*I don't own ANY of the Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII, or Final Fantasy VIII characters; I only own Katie
OH! And sorry if I got some OOC going on...^-^'
The hooded figure fell down to one knee and felt his sword fly out of his hand. He watched the Neoshadow's come closer to him and he closed his eyes, ready to die. He oddly heard a whoosh and felt extreme heat whiz past him. The hooded figure opened his eyes and half gasped, most of Neoshadows and Heartless were gone or on fire. He looked up the trail of smoke to see a railing high above, shocked to see a girl with a raised hand glowing red and had flames curling off of her hand. "Leave him alone, ya stupid Heartless!" He heard the girl yell. A fireball formed on her palm and a large fireball shot towards him, he ducked. But he didn't erupt into flame; the remaining Heartless did and disappeared.
Looking up to the girl again, who was now sitting on the railing with her legs crossed. "Who are you?" the hood figure asked.
"Name's Katie. You?" Katie hollered.
The hooded figure looked at the ground. "I don't have one…" He mumbled.
"What was that?" Katie yelled.
"Nothing!" the hooded figure yelled back. "Why don't you come down here?" He asked.
"Why don't you come up here?" Katie shot back. "Just because I saved your ass doesn't mean I trust you."
"I was just going to say the same thing." The hooded figure confessed.
Katie smirked at the hooded figure's remark. "Good answer! I like you. Be down in a sec…" She looked at the ground. "Wow, that's a long fall…" Katie commented. 'This is a REALLY, REALLY bad idea.' Katie gripped onto the railing as she slowly lowered herself until she was dangling. She slowly swung her legs to a nearby ledge and firmly placed her feet on the edge and let go of the railing. Flailing her arms to keep balance, she slowly walked on the ledge to find another way down.
The hooded figure stared at Katie; terrified she'll make a false move and fall to her death. "You sure you should be doing that?"
"I'm starting to question myself at the moment, so no! I don't think I should be doing this!" Katie snarled as she jumped from one ledge to another.
"Need some assistance?" asked the hooded figure as walked under Katie.
Katie looked down and made a weak smile. "…Yes please…" She grumbled. "I'm not exactly a gymnast here."
"What's a gymnast?" He asked as he outstretched his hand to grab Katie's.
Katie slowly pressed her hand on her forehead and let out a long sigh. "Oh, for cryin' out loud…I need to remember I'm not on Earth anymore." Katie mumbled loudly as she reached for hooded figures hand. "You sure this is a good idea? No offense, but you don't look like the strong type."
"Neither do you." The hooded figure said with a smirk.
"Oh, shut up…" Katie growled. Taken by surprise, the hooded figure grabbed her arm and pulled her down and before she hit the floor face-first, the hooded figure caught her and helped her stand up. "What the heck was that?!" She yelled.
The hooded figure laughed. "You're welcome!"
"Oh, ha-ha-ha. I'm dying of laughter…you could've killed me!" Katie snarled. Her harsh remarks started to scare herself, since when was she this mean to somebody?
"Like your own idea wouldn't have ended up the same way!" The hooded figure snorted as he crossed his arms.
Katie made a deep growl in her throat. Before she could make another cruel retort, she harshly shook her head. "Ugh…sorry. I usually don't act like this." She saw a sword lying on the ground in the corner of her and picked it up, "This is yours, right?" Katie flipped the sword around so the handle pointed at the hooded figure. She smiled when the hooded figure nodded slowly and hesitantly grabbed the sword's handle and took it from Katie's hands. "So…I didn't hear you answer my question earlier. Can you tell me your name again?" She asked kindly.
The hooded figure looked away. "My name is fake. Just like my existence," he mumbled.
Katie cocked her head to the side, " 'Fake'? Whadda mean by that?" She looked at the hooded figure closer with squinted eyes. "…You're the Riku Replica…aren't you?" Katie asked slowly. The hooded figure took a step back, Katie couldn't tell if she offended him or she was spot on and he was surprised. "Pardon me but…" Katie walked up closer to the hooded figure and slowly reached for his hood. She was surprised how much shorter the hooded figure was compared to herself; she was maybe a good a foot-and-a-half taller than him if not more. Katie placed her hand on his head and pulled the hood back, revealing his face. He looked on the border of fifteen and sixteen and had medium lengthed silver hair that was tinted light purple. Even though he was looking at the ground, Katie could see his eyes were a bright ice-blue color. "Well, you're not 'fake' to me." Katie told him with a smile.
"Huh?" The boy looked at Katie in confusion. "You don't believe I'm a fake?"
"Everyone deserves to exist. To me, if the person as feelings, they are real and should be treated as such." Katie explained. Her smile slowly faded away when she saw tears run down the replica's face and made stifling sobs. "Did I say something…?"
"N-no. It's just…I'm not used to this kind of treatment, that's all." Riku Replica stuttered. He felt a hand on his cheek and wipe his tears away, he looked up. Katie smiled at him, which made him feel funny inside. He pushed the feeling away. "So, why are you here?" He asked.
Katie smiled again. "I was just going to ask you the same thing. Let's walk during our chat."
Katie learned that Riku Replica didn't exactly die like Re: Chains of Memories suggested after his final fight against the real Riku. He simply faded into darkness and wandered the dark halls of the Dark Realm until he found his way to Castle That Never Was, ending up in an Organization XIII uniform upon arrival. From what he said, it sounded like he just got here. In return, Katie told him how she ended up at Castle That Never Was. Riku Replica listened to every single word and didn't interrupt even once; believing every word she said. "I have to find Terra…God knows what will happen if I don't." Katie finished.
Riku Replica slowly nodded. "I see…" He mumbled, his eyes brightened with an idea. "How about I help you find your friend?"
"Excuse me? Are you sure?" Katie asked.
"Yes, I'm sure." He answered with a grin. He felt a sudden change in the Darkness and summoned his sword, Soul Eater. "Heartless!" He hissed.
"What? Where?!" Katie asked with wide eyes, scanning the area. In a blink of an eye, a Shadow Heartless rose from the ground in front of her. "Oh. Found it." Before she could shoot the Heartless with her Firaga spell, Riku Replica slashed his sword at the Heartless making it disappear. As if on cue, over a dozen of Heartless of a handful of types emerged from the ground and from thin air. "Good Lord! We've got Shadows, Neoshadows, and Air Pirates!" Katie announced. She and Riku Replica got back to back as the Heartless surrounded them.
"What is that?" asked Riku Replica as a white creature appeared from an odd portal.
Katie groaned. "Great. Nobodies…"
" 'Nobodies'?"
"Really?! Of all people, you should know what a Nobody is!" Katie rubbed her temples with her non-Materia infused hand. "Vexen is one!"
Riku Replica growled at the name. "Then it's official. I hate Nobodies."
"But-!" Katie groaned. "Never mind. Let's kill some Heartless and Nobodies." With that statement, she and Riku Replica lunged into battle.
Katie grabbed an Air Pirate by its wing as it swooped down to attack her; she threw it at an incoming Neoshadow and launched a large fireball at the Heartless, making them burst into flame. She jumped into the air when two Dusks lunged at her, "Oh, I'm not falling for that trick again!" Katie yelled as she referred to when Xehanort captured her with Dusks. The two Dusks comically crashed into each other, giving Katie a chance to stomp on their heads. The Dusks fell to the floor and Katie grabbed them both in separate hands, lighting them on fire and threw them at the Heartless, catching them on fire as well. No wonder Axel used fire as his main element; catching stuff on fire was fun. She slid on the floor, tripping Neoshadows and sending them over to Riku Replica, who slashed at them like they were baseballs and his sword was a baseball bat. Doing a front flip to get off of the floor, she kicked an Air Pirate out of air and had it pinned under her feet. She grabbed its head with her Materia infused hand and lit it on fire, making it disappear.
Riku Replica saw from the corner of his eye a Neoshadow jumped behind Katie, in her blind spot. "Look out!" He yelled. Katie turned around but not fast enough, the Neoshadow's claws dug into her arm. With a yelp of pain, Katie pried of the Heartless from her with her flame-covered hand, setting it on fire and threw it at a bunch of Shadows. She gripped onto her bleeding arm, of course it was the arm exposed to the air and hissed in pain. "You okay?" asked Riku Replica in a worried voice. Katie nodded and continued to fight off the Heartless, she screamed in pain again when a Dusk slashed her back and a Shadow sunk its teeth into her leg when she and Riku Replica weren't looking. Riku Replica whipped around and watched Katie fall to one knee. He ran to her and knelt next to her, "Katie!" Before Riku Replica could say anymore, Katie pushed him out of the way of a Neoshadow. She let out a bloodcurdling scream as the Neoshadow slashed her chest, making a waterfall of blood pour out of her chest. Riku Replica yelled in rage and attacked the Neoshadow aggressively. Surrounded with a dark aura, he attacked the rest of Heartless and Nobodies mercilessly, taking revenge for Katie's injuries. In a matter of seconds, all the Nobodies and Heartless disappeared. He turned around to look at his friend.
Katie was in bad shape. Blood poured dangerous amounts out of her arm, back, leg, and the worst of all the injuries; her chest. She was lying in a pool of dark crimson, letting blood stain her hair and clothes. She left…numb. Katie barely felt Riku Replica lift her body up from the ground; she barely heard him call her name countless times. She looked at him with glassed over eyes, only seeing darkness take over her vision and Riku Replica fade away along with the darkness.
"Katie! Stay with me, Katie!" Riku Replica yelled as he watched her dull eyes close. He shook her, hoping to keep his new friend awake but only faced defeat. He looked at the ceiling and let out a mournful cry. Riku Replica held Katie for a few extra minutes, waiting for the darkness take her away but oddly no darkness came. Instead, he felt warmness pulse through Katie's body and a dim light grew brighter on her chest. Riku Replica shielded his eyes as the light grew more intense, he felt his feet get lifted from the ground. He and Katie got swallowed in a portal of light.
"Hey! He's waking up!" Riku Replica slowly opened eyes to the eager sounding voice. From what he could identify from his surroundings, he was in a house of some kind.
"You okay, kid?" asked a gruff sounding voice.
Riku Replica rubbed the back of his head. "Uh…yeah. I think so…wait a minute! Where's Katie?!" He yelled angrily as he stood up fast only falling back to the floor.
"Hey, take it easy. You took a hard fall." said the gruff voice. Riku Replica saw the owners of the voices walk towards him. He was tall and muscular man with brown messy hair, blue eyes, and had a long scar across his face. One of them wore a dark blue short-sleeved jacket with a fur collar and a red lion's head on each sleeve over a white shirt and had his white shirt tucked into black pants that had many different belts and buckles. A clunky chain necklace with the same lion's head hung from his neck. He wore three brown belts on his left arm and had wrist-lengthed black gloves on.
The other was quite short and younger compared to the man…and female. She had very short black hair and had a black ribbon wrapped around her head, her eyes were violet. She wore a grey sleeveless jacket over a navy blue shirt with a white floral design on it, wore shorts that where a mix of black and tan, and had black knee-high socks and tan boots that looked like convers. A white wrist band was on her right wrist and a black fingerless glove covered her left hand and lower forearm. "I'm Yuffie! This buff guy is Squall!" chirped Yuffie.
"It's LEON…" growled Leon.
"You still haven't answered my question. Where is Katie?" Riku Replica growled.
"The girl that was with you? She's over there." Leon answered pointing at a bed facing away from Riku Replica. "To be honest with you, she's lucky to still be alive." He added as he helped Riku Replica up and walk over to the bed.
"Yeah! It took our entire supply of High Potions and Aerith's strongest Curaga spell just to revive her! But after casting a few Cura spells, we got her back to health. She's just resting now." Yuffie added.
Riku Replica tensed when he saw Katie's limp form lying on the bed. He didn't expect all the bandages wrapped around her, he expected only bandages on where he saw her injuries. But the one thing that threw him off was a giant chunk of her overgrown bangs was silver instead of platinum blond like it was at Castle That Never Was.
Trust me, if I could think more, this chapter would be WAAAAAAYY longer than it is. xD