Chapter Four: Day 305: Dreams in The Wind.
What was going on?
That was the only thought in his head as he swung and slashed the glowing orbs of light. He back flipped away from one that suicide dived at him and swung his keyblade out in a reversed slash, destroying the glowing orb. He backed up slowly, sparing a glance towards his friends.
They were having as much luck as himself.
The eldest, the brown haired warrior with massive strength swung his huge weapon over and over, easily smashing the orbs into nothing with little effort.
The only girl of the trio was much calmer then the two boys. She cart wheeled and swung her keyblade in timed strikes for maximum damage, sometimes blasting them with fire or ice.
The youngster gritted his teeth and sighed in aggravation.
The master had been talking about the qualification exam one moment and then when he summoned these orbs for the two older teens to practice on, they went haywire. Why-
He stood still for too long and the girl gasped when she looked his way and cried, "Ven look out!"
Too late though as something slammed into his side-
The image crackled, static covering everything for a few seconds-
Ven stood outside, moaning in impatience.
Finally, after a small eternity of waiting, the two elder teens emerged from the test grounds. Ven smiled when he saw the older brunette teen walk out first. His smile fell when he saw the angry scowl on the teens face. "Terra…" Ven started to say but Terra simply brushed past him. Ven watched his friend walk away, his expression crushed.
He turned slowly, looking at the blue haired girl as she walked towards him, her own face downcast. "Aqua…" Ven asked in question. Aqua sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Master Eraqus," she replied, "Failed Terra. He said Terra was relying to much on the power of darkness."
Ven gasped, eyes filling with anger. How dare the master say that! Terra would never-
The scene fizzled out, static crackling again-
Ven walked down the hall to his room, shoulders slumped and his face set in an angry scowl. He had talked to Master Eraqus, demanding to know why he was being so unfair to Terra. Master Eraqus had retorted that he was only acting in Terra's best interests and that Ven was too young to understand.
Too young, too young! That's all he ever heard from anyone, that he was just a kid and he didn't understand. And he was sick of everyone telling him that! Even Aqua, his fellow apprentice, still treated him like a kid!
It just wasn't fair.
Sighing, Ven stopped in front of the room to his door, shoulders still slumped. Where was Terra? He had wanted to talk to him but he couldn't find the older boy. But Terra probably wanted to alone right now and Ven had to respect that.
With one last sigh, Ven turned the knob on his door and opened it, stepping inside his messy little home. He passed by his mirror, barely taking notice to his depressed features. His blue eyes had lost their shine and his spiky hair drooped a little. Ven stopped suddenly.
Something felt wrong, like somebody was-
Watching him.
With a gasp, he whirled around.
And sure enough, somebody was staring at him.
Ven gaped at the figure.
He was about Ven's own height but the similarities ended there.
The teen was garbed in a strange black and red bodysuit with a tan kilt around his waist. The strange and disturbing thing was that the bodysuit was so tight on the teens muscular form, it almost looked like his skin. Ven couldn't make out any other identifying features because the stranger wore a black mask over his face. But from his laid back position against the wall of Ven's room added with his arms crossed over his chest, Ven felt an air of arrogance around this person.
And for some reason he suspected he was smirking under that mask-
More static and the images faded into black.
With a small sigh, Roxas's eyes opened slowly, staring up at the solid white ceiling above him. He blinked after a few seconds before he sat up, rubbing his spiky bed head hair. He stretched and yawned before swinging his legs over the side of his bed. He sat there a while, arms lying on his legs limply.
Yet more pictures had gone through his head again. But these new ones were strange. What had Axel called them? Dreams. He said dreams were the mind trying to solve problems the waking brain couldn't…whatever that meant.
Why was that woman, Aqua, in his dreams? Who was that Terra person, and why couldn't Roxas shake the feeling he had see him before?
'But what I really want to know is,' Roxas thought.
'Is why that 'Ven' person looks exactly like me?'
Later, Roxas stepped into the Grey Area, once again dressed in the standard Organization cloak. As Roxas arrived in the area his eyes widened slightly at what he saw. Roxas had been part of Organization XIII for almost a year now and he had only seen this once before.
The entire Grey Area was empty.
Roxas blinked in shock and looked around. No one was there. Xigbar wasn't lounging in a chair, Demyx wasn't strumming his sitar on a couch, Xaldin and Luxord weren't playing poker at one of the tables and Axel and Xion were no where to be found. Even Saix wasn't present. Roxas looked around wondering if they had gotten another day off. Seemed unlikely considering the Superior had just ordered all of them to be on the look out for Aqua.
"Well, look who finally showed up."
Roxas gasped, flinching a little as he whirled around to see Saix walking in. The blue haired scarred Nobody was glaring at Roxas as he walked over to him, stopping in front of him and looking down on him from his impressive height. Roxas saw the annoyance in his eyes and hesitantly asked, "W-where is everyone?"
Saix crossed his arms before he responded. Saix, "Where do you think? On the mission lord Superior assigned all of you. Since it appears you didn't bother to check the time when you finally woke up, you probably haven't realized you overslept by an hour."
Roxas flinched and swallowed. Saix shoved pass him and walked over to his usual spot by the large windows, directly under Kingdom Hearts light. He resumed glaring at Roxas as he said, "Today's mission is the same as yesterday. You will search for the woman keyblade wielder but not in Twilight Town. Axel has reported that she is no longer present on that world. Along with the other members who are on various other worlds under our watch, today you will look for her in Halloween Town. In the event you find her there, you are to engage and capture her immediately, defeat her and bring her back here." Roxas felt a little unease at that. Did he really have to fight her? Part of him saw no reason for it. And the other part of him didn't want to end up like Axel. Saix went on. "But in the less desirable event she is not there, you are to resume your standard mission: Gather hearts." That relieved Roxas a little. Doing his standard work was always a relief.
Saix glared at Roxas as he continued to stand there. Saix barked impatiently. "Complete your preparations and be on your way."
Roxas flinched again and went over to the shop Moogle in the corner. After getting a few hi-potions and ethers, Roxas walked over to Saix who asked, "Are you ready?"
Roxas nodded. Saix flicked his wrist and a Corridor of Darkness appeared next to him, black mist rolling on the floor. Roxas took a breath and stepped into the Corridor.
A second Corridor appeared in a path leading to the town's center. Roxas stepped out of the Corridor and into the gothic and dark pathway with some weird pumpkin shaped torches illuminating the way. Roxas stepped away from the Corridor which shrank into a puddle of black mist. He looked around, always finding this world just a little…bleak.
It was constantly set at night and the buildings were large and stooping and strange gargoyle statues were everywhere. If Roxas had any emotions he would have found them a little creepy. But having been here so many times he had grown use to it. Roxas walked down the stone path, passing those weird balloons that sometimes had Heartless inside them. Roxas stepped through the unlatched gate and into the town square.
Nothing had changed of course, the gates around the town center with the guillotine and the green steaming well were still there, the statue spilling more water into it. Roxas looked around seeing the buildings pumpkin torches and the giant grinning pumpkin statue were all still in place. With a small sigh, Roxas wondered where he should start looking.
He walked around the square, seeing nobody as usual. He could hear the howls of wolves in the background like always. He peered into the only open gate leading to somebody's home and saw no one outside and no movement from the little window on the house. Roxas stepped near the huge steps that led to the graveyard, deciding the woman-Aqua- wasn't in the town square.
Roxas jumped up the steps and pushed the gate open. He stepped into the wide graveyard, sighing in dismay. Again Aqua was nowhere to be seen. Roxas walked a little ways into the graveyard, pausing to look at the graveyard like doghouse. That ghost dog was nowhere to be seen. Roxas felt a little disappointed but moved along, heading for the large stone casket. He pushed it open and crawled through, cringing at the feel of cobwebs clinging to his hair and face. He arrived in the second graveyard, gingerly brushing the cobwebs off himself. "Gross." He muttered. He looked around and again he didn't see Aqua.
'Man this is such a waste,' Roxas thought in annoyance as he looked around. Saix, no the Superior should know the odds of finding Aqua on one of their observed worlds was pretty low. Especially considering no one knew how she even left Twilight Town.
But orders were orders and Roxas wasn't about to start defying his.
Concluding Aqua wasn't in this crypt he headed for the secret entrance to that weird curly hill. As Roxas arrived in the pumpkin covered hill, he paused to look around. Again, no sign of Aqua.
Or any Heartless for that matter. Roxas frowned at that, suddenly concerned. The last time there hadn't been many Heartless, an even bigger Heartless had been eating them. Roxas shuddered as he remembered that particular Heartless. It had been a weird flower looking tentacle creature with a giant coffin under it. It could spread its tentacles all across the world, devouring Heartless in the scores.
"Oh man, I hope there's not another one." Roxas murmured. He started for the hole in the wall that led to that gated bridge to that big empty lot when-
"THINK FAST!"
Roxas whirled around uttering a 'Huh?" Before a red pumpkin slammed into his chest. Roxas's eyes widened when he remembered these pumpkins-
'BOOM!'
…Exploded.
Roxas cried, "GAGH!" Stumbling back, he blinked several times to get the spots out of his eyes. Thankfully they didn't hurt too much but those things sure did pack a mean punch! Roxas righted himself, clutching his head as he groaned.
Unsurprisingly, he heard three kids laughing loudly.
Roxas groaned in annoyance as he saw the three costumed kids. The boy dressed as a red devil, the girl in the witch robes and hat and the younger boy in a skeleton costume. All three were clutching their sides as the laughed loudly, pointing at Roxas.
The red devil cackled, "Gets him every time!" The witch joined in, "What a dope!" The skeleton boy just nodded and said, "yeah, what a dope!"
Roxas growled in frustration and stamped his foot down hard. Roxas, "Will you brats cut it out?" Still laughing, the three kids ran off. Roxas sighed. 'I can never avoid them when I'm here,' He thought. Shaking his head he headed for the hole for the bridge.
Roxas stood in front of the bridge and gate, looking around. Again, no sight of the blue haired woman. But as he looked down into the water canal below, he finally spotted some Heartless.
There was one of each, the first being the roach like Heartless Creepworm and the second being the bug trapped in an ice-cube Heartless Icey Cube. Roxas swung his arm out, summoning his keyblade Kingdom Key and was about to leap down and take out the two Heartless when a long black tentacle with teeth burst from the water. Roxas groaned in dismay as the Tentaclaw devoured the two smaller Heartless on the spot.
Yup, no doubt about it.
Another Leechgrave.
The Tentaclaw swallowed the Heartless before turning its nonexistent gaze towards Roxas, mouth widening as it lunged. Roxas jumped back causing the tentacle to miss and leave itself exposed. With a jump and slash, Roxas cut off the head of the creature, causing to fall back down into the water. A great splash occurred, the head twitching a little before going still and then melting into black mist. The tentacle meanwhile was spazzing out, whipping itself randomly and forcing Roxas to jump back again before it finally sank back under water, retreating.
Roxas sighed and dispelled his keyblade. The young Nobody concluded that Aqua wasn't on this world but a familiar Heartless was. Deciding to take of it now while he was here (And since one big Heartless easily counted as twenty Heartless to get Hearts from) Roxas stepped up to the gates and pushed them open. He stepped onto the smashed bridge over looking the huge empty lot and sighed.
It was indeed another Leechgrave but this one wasn't as large as the first one Roxas destroyed. This one was still a large dead flower with a smirking face but it lacked the huge coffin with the Heartless symbol on it but retained the four long tentacles emerging from its head. The Heartless looked up at Roxas, head cocking before it shook fiercely. Four Tentaclaws emerged from the ground, maws snapping.
Roxas sighed shaking his head. Roxas, "I really don't like those things." With a swing of his arm his keyblade reappeared and Roxas took a running leap down into the lot. Two Tentclaws lunged out jaws wide to bit onto Roxas but the young keyblade wielder swung his keyblade twice and landed on the ground in a crouch. The two heads of the Tentaclaws landed behind before the vanished in a burst of black smoke. The Leechgrave shook enraged and called its two remaining tentacles over, the black jaws wide open. Roxas ducked under their bites and leapt into the air, body and blade spinning to cut these two to pieces like the first two. Roxas hung in the air and thrust his free hand out, smoke gathering before it became a huge ball of fire. The fireball launched and struck the Heartless right between its beady eyes. It howled, head shaking to try and put the fire out. Roxas landed and the ground and jumped back. He was glad he had decided to bring some magic with him today. But he had only brought a few fire spells and mostly cure. He would have to make them count. The Leechgrave put out the fire between its eyes and shook fiercely. More Tentaclaws burst from the ground, black maws snapping enraged and ready to tear Roxas to several pieces. Roxas ducked and weaved as the Tentaclaws all lunged at once, trying to bite Roxas but he dodged them all avoiding the lethal bites. He jumped and cut one of the Tentaclaws heads off and whirled around, cutting another one's head off but this left him open allowing a third one to slam into his side and knock him flat on his back. Roxas groaned and clutched his side. He looked back up, gasping as the Tentaclaw lunged to finish him off. Roxas swung his legs out and back flipped, dodging the Tentaclaw as it bit the ground where Roxas had been. Roxas thrust his arm out and blasted the Tentaclaw with a fireball. The creature shrieked and spasmed, flames consuming it. Roxas kicked up his Kingdom Key and casually swung it out, bashing the last Tentaclaw back. Roxas smirked up at the Leechgrave and said, "Sorry, but I generally like to avoid being eaten." The Leechgrave shook itself and Roxas crouched, prepared to slash and bash his way through more Tentaclaws-
The Leechgrave lunged itself out, head butting Roxas's entire body. Roxas grunted and cried out as he was knocked back all the way into one of the rocky walls of the empty lot. Roxas's body hit the wall so hard part of it crumbled and he sagged to the ground groaning from the terrible pain in his back. He shook his head to clear more spots from his eyes and gasped when he saw his keyblade was halfway between himself and the Leechgrave. Roxas looked from the smirking Heartless back to his weapon before he decided to make a run for it. He burst into a sprint, hand outstretched for his keyblade-
A Tentaclaw burst out of the ground between Roxas and his keyblade. Roxas came to a stop, sliding in a crouch as he tried to jump back- But he was too slow and the Tentaclaw slammed into his chest. Roxas's mouth opened in a surprised and silent cry as he was sent flying back into the wall. Roxas's eyes closed and he slumped back to the ground in a heap. His head lolled weakly as he fought to stay conscious, eyes still closed as the Tentaclaw approached, mouth open with green spittle drooling from its pointy black teeth. The Heartless weaved in front of Roxas's prone form, swishing in the air like a snake before it stilled and its jaw widened. Roxas's eyes finally opened and widened in terror as he saw the Tentaclaw lunge at him, jaws wide open to devour him-
And suddenly Roxas felt a strange strength fill him, the pain in his side and chest fading instantly. Roxas shot up and dodged the Tentaclaws strike with blinding speed. The Leechgrave snarled and its Tentaclaw moved to strike Roxas again but Roxas was just a black and blonde blur as he shot for his Keyblade. Roxas rolled over his weapon, his hand wrapping around it. Roxas leapt into the air, keyblade held in a reversed grip, the blade held flat against his arm. Light surrounded his keyblade and it grew and expanded into a huge sword of light. "You're finished!" Roxas shouted and then he jumped and weaved in the air, a black and white blur as his light sword slashed through the Leechgrave's body like a hot knife through butter. The Heartless jerked and screamed as Roxas slashed it again and again. Finally, Roxas stood on the ground, his blade still held against his arm. The Leechgrave stood still for a moment before it split into six pieces. Roxas swung his keyblade out, reversing his hold so it was held normally and thirteen blades of light erupted from his body, destroying the Leechgrave's body. Roxas watched the black mist fade away and a massive glowing pink heart appear. His eyes followed its course into the night sky, where it vanished moments.
As soon as the Heart was gone, the strength filling Roxas faded and he collapsed to his knees, using his keyblade like a crutch. Roxas panted in exhaustion, feeling sweat roll off his forehead and splash onto the ground. He looked at his keyblade in wonder.
What had happened? He had been beaten clearly and while he had used his Limit Break that power and speed had nothing to do with it. And the way he held his keyblade when he had finished off the Leechgrave…
It was exactly the same way that Ven person had held it in his dream.
Roxas staggered up, thrusting his keyblade up. A green aura covered him and the pain in his chest and side faded away. Roxas sighed in relief and dismissed his keyblade. He looked around the empty lot and muttered, "I guess that's that." He bowed his head for a moment, still wondering about his dream and Ven. "It was just a dream." He muttered harshly to himself. With that, he headed for the tunnel in the water channel.
Time to RTC.
Roxas emerged from the Corridor of Darkness and back into the Grey area. This time, there was a few more Nobodies in it. Luxord and Xaldin were at their table playing poker like usual. And from Xaldin's angry expression it looked like he was losing. Then again, Xaldin always looked angry.
Roxas turned his gaze away from Xaldin and looked up at Saix, who watched him with a bored expression. Saix, "You've returned empty handed so I assume she wasn't there." Roxas nodded and shrugged helplessly. "Sorry."
Saix sighed in aggravation before waving his hand at Roxas. "You are dismissed." Roxas nodded and turned, about to head back to his room when he stopped with a small gasp. Roxas looked back at Saix and asked, "Hey, did Xion or Axel come back yet?"
Saix scowled down at Roxas before replying, "Axel has returned but I don't know where he is at the moment. Xion did as well but requested to go to Twilight Town."
Roxas nodded, and the smiled hopefully up at Saix. Saix closed his eyes and sighed again. With a flick of his wrist another Corridor appeared.
Xion sat on the ledge of the clock tower overlooking the Train Station plaza, licking on a sea salt ice cream pop. She was a little sad to see she was the only one here and the sun was starting to set. Sighing, she lowered her ice cream and gazed out at the twilit sky.
"Careful, it'll melt.'
Xion gasped, sitting up straight and turning around. Her face lit up in a smile as Roxas walked over, sitting down next to her. "Roxas!" She exclaimed in delight. Roxas grinned and held up his own ice cream. Xion held up hers, still smiling.
The two took a bite out of their ice creams, before licking them for a little bit in silence.
It was Roxas who spoke again, asking, "What world did you go to today?"
Xion stopped licking her pop as she replied, "Beast's Castle, with Xaldin." She added the last part with a groan. Roxas winced, not blaming her. Xaldin was an impatient pushy jerk to be frank.
Xion licked her pop for a few seconds before she asked Roxas, "Where did you go?"
Roxas lowered his pop and said, "Halloween Town. No lady with a keyblade, just a big ugly Heartless."
Xion giggled before resuming eating her ice cream.
There was silence for a little while and Xion noticed Roxas's eyes were lowered, something they did when he was deep in thought. "Roxas?" She asked.
He blinked and looked up at her. Xion, "You ok?"
Roxas didn't reply for a moment, still disturbed by his dream and the way he defeated the Leechgrave and his dreams from the night before. Instead he smiled confidently at Xion and said, "It's nothing. I was just wondering why the Superior is so interested in Aqua, that's all."
Xion nodded, licking her ice cream before she said, "I'm wondering about that too. Is another keyblade wielder so special?"
Roxas shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "She looks stronger then us but do we really another one on our side?"
Xion was quiet for a moment. Then, she spoke slowly and carefully. Xion, "I don't think the it's her keyblade he's so interested in. If you ask me, it's her he seems so desperate to find."
Roxas nodded in agreement. The two ate their ice cream in silence, watching the sun set.
The wind roared and the sand flew.
A solitary figure traveled through the fierce winds, his robes pulled tightly around his face to protect his eyes from the sand. The robes around his chest shifted and something under squeaked rapidly, sounding annoyed. The robed figure laughed.
"Yeah we didn't pick a good time or day to head out did we Abu?'
'Abu' squeaked in response.
The robed figure continued to move through the sandstorm, heading for a large city that was becoming easier to see as he got closer. When he was halfway there, he stopped when he heard a loud sound…Like something falling in the sand. The robed man turned, despite the rapid annoyed squeaking emerging from his chest.
"Be quiet Abu I thought I heard…"
He moved closer through the storm, his right arm raised over his face. He looked around, before his eyes widened when he caught sight of something…Blue?
He approached the object to get a better view and gasped.
It was a woman!
She lay in the sand, her body still.
The robed man approached closer and knelt next to her. The robes parted at his chest and a small fuzzy head poked out, wearing a small purple hat on its head. It squeaked curiously at the sight of the woman. The robed man didn't respond and leaned over, scooping the woman into his arms, pulling his robe over her body to protect her from the wind and sand.
"Let's get her to the palace."
With that said, he continued back towards the city.
Hello faithful readers! First of all, I wanna thank everyone who has faved and watched this story and everyone who has reviewed this story. Without you guys I probably would've lost interest in this story. Anyhoo, it's time for my favorite thing in the whole wide world…REVIEW RESPONSES!
Karma's Slave: 1: Whoo! Yeah, I pride myself on my openings. 2: I can't wait to write more! 3: yeah three chapters in and this one is more popular than LV. Scary. 4: Yes! That's what I'm going for!
Yue Twili:1:Really? I had bad vibes about this story. 2: nothing ever does when Xemmy's involved. 3: Axel needs anger management. 4: I hope Xemnas doesn't google Aqua…
Ninja Sheik: 1:Aww…what are we 'aww'ing about? 2: PLAN TOO! 3: Oh yes…
Aqua Azul: 1: Then I've done my job.
organizationkhII: 1: again people call it interesting. 2: Oh he does… 3: like I said: anger management.
BloodyAphrodite: 1: I do to!..but it's going to be a while. 2: anything with Xemnas gives me the chills…
Iceandfire66: 1: Oh I saw your story. I like it, will you update soon? And Xemnas and Aqua's interactions are something I'm also looking forward to writing. 2: when in doubt, throw in a blindfolded emo! 3: yes I knew that, it's come up eventually.
Aqua StormXIV: 1: (huggles a Saix puppy.) Whose a bipolar lunatic? You are! You are! I too love my Saix puppy. Ugh, battles. They always feel too short when I write em. And at this point we already know how Aqua will react. And god help Aqua the moment Xemnas takes matters into his own hands…2: DiZ and Riku make everything interesting. Solely from Xemmy's POV? I doubt it. I don't see him as a main character and more simply as the main antagonist…but hey, who knows?
The Exiled Azrael: 1: You must wait young reader…
Flightfoot: 1: No Aqua will not tell DiZ and DiZ is not interested in helping her, just using her. And the portrait thing will come up very briefly.
Well that's all for now. Please enjoy the chapter!