Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape, or form (except a PS2 copy ) own Kingdom Hearts. However, I do own Ana and Declora. They are my OC's and mine alone.

Chapter 1-Declorum Factor

09/15/05

"What're you doing here? …How did you know I'd be out here? What the hell did you do to your face?" Ana stood and flew to the car door, latching her hand to the window space to keep from crashing into the car. Declora stuck the left side of her now much longer bangs behind her ear and applied some spit to it to stick it there. Ana could hardly believe that this woman was her benevolent yet normally modest caretaker. Declora had always taken care of her, not since before she could remember, but for as long as she'd been around. She always wore black dresses and slacks, sometimes with a little white neck lace and clear lip gloss, but never anything like this. Truth be said, she actually looked quite good in this form of dress, but it didn't fit her normality to any effect. Her normally white eyelids were now splattered with black mascara that carried down around the corners of both eyes and ran into red paint that made little slashes under her eyes and onto her high cheeks. Her lipstick was just as dark, though there was icy blue lip liner assimilating it with her pale pink skin tone. However, her clothing hadn't changed much, however elbow length satin gloves had been added, the fingers cut off to show her nail-less fingertips. Her dress was still simple and black, the sleeves short to keep them separate from the gloves and a small amount of white lace was tucked into the high collar. She now resembled a macabre version of a porcelain doll from the early 1900's.

"Do you want to come home or not, because if you do, I would greatly appreciate it if you would step into the car so we may depart." She finally spoke, her teeth still white as newly fallen snow, seeming out of place against her contrasting lipstick. Ana opened the door in a daze, but her eyes never left Declora's new face. She was still curious about why Declora had come, normally if she went home to skip class, she'd simply walk the 2 and a half miles it took to get there, not ever remembering minding the walk. It was mostly the trail she took through the forest on the side of the highway to get away from the burn of the exhaust smoke and the scream of angry drivers' horns. She'd walked it so many times, she'd beaten in her own path, although the first few times, she had to duck beneath branches and step through some very tall ferns to get through. Declora had never said anything about her skipping class, keeping her opinions to herself as usual, knowing that Ana knew her education was important and, taking that into consideration, she stayed for important lectures and tests, however, when she ruled that the lesson for today was moronic and pretty pointless, she went on home. Slouching down into the leather seat of the Eclipse, she pulled the door shut and looked down at her own tired attire. Her tight blue shirt was getting too short and her flabby midriff was beginning to show, which wasn't quite proper, so she made a mental note to buy a new one soon. Also, it would probably make quite a few people ask quite a few too many questions if everyone saw that she had no navel. She never knew why, she just didn't have one, like some people were born without eyelashes, she supposed. She couldn't be more proud of the horrible condition of her blue jeans though. The knees were worn straight through, showing the numerous scars lining her knees from hiking through the woods all those times, there was a stubborn cranberry juice stain just under her left pocket from who-knows-when, a burn mark from when she tried to fry some fish and dropped the skillet on herself. So many memories, in one pair of pants…

"Were you not asking earlier how I knew you were here?" Declora hacked into her train of thoughts, painfully derailing it and looking over at Ana for one moment before looking back to the road in front of her. Her look reminded Ana she wasn't wearing her seatbelt, so she rolled over and grabbed to fasten it, answering her question at the same time.

"Yeah, I was wondering. School doesn't get out for another 2 hours and there's no way you could have known I'd be out here this early. I got in…a fight, some senior didn't like the way I looked. I think I'm okay though, my jaw broken and my eye hurts. I think I should get the jaw wired up as soon as possible, it's killin' me to talk with it like this." She turned to look out the window, the green scenery whisking by at speeds too fast for her to track. She and Declora lived in a small rental house, the closest and cheapest thing they could get close to the schools, and they'd lived there for 8 years now. Ana never complained about the house size, since all she needed was the one room she had and a bathroom, and Declora had her bedroom adjacent to the kitchen and sun room (she'd dubbed it sun room instead of living room since two large windows were set in the wall, throwing in huge amounts of sunlight in the early morning). They'd gotten one of the only small houses around with a full basement, the perfect size for all of Declora's lab equipment. She'd been so much into science since Ana had known her, but Ana had never seen any of the experiments she did, if she did any at all. However, she did sneak around sometimes when Declora was cooking or washing clothing. The equipment was well-kept, not a speck of dust to be found, and sometimes, early in the morning, she could come down and find some of it still warm. Still, she respected Declora's privacy, since Declora had never intruded on hers.

"I didn't know you would be out there." Declora's mouth tightened to a line, showing that she was carefully thinking over her next words. "I needed to show you something at home that I think is rather important." Her mouth tightened further, now pondering whether she should really tell her the entire story. "It's in my lab." This got Ana's attention quite well. She looked over immediately, amazed that Declora would mention anything about her lab. The computers and growing chambers down there made it rather obvious that she wasn't just boiled eggs down there. Whatever she was doing was top secret, illegal, or both. "Also…I think you may want to bring those claws you have under your bed. I found them last week while I was cleaning." This was a surprise too. The claws she had weren't exactly a secret, she just didn't find any reason for Declora to know about them. They were a pair of simple black bike gloves that she had attached some claw-shaped blades to that she'd made in metal smithing last year. However, she had scratched up some trees in the front yards, so Declora could have seen those and went looking for the gloves. Without meaning to, she connected this thought to one that made her realize that if she needed her claws, something was in that lab that shouldn't be. Something that Declora hadn't expected.

Something dangerous.

Just at the finish of Ana's fearful thoughts, Declora pulled in front of their house, which had no driveway or garage. Strangely enough, they had no mailbox either and had never received any mail. Both of their neighbors had fences separating their lawns, as if they were hiding behind their fences in fear of them. Declora turned the key away from her to shut off the engine, which roared before giving away to the rest it was forced to take, and stepped out into the street, waltzing around to the other side to open Ana's door for her. Ana stepped out and dashed to the metal screen front door, throwing it open and tearing through her room, desperate to get her claws and explore the depths of the basement for whatever had Declora so frazzled. Of course, anyone else listening to her talk would have thought she was frighteningly composed with every word she spoke, but the pauses she put between her phrases now weren't normal. The normal speaking tone was monotonous, but this carried just the smallest hint of fear, and having lived with Declora for so long, Ana could detect any emotion in her voice, no matter how small.

Army-crawling under her bed, she located the claws, strapped to the bottom of the mattress with a piece of brown packing tape, just as she'd left them. Perhaps Declora knew how to keep her prying a secret as well. Nevertheless, she tugged the claws down, not bothering to take the tape off until she was out from under the bed. While doing so, she noticed the low quality of the metal in the claws. At the time, she's only made the blades as a project, not planning to use them as anything except maybe a decent oversized pocket knife. Each one was simply iron, 6 inches long, ¾ inch thick. Still, unless this was something like a Bengal tiger, it should get the job done. Seeing as there were no Bengal tigers wandering the outskirts of Philadelphia, she doubted she'd have to worry about anything like that. Declora then came by her room, her beloved kitchen knife in her hand, beckoning her to follow with a single finger. They were walking down the stairs, Declora clinging to the railing with her free hand and Ana slipping her hands into her gloves, stretching her fingers to make sure they still fitted, when she thought of something strange.

"Declora…Am I a clone? Is that why I don't have parents but I'm not an orphan? You said that once." She didn't have the faintest idea why she'd chosen to ask Declora this at such an unreasonable time, but she felt somehow, that if she didn't ask now, she'd never get the chance. Declora didn't even break her stride, she just answered while she kept walking, rounding the corner of the stairs and going towards the north door to the lab. She put her hand on the doorknob before her finally answered, her tone tired.

"Yes Ana, you are a clone. I cloned you 16 years ago from a bit of dark matter I found on a space mission a few years earlier. However, I had to implant some human genes to give you a proper form so I used my own. Although it isn't a conventional birth, I still qualify as your mother, though all the records say you simply appeared out of nowhere, no parents to be spoken of. That's why you have no memories of parents and also why you have no navel. It's proof that you were not a human birth. So now you know, because that information will be vital to you in the very near future, and the situation gave you the latent thought to ask." She looked back for just a moment, what might have been a hint of the first smile Ana had ever seen on Declora's face. "There is one more thing though. There's a chance that we will have to part for a time, so I believe I should tell you now. Ana is only a nickname, a shortened version of what I originally called you. Your name is Animosity Arcanum. Lovely, isn't it?" She turned back to the door and turned the knob before Ana had time to even think about the effect of all that she'd ever said. With turning the knob, Ana assumed Declora had opened the door, but she only cracked it open enough to get the lock out of place, then stood back, and in what was the most un-Declora action Ana had ever seen, she lifted her dress to her knee and kicked the door open, sending it flying into the wall behind it, the knob cracking a hole in the wall. With lifting her dress, Declora's leather stilettos were shown and Ana realized that she was prepared for a fight.

The moment the door was wide enough to squeeze through, a small little creeping black thing climbing through, no more than 25 cm tall it was. Its little antennae twittered at the stimulus of someone nearby and its gleaming yellow eyes turned to face the organism to its left, who just happened to be Declora. They locked eyes for a moment and Declora's expression visibly darkened. They stood in what seemed like suspended animation for a moment, and the creature made the first move, leaping a height that seemed impossible for its small size, trying to launch itself onto Declora, but she wouldn't allow it, bringing the blade side of the knife down with the force and grace of a seasoned profession, slicing clear through the creature's head, causing it to break into small particles of what looked like black smoke, until nothing of it remained. Now Ana knew something very strange was going on and she readied her claws, getting a nod from Declora signaling that more were inside and to kill anything they knew to not be of this world. However, Ana had to say something.

"Declora…what was that just now? Did you…make that?"

"It's a mutation of the matter I used to create you. I was fiddling with the machine a few weeks ago, taking samples of the matter to see if its composition had changed at all over the years and it had become like a sphere of shadows that just seemed to inhale all the light around it in the chamber. Apparently, these things have been growing or breeding since that matter mutated. They're hostile and I don't have a good feeling about them, so I see no reason to let them live." Her face kept darkening, her outfit and makeup now forming together what Ana, or Animosity, hadn't seen before, that she looked like a gothic assassin, glimmering knife in hand. Without another word, she lay against the wall and rolled along it and the doorframe into the lab, gasping at what she now saw of her caretaker's laboratory.

The dark creatures had completely taken the place over, dozens of them covering everything, the consoles, the chambers, and the computers, everything clothed in them. The spaces that weren't occupied by them were blanketed in a strange, cold feeling shadow that seemed to sift and wave as if it were alive. Declora was right behind her, already hacking and slashing at the creatures tearing at her feet, her beloved dress now frayed at the edges from the effect of the creatures' claws. After hacking away the creatures in her immediate area, she charged forward to join Ana at her side, illustrating that Ana was at least 5 inches shorter than Declora, who now seemed very threatening with her height and attire combined. In the center of the room was the main chamber, a gargantuan cylinder of powder white glass fixed to the floor and ceiling by titanium attachments. Simply floating in the very center of the chamber was the sphere Declora had spoken of. It was almost exactly as she'd described, a ball with about a 5 inches diameter, made completely of darkness, pulsing and shifting like a living thing. Ana wanted to step away in disgust and fear of the strangeness of the ball that had given her existence, but her legs would only move forward or stay put. Choosing to move forward, she stepped closer to the chamber, her stride carefully slow, the screams of the creatures behind her being cut down by Declora as she pursued Ana to the chamber. Somehow, the creatures didn't seem to bother her, they actually seemed to shrink away in fear, retreating to their voluptuous form of shadows in the corners.

"Ana!" Declora cried and Ana spun on her heel, in fear that her creator could be in trouble. However, she was holding her ground well and seemed to have to say one more thing. "Ana…I want you to go ahead!" She looked unsure for a moment, but it vanished as she glared back in determination.

"Go where? What are you talking about?" Ana furrowed her brow in confusion. The only door out was behind Declora and she could easily get to it faster than Ana could, so where could she want her to go?

"Break the glass and get the sphere!"

"Why?"

"Do as I say, Animosity!" Ana winced as Declora used her true name, such a strange name seeming detached from her. Still, for the first time, her creator had given her a direct command and she didn't feel that she should disobey, so she nodded and turned back, hurrying to the chamber and, acting on the first thought that came to her, smashing through the glass with her claws first and then her fist. Glass flew past her, grazing her face and running blood into her eyes. Immediately, the creatures turned their heads to her, the smell of her blood and the sound of the glass breaking catching their attention. A few of them chanced skittering closer to her, but came no closer than a few feet away. Instead, they turned back to Declora, who cried in pain as one of them near her jumped up behind her and began climbing up her braid to scratch her face. She nicked it off her shoulder with her bare hands and held it out in front of her, slicing its head clean off right before her.

"Animosity, grab the sphere now! The creatures won't stay subdued for long, you must go quickly!" She cried in desperation, although Ana was still lost to what all of this now meant, but she had a feeling she'd be going somewhere if she touched that sphere and feared for her creator's safety if she left.

"Declora, what about you? Are you going to come with me? I won't leave you here, you go first!" She made an attempt to move toward her, but Declora came to her instead, crouching down to come to eye level with her, her dark blue eyes shimmering with the adrenaline of battle.

"I have told you too many times now. Go and never disobey me again. You are Animosity Arcanum, my creation. You will never forget for as long as you shall live. Go now and find your path without me." She now fully smiled, a motherly grin of wisdom. She switched her knife to her left hand and put her right hand over Ana's face, her fingers parted so she could see. With one small movement, she pushed Ana back, the backs of her knees knocking against the bottom of the chamber as she fell onto the sphere. It should have been smaller than her head, but it swelled to swallow her up, and she was gone. Declora smiled again in victory, gazing into the ball, now back to its normal size and her creation now somewhere entirely out of her reach.

Sensing the sudden absence of their object of fear, the creatures now moved in on Declora. She threw her knife back into her right hand, but had no true intention of fighting. She had accomplished what she had brought Ana down there to do, but she wasn't about to go down without a brutal struggle. She brought her knife up in time to slash down on jumping for her face but another caught her side, slashing it open, causing her to scream again. Stumbling sideways, clenching her bleeding side with her free hand but not lowering her weapon, getting one in the head as it crawled up her right leg and twisting her spine to catch another trying to gnaw on her injured side. With her attention on her injury, one more bit her knife hand, making her drop the knife in time for another to slash both of her ankles, bringing her to her knees. Many more appeared out of the floor to attack her legs, which were quickly covered in slashes and they slowed worked up her abdomen until she lay on the floor in exhaustion and pain, all too aware that her end was near. Her side was now bleeding profusely and the creatures crowded around her, her dress in tatters and one of them leaping onto her back, raising its claw to tear through the space between her shoulder blades. She felt it jump on her back and knew this was the end, a tear sliding down her face in happiness, knowing she had lived for a purpose.

"Seize your destiny, Animosity, for you are the feather on the scale of balance. I hope to see you…soon." Her voice grew to a faint whisper and a gasp as the creature tore through her, bringing a faint crimson glow into view.

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Tada! And there is chapter 1…and dang, it's twice the length of the prologue! Oo (This chapter: 3,763 words!) Both chapters were written one right after the other, and I mean right after. Oh, I dearly hope you all like this, cause I think it rocks. But now I'm sad. I have just had to create and eliminate Declora in one chapter! Nooo! She was my favorite next to Animosity…Oh well, I may bring her back later in some ridiculous form of logic. She was just a catalyst for good story drama anyway. But yes, there is the start of Animosity of the Dark. Review please, my writing needs checking! Oo Writers with no reviews never get better and never write new stories. Um, but explanations for this chapter, Declora and Animosity are of course OC's, I came up with their names myself, Declora's just one I thought of out of nowhere. Chapter 2 should be up very quickly since I don't wanna hang off this otherwise I'll lose the flow of the story and it won't be as good! By the way, Animosity has a dirty little secret that should show up in Chapter 3. Be on the lookout for that one. Review please!