Ria was awakened by the sun glaring in through the window above the back of her bed, she quickly moved her head away from the sun's light. She gave a small yawn and stretched out so the rest of her body would wake up. She gave a small glance at the clock and saw the current time.
7:34 AM.
It was rather early, but she would have needed to be awake before 8 o'clock, her guardian left for work at eight. Ria wasn't going to follow her usual morning pattern anymore.
She had questions, and her guardian probably had answers.
Even though she wanted to face her guardian, she knew she wouldn't be able too, it was just the way that woman would look at her, that woman held eyes that judged and pointed out the flaws of everything and everyone.
Ria summoned her keyblade to her hand. She had no intention of using it on her guardian, she just needed it to build confidence. as stated before, ria always felt safer and stronger when she held the weapon in her hands.
"i can do this" she said in a whispered voice.
She stepped out of bed and prepared to confront her 'guardian'.
She exited her room and entered the kitchen, there she saw a tall woman with raven black hair, wearing a black business suit, waiting for her coffee to brew.
This woman was know as Mona, ria's guardian, protector and caretaker.
Ria made throat clearing noises in order to announce her entrance, but mona didn't hear her.
She tried again. No answer.
Ria was getting tired of this. Screw it, just say something.
"good morning, Mona." ria said.
The woman finally turned her head and looked ria straight in the eyes.
"i suppose it was a good morning" mona said, ria picked up on the not-so-subtle insult.
"shouldn't you be getting ready for school?" mona said again. That was it? That was the first thing she would say after not seeing ria for half a year? Shouldn't you be getting ready for school?
"that's all you have to say to me?" ria asked.
Mona looked at ria and glared, she didn't like wasting her time just to have a morning conversation.
"you want me to say more?" mona questioned. Ria nodded.
"fine. go brush your hair, you look like trash" mona said as she poured the freshly brewed coffee into a thermos.
"seriously?!" ria shouted with anger deep inside her voice.
Mona quickly turned to ria and was met with a glare that came from the silver haired sixteen year old.
"that's all your going to say to me after all this time?!. you probably don't even know what happened to me, do you?!" ria shouted again.
"what happened to you?" Mona said with anger in her voice, she really didn't have time to listen to this.
"I've been kidnapped by a cult of black coat wearing freaks for half a year, and you never knew?!"
"oh, I thought you ran away" Mona said as she took a sip from her coffee. "so, did you escape? Or did they release you because they saw how useless and pathetic you are?"
ria only glared harder. "i did escape, with the help of this" she said as she summoned her keyblade, lets see how her guardian treats her now that she had one of these babies.
"you fought them off using a gigantic house key?" Mona said as she clapped slowly. "what did you do, unlock all their doors?"
"this is a keyblade, a powerful weapon that chooses its master" ria said.
"i know what it is, foolish girl" Mona said.
"you know these things?"
"of course I do, your mother had one." Mona said.
Ria's mother? She knew Mona and ria's mother used too be the best of friends, but she never knew her mother also was a keyblade wielder.
"since you know about those oversized house keys, that also means you know about other worlds?, light and darkness?"
ria nodded.
Her guardian went into her room and soon returned with a small book with a hard leather cover. It looked like a dairy.
"read the book" Mona said as she placed it down on the kitchen counter, she then walked towards the front door, carrying her thermos of coffee with her.
"after you've read the book, make a choice. Stay or leave, if you stay then I will treat you the same way I have always done, if you leave then you will never be able to call this place home, I will give away whatever I find that belongs you, It will be as if you never lived here." Mona said and then she left the apartment.
Ria felt a small combination of fear and curiosity, she had no idea what secrets this small book held, but whatever it was must have had some connection to keyblades and ria's mother.
She slowly opened the cover and began reading the diary-like book.
The skies were dark and fires raged as creatures of darkness began to tear this world apart. People were screaming and running in different directions, desperately trying to escape this chaos, buildings were crumbling and tumbling down, taking the lives of anyone who was foolish enough to stand near them.
In the midst of the chaos laid two brave women, one with hair as white as snow, and one with hair darker than the feathers of a raven. The woman with white hair was wielding a keyblade, an ancient weapon made to protect the innocent from darkness, the woman with raven black hair was wielding a basic set of twin swords.
The two of them began slashing through any and all creatures who dared to get to close.
"Mona!, there are too many of them!" the white haired woman said.
"your right, we need to retreat, Katherine!" said the black haired woman who was now known as Mona.
The two then began running away, hoping to do what everyone else was doing, escaping from this world.
They soon came to a small house that belonged to them, they needed to get two important things that were still in there before they could leave.
"you two are still here?!"said a man who had short black hair, and was wearing a suit of armor that all keyblade warriors were given. This man was the husband of the white haired woman who was now known as Katherine.
Just then, a little boy appeared with short silver hair that was similar to his mother's.
"mommy, whats going on?!" the little boy said, he looked utterly terrified.
"listen to me, my child. Creatures of darkness are invading, they want your heart, you must leave this world" Katherine said as she touched the cheek of her son's face. She lifted the toddler up and gave him to his father. "take the boy and flee!" she said.
"but what about you?"
"don't worry about me, I'll be fine, just keep our son safe"
the man nodded, he stepped outside and threw his keyblade high in the air, and when it returned it had transformed into a hovering vehicle. "i love you" he said a he and the toddler mounted the hovering vehicle.
"i love you too" Katherine said as she watched her husband and son escape.
"we have to get my daughter." Katherine said as the two women began to sprint up the stairs.
On one of the floors was a nursery which held a small crib that a young baby girl was sleeping in, the infant was completely detached from the world that was soon about to be destroyed by darkness, the screams of people had failed to wake her from her peaceful slumber.
Katherine and Mona had entered the nursery and saw the baby girl with silver hair and bright blue-green eyes, sleeping in her crib, Katherine was about to pick up her daughter when she felt a sudden burst of fire in her back, she screamed in pain as she had came to the realization that someone had shot her with magic. Her scream of pain had caused the baby to awaken and begin crying.
Kathrine turned to see who it was that had shot the fireball at her back, she saw her friend Mona and an unusual bald man in a black coat carrying a large, demonic looking keyblade.
"deal with her" the bald man commanded, Mona obeyed his command and plunged her swords into Katherine's chest, causing Katherine to shout in pain. The shout of her pain only made the baby cry harder.
"why? how could you, Mona? My friend" Katherine said.
"i'm sorry." Mona said as she pulled her swords out of her friends chest.
Katherine had then fell and her blood began to spread all over the nursery floor. Within a few seconds she had bled out.
Mona had felt horrible for betraying her friend, but it was all worth it, she had proven her loyalty to her master and now she would get a keyblade of her very own, if the light wouldn't accept her, then the darkness would. She would become a keyblade master of darkness.
"well done, Mona." the bald man said.
"thank you, master"
"now then, to deal with the child." the bald man said as he approached the crib of the crying infant.
He picked the baby up and held her in his hands. "shh, stop your crying, my dear" he said as he gently moved the baby from side to side, the infant had become soothed by the motion and her crying stopped.
"good girl" he said. "you are rather smart for someone who is still in diapers, but you are only two months old, so I guess that I am in no position to judge you, yet."
"master, what are you going to do with the child?" Mona asked.
"it would be a shame to waist the life of a creature that cannot defend itself, so I shall instead bear a gift to the infant." he said.
"a gift, master?" Mona said, confusion on her face.
"yes" he said as an orb teeming with darkness had been created by his free hand. "hear me, child. I gift you with the power of pure darkness, let it enter your heart and grow in your soul. as you age, the darkness inside you shall age as well, growing more powerful as your body and heart develop. Take my gift, little one. And become she who is one with the darkness!" the orb of darkness had then entered the infants small body.
The little infant's body had then began to glow purple, the veins that held her blood turned black, and her blue-green eyes had flickered a color of gold similar to the bald man. The black veins in her body then faded away, and her golden eyes had turned into a permanent shade of crimson red.
The bald master smiled at the infant, pleased that the child easily accepted the darkness.
"shh... sleep now, little night beauty" he whispered to the infant as she fell into sleep.
"what will you do with her now, master?" Mona said, as her master held the sleeping baby in his arms.
"it's not what I'm going to do, my dear" he said to Mona. "it's what your going to do" he handed the sleeping infant to her.
"what?!" she said.
"you will care for and protect the child until she is old enough to use her gift"
"but master, I-i know nothing of how to care for a child."
"it cannot be that hard, you feed it, cloth it, teach it the difference between right and wrong" he said.
"how long until she is able to use her gift?" Mona asked.
"hmm" the bald master pondered. "I'd say about... age fifteen should be the time when she will be able to use her power. Until then, you must watch her diligently. Succeed, show me that my trust in you is not miss placed, and I shall make you a keyblade wielder of darkness, Mona"
"i will not fail you, master"
"good, now let us leave before we are destroyed along with this pathetic world." the bald man and Mona, who was carrying the sleeping infant, had then began walking through a portal, fleeing from the world as it was swallowed by darkness.
Ria dropped the book on the floor in horror, she couldn't believe what she had just read, so many new things had been revealed to her, the book explained that her powers had been gifted to her by a bald man who also ordered her mother's best friend to kill her and raise her child as her own.
Ria was terrified. But it all made sense, where her dark ability had come from, why her guardian had mistreated her, and her missing family.
In the book, the husband and son had escaped so that meant that she had a father and brother, that was a good thing to learn, but it still didn't help the fact that her 'guardian' had murdered her mother.
Ria's fear had quickly turned to anger, she was angry, so angry that she picked up the book and wanted to rip it apart, but alas the leather casing was too strong for her. So instead she unknowingly burned it with dark fire that came from her hands. The sudden and unintentional use of her power had made her jump and give a small yelp of surprise.
She really needed to learn how to control her power properly, she needed some kind of trainer.
Destroying that kingdom hearts-forsaken book felt good, it certainly took stress away from ria, she felt more relaxed now and began to think about her situation.
Now she had to make a choice, stay here or leave.
If she stayed then she would be treated the same way she had always been treated, ignored and alone. If she left then she wouldn't really be alone anymore. she had met sora, he did talk a lot about how much fun he had with his friends on that tiny little island, maybe she could become a part of sora's home, live on the island with him, meet his friends. Maybe that was her way to start over, have a different life, a better life.
Her mind had been made up, she would leave this disgusting apartment and live on destiny island with sora, riku and kairi, sora talked a lot about them too, sora said that ria and kairi had a lot in common and they might become good friends and that riku guy might teach her how to control her darkness since sora had told her that he learned how to use it.
Speaking of which, where was sora? He wasn't on the couch, and there was no other place to sleep, so where did he go?.
He probably got so disgusted by this place and left. She thought.
Only, he didn't leave. Ria heard snoring coming from the hallway and followed it back to her room, there she found sora sleeping on what looked to be a nest of small pillows and blankets. How come she didn't notice he was there before?.
She was interrupted by the sound of her stomach growling, she could sure go for some breakfast, sora was probably hungry too.
She stepped back into the kitchen to look into her fridge, there wasn't really that much food but there was enough to make breakfast for two. Ria wasn't the best cook but she could make simple meals, and what was more simple than eggs and bacon?.
Sora was awakened by a heavenly smell, after studying the scent he came to a realization.
Someone was making breakfast and it smelt good.
Sora's stomach growled, demanding satisfaction from him, he decided to just take a quick peek to see if anyone was in the kitchen, and if a certain someone had set out a plate for him.
He ventured into the kitchen and found two plates, one had nothing but crumbs, which was indication that somebody had eaten from it, the other plate was filled with food. Two eggs sunny side up, a bit of bacon, and even some waffles, seeing all that food was making sora's poor stomach growl like a dog that was about to attack.
But before he even moved towards the plate, he saw ria sitting on a the chair that faced the plate with crumbs.
"good morning, sora" she said in a cheerful tone.
"morning, this for me?" he said, pointing at the plate full of food.
"yeah, I thought you were hungry so I made breakfast."
"thanks" sora said as he sat down and began eating.
After a little while, ria had gotten cleaned up, packed a few things that belonged to her in a small satchel that she never really used until now and began to tell sora her predicament.
"wow, thats just cruel" sora said, reacting to her story.
"yeah, and I was wondering" ria said. "sora, do you think it would be okay if I went to live on the island with you and riku and kairi?" she asked.
"yeah!, That'd be great!" sora said, completely overjoyed.
Ria was happy to see the smile of acceptance over sora's face. Now she really felt like she could have a new life with sora and his friends.
The two of them still had a job to do though, there was still the matter of locking that keyhole and finding the organization's heartless. The two decided to leave the apartment and pick up where they left off.
"uh, ria?" sora said.
"yeah?, what is it?"
"i don't think you'll be able to fight properly while wearing a night gown" sora pointed out.
Ria blushed in embarrassment and changed back into the outfit that she received in radiant garden.
The two had then returned to the 1st district of traverse town, they were now discussing their plans.
"so, what do we do first?" ria asked.
"well, locking the keyhole would be a good idea, but once it is locked, the heartless will leave this world and search for others." sora said. "but if we focus on heartless hunting, more of them will come, which will put the world in greater risk and make locking the keyhole harder.
"what if we split up?" ria asked.
"split up?" sora repeated.
"yeah, I go hunt the heartless and you go close the keyhole, or I could close it and you could go hunt the heartless."
sora pondered for awhile, if one of them locked the keyhole while the other attacked the heartless, then no new heartless would be able to enter the world and the existing heartless would be too busy fighting for survival to even try escaping. It wasn't something sora usually did, since he prefered to keep his companions close to him, but it could work.
"i guess we could do that" sora said. "I'll go lock the keyhole and you can look for the organizations heartless"
ria nodded
"sora, let me go with ria" roxas had said.
"what?, why?" sora questioned.
"because you've been with her for the past three days and lets also not forget the organization are looking for her"
roxas made a valid point, the organization were strong, and if they grouped up on ria, then she would surely be taken away again. if roxas went with her, then at least she would have some backup, roxas used to be a part of the organization, so he would know the strengths and weaknesses of the nobodies better that anybody else.
"alright roxas, you can go" sora said.
"hey ria, come back!" sora said. Ria heard him and made her way back to him.
"whats wrong?" she questioned.
"i just don't think it's a good idea for you to be alone, I mean the organization are looking for you"
"sora, I can handle them" she said.
"i know, but better safe then sorry" he said.
"fine, but if were splitting up, then who's going to come with me?"
"roxas"
"who?"
sora then began glowing and suddenly a boy with spiky blond hair had appeared, he was wearing the same coat those organization freaks wore.
Sora saw the worried look on ria's face and assured her that everything was okay.
"hi, im roxas" he said.
"ria" she said as the two shook hands.
After a little explanation, the three then made their decisions, sora would go to the 2nd district to lock the keyhole, while ria and roxas went around looking for the organizations heartless.
"come on, babe. Lets have some fun!" roxas said as he put his arm around ria's shoulder and began walking toward the large door that lead to the 3rd district, ria waved goodbye to sora, who waved back.
He waited until they were out of sight and began walking towards the 2nd district, all the while, he was trying to not worry about her. She'd be safe, roxas was with her, and she could protect herself.
Mona had returned from work early, and had walked in her apartment, she could smell the grease that was used to cook the breakfast that ria must have eaten.
Mona opened the fridge to see what was still inside. It was empty.
Figures, she knew the little tramp would have cleaned out the fridge so Mona would have to waist even more of her time.
On the kitchen floor was a small pile of ash, which indicated that ria had burned something, probably the book she was given.
Mona looked around the apartment and the little tramp was nowhere in sight, she entered the tramp's room and saw that a few items were taken. Some of ria's clothes had been removed from their drawers, a small amount of books were missing, and one particular item was also gone. A locket that belonged to ria's mother.
Mona sat on the couch of the apartment, happy that she n longer had to deal with that little tramp anymore.
"enjoying your new space, I see" said a voice that stepped out of a corridor of darkness.
"Master Xehanort!" Mona exclaimed. Happy to see him.
"hello, my dear Mona. How are you?" he said.
"i am wonderful, master"
"good, and the girl?" he asked.
"she... she is gone, master. I told her to stay with me, but she ended up running away."
"oh, has she?" Xehanort asked. "do you have any idea where she might have went?"
"i have no idea, master" Mona said.
"well, we have a problem then" he said as he turned his back to her.
"what problem?" Mona asked.
"you failed me, I told you to care for and protect little ria, yet you let her go. Worse still, you did not teach her how to control her power. Do you know how easy it is for the darkness to devour those who cannot control it?" he said with anger in his voice.
"i did as you asked, I cared for her until she was able to use her gift, now you must give me what I want" mona said.
"your keyblade" Xehanort said.
Mona smiled. Finally, after seventeen long years, she would finally get what she deserved.
Xehanort had summoned his keyblade and instead of giving her the weapon, he struck her with it, she yelped in pain and fell to the floor. Xehanort stood there, smiling.
"my my, how disobedient you've grown, Mona. I told you what to do and how to do it, yet you failed me."
"p-please master, give me another chance" she said in a voice of pain."
"I'm afraid I don't need you anymore Mona, you have served your purpose, you're nothing but a loose end to me now, and you know what I do with loose ends" he said as a ball of dark fire began to form in his free hand.
"no master!, I can still help you!, i'll find her, i'll bring her back, I promise!"
Xehanort only shook his head. "not only did you disobey me, but you lie to my very face. naughty girl, Mona"
"NO MASTER! PLEASE GIVE ME A SECOND CHANCE!" she cried.
Xehanort released the dark fireball and it flew across the room until it made contact with Mona and she began to scream as her life had ended.
A heart then emerged out of Mona's body and the darkness inside of her heart had given birth to a new heartless, however the body had not taken the form of a nobody, indicating that Mona's body was not strong enough to survive on its own. The body just laid there.
Xehanort sighed and began to exit the apartment, he had so much to do now that his heartless and nobody had rejoined, now he had to find the girl, his new pupil.
AN: so this chapter is mainly an explanation of ria, sorry for there not being any action and about the story taking a pretty dark turn, oh and don't expect roxas or Xehanort to be in every chapter.