Dear Readers [or friends if I am allowed. ^_^;]:
As you know, I'm in College taking a pretty heavy program. I don't have a lot of time to myself, and whatever time I do have I usually spend it on studying or homework or doing some drawings [which are easier and faster than writing a story to be honest].
I wanted to tell you guys that I am off school campus until January 9th! I really hope I pass my classes, because if not, my parents will literally take any electronic means from me. So no T.V, no video games, and no computer. DX
That's all I wanted to say, hope you guys are doing well!
Marie's casual wear:
www[dot]swirl3y[dot]deviantart[dot]com/art/I-bring-you-peace-214094964?q=gallery%3Aswirl3y%2F29599925&qo=5
Chapter Seventeen
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Identity Crisis
"Please, man! Don't kill me with your key sword thing!"
The young boy pleaded against the brunette that stood before him. She was furious and wanted answers why he even pushed her into her own portal. Ryan was only trying to find a way out of Destiny Islands, but if he had known that the girl he pushed was carrying a weapon, he would've just stayed home.
"I'll only hurt you if you don't tell me why you pushed me." She glared at him, and he was getting more scared by the minute. She didn't care about the fact that he came through the portal with her—that will be his own problem—but pushing was a huge no-no for her. He gulped, and clutched his duffle bag, hoping that she wouldn't slice him in half.
"I-I wanted to find my cousin!" he raised his hands in the air, defending whatever he could from the scary girl. She lowered her keyblade, but continued to glare. There was something off about the boy, but she didn't want to put the effort into finding out.
"Hmph, and you pushed me into my portal because of that?" she glared hard, and the boy only whimpered. He never met a girl this scary, but he had to stay on his ground.
"M-maybe you heard of her? H-her name is Marie Devon," he said, although barely in a whisper. Aura gasped, and her eyes widened. Did she hear right? Did the boy actually say what he said?
"Marie Hill? I hope you're not talking about the one that I know," she replied while crossing her arms. Ryan slowly reached for his duffle bag, while also eying the scary brunette, hoping she wouldn't kill him then and there. When he grabbed what seemed like a photo, he gave it to her. Aura took the picture rather roughly, and stared at it intently. The girl in the picture was indeed Marie, but she was young—about two years old. When Aura flipped the picture, the words, "mommy, daddy, and Marie at the beach," appeared.
"I'm guessing these are her parents," she said, sounding a bit sad about it. Seeing Marie's parents made it even more real that she was nothing more than a Nobody. She had no parents, no siblings—nothing. Ryan cleared his throat, and Aura looked at him, bringing her out of her daze.
"No, those people are her aunt and uncle; they adopted her after her parents went missing. That's why you probably know her as Marie Hill." This was new to Aura. She thought she knew everything about Marie, but apparently not. Ryan explained that Marie was kept hidden, along with her parents, from him, and he packed up his stuff to find her. Ryan reached for his duffle bag again, and took out a small box that was previously wrapped, and handed it to her. Aura opened the box, and two pictures along with a letter appeared in it. She read the letter.
Dear Eli,
For whatever reason I had to leave, I am terribly sorry. I can't disclose the details, but know that I won't be coming back home. I know how mom felt when she had to leave, and I can actually forgive her now, because she did something honorable. Dante said he'll miss you and Leah, and he was overjoyed knowing his sister was marrying you. I wish I could go to dad's grave and tell him goodbye, but I leave that to you. Everything that happened to us is something I'll always treasure, and the highlight of it all was the birth of my little angel. It pains me so much that I'll never be in her life, so I ask you: please adopt and take care of Marie. Everything that we went through…It was a thrill, and I had fun. However, it stops here, as I have things to attend to. You may never find out what they are, but know that I am truly grateful. I may never see you again, and it hurts me to know it is true. Never forget that I will always love you.
- Yours Truly,
Stella Marie Devon
"Stella!" exclaimed Aura. Could it be? Was it possible that the Stella that wrote the letter was the Stella of Kingdom Hearts? Aura looked at the box, and started taking deep breaths as she reached in to get the photos. As she grabbed one, she slowly flipped it over, and she started breathing normally. It was a picture of a man with light to medium brown hair, and soft looking green sea eyes. The name Dante Devon appeared on the bottom of it. She shook her head, and quickly grabbed the other photo. This photo made Aura gasp; the woman who stared right back at her was the same woman as…
"It's nice to finally meet you, Aura."
Her eyes widened in surprise. She was so stunned to see that the woman in the photo looked identical to the Stella she just met, even the name at the bottom of the picture was Stella Marie Hill. She glanced over to the other photo—the one of the man—and shifted her attention from one to the other.
It was too much to take in, but the two had physical similarities to Marie. She looked a lot more like her father though, minus the blonde hair and pale skin. Aura sighed deeply, and looked at Ryan. He had a resemblance to Marie as well, although slightly. She couldn't believe it all, but the photos were right there.
"So, can you help me?" Ryan asked. Aura bit her lip, as she was not sure if she should help. If she did, that could lead into many personal problems that she would rather not get herself involved. On the other side, would it benefit Marie to know that she has a family member travelling with her? Or would it cause her strife?
Maybe she was better off bringing him to DiZ. She would have to pass Riku though, and he was from the same island, so maybe they knew each other. She took a step towards the area where DiZ was, and placed a finger on her chin. She turned around, and smirked at the boy, "Well, if you're Marie's cousin…you'll have to get approval by a man who was her guardian for a while."
"O-okay, sure! Lead the way!" he said enthusiastically. He lifted his duffle bag over his shoulder, and waited for Aura to start leading the way. She gave him a weird look; he definitely seemed weird with a duffle bag. She shook her head; this was no time to be judging.
"Well then, cousin, let's get going." She started walking towards Twilight Town's mansion, with a very nervous Ryan walking right behind her. As he started walking, he couldn't help but feel really motivated. This girl—Aura, was going to help him find his long-lost cousin. The only thing that really confused him now was—
"Wait, why did you call me cousin?"
ଓ
Marie
It was taking a while to clear the room, since so many heartless appeared. I was wrong in saying that this fight wasn't going to be hard. Heck, I was struggling with the many shadows that appeared; who knew so many could appear all at once?
"Aww, come on! Enough already!" shouted Sora. I sighed, why can't we get a break? Even if it's a very small one, I'd very much appreciate it. Donald shouted for help, and the door suddenly popped open. I gasped in fear, and hid a little behind the guys. When the familiar person—er, Beast entered the room, I smiled. He looked very angry, and attacked all of the shadows in one fell swoop. They fell helplessly, and I sorta felt bad for them—I know I wouldn't want to be in Beast's line of fire.
After dealing insurmountable damage to the heartless, Beast looked towards us. He growled, and started stomping towards us. Sora raised his hand in a high five manner, and waited for the Beast to say hello, however—
He just brutally pushed Sora aside, and he yelped in surprised. He also pushed Donald and Goofy to the side, and they couldn't help but shout in surprise, Donald more or less shouted in anger. He didn't push me to the sides, but I was really annoyed how he just pushed his friends so angrily, so I had to say something, "Hey, what gives? Come on, Beast, that wasn't cool."
No response. He turned his attention to the glowing flower on the table, and picked it up. I took a closer look at him, and he looked somewhat…possessed. Sora, Donald and Goofy got up, and I walked a little ahead of them and stared at the door. What was going on with that guy?
"Gee, do you think he maybe forgot about us?" asked Goofy. Sora pointed out that there was a lot of heartless, so that maybe The Beast was on edge and Donald was just plain annoyed.
"Something's going on," I pointed out. Sora walked up towards me, and shook his head. There was something definitely wrong here, and I know it wasn't just my anxiety rising. Sora walked ahead of me, and signalled us to follow him. As we left the room, Donald spotted a woman atop the stairs. Goofy said it could have been Belle, and Sora suggested we go and look for her. He's right, she might know something about Beast and why he's behaving weirdly.
As we walked up the stairs, I couldn't help but notice the slight similarity this castle had to Hollow Bastion's castle. Thinking about it made me a bit sad though, I still had many questions to ask, and the people who I want to ask are no longer here. Still, I must proceed with finding out the answers that I can find, no matter how long it'll take. I looked over to Sora and the others, and they suddenly stopped. They looked at the door in front of us, and kept quiet. They leaned against the wall, and stood beside the door. We heard a voice—but it was muffled—and Sora pointed at it while Donald nodded.
Donald walked a few steps away from the door and then looked back at it. He folded his sleeves, and started running directly towards it. Sora called out his name, and Donald suddenly fell through the door, shouting at whoever why the door was opened. As we looked from the floor all the way up, we spotted the woman we were looking for: Belle.
"Oh! I'm so happy you're here!" she crouched down to hug Donald and looked towards us. She smiled that gentle smile of hers, and we smiled back. Donald struggled to get down, and Belle giggled as she let him down gently. Sora, Goofy and I walked into the room, and right off the bat Donald asked where the Beast was.
"Oh, he must be in the west wing. We don't talk like we used to," she replied. Sora asked her if something happened, and she assumed we were here to help her with it. Unfortunately, we were here for something else but Goofy still agreed to help her. It made sense, since we were already here. Donald got down to business and asked Belle why the Beast wasn't talking to her, and she confirmed my suspicion of him acting strange. She also told us that the only people who knew anything were locked up in the dungeon.
"Dungeon?" Sora asked. She told us that she wanted to help them, and she started to continue until Sora interrupted. "Wait, who locked who up?"
"The Beast locked up his servants."
What? Why would he lock up his servants? She couldn't answer that question, so Sora asked where the dungeon was. It was down the undercroft from the west wing, and we started making our way to there. It was very odd how Belle's room almost looked like mine, heck, even the bed was the same. The only difference was that my room was filled with a lot of child-like stuff, like stuffed teddies and beanie bag chairs. I know I never once complained about living with Ansy, because I was actually living in luxury. I had a great guardian, a fancy looking room, and friends I surrounded myself with. Yeah, I was kidnapped, but a lot of good came out from it. The only thing that was missing was the people of those days, and oh, how I wish they were here with me. I miss them dearly.
Well, aside from that, we ventured into the hallways. We walked to the other side of the wing, and while walking I noticed Sora staring at me.
"What is it?" I asked, turning my head into his direction. He suddenly became flustered, and I raised my eyebrow at this. He quickly looked away after, and my eyebrow just kept getting higher.
"You seem kinda sad," he replied. Gosh, was it that obvious that I was missing home? I couldn't help it, though.
"I am," I sighed, there's no use lying to Sora. It seemed like he knew when I was sad or mad, or scared when I try to hide it. it was amazing how much he could know about me within just a year, but something inside was telling me it was more than that. I smiled nonetheless. "This castle reminds me of Hallow Bastion, and how everything was normal back then."
He nodded in understanding. "That's how I felt, too. Everything was normal when I was back at home, but I can't think like that anymore. Everyone is relying on me, so I can't let them down."
"You're sense of justice is unrelenting, Sora." Sometimes…sometimes, I wish I were like him. I wish I were strong like him. I wish I could be constantly brave like him, and I wish I wasn't so afraid of the outcome of my future. I've always thought I was like him, but I think I was lying to myself. With the power of Kingdom Hearts, I thought I was this ancient warrior of sorts, so I took that persona and made it my own. Now that I don't have that power, I think I've lost sight of who I am.
Just who am I, now?
Chapter seventeen, out!
Glad I could be in the writing field, again. With so much work before finals, I had no time for anything. Now, I have all the time, so expect some overdue updates!
Lvl-ZeR0:Thank you!Actually, I gave the Xbox to my neighbor's child, since they didn't have the money to buy one. He's very happy with it now. I'll be getting the new Xbox hopefully, and SAINTS ROW 3 WITH IT! And no… I don't think I would want to try a donut sandwich…
Er… you okay?
Dracula X:Yeah, I really felt bad for Aura and Axel; they are best friends after all. Lol, so many people have been telling that Kairi should just be with Riku, but it would make sense I guess.
dracula-key:well, normally, she would. However, she's filled with so many questions that she doesn't have the time of day to look of Sora's neckline. I mean, she can't even stare at him for long before feeling weird that he's acting weird. But sooner or later she will notice, and this will be addressed in the story.
grapejuice101:Sorry for the late update! I had finals to finish. I'm glad you liked the chapter, I will assure you that the necklace is important to Marie. Moreover, it will be a key thing for her memory. Seeing Sora with it will trigger something for her, and thus her determination to get the necklace back.
TheSteelFlameAlchemist:LOL! What can I say, I really like it! yeah, it's said because they're like bros for life or something, but their fate is inevitable. I decided to add in a blonde moment, since it cannot go unnoticed that she is blonde and has not had a moment! It is unacceptable! I know, Ryan is in too deep, but he will survive!
Shadow 1n2:Not really, haha. The area I live in is full of old farts who hate everyone. DX Seriously? I would have loved to see pictures of that! I get so sad when they go away, too. Axel is one of the lost along with Xion, so he's not really dead. As for Demyx… I don't want to stray too far off the storyline, and I've already written out how Aura reacts to this, so I've actually have him dying. L I have not played those games, but I've seen videos of them, little big planet looks so cute!
TheEpicBlueNinja:Hmm, true. But Riku and Aura have a lot in common, surprisingly. XD
DaniPotterLovesGod:Haha, no love for Naminé, then? XD
SisterOfScarletDevil:Thank you anyways, I really need a beta to look over this story. DXThank you! That means a lot! Trust me, it's a hard decision, but I think I know where I wanna go with it. XD
ChristmasTheKID:Oh, I love ADVENTURE TIME! That show is le shizzzz. Thank you! I'm glad you made a da account, see you around!
XxKeyOfHeartxX:Yeah, I'm glad it did, I was going for a sad theme there. Ryan… he's gonna feel dirty when he finds that out about Aura. I mean, she straight out called him cousin, that has to make him think. But don't worry, nothing will go on between them, he's just a hormonal teenager who doesn't know what's going on. Thank you! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!