Authors Notes: Here is the first real chapter which kicks the events of the fic off quite nicely. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Kingdom Hearts except Dav Strife, the storyline of the Balance, Dav's Nobody Seth, the events of this story and the world of Tracton. Zen, Zalak, Orachron and Ashura belong to MASmaster and Dark Lord Sigma. I do not profit in any way from this story except the satisfaction of writing for my fans.
The Dark World
By Dav Strife
Chapter 01: Unwilling Desent
"Hey, did anyone feel that?"
"Feel what Seth?"
"I don't know, the ship just felt uneasy. Almost as if it was struggling against some force…"
"I got nuthin' here Seth. Maybe its just turbulence"
"No, I think he's right guys, something is pulling at the ship"
"Ya sure your majesty?"
"Sure am. But there isn't anything on the scanners…"
"I've tried sensing anything… that is disrupting the balance of the elements but I can't find anything…"
"Wait… there it is again… harder this time…"
"Yeah, your right Riku, something is battering the outside of the ship"
"WWWWAAAHHHH! The controls are jammed! Nothing is working properly, we're going to crash!"
"Dammit, where are we?"
"Over the planet… hold on!"
"Good luck everyone!"
A8A
Dav's head was spinning and his sight nothing but darkness. His body felt light and unnatural almost as if he was dreaming, his grip on consciousness and reality faltering and slipping away. But as quickly as he lost his grip on reality it returned. Instantly his head was plunged into a world of pain and confusion. Light blinded his vision and all he could see was spots all the while his head was throbbing from excruciating pain. His first act in the land of the conscious was to throw up his arm to protect his eyes from the light but that sent much more pain coursing through his body, putting him back on the verge of passing out again from the pain. Slowly his vision began to un-blur and his retinas began to focus in on solid images around him but he wished that they hadn't. Parts of the large ship they had been travelling in were scattered all around the young blonde but the main ship was no where to be seen.
Must've been thrown off the ship in mid air. Maybe the cockpit cracked under the pressure of the rough entry to the planet's surface. Rubbing his eyes with his left hand Dav then tried to stand up and found even that difficult as pain shot up his leg and up his spine, instantly directing his attention to his left leg. A large wound that had been caused by a piece of flying debris was the source of the pain which bled but only slowly. Ripping off one of his sleeves off his coat that now lay in a ripped heap he tied it around the wound and tightened as much his pain tolerance would allow him. Laying his good hand onto the wound lightly he focused some of his magical energies into a spell and the area around the wound slowly began to cease hurting, only being a dull ache. Deciding his right arm was broken and beyond magic Dav made a make shift sling by ripping up the remainder of the jacket.
Slowly the young blonde stood up uneasily, shifting most of his weight onto his good leg to stop unnecessary pain for his injuries. Luckily for Dav the locker that had contained his weapons and potions had fallen out of the ship shortly after he had and the majority of his things had been spared barring most of his potions and ethers which had leaked into the locker itself when their bottles smashed. Walking up to the weapons locker Dav found that he had locked it earlier to prevent things falling out on the ship and he had lost the key. Holding out his hand he summoned his balance Keyblade that had not been used in a while and pointed it at the lock of the locker to unlock it. Much to Dav's disappointment however the locker did not open, nothing happened at all. Dav resorted to stabbing the Keyblade into the middle of the steel door to create a hole large enough to get his hand through. Setting his weapon down Dav reached into the locker and took out the only weapon he could properly reach, a handgun.
Despite the pain still coursing around his system Dav raised the gun so it pointed inches away from the lock and fired off three rounds that formed a triangle shape around the lock and its mechanism. Tucking the gun into his trouser waistband he then picked up the Keyblade again and jabbed the lock with its hilt. The lock gave way after two hits thanks to the bullet holes that severely weakened the area around the lock. Satisfied with his work he opened the door and took his weapons out one by one. First he holstered his guns on his hips to gain easier access to them because he had limited movement thanks to his right arm, then he sheathed Zantetsuken on his right hand side and then hefted his Buster Blade out of the locker and kept in his left hand, partly for defence and partly for balancing on to ease the strain on his leg wound. Slotting the few potions and ethers he had left into his back pack he threw it over his left shoulder and began to walk away from where he landed.
He glanced around in all directions and all he saw was desert and darkness. As he stared into the darkness of the night a loud beeping caught his attention. Scrambling around in his bag he came across his phone of all things. Yes! My phone, it still works! Taking the phone out he looked at the display and at the number that was calling. I don't know this number… Ah well…. Holding up to his ear he issued the voice command 'Connect' in a weaker than normal tone.
"Hello?"
"Your safe? Thank goodness, is anyone else there with you?" asked the high pitched voice of King Mickey.
"No sir, I'm alone with a broken arm and a wounded leg but I'll live"
"I'm with Donald and Riku, we've confirmed that Sora and Seth are together so we're just missing Goofy. Gosh, I hope he's okay…"
"No worries Your Majesty, I think I see him, he's trying to fight Heartless alone… I'll go help him"
"Be careful Dav, your not in any condition to fight properly!"
"Ill be careful sire, I'll call you back after we fight them off"
"Okay,
be careful!"
Dav dropped his bag with the phone and broke into a sprint towards where Goofy was fighting off a group of humanoid Heartless. As he approached closer the pain in his leg intensified but he carried on, determined to help Goofy. The Captain of the Knights of Disney Castle did not look in the best shape either as he battled a group of five unknown type of Heartless. Dav ran straight past Goofy who was fending off one with his shield and slashed straight through one of the Heartless with his Buster Blade and then hopped backwards to avoid being knocked over by a sword stroke. Goofy launched his shield at the Heartless and it cut through it and returned to its owner who gave Dav a forced grin. The blonde teen merely nodded back and then blocked a slash from another Heartless. After dispatching it with another powerful cleaving swipe the pain from holding such a heavy weapon in one arm while suffering fatigue and other injuries took its toll and caused him to drop the weapon to the floor with a clanging sound. Goofy saw this and came to Dav's aid jumping in front of him and charging at his new attacker with his shield held high. After a few strikes of the shield the attacker momentarily backed off but then raised its shadowy sword in the air and arced it at Goofy's head. He retaliated by bringing the shield up to meet it which caused sparks to flare up. The Heartless clearly having the advantage over the injured Goofy began to push down on the shield resulting in the Captain using all his strength to fight back.
"Goofy, push it away now!" Dav yelled to Goofy who nodded back and focused the last of his energies and used his Rocket manoeuvre which sent the Heartless off balance by knocking its weapon away and Goofy was launched into the air by his own momentum. Dav gritted his teeth and used his aching left arm to grasp one of his favourite weapons and pointed directly at the recovering Heartless and unloaded his last three bullets into the humanoid and it faded away while its heart floated into the air. The last Heartless of the group singled Dav out because he was the weakest of the two because of his injuries and advanced quickly on Dav who unsheathed Zantetsuken and pushed back against the Heartless' own weapon and another struggle took place. The Heartless again was superior in health and strength so it began to gain the upper hand so Dav used his remaining bit of strength to knock his enemy's blade upwards and drove his shoulder into the Heartless, sending it crashing to the ground. Dav then stabbed his sword through it and it faded away leaving Goofy and Dav on their own.
Returning to his bag Dav took out his last two Hi-potions and handed one to his ally who downed it in a single gulp and grinned dopily at Dav who smiled and then drank his. Both the fighters felt some of their spent energy return to them and gave them enough energy to walk in search of the others.
"Thanks for the help buddy" Goofy said to Dav who now had the Buster Blade resting on his back.
"Don't worry about it Goofy, you'd have done the same for me anyway"
"Ayuk, that's true. I wonder where the others are and if they are okay…"
"They're fine, the king himself rang me up. He, Donald and Riku are together and so are Sora and Seth. We best head for the ship's crash site to see if the others are there"
"Good idea, shouldn't ya ring the king back up jus' ta make sure?"
"Couldn't hurt, here, take my phone and you do it. The number is in the recent calls list…"
"I found it but it just beeps…"
"Rats, that means no signal"
"Hmm… do ya know where we are? You said that you came here before right?"
"Yeah, I don' recognise this place though… but I do that!" Dav said while motioning over to a city in a valley with a huge road bridge dominating the skyline above the wrecked city.
"Looks creepy…" Goofy said quietly while taking his shield off his back and holding it loosely.
"Ashura and I call that the City of the Dead, and that bridge the Heartless Bridge because of the huge numbers that we fought on there…" Dav looked upwards into the black sky and felt a shiver down his spine. "I hate this place, we better find the others and find shelter before nightfall…"
"You mean its not night now?" Goofy asked bewildered.
"No, whatever is going on here has even effected the planet's eco system… but night time is the worst. It grows really cold and monstrous Heartless come out, they make Darksides seem easy… And that was before the darkness set in"
"Garwsh, lets hurry to the crash site then!"
A8A
"Don't worry Sora, I'll get you to shelter" Seth reassured Sora who was sat on the Nobody's back because of injuries to his legs. "This place feels wrong… darkness, emptiness, anger are all here…"
"Do you mind if I ask you something?" Sora asked weakly from his point atop Seth's back.
"Go ahead…"
"Umm… how do I ask this… how did you..."
"How did I come into existence?"
"Uh, yeah. Dav never mentioned losing his heart…"
"We'll rest here and I'll tell you everything"
Seth carefully set Sora down onto a small hill of sand and then sat down at the foot of the hill, staring at the sand in front of him. They both sat in silence for a few minutes before Seth finally broke the silence.
"The Balance between Dark and Light... Dav... is someone who can control both the elements... and yet he is in between, the twilight. Dav can also decide which element he wishes to back which would avoid everything I'm about to tell you but he thinks that will be far to dangerous for everybody. This much you do know, but there are things only a few people know. Dav is in a constant struggle with the two elements, it takes all of his willpower to keep the two forces in sync within himself. However in certain places or certain times the two elements take form of two warriors, one of dark and one of light. They are both horribly powerful and will fight until one has won. The winner will then exist and the loser will cease to exist. In turn this will give either the Heartless or those who oppose the Heartless an unfair advantage. When this happens Dav's heart is ripped apart as the elements take form and he essentially dies. However thanks to his friends in Hallow Bastion both the forces cancelled each other out and Dav came back into being, and so his struggle continues and I came to exist"
"In Hallow Bastion? When?" Sora asked while both fascinated and surprised.
"During your fight with The Seeker. In the same room in fact… but you had your own problems to deal with"
"What will happen if it happens again?"
"I do not know, Dav has become incredibly strong, just the same as you have… He may be able to keep them at bay properly. However if they come to fight again I think Dav will not fade, instead he will remain and have to fight them both simply to survive"
"Well, I'll be there to help him next time…" Sora informed confidently.
"I'm sure when the time comes we all will…"
"You are different from the other Nobodies…"
"In what way?"
"You don't resent being created and being a shadow of someone else…"
"I think the difference is that I actually met the original and he gave me confidence to live and not be consumed by self loathing. He told me that I am my own person and not his shadow… because he is a one of a kind…" Sora and Seth both laughed at the last comment made before Sora shifted so he could look at the sky.
"I think we better go to the crash site where the others are and quick. Don't worry though I'll try walking so you don't have to carry me…"
"Good, because you are HEAVY!"
"Wha! Am not!" Sora said with a mock pout.
"Heh, are all you people from Destiny Islands insane? I've met Dav, Tidus, Riku and you. You all are a bit crazy…"
"That's us!" Sora said with a grin.
"Right, lets move and quick"
A8A
"So, your majesty. You think we should go to the city?" Donald asked with a tone of respect.
"Maybe after the others get here… Dav will know something about that place I'm sure…"
"He does… and he hates it…" Riku confirmed with a grave look on his face. "The Heartless on this planet are far stronger and far more dangerous than we've faced in the past. He even said that the city is the worst place of all. That is where the problem is I'd say… The darkness surrounding the city is incredible… and horrible at the same time"
"We'll need everyone before we move on though… say, did you just hear that?"
"Yeah… we have company… big company…" Riku confirmed as he detached Soul Eater from his belt.
"Hurry guys…" Mickey whispered as he readied his Keyblade and watched a huge shadow descend on them.
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