Waking up the first thing Reikarth felt was the intense need to vomit. Turning over she hurled over onto the floor, disregarding her position. She had never felt like this before, so much pain gripped her stomach as she repeatedly emptied its contents, she was afraid she was going to die. Closing her eyes tight and trying not to smell her vomit she stumbled away, cracking her back against a wall. She slowly fell to her knees, feeling the unfamiliar grime of the stone. What kind of alley had she fallen into? Breathing in and out she attempted to make sense of what was happening. There was no chance of that dream being a normal occurrence, right? There was only one way to find out. Gritting her teeth she attempted to summon the Keyblade from her dream.
Sparkles formed into a tangible shape in her hand and Reikarth gasped as Cosmic Guide fell with a clank on to the ground, the hilt slipping from her grasp. Grabbing it she felt a pleasant warmth flowing through her body, like being enveloped in a soft blanket. Encouraged she took a moment to properly process her location.
It was a grimy alleyway as she suspected, and Reikarth shuddered, thanking whatever had made sure no one had seen her. Some dirty kid hyperventilating while throwing up in an alleyway was not her best look, eyebrows would definitely be raised, even from the best of people. The alley was fairly small, and the bright yellow neon colours that poured in through the entrance gave her an inkling of where she was.
Or where she may be, Reikarth still wasn't completely sure she was still alive right now.
Traverse Town, Kingdom Hearts, it was all so surreal, how was she supposed to believe that this was real?
Standing up she took careful steps toward the main street, racking her brain as to what she should be looking out for. She couldn't remember any major dangers in Traverse Town, except for a boss that Sora took out as a tutorial. This felt real enough, so she felt justified in being worried about danger. Peeking out of the alleyway the streets looked eerily empty. Swallowing nervously she stood at the edge, not wanting to step out, worried, it was ridiculous but it was like she was standing on the threshold of reality, and crossing it meant she could never come back.
Stepping back into the alley she caught her foot on something, twisting her head around to see what it was she was startled by the long sky blue cape that was flowing down her back. The shock was enough to make her notice the rest of her outfit too.
She was not wearing the clothes she died in. Pauldrons held up her cape, strapped not uncomfortably to her shoulders, with puffy sleeves coming down to her elbows. Instead of her old grey shirt, she was wearing a tough yet comfy white crop top that exposed her stomach... with three belts tied around it, Reikarth snorted, it seemed she was not immune to weird Kingdom Hearts designs. Her jeans were replaced with a pair of white pants, seemingly just as strong as the crop top, held up by, once again, three separate belts. Her small happiness at the new outfit was dampened somewhat by the existence of the paled scar beside her belly button.
Releasing a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding, Reikarth looked away, she chewed on the inside of her cheek. Deciding she had had enough of this alley and of what was behind her, she strode out into the First Street of Traverse Town.
Nothing happened, which made sense she lectured to herself, no one is out and about. Still, it seemed strange that not one person was around, where was everyone?
Suddenly every hair on her body stood on end. Cosmic Guide flashed into her hand as the sound of distant chattering reached her ears, it was exactly the same as her dream! Looking around she caught sight of a small figure dashing through the doors leading to Second Street being chased by a few Shadows. The buzzing in her head returned, and before she was even aware of it she was dashing toward the doors, she had to help that person!
Shoving open the doors she dashed through to see a veritable horde of Heartless gathered around a fallen figure, it was clear that they were a person. The Heartless nearest to it seemed prepared to strike, long dark claws reaching out toward them. It caught her off guard, what was she supposed to do? She couldn't fight, those were real killers that could chase real pain!
Still, she couldn't let that person just die, an idea came to her. She may not be able to fight, but she was pretty fast. Drawing in a huge breath she shouted as loud as she could.
"HEY!"
The effect was immediate, the whole horde turned to her and began chittering excitedly, lifting her arm up high to show off Cosmic Guide she waved it around, drawing the horde into a frenzy. Good! The cacophony of chattering grew louder as they began to rush toward her. Not good! Turning around she ran hard back into First Street, the horde hot on her heels. They were faster than she had expected. Leaping up onto the box she had memorized in the game (from running from Leon if she remembered her first playthrough correctly) she pulled herself up onto the roof of the accessory shop.
The Heartless seemed confused by her sudden disappearance, as she remembered they had a hard time processing a change in the y-axis. Slowly the chittering retreated and she relaxed on the roof. Looking down she could get a good look at the whole of First Street, and if she pulled her legs in she had a feeling no one could see her unless they were by the entrance.
She hoped that person had managed to get away, the buzzing in her head that had called her to help had gone away, and something told her that her job in that event was done. She wondered who it could be, she hadn't been able to get a good glimpse of whoever it was, just that they were vaguely humanoid and weren't a Heartless so it wasn't like she was going to be able to identify them later.
Something tickled the inside of her ear while she rested, and her eyes shot open as the distant sound of chattering reached her. Sitting up straight she strained herself to listen better. It was definitely getting louder, a chill ran up her spine.
Standing up Reikarth turned around, watching in horror as the horde returned, with several Soldiers among them. Gathering together around the box she had used to climb up, the Shadows swarmed it as they climbed up over each other to reach the roof. Summoning Cosmic Guide to her hand Reikarth slammed the blade on the claws of the Heartless closest to climbing up, breathing speeding up as the horde continued regardless. With the Heartless covering the box, her only way off the roof was blocked off. She swiped a few more times in an attempt to buy some time, but it only seemed to drive them into a frenzy. The first Shadow managed to find purchase on the roof, driving deep scores into the tiles as it clawed its way up. Yelping Reikarth took a step back, almost falling off the roof, wheeling her arms to try and keep her balance. The Shadow pressed its advantage, launching at her face, presumably to remove it. Reikarth brought up Cosmic Guide to block the blow, throwing herself off balance. The rebound made her left foot slip off the edge of the roof, sending her flailing down toward the street.
The whole world seemed to slow for a moment, and instead of her stomach entering her mouth and her mind freaking out like it usually did when she fell from something high like a diving board, Reikarth was totally in control. Cosmic Guide warmed inside of her hand, and as if on instinct she righted herself in the air, landing with her knees slightly bent.
She blinked, that was probably the coolest thing she had ever done, if she didn't die in the next 15 seconds to the Heartless currently tossing themselves off the roof after her she would celebrate.
The Heartless didn't give her enough time to run away again, even worse a few mages had found their way into the group as well. Reikarth couldn't see a way out, she would have to fight.
Cosmic Guide flared up in her hand once again and she fell into a defensive stance. The first Heartless leapt for her and panicking she swung her Keyblade like a baseball bat. It sparked as it made contact and the Shadow went flying with a satisfying thwack. She paused for a moment before the buzzing returned to her head, and she readjusted herself to a more combat ready stance. The next Heartless met a similar fate, though this time she swung at it with the blade ready to slice. The other Heartless seemed to realize she was dangerous and started to prowl around her instead of attacking head-on. Taking a breather she swung her head around to take in the group. Now that she had handled the first two, the horde was still threatening but no longer the indomitable force it had seemed to be when she had first seen it.
Hearing a crackling noise above her head, Reikarth looked up to see various magic circles channelling energy. Flaring yellow the magic sparked and electricity rained down on her, shrieking she felt pain arc through her body before it locked up. Vaguely she could smell the scent of ozone and knew- she knew- that it was one of those Yellow Opera's.
Her ability to move returned and instead of taking a defensive stance Reikarth immediately began slashing and hacking at the nearest Shadow's. Staying still didn't work and would make herself easier to hit with the thunder magic, and if that was just thunder magic she didn't want to feel any of the higher levels.
Her eyes widened at how quickly the Shadow's fell to the Keyblade, they were like melted butter, wisps of light swirling up where they were fell. Adrenaline rushed through her as with a great shout she leapt up and brought the Keyblade crashing down on a Shadow, smashing it into a gooey mess. Combo Finisher!
She stood up as the Heartless faded away, before screaming as one of the Soldier Heartless clawed at her leg. Leaping away from the Soldier who stabbed her, her eyes widened at the pain that burned at the wound. Heartless wounds both chilled and burned like she had dipped her wounded leg in arctic waters.
Taking a few steps back, favouring her right leg. There were four Heartless left, two Soldiers and two different mages, a Yellow Opera as she suspected, and a Red Nocturne. Licking her lips nervously, she watched as the two mages began charging again. She was limping with her leg, she couldn't dodge those attacks.
One of the Soldier Heartless steadily approached her and Reikarth threw a half-hearted swipe to make it keep its distance, keeping an eye on the musical mages. The Yellow Opera was charging, and once again she heard the crackling noise. In an instant, she realized that she would just have to work through the wound. Screaming she lunged forward into a roll, her leg burning at the movement, she was heading directly toward the Soldier's lifted claws. Cosmic Guide flashed with a glittering light and the choir of voices from her dive to the heart returned.
Coming out of the roll, she brought up the Keyblade into a defensive position automatically, guided by it. The pain that rattled in her arms as the Heartless slammed against the blade made her gasp, but seeing the Heartless put off balance she pushed off forward and swung the blade, landing hit after hit, after hit. Finishing the combo she turned to the mages. The Red Nocturne was charging an attack, watching the flames grow under its magic she felt a pull inside her, a deep thrumming in her bones. The voices rose up within her and she pointed Cosmic Guide at the Red Nocturne. Pulling from her heart she summoned some sort of power and feeling what was natural, shouted.
"FREEZE!"
The spell launched toward the Red Nocturne and it collapsed underneath the framework of its own, the blizzard spell unravelling the magic that held it together. Turning to the Yellow Opera, she noted that its own magic was still charging. Casting another blizzard at it she panicked as it didn't fall, its thunder magic was sparking now, and in a fit of desperation she drew back her arm and threw her Keyblade as hard as she could at it. It flew in an arc, spinning as it ripped through the Heartless before landing with a clatter and disappearing.
Collapsing, Reikarth breathed as the adrenaline burned in her body. She had never fought before, been hurt like this before.
She attempted to stagger to her feet, right leg still aching. Looking down at it she almost gagged, the flesh was torn to shreds and it was oozing blood. Surrounding her were little yellow baubles that were left behind by the Heartless. Green wisps also coated the ground, and as she stumbled toward them they swept into her leg, lessening the pain somewhat. Breathing a sigh of relief she bent down to pick up the baubles, the familiar shape implying that it was munny.
Reikarth was familiar with after workout pain, she had spent to much time in PE class to not be, but the burning of her muscles combined with the killer headache forming was a totally different ballpark. She began picking over the remains of the Heartless, hunting down every single green wisp in sight. It didn't seem to be fixing the wound any, and her headache still remained, but it did numb the pain. The voices in her head seemed to be simmering within, it was clear that they weren't whispering, it just sounded like they were very far away eventually turning back into buzzing.
Wow her head hurt, and her breathing was really loud. Did most fights end with this feeling? Distantly she could hear the sounds of footsteps. Swearing she made her way back to the rooftop, was someone shouting? She couldn't tell. Things were mixing together in her head like a blender, was she moving? It felt like she was stumbling through molasses.
A jingling sound erupted from the ground somewhere near her foot, wincing she looked down and realized she had kicked a bottle full of blue juice. Sick. Gatorade. She was remembering some distant memory about soccer practice before she realized she hadn't picked it up yet. Bending down she got a good look at the label, ETHER, was written in big bold lettering along the side. That was rad, she would need those at some point.
Shaking her head Reikarth realized she needed that now, no wonder she felt so sluggish. She still hadn't picked up the bottle. Grasping it she straightened back up.
It remained in her hand for what felt like a full minute before suddenly she was sputtering on it, the cool liquid sending a sharp ice pick through her brain. Everything sped back up, she was on the steps of First Street and it had been three minutes since she finished the fight.
She blinked, the pain in her leg returned and the emptiness in her head disappeared. The distant footsteps were suddenly much louder, and a sharp pain spiked through her head as the buzzing returned stronger before. Rushing much faster toward the box she stepped back up onto it, launching back up to roof.
Ducking down, she peeked out over the edge of the roof. Squinting at the figure she swore quietly underneath her breath.
Leon, terror of all nine year old children playing Kingdom Hearts 1. He was hanging out around the accessory shop, directly below her. Which meant that Sora was going to appear for the fight soon. That excited her, there was something that quickened within her as she thought about seeing one of her favourite video game characters in the flesh.
There was a creak as the door to the accessory shop opened and she saw him for the first time. The buzzing in her head quickened up, both in excitement and in warning. Pushing herself forward as far as she would dare took get a good look, she had too cover her mouth to prevent herself from gasping. Once again the thought returned, blazing in her brain as she saw Sora walk out into the open.
This was real.