Part 2 of the Awakening.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, or DN Angel. I really don't want to own them, either.
Daisuke fought the darkness with everything he had, as if his life depended on it. Who was to tell otherwise, maybe his life did depend on it. He kept his eyes clenched shut and didn't take a single breath as he reached and clawed at the blackness, searching for a break. However, when one hand struck something hard and flat, he immediately opened his eyes to find himself lying on his back on some kind of floor. Turning his head to one side revealed a wide expanse of pink; another colored platform. Daisuke let out the breath he had been holding and got to his feet.
The platform didn't have a single woman on it this time, but instead had three large hearts, each containing a pale silhouette of the same girl. That was all. There didn't seem to be any story being told, unlike the pictures before. Across the platform from Daisuke, there was a shaft of light shining down from seemingly nowhere, illuminating an arch-shaped object. Upon closer inspection, it was decided to be a door. Daisuke reached out and placed his hand against it.
"Is this the door…?" Daisuke murmured.
It was a very beautiful door. It was nearly twice Daisuke's own height, a translucent pinkish-white color all around, and covered with an ornate design. The edge of the platform could be seen behind the door, supporting an unspoken claim that the door actually went nowhere. It was divided into two smaller doors that opened outwards from the middle, but when Daisuke tried to open them, they wouldn't budge.
"I can't open it…"
Just then, he heard something behind him and turned around. There was another beam of light, this time illuminating something much smaller than the door. He headed over to the object and saw a small red chest sitting there on the ground. He reached out and tapped the top of chest a few times before jumping back, just in case it was a deception. For all he knew, there was one of those black creatures hiding in there. When nothing jumped out at him, he pried open the lid and was promptly greeted with sparkles. Whatever had been in the chest had apparently disappeared. Disappointed, Daisuke turned back to the door.
This time, the door was no longer transparent. Daisuke ran over to it and was just reaching for one of the handles when the door slowly started opening by itself. Something was coming through the other side, and Daisuke quickly stepped back to allow it room.
The door opened wider and a bright light started seeping through. It reminded Daisuke of the light that had blinded him on his island earlier. Maybe this door led back to the island! Shielding his eyes so that he could see where he was going, Daisuke approached the door as it opened wider and was soon swallowed by the brightness.
Daisuke could hear the ocean somewhere in the brightness, but he couldn't pinpoint it. A few moments later, the whiteness had lifted from his vision and he found himself on a wooden tree house platform, looking out at the ocean again. He was right, this was his home. Daisuke grinned.
Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.
Daisuke jumped. There was the voice; he had forgotten all about it. His grin faded and turned quickly to a frown. The voice was still there, which meant that the entire thing could still be a dream, although it felt so real. Daisuke decided to take a better look at his surroundings and was surprised to see two girls and a boy standing there on the platform with him. One of the girls was standing directly in front of him. She had short light brown hair, brown eyes, and was wearing blue-and-white sailor top and green shorts. She was standing by the railing, staring out at the ocean. Daisuke ran up to her.
"What's most important to you?" the girl asked when Daisuke came near.
Daisuke opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The girl stared at him, waiting for an answer. Daisuke wished she would do something besides stare.
"Uh…friendship. Yeah," he finally answered.
"Is friendship such a big deal?" The girl turned away from Daisuke, who was struck dumb. Was this really one of his friends? Why was everyone acting so weird? He backed quickly away from the girl. Unfortunately, someone else was standing in the path of his retreat, another girl, and bumped right into her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were there!" Daisuke apologized.
This one had longer hair and it was a darker brown, but she had the same color eyes as the first girl. She was wearing a short-sleeved knee-length green dress and her hair was tied back with a matching green ribbon. She didn't react to Daisuke's apology, but rather responded with a question.
"What are you so afraid of?" she asked.
Daisuke didn't have to think long. "Being different."
"Being different? Is that really so scary?" She, too, turned away.
Now Daisuke was entirely sure that he was having a dream. There was no way his friends would actually act like that in real life. It was like they only wanted to ask him their questions and then he was completely useless to them. Still, he hoped against hope that the boy on the platform would say something more normal.
Speaking of normal, the boy's appearance was far from it. He was much taller than Daisuke and had his red-brown hair gelled up so much that it stuck straight up. His clothes were very bright and he was twirling a volleyball-sized blue and white ball on one finger. He stopped twirling the ball and tucked it under his arm when Daisuke came near.
"What do you want outta life?" the boy asked casually.
"I want to be strong."
"To be strong, huh?" The boy resumed twirling the ball. He looked like he was about to laugh at Daisuke's answer, causing the redhead to frown. The other boy didn't seem to notice. Daisuke started to walk away, to get off the platform, but his feet wouldn't move. Then the mysterious voice spoke up.
Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine. The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.
Daisuke was very confused. His adventure? Keep a steady pace? He thought he had already opened the door. Evidently the voice was talking about a completely different door altogether. He thought the voice was talking about the door that led him to where he was standing. There was suddenly a flash of light and instinctively threw up his arm to block it out. When it dimmed, he found himself surrounded by darkness again and standing on a fourth platform with a picture.
In the center of the picture was a pretty woman with long blonde hair, wearing a long pink dress. She was asleep and surrounded by a multitude of vines, all with thorns on them, almost like the vines were holding her captive. Daisuke felt a shiver go through his body upon seeing that, but quickly shook off the feeling. A beam of light appeared from nowhere, shining on the girl's face, and Daisuke immediately went over to investigate it. As soon as he stepped into the beam, he was surrounded by a large group of small black creatures, larger than the first group.
His sword reappeared and he immediately started slashing at the creatures. The first one went down with two strokes, since Daisuke managed to slice it cleanly in half, but the others didn't go down so easily. They bunched into a tighter circle around Daisuke, preparing for a group attack. He slashed at the ones directly in front of him and eliminated most of them with a couple of swings. He spun around to confront the rest and promptly got a faceful of blackness, as one of the creatures had decided to attach itself to his head. He flailed around blindly for a few seconds, during which that time he managed to take out a few more creatures, until he got the one off his face and disposed of that as well. Two more well placed swings destroyed that one and the rest.
It was then he realized that the beam of light had moved. Instead of shining on the woman's face, it had relocated to her skirt and at the end of it was a small circle that looked like it was made of white fire. Daisuke warily approached it, kneeled down, and reached out to touch the fiery substance, expecting to get burnt. Nothing happened, so he stepped into it.
He stood there for a couple seconds, looking around and wondering if the voice was going to tell him what to do, when the light moved yet again. It slid to the edge of the platform and kept going, creating a staircase that went upwards and outwards into the darkness. The stairs looked like they were made of stained glass. He shrugged and stepped away from the circle of fire and slowly began navigating the very curvy staircase, being extremely careful not to misstep and fall into the darkness below.
At the end of the stairs was another platform with a woman on it, this time a brown-haired girl in a yellow dress. Around her were pictures, like a tea set and various household items like a clock. Behind the girl was a large furry beast. There was also a beam of light in the center, which Daisuke walked over to. It had become routine—whenever he found the beam of light, he usually had to do something that allowed him to get off whatever platform he was on. For some reason, he found himself almost magnetically attracted to the light, like it was the only safe thing in the entire area. Upon entering the light, the mysterious voice made itself known.
The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.
That was a confusing statement, and Daisuke wasn't sure whether it was being literal or just cryptic. He looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, there his shadow was, but it was longer than he had remembered it being. It stretched from his shoes all the way to the other edge of the platform. Confused, Daisuke turned around. His shadow did the same and Daisuke's eyes widened. They got even bigger as the shadow bulged and began to change shape, growing bigger and detaching itself from the floor. It widened and stretched upward until it towered over Daisuke while its hair grew out into dreadlocks and its fingers stretched and formed claws.
But don't be afraid.
The voice was trying to help, but it wasn't working. Daisuke tried to back up, but tripped over his feet and fell down. The shadow looked nothing like him now. It was enormous, with huge hands, no feet, and bright yellow eyes. There was a huge heart-shaped hole in the thing's body. Daisuke got to his feet, stumbling slightly, and ran. In his fear, he had forgotten that the platform wasn't endless and soon found himself at the edge. He gasped, and nearly fell, but managed to right himself and turn to face the shadow.
"I…guess I have to fight…" he told himself, gripping his sword with both hands. He took a deep breath and dashed at the closest target, the shadow's large hand, and swung at it. The shadow didn't even flinch, but Daisuke kept whacking it until it raised the hand. The appendage went high into the air before slamming down, sending tremors across the entire platform and creating a large black patch on the floor. From the patch, a group of smaller black shadows came out, but Daisuke wasn't interested in them. He headed straight for the hand, ignoring the claws that came at his bare arms and legs and focusing all his power on that one hand.
Even when the arm moved backwards, Daisuke followed it, only pausing for a second when the giant pulled out a new method of attack. It leaned back and a ball of purple energy gathered in the heart-shaped hole in its body. Daisuke stared at the ball, and suddenly it shattered into smaller balls, and all seemed intent to home in on him. He halted his assault on the hand and ran from the energy balls, dodging small shadows, until the balls seemed to disintegrate.
The shadow started to lift its arm into the air, preparing to slam it into the floor again, and Daisuke got an idea. He remembered being told by one of his friends a long time ago that the weakest part of anybody's body was the head, and the best way he could think of to get to the giant's head was by riding the arm up. He latched himself onto the large wrist and at the height of the arm's movement, slipped off and landed on the shadow's shoulder.
"Surprise!" Daisuke yelled, whacking the giant in the side of the head. It finally noticed him and turned its head, only to be sliced across the face multiple times. Daisuke was beginning to get tired, but he kept up his barrage of attacks until the shadow collapsed. Daisuke was thrown forward and landed painfully on his knees. He stood up, preparing to fight more in case the giant wasn't down for good, but then his sword disappeared in a flash of light. Had the creature somehow disarmed him?
The shadow slammed both its hands into the floor, knocking Daisuke down. He looked down and was horrified to see a black circle, the very same that the black creatures kept coming out of. He started to get up, to run away, but just then he felt something cold on his arms and legs. He looked down again to see black vine-like tendrils curling their way around him, holding him in place.
But don't be afraid.
The tendrils continued to wrap around him, and a lot of them emitted smoke. The large shadow was still there, just staring at Daisuke as if daring him to try to do anything. That is, until it rose up to its full height. By now, the tendrils had all but covered Daisuke, who had stretched an uncovered arm out to grab something. Then, that arm too was lassoed by the vines.
You hold the mightiest weapon of all.
The voice sounded fainter, further away. Daisuke was nearly enveloped in blackness now, and it was starting to pull him down. He felt like he was going to burst into tears, or scream, but he couldn't. He didn't want to die. He was confused, scared, and angry. He wasn't going to die by the darkness. The giant leaned over and the last couple tendrils curled around Daisuke's face and pulled him under.
You are the one... who will open the door.