided to see what would happen if they combined their powers. Humans were the only beings with enough spiritual strength to hold this power, so the deities searched for a strong enough bloodline. This was Acronos'. Unfortunately, the strength needed could only be attained at Acronos' generation. One thing the deities didn't count on was that when one of Acronos' ancestors was fighting some demons, they cut their arm badly, and when they cut that demon in half, some of its blood entered the wound. This is normally bad and disgusting, but it was unnoticed due to demon blood's powerful healing effects on humans. So, now, Acronos is 1 third demon, 1 third human, and 1 third deity. The effects of this are simple: advanced strength, speed, stamina, and etc. courtesy of the demon side. High spirit and magic are courtesy of the human. Acronos gains the powers of a stronger deity, (like a god of a specific element, just not like the God of the one-god religions) from that side. This will come into play now and later. Also, the keyblade is a much stronger weapon than the knife, but a bit slower.
Acronos slashed powerfully at a heartless and sent enough force forward to create a crevice 3 miles long. Barely noticing, he swung in a circle, killing anything near or far. A dark red aura was beginning to surround him.
Acronos, in a much deeper voice: "Haha! Come on! Is that the best you puny pathetic things have got? Come on, don't tell me, you rely on numbers, don't you? Haha! I was right, here they come!" And so they did, thousands upon thousands. Even though he had almost 50 times the power that any 20 heartless had to offer, he soon was loosing.
Acronos, thinking: There's gotta be a way to win! You aren't destined to loose this! Remember your parents! Let your emotions give you the clarity of mind and spirit, unleash your hidden power!!! For Justice!! (Corny, but effective).
A ring of pure energy surrounded him, and then engulfed him. Within the warm light of his dream, he began a transformation into something other than himself, for the moment, it shall be called an archangel. Golden wings, darkened by the rage he'd used to transform, with pointy black tips and claws on top appeared on his back. His long spiky black hair turned to the green of the center of a save point, and became harder and spikier to the point where it was a weapon. His symbol turned into a glove, the door covering most of his hand, the swords actually physical objects, as well as the heart, which fit onto two fingers like rings and the crown pointed outward for a more effective punch. His feet became talons of sorts, with the front having two claws, and each side having one as well, (think of a bird's foot with two talons on the sides, as well as small metal claws on the diagonal for even more balance). His hands were clawed as well. A silver-colored armor encased him, but it seemed a bit dark from the rage. This isn't knight armor; this is loose armor, encasing separate parts, like one tightly bound arm piece, a separate bicep one, shoulder armor, a tight chest plate, with a back, and leg guards, with chain mail of sorts in between. His keyblade transformed as well, into the master keyblade. If you've played Devil May Cry, it's the Sparda sword with a longer blade and two broadswords connected to the body, one pointing up, and the other down. For those who haven't, it's a sword as long as Sephiroth's, with a similar curve, except it's thick, like Cloud's Buster sword, but with the blade and body having a small separation in between, with connections, and the blade being longer than the body. The blade begins at the pentagons, (from the first keyblade), and the key chain is made of energy and ends with a smaller version of the amulet, but with energy instead of gems.
A crater had formed from his transformation, but he still floated at the level he'd been standing at, eyes closed and arms crossed. It took the heartless only a moment to close the distance created when he'd transformed. A wizard cast its blizzard spell on him, but to no avail, it didn't even come close. It tried the rest of its spells only to have the last one reflected back and destroy it. A defender tried its hand next, lumbering over and trying to bite him.
His eyes flashed open and he cut through the defender's shield, yes directly through, and sheathed his keyblade so fast nobody saw it. What was odd about this was his eyes, which were no longer the deep brown they had been, (mine!). The pupil had become golden, shining with strange light, reflecting the deity. The iris was black with red lines through it, (not like irritations, straight red lines through the colored part), it had the quality of making you want to stare, and it reflected the demon. The outside was more gray-blue than white, with no real light or qualities, just the human side.
It took about a second for the defender to realize it was dead and disappear. A few heartless had also been taken out behind it. They began to edge back until one really stupid or brave invisible cried out in heartless language to charge. They did so, Rifleks at the back with wizards and other ones with long-range attacks. Egotists attacked from middle range with the flyers. The ground heartless took close range combat up, this is normally one of the best strategies to use, but even this wasn't enough.
The attacks couldn't hit Acronos because of the energy he was emitting. He just crouched down and unsheathed his keyblade in the slow-mo that Riku used, as he was about to kill Sora that second time. He waited for about a second for a decent enough opening, and then exploited it. He exploded through all the ground heartless, tore into the middle ones, and incinerated the far off ones, all in two seconds.
Acronos: "Two seconds. Not bad, but I need work."
So he rushed at what heartless there were, ripping them apart before they even knew what was killing them. By the time he'd wiped out every single heartless in New York, (one minute), the news had traveled enough for him to not be able to kill them before it registered. Of course, the heartless are dedicated to Ansem, and are stupid, but there's a limit to any stupidity. Knowing that you're about to be mercilessly slaughtered and that you can't do anything about it is one of them. So, needless to say, they ran.
However, they couldn't even do that, they were gonna die and that was that. Any heartless or group brain dead enough to oppose him had to go through six feet of cold steel, 6'2 of muscle, and 1000 feet of determination, need for revenge, and desire for justice, (this is a bit of a quote, so if you think this was taken from your story, sorry). Were there many? No, they mainly just died, but there were a few. It took about nineteen minutes to eradicate all heartless in the United States, (Gaia time: 30 min).
He decided killing every individual heartless would take too long, so he just raised his hand into the air and absorbed all the heartless on the planet. A bit of a fitting end to those who sought so much to absorb the hearts of all. Not one of them survived. Yet the fog, the terror, the pain, and the darkness still remained. The door remained open.
Acronos decided to use a little knowledge. He summoned a three-dimensional map of the Earth from his computer. He then used his magic to locate the keyhole. It was located at exactly 0 degrees longitude and latitude. So he spread his wings and took off towards it.
When he reached it, a keyhole-shaped island arose. Despite thoughts that it was weird, he dropped to the ground, which felt rather dry and old. He sensed out where it was and ran towards it. When he reached it, he closed the door as quickly as he could; he then took in his surroundings, which was basically a perfect battleground. It was wide and mainly desert, with a few rock pillars, but had a few magma pits in one area, a small river in another, a tiny forest in yet another area, a few graves near the keyhole, and the ruins of a rather technologically advanced looking city slightly farther away, simply stated, whatever element you used, it would be here.
Acronos: "Odd, it's too… well done. Oh well, keyhole." So he pointed the master keyblade at the keyhole but was stopped by an insidious laugh.
????: "This world has been connected, tied to the darkness."
Acronos: "Yeah, yeah. 'Soon to be eclipsed. There is so very much to learn. You understand so little' blah, blah, blah. Get a new line Ansem!"
Ansem: "You must be the one who destroyed my legions of heartless."
Acronos: "Yeah, but I wonder, why don't you give up? I killed millions of them."
Ansem: "Do you honestly believe me as weak as my heartless?"
Acronos: "To an extent, yes."
Ansem: "So you have come this far and you still understand nothing!"
Acronos: "Argh! I've heard this too many times when I kicked your sorry ass as Sora with the Kingdom Keyblade! (Yes, I did do this, and Sephiroth too, on expert mode! Helps to be level 100)"
Ansem: "What?"
Acronos: "I know much more than you."
Ansem: "I know all that there is to know, you know nothing."
Acronos: "I know that the keyblade master will seal the door to darkness. I know that you will posses his friend to try and kill him. I know that he will kill you, hopefully, outside Kingdom Hearts. I also know that there's plenty of light inside the endless abyss."
Ansem: "What! That's insane! How dare you insult the darkness like that! Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!" His guardian takes the shape of a sword. The sword was a broadsword in the shape and size of the Oblivion, with the chains. However, it had a handle of spikes facing up, and in the center of the handle was a heart-shaped opening.
Acronos: "Oh yeah? Well, every light may fade, every heart may return to darkness, but justice shall forever burn the darkness with the light!" Starts shining a bit, his keyblade also becomes charged with energy.
And so began a clash of titans! (Gaia time: 29 minutes). They rushed at each other, blades crashing together with such force that it created a small crater.
Acronos: "You killed everything I even remotely cared for, I'll kick your ass so bad you'll feel it a year from now! Hell, I'm gonna shove a blunt pole up the place where the sun don't shine, right after my foot!" He lands a powerful kick to Ansem's midsection, followed by a few slashes.
Ansem: "Well, is that so? (Blades crash together) Then I'll make sure to torture you even more when I kill you and turn into a heartless slave!" Breaks the hold and lands several slashes and punches. He's stopped by Acronos' keyblade, followed by Acronos doing two upward slashes from the left and the right. Ansem parries and slashes horizontally, followed by stabbing.
Acronos: "I got this from Legend of Zelda! (Don't own it)" he jumped onto Ansem's sword, stopping him for a moment, followed by landing a powerful jumping attack to Ansem's head. Ansem countered by swinging downward and spinning into a vortex attack. This almost caught Acronos off guard, but he managed to only get a small cut. Then he lunged and charged, both of them getting a few hits in, both with blade and foot. Acronos then swung his hair, which confused Ansem, and also cut pretty bad when it hit, (didn't I say it was a weapon?), then he finished it by doing a hard slash that left him open in the beginning, but was much stronger than what he'd been using. Ansem reeled from this, and Acronos decided to press the advantage, big mistake. Ansem released a blast of energy at close range, followed by a few good slashes. When he tried to press the advantage, Acronos surprised him by grabbing his shirt with his talons and throwing him into a pillar. He then fired a barrage of energy that would decimate any heartless. He then moved back, knowing that it would never be that easy. Ansem rose instantly and charged so fast that Acronos barely had time to move. Ansem slashed madly, but left himself open for attack. Acronos, took a second or two to manage to get used to the attacks and then to counter by hitting Ansem upwards with his feet, then jumping up and hitting him with several slashes to the stomach, followed by a vice of his knee to the gut and his elbow to the back of Ansem's neck. Ansem reeled and Acronos quickly concentrated on his world and what Ansem did to it. As Ansem finished reeling and got ready, Acronos crouched in mid air with his sword behind him, pointing towards his enemy. "Shadow blade!" shouted Ansem. "Justice illusion!" shouted Acronos. These are almost the same attack, consisting of you attacking and an illusion following what you just did repeatedly. The thing is, the illusions do damage, heavy damage. The finishing strike for shadow blade is the illusions joining blades with you and cutting down. The finish for justice illusion is creating illusions in specific places and cutting you into each one, followed by slashes from all directions by the illusions, and a final jumping downward stab. The only real difference between the moves is that shadow blade is a specific set of attacks, while justice illusion is creative, and lasts as long as the owner's energy does. So Ansem lost that and fell to the ground with a resounding thud. Acronos then flew down and picked a blunt tree branch from a tree, tossed Ansem upwards, and made due on his threat.
On Destiny Islands
Riku: "Hey guys, don't you think it's a bit boring around here?"
Sora: "I guess. I really don't mind though. What about you Kairi?"
Kairi: "I'm still new here, so I'll follow you guys."
Riku: "So it's settled, we'll find a way off this island."
Sora: "How?"
Riku: "I, uh… Haven't thought of it yet."
Kairi: "Don't worry, you find it soon enough."
Sora: "Right!"
Riku: "Okay." A heartless sniper had Sora's head in its sights perfectly. As it was about to shoot…
Ansem: "AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The sniper fell out of the tree, straight onto some pointy rocks. You see, Acronos' and Sora's stories are tied together, sorta. I figure that Ansem's much more powerful than when you face him with Sora, both when he possesses Riku and fights normally, so this is my explanation. He just started feeling the pain from the pole when he possessed Riku, so he got his ass kicked, and when he faced Sora, same thing.
Back on Earth
Acronos: "Ahahahahaha!!! (Has Ansem's head on the very bloody pole, yes he has gone nuts)" After a moment or two Ansem's head begins to speak.
Ansem: "A meaningless effort."
Acronos: "Aaahhh!? What the bloody f***ing hell?"
Ansem: "I am darkness, I can still exist without a body."
Acronos: "Do you feel pain?"
Ansem: "No, not until I regain a body."
Acronos: "Well, then I'll just absorb you painlessly!" A brown cloak made of various materials flies onto the darkness and Acronos prepares to absorb him… Until everything stops.
Acronos: "What the? (Is very tired suddenly and goes back to human)"
Jath: "I told you that you had one hour to torture Ansem any way you desired, the hour's up now. Good job, by the way."
Acronos: "Thanks, but, seriously, he's right there! I could just absorb him and be done with it!"
Jath: "No, the world would be consumed by darkness. Didn't you see that the keyhole disappeared halfway into your fight? Guess not, but it did. And if you were absorbed by the darkness with Ansem's heart in you, he'd fly right out, torture you, then send you to a dark world where it would take us months to find you from."
Acronos: "So it was a meaningless effort? (His eyes become dull, as he's faintly aware of Gaia trying to talk to him) Isn't everything?"
Jath: "No it isn't, come on, cheer up."
Acronos: "Why? I failed totally. Maybe my whole life's a meaningless effort."
Jath: "Hey, don't start thinking suicide."
Acronos: "No, that's too good for me, plus it's the easy way."
Jath: "Quit it with that stupid self-pitying attitude!"
Acronos: "Jath, are Dev and Leona important to you?"
Jath: "Huh? (Surprised) yeah, of course, we're all best friends."
Acronos: "No one's in love? Even if not, imagine if they were all gone, in a second. (Starts to get angry) one second! Even with all the power you might have, you still couldn't do a damn thing about it! Nothing! That's how I feel! And you think you have the right or ability to tell me not to be sad!! Well you don't! No matter your power or my power, I still failed! And that's that! I will mourn the loss of my world, my parents and my life!"
Jath: "Whoa, hmm, your right. Just, try not to loose yourself in your sorrow too much."
Acronos: "I don't know if that's possible with one year to think about nothing but this."
Jath: "Nope, you'll have to learn everything in the door, so, in you go. Just stab your keyblade in this spot and let the knowledge go into you."
Acronos: "Sure. (Goes into position that knight armor usually is in a museum, hands on top of sword, etc.) Goodbye spirit"
Gaia: "(yells to Acronos, but he can't really hear except for…) Remember."
Jath: "Good night. Remember, you will physically age. Now what am I gonna do? Guess I'll watch for a while, then I'll go train for a while"
And so Jath did, he only stayed for a day or two, and then he went and trained at any place he could find.
One year later
Jath: "Hah, hah, Hiyah! Huh, wait a second, I got something."
Voice: "Acronos' sorrow is too high, he needs to get rid of some to learn of creation."
Jath: "Damn, I told him not to get so lost in sorrow! Oh well. Take five One-wing."
????: "Why? Oh well, I am tired, see you later Jath."
Jath: "See you." By the way, can you guess who ???? Is? (Hint: he was a character in the game and did have one wing) If you get it, bragging rights only.
Inside the door
Jath: "Sigh, wake up."
Acronos: "I thought I'd have no memory when I woke up."
Jath: "You won't, aside from a few facts and what's about to happen, but you're just too sad to learn creation. You gotta take a walk until your sorrow goes to a stable level. I'll send you to a place where everyone is truly sad, then maybe you'll go back to normal."
Acronos: "Whatever."
Jath: "It's called the realm of sorrow, they worship the deity of sorrow and there are several things there that you should know of, but I'll leave them for you to learn."
Acronos: "You know I won't die."
Jath: "Yeah, now move. (Portal of light appears under Acronos, he gets pulled down)"
Realm of Sorrow
Acronos: "Sigh, it looks like rain." It did look that way. So Acronos just went forward, not expecting anything, but eventually arriving at the edge of a hill. Below the hill was a great city, completely covered by clouds and raining, anything showing was as big as a New York skyscraper, but darker looking. To the left of the city, there was a bright meadow, and Acronos' good sight allowed him to see that children were playing in the field, apparently laughing. To the right, there was a river, with several people heading towards it, some apparently drowning, but seeming not to die. The river's color was that of mercury more than water, but the atmosphere and climate might contribute to the color.
Acronos felt weird, like he was becoming a part of this world physically. This was actually so, for all those with sorrow appear here and contribute their being and energy to the planet. This was a bit of a problem for Acronos because it caused his keyblade to shift from the regular one to the Oathkeeper. His knife became the Oblivion keyblade, so he sheathed both under his trench coat. He then remembered that it was raining in the city, so he reached into the pocket in the coat that Leona gave him and pulled out a raincoat. He then put his long hair under it, tucked the keyblades under two sides, pulled up the hood, jumped off the hill/cliff, and slid into the city, (big hill, good for snowboarding, skiing or sledding).
In the city
Acronos wandered through the city, occasionally killing a heartless or two, and had faced a strange, stronger version of the heartless, (teaser shadows!). Eventually he found out where the keyhole was, and he also found out a bit of where he was. After a while, he got hungry and entered a café, and ate a few sandwiches. After that, he pulled on his hood again, checking to make sure that his face couldn't be seen, but on the way out, noticed that his hair had gotten brighter, to the point where it could be mistaken for blond or white in the rain. He wasn't vain at all, so he didn't care and just walked outside.
When he walked outside, he noticed that there weren't many people out. This either meant: A) heartless invasion, or B) this rain didn't happen every day. After walking for a minute or two, he stopped for a second to look around a bit, then saw dark energy pooling on the ground, (guess what). He said nothing, even as the strange shadows rose, slightly muscular in build compared to regular shadows, the same face, and spikes pulled back in a horn fashion, ending in zigzags that reached almost to the ground. They were surrounding him. He noticed a figure on top of a skyscraper, and his increased vision showed that they had white hair and a blindfold on, as well as a similar coat as him. He then unsheathed Oblivion and Oathkeeper, one at a time, then spun them around and clashed them together in front of him. (You know the teaser, so just ignore my description) Acronos' advanced sight again told him something new. The blindfolded figure reached to the heavens and made the clouds part, revealing the purple meteor shower that happens before every world's death. Acronos summoned up some heartless energy to create a heartless symbol out of purple flames that burnt underneath him and kept the strange shadows away, he had done it mainly due to lethargy brought on by sorrow. The figure on the skyscraper pulled off its blindfold. He then asked the same question that he'd asked everyone there, after what he needed to know of the city.
Acronos: "Where's Sora?" (There. I explained the teaser. It's during Kingdom Hearts.)
Later, after the destruction of the strange heartless
Acronos: "So who exactly are you?" They'd met up in the skyscraper. The figure still wore the blindfold.
???? : "My name is really of no importance, but you may call me Kraken."
Acronos: "That's not your real name is it? It's the name of a Leviathan."
Kraken: "You do not go by your real name here for long if you hope to live long"
Acronos: "I don't care too much. By the way, why are you wearing a blindfold?"
Kraken: "If I let myself see without it for too long, I'd see this place everywhere and go nuts. By the way, why don't you call yourself Bahumat? Your spirit is a bit draconic."
Acronos: "Fine, in this city, I am Bahumat. What is this city?"
Kraken: "This is the realm of sorrow. All people come here subconsciously when they are truly sorrowful. It is a realm of reflection, and in some cases, death."
Acronos: "I could gather that. What were those things that attacked me?"
Kraken: "Nobody. Who is Nobody you ask? They are the nonexistent ones. (Teaser flashes quote)"
Acronos: "Huh? Oh well, where's the temple?"
Kraken: "You came of your own accord didn't you? It's an hour away from here by foot, a second by the transporters there. Hmm, another sight you might like to visit is the River of Reflection. It's a corny name, but it'll help you heal your sorrows. After that, visit the Field of Joy, and then you should be able to laugh a little if it's a really funny joke. An actual description of the city is in the basket over there. Would you like to see something really cool that the city has to offer? It's in the temple, and only I can really show it to you."
Acronos: "Sure. One last, slightly embarrassing question though, are you a boy or a girl?"
Kraken: "Girl."
Acronos: "Ahh then lets go. Wait, I'll read the packet first. (Reads it. I'll read it to you later) Whoa, damn."
Kraken: "C'mon, I'm getting bored." So they left for the temple via the teleporters. Once at the temple several, umm, girls started making Acronos, um, Bahumat, some offers that made him blush under the hood. Kraken said he was with her, and they just said they'd still be here later.
Acronos: "Geez. That made me blush, I must not be as sad as I thought."
Kraken: "You probably are that sad, it's just too early."
Acronos: "Well, I guess no one's optimistic here, are they? (Dull voice)"
Kraken: "No" As they were about to enter the temple, many people walked out calmly.
Person: "You should be careful, there is a half nobody, half heartless in there."
Kraken: "Nobody's are strong against heartless, heartless are strong against humans, humans are strong against nobody, and it's a circle. However, a double demon means that it'll be very strong."
Acronos: "Oh, don't care." It broke through the wall and strolled out. It looked a bit like completely black guard armor with curved claws for hands, and big spikes for feet. It also had cannons jutting out of its shoulders, with places for the arms.
Acronos: "Or maybe not." So, despite lethargy and the constant desire never to do anything but be miserable when you're sad, Acronos and Kraken went into battle. Acronos did double keyblade slashes for good damage when they hit while Kraken focused on blocking the opponent's attacks and turning them against it, a.k.a martial arts. After a while, since neither used magic or special attacks, the demon's limbs flew off and went two on one with Acronos and Kraken. Acronos was still spiritually dead, so he wasn't going to be thinking of a strategy any time soon. However, the limbs were strong, but they weren't going to beat the team of Acronos and Kraken together on their own. The armor had realized that this applied to itself as well, and began sniping them from a distance with its strongest shots. After being hit at least five times each, Kraken suggested something.
Kraken: "I doubt we can beat it, we'd be better off absorbing it so it doesn't do any more damage."
Acronos: Can we really do it, against something like that? (Teaser quote)"
Kraken: "Who knows? We should just try anyway."
Acronos: "Whatever." So they raised their hands, Acronos' left, Kraken both, and they began absorbing it. It tried to hold itself back, but failed pretty miserably. The only reason was that it was very lethargic after being in the temple.
Kraken: "Well, that was interesting."
Acronos: "(yawns) not really." He then takes a moment to seal the keyhole.
Kraken: "Well, let me show you that cool thing anyway."
Acronos: "Sure, before those, um, girls come near me again." They went inside the temple. Inside looked like the area that you fight Maleficent in, aside from a doorway and all that.
Kraken: "Follow me." She led him deep into the temple, until they were outside a dark doorway.
Kraken: "Inside is where many go to worship the deity of sorrow. I know that you're not of that religion, but if they allow you to speak with them, you may be helped out greatly."
Acronos: "Thank you."
Kraken: "Sure, just don't get used to it, I'm from the outside too." And with that she shoved him into the doorway.
Acronos: "Odd."
Big voice: "Do you wish to speak with the deities of sorrow?"
Acronos: "First, there's more than one? Second, not if you're that loud!"
Lady: "Sorry, we were recommended to do that."
Man: "Yes, please excuse us." They were both dressed in dark blue, almost black, robes. They also had hoods and high collars on. They had raven wings of blue that seemed to be weeping. They gave the impression of immense sorrow, even while smiling.
Acronos: "You're the deities?"
Lady: "Yes. You know dear, maybe I should be the one to chat with him, everyone always is less afraid of me."
Acronos: "I'm not afraid of either of you, yet."
Man: "That is good. Keep thinking that way and you should live a bit longer."
Lady: "Well anyway, why are you here?"
Acronos: "To get rid of some sorrow so that I may learn of creation behind the door to justice."
Man: "Wow. Has anyone suggested…"
Acronos: "River of Reflection and Field of Joy? Yes, Kraken did. She also mentioned something about a really cool thing here. Are you two it?"
Lady: "Oh, she must be referring to the light show. Well, do you wish to see it?"
Acronos: "Sure." With that the world suddenly became engulfed in darkness, save for a bright light beneath Acronos.
Acronos: "What! Where am I? What is this place? (Teaser quote)"
Man: "This is the world in its true form. (Teaser)"
Acronos: "Whoa, cool."
Lady: "It's not over yet. (Teaser)" The light proceeded to become everyone floating above the world. Acronos saw people dying in the river, and children playing in the field. He saw his own reflection, scared and pained looking. When it was done and over with, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Acronos: "Really… Cool."
Lady: "Thank you. Oh, yes. We need to give you some advice. Do you remember Gaia's last word to you?"
Acronos: "yeah, 'remember' weird though."
Man: "Well, do that. Remember what Gaia had been saying."
Acronos: "(mini flashback) right."
Man: "Also, you transformed a year ago."
Acronos: "Yeah, what was that?"
Lady: "We can't tell you much, responsibilities and all that, but it is a legend."
Acronos: "Can you tell me it?"
Man: "Not really, but, we can tell you where you might find someone who knows of it."
Acronos: "Really, where?"
Man: "Try for Destiny Islands. We can't tell exactly who knows, but they're there."
Acronos: "Thank you. What exactly did I transform into anyway, just species."
Man: "Just call it an archangel for now, even though that's not fully true. By the way, you're 1/3 human, 1/3 demon, and 1/3 of the archangel."
Acronos: "Thirds? Uhh…"
Man: "Your ancestors fought demons. Some of a demon's blood got into a cut at one point. It then multiplied without anyone knowing. The only reason nobody knew is because demon blood heals humans, when processed with human blood, it's a cure-all."
Lady: "Is this the answer you seek? (Teaser)"
Acronos: "To an extent, yes. I'm going to the river now."
Man and Lady: "Good luck. Remember, if you drown in your sorrow, you'll just wake up."
Acronos: "Thank you, deities. See you." As he left, he re-reads the odd packet that Kraken had told him of.
Packet: This is the City of Sorrow, in the Realm of Sorrow. All come subconsciously when sad to this plane of existence. There are mirrors in the center of the city that house reflections of the subconscious of everyone. When sad, these reflections become reality. Nobodies are reflections that fell too deep into terror and sorrow, a.k.a alcohol. The River is made of an odd liquid that nobody's ever understood, but many have used. It lets you reflect all your sorrows at once. If you survive, you usually go to the field of joy and then leave. If not, you wake up in the center of the city. The Field of Joy is only here because of the principle that shadow cannot exist without light, and vice versa. Joy and sorrow are the same, so there had to be one vent in this realm for it to exist.
Kraken: "Hey, watch out."
Acronos: "Sorry, just reading the packet."
Kraken: "No problem, I guess. So, ready to reflect?"
Acronos: "Yes I am."
Kraken: "Then lets go." They then left for the River. In it, Acronos waded in, fully clothed, found a rock that left him half in and half out, (there were many), and sat cross-legged for a while. After a moment or two, something seemed to seep from him. It was black and eventually condensed near him into visions of his suffering. Kraken watched and realized that he was another whose world was destroyed, yet he actually tried to heal. It was then that she decided she should too. As for Acronos, the water frothed and boiled near him, as he began to sink deeper and deeper. Finally, when he saw no way out of a watery grave, he began thinking of his life in its whole, not just sorrow. He remembered his friends who always were fun. He remembered the world's kindness if you pulled it out of them. As his sorrow threatened to engulf these in pessimism, something revealed itself to him. He suddenly felt fulfilled, for the second that he realized that his goals weren't altered, and they still needed to be completed. Justice must be brought upon those who committed injustice. He must achieve power to do anything he wanted. All these tied around the fact that he wanted happiness for not only himself, but for others more. Life suddenly seemed livable, as he had a reason. Maybe not a totally recognized one yet, but many people have lived great lives with this same attitude. Acronos' energy surged around him and his power went back to its original level, if not stronger than ever before.
After this he left for the Field, where he just chatted pleasantly with the children, and learned why joy was, because of life. He learnt many things of life and light until he felt enough joy rising in him, that he played tag with Kraken, who'd been doing the same things he'd been doing, just to get better. Eventually they both decided to leave.
Kraken: "Hey, I'll be seeing you, or not."
Acronos: "Same here. How did you come here anyway?"
Kraken: "My world was destroyed. I dreamed myself here every night as I travel from world to world, so I know this place the best out of anyone here. But when I saw that you had also had your world destroyed, I just thought that I might as well try and get over it. Lo' and behold, I did it."
Acronos: "Probably because you tried."
Kraken: "Enough mushy stuff already!"
Acronos: "Sure. Hey, do you know my real name?"
Kraken: "I don't, but I'll tell you if you tell me."
Acronos: "My name's Acronos."
Kraken: "I'm Maioko. (The plot thickens)
Acronos: "It was nice meeting you."
Maioko: "Likewise. Well, hey, there is a one in several billion chance we'll meet again."
Acronos: "I think we will, in person."
Maioko: "I hope so. Goodbye keyblade master!"
Acronos: "Goodbye Maioko, knowledge source of the Realm of Sorrow!"
So they parted ways, for now. Acronos left to finish his learning, and Maioko went to getting where she was going, (I have to maintain some secrecy for a while). They would cross paths again, but in a year. Until the next chapter, Kingdom Hearts fans!
Riku: "Good job, keep improving though."
Sora: "Yeah, you can never get too good at writing, or maybe you can… Whatever."
Right, I'll keep working on this stuff. If you liked it, review and make my day a happy one. I still need feedback on how to make Riku's girlfriend's personality. I'm appealing to you, Riku fangirls!
