A/N: Sorry it took so long!! This chapter almost kicked my butt... But, I started kicking back and won!! Just want to warn you, there are a few spoliers for those who haven't played 358/2 Days. Possibly Birth By Sleep spoliers also. I'm hoping to have chapter 3 up before Tuesday, but no promises. Hope you all enjoy it!!
I woke later that day, to the sounds of Zane flushing the toilet.
"What a wonderful sound to wake up to," I said aloud, to no one in particular. I looked over at my alarm clock. It was blinking twelve. "The power outage last night must have reset it."
"Sure did," Zane said, walking into my room from the bathroom. "It's actually a little after one."
I nodded. "How long have you been up?"
"About an hour," he responded. Then, he smiled. "Guess what?"
I just glared at him. If it is a prank he's about to pull, I'll kick his ass, I said to myself.
"Don't look at me like that, I didn't do anything," he said, throwing his hands up to help prove his innocence.
"What?"
He grinned. "We weren't the only place to have a power outage," he informed. I raised an eyebrow. "The whole world had a huge blackout for about 5 minutes this morning."
My reaction must have been funny, cause he started to laugh. "The… whole… world…?" I questioned, trying to wrap my mind around the idea of everyone not having power at the same time. I could feel my mouth wide open. Good thing there weren't any flies around.
Zane continued to laugh for another minute before he could say anything. "Yeah, the whole world," he assured.
I got out of bed and stretched. "What caused it?" I asked.
Zane shrugged. "Don't know. And neither do the government officials," he responded. "It's all over CNN and Headline News, as well as the other major news stations."
I walked to one of my drawers to get some clothes and then I walked passed him, headed to the bathroom. "Wonder if it had anything to do with what I saw last night…?" I mumbled.
Zane watched me in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
I shook my head. "I'll tell you in a little bit. First, I'm gonna take a shower and use the restroom." Zane looked confused. "Not in that order." He just laughed.
I shut the door to the bathroom and turned on the shower water for it to warm up and then used the toilet. Once I was done, I hopped in the shower. My mind kept racing as I was washing my hair. Roxas and Xion… Terra, Aqua, Ven… Those names kept coming to my mind. As well as a single sentence: "We must return to free them from their torment."
"What does it all mean?" I mumbled to myself. Images kept flashing through my mind, as well. One of Roxas and Axel, with a girl who's face looked like Kairi's, but she had black hair. The other image was of three warriors in armor in what looked like to be a graveyard of Keyblades. The armor they were wearing was damaged, and their helmets gone, revealing a girl with blue hair, a boy that looked like Roxas, and another boy with brown hair. The final image was of King Mickey looking through Jiminy's journal, where the phrase "we must return to free them from their torment" was.
I sighed as I turned the water off and began to dry off. Once I had put clothes on, I went back to my room where Zane was sitting in one of my saucer chairs watching TV. To be more exact, the news.
"Anything new?" I asked. He shook his head. "Not surprised…"
"Well," he piped up, "it is supposed to be sunny and about seventy degrees today."
I looked out the window and scoffed. Huge dark clouds were in the sky, with no sign that the sun even existed. The trees were blowing very hard in the wind and you could easily tell that it was really cold outside. "Weatherman's dead wrong…again…"
Zane turned around. "Wow…" he trailed off. I looked at him and raised an eyebrow. He glanced at my confused face and then continued to stare out the window. "I swear, fifteen minutes ago it was really nice outside."
I looked back out the window. "Seriously?" I asked, not really believing him. Zane was known to our entire family as one of the greatest pranksters. He inherited all of his "mad" pranking skills from his dad, my uncle.
"Dude, I'm dead serious," he said, standing up to look out the window. "What the hell happened…?"
I stood next to him, looking at the sky. "How weird," I said, turning back around to face my room when something caught my eye. "Zane, what's that?"
Zane looked to where I was pointing. "Xander," he said, annoyed, "those are clouds."
"Do you not see it?" I asked again; his puzzled look answered my question. "I swear there is something in those clouds. Something…yellow…"
"Yellow…?" he asked. From the sound of his voice, I could tell what he was thinking. And, sure enough, he said it. "Dude, you've lost it."
"I'm dead serious, Zane!" I semi-shouted. He jumped back a little bit. "Sorry, but I swear there is something in the clouds. And, I think it's moving."
Zane looked back at the clouds and then shrugged. "Sorry, I don't see anything." He turned around. "You gonna keep staring at the clouds?"
However, I wasn't paying him any attention. My eyes continued to gaze at the clouds, at the yellow spot that was moving. It was then, when the one yellow dot became two, that I realized what it was: a pair of eyes. Something was in those clouds. And, whatever it was, it was looking for something.
And that something…was me.
As soon as we made eye contact, time seemed to freeze; all sound disappeared; my heart was pounding like crazy; my gut instinct was to close the blinds, but for some reason my body wouldn't respond; and a small voice came from nowhere.
Forward.
Suddenly, my left hand began to reach for the window. Some outside force was pushing and pulling me forward. In my mind, I kept thinking that there is no way I could go forward. The window and wall blocked the way. However, no matter how hard I tried, my left arm kept moving. And, when I touched the glass, the strangest sensation passed through me. It felt like I was being pulled through a tiny hole. The sensation only lasted about a second, but it felt like a lifetime.
Before I knew it, I was outside my room on the back porch. My eyes still locked on to the yellow eyes in the sky.
Forward.
Slowly, I began walking forward. My body no longer registered anything I told it to do. Whatever that voice was, whether it be a man, woman, or even human, I couldn't tell. And whatever that voice said to do, my body followed. As my body continued to walk forward and my eyes gaze at the yellow ones in the cloud, it dawned on me where I was: on the back porch, five feet away from the in-ground, eight foot deep pool.
My heart pounded harder, faster. I'm going to drown! I thought instantly. I tried to scream for help, but I couldn't even move my lips. Whatever had possession of me controlled everything except my thoughts. As I continued to walk forward, I began to fear what was going to happen. Damn it! Body, for once listen to me and stop walking! But, no matter how I pleaded, nothing worked. I was only a few steps away from falling in the pool.
I tried to brace myself as much as possible, though it wasn't too much avail. DAMN IT! This sure as hell isn't the way I wanted to kick the bucket! My mind continued to race. One more step, and I'll be eight feet under; one more step and it'd all be over: the final chapter in my life. Damn… I'm starting to sound like my sister with all the drama crap...
As the final step came about, something strange happened. I wasn't falling. Somehow, someway, my left foot was touching something solid. At first, I was above and beyond confused. I'm not gonna ask, I finally said to myself. Knowing my luck, I'll ask and then I'll fall to my death. I was relieved, and yet frightened. I had a feeling that, at any minute, any second, whatever was under me would give way and I'd fall.
Stop.
My body stopped moving as I was hovering about four feet above my eight foot deep pool while my eyes were still locked with the yellow eyes in the cloud. It felt as if whatever was up there wasn't just looking at me, but it was staring straight into my core, into my soul. Its eyes got bigger, as if it saw something it liked. The cloud in which the eyes was in, lowered to a level area. And my gaze lowered with it.
Its eyes shimmered and I could hear an evil laugh from within it. It meant to cause me harm, to cause pain. It wanted to see me suffer. And, suffer I did.
Suddenly, my head began to pulse, followed by a small headache. As the pulsing continued, the bigger my headaches got. It wasn't long until they were at migraine level. My head was throbbing so badly and yet I couldn't do anything about it. I wanted to wrap my arms around my head and be able to close my eyes. This pain was terrible, awful, excruciating. I felt as if I was going to die. The pain began to get worse and worse. I could feel tears welding up and, slowly, fall down my cheek. I wanted to scream, to yell. I didn't care how I got it; I just wanted some form of relief.
"P-p-p…lea…se… s-s-s…t…o-o-op…" I somehow muttered. I could hear the creature laughing. It was enjoying my torment, as if it was feeding off it. Tears were rolling down my face; my eyes felt strained; my head was not only throbbing from the headache, but was also swimming as I began to feel dizzy; and it was then I knew that if something didn't happen soon, I'd die.
I could feel a destructive rage building inside of me. And, apparently, so could this creature. It wanted to see what I was capable of doing; how far beyond my limits it could push me. It was either testing or toying with me. And this fueled my rage even more.
"I SWEAR I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD! YOU WILL DIE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. How I got control of my voice again, I have no idea. Maybe it was the rage, maybe it was the anger. Either way didn't matter to me.
"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed, wanting so badly to be rid of the torment I was in. I was through. I wanted it to end. I wanted to die.
That's when I got my wish. My eyes became free, my body under my command. My vision started to blur and whatever was holding me up gave way, and I fell forward; head first into the pool. As my head touched the water, all the pain went away. My eyes closed and peace came over my body. I could feel myself sinking down and for some reason I had no intention to stop myself.
It's peaceful, were my only thoughts.
Slowly, my body sunk down towards the bottom of the pool and that's when it came to realization: my life was over. I was going to die. But, I had no regrets. I welcomed the thought of death. It was a good run, everyone. I thought to myself. Goodbye.
Your life is far from over.
It was that voice from before.
And yet, I'm sinking to my death, I said to myself, wondering if this voice could hear my thoughts.
Open your eyes.
Slowly, I opened my eyes. And, as I did, my feet touch ground. I was standing upright; standing on a strange platform. "Where…?" A flash stopped me from finishing my sentence. I looked towards the ground and saw two shadows swirling within it.
Emerging from the shadows and rising above me were two dragons: a black dragon and a white dragon. As they emerged from the platform, they revealed a beautiful stain glass-like platform. The design was something to behold: the yin-yang symbol lay beneath my feat, but with a black sun crest and white moon crest instead of the black and white dots that were usually there. The sun was outlined in gold, while the white was outlined in silver. And I was standing in the middle of it.
But, my attention wasn't on the platform; it was on the dragons. To my left was the black dragon and to my right was the white. As they hovered around the platform, just outside the boundaries, I could tell that the black dragon was larger, but the white dragon had a larger wingspan. Slowly they descended and landed right outside of the platform, as if there was something blocking them from entering. I took about three steps closer to get a better look. The dragon's both lowered their heads so they were at eye-level with me. I could feel the black dragon's and white dragon's eyes staring down into me with their gold and silver eyes, respectively. And, that's when I saw it.
In the middle of the black dragon's forehead was a white moon outlined in silver. In the middle of the white dragon's forehead was a black sun outlined in gold. Yin and Yang, I thought to myself, gazing at one dragon, then the other.
"Magnificent, aren't they?" came a voice from behind me.
I almost jumped; definitely wasn't expecting that. I turned halfway around. Two figures, dressed in Organization XIII-like coat, were walking towards me. As they got closer, I noticed that one of the figure's coats was white. On each hood, which covered their eyes, there were the yin and yang symbols, respectively; almost like it represented the two dragons.
"Bet you never thought you'd see a dragon, huh? Let alone two, right?" The figure in the white coat asked. "Are they not exactly what you thought they'd look like?"
"Who are you?" I asked bluntly. I wasn't in the mood for games. Whoever they were, they wanted to toy with me. At least, that was the vibe I was getting from them.
"A straight-forward guy," The black coat said. "I like that."
"Only way to be," I commented.
They both laughed. "And a smartass!" the black coat laughed. "I think I'm gonna like this kid!" The white coat nodded.
I cocked my head to the side, and raised an eyebrow as I finished turning around to fully face them.
"Turning your back on a dragon could be hazardous to your health," the white coat stated. He was smiling. And, that smile looked familiar to me. Though it sounded crazy at the time, I'd seen that smile.
"They won't attack me," I said firmly.
"Oh?" the black coat piped up. "And how do you know that?"
"I don't," I honestly answered without any hesitation, which surprised me. "It's just a feeling that I've got."
"A feeling?" the white coat asked. "Then maybe he does have what it takes."
"Maybe," the black coat got quiet. "What do you think?" he asked, looking up.
At first, I thought he was crazy when I noticed what he was looking at. Dragon's can't talk, I said to myself as I was looking at the black dragon.
"Actually," the white coat piped up, "they can."
I turned to face him. "How?" I was more interested in knowing how dragons could talk than knowing how he read my mind.
"To put it simple," he said, "telekinesis."
"Telekin—"A sudden rumpling stopped me. The platform was shaking, as if an earthquake was underway.
"It seems time is running out," the black coat guy said.
They both looked at me and, simultaneously, asked "Which path will you take?"
"Path?" Sudden, the platform began to glow and four paths appeared: north, south, east, and west.
"Which one?" they asked in unison.
"Where do they lead?" I asked.
"Do you not know?" they asked. That's when it made sense. South would take me home; East would be the path of light; West the path of darkness; and North the unsure path.
As I was trying to make my decision, I noticed that the platform was cracking. Not good! I panicked. I looked towards the South path. I could go home and pretend this never happened.
The East path; I would fight on the side of light.
The West path; I'd fight on the side of darkness.
The North path; I'd be on an undetermined path.
The decision should have been easy, right? Well…
"Darkness isn't necessarily evil," the black coat remarked.
"Light isn't necessarily good," the white coat stated.
When they said that, the decision became a lot harder.
"Then," I said, "I'll go forward." I ran north and, as my foot touched the first stair, the yin-yang platform shattered. I continued to run. I could feel each stair crumbling as I lifted each foot to the next stair.
It wasn't long until I reached another platform. The stairs behind me had all shattered. I was stranded on another beautiful stain glass-like platform. This time, however, the design was of the two dragons, flying around the merged sun and moon crests. As I walked towards the center, an altar appeared above the crests. Stuck in the altar were two stone Keyblades.
"Two?" I asked myself.
"You did choose the path in-between," the black coat guy said.
I turned around to face him and the white coat guy also; behind them stood the two dragons. This time, however, they were sitting on the platform. What was even stranger, it looked as if neither of them had moved. "Just who are you two?" I asked, a little impatiently.
The white coat guy took a deep breath and sighed. "We are memories best forgotten…"
"…and memories best remembered," finished the black coated guy.
"The hell is that suppose to mean?" I blurted out before I had time to think.
They must have sensed this, or read my mind one, cause they didn't say anything as it hit me. "You're memories…?" They nodded.
I had heard that saying before, but it had been a long time. And from who, I couldn't remember.
"You two…are the memories of people who have done something so tragic that it is best to be forgotten," I began, "but, at the same time, that tragic event is also best remembered so it never happens again."
"You hit the nail on the head," the white coat said.
"So, who are you two, really?" I asked, curious as to whose memories these were.
"I'm afraid we cannot tell you that information as of yet," the black coat replied, in a very serious manner. "This is about as far as we can go."
"What do you-?" I stopped myself. They had vanished. Or, so I thought. In the blink of an eye, they were walking past me. I turned around immediately to see them both standing on either side of the altar, their backs towards me.
Both of them reached up towards the Keyblades. They each wrapped one hand around one the Keyblades. The black coat was on the left, the white was on the right. From the handles, the blades began to change color as if they were coming alive, being freed from their stone prison.
"Within you is a power that hasn't been seen since our time," the white coat began.
"They will do whatever it takes to stop you," the black coat continued.
"…so you must defend yourself at all cost," they both finished, simultaneously.
They both pushed their hoods up, revealing the back of their heads and their hair color. The black hooded guy had blond hair, while the white hooded guy had black hair.
Looks like they really are opposites in every way, I thought. I started to walk forward, but then realized my feet wouldn't move. What the…?
"We leave it to you," I heard them say. I looked up and saw that they were both looking over their shoulders at me. I could tell they were both smiling; however I couldn't exactly make their faces out. The guy in the white coat was surrounded by a bright light, while the guy in the black coat was surrounded in a cloud of darkness. And then, suddenly, they were gone. This time, they really had vanished.
"Me…?" I tried walking forward again, and this time I was successful. I walked towards the altar. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The two stone Keyblades had obtained color. The one on the right was all white, the one on the left was all black, and neither blade had a keychain.
"So, I wield two?" I asked myself. I stepped up onto the altar and began reaching for them both. As my hands wrapped around each blade, I could feel a huge rush of power go through my body. I pulled them out of the altar and was astonished. This power was nothing like I'd ever felt before; I couldn't describe it. "What power…"
I just stood in awe as I looked back and forth from both Keyblades for a good five minutes. I couldn't believe the power I was holding in my hands. It was, without a doubt, astounding.
Once I was able to comprehend the power, I looked up and saw the altar had been replaced with a set of stairs. I turned to face the dragons; however I saw that they had vanished. Guess I'm suppose to head up.
I began walking the stairs. Halfway up, the platform I was just on shattered. That's when I started to run. As I reached the top, the last of the stairs broke into a million pieces. I sat down on the ground to catch my breath. "This better be a onetime deal," I said as my breathing slowed back to normal. I stood up and noticed my surroundings. It didn't take me long to realize what I was standing on.
Underneath my feet was another stain glass-like platform. This one, however, looked like one of those stain glass windows that doesn't light up unless you plug it up or turn the lights on. I started walking, figuring if I walked towards the middle something would happen. Unfortunately, I was right…
As I reached the middle, the two dragons from before appeared, both standing outside of the platform, on opposite sides, on invisible plains. They were looking up, into the sky. I looked up with then and saw what they were looking at. It was the same yellow pair of eyes, this time, inside a dark grey cloud from earlier. The cloud landed on the platform about thirty feet from me. I could feel hatred boiling within me. I was going to strike it down for all the pain it caused me earlier. I raised the Keyblades in some kind of stance. It felt like the Keyblades were guiding me, preparing me for an upcoming battle with this strange monster in the cloud.
I could hear footsteps from a distance and chains rattling. From the sounds of it, whatever was in the cloud was wearing boots and, apparently, chains. Slowly, the creature emerged from the cloud.
I called it quite well. As the being came out of the cloud, the first think I saw were its black boots. As It walked out, I got a better look: it wore grey leather pants, with gray pants covers that were similar to Cloud from FFVII:AC except it had one for both legs; a black long sleeved shirt white designs the likes of which I'd never seen before; a gray sleeveless hoodie; black gloves; a black belt and white belt that crisscrossed a black and white belt that looped its pants; a strange chain-like belt that went around his left shoulder, and a half-white half-black wolf mask.
It was the strangest thing, as our eyes met and locked, I began to feel afraid: as if this thing was the very definition of fear. Or, better yet, as if I was looking into the things I feared most. I could my feel grip on the Keyblades loosen. It took all I had in me to keep holding them and to stand up. Whatever this creature was, it had me terrified.
Slowly, unconsciously, I began taking steps back. I could hear the creature snicker. It was then I caught myself. I stopped after adding another six feet between us. Get it together… I said to myself. I could feel myself shaking. I had never felt fear like this before. No matter how many times I said to myself that I wasn't afraid, nothing would work. As I, unconsciously, began to step back again something stopped me: a small voice from within.
I recognized the voice, which was actually two, automatically and felt myself zoning into my inner self. There stood two of the most important people in my life: my cousin and best friend, Zane, and my sunshine, the only woman I had ever loved so much that I'd give my life for, Alexia. She had her arms crossed, glaring at me. Zane was shaking his head.
"Come on, dude," Zane said, impatiently, "what are you afraid of? I've never seen you like this!"
"This isn't like you babe," Alexia walked towards me. "I know for a fact that you can kick this guy's ass!"
I looked down. "I don't know…"
Alexia grabbed my right hand and laced her right hand with mine. "They fit perfectly, don't they?" She asked, smiling.
Zane grabbed my left hand and shook it, then placed his fingers around my thumb, doing out special handshake. "We've still got it, huh?"
I looked from Alexia to Zane and back.
"I'll be with you, always," Alexis smiled.
"I've got your back, no matter what," Zane grinned.
I opened my eyes, returning to the place of battle. "I'm not afraid of you," I said. The creature didn't budge, as if it didn't believe me. I gripped my Keyblades, which had begun to glow, tightly. This was one battle I was determined to win.
The creature took a battle stance. It knew it was now or never. It summoned a sword, similar to Tidus' Brotherhood (except it was grey), and prepared to strike. It rushed forward, the blade sticking out. It was going to try to jab me. However, I was too quick. I deflected it with the black blade and jabbed back with the white blade.
However, the creature was fast and side-stepped it, then jumped back about ten feet. I could tell it was smiling. "You're really not afraid," the thing cracked, his voice sounding very familiar. A little too familiar. He noticed I had picked up, but hadn't figured it out. "Somethin' the matter?"
"…you're using my voice…" I trailed off. I could feel the fear trying to take over again. It ran at me again, finding an opening. I noticed and jumped back, knowing full well I was not going to be able to block his attack at the speed he was going. However, my reaction was slow, and he was able to strike me diagonally across my chest. The wound wasn't deep, but it did slice my shirt and pierce the skin. I could feel the warm blood slowly flowing out. I knelt down, using the black blade for support.
"You were a fool, thinking you could defeat me," he laughed, mockingly.
I stood up, but kept my head down. Damn it… I'm no where as fast as he is… I looked in my hands, noticing the Keyblades were still glowing, but now they were also pulsing. I couldn't help but get the feeling that they wanted to tell me something. I closed my eyes and opened my mind. Show me…
A revelation was sparked as I looked up.
"Chaos..." I whispered and the black dragon from before appeared to my left.
"Cosmos…" and the white dragon appeared to my right.
The power of the two dragons began to flow through me. The Keyblades power was released. Their true forms revealed. Both Keyblades had the same design: the guard was a dragon's head/open mouth and the hilt was a wing, bent downwards towards the guard. In color, both were polar opposites. The Keyblade in my right hand was white, outlined in silver; the one in my left was black and outlined in gold. The right Keyblade had a sun keychain and the left hand a moon keychain.
The creature took a step back. That's when I rushed towards him, my blades crossed over. I hit him with a double horizontal slash, which caught him by surprised. I did a 360 spin, and was able to do a double upward diagonal slash. The creature howled in pain and jumped back a good ten feet.
I pointed both blades at him. "Twin Dragons" I said. The two blades became one, half black and half white down the middle, still retaining shape. The keychains had merged.
The creature growled. "Damn you…" he muttered. He raced towards me, his facial expression showing his hatred of me and how much he wanted me dead. He jumped and slashed downwards. I sidestepped him, doing a 360 and striking him in the back. He howled in even more pain as he fell to his knees and dropped his blade. I kicked it as far as I could; I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be able to grab it.
He raised his head and turned to face me. When he did, I placed the tip of the Keyblade on his forehead. His eyes widened. "Afraid?" I asked.
He growled, "Never…"
"Who are you?" I asked. "Or, better yet, what are you?"
"…you don't know?" he asked.
I had an idea, but I wanted this creature to prove my theory. "You're the embodiment of my fear."
The creature laughed. "So you did figure it out." I didn't say anything. He stood up, slowly, and the tip of my Keyblade following his forehead. He smiled, then reached for his mask and took it off.
My eyes widened as I came face to face with my polar opposite. The creature was me, but with blond hair with reverse highlights. One eye was green, the other blue; it had been the mask that made them yellow. He also had more of a tan than I did. "Surprised?" I remained. "Well, you shouldn't be. I am your fear, after all; the total opposite of you."
"What now?" I asked. I wouldn't, for the life of me, put my Keyblade down.
My opposite walked towards the middle and then smiled. "You win." He then punched the stain-like glass and it began to shine. It was me, my eyes closed, in the same position as Sora had been in his stain-like glass platform. Sun and moon crests outlined the platform. Above my head were two pictures: one of Alexia, on the right, and Zane, on the left. The two Keyblades were opposite me, sticking out of a stone altar crossing one another.
I was stunned. What is this? I had an idea, but I kept it to myself. The two dragons were now flying in the air, swirling around. They looked like the yin-yang sign. It was a magnificent event to behold.
"This is far from over, Xander," my polar opposite said. "You and I will cross paths again."
"I'll await the challenge…"
"Alex," he stated.
"Alex," I repeated.
With that, Alex disappeared into the platform. A cold chill passed over, but didn't stay long. I looked up at the dragons as I walked towards the middle. The Twin Dragons divided into two and became the two Keyblades once again.
"Well, now what?" I asked. The Keyblades pulsed. "Wait, what? No, you can't!"
The two dragons began to heavily breathe in. As they released their breath a black and white flame erupted from Chaos and Cosmos, respectively.
"Damn it! Are you trying to barbeque me?!" I shouted. As the flames hit me and the platform, I did not feel heat. Rather me melting, the platform was. Everything was vanishing into ashes. I started to drift in nothingness, but soon I began to feel myself being pulled. Wherever I was going, I was heading there fast.
A/N: Again, hoping to have chapter 3 up before Tuesday. Also, I'm gonna try to have drawings of Xander's Keybaldes posted onto photobucket. I'll post a link on the next chapter and on my profile page once I do. Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter!! R&R!!!