Author's Note-As I said, sorry that I haven't been updating lately. School's hell over here. But anyways, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Oh yes, and thank you for the reviews so far.
Taro woke up to the light sound of rolling waves. He blinked slowly. "What a...dream..." he mumbled sleepily, sitting up. He looked around. "Ah! It wasn't a dream! ...Where am I...?"
It was dark. It was also apparent that he was on a rocky beach. He stood up and leaned a bit on a rock formation, one of the many arches in the area, feeling slightly dizzy. He winced as he felt a slight pain on his forehead. He brought away his hand to touch it and then looked at it. A dark stain on his fingertips. Blood.
Strange, though. The pain he felt was faint. Practically obsolete. It was as if someone had used novocain on it...
He shrugged it away. He pushed himself away from the rock and looked around. "Hello?" he called. Suddenly, everything that had happened to him earlier came back to him-the dream, the building, the monsters-everything. And suddenly he felt really quite alone.
"Riku!" he called. His voice echoed throughout the area. "Anybody!" Silence...
A gust of wind rustled his hair. He pulled up his hood, sat down on a rock sighing, and stared into the night at the light that pierced the darkness on the horizon. He blinked as a light caught his eye. He looked over to a white, glowing heart symbol on a rock. The same sign he had seen before.
Suddenly a figure appeared. Just walked right out of the rock. Taro nearly yelped, but by now he was getting accustomed to strange things going one, so he was able to maintain a calm composure. The figure-a person wearing a black coat like his-lifted his head to reveal a golden, glowing eye. Taro raised an eyebrow as he watched the man slowly walk over to him.
"...You're wounded..." the man said.
Taro smiled slightly. "It's nothing...who are you?"
"...My name is Eternal..."
"What happened? Where am I?"
"A world between-a forgotten world. The gathering place. You were saved by my comrade, Tam...she brought you here, to the edge of our world." Eternal explained quietly.
"How far is it to Twilight Town, then? Or better yet, how far is it to Traverse Town?"
"...Quite far to both places."
"Can I walk there?"
"You would need a spaceship..."
"Damn." Taro sighed. "Well, is there any civilization nearby?"
The light in the distance is a forbidden castle. That is all that is nearby."
"/That's nearby/?! Taro exclaimed. He sweatdropped. "Then I don't even wanna know how close the nearest town is... Hm..."
"...What is it that you plan on doing, young one?"
"Well, there's not really all that much I /can/ do at the moment... So I'm going to seek out Sora. Problem is, I don't even know what he looks like. I only saw him in a dream, so I don't know if that's what he really looked like or what..." Taro smiled a bit weakly.
Pause. Then, "...He looks just like you..."
Taro blinked and turned to the man. "You know Sor-" That's when he saw that the man had vanished. He sighed.
-----
"Sir! We've had a breech in the specimen holding room." Tamara said. She stood in the library.
The man sitting at the desk sighed. "Probably King Mickey's lackies..." he turned to a figure on the stairs. "Machi, we have intruders in the specimen holding room. Please go and greet our unwelcome guests..."
The small figure, wearing a black unknown coat, jumped up. "Okay!" she said, running out a bit hyperly.
The man blinked back at Tamara. "Now, status?"
"On the prisoners?"
"...Yes..."
Tamara took off one of her gloves and began to twist it in her hands nervously. If one looked, they could see the apparent scars on her pale hand. "The boy we have in the dungeons...he will become one of us very shortly...the girl, however, appears to pose quite a problem. She seems to be...protected. I suspect that it is magic. We've been able to extract her heart from her body, but that is all we can do. The body and heart permits no harm and no darkness to taint either of them."
"I see..."
"Yes...we are awaiting your orders, your highness..."
"The boy. Hyotoko, correct?"
Tamara nodded.
"Do not allow him to know that we have the girl's heart. Only the body. We will run several tests on the girl's heart and see if she is one of them. Perhaps manipulating this boy with the girl will turn out as well as manipulating Riku with Princess Kairi did..."
At Riku's name, Tamara winced slightly. She was /not/ looking forward to telling her master about Riku's little change in who follow. "Yes sir..."
"And the boy?"
"...As I said, he is in the dunge-"
"Not that boy. The other one. The youngest one."
Tamara gulped nervously. "He...he got away...we are currently unable to identify his exact location. However-"
"However nothing." The man said darkly, brushing his thumb across his fingers. Tamara cried out in pain as her scars suddenly reopened, blood trickling down her hand. "I send you and two others to fetch me four children-/children/, for crying out loud and you lose the youngest! If you cannot even complete for me the most simplest of tasks, I will soon have no use for you! Where was Riku throughout all of this?!"
"He...It appears that he has defected..." Tamara squeaked.
"Keh. Defected, huh?" the man swept his thumb over his fingers the opposite way, as if smoothing something back out. Indeed, the wounds on Tamara's hand resealed themselves shut and faded back into scars. Tamara tensed slightly. "So, the brat thinks he can outwit me and find his friends to destroy me for good, correct?"
Tamara nodded nervously, the memory of pain still fresh in her mind. "Y-yes...he said before leaving that he was no longer going to obey your orders..."
"Foolish brat. He must think he's so clever..." the man sneered.
"Your orders, sir...?
"Hm...not that it so much matters considering that Riku is not among your responsibility. Riku is left to Chaos and Silence." The man reprimanded. Tamara winced slightly.
"However, I shall tell you anyway, and you may as well relay the message to your comrades for me." The man said. Tamara blinked. The boy shall be brought to me and-"
"But sir, we....we lost him, too. Riku has disappeared-we cannot find him anywhere."
The man growled. "Damn brat...where was his last appearance?"
"He jumped off the tallest building in Twilight Town, so he is presumably dead."
"Nonsense. He's still alive-I can feel it. You and Chaos will scour out Twilight Town as soon as the Heartless have finished off its residents. What of the dual wielder? He is not here now, so he escaped as well, I presume?"
"We spotted him falling from the skyscraper. I caught him. He is on the borderline our world."
"Is he headed here?"
"Most likely."
"Perfect. Make sure that he makes it here. I myself would like to see the boy in person. See if we can manipulate him to our side. His heart should be one of the final keys to leading us to where we need to go."
Tamara bowed. "Yes Sir. Those are all of your commands?"
"Yes. You are free to go." The man said. Then, as Tamara began to leave, he said, "...Oh yes. If Machi can't take care of the intruders, you and the rest of the non-existent shall greet them. This includes among you Hyotoko."
Tamara hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes Sir." She said. She then left.
The man shook his head and sighed. "Kids today..."
Author's Note-Well, that's chapter seven. Please review! I'll try to get the next chappie out as soon as possible. Oh yeah, and I saw one of the trailers again and found out Taro's Oath Orb was blue. Oh well. Technicalities, technicalities. –wavewave-
Taro woke up to the light sound of rolling waves. He blinked slowly. "What a...dream..." he mumbled sleepily, sitting up. He looked around. "Ah! It wasn't a dream! ...Where am I...?"
It was dark. It was also apparent that he was on a rocky beach. He stood up and leaned a bit on a rock formation, one of the many arches in the area, feeling slightly dizzy. He winced as he felt a slight pain on his forehead. He brought away his hand to touch it and then looked at it. A dark stain on his fingertips. Blood.
Strange, though. The pain he felt was faint. Practically obsolete. It was as if someone had used novocain on it...
He shrugged it away. He pushed himself away from the rock and looked around. "Hello?" he called. Suddenly, everything that had happened to him earlier came back to him-the dream, the building, the monsters-everything. And suddenly he felt really quite alone.
"Riku!" he called. His voice echoed throughout the area. "Anybody!" Silence...
A gust of wind rustled his hair. He pulled up his hood, sat down on a rock sighing, and stared into the night at the light that pierced the darkness on the horizon. He blinked as a light caught his eye. He looked over to a white, glowing heart symbol on a rock. The same sign he had seen before.
Suddenly a figure appeared. Just walked right out of the rock. Taro nearly yelped, but by now he was getting accustomed to strange things going one, so he was able to maintain a calm composure. The figure-a person wearing a black coat like his-lifted his head to reveal a golden, glowing eye. Taro raised an eyebrow as he watched the man slowly walk over to him.
"...You're wounded..." the man said.
Taro smiled slightly. "It's nothing...who are you?"
"...My name is Eternal..."
"What happened? Where am I?"
"A world between-a forgotten world. The gathering place. You were saved by my comrade, Tam...she brought you here, to the edge of our world." Eternal explained quietly.
"How far is it to Twilight Town, then? Or better yet, how far is it to Traverse Town?"
"...Quite far to both places."
"Can I walk there?"
"You would need a spaceship..."
"Damn." Taro sighed. "Well, is there any civilization nearby?"
The light in the distance is a forbidden castle. That is all that is nearby."
"/That's nearby/?! Taro exclaimed. He sweatdropped. "Then I don't even wanna know how close the nearest town is... Hm..."
"...What is it that you plan on doing, young one?"
"Well, there's not really all that much I /can/ do at the moment... So I'm going to seek out Sora. Problem is, I don't even know what he looks like. I only saw him in a dream, so I don't know if that's what he really looked like or what..." Taro smiled a bit weakly.
Pause. Then, "...He looks just like you..."
Taro blinked and turned to the man. "You know Sor-" That's when he saw that the man had vanished. He sighed.
-----
"Sir! We've had a breech in the specimen holding room." Tamara said. She stood in the library.
The man sitting at the desk sighed. "Probably King Mickey's lackies..." he turned to a figure on the stairs. "Machi, we have intruders in the specimen holding room. Please go and greet our unwelcome guests..."
The small figure, wearing a black unknown coat, jumped up. "Okay!" she said, running out a bit hyperly.
The man blinked back at Tamara. "Now, status?"
"On the prisoners?"
"...Yes..."
Tamara took off one of her gloves and began to twist it in her hands nervously. If one looked, they could see the apparent scars on her pale hand. "The boy we have in the dungeons...he will become one of us very shortly...the girl, however, appears to pose quite a problem. She seems to be...protected. I suspect that it is magic. We've been able to extract her heart from her body, but that is all we can do. The body and heart permits no harm and no darkness to taint either of them."
"I see..."
"Yes...we are awaiting your orders, your highness..."
"The boy. Hyotoko, correct?"
Tamara nodded.
"Do not allow him to know that we have the girl's heart. Only the body. We will run several tests on the girl's heart and see if she is one of them. Perhaps manipulating this boy with the girl will turn out as well as manipulating Riku with Princess Kairi did..."
At Riku's name, Tamara winced slightly. She was /not/ looking forward to telling her master about Riku's little change in who follow. "Yes sir..."
"And the boy?"
"...As I said, he is in the dunge-"
"Not that boy. The other one. The youngest one."
Tamara gulped nervously. "He...he got away...we are currently unable to identify his exact location. However-"
"However nothing." The man said darkly, brushing his thumb across his fingers. Tamara cried out in pain as her scars suddenly reopened, blood trickling down her hand. "I send you and two others to fetch me four children-/children/, for crying out loud and you lose the youngest! If you cannot even complete for me the most simplest of tasks, I will soon have no use for you! Where was Riku throughout all of this?!"
"He...It appears that he has defected..." Tamara squeaked.
"Keh. Defected, huh?" the man swept his thumb over his fingers the opposite way, as if smoothing something back out. Indeed, the wounds on Tamara's hand resealed themselves shut and faded back into scars. Tamara tensed slightly. "So, the brat thinks he can outwit me and find his friends to destroy me for good, correct?"
Tamara nodded nervously, the memory of pain still fresh in her mind. "Y-yes...he said before leaving that he was no longer going to obey your orders..."
"Foolish brat. He must think he's so clever..." the man sneered.
"Your orders, sir...?
"Hm...not that it so much matters considering that Riku is not among your responsibility. Riku is left to Chaos and Silence." The man reprimanded. Tamara winced slightly.
"However, I shall tell you anyway, and you may as well relay the message to your comrades for me." The man said. Tamara blinked. The boy shall be brought to me and-"
"But sir, we....we lost him, too. Riku has disappeared-we cannot find him anywhere."
The man growled. "Damn brat...where was his last appearance?"
"He jumped off the tallest building in Twilight Town, so he is presumably dead."
"Nonsense. He's still alive-I can feel it. You and Chaos will scour out Twilight Town as soon as the Heartless have finished off its residents. What of the dual wielder? He is not here now, so he escaped as well, I presume?"
"We spotted him falling from the skyscraper. I caught him. He is on the borderline our world."
"Is he headed here?"
"Most likely."
"Perfect. Make sure that he makes it here. I myself would like to see the boy in person. See if we can manipulate him to our side. His heart should be one of the final keys to leading us to where we need to go."
Tamara bowed. "Yes Sir. Those are all of your commands?"
"Yes. You are free to go." The man said. Then, as Tamara began to leave, he said, "...Oh yes. If Machi can't take care of the intruders, you and the rest of the non-existent shall greet them. This includes among you Hyotoko."
Tamara hesitated, and then nodded. "Yes Sir." She said. She then left.
The man shook his head and sighed. "Kids today..."
Author's Note-Well, that's chapter seven. Please review! I'll try to get the next chappie out as soon as possible. Oh yeah, and I saw one of the trailers again and found out Taro's Oath Orb was blue. Oh well. Technicalities, technicalities. –wavewave-