Kuriz: happy to oblige. these are the songs i usually listen to when writing about a specific character:
Colette: Fake Wings (.HACK//SIGN), a wood carving star (Tales of Symphonia)
Xando: His World (Sonic teh Hedgehog), To the Stars (Dragonheart), Fake Wings (.HACK//SIGN, also Colettes theme), a wood carving star (Tales of Symphonia)
Phantasm: Davey Jone's theme (Pirates of teh carrebean), If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot), Somnus Nemoris (Final Fantasy Versus XIII), Melody of the Lute (Edward's theme from Final Fantasy IV)
Firefly/Axel: Roxas (KH2), The Other Promise (ditto)
Sora, Riku and Kairi: origional Kingdom Hearts music (mainly simple and clean and sancuary). i havent found any fitting music just yet.
Aloz: Destati (im serious) EDIT: and If You Could Read My Mind (Gordon Lightfoot)
14: the three main Organization songs (cant remember their specific names off the top of my head). the battle music when fighting Axel, the one that sounds like Deep Dive, and the one when fighting FM+ members.
now then, im sorry to you all i havent posted the chapter friday as i origionally intended, but i forgot my internet card when i went ot my dad's for the weekend (just got back half an hour ago). during that time, i managed to complete another chapter, so you will receive two chapters now.
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Fragmented Tale the 14th
Remembrance
Present time
“…This is where I came from. Everyone…I hope they’re okay.”
“You should go and see them again…”
“…Sora’s waiting.”
“Yeah, I guess he is…”
------------
Firefly gazed around the dark world that he had been sent to. Skyscrapers loomed overhead in all directions, save one. In that direction, there was nothing, not anymore. A giant hole in the ground, leading to who knows where, and the scattered remains of a white castle was all that lay in front of him. Phantasm had sent him here on a mission. That mission was to locate and attempt to destroy the one remaining member of Organization XIII. Rather, Ex-member.
Firefly shook his head in dismay. “Never thought for a moment I’d come back here,” he thought aloud, then continued on.
“Finally woken up?”
Firefly shook his head again, trying vainly to dislodge the memories, nostalgias too painful to think of; it never worked. He strolled through the darkened, empty city, searching. Phantasm had sent him in search of the mysterious girl who claimed to be the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, the member that never ‘existed.’ Somehow, the thought of searching for the 14th member awoke a nameless fear in his heart. So far, though, the search had been fruitless.
“Nope, maybe you’re going to sleep.”
“Well, well. If it isn’t the little fire boy.”
Firefly turned in the direction of the voice, and came bandana to hood to the 14th member of Organization XIII.
“We meet again,” Firefly said, drawing his flaming sword.
“Not for the first, or even hundredth time,” 14 replied, conjuring her daggers, “from my view, we’ve met many times.”
Firefly raised an eyebrow. Aside from the battle at Radiant Garden, he had never seen this girl before in his life, or his other…
“But you don’t remember that, do you?” 14 jibed, “just as I wanted it.”
“Just what do you mean by that?” Firefly demanded.
“Come here and find out!”
Narrowing his eyes, Firefly charged at 14, then changed directions at the last minute as 14 unleashed a blast of Antimatter, disintegrating the spot where he had been but moments ago. Firefly waved his free hand at 14, and a jet of flame flew out and nearly torched the edge of her cloak.
“Maybe you CAN teach an old dog new tricks,” 14 jibed, “or at least show them to conceal old tricks in illusions.”
Firefly didn’t even bother responding, simply lashing out with his fire blade at the shadow where 14 stood moments ago. she reappeared behind him, lunging a dagger forward into Firefly’s back.
“Soon I wont even be able to talk to your consciousness like this.”
Firefly, anticipating such deception, ducked below the thrust at the last minute, grabbed 14’s arm and tossed her over head into the nearby building. He stood there for a moment, waiting for 14 to resurface. It didn’t take long for a section of the building to turn black and vanish, 14 walking right through it.
“stubborn one, aren’t you?” 14 jibed, “You never did know when to quit, whether it be in a battle of blades or a game wits and words.”
“You lie,” Firefly said, “you don’t know anything about me. how could you?”
“You forget, darling,” taunted 14, “I’m a member of Organization XIII.”
“The Organization never had a 14th member,” Firefly said with confidence.
“None that they remember,” 14 said cryptically.
“I… I don’t know either. But, the heart’s not something you can see. I’ve started wondering whether it’s something you can feel either. If so, then…”
“I erased their memories of my time among them,” she continued, “I took what I needed from them and departed for better things!”
14 suddenly charged at Firefly, then disappeared in mid air. Firefly turned around just in time to block the pair jet-black daggers. Suddenly, shadows seemed to gather around 14. fearing attack, Firefly disengaged and stepped back. 14 embraced the shadows, and her form suddenly changed into…
“I’m sure Sora’ll find the answer...”
…The Organization’s traitor, Axel. Firefly studied his opponent carefully. “Déjà vu,” he commented, then charged directly at the twisted reflection of the 8th member of the Organization. Flame sword met flaming wheel, and the two began to step inside and outside of each other’s reach, as if locked in some kind of lethal fire dance. Firefly succeeded in cutting ‘Axel’s’ arm, but he/she cut his leg with one of his/her flame wheels.
‘Axel’ jumped back and flung one fire wheel at Firefly’s face, aiming the other at his legs. Executing a perfect acrobatic maneuver, Firefly jumped and twisted himself in midair, avoiding the twin fireballs. However, one of the spikes caught on his hood, ripping it clean off and sending him back first into the ground. ‘Axel’ smiled.
“So,” he/she said, “it was you after all. I’m sure yours is an interesting tale.”
“Not particularly,” Firefly replied, his hair now revealed, “somewhat anticlimactic, actually. Like you, you who spend your life plotting in some forgotten basement!”
“Touché,” ‘Axel’ said, “but mark this, fiery one. We are gambling for the highest of stakes: Kingdom Hearts itself. Such a prize would be worth a lifetime of planning.”
“You gamble for Kingdom Hearts,” Firefly said, “but you’re gambling with your pitiful excuse for a life, 14. you ‘gamble’ with something that doesn’t exist!”
‘Axel’, glared at Firefly and suddenly transformed back into 14. “You think you know everything, don’t you?”
“I try,” came the equally acidic reply, “More than you, that’s for sure.”
14 didn’t even bother replying, she simply vanished into a corridor of darkness. Firefly bent down and examined the cut on his leg. It was a nasty one, running from his knee to his ankle, but it didn’t seem to be serious.
“Well,” he said aloud, “my leg isn’t disintegrating, so I guess it will get me back home.”
“…This is where I came from. Everyone…I hope they’re okay.”
“You should go and see them again, looking for your answer.”
Firefly closed his eyes. that memory had continued to pop up in his mind for as long as he had been back. perhaps because it was his last memory of him, or perhaps because it was, to him, the saddest.
“…Sora’s waiting.”
“Yeah, I guess he is…”
Firefly ripped off the tattered remains of his hood and pulled off his bandana. there was no point in hiding his identity anymore, not without a hood anyway. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to replay that last scene again, one last time. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.
“See ya, partner…” Axel said, a single tear sliding down his face.
*************
Fragmented Tale the 15th
Ansem’s Report
Present time
Spoiler gazed around the ruined remains of what had once been a laboratory. The lab was located hidden in a hill in the forest outside of Radiant Garden. Phantasm had told her to locate the lab and recover a data disk somewhere inside. He hadn’t said why, but she knew it was important. Then again, she already knew why. Aloz the Dark.
Spoiler gazed around, easily scanning the room despite the blindfold over her eyes. the place appeared to have been abandoned for some time now, and it looked it. cobwebs lined the walls and corners, cracks crisscrossed the floor. Spying an old computer that may still be operational, she walked over and booted up the machine.
“This must be it,” she breathed. Once the computer successfully booted, it asked for a password. Phantasm had already told her the likely password, and she tried it.
“…A…T…I,” she muttered as she finished the phrase and pressed enter. The screen whirled for a moment, the beeped. Access approved. Spoiler opened up the outdated search engine on the computer, pronounced something like goggle, and ran a search for the likely file name. as she expected, only one result came up; it was called Ansem’s Report on Project: ENDLESS. narrowing her eyes behind her blindfold, Spoiler opened the file and activated the first icon to pop up.
The computer screen went black for a moment, then a video of an old looking man in a lab coat appeared. his blonde hair, running to his shoulders, looked mangled and stood on end.
“My name is Ansem,” the man said,
“and I am leaving this data file as a warning to any who would be foolish enough to explore the darkness in the heart. As I stand here now, my greatest experiment, my greatest success, is being transported to my castle, where it will be safe in a secret underground room. I am transporting it because it’s no longer safe here.”
The screen flickered for a moment, and the sound was temporarily replaced with static. Spoiler frowned, it seemed the data disk had been damaged by time.
“I based my original experiment on a young boy of about 15 years of age…” the video continued,
“but it was damaged in extraordinary conditions. Me and my partner in science, Xehanort, managed to repair the creation and give it a new body, this one made in the image of a 15 year old boy named…” the video flickered for a moment and the audio was interrupted,
“This boy was quite extraordinary. He is one of the few he can wield a powerful weapon known as the Keyblade. But for reasons I cant explain, something went horribly wrong in the transfer process.”
Spoiler gritted her teeth, knowing well who the ’15 year old boy’ was.
“as we transferred the soul and heart we had managed to preserve into the new body, a pulse of energy originated from the heart. This pulse fried all of our computers in the room, and the thing went free. The heart and soul transformed into a ball of energy and bounced around the room several times before finally settling down and swerving into the body we had created for it. I thought the worst of it was over. My god, I was so wrong.”
The scene changed to footage from a security camera in the room at the time of the accident. Spoiler could easily make out the shape of Ansem, Xehanort, and a black liquid moving on the floor.
“after entering the body, the being opened its piercing golden eyes and looked as us with disdain. It released another shockwave, this one throwing us off our feet and into the wall. The being transformed into a liquid substance and began to crawl away. When we awoke, the being was long gone, and so was Xehanort. I didn’t see him for some time, but it wasn’t long before I suspected the worst. Somehow, Xehanort had been corrupted by the darkness we were experimenting with, either due to the incident in the lab or perhaps sometime before.”
The camera switched back to the man sitting in chair, narrating the story.
“Not long after the incident, and purely for the sake of this report, I named the being Aloz the Dark. thanks to the help of…(more static)… we managed to locate and capture Aloz and imprison him in a device of my own creation. In his last act of cruelty, he unleashed one final blast of destructive energy. I had managed to take cover behind a table, but one person was not so lucky. When the blast subsided, I found the lab completely destroyed, and there was no trace of…”
Spoiler looked down for a moment, lost in thought. Then she looked back up at the screen as the video concluded.
“By now, Aloz is locked away deep beneath my castle, where he will hopefully remain until something can be done about him. I am not worried about Xehanort releasing Aloz, as he feared that thing almost as much as I do. This report marks the premature conclusion of Project: ENDLESS, where we desired to create the ultimate life form. I am sorry to say, we succeeded.”
Spoiler closed the file and removed the data disk. Undoubtedly Phantasm would be curious about this Project: ENDLESS.
“The conspiracy surrounding us all continues to grow,” mused Spoiler, “before this is over, how big will it grow? How many stories are interconnected because of this one science experiment gone wrong?”
Spoiler shook her head in dismay. When they found that answer, they would have this entire mystery cracked wide open. If anyone could do it, it was Mr. Ghost of Christmas Future.
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“So you have the disk with you?” Phantasm asked. The three of them had met back at their secret hideout, hidden right in plain sight. Axel had already recounted his run in with the 14th member, and Spoiler had just finished her report on Ansem’s Report. Spoiler pulled the data disk out of her pocket and handed it to Phantasm.
“One mystery solved,” the ghost muttered, “a hundred more created.”
“So that disk’s going to give us all the info we need on Aloz?” Axel asked, “is our little game of deception over?”
“It may,” Phantasm replied, placing the disk in his computer, “and it may just leave us with more questions than answers. The one thing I know for sure is this: it all begins here, with a birth from sleep.”
*************
yes, the rebelious Axel of Organization XIII is indeed Firefly. and yes, the writer of that report was actually named Ansem, and not someone pretending to be Ansem.
as a closing note: Axel has two themes: Roxas and The Other Promise (both KH2, of course).
with all due respect,
Merlin326
