Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom of Shadows
Same disclaimer as before. I own nothing but my characters and their stories. Chapter one is pretty short, y'all.
Van's theme I (Spoiler, but you won't know what it means, anyway, so I'll just post it ;).)
From Tiras's point of view…
"My heart is like Winter's cold fire,"
Your pale lips once said.
Then you smiled, and you turned away
Eyes blazing red.
Though you fain would hear me,
Gone where I can't tread;
I pray for thee and that the Sea shall not
Yet give up her dead.
And though I can't protect you,
I've tried to understand
All the things you tell me, all you do and say
Bound by chains of both hope and despair.
In a world without boundaries,
The greatest Heart of all
Lies in the One Bereft of Love,
Now, torn asunder, first to Fall.
Chapter One
(In Hollow Bastion)
WHAM!
Leon ran into the library, slamming the door open.
"Aerith!"
Aerith bookmarked the page she had been reading and silently placed the tome on a table.
"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The man was out of breath, and he seemed to be almost... excited, or worried, which was completely out of character for him. Leon never lost his composure. No matter the circumstances, Leon was always very careful to maintain that mask of indifference to the rest of the world.
"Leon... What's wrong?" She whispered. Leon opened his mouth to answer, and then closed it again when words failed him. Instead, he lifted his head and, for the first time since he entered the room, met Aerith's concerned gaze. When Aerith looked into his eyes, she saw something very, very close to fear.
And that scared her.
It chilled her to the core.
That fear in Leon's eyes was terrifying to comprehend, and it scared her more than anything the Heartless had ever done during the crisis one year ago. If Leon was worried, how did that bode for the rest of them? Leon finally found the voice to speak.
"It's the Heartless. They're back. The stars have been disappearing from the sky, and more rapidly than the first time..." He paused so the gravity of his message could sink in. "That's not all, either," he began.
"Are there Heartless here?" Aerith stood quickly. If the Heartless had come to Hollow Bastion... She would not lose her home again!
"No... at least, not yet." Aerith sighed in relief. At least they were still relatively safe... well, for now, anyway.
"What're you guys talking about, huh?" They both looked up to see who the intruder was...
"Yuffie." The hyperactive ninja grinned. Normally, Leon would have simply groaned and ignored her, but...
"Why are you guys so serious? What's going on?" The girl's eyes flicked back and forth between the two faces, her curiosity once again taking hold.
"Yuffie," Leon stated again. "Go find Cid and Merlin, and tell them to come here quickly. I need to speak to all of you- something has happened, and it will affect all of us in the immediate future." The girl ninja nodded and darted back through the open door. Leon turned back to Aerith, rubbing his temples with calloused fingertips.
"Well, if nothing else, she runs fast. She'll be able to find those two quickly enough." Aerith simply nodded, preferring not to speak. She needed to think this shocking turn of events over before she would be ready to deal with anything so mundane as small talk concerning Yuffie's athletic prowess.
Leon began to pace, walking off some anxiety. Aerith sat back down. She still couldn't believe that the Heartless had managed to get through the Door. King Mickey and Riku had remained in the world of the Heartless to seal the Door from their side, and Sora had done the same on this end. The sealing of the Door resulted in all of the worlds being closed off, so she hadn't heard anything from Sora for a while. Maybe, though, since the Heartless were traveling among the worlds again, the worlds were once more connected...? Cid could build them a Gummi ship; they could try to find Sora... Leon stopped pacing and came over to lean against the bookcase next to her.
"Here they come." At Leon's statement, the door to the library swung open to admit three figures.
"What's all this about an emergency? I have work to do," Cid grumbled, hooking his thumbs in his pockets and walking over to sit in a chair near Aerith. That Yuffie had come barging in, nearly knocking the door off of its friggin' hinges, telling him he'd better get in the library, right now! Honestly, he didn't know why he put up with the brat... (Of course, he could never admit that he had a soft spot for the child... His gruff manner wouldn't permit it.)
Merlin merely paced across the floor to stand by Cid. He looked up expectantly, waiting for the gunblade-wielder to begin. Though he still refused to be called anything but Leon, Merlin would always know him as Squall Leonhart.
Leon's pacing halted.
"Something terrible has happened. It's an emergency, so listen up!…."
TBC…