Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts
Chapter 2
Bella pushed open the door and walked back out into the strange new world. She led Sora around the building, climbing a few short sets of stairs and arriving at a very large set of doors. A sign hung over it, naming the area as the Second District.
"If that's the second district," Sora began, working out the lay of the town for future reference, "then are what district are we in?"
"This is the First District," Bella answered, staring at the doors. "Beyond the Second in the Third District and that's all we've really been able to find. This world is very small, which is why I don't think a lot of people show up here when their worlds are destroyed. If we don't find your friends, don't get discouraged; they could have ended up somewhere else."
"Well, where are you from?" Sora questioned further, realizing he didn't really know anything about her, even though he had already told her and Cid his story. "I'm from Destiny Island, like I already told you, but I've never seen you there before."
"Well, you're right, I'm not from Destiny Island," Bella agreed, nodding her head and leaning against the doors, putting off passing beyond the First District for the time being. "My world is called Earth. My island was called North America and it was huge. Much bigger than this tiny place. It was destroyed not too long ago kind of the same way your world was and I just ended up here."
"Did any of your friends come with you?"
She shook her head with a small frown. "That's why I don't want you to get your hopes up too much."
Sora nodded and stared at the doors that would lead the way to the next section of the Town.
"We can still try though," he said finally, drawing Bella's attention. She smiled, admiring his determination to succeed and grasped the handle of one of the doors and pulled with a bit of effort. The door creaked softly as it moved, opening a new section to the pair.
Bella walked through first, motioning for Sora to wait behind. She drew the long sword from the sheath on her waist. She moved slowly and carefully, and surveyed the deserted area before her. She stepped closer to the ledge of the platform she walked out onto and waved Sora over. He heard the sound of rushing water from below them and guessed there was a fountain on the lower level.
"What are we being so careful for?" Sora whispered uncertainly, confused by the sudden change from one district to the next.
"There is danger here that we can't control," Bella murmured, keeping hers eyes glued to their surroundings. She was making Sora nervous and she felt bad, but now was not the time to think about that. She had to keep a sharp lookout to keep the defenseless boy safe.
"Look out," she shouted, throwing her left arm out backwards, catching Sora's chest and shoving him backwards a few steps. A person, most likely another resident of the town, was running toward them, panting heavily. He tripped and fell to the ground in front of the duo, raising a protective arm over his head, cringing away from some unseen evil. His body began to convulse and he writhed in pain, screaming. Sora stepped forward instinctively to offer help, but Bella stopped him.
"Here's your first taste of that danger I just told you about," she warned. The man in front of them started to roll over, doubling over on himself. His body was getting smaller and smaller and turning darker and darker. A flash of light cause Sora to blink and when he opened his eyes, an impish creature in armor stood before him, leering at him with glowing yellow eyes. It rattled its armor menacingly before disappearing entirely, causing Bella to swear.
"What was that thing?" Sora demanded.
"A soldier," Bella replied. "And he called some friends."
Just then, a group of shadowy creatures sprang up from the ground, surrounding Sora and Bella. Bella held her sword at the ready, standing in front of Sora. She charged one of them and sliced her way through the body of one, then quickly jumping backward to escape a quick swipe from another.
"It's those creatures from the island!" Sora exclaimed. A glow appeared around his hand and with a metallic ring, he pulled a weapon Bella had only heard stories bout out of thin air. She stared in wonder at the long silver shaft attached to the gleaming golden hilt. A small chain dangled from the end, a swinging trio of spheres swinging innocently.
"The Keyblade," she whispered in amazement. "You're the one?"
Sora however, didn't hear her as he was busily making sloppy work of destroying the creatures in front them. He took a few rough hits, but Bella stood frozen to the spot, watching his every movement. The creatures completely ignored her, drooling as the hunted down the boy holding the one weapon that could truly destroy them.
Sora was panting heavily when it was down to one last enemy. He was not used to having to fight like this. The play fights he had back home never put his life in danger before after all! The creature leapt into the air and was blasted backwards with a loud bang. Sora whirled around to see Bella aiming a smoking gun at the place where the bullet had hit its target.
"Let's keep looking," Bella said quickly, putting off her many questions for the moment. He would get suspicious if she tried to stop his search early to bring him to Leon and Yuffie. It was better to keep going as if nothing was out of the ordinary for the time being.
Sora nodded and hoisted the heavy weapon over his shoulder, now leading the way. They weren't attacked again, but Bella was certain they were being watched, studied, and evaluated. These creatures were getting smarter, and that only made her more nervous.
Sora forged ahead, checking every corner and investigated a grand mansion built into the side of a factory. He was surprised to find to speaking Dalmatians, looking forlorn.
"This is Pongo and Perdita," Bella explained, crouching down to scratch Pongo's ears and stroke Perdita's head. The two dogs kept their heads low, even in the wake of a friendly gesture. "Their pups went missing when they came to this world. They haven't been found yet either."
"How many puppies do they have?"
"Ninety-nine."
Sora stared in shock at the two dogs. How in the world did they have THAT many pups?
"Fifteen are our own," Pongo said slowly.
"But the rest are as good as ours," Perdita finished. "We lost them in the dark hole and we haven't been able to find them."
"We'll help!" Sora immediately volunteered with a determined expression. "If I run into any of them, I'll bring them back to you!"
Perdita looked up hopefully and Pongo wagged his spotted tail once, thumping it against the floor. "If you do this for us," he promised, "you will have our gratitude and a reward."
Bella thanked the canine pair and ushered Sora out of the mansion, eager to get back to the first district again. She was eager to speak with Cid about her discovery and she was getting more anxious about the evil creatures by the minute.
"Let's go back to the first district," she pressed. "I don't think we're gonna find your friends just yet. We can keep looking some more later."
"Sure," Sora agreed readily. He was the one to lead the way this time, jogging through the streets quickly. Bella took up the rear, keeping an eye out for more danger. She was relieved when they reached the large double doors leading back to safety and opened the doors.
A small shadow leaped at them suddenly from within the first district and Bella gasped.
"Shit," she yelled. "Why are they here? This place is supposed to be safe!"
Sora had readied his weapon quickly and Bella drew the sword once more. She cut down one foe but suffered a hard blow to the shoulder from another. She motioned to Sora to make for the accessory shop where Cid said he would be waiting for them, and they fought their way through the mob of darkness.
Barging through the doors quickly, Bella collapsed on the floor, panting heavily. Sora leaned against the wall and wiped the sweat from his brow. Cid glanced at the pair, already aware of the situation outside of his shop.
"Still haven't found 'em?" he questioned. He shot a look toward Bella, his expression serious. He knew about the weapon. Bella nodded her understanding and turned her attention back to Sora, making sure the boy was alright.
"Keep our chin up. Take another look around town," Cid suggested with a shrug. He glanced at Bella once more. "Leon's around somewhere taking care of the problem outside right now. He'll be fine on his own."
Sora nodded slowly, having gotten his breath back. After all, if there was someone out there fighting the baddies, it would be safe to take a better look around. He opened the door without another word and left the shop, leaving Bella behind.
"Cid," Bella began once Sora had left the building and the door was shut. "He has the Keyblade. I saw him use it, and he's not really good at it."
"We already know that," Cid replied, waving his hands around. "Yuffie saw the two of you in the second district and she reported to Leon right away. He wants to test the kid. If the Keyblade says he's worthy, there's nothing we can do about it."
"But we still need to know how much trouble we're in if the Keyblade made a bad choice," Bella mused. "Great…we're all gonna die."
She could hear the heated debate forming between Sora and Leon, who had been waiting for the younger boy apparently. She heard a sharp ring of metal on metal and immediately wished the younger boy luck. Leon was a tough fighter, and she knew Sora wouldn't stand a chance against him. This wasn't going to end well. She opened the door to watch the fight, ignoring Cid's warning to stay out of it.
She arrived just in time to see Leon whack Sora in the back of the head with the flat side of his gun blade sharply, dazing Sora.
"Now …you're…gonna…you're gonna…" Sora mumbled, swaying back and forth. He fell to his knees and hit the dirt in a crumpled heap. Bella shook her head. They were in a lot of trouble if this was the best defense the Keyblade had to offer against the destruction of all life as they knew it.
A/N: okay, so we got a quick intro to Leon and Cid. Fun times. I'm taking a bit of artistic liberty with this by the way. I want to make sure loose ends can be tied up and more can be explained to the reader that wasn't necessarily explained in the game. I'll interpret it how I want to, and you will take it with a spoonful of sugar, right? Haha. This is mostly going to be from Bella's viewpoint, so things that happen on the other side of the wall that she can't see, you won't see either. Hence the reason why the dialogue between Sora and Leon wasn't heard. As always, please review. It makes me happy to see other people's reactions to my stories, be they good or bad comments.
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