Chapter 2: ~Destati~ Awakening

"…I've been having these weird thoughts lately…"

"…like, is any of this real, or not…?"

A fourteen-year-old boy is falling down an endless void…

A place(?) completely devoid of light… of anything…

The boy, named Haru, hasn't an inkling of an idea as to where he is and why he is there. He landed softly on his feet and, as he opened his eyes, surveyed his surroundings. He took a step forward, the sound of his footsteps echoing throughout everywhere. The second his foot touched the ground again, a maelstrom of feathers dispersed all around him. Haru was fascinated and looked on with awe. As soon as the feathers disappeared, Haru found himself standing on a single glass pillar in the middle of the now-familiar void. It was then Haru began hearing a mysterious, yet… familiar feminine voice speaking through his mind. He jumped momentarily, yet was instantly calmed down by the sound of the voice. It was as if the voice was a long-lost friend.

"So much to do… So little time… Don't be afraid, Haru… Take your time…" A ray of light appeared, shining down dead-center on the pillar.

"The door is still shut… but only you can open it."

"Now… step into the light… Are you able to?"

Haru nodded and followed the voice's instructions and stepped forward. He allowed the light to bathe him in warmth until it vanished. Soon after, three pedestals appeared on separate ends of the pillar. Haru was surprised and jumped back a little as three weapons materialized on each pedestal.

On Haru's left was a red, pentagonal shield with the three bottom corners rounded. It has a red border and the top and bottom two corners all sport a silver bolt or pin. Most of the face of the shield is black, save for a prominent Hidden Mickey symbol in the center. This symbol is red and has a pale yellow outline.

"A great power sleeps within you."

On the pedestal on Haru's right was a simple staff. Both ends of the staff are tan, while the handle itself is green. There is a wide, brown disk on the tip of the handle, which the head of the staff is connected to. The staff's head is a blue Hidden Mickey.

"If you give it form…"

On the final pedestal was a sword. It was a pretty generic short sword with a black Hidden Mickey symbol on the hilt and a blue handle. The pommel is simple and golden in color.

"…it will give you strength."

"…Choose well…"

Haru walked over to the sword and grabbed it. After inspecting it for a bit, the voice spoke to him, once again.

"The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction."

"Do you choose to bear this power?"

Haru considered this for a bit, but ultimately decided to accept this new power. He nodded and suddenly, the sword he had just a second ago disappeared in a flash of light. What is going on?

"Your path is now set."

"What every decision come sacrifice. What will you give up in exchange?"

Haru weighed his options before walking up to the shield and picked it up. The voice returned with:

"The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all."

"Do you choose to surrender this power?"

Haru was unsure, so he checked out the staff next. Again, with the voice—

"The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin."

"Do you choose to surrender this power?"

Still indecisive, he walked to the center of the station, crossed his arms, and thought deeply about this. After a bit, he decided to just follow his gut instincts and with a shrug of his shoulders he chose to give up the shield. The shield then vanishes in a flash of light, just like the sword. Afterwards, the voice returned…

"You have chosen the power of the warrior…"

"You have surrendered the power of the guardian…"

"…Is this the form you choose?"

Haru nodded then suddenly, the pedestal he was standing on vanished. Not just that one, the other two began to collapse as well. The entire station he was standing on was beginning to shatter at an extraordinary rate. Haru couldn't do anything but watch in horror as the last of the station crumbled away, causing him to fall into the emptiness below.

~KINGDOM HEARTS~

As he fell, Haru took notice of another station just like the one he stood on previously approaching him. He once again landed on his feet and moved around for a bit to make sure this one was structurally sound. His right hand then glowed with a bright light and, in a flash, the sword that he had chosen materialized into his hand. The voice returned to him—

"You have now attained the power to fight. It is important that you become familiar with it…"

"There will be times where you will have to fight…"

"Take a moment to practice…"

Haru inspected his Dream Sword briefly. He then did as he was told as he made practice swings. Vertical, horizontal, diagonal; all of the different sword swings he could muster before the voice jumped in. It seemed happy—

"Good boy! You've got it!"

"Use this power to protect yourself and others."

Haru's chest swelled up with pride at the voice praising him. He then waited in anticipation. After a few moments, he noticed several small puddles of darkness surrounding him. Suddenly, strange black creatures with yellow dots for eyes rose up from the darkness. Haru wasn't intimidated in the slightest because of how tiny and frail they looked. However, he was caught off-guard when they all jumped him from different angles. Not wasting another moment, Haru rolled out of the way. What he hadn't anticipated was one of the creatures melting into the shadows and emerging behind him. The voice came again, this time in an urgent tone of voice—

"Watch out!"

He looked behind him and noticed the black creature trying to surprise-attack him. He then rushed at the swarm of enemies and dealt with them with little to no effort, thus causing his pride to swell once more. As he destroyed the last one, it disintegrated in a mess of black smoke. The other creatures submerged into the station, soaking it in darkness. Haru's eyes widened in surprised as the darkness caught his feet, dragging him into its clutches. He stuggled as much as he could, but it was a fruitless effort as he was completely swallowed by the pitch-black nothingness below.

~KINGDOM HEARTS~

Haru was on the ground, flailing around. His eyes shot open as he checked out his surroundings once again. To his left surprisingly, there was a single brass-colored door. Haru walked up to it and examined it. Nothing happened initially, but the door soon changed into a golden color and opened by itself. A bright light enveloped Haru as he entered the inviting door.

Haru was again in another location. It was a familiar wooden balcony overlooking a beautiful ocean built on an island. There were three figures standing idly. He was confused as he recognised who they were. They were his friends; one with gravity-defying, spiky, brown hair with his hands behind his head, Sora; the second was a silver-haired boy with a more lean physique than Sora and Haru with his arms crossed, Riku; the third, a girl with shoulder-length red hair with a bunch of seashells made into a star shape, Kairi. The voice came soon after Haru identified the trio—

"Hold on. The door won't open just yet…"

"…Now, tell me more about yourself, Haru."

Haru complied as he walked up to Sora. When he approached him, Sora asked Haru a question—

"So, what are you so afraid of?"

Haru considered deeply about how to answer. He shortly came up with an answer—

"I'm afraid… of being different." Sora spoke to him about his answer.

"Being different, huh? Is that really so scary?"

Haru walked up to Riku next. Since Riku was taller, he looked up and met his surrogate brother's aquamarine eyes. Riku then asked a question.

"Haru… What do you want outta life?"

Haru looked at the floor in contemplation. Only three possible answers flowing in his mind. He finally decided which one was the most important and answered with—

"What I want… is to be strong."

"So it's strength, then?"

When finished talking to Riku, Haru walked up to the only person he hadn't answered yet, which is Kairi. Kairi looked up from whatever she was doing, and asked him—

"What do you think is most important to you?"

"More questions…" was Haru's rhetorical question. He placed a fist on his hips and thought once again. This time, the question left no debate. It was then that he answered—

"What's most important to me is… friendship."

"Does friendship really mean that much to you?" Haru was greeted by the enchanting(in his opinion) voice again—

"You're afraid of being different…"

"You desire to be strong…"

"You value friendship the most…"

After a bit of a pause, next came—

"Your adventure begins at midday…"

"Just keep a steady pace…"

"…and you'll come through fine."

"That sounds good to me." Haru thought with a smile on his face, appreciating the encouragement. Then the voice got serious—

"Haru…"

"…the time you will open the door is both very far, yet very near…"

Haru found himself standing on another platform in the middle of total platform was Green and a picture of a boy with spiky blonde hair sleeping wearing a white and black outfit without a keyblade armor shoulder pad and does not have a keyblade in hand with a picture of Castle Oblivion in the background. Haru walked around the platform. As soon as he reached the platform's center, Haru turned to see one of the creatures begin to rise from the shadows before him. Within seconds, Haru was surrounded as he pulled out his sword and got into a defensive stance. Haru made the first move as he sprinted toward the dark creatures and swiped at them from left to right with swift strikes performing an Aura Circle attack. Many of the dark creatures fell to the attack and vanished in a puff of black smoke. One of the dark creatures tried to attack jumping toward Haru.

He however jumped up into the air dodging the attack and countered the attack diving down toward the dark creature and swiped his sword at it casting it into oblivion.

Upon defeating the last creature, a bright light shined down from an unknown source where upon the center of the platform, creating what looked like a ring of white light. Haru walked toward the light and stepped inside.

He felt his strength refreshed and increasing back up to its maximum and watched as another beam of light left the ring and headed for the platform's edge, which then caused a string of steps to form, creating a staircase upwards towards yet another platform that slowly appeared forth from the darkness.

Haru ran across the platform and up the staircase.

Upon arriving on the new platform, Haru noticed it was a different platform than where he had started from before. The Platform was yellow, it had a picture of Kuroko in her battle outfit with her closed eyes , she had a Au blade in her hand . In front of her was two keyblades : Starseeker and Diamond Dust held in a X position with a picture of the mysterious tower in the background.

The light seemed to be even brighter, as he turned around, his shadow began to morph, twist and turn, transforming into a 12ft tall black muscular monster with yellow eyes , curly locks and small bat-like wings on it's back . From the looks of it, it was definitely NOT friendly. As the monster took its form, the voice spoke out alarmingly,

"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes. But don't be afraid. And don't forget..."

The dark monster thrusts it's right-hand forward into the platform creating a dark vortex that seemed to summon forth the smaller black creatures he had faced earlier. Haru quickly noticed that it hand was stuck in the vortex and that it's movements were slow. He took the chance to strike multiple times at the monster's hand while dodging attacks from the smaller creatures. After striking the creature's hand several times, he then focused on disposing the smaller creatures that had been called up. Once they were dealt with, Haru focused back on the monster. He jumped up toward the monster again and struck the creature's chest with a final and powerful blow. The monster giant moans in pain as it began to collapse. The sword vanished from Haru's hand and he leapt backwards to avoid the monster as it crashed forward onto the platform. Darkness began to spread all over the platform and caught Haru in it. He tried to free himself of the pool of darkness that was slowly drowning him Just before he is swallowed by the portal , he heard the voice spoke softly as a gentle goddess to him one last time.

"Don't be afraid. You hold the Mightiest weapon of all. And don't forget, you are the one who will open the door."