Okage Hearts
Chapter 20
I still do not possess ownership of Kingdom Hearts or Okage: Shadow King in any way, shape, or form. Other than that, there's not much else to say except that this chapter onward will start deviating a bit further from the details of the plot of Okage.
Having exited the sewers and headed out to the forest outside of Madril, Ari continued along the path that the Map O' Evil Kings showed, occasionally coming across other people, who seemed to not notice him in the slightest. While he was certainly used to this for the most part, he knew that something was wrong, since there were absolutely no ghosts about, despite the fact that they were usually swarming the forest just waiting for him. On the bright side, the Keyblade and his other supplies were still with him, as were his magical abilities.
"Alright, you've made it to this weird town," the Map O Evil Kings said when they reached a large, locked gate, "Now, here's hoping that the Keyblade's magic still works for you. . ."
Bracing himself, Ari pointed the Keyblade at the gate and, in his usual tone called out, "Open."
To Ari's delight, the Gate easily unlocked and opened itself, proving that he could still use the Keyblade and it's power over locks. To his surprise, however, as soon as he entered the gate, a black haired young woman with the only color in her clothing being the violet ribbon and flower on her hat seemed to appear at the gate the instant he crossed the threshold.
"Oh my, that's not good,"the girl remarked, "You're not supposed to be here."
"What exactly is here?" Ari asked, looking at the village with similarly colorless people, "And who are you?"
"This is Triste," the pale girl said matter-of-factually, "Welcome to the world where the Nobodies are forced to reside. My name's K.T."
"What are Nobodies?" Ari asked, though the word seemed to resonate in a way that was familiar.
"Nobodies are people who don't have hearts," K.T. explained, "We can't affect the world in any way because we don't have any presence. Nothing we do can cause any changes, and no one with a heart can see, hear, or feel us. Considering that you were able to enter here and you look like your starting to lose your color, I'd say you're one of us now, which isn't good at all."
"What do you mean?" Ari asked, trying to get a better understanding of the entire situation he'd found himself in.
"The Keyblade can only stick to someone with a pure heart," she responded, "There's no other way for it to manifest itself. If it's stuck with you, that means that it'll never be able to free our hearts."
"Free your hearts?" he prodded, mentally noting that this was one of the longest conversations he'd ever had.
"Nobodies are made, not born," she answered, "We all know our hearts are out there somewhere, locked away somewhere dark and secret, but we don't know where in the world they could possibly be, and even if we did, we wouldn't even be able to get them back because, like I said, we can't affect the world around us. But enough about that. You might as well make yourself comfortable, since this is where you'll be staying for the rest of your life. Why don't you take a look around. You might find something interesting. Be careful, though, there's a weird girl in a plain white dress floating around here."
Before Ari could protest, both K.T. and the Gate seemed to vanish without a trace. Trying to puzzle out what was going on, Ari was shocked to hear a familiar voice.
"Ari?" the voice called out, "Where are you, Ari? Where am I?"
The voice sounded almost exactly like Julia's voice!
Forgetting everything else he'd been thinking about, the boy rushed quickly to the voice, trying to find his friend.
"Julia?" he called out in what others would consider a slightly raised tone of voice if they heard him, "Is that you?"
"Ari, I feel tired," the voice said sleepily, "I think I should sleep."
"Julia, wait," Ari called out, almost shouting as fear overwhelmed his heart, wherever it was, "Stay awake. Tell me where you are."
"Goodnight, Ari. I hope we can see each other soon. . ." Julia said, her voice trailing off slowly before it vanished entirely.
Running around the corner he heard the fading voice from as quickly as he could, Ari was shocked when he crashed into the Ringmaster of the Circus that had given him the Keyblade in the first place.
"Small world, lad," the Ringmaster noted, "I see I was even more right about you being overshadowed than I thought. Fortunately for you, I'm just visiting here, not a Nobody, well, at least not anymore, and I've still got some power in me. I can get you out of here, but it'll take some work on your part."
"What do I need to do?" Ari asked.
"You're going to need to be more sociable," the Ringmaster remarked, before laughing at Ari's shocked expression as he dragged him towards the Gate, "What, did you think you'd have to go on some sort of treasure hunt to find useless trinkets? What you need to do is have an impact on other people, which means talking to others. After you talk to some people, come back here and I can cast a spell on you to bring you back to the borderline of having an effect on the world. After that, it's up to you to keep you running, since this is more of a patch to put your heart back for the time being. You're going to need to let more people in so that you'll be able to protect it when it comes back. Now what are you waiting for? Get going!"