Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Terra's Story-Book 1, Chapter 17/Start of Book 1, Part 2
Note:I am still and will always be open to ideas for worlds, summons, and appearances for each world that requires it until the end of book 1(which will roughly be about thirteen chapters) Either E-mail me your ideas or submit them in a review) Anyways, please continue to read and support BBS Zero! Your reviews and your time are much appreciated! ALSO: Thanks and awesomeness goes to namixaskhfan for reviewing!!
Thank you, Eternal Symphonia.
It had been exactly a year since the day Ven, Aqua, and I traveled to Halloween Town. We had trained under Master Oni since then, and our ability to wield the Keyblade had increased drastically. Now we knew much more about the Keyblade and what we could do with it, and that there was much more to being a Keyblade wielder than just thrashing around your weapon and a courageous attitude. Being trained under the Keyblade Master of Light, we had to create a covenant that promised that we wouldn't turn to the Darkness, no matter how tempting it was; actually, I thought it was the cheesiest thing since Geezernort, but I agreed to the promise anyway. And, we were also told the prophecies of the future and the past, and the poem of Destiny: The prophecies told of two Keyblade Masters; one would bring peace and prosperity, while the other told of him bringing chaos and ruin upon the universe.
The poem was much different, though. It was called Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep
Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep
Waiting, waiting, waiting.
Waiting for inevitable fate, depressing me of happiness at every turn I took.
I knew what would happen; I knew that ever since I risked it.
What did I risk, you ask?
I know, and I don't know; that is the real question.
Questions? What are questions?
Are they searches for truth? Or are they ways to clog your heart and spirit with fake truth?
Both, probably.
Everywhere I turned, I was there, and I wasn't.
Yes? Or no?
My inability to see what was coming sealed my fate.
Destiny? Or Fate?
What is the difference?
I looked ahead too late.
The wind howls, mourning over the future it sees.
My Future, My End.
Your Past, Your Beginning.
Beginning? Or End?
Your End is Awakening, Your Beginning is Death.
My End is Sleep, My Beginning is Birth
Two very similar things if switched around:
Death by Awakening, Sleep by Birth
Birth is your Awakening, Death is my Sleep
Awakening is your Birth, Sleep is my Death.
Your Awakening is my Death, And Your Birth is my Sleep
Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep
No one is sure of who made the poem or the prophecies. Some very odd people(who many thought were crazy) said that the poem was created by the tale of the Earth, Water and Wind. Others agreed with them and said that the poem would be repeated by the tale of the Land, Sea, and Sky. Once again, many thought that they were delirious and a bunch of kooks obsessed over nothing, but some still believed in them; like Master Oni for example. In my opinion, I thought that it was also a prophecy, but in poem form. But that's just my opinion; that and no one could be sure exactly what it meant by the fact that it uses the words Birth, Sleep, Awakening, and Death constantly and makes it extremely confusing. But then again, nothing that important is easy to understand until it's too late, sadly.
Now we shall explore where everything really began. And I mean everything from the time of the fateful day when we were sent out to find Master Xehanort(whom I prefer to call Geezernort)when he went missing to the time of when Ansem the Wise found a young man at his doorstep. Yes, I seem to remember that everything that had happened began with Birth by Sleep, and shall end with Awakening by Death.
Now, back to the fateful day:
Morning was peeping through the window next to my red and gold color-schemed bed to awake me for yet another day of training. This time, though, I wasn't all that reluctant to get dressed and rush out to Master Oni's blue and gold embroidered study because if I made it through this day of training, I would finish everything I needed to know. I would still have to be an apprentice and train once in a while, but not every single day like before. Sadly, since Ven struggled to pay attention to anything he was taught, he wasn't going to exactly "graduate" so to speak, but was still going to train along with Aqua and I. I think Master Oni knew that Ven would train even worse if we weren't there.
Anyways, I arrived at my destination and waited around for Aqua and Ven, who on routine, decided not to roll out of bed and go, and not to roll out of bed at all, like they did on our very first day.
"I'll go get Ven." I sighed as I turned around to head for the teen's dorm.
"You're late, Ven." Grabbing his wrist with the superhuman strength I had accumulated in the past year, I tossed him out of bed and across the room with ease.
Ven, with the superhuman speed he had obtained, got dressed within two seconds and stood in front of me with a light grin.
"Okay, I'm ready." He had already reached the door without even taking a step. Well, at least I didn't see it.
"You're getting weirder by the day, Ven." I nudged his shoulder lightly as we walked to the study.
"I'm the weird one? At least I don't float around like a cloud." Just as he insulted the blue-haired girl, Aqua came up behind him, and started to on cue, float and plucked him up by the scruff of his jacket and floated so far up that the ground was ten feet away from his shoes.
"At least I don't run around like no tomorrow." She teased as Ven struggled and fought to get his feet back on solid ground.
This is the way it should be. I thought with a jolt of happiness. Even if we are a bunch of superhuman freaks that argue over whose creepier; the one who could lift five people at the same time, the one who could run to Destiny Islands and back within a minute, or the one who wafts around like a clump of cottonwood seeds.
"Ven, Aqua, you are late for the fifth time this week." Master Oni pounded his fist on the wooden desk.
"We're sorry." They bowed their heads in apology.
"Sorry isn't good enough. As I told you before, I can stand it if you're late a few times the first week, maybe even once the second week. But a year into your training?" He shook his bald head.
Suddenly, a shrill voice came over the loudspeaker, "All residents of the castle must immediately report to the gardens in front of the building. Reasons are not specified."
"What do they want now? I hope this isn't another one of Xehanort's jokes."
When we arrived at the gardens as we were instructed, we noticed that many other apprentices were scattered everywhere, all fretting about the current news.
After about twenty minutes a speaker at the front of the crowd raised his voice in urgency and a tone of fear, "Apprentices, Masters, Workers, and others, we are gathered here to talk about a crisis we are having. And yes, this isn't one of Master Xehanort's jokes." He added to everyone's relief.
"Master Xehanort has gone missing." The speaker managed to get the news past his lips.
"Did Geezernort finally kick the bucket?" I soon found out that Master Oni took this news very seriously, for he slapped me on the back of my head. "Be quiet."
"Now, we know that this is very urgent news, and the fact that if he's gone, the universe will be unbalanced because it needs both the Masters of Light and Darkness, and he is absent. This is sure to bring chaos and disaster to the entire universe. The only problem is," He paused to swallow the chunk of fear within his throat.. "The only problem is that we are not sure if he and his apprentice shall return, and if he isn't going to, then we need to know who we should send out to find him."
"I'll go." Ven whispered to me.
"You'll do no such thing. Compared to all the other wielders here, you're not even out of diapers." Master Oni had gotten into Ven's face and pretty much scared the crap out of him.
"Who will go then?" Aqua asked the elder.
"How am I supposed to know?"
"Now, we have already chosen ten of our elite to go-" He paused to nod at the ten people in armor standing valiantly next to him.
"so do not worry about having to go across the entire universe on a perilous and dangerous mission while fighting off many vicious Unbirths and monsters along the way and facing the possibility that you will either die for nothing, or turn into a Unbirth yourself." His last comment made some of the elite clench their hands into tense fists at the task ahead. If I were one of them, I would've peed my pants by now, but hey, it wasn't my job to save the universe, so I wasn't going to worry about it.
"Very well, then. Go off and find Master Xehanort and his cohort. If you all fail, then we will have to send some other poor soul to your job for you. Goodbye, now." He shooed the reluctant soldiers into a portal of light.
"He handled that beautifully." Master Oni sarcastically remarked. "Now, back to your training." Master Oni shoved us into the castle without the slightest effort. We all walked back to the main hall of our dorms and Master Oni's office in complete and utter silence. Finally, Ven broke the silence by complaining about how he wasn't going along to look for Master Xehanort. "Why do I have to stay here while I could be having fun somewhere else on some other world!?"
"Because I said so, that's why." Master Oni dragged Ven by his foot all the way back to the study. I would've thought that Aqua would have protested that ALL of the people in the castle should have gone out to find Master Xehanort, but she didn't dare interrupt when Master Oni was in such a horrible mood.
"What are we going to learn today?" Aqua changed the subject abruptly. We had already finished all of our normal classwork(yes, even Ven did), and we were primarily focusing on subjects surrounding the Keyblade for over half of each day.
"What do you want to learn about? Battle techniques? Spells? Advanced abilities? Anything you three agree on, I guess."
"Yes!" Ven yelled in excitement before he stopped to ponder what he wanted to do that day.
"Can we learn about creating portals?" Ven had once again brought up the subject of traveling to other worlds.
"If you think I'm foolish enough to teach you that, then you should consider getting your common sense rearranged." Master Oni answered much to Ven's dismay.
"But everything else is boring!" We could all tell that Ven's common childish attitude was coming to surface by the way he started mumbling and pouting to himself.
We had finally arrived once again at the starry blue and gold study and sat down in the three chairs surrounding our Master's desk.
"So, what do you request that we learn today?" He glanced at Ven and added, "And we're not going to learn anything on teleportation."
"Stupid..." I didn't hear the rest because Ven instantly stopped when he saw Master Oni's silver eyebrow twitching with annoyance.
"Stupid? Are you calling me stupid?"
"Maybe." Ven defiantly answered as he slunk down in his chair.
"Do you dare call me stupid? Do you!?" The elder's eyes were now blazing like a surging blizzard.
"Maybe." Ven repeated while impossibly slinking lower; his head almost reached the seat of his chair.
"I've had about enough of you!" The old man rose from his desk chair with furious speed and reflex that contradicted his age.
"Uh-oh." Ven instantly got up and ran away with his tail in between his legs in fear of getting his rear handed to him. As expected, Master Oni got to the door in a pace that was fast enough to make anyone dizzy and stood with his arms crossed as Ven crashed into him.
"Let me go!" The blond teen yelped as the elder harshly picked him up by his spiky hair.
"Why should I? You little monkey, why should I?" The old man's silver eyes glowed as he bore them into Ven's soul.
"Because you're nice? And you think I'm the best apprentice you have?" Ven shrugged.
"The best? You're one of the worst! I've never seen anyone dare insult me and call me stupid when they themselves are as intelligent as a lump of coal." Ven glued his blue stare onto his shoes in shame and embarrassment.
"Don' t think that pretending you care will make me feel guilty, because it won't. Now, all I need is to know what you three want to learn. And I don't want to hear another word out of you unless I command you to speak!" He dropped Ven back into his chair and settled himself down into his own.
"Have I made myself clear!?" Master Oni pounded his fist once again on his desk and stared at the teen expectantly.
"Yeah." Ven mumbled and kept his stare to his feet.
"Good. Now, what am I going to teach you today?" The elder asked while hoping it would be the last time he had to.
No one suggested anything.
Aqua then broke the painful silence by clearing her throat, "Why do you even need to train other people to use the Keyblade?"
Master Oni sat in silence with his forefinger and thumb on his chin and pretty much dodged the question, "It depends on what Keyblade Master you are speaking about. And besides, where do you even come up with such questions?"
"I was asking about why you have to teach us." Aqua pestered.
"Do you really wish to know?" He sighed at Aqua's stubbornness; she knew that he was trying to avoid answering her question, yet she still picked at it.
"Very well then. The reason why I have to train you three is because, well, there may even be hundreds of reasons, depending on who you are talking to, but you asked me, so yes, I shall tell you my view upon it."
"Well for a start, I need to teach you three and choose one of you as my successor. Second of all, I need to train you because it is our duty to keep the universe balanced with powerful beings, that would be Keyblade Wielders, on both of the sides of Light and Darkness; if we fail to keep it balanced and do not restore it quickly, then the universe will unbalance and turn into a giant slab of nothing. Without Light, there would be no Darkness, and with no Darkness, there would be no Light. It would turn into nothing because without Darkness, it wouldn't be known as Light, and Darkness wouldn't be known as Darkness without Light to balance it. That was the reason why everyone was so worried about Master Xehanort's disappearance; it would unbalance everything and also is the reason why we sent others to search for him, especially when he is the embodiment of Darkness itself, just as I am of the Light. Now, my third reason would be that all of the powerful spirits and hearts, such as yourselves, would not be taken in by too much darkness and become an incredible addition to the Unbirths' ranks, thus making sure you have a way from protecting yourself from becoming as such. One that you already know is that we must teach you to lessen the Unbirth's ranks. Also to make sure that I am training you so you give peace to the Universe and make sure that your successors do the same. Now the next reason is to give Kingdom Hearts, no matter which one, beings that can protect it; now, wielders of the Heart protect the Kingdom Hearts of all Worlds and the Kingdom Hearts of all men. Wielders of the Spirit, like us, train to protect the Kingdom Hearts of all Souls, and the most important one; the Kingdom Hearts of all Keyblades. One thing you should neverforget is that if you don't do your duties as a Keyblade Wielder, or you fail at important missions, or the worst one of all would be that you fail to fulfill your Destiny, you would screw up the destiny cycle, thus creating chaos to the Universe because all of the Keyblade Wielders' would be unbalanced and might even disappear, an event that evil-doers might use to their advantage." He finished his long paragraph and looked at the stunned and overwhelmed-with-too-much-information teens, Aqua, Ven, and I expectantly.
Most of the reasons were...reasonable, but the one that worried me the most, and I almost knew that it did the same for Ven and Aqua, was that we had incredible pressure upon us; if we failed at any important mission, or even worse, as Master Oni told us, was to not do what we weren't meant to do in our lifetime, we would possibly kill hundreds of Keyblade Wielders and destroy the Universe, just by making one simple mistake that led us off of our life paths. Now I take my earlier statement back; if I were one of those elite right now, I wouldn't have peed my pants, I would have crapped my ass off in them.
"Now then, that is why I specifically told you that we must not use the powers of Darkness, for if you do, you will be risking your life, others' lives, the Universe's life, and even your own sanity." His white eyes were glazed with sadness as he recalled one of his deepest and darkest memories, as if he knew that it had happened before, or maybe that he suspected it would happen again in the future.
Who knows what lies behind those pools of glowing snow?I thought while longing for an answer that would never come to surface. Then again, how could I say that? No one knows whether or not something will happen in the near yet distant future, well, maybe Master Oni did.
"You see now why I didn't want to tell you? Now you think that being perfect is the way to fulfill your Destinies; it is not. If you, let's say, somehow accidentally become overpowered by darkness, or are forced to." He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. "Even if you are breaking the code, you shouldn't worry about it unless you are deliberately doing it. Then if you are, I'd have to converse with you strictly and maybe even ban you from being an apprentice." All three of us nodded and accepted our consequences.
"Now, I'd rather jump off of this topic and get onto your training. For the last and final time, what do you request that we learn today?"
"How about cooking?" Aqua randomly yelped out her suggestion.
"Cooking?" Ven and I asked in unison and confusion.
"Cooking?" Master Oni repeated.
"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast!" She smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Well, I'll tell you right now; I suck at cooking, so if you want to learn I suggest you ask Master Hikari." Master Oni admitted.
"Well, how about health?" Her mischievous glint turned into an malignant one as she watched Ven twitch with horror.
"Oh please! Not health class again!" He shuddered with fear.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Master Oni clasped his hands together and stood up with a joyful grin on his wrinkly face.
"No!" Ven's legs gave way and he fell to the floor in horror.
"Please not that."
"Well, Ven, I seem to remember that a certain someone decided to insult me today, so you must know that I'm not all that content with doing whatever he wants to do. Anyways, I hear that you just 'shiver' with excitement about the reproduction system."
"No! You wouldn't!" Ven slanted his eyes in suspicion.
"Now, Ven, do you know what we call the female organ of the reproductive system?"
"Noooooooooooooo!!" Ven yelped to the skies above in horror.
"It is called the va-" Master Oni was for once excited that he was interrupted by one of Ven's outbursts.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Ven clasped his head tightly in his pale hands and screamed his contradiction so loudly that he couldn't hear the rest of the word that he despised. So, Master Oni said it again, and again, and again many times over, making sure that Ven heard it all by forcing the pressure off of his temples and taking his hands away.
Once Master Oni was done after about ten minutes of yelling disturbing words into Ven's uncovered ears, he finally let go of the teen's hands and watched gleefully as Ven rocked on his butt while hugging his knees with a death grip.
"It burns..." Ven shut his cerulean eyes tightly and shook even harder.
"Now then, what shall we really learn today? You haven't given a suggestion yet, Terra." His eyes were fixed on me expectantly.
"I dunno." I shrugged.
"Well, then I get to choose; we shall learn some new spells; advanced versions of the ones you already know, of course."
"Yes! I'm good at those." Aqua clapped her hands excitedly.
"We shall proceed to the training room then. Terra, will you help Ven make his way down there with us?" He pointed to the blond teen who was knocked out cold.
"Yeah." I wrapped my right arm around Ven's waist and slung him over my shoulder.
"Bleh." Ven gurgled in a gutteral tone while in some unconscious state of mind; probably dreaming about pancakes, or some other kind of food he was choking down his throat.
Master Oni summoned the training room by a wave of his hand, thus creating a large doorway that replaced the one that was the entrance to his study. If you peeked through the doorway, you could just see a sliver of the mosaic steps that led to the stained glass platform. Does this sound familiar? Yes, our training room was shaped exactly like the platforms of glass that littered our "awakening" dreams, as Master Oni called them. Though, there were seven different ones, all holding one of pure heart. I didn't know what Master Oni meant by it, but he mumbled something about Kingdom Hearts afterwards.
"Okay, try to attack me with a blizzard spell." Master Oni commanded at me while Aqua tried to coax Ven out of his dormant stage of mind.
--
One week later...
The announcement speaker box rang through our ears, "WARNING, ALL RESIDENTS MUST IMMEDIATELY STOP THEIR ACTIVITIES AT THIS TIME TO RECEIVE THIS URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT." We could hear the microphone shaking violently as the frightened speaker yelped in fear, "The elite have been wiped out. I repeat:The elite have been wiped out!"
Oh no! A cliffhanger, DUN DUN DUN!!