Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Chapter 6
DISCLAIMER:Terra, Aqua, Ven, MX, and DS/Igneous belong to Nomura-san. Disney stuff and characters belong to Disney.
"So, do you accept my offer?" Master Oni asked.
"What IS your offer?" Ven asked.
"Fufill your destinies, and become my apprentices." Oni looked at us with a sparkle in his white eyes, as if he knew what the future held.
All three of us looked at each other in confusion.
"Apprentices?" Aqua asked quietly, so that only Ven and I could hear.
"I decline." Ven softly answered to Master Oni's offer.
"I do too." Aqua followed.
Master Oni looked quite disappointed, for his grin was replaced by a solemn frown.
"You haven't even had time to think about it." Oni pointed out.
"I don't need to think about it." Ven stubbornly announced.
"I suppose I should have someone take you home then." Oni sighed.
"Wait." Everyone in the circular room turned to look at me, waiting for what I was going to say next.
"I'll become your apprentice." I announced quietly.
"Excuse me, I couldn't hear you clearly." Oni said.
"I will become your apprentice." I repeated loudly.
Ven and Aqua stared at me in surprise, wondering how I could possibly want to become an apprentice to someone I barely knew.
"Terra." Aqua put her hand on my shoulder.
I didn't even look at her, or Ven. I just kept looking straight at Master Oni.
I don't even know why I accepted Master Oni's offer. Maybe it was because that recent dream I had made me think about my destiny, and how I could shape it to match the mural. Somehow, I knew this was the starting point.
That, and my dream AND Master Oni both mentioned Destiny, so there was a slight possibility they were connected. Very slight and doubtful, though.
"You are certain?" Oni asked.
I nodded quickly in reply.
"Very well." The smile that had left him returned.
Ven grabbed my arm and pulled me off to side, asking me what the hell I was thinking.
"Dude, you don't even know this old geezer!" he yelled.
"And your point is?"
He facepalmed himself, suggesting that I was an idiot.
In fact, even though it's sad to admit it, I agree with Ven.
"I assume you would appreciate more...suitable clothes." Master Oni's smile became even bigger.
I nodded quickly as Ven and Aqua remembered how badly I smelled.
"Then I will escort you to your dorm." he offered
"Your apprentice clothing is in your wardrobe."
"Will I be able to see my friends again?" I asked him, hoping that becoming an apprentice wouldn't come between my friends and myself.
"Only if they become my apprentices themselves."
I looked at both Aqua and Ven, who looked a little disheartened.
"It's either them, fufilling your destiny, or both if they accept my offer."
"Wait." Ven interrupted the silence.
"I'll be your apprentice as well."
Master Oni's smile had come to the maximum point.
Aqua stared at her feet for a while, pondering whether to leave her friends behind as she left for home, or to join them.
"I will too." she decided.
After, she whispered to us: "Who's going to make sure you don't kill each other if I'm not here?" she smirked playfully.
Ven and I grinned in unison.
Master Oni got up from his chair and walked past us. "Your dorms are this way."
The small hallways we had passed were now in front of us as Master Oni silently paced down the corridor.
Finally, at the end of the hall were three doors; one that was red with a gold star on it, one that was blue with an silver star on it, and one that was orange with a yellow star on it.
"Choose whichever you feel for."
I ran for the red one, Aqua to the blue one, and Ven ran for the orange one. Surprisingly, Ven and I didn't fight over something for once.
I opened the door slowly and saw what lay inside; it was a dorm the size of a mansion.
"Holy crap, these are huge." Ven yelled from behind the orange door.
"Do any other people live in these dorms?" I asked, knowing that a dorm the size of a mansion probably didn't belong only to me.
"No." Master Oni simply answered.
I ran quickly into the huge, open-spaced dorm. Like the door, the color scheme was red and gold. The foyer had a few couches, and a small circular table. A small refridgerator sat in the oppisite corner.
At the end of the huge foyer was an open doorway, and I walked through it.
"Man, the living room is even bigger!" I yelled in excitement. And indeed it was:
It was a huge open room with everything someone could wish for;a huge flat-screen HD TV, all of the latest video game consoles nestled under it, and a long, black leather couch winding around it. On the ceiling, a intricate golden chandelier hung, suspended only by two silver chains. And it wasn't one of those fake chandeliers, it actually had real candles turning the glass into a golden fire.
Many beautiful paintings were hung on the wall; one was that classic painting of a bowl of fruit.
A huge bookcase stood in the top-left corner, covering up about one-third of the room. Two other leather couches sat around the bookcase.
Three red doors stood on each wall, except the one that held the door that I came from.
I went through the first door on the left wall. As I walked in, I realized that it was the kitchen. A black, smooth marble counter spanned half of the room with a microwave, a coffee machine, a sink of course, and basket full of fruit sitting on top.
Around the counter were wooden counter stools, their seats covered in red velvet. A black fridge sat next to the counter along with an onyx dishwasher and stove. Another small chandelier not different from the bigger one in the living room hung from the ceiling above the counter, shining golden light upon the white marble floor.
Three massive windows stood at the north side of the room next to the counter, while another red door was on the right.
I opened the door and saw that this room was the bedroom, and a huge one at that. Once again, the floor was covered in crimson carpet with matching red walls.
The bed was king size with gold velvet covers and blankets, while a gold wooden dresser stood at the side.
There were three nightstands that wre gold also, two at the side of the bed, and one in the corner closest to the door I had come through. I looked in the wardrobe and saw about twenty of the same outfits.
Must be my apprentice uniforms. I guessed silently.
Another red door stood on the side facing me. In routine, I opened it and saw the bathroom.
The bathroom didn't have any windows, but had another similar chandelier on the ceiling. The most impressive part was that there was a gigantic bath in place of the usual red door.
I paced back to the living room to open the other red doors. I sprinted to the one facing the first door that I had come through.
All three of them led to a garden that was bordered by a forest. There were plants of every type in the garden;flowers, vegetables, even some mushrooms were randomly scattered around.
I backed up into the living room and walked to the three remaining doors. I opened the one closest to the main door, and inside was a huge empty room with a bamboo mat spread across the floor. In this room, there were no chandeliers, just normal ceiling lights. Some weight-lifting items were scattered around, and a few punching bags were suspended from the ceiling.
"This is your personal training room, where you can keep your abilities sharp." Master Oni surprised me by slapping his gloved hand upon my shoulder.
Another red door was at the end of the room.
"Where does that lead to?" I asked Master Oni quietly.
"Follow me." he ordered as he walked to the door.
Inside was a huge circular stone platform, and circling the edges was a crystal-clear stream. You could see little fish swimming through the glassy water.
A ledge hung off of the rocky walls, smothered in white wax from the candles that stood on the stone.
Two small waterfalls poured over the side of the rock, making mist cover the whole room. The weird part was that even though there were candles right behind the waterfalls, they never flickered out.
Other small trickles of water covered the walls, sending dew drops upon the stone.
"What is this place?" I questioned, confused as to why there would be a rocky waterfall room thing in a mansion/dorm.
"This is where you meditate."
"Meditate?" I thought meditating was almost as cheesy as my Keyblade was.
Master Oni smiled and sighed at the same time, closing his eyes to remember something long ago.
"There's another room, right?" I asked him.
"That's just a guest room." he answered me with his white eyes still closed.
"Was this place originally a house?" I questioned.
"In fact, yes." he informed me.
"This whole castle used to belong to the original Keyblade Master of Light."
"Used to?"
"He died in a great battle, which he had won already."
"If he won, why did he die?" I asked quietly.
"He used too much of his power during the fight, and dissapeared afterwards." Master Oni's eyes started to water.
"No one knows what happened to him, some say he went to another dimension, others suggest that he actually ran off in fear of his friends."
"Why would you be scared of your friends?" I knew I shouldn't of kept pestering him, since his eyes were about ready to start raining, but I pestered him anyways.
"He and his friends promised to not use the powers of Darkness, but he knew in order to destroy the Keyblade Master of Darkness, he had to use Darkness as well."
"So, he did?"
"Yes, in fact I was with him in that battle." he informed.
"If you were there, didn't you know what happened to him?"
Master Oni didn't reply and walked out of the room. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.
I followed him out and into the main hall where the doors to Aqua's and Ven's dorms were.
They were waiting for us in their apprentice uniforms: Ven had on baggy pants that went down to his calves. The sides and back of his pants were black, and the front was gray. The gray part faded into black at the top. The pockets on his outfit were black also. The gray part of his pants faded into white at the bottom, then back into black.
Around his wrist, he had a checkered band, mostly white.
His shoes were the only thing normal on his outfit. They were gold at the top, while the rest of his shoes were black and white;some red was added to where his ankles were. They looked pretty much like shoes you'd see anywhere.
His shirt was probably the second most normal part:underneath the black and white jacket he had on, there was a gray and black shirt that had black pockets with white rims. And underneath that was a white shirt that was connected to his pants.
The red neckcuff of the shirt attached to his pants came out over the top of his black jacket.
The weirdest part of his outfit was the golden piece of armor that covered his right shoulder. The armor had something like metal "wings" coming off of the side.
Aqua's outfit was much different: It was mostly black, stretchy material with pink straps around her chest. On her arms were white sleeves that hugged her arms until it they went down to her lower arms.
The black part of her outfit came down and was shaped into shorts. Around her shorts was white cloth that was shaped like a skirt.
On her feet were black boots that went up to her knees.
"You should get your outfit on, Terra." Aqua suggested.
"I guess so." I chuckled while looking at my t-shirt and boxers.
"I think a shower would be nice, too." Ven pinched his nose.
So, I took a bath and opened up the wardrobe once again, taking a closer look at my uniforms.
These are even weirder than Ven's and Aqua's outfits. I said to myself in disgust.
Oh, well. They're better than a smelly t-shirt and boxers.
The first part I put on had stretchy black material, like Aqua's, except that it was more like a t-shirt. I took the pants off of the hangers and noticed that they looked like samurai pants with red straps.
Oh God, a butt-ugly Keyblade, AND a butt-ugly uniform?
Even though I thought is was cheesy, I put it on anyway. I snapped the red straps to the upper gray part of the pants.
I looked back into the wardrobe and saw that my outfit had an armor piece similar to Ven's, except that it covered my whole arm and had a glove at the end with no fingers.
Man, I'm not even going to tell you how hard it was trying to figure out how to put that thing on.
Are there any shoes?
Indeed, there were shoes, but they were probably the worst part.
They were black and gold, and...that was it. They were heavy enough to be metal, but they didn't feel like metal.
Weird...
The bottoms were gold, and there were gold pieces of "metal" sticking up at the sides of my toes. There were two lines of gold across the top, but that was it.
And the thing I hated the most about this "outfit" was the black ribbons that hung off of the gray part of my pants.
They made me feel...girly.
Scissors...I need scissors.
I opened up all of the drawers a found nothing, so I went into the kitchen and took out a knife.
I had cut off the ribbons and threw them in the trash. When I was done, I looked at where the ribbons were, and they were once again hanging from my waist.
"Huh?" I asked out loud.
I cut them off again only to find out that they grew back. Soon it became a ribbon-butchering fest, but to no avail the ribbons kept coming back.
I sighed and tried to rip the whole ribbon through the loops in my pants. I got all of it out, but the ribbon grew back out of nowhere.
Stupid ribbon.
Even though I thought I looked like a twenty-first century samurai and a hillbilly mixed, I headed out to where Aqua and Ven were, and to my surprise they were amazed at how "cool" my uniform was.
I simply chuckled and agreed with them.
"Now that you three have settled in, I will send letters to your parents to tell them where you are." Master Oni promised.
"Tomorrow, our lesson will be to meet all of the other Keyblade Masters here at the castle."
"Be here at eight-o-clock sharp."
"Yes, sir." we answered in unison.