Disclaimer: FF and KH belong to Square-Enix. BOF belongs to Capcom. I don't own Melodies of Life or Yume no Sukoshi Ato, which belong to Emiro Shiratori and Yoshino Aoki.
No, this fanfic is not dead! I know it took a long time to update due to exams and I apologise.
Sora continued to tread though what appeared to him a never-ending forest. There seemed to be no monsters, which surprised him….perhaps they were deeper in the forest. As he looked ahead, the forest seemed to just continue. There was no pathway and there all there was before him was an endless view of trees ahead of him. The tall green bracken plants did not help either – they only made his journey slower as he had to cut them down with his Keyblade to get through them as they were too tall for him to step on– it was like being in a huge jungle of weeds.
Damn those fairies, Sora thought. First they embarrassed him by magically turning his ears into rabbit ones. Then they tell him that they know why the Empire were hunting him down but then sending him to look for the dragon for answers! (although they did hint to him that it was something to do him having the ability to open some sort of special doors which held the world's secrets, he did not feel that this information was helpful enough) They also gave him no help whatsoever in finding the dragon – they only gave him some nice-looking stone (what would a stone do to help him, apart from being worth a hell of a lot of money?). Great help that was! He thought sarcastically.
Special doors….what were these special doors? Doors that held secrets of the world? What did that mean? Sora glanced down at his Keyblade sadly. He wished that he was back at school, fighting with Riku over little things such as who was going to get the ice cream from the school fridge or getting mad at him for winning a competition between the both of them or getting mad at him for having such a cool attitude for losing a competition. He even wished that he was being nagged by Nina to go out to town and help her carry the bags of the thirty garments and matching accessories that Nina would buy from each designer clothes store (being a princess, she could afford that sort of lifestyle – in fact, God knew how many clothes Nina had in her ten or so wardrobes and large chests).
However, one of the things that Sora missed most was talking to to her about how much homework he had or listening to her talk about her day at school, or chatting happily to her friends at school. He missed her cheerful and happy smile that she always put on when she was talking to him or her friends. He missed her dark blue eyes which were always laughing. He missed her happy and enthusiastic laughter as well, when it occured. Sora wished that he could be sitting beside her, even if it was only for a moment..
He suddenly came back to reality. Sora realised that he could not waste his time just complaining about how miserable his life was when one of his best friends was in trouble, perhaps even….no, he did not want to think about that. Nina was still alive. She had to be…
But where would he find her? She could be anywhere in this neverending jungle of bracken and trees. All that Sora knew was that she would be with the dragon. However, where did the dragon go?
Suddenly, a feeling came over the spiky-haired brunette. He was not sure what this feeling was, but it told him to turn left. The dragon had headed in that direction – he never saw it go that way, but he knew it did…
Sora began to run. Run as fast as he could, slashing down any tall bracken in his path. He tripped a few times, scratching his legs, but he would get up straight afterwards, not caring about his limbs. Finding the dragon and finding Nina were now the only two things on his mind….
"Alone, for a while….I've been searching through the dark…for traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart…"
She leaned on the white stone balcony of her room, gazing at the deep blue sky. Her long dark brown, almost black, hair, which went down to her waist rested on both her shoulders and her back.
It was the afternoon in the city of Suveria – only two hours before the sun would start to set. Below her, the young girl in the snow white blouse and the long bright orange skirt could see the palace garden. The steep stone steps that lead down to a pebbled pathway, surrounded by a huge lawn. The lawn was so neatly trimmed by the gardeners, that it looked like that nobody had stepped on the grass at all. There were various flower beds scattered all around the lawn – but as it was September, the roses were starting to die. However, as it was the autumn, the apples in the garden were turning red and falling from the trees. The pathway led to a fountain in the middle of the garden, with the statue of an exotic but beautiful woman. This statue of the woman seemed to be wearing almost nothing – apart from a half-top which covered her chest and a short cloth skirt (well, it was obviously not cloth as it was made of stone). Her hands and feet seemed to be covered in some different types of jewels.
This fountain had been built after the former Empress of Suveria had died. She had commissioned it before her death. Charles XI, the late Emperor of Suveria, had married twice. The first was to a young woman named Georgiana, a noblewoman from the Til Alexandros household. The marriage was not very popular in the eyes of many of the Suverian nobles, especially with very high-ranking families such as the De'Vers, for reasons that were unknown even to Garnet herself.
However, despite a few complaints from the noble families, the marriage between Charles XI and Georgiana was a happy one. Unfortunately for them, the marriage only lasted three years, as Georgiana died, giving birth to a little girl, whom the Emperor had named 'Garnet'.
"To weave by picking up the pieces that remain…."
The girl stopped singing. It did not work this time.
Normally, if she felt sad or troubled, she would start to sing some of her favourite songs. However, today, singing did not help. It would not clear her worries of what was going on in her life at the present.
"Princess Garnet!"
The girl turned around. She heard the glass doors from her bedroom to the balcony open and a young woman stepped out. This woman was no older than twenty. Her long chocolate brown hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a long simple black dress, together with a plain white apron. Her eyes were brown colour and they were always smiling.
"Lovely day, ain't it?" the maid chucked.
"Yes, it is very beautiful," Princess Garnet replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
The maid was not convinced by the princess's answer and started to frown. "Ere…..ye don't sound very happy, your Highness….ye stopped singing, just now! I was enjoyin' yer pretty voice!"
The princess smiled at the woman, as a way of saying thank you to her. The woman accepted this.
"Well, if somethin' is botherin' ye, ye can always tell Mami!" the woman laughed before she went back inside to do other duties, such as cleaning the palace halls.
Mami was Garnet's lady in waiting. She had first come to the castle four years earlier, at the age of sixteen, as she had to leave school early and her family did not have enough money for her to continue her education. At first, Mami was a normal parlour maid cleaning the castle and washing dishes, but she was often assigned to cleaning Garnet's room. Because of this, she and Garnet got to know each other very quickly. The princess liked her because of her cheerful personality and therefore within a year, Garnet hand-picked Mami to become her personal maid, after the previous maid had to 'mysteriously' leave because she unexpectedly fell pregnant – to one of the stable boys, according to the gossip . Despite the fact that they were close friends, however, Garnet could not bring herself to tell Mami of her worries. This was not because the princess was feeling antisocial but because Garnet was feeling worried is because of the strange events that had been occurring in Western Continent. In the cities of Wyndia and Treno. The rumours about a boy with a key being hunted by the Suverian Empire had not actually spread to Wyndia, well, not by gossip, anyway, or by newspaper….
The day before…
Garnet sat by the fountain, gazing at the statue of the woman. She would take a walk in the garden every day in order to see the statue. This statue was the only thing that gave her the presence of her real mother. There was a portrait of the former Empress in the hall, but that was a cheap work by a local artist of limited ambition.
However, there was something else about the statue that made Garnet want to visit it every day. Every time she came close to the statue, the princess felt some sort of…presence near her. She was always given a feeling that somebody was with her. A warm and comforting feeling – as if this somebody would always protect her, no matter what happened to her. Perhaps this was a guardian angel…or possibly the very spirit of her mother herself? On the other hand, it might have been just her imagination, but who could tell?
The princess heard footsteps coming. She turned to see the current Empress, her stepmother, appear up the pathway, talking to a dark-skinned man. He had long white hair down to his waist and a grey cloak. The princess recognised him at once. It was Sir Ansem, one of the Empress's main advisers. It was not exactly known what he did in the Suverian Empire, but Garnet had been told by a servant that he was one of Surenka's main researchers. She did not know what type of researcher he was, but because of the man's sinister and leering yellow eyes, Garnet was certain that whatever he did, it was probably something that she would not want to know about. The man gave her the creeps…
Garnet quickly rose from her seat on the fountain's edge, and walked quickly to the bushes, sweeping her long purple dress behind her knees as she walked. She decided to sit on her wooden swing, which was suspended from the branch of a tree. As the swing was hidden behind two apple trees, the Empress and the researcher would not be able to see her. She would not be accused of listening into conversations which were strictly to do with the secrets of the leaders of the Suverian Empire. As Garnet was only the heir to the throne, she did not count as a 'leader'. This did not bother her usually, she wanted to be out of her stepmother's way most of the time.
Two years after the Empress Georgiana died, the Emperor had married again. This time, it was to a beautiful and mysterious young woman. Surenka was her name. However, despite the fact that her beauty struck almost anybody she met, Surenka was also received by the nobles of Suveria with as much love as they had given her predecessor – in other words, very little. Nobody knew where she actually came from – she appeared out of nowhere, and because Surenka would not tell anybody of her family or her upbringing, she had no family connections which were worth talking about. All was known is that it was Ansem who had introduced her to the Emperor. However, in spite of the resentment of the nobles, the Emperor loved Surenka and she seemed to be equally attached to him.
In Suveria, once an Emperor or the Empress married, his or her partner would also become Empress or Emperor and therefore would jointly govern the Suverian Empire. Because of this, when one partner died, the other would continue to govern Suveria until his or her death. This was why Garnet had nott become queen after her father died – her time would come once Surenka had also died.
The Empress's relationship with her stepmother was not a very friendly one. Garnet hardly ever spoke to Surenka, save a few exchanged words when passing each other in corridors. She never met her stepmother at dinner – they always ate separately, as the Empress was always busy, dealing with matters to do with the country. What was more, is that Garnet was somewhat…suspicious of Surenka. There was something about the Empress…her eyes, her manner and the fact that she was seemed always to be involved in very secret government affairs that frightened the young princess. And so Garnet generally tried to stay away from her stepmother as often as possible.
As for what the Empress had thought of her, it was difficult to tell. From Garnet's point of view, it seemed that she was to Surenka as if she was somebody else who happened to live at the palace, whom Surenka acknowledged to be there but was nobody that was really that was worth worrying about. That was fine with Garnet, as long as she was able to spend as little time as she could with her stepmother.
Garnet rocked the swing gently backwards and forwards, enough for Ansem and Surenka not to see her. She tried to sing something in her head (so that nobody could hear her). Then, Garnet thought of a song from one of her recordss. This was a pretty song…
"Yume o mite me ga samete…"
"Well, Sir Ansem, I have received various news to bring from Treno, which I think that you will find interesting…"
"Kimi ga inakute…"
"Is it about the recent discovery of the two Keyblade Warriors in Treno?"
"…hmm…so you know about one of our recent discoveries…"
"I was given a telegram from Sir Argul yesterday."
The voices were loud enough for Garnet to hear them. She tried to ignore them and continue singing.
"Sagashikakete ki ga tsuite…"
"Well, Sir Ansem, then you obviously know that this means that we are one step closer into achieving our goal…"
"Sukoshi dale waratte.."
"We are not quite there, your Majesty. We still need to catch the other Keyblade Warrior and that summoner girl, as well as two other summoners."
"Kiete itta nukumori o yubisaki ga omoidashite…"
Garnet stopped singing. She could hear every word they were saying and it distracted her. She could not stop herself from listening.
"It is better than being at Square One, Sir Ansem!"
The young princess could hear her stepmother's slight tone of rage in reaction to what Sir Argul had said.
"We have to find two other summoners…and we have no clue whatsoever as to where we might find them."
As Garnet looked behind the tree, she could see her stepmother's angry red eyes flashing at her companion. She gulped. Garnet rarely saw Surenka's eyes like that…but she had seen it happen before. She never knew why her stepmother had those deep, blood-red eyes, but it told her that she certainly was not a normal woman. Therefore, the eyes were another reason as to why the Princess was afraid of the Empress.
"However, this does not mean that we will not find them…" Ansem continued, obviously trying to calm Lady Surenka down. "Perhaps I might be of some help.."
"And what help would that be, Sir Ansem?" the blue-haired woman asked with curiosity.
"Well, we have one Keyblade Warrior in our hands…if it is possible that I can see this Keyblade Warrior some time…I think that he might be able to aid us more in our search than you think…" Ansem replied, smiling in a rather dark and menacing way before turning back to the palace, with the Empress following him…
The princess had no idea what a Keyblade Warrior was. She also did not know what a summoner was either, but she felt in her heart that whatever the Empress was planning was not anything good. Garnet knew very well that the Suverian Empire had a reputation for being ambitious.
She could not think what to do. Perhaps she could investigate – maybe try and find out more about this Keyblade Warrior….but if she did, the Empress would suspect her and accuse her of spying…and not really understanding Surenka's character, she was uncertain and worried about how her stepmother would punish her. Surenka did not love her stepdaughter – or at least, Garnet was certain that Surenka did not love her.
She opened her eyes….the huge bright green trees towered above her. Where was she?
She felt something….something warm….something over her shoulder. She turned her head around. The large injured blue wing of Valefor lay across her shoulder. The creature was crouching on the ground, breathing heavily, its head flopped down.
Yuna crawled out from under Valefor's wing. She examined herself. No bruises or scratches that she could see or feel. No broken bones either. She was unhurt. Had her flying guardian….protected her?
She glanced at Valefor. Its wings were covered with scars and burns. There were many bleeding cuts, both at the neck, the back and the tail. Yuna knew that Valefor would not be able to fly for quite a while – it needed a rest. Yuna rose from the ground and onto her feet. Her cloak and skirt were a little torn, but that did not matter. She closed her eyes and held out her hands.
A ray of pale turquoise energy suddenly appeared from Valefor's body. The energy travelled from the winged creature to Yuna's hands. The brown haired girl started to glow a turquoise colour. The energy continued to glow from Valefor to its master until eventually Valefor vanished. Yuna smiled. "Thank you," she whispered. "You must be tired. You can have a long sleep now."
She then turned her attention to the forest around her. Looking at the tall trees surrounded by the giant forest of huge green plants, she could see clearly that it was going to be difficult for her to find her way.
Just then, Yuna heard a rustling in the bracken to her left. Somebody was there. She grabbed a stick that happened to be lying next to her (she left her staff in the cabin on the ship), walked slowly to where she saw the rustling and called out, "Who's there?"
He heard a shout.
Sora suddenly skidded along the ground in order to come to a halt. So….there was somebody else in the woods. Who was it?
Sora heard more shouts. He could also hear a loud hiss. Sora held his Keyblade out in front of him and started to walk….slowly. Who was shouting? The voice sounded very familiar. It sounded the voice of a child. Perhaps it was a fairy? …….No, it would not be a fairy. The fairies sounded like small children with squeaky high-pitched voices. This voice was high-pitched, but not high enough to be a 'squeak'.
Finally, he came to another large clearing. There were no flowers this time. Instead, to his left, about twenty metres away from him, Sora could see a large, long ten foot long cobra. Its lustful green eyes, its golden neck, its small but sharp white fangs were lunging out at….
"RYU!" Sora shouted
The small blue-haired boy was sitting on the ground. His sword was pointing towards the cobra. Sora noticed that the back of his tunic was torn….and blood was dripping out. Ryu was clenching his teeth, as if he was in pain.
The cobra lashed out at the boy, who quickly defended himself against the attack, by slashing at the serpent with his sword. Although he hit the serpent, who was given a large cut across its belly, the snake was only stunned for two seconds – not enough time for Ryu to get out of the way, because as soon as Ryu turned his back in order to roll out of the way, the cobra lunged at him again and grabbed the boy's side with its teeth. This was not the first time that the cobra had managed to do that to him - it had bitten Ryu two other times before. Ryu did not cry out – it did hurt, but he had been in far more serious situations than this.
WHACK!
Suddenly, the cobra let go of Ryu. A large drop of blood fell onto the grass. As Ryu looked up at the cobra, he saw that the right side of the snake's neck was bleeding severely. The cobra turned to its right to see Sora aiming his Keyblade, which was dripping with blood, right at the monster.
In response, the serpent turned its attention away from the red-eyed boy and raised its head, its green eyes pointing out at its attacker. It then lunged out at Sora, who just managed to jump out of the way.
The cobra hissed at its attacker and then lunged again, managing to grab Sora's hand. Sora yelled and then swiped at the serpent again, letting out more blood from the neck. The snake let go, leaving a tooth marks on Sora's hand. Sora winched. The actual bite did not actually hurt much when it occurred, but afterwards…..it stung like hell. Sora ignored the pain and hurled his Keyblade at the cobra again.
The Keyblade missed and accidentally fell from Sora's hand. It landed right next to Ryu.
Ryu, however, did not attempt to pick it up. Even if he did try, he would not be able to….only Sora would be able to use the Silver Keyblade. However, he knew that Sora was in danger and he had to think of something…..
Ryu closed his eyes. He suddenly opened them again. Why was he helping Sora? Why could he just not leave the boy to die? If so, then the Empire would not find him..
Sora was attacked again. This time, the cobra grabbed his foot and started dragging Sora towards him.
Ryu then thought again. He had to do something….although he saw no reason to save Sora but….somehow, he knew that it would be wrong to abandon him.
Sora started to struggle as he was being pulled towards the cobra. He had no weapon now….so he was in a very difficult situation.
Instantly, Ryu closed his eyes and motioned his hands. Suddenly, the snake was hit with a magic fist. The snake then let go of Sora and turned towards Ryu once again, hissing. This gave Sora the opportunity to get up and get his Keyblade…
The snake lunged towards Ryu, but this time, Ryu was able dodge the monster by rolling to the side. The cobra hissed in frustration. It leaned towards Ryu, with its menacing, glaring green eyes….it raised its head once more to attack once again….
But the cobra did not attack. It was unable to….and never would again.
Out of nowhere, a silver keyblade went straight through the snake's neck. Blood spurted out of both the serpent's neck and mouth. Sora had managed to grab his Keyblade and then throw the Keyblade (aiming perfectly) at the cobra….
"Are you all right?"
Sora pulled his Keyblade out of the cobra's lifeless body and walked towards Ryu, who was struggling to stand up. Sora took him by the arm and helped him to his feet. However, after standing up for a few seconds, Ryu fell to the ground again, as his legs were so weak that they were unable to support his balance. His hands were shaking, his body was sweating all over.
"Hey, Ryu….it's okay….it's gone….I killed it…" Sora tried to reassure him, not quite realising what was wrong, only thinking that Ryu was terrified.
Ryu, however, did not seem to hear what he said. All he managed to do was utter the word, "P….poison…"
He felt dizzy. His vision became blurry. Ryu felt himself falling to the ground. Then…everything went black.
Yeah, sorry that the chapter sucked. And yeah….I'm poor at action scenes. By the way, the songs that Garnet sings are the ending song from Final Fantasy IX – Melodies of Life – and the end song for Breath of Fire IV – Yume no Sukoshi Ato (translates as 'A Little After the Dream'). They are both very nice songs and I'd recommend anybody to buy them!
I would like to thank the following reviewers.
Dragonien and Shikamaru – Well, I am glad that you liked the summon. I thought that Valefor would be appropriate for Yuna.
Flaming Star-Sabre/Twilight Ember/ Erinyes Star(wow – you keep changing your username – it's so confusing heheheheh)– Thanks for the comments. They are very helpful. Am trying to make the thing more descriptive, with the help of a thesaurus. I even rewrote the whole of Chapter 9! I am also trying to find a beta reader, wherever I can find one. I think that I might have found one – my dad. Unfortunately, he had a lot of work, so I was not sure if it was the right time to ask him to check it. He has, now, though.
Airess Byrd – Glad you liked the fairy scene. Will Sora find out who the dragon is? Will he not? Hmmm…..
Oh, and I'd like to thank my dad for beta-reading the fanfic! Really sweet of you to do so, considering how little time you have!
Yeah, sorry it came late! But my AS exams are now over! (finally!) so I will have a little more time to spend on the fic! Chapter 10 is currently in progress at the moment. Unfortunately, however, although I do not have much work at the moment, my dad does, so don't get upset if my fanfic comes too late.
