Thanks for the reviews! Glad you guys liked it. If at any point in the story it Does start sounding like a Mary Sue, tell me please. I don't want it to be.
I'm hoping in following chapters to focus on Sephiroth just a bit more.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. I just obsess over it. *obsess obsess* Muahaha! Er… yes…
Notes: First off, Sephiroth acts a tiny bit different. NOT MY FAULT! It's his idea, I swear. I think… Secondly, Hollow Bastion is a lot bigger in this story than in the game. Why? Because I believe that an all-powerful sorceress would have a much bigger place. So yeah. Plus, its fun. Third, NEW WORLD ALERT. Please, don't hate me. I made the world up. Just as I made up the whole summon-absorbing thing. (You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there.) The actual adventure in the world will happen next chapter; this one just has an intro.
Anyway, enjoy. Any questions can be sent to Zoshitheconfused@yahoo.com.
Ah yes, WARNING: LONG CHAPTER ALERT! I don't know why, just kept writing and writing and writing…
Chapter 4
"So. Did you find him?" Sephiroth kept his gaze level with hers.
"No, I didn't find him, but I did find out that he was there. From what I heard, he's going to be traveling to the next worlds, to close the keyholes." Sasha's wings fluttered gently, then she settled them so they wouldn't give her away.
"Hm." It was obvious that Sephiroth didn't quite believe her, but there seemed to be something else bothering him. "Oh well. Next time will be different. Now, there is something else you must do. There has been a summons sent to me, to go see Maleficent."
Seeing the confused look in Sasha's eyes, Sephiroth explained before continuing.
"Maleficent is a sorceress, and a very powerful one. She is closer to the darkness than any other being. Except maybe…" Those last few words were muttered, but he paused and shook his head. "That's not important, the important thing is that I myself cannot go. You will go in my stead."
"What? Wait, why can't you go?" Sasha wasn't sure she wanted to meet with any sorceress, much less with one that was close to the darkness.
"Must I go over my plan again? Please, don't tell me that your brain is so rotted that it cannot remember even the shortest of our conversations?" Sephiroth sighed. "Listen, and listen closely. If I leave Limbo, I put myself in danger. Do not worry, they know my plan, and they do not like it. They'll do anything to stop me. This is all a trap, a ploy to pull me out of hiding and into the worlds, where they can much easily destroy me."
"So instead of you getting killed, you send me to get killed. Wonderful. Just what I always wanted to do; Die." Sasha crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.
"You will not die. Believe me, if anything, they will try to win you over. They will not kill you because they see great potential for darkness in you." Sephiroth's eyes grew dark. "And that is why you must be careful."
"'Potential for darkness'?!" Her voice came out almost hysterical. "What the hell? Where do they get that from?"
Sephiroth shrugged.
"It doesn't matter. What matters is that you do not succumb to their traps. You must fight their attempts to win you. If you don't…" Sephiroth seemed hesitant to finish the sentence.
"It'll be bad, won't it… if I lose…" Sasha's voice shook just a little. Sephiroth looked at her for a moment, then shook his head, his eyes going hard.
"You won't lose. You can't." He turned away. "Rest now, when you get prepared you leave."
"Where for?" Sasha asked, settling against the suddenly appearing wall.
"Hollow Bastion."
"Okay, wait, what do I do?" Sasha crossed her arms and looked quizzically at Sephiroth, who was currently sitting on the floor looking through the supplies she had gotten and muttering to himself.
"This might help if… but then again, if she does that…" Sephiroth pulled out a bottle, looked at it closely, then put it back again.
"A-hem… Once again, What do I do?" Sasha waited a second, then leaned over and pulled the bag away from him. Sephiroth gave her an icy glare, and she smiled shakily and backed away. "Please?"
Sephiroth sighed.
"You go to Hollow Bastion, find Maleficent, and find out what she wants. Its not that difficult." Sephiroth got up.
"Well then, I'm going!" Sasha said, fitting the one strap of the backpack easily around her wings, and going to grab the stone.
"Wait! Are you sure you have everything?" Sephiroth asked hurriedly.
"Yes, I do."
"You remember what I told you about Hollow Bastion, right?"
"Yes."
"You remember, once you get there, only Maleficent can send you back?"
"YES."
"Now, watch your back, don't let anyone you don't know get behind you. Make sure you always know where you are-"
"Yes, MOTHER." Sasha said exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. Sephiroth glared at her again, and she stepped back. "Heh, heh… I'll be going now."
"Wait, one last thing."
Sasha stood uncertainly, watching suspiciously as Sephiroth put his hand in his pocket. He noticed her suspicious look and sighed.
"Really, I'm not going to throw anything at you." He pulled out what seemed to be a round piece of glass, clear, and about the size of a small lemon. "Take this with you."
Sasha reached out and grabbed it uncertainly from his hand.
"It's materia, from my old world. There was a type of materia that would allow us to summon monsters, guardians, to fight for us. The materia I gave you still doesn't have a summon spirit attached to it. It, though, is capable of absorbing a monster and creating a new summon." Sephiroth looked at her closely to see if she understood.
"Wait, so this thing can, if I wanted to, pull a monster into it?" Sasha looked at the material skeptically.
"Yes. Believe me, it works." Sephiroth sighed, wondering why the person he was sent had to be so slow. "All you have to do is tell it what to absorb, and the magic will work on its own."
"Cool… hey, if I told it to absorb you, would it do it?" Sasha grinned slyly.
"Do I look like a monster?" Sephiroth gave her a look.
"Are you sure you want me to answer that?" Sasha grinned, then backed off a few steps, just in case. Sephiroth glared at her.
"Ha. Funny. Now get out of here." He turned away, his eyes focusing on something Sasha couldn't see. With a sigh, she touched the stone.
"Hollow Bastion."
When she felt the worlds stop whirling, she opened her eyes. The sight of water, tons of it, filled her sight. She gazed at it for a second, watching it flow from the basin under her up to the ridge far above and over the ridge, out to somewhere else. All sparkling and… rising.
"No way…" She looked again, but it was still at it. Still defying the laws of physics and flowing up. "Okay, gonna stop now. Let's see where I am."
Taking a look, she saw the platforms she vaguely remembered Sephiroth talking about. She'd have to go over them to the archway, and from there she'd be able to make it to the castle. Okay, piece of cake.
She took off, hopping from one platform onto the other. She spared a glance down, looking at the light dancing on the water, and then continued on. Reaching a platform with a shallow pool in the center, she spent some time running around in it.
"Gee, I forgot how much fun it is to have fun!" After all those stupid training sessions with Sephiroth and sleeping in deafening silence, the trickle of water and running through puddles was like heaven. "Okay, I guess I gotta go on. Let's see, where do I go now?"
Looking around, she noticed another platform, identical to the others. The only difference was that it was tied down with thick vines that looked like the stuff that heartless were made of. Stepping closer, she saw it straining against the ropes, almost as if it wanted to go up. Only then she looked up and saw the other big platform above her.
"Okay, Sasha, how the hell did you miss that?" She looked at it for a moment, then looked back down at the platform. "Let's just cut these here, and we'll be off."
She reached back to pull her axe out of the hilt on her back, and felt her hand close around empty air.
"What the…?"
*Meanwhile, back in Limbo…*Sephiroth was pacing around, subconsciously steering around the random obstacles that would appear out of nowhere and trying not to think of the trouble the girl was probably getting into. He just hoped that she would remember what they talked about and try to stick to it. He turned again, started to walk when something glinted at him a few feet away. Curious, he walked closer, and upon finding the object let out a soft groan.
"That girl is going to get herself killed…"
*Back at Hollow Bastion…*"What?! NO!" Sasha dropped to her knees with a sob. "This cannot be happening! How stupid am I? Leaving my stupid axe in Limbo. How the hell am I going to fight? Wait, wait… take a breath, relax. You can out fly the heartless. And all you have to do is talk to that stupid sorceress lady. There won't be any trouble…"
She stood up again, feeling a little better. She opened her wings and got ready to fly to the higher platform when the backpack grabbed her attention.
"Yeah, no trouble, that's why he made me take all this stuff…" She said grimly. With a sigh, she pulled together what remaining determination she had and took off into the air.
A magic transport ride later (during which she found out, much to her disappointment, that the transport couldn't be rocked) Sasha found herself standing on an outside walkway surrounding the largest castle she had ever seen. Talon had been huge, but it was dinky compared to Hollow Bastion. The spires rose high above her, the stony roots of the castle fell low down, and the air was full of the spice of magic.
She took a step forward, and found herself surrounded on all sides by heartless. Little black ones, big black ones, ones with helmets, ones with hats, they all stood, watching her. She stared them down, they moved, and she jumped.
"Ahhh!" She flapped hard, trying to fly through the magic-heavy air. For some strange reason, the energy flowing through the wind was slowing her down, making her work twice as hard to get half as far.
Suddenly, there was a change in the air, and something big and heavy knocked her down onto the ground. She rolled and pushed herself back on her feet, just as whatever it was nose-dived at her. She managed to dodge the attack, and was rewarded with a close up view of a shark-like mouth, sharp teeth, and thick wings before the heartless took off again. The heartless she had jumped over had found her again, and they turned to attack her.
"Oh no…" She held out her hand and summoned wind. It blew past her into the first row of heartless, knocking them back. Suddenly, a blast of magic struck not far from her, followed by another even closer. She backed off, looking around and saw a wizard-like heartless, raising its rod and pointing at her.
"Gahh! Help!" She yelped, and took off, running blindly towards where she had noticed a door earlier. She didn't go farther than a few feet before running into… someone? Instead of falling back, like she normally would have done, she wrapped her arms around the person. "Make them stop!"
It took a second for her to realize that the heartless had stopped, the noises had disappeared, and that she was probably strangling whomever it was that she was squeezing.
She opened her eyes, let go, and backed off a little. In front of her stood a boy, about her age, with whitish-silver hair and pale turquoise eyes, a shade lighter than Sephiroth's and not quite so crystal-cold. He looked at her casually, a slight smirk tugging his lips. She would have said something right then, if not for the fact that at that moment something behind her growled lowly. With another small yelp she dodged behind the boy, peering over his shoulder fearfully at the small army of heartless in front of them.
The heartless took a step forward, then another. Slowly, they began to advance. The boy watched them for a moment, then turned slightly to look at Sasha. She looked at him, grinned slightly, then, noticing the advancing line of heartless, whimpered and ducked behind him again. He looked back at the line of heartless, eyes narrowed in thought. Then, with a shrug, he pulled out a sword and stepped forward. One of the helmeted heartless jumped forward, and the boy dodged back, then swung. A few well-placed hits and the heartless puffed out of existence. The other heartless hung back for a second, and then, one by one, quietly disappeared. Sasha dropped to the ground with a relieved sigh.
The boy turned back to her, a smug look on his face. He put the sword away and walked over to her.
"So, who are you?" He asked. Sasha looked up at him. Nice enough, she thought.
"I'm Sasha. I'm here to see some sorceress or something." She said, getting up. "Who're you?"
"My name's-"
A sudden ring of bells interrupted him. His eyes narrowed in annoyance, and he sighed.
"Come on." He grabbed Sasha's arm and began leading her to the big doors she had seen before.
"Where are we going?" Sasha said, trying to keep up with his hurried pace as they entered the castle.
"To the Meeting Hall. Maleficent wants to see you." The boy led her through another door and up some stairs. Through another door and they were in a giant elevator-shaft like place, with a dozen transports spread through it.
The boy pointed her to a transport and then walked over to a crystal. He touched it and said something Sasha couldn't quite catch, and joined her on the transport. It hummed to life, flashed through the shaft, speeding past floors and tunnels. Sasha watched in wonder as they descended through the floors, then turned and went sideways through a tunnel.
Eventually they reached another platform, and the boy led the way off. They walked down a flight of stairs together and entered through giant double doors, doors bigger than any Sasha had ever seen. Now they were in a giant hallway, purple flames shining from braziers that lined the room. The doors slid shut with a soft thud, and the flames shone brighter.
Suddenly, a person appeared facing them. A cloak like shadows hung about her, and her pale face stood out in the darkness of the room. Sasha, nervous as she was, dropped into a ready stance out of pure habit.
"Hm. I was hoping that Sephiroth would have come." Maleficent spoke, her voice making the hair on the back of Sasha's neck stand on end.
"Well, he had stuff to do…" Sasha fidgeted slightly.
"I guess you'll have to do." Maleficent watched her closely, and Sasha, trying to stop, fidgeted even more under the scrutiny. "There is a world that has come to our attention. Its name is Arouk. The heartless have been there and won it, but now a renegade heartless seeks to overthrow the rule and take the world for its own. I need the two of you to go there, find this heartless, and eliminate it."
Sasha glanced at the boy out of the corner of her eye. He didn't seem too happy to be bossed around, but he seemed resigned to following her orders. Sasha looked back at Maleficent as the sorceress began to speak again.
"You need not worry, you shall be rewarded greatly for your efforts." The words seemed directed more at the boy, Sasha noticed. She remembered something suddenly.
"Um, that's all great and all, but… see, there's… well, there's just this one problem…" Sasha found it very difficult to go on with those golden eyes on her.
"Yes…?" Maleficent said impatiently.
"Well, see, I don't have my axe with me, sorta left it behind… on… accident… and, well, I don't have anything to fight with…" Sasha said. Maleficent, with an impatient wave, sent a beam of magic to where Sasha was standing.
The girl cringed for a second, but then relaxed when she saw the beam stop. It flowed and shaped itself into an ornate battleaxe, made of blackened steel.
"You may use that for the time being. Now, prepare yourselves, for I am sending you to Arouk!" Maleficent lifted her hands, magic playing across them. It shot forward, enveloping both boy and girl in its greenish glow.
And they were off.
I don't know if I liked this chapter or not. It made me laugh. Oh well. Please review, and tell me if something sounds funky or something. If something is just bad, tell me, I'll change it.
Thanks again to the reviewers! Hope you had a good time! Riku hopes so too!
Riku: Um, where am I? Who are you? How'd I get here?
Hee hee hee….
Riku: Um… why are you licking my shirt?
Um… I'm leaving now. He's all yours, fangirls! *sound of fangirls running*
Riku: *sweatdrops* I am going to die….