Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I do own Dayna, Noelle/Elleon, and Mai.
Woo! Shattered Dreams! Who's excited?
*silence*
Yeah, I figured. Here's the prologue, anyways. Also, if you haven't read the first book, Shattered Hearts, then I strongly recommend you do. Otherwise, you may be rather lost and confused.
Mai will not be a main character in this book (how could she be, really?). Instead, it will mainly focus on Noelle/Elleon and Dayna. Sorry to disappoint my nonexistent readers.
Okay, without further ado, here it is.
Prologue:
Something was wrong.
Noelle's eyes narrowed at the heart-shaped moon that had appeared over Radiant Garden that night. That thing, though beautiful, was out of place. She mentally added it on to the list of strange happenings, right next to the dark creatures that had appeared in their world a year earlier. According to the apprentices who studied at the castle, these beings were called Heartless. Whether or not they actually lacked hearts, Noelle didn't know; nor did she care. At least, she tried her best not to.
Up until that moment, she had managed to avoid the dark beings for the most part; key words being, 'for the most part'. She had found, after being forced into an encounter with an armored Heartless, that her wooden staff had been able to hit the beings. However, no damage could be inflicted, no matter how many times she smacked the enemies. As a result, she kind-of gave up on the whole idea. Instead, at the sight of them, she would dive rather ungracefully into the alleyways while Lea would attempt to put up an air of false bravado with his dual frisbees. In the end, he would always join her as they both cowered, ironically, in the shadows cast by the trash bins.
Speaking of Lea, Noelle glanced up to the castle; he should have been back an hour ago, with or without Isa.
Her insides clenched as her mind warred with itself. On one hand, moving anywhere at this time of night almost guaranteed an ambush with the Heartless. While they hadn't done anything too damaging yet (they had only given out a few shallow scratches to the civilians), Noelle knew that they were waiting for something; a cue of some sort.
On the other hand, her two best friends were up there. "If I can even consider Isa as my best friend anymore." She scoffed, scuffing the ground with her feet.
A strand of hair fell out of the tight French braid on the side of her head and Noelle jerked it back into place. Isa really hadn't been acting too friendly of late. Ever since Mai and Ventus had visited two years ago, the blue-haired boy had been spending more and more time in solitude. Of course, with Noelle and Lea being the mischievous duo they were, they had followed him a couple of days ago. To their surprise, Isa had made his way up to the castle. The guards, Dilan and Aeleus, had let him through without comment.
At that, their jaws had dropped. Lea and Noelle had only been trying to get behind the gates for, oh, maybe eight years. And Isa? He had entered with ease, even nodding at the guards, as if it were a common occurrence.
And, maybe it was. At that point, Lea had decided to confront him. Noelle had been able to convince him to wait for a few days to see if he changed his mind (because her friend was rather prone to making sudden decisions), but he ultimately chose to venture up there.
"He picked tonight, of all nights, to go." Noelle heaved a sigh before pulling her trusty staff out of its sheathe. Despite the fact that it was useless against the shadows, it still gave her a small sense of comfort. "Well, I hope he knows what he's gotten me into."
She snickered at the thought. Of course, he does. He always loves to piss me off.
Then, she began the long trek to the castle postern. For a few minutes, there were no signs of the Heartless, and Noelle allowed herself to loosen the iron grip she had on her weapon. Nevertheless, the universe loved to prove her wrong, and a shadow appeared directly in front of her.
"Gah!" Her arm automatically lashed out at the thing and it was knocked to the side, where another Heartless emerged from the ground. The first one tilted its head almost curiously, causing Noelle to mirror its movement, albeit cautiously. Why hadn't it made any move to attack her? All the other similar adversaries had lunged for her without a second thought.
The creature moved closer, and then leaped at her chest suddenly. Noelle whacked it away again, glaring at it evenly, before deciding that it wasn't worth her time. "Go terrorize someone else, why don't you?"
Strangely, it seemed to listen to her, and she soon discovered why. An elderly woman was shambling along the cobblestone street with a bag of groceries in each hand, seemingly oblivious as to what was going on around her. A merry tune hummed from her lips even as her boot got caught in a crack. She fell to the floor with a cry of shock, and apples spilled out of her bag. They rolled down the hill, glowing green in the night.
The Heartless wasted no time. The two beings darted over and Noelle watched in horror as one jabbed a hand into the woman's chest. A garbled sob came from the grandmother's lips as her eyes stared unwittingly at the pulsing pink object that the Heartless held in its claws.
Noelle threw up a little in her mouth as realization struck her.
Those despicable creatures had taken the woman's heart.
But, that wasn't all. The woman's eyes glazed over, and her body became eclipsed in darkness. Within seconds, it disappeared and the two Heartless turned to look at her, their eyes shining eerily in the light of the heart-shaped moon.
"S-stay away from me!" Noelle pointed her staff, hands shaking, at each enemy in turn. When they made no further move to act, she stepped back once, twice, and then turned and sprinted away.
She had to find Lea; pronto.
The castle gates loomed ahead of her, wide open and unguarded. "Well, that can't be good." Noelle panted, easily pushing past what had previously been the biggest obstacle to her and Lea entering the castle in the past.
Nevertheless, after actually entering the building, she took it back. Before her lay a labyrinth of tunnels, with no variance in color or shape. She slowed to a stop, twisting her head this-way-and-that with desperation clouding her thoughts. "Lea! Where are you?"
A desperate cry echoed around the walls, causing Noelle to perk up in hope. "Noelle! Go away! It's –"
His voice came to an abrupt stop.
"Lea?" Noelle called out hesitantly again. Nothing but the sound of her heart thrumming in her chest. "Lea?"
She threw away any reasoning she may have had before and dashed wildly down the hall ahead of her. The darkness tugged at her sight, weighing her down. Her chest heaved up and down as she turned past corners, again and again. In her mind, she noted that something had gone terribly wrong, and why, oh why couldn't Lea have just waited for her to come with him to see Isa?
"You would've only had to wait ten minutes, you impatient freak!" Noelle sobbed, still frantically trying to invoke the voice of her friend. "Damnit, Lea!"
Finally, the tunnel began to lighten up with the blue glare of a computer screen. It flickered periodically, casting her into darkness every now and then, and as she quickly approached, she saw that a large crack had been inflicted upon the screen. An orange Frisbee lay to the side of it, causing a sense of dread to rise in Noelle. Lea would never let one of his prized weapons be anywhere other than in his hands. So, that led to the question, what had happened to him?
She soon found her answer in the form of a manically grinning figure that held a bloody keyblade in his hand. Flecks of red stained his silver hair and insanity lurked in his golden eyes.
"Thank you for volunteering." A deep voice boomed from the man in front of her.
Noelle, thoroughly freaked out, thrust her staff forward. "What did you do to Lea and Isa?"
Xehanort chuckled scornfully, drawing himself aside. He waved a hand at the unrecognizable blobs of darkness behind him and a sense of cold horror swarmed her body. Out of one of the tendrils of shadow peaked a single spike of flaming red hair.
"Lea –" She choked out, one hand automatically reaching for him. "No…"
In her trauma, the staff rolled out of her grip, and Xehanort took the opportunity to stab the keyblade at her heart. His eyes glittered malevolently at the expression of fright that spread across her face.
However, Xehanort's own triumphant mood took a turn for the worse when he saw that his weapon stopped an inch above her chest. "How…?" He jabbed it further, eyebrows creasing in frustration. No movement. He drew it back again, and then pushed it forward once more with the same result.
"Why isn't it working?" Noelle asked dumbly. Xehanort's arm held her up, trapping her between a rock and a hard place. There was really no escaping.
"Shut up." The apprentice declared coldly. He withdrew the weapon with a silent interest, but chose not to dwell on it. He had things to do.
Noelle bit her lip as the weapon moved away from her heart. Still, she had no time to feel relief before the butt of the keyblade was brought down on her skull.
She took it back. There was a way to escape.
Unconsciousness was her escape, and it was unconsciousness that protected her from seeing her world fall into darkness.
A day later, she woke up in an alleyway lit only by an orange lamp.
But, she didn't care. Not when everything she cared about had been taken from her.
Not when she didn't age for the following eight years.
Not when the loneliness became her only companion throughout the years.
Not when a keyblade appeared in her hand as she almost died at the Heartless' claws.
Only when a girl wearing a scarf belonging to her close friend appeared in her adopted world was when her heart began to feel again.
And she hated it.
Yay, prologue! I promise that the rest of the chapters will be longer!
Review? Please?
Thanks!
- SoraMaiDay