Here's chapter 6. Into the past of Zara.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts still. If I did, the members of Organization XIII would never have died... Well, maybe Saïx would die. :)
Back To The Days: Zara's Memories
"I remember that when I was younger, I would always go out into the palace gardens with Aidan and Axel. We would have so much fun..." I began the story for Scarlet.
"Come on slow pokes! Hurry up!" I called back to my two best friends. I was 11 along with the one with brown hair while the red head was 19.
"We're coming. You need to slow down, got it memorized?" The one with spiked red hair and green eyes called.
"Come on Axel! You're older than me so you should be stronger!" I teased.
"I am stronger!" He yelled.
"Seriously guys, stop fighting." My other best friend, who I secretly had a crush on, with navy black hair to the top of his lightly tanned neck and gray eyes. He wore a similar robe that I did; it was loose fitting, blue with a golden belt, and had matching golden sandals while mine was white. His sword, called Heaven's Bane, sung loosely at his side. The sword's handle had wings on top like an angel and had light blue swirls leading from the hilt to the start of the blade. He always had it with him.
"We're not fighting, Aidan. We're playing." Axel got me in a head lock and gave me a noogie. He wore a simple black robe like the Organization did. I knew
he was a part of it, but no harm no foul right?
I struggled out of his strong grip. "Your kind of play is different than anything I know you bizarre red head. Got it memorized?"
"That's my line!" Axel whined and made a hurt face.
Aidan and I rolled our eyes. I saw the palace a few meters away. "Race you to the palace!" I took off before they could register what I said.
"Hey! Wait up! No fair Zara!" I heard Aidan call.
I turned around and back peddled. "Catch me if you can." I turned back around and continued to run. Right before I reached the palace doors, I felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist and pull me to the ground. I gave a squeak of surprise.
I heard Aidan's voice whisper in my ear, "Caught you, Zara Leviathan." Thankfully I was face down so he didn't see my fierce blush. He got off of me and offered his hand to help me up. I took it, but kept my blushing face down. "Are you all right?" He asked.
"What? Yeah, I'm fine." I tried to calm my blushing cheeks. He looked over and saw the red on my face. I saw him smirk out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, I felt him kiss my cheek. I looked at him with surprise, my cheeks getting even redder.
He grabbed my hand and said, "Come on. Let's get inside."
"Okay." I said. Before we walked in, Axel brushed past me in a hurry and glared at Aidan. "What was that about?" I asked.
"I don't know." Aidan shrugged and we walked in.
"So that's the Aidan you mumble about sometimes." Scarlet whispered.
"Yeah that's him." I smiled as I remembered him.
"What happened to him?"
"I'm getting there. There's more to tell than that." I continued the story. I started a few years later than the last story when we were about 13 and 19. Nobodies don't age right?
I looked through the balcony window at the clear, beautiful sky. All of a sudden, I heard the faint click of my door. A teen with spiky red hair came towards me and said "Sup Zara?"
"Hello Axel." I replied.
He look embarrassed to say something. "C-could you sing that song again? It puts me at ease." He rubbed the back of his head.
I asked. "Had a rough day?"
"Yeah." He replied with his emotionless eyes.
I nodded closed my eyes and sang, "You say my love is all you need to see you through, but I know these words are not quite true. Here is the path your looking for. An open door, leading to worlds you long to explore. GO, if must move on alone. I'm gonna make it on my own. Kiss me goodbye, love's memories. Follow your heart and find your destiny. Don't shed a tear for love's mortality, for you put the dream in my reality."
"Bravo! That was beautiful, Zara!" Aidan walked in clapping.
"Hello Aidan!" I smiled and walked up to him. I saw Axel out of the corner of my eye. Axel sorta looked upset though I don't know why.
A few days later...
Axel told me he needed to talk about something important to me. He told me to meet him at our private area: the Phont Coast. "Zara," He began.
"Yes?"
"I need a hug."
"Okay..." As pulled me into a awkward position of hugging and standing in the water, he told me something that I never thought I'd hear.
"Zara... I care for, no more than that..." Axel whispered to me as he hugged me tighter. "I love you and I want to protect your kingdom from everything."
I was speechless. I couldn't believe it. "No Axel. It can't be this way!" I pushed him away.
"I'm not done yet. Just hear me out." He stumbled on his words. "The Organization is torturing your people and they're stealing from you too." He said shakily lifted up my head.
"How could you hide this from me? Do know how much this could have helped me if you told my sooner?" I yelled at him.
Axel looked down and mumbled, "For more than a 100 years..."
I fell down on the ground. "No... No... NO! My people trusted me like how I trusted you but you leave me no choice!" My hair turned pitch black when I'm angry.
"Zara! I couldn't tell you! I knew this was going to happen!"
"Well it's to late now Axel!" I looked at him with raging eyes. I knew he was going to defeat me, but I still have a chance.
"So be it." He summoned Chakrams. I summoned my staff. It was dark on one side with a ruby in the middle with purple and blue and the top had a sapphire and was a golden color. The battle was about to begin...
He threw his flamed-up Chakrams but I dodged just in time. Click! Clash! Shwish! We collided our weapons. I looked at him with hate, but Axel's face was emotionless. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It was to keep you safe!"
"I have the right to know!" We withdrew form our collision. I changed my weapon into Light Arrows. Nobodies need darkness right? Light should effect him. I smirked and he stared at the arrows. I got 3 of them ready. A moment of awkward silence before I shot the arrows really fast, I mean like light speed. One of them got his leg.
"Ah!" He growled at me and threw his Chakrams at me. They almost hit my face. He tried to kick me, but I returned with a punch. POW! He rubbed his cheek, "OWW! Man your good Zara, but are good enough to stop me?"
"Sure I am. I'm so strong you wouldn't, lay a finger on me." I bluffed. I knew he was too strong for me. Clash! The sound of collisions flew in the air and I sent some holy spells. Axel ran towards me so fast I couldn't dodge it fast enough and his Chakrams cut my side. "Ah!" I laid on the floor, holding my wound.
"What? Have you had enough already Zara? I told you that I'm stronger than you. Got it memorized?" I hate when he says that. He was walking towards me. Then, at the right moment, I side kicked his legs. He fell to the ground. As I could no longer trust him or Organization XIII. I tried limping all the way to the plains. There's a village there. I could stop there to take care of this wound. God, I must be losing a lot of blood! There's a lot on my hands and robe.
'Aw, man! Don't pass out here!' I thought and I hid behind a rock, or more of a cave area. There was some water, thankfully, and I used the water and my hair to heal my wound. My hair can heal light cuts, but I need water for bigger ones. I saw Axel talking to some one in the distance. I looked closer and it was Xemnas!
"Did you defeat the princess? The only way to get Kingdom Hearts is to defeat her!" Xemnas said.
"Well that's hard if she's hiding." Axel said nervously.
"You incompetent fool! You sure you can defeat her?" Xemnas glared at Axel.
"Yes, Xemnas."
"Are you sure? You don't look like it. Wait, don't tell me you fell in love with her!" Xemnas laughed. "We're Nobodies! We can't fall in love! We have no heart!" His expression turned serious. "Do kill her or I will have someone else do it for you. Then he disappeared.
After he disappeared, I made a break for it. I thought I was safe, but Axel saw me and started to run after me. He got close enough to use the move "Blades of Furry." Six blades that were lit up with fire, shot me back and I fell. Axel came behind me and said, "I'm sorry," in a hushed voice. He stabbed me in the back with a knife. Axel picked me up and I coughed out some blood. "Whoa Zara! Don't get me bloody!" I don't know why he's still funny when I'm on the verge of dying! I sorta passed then. When I awoke, Axel was carrying me and we were near the entrance of the secret passage way into the palace gardens.
He walked towards the entrance and I asked him, "Why Axel, why?" He just kept quiet. He got in and carried me towards the field of flowers and set me there. "Axel..."
"Sh!" He glanced around nervously.
"Im sorry okay! I know that you won't forgive me, but I know that we'll meet again." He kissed my forehead and left. Just before Axel left I sang something he will never forget.
... Kiss me goodbye, Love's memories. For you,put the dream in my reality...
"Goodbye Zara. I know that will meet again."
"Was he right?" Scarlet asked excitedly. She always did love a story with fighting and some romance.
"Not yet, but who knows. He could be one day." I replied. "This one's really sad for me, and it took place about 1,000 years ago, when I fell into the almost pause of life."
"Come on Aidan! Hurry up! We're going to be late!" I called to my friend. We had grown up from little kids to teens at the age of 14. Aidan was now almost a foot taller than me.
"Hold your horses, I'm coming." He yelled up the huge hill I beat him up.
I stomped my foot impatiently. "It's going to be over soon! I don't want us to miss it because you were too slow!"
I heard him grunt and reach the top. "I'm here. So what-" Aidan cut himself off when he saw where we were. The people in our palace called it Sunhill for a very good reason. When you get to the top of the 90 foot hill, you can see the most amazing sunset that anyone has ever seen. The colors morph together to form a perfect blend. It's said that if you watch it up there with someone you love, you two will be together forever.
"It's beautiful. Isn't it?" I smirked at him.
He was breath taken. He shrugged and said, "I've seen prettier."
I gasped. "Where?"
He glanced down into my eyes and said, "Not where. I've seen someone more beautiful than this. You."
I blushed fiercely and hid my face from the cute guy standing next to me. I quietly spread the blue blanket Aidan carried up with our kingdom's symbol; the sun colliding with the moon. I sat down silently and Aidan sat down close to me. Aidan smirked at me and slowly put his arm around me. I blushed and he just chuckled. When his laughter died down, he cupped my chin in his hand and said, "Zara, I love you." He captured my lips before I could answer.
I broke apart our kiss and said, "I love you too Aidan." We laid back on the blanket and watched the sunset fade into the night.
"Aw! That's so cute!" Scarlet interrupted my story.
"Yeah. It was beautiful, but cliché." I sighed. "I should have known it wouldn't last long."
"What happened?" Scarlet asked.
"Something big. Huge in fact, and it happened that same night..."
Aidan and I were about to walk back into the palace after leaving/rolling down Sunhill. When we were no more than a yard away, a high pitched scream rang into the night. "Emily!" I recognized my sister's scream. I ran in while Aidan yelled at me to come back. 'My sister's in trouble! She only screams like that in real danger!' The thought barely whizzed in my head. I was sprinting to see what happened. "Emily!" I burst into my sister's pink room. There was a trail of crimson on the floor leading to her bed. My breath hitched in horror as I saw the bloodied body of a young girl, only 12, with long, flowing brown hair and hazel eyes that would never see again. She wore a now dyed red and yellow robe with a golden belt and golden sandals. The girl was dead, and named Emily Leviathan; my younger sister. My sister who looked up to me as not only an older sister but a heroine. I felt the warm tears start flowing down my dark cheek. Emily and I even had the same skin color. I shook my head. 'No time to mope. The murderer might still be around... Wait, my sister is the youngest member. Why would they kill her unless...' I realized something dreadful in my train of thoughts. "MOM! DAD!" I screamed and ran to the throne room.
"Slow down Zara!" I heard Aidan pant.
I ignored his plea and kept running. 'No, no, no, no! Please! Don't let me be right.' I silently prayed. I slowed slightly in front of a gigantic blue and golden door with a huge version of the our kingdom's symbol of the sun and the moon. I threw open the door and yelled, "MOM! DAD!" I saw them in their thrones. For a second, I thought they were dead until I saw my mom look at me with surprise.
"Zara, what is it?" Her brown eyes looked worried.
I took a second for me to catch my breath. "It's Emily. Someone snuck in and killed her!"
"What?" Mom exclaimed and ran her hand through her long, straight black hair in thought.
I looked over at Dad to see his reaction. His face was emotionless, his brown eyes cold. I expected him to stroke his light brown beard that had a slight hint of grey that matched his hair. He just had his hands on his loose fitting red robe with tiger designs on it and a golden belt like mine. Our kingdom is really into the golden belts, huh?
Mom squeezed her blue robe that matched Dad's. Mom wore a golden crown with black pearls in it while Dad wore a crown that was larger than Mom's and had a darker gold in it where Mom had black pearls. "Guard! Increase security outside the castle! No wait, what if the killer is still in here? Oh, what am I going to do?" Mom panicked.
"We could sweep the castle." I suggested. I looked at Mom with hope. She just looked at me. Then I noticed something. Her eyes, which were bright with worry and thought, were now dull. My eyes widened and I ran over to them and shook them. Dad's head rolled to reveal a knife in the back of the head and Mom had an identical knife in the neck. I pulled the knifes out and blood poured out. The knifes had a recently sharpened tip and the handles were black with still warm blood on the entire blade and a bit of the handles. The handles had a faint design of leopards on it. I clutched the blades in my hand. My belt had a pocket for weapons like this. I put it in there and cried. Suddenly, I felt the presence of someone behind me. I jumped forward and turned on one foot, but I saw no one. Confused, I looked all around the room for any sign of anyone being here and found none. "That's weird." I mumbled.
I heard the sound of the large doors opening and jumped around. I saw Aidan come running in, out of breath. "Zara... What's wrong?"
I showed him my parents' bodies. His gray eyes widened in horror and looked at me like 'What the heck happened here?'
"I found them like this." I explained. I felt tears start rushing down my face. I knelt down on the floor unconsciously. My hands flew up to my face to hide my tears.
"Zara..." I heard Aidan breathe, but not for long. I heard a crack of bone and Aidan yelp. I turned around and cleared my blurry eyes.
My breath hitched as I saw Aidan fall to the ground. "Aidan!" I jumped up and took a step to help him. Then I saw them, or should I say her. She had shoulder length light brown hair and brown eyes. She wore all black with only her hair and eyes showing. That's why I couldn't see her! The rest of the room was dark! She glared at me after she looked up from Aidan.
"Don't worry. I didn't kill your boyfriend. He's no use to my mission." Her voice slithered like a snake's hiss.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
I could almost see her smirk from under her mask. "You don't need to know." She disappeared from my sight. Her voice sounded behind me, "It'll be too late for you anyway." I felt the back of a blade pound into my head. My head felt like it was splitting with the pain that shot through me. I heard her footsteps walk away quietly. My vision was getting eaten away by darkness. I saw Aidan still on the ground a couple of yards away. I started to crawl to him. The darkness had just about taken over my vision and I was still a foot away from reaching him. "Aidan..." I breathed before I was swallowed up.
"Whoa, wait what?" Scarlet fell off a log we sat on because she leaned forward with every word of my story. "Ow..." She rubbed her head. I laughed until she gave me a warning glare.
"I'm not done yet." I murmured.
I slowly felt my body returning to Earth. My vision slowly came back. I groaned at the splitting pain in my head. Then I remembered. Emily, Mom, Dad, Aidan... I flew up just to fall back down in dizziness. I looked around and almost fainted at what I saw. I was still in the castle, but it was completely in ruin. The ceiling, once beautifully crafted with the constellations and the sun patterns, was hanging in clumps and letting the weather get in. Luckily, it was sunny on this day. The floor was now a moldy green and the walls were crumbling. I saw the thrones still there, but the bodies of my parents gone and not even skeletons remained. I saw even Aidan gone. 'If they got them, why did they leave me? And why is the castle is ruin?' I had so many questions, my mind wanted to explode. No, wait, that was the pain.
"Well, I'll be... Princess Zara? Are you awake and alive?" The voice of an old man sounded behind me. I got up and spun around and faced him. He had silver hair and wrinkles over his dark skin. His blue eyes barely showed from under his wrinkles and showed complete shock yet had a hint of knowing in them.
"Yeah... Do I know you?" This man was a complete stranger to me.
"Well, you should have known my great grandfather. He was the advisor to your parents, if I'm not mistaken." He chuckled.
"You knew Saien?" Now that I looked closer, her did resemble the blonde haired blue eyed man who helped my parents... Very slightly though...
"Yup." He nodded. "My name is Ourica."
"Do you know what happened here?" I was more worried than anything. "Where are my parents? Where's Aidan?" When I said his name, the image of Aidan appeared in my head. His navy black hair and shinning gray eyes, his caring smile, everything. I missed him.
"Well, a group of people came and attacked about 1,000 years ago and did this. No one knew that your parents had died so they fought. When word came that you all had fallen, they gave up after they buried them. They found you and Aidan and thought you two were dead, until they saw you breathing. They tried waking up you and Aidan but nothing worked. By the time they set you down here, the raiders came and killed them. You two survived because they thought you were already dead." He explained.
"My people were... Slaughtered?" He nodded. Then another thought hit me. "Then why isn't Aidan here?"
"I don't know. Every day, I come by here to see if you woke up. One day, Aidan was just gone. As far as I know, he might be dead." Ourica explained flatly.
I fell to my knees. "Aidan's dead?" The tears fell down.
"Hey hey hey, no need to cry!" Ourica walked over to me with his walking stick and patted me on the back. When I wouldn't stop, he whacked me with his walking stick.
"Ow! What the heck was that for?" I glared up at him while rubbing my head that was in even MORE pain.
"You have to get over Aidan's possible death!" He explained harshly. "Put yourself to use during this time! You haven't been moving for 1,000 years!"
"What can I do then? I don't know anything about this world now!"
"Start by putting your fighting skills to use! Become the protector of the Nobodies!"
"But that would mean-"
"I know. You'll have to see Axel again."
"How did-"
"The knowledge of everything about you, princess, has been passed down in my family."
"WILL YOU LET ME FINISH A SENTENCE? YOU'RE FREAKING ME OUT!" I yelled.
"Sorry. Anyway," Ourica looked at me intently with his half cover blue eyes. "become the protector of the Nobodies. I know someone wants to destroy them. Particularly, Organization XIII."
"Organization XIII! Oh no." I breathed.
"Yes yes, I know. Axel's in that organization." He tried to mimic my voice but just sounded like an old lady. "You forget, not only Axel is there, but a few new friends will be there in a few years." He just walked away after that.
"Wait! I still have more questions!" I called after him.
"You'll have to find that out, yourself." He disappeared out the door. I ran out there and he was gone. "Crazy old man..." I mumbled and set off on my new journey not as Princess Zara Leviathan, but as Zara, the girl with a new chance at life.
"Wait, if you're supposed to be fighting us, then why are you here?" Scarlet asked me.
"First, are you completely loyal to this place?" I questioned.
"Oh heck no! I hate this place!" Scarlet motioned in the direction of camp.
"Well, in truth, I'm a spy here. I'm planning on meeting some of the members and telling them Organization Knight's plan." I explained hesitantly.
Scarlet got a smile on her face. "Count me in."
"What?"
"I'm joining your spying mission." She clarified.
"You can't do that!"
"Why not?"
"Because... Um... Oh fine." I gave up.
"YES!" She leapt up in the air.
"Okay okay. Calm down. One more story." I saw the sun about to rise through the tree tops. Scarlet sat down and listened intently.
I sat in the train headed to a few stops, one of them Twilight Town and another a place right outside the forest I had decided to go to and looked out the window. I never got over the death of Aidan, but I had to move on like Ourica told me. I am the protector of the Nobodies. I took out some food from my leather satchel I bought after I earned a few munny; some slices of bread, cheese, some oranges, and 5 hunks of chocolate bars. I was eating some of the bread when I saw a little girl. I don't remember what she looked like, but she was about five or six years old. "Get out of here you little beggar!" An old man said as he threw her out to the side of the train. She didn't look frail enough for a beggar though.
Anyway, I motioned for her to come over to me. She walked hesitantly over until she saw what was in my hand for her. I gave her some of my food and she said, "Thank you!" She started to eat. She stared at me for a moment after finishing. She asked, "Why do you look so sad, and why do you have blue stuff in your hair? I've never seen that before, or the type of clothes you're wearing."
I sighed and told her, "Something happened, but I don't want to talk about it. You're too little to understand." She looked at me as if she knew what happened. She continued to look at my blue streaks with wonder. "You look puzzled for the blue hair part. Watch." I took her hand, which had a cut on it, and wrapped my hair around it. I said some ancient words, and the blue streaks glowed gold and her cut healed.
"Wow! That's so cool! Thank you!" She looked up at me with awe.
"Now stopping for Twilight Town." The captain said over the intercom.
"Well, I have to go." The little girl said. "Bye-bye!" She waved at me.
"Goodbye!" I replied. "I hope you have a safe path little one." I mumbled as the train's doors closed after the little girl. Little did I know, I would meet that girl again some day... And I would become part of her crazy journey with her best friends...
"How'd you know you'd meet her again?" Scarlet asked.
"It's just one of those feelings you get. Like, you feel something is going to happen later." I explained.
"Oh okay." Scarlet mumbled, still going over the very long winded story I just told her.
"Come on. Time to get back to camp. It's almost time for your training." I stood up and walked back into camp with Scarlet behind me.
Can any of you guess who the assassin or the little girl were? If you have a guess, put it in a review and I'll put your name in my story somewhere. :)