Kingdom Hearts does not belong to me, though that should be obvious. All OCs in this chapter belong to me. The words from here on may be Kingdom Hearts original worlds, Disney movies, other franchise movies, or based off of events that happened in the real world, or even worlds that I created myself. The world in here is a world that could be based off of real events in history.
…
Disenchanted
Hearing Domino and Tara snap back and forth at each other was really starting to piss me off. They fought for so long I had taken out my journal and started playing a tick-tack-toe game with Kale. Of course I let him win to make him feel better. I looked up from my game when Tara screamed, "You murdered Ty for your own agenda?" She wiped a tear from her eye and continued; "Now I have a reason to hate you."
"You don't know what it was like," Domino replied, a tear of his own shedding in his left eye. "Looking at all of these stars, brings back some of the really old memories. Me and my family lived in the world where the Keyblades were created. We lived a fantastic life. Me, my parents, my uncle, and my brother and sister, along with two cousins. My parents became Keybearers, and soon passed that power to me. Not long after the invention of the Keyblade, Utopia wanted nothing to do with it. So they passed a law to keep all of its citizens inside. Some tried to escape, so the mayor of Utopia called upon the Keybearers to lock away the world from the rest. To seal the world shut, they needed twenty Keybearers. Seventeen, plus me and my parents. But we could only close it off from the inside. So once the world's barrier was created, all of the Keybearers chosen…were trapped inside."
"So you never got to see your other relatives again, or any of your old friends," Tara replied, now taking on a sad look. "And let me guess…only twenty Keybearers could unlock the barrier again."
"Creating a barrier is one thing, but destroying one is another," Domino said grimly. "A massive sacrifice was needed. But now we can see what's truly out there. See these lanes? The one that connects all of the worlds and whatever's in between? It's what connects us to our destiny, Kane."
Tara looked at him angrily and stomped over to him. "Ibiki and Ty are probably dead," Tara grumbled. "My brother should've come with us."
"Don't be mad," came the small voice of Kale, and he stood up, scurrying his way to Tara and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You still got me and I won't go nowhere!"
"Thanks," Tara said, bending down and giving the smaller boy a hug back. "Well now that we're out of our world then…" She looked at Domino angrily as she said that. "What other world can we go to, to settle down in?"
"The nearest one?" I suggested. My voice felt a little off, like I hadn't spoken in years. Tara looked to me and then gasped. "What's…wrong?" I asked, now confused as she made her way slowly towards me.
"You're hair…there's a silver streak going down the middle," she muttered. She took a small mirror out of her pocket—so convenient, right?—and I looked into it. As she had said, a silvery streak went down the center of my hair, the same color as Domino's eyes. "What had that lightning done to you?"
"I think it's a great look for you, Kane," Domino interjected. "I'd keep that color, if I were you." Thanks for the support, Domino. "The lightning that struck you earlier must have had altered your DNA structure a little and has turned your black hair to silver. Anyway, enough about hair—" I pocketed the small mirror. "Let's go to that world!" He pointed to a glowing orb of light that definitely wasn't the nearest one to us. He made his Starlight appear on command, and he threw it into the air, the Keyblade disappearing beyond the dark black starry sky. It came back like a boomerang as his Keyblade Glider, and he immediately jumped on it, pulling me onto it as well.
"Hey, wait up!" Kale shouted, jumping onto it behind me, beckoning Tara to join us as well. As if like magic—which I guess, Keyblades were magic—the Glider elongated and was now able to fit four people. Tara lifted up Kale and had him wrap his arms around her neck, while she wrapped her arms around my stomach, as I did the same with Domino. "Let's go! I wanna see how flying works! I've seen you do this before, ya know!"
Domino smiled and said, "I love the fire in that heart of yours, little one." At least he was able to keep his loving of children even after supposedly murdering all of Utopia. He was still more of a parent than anyone I knew. Probably enough of a parent to match Ibiki. "Now let's go!"
Immediately, the Glider rose off of the crystal road beneath us and then flew forward. He steered us in a direction towards a certain ball of light, which grew warmer and warmer as we neared it. After we were within a few feet from it, the Glider vanished from underneath our feet. Domino looked back to me, took my hand, and walked into the light, me right behind him. Kale was a little shaky at first, but then decided to run in after us. Tara did the same.
The light had overtaken us. Within seconds the warmth vanished, and was replaced by the cool night air. The sky was black, with only a few stars visible. We were standing in the middle of what looked like a forest. Trees stretched up all around us, and small animals raced away from us at our arrival.
"Where are we?" I asked. Domino didn't know, as shown by his silence. And that's when I heard it. The mumbling of someone from somewhere near where we were. "You hear that?" Domino ignored me and stepped forward, walking away from our group and deeper into the forest. "Domino? Wait up." I growled at him and stepped forward.
Tara and Kale reluctantly followed me as we tried to catch up with Domino, going deeper into the black forest. Suddenly Domino stopped. I ended up bumping into him from the lack of light. Suddenly, his face was illuminated with a reddish glow coming from ahead. I saw a pile of logs and branches, covered in fire.
Standing behind the fire that began to grow was a person who didn't look older than sixteen. Her long brown hair cascaded over her shoulders, and her eyes were a piercing blue. Dark shadows lay under her eyes as if she had barely slept in ages. The both of her hands hung over the fire as if to keep warm…at least that's what it seemed like.
She twirled her hands in the air above the fire, gradually putting them closer to the fire until they were actually within the fire. At her command, the fire began swirling into a vortex and rose above her as she twirled her hands. It was as if she were magic.
"Ah, I was beginning to wonder when I was to get caught," the girl muttered rather loudly, enough for me to hear at least. Kale hid behind Tara, gripping the back of her shirt shakily and wouldn't let go. "Though it is not whom I thought it was."
"And who are you, Miss Magic?" Domino said, walking forward with no fear whatsoever. I hesitantly followed him into the clearing; a circle of grass in the center of the forest, where the fire had now grown exponentially, a vortex of fire escaping past the trees.
"Hehe, the time has arrived," the girl spoke, and the fire dropped, extinguishing almost instantly, and we were bathed in darkness once again. The girl never spoke up again.
"What in the Hell happened to that light?" a voice said suddenly. A man's voice. He couldn't have been over thirty at least. Suddenly we saw light again. Lamps lit with fire hung from the man's hands. Three people were behind him. The man had dark hair and dark eyes, with slightly tanned skin. "Were it the Devil's spawn?"
"And who are these four?" one of the man's followers asked. "They do not look like Salem citizens, Governor Thomas."
The man who had first spoken, Thomas, stared at the four of us in confusion. "They be not dressed like us. You four playin' with witchery, aren't ya?" At those simple words, the clicking of guns were made all around us. There were at least three guns pointed in our direction. I had never seen one this close up before. Kale screamed when the men pulled out these guns, and hid further behind Tara. "What was that there light?"
I almost stepped forward to start telling this guy off, but Domino simply put a hand on my chest to push me back, and he stepped forward, holding a hand out to Thomas as if to get the middle-aged man to shake it. Thomas didn't look too pleased.
"What you saw earlier was a fire, good sir," Domino said in his attempt at a polite voice. "There was a girl here. We simply ended up meeting up with her, but it appears she disappeared. Maybe that's what brought you here."
"Do you know the name of this girl?" one of the men behind Thomas asked. Domino shook his head, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly with a nervous grin smeared across his face. "And what are you doing in Devil's Woods?"
"Devil's Woods?" Tara asked, utterly clueless. "Is that what this forest is called?"
"Don't play dumb with me," Thomas snapped at her, causing Tara and Kale to jump backwards in surprise. "I never leave the town of Salem often, but that doesn't make me oblivious. There be something weird about the four of you. Be you a witch!?" Even though he didn't show it, I couldn't help but think he was directing that absurd comment to Tara.
"Witch?" Tara asked, throwing her hands into the air as if to protect herself. "What does that even mean?"
A gun was immediately pressed at her throat. "If ye be a witch, then ye will be surviving this anyway," the person who held the gun said in a gruff voice. "Governor Thomas, she be hanged by sunrise. Let's bring her in."
"Hanged?" I asked with a shaky voice. We had learned about all of this in school. In some places in the universe, for doing bad things, they would get hanged for it. A rope tied around their neck, and they would be forced to choke to death. We were in a world that had these types of laws. "No, we won't allow it!"
"Right," Domino said and stood next to me, arms crossed. "You can't take this poor girl!"
"Are ye helpin' a witch?" the gruff voiced man asked loudly. "Then ye all be witches! Kill the lot of them!"
"I don't think so!" Domino yelled, and in his hand appeared Starlight. Thomas's eyes grew wide, and the three men following him each stepped back a few feet. "You see, I am a powerful witch capable of more than you could ever realize. I am from a world far away from here, a place that you couldn't even imagine about! And now, with my witchcraft, I will slaughter all of you!"
Ah, good old Domino, always with the theatrics. Thomas drew his own small gun from a holster on his belt, and he pointed it to Domino. "Witch! You shall die before morrow comes!" A bullet escaped the gun, and before it could even get near Domino, he swung Starlight, and it deflected the bullet, sending the projectile towards one of Thomas's men, going straight through the gruff man's neck. "You're all going to burn in hell for that!"
He pointed a gun to Kale. "So young," he continued. "But if he allies with you, then he must be a witch as well!" And he fired a bullet towards Kale, who Tara tried to shield. The bullet neared Tara, and I screamed out in anger. Immediately, I felt a rush of energy escape my being. My hair stood up on end, and my eyes felt like they were burning. I looked to my hands and saw yellow energy surrounding them.
Lighting shot from my fingertips and flew at the bullet. Once the lightning hit the bullet, it slowed it down and made it fall to the ground. "How…" I muttered. I looked to Domino, who smiled at what I had just done. I couldn't help but smirk as well, proud of what I did to protect Tara and Kale. I saw Thomas's scared glare, and I pointed the palm of my hand at him menacingly, causing him to back up.
"You're all…" he muttered, unsure of what to say. "You're all freaks! The Devil may have won this day, but come tomorrow all you witches shall face the flames of hell where ye belong!"
With his two remaining bodyguards, Thomas fled the scene. Domino, looking proud of me, swung his hand through the air, and I did the same, and we gave each other a high-five. Our feeling of victory was short lived as we heard the shout of Kale.
I whipped my head around, turning to Kale. But…Tara wasn't there. Kale immediately yelled, "Tara's gone! What happened to her?"
I twisted my body all around trying to see if I could locate Tara, but she wasn't within my line of sight. The sound of clapping sounded directly behind me, and I turned back around to see that it wasn't Domino. Now standing in between Domino and I was that girl from earlier who had conjured the fire.
"Abigail," the girl said, most likely replying to Domino's earlier question that she had vanished too early to even answer. Abigail looked into my eyes, and then to Domino's, and then down at Kale. "The one you call Tara is long gone. By now, she is already in the clutches of that evil witch who wants to murder the entire town."
"How can we find her?" Kale yelled out bravely, though still looking pretty frightened. Abigail bent down and put a finger underneath Kale's chin, making the child smile and blush.
"The evil witch is most likely going to pin all of the blame on Tara," Abigail replied. "If that happens, your friend's as good as dead where she's going." Kale jumped at that statement. "She'll be hanged, burned, or drowned depending on Deputy Governor Thomas's mood."
"What exactly is a witch? Some woman with powers of magic and stuff like that?" Domino asked.
Abigail laughed at him. "Thomas says he discovered the witches. What a witch is, is someone from Hell sent straight from the Devil himself, the almighty bad guy. Witches take the place of some person, male or female, in town, and nobody really notices the difference. Here, if you're accused of being one, you'll be killed, innocent or not."
"Where is here?" Kale decided to say. We can't reveal that we're from another world! Sure, Domino said that earlier, but only to pose as a witch. This girl, Abigail, knows we're not witches, so she may be suspicious!
"Salem, of course," Abigail muttered, not really showing that much confusion. "And to answer the question on your mind, Domino—" She looked to Domino and smiled. "—yes, I am a witch, but not one that's trying to kill the town. Heavens, no."
"Help us find Tara," I said, but Domino quickly interjected.
"Forget about her, Kane!" I stared at Domino like he had just claimed himself as being the Devil. "Just consider her one of the mighty sacrifices needed to open the door and be free!" I know he didn't say any specifics about our world, but still, what he had just said must've confused Abigail at least a little bit.
"You want me to let her go!?" I asked. "You don't care about anyone except for yourself and these selfish goals of traveling the worlds." Okay, at this point, I didn't really care if I confused the hell out of Abigail. She just stood there and watched the whole show as it played out. "Did Ibiki and Ty mean nothing to you!?"
"You're the only one that means something to me, Kane!" Domino shouted out. Oh, one of these speeches again. "The others don't have the connection that we do! None of them would be fun to travel with! All Tara's done is complain so far since we left! She claims to be my friend, but if she was, she would have been supportive and have been accepting of—"
"Accepting of what, Domino!?" I yelled at him. "At her own brother's death!?" This time Domino silenced. We had never really had an argument like this before. Kale was now cowering next to Abigail who put a comforting hand on his shoulder to calm the boy down. "I thought I could accept the Keyblade in my life…I can't. Just go. I'll find Tara myself without your help."
I turned from him and began running out the woods, when his hand grabbed hold of my shoulder. "Kane, listen, I'm sorry," Domino muttered, a hint of sadness finally showing in his once eccentric, hyperactive voice. "All I wanted to do was leave the world I was forced to be trapped in. And to leave with my best friend. You. The only one I care about. More so than my parents or any other Keybearer." I looked to Domino, who had a tear in his eye. "I'll help you find Tara." He walked over to Kale, lifted him up, and put him sitting on his shoulder. "Abigail, can you locate this evil witch for us?"
"Yes," Abigail replied, putting her arms up in the air. Her eyes seemed to glow a reddish color. "I've found her." She twirled her hands in the air, and I suddenly felt reality slipping away from me. My eyes closed, and when I opened them, four walls and an old door surrounded me. "Here we are."
We were in an old wooden shed of some sort, with no windows. Only a door was there, and it seemed locked by the looks of it. Domino, Kale, Abigail, and I stood in the middle of the room. Towards the back corner was Tara, her eyes closed.
"Watch out," Abigail said, sensing that I was about to walk forward towards Tara. "That's not the Tara you are familiar with."
Tara's eyes opened. Her pupils were not there, and the color of her eyes seemed to sparkle white, shining us in the eyes, nearly blinding us. Her hair was styled more upward, no hair falling over her shoulders like earlier. "Hello," she said in a voice that seemed to radiate energy throughout the entire room.
"Hello, Juiz," Abigail said as if she knew the person who seemed to have possessed Tara. "It's been a while sense we've seen each other. Got a new vessel already? It's a little too soon for that, isn't it?"
Abigail, or rather, Juiz, just stared Domino, Kale, and I as if trying to place our names in her mind. A white light seemed to radiate around her whole body, filling my body with warmth. This didn't feel like an evil feeling, or anything demonic for that matter.
"Stay away from Abigail," Juiz said, and suddenly, Kale lurched forward and flew across the room, landing on his feet safely to the side of Juiz. "Abigail is the evil darkness in this world that I plan to stop."
"I knew having Tara would lead you to the perfect host, Juiz," Abigail said between laughs. "That's why I sent her to you. As soon as you possessed her, I knew you were back in town. Twenty years since your last vessel? Or maybe ten?"
"Okay, so…who's the bad guy here?" Domino asked, scratching the back of his head. "I'm a tad lost. Can someone fill me in—" Domino was slammed in the back by fire, sending him across the room and into the wall, barely slamming into Kale and Juiz. "Whoa, okay, it's Abby."
"Abigail," Juiz ignored the Domino that was lying next to her. "You are a darkness that needs to be destroyed! Only light shall remain! Every darkness purged!" Holding a palm out, a blast of…light…shot towards Abigail, who simply reflected it with a line of fire that exited her own palm.
"Just…what are you?" Domino asked, staring at Juiz. "Why did you possess…my friend!"
"I need a vessel to destroy the great darkness," Juiz replied simply without going into any detail. "My cause is to make the light stronger and to purge the darkness that lies deep within this world. The darkness is supposed to be nonexistent, but it found its way out of its dark realm and has made its way among the light. A place it should not be."
Domino stood up and Starlight appeared in his hand. Domino had used the power of darkness before, so does that mean Juiz would soon come after him? Domino didn't seem to be thinking about that. He ran at Abigail, swinging his Starlight as a mix of black and white shot from the tip, slamming into Abigail and pushing her back. Abigail created a wall of fire in front of her, cancelling out the beams of light and darkness caused by Domino's blade.
I pointed my finger to her, and just like earlier that night, lightning had shot out of it, homing straight on Abigail. Abigail jumped out of the way, only to have her stomach pierced by an incoming Keyblade. Domino stood behind her, his Keyblade in her back and poking out of her front. Blood began to dribble from her lips. "How…?" she muttered, quite shocked.
"I got passed your defense, Abby," Domino said with a smile. "Like Juiz said, the darkness must be purged." He yanked Starlight out of her back, and Abigail burst into flames, a fiery hot air swirling around in the room, lighting all four walls on fire.
Abigail's physical body was reduced to ashes, but within the fire was the swirling form of a pair of eyes, staring straight at Domino with anger. The flaming eyes vanished, and the piercing cry of Abigail startled us. After a while, we noticed that Abigail's spirit was no longer with us.
The door to the now burning shack was kicked open, and a dark silhouette entered the room. "Hey, Domino, stop him!" I yelled, pointing to the black silhouette behind the flames of the doorway. He jumped into the fiery shack, some of his pants legs getting scorched. I saw that the man was none other than that Governor, Thomas.
He wrapped his arms around Tara's body that was inhabited by Juiz, and he threw the girl outside of the doorway, getting her away from the fire. Domino immediately rushed to Thomas, who had already left the scene. Before following after him, he grabbed hold of Kale, who was flinching at all of the fire that surrounded us. Domino, with Kale now on his shoulders, jumped out of the doorway. I followed him. We had all made it onto the safe, green grass, without getting burnt to a crisp like Abigail.
Domino and I looked up from the grass, and saw a thing that looked like the gallows we've learned about back in Utopia, the main instrument used for hanging people. Thomas stood on the wooden floor underneath the old rope that hung down from the top of it, wrapping the rope around Juiz's neck. Her eyes were closed.
Then her eyes opened. She started to struggle and screamed, "Kane, Domino, somebody help me!" That didn't sound like Juiz. Had she left her body at the last minute to avoid dying within Tara or something? She could have saved Tara, but now Tara had a rope tied around her neck. She was on top of a few wooden steps, and if she were to fall off of those steps, she would be, of course, hanged. Just like in all of our Utopian history text books.
Thomas was on the top step, right behind Tara, who had her hands tied behind her back and her feet tied together. Thomas had a menacing hand touching her back as if threatening to push her. "This is a lesson to all you witches!" Thomas looked at me and Domino. Kale started to whimper at the sight of Tara being hurt like that. "Don't mess with Thomas! I am ridding Salem of you dreadful Devil's spawns once and for all!"
"Juiz, please save her!" I yelled out, and Domino stared at me sadly as I called for someone who probably wouldn't show up again.
But suddenly, Tara's eyes began to glow white, and a bright aura surrounded her, blinding Thomas. "What the hell!?" he shouted. When the light died down, the rope had vanished, and Tara, now possessed by Juiz, had jumped off of the gallows and onto the ground. But her victory was short-lived. A gun was pressed against the back of Tara's head. "You're being damned back to Hell!"
Domino ran towards the two with his Keyblade outstretched, leaving Kale with me as he rushed forward. Tara's eyes then became their natural color. Thomas began pulling the trigger. The minute he pulled the trigger, he was slammed to the side by Domino, the gun flying out of his hand and the bullet shooting at Domino. The bullet entered Domino's foot, and in that confusion he…sliced Starlight into who he thought was Thomas. But when I saw who he stabbed, a tear ran down my cheek.
Tara was impaled by Starlight, the tip poking out of her back. "What…?" Domino muttered to himself, holding onto his Starlight Keyblade, the tip now stained in Tara's blood. "Tara!" Kale and I screamed out, and Domino couldn't take his eyes off of the Tara he had just impaled.
"Dom…ino…" Tara muttered, blood leaking from her bottom lip and down her chin, dripping onto the grass below. "You didn't…mean to…did you?" Domino's face soon became red, and tears started to flood from his eyes, but he remained calm and chose not to break down right then and there. He shook his head at Tara's question. "Good…"
Tara fell to the ground and onto her back, the Starlight getting pushed even deeper into her. "TARA!" Domino screamed, immediately taking out Starlight from her stomach and throwing it to the side, it vanishing once it got within ten feet away from him.
"Ty…" Tara muttered, her eyes slowly closing. Even in her condition, she still wanted to see her brother again.
"Tara, hold on!" Domino screamed out, putting his hands over the fallen and dying girl. "Cura!" Nothing happened. "CURA!" Still, the green light did not wash over Tara like it would if he normally healed someone. "Damn…CURA! CURA!" Domino punched the ground. He them slammed his hands onto Tara's shoulders and screamed with all of his might, "CURAGA!" A small green spark exited his hands, but still, Tara did not stir. "Oh no…" He looked to me with sad eyes. "Kane, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…"
I couldn't believe what had happened. Kale was now sobbing into my shoulder after I had fallen onto my knees. Tears streamed down my face, onto the grass.
"She's dead!" Thomas shouted from somewhere behind Domino. He was laying in the grass with a huge smirk on his face. "Yes, the damn witch is dead!" He stood up and looked to Domino. Domino snapped his head towards Thomas and leaped forward from the dead Tara.
Without flinching, he jammed Starlight into Thomas's neck, then quickly slid it out, Thomas's head falling off of his shoulders, completely cut off. Thomas's body fell down beside his disembodied head. Kale flinched at the sight of all the blood in the field. I looked behind us to the burning shack…which wasn't even on fire anymore. In fact, it wasn't even there anymore. All that was there was a pile of ashes.
Kale had stopped crying and said, "Tara…big sister…at least…she's with Ty now, right?"
"Right," Domino said, stepping towards us. He grabbed Kale's hand and squeezed it, trying to comfort the poor boy. Domino had accidentally killed one of the people I cared about the most…Tara. Domino still looked shaken up, and grabbed my hand as well. "Dear friends…my dear Kale, and my sweet, sweet Kane…we need to find a new world. One that doesn't have crazy laws. Then we won't have a friend…die…like one did today. Right?"
I nodded my head, and wiped my tears. But it wasn't going to be alright. Our friend was dead because of a simple mistake that Domino had made. I wasn't mad at Domino, but I was still angry at him from earlier. At least these tears over Tara's death had shown a heart in him after all. He actually cared for her.
And then I felt my feet leaving the ground. Domino had blasted himself upward, holding onto Kale and I's hands, and the three of us flew to the sky without the need of Domino's Keyblade Glider. Wherever we were to go to next, we had to hope that none of us would get hurt there.
"Now, Tara, sleep in peace," Domino said, his eyes still tearing up. In his left hand appeared Starlight, and a light shot from it as he pointed it downward. It hit Tara's body, and she slowly sunk into the ground like she was a ghost. And then we felt warmth, and we had our bodies encased in a bright light. We were soon to be back on the Lanes Between.
Tara Skye…rest in peace…
...
Sorry I had to kill Tara Skye off. But the way my story plays out, I really can't have her around towards the end. Well, now it's only Kane Carter, Domino, and Kale Kamikaze left. If you haven't realized by now, this chapter is sort of based on the Salem Witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts a long while back, though the witches weren't real, but in here they were. So...hope you liked the world, as well as the future ones I have plans for. Remember, I will NOT only be focusing on Disney. I'll also have ACTUAL places as well as places I've MADE up.