Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers! I will reply to anonymous reviews here, but I will simply send my replies to signed reviewers unless the reviews ask a question about the story and I think the answer should be read by everyone.
All right- same disclaimer as before: I own nothing but my own characters and their stories.
BTW, for reasons I have yet to come up with, Sora is in Disney Castle in the beginning. He's outside in the prologue (obviously).
Kingdom Hearts: Kingdom of Shadows
REVISED Chapter Two
Crimson lightning reflected in yellow, slitted eyes as it tore across a boiling sky. It was not an army of Heartless that faced the two lonely figures; it was a sea, a dark tide. The owner of the eyes began to chant:
"Fire above, fire below. Black wind burning, singing, churning. Come to me, Black World's Voice. Call down the Stars, ravage Time.
"Fell the mighty, Lonely Tower. Silk and Fire and Blood and Light. Come to me, Silence Weaver. Boil the Sky, shatter the Seas.
"Sing the Storm of Mounting Terror. Sky to Earth, Day to Night. Come to me, Shadow-Lover. Fade the Sun, Devour the Moon.
"Malice hangs in stagnant air. Doom's Bell tolls a warning Knell. Come, Destruction; thy Name is Ruin! Bring to the earth Your waking Hell!"
There was a new presence in the air, expectant, waiting. The Heartless froze in their jittering and turned as one to face the two men- the fools who thought they could stand in the way of Destiny. With a single voice, the legion began to wail, a high-pictched keen that pierced the dead air. The earth- the ground beneath them shuddered. The golded-eyed man squinted further as the air before them warped and twisted in a rapidly approaching arc.
The first wave came. It was like a ripple in a pond from a cast stone. As it neared the two men, the wind whipped long hair into their faces. The first shockwave passed them with a low, deafening blast. The taller of the two turned to face his raven-haired companion, brushing silver locks from his finely-chiseled face. He spoke not a word, but merely nodded and fixed his gaze on the black mass once again. Swiftly, he pulled two enormous swords from their scabbards and thrust them into the soil before his feet, body armor glinting in the eerie light. The wave of heartless was upon them.
It broke around the swords as though sliding from an invisible barrier, much as a swift rapid courses around jutting rocks.
The raven-haired man spoke.
"Are all of the Aeld safe? The Bel'Thram will not be held back long, Seraphim."
The silver-haired man nodded silently, then whispered.
"...Now. Do it, Van."
Van muttered to himself softly, then slowly raised his head. His golden eyes flew wide open, the pupils narrowed to mere slits. He slowly raised a black-gloved hand to the sky, and whispered a single word.
"...Grindmaur."
Then the sky was torn open, flaming clouds evaporating to reveal an enormous... something. Destruction from the heavens. A God of Destruction had come to the call, bringing Grindmaur with it. A colossal dragon, clutching the moon with a claw the size of a continent. His wing blocked the heavens from view. He was Helgrind, First Beast of Apocalypse. He turned to fix the world of Mauroleith with a saffron eye, then opened His great jaws. Intense light seemed to fly to the Beast's maw, aimed at the planet.
"DOOM."
Van lowered his hand and slumped down in exhaustion, making no effort to defend himself against the tide that leapt for him, his protective barrier suddenly gone. The Heartless came, burying the two in shadow.
"DOOM."
The world shattered into a million points of light.
"DOOM."
Helgrind vanished, task complete.
A puff of dirt rose from the cobbled street as a young man sat down beneath the hazy light of a lantern.
He turned his weary gaze upward to the perpetually starry sky of Traverse Town. Another star was flickering. But... this one wasn't getting fainter. If anything, it began to flare brighter... The young man's eyes were riveted to the star. It flashed in brilliance, then disappeared in an explosion that expanded in a halo around the now empty space. The man felt goosebumps prickle along the back of his neck.
He sighed. "Ardfen triumphs, I suppose... We won this round- a hollow, bitter victory. The Heartless will not be so easily pushed back next time. This town's very existence proves that."
He slowly rose to his feet and headed toward the item shop, then stopped awkwardly when he realized he had none of this world's currency. A young voice spoke from behind him.
"Tiras... It was a necessary sacrifice, to stop the Darkness. We WILL bring Mauroleith back. We'll bring ALL the worlds back, you'll see. We just need to find a way to seal out the Darkness for good."
Tiras sighed, reaching out to ruffle the readhead's hair affectionately. He didn't see how anything would ever go back to the way it was... How could anyone forget the thing's he had seen?
"Aiylah... you're too damn optomistic... but, right now, this world really needs that. Thanks, kid."
Aiylah huffed, an outraged expression playing across his ageless face.
"Don't forget, Tiras- I'm still your elder by 32 years!"
Tiras growled and leapt upwards to land in a crouch on a low rooftop. He sat down again, the starlight shimmering in his dark blond hair. He shut brilliant blue eyes as he reclined somewhat stiffly, his back still aching from his landing in a cardboard box in some cursed back alley of this place. Rooftops really were the best place to go if one needed to think.
Tiras found it a little hard to relax, though, as he was still pissed off about the landing. He had somehow managed to lose his sword in the transfer to this world. He couldn't find it anywhere in his immediate area... However, he HAD been unconscious for gods knew how long. Anyone could have seen it and taken it... He almost felt sorry for the theif- because whoever had walked away with his sword was going to be very disinclined to walk anywhere for a very LONG time after Tiras was through with them. He began to doze.
"Sora! Sora, where are you!?" 'Donald.' Sora flinched and continued the launch sequence, ignoring the insufferable duck's incessant quacking. 'All right... I hope this thing still works...'
Sora had managed to commandeer a gummi ship- HIS old gummi ship, and one of the only remaining ships at Disney Castle. If he could get it to work, then that would prove that the Darkness was incontestably back. He hadn't imagined that vanishing star. He had to investigate, but he wanted to do it alone. If the gummi ship flew, and if Traverse Town was back, then the worlds must be connected again.
He yelped as the ship dropped down and out of the Gummi Launch Center. He grasped the controls and quickly steadied it. In the times before, he had really only watched Goofy and Donald operate the thing, but he paid close attention, learning the controls by observation. He flew forward with a whoop. The worlds were indeed connected, once again. But, that meant the Darkness was back, too. The Heartless were coming through to this side...
"If there's a way out, then there MUST be a way in! I'm coming, Riku."
Soon enough, he could see that he was approaching a world... and there it was- Traverse Town.
BEEP BEEP BEEP!
Sora jumped about a foot out of his seat as the com-device's screen blinked on to reveal an extremely irate, sputtering Donald Duck. Goofy nudged him over and peered into the camera.
"Gawrsh, Sora. Why'd 'ya leave without us? How come the Gummi ship's workin'? What's goin' on? And where are ya?"
Sora faltered.
"Uh... I'll be back in a little bit. There's something I need to check out, okay? Sorry I left without telling you guys. Don't worry about me; I'm only one world over."
"WORLD!? But, Sora! Hold o-"
Sora pressed the 'off' button on the com device. He landed the Gummi ship and pushed open the enormous World Gates of Traverse Town. He grinned.
'Wow, it sure has been a while!'
TBC...
Well... That didn't turn out quite how I expected it to... Lemme know what you think?
Next Chappie: Humor ensues when Tiras and Aiylah bump into Sora, resulting in a brief misunderstanding.
R&R, people!
I'm working on Chapter 3 right now, now that I've finished fixing this chapter.