I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.
Rescued
Pain. Pain was the first sensation to return to him. Not the same, sharp, all-consuming pain he had felt before, but a strong ache, like when you pull a muscle. After the pain, the rest of feeling returned, along with smells. He was lying on his left side on something soft, probably a bed. And it smelled like cherry blossoms and sickness. He groaned as he tried to move and was met with a wave of nausea and a throb from his back. His eyes slowly opened and he stared at the mirror. He was deathly pale, his normally thick, soft, brown hair now wiry and thin, and had paled to almost blonde. His eyes had dark circles under them and he was drenched in sweat.
"You're awake," a feminine voice said from behind him, Tyler detecting an accent that sounded Australian. "Good. I was worried we might actually lose you for a bit there. I've had Lightning up my ass for days asking when you'd wake up."
A girl stepped into view wearing a fur half-skirt behind herself, an orange skirt below it with a pink cloth tied into a bow at her waist, a pink top that covered her breasts then reached up around her neck, leaving plenty of cleavage, a dozen strings of decorative beads around her neck and torso under her top, then a string running vertically between her breasts from her necklace to her belt. Both skirts reached barely a quarter of the way down her thighs, she had her bright orange hair in a pair of short pigtails, and she wore a half dozen bangles on each wrist. Behind her, there was a folded up object that looked like a white stick with several branches at the end, each tipped with a small golden hook, and a hinge built in to let it fold in half with the lower half wrapped in red cloth.
"My name's Vanille," she said. "I healed your wound, but the darkness had gotten inside, so you're going to be stuck in bed a couple more days while it fades."
"Where's Alice?" Tyler asked, trying to sit up, only for Vanille to push him back down gently.
"Now now," Vanille said. "You stay put. You're too weak to move right now."
Then, she was gone. Tyler tried to stand again, only to stop as Lightning walked in, staring at him blankly for a moment before pushing him back down as well and sitting beside him.
"Vanille says you're through the worst of it," Lightning said. "You should be able to move again tomorrow, but you'll still need rest."
"Where's Alice?" Tyler asked.
"We have someone who specializes in fighting Heartless coming to make sure we didn't miss anything later today," Lightning continued, ignoring him. "He might be able to speed up your recovery. Your world's gone, though. I'm sorry."
"Fuck the world," Tyler said. "Where's Alice?"
"I found out what your sword was too," Lightning said. "It's-"
"Lightning, where is Alice!" Tyler snapped, Lightning falling silent and staring at the floor.
"Gone," Lightning finally said. "When I woke up here, it was just you and me. The Heartless probably took Alice. But there's a chance they didn't."
"So she's dead?" Tyler asked.
"No," Lightning said. "We may still be able to save her."
"Then why are we still here?" Tyler asked, trying to get up again, Lightning again pushing him back down.
"We're still here because you're still wounded. You were injured by a Heartless before you got that sword. The sword's magic was able to keep you fighting, but then the darkness managed to slip inside. It's a miracle that you didn't lose your heart."
Tyler was silent for several seconds before something she had said earlier that he hadn't payed much attention to came back to him. "What did you mean my world is gone? If that's true, where are we?"
"We're in a different world," Lightning said. "From your world, it would have been visible as a star. This world is called Twilight Town. It's a pretty small world, but a lot of people have ended up here when theirs was destroyed by the Heartless. Mine included. Only me and a handful of my friends made it here. My sister...she's gone missing too. Just like Alice did."
"I'm sorry," Tyler said. "Maybe they're together."
"Maybe," Lightning said, a tiny smile gracing her lips before it faded. "Anyway, like I said, there's someone here that might be able to help you."
"Who is it?" Tyler asked. "And also, how come you were able to get to my world but not leave?"
"The method I have to get from one world to the other, it requires time to prepare, which I can't do in the middle of a fight," Lightning said. "And the person in King Mickey."
"Wait, what?" Tyler blinked. "Mickey? As in Mickey Mouse?"
"You know King Mickey?" Lightning asked.
"Well...in my world he's...or...he was a character on a child's tv show," Tyler said.
Lightning snorted in amusement, shaking her head. "Well, in reality, he's one of the most powerful wielders of something called a keyblade, which is apparently what your fancy sword was."
"What's a keyblade?" Tyler asked.
"No idea," Lightning said. "But according to one of my friends, King Mickey uses it to fight Heartless, so maybe he can teach you what it is and how to use it."
"But I don't have it anymore," Tyler said. "It just disappeared when I feinted."
"Apparently it does that," Lightning said.
"Lightning!" a female voice with a thicker, more clearly Australian accent than Vanille's shouted from the next room. "There's some mouse here to see you."
"Send him in please!" Lightning called back.
After a moment, Mickey Mouse stepped into the room, wearing a black trench coat, black boots, and black gloves. Tyler stared at him in a mixture of amazement and amusement.
"Hello, I'm Mickey," Mickey introduced himself.
"Tyler," Tyler said. "In my world, you're a children's cartoon so forgive me if I stare. You're also the first talking mouse I've ever seen."
Mickey laughed. "I heard you fought Heartless with a keyblade."
"I did," Tyler nodded, "but it disappeared when I was wounded."
"Don't worry about that," Mickey said, a giant key with a silver guard around a black handle, a charm that was the silhouette of Mickey's head, and a golden shaft and teeth appearing in his hand.
He held it up and a green light flashed at the tip of it before Tyler felt warmth spread through his body as he glowed green for a moment. Then, it faded and he sat up, staring at his hands. Tyler looked to Mickey who let the key vanish in a flash of light.
"Now, close your eyes, hold out your hand, and focus," Mickey said. "You need to find that light and power deep inside of you. Then, focus it to your hand."
Tyler closed his eyes, holding his hand out. Focusing and finding some light and power inside of himself, however, was a different story. He wasn't sure how to do that.
"Your keyblade's power comes from your heart," Mickey said, apparently realizing what Tyler was thinking.
Tyler took a breath, focusing on his emotions, and everything that made up his metaphorical heart. Then, there was a flash of light that pierced through his eyelids and his hand instinctively closed, grasping a familiar weight. He opened his eyes, seeing Mickey staring at the weapon.
"Star Seeker," Mickey said. "It's the same Keyblade I used to have."
"What exactly is a keyblade?" Lightning asked.
"A keyblade is a magical weapon capable of locking and unlocking any lock, as well as driving away darkness," Mickey said. "When a heartless that has stolen a heart is killed by a keyblade, the hearts are sent to something called Kingdom Hearts, which is the source of all light. However, keyblades also have the ability to open the Door to Darkness, which is a door that leads to the Realm of Darkness, where the worlds taken by the Heartless reside. It's where the Heartless are from."
"So, if we went there, theoretically, we could wipe out the Heartless?" Tyler asked.
"No," Mickey said. "The Heartless are limitless. They're created from the darkness in people's hearts. They only reside in the Realm of Darkness, until there's enough darkness to summon them to the Realm of Light. Or until something else summons them."
"So, a keyblade is a weapon created to fight Heartless?" Tyler asked.
"Not really," Mickey said. "A long time ago, keyblades were made to fight a war to possess Kingdom Hearts. The keyblades were made from light, so they also happen to possess the ability to destroy creatures of darkness, meaning Heartless. They are also a bridge between worlds, and allow their wielder to travel between them, though you need either a special kind of armor or a ship in order to survive the trip."
"Armor?" Tyler asked.
"It's called Keyblade Armor, and the method for creating it was lost long ago," Mickey said. "So basically you just need the ship."
"I see," Tyler said.
"Oh, and keyblades are only able to be wielded by the person they chose, meaning only you can wield that one," Mickey said. "If someone else tries, you'll be able to summon it back to yourself whenever you want."
"Chose?" Tyler asked. "When did it choose me?"
"Normally, I'd say that you had to have had someone perform a Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony with you, which is a fancy way of saying that they pass on their keyblade to you," Mickey said. "However, there are thousands of keyblades that have no master currently, and once in a while, though rare, those keyblades will find a new master and take on a form that suits the wielder."
"So stars and a moon suit me?" Tyler asked. "I mean, I enjoy stargazing, but..."
"Well, I don't really know how forms are chosen," Mickey said. "But there are ways to change the keyblade. The charm on the bottom can be changed to give your keyblade new abilities and a new look. But the charms are a bit...hard to come by."
Tyler nodded and let his keyblade disappear. "Are there any clean clothes I can borrow, or a store nearby where I can buy some?"
"Sure," Lightning said. "How much munny do you have?"
"About a hundred dollars," Tyler said.
"What?" Lightning asked.
Tyler pulled out his wallet, showing her the bills and she stared at it, confused.
"That's not munny," Lightning said, pulling out a golden cube-like object. "This is munny. Pretty much every world uses it, except yours, I guess. I'll buy you some clothes. You can take a shower through that door while I'm gone."
She indicated the door behind Tyler, which had a small bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower inside. Then, she and Mickey left, closing the door behind them. Tyler got into the shower immediately, cleaning himself thoroughly. Then, once he was clean, he leaned his head against the shower wall, closing his eyes and letting the water run over his body. After a moment, he pushed himself up and held his hand out, summoning his keyblade. It was easier now that he knew how. He let it disappear just as someone knocked on the door.
"Yeah?" Tyler asked.
"Your clothes are on the bed," Lightning said. "I'll be in the living room if you need any help."
"Thank you," Tyler said.
He waited about three minutes before shutting the shower off and grabbing a towel, drying himself then carefully peeking out into the bedroom. There was a pair of black shorts and a dark blue shirt laid out on the bed, along with some underwear and a pair of socks, his black and white Converse high-tops sitting beside the bed. He got dressed quickly, walking out to the living room and stopping. Vanille and Lightning were there, along with one black man, and a woman and a guy Tyler's age who both wore similar outfits. The woman, obviously the other one with an Australian accent, wore a blue cloth across her chest from her left shoulder to the right side of her waist, then tied around her waist into a skirt, hanging down on the right to her ankles, a pair of brown boots with her toes exposed, a pair of fur tails hanging from the front of her belt on the right, a pair of black forearm sleeves, a rope band around her right bicep, a black top similar to Vanille's pink one, a bead necklace, and long, raven black hair. She had a staff on her back that looked like it would extend and had bladed ends. The boy dressed like her wore a short-sleeved black shirt with purple down the center then in a strip over each shoulder, a forearm guard on the left forearm, ropes wrapped around his right forearm, a set of extremely loose blue pants, a blue cloth around his waist, and a pair of black boots. He had a sword on his back that looked like a pair of tongues of flame, along with a sheath for another sword, one like a gladius. The black man wore a pair of tan pants, a pair of pistols on his hips, a green military coat, black fingerless gloves, and black boots. He had an afro with a small baby chicken sitting on top of it.
"There you are," the black man said. "I think we should probably start with introductions. I'm Sazh."
"I'm Fang," the woman in blue said. "You're Tyler, right?"
"Yeah," Tyler nodded. "So, Lightning, can...well...can you teach me to fight?"
Lightning watched him for a moment before Fang began to laugh. After a moment, Fang stood.
"I'll help," Fang said.
"Are you as good as Lightning?" Tyler asked.
"I'm the only one in our merry little band who's able to fight on level with Lightning," Fang said.
"Okay," Tyler said. "That'll work."
"I'll help too," Lightning said. "You're going to need all the help learning you can get. Especially if you're going to try and find your niece."
Tyler nodded and they walked outside. Outside, there was a square clearing with a square stage set up in the middle, a padded surface on top of it. Lightning and Fang both walked onto the stage. On the ground further from them, there were several odd blue clubs with yellow handles. Two were about as long as a short sword, and the third was a staff with a blue club on each end. Lightning picked up the two sword clubs and Fang picked up the staff. Tyler followed them onto the stage and Lightning tossed one of the clubs to him.
"We're going to start off with these," Lightning said.
Tyler nodded and Lightning drilled him on various styles of sword play, and general technique. It took hours for him to pick anything up, and after an hour and a half, he, Lightning, and Fang began to spar. It did not go well. Every few minutes, Tyler found himself on the ground in agonizing pain. Finally, after hours, Lightning sat on the edge of the stage.
"That's enough," Lightning said. "You're not improving."
"All you're doing is continually beating me about the head!" Tyler complained.
"That's how I learned," Lightning said.
"I learned by fighting hungry beasts three times my size," Fang said.
"Well I don't learn from pain," Tyler said.
Lightning sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. After a moment, she sighed.
"Okay," Lightning said. "We'll spend three days training like this. If you don't improve, we'll go and start searching the worlds for Alice."
Tyler nodded and Lightning stood.
"Keep going over your form," Lightning said. "I'll be back in half an hour to par again."
Tyler nodded, beginning to practice while Fang and Lightning walked away.
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