Kingdom Hearts Side
First Act: First Encounter; A Tale of Ribbon and Marble
The very first Kingdom Hearts Side episode (I can see the reviews already...). Today, the story introduces three new characters:
*Drake Blade- A character devised by Theblackbloodwriter of our forum.
*Alex- A character thought up by my good friend and forum member, Blaze the Flareon.
*Raven- A character from the mind of yours truly.
Enjoy, and feel free to ask questions!
-Project 13
Aerith's Diary; Entry #4:
~Traverse Town... It's a universal hub for travelers whose worlds have been lost to the void. There are all types here, friendly and otherwise. Already, nine fights have broken out, and all in one district. I suppose I should be thankful that unlike most of these travelers, I'm not here alone...~
Aerith closes her diary, the pen still inside, then looks over her shoulder from the inn balcony she sits on. Inside the room sits a tall figure with long, dark unkempt hair, face hidden behind a black ceramic mask, with a purple crescent moon painted onto the forehead. The figure sits rigidly in a reed-woven chair, one foot up with his fingers interlocked around his knee. Aerith looks from him, to the untouched cup of tea on the table beside him, then leaves the balcony to return to the room. "When are you going to relax and have yourself some tea?", she asks him, stowing the diary away inside a satchel. The masked figure simply turns his head toward the table, then toward the floor. "Just as soon as we have time to relax...", he replies. "You've seen what's happened to Traverse Town, haven't you? It's a wonder we were able to find room and board in this backwater place without-"
"Raven, stop that...", Aerith interrupts. "You're making things sound a lot worse than they really are." She closes the satchel and takes a seat at the table, helping herself to some tea. "Things will get a lot better soon, you'll see." Raven simply pushes his own teacup away and shrugs. "I suppose I'll have to take your word for it.", he says. Aerith gives a nod of complacency and returns to her teacup. It's been years since she'd first found Raven, lying injured and unconscious in the middle of an empty street. She'd taken him in and helped him recover, and he'd insisted upon earning his keep by protecting her from harm. It seemed, however, that no amount of time she spent with him as a companion would ever prepare her for the next gloom-and-doom statement to leave his mouth...
As Aerith finishes her tea and considers convincing Raven to drink his own, there is a sharp, urgent knock on the door. She looks across the table to Raven, who immediately stands and makes a beeline for the door, opening it with subtle force. On the other side is a boy who looks to be about seventeen. He is breathing heavily and hoisting over one shoulder, a keyblade; all white, the edge laden with shimmering claws. He seems to have just recently been in a battle of some sort. "What is this place?", he asks, still breathing heavily. "There was a huge earthquake somewhere in the Pride Lands, and the next thing I know, I'm here, fighting off endless waves of Heartless!" Aerith suddenly turns her full attention to the door.
"Heartless?", she repeats sympathetically. "Here in the second district? How long have they been here?" The boy at the door simply blinks, as if in too much of a hurry to answer such a question. He then turns back to Raven, who still hasn't removed his hand from the doorknob. "I'm going to need some help clearing them out...", he says, looking for empathy, but getting nothing but a cold stare from beneath Raven's mask. "Who are you...?", he asks the boy, all the while turning to search a corner of the room.
"M-my name is Drake...", replied the boy at the door. "Drake Blade. The Heartless couldn't have been in the district for more than a few minutes, and already, they're starting to become a problem... If we don't do something soon, they might-" His sentence is cut off by a gleam of silver in the doorway. Raven is now on his way out of the corner, a scythe secured to his back. dangling from the body of the scythe is a long, tattered purple ribbon. Aerith also stands and disappears into the corner of the room, returning with an elegantly-crafted orichalcum staff. "We'll help.", she says. "The people here have already lost so much..."
Drake leads them to the second district alleyway to find it practically overrun with heartless soldiers and shadows. "Where are they all coming from?", asks Aerith, her voice barely audible over the uproar. "The third district, I think!", was Drake's reply. "The gates leading there won't close, and I don't hear any screaming from that area..." Raven takes a step forward. "Then the third district has presumably gone to Hell...", he mutters, injecting the conversation with another dose of harsh reality. Drake shakes his head in hopeful disagreement. "I don't think that's the case.", he replies, readying his weapon as the Heartless advance. "And the sooner we clear these things out, the sooner I can prove it!" Aerith and Raven watch him engage the crowd of heartless head on, devotedly moving through wave after wave of them. "Well, if nothing else, he's definitely a 'glass half full' kind of guy...", says Raven, hints of admiration in his voice. "Yes.", replies Aerith teasingly. "You could learn a thing or two from him, Raven..." Rolling his eyes acceptingly behind the mask, Raven joins Drake in his crusade through the alleyway, and Aerith follows suit.
In minutes, Aerith and her companion catch up to Drake in the center of the alleyway. The Heartless only seem to be multiplying in number. "We have to form up, or we'll just get flanked out here!", Drake yells, kicking a Heartless soldier away in mid-jump and swatting two more into the side of a near wall with the blunt side of his keyblade. Raven gives a low sweep with his scythe, clearing a wide circle for them to regroup in. The three of them move in unison; one attacking, then shielding the others as they attack successively. As they advance, the Heartless begin to pull back, out of the alleyway and into the open in the square, in front of a fountain overshadowed by the Gizmo Shop's clock-tower. Drake, in a sudden rush, twirls his keyblade, it's attached claws gleaming a brilliant white under the light of a quarter moon. Aerith leads Raven up to the fountain to provide cover as Drake leaps into the remnant group of Heartless, swiping one into a group of several others, ducking below a shadow lunging at him, then using the side of the keyblade to send it off course right into a soldier, and then enters a series of spins, his weapon becoming a bold white spiral, spreading Heartless all over the square. Drake hefts his keyblade over his shoulder, admiring his work as Aerith reaches the Gizmo Shop, and Raven watches his last enemy fade away in the shadow of the clock-tower.
"That was an impressive display, Drake", Aerith calls from the top of the second district's stairwell. "I'm Aerith Gainsborough, and that's my friend and personal guard, Raven." Drake bows respectfully toward Aerith, and then nods wearily to Raven, who returns it with one of his own. "It's a pleasure to meet both of you.", he says. "Thanks for your help back there..." They begin to regroup when a great tremor knocks them off their feet. They look up to see a massive metal frame plummeting toward the square at high speeds. Drake rolls out of the way and leaps onto the stairwell just as the falling object impacts the square and unleashes another great tremor, destroying the fountain and flooding the downstairs area knee-deep with water. The object, silver and purple with a Heartless insignia on its front, begins to open up and expand into the familiar form of a Guard Armor. It stomps about lankily in the destroyed fountain, sending tremor after tremor through the district, bringing down several buildings. Drake readies his keyblade and leaps onto the flooded landing in front of it. "I'll handle this one...", he calls to his new associates. "Maybe you should check the third district for any more Heartless."
"Are you sure you can handle this thing by yourself?", Raven asks, his attention still on the massive Heartless stomping around the square. Drake gives no reply; He simply engages the Guard Armor head on and leaps at it as it notices him. His weapon clashes with its mighty arm and sparks fly as the keyblade's claws scrape against the dense metal of the Heartless' gauntlet. Drake turns and gives an urgent look to Raven, who nods and follows Aerith through the wide gate to the third district. Aerith instinctively turns back to the doorway. There is an extremely loud CLANG, and the Guard Armor is thrown against the door, obscuring any glimpse of the second district. "Do you think he'll be alright?", she asks to her masked escort. "Of course he will...", Raven replies. "He came to us asking for help because he knows when he's in over his head. If he says he can handle that thing, I'm willing to bet we'll be seeing him later..." Reassured, Aerith quickens her pace toward the third district.
There are no lights in the third district. No noise. No life. Aerith stands atop the stairwell leading down to street level and stares in horror. Buildings torn apart at the halves; Spotfires barely illuminating the streets, all of which are damp and full of massive footprints; The sky long, thin, looming clouds, given unnatural color by the flames... A thick, acrid smoke fills the air and their vision as they make their way down the stairs and press on through the ravaged pathways to the center of the district. "Could a Heartless have done all this...?", Aerith asks to no one in particular. She wasn't expecting Raven's sudden input. "I don't see how...", came his voice from behind her. "We've only been out here for about an hour, the same time Drake came to us looking for help... It looks like something hit this place long before the Heartless did..."
As if on cue, an earsplitting roar shakes the ground beneath them, and they struggle for balance as a burst of bright orange flame erupts from the horizon. Raven quickly takes point in front of Aerith and readies his scythe as a white blur falls toward them with astonishing speed. The blur hits the ground and takes the form of another boy. He clutches a shining white keyblade in his right hand, the edge fashioned into a heart, the tail pointed outward. The chain hanging off the keyblade's pommel is bare. The boy stands and shakes his head dizzily, and Aerith widens her eyes at the sight of him. "Alex?" she exclaims. The boy, recognizes the voice and immediately turns in awe.
"Aerith, is that you?", he answers, breathing heavily. "Don't tell me the Heartless are still spreading..." Alex eyes Raven, then his weapon, and extends a hand in greeting. "Hello there, I'm Alex. And you are-?" Raven examines Alex's hand curiously, then shakes. "Raven...", he answers. "Why are you out here by yourself...?" Alex's expression sours as he turns toward the inner area of the district. "You're about to find out...", he says, slowing his breathing to an inaudible huff. Aerith puts a hand on his shoulder in concern. "Look at you.", she says. "You can barely breathe. You should let Raven and I take care of it..." Alex shakes his head and concentrates a brilliant green light at the edge of his keyblade. The light spirals down the blade and into his hands and immediately, his wounds begin to heal and his breathing begins to normalize. "I'm far from defeated", he says as another tremor rumbles through. Then another. A massive Heartless on all fours with purple skin, jagged teeth and a large black horn on its forehead lumbers into the center. The trio stares up at it in awe.
"It's called a Behemoth, I think...", Alex says to the group. "What it lacks in agility, it more than makes up for in blind rage..." The Behemoth lets out a deafening roar, sending rocks, dust and debris swirling through the center of the district. Alex is the first to attack, lunging forward into a front-arc slash with his keyblade. The beast simply shrugs the attack off and charges him. He blocks and goes skidding backward on his feet. Next comes Raven, leaping high and bringing the scythe's blade down hard on the Behemoth's head. The giant Heartless doesn't react at all to Raven's attack, but the recoil travels through the body of the scythe and into Raven's hands causing him to drop his weapon. The Behemoth acknowledges him, ramming him into a distant wall with its hulking frame. Aerith thrusts her staff into its side, but likewise, she receives no reaction from the beast. It turns and brushes her aside with its head, sending her tumbling away. Raven pries himself from his indentation in the wall and staggers toward his weapon. The Behemoth takes notice and charges him again. This time, Raven prepares himself, planting his feet firmly and holding his hands out, Raven grabs the oncoming Heartless by the fangs. It pushes him a fair distance, but Raven finally shifts his stance backward and, with a strained groan, heaves the massive beast through the air into the side of a building, which gives way and collapses on top of it. Alex stares at Raven in awe. Anything able to hurl something of that size halfway across the district couldn't be human...
The district quiets down. The only sounds to be heard are the rushing of the wind and the debris falling from the recently destroyed building. Alex is the first to speak as they regroup. "That was amazing!", he exclaims as the trio meets in the center of the district. "How did you do that?" Raven retrieves his scythe from the battlefield and folds his arms. "This mask is my greatest weapon of all...", he says in a serious tone. "With it on, there's no guessing who or what I am, or what I'm capable of doing..." Alex gives Raven a look of interest, then turns to Aerith. Before he can open his mouth to speak, the ground shakes again. The Behemoth bursts from the mountain of debris and enters a mad charge right for them, its horn glinting into a concentrated streak of dazzling light from the moon directly overhead. The shining horn immediately catches Aerith's eye, and she turns quickly with her staff.
"Attack the horn!", she calls back to her companions. "If its skin is rock-hard, then that's the only other place we can try!" Alex and Raven both nod in acknowledgment. They scatter as the Behemoth's thunderous assault drags through their formation. They all turn to face the beast as it prepares to charge again. Alex takes point in front of the group, holding his keyblade high in a taunting manner. The Behemoth drags its front left hoof in an angry count, then barrels toward him with unbelievable momentum. Alex gives a sly grin as Raven leaps over his head and grabs the beast by the horn, flipping it onto its back. The Behemoth howls in surprise and struggles to free itself from Raven's grip, but Aerith and Alex attack simultaneously, striking the base of the horn and snapping it right off. Soon after, the Behemoth's struggling begins to slow, and soon it becomes motionless.
"There.", says Aerith after a sigh of relief. "I think that should do it..." Raven kneels beside the Behemoth's head and examines its face. " He prepares to speak, but there is a loud 'CLANG', followed by yet another tremor. The Guard Armor from the second district crashes down in a mangled pile, just beside the Behemoth. Drake lands on the Guard Armor's back, his keyblade slung over his shoulder. "You guys were making some terrible noise over here.", he says, stepping down to join them. "Thought I'd see if I could help... But it looks like you've got everything under control." He nods in approval, after glancing over to the dead Behemoth lying in a heap to his left. "It's nice to see you again as well...", Aerith replies half-jokingly. The gizmo shop's bell resounds through the district, and they look up in response. It was officially midnight.
As if it'd been scheduled, just as the bell peals, the ground begins to crack and separate. A ghostly blue light seeps up through the divides, and the entire district begins to crumble away. Without a word, the four travelers gaze briefly at each other before heading for the stairs. The ground in front of them gives way, then the ground behind them. They are now stranded on a thin strip of pavement, stretching from one building to another. Alex turns to Aerith and Drake turns to Raven as their last foothold begins to degenerate. There's no time to scream. There's no time to think. Everything fades to blue in the blink of an eye, and the bell peals one last time before a massive silhouette begins to rise from the fissure...
It was officially one after midnight when Traverse Town went to Hell...
-To Be Continued...