Kingdom Hearts, Nameless Grave

[Larxene]

Chapter One Destiny Calls

 

The sun was shining. The sea breeze swept through the golden sands and lush palms that lay scattered around the lonely isles. In the horizon was the endless sea that surrounded it. The door of a small shack opened and made a noise as it hit against the wall.

 

“Ugh…why does the sun have to be so bright?” said a sleepy teenage boy as he rubbed his eyes. He took a step outside onto the sand, closing the door. Everything was familiar to him. Often times he got a little bored with the island. This is where he lived his whole life until everything changed one night. He sighed.

 

“Hey Sora!” shouted a voice. Sora turned to a lone elevation of land that rose a couple feet from the ground. The figure of someone sitting on a curved palm could be seen in the sunlight. Sora covered his eyes with his arm before running towards that direction. His footsteps left imprints in the sand that were going to be washed away by the tides. He reached the area, leapt up high, but not high enough. He nearly slipped and fell, but managed to grab a hold of the ledge.

 

“Whoa!” he cried. A moment later, he felt a hand grab onto his and pulled him up with ease. He stood with Riku, his dear friend. He looked serious.

 

“What’s the matter with you?” asked Sora. Riku’s face remained the same. Sora let go of his friend’s hand and for a couple seconds, all they did was stare. Then Riku’s mouth twisted into a smile before he began to laugh. Sora could not help but do the same thing.

 

“What was that about?” asked Sora as he hopped on the palm he and his friends had sat on casually. It was a sort of hangout place for them. Riku went to join him.

 

“I don’t know. It was weird,” he said, trying to find a comfortable position.

 

“So what did you want?” asked Sora. Riku turned to him.

 

“Well, it was about time you woke up. You’re sleeping in almost everyday.”

 

Sora scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.

 

“Well, I…”

 

Riku looked at him and gave him a gentle kick. Sora almost fell off of his spot and grabbed a hold of the palm’s trunk as quickly as possible.

 

“Hey!” he yelled, looking angrily at Riku.

 

“I just had to make sure if you were still awake,” he replied with a chuckle. As he laughed he could see a shade of pink in the distance. It seemed to be coming closer. It was Kairi. She seemed eager to get to the two of them.

 

“Hey! You guys!” she yelled as she waved her hand in the air. She seemed to be holding something. Both of them turned towards her and jumped off the palm. Then they both leapt onto the sandy beach, making a splash in the low tide. Kairi stopped in front of them and paused to catch her breath. Riku crossed his arms and Sora eyed the slip of paper in her hand.

 

“You’ll never believe what I just got!” she said excitedly. She held up the piece of paper so the two could see. It was an envelope with a very familiar green seal holding the flap down; the seal of King Mickey himself.

 

“Whoa! The King sent us a letter?!” exclaimed Sora. He too began to become excited. Riku sighed and shook his head at Sora.

 

“Let’s not jump to conclusions before we even read it,” he said looking to Kairi. She nodded and broke the seal, opening the envelope. She pulled out a folded sheet of paper flipped it open. Sora and Riku looked over her shoulder to read it. It said:

 

“Dear Sora and friends,

 

I have terrible news. I know we haven’t spoken in quite a while, but I need your help one more. Worlds have begun to disappear again. The Heartless that prowl around are very few, but the Nobodies seem to have become stronger. I just can’t understand it and you probably won’t either. We witnessed you defeat Xemnas and the Organization, so I just can’t believe the Nobodies are more organized and powerful. I need you to come to Hollow Bastion to meet with me and to discuss it with Leon and the others.

 

Sincerely,

 

King Mickey

 

P.S. Old friends are on the way!”

 

Sora was speechless, Riku looked serious, and Kairi stared at the letter. It was indeed something to ponder about. The Organization was defeated by Sora and his friends. They saw it happen; they even saw Xemnas disappear into the darkness. How could this be?

 

“This can’t be real,” said Kairi. Riku looked at her sternly.

 

“The King wouldn’t lie. Something’s up,” he replied.

 

“It’s not possible,” said Sora. He looked down at the sand. The other two looked at him.

 

“Riku and I saw it happen. The Nobodies should’ve disappeared, right?” he asked.

 

“I don’t know…remember, the Organization members weren’t the source of Nobodies since they were Nobodies themselves,” said Riku aloud.

 

“Oh…right,” said Sora. He took the letter from Kairi and began to read it again.

 

“I think the question would what our mode of transportation would be,” said Riku. He shrugged.

 

“I don’t think a raft would get us very far.”

 

“Hmm…maybe someone’s picking us up?” asked Kairi.

 

“And who said you were coming along?” joked Riku.

 

“Hey! I want to come!”

 

“I was kidding.”

 

The two bickered and Sora fell silent at the letter’s words. He honestly had no idea how this was possible. He hoped it wasn’t as bad as when the Heartless invaded. His own home disappeared. The sun was about the touch the water at the horizon as its sunlight became a smooth, orange color with hints of pink and red in the sky. The water was calm and the seagulls were quiet. That afternoon, they headed home. Sora couldn’t sleep when the night came. He couldn’t stop thinking about going to meet with King Mickey, Leon, and other unforgettable friends. He had changed into his pajamas and laid on his bed at a gentle breeze blew in from the open window. It was a bit chilly, but he did not react.

 

“I wonder when we’ll leave?” he asked himself. He turned on the bed and covered himself with his blanket. He began to fall asleep after nearly an hour of anxiety. Two days passed by and everything seemed normal. In the middle of the third day, the three were sitting together on the bridge that held their boats. They were waiting for the “old friends” to arrive as they did the other days.

 

“Man, it’s taking forever,” said Riku. Kairi looked to the sky, shielding her eyes from sunlight trying to spot anything that looked like a ship. There was a motor-like sound in the distance.

 

“Hey…hey, you guys! I think I see something!” she cried. Sora and Riku stood up almost immediately and looked in her direction. The sound was getting closer.

 

“There!” said Kairi as she pointed towards the large vehicle coming their way. It seemed to make a beeline towards the open water right next to the bridge. Riku suddenly looked alarmed.

 

“Uh-oh, I think we’d better run!” he said, beginning to sprint towards the beach. Kairi gasped and followed and so did Sora. The ship was red with yellow stripes and looked as if it was just going to crash into the shore. It seemed to zigzag in all directions before suddenly halting, just above the water, then dropping with a small splash.

 

“…BAH!” screamed a nasally voice. The cockpit of the gummi ship burst open with a blast of lightning. Sora and the others were startled. A moment later, out jumped a familiar duck dressed in blue. His clothes were a little messy and dirty and he was panting angrily.

 

“GOOFY!” he shouted.

 

“Gwarsh…did you have to zap me with yer magic, Donald?” said a carefree voice. Out came Goofy, rubbing the back of his head. His hair was sticking up on end.

 

“YOU-!” pointed Donald. He suddenly felt eyes on him. He turned to see the three speechless teens. Sora stifled a laugh. Goofy was the first to speak.

 

“Sora!” he said, jumping out of the gummi ship and landing in the water. Donald recovered from his embarrassment and also called out to him with excitement.

 

“Donald! Goofy!” yelled Sora as he ran to meet them. When the three met each other they shared a hug. It’s been a while since they had seen each other and they were glad to be working with each other again.

 

“So they were the ‘old friends’,” said Kairi, giggling. Riku nodded and couldn’t help but smile as Donald began to bicker with Goofy again. Donald shook his head as if remembering something.

 

“Oh! That’s right! We have to get you three to Hollow Bastion on the double!” he said, gesturing towards the ship. Sora looked to Riku and Kairi.

 

“Well? Come on! Let’s hurry!” he said, running towards it. Donald jumped after him and Goofy stumbled behind. Riku and Kairi ran after the threesome and they all got themselves into the gummi ship. It was a bit crowded, but they could manage.

 

“Um…what happened a couple seconds ago?” asked Sora. Donald looked down and sighed.

 

“Don’t ask me. The controls got a little bit messy and Goofy tried to take control of it and made it worse!” he said bitterly. Goofy laughed nervously and shrugged.

 

“Can we go now?” asked Kairi, looking anxious to get into the air.

 

“Sure! Let me just-“said Donald before seeing Sora’s hand on the controls.

 

“HEY!” he cried.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ve driven this loads of times, I won’t crash,” he said gleefully. Donald began to bicker again and Goofy joined in. Kairi urged them to get a move on and Riku was enjoying the little bit of chaos in the ship. Sora smiled before looking up into the sky, the gummi ship lifting itself off the water. A sense of adventure slithered into his mind and the gummi ship took off into the air. It was…nostalgia he felt and he was glad all of his friends were with him this time.

 

End of Chapter One

[Umbra]

Well, there's obviously a lot of backstory behind this that I have no knowledge of, so I'll judge it as a writing like any other. It's good, really good, but not great. There are the small things here and there, the grammar errors. I also felt like you could have handled the layout better.

 

An 8/10 from Umbra.

[Larxene]

I'll take that as a compliment XD

[~The Red Crusader~]

I liked the story. I was able to understand it.

 

So:

 

-1 Layout

 

=

 

9/10 from Me.

 

~Wuja

[bury the year]

Clariex fics? That's a revelation. I really like it; you seem to have put a good deal of thought into it. Will there be any exclusive characters, though?

[Phantom Roxas]

Yay, you posted it! Hope to see Chapter 2.

[Larxene]

Yes, there are exclusive characters

 

Just wait ;)

 

(Also, credit to Shiro Chigo for helping me with this)

[Yugi the Forbidden One]

Interesting story. I like it very much. If I would rate it, I'll give it 9/10 ^_^

 

I'm looking forward for Chapter 2. :D

[Larxene]

Chapter Two Voice in the Dark

 

It didn’t take too long. The gummi ship had been installed with a warp gummi many months ago by Cid, a good friend of Sora’s. Sora looked down at the place once named Hollow Bastion, now called Radiant Garden. The latter was its true name, but was only discovered recently. The people who lived here had come from other worlds that had previously been destroyed by the Heartless, though they are no longer much of a threat. They landed in an alleyway to avoid too much attention. Most of the people here don’t believe there is any more threat of Heartless. Though there are a few occurrences where Heartless are abundant, but not enough have made the people worried. Sora was the first to jump onto the ground out of the gummi ship.

 

“Wow…this place hasn’t changed at all,” he said sounding bored. Everything was still in place as it has always been. The huge castle stood in all its glory in the horizon. It was once the place where a great and terrible sorceress had lived until Sora destroyed her. The others joined him.

 

“Well, Leon and the others aren’t trying to change the place too much. The people that live here like it like this,” said Goofy, walking awkwardly. The group headed down towards the residential area.

 

“It’s been forever since I’ve been here,” said Sora, putting his hands behind his head. There seemed to be no one around walking in the streets. It was…quiet.

 

“Heh…I guess the ‘ghost town’ feel still lingers around,” said Kairi.

 

“Yeah, I’ve never seen it this deserted this last time we were here,” replied Donald. The house they were looking for was just down the street; Merlin’s. Before they reached it someone jumped off the roof and landed in front of them, surprising the group.

 

“Wah!” said Donald, falling backwards. The person in front of them was small…very small. He had a long, thing tail and two large, black ears. They were perfect circles on his head. He looked up and smiled. Donald and Goofy became ecstatic.

 

“King Mickey!” they both cried, scrambling towards him. He laughed and met the two in a conversation. Donald could hardly contain himself and Goofy couldn’t find words to say. Mickey made them both calm down before turning and walking to Sora.

 

“Your Majesty,” said Riku, bowing. Kairi waved and smiled.

 

“It’s nice to see you three again,” he said happily.

 

“It’s good to see you too, King Mickey,” said Sora.

 

“Hey! What about me?!” said a feminine voice angrily. Sora looked above Mickey to see a girl run out of the house and wave. It was Yuffie.

 

“Hey!” said Sora. Out from behind her came two other familiar faces; Leon and Aerith.

 

“You guys!” he said, running towards the house. Leon halted him.

 

“It’s nice to see you, too, but we’ve got bigger fish to fry,” he said coolly, turning to head back inside. Aerith laughed at him.

 

“Always the busy body,” she said following him. Riku and Kairi followed her as did the king and his two loyal subjects. Sora scratched the back of his head, thinking the reunion would be much happier. He smiled with embarrassment before heading inside Merlin’s house.

 

“Hey there!” said a scruffy blonde man. He turned around in his chair raising his hand. He had a toothpick in his mouth, had a white shirt and blue pants, and had a belt around his waist. It was Cid, the engineer.

 

“Yo,” said Sora. Cid sat in front of a large computer screen with various ones watching the town in certain areas.

 

“You don’t sound happy to see us,” he said, shrugging.

 

“Hey! I am!” he retorted. Cid began to laugh, spinning around in the chair. As Sora took a look around, he could feel something poking at his backside. He turned to see a floating tea cup and jumped back, falling.

 

“Ah!”

 

The tea cup hovered around and onto a table located in the left side of the house. A very large chair sat by it and an old man in blue was in it. It was the wizard, Merlin. He chuckled.

 

“Hey, why is everyone picking on me today?” complained Sora, crossing his arms.

 

“Well, we haven’t seen you in quite a while,” said Aerith, holding both her hands behind her.

 

“We’re just having fun,” said Yuffie, smiling. Leon cleared his throat.

 

“And now…we have some business to attend to,” he said, leaning against the wall. Sora nodded and King Mickey stood in the center of the group.

 

“Now…you three read my letter, huh? Well here’s what we know so far,” he began. Donald elbowed Goofy in the side to make him pay attention.

 

“Some worlds have disappeared in the past few weeks and I have no explanation for it. There seems to be no reason for them to simply go out of existence,” he said grimly.

 

“We were talking about it a little before you got here,” said Aerith. Cid stopped spinning and Merlin stood up as Mickey continued.

 

“And also, the Nobodies that lurk around seem to have become even stronger since the last time we dealt with them. We know it’s impossible, but someone or something is making them more powerful. The thing that bothers me the most about this is…” he trailed. He seemed to stare outside the window with vigilant eyes.

 

“There have been sightings of people in black, hooded cloaks,” he finished. Riku’s attention was got and Kairi let out a soft gasp. Sora looked terrified.

 

“What?!” he cried.

 

“Yes, it was hard for us to believe it, too,” said Yuffie. She stood by the window, checking for anything out of the ordinary.

 

“The sightings have been rare, but enough of them have forced us to act,” said Merlin, fixing his glasses.

 

“But the thing is we don’t have enough evidence to support our assumptions,” said Leon. He turned towards Sora.

 

“So we’re going to go around looking for clues?” asked Kairi.

 

“We all are. But while you’re here, you might want to hang around a bit,” said Yuffie. She opened the door and went outside, running off.

 

“You better watch yourself Sora,” said Leon, following Yuffie. Sora pouted at the remark. He wasn’t as reckless as he was back then that’s for sure. Riku saw this and stifled a laugh.

 

“I’ll stay here with Kairi. You should go for a walk. You haven’t been here in a while and it may have changed,” he said. Kairi was being awed by the floating silverware that hovered around here as Merlin chuckled and sipped some tea.

 

“I guess…I’ll be on the look out for anything suspicious,” he said before heading out the door. He shut it behind him before wandering around the area for a little while. He took glances around the houses nearby; seemingly empty and no life. It was really quiet except for the sound of footsteps Sora made himself. The wind blew gently.

 

“It’s scary in a way…but the wind is relaxing,” he said to himself. He walked up a small ramp up towards the Bailey. Seeing the large entrance made him remember that day he came here to meet Leon. It was one of his first encounters with the beings known as Nobodies. Empty shells of their Heartless counterparts; they were controlled by Organization XIII. Something stirred in the silence. Sora halted to a stop when he sensed it. He stood inside the Bailey and became alert as he looked all around it.

 

“…You.”

 

Sora could hear it clearly. It was like someone was right nearby, but there was no life in sight.

 

“…What a pathetic key bearer.”

 

Sora gritted his teeth. Who was there? How did he know about Sora? He considered that person a formidable enemy from the sound of his voice and cautiousness. But he wanted to at least see that person to confirm it. He suddenly felt his feet on air.

 

“What?!” he cried as he looked down; his feet were sinking into a portal of darkness. It was like quicksand; the more he struggled, the faster he’d sink. He felt the cold chill as he entered the abyss. Sora looked around frantically to see if anything was coming. He then saw at what he thought was “the bottom” and saw a rather large platform. It was a beautiful surface for Sora to stand upon; it was made of a collection of stained glass window images. There were three large circles; one above the other two. They were people, but they were cloaked…like the Organization. The top one looked serious and was unemotional. The one on the right held a hand on his chest and the other was looking towards the center of the circular platform. All three were hooded, their faces hidden. Though he had to time to marvel at them for Sora was not alone and he could sense it. There was a slight rumbling he could feel with his feet. It seemed to become more intense after every second until Sora lost his balance and fell forward onto his knees.

 

“What’s happening?!” he said in his mind. Whatever was the source just jumped high into the air. Sora looked at it and what it was struck his mind. It was a giant silver-colored being; a Nobody. It was the Twilight Thorn. Sora held his hand up high and summoned with all his strength and it came to him; the Keyblade. When the Nobody saw this, it immediately sent a flurry of dark energy at him. Sora quickly reacted, following the trails of darkness leading towards the Nobody’s head. Gripping the Keyblade tight in his hand he threw a mighty swing straight in its face. The Nobody was thrown back, but it orientated itself and sent forth another wave of darkness at Sora. Knowing full well the pattern of this foe, Sora merely followed the same action he did before and positioned himself right in front of its face and struck again. The Nobody seemed to shudder as paused for a moment. Sora landed on the ground and looked up. The Twilight Thorn’s grip on the platform seemed to loosen as it began to fall back. Sora ran forward as it disappeared from sight and into the darkened abyss. Before Sora could reach the edge, he was hit with a flash of light, illuminating the darkness. He covered his eyes from the brilliant light and second later, Sora looked out from underneath his hands, his vision blurry. Is surroundings were familiar…

 

“Hey…I’m back,” he said as he realized he was still in the Bailey. He took a moment to make sure as he looked around. He could still feel a presence.

 

“Wow…” said the voice. Sora jerked his head up.

 

“Where are you?!” he shouted. He balled his fists as he waited for an answer.

 

“…”

 

“Answer me!”

 

“I’m just surprised.”

 

“What are you talking about?”

 

“I’m surprised you could beat that Nobody, weakling.”

 

“Shut up! I’m not weak!” screamed Sora. He still held the Keyblade in hand.

 

“Is that so?” said the voice. It was different this time. Instead of sounding ethereal and far-off…now it seemed like the source came from right in front of him. Sora looked forward to see a black wave of darkness manifest. From the threads of emptiness and dark energy came a man; he wore the cloak of the Organization but his hood was up.

 

“Who are you?! Are you apart of the Organization?!” he asked angrily. His grip on the Keyblade was taut and he gritted his teeth. The unknown man raised both his hands as if presenting something.

 

“The power…of the Keyblade…”

 

Sora went into a battle stance as the man spoke. The Organization was a tough foe indeed…but Sora shouldn’t have any trouble, right?

 

“It is indeed a magnificent tool…”

 

“It will be when I kick your butt with it!” said Sora, pointing at him.

 

“You believe…yours is…the only one?” he asked, his voice sounding relaxing and soothing. Before Sora could answer, his outstretched hands emitted lights; in his right, a bright, flash and in his left, an oozing blackness. Sora looked onward to see two familiar Keyblades in his hands and he looked amazed; the right one was the Oathkeeper and the left, the Oblivion.

 

“Your skill with the blade…let’s see it!” the man cried as he rushed at Sora.

 

End of Chapter Two

 

[Larxene]

Epic bump

[Phantom Roxas]

Sorry I didn't read Chapter Two earlier. Good job.

[CeDeFiA]

Epic as before

9/10

Sorry for a 4 day bump >.>