Hello, one and all, and welcome to my latest pride and joy, The Seventh Apprentice! Feel free to pick up some popcorn, because in all likelihood this is gonna take a while. It will cover Kingdom Hearts 2, but it's not as much of a boring novelization as it was when I posted it before.
Anxclof: So, you figured you'd try again. And this time include the spoilerific addition of me in Roxas' dreams... (sigh)
Me: What?! I have to glean my attention somehow! But yeah, just enjoy, and be patient. I'll get to the good part soon enough. And honestly, anyone who gets put off by long chapters should just go ahead and leave now. Plus, the reason some stuff in the flashbacks are so bunched together is to distinguish between all the flashbacks, because putting a "--" between every one just gets annoying. So... sorry about that.
Anxclof: So, disregarding Saf's ranting, go ahead and read.
Me: HEY!
Disclaimer- YES, the Square-Enix people ARE writing KH fics by the penname of Saf Dawnheart! How did you know?! (sarcasm)
The waves lapped against the faintly moonlit shore, carried by the soft wind to barely touch the feet of the black-cloaked figure. The figure had just enough time to register the slight brush of the water before its attention was drawn elsewhere: toward the tall rock nearby, where an identically clad person had just stepped out of an odd portal of darkness. The taller of the two turned its head to acknowledge the new presence.
"You have arrived," it said, speaking in a deep voice that announced it as unmistakably male.
The other figure, in response, merely walked over to where their companion sat, and halted at his feet, but did not do anything else: simply standing still, as though waiting for more.
"I've been to see him," the other continued. "He looks a lot like you."
"Who are you?"
The other laughed slightly at the question. "I'm all that's left. Or… maybe I'm all that ever was."
His companion seemed confused at the cryptic reply, but nonetheless pushed on. "I meant your name."
"My name is of no importance." He turned toward the other and tilted his head slightly in an inquiring gesture. "What about you? Do you remember your true name?"
"My true name… is…"
"Sora?"
Soft blue eyes open, framed by unruly spikes of dark brown hair. A beautiful sky, complementing an equally sparkling sea. "Whoa!" The young boy jerks up, nearly bumping his head against the dark-cinnamon-haired girl in the process. The girl laughs at his response. "Gimme a break, Kai –!"
A silver-haired boy, looking slightly older than the brunette, runs across the beach. "Giving up already?" he taunts. The brunette, in response, only runs faster, determined to best his friend.
The trio sits along the branches of a tree. "If there are any other worlds out there," the silver-haired boy mutters bitterly, "why did we end up on this one?"
Crude little drawings, of the spiky-haired one handing something star-shaped to another poorly drawn person. A deep voice says, "This world has been connected."
The boy in question whirls around with a cry of "Who's there?"
A darkly clad figure. "Tied to the darkness…"
The girl and the brown-haired one, sitting on a pier, staring out at the beautiful sunset. The girl stands up, her cinnamon locks standing out against the purple and crimson of the sky's current state, and turns to face the brunette. "Sora, don't ever change."
The silver-haired boy reaches out his hand. "The door has opened."
"What?" Sora says, bewildered, trying to take his friend's hand. But the opaque tendrils of darkness swallow the elder of the two before they can make contact.
Sora stands up and turns, only to see a huge creature, black as night and with eyes blazing like golden coals. The girl tries to leap into his arms, but merely rushes straight through him.
"So…ra…"
"Roxas!" another brunette shouts. Her dark-gloved hands have currently taken up their custom position on her hips and her emerald eyes are glaring into his. "Wake up, you loser!"
With a grunt, Roxas awakened from the strange dream. He sat up, and sighed as he settled one elbow on the same knee. "Another dream about him," he murmured.
Though admittedly that was the first time the mysterious girl had entered his dream… What a weird outfit she'd been wearing: a black hooded leather coat that matched her gloves.
Ding, ding, ding…
The blond turned at the sound of the clock tower, and opened the window of his room to let in the early morning sunlight. Unbidden, many other sounds followed as well: crows cawing; the trains chugging along. Just another part of Twilight Town, Roxas thought affectionately.
He got up and changed into his regular outfit of white-and-red coat, all the while reflecting on the newest dream. Usually they were just vague flashbacks – such as the one before this one; that had been one of Sora rushing into combat alongside a blue-clad duck and a dog-like creature – but never before had the dreams come this strong. Roxas guessed he couldn't just dismiss the dreams as figments of his ice-cream-overloaded imagination after all, much to his disappointment. These odd recollections would be much more explainable if he knew they were just all in his head.
Roxas let out a slight growl as he accidentally stuck his right leg into the left pant leg, and berated himself for thinking too much on dreams, of all things. He'd never told Hayner, Olette and Pence about his dreams, so it was best that he didn't let them know something was bothering him. Then they would ask, and he would have to tell the truth; and then they would dismiss him as crazy. And that was the last thing Roxas wanted.
Finally managing to get the offending pants on, he headed on outside to meet the others at The Usual Spot.
He sat down in his own little area, near one of the brick walls, and listened absently to his friends chatter. Roxas tried to get into the conversation, he really did, but his treacherous mind kept wandering back to the strange new vividness of his dreams.
Why is it that only I'm getting all these weird flashbacks? he wondered, staring down at his hands and abruptly becoming very interested in the textures of his black and white rings. I mean… He allowed his gaze to pass over Hayner, Pence and Olette, who were currently grumbling about the injustice of something new Seifer had done. It's obvious that nothing weird's been happening to my friends, so…
"Roxas?"
Hayner. Roxas turned to face his friends, who were currently looking at him expectantly. A little awkwardly, he gave a few quick, slightly disinterested nods.
Hayner sighed. "You don't even know what we were talking about, do you?"
Roxas allowed a small, embarrassed smile to cross his countenance, inwardly grateful that they hadn't asked what the matter was.
"Seifer's been spreading these rumors that we stole all the stuff that's been disappearing around town," Pence explained.
"I mean, I can't really blame him if he wants to think we did it," Hayner went on, standing up and crossing his arms so he could pace properly. "Since our groups don't exactly like each other and all. But why is he going around telling everyone we did it?"
"What are we supposed to do about it anyway?" Olette murmured.
Roxas blinked when he saw that everyone was looking at him. "Um, well…" he began, trying to think up something. "Maybe we could go find the real thieves."
"What about Seifer?" Hayner asked irritably.
"We have to clear our names first, remember?" Roxas reminded him.
A small growl of annoyance from his unruly-haired friend was Hayner's reply.
"Oh, no!" came a sudden cry from near the curtain that served as The Usual Spot's exit. It was Pence, and he was frantically staring at a camera. "They're gone! Our -- are gone!" He looked startled at the blank where the word was obviously supposed to have been.
"All our --, gone?" Hayner's face now wore an equally shocked expression.
"And not just the --, but the word --!" Roxas said. "They stole it, too."
"What kind of freaky thief is that?" Hayner asked, his surprise having calmed just a little.
"Seifer could never have done that," Olette said.
"Alright, time for some recon," Hayner muttered, and with that the three of them ran out through the curtain.
Roxas got up and made to follow, but suddenly a feeling of nausea took over him and he swayed, collapsing to his knees.
Voices echoed inside his mind, one deep and masculine and the other female, respectively. They sounded as though from a long way off:
"His heart is returning. Doubtless, he'll awaken very soon."
"About time, I should say. Took a freaking year to get so much as the slightest response out of him!"
"Hush, Char."
"Why don't you try and make me?"
Roxas groaned as the voices faded and he pushed himself up from the ground. I guess I fell harder than I thought, he mused, putting a hand to his head to stifle the sudden slight headache. Standing back up, he brushed his pants off and looked around.
A sudden sound of footsteps heralded the arrival of Olette. "Roxas, come on," she said almost teasingly.
"Huh? Oh… right…" Roxas watched her head off, back toward where Hayner and Pence must've gone. It looked to him like they had gone in the direction of the Sandlot – no big surprise, really, considering that the Struggle tournament was in just a few days.
With that, Roxas started toward the Sandlot, brushing the curtain aside as he went.
The Sandlot was right outside the back alley, so he had no trouble getting there. Almost as soon as his foot touched the hard concrete ground he saw Hayner and the others talking with the other three of Seifer's gang. Roxas felt a feeling of slight panic bloom in his stomach as he walked up behind Pence. From the sound of it, this wasn't going to end well.
"Thieves," Fuu was saying in that simplistic way she had, pointing accusingly at Roxas and his friends.
"That was low, y'know?" Rai added. Vivi didn't say anything, being too timid to get into this sort of argument, and instead adjusted his weird little tan hat.
"Oh yeah?" Hayner challenged.
There came a snort from nearby. "Nice comeback, blondie," Seifer taunted, his long white coat billowing in the wind as he approached.
"What did you say?!" Hayner snarled.
Roxas sighed softly. Oh, this was not going to end well at all.
"You can give us back the -- now," Seifer retorted.
"Yeah! You're the only ones who would take 'em, y'know?"
"Not that we need the -- to prove that you're losers."
Roxas could feel his temper rising at Seifer's words, and clenched his fist in an attempt to hide it.
"So what'd you do?" the white-coated teen went on, smirking at Roxas as though sensing his annoyance. "Burn it?"
"Replay," Fuu said.
Seifer laughed smugly. "Alright, now you're talking!" Letting his eyes rove over the others, he added derisively, "Although I guess if you get on your knees and beg, maybe I'll let it slide."
Man, this guy was annoying Roxas. The spiky-haired blond narrowed his eyes even further until he was sure that they appeared as little glittering, blue slits. If only he could think of a way to get the little bully back for all this…
His eyes, slitted as they were, fell upon the three Struggle clubs that happened to be nearby.
Hm.
Stepping forward, he bent his legs and kneeled at Seifer's feet, ignoring the scathing cackles of Seifer, Rai and Fuu. Wait for it… wait for it…
"Roxas!" Hayner yelled in shock.
And then the kneeling boy leaped up and raced toward the Struggle clubs, grabbing the one on the end as he went.
"You little –" Seifer snarled, seizing his own weapon and pointing it at Roxas. "You'll pay for that!"
Roxas swallowed. Great, what had he gotten himself into now? Nevertheless, he managed to get the club so that both hands were clutching the handle and it was tilted upward to the right side. Somehow, it felt… natural holding this thing. It was weird, but true.
"Roxas, focus!" Pence called, and the blond gave a small nod in return.
"Kneel, loser!" Seifer shouted, and with that he practically charged at Roxas. Roxas barely managed to block it with his own strike and landed a flurry of blows on him, whipping around when the other attempted to hit him again. Quickly, before Seifer could do anything to stop him, Roxas dashed in and delivered one last finishing blow to his side, grunting with the force of it.
"Come on," the other taunted, getting to his feet almost at once. "Quit playin' around and fight!"
Roxas narrowed his eyes again. Oh, fine then, if that's what you want…
This time, though, Seifer took Roxas' moment of thought to sweep in from the side and hit him hard. Knocked backward, the spiky-haired blond quickly regained his bearings despite the pain of the blow.
Soon Seifer himself was kneeling, doubled over from Roxas' relentless onslaught.
"Errr, Seifer's not feeling so hot, y'know?" Rai said quickly, stepping in front of his leader.
"Tournament decides," Fuu added.
"Nice!" Hayner said, slapping Roxas a high-five. He eagerly returned it, rather relieved that he hadn't had to suffer further humiliation at Seifer's hands.
In the meantime, Pence had decided to get out his camera and snap a picture. Ah, but blackmail was a wondrous thing. Roxas turned and waved at the camera just in time to see the flash go off. Pence lowered the camera to give his friend a thumbs-up, only to have a white blur snatch it out of his hands.
"What the…"
The white thing, in three fluid motions, had managed to whip out of the Sandlot, camera still in tow. "What was that?" Hayner inquired irritably.
"The thief?" Olette wondered.
"Well, only one way to find out," Roxas said, and without another word he had vanished, following the white creature.
Hayner sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, he's just doing all kinds of weird things today, isn't he?"
Roxas finally managed to trap the speedy little thing after running through the woods – the creature hadn't been too hard to follow, really, since its white skin stood out against the blackness of the forest – and reaching the abandoned mansion. He was breathing slightly hard, but it was nothing serious; he whipped out his Struggle club and held it the same way he did before, all the while glaring defiantly at the white creature.
And then, to his shock, it seemed to speak to him: a voice that seemed like nothing more than a slight vibration in his skull, but a vibration that formed words.
'We have come for you, my liege.'
"Huh?" Roxas' brow furrowed in confusion.
Seeming to ignore him, the zipper-like thing at the top of the creature's head, near the strange pristine symbol at the very top, moved so that the hood unfurled. Roxas, though somewhat unnerved by its words, ran forward to fight it. The way he saw things, since he'd just beaten Seifer, this thing couldn't be that much worse. Freaking him out by saying really random things, but otherwise…
To his complete and utter bewilderment, however, no matter how he struck, no matter how much he dodged and parried the creature's attacks, the Struggle club seemed to go right through it, not unlike the cinnamon-haired girl to Sora in Roxas' dream. Roxas leaped back, frustrated. "It's no use…"
The stupid thing was still standing there, as though taunting him. He was about to run forward and see if he could just take the camera back and leave, but to his surprise something even weirder than the white thing's appearance in Twilight Town happened:
The Struggle club seemed to materialize in his hand, making a computer-like beeping sound as it did so. He only had one moment to slightly gather some nervousness at having no weapon before something else replaced the club. Lifting it up to get a better look, Roxas saw that it was a key-like weapon, blue at the end near the handle. The handle itself was yellow-gold; attached to it was a silvery chain with a steel circle that had two circles on top at the end of it.
"What –" Roxas started in confusion, only to have the key-thing seem to pull him forward toward the white creature. "What is this thing?"
Was it just his imagination, or was there a slight tremor in the way the white thing seemed to sway now? Shaking his head to clear it, Roxas quickly got into his battle stance.
It came at him in its typical fluid way; the blond dodged just behind it and took a whack at it with the key. Shockingly, it didn't go through it the way the Struggle sword had; in fact, the key knocked it backwards. Feeling a slight twinge of hope, Roxas continued beating away at the white thing until it vanished in a puff of transparent smoke. The wind blew the thin pieces of paper that the white thing had had toward Roxas. Confused, he made as if to pick them up, only to have the key disappear from his hand as he did so. He felt a thrill of disappointment that the weapon was gone, but picked up the paper nonetheless.
Only then did he realize that these were the missing photos.
Now they were all back at The Usual Spot, and Roxas, Pence and Olette were crowded around Hayner to look at the photos.
"What's this?" Hayner asked, pointing to the picture he currently had on top of the pile in his hands. It was of Roxas, standing next to a happy-looking old man in front of one of the shops.
"I was his first customer," Roxas explained, smiling at the memory. "So we took a picture together."
"So, Roxas," Olette said. "Tell us about the photo thief." They all grinned at the fact that they could say photo again.
Roxas shook his head. "Not much to say. The pictures were just… lying there." A fat, blatant lie, but would his friends exactly accept the fact that a giant house key had just appeared to him and he had beaten the white creature up with it?
Hayner's eyes narrowed and he opened his mouth to speak, but Pence beat him to it. "So, does anyone else notice that all the stolen pictures are of Roxas?"
"So that's why everyone thought it was us," Olette said.
"You mean it wasn't Seifer after all?" Hayner sounded almost disappointed, and Roxas laughed, punching his friend in the shoulder.
"Hey, at least I got 'em back, right?"
"Yeah, I guess." Hayner grinned.
"So…" Roxas turned to Pence. "Are they really all of me?"
"Yup." Pence handed the group of photos to his friend, and Roxas flipped through them. Sure enough, all of them seemed to include the blond boy.
"Wouldn't it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?" Pence joked.
"Yeah, right," Hayner snorted playfully, elbowing Roxas in the ribs. "Why would anyone want a bonehead like Roxas?"
"Oh, thanks a lot."
Everyone laughed at that until Hayner turned away and waved at them over his shoulder. "Well, I should be getting home. My parents would kill me if I were out any longer."
"Yeah, me too," Pence agreed. The others waved at Roxas as they all headed to the direction of their respective homes.
Roxas sighed softly. "Yeah…" He pushed the red curtain aside, only to raise an arm over his eyes against the light of the late afternoon sun.
First the dreams, then that weird white thing calling him "my liege"… not to mention the key-thing… Roxas doubted there could've been a stranger day that this.
Too bad, Roxas. It's going to get a lot worse.
"Where… am I?"
…"Who's there?"
…"Who're you?"
'Restoration at 12 percent.'
The darkly-garbed, hooded figure walked up to the red-cloaked man sitting at the computer. At the former's side was a girl with long red hair, sixteen at the very most, who was clothed in the same black way as the other. She currently had her arms folded across her chest.
The red-cloaked man spoke. "Organization miscreants… They've found us."
"Well, this is just perfect," the girl snorted. "Just what we need, eh, DiZ?"
Her companion's glittering amber eyes swept down at her for silence, and the girl rolled her eyes in response. The amber-eyed person turned his attention back to DiZ. "But… why would the Nobodies steal photographs?"
"Think about it," the redhead interrupted before DiZ could open his mouth. "It's data, but the idiots would never know the difference."
DiZ gave a single nod and turned his gaze back to the computer screens. "We're running out of time," he murmured, looking at a certain screen that showed a spiky-haired figure on it. "Namine must hurry."
"She's going as fast as she can, DiZ," the redhead said. "All we can do now is hope Sora wakes up as soon as possible."
A strange yellow dog licks at Sora's face. The young brunette groans slightly and lifts his head. "Where am I?" he wonders, getting to his feet.
Sora runs desperately to the ledge. "What happened to my home? My island?!"
Sora whirls around and sees the black, bug-like things surrounding him, and his words echo with despair despite the weapon he holds in his hands. "Riku! Kai –"
"Who's there?!"
A tall, brown-haired man points a darkly gloved hand with all the authority of fate itself. "They will come at you out of nowhere, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade."
The duck and the dog come flying out of nowhere, landing flat on Sora's back and knocking him to the ground.
"Hey, why don't you come with us?" the dog asks cheerfully. "We can go to other worlds on our vessel!"
"Sora, go with them," the brown-haired man says. "Especially if you want to find your friends."
"Donald Duck," the duck introduces.
"Name's Goofy," the dog adds.
"I'm Sora," Sora says, placing his own hand on top of theirs. "I'll go with you guys."
"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade."
"So…" Sora begins, holding up the Keyblade to get a better look at it. "This is the key…"
"But the boy is a problem. He found one of the Keyholes."
Sora points the Keyblade at the huge keyhole on the door. A beam of light shoots out, seeming to resonate within the lock.
"But why do you think we have these?" the brown-haired girl asks, raising her golden-bladed weapon by the spiky orange hilt to stare at it.
The blond, Roxas, shrugs. He closes his eyes for a brief moment, and after that a white blade, not unlike the girl's, appears in his right hand. "Anxclof, we're not going to know why the Keyblades chose us until we go out and find out."
Anxclof sighs. "Not this again… Roxas, do you really think you'll be able to do that to the Organization?"
Roxas places his free hand on her shoulder. "If that means meeting my Other, and finding out what would happen, then yes, I do."
Anxclof rolls her eyes. "You know what Xemnas said would happen if we Nobodies ever came into contact with our Others."
Roxas laughs. "Oh, come on. Aren't you curious, too? Didn't you say that you think your Other's out there somewhere?"
A light of uncertainty flits across the other's face; but it's gone so quickly one can't be sure. "Okay, I'll admit I've had… ideas."
"Then why not come with me?" Roxas prompts. "C'mon. It'll be fine." He suddenly laughs, but this time it's tinted with an undertone of bitterness. "I can see it now: Roxas and Anxclof, journeying for the truth. Cheesy, huh?"
The brunette grins slightly. "Only a little."
"Then, it's a promise?" Roxas gives her the look, the classic puppy-dog eyes, that he knows she can't resist.
Anxclof rolls her eyes and puts her hand on his. "Right. Whatever."
Roxas shot up in bed, his mind still reeling with the force of this dream. "A key… blade?" he murmured, flexing his fingers as though he could still feel the weapon in his hand.
So… the thing I fought yesterday was a Heartless? But… aren't the Heartless I saw in my dream supposed to be black?
And why was I talking to that girl… who was it? Roxas wracked his brain for a moment, trying to get a good feel of the dream back in his mind, before he remembered. Anxclof? I don't know her anywhere. Didn't she have a Keyblade too?
What a mess…
Anxclof: (looks up) Man, you suck at writing action scenes.
Me: Oh, shut up. It gets better once Char gets a better part in the story!
Char: Pfft, thank GOD.
Me: I live with two cynics. Please kill me now.
Char: Eh, that can be arranged.
Me: O.O