Dai: I'm finally posting TOS! (trumpet fanfare) You have no idea how long I have worked on this. It's a bit like a huge crap I've been trying to let go of for the past year or so. And I'm not even done yet. Gah. Reviews will be appreciated. Flames will be tolerated. Constructive criticism will be worshipped.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, as much as I wish I did (that 'n' Chrono Cross). Why was Zidane not in KH? Why?
Enthraille: The Orphan's Story
Chapter One
The sea was calming to the boy as he lay there on the curiously shaped tree, listening to the waves against the beach surrounding his hometown of Destira. This was a unique quality of his, to be so tuned in to the earth and sea. Sometimes it seemed like he could feel the way the earth did, if it was in pain or rejoicing.
Being on the islet that was separated from the rest of the beach, he was granted a pleasant sense of isolation. The air was filled with the voices of those playing on the beach, but they seemed strangely disconnected from him. He was protected from the outside world, unless someone happened to climb the ladder, but he would see them long before they saw him. Or they could come across the walkway to him, in which case he would hear their feet on the—
"SORA!"
With a scream, Sora leapt up, lost his balance, and fell forward into the ocean. He surfaced, still shaken, and his eyes narrowed at the sound of feminine laughter coming from the islet above him. Having grudgingly mounted the ladder, he pulled himself up onto the sand and growled deep in his throat, pouting at the redhead who had killed his dignity. "Why'd you have to go and do that?" he asked her, climbing up on the tree again.
"Too priceless a moment," she replied simply, regaining control over her mirth. "And because you scream like a girl, Sora."
"Not funny!" Sora told her sharply as he squeezed the water out of his deep brown hair.
"Aw, Sora, I thought you liked the water?" she said to him, leaning forward to ruffle the wet strands. She smiled evilly. "Besides, you're hot when you're—"
Sora didn't allow her to finish that sentence, preferring to seize her by the wrist and flip her into the water. She emerged, sputtering and furious, to see his broad smile. "You scream like a boy, Kairi."
Kairi's lilac eyes narrowed. "That's a lie and you know it."
"Maybe," Sora conceded.
With a sigh, most likely due to the fact that she had realized she couldn't get anywhere with him on this note, Kairi sat down next to the brown-haired boy on the tree. "You haven't been up here for a while," she remarked after a silence. "Something on your mind?"
Sora hesitated. "I guess I just need to watch the sea awhile," he replied. "It's so hectic during the school year, and I never get a chance."
"The sea," Kairi repeated. "The sea, the sea, the sea. Is that all you ever think about?"
A strange emotion appeared in his eyes then, and he suddenly clasped her close, his lips brushing hers in the most innocent of kisses. "No," he replied in a quiet tone, his deep eyes never leaving hers. A smile that Kairi had never seen before appeared on his face when he saw her blush cherry red. All too soon, the closeness was gone, and Sora was lying on his back on the tree, staring out at the sea again.
"I wonder," he murmured distantly. "I wonder what it's like out there. I wonder who I'd meet if I left here…"
Kairi was silent for a moment as she watched the sea with him. "We could leave," she said finally. "The harbor is only a little ways away. We could get one of the boats, or even build one ourselves. We could go on out there together, just the two of us."
"Mmmm…" Sora mumbled, closing his eyes.
"There are all kinds of places we could visit," Kairi continued, by now only half-aware of what she was saying. "And maybe…maybe we could find out where you come from." She looked at him again. Sora's past was a catastrophic mystery, according to the other adults on the island. He had shown up one day, a boy of three or four, with a woman known only as Nanny. They'd lived together in Destira for ten years, although they didn't seem particularly close. That was why Sora was sometimes jealous of Kairi's beautiful mother and devoted father. "We could find out who your parents are," she added quietly.
This last comment was returned with a soft snore.
"Sora!" she groaned, leaning forward to smack him in the forehead, as always. But something stopped her as she realized she was close to those eyes, those lips again. It wasn't hard to recall the feeling of being so close to him, of having that sudden spurt of electricity that was his lips against hers. She dared to draw closer, feeling his breath against her skin.
"Stop right there!"
Looking up with a start, Kairi recognized the bulging figure of Nanny as the middle-aged woman approached swiftly by way of the walkway. It suddenly dawned on her that she was wet, Sora was wet, and they were in very close proximity to one another. Anyone could take that the wrong way. "U-um, wait a sec!" she said quickly, springing to her feet. "It's not what it looks like!"
Sora sat up dazedly. "Who's screaming?" he asked thickly.
"I leave you alone for two seconds, and this is what happens!" Nanny raged, seizing Sora by the ear and towing him back toward the house. Several pained whimpers escaped the boy who was struggling to keep up with his caretaker's long strides, and he glanced back at Kairi apologetically.
"Sorry—something's come up," he explained laconically. "See you later."
"Bye," Kairi managed faintly, barely heard over the sound of Nanny's enraged lecture.
l…l
The door opened with a musical accompaniment at the courtesy of Nanny as she continued her rant about the dangers of unsafe sex. Sora was only half-listening to this, being more focused on the painful grip on his ear. "But if you want to go out and get that girl pregnant, you'd better think twice if I'm going to pay for it!" she finished, as she always did, and released his ear. Rather than stay to try to explain that they weren't doing anything and no he didn't know why Kairi was bent over him like that, Sora slipped upstairs in the blink of an eye.
He closed the door and leaned against it, sighing with relief. At least Nanny wasn't going to take away his toys again. Lately he'd been hiding them in his closet and barricading the door to make it less convenient for her, although it never seemed to stop her. Only one thing remained outside the closet door—the worn, slightly nicked wooden sword that it seemed like he had always had with him.
"Something from your parents," Nanny had said to him when he asked her about it three years ago. "Your father made it for you right after you were born. He hoped he could teach you to fight with it." She snorted, shaking her head as she stirred the stew for that afternoon. "Silliness. You'll probably never meet something you have to fight unless you do something stupid like run off into the woods." She shot him a sharp look then, since he'd run off just the other day.
The eleven-year-old had seized upon a question he'd asked several other times, although Nanny had always found a way out of it. "What happened to my parents?"
"I told you. They died."
"I know that, but…" Sora hesitated. "How? Who did it?"
Nanny had glared at him with her piercing black eyes. "Don't ask me that question, Sora. I'll explain when you're older, but not before."
"No, I want to know! Tell me!" Sora approached her, waving the sword threateningly. He didn't know how to use it, but he figured he could loosen her tongue with the promise of being whacked.
She'd studied him for a moment, then emitted a narrow, challenging laugh. "And the cub grows teeth," she murmured. "You want to have a go, do you, boy?" she asked him, wiping her hands on her apron and taking the large wooden spoon out of the pot. "Come on."
Sora had hesitated then, surprised by her sudden challenge. "But—!"
"Not scared already, are you?"
Blue eyes narrowing, he yelled and struck out blindly with the sword. Nanny caught the blow with the spoon, and Sora felt something hot hit his cheeks as a few droplets of stew flew from the spoon. He struggled to maneuver in the way he'd seen on television and in the styles of the other boys in Destira, but Nanny seemed almost to predict what he was doing before he did it. Within a few moments, the spoon struck him just above his left hip. "And that's why you'd die," Nanny told him in a low voice. "You don't guard on your left, and your offense is shabby."
She straightened, wiping off the spoon and sticking it back in the pot. "Go upstairs and wash, Sora. You have stew all over you."
There was a silence, broken only by the soft sound of her stirring. "Nanny—"
"We're having lunch in just a few moments, so hurry." She glanced at him when he tried to speak again, a twinkle of amusement in her eye. "And perhaps we can schedule a rematch afterward."
And so his lessons had begun.
Sora smiled at the worn piece of wood in his hands, remembering the spoon-shaped bruises that Nanny had decorated him with for the first few months. Now, three years after that encounter in the kitchen, he was steadily improving. He slipped the sword back into its place under the dresser and went downstairs to see if Nanny had calmed down at all.
l…l
Four days passed with no words exchanged between Sora and Kairi. This was, no doubt, Nanny's doing, as she accompanied Sora everywhere he went when he wasn't at the house. Sora found this incredibly embarrassing, but none of the other boys dared comment. Several of them had fallen victim to her spoon as punishment for stealing fruit from the trees in Sora's backyard.
Maybe it was just Sora's imagination, but it seemed more like Kairi just wasn't around. Under Nanny's watchful eye, he'd braved the other boys' sniggers and slipped into Kairi's favorite haunt—a clothing shop at the mall. She wasn't there, though, and the shopkeeper hadn't seen her for several days.
Nanny was gracious enough to let up on the fifth day and relinquished Sora to his usual daily activities. He searched the island swiftly, becoming thoroughly frustrated when it seemed like he was just missing her at every turn. Finally, feeling exhausted, he curled up on the paopu tree again and slipped into a light slumber.
"Sora?"
The light voice came from behind him. Sora pulled himself from the depths of sleep and looked groggily at the individual responsible. "Kairi," he managed thickly, shaking his head to pull himself further into reality. "Where've you been? I was looking all over for you."
"I was just around," she replied. "Come on. I have a surprise for you." She seized him by the wrist, implying sharply that she wasn't taking no for an answer, and the two of them rushed down the beach toward a brown mass just visible on the shore. As they drew closer, Sora could see that it was a somewhat ragged, but surprisingly well-made raft.
"You make boats?" he asked her, staring in awe at the tall mast and sail just waiting to be drawn along the sea.
Kairi shrugged. "My uncle knows a little about it," she replied. "I took some tips and hints from him." She grinned, stepping aboard. "Well? What do you think?"
Sora shook his head, at a loss for words. "It's great," he replied finally. "It looks like it'll really sail."
"Of course it's going to sail. That's why I made it."
"But…what's it for?"
The redhead stared at him, then rested her head in her hands with a groan. "It's so we can go out in the world, like you were talking about," she explained in exasperation. "Don't you think it'd be fun? Both of us just out there on the sea, finding out what it is that makes this planet tick." She smiled. "And I'm calling it Excalibur."
Sora blinked uncomprehendingly. "Huh?"
"You can't remember anything, can you? When you were little, you used to get a big kick out of naming stuff." Kairi smirked evilly. "You named your fish, your hamster, your roller blades—and you know what you named them all? Excalibur."
A deep blush ignited on Sora's cheeks, and he muttered something intelligible. "I was eight years old," he reminded her, glaring as she struggled to control her laughter. "I'd call it something different now."
"Like?" Kairi prompted.
"Like…like Skyhigh—Blowhole—I don't know," Sora groaned, throwing his hands up.
"Blowhole? Are you serious?"
Sora's hands sifted through the air in an attempt to grasp the intangible. "All right, um—Highwind. You know what? Let's call it Highwind."
"I'm sticking with Excalibur. It's my raft." Kairi stuck her tongue out at him.
"It's my name!" he shot back. He paused, a sly look developing on his face. "You want to race for it?"
"No."
"But—!"
"I'm physically inept, Sora," Kairi reminded him. "Here. Prepare yourself." She stuck her fist out and waited. Sora groaned, but complied anyway.
"Rock, paper, scissors." Pause. "Rock, paper, scissors."
"Paper covers rock," Kairi told him, smirking victoriously. "We're calling it Excalibur."
Casting a sidelong glance at Sora, who had reverted to groaning some more, she leaned up against the mast and began to fiddle with something he couldn't see.
This behavior captured Sora's attention at once, and he stepped closer, trying to peer through her fingers. She glanced at him, then smiled knowingly and moved so that he couldn't see her hands. "C'mon, Kairi! Let me see!" Sora broke into a run, ending up chasing her in circles around the mast. When they were opposite of the water again he seized her, sending the two of them toppling over into the sand.
Kairi got over her laughing fit long enough to loop the mystery item around Sora's neck. "They're thalassa shells," she explained when he inspected them curiously. "They're a sign of good luck for sailors."
"We'll need it," Sora said wryly. "I've never sailed before. I'll probably get us stuck out on a reef somewhere."
"You will not!" Kairi told him, smacking him playfully in the forehead. She smiled at him, her eyes softening as his face drew closer to hers. "I trust you," she whispered, feeling his breath mingle with hers again.
"Ahem."
Both of them looked up sharply, blushing as they realized they hadn't gone unnoticed. Nanny's hands were on her hips, her foot tapping the ground impatiently. "And I'm supposed to believe this is just an accident or something. Is that it?"
Sora clambered to his feet quickly, helping Kairi up after him. "I'm sorry, Nanny, w-we were just…talking about thalassa shells, and then…uh…"
"Thalassa shells?" Nanny shook her head. "There's nothing interesting about thalassa shells. Get yourself a paopu fruit. Just do it later. Sora?" She gestured meaningfully in the general direction of their house.
Sora sighed. "See you tomorrow, Kairi."
"Yeah. Tomorrow." Kairi seized his arm, her lips brushing against his ear quickly as she spoke in a soft voice. "Be here at three o'clock in the morning. The Excalibur sails tomorrow."
l…l
Sora thought about that as he lay awake in bed that night. Tomorrow they left everything he had ever known. It seemed far-fetched—crazy, even. They'd be in big trouble if the law enforcement caught them. But, in that case, they'd have to go someplace that the law couldn't touch. Some magical fantasy parallel to the isolated town they lived in.
"You in bed yet, Sora?" came a call from the bathroom across the hall.
"Yes, Nanny." Sora slid deeper under the covers so she couldn't see the outfit he was wearing if she chose to come in.
"Good. See you in the morning."
"Yeah," Sora replied, feeling guilt pool in his stomach. "Good night."
Nanny closed the door to his room and padded down to her room at the end of the hall. Sora heard the light click off and waited in the darkness with only the light from the digital clock as comfort. He knew very well that he was afraid of the darkness, if only because it made him recall grisly photos from horrendous murder scenes he'd seen on television. But there was another reason—a deeper reason that he couldn't explain.
Seven minutes, he thought to himself. The average person falls asleep in seven minutes. But Nanny was by no means average, so for twenty minutes Sora stared at the clock and waited. Finally, he stood and switched on the lamp on his desk, glancing around the room swiftly to make absolute sure that a killer wasn't crouched to spring.
Seeing neither the killer nor that unspoken thing that scared him even more, he started shuffling through the drawers, seizing clothing he figured he would eventually wear. Jeans, gloves, that pair of blue shoes he never really wore—just about everything he could get his hands on went into the backpack he'd found under the bed. He got to his feet and, after first pushing away the box in front of it, got to the closet. Having thrown in a few older things, he spotted the outfit Nanny had gotten him a few years ago, figuring he would fill out soon enough. Sora hadn't, though—he was still fairly skinny—but the yellow shirt and black pants with the blue whatchamacallits would probably come in handy sometime.
He started away from the closet with the outfit in tow, but he suddenly felt a pang of doubt as he looked at the overstuffed pack. Moving carefully, lest it exploded, he pulled out several things that he could go without. The outfit went into the bag along with the wooden sword and a few choice toys, and Sora was ready to go.
Looking around at the room that had been his for fourteen years, though, Sora was met with a part of himself that honestly didn't want to leave Destira, no matter what was out there. He shook himself briefly and glanced at the clock. It was only twelve o'clock—a three-hour wait. Sighing, Sora lay back in bed to wait until two forty. That would give him enough time to walk to the raft without having to hurry. He glanced out at the cloudy sky, wondering vaguely if a storm was coming.
l…l
Two forty came quickly, and Sora went down the stairs to leave. Nanny was sitting at the breakfast table with the lights on, but for some reason, Sora didn't worry about this.
He continued out of the house, seeing the sunshine beating down on the beach. It occurred to him that he was supposed to have left at night, and perhaps Excalibur was already gone. That fact vanished from his mind as he ran toward the raft where Kairi was waving to him, her face bright with anticipation. But his feet couldn't bring him any closer to the raft, regardless of how hard he tried.
As he struggled, he began increasingly aware of the darkening sky. Kairi shot him an impatient look, but she disappeared behind that sinister presence that he had always feared. There was a rasping sound that seemed to come from the world itself as the strange, dark being stretched out a hand toward him, and—
Sora jerked awake, his eyes meeting darkness as he sat up in bed. The digital clock read two thirty-three, so he still had time to walk to the beach. He seized the pack off the floor, slinging it over his back, and tiptoed past Nanny's room. His yellow shoes were waiting for him at the door, and it was after slipping them on that he rushed outside into the drizzle that was falling over Destira.
The town fell behind him as he reached the shore where the palm trees curved slightly while their leaves shivered and rippled in the wind. The same was true of the leaves atop the paopu tree. Sora noticed the islet and recalled countless days spent there even before he met Kairi. He also recalled Nanny's words about the paopu fruit—the legend said that it caused two people's destinies to intertwine. If he never came back to Destira, he at least wanted one of these to share with someone. Kairi, maybe.
Despite the raging wind that increased steadily in ferocity, he mounted the walkway and balanced on the paopu tree to reach the fruits that hung so close. They seemed only inches away, as though his hand would close around one at any moment, but his fingers couldn't seem to reach them. His foot slipped along the wet trunk and he seized the tree impulsively, barely managing to keep from falling. Deep brown hair whipped about his face in damp tendrils as the wind began to howl around him, and his hand closed around the tough fruit.
The paopu flew into his pack as quickly as possible and he was on the beach again, running toward the raft. It was probably three o'clock already, but he couldn't tell if Kairi was already out there. But she might have decided not to come due to the storm, he rationalized. Still, he spent several minutes standing by the raft and waiting.
Destira was dark and cold as Sora walked through the rain, finding shelter beneath an overhanging roof every so often. It seemed like forever before he got to Kairi's house and climbed up the tree that stood by the hall window.
"Kairi?" he called into the darkness that muffled the rain, stepping down onto the carpet. He paused there, pulling off his shoes and sticking them in a corner. It probably wouldn't matter—he was drenched—but still, he had to observe common courtesy.
He padded down the hallway until he reached Kairi's room, soundlessly opening the door. Kairi was lying on her bed, fully dressed, with no lights on in the room. Nonetheless, she was visible due to a soft glow that seemed to come from the white symbol apparent on her forehead. "Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, rushing toward her. The symbol faded, and with it the light, so that Sora tripped in the darkness and hit his head on her foot. He was vaguely aware of a strange rushing noise, and then someone standing in a corner of the room lit a candle.
"Another one," came a quiet voice from the corner. "He's still out there."
Sora stumbled to his feet, seeing the light that illuminated striking blonde hair and deep blue eyes. "Who are you?" he demanded of the caped stranger, whipping out the wooden sword. "What did you do to her?"
The stranger shook his head, and Sora noticed for the first time that one dark wing was curled on his shoulder. "I didn't do anything, but that doesn't change much. I'm only here because I felt that he'd gotten another one."
"Who?"
"The wise man—the wizard." The stranger crossed to Kairi's side, placing a hand on her forehead where the symbol had been. "That's his sign. It appears on every one of his victims."
"Victims?" A dark fear descended on Sora. "Wh-what's gonna happen to her?"
"Nothing more, now." Removing his hand, the caped man started to leave the room. "I have to find him. I'll keep him from doing this anymore."
"What…? Then she's…?" Sora shook his head violently. "No! Kai—Kairi can't just die, that…that's…"
"She's not dead. It's a coma that is very much like it, but she's not quite dead yet." The blond man turned an interested gaze on Sora. "You might be able to save her if you can find the wise man in time. If not, he'll use what he's taken for less noble means."
Sora frowned. "But what has he—?"
The rushing noise sounded again and the candle blew out, smoke curling about the resulting darkness. "Find the Enthrailles," the stranger whispered before silence descended.
A sudden feeling of terrible loneliness settled over Sora as he stood in the room with Kairi's motionless body. "I'll save you," he whispered to her. He paused, his hand falling to the thalassa shells he was still wearing, and he gently placed them around her neck. "I promise you won't die like this."
That said, he donned his shoes again and returned to the room to take Kairi up in his arms. Moments passed, during which he realized he must have walked to the raft, because suddenly it was in front of him. The storm seemed to be calming finally, so, laying Kairi on the raft and tethering her to the mast, he pushed off the shore and out to sea.
l…l
Dai: It's AU, so it's not what you think. It's about to spiral pretty drastically into a wildly alternative storyline.
Serge: Uh…why is Sora with Kairi in this one?
Dai: (blinks) He is? (looks up) Oh. He is. Funny how that is.
Serge: Is it just me or are you being mysterious again?
Dai: Mysterious? Why would I need to be mysterious?
Serge: …That's it. I'm gonna go read it ahead of time. (stalks away)
Dai: But you can't! I know you, and you'll spill everything to the readers! (gives chase)
