I'd like to first of all thank caitlinkeitorin for her pointing out some mistakes I had made in the last chapter. Those mistakes I really hope have all been taken care of, and so I have worked through editing this chapter much better then the last. ^^
Once again, reviews are always welcome and I hope you enjoy this chapter ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own anything here, except my own original character. Thank you ^^
Chapter Two - Past and Future
"Wow, weather sure changed quickly huh?"
Sora asked his two friends, the three of them standing in the entrance-way of the large building that housed the gym.
Safe and warm as they were illuminated by the lights above them, directly in front of the three a torrent of rain continued to pour everywhere outside.
Everything, the streets, buildings, nothing was safe from the never ending rain that was brought to the islands.
"Something isn't right here." said Riku, his eyes shining out through the small collection of silver hair strands that fell over his face, while he tilted his head upwards to see the dark clouds that were the cause of the rain.
"You're just being paranoid Riku, its just a little bit of rain." the spiky haired boy soon replied, still smiling as he raised his arms over his head to better keep himself dry as he stepped outside in the rain.
"Yeah, probably just paranoid…..still." the silver haired man said to himself, his eyes always glancing back to the sky that seemed to ease up on the heavy rain only slightly.
"Riku? What is it?" the sudden question of concern brought the silver haired man back to reality, turning his head towards Kairi who was looking up towards him with quizzical eyes.
With a faint smile, the tall young man shock his head as he turned to face the red haired woman.
"Its nothing. You better catch up with Sora, We'll get together and celebrate later." he said with a brotherly smile, causing Kairi to nod and smile back before rushing out into the open air and straight past Sora.
As the brown haired boy turned to watch Kairi run past him, his arm nearly was pulled clean off as it turned out the energetic woman had clutched his hand firmly in hers. Now laughing as she pulled Sora after her and splashing through puddles of rainwater the entire way, Riku smiled and chuckled a little as he watched the two run off. Once the two had fallen out of his line of sight, the silver haired man's smile once again dropped as his gaze turned towards the sky yet again for some mysterious reason.
Something clearly wasn't right, and whatever it was, he clearly wasn't going to like it.
"Why can't I shake this feeling? This familiar feeling…Its just like before." Riku questioned himself, slowly walking from the faint light the entrance-way provided while his footsteps made tiny splashes with the rainwater all around him.
As the rain soon became nothing but a light trickle, the mature keywielder's hearing was soon focused on the crashing waves from the coastline. Turning his head, the man's gaze focused on a single point in front of him, the island.
Their island.
The same place where they planned for that faithful trip.
The same place where their great journey, into the unknown started from.
Even their return home was to their island.
The one place that meant everything to each of them, and the only place where they knew they could all come together again.
As Riku soon found his steps leading him down to the shoreline of the beach, little did he know that many beady yellow eyes glared through the darkness behind him, as the pools of water soon began to turn black and thick.
The sound of laughter had filled the entire street, as Kairi and Sora continued running with all their strength through the puddles and pools of water that had formed from the rain. The rows and rows of houses that they passed, were nothing but blurs as the two great friends seemed to be having so much fun to notice anyone watching them. Even if they did have yellow eyes.
Laying against one of the lampposts that were dotted along the length of the street, Sora continued to laugh, catching his breath as Kairi soon joined the keywielder in his breathless laughing fit.
Looking up towards him, Kairi's smile seemed to grow even more, something that Sora soon noticed and returned with his own widening smile.
Before either could figure out how, both long time friends found themselves close to each other, their faces so near to one another as time itself seemed to slow down at that moment.
Though neither could know, both of their hearts continued to beat wildly as this one single moment could last forever. Closer and closer their faces and lips inched towards each other, neither one saying a single word and simply being lost in the moment.
Or they would have been, if the soul piercing scream from the street close by didn't alert them and snap them out of their trance.
As both of them turned their heads to the source of the scream, Sora and Kairi only needed one look at each other before they took off running towards the danger.
Quickly darting around the corner and into the next street, Kairi gasped, her hands muffling most of it while Sora glared at what they came across.
A young woman and a small boy were kneeling on the street a couple of feet away from them, clutching each other in complete fear as surrounding them, large dark creatures twitched and waited for any sudden movements from them.
"Heartless?"
Sora exclaimed as his fist tightened at the sudden appearance of the dark creatures again, their large yellow eyes not taking any notice of Sora or Kairi at the far end of the street.
"Sora, we need to get them out of here." Kairi said to Sora, her hand raising forward as a flash of light occurred and the strange key like weapon formed in front of her. The flower like pattern that decorated her weapon may have caused anyone who glanced at it to believe it was weak, but the powerful grasp to which Kairi held it clearly showed the true power that was behind it.
Nodding in agreement with his red haired friend, Sora soon followed the actions of her as he raised his own hand just as his own flash of light appeared from it.
The gold and white keyblade formed for the experienced wielder, even in the poorly lit street it caused the mighty weapon to gleam and sparkle.
Upon summoning their weapons, the yellow gazes of the heartless immediately left that of the woman and boy and instantly fell onto Sora.
Extending their claw like hands, the human shaped heartless slowly trudged along the ground, their attention clearly on Sora and allowing Kairi to make her way around the side and to the people that were in the most danger.
Watching as Kairi took the small boy and young woman to the closest house, Sora smiled before raising his keyblade.
Blocking a strike from one of the Neo Shadows and easily pushing his blade through the dark creature, the experienced wielder swung yet again in an impressive twirl as he sliced through two more of the creatures.
Fading away into nothing but a dark tar like substance, Sora was forced to back up from the growing crowds of heartless.
His weapon swinging in motion with his arms, he soon settled in a smooth routine while slicing through Neo Shadows and even normal small Shadows that tagged along with their bigger brothers.
Having dealt with the woman and boy, Kairi soon appeared in Sora's view again as she leaped backwards from one of the houses while quickly being followed by even more Neo Shadows.
Their speedy movement hinted that they must have been waiting for her, after she had gotten the two safely inside. Actually surprised by the increasing groups of heartless, the brown haired keywielder swung and launched his weapon into the crowd of heartless.
The blade continued slicing through them before quickly disappearing in a flash of light, once it had dealt with a large portion of them.
Instantly appearing back within his grasp, Sora readied himself for the oncoming heartless that would come, while Kairi used the opening from her friends attack to reach his side yet again.
With both wielders trying their best to get the creatures under some sort of control, it soon became obvious that it was too far gone for that.
More and more Neo Shadows soon formed from the dark pools brought on by the rain, to which from the torrential pour that had happened meant many more heartless would be on their way.
Beginning to back away, soon the entire street in front of Sora and Kairi was filled to the brim with what appeared to be a single dark mass, with dozens of large yellow eyes watching them.
"Sora! What are we going to do? There's way too many!" Kairi said quite worried to Sora, her grasp on her keyblade growing tighter as she and Sora backed more and more away from the growing heartless. Soon, the two found themselves turning back onto the same street, from which they had heard the scream that alerted them.
"I don't know. We just have to take care of them all." the keywielder answered, his own grip on his weapon tightening and loosening with every step. This simple action of theirs, accompanied that of their gazes, which never left that of the many yellow eyes following them from the darkness.
"There's not enough room. Everyone could get hurt if we fight here!" the red haired woman said as she suddenly swung her weapon with the appearance of a lone Neo Shadow behind her, its body turning to a dark puddle as soon as the blade passed through it.
"I think we don't have to worry about anyone else being in danger…they're following only us." the young man answered his friend, showing his point as he moved slowly to the side. With the legendary Kingdom Key slowly stretching out with his arm, Kairi's eyes widened even more as a small portion of the heartless moved in motion towards Sora.
Soon returning to Kairi's side, a sudden pin dropped within her thoughts as she turned her head to Sora and exclaimed.
"Wait, what about Riku?"
As this realization hit the two of them, the huge colossal gathering of heartless exploded into life. Rushing towards Kairi and Sora, the stampede of creatures forced the two keybladers to take off running back along their path through the streets. During this entire chase, the two tried to also use their time to search for their silver haired friend.
To whom right at that moment, could have been in as much serious danger as they were.
Since arriving on the beach, Riku soon found himself bombarded with almost an endless supply of heartless.
His dark keyblade sliced through one after another, as the white wing near its tip moved with the arc of a brief glimmer of light through the dark bodies.
Once reaching the end of such a long swing, Riku quickly spun his weapon again bouncing back a leaping strike from one of the Neo Shadows.
The monsters body was instantly split in half, turning into nothing but darkness that stained the already black sand.
Finding himself backed against the ocean, the silver haired sword master raised his keyblade while continuing to swing and strike at the countless heartless that tried to claw at him. Each creature was soon repelled or cleaved through after each of their failed attempts.
Though by now, the warrior already found himself wishing for some kind of a break to occur.
The hundreds of yellow eyes before him and rising from the new pools of darkness, showed that one such break would never arrive for him.
Glaring at the dark creatures, Riku raised his key blade over his head with one single strike in mind. Clutching the handle with both hands as he readied himself for the heartless, the faint swirl of darkness curled itself around his blade while the dark monsters made their move.
Leaping in a single large group, the huge crowd of Neo Shadows raised their claws, about to slice through the keyblader before the sound of ice exploding all around was heard. Lowering their sliced dark stained hands, both Sora and Kairi stood on the street overlooking the beach, now with a huge section of Neo Shadows frozen in a joined combination of blizzard magic.
Those not caught within the blast, were smart enough from the powerful display of magic to simply back away briefly from their targets, though still watching them intently.
Rushing down to their friend, the three wielders raised their weapons and proceeded watching each others backs while facing away from the ocean.
"Are you two ok?" Riku questioned his friends. The small smile on his face showing his relief for their safety, while Sora laughed a little while holding his own keyblade with both hands. His familiar stance ready to strike anything that came close to him or any of his friends.
"Are we ok? We should be asking you I think. We thought you might have needed some help with these guys. We know how you're getting old and all." the brown haired boy joked, while Kairi shook her head in amazement with how Sora could joke at a time like this.
"Riku, why do you think they're after only us?" asked Kairi, her eyes briefly glancing up to Riku before returning to the heartless that were beginning to thaw from the ice around them.
"I don't know, but I think whatever is causing this, its coming from over there." The older man informed both his friends, the two of them looking to find their gaze was on that of their island in the distance.
"We need to get over there then. We need to stop what's doing this." Sora said, quickly voicing his plan while Riku turned to his friend, apparently forgetting about the dozens of dangerous heartless waiting to attack them.
"And how do you plan on us getting over there? It's not like the heartless are going to wait for us to get a boat and row over." the silver haired man said and causing Sora to glare at his friend, both of them now in the beginnings of one of their long arguments.
"Um guys! I don't think that's much of a problem as we imagine." Kairi said, interfering with their talk as both young men turned towards the heartless, to find that not one of them were approaching the three.
Their large beady yellow eyes continued to stare at them, the eternal silence from so many of them brought a sense of creepiness to the entire shoreline.
While they did not attack, or make any sort of movement towards the three friends, it was apparent that no way of returning to the streets was an option. The heartless formed a row, blocking off any escape from the shoreline except that of using the boats nearby on one of the many docks along the beach.
Before long, all three wielders were slowly rowing in one of the largest boats they could find. No harm was caused by any of the heartless who continued to simply stare at them as they walked towards one of the docks, and the boat they had taken to use briefly. While rowing further and further away from the shore, the bright yellow eyes of the heartless continued to glare out towards the group.
Kairi momentarily shivered, the strength she had gained over the years along with her friends seemingly amounting to nothing, as everything that happened years ago began to come flooding back.
Noticing this, Sora stopped rowing for a moment. His hand gently being placed on the red heads shoulder, causing Kairi to turn to him.
"Its happening again isn't it. We have to protect everyone Sora." the young woman said to Sora, the brown haired man nodding in understanding as he grasped a hold of the two oars beside him and began to help Riku with the rowing again.
"We'll stop it. Whatever it is, we'll stop it." Sora replied back with confidence, his eyes glancing past Kairi and towards the faintly dimming yellow eyes of the distant heartless. Brief explosions of thunder filled the dark sky, while the further their boat got, the more impressively larger waves crashed into them.
Tossing them around the ocean seemed to be childs play for the immensely strong waves, yet amazingly through it all they were finally within close distance to their island with no severe harm caused.
The sound of the boat coming to a rough stop against the hard sand, was instantly accompanied by the dull thuds of Sora, Kairi, and Riku's departure from said boat and onto the beach.
Their eyes glanced around the small shoreline of sand. The tiny waterfall off in the corner continued to pour water from some unknown source, while the palm trees blew with the powerful gusts of wind that only got stronger.
Besides the abnormal weather shaking the entire island, no other changes had really occurred to the island, save for one little detail.
"Someone's here…" Kairi said almost like a whisper, her eyes never leaving the figure she was watching, and before long, both Riku and Sora turned to see the lonesome figure.
Standing close to what was a tiny shack further down the beach, the single figure even from such a distance, could be seen was clearly quite tall. The strong winds caused the ends of what was a long coat, to bellow and wildly flare up around his legs.
The brief flashes of lightning illuminating the entire island, allowed the three wielder to notice his shoulder length silver hair ruffling around his shoulders. Remaining perfect still, the figure seemed more interested in watching the crashing waves further out at sea then to the three arrivals.
Taking care to watch for any sort of a trap, all three keybearers slowly inched their way along the sandy shoreline.
Their eyes never left the still barely moving figure, who's only source of movement was that of his long black trench coat and silver hair.
"Why…Why do you keep calling us?" the figure suddenly asked.
His question completely taking the three off guard, neither of them having any idea to what the man was implying.
"We're not calling you? We've never tried call…."
"DON'T LIE TO ME!"
The man roared immediately cutting off Kairi, as the red haired woman tried to explain.
Not taking his sudden burst of anger well, both Sora and Riku stepped in front of Kairi. The two warriors summoning their keyblades in preparation for a fight, that was dangerously getting close to happening.
Slowly, a large smile formed on the face of the figure, while a low chuckle beginning to get louder and louder from the clearly menacing as he turned to face all three wielders.
Raising his left tanned hand, the figure continued to smile, all the time wagging his finger to the three while his chuckling grew much louder and more deranged.
"Tsk Tsk, its not nice to lie. You called us…you keep calling us…you never stop?" the figure babbled on, his smile briefly fading as his question sounded like someone wishing to be given rest. This sense of tiredness however soon fell from his face, his smile quickly returning while the group could finally see his bright yellow eyes shining towards them.
"W-What are you?" Sora immediately asked as his keyblade raised in front of him, while both himself and Riku knew precisely what the figure had to be, and wishing above all else that they were wrong.
Soon finding his chuckling developing into a full blown outrageous laugh, the figure's smile never fell, while his long arms stretched out from his sides, revealing the tanned skin of his chest from the parts his slightly closed coat didn't keep hidden.
"What am I? What a naïve question?" the figure said in a much more powerful and commanding voice, sending a dark shiver down each of the three warriors spines.
Still watching the figure, Kairi soon summoned her own keyblade again, her grip growing tighter then that of her friends, as all three watched the swirling darkness around the towering man. Rising slightly into the air, the darkness floating around him soon took on a rather familiar shape.
The large yellow eyes and huge muscular arms stretched and flexed out from behind the man, as the full hovering body of the mighty Guardian heartless kept the man afloat, exactly like that of someone long defeated.
"This isn't possible. How can you do that?" Riku immediately questioned, his grip on his keyblade growing tighter and threatening to snap the handle clean off.
The figure only smiled more at this question, his piercing glare at the three seeming even more powerful from the air. Continuing to smile as he seemed to ignore Riku's question, the powerful Guardian growled as if in response for the man.
While two large orbs of dark energy formed in its massive hands, the three bearers of the keyblade could only stare back into the bright eyes of the floating man as he smirked from high above.
Now the epic fighting begins ^_^ I may have gotten a little out of control with the fighting, so perhaps the next chapter may be a little long lol ^^ I'm also thinking of possibly starting in the next chapter, to add a little section at the bottom with some details like keyblade names and other parts like that. What would everyone think about that? Reviews again, always welcome ^-^