Sora, Aqua, and Si'Lea walked out through the Mansion's front doors as the sound of bells could be heard ringing in various parts of town. It was dawn now in Sublime City and the skyline itself revealed that Darkness had a grip on the town. In an almost perfect line across the sky, sitting right where the border of the Fifth District sat, was a row of dark looming clouds in the sky and stretching as far back as the eye could see. From the Fourth District back towards the First District, however, the sky was as clear and blue as could be.
"Ah, good the safety bells are ringing on time." Si'Lea said as they walked into the courtyard.
"How long have you been here Si?" Aqua asked.
"Well I got here almost immediately after I left you guys in the Land of Departure. I've been protecting it for so long, the people are used to me now. So eleven years, give or take a few weeks." Si'Lea replied.
"I wouldn't mind a tour then. I hear the Seventh District is pretty overrun." Aqua said as Si'Lea nodded.
"Mmm, it's a dangerous place. But with two Keyblade Masters, striking in the daytime, perhaps we can make a dent in their numbers. Want to join me in a little, Heartless hunting?" Si'Lea asked as Aqua summoned her Keyblade with a smile.
"You think you can keep up, old lady?" Aqua asked with a taunting smirk.
"Oh it's on, tomboy!" Si'Lea replied before they both turned and ran out of the courtyard towards the Seventh District. Sora watched them leave with a smirk as he shook his head.
"Hmm, left alone in the dust. Never fun." Ludro said, causing Sora to jump in surprise.
"YAH! Luxord! Don't do that!" Sora yelped as Ludro chuckled.
"My apologies, Master Sora. I didn't mean to scare you." Ludro said as Arlene, Laaurim, and Medy emerged from inside the manor.
"Yeah, keep a hand on your munny bag at all times around Ludro. He'll swipe it faster than you can blink." Arlene said, slapping Ludro upside the back of the head.
"How did you guys get to working for Si'Lea in the first place?" Sora asked curiously.
"Who, us?" Medy asked curiously.
"No, the invisible people standing right behind you. Who do you think he's talking about?" Arlene sniped with a roll of the eyes. She then groaned and face palmed as Medy looked over his shoulder, looking for invisible people.
"Arlene, be nice." Laaurim said before turning to Sora.
"To answer your question, Master Sora, we each have our own story as to how we ended up here. Medy was the first here. He was able to defeat a number of Heartless by using his sitar against them while using some water magic he had learned, impressing the Master. He also became fast friends with Nixe, further cementing the Master's trust in him. Ludro was caught trying to cheat the Master out of some munny so she gave him an ultimatum. Work for her or leave town." Laaurim explained as Ludro shrugged innocently.
"I'd be serving more time than I care to had I chosen the latter." Ludro said with a smile.
"What about you two?" Sora asked, pointing at Laaurim and Arlene.
"Simply put, we tried to take on the Master." Arlene said with a sigh.
"Huh?" Sora asked curiously.
"She's right. We thought that we could defeat the Master and take control of the city, but she easily beat us. She gave us a similar ultimatum like the one she gave Ludro. Work for her or be banished from Sublime forever. We chose the former and over time, we've learned that acting on her behalf has yielded far greater rewards than defeating her ever would have." Laaurim explained.
"Like what?" Sora asked.
"Respect from the people for one." Arlene said.
"A job too." Laaurim said as he scratched the back of his head.
"Job?" Medy asked confused.
"You mean you've forgotten Mr. Flower Power over here?" Arlene asked with a laugh.
"I tend the gardens here. I'm not paid for it but I don't care if I do or not. I enjoy doing it." Laaurim said as Sora shrugged.
"I'm not completely surprised. You each have occupations or attributes that kinda explains each of your Nobody's powers and weapons. Arlene, your Nobody, Larxene, wielded electricity as her element and used Kunai for her weapons." Sora said as Arlene smirked and chuckled.
"Huh. Well I do install and maintain lightning rods around town. I also make sure the city's electrical grid stays online." She said with a shrug.
"Medy, your Nobody, Demyx wielded water and used a sitar to fight with." Sora said as Medy blinked with an excited look.
"Really?" He asked.
"You're serious aren't you? He actually fought with a sitar?" Arlene asked in disbelief.
"He uh…wasn't really good." Sora said as Arlene guffawed with laughter.
"I knew it!" she laughed.
"Laaurim, your Nobody, Marluxia was really powerful. He wielded the power of flowers and fought with a scythe." Sora said as Laaurim smiled and crossed his arms.
"I knew it. Flowers are powerful." Laaurim said as Ludro cleared his throat.
"And what was my Nobody's element and weapon?" Ludro asked.
"Luxord wielded the element of time and fought using playing cards and dice." Sora said as Ludro grinned with excitement.
"Really?" he asked happily.
"Yep." Sora said.
"So then, Master Sora, now that you've learned more about us, would you like to learn more of the city?" Laaurim asked as Sora sighed.
"I'd really like to go find my friend more than anything. I'm really worried about her." Sora said as Arlene shrugged and unclipped her cap from her belt before putting it on.
"Well we can't help ya there. Besides I've got work I've gotta do around town. I'll see you guys later." Arlene said as she walked off.
"I've got a gig to play for in a few minutes so I probably better get there so I have time to warm up. See ya at lunch!" Medy said as he walked off with his sitar in hand.
"The garden needs some tending to so I shall leave you with Ludro for the time being. Ludro!" Laaurim said, glaring at the conman who shrugged innocently.
"I know the rules. No thievery." Ludro said as Laaurim nodded before walking off.
"Well then Master Sora. Is there anything in particular you would like to know about the city?" Ludro asked as Sora thought for a moment. He then heard the sound of the bells echoing around town.
"What's with all the bells?" Sora asked. (Music Cue: The Bells of Notre Dame – Hunchback of Notre Dame)
"Ah those are the lifeline of our town. Sublime is kept alive by the sound of those bells. They always sound in the morning to signal the people that it is safe to move through the districts. They essentially signal the start of the day. They always remind me of a story too: the story of the Master and her Apprentice." Ludro said as he started walking towards and out the gates with Sora in tow as he headed for a fountain in the center of a large square where a number of children stood throwing coins in the water or were simply playing around it.
"Really? What's the story?" Sora asked as Ludro grinned and started singing…
"Morning in Sublime, the city awakes
to the bells of our fair town.
The fisherman fishes, the baker man bakes,
to the bells of our fair town.
To the big bells as loud as the thunder,
to the little bells soft as a song.
And some say the soul of the city's
the toll of the bells,
the bells of our fair town."
Ludro then sat down on the edge of the fountain, intending to clean one of his many watches, as the children started crowding around him with intrigue and excitement.
"Listen, they're beautiful, no? So many colors of sound, so many changing moods. Because you know, they use to not ring at all." Ludro said, cleaning a pocket watch, as one of the children chimed in.
"They didn't?" a boy asked. Ludro smiled as he shook his head.
"No, silly boy. You see long, long ago before you were born, came the mysterious Keyblade Master." Ludro said before the children started barraging him with questions.
"Who is she?" "Who?" "What is she?" "What?" "How did she come to be here?" "How" They asked him before finally he raised his hands motioning to stop.
"Hush, and Ludro will tell you, it is a tale, a tale of a girl and a monster." He said as he dramatically hid behind his arm as if it were a cape.
Flashback, eleven years ago…
A small boat, being polled along by its captain, with two cloaked figures and a crying child drifted through the water under a bridge in river that went through town as Ludro sang…
"Dark was the night when our tale was begun
on the docks near our fair town."
The people in the boat were nervous as they turned to their female companion.
"Shut her up, will you!" "We'll be spotted!" They said as the woman looked at her crying child.
"Hush little one." She said in a worried whisper as Ludro sang…
"Two frightened people slid silently under
the docks near our fair town."
The boat reached a dock and they quickly disembarked. The captain then turned to the two and held out a hand.
"Four hundred munny for safe passage into the city." The Captain said before suddenly gasping in pain and disappearing in black smoke, becoming a Heartless while a large black creature with green-yellow eyes arose from the water behind him, overturning the boat as it arose. It was the Phantom Blot and a number of Shadow Heartless started appearing in a circle around the two people as Ludro sang…
"But a trap had been laid for these poor people,
and they gazed up in fear and alarm,
at a figure whose clutches,
were iron as much as the bells."
They saw a figure, dressed head to toe in a black robe with a hood and black heeled boots, descending a small staircase nearby, causing the two of them to gasp in fear.
"The First Sister!" the other figure gasped as the woman clutched her child closer and Ludro sang…
"The bells of our fair town!"
First looked the four people over silently as Ludro sang…
"The First Sister longed
to purge the worlds
of the light within.
And she saw the light was everywhere,
except within."
"Bring these vermin to the mansion." First ordered as the Phantom Blot noticed the woman attempting to shield her child from the creature of darkness.
"You there! What are you hiding?" Blot asked angrily as the woman spotted a second staircase nearby, left unguarded by the Heartless and an escape plan formed in her head as the First Sister shrugged.
"What does it matter to us? Take their hearts." First said as the woman bolted.
"She ran!" Ludro said as the woman ran through the streets with the Blot giving pursuit, bouncing off the walls and streets of the city as it chased her while she made her way to the First District. She passed through the desolate courtyard of the Fourth District Commons, passing a figure in a purple hooded haori with gold lining that watched her pass and then spotted the Blot chasing her. The woman had some close calls as she ran, the blot nearly overtaking her a couple of times but she managed to weave into alleyways or under awnings until she finally reached the First District, spotting the shut and locked gates to the then abandoned mansion.
"Let us in! PLEASE LET US IN!" she shouted tearfully as she banged on the gates but no one answered. She glanced over her shoulder and saw the Blot approaching. She turned and started to run but as she did she saw the First Sister appear before her in a Corridor of Darkness. She was trapped. She skid to a halt and turned around to run the opposite direction but as she did, the Blot shot forth a sharp tendril of itself and in one flash of smoky black-purple energy the woman dropped to her knees, dropping the child as she began to fall into darkness and became a Heartless. The First Sister took notice of the brown spiky haired girl as she approached where the woman once stood.
"A child?" she asked curiously before seeing something in her heart that made her recoil with a shudder.
"(Gasp) The Keyblade's chosen one! Phantom! Take her heart!" First ordered as the frightened four year old rolled onto her back and tried to scoot backwards on her hands towards the nearby fountain as the Blot grew to massive size with a muscular body and demonic horns on its head. It then reared back its right arm and was about to thrust it forward when suddenly…
"STOP! Cried the Master!" Ludro said as suddenly Blot froze as if time had stopped for him and a young Si'Lea dropped down between the girl and the two creatures of darkness. She had cast Stopga on Blot.
"This child is of the light. I'm sending it into Darkness where it belongs, like I will you if you interfere." First said as Si'Lea pointed to a patch of lingering darkness where the girl's mother continued fading into darkness and sang…
"See there the innocent light you have spilt
on the streets of this fair town."
"You have no say in this, girl!" First sneered before Si'Lea turned and motioned to the girl as she sang…
"Now you would add this child's heart to your guilt
on the streets of this fair town."
"I do not answer to you!" First growled angrily before Si'Lea pointed at her angrily as she sang…
"You can lie to yourself and your minions.
You can claim that you haven't a qualm.
But you never can run from,
nor hide what you've done from the light!"
Si'Lea then summoned her Keyblade and dropped into her battle stance, causing both Blot and First to recoil in fear as she sang…
"The very light of Kingdom Hearts!"
First pulled back her hood in horror, both of her eyes in perfect condition and her hair far shorter, as Ludro sang…
"And for one time in her life,
of power and control,
she first felt a twinge of fear
for her heartless soul."
"Who are you?" First asked fearfully.
"I am Master Si'Lea, the new guardian of this world and I never want to see you and your minions here ever again." Si'Lea said as First's eyes widened.
"What? And be banished from this forsaken-…" First said before realizing that she might have an advantage, "…-Very well. But I will come back for that child eventually."
"I won't let you have her. I will protect her with all my heart just like I will this world." Si'Lea replied as the girl clutched Si'Lea's haori while cowering behind her.
"Then protect her." First said before she sang…
"Just so she's kept locked away
where I can no longer see."
"We will meet again, and who knows, destiny works in mysterious ways." First said as a Corridor of Darkness opened behind her. She and the Blot started backing up into it, disappearing as she sang with an evil smile…
"Even that small creature may,
yet prove one day to be,
of use to me."
End Flashback…
"And the Master took the child under her care. This child became her daughter and then…her apprentice!" Ludro said as he stood up with a smile, moving towards the mansion as he sang…
"Now here is a riddle to guess if you can,
sing the bells of our fair town.
Who is the master and who is the girl?"
Ludro then noticed Nixe standing and leaning from the side of the mansion's steeple, looking over the town, as the bells started tolling again, their sound growing louder as he, the children, and even the entire crowd of passing people who had been listening to his story started singing…
"Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells,
bells, bells, bells, bells,
bells of our, FAIR, TO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-OWN!"
(End Music)
End Chapter 9.
The Song above was and altered version of "The Bells of Notre Dame" from Disney's "Hunchback of Notre Dame." I call this version "The Bells of our Fair Town." I used the song to provide a little bit of the back story for Si'Lea and Nixe. More backstory chapters are still to come but this was only the first.
I've been giving some thought, lately, in regards to "Character Themes." You know the BGM that plays for certain characters? For example, Sora's character theme (Appropriately named: "Sora" in the Kingdom Hearts 2 soundtrack) or Kairi's theme. In trying to come up with a theme for the new characters (Si'Lea, Nixe, and First more specifically) I came up with the following…
Si'Lea was the trickiest to come up with a theme for. I listened carefully to the tracks from all of the Kingdom Hearts soundtracks and out of all of them, only one seemed to fit her and that's "Destiny's Union" from the Birth by Sleep soundtrack.
For Nixe, I was listening to some of the tracks from the Birth by Sleep soundtrack and "Dessert Paradise" seemed to stand out when I thought of her character so I chose that for her. While searching for a theme for Si'Lea I also searched in the Final Fantasy soundtracks and I stumbled across a track from the Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus soundtrack that would work as an alternate character theme. "Ninja Girl of Wutai," which works perfectly for Nixe's calmer moments.
And for First, I chose "Mystic Moon" from the 358/2 Days soundtrack. I had this one chosen right from the get-go so she was the easiest.