Welcome back!
Disclaimers: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy and anything else is not mine.
The only thing I can take credit for is the OC's. If any appear, that is.
And… this is not going the way that I planned it was.
Oh well, I'm pretty sure it's only the pressure of the upcoming holiday special.
Namine looks around her; there was nothing but white as far as the eye could see.
She was in some kind of long hall way and there was someone gripping her shoulder.
The man in the black cloak comments something to her but exactly what it was he said, she didn't know.
All she could was continue to cling onto the sketchbook and box of drawing utensils that she had pressed to her chest.
She shivers slightly in the cold; after all, all she had on were freakin' sandals and a short summer dress.
The man shoves her forward a little and points up at the icy white walls.
All Namine could think was just how blank they were… and how empty she herself felt. It was strange… she couldn't feel anything, not even the faintest emotion of sadness, of pain, even the cold didn't bother her very much.
The man comments something to her again and two words out of the jumbled mess make sense:
"Castle Oblivion."
"Namine? Hey, she's waking up!" Xion's very distinct voice calls out.
Namine opens her eyes and sees the entire group, minus Sora who was currently running from Roxas who was chasing him, looking down at her with concern.
"You alright?" Axel asks as she sits up.
She nods and then notices Riku smacking a handheld game in fury, looking as if he wanted to tear it in half.
"Dammit, Axel! Why are you so hard to beat in this?" Riku snarls at the redhead who only grins.
"Cause I'm awesome. Got it memorized?" Axel says with a smug smile as Riku's tiny sprite dies for the fifth time in under ten minutes, the "continue?" icon flashing on the top screen.
Riku throws the DS across the room and immediately starts pouting into a cushion. The flying DS smacks into the side of Sora's head and makes him crumple to the ground, out cold.
"They're going to drive me insane." Namine murmurs to herself with a strained smile and a nervous giggle.
"Okay, Namine… would you mind playing this for a little while?" The red-haired girl ("Kairi?" Namine wondered to herself) says as she scoops up the battered DS and holds it out to her.
"Uh… No, I wouldn't." Namine says in a mildly confused voice as she takes the device carefully.
As Xion very helpfully explains the controls and Axel flicks the game on for her, all Namine could think was just how strange the Castle she had remembered was… How eerily familiar it was.
And then the Castle flashed onto the screen in the starting credits.
"OH MY GOD!" Namine shrieks and very nearly drops the game as a younger version of Sora in what looked like… a weird clown costume, starts walking down a path.
"Namine, watch." Xion says in a soothing voice as she puts the DS back into Namine's shaking hands.
"Believe me; I was furious when I found out about this the first time. I freakin' broke a computer. A computer. That's how mad I was." Roxas comments with a mildly annoyed look.
Axel looks at him with a look that pretty much said "are you freakin' kidding me?' on his face.
"Roxas… do you know how many computers you've broken? We have a GRAVEYARD for them. A graveyard!" Axel snarls but then Namine yelps as a tiny hooded figure appears on screen.
"Hey, cool! Marluxia definitely was shown to his best mysterious advantage here." Xion observes critically, squinting at the tiny screen and flashing a grin at the pixilated figure.
Namine can only watch as the four pixeled characters, which included what looked like an anthromorphic duck and dog, banter via a small text box.
She starts shaking like crazy and shuts her eyes as the tiny Sora figure starts smacking a huge Key at the hooded individual, seeming only being able to attack using cards in the shape of crowns.
"Hey, Namine, you okay?" Sora asks in a curious voice, looking down at the screen in mild confusion as if he couldn't believe that that had actually happened.
"Or maybe because he doesn't remember." Namine says out-loud, staring at the screen. Everyone looks over at her at these words.
"What did you just say?" Xion asks in a hopeful voice, looking as if she was about to burst into tears again.
Namine clutches at her aching head and shuts the DS closed; even as the GameBoy Advance cartridge's music continued to emit from the tiny speakers, she starts running from the door.
"… Get her!" Axel and Demyx shout in unison.
Naught's Hallway
Haru, otherwise known as the Riku Replica or the annoying look-alike who swears a lot or "Son" to a single member of the Organization, marches down the hallway calmly as he eyes his plateful of food hungrily.
"I wonder what's up with Namine? And why the Organization assholes were chasing her?" He murmurs out loud to himself as he snatches a piece of toast off the pile and starts nibbling at it.
Haru felt a strong connection with the female Nobody, mostly because they were introduced to the series in the same game. Granted, she had totally manipulated him and Sora but they had quickly developed a nice friendship.
Haru wonders if she had gotten in trouble for one of her pictures but quickly dismisses the idea. Namine was pretty nice but her pictures looked like a five year old had drawn them. One that had a broken hand. And who drew it in the dark.
"Oh well, I guess I could always ask her." Haru decides as he takes one last chomp out of the toast and sticks it back on the pile.
He grins at the very thought and resolves to ask Namine the very first chance he got.
Luckily for our dear little Replica, Namine was running down the hallway!
"Watch out!" The girl shouts as she skids past him and turns the corner.
"Huh? OH! Namine!" Haru shouts back, instantly throwing the plate behind his shoulder, accidentally smacking Axel in the face.
"Run!" Namine yells back at him as he runs after her.
After a few turns, they completely lose the Organization members (and Destiny Island kids) that had been chasing after them.
"So… mind… explaining… why… you… were… running?" Haru gasps out, his face completely red from the exertion of running down the equivalent of three miles long hallways.
Namine shakes her head violently and stares at him as if he was her last lifeline to sanity.
"Are we… the kind of people who like to dress up as video game characters?" She demands seriously, looking as she was ready to pass out.
"…You mean cosplayers?" Haru asks in clarification.
Namine nods, clasping her hands together tightly as she waits for his answer.
"Uh, no. We're actual fu… freakin' video game characters. Watch. Kiiiiingdom Heaaaaarts!"Haru shouts out in a deep voice and waves his hands crazily in the air.
In an instant, the soft melodic voice of a familiar Japanese pop artist starts singing in the background and a small silver logo appears in the air; it proudly bore a small crown along with the gleaming letters "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories."
Namine looks at the game logo with complete horror.
"I'M IN A MAD HOUSE WITH A BUNCH OF CRAZY PEOPLE!" She shrieks and runs down the hallway screaming.
"… What the hell did I say?" Haru wonders in bewilderment as the logo vanishes above him.